Hawaiian Entry #3 | No Fanny Packs

This is part of a sign before you enter Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hi. It made me laugh, so I took a picture :)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas is the only time of year when I feel compelled to use our fireplace. Since our living room is quite small, and the layout for a TV only makes sense that it is placed DIRECTLY in front of our fireplace, that poses a small problem this time of year.

My husband corrected this for us! He found the fireplace channel on the CW that shows a real working fireplace, decorated for Christmas, that even plays Christmas music! It was so hysterical and ironic that I had to take a picture and of course share it with all of you :)

I would like to thank the CW for creating such fine programs such as this holiday fireplace scene and Gossip Girl, DVR for making it possible to stop, rewind, and replay our technologically advanced "fireplace," and Charleston for having such great weather that I don't need to have a fire the other 364 days a year.

Modern Winter Design - Merry Christmas!

Once again, holiday design can be very traditional, but there are SO many options for Christmas that you can pretty much get any period design you desire. Christmas overtakes the stores starting before Halloween can even come and pass. Before you know it, fall decorations are 50% off during mid October! How else will they have enough room to deck the halls with Christmas fare? (Hint: and with these bargains, this is when you buy your next year's Fall decorations!)

Personally, I like a modern take on traditional design. I think modern design in this particular instance comes in the lines of your pieces. Ornament wreaths, plain cut stockings, simple tree skirts, polka dots; this is where you get your modern designer home, but stick with the Christmas colors! Reds & greens, and even what some designers have done with pinks and lime greens, or the addition of silver to go with its more traditional brother, gold.

All of these options keep the user involved and lets you pick and choose the way you want to portray this holiday of great magnitude. Yes, even baby Jesus can be modernized! [see picture above for Alessi nativity scene] Point is, with so many options you can be choosy, and since Christmas comes once a year, every year, pick pieces that are sure to last - as your children will be fighting over those ornaments before you know it!

Hawaiian Entry #2 | Ribbon Lei

While on the cruise ship we were taught local culture by "Hawaiian ambassadors" and made leis a few times during the trip. We made a kukui nut lei followed by the orchid lei, but my favorite was the ribbon lei.

They can be made by using any color grosgrain ribbon you choose and can be woven with up to 16 colors! I have managed to make a 6 color one, but that takes about 3 yards of ribbon and usually that is the longest that ribbon spools are sold. I would have to buy in bulk to tackle any more colors! :)

The Hawaiian culture uses the ribbon leis at graduations, weddings, and really any celebration and the best thing about them, in my opinion, is that they can be color coordinated with your school's colors! They also last forever when compared with the orchid lei.

Spelling Mistakes...

If you can't spell, I will automatically assume I am smarter than you, whether or not that is true. I can't help it. I will give a little more room for someone who is handwriting something, but if you are using any type of email or word processing program, spell-check will HELP you! :)

This also goes for your and you're... and there, their, and they're. But you are pretty much on your own with that one.

Now, you take a look at the back of this van and tell me if you would hire them to do your refrigeration work? [not even to mention the "N" is backwards...]

Hawaiian Entry #1 | Mochi

Mochi, defined by Wikipedia, is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki.

While also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time. Mochi is also a prominent snack in Hawaii, Taiwan, Cambodia, and Thailand.

My friend Tiffany told us about it and when we stopped at a grocery store in Maui, we found the golden nuggets in the frozen food section. This delicious little gummy rice treat shown in the picture above is filled with ice cream! Yum. I tried the strawberry and the coffee flavor and enjoyed both.

We didn't end up eating them all so they stayed in the car while we stopped at the beach... when we came back the ice cream was melted and all that was left were the rice sacks filled with ice milk. I will spare you the word I used to compare them to [ball sacks]. I didn't try them, but I bet they would have still tasted good!

WRONG Shipment! :(

wrong lamp!

lamp I ordered

So I have been waiting for 2 weeks to get my new bed side table lamps for our master bedroom (one of those weeks I was on vacation, I will admit), and they are here! But they are wrong...

I stared curiously at the two boxes wondering how a 14" drum shade could fit in each one... I had a pit in my stomach because my first thought was that I had messed up and didn't realize the shades weren't included (and shades can be expensive!), but once they were opened I quickly realized why! West Elm accidentally sent me the Industrial Sconce instead of the Drum Sconce.

The SKU# and description was correct once on the box and incorrect once on the box and the shipper must have read the incorrect one... long story short, the correct ones will be here on the 20th! (Provided the exact same issue does NOT happen again with the incorrect SKUs...). More to come on this one and installation pictures are forthcoming!

Modern Gingerbread House

Well, I've been in Hawai'i for the week so that is why there were a lack in posts. I will update more on my vacation soon! For now, I have been pondering modern design in a traditional holiday activity...

I recently saw an Acura commercial featuring items that were frivolous. One of the people on the commercial paid a famous architect to design his gingerbread house in a "modernist style" and I found these pictures showing similar houses to the one in the Acura commercial.

It may be frivolous if you pay an architect to design your gingerbread house, but what if you are the architect (or even a fan of architecture) who designs it themselves? I always see those little kits in Wal-mart for 10 bucks for the generic 10x10 gingerbread house that everyone has seen a million times... boring! I now (if I have time ;)) want to design my own gingerbread masterpiece! Why not?