Brad Pitt Homes on the Hurricane Katrina New Orleans City Tour

Welcome Earthlings to New Orleans!
Our arrival into the New Orleans airport. We were greeted by 2 Lego Star Wars buffs.

Heading out on our Hurricane Katrina City Tour
This was an excellent tour of New Orleans ("NO" as the locals refer to their home)
and the devastation and resurrection of the outer areas of NO that got hit by Hurricane Katrina
Learn more about Hurricane Katrina HERE.

Duane and Sarah

In the 9th Ward, we visited a once inhabited neighborhood
that is now only a field of green grass with few homes here and there

One of the most interesting parts of the tour was seeing all the Brad Pitt homes. Thru his non-profit organization, Pitt helps families in the 9th Ward rebuild using the most hi-tech materials.
Read More about Pitt's homes Here.

Another of the Pitt homes.
They all appear very Mod and not blend in well with the NO style.
But, hey, it's a mod house with mod features and they are being built for the families.
So, can't complain about that.

Another house being built in that same neighborhood.

And another...

This one was so pretty.
Another Brad Pitt house.

Here's the new wall built after Hurricane Katrina.

A mod Children's Playground ala Brad Pitt.

Summer of 2009 Lychee Bonanza in Laurie's Backyard

Bucket of Delicious Lychee

Laurie and Jimmy picking Lychee from her tree

Laurie with a branch of her bounty

Branches from the Lychee Tree

This is the Last Bucket of the 2009 Season

Lychee is One of my Favorite Fruit. When it's good, it's Very Very good. The flesh is opaque white, firm, fragrant, and JUICY!!!! I love it when it's ice cold. You can even freeze it, like grapes, and eat them frozen. Yum Yum just thinking about it.

This year, we went to our friend Laurie's house in Honolulu and helped her pick the last of her Lychee bounty. The miraculous thing about this is that this Lychee tree never bore fruit for the longest time. Last year was the first year this tree bore fruit in years. I'm glad it decided to bear fruit again bc it certainly has sweet juicy fruit.

Jimmy and Laurie used fruit pickers to "pluck" the fruit along with some branches and leaves. Later, they cut down some of the branches as the tree needed a bit of pruning.

All I can say is, I can't wait for next summer to arrive. Yum Yum for my Tum Tum. :)

NOTE: To see an OLDER POST on Lychee from 2008 with lots of pictures. Click HERE.

In Memoriam of Mocha & Mochi...A Gift for Emma

A Memory Charm Necklace designed especially for Emma...

an Old Soul at Heart

"M & M" stands for Mocha & Mochi
Emma's 2 pet rats who recently passed away about 2 months apart
That's a lot for a kid to take don't you think?

A Heart Shaped Glass Vial containing the Ashes of Mocha

A Silver Toned Angel's Wing
symbolizing that they are
in Heaven

Emma's into Goth so I placed her Charm Necklace in
a drawstring pouch in her favorite color...
Black

(Note the pretty tin can in background, house Mocha's ashes in a plastic ziplock type bag )

A pretty gift for Emma

My GF's daughter Emma's 2 pet rats Mocha & Mochi passed away recently about 2 months apart. Mocha's little body was cremated and the mortuary placed them in a plastic bag and then into a pretty tin can which they placed into a pretty velvet bag with wording embroidered on front. Emma carries the velvet bag with the ashes tied to a stuffed white rat doll around in her back pack.

When I heard about her 2 pets passing and the ashes and her carrying them all around with her, I immediately thought about placing Some of the ashes into a glass vial for her so she could wear around her neck. After receiving the precious tin with ashes, I filled the tiny glass vial with a small portion of Mocha's ashes. I had to use a plastic spoon. My tinfoil funnel idea did not work. Ashes are gritty and dusty.

I decided that an angel's wing charm would be so appropriate as well as a little Fresh Water Pearl to symbolize purity and enlightenment. On a Sterling Silver Heart charm, I stamped the initials "M & M" for Mocha and Mochi.

All of this, I placed onto a Sterling Silver chain with a Sterling Silver Lobster clasp and Tab with Fresh Water Pearls at the back.

Emma's favorite colors are Black & White which is an interesting choice of fav colors for one so young but I heard she just decided her thing would be "goth" for a bit. So I placed her Memory Charm necklace in a Black pouch and then into a lauhala gift box which I then decorated. I wrote a little sentiment in a hand made gift card which I tied to the top.

Upon opening the gift, Emma called me and thanked me and said she really liked it. I was so glad. Now, she can wear a bit of Mocha and remember her 2 pets everyday when she wears this Memory Charm necklace. Just a little something to ease the pain of her pets' passing. I know it took me awhile to recover after my pet pooch passed away. While they are not here, they are never far away.

