Home: more than a place to put your stuff

Every time I leave Hawaii I cant help but shed a tear. I feel so blessed to call her home for the larger part of the year. It really is a special place, I would even venture to call it a magical one. The older I get though the more I find it true that home is infact much more then a place to put your stuff.
Here are a few of my favorite things that make Hawaii home...

the sunsets

playing outside

foot technitians

my house and the love in it

biking
the wildlife

my wonderful roomate family

sunrises

dinner parties

feeling alive! What I miss most about Hawaii though is always the people! Thank you everyone for filling my life in Hawaii with comfortable couches, ones that I never want to leave! I feel so blessed to have such wonderful family members watching out for me all over the world!

"A friend may be reckoned the masterpiece of nature" - Ralph Waldow Emerson

Welcome to the beach!

Since Ive been back in Washington, Im so very impressed by our fully stocked refrigerator, hot showers, and how you can drop crumbs of banana cake on the counter and not worry about ants marching in, however, Hawaii beaches are awfully hard to beat. My friend Miles came 0ut to visit the first few days of my return on his way home to Salt Lake. It was nice to have a buddy here for a little while.

While Miles was here we thought it would be fun to do the undergroud tour of Seattle, which is the old city before it burned down. My grandma warned me it was spooky, its a shame I didnt heed her council. Imagine wandering around in someones half finished basement with some black and whites on the walls. Sorry to be so cynical! But at the expense of being closterphobic, I did learn a few things.

The city burned down on account of this boy was celebrating Sweedens Independence day in a carpentry workshop. He tried to put out a grease fire with water. I guess this is a no no. Soon the whole city was ash. This shows that the power of one truly is great! Luckily no one was injured. Number two, I learned sometimes things truly do have to get worse before they get better. For instance, Seattle apparently had a flooding problem before the fire. Since old Seattle burned down, flooding isnt a problem since now were more above sea level. So without the big blaze, Seattle perhaps wouldnt be the prosperous city we know today!

Im smiling here because its the end!

Out of all the things in Seattle, Miles loved this the most! He wanted to gaze at this 78 story wonder for about a half an hour. Its funny how we all find beauty in different things. I was thinking to myself ,"Whats the big deal?" while Miles on the other hand was completley "floored". I really enjoy traveling by boat! We rode the ferry downtown. It was a lovely day! My grandma likes to use the world lovely whenever possible. If theres anyting to be deemed truly "lovely" in this world, its her.

My lovely great grandma gladys , who coincidentally is famous for her roses.

My aweomse grandpa Roger and lovely Grandma Charleen. I always thought my grandma looked just like Jackie O in her younger years. She is so beautiful and the gentlest person Ive ever known. Like a butterfly! I want to be like her!

sometimes flowers smell so good I wish I could dive into them. monica too loves grandmas roses, who doesnt!
My grandparents took me out to this place Arnies when I got back. They always know of all these awesome places to go. They are always very classy. They always have a way of making you feel special.

I love my grandparents! They also make me rest assure that there is beauty to be found in all stages in life. When I hear them talk about when they were "growing up" it makes me think of my numbered days, and if Im making memories worth sharing someday.

The Mahi Mahi seemed like an old friend to me from Hawaii. It seems you cant just transition from one place to another cold turkey, you have to ease into it! So ofcourse my taste buds told me to order this!

One great thing about being home is our band Platinum Moon is back together. One day my good friend Emily and I in highschool thought it would be funny to get stage names, I was named Shiela Platinum and she was Red Moon .
Red & Shiela in highschool.

Supposedly everyone’s happy on the first day of summer. I concurr and so did Emily, who said the serotonin levels were through the roof!

Emily always says things that aren’t meant to be funny but are always hilarious. For example, she said in Europe her dad was washing his underwear in the sink because he only brings two pairs on account of he hates to pack. (I thought that part was funny) She said her families like, “dad we need to use that sink!” Anyway the point of her story was her family was being loud in Europe and the hotel man came to their room and Emily’s dad came out of the bathroom in his underwear at the same time saying “whose making all that noise?!”


Anyway Platinum Moon is hoping to hold auditions for a drummer, feel free to visit our site (may be a bit misleading, someone we "toured with" emailed us and didn't remember our 23 million copy success)

http://students.washington.edu/smithe6/fit100/project1B/project1B.html

Juney June June

If we ever produce a vinyl record this will be the cover.

Dear June,

Hello again my warm friend, you always bring me joy. When school buses stop their routes and the pool is covered in shouts, I know its you who has arrived.

