Baby in The Pocket

Lanikai's third baby -- belonging to the beautiful Erin, who is on maternity leave -- fits in her father's pocket.

I will leave it up to you to conclude what that says about men.

She is an adorable baby, and we love her Mom and Dad.

She Made Her Son Tough -- and Tender

If Ann Dunham had lived to see her son Barack Obama become President of the United States, it would have made for very happy Mother's Days.

This picture, from the cover of The New York Times magazine, shows the happy young Mom with her adorable son Barry. The article that accompanies it says that she knew he was brilliant and special, and even suspected that he would be the first black President of the United States.

Barack Obama made his Mother's dreams come true. We all should do that on Mother's Day!

Thinking of Getting A Tatoo That Says "Mom" ?

Then you will want to order Lanikai Bath and Body's Buddha Surf -- lotion, massage oil, body wash and shampoo --- all unzented, of course.

We were told by someone in the know that it is excellent for a fresh tatoo after the initial few days of neosporin-type protection.

You would want especially the Be Your Body Wash and the Out of Body Lotion.

Order Unzented Buddha Surf online at lanikaibathandbody.com

Early Mother's Day Present

This weekend, Hawai`i' KFIVE (the "home team") will be broadcasting the 48th annual Merrie Monarch Festival -- the super bowl of hula -- live and streaming it online at:
http://www.k5thehometeam.com/category/201839/live

The only thing on TV that could outshine The Royal Wedding, The Merrie Monarch Festival is hula at its very best, in both the old and new traditions. Starting on Thursday night with Miss Aloha Hula, you can watch it all -- Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights beginning at 6 p.m. Hawai`i time. Even if you can only watch a little with your Mom it would be a great early Mother's Day present.

Everyone dances in full regalia, with only fresh flowers -- the kind we work so hard to replicate in our scents at Lanikai Bath and Body: especially plumeria!

Take Some Gardenia to the Beach

Pretty with pink, our wonderful Tahitian Gardenia was photographed enjoying the sun on the beach, under Hawai`i's beautiful blue skies.

Think of Mom, or Grandma, and send them Lanikai Bath and Body's amazing Tahitian Gardenia for Mother's Day.

Aloha.

Soap Fairy's Good Fairy Gesture!

As those of you who have been to our store know, part of our uniform is an apron with pockets. When the soap fairies come to work, they grab an apron and go.

This past Saturday, Lia discovered a message in her apron, with best wishes from Kelsey, for the apron wearer to have a "fantabulous" day. Lia was thrilled.

Random acts of kindness are always the best, and at Lanikai Bath and Body, our soap fairies take good care of each other, and of our customers. Thank you each and every one!

Belated Happy Easter

Wanted to share the adorable egg & peep name card which was at Brook's Aunt Maxine's Easter table. (Charla is Brook's sister who handles our facebook -- its a family affair).

Maxine is in her 80's and still ambitious about her beautiful Easter "tablescape."
We hope you had a Happy Easter too!

And thanks to everyone from Lanikai Bath and Body for supporting us this Easter and all year long!

What Mothers Want

The Mother Company (a tv show and website I gather) did a poll of 250 Moms, asking them what they really wanted for Mother's Day.

59% said they wanted well-behaved kids.

Next closest: 25% wanted "time for themselves." This is the premise upon which we founded Lanikai Bath and Body. Women "of a certain age" (translation: anyone with a husband or kids) want and need time for themselves. We created our beautiful, delicately scented collection of lotions, oils, scrubs, butters, mists and shampoos for
them. For us.

The Moms also told The Mother Company that they didn't want expensive gifts. So here we are folks: Lanikai Bath and Body. Just what your Mother wants. Give her your gift and get out of the house. Give Mom some time for herself.

What? You Can't Afford Provence?

Can't afford to take Mom to Provence this spring?

Then do the next best thing: send her the Lanikai Hawaiian Lavender Collection. The lotion, oil, mist, shampoo and conditioner are made with special Hawaiian oils including kukui, noni and macadamia nut. But the Lavender is from Provence.

So if Mom loves Lavender, she'll love Lanikai Bath and Body's Lavender Collection!
www.lanikaibathandbody.com.

Mother's Love

And a son's love for his mother. This is a picture of Kemba Walker, UConn superstar
hugging his Mom after the NCAA championship.

May 8th is VERY special to Kemba. Not because he will graduate (in three years no less) on May 8th, which he will. Not because he will be 21 on May 8th, which he will.

But because May 8th is Mother's Day and Kemba loves his Mom.

We know you love your Mom, too, so hop on our website, www:lanikaibathandbody.com, and order up some special potions: Plumeria, Tahitian Gardenia, Orchid Vanilla, Kamuela Rose --- or some of our wonderful Peppermint Scrub and Lotion for her tired, aching feet.

Ylang Ylang a ding dong (hardly)

Ylang Ylang is a large tree which can grow up to 50-75ft tall. Naturally grows in warm, moist, humid regions. It grows best in full sunlight and humid climates, and needs to be watered regularly.

Ylang Ylang flowers are used to scent perfumes, cosmetics, lotions, mists and masssage oils.

The scent is also used medicinally for its calming effects. Those of you who love our uplifting Air massage oil and mists love the sweet scent of Ylang Ylang.

At Lanikai Bath and Body, we make sure that very special scents and healing oils are included in each and every thing we create.

Bergamot is Essential

Bergamot essential oil is subtle and uplifting. Bergamot has a fresh, sweet-tart, orange-fruit scent, with a slightly spicy balsamic undertone. Bergamot essential oil is named after the Italian city of Bergamo in Lombardy, where the oil was first sold.

The oil is cold-pressed from the outer peels of bitter oranges, from a tree about 14 feet high. The tree yields small round fruit, much like miniature oranges. Although it originated in tropical Asia, Bergamot is most widely grown in Italy.

