Family Pagoda

We finally put up the Ehara Pagoda today. My grandfather used to make these in his home in Kauai. He had wooden molds that he would put mixed concrete into. They would dry into these beautiful pagodas. I can remember, as a kid, driving around Kauai and seeing these in the front yards of homes. And I would always think to myself, "My grandpa made that."

Before he passed on, he spent a few months with us here in California to teach my dad how to make them. I remember them discussing how much sand, cement, and rock to use. And how to stamp it down into the molds. It is a very long process to make just one, and I can remember going into the garage with them to watch how they would make the pagodas.

This pagoda was actually made by my dad and grandpa. It was in my aunt's house in San Francisco, but she decided that one of us girls should have it, so it's at our home right now. The bottom part looks a little newer, cause it is. LOL We couldn't get the base off of the rocks in her yard, cause they cemented it down. So we just took one of the bases he had in the garage.

Tina the Trend Guru

My cousin started a blog called Tinathetrendguru today's entry has some wonderful jewelry! I just love it. Check it out if you can!

Casper's Hot Dogs

I had a great time visiting with Kristen yesterday. She was visiting from Coarsegold. She used to live in the bay area, but moved a while ago, and I met her through the store I worked at in Redwood City.

We went to the movies and saw the Ugly Truth, good movie if you haven't already seen it, and then we went to Casper's Hot Dogs.

I grew up on the Peninsula, so I had never heard about Casper's Hot Dogs till I moved over on this side of the bay. And Kristen hadn't heard of them until her neighbor asked her about them a few weeks ago. So we thought it would be a fun place to go for lunch.

Here's Kristen enjoying her Kraut Dog. I had a Cheese Dog. I love their Hot Dogs cause they're just so good. They have the skin (or casing) on them still, so when you bite into them they Snap! I haven't been to one in awhile, especially the "Casper's with a C". We normally go to the "Kasper's with a " cause it's closer to our house. I don't think there's much of a difference, but Phil does. LOL

If you're in the East Bay, stop on by, they're a great hot dog! (they also sell them in Costco and Safeway in the refrigerator meat sections).

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

So, I saw the movie last week, and loved it. I didn't re-read the book on purpose because when watching the Order of the Phoenix, I was so disappointed by all the things missing in the movie. Yes, I know that they can only put so much in a movie. If they did everything, we'd be watching HBP for a week. LOL So I went in with an open mind.

And I really did enjoy the movie a whole lot more when I wasn't comparing it to the book. Love the effects, and loved just seeing it on the big screen.

But then the question came at the end of the movie from the girls..."What was different about the book and the movie?" LOL And I couldn't answer them, cause I couldn't remember. LOL

Now that I'm rereading the book, I'm sad at the things that didn't go into the movie. In this book there are so many little things that happened that didn't even get mentioned in the movie. I was curious to see how they would handle things like the Locket that was shown only at the end of this movie, that is so important in this one and the next.

Harry spends a lot more time at the pensieve in the book, and we get to see a lot more background in the book. (Again, if they put it all into the movie, I'd have to live in the theatre for a week). I'm glad that I'm reading the book again, cause there is so much missing, that I'm really curious to see how they are going to get everything in the next two movies.

Yes, they are splitting the next book into two movies! I'm gonna read it again next week to finish the series in my mind again, and not pick it up again till the next two come out. I figure it makes my movie going experience so much better. LOL

A few different Flyers embroidery designs

Here are two different Flyers designs. One of the moms requested an orange tank top. Since orange on orange would look kinda funny, we went for the blue on orange. It turned out pretty neat.
And of course the flyers little sisters also must have their own flyers shirt. :) This one came out really cute!!

I've been spending the past week or so doing flyers embroidery, tshirts, sweatshirt hoods. I am just so happy that they like my work and that they continue to want things done by us. Thank you Flyers!!

Cheeseballs in Newark

Today the Cheeseballs played in Newark today. Sadie sings with them in the band, and it's the first time I've seen them sing. They were great! They play dance songs, mainly 70's, 80's, and 90's songs. They did a little tribute to Michael Jackson today. I loved that! It was fun seeing them all sing at least one song.


Their lead singer guy has a great voice. Loved watching him!!

Here's Miss Sadie. She sang a few songs today. She gets better and better each time I see her!

And Ryan Kihn is in the band as well. He is Greg Kihn's son, and an awesome guitar player. I used to see his dad in concert all the time in the 80's. :)

It was a fun day out in the sun, I hope to go see them again!

FGSA Closing Day

This past Saturday was closing day for the FGSA. Kinda sad cause we spend a lot of time here during the week. Today is gonna be so weird not having to be anywhere. Above are the flyers girls. They're the FGSA tournament team. It's so cool that they all get along!

