Relaxing on LBI...

We are officially on LBI. It's beautiful weather and we're just relaxing and enjoying time with family. We got in EARLY on 8/28, and we got to the rental car agency and it was taking forever. There was gentleman at the counter and his wife was sitting down on the chair and Michael asked what was wrong because they didn't get a car. It turned out this couple was just trying to make it home. They had a run of bad luck while in Florida waiting to catch their cruise. The wife's purse was stolen and about $12K of their money/jewelry was taken. They were just hoping to rent a car to make it home in Philadelphia. Michael is such a good samaritan. He told me he had to help them so he offered to rent them a car to get them home. The guy at the counter initially gave him a hard time, but understood that we were doing the right thing and allowed it. The couple was so appreciative and by us helping them restored Susie's faith in human kind again. Aidan of course entertained everyone during the long wait. Although we didn't make it to LBI until 3 a.m., we felt we did the right thing and we hope one day they will in turn do something nice for someone else in need.

We finally made it to the beach this morning really briefly just to get Aidan out on the sand and while I'm typing Michael is off with Aidan building sand castles. Here are a couple pictures from this morning. Aidan with his signature "ojiichan" face.

It's been really good relaxing and doing absolutely nothing. Well, of course, I'm doing emails and all, but I feel very much relaxed. It's something about the Jersey shore, it's relaxing and it feels like home...

Going on Vacation!

We're going on vacation tomorrow! YIPEE!!! Many may think this is not a good time with all my looming orders for end of September and all of October. It was however our only chance to get away. We're going to Barnegat Light, New Jersey... The beach.... Honestly, being from the West Coast and seeing the beaches in CA and HI, I thought to myself, "nice beaches in Jersey???" But if I was to be anywhere in Jersey, I am glad it's Barnegat Light. Plus, the beach house my husband's brother owns has been remodeled and is gigantic... Viewing the sunsets from his rooftop and overlooking the never ending Atlantic Ocean... I can hang with that. This picture was taken on my first visit to Barnegat Light. It's the walkway to the beach from the beach house! SWEET!

This vacation is much deserved and although I'll be stressed when I come back trying to fill all my orders and teach, it will be well worth the visit. To see my in-laws and for the three of us to spend time together as a family instead of focusing on work will be a welcome change...

Instead of blogging the next week about my flowers or invitation designs, it will probably be a lot about other great finds or the beautiful scenery of LBI and of course my family. I got the LensBaby (early birthday present from hubby, LOL) so it arrives the day we do, so I'm so excited to try it out. I have to do Debbie proud! :)

Not to worry, as soon as I return there will be plenty of new images to share of wedding orders I'm working on as I think I have 8-10 that are due all in the month of October.

Stationery for a Dear Friend...

Debbie Friedrich of Debbie Friedrich Photography is someone I consider to be a dear friend. Granted I only met her once at a wedding I helped with back in October of last year, but she is such a talented and down-to-earth person and fabulous photographer! I think it's the mutual admiration for one another's work which bonds many of us in the wedding industry. If you don't know Debbie, she was the photographer for The Knot's Real Wedding of Cheryl and Fred DeAngelo that was featured a few years ago on the Oxygen Channel. (This happens to be one of my favorite pictures of Debbie - the story behind the picture as well as because you rarely see her in front of the camera!)

This was the first opportunity that I had to work with Debbie and she did a phenomenal job. She actually is the person who convinced me to start my own blog... so I have Debbie to thank for that! Debbie does weddings worldwide, but many of her weddings are either in the San Diego/Southern California area or on the beautiful islands of Hawaii. She truly does "shoot from the heart". You should check out her blog at http://www.shootingfromtheheart.typepad.com/. She captures the smallest detail. The latest one she did was the sunflower picture. She found little tiny heart shapes on the inside fringe of the sunflower just before the petals start! AMAZING!

She's in the process of working on her own Etsy site and I'm so excited for her. Be sure to bookmark http://www.zenatona.etsy.com/. She's also going to have the work of Ulu Art on her site as well, which is a collaboration of two very wonderful and talented photographers, Arna Johnson and Geralyn Camarillo of Arna Photography and Hokuli'i Images respectively.

