Lavender is one of my favorite scents and colors.  In fact, I literally begged my parents to paint my room purple when I was a little girl.  I've always been partial to shades of purple whether they occur in flowers or in the evening sky as the sun sets in the horizon, they all create this overwhelming sense of peace and tranquility in my soul.

Though living in Hawai'i doesn't allow for the beautiful reds and yellows of the fall leaves or for snowy white winters, it does allow for a perpetual sort of springtime and summer with the flowers in bloom and the sun shining bright.  The only thing missing are the vast fields of lavender that you see when you're visiting colder climates.  Not all kinds of lavender plants grow easily here in Hawai'i- unless you go to cooler areas like Kula, Maui where Ali'i Kula Lavender grows in beautiful abundance.  I haven't been there in years but it is truly one of the most beautiful places I've seen.

The photo above is one I took of some dried lavender that I brought home with me to keep a little piece of beautiful Kula with me.  Every quarter or so I order a new, freshly dried bouquet of lavender along with some of their other lavender themed products like lotions and oils and their satchels to keep my drawers smelling fresh.  I just really have a penchant for all things lavender.


Today I had a lavender latte for the first time at Island Brew Coffeehouse and boy, was it yummy.  It's actually what inspired today's post.  I went to go take Alaka'i for some awesome lunch, you know... just mommy and her boy time.  It was great.  Afterwards I was buying groceries and decided to get a latte since I was right there and well, you know, I love coffee.  I was surprised to see the variety of flavors they had and when I saw the words "lavender" and "organic", it's like my soul cried out with a loud, resounding YES!  I've been there several times but just a quick in and out and no real time to browse the menu or try anything new. But I digress, this post is about lavender... I'll post more on the coffeehouse another time.

Here are some of my favorite lavenders for Spring 2013.


Speaking of shades of lavender, have you noticed my blog design update?  Well about a month and a half ago I decided to completely change and overhaul my blog.  I'm kind of an eclectic person by nature which allows for me to have a wide array of interests.  It does however, lead to a lot of impulse shopping and indecisiveness on colors and layouts for my blog.  The first version of the current blog design you see right now was very similar but there were tons of colors, lots of fonts and just too much going on.  I am a sucker for fonts and I had like 5 different ones going on and though alone they were all lovely, together it just didn't work.  Anyhow, the last few days I felt the need to simplify so I replaced the contrasting colors and too many fonts with a white/gray/deep lavender color combination and a few fonts that I think work well together.  I also put a gray filter on a lot of the sidebar buttons and links so the focus is kept on the content and on my sponsors.  I hope you like it.

Happy Spring to all of you and may you have a wonderful and lovely weekend wherever you are!

Aloha,

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Photos: OPI, Zoya, Chanel, Beth Shapouri, OPI

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Aloha Hoapili translates as Hello Close Friend. So, without further ado let me introduce you to this week's featured friend

Shaunna at Tempting Thyme

Shaunna blogs all about DIY projects, yummy recipes and blogging tips.

Want a little taste of the blog? Check out these posts to find out what you've been missing:

How to create a transparent watermark

Cinnamon Roll Aebleskiver

Turn an old mirror into a chalkboard

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To guarantee a follow back from What Jean Likes, please leave a comment.  Makes it easier and faster! :)

So I'm back on my juice fast but this time I'm not doing a full fast.  I'm swapping 1-2 meals a day with fresh juiced vegetables and juice. Normally I drink a glass of juice a day and still eat 3 small meals but I really don't need to eat when I juice.  I was just being a little indulgent.  I haven't gained any of the weight I lost back but I need to keep going because I'm far, far from my goal.  Though I'm a full 40 pounds lighter than I was a year ago, I could healthily lose another 70 lbs or more and be at what my doctor said would be my optimum health weight.

