The Fruits of my Labor.

This is what has been consuming all of my time for the past two weeks:

It is FINALLY done. Now that I have gifted it to Becky at her amazing baby shower (I only say that because I threw it at my house :) I can post it for all else to see. I was instructed by Doug that the ideal baby blanket would be all camouflage. I made a slight compromise. I did camouflage colors with a bit of a twist. I made it baby boy friendly. Owls and Trees: 2 baby friendly images, yet manly.

For the top squares I used flannel & soft corduroy. The edging is also corduroy.

All of the owls and trees are hand stitched.

Becky, I hope you enjoy using it as much as I enjoyed creating it! I can't wait for baby DeMartini!!!! Sorry for those of you who have not received returned phone calls from me! This is my proof that I was actually doing something and not completely ignoring you.

Herbs & Birds

Herbs: A year ago, my roommate Melanie, and I, decided to try to grow a small square foot garden. We tried. I won't show you the gory 'after' pictures, but all of our lovely green beauties were limp and brown by the end of the season. With no fruits of our labor. However, the basil we grew did serve us quite well and it was THE ONLY thing that we were actually able to consume.

Here is my attempt to garden last year:

And here is my attempt to garden this year:

BASIL! I figured I couldn't go wrong with this one. Plus, I'm tired of spending lots of money at Foodland & Tamura's buying something that I could very well produce myself.

Birds: The other day while sitting at work (not being able to read or do anything noteworthy) I saw something fall from the sky. SPLAT! Straight onto the cement. I walk over and there is a tiny green bird that had fallen about 40ft from his nest. I mean teeny, tiny, teensy, weensy bird. I picked him up with a napkin and placed him off to the side where no one would step on him, in hopes that his mother would come and rescue him. One sad hour later, no mother came to his rescue, so I adopted him.


I made a nest for him, mashed up his food, fed him, and kept him comfortable for a full day. Unfortunately, little Mojito (that is what Malia and I decided to name him) refused to eat his breakfast the next morning. I even woke up at 5:30 to make sure he wasn't hungry. Then 6:30, then at 7:30. He had to learn his lesson the hard way and he passed on. If only he would have eaten his breakfast. Honestly though, he lasted a lot longer than I expected him to. You can't just fall out of a tree onto concrete and escape unmarred. I guess it was just Heavenly Father's plan for little Mojito. May he rest in peace.
Birds have come up a lot in my projects lately. They are just so beautiful and there are so many different types. And, who doesn't love to be woken up by a songbird in the morning? (NOT a rooster, they don't count in the lovely bird category.)

A New EDITION

As many of you may already know, I have received a job offer to work at a brand new hotel opening in Waikiki. I held off making it public until I had more concrete details about it, but I just couldn't resist anymore! I have worked for Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club for a year now and just felt that I needed a change. A good friend of mine already works for EDITION and suggested that I apply for a front desk position. I was EXTREMELY nervous! It is a unique new brand of Marriott luxury boutique hotels and for those of you who know me, that's not exactly my style. It is going to be managed and run by Marriott, but designed and marketed by Ian Schrager Company (Studio 54). I had to go to a "Casting Call", which was held at a nightclub, in which I had to introduce myself to several of the managers and try to sell the "Holli" brand. Apparently I did okay because they called me back for an interview! I went to my interview dressed to the nines and in HEELS mind you! (Extremely uncommon for me). I will admit, I felt very confident in myself in a brand new outfit and...honestly, I knew I would get the job. Why you ask? Well, because I went to Panda Express TWICE the week before my interview and well, lets just say that Panda Express has always been a reliable source for me. (see fortunes below). So folks, if you ever need any of life's hard questions answered, head on over to Panda and order yourself a steaming plate of orange chicken, open that fortune cookie with confidence and 'VOILA', you've got yourself a new job.

