Hawaii Part 1

Aloha friends, Gracie here!

We just arrived to Honolulu, Hawaii on Friday! My Dad is in the military and his job required him to attend a conference in Hawaii so we thought we may as well visit him there. We have been to Oahu, Hawaii once before but just stayed there. This time around we are staying on the island of Maui. Here’s a bit about our days so far…

Day 1:
Our trip started on a seven hour flight from Tokyo to Honolulu. All three of us got sick from all the turbulence, which was surprising because I have been on TONS of planes and have never gotten motion sickness (maybe it was because we were in the last row). We met our Dad when we landed and mainly shopped.

Day 2:
The next day we took off on another plane and headed to Maui, this one being a quick 45 minutes. We drove to our condo and immediately got ready to go to the beach. The beach was lovely, with clear water, soft sand, and no stingrays! We didn’t bring the boogey boards so most of the time we were just body surfing and jumping the waves. The one terrible thing that happened was that when my dad threw my brother from his shoulders into the water, HIS WEDDING RING SLIPPED OFF!!! 0.0 We searched for it for about 15 minutes but the current was strong and we couldn’t find it.

Day 3:
We left the house at around noon to go explore the north part of the island. We drove for about two hours, but it started pouring rain and we didn’t have windows on the Jeep, so  we had to turn around. The weather was clear in the south and on the way back we stopped at a shave ice (aka snow cone) place. The reviews say it’s the best shave ice place in Hawaii. The snow cones were HUGE and we got a small (I can’t imagine how big the large would be). It was absolutely delicious too. Before we went back to the condo, we drove through a lava field which is a field of hardened lava, from a volcano that erupted sometime between 1500-1600. We went back to our room, ate lunch, grabbed our boogey boards, and headed back to the same beach from the day before. We stayed at the beach for a couple of hours, until we had to take my Dad to the airport so he could get back to work in Honolulu. He’s going to be there for a couple days and then flying back to Maui to join us for the rest of the time.

Day 4:
We left at around 1:00 pm to walk and go look at a beach that was famous for snorkeling but it turned out that the water was freezing (okay not really freezing, but it was cold-ish) and it was super windy so we decided to walk back and go somewhere else. We decided to go to the lava fields, also known as Ahihi-Kina’u. The lava field is where the last volcano eruption on Maui occurred. The lava hardened and kind of looks like dirt, but it’s all rocks. There is an area that you can walk around along the shore, but the rest of the preserve was closed off in 2008 because people were trampling in the area and destroying it.  

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for part two of my Maui trip!

Love, Gracie & Lulu

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Doughnut Time

Hiya friends, Lulu here.
On my recent trip to Australia I was modelling for my friend Zali and we got the most insanely amazing donuts ever! If you live in Australia, particularly on the Gold Coast then you need to try these donuts. They are incredible. The shop is called DOUGHNUT TIME so keep your eyes peeled! Oh, and if you’re  also a sugar addict like me, then I would definitely recommend following them on Instagram, they have a mouth watering feed ❤  Anywho, enough ranting on about donuts.
Audrey wears:
Dress // Tutu Du Monde
Shoes // Free by Cotton On
Socks // Gorman
Donuts // Donut TimeAll photos taken & edited by Zali Bartholomew.

Much love,
Gracie & Lulu

 

DIY hair dye

Hello my friends, it’s Gracie here!

Today I will be teaching you how to dye the tips of your hair yourself! To make the color you see in the picture above, I mixed a couple packs of cherry (red) Kool-Aid and a one pack of grape (purple) Kool-Aid. I added the purple, to make it a darker shade of red. Last time I did this, I used two reds and one blue, but we couldn’t find any blue Kool-Aid packets in Japan. There’s also this clever little table that shows what the mixing of various Kool-Aid colors looks like, when dying silk fabric.

A few important notes: Kool-Aid dying is harder to see in darker hair and some hair absorbs the Kool-Aid dye better than others. The Kool-Aid hair dye can last a really long time. Last time I did my hair, it lasted months, until my next hair cut and my ends (and the color) were trimmed. I have read that if you mix baking soda with boiling water and then dip your hair in baking soda/water mixture, it will remove the Kool-Aid color from your hair. Be sure to ask your parent(s) before dying your hair with Kool-Aid.

