a new begining

Whew, this past weekend came and went way too fast.

Yesterday,  I felt refreshed and renewed even if I didnt rest one second.

I talked previouslly about the evictions my mom was facing.

The residents held a Mahalo Party on Sunday for the community that stood behind them and supported them.

It was a beautiful day. We told stories about growing up there and how simple life was back then. How happy, safe and secure we all felt.

We had a number of very talented musician's who lived in the camp perform.

Our neighbors, they arent just neighbors, they are our family.

Then, on Monday morning, they went to court.

It's been a long and hard fight. Sunday was fun and emotional all at the same time.

Part of me feels like it's not over yet. Just the hardest part is over.

I am so greatful for the chance to grow up in a place like the camp.

You can't understand how it truly is, unless you've lived it.

I am sad that the children today will never experience life in the camp, dissapointed that my son will not experience the life I had, the life my mom had growing up.

Growing up we had a sense of community, Ohana.

We were respectful to our elders.

We were resourceful.

You didn't hear of idiots putting their children in washing machines on spin cycle!!!

What is this world coming to!?!

Winter Wonderland 1st Birthday Party

I know I know I've kept ya'll waiting long enough.

Alright as promised here are some photos from my friend's daughter's 1st birthday party.

Hope you all enjoy them....

BTW, there are so many pictures I have put them into mini collages and this will be the first of two posts.

These were the centerpieces on the tables.

Trying to create a Winter Wonderland feel, they painted branches white and decorated them with ornaments.

There was cardboard cutouts of snowflakes painted white and covered in glitter.

Here's a few close ups of the decorations.

And who do you know has a "Baby Powder Room"

just for babies?

And here are just some of the desserts we made.

Isn't everything soooo pretty so far??

Stay tunned for more...

Life happens

Did you see my post on FB today?
Yes I'm on Facebook and why are you not a fan yet?

Not the post about my casserole, but the one about it being Wednesday already.

Kinda like I'm sitting here at my desk now looking at the clock that says 3:44pm, when I started this post at lunch time today when I sat down to eat. Obviouslly that didnt happen.
How is time just flying by?

My baby is turning 3 in just over 3 weeks, taxes are due soon after that... what's next?
Christmas?

Anyway, just a quick note to say hi to everyone and let ya'll know I havent fallen off the face fo this earth.

So.... who's looking forward to next week's Glee?
One reason I'll be glad the week is flying by, hehehe.

I'm planning an orange and blue birthday fish theme party for the lil guys 3rd.
Come check me out on Pinterest where I'm sharing the ideas I got for his party.

Source

If you're not on Pinterest, let me know and I'll send you an invite!
(warning: Pinterest can be very adicting! Please seek professional help if you start to alienate your friend and family and spend all your time on Pinterest. Same goes for Angry Bird and Word's With Friends)

Trying to pick which one of my many projects I have in store for this year that I can get started on. Something I can complete this weekend and something I can afford since payday isnt till next week.

And who else is bumming that GFC is going away?
(Google Friend Connect)
It was so easy to use, especially since I'm such a techno-idiot.
Oh now to get used to Google Reader or whatever it is thats happening now.
So since I'm on the subject, dont forget to subscribe to me so we dont loose touch when GFC goes bye bye. I put the button closer to the top of my page.
Oh and since you're there follow me on FB too!

Note: Just so that were being real here, its now 9:30 am the following day from starting this post and I'm finally publishing this post!

"I can do whatever I want, GOSH"
(name that movie)









Eviction Notice

I grew up in the town of Koloa on the island of Kauai.

I feel very fortunate to be able to have been raised the "old style".

We lived in a Plantation Camp.

Life was simple.

We had no traffic.

We knew EVERYBODY in our town.

(and EVERYBODY knew our parents/grandparents)

We never had to lock our doors.

(pic taken 1/7/12)

Some of us took a bath in outside bathhouses

Going outside to play marbles meant we would go to the cane field up the road and dig marbles out of the ground to play with.

(sugar cane in our front yard pic taken 1/7/12)

Baseball was played with a stick from the mac nut tree and rocks from the road.

The road was (and still isnt) paved. It's a gravel road made out of crushed coral.

(pic 1/7/12)

We rode our bikes and stuck playing cards or our grandpa's old beer cans to the spokes of our bikes to make loud noises.

We played in our neighbors tree houses and knew it best to be home before it got dark or we would get 'lickens'.