Papa Bear

Occasionally, I'm pretty lucky to have my dad come and visit me in HI. Since he works for the military, he is generally out here every couple of months. You know what that means? That's right. I get to go grocery shopping at the commissary! Honestly, I have the best dad. He is so supportive of everything that I do and I appreciate him very much. So this time, I took him for dinner at the Ambassador Restaurant at PCC. (Thanks to my good friends the Ords) It was good while it lasted. (side note: SOMETHING in that dinner did not agree with my stomach and I was vomiting all morning.) Nonetheless, I got to spend time with my Pops.



It's comical that even though I work at PCC, I never walk much farther into the park unless I absolutely have to. We stumbled across these guys which after 1 year of working here, I have never seen close up. Pretty cool. Dad thought so too. Happy Early Fathers Day! I haven't talked to Dad since we just ate dinner last night, but I hope he didn't get sick too...

My New Bad Habit

I am enthralled. I have recently discovered these books by Suzanne Collins and they have captivated my interest in a dangerous sort of way. I cant sleep or eat. I just want to READ. Thank you to Becky, my good friend (and Librarian) who has sold the concept of the Hunger Games to me. You have created a monster. Unfortunately, right after I began reading the series, my work enforced a strict new rule, "Absolutely No Reading". It was like a cruel joke! It kills me to know that it is in my bag everywhere I go and I have to sit at work, when there are no people around, staring at my toes, and unable to indulge in my new bad habit.

The Hunger Games takes place in an unidentified time period in the future after the destruction of the North American Continent. The land mass is separated into 12 Districts, each one producing a particular commodity and presenting a type of caste system. The "Capital" is the elite and runs the districts. Each year they host the Hunger Games, which is a series of events in which two teenagers from each district, a boy and a girl, are chosen in "the reaping" to compete in a fight-to-the-death tournament. 'Why' you ask?? Well, you will just have to become a victim of The Hunger Games and read it! Trust me, its worth it.

A Few of My Favorite Things

These are a few of my favorite items as of late. I've been on the search for a new journal (since I have filled up the previous one) and finally found this one at the BYUH Bookstore. It had a sticker on the back that said it was authentically crafted and woven by Thai artisans. Sounded good to me. I like to support that kind of thing. Later, I get home and pull the sticker off the back, open up the back page and see the blasted words...Made in Korea. Well shucks. They can just say WHATEVER they want nowadays can't they? I felt like such a sucker. These colored pencils were given to me by my good friend Kari and I simply cannot bring myself to use them yet! I can't imagine how I would sharpen them. That seems like quite the dangerous feat. Sometimes I carry them around in my bag and just pull them out to look at 'em when I am having a boring moment.

Sometimes I Forget...

Sometimes I forget how incredibly lucky I am to live in Hawaii. It amazes me how many places on this tiny island I haven't been yet. One of them: Maunawili Falls. Now I can check that off my list! 4 1/2 years I have wanted to go there and was just "too busy" or whatever other excuse I could come up with...


After hopping from rock to rock through several streams, climbing up about 100 manmade steps (at least it felt that way), taking a wrong turn onto a slippery slope of mud (see picture below) and making our way through a labyrinth of bamboo shoots, we finally arrived at the falls. There are 3 or 4 different spots that you can jump off of. Due to my crippling fear of heights, I chose the lowest one. At least I jumped! On the way back down, it started raining and it was truly fantastic. Everything green looked greener and was glistening before my very eyes. I was literally smiling the whole way down.

I finally just took my shoes off because it was easier to grip the mud with my toes. And...I didn't want to ruin my shoes.

Call me crazy, but I actually LOVE hiking in my Toms. I bought these little beauties on my CA trip and have been waiting for the next opportunity to wear them. Since they don't exactly match my work uniform, I have made them my official hiking shoes. The first hike I did in them was a little rough, with a couple of battle wounds in the form of blisters. However, they served me well on my trek to Maunawili Falls.

For those of you who live in Hawaii and are ever looking for something good to do on the weekends, check out my friend Merlin's website. He lived here for several years and composed a website of hikes and other activities on Oahu. It's really detailed and helps you find the trailheads to some hard-to-find hikes.