Before I juiced, I was sick all the time, bloated, moody, I had more hair fallout, I wasn't regular on my cycle and I knew I wasn't pregnant because well...I wasn't doing anything that could lead to it.  I was just a physical mess and that's why I initially started working out and juicing.  Since we're being honest here, since we're all friends I feel  like I can tell you that... I haven't worked out at all in almost 2 months...  I know.... today was my first day back at the gym and I felt like I was run over by a train.  I need to get back into the groove and back in to shape!!

This is one of my favorite go-to juices.  It's a couple of recipes I mixed together and I always make enough for two because either I'm visiting my mom or my son is with me.  I call it the "Green Dream".  I've made a picture how-to below.  I hope it helps you if you decide to juice.  Though I use a Breville which is ah-may-zing, there are lots of super affordable juicers like Juiceman or the Jack LaLane juicer which are really affordable and do the job credibly.  I believe you can get one of those brands at Costco right now.



Now that I'm juicing a couple meals a day, I have so much energy and I feel just so much better both mentally and physically.  Eating right and working out is good for the mind, body and soul...for the whole person.  It's definitely worth missing the bad foods that taste oh so good.

You can skip the ginger if you want, some people don't like the taste of ginger.  If you're just starting out, I would use an inch or less of peeled ginger just for the taste but not so it overwhelms the flavor of the juice.

I hope that you all are having a wonderful day and night.  I can't believe how fast this week is flying by.  What are some of your health, exercise and eating tips!!  Share and link any posts you have in the comments below!!

Aloha,

I'm so stinkin' excited right now because I was browsing around Bloglovin' following back all you lovelies who followed me, thank you.. and I came across this page where it shows the Up and Coming blogs... and mine was #1 in Photography!!  So stoked.  I know I'm far off from #1 in the Top Blogs category and will probably never get there, but it's pretty exciting to see my blog as #1 in the Up and Comings!!

Thank you all for getting me there.. Hey, are you following me on Bloglovin'? I am still learning and navigating Bloglovin' and it's not bad (even though I refuse to give up on Google Friend Connect).  Thank goodness for email notifications about people following me because those help me to follow everyone back.  I don't care for the way Bloglovin' makes it hard to follow people back unless you keep track of all the people following you via email.

Anywhoo... come on over and check out Bloglovin' if you haven't yet!!  I promise, I will follow you if you follow me! *wink wink* .  Here's my page: What Jean Likes on Bloglovin' 

Leave a comment with your Bloglovin' url so I can follow back!! Let's share some Bloglovin' lovin' shall we?

Aloha and thank you all so much for making my day,

Today was a busy but good day.  It was the kind of day where although I was swamped with loads of paperwork, the burden didn't seem so heavy and despite the vog, I had an overwhelming sense of peace and hope.  I had an implicit understanding of the days objectives and goals without my boss uttering a word.  I set off with my tired brain set on focus and I was ready to get my job done.  It was almost like being a computer automatically running tasks in the background.

A couple of cups of black coffee and a pile of paperwork deep and I was feeling good.  It didn't matter that I had only 3 hours of low quality sleep, it didn't matter that I had a load of paperwork yet to complete... I decided to use the break time I had before lunch to do some blogging work even though I normally use that time to catch up on "day job" work or to work ahead so I have more open time in the afternoon and evenings... That was my first mistake.  I took my mind off of the day job autopilot and into a whole 'nother world full of wandering and wondering...little of it work related.

Honestly, I'm normally able to simultaneously multitask my "day job" duties while working on the blog with little hassle and great ease.  Normally multitasking in such a way is not such a noteworthy event.  Today, however, I found myself blogging more than I normally do at the office- so much so that it spilled into my lunch hour.  Good thing I had already  made fresh juice to have in lieu of lunch (partial juice fast reset)...

