Aloha from Maui Days 3 and 4

Aloha, sorry for the absence but life always seems to get busy and then my blogging slows down.

So back to my Hawaii trip.
Day 3 Tuesday: We decided to go to see the Iao needle in Iao Valley State Park.  So again we were still waking up way too early despite our best efforts to stay up until 9 pm (2 am at home) we still woke up at about 4 am.  So of course we were on the road early for to there when they open at  7 am.  We did get there on time but the gates into the state park were closed.  So we parked at a heritage garden at the right near the gates and walked around the gardens which were lovely and also outline some of the history of the more prominent immigrant groups in Hawaii.  Here are some of the pictures.

The Korean Garden

 Portuguese Garden

The Japanese Garden

The Chinese Garden

(there was also a Filipino Garden but my pictures of it didn't turn out that well no offense meant)

So after wandering around the Gardens (mostly by ourselves) we walked to the gate for the state park but it was still locked so I suggested to my husband that we just walk up instead of drive (I have to thank my trainer for all the incline walking she has had me doing).  We found that there was a rock slide blocking the road but it we walked around it and had the park completely to ourselves. It was just gorgeous.

Mr Living Vintage pointing out the Needle

We also went to a Laua that night.  I had lots of trouble doing my hair we had been on the beach and playing in the ocean after the needle and then I showered but the blow dryer in our room was useless (the tradewinds do more to dry your hair) and I didnt have much time to spare to get my hair ready with hot sticks so I sacrified the back and left it straight and dried and rolled the top.  Sorry I don't have any great laua photos but I did get some of Mr Living Vintage and myself.

Outfit: Vintage Deweese Dress

Day 4 Wednesday:  The Road to Hana is something you must do when on Maui.  It is a winding twisty road that takes you through a rainforest past multiple waterfalls, Bamboo forest, fruit and flower stands.   It was very picturesque and what you probably picture in your head when you think of Hawaii

Our first waterfall on the Road to Hana

This was right next to where we parked our car to see the 3 bears waterfall (shown below).

Aloha from Maui Days One and Two

Aloha Readers 

We have just returned from a week long vacation on Maui and I plan to give you all the details (hopefully I don't bore too many of you in the process).  So some of you may remember I had planned to go to Viva Las Vegas this year for spring break but my fabulous husband decided we should go to Maui instead so I sold my ticket to Vegas with my room reservation to the Lovely Julie at Fab Gabs Vintage (what a nice gal).  And off we went.

Day 1
We left for Maui on a Sunday and arrived around 2 in the afternoon their time.  Our time was about 7pm so we did our best to try to stay up until 9pm Island time ( 2 am our time).  I think we made it until 8:30.  We watched our first sunset on the beach (with whales jumping out in the distance) and I had a few Mai Tai's,  Mr Living Vintage preferred to stick with a few Guinness and got a few appetizers with this at the bar next door to our hotel and experienced the inevitable Maui sticker shock.  Everything on Maui has a big price tag they will tell you this before you go but until you see a box of chicken and biscuits with a $6 price tag it will not truly sink in.  We stayed at the Days In Ocean Front in Kehei while not a grand accommodation it was right on a great beach and had very comfortable beds and a mini fridge so we could avoid eating out bills.  Now don't get me wrong this was no luxury resort but like I said it was comfortable and inexpensive by Maui standards so I would recommend it for that.  If you are looking for something grand you may want to try something like the Weston (flamingos and jellyfish in the lobby) and complimentary hair picks (ladies that is fresh flowers for your hair) can be picked up in the lobby.  Needless to say I am guessing that it was at least  times more expensive that were we stayed. Sorry to say I didn't take a single picture the first day.  I know bad blogger.

Day 2
Mr Living Vintage and I slept in and woke up at 8 am well that is our own time so it was 3 am in Maui.  Yikes what do you do at 3am?  Well we made a plan for what to visit for the day went and go some breakfast at well not much is open this early so we went to McDonalds.   We then drove along the coast.  So at 6:45 we had gone as far as our road would take us with out hitting the unpaved your rental car company will be very angry if you go any farther area.  We looked at some  tide pools saw crabs and sea anemones  We talked with a Canadian couple were were also up at 3am like us and they told us were a good snorkeling area right by us was (we did go there but not this day).  I have to say the thing that surprised me the most at this point was the landscape.  unless if was groomed and watered this was the leeward side of the island and quite dry naturally.  But I have to say this was the one thing I didn't expect to see.

