It looks super super beautiful!

http://frickonastick.com/2010/08/sneak-peek-abide-a-giveaway/

a few days ago i saw “empress orchid” sitting at the library and from reading the preview, it was another take on the same empress. i picked it up and finished it today. it was a great read and i love anchee min’s beautiful descriptions of the palaces and the forbidden city! it was so intriguing! i mean power shifts back and forth and heads roll at a moment’s notice…you never know what’s going to happen.

the book is of course, different from the movie and i realized everything is not facts but it still makes for a wonderful read. gaining a bit of chinese history doesn’t hurt too.

it also made me think of how hard it must be to be someone so powerful. i can’t wait to read the finale to this book, “the last empress”. it’s on request at the local library.

my dainty layouts:

kitty designs have some super beautiful kits and i love all of her sketches but this one really really called out to me.

and i thought i was going to save some money by waiting until later. aaahhh…i guess not.

i wore the sample the SA gave me yesterday and today. i am loving this! i’m giving myself until the end of the week before i place my order. if i do not break out by then, i think i’m good. LOL

anyway, if you guys want to check out tarte, the sale will last through august 9th.

http://www.tartecosmetics.com

while i was there, i was sort of glancing over at their tinted moisturizer and i told the rep that i like more natural stuff. she pointed me to cargo and tarte’s products. since my family was waiting, i didn’t spend extra time to test out the products. i’ve been sort of thinking about a new tinted moisturizer. i’m using jemma kidd’s and i like it but, i of course, wanted a more natural alternative. i wasn’t looking until tarte was pointed out to me but now i want to see if there’s a shade match as i’ll like to eventually it.

we went to the mall today to exchange a gymboree shoe that i bought for faith for a dress for jaelynn. i bought the shoe in a size smaller than i should have and since a replacement size is already on the way, i let jaelynn picked out a dress instead. so, i stopped by the sephora inside jcpenney’s and took a closer look at all the shades available from tarte. i tested tarte smooth operator agent 06 with yellow undertones and james said he couldn’t tell a difference. i looked some more and saw a shade in agent 10 that has a bit more yellow undertones and tried that too. again it blended in. the texture is not as thick as jemma kidd’s. the added spf 20 is a plus.

the rep saw me looking at the two shades side by side and offered to do a shade test. i said sure why not? she tried 3 shades on my lower cheek and said agent 10 was a great match. i told her i’ll take it and she went to get me the product. a few minutes later she came back and apologize because that shade was out. she filled out a sample jar for me to take home and said they should have some on the next shipment. i thanked her.

i’m going to order a tube online when tarte or sephora have a sale because i don’t need it right away and i can save some money. i’ll also have time to use up the jemma kidd’s and the sample she gave me.

i’m going to start paying more attention to tarte and cargo’s.

we woke up, ate a few sandwiches, pack a light lunch and off we go. instead of taking the road to hana, there was another road you can take and that takes you to a different part of the mountain it seems.

after we were fitted with a helmet and rain jacket, we were taken by bus up the winding road by the biking company. at 5500 ft elevation, we started our downhill ride all the way back to the bike shop. it was a total of about 23 miles. it was cleared during our drive up. james and i were the last two riders being sent off and by the time it was our turn, the fog had crept in.

a bit of background info, james and i know how to ride bikes but we are not bikers.  so here we are, about to roll down this winding downhill road at about 30 mph while trying hard not to hit the fence and fly over the side of the mountain. either that or hit oncoming traffic. a terrifying thought huh?

i set off first and james waited 10 seconds before he followed me. let me tell you, i seriously have moments where i thought i really was going to just fly off the side or hit oncoming cars. we were really going down fast. there was no need to peddle and you couldn’t apply your breaks fast or you’ll fly over the front. then we had to allow enough space to turn without crossing over to the other lane. all of these plus the fact that the mist / fog was right in your face, wetting your sunglasses and clouding your vision. since the majority of the riders did not have gloves, i felt like i was getting frostbite! my hands were freezing. everything combine together made this a really really fast uncomfortable ride downhill. we couldn’t see anything because of the fog so we didn’t stop long enough to take photos, only to wiped our sunglasses.

after about 10 minutes, i stopped and when james caught up with me, he was thinking of just calling it quits because of all those factors. he also said i was going too fast! i told him i wasn’t peddling, i was just rolling down! he was scared i was going too fast. needless to say, we kept going and when we got to the lavender field, the fog had lifted and now we can see around us. it was beautiful and the air was nice and clean – very relaxing!

we stopped by a lodge to partake of our light snacks, took a few more stops on the way to take photos and just admired everything. i think the company must have loosen the bike chains a bit because you couldn’t peddle long before the chains sort of just slack up on you. i didn’t like that but the good thing was that you had time to look around and not go too fast. i would have liked full power for biking uphill! we had to go up a few roads and i couldn’t peddle all the way up! i’ll start peddling really hard and fast but the bike doesn’t gain momentum!

some parts of the roads were quite bumpy and my behind felt sore afterward. we got back at around 2:30pm. the drive back to lahaina was nice and relaxing after that frantic beginning.

we stopped by this little hole in the wall chinese restaurant and order some to go dishes so we can eat later. we were too tired to sit and eat there. we actually stopped at the thai restaurant a few times after our initial visit but they were always closed! their hours are 11 – 2pm and 5-9pm. we arrived twice between the opening hours and once on a sunday (their closed day). it was really unfortunate as we would have really love to eat there again.

after eating at the hotel, we packed and clean what we can in the room and just think of the flight the next day before we can see our kids again. it was wonderful to think by this time tomorrow we’ll be close to home.

the next morning, our flight left at 9:45am to oahu. our 2nd leg of the flight didn’t leave until almost 1pm. we didn’t get home until after 10pm. i was so happy to finally be knocking on my door again. when they opened the door to welcomed us, my little guy was still up and eating. jaelynn got up from the couch to hugged us and told me she was sick that day. faith gave me a hug too. alex kept looking at james and me like we were total strangers and it sort of broke my heart. he didn’t smile at us at all and just kept eating. i talked and talked to him and after about 5 minutes, he raised his arms and gave me a smile. i lifted him into my arms and boy, my world felt alright again.

it didn’t take long before everyone started talking at once and it was wonderful how all those noise just sound so right! i did miss maui but definitely not as much as i miss my kids.