Anyway, I bought this beautiful photograph that Debbie took (I think) with her LensBaby (one of my next Xmas wishlist requests). I was immediately drawn to this photograph and knew one day that I just had to own one of her amazing photographic creations. It's a picture of a ti leaf... SIMPLY AMAZING! Reminds me of home.... Hawaii. :)

She asked in return if I would be able to create some business stationery for her to send to clients and this is what I came up with. I tried different designs, but I really felt drawn to this one so I hope she likes it as much as I do. Debbie envisioned chocolate browns and fuschia pinks but she also thought about green cymbidium orchids. I contemplated how I was going to incorporate everything, but I think the end result is stunning yet simple and not overstated. Finally I remembered that I did a similar design for my wedding thank you cards and thought it was different than your standard fold-over cards... so I decided to try it out. On the inside, I did a simple slightly muted version of her logo so that her clients will always be reminded of her beautiful logo.

The wedding industry has been an amazing experience for me. I meet the most wonderful individuals and professionals, which in turn many times I am fortunate to call them my friends. I think even more so, being a woman in a predominately female industry, seeing successful women such as Debbie pursuing a business they love and enjoy is very inspiring and empowering to other women in the wedding industry!

Every time I see Debbie's work, she inspires me to always do what comes from the heart and pursue what I feel passionate about. Once her Etsy site is stocked with her new photo products, I'll be one of the first to buy it!

Replica Bouquet or Is It???

I got a request several months back after the post from Miss Pineapple via http://www.weddingbee.com/. A newlywed wanted a replica of her bouquet. She's doing a Trash Your Wedding Dress party soon and wanted a replica of her bouquet. Obviously, I cannot recreate Mother Nature's work of art, but I can create my artistic representation of what I see. The client also asked if we could put more orchids and less roses in the bouquet since her budget when she got married couldn't accomodate the amount of orchids she wanted. So.... replica bouquets can be anything you want them to be, especially when it wasn't your ideal wedding day bouquet, now you can have them with clay flowers!

I'm interested to see what this Trash Your Wedding Dress Party turns out to be like. I've heard about it from a few of my brides, but have never seen one. I can't imagine trashing my wedding dress... I think I need to investigate more. Hopefully Maritess will send me pictures. :) Maritess also saw my work at her friend's wedding on the Big Island a year or so ago where I did the bride's wedding favors so, I guess it was meant to be for us to connect. :) The picture of above is courtesy of Ed Pingol.

Corsages and Boutonnieres - Part III

Last night I finished the balance of Amy's order. The boutonnieres, corsages and hair flower. Here are the remaining shots from her wedding order.

Vintage Retro Bridal Bouquet - Part II

Here is the bridal bouquet that goes along with the tussie mussie and corsage pictures I posted yesterday. Amy wanted something completely different for her and her fiance. So we went with red ranunculus with the green centers, deep red roses and merlot-burgandy roses. I added a hint of green bud-like fillers as well as red ones to match the bridesmaid bouquets and some of these wonderful tea-leaf fillers that are red with green undertones. I think these will look stunning on the bride and bridesmaids. Back to work on the boutonnieres and remaining corsages....

This was a fun one because I rarely do deep reds and burgandy (many of my brides to date have been soft pastels). Of course I love hydrangeas and ranunculus so I enjoyed creating this bouquet order and the bride thus far seems pleased with the results! :)

Tussie Mussie Bridesmaid Bouquets - Green Hydrangeas and Ivory Roses

This particular client found me via my Etsy site and was interested in bouquets for her wedding. I honestly almost forgot her order (embarrassingly enough), but I caught it on Monday and have been working on it this whole week... Her bouquet pictures will be posted tomorrow once I finish assembling her bouquet. She's doing a really vibrant and deep color bridal bouquet and her bridesmaids bouquets are more subtle and muted tones of ivory roses and green hydrangeas. To tie back the red color of her bouquet, I added these little red bud fillers. We also did tussie mussies which are a favorite of mine. Amy has a vintage kind of retro theme going.

