Whole Foods in Kailua

I forgot to tell you, incase you are planning to move here, that Whole Foods is coming to Kailua. I am not sure when. Within the next couple of years. I am sure they will find us more hospitable than Pier One which is pretty much always empty.

We have some very good stores to shop at here, including grocery stores and especially Foodland, which has the most amazing local tomatoes, and frequently has heirloom tomatoes which are a particular favorite of mine.

But we are, as part of the official Hawaii zeitgeist, a group that responds to the new. Today there was a column in the morning paper about the new Safeway in Kapahulu. Kapahulu is on the other side of the island from Lanikai and Kailua, and the new Safeway is 64,000 square feet. There is even a post office in it.

So maybe after whole foods opens, Safeway will up them once more with a big mainland like store here in Kailua. Luckily, we will still have Lanikai Bath and Body!

The picture of asparagus is from whole foods and says local. Here they will have to get asparagus from Waialua. Good thing they can read this blog and find that out.

Stormy Lanikai

You can tell that winter is here because the light has changed, and because it is raining alot. The rains have been winter rains ~ that is harder, longer, louder. No more liquid sunshine for a while. We've even had thunder and lightning which is plenty scary for all the animals since it is so infrequent.

Our good friend Carky Ainlay painted the picture shown here. It is called Stormy Mokuluas. It expresses the feelings of being on that beach during a grey and raining day perfectly. Carky is a realtor, so you can call her if you need a house. Better than that she is a painter (as you can see) and you might need some of her work. Go to www.carkyainlay.com We love her water colors!

P.S. Tomorrow, the hurricane season is officially over --- but as someone on tv said, "did someone tell the hurricanes?"

Lavender's Blue Dilly Dilly...

And lots of other colors too. Our fabulous silk eye pillows come in lavender scent in beautiful colors -- just like the ones you see here -- and in rosemary scent as well. Each one is perfectly unique.

Each of these scents are known for their relaxing properties, and the eye pillows can be warmed in the microwave to the perfect temperature. We also have new lavender neck wraps, made in chenille that is white, lavender or pink. The combination is sybartitic delight.

Gifting is Easier Than Ever

Just in time for the holidays,we've put together special sets ~ for easy ordering and perfect "gifting." The gift set pictured here ~ with lovely lavender shampoo and conditioner and a special microfiber towel that will dry your "giftee's" hair five times faster than with a regular towel~ is just one of many wonderful "instant presents" from Lanikai Bath and Body.

Which makes it five times more possible that she might be able to be ready for that holiday party five times faster!

Remember, gift wrapping is complimentary!

Lanikai Girls Are Beautiful

One of the best things about living in Hawaii is the rich diversity and mixture of race in our people. Handsome men, Beautiful women. Usually golden of color with thick, dark brown or black hair. Their ancestry can be just about anything, but often includes japanese, chinese and filipino...samoan, tahitian, hawaiian...even a smattering of caucasian.

We see the graceful beauties at the beach and named our Lanikai Girl line after them. Warm and wonderful, we have shampoo, conditioner, lotion, wash and lip balm in pearberry scent and in warm vanilla sugar. Soft and sensual like the sand at Lanikai Beach -- softer than even Kailua Beach, just around the corner.

That's a Turkey?!

This Thanksgiving, my granddaughter Lily, who is six and a vegetarian, understood what a turkey was for the first time. Or at least it seemed like she did. Standing in our kitchen, confronting a beautifully browned cooked turkey side-by-side with a formerly beautifully browned but now cut to the bone turkey, she asked if "that was that before it was that?" That it was.

There were plenty of things for her to eat, and everyone else to eat as well. We had a wonderful thanksgiving, and hope that all of you did too.

Today is the next day, the day they call Black Friday in the retail world. Since Lanikai Bath and Body is tucked away in a not-mall as you enter Kailua town, it is doubtful we got much traffic -- I haven't checked. The malls must have been jam packed -- even sleepy little Kailua had people lined up before dawn to get Wii games and video camera dvd.

Our tea light candles were featured in the Honoulu Advertiser this morning under the headline "Gifts Under $35." Pohaku was featured in Honolulu magazine's gift issue. Christmas --the season we in retail judge ourselves by -- is underway.

Pentimento

Lillian Hellman wrote a book called Pentimento -- about looking back over your life and seeing things again through the news lens of being older (and wiser). Pentimento, she says in the book, is when a painter "repents" and paints again --- and that as paint fades on and old canvas, a boat gives way to a dog, showing how the painter had rethought -- repainted -- repented and painted again.

This Thanksgiving, my niece is here, and she is repainting --refurbishing -- a painting of my mother (her grandmother) that was painted by her mother (my sister) 41 years ago. My sister (her mother) went to the Art Institute in Chicago during the 1960s. Her style of painting was very much Andy Warhol, so the painting of my/our mother (my niece's grandmother) is in stunning bright colors (which had faded, faded over the years) and my mother is evoked through a very few, very strong lines.

My sister, my niece's mother, died in 1999. My mother, my niece's grandmother, died in 1990. It is very touching for me to have my niece here, bringing my mother and her mother's painting to life again. As my niece ages (she is now 36, and wasn't born when her mother, my sister, painted our mother/her grandmother) she looks more and more like my sister. It seems like my sister is painting our mother again.

