Birthday Wishes

Me: "So Veda, what do you want for your birthday?"

Veda: "Um, a dragon!"

Me: "We can't get you a dragon because they aren't real. They are only in stories."

Veda: "Ok, then I want a horse."

Me: "Well, we don't have the right kind of yard to have a horse. Horses need a lot of space and a lot of care."

Veda: "Well, how about a pony?"

Me: "A pony is like a horse. We can't get a pony or a horse Veda."

Veda: Big sigh, long pause and said with disappointment "Ok, I guess I'll just get a monkey."

body art

Watercolors + paintbrushes + a quiet girls night at home =









We celebrated our ritual with a jacuzzi bubble bath. :) Good memories!

The perpetual post

So I totally get that I've shirked my blog duties. I have so much backed up that this is going to be one long perpetual post. Enjoy!


Ok - I've found my favorite spot on earth. These are pictures of Poli'hale beach on the west side of Kauai. It is the longest beach on Kauai - 17 miles. Because you have to take a very bumpy, poorly maintained dirt road to get to it (and rental cars are not insured on this road) there are rarely tourists. More often than not, we are the only ones on the beach as far as we can see in either direction. There is a very reverent, spiritual feeling at this beach. I almost feel as though I am in an alternate universe. It is so beautiful, it is almost mesmerizing. These are pictures I took with my phone, so just try to imagine - if this is what it looks like through the teeny tiny lense on my phone...


One direction...

and the other direction...only us!



This is said to be the best beach to find the much sought after and very valuable Sunrise shell. You are said to be blessed if you find one. I have been looking for several weeks each time we go and finally yesterday I found 2!!! They were first named Sunrise because of the gradients of colors - pink to yellow, like a sunrise. Now they say the meaning has changed because if you are not up by sunrise, someone else will find them.


Introducing...The Ali'i Strings - my new string quartet! We had our little moment of fame a couple weeks ago when we had a nice big picture in the paper publicizing a benefit concert. We have a lot of fun together and after much rehearsing, sound pretty darn good. The concert was awesome and we had a nice big turnout of about 200 people. I feel extremely grateful to have found music on this small island. There are some perks to being a big fish in a little pond. The last time I played a quartet concert was in college. I had a blast!


At the Kilohana Plantation there is a guided tour train ride that will take you all around a beautiful old plantation. They are lots of fruit orchards, great views of the mountains at in the middle of the ride, they let you get off the train and feed the goats and wild pigs. The kids love it.


This is a rare thing - that mountain in the distance is Mt. Wai'ale'ale - known to be the wettest spot on earth. While we were on the train, the tour guide brought it to our attention that you could see the top of the mountain. Since it gets 465 inches of rainfall a year, it is almost always in the clouds. This is only the second time I've seen the top of the mountain since living here.


Travis brought some "witches fire" (aka dry ice) home from the hospital a couple days ago. It was a lot of fun. Veda said it smelled like her great grandma. (????)

I had a great birthday this year. I turned 30 last year, so this one was no big woop after that. I was extra spoiled by family and friends. Travis gave me beautiful flowers and a new violin bow. It is carbon fiber and unbreakable which will come in handy now that I am teaching 5 little violin students. We got a sitter and went out to a nice dinner.

Veda's violin finally came on my birthday. I couldn't have gotten a better present. We'd been waiting over a month for it! We were both so excited.


My sweet quilting friends sent me this beautiful fabric. Good taste girls!

Check out this gorgeous dessert we got after our dinner. Travis is friends with the waiter and he always treats us like royalty when we are there. He brought me this dessert sampler with a candle in it. There is Tiramisu, mango gelato, and creme brulee. YUM!!!

Watch him in action!

For those that missed Good Morning America this morning, here is a link of Porter's bit on the show.

Sorry, you'll have to copy and paste this address into your web browser. It's worth it though. This is one cool kid.



http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4377838&affil=ktvx

Bragging rights

This is my cousin, Porter Ellett. He is an amazing kid and I just have to brag about him for a moment.

When he was really young, he was in an auto accident and lost use of his right arm. About a year ago he had it amputated at the shoulder. What's amazing is how he has dealt with this trial and sees his disability as simply a challenge to do better and be better. Not only has he become a star athlete in baseball AND basketball, but he is the nicest, most humble and genuine kid you've ever met. (and very cute!)

This is a magazine for youth by my church and he was featured on the cover in the February issue. I will try to add the link to the article soon.

This weekend a camera crew from Good Morning America went to his small town in Utah to film him playing basketball in the state championship and to interview him, his teammates, and family. They are flying him and (at his insistence) 4 teammates to NYC and he will be on the Good Morning America show Monday morning. Everyone watch so you can see exactly why I am so proud!