family-friendly and casual ... NO STRESS!!

apparently january 7th is just around the corner and i'll figure that out sooner rather than later! or so i keep telling myself. in the meantime, we wanted to make sure that y'all know that this little shin-dig is family-friendly and totally casual. so, don't be worried about getting all dressed up! we want everyone to be as comfortable and at ease as we plan to be. also, this is an outdoor venue, so please dress accordingly for hawaii-winter-weather on the north shore (fingers crossed that it won't be ridiculously windy or rainy). one more thing ... there's a beach entrance not far from the reception area ... all (especially kids) are welcome to enjoy the water but bear in mind that there is no lifeguard on duty. please be sure to have towels at the ready for little ones (or big ones - you know who you are!) who can't resist the beach. if you have questions, don't hesitate to ask!

North Shore Accomadations

for all of you interested in staying on the north shore the day of, before or after the wedding, here is the link to the condos that we'll be staying at on friday and saturday nights. there have been several people that are interested in staying up there and sharing the cost of a unit, so this might be a way to connect with friends - new or old - that are thinking that it'll be safer to stay on the north shore than drive home after the shin-dig! if you have questions, don't hesitate to email us.

turtlebay north shore condos (i don't know if that's the official name and i think we're staying in the 150's - unit number)
http://www.turtlebaycondos.com/

may i suggest that if you're interested  in seeing if anyone would like to share the cost of a unit, you may want to leave a note posted here ... after all, it's all family =)

HELP!!!

do you have pictures of lisa, kaleo, amanda, friends of lisa, kaleo and amanda?? ... as a family, individuals, with friends, in embarrassing situations?? would you be willing to share???

if you have pictures that you'd like to share,  please email e-versions to us or send hardcopies to our home address.

thank you super-duper much!!!

help, please?

yep, we're asking you for your help ...

we'd like to incorporate pictures of us, our family, our friends and our lives (before and after we've found each other) into our party (aka "wedding") day!

please send e-copies of pictures to us at apls.ohana@gmail.com or you can mail us hardcopy pictures to our home address (please email me if you need the addy).

if you can, please include the names of the peeps in the picture, date, event/significance and any or all little notes you'd like!

we super appreciate it! if you have questions, let me know!

14-ish weeks and counting!

yep! you read that right! 14 weeks (give or take one - remember, i'm not so good at counting!) until the wedding of the century ... well, at least for our little family! =)

planning is well underway (thank you reech and company!). we know where and when; invites are going out soon; wedding playlists are starting to get assembled (yep! country music WILL be played - loud and proud!); food is being figured out (that being said, alcohol and dessert are already taken care of! anyone who knows us totally understands why! umm, wait a minute ... if you're reading this, then y'all are really the reason the alcohol and dessert are figured out!). we know there are a bunch of other details to figure out, but that's why we have wedding-planner extraordinaire. the way we look at it is if there are enough tables, chairs, beverages and knoshes, we'll all be good.

so, with 14-ish weeks left, we've got lots to do but i'm not freaking out yet ... so, manda is not yet tasked with panic management (she should be counting that blessing every night!).

we'll be asking for help from you peeps for a variety of things, but most of all, we want you to be there to celebrate and support our little family on our wedding day!

time crunch!!

oh lord!! we're getting married in 4 months and 6 days ... ummm ... where did the time go???!?!??!?!?!?! ARGHHHH!!! yep, that's me screaming because the reality check just came and slapped me upside the head!

i know that we're supposed to have decisions made, details ironed out, notifications dispersed ... or something of the sort ... but what i have is a vague sense of what we want to happen and COMPLETE trust in our wedding-planner-extraordinaire!!

and so we hurl ourselves towards our "BIG DAY" ... with the craziness of daily life ... work, school, home, family, emotions, goals, expectations and desires for lazy time .... we're totally looking forward to it and, at the same time, hoping that when it comes it won't be a complete chaotic mess.

thank god y'all know us as well as you do ...

woohoo! save the dates!!!

it's official! the save-the-dates have gone out and many of you are visiting this site for the first time. our amazing wedding team queen - cheri teranishi-hashimoto (aka "sweetpea designs") - has corralled manda and i to get the save-the-dates out.

we hope to see y'all there! keep visiting back ... i promise that i will too =)

we love y'all!

what do YOU want to hear at the wedding?

may i just say that i STILL get giddy when i see the word "wedding" and  i know that it's referring to OURS!!!!! =) anyhow ... soooo ... we want to know ... what songs do you want to hear at the wedding?

seriously ... we want to know! we're asking you ... yep ... YOU!!!

p.s. ... anyone who says "no country" adds on 2 more country songs to the playlists :-) yep! love y'all!!

ACCOMMODATIONS

we're pretty darn lucky to have a bunch of peeps planning to join us for the wedding from out-of-town. our local peeps may also want to have a mini staycation or just an excuse not to have to drive back into "town" from the north shore ... so, here's a couple tidbits of information. more coming soon ...

North Shore: we know that many of you may be coming from out-of-town or some of our local guests would like to stay close to the venue so that we can party without thought of driving "all the way" back into town. there are several options in the kahuku area: Turtle Bay Resort, independent vacation rentals (i.e. Vacation Rentals by Owner), and Turtle Bay Condos.

we'll be staying at the Turtle Bay Condos (unit: 110 West) on friday and saturday nights and we'd love for you to join us!

Waikiki: for those of you out-of-towners who are planning to spend some time before and/or after the wedding on the island, we will be getting info up here soon about hotel recommendations.


so, don't forget to come back here ... we'll be adding a few informational pages about where to go, what to do, where to stay, other peeps that you may know ... or may want to get to know. we'll also be asking for your input, thoughts and pictures as time goes on. 


HUGS and love!!

about us ... just because i wrote it ...

manda (aka = panda): aussie-land born, UH-athletics-&-soccer-loving, beer-snob drinking, laid-back thinking, family-devoted, simply-amazing woman who had her life invaded by 2 super cool peeps :-) (can you tell who's writing this post??)

lisa (aka = mama): kailua-born, non-UH-athletics/soccer-lover, book-addicted, wine-drinking, not-so-laid-back-thinking, over-opinionated woman who was surprised to find her soon-to-be wife in (where else?) UH athletics

kaleo (aka = shortstack): arizona/hilo/kailua/kaimuki-hometown, lego-loving, water-baby, snuggle-bugging, book-reading, vanilla-ice-cream-addict who loves his mamas "like a hungry polar bear"

CHEEHOO!!! we're getting married!!!!!!

aloha mai!! if you're here, it's probably because you're thinking about joining us on 7 january 2012 for our crazy and casual celebration of the two of us finally getting hitched!! yep! we're going to do it! our little family is going to become "legal".

we're looking forward to sharing our adventures of leading up to the wedding with all of you. you'll also be able to find a whole ton of information about the logistics of coming to hawaii for our celebration (where to stay, what to do, who else is coming, when/where/all-those-little details of the event itself!)

we are SO excited ... and are so blessed to have the love and support of all of you in our lives as well!

stay tuned ... it'll be a fun ride!