summer tip

hi ladies

throughout every Avon brochure, you'll find beauty tips & tricks. Avon's current brochure has one I haven't heard before, so I thought I'd share it with you.

with summer here, often we skip perfume. it feels a bit heavy, its overpowering with the summer heat, and to top it off, it will attract bugs from miles away ... all bad things. ew.

I'm sure you've heard of body sprays before ; it's a great alternative to that heavy perfume. its light and sweet, not too heavy, not too strong smelling, and here's the clever tip ... put it in your fridge! when the summer heat gets to you, you can spray your whole body with something cold that smells good ... or you can take a shower, but you know what I'm sayin'!

check out this out (pages 6-7) ... watermelon, cherry blossom, vanilla, grapefruit & mint, red rose & peach, cucumber melon, and on and on. lots of scents to choose from, so I'm sure you'll find one you love. and fyi, there is shower gel and lotion in the same scent to make a full set.

ps. in case you don't know, I do sell Avon. if you love Avon, leave me your email address and I will add you to my mailing list. they often send notices for FREE shipping right to your door!

bald boys

Samuel is now 5 1/2 years, and Elliott is 2 years.

I love how they love each other.

Baldness couldn't be cuter.

making Hawaii home

we are getting settled ... we all NEED it.

its fun getting stuff from garage sales and thrift stores, but its also difficult because you never can find it all at once place. and some things you just need right away but can't find it right away, so you try to substitute and .... sigh ... it's getting there.

the man we scored this $5 vanity from (yep, he sold it to us for $5!!) is a pastor of a church in town, which is "funny," because we were talking in the car (seconds beforehand) about the upcoming weekend and which church we will try first.

so come Sunday, we came back to see him. we were the only white people there. you walk into some places around here and the vibe changes instantly; you KNOW when people don't like you. but here, no one cared. they warmly welcomed us and gave us a big, loud ALOHA! in unison. kinda funny, but also, really sweet.

we ended up moving into a condo/apartment complex; one you could find anywhere. it's kind of a bummer. I was looking forward to something much more "hawaiian," if you know what I mean. but we chose this place because we got a GREAT deal for the amount of space.

I am not complaining! we have a great ocean view, the beach is a mile away, and it's quiet ... aside from the peacocks. have you ever heard a peacock?!

the place below us is a vacation rental, so we can stomp away most of the time, and the place above us has no one living in it ... or at least we have never heard one single footstep up there. and our neighbor across the way brought us cookies the day we moved in. I'd say so far, so good!

a few other things I have learned about Hawaii -

*most places do not come with a dishwasher. I loathe doing the dishes, and now I get to do them every. single. flippin'. day. I guess its my sacrifice to living here, ha! damn you murphy's law!

*obnoxiously lifted trucks here are called "animal style."

*at the farmer's market, you can get 20 lobster tails for $10. crazy!

*the traditional flower behind the ear for ladies, symbolizes your martial status. like a wedding ring, if it's behind your left ear, that means your married. if it's behind your right, your available.

*this one is hear-say, I haven't actually met a person who said this about themselves, but, we've been told there are people who are born and raised here and who have NEVER EVER been swimming in the ocean because of the sharks. to me, that is just craziness!

hypocrites

I am a hypocrite. I've always hated hypocrites ... hate is such a strong word, but really, how can you trust someone who is?

my motto for life is "actions speak louder than words," which hypocrites cannot attain to. you've got to talk the talk AND walk the walk.

the definition states: a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc; that he or she does not actually posses.

since being in Hawaii, almost everything has changed. and it's not all bad, but I feel I have hypocrite written of my forehead.

the original plan was to go to the big island of Hawaii and get into sustainable farming. not necessarily to make money by it (but if we could, awesome!) but for ourselves. to be healthier. get out of "the system" a little bit more. to educate ourselves. pass this onto our kids. yes we could've had done it in Colorado, but for obvious reasons, Hawaii is more desirable. land on this island is still actually attainable (3 acres for $15,000 or so). you'd be surprised how much money you'd have if you sold everything!

and of course we knew at some point hubby would have to get a real job, and with checking craigslist (our answer to everything!) we knew something would work out.

well wouldn'tcha know it, we know someone that lives in Hawaii, Kuai actually. he has had a successful plumbing business for 20+ years and he could use some help. he used to live in SoCal, came to our wedding 10 years ago, and he and his family are christians (real ones). he offered to not just train Matt but also give him a company truck.

coincidence? I think not. in fact, we don't really believe in coincidences anymore, God is just too good. He has always worked out these kinds of details for us throughout our marriage, and this move to Hawaii appears to be no different.

the catch: he doesn't need help on the big island, he needs help on Maui. well, have you ever heard a bad thing about Maui? not me.

there is A LOT of money on Maui, which also makes the land waaaaaaay too expensive for us. try $50-$75,000/acre! not exactly in our budget. so the big decision, postpone this farming endeavor or go for it and find other work? what to do ... what would you do?

like I said, we knew a real job would have to come at some point, and most likely sooner than later. how often does one get a job opportunity like this - working for someone you know and trust, doing something that uses your God-given gift, training, tools, & truck? how do you say no to that? off to Maui.

