Pretties for the September Babies!

I am thinking a little bit ahead this year!  I have some earrings ready for all those born in September and for those who just love blue sapphires and pearls.  Sapphire is the September birthstone.  You can ready some interesting historical and factual information about the sapphire gemstone on the AGTA website.  I will work on some designs without pearls - but I love the contrast of the beautiful, creamy white of pearls with the translucent blue of sapphires!

AAA freshwater pearls, AA natural sapphires and long sterling drop earrings

AAA freshwater pearls, AA natural sapphires and sterling silver earrings

Good and not-so-good food places on our Hawaii trip

We had a blast visiting Oahu and the Big Island on our recent Hawaii trip.  I wanted to give a quick run down of the places we LOVED for food and those that were not so loved.  On Oahu - we LOVED Lulu's in Waikiki for breakfast. We went there on our last day after having a VERY disappointing breakfast buffet at Jimmy Buffett's @ the Beachcomber the day before.  Lulu's was right next door to our hotel so it was a much more pleasant walk in the humid morning sun than the somewhat lengthy walk to Jimmy Buffett's.  If you have a BIG appetite then you might be better off going to the buffet - just be ready for very generic food and the WORST pineapple we had on the islands.  I expect to get GREAT pineapple while in Hawaii and always have before.  The pineapple at Jimmy Buffett's was somewhat sour and not too tasty.  The servers at Lulu's are much more friendly as well - but you don't get a lot of service at a buffet.  I have to say the fellow making omelets at Jimmy Buffett's was talkative and interesting - but I just wasn't wanting a hot omelette after working up a sweat walking to the restaurant - LOL!

We had great luck finding excellent places to eat in Hilo.  We were pretty tired when we finally got to the B&B and they had a restaurant delivery service available so we gave it a try.  We ordered from New Star Restaurant and were pretty disappointed with what we got.  I assume they have a brick and mortar restaurant as well and we'll pass it on by if we ever see it at some point in the future.  On the other hand we went driving around one night just looking for some place to eat and decided to give Osaka's a try.  It is right on 11 as you head towards the bay.  It doesn't look like much on the outside (or the inside for that matter) - but it is family owned and run, the servers are incredibly polite and we thoroughly enjoyed the food!  I finally got some excellent teriyaki chicken!  I absolutely LOVED the teriyaki steak kabobs that Duke's used to have on their menu.  They no longer serve them and so I've been looking for good teriyaki in the islands ever since - LOL!  The miso soup was hot and quite tasty, I loved the vinegar cabbage salad (I cannot remember what it is called) and my teriyaki chicken serving was huge (2x what I expected for the chicken) so Tony had yummy teriyaki chicken for breakfast the next day - LOL! 

We also went looking for a farmer's market (other than the one in downtown Hilo).  The gal who prepared breakfast at the B&B told us about one but we didn't quite understand the directions she gave us.  Since they didn't get their coffee delivered over the weekend and I needed a coffee fix we stopped at the Starbuck's in Hilo.

And we had a GREAT view of Mauna Kea and the observatories from the parking lot!

And when I asked one of the Baristas about another farmer's market in the area she said her "Auntie" was just walking in and she would know.  Sure enough - she did!  She gave us directions to the Maku'u Farmer's Market so we headed down the road to find it.  We did indeed find it (you can't miss it on 130) and had another wonderful food find.  Mister D's BBQ!  I had the teriyaki meatballs, Tony had the chicken and both were delicious!  Here's Mister D and his sign in case you're in the vicinity...

During "Flossie" (which was just a bit of rain and wind and nothing worth writing about) we were eating lunch at a wonderful restaurant right along the highway and bay called Cafe Pesto.  I had the Oriental al Pesto
pizza and it was absolutely TDF!  The garlic was so sweet (and from the island!). Tony had the Linguine al Pesto which was also quite good.

Those are the standouts in my memory right now - and it's time to hit the sack so I can be awake for my cousin Adelyn's Surf Cup soccer game tomorrow morning!

But wait!  I can't forget Ken's Pancake House!  After our very tiring hike out to see the lava flowing we asked our guides where we could eat at 9:30PM at night.  They said if we wanted to try some local food go to Ken's or Verna's.  Ken's was first on the road so we dragged sore bodies in and plopped down.  Our server was fun - his recommendation of the spaghetti was spot on (no it would not compare to Tony's Italian mom's spaghetti, but it was pretty good for restaurant spaghetti).  I wanted pasta badly and this hit the spot - even Tony would have ordered it if we went to Ken's again.  The little dinner salad had some nice lettuces other than iceberg, they had REAL Italian dressing (none of that lo-cal garbage that tastes awful) and the garlic bread was decent (but it did need more garlic - LOL!).  I honestly can't recall what Tony had - I was too tired for it to register - but we both left the restaurant with satisfied mouths and stomachs!

Aloha!

Molten Lava on the Big Island!

I'm visiting the big island for the second time and, finally, Pele kept the lava flowing so I could see it!  It was quite exciting!  Tony and I looked at various alternatives and decided that a boat tour would probably not be a good idea since we both get seasick and the videos I saw on the web showed a LOT of bobbing around.  Instead I found a group, Kalapana Cultural Tours,  that does escorted tours over the lava bed to the areas where lava is flowing.  The publicly accessible viewing area is nowhere near where the lava is currently flowing so the only way to legally see the lava is with a guided tour.  All the folks who run the Kalapana Cultural Tours live or lived in Kalapana.  Our guides were brothers, Paul and Primo.  We hiked over raw lava fields (no groomed trails here!) - climbing up lumps of lava, jumping over large and small cracks, slipping/sliding on rough a'a lava, ...  Quite an adventure!  Paul and Primo would tell us about the various plants now growing in some parts of the flow, they described the various neighborhood areas that we crossed (houses burned and the original land is now under 90+ feet of lava).  At the start of tour they have pictures of their land before the lava came - a gorgeous black sand beach with groves of coconut trees, and how it looks now - 90' cliff and just a few plants starting the cycle of rebirth.  Here are a few of the pictures we took.  I'll upload more as I can to my flickr pictures Hawaii set.

Lava flow on 7/28/2013

Tony (yes it was a hot, sweaty hike!) in front of the lava flow

Beautiful blue water along highway 137 on Hawai'i (and a handsome hubby too!)

Happy 4th of July America!

I started out the day watching our local Mira Mesa 4th of July parade and it looks like a new "youngster" is going to try out for our city council position.  I think his name was Chris Cates.  I saw his banner and wondered is Chris a guy or gal?  Then he was walking along the parade route, shaking hands and handing out info pamphlets and introducing himself.  Anyway - it's always fun to see our parade - we're up close and personal with all the paraders and each year some new groups participate.  There were some cool model A cars in this years parade and the Marines had some REALLY cool vehicles.  I have no idea what they were - but they looked interesting.  And I ran into the office manager for one of the companies I consult for. She is a fun person at work and she's really a blast during a parade.  She goes every year so now I have someone else to hang out with when my mom's not in town.  She suggested an alternate viewing spot for the fireworks tonight so we'll try that out and see how it works.  Have a fun time at your local 4th of July events or just enjoy your Thursday if you live somewhere other than the USA. 

And, just to keep you in the spirit - here are some 4th of July theme designs I've made!

Red, white and blue sparkle

Happy Red-White-and-Blue Birthday!

Starting July with a BANG!

I'm starting July off right!  I made myself take pictures of some of my new designs last night so I can get them listed.  So, drum roll please ...... here are some new earring designs!

Multi-color Splash Earrings

Lemon Drop Earrings

And now, back to the camera!  You can find links to all my online designs at cserpentDesigns.com