Things you miss when you live so far from home...

While I was escaping Sicily's heat holed up in my bedroom with the shutters closed snuggling with my portable air-conditioner all day...One of my dearest friends in the world got married this week in Hawaii.

She and I met at 16--both misfits who ended up in an alternative high school for our various sins. We were never friends. She was loud, dressed like Madonna and behaved like a feral cat. It was in college that we reunited thru my inebriated housemate Casey and her ex-flame (and equally inebriated) Greg, both lifelong friends since high school.

We were both skinny, young and wild--working as waitresses and cocktail servers by night and partying in clubs 'til dawn. I blame Jen entirely for the length it took to get my undergraduate degree--6 years in total with a full load every summer and one semester of academic probation. I failed just about every class once--except for Journalistic style and grammar. I failed that 3 times. It was only offered at 7:30 am.



My mom is my favorite mom of all times. Jen's mom Suzanne(pictured here) is my second favorite mom of all times.

She raised three amazing children--pretty much on her own. She was a mom and a dad and a friend and a mentor and a role model to her kids. And she was still able to run her own tourism business empire, be an active advocate for women's issues, see the world and maintain a rich circle of friendships.

I adore Suzanne, her choices and the sacrifices she had to make to have a well-balanced life.

I often wondered what she thought of us in our wild child days--when we slinked off to the nightclubs to tease boys in very little clothes. Or our slutty Halloween costumes! Suzanne is the embodiment and fulfillment of the women's lib movement only to win the war for equality so it could be usurped by her daughter and Gen X entourage galavanting out into the night in heels and fishnets.



This reception site is the family backyard...It was perfect to have this celebration in the presence of the many memorable celebrations that came before it.

I think the best party we had in this yard was when Suzanne was out of town and....



This is a very special woman to me--spiritualist and life adventurer Alice Inoue. I met Alice when I first started my career in public relations as she was a broadcaster for JTVN. We become closer acquainted when I retained her as a festival spokesperson for a client.

Alice married Rob and me in 2005. And a few years back I gave Jen and Tod a gift...a life coach counseling session with Alice...and the seed was planted.

Alice is not only intellectually (she speaks several languages including Japanese, Mandarin and English fluently) and physically beautiful (Chinese, Irish and German heritage)...she's a brave and creative spirit who has transcended many careers and many lives in just this one lifetime. You can learn more about her here--http://www.astrology-fengshui.com/about_personal.htm

It always makes me laugh when I think of her story of how her mom would make her drink snake's blood to cure her poor eyesight in Taiwan. She didn't wear glasses after that!



I sometimes hear Sigonellans talk about the cute blonde blue-eyed toddlers that abound on base. But children in Hawaii are so beautiful. Like Alice, they are often a melting pot of ethnicities...caucasian, asian, polynesian...you name it!

I miss that warm, easy energy of Hawaii--where the light is a little softer, the tradewinds are a little cooler, the land is a little lusher, and the people live and love with aloha. You can feel Hawaii through these photos!