Here are my girls, Danielle, Alex, and Lexi. They're so cute! They're part of the 14U Flyers team, Dani and Lexi are on the Thunder team, and Alex is of course a Rocket! Go Rockets!

Here's Coach Phil with the girls. He spends a lot of time coaching Alex and Dani cause they're his pitchers and catchers. And Lexi is starting to become a pitcher too. :)
And this is where I spend a lot of time, at the snack shack. Hopefully we've raised enough money to have electricity and sewage at the snack shack. Then we can finally be indoors!!

This year, in our inaugural season in the 18U, the Rockets took second place! YAY! It's so cool that they could be in second in their first year in the 18's.

And here's the team accepting the reward for the most volunteer hours for the 12U/14U/18U. Go Rockets! They won a day at the local water park. :)

I know we've just finished, but I can't wait for next season!!

Kitty burgler

Well, the other day I was walking around the yard, and I found some curious things. There was an old sock, or should I say a HUGE old sock, and a brown and tan tennis ball. I've never bought any tennis balls since living here, and haven't seen the old sock before, so it dawns on me....

We have Kitty Burglers! Our kittens must go into people's yards and pick up randomy things to play with, bringing them home. LOL OMG. How crazy is that?? But I'm thinking, how the heck did they get a tennis ball home? Did they roll it all the way here?

NOPE. I took a pic of the grey kitten playing, and he's carrying the ball all over the yard while he's playing. How cute is that?

American Idols Tour 2009

Every year Debi, Joanne, Denne, and I go to see the American Idols Tour. We all LOVE the show, and we really LOVE seeing them in concert. And every year the show gets better and better.
One of the biggest surprises for me was how great Matt was in concert. He was one of my favorites during the show, so I shouldn't be surprised, but he was really great on tour. His set was really one of the best performances.
And of course I loved Danny Gokey. I know he wasn't Denne's favorite, but I really did like him a lot. And he did a great job on tour as well. He even sang PYT! That was really awesome.
One of my favorite numbers in the show was when Allison came out to sing with Adam. Allison was my favorite towards the end of the season, and she did not disappoint. Her set was AMAZING! I would totally go to see her if she was on tour. Which I think she will be. She sang Rock Star and Barracuda! And she did an awesome job!!
Here they all are at the end of the show. We had the best seats ever this year. We actually were in the 15th row! And even better, they let us bring in cameras!!! So we all got some great pics. It was so much fun, I can't wait till next season. :)

Flyers Lil bro shirt

So I had a request to do a little embroidery for a toddler shirt. One of the players little brother needs to support his sister! LOL So I was trying to figure out how to do the embroidery. And I came up with the above design. I thought i'd just use the flyers letters, the swoosh and the softball would make the letters harder to read, and it just looks a whole lot better on a smaller shirt.

I also embroidered his sister's number on the hood like the big girls. I think it came out pretty darn cute!

Sleepy Kitties

So I decided that the kittens needed a bed. So I took out a couple of wine boxes that we have lying around the house and put a couple of old sheets in them. I had one box out there, but the orange kitty was hogging the bed, so I put a second one out there. A few minutes later I found this scene:

Later in the day, all three kitties were sleeping in the same box. I just LOVE sleeping kitties. LOL And this picture made me laugh cause the light grey kitty was covering the eyes of the dark grey kitty:

I looked out again, and you can tell they were all comfy cozy:

I swear I could watch them all day long! Now the orange and dark grey kitties let us pet them. Here is my favorite letting me pet him:

Phil says they won't let him leave for work without having him go outside and show them some love. LOL We're thinking of somehow getting them fixed and getting them shots so they can stay around. I hope they stay around.

Embroidered names on hoods

I've been spending the past couple of days embroidering the girls' names on the hoods of their sweatshirts. It's been really fun doing that, once you get everything lined up right, the rest is easy.

I used hoopless embroidery on this, meaning that you hoop the stabilizer and sticky stabilizer, and put the hood on top of the hoop. But the one challenge was, sweatshirt hoods are double layered, with the top layer moving about a bit. So the solution, sew the hood onto the stabilizer as well. That way the material doesn't move while it's being embroidered. :)

Another thing that happened was there was a slight imperfection on one of the hoods. Solution, embroider a softball right on top! LOL I put a piece of water soluable stabilizer on top of the tiny hole, which held it together. And it looks pretty awesome. Now the girls want to have softballs on their hoods too!

I'm so glad that they like their embroidery on their stuff. :)

Tina the Trend Guru

My cousin did her very first blog post today at Tina the Trend Guru Please show some love and check out her blog. :) I think she did an awesome first post on her love of Michael Jackson. You go girl!!