Back in November, Grove Farm notified the last of the residents to live in the camp they had 120 days to vacate as they would be demolishing their homes, their lives, all their memories and making room for development and so called 'affordable housing coming from China.
China? Really?

We have a struggling local economy and they want to bring in prefab homes from China?

The first article came and this article followed.
(please do read each article)

The neighborhood has received amazing support from the community even more so proving we are an Ohana.

This past Sunday Lee Cataluna wrote an article in the Honolulu Star Advertiser posted here.
Lee Cataluna's parents lived in this very camp.

This neighborhood is where I lived up untill I got married.
I spent majority of my life there.

I work in the construction industry and so I understand very well the importance of development and new construction. Change is inevitable, I get that.

What I don't get is how they are evicting these people whom majority of the residents are elderly, who have never lived anywhere else in their life, who live on very strict and limited incomes to make way for development.
Money Hungry.

For years the camp has been so called 'shut down' so no new residents could move there.
At any point if someone would move out or pass away (which remember these are mostly elderly people) the house would be demolished and the lot left empty or leased for agriculture reasons. (Most lots are used to raise fighting chickens) Why they cannot continue to do this, I have no idea. But Grove Farm has decided in this tough economy they want to develop.

To read more on the issues surrounding everything please take the time to read this blog post and the website Save Koloa Camp which was created by another lifelong resident and my childhood neighbor Kepa Kruse.

My question to Grove Farm is touched upon in this article written by Lee Cataluna, who's parents as I mentioned were also residents of the camp. And I have to add the photo in the post, that's my grandparents house where my mom lives till today. The window on the far right was my bedroom I shared with my grandmother.

Grove Farm is proposing this new development and offer affordable homes and the residents that they are evicting will be given first chance at those affordable homes.

Published reports put these affordable homes at around $400,000.

I have two points to make regarding this:

1. My husband and I got suckered into purchasing 'affordable housing' 6 years ago at the height of the big real estate boom.

We purchased our home for $420,000 and took out a 30 year mortgage for $400,00 at 5.75% interest.

Our monthly mortgage payment is $2,900.

My husband and I both have very good jobs and it's a struggle to pay our mortgage every month and make ends meet. We tried to refinance our mortgage but we cannot, why?

Because the market has shifted extremely downwards and now our brand new ocean view home is worth only $320,000 on the HIGH side.

So how is it they figure that $400,000 is fair market value of 'affordable housing' pricing?

2. The rent that these residents are paying currently is $600 & $700.

The residents there are my mom's age and older up to in their late 80's.

Do they think at their age and income these residents are going to first of all qualify for a mortgage and secondly how are they going to afford it?

Needless to say, my mom and the other residents of Koloa Camp didnt have a great Thanksgiving or end of the year.

It has been however, very encouraging to see the community come out to show their support. Thankfully my mom does have a plan and a place to move when the time comes.

Until then the residents and community is asking for Grove Farm to find another location for their planned development.

(Grove Farm does only own half the friggen island!!)

Ok, I know its been a long post I hope you've stuck around and read all the way through.

Please do take the time to read all the articles I posted links to and also check out

Save Koloa Camp

Back from a Break

Hey everyone, I took some time off as I volunteer each year with the American Cancer Society's Hoe Down for Hope fundraising gala.

It was a stressful night, but everyone had a great time!

We had local celebrities and all!

Here's a quick video enjoy and I'll be back tomorrow!

Flying Saucers

Flying Saucers

This food item deserves its own post.

I dont know what it is about 2 pieces of toasted white bread filled with a kind of manwich mix and cheese that drives people insane!

No really, I'm serious.

You find them at Bon dances and carnivals.

Everyone has a slightly different recepie but its basically just manwich mix.

They sell for $3 each and we have to put a limit of 10 per person if not they buy them like they'll never see them for the rest of their lives, even though the bon dance the follwing weekend will probably be selling them as well.

People stand in line for an hour or more even to get some.

Here is the stash for the "slow night" and this is only half since they have to precook as early as they can since they sell soooooo fast!

Rows and rows of pre buttered bread and stuffed with the filling.

This is how they are cooked.

In special made molds that are held over a fire and tuned back and forth till they are toasted just right. You cannot miss the unmistakeable clacking of the molds as they are open and closed and flipped over and over.

So here's how they do it. They put the sandwiches in the middle of the molds and then the edges are cut off with a butter knife.

Then over the fire they go, flipping and clacking.

See one peeking out below.

They are slipped into little paper envelopes and are sold individually.

