Spring Is In The Air

It's been a while since I've blogged.  I'm not even sure why.  This weekend was the first WARM weekend since I can remember.  I feel inspired, I guess.  :)  Yesterday was our first day back at hula from winter hiatus....it was good, and tiring!  My thighs are still burning. 

Today, we went grocery shopping, and then I spent a few hours with Ka'ala outside.  And I believe I created a monster.  I can hear him downstairs now crying to be outside. LOL  It's that Hawaiian blood, I'm sure.

Here are some pictures.....

And he's off....

and off come the shoes....

And look at the flowers blooming in our front & back yards!!

KOOZA, Babooze!

So, my lil girl, my first bourne, my BOOBOO (shhh, she doesn't like me to call her that in front of company) will be 11 on December 17th, and as an early birthday present, I took her to see Cirque du Soleil's KOOZA at the National Harbor.  Check it out at www.nationalharbor.com

Before moving to Woodbridge, we lived in South Alexandria, and were constantly driving along the Potomac so we got to see the construction of National Harbor.  For the longest time we had no idea what all of those buildings were going to be, but it turned out to be pretty neat.  They have a bunch of hotels, restaurants, retailers, and activities along the Waterfront there.  Unfortunately for us, it was an UGLY, rainy day so we didn't get to explore much, however, I definitely want to make plans to go back with the entire family.

So, the show started at 1pm, and I figured since we'd have a long haul and possibly Thanksgiving traffic, we should leave the house at 10am, and thankfully, we did.  When we got onto the Beltway towards the Woodrow Wilson Bridge we ran into a ton of traffic.  I started to notice a ton of cars with the Redskins flags (ROLLING EYES) so I figured the Skins were probably playing at Fed Ex Field today and most of the cars were headed to the game in Landover, MD.  GREAT!  [sarcasm]

We finally made it to the Harbor at about 11:45 and saw the big tent on the Plateau area...better known as the Grande Chapiteau.  *chuckle*  Hearing me trying to speak with a French accent is just hilarious.  Anyway, since we were a lil early, we decided to take the shuttle down to the Waterfront to get some grub.  We ended up eating at Rosa Mexicano - the food was OK.  The guac was good (not as good as mine), but the chicken enchiladas were just ok - the creamy sauce, I liked, but the enchiladas themselves, eh....

Alright, what you all are eagerly awaiting....PICS....

our tickets

Lovely DC traffic

almost there!

Le Grande Chapiteau

look da pretty tree at da Harbor!!

you should see the pic we took at Toys R Us in NYC circa 2004, this is a HUGE improvement

the soon to be birthday girl

This was my first Cirque du Soleil show, and it was friggin AMAZING!!!!  Yall should check it out.

The Talented Mr. Wiley

My husband got major drawing/art skills.  I encouraged him in the past to let me create a website where he could sell t-shirts of famous people he airbrushed or whatever different kind stuffs, but he said, "I feel like you're pressuring me"  WTF!?  No make sense, yeah?  He get one gift, and dammit, I like stop working so get to creating sumting, I say!!! LOL

So, my dotta, Kealaula, finally went decide what pitcha she wanted on the wall in her room.  One hula girl.  I jes went buy some pics when we was at home in August so she went pick one of da hula girls for her daddy to draw.  Came out good......check um out.

HE U'I NO!!!!

Steelers Nation Takes Over the Nation's Capital

It was a beautiful night last night.  Sports pundits project that approximately 20K to 30K Steelers fans were in attendance at FedEx Field for the first regular season game between the two teams in 20 years.  Standing in the Lower Level Section 118, Row 14, Seat 18, it was an AMAZING sight to see so many Terrible Towels waving in the stands and so many black & gold jerseys!!  Steelers fans certainly travel well, but it's clear (as was published in many articles today) that the Redskins were VERY unprepared for the domination - not just on the field, but also in the stands by STEELERS NATION.

See article:  http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsblog/2008/11/redskins_on_the_fan_turnout_di.html#more

Last year, Deijon and I went to the Steelers v. Skins preseason game (which we won), but were way up in the nose bleed seats.  Last night, Corey and I was in the lower level right on the 10 yard line.  We got there early.  So early that the gates weren't even open for folks to get to their seats yet.  We stood around deciding if we wanted some Famous Dave's BBQ or not and noted the amount of Steelers fans there already.

They finally opened them at approximately 6:30, and when we got to our section there was already some Steelers players on the field warming up.

