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Wednesday
Feb022011

sweet nothings 2011 - take one

while my st. valentine's cards wait to be addressed and posted in the mail, i hustled up a few gently priced delights to share with you today.

1 - meet shop toast's newest debut - the very playful smit-tin filled with heart-shaped arare and pink gumballs. ($7)

2 - patagonia's organic live simply tees always make me smile, and a sweet little whale adorned with a flower lei sends just the right message to the little girl in your life. ($25)

3 - berrysprite's crocheted ipod cozy bear will charm sweeties with a kawaii crush. ($13)

4 - add a hint of old timey romance with space moderne's pretty in pink take on its always lovely handmade felt brooch. ($22)

will you be playing cupid with your favorite sweethearts this valentine's day?

Tuesday
Feb012011

under a gypsy spell

the kiss

with the first day of february and its flutter of romance upon us, it seems only appropriate to share the winter collection of dreamy underpinnings made by gypsy. i've been passing notes back and forth with kate ruggiero, the girl behind the line, since before the holidays and am delighted to finally introduce the locally made lovelies.

the first hints of gypsy began when kate, who followed her heart to hawaii a few years ago, was gifted a sewing machine for her birthday. after reconstructing her own unmentionables in hopes of a flirtier fit, friends soon began making requests for their own pairs of handmade bottoms.

while the cheeky silhouette remains the same since its official debut last summer, kate spends her off-time scouting out vintage and contemporary fabrics and introduces a fresh palette of delicates each season. for winter's wild heart offering, muted tie-dye and peekaboo lace mix with bright, playful patterns.

arms around you
breathless
daydream * among the wildflowers * misty roses

every offering is limited so just remember there will be no repeats since a fabric is retired once it has sold out. kate also shared that a bandeau bra will arrive later this month with 2011 also conjuring up the line's first dip into swimwear.

the current collection of underpinnings are priced from $24 to $38. find gypsy in the online shop or enjoy a peek at island stockists guava shop in haleiwa, olive in kailua, shasa emporium at kahala mall, and pink by nature in makawao.

{photo credit: daeja fallas}

Friday
Jan282011

aloha friday scoop

my mister's hiatus got bumped up a week (yay!) which explains why my posts played hooky over the past few days (boo!). and, a feedburner snafu seemed to delay the last email update so please do check out the one love photo feature if it missed your inbox.

on to the scoop . . .

celebrate the year of the rabbit with all the cool kids during tonight's ARTafterDARK show me the bunny edition. after the lion dance showers you with luck, rediscover 18th century chinese art stars and sample monk's food served by town.

  • when: fri, jan 28th - 6p to 9p
  • where: academy of arts, 900 south beretania street
  • tix: free for academy members; $10 non-members

pop by the january sale at fashionista's market and save 10% off new arrivals, 20% off remaining store merch, and an extra 50% off the sale rack.

  • when: fri, jan 28th to thu, feb 3rd
  • where: 1185 bethel street, chinatown
  • shop hours: mon to sat, 10:30a to 6:30p
  • fyi: one hour validated parking at kukui plaza (behind longs)

online, a few days remain to surprise your favorite sweethearts with malie organics' island-scented treats for 35% off!

  • secret code: lucky1
  • expires: mon, jan 31st

and, only a few hours left to scoop up this week's SMARTdeal - $50 for $100 at mu'umu'u heaven (purchase by 12p hst *today*).

p.s. fighting eel is accepting resumes for f/t and p/t shopgirls at the chinatown flagship. more details here.

enjoy your weekend!

Friday
Jan282011

and the winners are . . .

2011 ocean in my pocket calendar

stevie-lyn from honolulu and kim from las vegas! here's a glimpse of shop toast's super cute month-by-month designs found within the ocean in my pocket calendar which just happens to be printed on pocket-sized, wood veneer cards.

if you did not luck out this time, the final supply of the 2011 calendar ($8) is back in stock online and can also be scooped up at the shop toast storefront. fyi, the petite calendars will not be re-ordered once the current batch has sold out so hele over to claim one for your desktop.

congratulations kim & stevie-lyn!

{mahalo nui to jeremy & michelle for hosting yet another delightful shop toast giveaway!}

Monday
Jan242011

photo.phile: one love photo

i must apologize to one and all who have been waiting for and wondering about the return of photo.phile. while peeking at all the amazing photographs shared on the interweb is a favorite diversion, time just seemed to slip away over the past few months leaving little time for clicking through the online galleries.

happily, through the instant connection of twitter, i discovered the dreamy work of one love photo just before the holidays and immediately began trading notes with heather who snaps photos side-by-side with her hubby jon (a local boy from oahu). the duo are currently based in seattle and travel back to hawaii often to visit jon's 'ohana, and caught my eye with a lovely roundup of images captured during andy irons' memorial in hanalei.

the vintage vignettes are absolutely swoon-worthy and have become a sweet reminder to shoot more with my diana camera and savor its lo-fi possibilities. although weddings and portraits are heather and jon's bread and butter (and quite gorgeous, may i say), it's easy to get lost in their snapshots of the islands.

in fact, i insist.

{photo.phile notes}

what inspired you to pick up a camera and start clicking?
heather has always been into photography, it took me about 10 years until i decided to give it a whirl. mainly i missed heather on the weekends while she was off shooting weddings and thought she could use the help. i planned to go along to the weddings as her "assistant" but i got bored in a hurry. i had to pick up one of her cameras and start shooting. i don't have any formal training so i have learned everything by experimenting. i am never afraid to try something, even when i am told it won't work. i am most inspired to shoot when i am using my homemade lenses with our digital SLR camera.

photography muses that spark your imagination?
keith carter and sally mann. recently, we've been enjoying the beautiful set of images by john wehrheim in the book titled taylor camp. we came across the book while over on kauai, the b&w photographs of the hippie camp on the north shore in the 60's makes me wish i could time travel and be a hippie with a treehouse.

favorite island moment captured on "film"?
the andy irons' memorial on kauai was moving beyond words. it was an honor to capture the spirit of community on the beach in hanalei that day. we also love capturing friends and family at weddings! at one of our most recent weddings on oahu, we were so excited to photograph the couple's little dog named bear, who was also their ring bearer. there was so much love all around that day.

any simple tricks to share on how to best capture a lovely in-the-moment shot?
learn your camera's settings well, really well. shoot in manual mode ALWAYS.

which camera stays close by for everyday shooting?
our canon 5dmkII with a homemade tilt shift lens, it's not pretty but it makes beautiful landscape shots and portraits. for the beach, i love throwing our bright orange blackbird plastic toy camera in our bag.

pay it forward with the best photography advice shared with you:
you have to learn the rules before you can break them, then bend them often.

local delights that are a must in your beach picnic basket?
1st off we love using the reusable grocery bags from foodland as our picnic basket, preferably the one with the musubi illustration on the front. add some real musubi and sunblock inside and we are ready to go.

*(if shave ice didn't melt, it would be in there as well, with a snow cap). 

mahalo heather and jon!

more lovely moments are shared on the one love photo blog with peeks from the portfolio mingling with day-to-day snapshots. and, if you will be exchanging i do's this year, just know that h+j are waiving their travel fee to hawaii through all of 2011!