Sorry I dont have a picture of the actual flying saucer, I had to get busy working and they sold out in 2 hours!!!

If you ever get a chance to try one, its a MUST!

I think I'll have to make some and share it with you... hmmm project?

O Bon Food

In Hawaii everything is celebrated with food.

It's not a celebration without a ton of food.

And where is the best place to get simple celebration food?

(I'm not talking luau food... thats a whole seperate post... another time)

At a Bon Dance of course!

Mochi is a Japanese rice cake which is pounded into a paste or you can use mochiko flour.

It is slightly sweet and very sticky and this version is filled with black beans.

Maki Sushi here is vinagared rice, tuna, egg and dried shrimp wrapped in nori.

My fellow food booth workers prepping the food for sale.

Pronto pops are every kids fav! We even had this at my son's first birthday party, made from the batter from this very church. Pronto Pops are just like Corn Dogs but the batter is slightly sweet and more cake like.

Saimen! Gotta have saimen, with noodles and home made soup.

Gandule rice, not a japanese tradition but a crowd favorite.

Sticky rice flavored with achiote and mixed with pork, olives, cilantro and gandule beans.

My son's favorite is the saimen.

Here he is dressed in his hapi coat.

Now when he gets older, I'm signing him up for taiko lessons!

O Bon Festival

O Bon is a Buddhist tradition that honors one's deceased ancestors.

It has been celebrated in Japan for over 500 years, I remember this for nearly my entire life. Friday and Saturday nights during Bon Season would be spent at the Bon Dance.

The temple decorated for O Bon.

My son was so excitd with all the lanters linned up.

This is the name of the church. They had it displayed in the hall where they set up for people to eat and the dancers to rest and eat as well.

The festival about to begin.

People start to line up infront of the food booths, dancers getting ready in their kimonos and the taiko drummers setting up inside the ring.

 

I love seeing all the women and men dress up and dance.

When I was young, they would go all out and dress in full kimonos.

Nowadays, you usually find them using only hapi coats.

What else do I love about O Bon?

The food!

Stay tunned for more on O Bon food!

O Bon ~ Wordless Wednesday

Blog Anniversary....

Tomorrow From the Heart turns 1!

photo source

One year ago I had a crazy idea to start a blog.

It started as just talking about weddings since I love weddings and parties and I perform the ceremonies.

Then I got introduced to blogs like: All Things Thrifty, Kevin & Amanda, The Pioneer Woman, Bakerella and Vintage Revivals just fuled me to do more.

More with my blog, more in my home and more for special occasions.

I expanded from what I started as Weddings By Rhiannon to what it is today.

I have had such a great time meeting people, becoming blogger buddies, connecting with other women just like myself and learning so much.

Blogging takes up a lot of time and you really have to do it for the right reasons but its totally worth every minute of it.

I really appreciate all your support over the past year as I have grown and developed my own style and explored things I normally would never have tried.

I'll announce a few giveaways to say thank you to everyone, nothing spectacular but just somethings to say thanks!

See ya'll then!

I'm baaaacckkk!!!

Hey guys! I'm back! Thanks for being so patient while I was gone and sticking around.

It was a crazy past few weeks and I'm still trying to catch up.

The Hoe Down for Hope turned out to be a great event! The best yet! I guess were getting better each year.



My friend Yvette at Kahakai posted a little about her night.

Go check out her cute lil blog here

She's sooo recruited to help us next year!

I also have to thank my friend Laurese for all the pix. Of course I didnt have a chance to take pix so I stole all these from her. She also came to my office yesterday with famed pix of all of us there! Soooo nice of her! Thanks Laurese!!!

Here was the article in our local newspaper that highlighted our event. 

And here was the event on the Kauai Festivals site.

This year's theme was dancing in denim and diamonds.

The venue looked amazing! They had a holding pen for a dance floor! Too cute!

Nohelani Cypriano was a featured performer and she was just amazing!

There was train rides, picture taking, minature donkeys, silent auction, live auction, beer tasting, 4 different food stations, awards, margaritas (yay) and of course country line dancing! I had to try it, its been years...

I made a fool out of myself, but I had fun!

Even some of our county officials came out to show their support.

Look at our mayor surrounded by the ladies.

This is my dear friend Michelle who is one of the co chairs of the event.

Got a quick shot with the hubs...

and then when the crowd thinned out I tried my hand at line dancing again.

whats up with my arms?!

We had a great time, worked our butts of and best of all made money for a great cause!

If youre interested in learning how you can help the American Cancer Society visit them here.