“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”-Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”-Pablo Picasso
“Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”-Dr. Seuss
“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us.”-Alexander Graham Bell
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To all our friends and subscribers we wish you a very happy 2016. May the new year be filled with happiness and prosperity for you and yours based on your notion of the meaning.
For our first blog of the New Year we decided to re-post some of our favorite articles and postings from 2015. If you are a new subscriber you may be reading some of these postings for the first time. If you’ve been with us for awhile, thanks for giving them a second read.
From our family to yours
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Actual courtroom exchanges
WITNESS: Did you actually pass the bar exam?
WITNESS: He was about medium height and had a beard.
ATTORNEY: Was this a male or a female?
WITNESS: Unless the Circus was in town I’m going with male.
WITNESS: All of them. The live ones put up too much of a fight.
Just sayin’
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don’t.
A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
Lost In Translation
Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: “Nothing Sucks like an Electrolux.”
Pepsi’s “Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation” translated into “Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave” in Chinese.
An American T-shirt maker in Miami printed shirts for the Spanish market which promoted the Pope’s visit. Instead of “I saw the Pope”(el Papa), the shirts read “I Saw the Potato” (la papa).
Have a nice day!
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Aloha, I’m Kathy. If you’re new to watercolor, it’s important to know that using the right tools is essential for good results. So, let’s jump right in.
A good watercolor brush’s job is to hold and release water (and of course, the paint).
There are so many different types of watercolor brushes (see links below), but for the beginner, I am making suggestions based on the easiest and quickest way to get started.
Again, there are many different shapes of watercolor brushes, the most common starter brushes are rounds and flats.
You should know that there are two basic hair types. Natural hair and synthetic.
Natural Hair brushes have superior paint-holding ability because of the tiny, microscopic “scales” along the shaft of the hair. Shorter-length hair is more readily available, making the longer lengths more expensive. Natural hair may be used alone (pure) or blended with other hairs or synthetic filaments to achieve a combination of performance and price.
The key points are that natural brushes hold a lot more paint and water but tend to become worn with use. The synthetic brushes are usually less expensive, tend to hold their shape longer, but do not hold as much paint or distribute it as evenly as natural hairs.
My suggestion would be to start with a few round brushes for the detail work and a couple of flat brushes for the washes.
Rounds-8, 10, 12, 20
Flats-1/2 inch, 1 inch
Quality is important, and since the natural hair brushes are the most expensive you can look for some of the very good synthetic blends that are available.
Useful Brush Links
www.art-is-fun.com/paintbrushes-for-watercolors
www.dickblick.com/info/brushpdf/brushshapes.pdf
www.emptyeasel.com/2013/07/22/how-to-choose-good-mid-range-watercolor-brushes-and-where-to-buy-them-online/ Continue reading Getting Started With Watercolors
In case you never met them, let me introduce you to Katie and Teddi. They are the sun and the moon with distinct personalities and boundless spirits.
Katie is almost 14 years old, a pure bred Bichon Frise and has been with us since she was an 8 week old puppy.
Teddi is a mixed breed, probably a Maltese and a Poodle. Teddi has been with us since September 2012, He is 8 years old.
Katie is determined. If she were a salesperson she would bug you until the close. She never quits and rarely complains. Her strength is amazing given her 20 lbs.
Teddi is a gentle soul who has had many homes. He was taken from a shelter, frightened and apparently abused. When his adopted owner could no longer care for him he ended up with my mother who nursed him back to health and happiness. He then came home with us. He visited with my mother until the very end .
At first, Katie didn’t take too kindly to Teddi. But, they are now inseparable and do everything together. They have become fixtures in our little village development.
There are some lessons to be learned from our pets:
Peace!
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McDonald’s is such a fixture in America that we pretty much take it for granted. Ya get hungry, ya stop, get a burger, fries, a drink and off you go. What could possibly be worth writing about?
Recently, McDonald’s introduced their Sirloin Burger. Guess what? It’s worth writing about. This burger comes in three varieties: Lettuce & Tomato, Bacon & Cheese, Onion & Mushroom. All three are very good.
The Onion and Mushroom was a real surprise. Not something you would expect from a fast food joint. Very tasty. My personal favorite? Bacon & Cheese! 1/3 of a pound of good quality meat, well cooked on a nice bun. It was so filling that the fries seemed to be overkill. But who can resist McDonald’s fries?
As an afterthought, we decided on some dessert (as if we needed it). Two Dipped Ice Cream cones and coffee for under $5.00. The soft vanilla ice cream was covered with a crunchy chocolate dip in a wafer cone. It ain’t gourmet but, pretty darn good.
So sue me, I like McDonald’s.
It has been a very long time since I visited Arby’s, mostly because the menu was so limited. My, oh my how things have changed. The menu was almost deli like.
Our first thought was to order something on a King’s Hawaiian Sweet Roll. These items were sold out this day so we went to plan B and ordered a couple of deli sandwiches.