RIP Michael Jackson

(photo by Ngoc Tu)

Today was Michael Jackson's memorial service at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. I was one of the millions who watched it on TV , and OMG, what a beautiful service it was. It totally showed a different side of MJ, one that only a select few people had ever gotten to see of him.

It made me see him as his family did, as a real person. Not the superstar, the singer, the dancer, or the humanitarian. But it made me see him as a son, a brother, a friend, and most of all, as a dad.

I mean from all the stories that the media has played throughout the years, I know I forgot that underneath all of that, he was just a regular person, just like you and me. Ok, just like you and me who is ultra famous and who has a bajillion dollars. LOL But he was just a regular guy who liked KFC, who loved to kid around, and who loved his friends and his family.

I still get so upset with the media and people who are still focusing on the negative aspects of his life. When they really should be focusing on all the good that he did for the world. For everything that he gave to us all. Not only his music or his dancing, but his heart and soul. You really had such a beautiful soul. One we will never forget.

Thank you Michael.

Kitten update

Yes, as you can see, mr. mountain kitteh has decided to get our attention by climbing on the screen door. OMG, it's too funny turning around and seeing a kitty staring at you from the screen door.

The kitties keep growing every day. And now the dark grey and orange will let us pet them. They really love it now actually. the light grey or little grey as I call her, wants to be petted, but is still too skittish.

Will have more kitty updates....

Fourth of July

In a couple of days it is going to be the 4th of July, my favorite holiday ever! I've always loved spending time with family, the fireworks, bbqs and all that. But I do love what the day represents, freedom for our country.

So have a Happy Fourth of July for those of you reading that celebrate our nation's birthday. Hope you enjoy the day with your friends and families.

Laura's Wedding Shower

Today was Laura's wedding shower, and Debi transformed her backyard into a beach scene. Above is the Surf Shack. Complete with boogie boards! :)

Debi created the mermaids out of paper mache'. And would you think that the rock is actually a doggie igloo covered with paper to make it look like a rock? LOL

Phil actually trucked in the sand for her, we had fun Friday putting it in the backyard and designing it to look like a beach. Alex even made the sand castle. :)

It was so much fun, and the yard looked beautiful, Debi is just so creative!!

Wedding Infinity Embroidery Guest book.

This is the wedding embroidery guest book I made for my friends wedding. The embroidery was the same design I did for my friend Kay's friend. And the book is the same. It is a guest book that was already made. Kay actually took the jeweled heart that was on it and put the embroidery on it. So I copied her idea. Thanks Kay!

They really really liked the book, I'm so glad I could make something for their wedding. :)

And if you're interested in the embroidery, please contact me. We have an etsy store that we will be selling the embroidered medallion piece for your own Guest book or even for your Photo Albums.

Michael Jackson RIP

It was so sad hearing that Michael Jackson had passed away today. I still can't believe it. I mean you always felt that he'd be around forever. I remember going to see the Jackson Five way back at Circle Star theatre in the 70's. That was my first concert ever.

Thank you Michael for making such beautiful music. We'll all miss you so much.

Growing Kittens

The kittens in our yard are growing up so fast! The dark grey kitty is my favorite. He's got the best personality! :) And he's just SO cute. He let me pet him once, and I'll keep trying. :)


Here's the three that are left. We're thinking that the black kitten got adopted by someone. It was really pretty with long hair! :) And these are the ones that hang out in our yard. I call them the Stalker kitties. They're always watching us and waiting for us outside our back door. LOL

The light grey one on the bottom is the shy one. It is always right up at the window until you walk over to it. Then it runs so fast. We think that it's a she.

The Orange one is the alpha cat. It's the biggest of the three, and has the most outgoing personality. It always eats first, and the fastest. And is always jumping on the other two.

It's so funny to watch the three of them in the yard. We have our old Christmas tree in the yard, and they're forever climbing in and out of it and jumping on each other. I can watch them for days...

More embroidered patches and Phil's jacket

This was Philip's father's day gift to Phil. His coach's jacket for the Rockets. The Rockets is our rec ball team for softball. He wanted the Rockets logo that we designed for patches on the jacket with the FGSA logo on it. Since we are the embroiderers for the league's jackets, I totally did one for him. LOL I'll get a better pic of him actually in his jacket. :)


And these are the patches for the tournament team's bags. What's cool about these is that it fits in a clear pocket on their bat bags. We had a hard time deciding what to do, cause the bags are black. So we decided to go with the Navy Lettering, grey material, and orange trim. It just stood out so well in the pocket. We figured orange and black was too much like Halloween. The blue and the black didn't go well. And since Grey, Orange, and Navy are the team's colors, it fit perfectly!

Will be embroidering them tomorrow!

Lumpia

One of our friends from the tournament team, Michelle, made really yummy lumpia the other day, and she was so kind enough to give us some. Cause OMG, I love lumpia. :)

This is what lumpia looks like before you fry it:

This is in our deep fryer...