Maui is a beautiful place!

a few weeks into being there Matt goes on a business trip to Oahu, to sit in on a presentation of a job already sold. basically to get his feet wet. we all come to realize that Oahu is really where we ought to be for this job. it could work in Maui, but it would take off on Oahu. time for another decision.

the farming thing is already postponed, so in that regard, how different can another island be? off to Oahu.

here's the job: this plumbing company has sole rights in the state of Hawaii to sell a product that cleans & re-coats the inside of piping, so demolition is eliminated completely. working with the inside of the pipes doesn't require any down time for business &/or the residents of the building, so its very convenient. the target for these jobs are the high rise buildings downtown, so these are BIG jobs.

Matt is doing sales and marketing for this product. for those of you who know him, you know he can sell ice to eskimos! :) God really have given him a gift; he really does love people and connects with them almost instantly. in theory, it all sounds perfect.

I feel like after we made the decision to move to Hawaii, I have had to fight for people to understand why we make the decisions we do, and I still do.

things happen, life changes, decisions have to be made.

but our actions are not what we said they were going to be ... hypocrites.

I feel like a hypocrite because our move here is not taking us a little bit more out of "the system," but really, putting us right in the middle of it. this job will make us money; chances are, lots of money. his work in downtown Honolulu. how much more in the system can you be?

it very easily looks like we've made these new decision for money, and in a way, we did. money is now essential to live in this world, but our intention from the beginning is still to get healthy, live simply, do homeschool, love life, and not have to look back and say 'what if?'

*sigh*

more to come ...

Hawaii tidbits

things I've learned this past month -

* do not shop at the local mom & pop shop on the corner. soooooo ridiculously expensive! so far, Costco is the best place; fairly close to what we were paying on the mainland. its probably about $1 more per item.

* a partly furnished place means it comes with a stove, fridge, and maybe a washer/dryer.

* a cottage is a free standing house and an ohana (Hawaiian for family) is an apartment attached to the main house. however an ohana isn't necessarily small, its just connected, so usually you'd be sharing a yard and parking.

* duplexes here are usually top and bottom, not side to side.

* not all, but MANY Hawaiians do not like white people, going back to how the US obtained HI in the first place. we are "howlies," a special name for white people like me, more like stupid white people. ha! basically the same as the spanish word "gringo." white people that don't know the language, the islands (geographically), and overall, just ignorant about the culture and history. I have just gotten "the looks," but last week, Matt was told he couldn't park in a particular spot because flat out, he's white.

* NEVER miss the opportunity to get a parking pass if you're in or around downtown. what a nightmare parking can be! also, if you don't know how to parallel park, like me, you will be forced to learn. it hasn't been fun.

* if you ever move out here, it is best to come with as little as possible. I'm now glad we couldn't afford a container to bring all our stuff; it would've been impossible.

* its too bad I don't like fish. you can fish for free here!

more to come, I'm sure.

oxymoron

there are so many people that get tattoos of chinese symbols. you probably know that the chinese language is completely different than ours, using symbols to represent multiple words, sayings, and expressions.

I wonder if they think we're silly because we do that.

this is something hubby and I always wondered about ...

first we wonder if what these people get tattooed, is really what they intend. so many people go to tattoo shops and say "I want that one." our guess is that many do not do the research on the meaning and really know what their getting. what do you think?

secondly, we always wondered if we get their language tattooed on us, do they get english words tattooed on themselves?

well, I saw it for myself yesterday at the pool. a girl had "realize" tattooed on her arm. I never did talk to her; I'm sure there is a story behind it ... but isn't that kinda funny?

learn something new everyday :)

I need a home

I love the idea of a blog, but I don't seem to be very good at it. since I seem to have a bit of a chaotic life, I have a difficult time keeping up with it in my own head, let alone here in blogland. I will try to get better, really I will ... I'm not even entirely sure who reads this anyway!

so do I play catch up? or just start from here?

here's the short of the long - we were in Maui for a month, then come to find out that Oahu is the best place to be for work, so here we are.

I got a new car (well, new to me car) that I love. it's a white VW Cabriolet convertible. its a chick car I realize, but I don't care, it's cute & fun! hubby was getting the motorcycle itch again (I figured it was coming back any day now) but this time, instead of a sport bike, he got an old man bike, a cruiser. with these 2 vehicles we only need 1 parking space, which is a really good thing for downtown Honolulu.

we're staying in a highrise condo vacation rental right now. it's ok. we're on the 35th floor, yikes! beautiful view of course, but I'm waaaaaay nervous about being on the lanai with the kids. we're in the process of finding a more permanent place, probably somewhere just outside downtown. our desire of having land and farming are on hold for awhile, which is a bummer because I was really looking forward to it.

... more Hawaii updates to come ...