My flower garden has pleasantly surprised me this week with a plethora of rose blossoms. Truely only 5 flowers but their colors are presented as a mini bouquet to me and now I can share them with you. Each rose bush gifted me with a single bloom. I don’t know much about roses but I feel extra special that I have these 5 flowers in 5 different colors, in December to boot. The individual flowers have their unique scent. Where’s that scent-a-rama application when you need it? This 1st photo was taken on my front porch where the light was true.

This 2nd photo was taken inside under artificial overhead light. These flowers were so pretty that I had to share them twice.

Is it usual for roses to bloom so abundantly in December? I’ll do a bit a research and report back. Have I mentioned yet how…

Lucky we live Hawaii…

We are getting ready for this weekend’s craft fair. The last big craft fair of the season is The Pacific Handcrafters Guild showing at Thomas Square. There is still a bit of sewing to be completed before tomorrow albeit not too much as sales at the past couple of fairs have been steady but not overwhelming. We have also sold a number of Hawaiian hardwood rice paddles and kitchen pot stirring sticks so we have been working on getting the inventory up to speed.

There was a time when this Christmas craft fair put on by the Guild was the premier event of the season with over 100 artisans and thousands of customers happily browsing and buying. Alas, times have changed but the entrepreneurial spirit inherent in us crafters and artisans have made us rose colored glassed amnesiacs. Therefore I continue to stitch without too much bitch. I have a couple of tablerunners to complete along with a few sets of placemats. I have also been working on napkins this week. Time was in the not too distant past that would find us all madly creating and filling inventory after the wild Sauturday rush. Late into the wee morning hours we would work to replenish our handmade gems that had flown out of our booth during that first Saturday madness. Sniff, those were the days. Now, it’s sometimes a nail biter hoping to ‘make booth’, meaning recoup your intial outlay for booth expenses. So good luck to all us handcrafters out there in Hawaii. Shoppers and the shopping atmosphere has changed. More Big-Boxers fewer artisans with the stamina or talent or optimism to keep on truckin’. And a whole generation of folks who don’t give a rip…never did never will– about the skill and love that goes into a hand finished creation. I need to end this session of grumbling so that I can redirect my thoughts to the positive and recognize my personal joy in creating.

Hope to see you this Saturday or Sunday December 5 & 6 at Thomas Square for the annual Pacific Handcrafters Guild Christmas Craft Faire.

Having a job is great. I am currently full of job however as my schedule had me working Sunday & Monday then Thursday, Friday, Saturday. The new week commenced with my schedule reading Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Yikes. that’s 6 days in a row. I like to stay busy and it’s smart to keep some consecutive days rolling so as not to forget cash register routines and such at a new job, but I am quite enjoying this day off. My next work day is the Friday after Thanksgiving. Gulp.

One of the 1st things I did upon being hired was go shoe shopping-yay! for comfortable business type shoes. For the past 4 years at Po’ohala I was lucky enough to wear running shoes at work but my wardrobe was sorely lacking in closed toe comfort footwear. We in Hawaii wear open toed sandals or slippahs. So off to Nordstrom Rack I go. Lucky me, I was able to find 3 pair that I thought fit the criteria of comfortable, able to pound that red tile floor and not look too dorky. So there goes my first paycheck before I even get my first paycheck. Two shoes are the same style in different subdued colors. Cute with a little heel. The third pair are red ballerina type flats with an athletic look and cool dragons swirling all around. Something else to be thankful for as I wear a sample size and can find shoes in my size every time.

Here’s the update… blisters and hot spots. Lots and lots of walking. Back and forth, up and down, here and there, to and fro, hither and yon. Next week I go back to the frumpy aunty-kine shoe store and get me a pair of REAL comfort cafeteria lady shoes…dorky or not. I plan to run not walk.

We closed the lei shop on Monday. With the help of our reliable friends and family, we had the shop thoroughly cleared and cleaned by Thursday. That is a story of course in itself  of which in due time I shall retell. What I will say now however, is that our landlord LR is an AWFUL person.

Baby Sister Dear meanwhile was experiencing the complete and total transition point; finalizing the closure of the business one day then celebrating a milestone birthday the next day. And C.E.L.E.B.R.A.T.E!!! she did! Talk about embracing change…!

Hauoli la Hanau Baby Sister Dear. You Rock.

