Hawaiian Express

Today I got a visit from Hawaiian Express, a Japanese TV show based on cool things to buy and see in Hawaii. Julie, the beautiful hostess from the show, is friends with my good friend Lehua, whom the Lehua earrings are named after.

Julie and the crew have arrived!

Heidi, the coordinator for the show, was so helpful because I didn’t know what to do for the show. I got kinda nervous and she was directing me by giving me some ideas of what to talk about and how to promote my business. I even forgot I had turned on the stove to boil water for tea and Heidi noticed while I was shooting. Good thing I have good people around me!

I was so stoked that the crew to my house and got to check out the Noelani Designs studio. Julie interviewed me and I told her about how I started designing jewelry six years ago and got my business started soon after college. Then they filmed me as I made a pair of Lehua earrings for Julie.

Here are some of the behind-the-scenes pictures from today’s shoot:

Behind the scenes of Hawaiian Express

They wanted to get some close-up shots of the jewelry, so we put some on my eco-friendly rotating rack made by my good friend Jen Homcy. The rack is made completely out of recycled or second-hand wood.

Jewelry Rack by Jen Homcy from Tr3EES.com

Julie in her new Lehua earrings

I am excited to see the episode on TV! I hope I get more Japanese customers coming to my studio and designing their own jewelry.

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Double Duty

I had the pleasure this week of babysitting Aukai’s soul brother, Maika’i, whose mama, Millicent Cummings, was nominated for a Na Hoku Award for her latest album, Altar Native. She had asked me to watch her little man while she attended the awards ceremony and I gladly accepted my role of auntie to allow the babies some time to play together. It has been a long time since I watched two little ones by myself. And I was to have them for 8 hours. Believe me, I was counting down those hours! Maika’i is only 10 months, and Aukai is now 16 months. But they were soooo cute together…just like brothers. Aukai was happy to show Maika’i all of his toys. We hung out at the house for a couple hours, getting acquainted, then I packed the babies up for a bikeride. Aukai in the baby bike seat and Maika’i in the baby “Angelpack” pack on my back. We rode from Sunset to Ehukai and back, and we took our time. Talk about a leg workout! Two babies and myself on a rusty old squeaky bike. Anywho so I took them to the beach at Sunset and luckily lots of mommies and children were down there so they had more than enough entertainment. Maika’i was shoveling sand into his mouth and Aukai walked into the water by himself for the first time! The water is so nice and calm in the summertime; it’s like a lake. I was so proud of Aukai for being so brave! I had my hands full with the two of them at the beach, but they were loving the simplicity of the sand and the water and I was happy they were happy.

After the beach I got them both showered and my girlfriend and neighbor Emilia came over to help feed the little ones dinner. Awesome teamwork collaboration. After dinner they both got their bottles and hammock swinging.

Maika'i and Aukai in the hammock

And they both fell asleep without a fuss! So stoked!

Two sleeping babies

Job well done if I may say so myself. After spending 8 hours with the little ones and putting them down without any outbreaks, I feel like I can do anything!

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Pan-Pacific Festival

Every year, the city of Honolulu puts on the Pan-Pacific Festival, a celebration of cultures across the Pacific, in Waikiki on Oahu. Part of Kalakaua Avenue is blocked off to allow for a “block party” and pedestrians are able to walk in the street, browsing the different artist and food booths and dancing demonstrations.

This year I was asked to participate and I decided I would love to be a part of the celebration. I participated three years ago, in 2006, and my sister Emilia helped me as my sales girl. We had so much fun working together and the crowd was wonderful.
Some of my good friends came to visit the Noelani Designs tent. Here are some of the pictures from this year’s festival:

Tiare browsing the goods

Julie, the hostess from “Hawaiian Express” came to say hi and pick out some pieces to wear during the filming of her upcoming episodes of the Japanese TV show. Julie is so beautiful!! And her boyfriend was so helpful because my tent was trying to blow away with the wind and he helped hold it down! Thanks Julie’s boyfriend!

And my awesome new friend Anuhea came by to say hello. She just so happened to be wearing her new “Anuhea” earrings and she looked so beautiful in them!

Anuhea and I in our leaf earrings

And my friend Bran stopped by to say what up as well. He is Anuhea’s tour manager and a total sweetheart.

Bran and me

The night was crazy because I was the only woman “manning” my booth and there were so many shoppers I couldn’t keep up. I met a lot of great people and had a great time though. And thank goodness for the Waikiki Trolley signs that I attached my tent to to keep it from becoming a parachute!

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Anuhea in the house!

Anuhea, the amazing singer song-writer from Maui, is one of the amazing women that represents Noelani Designs. I invited her over for a few hours to come and pick out some pieces to promote my line as well as design her own pair. She loves big earrings, which I knew, and I had something special in mind for her. I had just designed a new pair of leaf earrings with turquoise beads and named them Bree, after my new roommate. So I made Anuhea a special pair in gold.

