Welcome to the "Aloha Friday Hop", hosted by What Jean Likes and Local Sugar Hawaii! Aloha Friday Blog Hop is a brand new weekly feature that will run for 6 days and occur every Friday at 12 midnight Hawaii Standard Time. Aloha Friday Blog Hop is a great way to meet new people and learn new things as well as increase your blog followers! So let's have some fun!!
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- Grab our Aloha Friday button and include it in a post about the event on your blog and in your sidebar (if you want) to show some love and let everyone know that you participate in the weekly blog hop!
- Go to as many blogs on the Linky as you want and FOLLOW them!! Be sure to tell them that you are from Aloha Friday Blog Hop!!!
- If someone is nice enough to follow you, why not show them some Aloha and some sugar and Follow back any followers you have gained from the Aloha Friday Blog Hop!
This is all about sharing the Aloha spirit with other bloggers out there and helping each other to gain some exposure and find some awesome blogs to read!!! You don't have to be from Hawai'i to participate! In fact, we encourage and welcome people from all over the world to join us on this Aloha Friday Blog hop!
What's neat about our Blog Hop:
-Put the same linky list code on your blog and you'll have the exact same list!
- Your blog visitors can add their blog to your list and it will show up on Everyones lists!
**Leave a comment with your blog address if you are new to our hop so we can follow you back**
Happy Aloha Friday!
Remember, if someone follows you, follow them back! Show some Aloha!
I came across random old pictures of me as a child. I thought I'd share. Considering I remember every single one of these moments (except for the first picture when I was a baby) is something I'm proud of. Can't believe I'm 30 already. I swear it wasn't that long ago that I was posing for my mom to take these pics!!
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| Wow I look super Asian here!! I was about 8 months here with my older 1st cousins Kalama (holding me ) and Keola. Just a little info about me..I'm very mixed ethnicities. My dad is Hawaiian, Korean, Portuguese, Chinese and my mom is French, Irish and Native American (Lakota). |
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| Me and my little brother Peter on Santa's lap in 1984. I hated Santa that year. Check out my brother's sidecomb!! Haha he looks so much like his daughter! |
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| Playing games with my little brother. This was an awesome day. :) |
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| Being a ham in my Easter hat. I think this was 1986. |
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| This is me around 6 years old. That face of mischief was because I accidentally ripped my picture. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this look on my son's face!! |
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| Gosh I was such a ham! |
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| Me and my brother circa 1989. I don't remember why I was having a brat attack that day. Maybe it's because I cut my brother's bangs so my mom went and chopped mine to teach me a lesson ? haha |
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| Little brother Peter and I with my mom. Love her 80s earrings! LOL |
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| My bro and I on a plane to Seattle. He had just finished having a fit over the flight attendant seating him all alone 5 rows away so they traded his seat for the one next to mine. He was always really good at getting his way! |
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| Me before a hula competition when I was super into hula as a kid. |
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| Me and my cousin/bff Kai!! Love this pic of us. :) |
Just a photo post more than anything else. No deep sentiments or thoughts or rants to post tonight. I'm just too tired to do so!! These photos were taken about a week ago in North Shore Oahu at Laniakea beach. There was a haze from the vog (volcanic sulfur based fog that travels with our south winds from the Big Island to Oahu) that created a neat effect on the sunset. Thankfully the tradewinds are back and my severe vog allergies are gone!! Yay!! Vog creates some nasty allergies for me including sore throat, headaches and light sensitivity just to name a few. I could never cut it living on the Big Island. Still, I'm so thankful to live in such a beautiful place that I will gladly endure the occasional vog with a smile.
When I was taking the sunset photos I caught a glimpse of light through some beach plants that was really beautiful and created the prettiest burst of light that I had to snap at least one photo of it!! I hope you enjoy looking at my photos as much as I enjoyed taking them. :)
I hope you all have a lovely and blessed day!!
I'm up at 3:30 am listening to the sound of the wind blowing tree branches and the sound of the rain hitting the ground outside. It's a comforting and peaceful sound. I rather enjoy it since Hawai'i is usually sunny and bright 3/4 of the year. I must confess that I liked rain more before I became a photographer. The photo above was of the overcast sky the other day. You can see rays of sunlight peeking through the mass of clouds. Very lovely.
I find myself sitting here wondering if what the weather man called "intermittent showers/partly cloudy weather" would linger through the weekend and hinder my plans for photo shoots. I don't know why I can't sleep, probably because like a dummy I decided to work out around 11 pm and gave myself a second wind.
I suspect it will be cloudy in my neck of the woods and sunny in the drier areas so I think I'm going to be driving a lot tomorrow....errr today! How's the weather where you live? I know most of the world is just starting to get sunshine and warmth to relieve them of the cold winter.
