Time for announcements...

Well, we have some news...we are moving back to Colorado! We have been given a great business opportunity (which I will share more about after everything is finalized) that we just can't say no to! We leave this Saturday night and will be arriving in Denver on Sunday morning (21st)...just in time for an "old" friends' wedding! I (Kamma) am still working this week, through Thursday when school is out for winter break, and Michael is hurriedly trying to finish the condo remodel upstairs, all this amidst trying to get everything packed or sold or thrown away! Needless to say, with a little bug going around in the classroom and all this added stress, I have come down with a bit of a cold. I'm chuggin' the EmergenC, though, and definitely feel like I've caught it before it's too bad.

We're feeling a lot of mixed emotions right now; we feel like we've truly found a second home here. We've made some great friends, and have really settled into "island life." The mom's at the daycare gave me a handmade book today at our Christmas party and I almost lost it...beautiful pictures of them and their babies and loving sentiments to me...it's always hard to leave a place you love.

We're also wanting to do as many of the things we've loved here as we can before we go, and visit some of our favorite places. Luckily while Luke was here we got to do some of that, but we still have a couple things on our list....hopefully we'll be able to fit everything in!

Will all that's going on, I may not be posting for a bit, but come back and check, cause you never know with me! I've taken a lot of great pictures at work that last few days that I'm itching to share. Love to you all!

Photo Update

Some pics of our Turkey Day...

Michael's brother Luke came out last Thursday to help finish remodeling. Here are some pictures of their work tiling the lanai...

They went surfing on Saturday...

We got to got to a Christmas Festival in Holualoa Saturday night. So much fun! Businesses had booths set up selling or giving away hot drinks and food, people selling things, and live music stations were set up along the way. There was even a pop-up tent with Santa. We ate dinner at a restaurant we'd been wanting to try, and just had a great time overall!!!

Who am I? Who are you?

"A Savvy Woman: she seeks wisdom and loves to grow, change and explore...she finds truth and inspiration...she remains authentic yet glows with elegance...she stops seeking perfection and takes time to be...she loves life and lives fully...she allures and draws you near to her soul..."

-a description I will aspire to become-

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family! We are so very thankful for all of you. There are so many things to be thankful for, and while I'm not going to go into listing them all right now, you all rank right up there. I found this prayer the other day on a blog site I visit, and found it appropriate to share on this day. The more I think about it, though, I probably should have waited for a day when people aren't already focused on friends and family and being grateful for all that they have. On a day-to-day basis, it's so easy to focus on all the negatives of life; what could be happening to make our lives better, and what we really want that we don't already have (even though we might not really need that particular item), and how unfair our lives seem. In reality, most of us have all that we need. In reality, each day holds many more blessings than we take the time to recognize. I remember hearing this quote a few years ago, and I think of it every time I start to wish my life was a little different or better, "If you think the grass is greener on the other side, water your own grass." So I hope you find this encouraging, and perhaps I'll share it again in a few months when we need the reminding ;)

If you want to read more about the woman who shared this prayer (I don't know if she wrote it or not) click here. She was actually a guest blogger on this site this particular day, but she has a great story and encouraging message, dug out from under a huge tragedy in her life.

Lord, thank You for another day
within this life of mine.
Give me the strength to live it well,
whatever I may find.

Bestow from Your abundance
whatever I may lack.
To use the hours wisely,
for I cannot have them back.

Lord, thank You for another day,
in which to make amends
for little slights or petty words,
inflicted on my friends.

For sometimes losing patience
with problems that I find.
For seeing faults in other lives,
but not the ones in mine.

Lord, thank You for another chance,
in which to try to be
a little more deserving
of the gifts You've given me.

For yesterday is over,
and tomorrow's far away,
and I remain committed
to the good I do today!

a day in the life...

make-shift edging extender...

beautiful bamboo floor...

nice clean teeth!

(3 stinkin cavities...)

Quick Takes

Here are a few random things in our lives...

