Aloha! Quilting Friends.
I am writing to you from Hawaii--from the land of BLUE stop signs--where I am participating in an Entrepreneur Conference sponored by the Center for International Entrepreneurship –with about 50 other entrepreneurs--held at Brigham Young University Hawaii. I was asked to speak and be on a panel at the conference—lucky me! My topic was “Using the Web to Market Your Business and Products”.
My daughter, Macy, is a student at this school, so she rallied up her friends and my class was full! I yakked it up a bit about Quilters Buzz and our little community of “quilt makers”.
It was fun, although I was a bit nervous when the other two speakers on the panel had not shown up by the time the event was to start…I thought I was to have to go alone ( and I did for about 30 minutes—I was winging it for 20 of those minutes!) , but they showed about half way through the discussion (the previous event they attended ran late)---
I shared the floor with Kate Maloney, a young CEO of Costume Craze, an online costume store and with Limin Song, a native of China, living in Hawaii, who is developing an e-business for her passion of teaching the healthy lifestyle of Qigong.
After my speach, I gave Quilter’s Buzz t-shirts to Clark, an aspiring blogger and good guy, and to Eddie, the BIGGEST guy I could find--who I thought would look great in my 2XXL Quilter’s Buzz
t-shirt—(he does). Both guys were cool enough to wear them for a quickie photo!
I also got to spend some quality time with my daughter and her teammates and friends from her soccer team, roommates, and a bunch of great guys on the beaches of the North Shore of Oahu. My daughter and her college friends live in homes (not so nice, but who cares—they literally live ON the beach!) with incredible postcard views of the ocean and mountains and where they can walk down to their own private beach. 
I did not do much quilting or writing (in case, you did not notice) but, I got sun burnt at the famous “Pipeline” beach, saw where they filmed many of TV’s “Lost” episodes, and hit the famous hot spots along the North Shore including Ted’s Bakery, fresh fruit stands and the local shrimp shacks. Good Food. Good unforgettable times with my smart and talented-- one and only --Macy (the tall one in this photo.)
Hey, Macy's friends...make a comment and say HI.
I told my hubby I am ready to find our own little beach shack and move here. I think I got him thinking!
(Question? Does anyone know why the stop signs are BLUE? Make a comment if you know the answer and I will send you a prize.)
comments
http://starbulletin.com/2006/09/20/news/kokualine.html
had to find out why too.. private people cant use red stop signs cause thats the governments signs, but they can put a blue stop sign up instead, found that article... hope that helps!
Lissa
Australia
Posted by: lissa | March 9, 2008 2:12 AM
I did a search, and the way I understand it is that they are on private property.
Posted by: deb | March 9, 2008 2:58 AM
There was one on a resort road when I visited Kona, and we were told it was because it was a private road--- red was only for gov't signs
Posted by: Nada | March 9, 2008 10:34 AM
Thanks guys! I was dying to know why the blue signs. Lissa, Deb and Nada send me your addresses to my email at quiltersbuzz@gmail.com and I will send a prize!
Gina
Posted by: Gina Halladay | March 9, 2008 2:47 PM
Gina, my husband and I made the move when I retired. We LOVE living in Hawaii. See friends and family more often now that we are here:0) So much to do and we love playing tour guide. We love the people and there truly is a special spirit of aloha her that you find no where else.
Posted by: Lynne in Hawaii | March 9, 2008 6:30 PM
Wow! You are so lucky. I want to go to Hawaii SO bad!! It sounds like you had fun too. I am jealous.
mary
I have NO idea why the stop signs are blue...
Posted by: mary from utah | March 9, 2008 7:02 PM
Hi, Clark's mom here. He told me about the seminar and the t-shirt. I love the picture! I lived in Hawaii for almost 4 years and never even noticed the blue signs, they must be new.
Posted by: Marilee | March 9, 2008 9:54 PM
me again...I hope you tried the Chocolate Haupia Pie, if not you need to go back just for that slice of heaven!
Posted by: Marilee | March 9, 2008 9:55 PM
Stop signs on private property need not be blue. They even have green stop signs! I never noticed them when I lived there!
Posted by: Pauline | March 10, 2008 5:59 AM
Sorry! I meant that they need not be red! Yikes! Maybe it's too early in the morning for me to be posting!
Posted by: Pauline | March 10, 2008 6:01 AM
Oh you are so lucky. I went to Maui and Oahu for my honeymoon (over 11 years ago!) I want to go back so badly. Thanks for the pics. By the way, I hope my daughter (only 9 now) grows up to be so cool and fearless like yours living so far away. She looks like she's having the adventure of a lifetime.
Posted by: Christie | March 10, 2008 6:29 AM
Hi Gina,
I would have guessed Blue Hawaii. LOL!!! Glad you had fun. We go there in April/May. Can't wait. It's so pretty there.
Sharon
Posted by: sharon | March 10, 2008 9:23 AM
Hi Gina, oh wow, looks like such fun. Love the overalls.
Posted by: Amy Schimler | March 10, 2008 9:38 AM
We were just on the North Shore last week (from Oregon)! That chocolate pie is delicious. Lucky you that you got to eat at pipeline, we couldn't find parking.
Posted by: Shelley | March 10, 2008 10:41 PM
My MOM is the best. and rocked the conference. LET IT BE KNOWN.
Posted by: MACY | March 11, 2008 11:38 AM
Hi Gina, I met you at your panel discussion at BYU Hawaii and I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed your lecture. It was great meeting you.
Posted by: Kaitlyn Kellett | March 11, 2008 11:41 AM
Gina! Thanks for all you did for us and playing with us while you were out here. It was fun. Love the picture! :)
Posted by: Britt | March 11, 2008 11:41 AM
Do we still get a prize if someone already answered the blue stop sign question? I swear I know the answer too!
Posted by: Shelley Watts | March 11, 2008 11:48 AM
My daughter went there and she asked them. It is something about Private property. Hope that helps.
Posted by: Valerie | March 11, 2008 7:07 PM
Aloha,
I was only miles away on the island of Maui for a quick girls weekend (March 6-10). I want to move there also.....
Posted by: Phyllis from Sonoma | March 11, 2008 8:20 PM
Aloha,
I was only miles away on the island of Maui for a quick girls weekend (March 6-10). I want to move there also.....
Posted by: Phyllis from Sonoma | March 11, 2008 8:21 PM
wow. I'm so jealous! I lived in Pearl City on Oahu for 2 years and miss it terribly!!! I never saw the blue stop signs while I was there. Sounds like a good enough reason to go back....after college is paid for. LOL the oldest leaves this year for college and the youngest is only 5, so it will be a LONG time before I ever make it over there. Isn't it an awesome place though? Hope you got to do some snorkeling.
Posted by: Gina Reddin | March 12, 2008 11:17 AM