Kathy ordered a Reuben Sandwich. This was more than you would ever expect and pretty close to New York deli. It was on marbled rye bread filled with freshly sliced corned beef, melted Swiss Cheese, sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing. Very, very good!
I had the Smokehouse Brisket on a roll. My sandwich was topped with smoked gouda, crispy onions, mayo and BBQ sauce. This was not something I would usually order but, the picture looked good and I wasn’t sorry for my choice. Yum!
Both sandwiches came with tasty Arby’s Curly Fries and a large drink and really good service, all for under $20. This was pushing the fast food price envelope a little but, well worth it.
Breakfast at Burger King, who knew? Not me.
There were plenty of things on the menu but, once we cast our eyes on the Hot Cinnamon Rolls we stopped reading the menu.
The Otis Spunkmeyer Cinnamon Rolls are made with warm dough filled with cinnamon and topped with cream cheese frosting. If you are on a diet and counting calories, your diet just got shot to hell. These were so good that I almost went back for another order. Discipline prevailed.
Four Otis Spunkmeyer Cinnamon Rolls and two very good cups of coffee, around $10. What a deal!
Peace, health and prosperity.
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Immediately after arriving at Kahului Airport we shuttled over to pick up our rental car/SUV. The reservation was made through a third party and not directly with the rental car company. The Ford Edge that we reserved was not available and I really had to pull some teeth to get one. Lesson learned! Make a reservation directly with the car rental company, even if it costs a little more.
So, after leaving the rental lot we headed over to the West Side of Maui and checked into The Napili Kai Beach Resort. A little bit of heaven! This is where Kathy and I met all those years ago when I was a Hana tour guide. She was staying here and I picked her up early one morning in June to take her on tour with a van full of other guests. The rest is history and a story for another time.
May is not that busy on Maui and the front desk was gracious enough to upgrade our room to a beachfront suite and apply a discount to boot. Don’t ya just love the aloha spirit?
Although the weather for the first few days was pretty wet and windy it did not dampen our spirits. In fact, it enhanced the beauty and Hawaiian feeling of the place.
This is a great hideout from the major resort hotels. Highly recommended!
Next morning we are up bright and early. To get immediately and fully immersed we decided to do the most challenging thing first. What’s that you ask? Driving the Kahekili Highway.
Some years back I took some friends who were visiting on this drive. They wanted to get out of my truck and walk until we cleared the cliffside. Personally, I don’t think it’s all that rough. It all depends on what you’re used to.
As our morning adventure progressed, out of nowhere, on a clean stretch of road, appears a beautiful old plantation house. It turns out to be The Kaukini Gallery.
We did most our our gift shopping here. The gallery was surprisingly busy as many of the other adventurous souls on this road saw this as a good place to stop before moving on.
Further on down, the road was closed for improvements and we had to wait about two hours for it to reopen. So, we pulled off into a little ranch subdivision and just hung out, listening to the quiet and taking in the beautiful views.
After completing this drive we ended up in Kahului and stopped at Bounty Music to pick up a guitar rental. We then headed back to our hotel for a relaxing afternoon.
The next two days were just chill knowing that Monday we would need to start taking care of business. Did some food shopping and then checked out The Annual Celebration of the Arts exhibit at the Ritz Carlton in Kapalua.
Monday started our business week. We did, however, take some time to stop for lunch at Fleetwood’s On Front Street.
We always wanted to go here but never really had the time. Since we were in the neighborhood we decided to go for it.
This restaurant was started by Mick Fleetwood and the merchandise in the store downstairs from the restaurant is filled with Fleetwood Mac memorabilia and a $40,000 custom Harley that you can buy on the spot. The view of Lahaina Harbor from the rooftop lounge is outstanding and the martini’s were pretty good too.
After a busy day we headed back to our hotel for some rest.
Today is Tuesday and has been set aside for a drive to Hana.
I posted this trip in a previous blog so, I am not going to go too far into it. I have driven this road at least 300 times. The trip never gets old and there are still new things to be found.
We stopped for lunch at The Travaasa Maui Resort before heading around the backside of the island. Cell service was surprisingly good and we were able to send and receive a few business texts.
For the full story, click on the above links
Today is Wednesday and most of the day will be spent house hunting, But before getting into it we met our friends Joe and Marie for lunch at Cafe O’lei in Kihei.
This has become a favorite of ours and many other local Kihei and Wailea residents.
We always like seeing Joe and Marie. Their spiritual and body building advice is indispensible. Continue reading Trippin’ Maui
Do you like perfume? Have you ever thought about making your own blend? I have been making perfume for about three years now and have come up with some pretty good formulas. I have also made plenty of really awful scents. But, with this endeavor, you learn as you go.