All the groomsmen and father, mothers of the bride and groom and grandmother will be wearing boutonnieres and corsages with ivory roses and green hydrangeas. The picture below is the corsage.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post to see Amy's beautifully bold and rich bouquet! Reds and merlot/burgandy colors..

Today Marks My 100th Sale on Etsy!

This afternoon I checked my email as I was cooking dinner and I got my 100th sale on my Etsy.com storefront! What a great milestone. I've basically been selling since March so in 6 months, I've gotten 100 sales... Impressive... if I do say so myself. Especially considering my pieces range from $15-175 in price. For me, it's just an amazing milestone. It amazes me that there are so many Etsy sellers who have sold over 1000 items... One day I hope to be like them!

I did a little dance and my son Aidan was laughing, but he congratulated me on my big achievement! The 100th sale was my Passionate about Peonies Cube Vase Arrangement! I was wondering when it would be sold. The person who bought it is giving it to her mom for her birthday. I wish I was her mom! :) What a wonderful birthday gift to receive!

Anyway, cranking out the flowers for all these orders, so back to flower-making for me...

A New Sample Invitation - Starfish, Aqua and Green Color Palette

My day started out very busy with invitation samples. This is one of them that I thought turned out very nice. Very different, but I like the textures of the patterned cardstock. The client ended up liking the starfish and the layout, just the colors and the patterned paper didn't work for her. At any rate, I just thought I'd post regardless to show a new design. The client initially said she liked the green and aqua. The reason I chose this particular cardstock is because it reminds me of the ocean. I love blues and greens because they express a sense of calmness and serenity. Perfect for a tropical destination type wedding theme.

Tomorrow is a busy day and the start of a busy week. I have one bouquet replica to complete, some vase arrangements, more hair flowers and start work on a few orders that are due in September. Vacation is sounding better and better. You have no idea how excited I am about taking a little break to get refreshed and refocused before the flurry of October weddings hit and I start into my end of year orders.

DK Designs' Blog Banner on www.bestweddingblogs.com!

This evening I was checking out a couple of wedding blogs and Something Blue out of Dallas was thanking Stacie Tamaki of http://www.bestweddingblogs.com/ for listing her site under the national blog section. So I went to Stacie's directory listing and I came across this. I really felt honored and very fortunate to have received the top banner placement to promote my blog! Stacie has high standards of excellence when it comes to wedding blogs and I feel very fortunate to be one who got top placement on her site! Plus it takes you directly to my blog

It helps that Stacie is a great graphic designer. She pulled together some of my best work and created my banner. She really does beautiful work. If you have a wedding blog and you are a wedding professional, contact her because she's really starting to build a wonderful directory of wedding blogs that are out of this world! Details on how to contact Stacie are on the website. Even if you are a wedding professional who doesn't know how to even start your own blog. She has a tutorial on all the things you need to know to start one. So what are you waiting for???Same goes for those brides who have a bridal blog. She offers a directory called http://www.bestbridalblogs.com/. Check out these wonderful directories to see all the great blogs from wedding professionals and brides. Finally, one place where you can go that has all that you need!

DK Designs Favor Boxes on TheKnot.com Homepage!!!

So this morning I received an email from my good friend, Cheryl Shoemaker of Orchid Isle Weddings & Events. She happened upon theknot.com and found my favor box photo on the home page!!! It's amazing out of the 550 plus photo gallery images they have on the site, they picked the one I did for Mae & Jeremy's wedding as the one they would show on the home page! I'm so happy, delighted and honored! :)

The nice thing too is Cheryl is the person who referred Mae & Jeremy to me so I think we both get some publicity out of this one as well as the wonderful photographer who shot this great wedding, Stewart Pinsky! So not only was it featured on the home page but also on the Favor Section of the Wedding Planning Resource part of the website! It's also pretty amazing how many people see this color combination and want to have it repeated for their wedding!

It's a wonderful way to end a great day! Today, also ended the full 5 days of teaching accelerated classes to Tracey and Vista. They learned a lot and we got a chance to build friendships and I look forward to seeing them back again in November and see how far they've come with all the practice they have to look forward to before then.