-1-
We have been very busy lately doing some remodeling work on the condo upstairs from us...painting, tiling, wood flooring. I (Kamma) found out, while carrying roll after roll of old carpet padding down the stairs and then helping carry 50 lb. boxes of tiles up the stairs, that I wasn't really made for this hard work...waking up the next morning...sore legs...weary body...ugh...
Here are a few pictures. We'll post more before and after pics when we're all done.

Me modeling the huge stack of wood flooring...

Painting supplies (and Michael in the background...)

Yes, that's a toilet in the middle of a hallway...

-2-
We have one grocery store here in Waikoloa, the Waikoloa Village Market, and it is a rare gem of a trip when we get one of the smaller push carts with the carrying basket sized baskets on it. For some reason we both felt the same way the first time we got one, and every time we go, we look for them as soon as we get close enough to the door to see them! Yeah! :)

-3-
One of the things I've enjoyed most about my job at the daycare is being exposed to the vast cultural diversity of the kids. The different ethnicities (most combinations of two or more) include: Hawaiian, Phillipino, Caucasion, Japanese, Portuguese, Afro-American, Tongan, Irish-Italian, and I think maybe that's it. Keep in mind we only have 8 kids! I'll try to remember to take my camera with me one day and post some pictures...they are beautiful!

-4-
Don't know about wherever you live, but here the gas prices got over $4.70/gal. in August...now, however, Costco gas is under &2.50/gal...yeah!!

-5-
Tagging onto #4, Costco is very big here. Going to Costco on a free Saturday is what we and others do for fun. Ah, the simple life on a little island ;)

-6-
A pretty cool picture Michael's parents took while they were here in August that I re-found today....
And I'll leave you with that image!!
Love and hugs...

Holualoa Village

This past week, coffee growers in Kailua-Kona celebrated the 38th annual Kona Coffee Cultural Festival. There were events and workshops throughout the week, including a Miss Kona Coffee Pageant, barista and roasting classes, a parade, and yesterday, the Holualoa Village Kona Coffee (tasting) and Art Stroll. When we heard about it, we thought "let's do it!".

We jumped in the car and headed toward Kona...

We had a difficult and interesting time finding a place to park. Events aren't done quite the same in Hawaii (at least here) as on the mainland. We finally made our own spot way uphill behind the elementary school in a weed-field next to someone's long, make-shift driveway...

Holualoa is a small art community in the heart of Kona Coffee Country, up mauka (mountain) from Kona Town. All of the art galleries (there are quite a few, especially for it being such a small town) were open and pop-up tents (and other creative structures) protecting all the different coffee growers' tasting spots lined the main road.






We tasted some good coffee (our favorites were Blue Sky Coffee, and the Kona Coffee Growers Association, whose booth I'm standing next to in the above photo), and saw some good and bad and interesting art... All-in-all it was a very good day, and a fun chance to do something new to us that is very Kona.

We also took the opportunity to explore a bit on some side-streets and found this cool road leading to the Holualoa Inn...

The plants on the right are big, lush coffee plants. Here is a closer view...

And cute Michael in front of them...See the little red "berries?"

And here's Michael standing in the middle of the cool road...

We happened to glance this car on a side-road...So cute! Looks like fun! The license plate said "Ghia" :) (For those of you who don't know, the car is a VW Carmengia.)

We found some biiig bamboo plants growing in the land between two houses/properties.
Here's me looking up at them...

And standing in front...those leaves in front of the bamboo are my favorite...I think they look almost fake or something!We also took pictures of some of the cool looking buildings on the side of the road, and then just other random shots of us in front of plants and other pretty things...

In case you can't read the sign on the building, this is the public library.

This one's for you, Keri! It is abandoned now, but what a cute little, and I mean little, shop!

I don't know exactly what that stone structure is behind me (maybe part of this old historic theatre in town?), but it's cool-looking, and you can see some more of my favorite leaves!This is actually the bathroom out back of a little hotel/inn...never seen this before! What a view while you, well, you know...

We really like these lava-rock walls...you see them all over here. And why not? Lava rock is definitely in abundance!!

Me again...I must have been slacking on the picture-taking part. There seem to be an awful lot of pictures of me...

Cute little old church...

And more of me...