There is some investment and a lot of time involved. You also need a good area to work in. For now, I am only posting one formula and not an entire list of formulas or equipment and techniques. I will say that the chemicals need to be mixed in a specific order. This is very important! 1. Alcohol 2. Base notes 3. Middle notes 4. Top notes 5. Fixative, Curing takes a minimum of two weeks. I will provide a set of links to very good websites to help you get started. The following formula is for a fragrance that I call “Ariel”. This formula makes 2oz of Eau de Parfum. It is inspired by the fragrance “Angel”.
If you’re already making your own fragrances, try this formula out.
Use the best chemicals you can afford and your product will be something special. We will be adding our own custom fragrances to the product line as time goes on
Books & Essential Oils
Supplies & Chemicals
www.creatingperfume.com (This is a good place to start)
Bottles & Glass
Beakers and Measuring Equipment
Inspiration
Writing this post was so much fun that we really had to apply some strict discipline in order to keep it professional.
Before heading over to Maui for a while, we decided to sample some of what Phoenix/Scottsdale has to offer. What could be more fun than sampling Martinis and sharing the recipes?
Our first stop was the Soul Cafe in North Scottsdale. This is already one of our favorite spots and the perfect place to start our bar tour.
April 10, 2015, Happy Hour
The atmosphere is laid back and down to earth. The staff is friendly and casual. Sheila, the owner, stopped by for a few minutes to chat. The very excellent bartender, Conor, was kind enough to share the recipes of the drinks he recommended. Thank you, Conor!
Cut strawberries
Muddled Jalapenos
Mint & lime flavoring to taste, a few drops are sufficient (you can muddle fresh mint with lime rinds if you don’t have flavoring)
1/2 oz Strawberry Puree
1 1/2 oz Skyy Strawberry Vodka
Muddle the jalapenos (and the fresh mint with lime rinds if you’re going to use them) in the shaker, add ice, vodka , mint, lime and puree. Shake, strain and pour. Float the sliced strawberries on top and add a sliced jalapeno to the rim.
1/2 oz Vanilla
2 oz Coconut Vodka
Splash of pineapple juice
1/2 oz Cake Vodka
1/2 oz of heavy cream or half and half, depending on your taste
Toasted coconut
Pour the liquids over ice into a shaker. Spin the rim of the martini glass in simple syrup and dip the sticky rim into the toasted coconut. Shake, strain and pour.
This is a high octane drink! It is so tasty that you can easily down three of them before you even feel the first one. Eat something with it.
Onward and upward!
April 15, 2015, Happy Hour
Next on our list is Roy’s Desert Ridge at the J. W. Marriott Hotel. Back in January we posted an article on Roy’s cuisine. Now it’s time to comment on their drinks.
We started going to Roy’s in Hawaii when the first one was opened in Hawaii Kai on Oahu in 1988 and were thrilled when one was opened in Phoenix .
In a fitting send off to tax day, what better place than the bar at Roy’s? The atmosphere of the bar, restaurant and grounds are as close to a Hawaiian resort as one can get without actually being in Hawaii. The bartenders, Robert Holditch and Kenny Carlson were great and the restaurant manager, Chris Karkoski was very gracious and informative.
This is Roy’s signature martini and the recipe is for a batch that serves six. If you’re going to serve this at a party, it needs five days advance preparation prior to serving and believe me, it’s worth it!
1 Ripe pineapple
2 Cups of Skyy Vodka
1 Cup of Malibu Coconut Rum
1 Cup of Stoli Vanil
2 oz of simple syrup
Slice the pineapple into one inch pieces and store the slices in a gallon container. Thoroughly blend the Skyy Vodka, Malibu Coconut Rum, Stoli Vanil and the simple syrup. Pour the mixture over the pineapple slices. Let the whole thing sit at room temperature for five days to infuse the flavor. When it’s time to serve, pour over ice, shake and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a wedge of fresh pineapple leaving the skin on the wedge. Yum!
Roy Yamaguchi opened his first restaurant in Hawaii in 1988. This drink is in honor of that day.
1 1/2 oz Finlandia Grapefruit Vodka
1/2 oz Patron Citronge Liqueur
1/2 oz Soho Lychee Liqueur
1/4 oz Pomegranate juice
1/4 oz Fresh grapefruit juice
Shake, strain and pour. Drop in a whole lychee to complete. Some of the brand names may be hard to find, if so, use common sense substitutes.
Moving right along. Continue reading Martini Madness
Now I know these little tidbits have been around forever. But, I think if it’s worth saying it’s worth saying more than once. And besides, I’m a big believer in karma.
Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
Don’t believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.
When you say, “I’m sorry”, look the person in the eye.
Never laugh at anyone’s dreams. People who don’t have dreams, don’t have much.
In disagreements, fight fairly.
Don’t judge people by their relatives.
Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
Remember the three R’s:
· Respect for self
· Respect for others
· Responsibility for all your actions
When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice.
Spend some time alone.
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