As a natural skin toner and detoxifier it may prevent premature aging of skin and may have excellent effects on oily skin conditions and acne for some individuals.

At Lanikai Bath and Body, we use essential Bergamot in both our Earth and Air aromatherapy massage oils and mists.

Emancipaton Day

Emancipation Day is a holiday in Washington DC to mark the anniversary of the signing of the Compensated Emancipation Act, which President Abraham Lincoln signed on April 16, 1862. It is annually held on April 16.

It seems fitting to mention it here, because the faces of the people of Hawai`i reflect the faces of the people of the planet. Also, because it falls on a Saturday this year, your taxes aren't due until Monday April 18, because the government always gets a realholiday and they moved the holiday part to Friday, April 15, delaying the hammer of the IRS by three days.

No intention to trivialize this important event, but the lovely scents in lotions, washes, salts and massage oils of Lanikai Bath and Body will soothe and emancipate your skin from the winter blues!

Lanikai Breezes

This is a shot of one of our three Lanikai Breezes: lotion, shampoo and bubble bath.
16 ounces each, they are light and delightful and would make a great present for Mom.

No real breezes (the wind kind) in Lanikai today, because we have another storm front pushing out the trades... but our lovely trades will be back before you know it and the very minor "vog" will slip away.

There is nothing like a Lanikai Breeze: whether the lilikoi pineapple lotion from Lanikai Bath and Body or the trades that bless Lanikai and Kailua Beaches. Hope you will have a chance to visit soon!

Aromatherapy: Perfect for Mother's Day

Both Mother's Day and Earth Day are coming up, so it is a perfect time to showcase our aromatherapy line which is made of pure essential oils. Included with the Hawaiian oils which are in our entire product line (macadamia, kukui and noni)

Scent is the most powerful of our senses, linking us unexpectedly to memories long gone. It has the power to transform our emotions, and heal our bodies. Essential oils are the fragrant, concentrated essences of flowers, plants, fruits and trees.

Lanikai Bath and Body's Earth Aromatherapy, shown here, is balancing, with a blend of Sandalwood, Rosewood, Patchouli and Bergamot Essential Oils.

Also in massage oil and body mist are Air, Fire and Ocean.

Haumea: Earth Mother

Among the Hawaiian Gods and Goddess is Earth Mother Haumea, who gave birth to the Hawaiian race, and to other gods and goddess, Pele -- the Goddess of Fire -- was born from the mouth of Haumea, and Haumea also gave life to Pele's sister Hiiaka, the healing goddess.

Many cultures see the earth as mother, so it is fitting that Earth Day and Mother's Day fall so close together.

It is always a good time to malama your mother and also mother earth, Haumea

We Are An Island Community

Yesterday a fundraiser was held at the Hilton Hawaiian Village called : Kokua for Japan. Almost every known entertainer in Hawai`i played for free, and they held a telethon -- it was broadcast on three tv stations, streamed on the internet, and also broadcast on every Clear Channel radio station across the country.

In five hours, we raised $1,600,000 for Japan.

Most of the entertainers spend time performing in Japan, and they reminded us that although there is a great ocean between us, we are both island "nations" (that could
have no "" but it might upset those who think of Hawai`i as the 50th State).

We have a lot in common with Japan. A special song was written by Amy Hanaialii and
Henry Kapono, performed by many entertainers: Together Hawaii: Aloha the Land of the Rising Sun was its name.

Butter Her Up

Mother's Day is three weeks away, so it's time to reprint one of our very first blogs, a tribute to our mothers: Butter Her Up!

...if our Mothers were still alive, we would be looking for a way to butter them up.

For me, this would be an easy thing, because as early as I can remember, my Mother was a fan of what we used to call hand cream. It was everywhere in our house, and she was forever lathering herself in hand creams -- usually by Jergens, because she read somewhere that Elizabeth Taylor said that was how she kept her skin beautiful.

Because my mother was a fan of hand cream, so am I. Far sooner than my skin needed hydration, I was hydrating like crazy. These days, hand creams are called lotions, usually hand and body lotions. And we have them in more than 18 different scents in our store Lanikai Bath and Body -- located in Kailua, on Oahu, and in outer space at www.lanikaibathandbody.com and www.lanikaibathandbody.jp.

My business partner, Brook, whose Mother is also gone, loves our body butters. I am pretty sure when our mothers were alive there was no such thing as body butter -- there was hand cream and there was Nivea... a gooey greasy version of hand cream.

When my mother grew older and bored of sitting around during the cold Connecticut winters, she would lather up and stick her hands out -- so her dog Rion (named Orion after the constellation) could lick it off. As it turns out, Rion loved hand cream too.

Our body butters are light and lovely, creamy and smelling terrific. If my Mother were alive today, I would send her body butters ... in Hawaiian scents that she loved so much when she came to visit me: plumeria, first and foremost, anything with coconut (we have mango coconut, coconut lime verbena and pineapple coconut) and tahitian gardenia. Gardenia was my Mother's favorite flower.

Brook's mother, who was lucky enough to live in Hawaii, also loved gardenia. She would take fresh flowers and tuck them into her bra ... wafting her way in and out of everybody's day -- beautiful Hawaii.

So very very soon , if our mothers were alive, we would butter them up. If you are lucky enough to still have your mother, we suggest you do the same.

Nothing to Do With Lanikai

Or maybe it is. Because women appreciate adorable men as much as they appreciate beautiful bath and body products from Lanikai.

For those of you who don't know, this adorable man is Kemba Walker, hero of UConn's basketball team. Kemba -- a junior who has made the best of a very difficult life -- and his team face Butler tonight in the NCAA finals.

If he were a pro, we could send him some of our cool Pohaku line for men.