My (love-you-like-a) sister turned 20.

Yep! 

Just like THAT.

Adios teens, hola twenties! 

You know what it means when Lauren has a birthday?

I'm next.

My mom is a warrior princess, my grandmother is the queen.

Happy Mother's Day!

Once I start talking about how abnormally amazing my mom is, I can't stop. 

Here's the condensed version:

She is a saint. 

She is a miracle worker, a doctor, a therapist, an expert halloween costume fashion designer, a gourmet chef, an adventurer, a musician, a chauffeur, a coach, an organizer, a terrific coordinator, a conflict and resolution expert/mediator, an artist, a book keeper, a teacher, a listener, a moral compass, and a best friend.

When I was little we used to 'get stuck' in hugs and just not let each other go. It's kind of like that whenever I leave the Kauai airport to go home now... we just 'get stuck' and try not to cry.

Oh mother, I'm just so dumb happy and lucky to be your daughter.

...I also downright adore my grandmother.

She is the queen... the matriarch... the fairy godmother.

The first obvious reason I have for adoring her is that she brought my mom into this world.

But my grandmother is a rock-star in her own right. 

She's one of those adorable grannies that always has cookies  and hot tea in a pot on hand waiting to serve you. She's also a story teller and a champion of very many things. Let's just say I learn more from her every week than I do in most of my classes.

And because my mom is 3,000 miles away on this Mother's Day [which is blasphemous], I got to spend the day with the queen! [Which, obviously, I am not unhappy about!!]

Does she not look like a queen? We went to 'church' at RSI and then to lunch at her favorite little chicken pot pie shop, which was hilariously pleasant!

I love moms! Happy Mother's day!

Once Upon a Day Dream...

Spring always seems like the shortest season of the year.

February brings winter's last hurrah and then MarchAprilMay just tumble by faster than you can say 'April showers bring May flowers!' By the time everything slows down mid-June, we find ourselves celebrating the summer solstice!

Which is a pity, I personally think spring is the most pleasant of the seasons. 

In any case, here I sit on my bed surrounded with a frightening amount of very important, rather urgent, things to get done for this crazy spring semester... and I can't help but just gaze into the corner of my room...

You see:

During my last trip home, I was lucky enough to snag almost an entire day with my mom. I'm happy to admit that in this phase of my life, mother-daughter alone time is the single most precious thing to me. It's rare and usually brief, but time with my mom always brings me back to my center.  

We spent the day going from our side of the island to the South side, stopping wherever we pleased to check out the little places we've always wanted to see on the side of the road but never had the time too!

We started at this lookout down the road from the house.

Then went to the Hanalei Farmer's Market

to say hi to Leah while she sells these

and we had this for breakfast.

Afterwards, we drove to Ben Stiller's house (nope, not telling where it is!) to find this secret path

that lead us here to play! 

(Note how my mom dressed in full mosquito avoidance attire in the top left photo... I had bites through my clothes!)

After enough time in the sun to get a tan burned, we hiked back to the road and headed towards Anahola Town to stop at this random little market...