Prickly Pear Cactus

Yes that is right it is not all tropics and lushness and the invasive Panini Cactus is there. 

 Next we went to the Up Country to visit the Kula Botanical Garden.  We got here right when the garden opened so for the most part we had it all to ourselves to explore.  Here are some of the pictures I took here.  (Oh and the very first photo in this post was taken here as well).

Mr Living Vintage Favorite A Bottle Brush Plant 

(picture does not do it justice)

Pin Cushion Protea from Australia

One of my favorites Protea Flower of South Africa

Kangaroo Paws from Australia 

I took this picture for my 5 year son as I knew he would love this plant and he does!!!

After the botanical garden we went to Fabric Mart.  I will post pictures later of what I bought.  If you are unfamiliar with fabric mart you should really check it out it is a great online supplier of Hawaiian fabrics and I was so excited to see they had an outlet on Maui.  I practiced lots of restraint and only bought 15 yards of fabric. Fabric Mart Websight

We went back to our room and napped, went to the beach, ate some dinner bought at the local foodland (grocery store) to save some money finally when to watch the sunset.  You have excuse my hair I forgot my end wraps for my hot sticks so the result was not as desired.  We ended the night with drinks at the bar again.

Happy Easter

Mahalo and Aloha

Susan

Confessions of a Pinaholic

Pin #1 source

Pinterest Board #2 Vintage Inspired Gladrags
This was the second board I made when I realized pinterest was a great outlet for all my online shopping desires.  I pin instead of buy but if I do feel I have the money later I can go back to my pins and see if items are still available.  Below you find my opinions on the items and companies.  I am not paid to do this I just thought I would share my thoughts after all that's what blogs are for!!

Pin # 1 is a pair of Dungaree Dolls from Freddie's of Pinewood.  If you are not familiar with Freddie's you really need to go visit them online they have fabulous reproduction denims that can be difficult to find.  I love this particular sop because it looks like it was taken in the doorway of a silver streak trailer which is the trailer that we have and well I just think they are adorable!!!  I have these now as well as a few pairs of Jeans.  I will say that being a short gal the jeans don't work very well on my figure but the Dungaree Dolls fit great.  That being said the quality has been great so I do recommend them for a gal with a longer torso than mine.

Pin # 2 Source

Pin # 2 is the Elsie dress from Revamp Vintage.  How can you not love this dress!!!!  I do not have any Revamp items at this time so if someone wants to speak to the quality or their experiences with this company please do so in the comments.

 Pin # 3 Source

Pin #3 is the Bernie Dexter Halter Dress in Polka Dot.  Great for fun in the Sun.  I do no have any Bernie Dexter dresses yet but I do have a jacket that I just love.  The quality is great.

Pin #4 Source

Pin #4 Heyday 40s style trousers.  How do I love Heyday I don't know if I can express it enough I have trousers, dress and a jacket and all are worn and loved.  I think this may be one of my favorite companies.  Hit the source button the check them out.

Pin # 5 Source

Pin #5 Corslette Top by Whirling Turban sorry this is not the exact same picture that I have on my board but the picure I had was of the same top minus the lovely Bernie Dexter modeling the top perhaps I wll have to add this one also.  If you love vintage Whirling Turban is right up your alley.  I was married in a Whirling Turban dress and have several others as well as 2 corslette tops and I love them.  I can't say enough good things about this company well worth the prices.

Happy Presidents Day

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I hope you all are getting a well deserved day off for Presidents Day.  My family decided it would be a good weekend for a trip to the cabin in Wisconsin.  Sorry I didn't bring my camera so no pictures all are having a good time snowshoeing, ice fishing and well the new dog and old cat seem to be working out some of their differences in this new environment.  Have a great day everyone.

Confessions of a Pinterest Addict

OK I admit it.  Sometimes I have a problem.  Sometimes I should be doing other things like sewing of cleaning or cooking but instead I sit at my computer looking and pinning on pinterest.  I gotta say I am all about the Visuals. So today I thought I would share my first board with you.