In Memoriam...

"Julie and Julia" Theme Dinner Party

Homage to Julia Child Hawaii style

Beef Bourguignon...recipe by Julia
Yummy for my Tummy!

Sorta like Lays potato chip, Can't eat just one.

Electa's Ratatouille
My favorite.

Electa's Paelle
Her own secret recipe. Delish!

Yummy Cheese Fruit Spread

Can you taste it? I'm like the Pavlov dogs...I'm salivating.
Yes, it was that good. I had 3. Eek!
I was glowing like the fluorescent "OPEN" sign in the front of the Liquor Store window.

Jimmy with his version of Julia's Vichyssoise Soup with Asparagus

Can you smell the goodness?

Diane's French style Salad...Yummmy!

This is one Delicious Cake!

Reni (in pink) and her pal Sasha

Last month, Jimmy and I were fortunate to be invited to another one of my BFF Laurie's Dinner shindigs. But this time with a real theme....Julie and Julia movie. We had to create a dish from Julia Child's cookbook.

Food...we had too much wonderful goodness to choose from. From the Lychee martinis, the Wine overflowing, to the cheese spread, to the Bruschetta with local tomatoes, to the Beef Beef Bourguignon, to the Vichyssoise Soup, to Paelle (not Julia's recipe but who cares), Ratatouille (not Julia's recipe but to die for), the French Salad, and the OMG Chocolate Cake. I was stuffed. We were Stuffed. Who cares! We were loving it.

Okay Laurie, When's the next party?

Move Over Project Runway and Hello "September Issue"

Gotta Watch it!

If you LoVe watching Reality TV as Much as I do, then you've gotta see this. I'm a Fan of "Project Runway", a FAN FAN of "Rachel Zoe Project", and a big fan of "The Devil Wears Prada", but this movie TOPS it all. Talk about Documentary that gives you a behind the scenes look at what makes the fashion industry tick.

Anna Wintour

Anna Wintour and her friend Grace Coddington, the Creative Director at Vogue, are too interesting for words. You know Miranda Priestly's (Meryl Streep's) office in the "The Devil Wears Prada"? Ok, that's exactly how Anna's office is set up. The running chaos, the cups of Starbucks, the stressed out staff, the quietly authoritative boss...that's the Vogue office. Amazing! The only thing you don't see is Anna's assistant. Nope, no Anne Hathaway to be seen.

Grace and Anna

Have to say "kudos" to Grace Coddington. I LOVe her! In the beginning of the film, I thought "who is she?" bc she doesn't look like she works for Vogue. (Yes, I'm so naive and out of it. ) Then, as the documentary progressed and you hear her and watch her work her magic and see the beauty of the art she creates, she seemingly turns into the loving offbeat fiery down-to-earth extraordinarily talented figure who looks gorgeous! To know her is to LoVe her and by golly, I did at the end of the movie. Yayyyy Grace!

If you're interested in the fashion world, a fan of anyone of the various fashion reality shows, love "The Devil Wears Prada", then you better put on your running shoes and get on down to your nearest theatre and sit back and soak it all in. I didn't even need to chomp on a tub of overly expensive and deadly movie popcorn...it was that good.

Check out the preview below...it's fab!

Check out the Reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

Check out the September Issue official website.

If you're on Oahu, check out the Honolulu Advertiser for the times to see it.

Two Thumbs and Two Big Toes!

"Whip It" a Feel Good Movie...Must See

"Whip It"
A Must See Movie

I love Drew Barrymore and I love Ellen Page from Juno movie. Last Friday, I saw Whip It when it first opened in Hawaii and I was rolling in laughter. The world of Austin roller derby queens came to life. I always wondered what it was all about and now I knew. Wonder if Hawaii will ever have it's own roller derby teams? It's very entertaining to watch and an exciting sport.

Page played the role of a unobtrusive teen coming of age and finding her passion. I found it interesting how Barrymore was able to play a character and not upstage anyone. Now, that's real acting. Barrymore's directorial debut shows promise and makes me want to see more of her work.

Check out the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. And see a Preview from YouTube. If you are on Oahu, check out the movie schedule on the Honolulu Advertiser.

A clean cut movie that you can take your daughter and share a tub of popcorn. Has sort of that Juno edge to it. When you want to just sit back and laugh and forget the days of furloughs and recession, this is the movie to see.

Ethan LoVeS his Patchwork Amy Butler Quilt made by me, his aunt

Ethan playing it cool on his Amy Butler Quilt...too cute!

Want to see me putting it together? Check out this post... July 13, 2009.