June Whistles and lemondae stands hit the market, its two AM and Im not even tired. Lets dance with the stars, stay awake for hours and promise to always be friends.

Moving trucks roll in but Im not too sad, remember we'll always be friends? Houses are sold but treaures unfold as we pack up and go for a swim.

Babies get born and the grass turns to brown, but I love to run through her anyway.

Eat popscicles on the porch and watermelon in the back, oh what a life what a June.

Hearts knit together and so does the weather as the suns sticky syrup dribbles down my chin. Relax in the shade, sip some icey Koolaid, a raod trip, an old friend, a familiar feeling, a new June.






It seems like the ends are the best of everything. The last leg of a race they say you should "finish strong", but like the "butt" of the bread, most endings, far too many end up thrown away, uneaten. However, I hope to savor my last few morsels of Hawaii! Aloha Ois tend to get very weepy for me, hopefully I can hold it together. Spring has been so very rich with goodness!

The Great American Bake Sale

Life is so splendid! I heard Oprah say once that she imagines heaven to be a big baked potato and someone to share it with. I imagine heaven smelling like plumeria flowers and tasting something delicious too-like cinnnamon rolls but you have the world to share it with!
One of my favorite quotes is something Mother Teresa said, "We cannot do great things in this world, we can only do small things with great love" How true she is. I truly learned the meaning of this, this weekend, at the All American Bake Sale!

The Great American Bake Sale is this awesome fundraiser going on all across America until June 30th to raise money for kids who cant afford meals. I think the way it works is programs will be set up at their schools in hopes that no children will ever have to go to bed hungry.

I first heard of the sale through Momi, who was planning to bake in Florida, she always has the most awesome ideas, and carries them out so well. I was a little nervious to take this project on without her aid, but I wanted to dip my fingers into the world of fundraising too. It turned out to be pretty easy and so much fun! Thanks Moji!

I set my goal high at 200 and was shocked to see that we could even dabble in the hundred arena. Its times like these that I really do see that there is so much good in the world and so much good that can be done. I love my life and I love my friends! What an instant family they are to me.

I loved yelling in the streets to the passing cars telling them that there was a bake sale going on, after this I considered being one of those walking billboards. It is so easy to spread the word when you are excited about your cause. Yesterday in church they compared sharing the gospel to having your favorite cake and wanting to share it with the world, it is so true, when you know theres something good, it is simply too hard to conatin yourself!

I was so touched by the efforts of my friends and by the community. It is so true that a lot of little bits can = alot of bits.


I love this quote also, "I cannot help everyone everywhere but I can help someone somewhere", this brings comfort to my heart! To know that our little efforts can and do make a difference. I get overwhelmed sometimes thinking of all the needs in the world, but to have a focus helps so much.

You cant win em all. Some customers prefered the drive through meathod.

I was shocked when we counted the money and raised 157 dollars! The money is such a small thing compared to the fun we had! I love baking and spending time with my friends. I made bannana cake and bread, jam cookies, peanut butter cookies, my awesome roomates made cinnamon rolls and cookies and some good samaratins donated some cookies! I was surprised at peoples generosity. Baking is fun, painless and just takes love and a little time.

I love the month of June! It is my favorite month I belive, and it has been since as long as I figured out we get out of school during June.



Do you like this picture? I like to call it me and the mystery arm pit.
I love karioki!
We had a picnic in honor of our friend James, we ate all his favorite candies. Nerds ropes and those tuti fruity sugar candies.



We ate lunch in this grassy area next to Hukilau beach. It reminded me of "Best in Show 2008" look out Issaquah, a pet parade is comming your way! This summer I want to have another Dog Show, but in the meantime I wanted to have a circus, here is my one move. this move is titled "get off".

Matt and Nathan and I did some pedicures and manicures. This is a more contemporary belif of mine, as I used to have a foot phobia, but now I do think that rubbings someones feet is one of the greatest acts of service you can perform for someone.




Matt and Nathan and me are aspiring to be teachers in a foreign country starting this summer. Weve applied to a few areas in Asia, apparently its "the black hole" for learning English. For some reason some of the companies are demanding our photos more then our actual work experience. We took a few hundred family photos, so they will know we mean business.

Our friend Akanae is a master chef. She reminds me of my mommy, being so kind and cooking lots of delcious food. She whipped up Takoyaki or Octopus balls, it was delcious, or Oyshee! She made me homesick for Japan. I hope I am able to go there!