Redecorating!

Our apartment is lovely, but it has one major flaw (well, two: we have no oven, either):

Joe, being from Massachusetts, cannot abide having this in our home

There were two of those; one was in the bedroom and the other in the bathroom. They were invading the private, safe spaces of our home. Something had to be done:

Bedroom

One by one, I began recovering all of our wall plates with vintage Hawaii photos found in an old guide book that I got at a Friends of Kaneohe Library sale. Helping the community and ridding our home of the Yankees at the same time? Yes, please! Here is how the rest turned out:

Bedroom

Bathroom

Bathroom detail

Lava flow!

Ancient and clunky fixtures in Joe's workspace...

Are replaced with images of young tribesmen..

...helping a chief with his ceremonial dress

 By my desk

The living room

Kitchen counter

Yes, this is supposed to be sideways- refrigerator plug

Kitchen light detail

See how this livens up our kitchen?!

Cucumber Salad Recipe

Here is the recipe for the delicious cucumber salad I made mention of last week. This is my recipe; modify as needed.


Ingredients
2 japanese cucumbers
1 vine ripe tomato
1/2 green bell pepper
3-4 tablespoons goat cheese (or as much as you like for taste)
3 mini sweet red peppers
garlic wine vinegar
oregano
basil
ground black pepper

Directions

1. Peel cucumbers and cut into chunks. I quartered them and then sliced up the quarters.
2. Cut green pepper and tomato into chunks.
3. Slice red pepper and halve each slice (red bell pepper will work as well, cut into chunks just like the other veggies).
4. Place goat cheese in a microwave safe bowl and heat just enough to soften; about 10-15 seconds.
5. Sprinkle oregano, basil and ground pepper into the goat cheese. I didn't measure, I just taste-tested as I went.
6. Add a splash of the vinegar to the cheese mixture and stir immediately to avoid curdling.
7. Combine the cucumber, bell pepper and tomato in a bowl and stir in the cheese mixture until everything is coated. Use more cheese or vinegar if you desire a stronger taste.
8. Enjoy!

Top Five Reasons Hawaii has Improved My Life

Hawaii may be frustrating, but it has certainly done some great things for me, too:

I've learned to relax enough to go to the beach regularly

I've discovered a love of hiking (and tree climbing)

I don't mind walking places instead of driving

Teaching Stage Management has made me have to be a better Stage Manager

I have been and will continue to be exposed to new cultures through instructors and friends

Kennedy Theatre Beautification- Before

This summer, there is a beautification project going on in the Kennedy Theatre. The project is led by professor Mark Branner, and coordinated by Meg. Basically a bunch of us are donating time to clean, rearrange, paint, and decorate the building. I am excited about making the building a more inviting place for students, faculty and staff to spend time, and I'm so glad that Mark worked to make this project a reality. The project will take all summer to complete since both Mark and Meg are leaving town for a while, but I thought I'd post the "before" pictures so you can appreciate the magnitude of the project.

Nicole and Dani repainting the bulletin boards for the hallway

The plain walls

This wall will become a place for student displays

There used to be a chalkboard and bulletin board here. Since the 80s. Full of termites.

Yasu is washing the walls. We washed all the walls on the first floor.

The project involves clearing out classrooms to make them less claustrophobic, creating a student area under the stairs, painting a wall with chalkboard paint (fun?) and cleaning up and minimizing the boards on the walls. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it is finished.

The Florida Trip: Play by Play

Thanks so much to all friends and family we got to see while in Florida, and special thanks to those that hosted us. Here is the rundown of the whirlwind trip:

Day 1- Joe flies into Tampa at 6am; Lani flies in at 5pm; food and beer in the evening

Day 2- Lunch with Jesse, Liz and Careena at Three Coins, shopping for wedding clothes, visit to April and Josh- Joe stays for dinner, I head to Largo to see Stephanie Reitz!

Visiting with Pumpkin at Josh and April's

Day 3- breakfast at First Watch with Steve, haircut for me at Forever Beautiful with the always talented Victor, then to Armada Games for Magic play time with Steve. Back to St. Pete Bch for wedding rehearsal and bachelor/bachelorette parties.

