Mar 11, 2018 | Lifestyle, Moments
It has been a busy past few weeks! Between my growing hectic work life and social events having to say say goodbye to island friends, I haven’t had a lot of time to do much else. I’ve been blogging more but there have still been several developments worth mentioning:
I’m officially booked for travel in May! I’ll be going to a few different places; some of which I’ve never been to! I’ll first be going to Samoa for a friend’s wedding, then stopping over in Arizona to visit my sister’s family for some much needed quality time with my nephew and niece, and then… I’m off to Dominican Republic for another friend’s wedding! Love is in the air, and I’m so excited for the good times to be had! I might also be swinging through Puerto Rico to meet up with some friends there, so fingers crossed things all work out!
Another new development: Matcha green tea. I know there was a craze about it in the mainland, and I’ve never really been one for trendy fads, but I just happened to see a box of Matcha green tea at my local grocer and picked it up for $12 (because it’s normally ~$30 on Amazon for this particular tea). I had no idea what it was or how to even prepare it, but I tried it late one evening and was so caffeined out I stayed up until 5am. And I didn’t mind. I was so productive that night and even though I slept late, I had a good sleep. So now I have a nice hot cuppa matcha almost every day hahaha. I’m a convert! It’s purported to be good for you as it’s 10x higher in antioxidants than regular green tea, but who knows, maybe the buzz will wear off.
And speaking of matcha and health goodness, I’ve started experimenting with a new health supplement – marine collagen. My inner asian girl has come out looking for more ways to keep my skin and bones young and healthy. I had been curious about collagen effects and found marine collagen peptides at my local drug store, so decided to give it a go. We’ll see how well it works in like 25 years haha. Hoping it works well with my asian genes.
Other inner discoveries – I’m fine tuning my inner hippie. You may have seen my zero waste kit for beginners (if you haven’t, please check it out!), and this isn’t all that new. I’ve been using a zero waste kit since November 2017, and I’ve been avoiding plastic and styrofoam more actively since last January. It was one of my resolutions last year. So in line with more sustainable living, I cut out deodorant 4 months ago and detoxed all the harmful chemicals for a month. Did you know that most deodorants contain cancer causing chemicals? Look at this insane list of toxic ingredients in an average deodorant, or pick up your own deodorant and have a quick read through its ingredients. We apply this on our bodies daily, so it’s important to know what you’re messing with. All that being said, I made my own natural organic deodorant and I use it most days, but I also love using lemons/limes. It actually works. I’ll be expanding more how I made it in another post.
What have you been up to lately?
If you’re a hippie, I’d love to hear some pointers on more sustainable living! lol thanks
Feb 27, 2018 | Lifestyle, Moments
To bring back the good old Tumblr vibes.
To record the little snippets of life.
To keep me writing candidly (without feeling the need to edit myself so much).
To keep my blog more active.
To share my favorite little memories.
To get photos off my camera roll.
To express myself.
To revisit later on.
To remember.
PS- I made a new section on my site called Moments.
might change the name of the page later on but this is where I’ll be posting more frequently and casually.
Expect a lot of throwbacks on there!
Feb 7, 2018 | Journal, Lifestyle
Journal 10/52: How I See the World
The world is a big place in an even bigger universe.
This is a difficult question because I think my exposure to “the world” (I literally checked the definition of world in a dictionary so I could formulate a better answer) is limited by my geography, lifestyle, and environment.
First of all, I was born and raised on this tiny speck of an island in the middle of Earth’s largest ocean. How I saw the world in my first 18 years of life was limited to what my parents taught me, what I learned in school and church, and what I saw on TV. The Internet wasn’t really a thing back then.
I went to university in the mainland – my first time living away from American Samoa – and the world seemed bigger, more complex. People were different than back home, everyone was doing their own thing and they seemed busy all the time.
I just went along, not really knowing what I was doing at first. But instead of it all happening at once, I adapted slowly; made new friends (and lost some along the way), ate different food, traveled to cool places, spent way too much money (holla back if you had student loans too), got my degree, then came back home, got a job and readjusted to life on an island with a new view of what the world.
But that was 4 years ago, and even just the last few years of my life, how I see the world is vastly different than what it was out of college. I guess after all this, my answer is simply that my view of the world is changing. Just as I am changing. And so my perspectives will continue to shift. And it’s all a beautiful chaotic mess. I don’t know. I hope this answer is good enough.
Dec 28, 2017 | Journal, Lifestyle
It’s the week between two of my favorite holidays – Christmas and New Year – so it’s only natural that the best thing that happened this week was Christmas Day. It was just a perfect day. Breakfast on the balcony (my fave). And our last day of advent gifts. Bittersweet because it’s been so fun to give and get little thoughtful gifts daily!