Meanwhile, I started looking for a job the next day, Friday. A week later I had submitted an application and got a call back a couple of days later. OK let me horn-toot here—the call back was the next day. A formal interview was scheduled a few days subsequent and yeow, I’m hired and my 1st day was this past Sunday. Granted it’s a seasonal hire sales position(with a discount-yay), but I want a job not a career. I am just tickled.

I already have a trade remember. I am a seamstress.

15,000 is the magic number that I want you all to think. Collectively. Positively. Staunchly.

You can think more, bigger, grander, higher.

This 15,000 is a numerical thought experiment that I am putting out to the universe and I would like your assistance.

If we all want to put a dollar sign $ in front of that 15,000-all the better. It would look like this…$15,000.00

If this is successful, I’ll let you folks know.

Think…15,000

Mahalo~

Our Lei Shop is closing today…sob.

Po’ohala Lei and Flowers, the last of the Hawaiian owned lei shops in Chinatown Hawaii is shuttering the business. It has been a family owned business for 27 years. It has been a tough couple of weeks as our customers have been stopping in to say their farewells. Emotional for all.

These are photos of our windows displaying our stunning fresh Hawaiian sewn lei.

There are still a few left this morning. We invite you in to share our little bit of Aloha.

 Aloha… happy to report, we still have a lot of

No such thing as Monday Blues when you work in a lei shop. How could that ever be possible when surrounded by these beautiful and fragrant lei. At Po’ohala Lei and Flowers on Beretania St. in Downtown Honolulu Chinatown, today’s offerings will chase away any blahs or blues you may have. How fortunate to have another fresh ilima to twine with the heady pikake bud. If your sweetie prefers a non scented but stunning lei, adorn your special someone with this scarlet double or rope rose. This red rose bud beauty will last for days. Among the many lei shops in Hawaii, Po’ohala is the only one offering these  strands of rose, pikake and pakalana artfully twined and heavenly scented. Today we sewed them in both pink and red roses. After I have worn a lei with roses in it for a couple of days, I cut the string then remove and float the roses in pretty bowls of water and place them in different parts of my house for an extra pick-me-up of loveliness. All these lei are appropriate for both men and women…and no, in Hawaii giving and wearing  of lei are not hobbled by gender boundaries…and YES, another reason “lucky we live Hawaii”. Ahh, too many choices. Which lei will you choose?

If the Scent-a-rama (although shouldn’t it be scent-a-roma?) ever becomes an app, today’s download would send you to teen heaven. Today’s Saturday selection at Po’ohala Lei & Flowers is a lei lovers delight. This photo does not do justice to these superb lei. Made today is the rare ilima twined with a single strand of pikake. We (remember I help out here at the lei shop) also made pikake strands, pakalana whose season is winding to a close, and awapuhi ke’oke’o in the Micronesian style. Can you imagine the delighted look on the face of your special someone when you present this skillfully crafted rope pikake? Just peeking below the rope pikake is the awapuhi in our inimitable feather style and right below the feather ginger is the purple crown flower a favorite of Queen Liliu’okalani. We give this lei a spicy hint of scent by twining it with a single strand of pakalana. Oh so sweet these lei. Come by the shop on Beretania St. between Smith and Maunakea in lovely downtown Honolulu right in Chinatown, our Hawaii. Or ring up. 537-3011. Served with Aloha.

On the bright side–I scored a goal. On the dark side–we got beat by a team that showed little sportmanship in seemingly boorish behavior by racking up the score. Our regular goalie was at a tournament in Australia so 3 fairly inexperienced volunteers (thank you, thank you) took their  respective turns in the goal box. We were also missing 6 regular team players. For future reference  ladies, let me tell you how it is done. After it becomes apparent that scoring in a situation like this is as easy as say, brushing your teeth, you then should start rotating players into different positions. For instance; move your forwards into the fullback line, let your fullbacks have a run at being a forward, bring your goalie out to play on the field, put people that usually don’t play the keeper position in to experience the goal box. Mix it up.  Start passing to those gals that usually don’t get a chance at a lot of ball handling. Really! It is disconcerting and should be totally unnecessary to tell folks that. But there you go. Sportsmanship is not dead. It just needs to be taught. Remember, it’s called Playing a Game.

10-10. ten-ten. I’o I’o. Those that know me get my little play on words…Hawaiian style with just a wee bit of warp.