And the finished product. All hot and yummy!!
Thank you Michelle for the lumpia! It was SO ONO! :)

Earrings for Lexi

Sorry that the picture is a little fuzzy. These are a pair of earrings I made for Lexi's 8th grade promotion. The findings are sterling sliver. I found the stars at Michael's today after I realized both bead stores near my home were closed on Tuesdays. Sheesh. LOL

I also used lavender Austrian crystals that I had from awhile ago. They just matched perfectly with the stars. :)

Now I am back into jewelry making mode! YAY!

Fremont Flyers first tournament in 2009

The Fremont Flyers 14U team's first tournament was in San Ramon this past weekend. It's always a lot of fun to go watch the girls play, plus visit with the other parents. Phil helps to coach the pitchers and catchers on the team.

Lexi running to catch the ball.

Danielle and Alex mugging for the camera. They just crack me up!


Here's the team between games. I love their uniforms this year! I gotta learn how to do tackle twill.

Here are the coaches. Larry, Phil, Clint, and Rusty.

Phil talking to Lindsey.

This is how we spend a lot of our free time during the summer. Phil's been helping Rusty coach since Alex was about 6 or 7. And we've been watching her games since she was in t-ball. I love how much she's grown since we've first started watching her play.

Junior Kekuewa Jr

Here's my cousin Jr. playing the guitar. I just love his guitar playing skills. Go Cuz!!

Too tired to sleep

Have you ever been too tired to sleep? OMG, I've been doing all this embroidery for the past few nights for the Tournament team Phil helps to coach, and it's 5 am and I can't sleep. Didn't help that I had the worst migraine. But I had so much energy once it went away! LOL

And did you know there's nothing good on TV at 2-5 am? ;) Well, guess I should try to get some rest. I'll take photos of the shirts in the morning when there is better light.

Have a great weekend all!!

Craig Ferguson's I'm Yours

Craig Ferguson's take on Jason Mraz' I'm Yours. You have my favorite Jason Mraz song, and you have Craig Ferguson...life is good. :)

Baking up a storm...

So the past couple of weeks I've been baking up a storm. I have been making my Cranberry Cornflake cookies, made some white chocolate macadamia nut ones, and lots of bread. LOL I will post pics of them as I bake more, cause as Christoph says if I don't post pics on the net, there's no proof I made them. ROFL.

I'm also finishing up some shirts for the Flyers. They're the tournament team for the FGSA. We start this weekend with our first game, that should be so much fun! I have 9 more shirts left to go at this point. I think I'll get some sleep and start over in the morning.

Will post pics when I get them!

Malted Milk Ball Krispy Treats

Another one of Phil's creations. The Malted Milk Ball Krispy treat. He crushes malted milk balls and puts them inside the krispy treat. To make it so we could tell them apart from the regular ones at the snack shack, I melted chocolate and brushed it on top. Then sprinkled crushed Malted Milk Balls on top.

They are Yummy!!

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

This is the second loaf of bread that I've tried in the bread machine. Since we started to make bread, we've been wanting a bread machine for awhile. So, my friend Skye gave us her old machine. And it's the best thing ever!!

The bread we made by hand was too dense. This bread made with the bread machine was so good! And so bread-like. Not pound cake like. LOL

I used the recipe in the instruction manual.

Raisin Bread 2 lb loaf

1-1/4 c Water
2 Tbsp Butter or Margarine
1-1/2 tsp Salt
4 C Bread Flour
3 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tbsp Dry Milk
1-1/2 tsp Cinnamon
2-1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast
1 c Raisins


1) Measure and add Water and Butter to the Bread Pan.
(I cut up the butter into smaller pieces.)

2) Measure and add Flour, Salt, Sugar, Dry Milk, and Cinnamon to the bread pan.
(A book I read said to sprinkle the flour into the pan, then put the other ingredients
in the corners of the pan.)

3) Use your finger to form a well (hole) where you will pour the yeast.
The Yeast must NEVER come into contact with a liquid when you are adding
in the ingredients. Measure the yeast and pour carefully into the well.

4) Snap the baking pan into the bread maker and close the lid.

5) Select the Basic Setting (on the Oster machines.)

6) Press the crust color button to choose light, medium, or dark color crust.
(I used the Light setting on ours)

7) Press the start/stop button

when adding fruit like raisins, the bread machine will make a beeping signal during the kneading cycle.

When the bread machine beeps during the kneading cycle, lift the lid and add a few raisins at a time until they are kneaded in with the dough.

The machine will take care of the rest.

It is a very yummy bread machine recipe, try it out! :)

Craig Ferguson's Istanbul

I forgot to DVR Craig Ferguson last night, but found this on Youtube. OMG, he just cracks me up!