Here's a little sunshine on your cloudy or rainy day. These are photos I took last summer. I hope you enjoy them.
Both of the photos above were taken at sunset at Waikiki Beach on the island of Oahu.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend and a Happy Easter!!
I don't know about you, but I've been stressed lately. Even as I'm trying to creatively weave words and phrases to describe my emotions and experiences as of late, thoughts concerning my work and my family are circling my mind. I'm blessed and so thankful for all that I have but sometimes it just takes its toll.
I was going through the motions the other day with being overloaded at work and then on top of it, having to help my son learn something that his teacher failed to impart on him because she's alone teaching a class of 30 students. I honestly don't know how teachers deal with the stress of having all these young minds to nurture and teach especially considering the current economy and the overcrowding at public schools. I don't envy her, let's just say that. Nevertheless, there are days when my son comes home completely confused about what geometric theory he is supposed to apply on his 4th grade math homework. It's frustrating. I don't mind helping him but I'm not an awesome teacher. If I wanted to be a teacher, I would be one. I am not the most patient human being ever to walk the earth. Let's just keep it at that....
It must be hard for my boy to live up to my expectations. I am slowly learning that he is not me and I can't expect him to be amazing at all the things I flourished at when I was his age. It's a difficult lesson for me to learn but it's a daily challenge I'm actually starting to adapt to. He is his own person and though he has many similarities to me, I need to stop trying to make him a version of myself. He is kind, gentle, sociable, funny, determined and sensitive. I too am sensitive but I was rather quiet at his age and devoted all my time then to school work and karate. He is perfect just the way he is and I need to help him learn what he needs to be a strong, smart and independent man without pushing him to be something he's not.
Boys are different and I have to remember that. I think it's hard for me because it's just me and my son. He doesn't have a father to guide him and do the boy things with so I have to be both mother and father. I have to play sports with him and get in the mud with him when he wants to. I have to teach him and read with him and watch sports with him. He has so much life in him and I want him to live it and not miss out simply because I am not married and he doesn't have a "dad". Better no dad than the one that helped me make him (truth be told!). The "donor" (I'll just call him that because he did nothing for my son and left when Alaka'i was a baby) was not what you could consider an awesome human being. Selfish, mean, cruel, pathological, dishonest and violent. Thank God I moved on and away from him before he could hurt my boy or worse, impart his bad behavior and habits on him. Anyway, I'm doing all these boy things with my son and then I have work and chores and all that other fun grown up stuff like making and balancing a budget. On top of that are bills and the ridiculously high cost for groceries and gas costs (literally emptying my bank account). At the end of the day I am left utterly exhausted and feeling like I have no time to do anything I really want.
Such is life. You gotta make what ya' got work!!! I manage it all rather well despite some setbacks here and there. I always feel guilty like I should be spending more time with my son Alaka'i. I think every parent out there can relate to that, whether they work or not. No matter how much you do with your kids, you always feel like you could or should do more. We want the best for our children. That's what makes us good parents. I just re-read what I wrote above and realized I went on a slightly ADD tangent there. Sorry about that!! Chalk it up to the fact that I'm exhausted from my day job and my mom job.
I wish the hours in the day where I'm not working were longer. That way I could spend some awesome quality time with my son Alaka'i and also fit time in to take photos and enjoy life a little.
I actually wrote this blog with the intention of relaxing and "winding down" and posting photos I took about a week and a half ago when I had a few spare moments. It's the first chance I've had to really write and post so here it is. These photos were taken at Wailupe Beach Park in Honolulu, Hawai'i. I am so lucky to live in Hawai'i where the weather is warm and the scenery is beautiful. <3
Enjoy these photos and whether you're stressed or exhausted from work or from being a parent (tougher job than ANY "day" job I've had), sit back and look at these photos and imagine you're on this beach with the drink of your choice, just relaxing. Ahhh..
As day transitions to night, the glowing lights from the hotels and walkways below illuminate the beautiful view of Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head from my hotel room at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Rainbow Tower.
Hello my lovelies!!! Sorry it's been awhile since last I wrote. I actually have been so consumed by my day job that I've had little time for anything else. :(
You may notice some pictures from posts missing. That's because I have transferred my photos to a different website as my hobby is becoming more like a side job and I wanted to better monetize my work. I am in the process now of going back and adding the new links for those photos so my posts don't look so bare.
You can check out my photos if you'd like!! I just started posting them on my photography website and have much to add. I'd appreciate feedback if you would be so kind. Here's the link http://www.whatjeanlikesphotography.com
Thank you to everyone who wrote me or commented asking me where I've been. I am alive and well and about to start back up with daily blogging. I hope you all are having a lovely week!
