Back from Maui!

Hello all! I've been MIA for the past few of weeks for a couple of reasons. First, my family and I spent an amazing week in Maui! Of course the week leading up to our trip was complete chaos, (Why do I leave everything to the last minute?) but the trip was fantastic! We've been back since Saturday night but it's taken me a few days to get back into the swing of things, hence the 3 week absence.

I'm not going to bore you with a million photos (maybe just a half dozen or so) but there are a few I'd love to share. If you haven't been to Maui I would highly recommend it. It's so beautiful! Every day we went to a different beach.

One of the highlights was our trip to Haleakala National Park. The summit is 10023 feet and the drive up is amazing (albeit a bit scary). The view of the crater is quite spectacular. You feel like you're walking on the surface of another planet! Here's a picture of me (wearing my Blue Garden Necklace) with a view of the crater behind me.

Here's another highlight. Our snorkeling trip to the Molokini Crater! Here's one of me and my hubby.

And of course, you haven't seen anything until you've seen a Maui sunset. Aren't we adorable? ;-) (Try not to gag.)

Our son had a fantastic time too. I'm proud to say he's become quite the little beach bum!

Now, you know I couldn't go an entire week without feeding my bead buying addiction, right? Lucky for me as we were driving down the Piilani Highway on one of our outings, I spotted out of the corner of my eye a sign for The Maui Bead Shop! I wasn't planning on bead shopping while on my vacation (really!!) but when I saw their sign I couldn't resist (story of my life)! I was really hoping to find a nice selection of Hawaii themed beads (or at least beads made or grown in Hawaii) but their selection was pretty much like any other bead store I've seen. Still, the staff was friendly and I was able to find these cool black coral sticks as well as a bright coral shell pendant in the shape of a plumeria flower.

I also bought these lovely Murano glass beads. Sure there not exactly made in Hawaii but they look to me like little tide pools and I had to have them.

As much as I miss Maui I'm happy to be home and will hopefully get back into my studio this weekend. I came home to a mailbox full of little yellow envelopes of goodies that I can't wait to play with. Watch for a shop update in the next few days.

Aloha!