Ramblings

Hiking on Pu'u Ohia Trail

This morning Kris and I went to the Farmer's Market at Kapiolani Community College. It's insane and crowded, but I still love my favorite vendors. I always purchase way more than I mean to, but I always use it all. Beet greens, broccoli rabe, Maui onions, and leeks.

After shopping, we drove up to Tantalus for a short hike on Pu'u Ohia Trail. It's so nice to see native plants doing so well on Oahu where so many invasive ones have come to dominate. The delicate, white native hibiscus was in full bloom. I've never seen it quite like today. I didn't bring my camera so I was glad to have my trusty iPhone. Not the same, but at least I got a shot.

Murphy

The death of Latte and Mocha left a huge hole...in our family, in our house. They were so much a part of every minute of our life. No one could ever fill that...we miss them and will miss them always. There is part of them with us, but not the part that we can touch.

I had been so sad. Haku was moping around the house. Kris went into action. I found him in his office cruising the internet. There was a site called kijiji.com that pulled up two cocker spaniel litters on Oahu. Kris wanted to go by himself so it wouldn't be so "emotional", but I begged him to let me go with. That was the fun part - looking at puppies.

We visted a military couple who had buff and tan female puppies. The mom was all buff and reminded me so much of Latte. She had her face and mannerisms. The dad was parti-colored and had a flatter face. They were adorable, of course. The next stop was in Hawaii Kai. I was hesitant to go because they had four males and I really wanted a female.

The four were chocolate and white, black and white, all black and all chocolate. I would have taken them all! We played with them, met their mom who was chocolate and white. Their dad didn't like the pups , but the owners brought him out for us to meet. He was beautiful - all black. He seemed to have a good temperment...just was done with puppies. I wasn't sure if I was ready for another dog and wanted to think. We took photos of the pups with my iPhone. 

Here is the first photo we took of the guy. We decided on the chocolate and white. He was just too cute for words. I called the owner and she said she's give us a discount on him because he was her favorite and she knew that we would be good owners.

On July 6, we went back to pick him up. We brought Haku with him as we wanted to see what he would do. Not really a good idea as you can't tell anything when dogs first meet. I guess we wanted to make sure that Haku wouldn't try to kill him.

The little pup took one look up at Haku and ran between my legs. I guess he wasn't going to be a threat to Haku.

It took a while to pick a name, but Murphy is perfect. His other nickname is Taz (as in the devil). Sometimes Taz fits him better.

He has totally taken over our household and is more than a distraction. He terrorizes Haku, but I think Haku is getting used to him. We've got to get him to puppy school soon!

How NOT to multitask

I have not been updating my blog because of mutitasking and not prioritizing stuff. I'm trying to not to beat myself up about it. Here's an article on it from a blog I frequently read. So much is appropriate for the times. It's crazy devices, social networking, and just internet stuff. It's fun, but I need to find the middle way.

http://zenhabits.net/2007/02/how-not-to-multitask-work-simpler-and/

May desktop wallpaper

We were on two programs - one in St. Martin and one in Palm Beach. Had a blast. I posted our desktop wallpaper an wanted to share the photos taken on those programs. Here's the link: http://www.eyeoftheislands.com/RLSGalleries/May09/May09.html If you want to be added to our mailing list, please let me know by commenting on this post. I'm happy to share!

Dinner tonight

Even though I'm so not a vegetarian, I frequently enjoy a vegetarian meal. Tonight was one of those nights.

Saturday is my Farmer's Market day. I love going there in spite of the crowds. There was a woman selling sweet corn. She said they were experimenting with a new kind. I bought a bag of 12 ears for $6. The Kona abalone people were grilling abalone so I couldn't resist trying two small grilled morsels for $5. They were delicious...I wished I had a glass of champagne to go with. I replenished my supply of salsa with spicy pickles from Andy, purchased beeyooteeful tomatoes and beets with the tops, of course.

So back to the vegetarian meal. I always have tons of food in the fridge and in the pantry. If there is a crisis, drop by and we can feed the masses. I looked for the oldest living thing and it was a half head of red cabbage. Perfect!

I sauteed the cabbage with pear vinegar and a bit of cinnamon sugar (leftover from a friend's major snicker doodle event). Then added some chopped and roasted hazelnuts. If you follow me on Facebook, you might have seen the mobile photo of our radishes. I chopped some up and added them with salt and pepper. Topped that off with crumbled goat cheese. Kris loves red cabbage so I knew he'd like this dish.