Of course, I had to get a few pics with the players in the background.

This was MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL so it was pretty damn exciting to be in the stadium!  Lots of bells & whistles and Redskins PROPAGANDA!!  But that was quickly drowned out by resounding chants of HERE WE GO STEELERS, HERE WE GO and Terrible Towels waving.

It was exciting to see Coach Tomlin & a few of my favorite players.

Polamalu - do you see all that hair!?

Big Ben!

Coach Tomlin

And now, on to the game....

Coin Toss, Redskins Receive

Opening Kickoff

There goes that NUMBER ONE "D"!!

On the 1, for our first TD of the night

TD!!!!!!

Shut em out of the endzone all night!!

2nd TD!

3rd is up next!

Ahhhhh TOUCHDOWN!!!!

GAME OVER!!!!

Housewarming Pa'ina!

A great time was had by all.  My sister Maile got into DC on Friday (10/3), and she helped me cook all day Sunday.  By the time the pa'ina was pau that night, we couldn't even move or walk!  Ouah feets was SOAH!  LOL  Folks gathered in the garage to 'ai ka mea'ai, others watched football in the basement, and on and on....

Many of my friends, hula sisters and co-workers showed up.  I was happy many of them cared enough to come!  So, onto what we're all here for....the pics!!

The feast! (mac salad, teriyaki short ribs, shoyu chicken, shoyu onion poke, tako poke, taegu, kim chee, daikon, pickle onion, chicken long rice, kalua pig, raw crab, poi, rice, toss greens, fried noodles, etc)

Ka'ala & Aunty Ray eating Fried Noodles

Pigging out in da Garage!

Mino'aka!

Ray, Ka'ala, Me, Steph, Maile, April

The Colonel, Randy & Kumu Kanikapila

Randy & Kumu Kanikapila!

Love this pic!

Hi'ilawe

Kipukai - watch out foah da ladder!

Busy, Busy Weekend

Ah, I believe it is technically MONDAY - the weekend is PAU!  It's 12:03am, and as I am winding down from our extremely busy weekend, I am watching Chevy Chase be interviewed by Howard Stern on Howard's channel on On Demand.  I'm a huge Howard fan, I listen every day.  I love it.

Anyway, Saturday was Founder's Day for those of us Kamehameha Alumni on the East Coast.  It was held in Accoceek, MD and some folks came from DE and NC!  Wow!  Aunty Gerry Johansen who organizes alumni functions around the country was in attendance, as well as the two headmasters for the Big Island campus and the Maui campus.  They did a presentation on each of their schools; it was real neat to hear about the students and how the campuses are situated in their respective areas.

The ceremony was held at Christ Episcopal Church, and it was a full blown ceremony.  We sang many of the songs I remember from Founder's Day in high school and intermediate.  There were a few times I teared up - it was pretty emotional for me.  I wish I had pictures, but I forgot to take the camera. 

After the Founder's Day, our halau performed at Pacific Fun Day in Upper Marlsboro, MD.  It was raining and HOT and HUMID and just UGH, miserable.  The floor was soooooo slippery, I was worried I was going EAT IT.  

Then today, we had so much running around to do.  Get some stuffs for da house warming pa'ina, which is in 7 days, finish school clothes shopping for the kids, and cleaning up da hale!

I stay tiyed from da weekend!!!  Geez.  

I'm Still Here

Aloha!  We've been settling in nicely in our home.  It's been slow lately with me being super busy at work, but it's coming along.  Right now it's mostly Deijon's bedroom that's lagging and putting up the pictures.  I'm waiting for about 7-8 pictures to come back from the framers so I can get them up on the walls.

I had bid on the Battle of Nu'uanu Pali by Herb Kane on Ebay, and the seller countered my offer, and I took too long to accept and missed the deadline, and I'm kicking myself for it!  When I entered another bid, it expired too.  'Auwe!  It would've looked PERFECT in our formal living room.

Anyway, I've been crazy with deadlines over the last few weeks at work, and I have 3 budgets due for review on Tuesday.  Ack!!  My sister comes in on Oct 3rd so that's something great to look forward to.  Our housewarming pa'ina is on the 5th so she'll help me cook.

What's really exciting is my new logo that I had created for the beginnings of my new venture.  I can't wait to get the final version, which is hopefully tomorrow.  I will post a pic once I get it.

I'm off to finish up budgets.....