Anuhea in the Bree earrings

Doesn’t she look cute?? They are so her!

She also took some time to design her own earrings, the “Anuhea” earrings and, of course, she chose some big hoops. She chose some brown buffalo horn hoops and added some dangling chain with cascading mother of pearl leaves. Beautiful design, similar to the Cassandra or Giselle earrings but with different pieces. It’s like a revival of older pieces with new parts!

Aren’t they beautiful? I had to take a picture on the leaf background right away before I forgot the design. I love them! And I love Anuhea and her music!

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Yasha, Dani and Lindsay come up to design their own jewelry!

I got the chance to have over some of my favorite customers from the east side of the island (Kailua) to create their own jewelry. Yasha, who got married last August, wanted to do something special for her gilrfriends, Dani and Lindsay. Dani was a huge help with all her wedding planning and for Lindsay, she wanted to get her a birthday present. She knew they loved my jewelry but wanted a special treat. So she suggested they come up to the North Shore for a day and design their own signature pieces!

After checking out the studio and being overwhelmed with all the different options, they finally came up with some beautiful designs:

Lindsay liked the leaf style but wanted to create something a little more spontaneous with some orange agate beads she liked. I like!!! They are going to be included in the upcoming fall collection!

Dani decided she wanted to make a necklace and a pair of earrings. She chose to make the earrings out of mother of pearl teardrop shells with gold chains and a white coin pearl dangling. The new “Dani” earrings- Elegant and simple!! Very nice!! And she made her necklace out of quartz, turquoise, and mother of pearl shell. I love the charm style necklaces, they are so perfect with every outfit. Dani was so cute because she arrived naked (without jewelry in my world) for the purpose of adorning herself while she was here.

Yasha knew she wanted a leaf pair from the beginning but wanted to add some diversity to the leaf, by combining two different colored pearls- champagne and white. Nice combo!! Turned out so beautiful so I must remember to add this one into the collection!

Dani, Lindsey and Yasha on the lanai in their new signature pieces

The ladies had so much fun and I really enjoyed the company in my lonesome studio. They all went home with their new pieces and I got three new pieces added to my fall collection!

If you or your friends would like to come up to the Noelani Designs jewelry studio please don’t hesitate to call and we’ll make a date out of it! 808-341-3779 or send me an email: Noe@NoelaniDesigns.com

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Coco!

So I got the opportunity to “sponsor” another amazing young woman today. Up and coming surfergirl Coco Ho. Born and raised here on the north shore, just a few blocks away from me, Coco grew up surfing her whole life and is about to graduate highschool tomorrow. She came by and I let her pick out a few pairs of earrings and a necklace. She of course chose my favorite necklace, the Jenna necklace, and some of my fave earrings as well: the Delia in small gold and the Ligia in small silver.

Coco in the Noelani Designs studio shopping around...

Coco showing off the Vanna earrings

Then we took a picture together on the lanai with the timer on my camera! We’re no professional photographers that’s for sure! It took about eight tries to get a photo with both of us in it!

Me and Coco on the lanai

Coco is one of the most amazing young women surfers today in the water! I’m stoked she is going to be a spokeswoman for my company! Go Coco!

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not-so lazy Sunday

Well we had another girls sleepover last night after we all laid under the stars at the beach. Only in the country are you able to see so many stars. We had a shooting star spotting contest and of course Tiare won b/c she’s such a competitive Leo! We woke in the morn and got ready for the beach

loungin on the lanai

After some beach time I came back home to a visit from my good friend Sheradan and her family: baby Sage and hubby Chris.

Chris and I played ukulele while Sage sang along in baby babble

Sheradan learned some chords on the ukulule and she was sounding good

Sheradan gettin the hang of the ukulele

Check out the Sheradan earrings on my website!
Then we went on a bikeride down to Shark’s Cove just so we could catch up and talk story. Perfect exercise for girlfriends to catch up on a Sunday!

Peace from me and Sheradan

Her hubby Chris took pictures for us!

no double chins in this shot!

. I only had a second to jump in the water because I had to get back home quickly for my next customer!!

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Best Weekend Ever!

Well I guess every weekend should be considered the best ever. Every day really…cause life is good. Ultimately good will come from everything in my opinion.
My weekend started off with a nice long beach run in the morning on a beautiful sunny north shore day. Then I finally hung up my curtains in my living room!
My roomie Bree got us a commercial photoshoot at the Halekulani through our friend Jen. All we knew is we had to be there at five PM, dressed in elegant pool-side attire. Ended up being awesome. I knew a bunch of the other models from the North Shore and we were required to stand pool side and drink wine. Red or white, our choice. Not a bad gig. I like red wine and I’m a light weight…so needless to say we had a great time. AND I sold the earrings right out of my ears! The same Tanja earrings I sold last Friday. Sasha, a returning customer and acquaintance (not to mention the hottest bartender at Haleiwa Joe’s) had to have them so I gave her the earrings right out of my ears! Awesome. That makes me feel like a good designer Here’s a pic of all the lovely ladies from the shoot:

Emilia, myself, Bree, Christina, Brittany and Sasha

After the shoot, we met up at Art After Dark at the Honolulu Academy of the Arts and it was fun! Brittany from the commercial shoot also had to have a pair of coral earrings and I told her about my newest design, a little addition to the Tanja earring.