The corn on the cob was left in the husks and roasted in a 350 degree oven for thirty minutes. They were the sweetest, most tender corn kernels ever. Loved that with a little butter and chile salt. Yimmy!

Blog, Facebook, Twitter

I've truly missed blogging. I feel like someone who had an intense affair, but is longing for the deeper, more meaningful relationship.

Facebook has been so much fun. I've connected with people I've been out of touch with and deepened other connections. It's not something I would ever give up, but I believe the new interface makes it harder to connect with friends and family that matter. Instead, a lot of superfluous and distracting stuff appears. On the iPhone app, I've been informed of a comment and then have not been able to find it to respond.

Twitter, on the other hand, is the place I think has potential. I haven't found it yet. I like that I can update on Twitter and it appears on Facebook so that I don't have to enter stuff twice. I follow some famous and not so famous and actually enjoy the 140 character limitation.

The bottom line is that, although I love Facebook and Twitter can be fun, I miss blogging and I like that I can go back there and see how things were at certain times in my life. I'm going to try to put some energy back into blogging and see how it goes.

Recession blues

This morning a client requested revised pricing and informed me that we are in a recession. I posted a plea for help on Facebook and a friend wrote a letter for me to send. It's too good for just Facebook so I thought I'd share it here. In case you don't know, we have three dogs.

"Dear Client,

On behalf of Kris, myself and the Eye of the Islands Ohana, we are pleased to extend our 2009 Economic Recession Rates.

As you are aware, we at Eye of the Islands pride ourselves on our personal touch, attention to detail, and dedication to all of our shoots. And, in order to continue business we have released our human staff and have turned to employing our "children."

Photography Fees -

Candids:
- Mocha with camera tied around her collar - $50.00

- Takes GREAT ankle and knee shots. ALSO, first time ever, get the condition of your function room carpet!

-Latte with camera harnest on back - $100.00

- Harnest allows for higher point of view. WONDEFUL chest and boob shots.

Couples Photos:
- Kris will hand his camera over to you - $50.00
- You deal with him always behind you making sure you don't drop it while balancing your cocktails and boss figuring out where he should be, etc.

Mahalo,
Eye of the Islands"

Social Networking

While my mom and dog were ill I started spending time on Facebook. It started with Twitter and I found it was not satisfying...not interactive. Then I checked out LinkedIn. It's made for "professionals" and I've found it boring.

Then there is Facebook. I've become an addict. One of my peeps calls it Crackbook. It's fun, it's fast. You can communicate what you're doing to a lot of people all at once and they can respond in many ways if they choose to. I've added friends that I haven't seen in ages, friends that I see all the time, and people I work with. They're in China, Italy, Mexico, Georgia,  and next door. With some of the people I work with, Facebook, has put them in the cubicle next door. So that makes work fun.

I'm still using Twitter. It's great for news and information. I don't particular care about one-liners that tell you where people you follow are every moment. But thoughts from people I respect like John Maeda, president of the Rhode Island School of Design. I also follow the CEO of Zappos, whose company was named among one of the 100 Best Places to Work by Fortune Magazine. Last week he was twittering from Washington D.C. His twits often link to blog posts.

Here's an exerpt from his post on Twitter and how it has helped him grow personally. I thought the post was interesting.

"For me, it comes down to these 4 things:

1. Transparency & Values: Twitter constantly reminds me of who I want to be, and what I want Zappos to stand for
2. Reframing Reality: Twitter encourages me to search for ways to view reality in a funnier and/or more positive way
3. Helping Others: Twitter makes me think about how to make a positive impact on other people's lives
4. Gratitude: Twitter helps me notice and appreciate the little things in life"

The jury is out on LinkedIn. More of my clients are on it than I thought, but it's just not fun. Life is too short to spend time on something that's not fun.

Happy Birthday, Kris!

Today is Kris' 50th Birthday. He dropped me off at the KCC Farmer's Market and did a run. I got him an iPhone, a Garmin GPS thingy for running and slippahs.

I've been marinating a roast to make sauerbraten tonight. He loves German food. For sides, we're having potato pancakes and red cabbage.

Many years ago a German girl I worked with gave me the recipe and I've kept it. It's perfect.

To Mom and Dad with Love...Thank you

On Friday, January 9, Mom passed away peacefully at home. I'm sure Dad was waiting. He always patiently waited for her. Your world shifts when both of your parents are gone. I miss them immensely.
This is a photograph my brother, Keith took on an Alaskan Cruise we took for their 50th wedding anniversary in 2002. I digitally painted it and used it on a cover for a family album.