This past week was filled with many fun adventures and memorable moments! That's what happens when I spend time with my friend Lynsay and her family.

This was going to be a short visit so we were determined to make the most out of every minute and that is exactly what we did.

Lynsay loves the outdoors, so even though during her first two days here it was overcast and a little rainy, we didn't let that hinder our adventures.

On Day one we went on a two mile walk at the Lagoons near my home and I took Lynsay and her daughter Emily to a secret beach.

Later that day we went to Kualoa Ranch on the Windward Side of the Island. It was a perfect day to be there. It was cool and a little cloudy which made for some great photo opportunities during our movie tour there.

If you haven't been to Kualoa Ranch I highly recommend it. There are many activities to do there. They have zip lining, biking, atv rides, horseback riding, and many tours such as the movie tour we went on.

We saw the locations where many Hollywood movies and TV shows were filmed. Emily and Lynsay just finished watching the LOST series, so that is one of the reasons we went there to look for the locations where Lost was filmed.

Do you recognize these bones from the Kong, Skull Island movie? We had several opportunities on the tour to see movie props up close. It was interesting to see the materials everything was made of.

Our time at Kualoa Ranch was only a few hours long but it provided us with many lasting memories. These memories include a possible Mark Walberg encounter (he WAS on the property although no one believes I saw him) and many interesting stories from our famous tour guide George who shared about his adventures as an actor on the set of Hawaii 5-O. All in all, it was a really great first day together for the three of us.

The next day we woke up to rain! It was one of those rare days in Hawaii where it rains all day. Those are days I normally LOVE but when you have friends over who want to see the sun it was a bummer! Once again, we didn't let it affect our mood. We had to change locations for our hike but we still got to spend time outdoors. We chose a new safer place to hike and went to the Makapuu Lighthouse trail. As you can see we weren't even halfway up and we already were having a great time together.

The East side of the island is my favorite place on Oahu. There are so many scenic points along the road. It was a bummer that it was overcast, but it was still beautiful.

Since it was Saturday, Derek was able to join us and that was a blessing! He works such long hours so I was glad he had the day off to enjoy the outdoors with us.

After our hike we went to The LOCAL in Kailua for the BEST natural shave ice on the island.

. The next morning the sun was out so we headed over to Nanakuli to do the Mailii Pillbox hike.

It was fun to introduce Lynsay to these places! Lynsay has been to Oahu before but never to my house and never to my favorite places.

We were worried that it might start to rain again but it was beautiful the entire day!

On Lynsay's last full day here we did the Lanikai Pillbox hike. There was no parking on Lanikai that day so we had to walk over from Kailua Beach. I guess you could say we had to take a hike to get to the hike!!

It was worth it though. It was such a gorgeous day and this is one of my favorite hikes on the island.

I'm so thankful the weather cleared up so that we could hike there!

The view are from the pillbox is incredible, just look at that water. No filters were used to take this photo!!!

It was good we did this hike when we did because on the 27th of March they closed this hike for repairs.

Since we were in Kailua again, I took Lynsay and Emily to my favorite place for lunch, Leahi Health.

Their Kale Tacos are the best but I've discovered a new favorite, this Beet Poke Bowl. Its so refreshing and delicious! Anytime I'm in Kaimuki or Kailua its on my to do list to stop at Leahi Health for a plant based nutritious treat. I wish we had one in Kapolei.

Since we were in Kailua we HAD to stop for another shave ice. This time I ordered a Ginger one! If you like ginger, you will love their ginger shave ice. They are usually larger but I asked for them to make mine a little smaller cause I usually can't finish one by myself. You can also add home made ice cream to the bottom if you want.

This seriously is the best Shave Ice I have ever had. All the syrups are natural, made from whatever Hawaiian fruit is in season and they have many really unique flavors.

Lynsay had one with lime in it that ended up being a little tart. Even though it was too sour for her liking she continued to eat it or maybe I should say slurp it till the last drop!!! It made for a hilarious moment that Emily caught on film and included in her travel video. You can watch this fun video at the end of this blog post.

When we weren't climbing mountains, we spent some time together in my stamp studio. Lynsay was preparing to be the special guest at my monthly Inspiration Night. I had never played with Brusho or Embossing Paste so Lynsay taught me how to use these products. Since we had a "saleabration" swap to prepare for the meeting, I decided to use Brusho to make my swap.

Here is a close up of the part of the card I used Brusho on.

Brusho is made of watercolor crystals. To create this look you just stamp an image with a black archival stamp pad onto shimmery white card stock. Then you sprinkle a TINY amount of Brusho over the image.

Important: if you have brusho, do not open the lid. instead take a push pin and poke it through the lid. When you want to use the product remove the push pin and sprinkle like a salt shaker and then plug the hole with the pin.

After sprinkling Brusho on your stamped image, you take one of our spritzer bottles filled with water and spray water over the image. Its fun to watch the crystals move and blend in random patterns. Then you need to let it dry naturally or you can use a heat gun to speed up the process. If the paper gets really damp and curls a little you can use sticky strip to adhere it to a base layer of card stock.

Here is the swap cards I created with this technique.

In my next post I'll show you all the fun projects Lynsay taught us at our Inspiration Night.

Until then I hope you enjoyed a little sneak peek into my adventures on Oahu with Lynsay and Emily.

Emily put together a short video of their adventures on Oahu. If you'll watch it you will see that having them here truly was an EPIC Celebration!

Epic Celebration

Stamped With Aloha

Epic Celebration

"Brusho-ed" Blessings!

Tutti Fruitti Note Cards

Stamped With Aloha