stanford

One part of the Stanford Campus from the Hoover Tower... the campus was huge (I think around 800 acres!)

I just got back  from my trip to San Francisco/ Palo Alto/ Stanford/ Monterey Bay.... It was so much fun but also a lot of work: we had class sessions from early morning to late evening everyday, including weekends, for two weeks straight! When I got home, I think I sleep for a straight day and a half :P. Anyway, I'm off to Turkey today... I'll see you guys in two weeks!

San Francisco from around Pier 1... it was so pretty and SO FUN!

The Alaskans we were with insisted that we get some oysters from Hog Island Oyster Company

I insisted I get some clam linguine... this is from the Stinking Rose and is made using black linguine noodles (made with squid ink); it was really good!

Kayaking Elk Horn Slough... It was the first time I've ever seen otters!

Monterey Bay Aquarium... one of the best places I visited!

A cow fish!

I looked at the jellyfish for hours... they were by far my favorite part of the aquarium!

A fancy seahorse/ seadragaon! The Seahorse exhibit was my second favorite part of the trip to the Aquarium.

An area just outside the aquarium... this reminded me of the tidepools at home and I almost wanted to go swimming except that I remembered that the water was super freezing!

Also a highlight... We got to play with horses!  They can sense your feelings and so as a leadership and team-building exercise we worked with them as a group... so nice!

shop in vacation mode

I put my shop in vacation mode from October 14 to November 14, 2012 (there wasn't that much in it anyway) because I'll be going to Stanford University Palo Alto as part of a fellowship... I'm super nervous but excited too!  I'll be there for two weeks and participating in a special set of classes with my fellowship cohort, some of whom are coming from New Zealand and Alaska (but most of us are from Hawaii).

After that I'll be going to Turkey for a vacation... I'm super excited :)

halloween blog

I redid my blog, just in time for Halloween!  It's based off of one of my old calendars (I really hope I can get back into that next year!)  Let me know if you prefer the two column or three column blog... Thanks!

butachu

All pictures are from kawaiishopjapan.com

Holy COW!  Look at these super kawaii acrylic toys shaped like PIGGIES!  Many of you know of my extreme fondness for takochu, but when I saw these (incidentally called butachu) I nearly had a brain aneurism!  So KAWAIIIIIIII! I was lucky enough to snatch some on my go-to site for small cute things, kawaiishopjapan, but she only has a few left so if you love them like I do you'd better hurry on over to her site and get some... I can't seem to find them anywhere else!  According to kawaiishopjapan owner Miki, the butachu are made by a company called Eikoh; Miki is selling them for a very reasonable $3.70 each in the "kawaii toys," "small and tiny" category.  I couldn't find much information on them otherwise (maybe because they are so new?), but here's hoping you're able to get some too!  If you aren't able to get some, I suggest watching the kawaiishopjapan website or sending an inquiry... it's restocked fairly frequently! The blue one and the black ones are my faves right now.  But also the red one..... gaaaahhhhh so cute!

bead show!

I thought I'd wait until a full month had passed until I blogged again... blogging FAIL! Seriously though, I've actually been super busy: I was accepted into a yearlong fellowship program that requires a fair bit of off-island travel, which is super cool...I'll be going to Stanford for two weeks in October so I imagine my crafting will take a hit time-wise.  But otherwise I'm very excited!

For today I thought I'd share some pictures of the bead show they had at Ward Shopping Center. 

Two of the tables in the first room.

 

Glorious chain!  I really needed some... I'm all out

 

What I bought: coral, coral beads, amazonite, gold chain, fire agate, crystal and cat's eye shell beads

gold dust gecko

Nothing special today, just a random picture I took at my Grandma's house over the weekend.  This little guy is a gold dust gecko... they were introduced to Hawai`i  (maybe by accident?) a little bit ago.... I never remember seeing them as a little girl, but my family found one when I was around 10.... now they can be found in many places here.  Although they are aggressive and sometimes eat other lizards (including the normal pink/grey house geckos that used to be more numerous when I was young), they are quite photogenic.