I'm normally able to spit out engineering reports, proposals, budgets and the like in quick succession and have it ready for my boss and on his desk before he expects it.  I pride myself in being super efficient at work.  Not so efficient today.  Perhaps it was the exhaustion, perhaps it was the fact that I was so very inspired by so many of the blogs that were showing up in my bloglovin' dashboard that I kind of blew off finishing my reports and invoicing budgets and my mind began to wander.  It wandered all over the place.  I started making lists for things I didn't need but wanted to get because I decided I wanted to start crafting even though I have no talent for it.  I decided at that moment that I wanted to start making jewelry again which is something I loved doing but haven't done in years.  Then I got inspired by all the decorating ideas people were blogging and decided I wanted to purchase blank canvases and make patterns and paint them to use as wall decor to brighten up my home.

That mind of mine wandered all throughout space and time, everywhere and anywhere except to work. The phone then rang and BAM! back to reality.  I looked at the clock and saw that I had all too many day job tasks yet to complete and got back on that train and started to work...and work and work.... As I worked, as I typed, as I crunched numbers and reviewed engineering reports, the wandering thoughts began to creep back into my mind.  It went a little somethin' like this:

Total project budget: $23,000 quarterly... and teal would perfectly accent the decor in the room....*focus Jean*.... budget set, approved and filed.  Obtain copy of records from... I wonder if I would have time to do some baking when I get home... Print file and plans, put on boss' desk..  Ask the assistant to please get copies of the client files from the cabinet..and oh, I wonder where she got her nails done? ....

It was that kind of day.  I tried and worked and accomplished but it took twice as long because my tired yet busy mind wandered...and wondered and wandered some more.  I'm just thankful none of my reports accidentally mentioned any of the thoughts wandering through my mind.  At one point I found myself typing the sig "Jean @ WhatJeanLikes"... woops!! ...back space..back space.. back space....  I truly intended to get all of my work done, I truly did.  Although I got most of it done, I could have done more if I could just stop that wandering mind of mine...

Even now as I type this and listen to a compliation of Mozart, Chopin and Beethoven... my mind wanders to topics unrelated to blogging and lists for work that I need to get done tomorrow.  Isn't that just how it is sometimes?  When you need to focus on work, the mind... she wanders... and then when you have to focus on other things... the mind... she wanders to work related and stressful topics.  I'm so happy tomorrow is Wednesday.  I love the fact that it's mid-week and the slump of the early week blues seems but a distant memory and the hope for the weekend seems all the more close.

Happy mid-week, hump day, Wednesday to you all!!

Hopefully the rest of the week will have less wandering and more focus... doubtful!

Aloha,

Oh the unmitigated joy of spending these precious moments with the littles in my life...  Whether it's with my son Alaka'i or my nieces Alohilani and Kaliko, I treasure the quality time I get to spend with each of them.  Yesterday I had the absolute pleasure of spending my lunch hour with the youngest little in my life, my niece/Goddaughter Alohilani.  While the two older littles were at school studying away, I got to watch my niece for an hour or so while my sister-in-law ran errands in preparation for their upcoming move to another part of the island.

I had a lot of meetings lined up in the early morning that I had finished with early so I was able to make extra time to spend with her.  One of the few perks of my "day job" is that although I have bosses, I pretty much run my own schedule and can make concessions and changes as needed during the work day.  So I went home and met Alohi who was waiting ever so patiently for me outside the front door with her mommy.  As I walked her into the house, I asked this precious 2 1/2 year old girl what she wanted to eat or do and she said, "bath time"!  So naturally, I obliged.  This girl loves bath time, like loves it.  She chose to be bathed in my large kitchen sink because she's still a petite little and likes to be able to look out and see everything.



Bubbles were blown, water was splashed and she had a great time.  It's funny how even when you're having a bad day, a child can completely turn that day around.  She lit my world with sunshine that I dearly needed as I was stuck in a pensive sort of grumpy haze.

I'm so thankful to have had that hour or so with my darling Aloha yesterday.  My darling little protege.

I hope you all are having a good week and are able to spend time with the ones you love most.

Aloha,