Time With Friends in Oahu

I can't believe that it's already been a week since my family came home from Oahu.  It feels like we just back yesterday.  LOL!  I guess it feels that way because the good memories that we made there are still so vivid in our minds.  Of course one of the best memories is meeting up with  friends.  Not only did I get to have a tea party with 5 friends, my family got to visit with 4 other friends. We had dinner at LikeLike with Michelle and her daughter,

had dinner with Fran and her family,

had dinner with Teri,

had breakfast with Jen and her sons,

and visited Grace during her lunch break.

I also had a chance to meet two new friends through a Copic Class that I took at a Place in Time.

Here are the goodies that I gave to my friends and their family

and this is what they gave to us.

Our vacation definitely would not be complete if we did not get to see our friends. We thank the Lord blessing us with such great friends.  Big hugs and a big mahalo to all of them for taking time to spend with us, for their friendship, and for their generous gifts.  I was going to share two pictures of some of my favorite food while we were on vacation, but I will wait since this post is long enough without it.  Thanks for sticking around for the whole post.  Until next time, God bless!

A Tea Party in Paradise

My family love being in Oahu and are so grateful that we had our annual trip there a week ago. We just got back from there a little less than a week ago.  People always ask us if we have family there since we go there so often.  We do not have family that live there, but we do have good friends that we visit with each year that feel just like our "ohana."  So for the next few posts I am going to share with you some of the friends that we met up with as well as the RAKs that we gave to each other. I think it would be fun to end each post with a beautiful picture of a place that we visited along with a picture of ono food that we ate.  The first friends that I met up with while my hubby and my kids spent time at the beach and by the pool were my friends that I met through a tea swap.

We have an annual tea party together.  This year we went to tea at 1024 located in downtown Honolulu. I always enjoy keeping in touch with them throughout the year through chatting on Facebook and/or through our e-mails, but it's way more fun of course to chat with each other in person. Here is my beautiful place setting
.

I ordered lychee black tea.  It was pretty good but my favorite was what two of my friends ordered- a pomegranate tea.  (BTW, every time we go for tea we try each others tea.)  With our tea we had scones, sandwiches, 

and dessert. 

After having a nice time enjoying our tea party and "talking story" we exchanged gifts that we made for each other. This is what I made for each person in their favorite colors.  Here is the front of the tea pot

and the back with a pocket where I put a tea bag.

I made the tea pots using two different dies from Stampin Up. I saw a post on Sandy Hancock's blog and just added my own twist to it by adding the cherry blossoms. I also gave each person a package of cookies to enjoy with their tea and some paper flowers as part of their gift. Here is what each of the ladies made. 

As you can see the 5 ladies are very talented and creative. I always look forward to seeing what each person comes up with.  After we exchanged gifts we chatted a bit more and went our separate ways except Fran and I.  Fran and I went shopping together at three craft stores- Flora Dec, J's Knick Knacks, Cute Stuff. Stay tune for a post later this week for some of the items that I purchased.  Mahalo Brenda, Dori, Fran, Melanie, and Robyn for taking time to have a tea party with me, for your friendship, and generous and thoughtful gifts.  Of course a big mahalo goes to Fran for a fun afternoon of shopping together.  Since I already posted plenty of pictures today I will end here.  Until next time!

My Belated "Thank You" Cards

I hope that everyone is doing well.  My family and I just got back from an amazing 9 day vacation in Oahu. We love being there and our summer would have definitely not feel complete if we did not get to go there. Stay tune for some fun pictures of our trip soon. Well, today I would like to share the "thank you " card that I made for my b-day gifts that I received back in April.

This has been the first year that I've taken so long to make and get them out.  When I had time to make the cards I misplaced the wreath die.  Then when I found it I didn't have time to make them. Even though the card is late it is still made and given to my friends with lots of love and appreciation for their friendship and for making my b-day such an amazing and memorable one.

A Shabby Chic Card

So sorry that I have been MIA for 10 days.  I've been pretty busy and have been feeling a bit overwhelmed with things so there hasn't been any time to craft or do any blogging.  This is the last card that I made.  It was for last month's tea swap.  The optional theme for the swap was "shabby chic."  I had to Google what it actually means and had a challenging time coming up with a card.  After some thinking and planning this is what I cam up with.

I think my card turned out pretty good.  What you think?  :) After a stressful 10 days, I am thankful for a little break from things.  Stay tune for some pictures soon on what I'll be up while I am taking a break.  Until then, God bless and take care!

A Beautiful Card and More Fun Pictures from Vacation

It's taken me some time to recover from our mini vacation to San Diego.  I wasn't in the mood to do much crafting or do any work around the house until yesterday.  I guess it didn't help that I got a wisdom tooth pulled on Wed.  I thank the Lord for helping me to recover without in too much pain, but with my mouth being sore has been a bit irritating.  I'm hoping and praying that the soreness goes away soon.  Today I am going to share with you a beautiful card that I received from my friend Susan right before we left for SD.

Receiving a card from her was such a nice surprise since I have not heard from her in awhile.  Before ending my post for today I wanted to share some more pictures with you from SD.  This is a picture of Benson and I on the run way of the USS Midway.  As you can see behind us, the view from the ship of the SD harbor is beautiful.

Here we were going down the stairs on the ship seeing the different medical units.  We couldn't believe how narrow and steep the stairs were.  Not only were the stairs narrow, but the hallways, doorways, and bunks were too.

Being on the ship really helped me to have even more appreciation to the men and women that serve our country.and have served our country.  The last two pictures is of some ono food that we ate. For breakfast we ate a complimentary meal at the hotel, for lunch we got fast food, and for dinner we ate Japanese food twice, Hawaiian food ( I ordered kalua pork and loco moco.  The mac salad was one of the best I've ever eaten.),

and seafood.  Our dinners were very ono.

I am so glad that I got to eat some ono food while I was on vacation since I haven't been able to eat any ono food for the past few days and probably won't  be able to for the next few days. LOL!  :)  Have a nice weekend!