eco-operate .:. baggu

Excerpt from DC Los Angeles:

July 30, 2007
Plastic Does Not Make Perfect

Paper or Plastic: The Great Check-Out Aisle Debate.This two-party system stinks. Time to shake it up + cast a vote for Baggu, a new reusable shopping bag available online starting today.

• weighs only two ounces but holds up to 25 pounds


• bottom gusset - stands up when packed


• handles long enough to carry over the shoulder, forearm-style, or by hand


• eight colors (red, fuchsia, olive, navy, aqua, gray, khaki + black)


• ripstop nylon - easy to store + maintain


• mashine wash + hang to dry

Use one for a year and you’ll save between 300 and 700 disposables. Available online at baggubag.com.

Check out it’s not a plastic bag too.

haiku - holoholo

packed + checking in
um, what? no reservations!?
get us on that plane!

boarded + seated
breathing a sigh of relief
on the plane at last

relaxing, drowsy
my excited boys asleep
OGG to SFO

hurry up + wait
san francisco to boston
hungry. what - no food?!?

logan, finally
buy bus + ferry tickets
snoozing on the bus

cool sea breeze blowing
respite from surprising heat
riding the ferry

sea to shining sea
the end of our journey nears
see? martha's vineyard!

a hui hou

My boys + I will be visiting hanai ʻohana for a while. We're going to Martha's Vineyard first, then celebrating Auntie's 70th birthday in Merrimacport, MA.

it's all a matter of perspective
The boys are excited because they'll be seeing their calabash cousins + they've never been further than the West Coast. I've already been all over the world for hula, but I don't get excited until I'm actually sitting on the plane anyway - too many details to take care of first!

incommunicado?
Who knows...if I can get my happy little fingers on a keyboard, maybe I'll post some pics or start a travelogue - but if you don't hear from me for a while, it just means that I've finally relaxed + am off having a great time with my boys!

Naʻu me ke aloha, ke Akua pu.

hulō! hulō!

Hoʻomaikaʻi to Hālau Kekuaokalāʻauʻalaʻiliahi on their outstanding performances at the Queen Liliʻuokalani Keiki Hula Competition on Oʻahu! Nā keiki worked so diligently, as did their mākua + ʻohana, to make this dream a reality.

Read about their journey on my Sissy Luana's website: http://www.thehawaiianlearningcenter.com/morningmanao.html.

Mahalo ke Akua!

never lose hope

It's really hard to still have hope when you're struggling through one of life's darkest moments...when you're fighting to protect yourself + your children, when you're surviving through an ugly divorce, when you're searching for a job.

In the past month, I've had to make a conscious effort to reach for hope, grab on to it + hold on for dear life. But you know what? Although it may have been only the tiniest pinpoint of light...it was always there.

Here is one of my favorite quotes:

"Hope" is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tunes without the words -
And never stops - at all.

~ Emily Dickenson

~ qwiki ~

An aunt on my mom's side works on our genealogy. She discovered we're descendants of profound poet Emily Dickenson!

Hope is a strange invention -
A Patent of the Heart -
In unremitting action -
Yet never wearing out.

~ Emily Dickenson

eco-operate .:. replate!

Excerpt from DC San Francisco:

July 13, 2007
Trash Talkers

Maybe it’s time to start talking trash on a whole different level, like SF locals Josh Kamler + Axel Albin. Having observed people leaving restaurant leftovers on top of the nearest trash can (instead of wasting them or letting them rot in the fridge), the professional designers figured it was an idea worth a conversation. So they gave it a name: Replate.

They don’t pretend to have the solution to hunger, homelessness, + food waste, but they’re all for giving, humanity, + common sense. Turns out they’re not alone — the project’s free source posters + stickers (which you can download on their website) are showing up in cities across the country.

They’ve already raised a lot of interesting questions: Should the city get officially involved? Does this really count as activism? + they’re open to suggestions on how to make the movement more effective.

So speak now or forever hold your pizza.

To spread the word, go to replate.org or e-mail leftovers@replate.org.

boys of summer

Here in Hawai'i, we don't experience the seasons as much as, say, the East Coast. Some people think we don't experience different seasons at all.

i beg to differ
Because it's glaringly obvious to me that we have a summer season + I don't need a change in the weather to tell me so.

here's a clue
My boys are all over each other 24/7. They can't even breathe in the same room without talking trash or gleefully pushing each other's buttons.

speaking of which
Someone should invent a MUTE button for those daily squabbles. In the meantime, though it may sound like it, I know they won't maim each other - so my iPod really comes in handy. I just plug in + tune out.

Because then I can focus more on the JOYS of summer.