Day 4- Wedding Day! Breakfast in St. Pete with Ged, Nick and Nick's lovely fiancee, Nicki. Then coffee at Kahwa, back to the beach to hang out with Shawn until set-up time, then prep and WEDDING! So beautiful and such a pretty reception at Kristin's sister Lauren's house (which was soooo pretty!).

There is a bit of a story here with the wedding, involving almost forgetting to bring the rings, me vaulting lounge chairs at the resort pool, Ged getting pulled in to usher and help with various wedding tasks, Joe seating guests up to the very last minute and some silly photos on the beach after the ceremony, but I won't get into any of that ;)

The reception was lovely; there were white twinkly lights everywhere, white table cloths, glowing orchid centerpieces, homemade food (how can you not love burgers at a wedding?), meaningful toasts and lots of love.

Top it off with some more Ged hang out time and it was a great day!

Ged and Kelleigh adopted a werewolf over the weekend

Day 5- Party at the Moore's! Chris, Abby and baby Bennett were kind enough to host a get together so we could see lots of friends in one place. Good food, good friends and Apples to Apples (if you haven't played this game, you seriously need to).

Day 6- I had lunch with Megan in Clearwater and got to see the Capitol Theatre where she works. Florida people, check out this article about the renovation project it is about to undergo. After that was a trip to The Patel Conservatory and some catching up with friends and colleagues there, then on to Origami Sushi with the Moores! Next we drove to Orlando to see Ed, with whom we also stayed up very late.

Day 7- Lunch in Sarasota with Grammy and Joe's aunts, then laundry at dad's house and on to the McColgan's in Tampa, where we got to see a rehearsal of Steve's proposal to Bethany (she said yes!). It was this great slapstick chase and if I ever get video, I will link to it. Then magic was played and I passed out on the couch.

Day 8- I flew out of TPA at 7am, Joe went to Port Charlotte to spend 2 days with Grammy. I spent my plane ride finishing a script that was due when I got back (any Choose Your Own Shakespeare fans out there? I'm bringing it back...).

This is Brutus. He loves you.

Day 9- Joe returns to Tampa, gets to see the season finale of Some Sort of Show, and hangs out with the Moores again.

Day 10- Joe goes to work and gets to see Greg and Dave (jealous). Also, he had Taco Bus (jealous again). Greg, I miss you!

Day 11- Joe flies back from Florida and I joyfully pick him up from the airport (which I had to leave the beach to do) because I was missing him so much!

Whew!

The Sunshine State!

Living in a place as beautiful as Hawaii has really made Joe and I slow down and appreciate what is around us. In a lot of ways Hawaii has been frustrating, but it has also been so good for us in a number of ways as well. One thing is that when we went home for a week, I realized just how lovely our area of Florida really is. Here are some of my favorite shots from my trip home:

Hello, Florida sky!

Crossing the Howard Franklin bridge

Lovely St. Pete Beach. I grew up here!

Hello, palm trees. I've missed you. You are different from Hawaii palms

The contrast here is beautiful. Storms don't roll in like this in HI.

A view of the water going over the bridge HOME!

I've always loved this view going to and from St. Pete Beach

It was good to be home

Mango Pear Salad

This salad was absolutely delicious, super simple, and perfect for a hot summer evening. I was able to make it with what I had laying around (mangoes are in season and falling off the tree in our yard. Yes, it's ok to be jealous.

I wish I could take credit for this salad's creation, but alas, I cannot. I'm just going to post the link to the recipe. My only modifications were that I left out the grapes because it was so delicious without them, and I used salt even though my pears weren't super sweet. I also added a little extra mango juice and pulp left over from the slicing.

Recipe: Mango Pear Salad

And for those who don't normally work with mangoes, a tip.

None of the pictures came out very well, but the salad did

Round Top Loop Drive

On Saturday, Joe and I took a scenic drive on the Tantalus Drive/Round Top Loop. This route goes around the Round Top Forest Reserve and includes the Puu Ualakaa State Park.

The route

And now for the views:

I just loved how the clouds looked floating over Honolulu

This is our required happy/sad picture

We do this on all our vacations

From the side of the road

Another angle

Manoa Valley- over that ridge lies Palolo Valley, where we live

You can see the UH campus in this shot

Diamond Head in the distance

This series was shot from the lookout point at Puu Ualakaa State Park

Park entry

My favorite picture from this drive. Also from the lookout point at the park

We live here!

Shot with Joe's phone