I wish I could offer more accelerated courses to interested individuals who want to be instructors, but for now, it's once a quarter based on my busy schedule. If you live out-of-state and are interested in the DECO Clay Craft Academy courses, please contact me and I can give you information.

Check this out - my gardenia hair flower on the Bride's Guide!

Like many wedding professionals and brides alike, I start my morning reading all the bridal blogs out there to see what's new. I have my favorites like everyone else. After being on the Martha Stewart Show, I've made it a point to always look at Darcy Miller's "A Bride's Guide". So, this morning I went on and low and behold, I found my gardenia hair flower on the site. It wasn't Darcy talking about my flowers (unfortunately), but it was the advertisements on the side. Many of the mainstream bloggers have advertising sponsors. One of the sponsors was ThisNext.com. A member of ThisNext.com had recommended my hair flower and since then I guess it's been picked up as a popular item!

Anyway, I was pretty shocked and amazed that it made it into an ad on Darcy Miller's blog page! How cool is that!? That just so happened to make my morning complete to see my hair flower being advertised by ThisNext.com on a mainstream bridal blog! Obviously the advertisements rotate, so you probably won't see it, but I'm so happy that I just happened upon it when I did!

My DECO Clay Students from Canada and Texas

For those of you who read my blog on a regular basis are probably wondering what happened to me. Why haven't I been posting? Well, since Monday, I have been teaching the DECO Clay Craft Academy Curriculum I course to two lovely ladies, Tracey from Toronto/Ontario, Canada and Vista from Houston, Texas. They have been working extremely hard, 4-6 hour days to finish 10 classes or more in 5 days. It's been intense, but they are progressing and enjoying the learning process.

We've had a great time getting to know each other and they both hope to come back in November to get close to completing the program so they too can teach the DECO Clay Craft Academy program to interested individuals where they live.

I haven't gotten much else, done, just really focusing on teaching, it's very tiring because I'm not used to talking all day long nor standing on my feet. So at night, I have not had any time to do anything other than just catch up on emails and get ready for the next day's class. Tomorrow we conclude and they will have to go on and try to practice all they learned for the next few months until they both hopefully return in November to complete the CII classes.

It's truly amazing what they have accomplished in 5 short days! They are doing great and I know that even though it was an investment for them to fly from so far away, they do feel that they have learned a lot and have a lot to look forward to as they continue to improve the skills they learned this week. The nice thing is with many of my students, we create friendships and bonds and we become almost like "family". It's been great. The rest of the weekend through until the end of August, I will now be focusing on cranking out my samples and orders before we go on a much deserved vacation! What will I do without clay for 9 days??? I think I'll survive! :)

A Wonderful Centerpiece Idea for Weddings...

As a wedding professional, I often look at bridal magazines, wedding related books and websites to see what the trends are each season and year-to-year. I've always seen arrangements of different shades of one color palette and sometimes using all the same flowers in the various shades, but also different flowers and different heights.

I haven't thus far had the opportunity to do this for a wedding, but I am making something as a gift for a loved one and it came out so cute that I thought it might be an idea for brides who want to create a floral decor, but at the same time the pieces could serve as favors for their guests. The pictures shown show a wooden table runner alternating different shades of pink roses is small glass cubes intermixed with candle votives. For an extra special touch you could use votive candles that match your color palette. Obviously in the sample I've created, I did different shades of pink rose buds as my gift recipient loves pink roses.

You could even attach a ribbon and favor tag to the mid-section of the glass vase so that guests know they can take one home. Maybe you give the female guests the flowers and the male guests the candle votive. Simple, relatively inexpensive and stylish. You could even fill the candle votives with the ever popular colored sea glass for more dimension and sparkle. Now that I made this one, I envision white flowers interspersed with the candle votives with blue and green sea glass with a crisp white candle. Hmm... I guess when I have "free" time, that will be my next task. Even if you can't afford to give these as gifts to your wedding guests, what about ordering a few of these to accent reception tables or areas of your wedding ceremony and reception and give the flowers to your bridal party as a "thank you" or maybe your special family members who you want to honor?