Worth A Look (view here) was the first board I started pinning to and now it has 254 pins and 194 followers.  I pin anything I considered Art onto this board, and that would include vintage advertising, though I am considering moving the advertising to a new board only because this one is very full and I think it could easily be divided into a two or more boards.

Enough said about that I wanted to give you the a peak at my 5 favorite pins from this board. Although choosing these proved to be quite the challenge.

Image 1: Cinco De Mayo

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I like this image so much it is my cover for this board.  It appears to have been found originally on a blog called Puppies and Flowers (see source) and was a part of  a post of Random calendar pictures.  I love the color combinations they patterns.  I love the lady's happy smile and her sweet eyes.

Image 2

You can also find some Vintage travel posters on my worth a look board.  I love the simplicity of design on this one.  I could not find the original source though it appears to have been originally pinned from Anderson Design Group. Com though the link did not seem to be working.

Image 3

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Worth a Look also holds some vintage advertisements and this is one of my favorites.  This was originally posted from Vogue.

Image 4

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By Russian born artist Erte, Romain de Tirtoff, I love his Art Deco designs and I need to research him farther.  I think you will agree for a vintage loving lady this is a powerful image.

Image 5

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Finally Worth a Look has some Pin Up

 art.  

Ok well I hope you enjoy my blog about pinterest. Oh and if you are pinner I would love to look at your boards.  If you are not yet on pinterest but would like to be let me know I can send you an invite.

Have a lovely day, Susan

Hello and happy New Year

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OK I know the Year changed a few months ago and I have been absent from my blog.  I am now going to work on a remedy for that.  We have had a busy couple of months.  I decided in December that I needed to make a few changes in my life.  One of the changes was to be less sedentary and get exercising   So I joined a gym and got a personal trainer.  Now I haven't lost any weight yet I know i am much stronger, it takes a lot more to increase my heart rate now when I am doing my cardio work outs and I feel proud that I have been going 5 to 6 days a week for the last 2 months.  I wish I looked as good as Marilyn working out, haha.

Not the best picture of her but she is always moving so she hard to capture in a picture. 

Other changes, well we adopted a rescue dog.  She is a great dog and has fit into our house pretty well although we are working on socializing her with our cat and rabbit right now.  We figure it will take a bit of time for them all to get used to each other.  We believe she is a Corgi and Chihuahua mix;  this half breed referred to as a Chigi.  Her name is Wags and she 4 years old.  She may lived on a puppy farm she appeared to have given birth recently ( and it looks like more than once) when the Humane Society got her.  She does a shoulder issue and will have to wear a brace but she is such a lovely dog we are happy to help her out.

I have just started my first sewing project in Months.  I am working on a pair of shorts to take with me to Hawaii.  I decided to work with a proportioned fit pattern since I am short I thought it would be a good fit (excuse the pun).  When I complete some shorts I would like to make an aline skirt for Hawaii also and I thought would join the Sew For Victory: 40's Sew Along.  So I will be making a casual 40's style blouse to go with my skirt.  I will have to go through my patterns in the basement but I may just sew a peasant blouse as I have done them before and they are quick and easy and will as I am always short on time this may be the best option for me.

Finally I have been very active on Pinterest lately. I think it is because I am all about the Visuals so I was thinking I would run a weekly best of Pinterest on my blog.  What do you think readers? Yeah or Nay?

Merry Christmas Everyone

Well this is my fourth day of Christmas (and the last) as we went to the In-Laws Cabin this weekend to celebrate with them and it was lovely not just the picturesque views of the frozen lake but also the the food and holiday cheer.  We had Christmas Eve early on Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Santa made an extra stop for the kids.  We returned home yesterday and celebrated at my sisters house with her family and my parents.  More holiday cheer and presents.  Oh yes my sister made a lovely cake for my oldest Birthday as he is a Christmas eve baby (OK not a baby anymore he is now officially a TWEEN).     Finally Santa visited our house this morning and brought more presents for the kids and this afternoon we will go to my Mom and Dads for more food and cheer (how is a girl supposed to take off any weight at this time of year).  I hope you all have a lovely Christmas.  Take Care, Susan