What a cute town! We are looking forward to going back on a normal, not-so-many-people-every-direction-you-look, day ;) We heard of this great little restaurant tucked back from the main road, and can't wait to try it out!

hugs!

I LOVE this music video, and just have to share. It's Dave Matthews Band singing "Everyday." Click on the words "music video" above (I don't know why they don't show up highlighted like they're supposed to), and then once in YouTube, click on the button below the screen for a full-screen view...

Love and hugs to you all!

ps-sorry I couldn't figure out how to put the actual YouTube screen here on the blog. Anyone have any advice or tips about how to do that??

pps-let me know what you think about the video in my comments!

Today...

"It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
It's a beautiful day...

What you don't have you don't need it now
What you don't know you can feel it somehow
What you don't have you don't need it now
Don't need it now

It's a beautiful day!"


Enjoy your day...
Love like there's no tomorrow!!
-Kamma

some stuff...

Since I got some sort of stomach virus ON Michael's birthday, and he got the same thing two days later, his celebration dinner had to wait. So, last night we finally got all spiffed up...

(Ooh, too sexy!!)

and began the drive to a little town called Honoka'a.

Was a beautiful drive right at sunset...

Eating fire!

We went to a little Italian pizza place called Cafe Il Mondo.
(I know, it's a terrible picture, but I took it as we were leaving
through the open window of the moving car!)

Michael had met the owners at work a couple weeks ago and decided that's where he wanted to go for his birthday. It was excellent! He got lasagna (of course) and I got a Greek pizza...fabulous! It was a BYOW(wine) kinda place, so after we sat down, Michael walked across the street to the grocery store and found one bottle of Chianti...amazing! Because they were very busy when we first arrived, we chose to sit at the "bar" instead of wait for a table. It was actually a bar over-looking the dishwashing woman, and we had such a wonderful time talking to her...Violet, a retired school cafeteria worker, grandmother of five and great-grandmother of six(!) who is doing the job part-time just to get out. She was really such a joy to talk to in between eating and drinking. We had a thoroughly enjoyable evening!


This morning, after sleeping in a bit, we decided to watch our latest netflix movie, "Into the Wild." If any of you have seen it, you know the overload of emotions the end of the movie brought. Wow. Half-way through we were both thinking to ourselves how inspiring it was, and I even wrote down a couple quotes that really stuck out to me. At the end, however, I found myself crying and talking about all these different things the movie had brought up in me, most of which didn't even have to do with the idea or plot of the movie at all! It was very interesting and thought-provoking, and still inspiring. I definitely recommend seeing it, but consider yourself forewarned.


After the movie, we decided to drive up to Waimea before Michael had to go to work (at 1:30). We actually went because I thought there was this pumpkin patch/festival thing going on. After we got up there, however, we discovered it's not until tomorrow, but we decided to hang around for a bit anyway. We just walked around and found some beautiful things that I just happened to capture on film!

Perfectly-shaped tree with these beautiful red flower/leaves...

The flower parts up-close...

Crazy thistle-looking blossom...

My cute husband with the thistle-looking blossom... :)

Back home, this is right outside our condo building...
I guess it's Hawaii's version of changing leaves!

Speaking of changing leaves, the weather has definitely been changing over the past week or so. Certainly not cold, but a little cooler for sure, windy and grey mornings. It's been pretty grey all day today, I'm actually wearing one of the long-sleeved shirts I brought over with us for the first time since we've been here! It's interesting to see how the season is actually changing some.

One more thing, just to tell you how wonderful a husband I have...two days ago (Oct 23) Michael cooked an amazing dinner for me, and pretty much had it ready when I got home from work...Homemade meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, and for dessert, brownies! He knew it would be a hard day for me; the 7th anniversary of my mom's death; so he made me some of my favorite comfort foods! I feel so blessed to have found such a caring, compassionate person to share my life with. I know I wrote a mushy love-note last week on his birthday, but I'm just bursting at the seams, and I'm not ashamed to admit to the world that I am in love with my husband!! <3

We hope you all are well and enjoying your lives on a daily basis. Would love to hear from you!