It's such a great keepsake. I remember doing a wedding a couple of years ago and the bride and groom used my small centerpieces as their floral decor for the reception tables but also gave each couple or family one to take home. It just so happened that a colleague of mine was at the airport and saw the wedding guests carrying them and she knew it was I who made them. The guests were all raving about how lovely they were and how happy they were to be able to get it as their favor.

At any rate, I know my gift recipient will LOVE this gift and be raving about it all her friends on the island! :)

My Interview with Ralph Mucci of the Wedding Planning Audiocast

This evening was my podcast interview with Ralph Mucci of The Wedding Planning Audiocast. I had the normal butterflies I normally do (just because I so hate public speaking), but surprisingly it went rather well. I just kept reminding myself that it was like having a personal conversation with a colleague or friend and I was telling them about what I do and why I love doing it. I thought I would be having to do lots of retakes, but I spoke from the heart and where my passion for what I do comes from and it went great. I hope the listeners will be intrigued and check out my site after listening to the audiocast.

Ralph is such a great person, very personable and very knowledgeable. I hope that I get a chance to work with him again in the future. He joked around during commercial break and it was kind of funny because it was like listening to my husband giving me crap for not listening to him (both Ralph and my husband are from NJ). The East Coast sense of humor... gotta love it.

Anyway, you'll have to wait a few weeks to listen to the actual podcast. I know, it's like being told I have a surprise for you and telling you everything about it and you're waiting in anticipation. Ralph was telling me they tape 6 shows a day so that's a lot of professionals to interview, edit and post on the website. It just goes to show that their wedding podcast resource website is nothing but short of stellar. It's well thought out and well put together. I told him I would actually be downloading some of the podcasts to listen to on my journey to NJ for our little family vacation.

Thank you again Ralph and The Wedding Planning Audiocast for having me on your show! I'm truly appreciative for the opportunity to share my love of clay flowers with your listeners around the world. Keep doing what you're doing!

Boutonnieres and Corsage...

So here are the matching boutonnieres and corsage that go with the pink peony, rose and stephanotis bouquets in the previous post. I used these great little silver plated boutonniere holders that I think match nicely with the tussie mussie holders. Pink rose and stephanotis for the groomsmen and a small pink peony just starting to pop open (accented with stephanotis).



The person escorting my client down the aisle will be wearing this beautiful peony corsage.

The Bridal Bouquet to Match the Tussie Mussie Bouquets

A lot to accomplish today before my podcast interview. This morning I managed to finish the bride's bouquet that matches the tussie mussie bouquets I blogged about earlier in the week. This one is a handtied bouquet. The tussie mussie holder is a little small to create a larger bridal bouquet in, so I thought it best to do a handtied version. Again, I used the light pink peonies, but this time I created the open peonies where you can see the beautiful yellow centers to add a little more texture and dimension. Lots of pearl stephanotis and medium pink roses and green fillers to fill in and make the bouquet fullers. The bouquet stems are wrapped in ivory ribbon and accented with a beautiful pink silk ribbon secured with pearl pins.

More to come from this wedding as I plan on finishing the boutonnieres and corsage.. Stay tuned....

Today is the day.... My Interview with TheWeddingPlanningAudiocast.com!
Well, the day has finally come... My interview with Ralph Mucci of The Wedding Planning Audiocast... Am I nervous??? Yes, a little, but I think it's more out of anticipation and excitement. Heck, I've done live TV with Martha Stewart so a taped interview where I can do retakes should be a piece of cake, right??? Hmmm... We shall see. As my aunt, who helps me in my home studio told me, speak from the heart and all will be well. She knows how passionate I am about my company and what I do so I just have to trust that the little butterflies don't pop up and get me all tongue-tied!

I'm so very honored that Ralph Mucci of http://www.theweddingplanningaudiocast.com/ invited me to be a guest on their podcast show. If you haven't checked out the site, whether you are a wedding professional or a bride, what are you waiting for???? This website has the top leading wedding professionals in the industry giving you helpful advice and tips to plan your perfect, stressfree wedding! Colin Cowie, David Tutera, Mindy Weiss, Sylvia Weinstock... you name them, Ralph has had them on the show.

