light up the night

if you have been on the neverending search for the perfect gift then take a look at these beautiful artisanal candles from moon alley. each candle is hand crafted and when the wick is lit the design glows from within. if you take a closer look, you'll notice that each piece of the design has been carved by hand making every candle a little piece of art.

there are a number of pretty asian & tropical floral designs but you can't go wrong with the hula moon and the crane, of course, would make a lovely wedding gift. if you love it, don't forget to pick up a refill kit which gives new life to the burned out candle and transforms it into a candle holder.

deconstructing aloha

le'ale'a

being an eco-conscious girl, i love to see the different ways other people are making less of an impact on the earth (you know the whole reduce-reuse-recycle triangle), so i am loving the blossoming movement of designers deconstructing vintage hawaiian fabric and transforming them into new pieces.

meleana is one of the designers making her mark in the world of handbags. the style makers in her adopted home of nyc have been giving her lots of buzz this year and so far meleana's creations have been featured in lucky magazine and daily candy.

what's really cool is that you get to semi-customize the bag by mixing styles and patterns until you find the perfect one. the result is a modern meets vintage bag that says aloha to everyone you walk by.

one more reason to love your computer

. . . especially if you have wi-fi. why brave the crowds or circle around kapiolani park trying to find a parking stall when you can enjoy the 24th annual hawaiian slack key guitar festival via lava.net's live video webcast?

the event kicks off on sunday, aug 20th at 11am hst with peter apo and continues on into the evening when melveen leed takes the stage.

swanson's aloha workshop

now that you've stuffed yourself silly with samples, don't leave the made in hawaii festival without something fun in your bag. let's end the tour with a few happy tiki-licious designs from swanson's aloha workshop (love the name!). the man behind the designs was a director of animation in a past life which would explain why they remind me of saturday mornings watching hanna-barbera cartoons.

now you know and i know that your little mouse spends hours on end surfing the internet (it'll be our little secret). isn't it time to switch out that lame freebie mousepad from your isp and add some tropical flair to your desk with a lani hawaii pad?

you'll also find tote bags & cosmetic pouches that swanson's japanese fans adore plus a nice selection of technicolor prints at his eponymous shop.

frank sinatra ate here

another day kicking it at the made in hawaii festival website and it's definitely time for a tasty treat. if you're heading to the blaisdell this weekend, the abundance of samples you'll get to dig into will probably put the sport of grazing at costco to shame, but this photo of a happy cake will have to suffice for those of us far from honolulu.

you simply cannot go wrong with any of these words: chocolate. macadamia nut. fudge brownie. and let's not forget it's all baked into a cake (a happy one, mind you). this is not your mother's duncan hines so if it's moist and delicious it sounds like a winner.

and did you know that hawaiian happy cakes also has a hollywood connection? the cakes are baked at kemo'o farms in wahiawa which just happens to be one of the hawaii location's seen on from here to eternity. once upon a time stars like frank sinatra, ava gardner & lana turner had pineapple happy cakes shipped up to the mainland so make like a movie star and have your favorite flavor sent to your door.