Saturday, December 31, 2011

Hau'oli Makahiki Ho and North Shore fun!

Happy New Year! (Hau'oli Makahiki Ho) - 
I hope you all had an awesome year, my year was one of the most challenging and rewarding yet. I got up on stage and did stand-up comedy for the first time way back in June, thanks to Andy Bumatai giving me those first three minutes on stage at the Dragon Upstairs! Also a big shout-out and thanks to Michael C. Hall and James Mane for believing in my comedy, letting me continue to perform every week and giving me really good advice. Another thank you to all the comedyhawaii.com comics, what an awesome group you are and I am proud to have met you all this year http://www.comedyhawaii.com is the place to find out about all Oahu comedy! 
 I completed many awesome watercolor paintings (almost one a week!) and started this blog back in March right after our glorious trip to the island of Kauai, where we found the most awesome waterfall on the planet. We moved house from Monsarrat to a bigger one on Kapahulu, and adopted a new cat named Maowell, who is trying his best to make friends with our other cat, Lush. My Joe got excellent grades, especially in the fall semester, when it was most challenging and we were having sewage problems in our new house (now fixed!) Leaving 2011 with extra confidence and some great pictures of the North Shore - hint: there are fabulous turtle pictures at the end~ ALOHA! Looking forward to new comedy, pictures, music and art in 2012, thanks for following so far and hope you'll continue on my journey with me. remember to think big!

 Me at Chun's Reef, North Shore of O'ahu


 Warning signs

 My 1st attempt at an "Elyse" beach drawing

 North Shore is just so photogenic


 Big waves at Rubber Ducky's by Three Tables beach!


 Joe took this awesome shot!

 Surfa' Joe!




 LOVE the Ironwood trees

Papailoa Beach



 Love this shot, sunbeam shooting straight at Joe!

 Interesting, SUPER-bright green algae at Papailoa beach

 Joe at Papailoa


 Joe takes the best pics of us

 Then, out of the blue, two sea turtles showed up and poked their heads outta the water

 And a third showed up!



Saturday, December 24, 2011

A jam party at our house and Christmas eve day on the reef

With visions of Pennsylvania small-kid days and snow in my head, the water was unusually  clear and beautiful over at Queen's beach today. I used to dream of going to a warm beach in the winter and now I can do just that - I snorkeled around the jetty and found some cool-looking yellow and black fish. Had a Christmas gathering at our house last night, so much great food and music, and awesome conversation, so little time. Fun that both comedians and musician-friends showed up. We will have to do it again and invite more people:   MELE KALIKIMAKA! May all your wishes come true in 2012 (and mine, too ;)

Donna, Lucille and me~

 The set-up

 Chuck Priest played some awesome guitar

 Rhett Butler was there enjoying the music!

 Grant, Joe, Tina, Kim Marie and I jammed late

 Cool pic of Grant and Joe in the "zone"

 Best little Charlie Brown christmas tree ever (and he will live outside til next year just fine)

Queen's Beach

 Snorkeling around the pier





 A happy couple

 The jetty at Queen's


Thursday, December 22, 2011

Waimanalo boogie-boarding and hostin' Christmas Comedy show@Indigo Restaurant

Hi All - 
Happy Holidays! With some time off from my dayjob, I  boogie-boarded an awesome, windy day in Waimanalo the other day, snorkeled with some impressive Surgeonfish another day and hosted the Comedy Christmas night in the Opium Den at Indigo Restaurant in Honolulu's Chinatown. I apologize for not getting a picture of headliner, Jhonny Rox Hollywood, his act was particularly awesome, with Christmas songs and the Minnie song and hilarious comedy~ I want to send out a special thank you out to all of you around the world for following my blog this year so regularly - I started it in March and am so impressed by how many people visit here. In the next year, there will be jewelry give-aways, more fabulous abstract paintings for sale, photographs and comedy pictures and video. Thanks for enjoying the ride with me and don't forget to think BIG - Aloha!



LOVE these waves, they are perfect (for me) every time! Waimanalo is awesome!

 Hostess with the mostest at Indigo Restaurant's comedy Christmas night

 Going over the set list with Rico and Katie-Rose Moreno

 Mila Robinson and hubby Joe, part of our awesome comedy audience

 The power comedy couple, Katie-Rose and Rico Moreno

 Grant Uchida doing his Christmas song

 The hostess tells some jokes to get things started~

 Erika's jewelry give-away~ silver-wrapped seaglass pendant necklaces handmade by me~

 Kehau Jackson made a special guest appearance, truly a professional comic, she was fabulous!

 Cameo Lawrence killed it, her confidence SO inspires me~


James Mane hosted the 2nd half, he is always funny!


 Kristen Sprague was on fire with her great set!

 Charles Shelley was hilarious, he rocked his set


 Surgeonfish at Kaimana Beach, love their bright colors!