They have a great new logo for their site, which if you haven't guessed already, Stacie Tamaki of http://www.theflirtyguide.com/ and http://www.girlgoesgeek.com/ (she has so many more companies she runs, but I digress) designed it for them. Way cute, right? :) It goes right along with the new "Meet the Wedding Bloggers" section of their website. All the mainstream wedding bloggers (What Junebug Loves, Style Me Pretty, The Flirty Guide, Bridal Bar, etc).

At any rate, I don't know when the show will be posted, but you can bet you'll be the first to know! I'm really excited about this interview and the broad reach of brides who potentially will hear my interview and see photos of my work and be intrigued enough to contact me! The wonderful thing is I'll be Ralph's first wedding floral expert (to date they don't have any floral design experts, but I'm sure that the floral section will be blooming with the hottest floral designers the wedidng industry has to offer! Thank goodness I'm the first one so they have nowhere to go but up! LOL... Stay tuned for the link to the show when it goes live. You will also be able to download it via iTunes and listen to it whenever you want...

Custom Cake Toppers

More clients these days are asking me to create custom cake toppers or cake flowers for their wedding cakes. I think because the art of sugar or gumpaste flowers are so expensive that clay flowers are a great alternative. Plus the ready made ones already in a vase make great mementos of your wedding day and of course decorate your new home at the same time.

Stacie Tamaki wrote a great article in her Nitty Gritty section of http://www.theflirtybride.com/. It talked about how wedding guests steal everything they can get their hands on. I think even more so when the items are handmade guests go crazy. My Magnolia Bride, Kristy had her magnolia cake flowers that I made for her stolen before her wedding coordinators could take them for safe-keeping. At least with the cake topper in a vase, it would be hard for someone not to notice that it's being stolen. The same thing at my wedding happened, we made an announcement via the DJ to notify everyone what they could take and what they couldn't take. It's sad that you have to make that announcement, but sometimes it's necessary. Especially when your centerpiece vases are a rental from your florist. So although it may seem tacky, sometimes it's a must. Definitely check out Stacie's website because she has some great stories that have even better words of advice for brides.

Anyway, this cake topper was requested by a client who found me via Etsy and she asked if I could make Esperanza pink roses and green hydrangeas with pinkish tones. She has a square tiered cake with green ribbon on each layer and just wanted a topper. Although I could have said "no" to the order (since I'm completely booked as it is), I agreed to do it. We discussed various alternatives for the vase, but since she has a square cake, I figured this 5 inch flat vase would work nice without looking like it's another layer. Plus after the wedding is over, she can place it in her home and remember her wedding day and wedding cake with fond memories!

I love the unique cake toppers out on the wedding market, but I feel like the ones I create are unique in the sense that it becomes a floral arrangement you can have in your home and not something you just tuck in the china cabinet with all your china and crystal.

Tussie Mussie Bouquets...

I have always loved the look of a tussie mussie bouquet. The holders offer a Victorian, vintage and touch of elegance to a bouquet of flowers. I have a dear friend who wanted one so she could put fresh flowers in them wherever she was going out to a nice place instead of wearing a corsage or a lei. Everyone commented on how lovely the tussie mussie holder was and what a great idea it was as an accessory.

This particular client of mine really didn't have any idea of what flowers she wanted. Her only recommendation was that she wanted pink and white. So I suggested the tussie mussie idea to her and she was game. She was on a limited budget so we worked within her budget to create something I hope she will like. She's having a small backyard style wedding with her closest friends and family.

I recommended light pink peonies, medium pink roses and stephanotis flowers with pearl centers with some green fillers. This is a sneak peek on how the tussie mussie bouquets came out. Even my husband commented that these are my best bouquets (the ones in the tussie mussie holder).

So if you're thinking of getting married, consider a tussie mussie. Many of them have an engraveable tag so you could put your monogram or maybe a special short message to your bridal attendants.