And I just want to share… YOU GUYS, I got a BCD! It was hilarious – we opened our envelope of clues and I could not for the life of me figure out where my gift was. Ian gave me a hint. I could see it from where I was standing. I scanned the entire house and still nothing. Ian started laughing harder and I followed his eyes OUTSIDE – and finally laid my eyes on a gift FLOATING in the lagoon! I ran out and saw my gift was atop a boogie board tied up to a nearby mangrove. I kind of already knew what it was, and I was beyond thrilled when I tore it open right then and there. A shiny new BCD that fit perfectly! We already made plans to go SUPing so next week, I’m starting 2018 off with a scuba dive!
We joined our friends and neighbors for a community brunch. Ian made baby back ribs, mmm! Then we all gathered on the beach for a group photo to be shared with fam and friends near and far.
And probably the best part of the day was out on the water. I wanted to take a ‘family photo’ and since our pets are known for their love of the ocean, we grabbed our SUP and kayak and took Yodi and Officer Scruffles out for a swim. We hung out just beyond the reef. I saw a shark for the first time in the wild!!! A friendly black tip reef shark, so no biggie really, but it still made my heart pump. And swam with a bunch of sea turtles. Like I said, it was perfect.
And while I’m writing this, I want to give a shout out to the Man with the plan, the Reason for the season, Jesus Christ. Thank you for your life that gave me mine. And thanks for another beautiful day.
Dec 19, 2017 | Culture, Photography
2017 Samoana Jazz & Arts Festival
Day 1 at Tradewinds Hotel Pavilion
Day 2 at Sadies by the Sea Hotel
Day 3 at Tisa’s Barefoot Beach & Bar
Photos sponsored by Bluesky
This was my 3rd year as the official photographer for the Samoana Jazz & Arts Festival. And even though I see many of the same faces year after year, and have made friends with the musicians, I still get nervous to take the stage and put on the “Official Photographer” badge. I’m always worried I’m blocking people’s view, or being a bother, or that I look like I don’t know what I’m doing. I always wear all black (something I learned from my time working for GradImages) to not draw attention to myself. And it really helped to take photos and meet the new musicians at the mixer event the night before, so I was familiar with who the musicians were, and they were aware that I’d be invading the stage periodically to take their photos. Last year I took almost all the photos without a flash, which is ridiculous. This year I brought my Altura external flash and brought a bunch of extra AA batteries just in case. The photos turned out SO much better thanks to the flash. Here is a clickable gallery of photos for the 3-day Jazz festival. Photos sponsored by Bluesky.
Dec 17, 2017 | Journal, Lifestyle
Inside looking out
The view from my window right now is a lot of green and living things. I can see a little girl playing with 2 dogs a couple of houses away. The pua flowers are in bloom and falling to the ground graciously. The pandanus looks inviting but I know better. Birds are singing and zooming by. I can see the peak of Mt. Matafao, the island’s tallest mountain. The banana tree is leafy and the coconut fronds are salt frayed. The sky is gray. There is wind in the air.
Outside looking in
The studio room is a mess. Christmas wrappers, ribbons, fabric, discarded mail, art supplies… all strewn about. It’s where I’m hiding Ian’s advent gifts. Where I journal. Where I blog. Where I sew and paint things. I’m mentally preparing to close out the year. Declutter. When did I become such a hoarder? Just had a clothing swap with some girlfriends last weekend and then donated the rest of the stuff to Hope House. I’m thinking of getting rid of a bunch more stuff. I did a bit of tidying up around the studio. Here’s a video of that in fast forward.
Dec 3, 2017 | Create, Lifestyle
Happy December! I’ve been eagerly awaiting the holiday season because I love Christmas lights and plus, I always need something to look forward to. I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money on decorations since we’re saving for presents and travels. So instead, here are just a few holiday decoration ideas that you can make yourself!
1. Driftwood + Garland Christmas Tree
I’ve been holding on to these two large driftwood sticks for almost a year now and they have finally come in useful for something! I tied the top together and split the bottom 45 degrees apart to form a triangle shape, then wrapped the garland around it to make it look more like a pine tree. Add Christmas lights and lean against a corner – and voila. Instant Christmas tree magic.
2. Advent Calendar Tree
You can add this to any DIY Christmas tree you desire. I painted a couple of poster papers and used some kraft paper to make my own wacky envelopes. Number it from 1 to 25 to represent the 25 days of Christmas. Then use a binder clip to attach the envelopes to the garlands in numeral order. Bonus – it double as ornaments!
3. Reversible Stockings
If you know how to use a sewing machine at all, this is super easy. I didn’t even have to make a pattern since a sock shape is so easy to copy. I got this Samoan print dobby fabric in green and blue from the Tutuila store, drew out a sock shape on the fabric and sewed a green and blue piece right sides together. Make sure to hide the hems and close it off — and there you have it, reversible stockings!
Other not so typical Christmas decoration we have up are: this tiny Christmas tree that Ian’s parents sent him a couple of years ago, a fishing glass float wrapped up in Christmas lights, this flag banner that says Joy, a nutcracker I won at last year’s Christmas party drinks competition, leftover garland, sea shells, and a snowman ornament for our bookshelf.
Our deco is not your typical Christmas hangings and mistletoes, but it’s our island, eco and budget friendly version and I love it.