Brittany in the new Brittany earrings

What do you all think of the new style?

Then the coolest thing happened…this guy, Dexter, that I met at Rock Shop event in Chinatown two months ago came up to me and told me he had checked out my blog and been enjoying it…when just the day before I was thinking about quitting the blog. And he even added that I inspired him to start his own blog. So glad to hear that I’m inspiring others

Tiare, Dexter, me and Kamu

Tiare is wearing a new necklace of mine, with a shell and turquoise. She’s so cute!

So after Art After Dark, the girls all headed to Next Door to check out the Anuhea and Amos Lee concert. Did everyone see Anuhea in the Star Bulletin a few weeks ago from her Pipeline show??

Anuhea rockin Noelani Designs in the Star Bulletin!

I got a chance to talk to Anu and had a photo op with one of my best friends, Kaylyn, who introduced me to Anu’s music two years ago!

Kaylyn, Anuhea and me

She performed so well and Amos Lee was awesome as well. They both played solo acoustic and the crowd was super mellow.

Afterwards the girls and I headed to Tiare’s house for a slumber party cuz there was no way we could trek it back to the north shore after such a long day!!

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Roz Savage send-off party

So have you heard yet about Roz Savage? She is the first woman to ever kayak solo across the Atlantic Ocean. And she had such an awesome trip that she decided to go for the Pacific. I mean why not? Check out her site for a minute, she’s amazing!!

So…she came to Haleiwa about a month ago and spoke at the Green Drinks event at Banzai Sushi where I was selling jewelry and then she came to my house to pick out some jewelry for herself. She is amazing. She and her assistant Nicole both got abalone shell earrings with fresh water pearls. They invited me to come and show my jewelry at Roz’s send off party at ING cafe on Kalakaua on Friday, May 22 and also to donate a piece to the silent auction. Of course! I’m always down to donate jewelry to a good cause!

ING cafe is pretty cool…cups of coffee for a dollar ( I don’t drink coffee but I think that’s a good deal) and FREE internet. If I lived in town I’d be there for business meetings for sure…but I don’t…

Anywho, here is a pic from the evening of some customers browsing the collection.

Crystal checks out the goods

I made some sunrise shell earrings finally that I almost sold to a wonderful lady named Ellen and I sold a brand new pair of earrings which are to be named Tanja, after the lady who bought them. I didn’t get a picture of her wearing them, but here is a picture of me wearing them.

Tanja earrings: White coral in a 14k goldfill hoop

It was such a great night and a great food, not to mention the food was delish! Be sure to check out Roz’s site and cheer her on!

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Surf into Yoga DVD launch

Well I’ve decided that I am going to start “sponsoring” women with my jewelry, just as athletes get sponsored to represent companies. I’m an athlete as well and I love to wear my jewelry, so I figured why not represent some awesome women who are doing amazing things and excelling at their talents?

Since we live in Hawaii and are constantly surrounded by surf culture I thought it only fit to sponsor one of the top women surfers in the world, who just so happens to live right down the road from me. Rochelle Ballard. She just launched her new Yoga DVD, titled Surf Into Yoga. She dedicated a whole weekend to launching her DVD and I was asked by my yoga instructor Mara J from Jasmine Yoga and North Shore Yoga Co-op to donate jewelry to the yoga models and Rochelle. Um, gee let me think…of course!!!

Sidenote: I met Mara through Jasmine Yoga mom and baby yoga classes, which are held at the Weinberg Community Center in Waialua. Aukai and I used to go to the class when he was just a little peanut. He loved it. But now he’s walking everywhere and it’s hard to practice when your child is trying to climb everything in sight…but it was great when he was little. It’s all new mommies and new babies so if baby is cranky or a little fussy it’s all good. Or if baby gets hungry and needs to eat it’s all good. The mommies understand so does Mara. Here’s a great picture of me and the little man that I just found on the Jasmine Yoga sight.

Upside down baby!

There’s nothing like an inversion to get the blood flowing to your head and realign your spine! Even babies need this. To this day, one of Aukai’s favorite things to do is go upside down!

Back to the story…so I donated jewelry to Rochelle and the yoga models. Rochelle picked out the Mahina earrings and <a href="Chanelle Sladics“>Chanelle Sladics, a professional snowboarder who hosted the event, picked out the Ligia earrings in silver.

Rochelle in Mahina earrings

Chanelle Sladics second from right in Ligia earrings

These women are amazing at what they do and I’m stoked they are representing Noelani Designs!

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