The Feast at Lele ~ Lahaina, Maui

On my recent trip to Maui, we packed up the car one afternoon, drove on over to historic Lahaina town...

and checked out this HUGE Banyan Tree! This famous tree, located in courthouse square in the center of Lahaina, was brought to Maui from India when the tree was a mere eight-feet tall. The tree is now about 50 feet high and extends over 200 feet from side to side! (It dwarfs ME!)

Then we walked around Front Street and souvenir shopped in all the fun little shops/tourist traps until we heard the dinner bell...er, I mean... shell...calling us to come to The Feast at Lele ~

a fantastic 5 course gourmet luau featuring food and entertainment from the islands of Hawaii, New Zealand, Samoa, and Tahiti.
Oh yeah...and Mai Tais!

Bottoms up!Among other things, we ate imu-roasted kalua pig from Hawaii, Maori fishcake from New Zealand, poisson cru from Tahiti, and beef with breadfruit from Samoa.
With so many choices, even the less adventurous eaters had a great time! And they call this drink a Lava Flow! (aka: Guaranteed Hangover)
Yikes! Mai Tais + Lava Flows = Heat on!! Phew! Even our servers were HOT!
And... I thought

the entertainment

was

especially

uplifting!

Aloha ~ (for now!)

I'm Kind of a Big Deal & Have a BIG Candle Too!

As promised, here's picture of me IN the T-Shirt I won for being in the Top 100 Blogs at FuelMyBlog! Many thanks to Kevin & Sylvie...and everyone who's ever fueled me up! AND...

as if THAT wasn't enough excitement...the cool Peter G. Candles centerpiece I won from this FuelMyBlog contest also just arrived! It's beautiful, HUGE and smells like cinnamon! I LOVE it!

BUT...

I nearly bust an underwire when I saw what else was in the box....

Yes...it's PETRA!
The poor little wayward bra, rescued a couple of months ago by Fracas and her Famous Fraccy Posse from a near death experience! (Forced to become a kiwi-support device by certain person who shall remain faceless headless nameless.) Petra had been recovering with her brave and bodacious saviour in Canada, where coincidentally my bee-yoo-tiful candle was made AND where I am convinced some of the nicest people on earth reside!

Little Petra and I have been having a ball bonding over over a few Sierra Nevada Pale Ales (yum, my favorite!) and merrily dreaming about our next exciting globetrotting adventure!

Ya know what?.....I just love FuelMyBlog and all of my supportive blogging friends! The world is a better place because of people like YOU!

Lessons Learned from the Flowers

It is with conflicting emotions that I have chosen

to resign as a Founder at Go! Smell the Flowers. The reasons are personal, but suffice it to say that

we could learn a lot from flowers...

“Kind hearts are the garden,
Kind thoughts are the root

Kind words are the blossoms Kind deeds are the fruit."

~John Ruskin

Yes, we could learn alot from the flowers.

(These photos were taken by my blog-mistress' children in Maui...nice job, eh?)

Now That's More Like it!

Click HERE to read the original post about this UPlifting award which is now proudly displayed in my Big Ol' Bodacious TROPHY ROOM!

So THAT explains it!

My trusty blog-mistress has been knocked flat (and believe me - that's not easy!) by a nasty case of the flu...so...I took her to the doctor, who ordered a brain scan and here are the results. Phew! What a relief! I was afraid she'd contracted the boob-onic plague or something!

Doctor's orders are to keep a low profile for a few more days before jumping back into the swing of things. Hopefully it won't be long before my blog-mistress is kicking up her heels again ~ just like these pictures of her kids having the time of their lives last week on the beach in Maui...

And this is one of my favorite views...I call it Mammories of Maui

A Few Souvenirs...

I just couldn't resist bringing back a few souvenirs from Maui

to share with ya'll...

For Speedy ~

A gen-u-ine, WILD Hawaiian Rooster ~ and yes...
he actually is crossing the road!
(Why? ~ click here to find out.)

For Drowsey ~ I dunno, for some reason I just thought these would look really nice with your collection of phallic rocks and penis clams.
(Yeah, I know...I shouldn't have.)

For Mike ~

Howz this grab ya?

For Daddy Papersurfer ~ I have NO IDEA who this guy is!

(What he lacks in style, he sure makes up for in butts guts!

And at least he didn't loose his head!)

For Crusty ~

Dang it! She's blocking a great view of the whale!!!

(You bet your boots I took this one 'specially for you!)

For OMyLisa, Jeanna & Stealth ~

Yum!

For Meleah~Yum!

For All the Flower Smellers in the world ~
And for YOU...

A little bit of the peace that is Paradise.
(And my new desktop photo - help yourself!)

Enjoy!

xoxoxo

~Olga, the Traveling Bra

Shakin' Things Up in Maui

Aloha! Well, I'm back from my exciting Hawaiian adventure, but dang it - my poor blog-mistress seems to have brought home a little unwanted souvenir in the form of a nasty flu bug, and she's just not up to processing the over 1,000 digital photos she and her family took while visiting Maui!

Still...I managed to talk her into posting these from Whale Day '08 in Kihei...(she's such a good sport!)

Not only is this lovely island lady talented and bee-yoo-tiful,

she was also very friendly....

and introduced me to these fun-lovin' locals!We had a great time hanging out and talkin' shop all afternoon! I really liked the little yellow floral number...and promised that next time I'm in Maui, I'll call her shell-phone and see if we can hook-up!
Ta-Ta! (for now!)

To be continued....

Waking Up In Paradise....

This morning I sat on the rocks outside our beach cottage... and watched the surfers catch waves...while I caught a little sun...
and dipped my cups in the warm Hawaiian water.
Ahhh....bliss....and a perfect way to start the day!
This afternoon, I think I might try surfing!
Stay tuned....

I Heart You!

And I hope you have a rockin' Valentines Day!

I'd like to share with you this heart made of rocks

found on our way to the Nakalele Blowhole.

The following video is not mine but will give you a good idea

of what the blowhole is like.

I wonder where the photographer's head went?
And why does Lord Likely come to mind?!?

Aloha!

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while ~ but my blog mistress says she doesn't want to get sand in her laptop, and I can't seem to get her away from the beach!

But I am having a WONDERFUL time - we spent 5 days in the Kanaapali Beach area...lots of fun/lots of people...& lots of sand in my cups!

We've done some cool sightseeing too ~ like when we hiked into the beautiful Ioa Valley and snapped this photo of me and my trusty blog-mistress in front of the Ioa Needle. The Hawaiian name for this 2250 foot high peak is Kuak'emoku and is known as the phallic stone of Kanaloa, the Hawaiian god of the ocean. This one's for you, Drowsey!

And if the Nakalele Blowhole spraying water 70 feet into the air wasn't exciting enough - the wind nearly blew us off the cliff! Woo-hoo!

The rest of our trip will be spent hanging out here in Kihei ~ checkin' out the surfers and enjoying this view from our backyard! I will be posting lots more pictures soon ~ but gotta run....I hear the whales calling!

Ta-Ta, oops!...I mean ALOHA! (for now!)