My Flower Arrangements for Made in Hawaii Festival

My intentions were good when it came to making finished products to sell at the Made in Hawaii Festival but alas, time ran out. I managed to get 6 arrangements done to sell at the event and they are boxed up and ready to ship tomorrow. I guess if I gave them the other 3 that I held onto to sell on my Etsy site, I would have had 9, but I wanted to give my customers who can't make it to the show an opportunity to buy the some of the same pieces. Actually now it's only 2 on my site because one just sold today!

It's always hard because Made in Hawaii always lands on the 3rd week of August and that's my busiest time of the year. Plus next week I have my week long accelerated DECO Clay Craft Academy courses I'm teaching to two students coming all the way from Ontario, Canada and Houston, Texas. Not to mention I have to catch up on some orders and also work on some new samples for potential clients.

I posted some more gardenia hair flowers on my Etsy site because they seem to be selling very well. I posted 10 of each and then I realized I better sit down and make them so by the time someone orders then, they are ready to ship! I've gotten a lot of coverage via ThisNext, StyleHive and a couple of other style & fashion related websites, which I believe has been increasing traffic to my Etsy site.

Anyway, I have a bouquet order to start right now so I better start working on that. Maybe we'll officially celebrate our 3rd year anniversary later this month when we go to the Jersey shore for a family vacation....

How it All Began....

Today marks our 3rd wedding anniversary! Oh how we wish we were on Oahu eating our anniversary dinner at the Orchids restaurant at the Halekulani Hotel... The Coconut Haupia Cake (our wedding cake)...... Michael and I said we'd go there for a couple of hours in our dreams. LOL....

So here's a little story of how it all began...

On February 10, 2004, we officially met at Gate 22 at the Honolulu Airport. Michael insists that it was the airport and not the airplane... It was the jetwway actually. We were both flying back from HNL to SFO. Michael was on a business trip to see clients during ProBowl week and I was heading back after my telecommuting week. Michael had noticed me in the gate area and thought I was attractive and said to the people sitting next to him that he was surprised to see an attractive woman by herself on a flight from Hawaii to SFO. So as our rows were being called, Michael had pushed his way past a big woman with the tattoo "Thug Love" so that he could be behind me as we boarded the plane. He decided to strike up a conversation and asked me what I did and what brougth me to Hawaii. We chatted and then got into our assigned seats. It just so happened that he sat kiddy corner to my seat on the aisle one row back. He gave me his business card and then asked me for mine and I told him I didn't have any and he persisted by making me write my information on an extra card of his. I gave him only my name and my web address! I figured if he was resourceful he'd figure it out. He didn't like that. :) So we talked and Michael wanted to know if I was seeing someone so he asked if I lived with sisters or girlfriends. I told him, "I live with my dad." He laughed and retorted, "You live with your dad???" I looked at him with a mean look and said, "Is there any reason why I should still be talking to you?" and turned back. After about a couple of minutes and Michael thinking in his mind that I was like all the other SF pretentious women he had met before me, I turned around and gave him a smirk. For those of you who don't know Michael, he's got the East Coast sense of humor so he was attracted by my comeback...

I travelled a lot so I met a lot of people and usually you make small talk and then you go on your merry way. I was walking to the baggage claim when Michael came after me to ask me if I would go out with him. I told him I'd have to check my calendar. We went on a date the day before Valentine's Day. Anyway, on July 3rd, I was heading back to Hawaii for my telecommuting trip and Michael told me to come outside while we were waiting for baggage to arrive and he was so tongue-tied he just gave me the ring and asked, "Well are you going to say "yes"??? I told him, "Well are you going to ask me?" For those of you who don't know Michael, he is a talker (never at a loss for words) and for the first time even though he had planned out what he was going to say, he couldn't get it out!

Both of us were at a point in our lives where we hadn't met the right person and just decided to focus on our careers and if we never got married, so be it. Well, we found that right person in each other. Michael has been so supportive of my wanting to pursue DK Designs instead of going back to work in the high-tech field. Even though I would make a lot more money back doing marketing. But he believed in me and my dream and I love him so much for allowing me to follow my dreams. Today is no different than any other day for us, we both have to work, but we are happy that we are still together and continue to care, love and support one another in all that we do. It's hard to believe Aidan is already 3.5 years old now. He still gets excited that he was at our wedding. :)