And because my niece is here this Thanksgiving, repainting her mother's painting, there is lots of opportunity for "pentimento..." thinking again about my mother, her grandmother, my sister, her mother and our different views of both of them. We both love(d) both of them very much.

Who Doesn't Love A HandTurkey?

It's 2nd Sunday in Kailua, and Thanksgiving is 12 days away. So it is a perfect time to participate in the 2nd Sunday Artwalk with Lanikai Bath and Body's "You're the Aritst" contest.

We are asking people to draw hand turkeys, and bring them into us for 25% off on any purchase that day (tomorrow, September 11). We wrote about it in our e-letter but
unless any one in the media picks up this super exciting item, we will have precious few hand turkeys to display in our store for the next week and a half.

P.S. The Hand Turkey featured here is an actualy drawing by a mathematician in honor of Alan Turing (or in this case Alan Turking) the father of modern computing.

P.P.S. The altogether fabulous Lanikai Bath and Body Women's Night Doubles kicked off officially today with a Head tennis clinic at the Kailua Racquet Club. Beginning on Wednesday, the best female player in the state will be on the courts. It's free to the public -- come and see it!

All Around the Island

Our friends Judy and Mary are here from the mainland so we are taking a bit of time off to see the island through their eyes. Wednesday, we drove around the island and had lunch at Kua Aina, swam in Waimea Bay and doubled-back to eat Matsumoto's world famous shave ice. Brook had a "Hawaiian" and Judy had the offical "Matsumoto's" -- Mary and I were boring, and had strawberry. The drive around the island was amazing as always. Among other things we were looking for the cast of Lost which allegedly has a headquarters somewhere near Haleiwa. We later heard from one of the cognoscenti that they had been filming in public places on Honolulu side last week but were now sequestered in the mountains around Hawleiwa. It was Judy's dream to run on the set and yell "You're in Hawaii! Aloha." thus ending the series.

For those who are concerned about Evangeline Lily's burnt down house, I am here to tell you that she is renting elsewhere and the former or new owners have built a very nice house in its place.

Ahui Hou! Come visit us in Hawaii!

P.S. in case you didn't know, that's not us jumping from the rock.

So Much New Stuff

Lanikai is full to overflowing with beautiful, interesting new stuff-- and, of course, all the great old stuff. Zen, Buddha, Lotus Flower and our lady of Guadelupe Soap -- I already told you about that... Kitchen and bath hand soaps from Mangicotti Florals, a whole new shipment of Maiden Hawaii soap -- the most wonderful soap in the world, and more and more Lanikai Bath and Body. You can tell the holidays are almost here.

Coming soon -- lavender eye pillows and chenille neck wraps that will warm away the biggest kink. Come check it out!

So Zen

With Christmas (or, P.C., the holidays) just around the corner, we are loading up on gifty items --- increasing our giftiness, to paraphrase Stephen Colbert.

Among other lovely things, we have an array of soaps from our friend Mary Sullivan at Queenz. Two of them you have seen before -- the buddha and the lotus flower -- two news ones will delight you: Our Lady of Guadalupe and the "Buddahead" pictured here.
"Serenity for the Sink" ~ Buddahead is scented with that all time great incense, Nagchampa. Who'd have thunk it?

Our beautiful lantern candle line is growing, and now features banana leaf, mango vanilla and lavender. The tealights have turned out to be most popular.

All in all, Lanikai Bath and Body is, as always, but even more so, a must visit place.
Whether on earth or online, you will find many necessary luxuries for your many necessary friends.

Great Women's Tennis

Starting on November 14th, there will be great women's tennis at the Kailua Racquet Club. It's the 8th annual Lanikai Bath and Body Women's Night Doubles -- an opportunity for the public (everyone is welcome) to see great women's tennis and to contribute (through raffle tickets for great prizes) to the Castle Medical Center's cancer treatment center.

Players come from all over the islands, and all over the world. There are players from China, Belarus, and the Solomon islands. Wednesday and Thursday nights ten teams will play on the courts at Kailua's wonderful tennis club, getting ready for Friday nights semi-finals and Saturday's finals. Play starts each evening around 6 p.m.

If you love great tennis, this is a chance to see it up close. Hope to see you at KRC on the 14th! Kailua Racquet Club is located at 629 Oneawa St. Look for the mailbox with the striped pole!

Getting Ready for the Holidays

Here at Lanikai Bath and Body, like every other retail store, we are getting ready for the holidays. That is to say, in a non-politcally correct way, we are getting ready for Christmas. Our beautiful lines are getting replenished. Today we sold the last Lanikai Poi Dog on the shelf, and someone came in wanting another one! Alas...but we will be restocked in the morning.

Dozens of microfiber towels came in, and also microfiber hair towels ... particularly popular with wahine with long hair.

The coolest things that have come in so far are the awesome, beautifully scented and wonderfully handcrafted bath "ice creams" from MeBath. We have scents ranging from tuberose to pomegranate to lavender to kiwi-strawberry and ripe mango. Many others too. More than I can count. These luscious lovelies will be store bound tomorrow, along with all of our other necessary luxuries. Don't miss shopping at Lanikai Bath and Body this "holiday season!"