MATERIALS

-Two to three Kool-aid packets, any color
-Four plastic sandwich- or quart-sized bags
-A cooking pot
-About 3 cups of water
-Four ponytail holders

1. First you need two to three packets of Kool-aid, there is: blue, red, purple, orange, and green.
2. Next you need a small pot and fill it about 1/4 of the way with water. Heat the water for until it’s quite hot, but not boiling.
3. Pour the Kool-Aid packets into the pot and mix until the powder has dissolved.
4. Put your hair into pigtails.
5. Pour some of the Kool-aid mixture  into one of the bags. You don’t want it too full, but you want enough liquid in the bag to coat your desired amount of hair. BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THE HOT LIQUID.
6. Dip your pigtail into the liquid in the bag and secure with a ponytail holder. This is a bit tricky but just do your best to secure the bag to your ponytail. You may also need to hold the bags up, so be prepared. For safe keeping, I put a second plastic bag under the first, in case the one bag leaked.
7. Repeat for the second pigtail.
8. Leave your hair in the Kool-Aid for 20-30 minutes.
9. Once the time is up, take your hair out of the Kool-Aid over a sink or bath tub. You want to be careful because the Kool-Aid can easily stain.
10. Take a shower to wash out the excess Kool-Aid. If the color is not as you like, you can always do it a second time.

 

Incredible India | Part Two

UDAIPUR
Lulu:
We arrived at our hotel late at night so we grabbed some dinner and went straight to bed. The next morning we woke up, ate breakfast and left to explore. We walked through the bustling streets of Udaipur. It reminded me quite a bit of some parts of Bali, all the people urging you to buy what they were selling. It was a very interesting experience. After walking for around 10 minutes we reached the City Palace right in the middle of Udaipur. The old architecture and beautiful stained glass windows were breathtaking.

Marriage in India is usually arranged by the parents and some women get married as young as age 10. I’m nearly 13, I’ve got to find a husband FAST. Nowadays in America, Australia, England and many other countries we are allowed to choose who we marry and we most certainly don’t have to marry as young as 10. The weddings in India go on for days and days. They are full of colour and life and the outfits are just exquisite. I would love to get married in India, well except the part about being 10 XD

One thing I found very interesting in India is how the men are much higher up than the women. For instance, at the village home stay in Jodhpur the women were constantly working, wether it was cooking, cleaning or caring for the children. It’s similar at the City Palace, the Queen has her very own part of the palace but let me tell you, it was much smaller and not nearly as decorative as the King’s quarters. It had a small kitchen and a bedroom. It is not like that for the current Queen but back when the City Palace was built and in use, it was.

JAIPUR
Gracie:
A TRAIN!!! Yes we are finally getting on a train and not back on the mini-bus. Lulu and her mom were originally supposed to sit in the cabin ahead of us but ended up being able to sit in a few extra seats near us, and good thing because we heard some goat bleats up in the cabin ahead XD .

We arrived late and I wasn’t feeling well so I ate dinner in our room with Lulu. It turned out most of us weren’t feeling well that evening . The next day, we were all feeling better. We grabbed a tuk tuk and headed out.  We walked down a little alley heading to who knows where and on the other side, we ran into a bunch of kids and goats running around. It started with one girl, who came up to try to talk to us and all of the sudden, there was a crowd of children around us. Somehow Lulu and I ended up with baby goats in our arms, which we loved. After a while, we were shooed away by an older neighbor lady.

We walked out to the main street and caught a tuk tuk that we thought would be more breezy. Our Moms were on a mission to find a certain shop and we all crammed into one tuk-tuk (all eight of us) — not the best idea because the tuk-tuks are meant for four and we were EIGHT. We finally arrived at a store selling quilts and clothes. Little did we know this would be the pushiest place we would go. We were immediately surrounded by men showing us their fabrics and speaking all at once. My mom got tired of it and screamed “Excuse me! We just want to look, so can you all be quiet!” I think she scared them because they all went quiet and we were able to look around in peace XD . After a long, hot day, we were super happy to head back to our hotel and lie in the cool air conditioning.

The next day we wake up early to head to the airport and take a plane to Delhi.

DELHI
Lulu:
We flew from Jaipur to Delhi because if I am being honest… We were over the minibus by that point. Kirsty would fly home to the middle east directly from Jaipur so it was just Gracie, Ryder, Deb, my mom and I. We decided to stay somewhere a little fancy the last night so we could eat room service in bed! When we arrived we were super excited to see a massive, awesome swimming pool! When you’re in the India heat nothing feels better than a swim. We immediately got changed into our swimsuits and headed down to the pool.

The tiles around the pool were quite slippery so we thought it would be fun to slide into the pool. It was so much fun and we didn’t want to get out. We thought we were in for 10 minutes but it was more like 2 hours. It was dark by the time we went up to our rooms! The next day we woke up with big red rashes from too much sliding. Gracie and her family left for Kochi so we said sad farewells… Then ate the yummiest buffet breakfast EVER! I must admit, I am kind of obsessed with buffet breakfasts. It was just my mom and I until we had to late in the evening for Bali.

We decided to visit the market to hopefully buy a patchwork quilt (India style)! We ended up with two in fact! After we were done shopping we headed to the botanical gardens.

The botanical gardens were beautiful, filled with flowers, trees and the cutest chipmunks! They also had these ancient stone tombs which were beautiful but kind of creepy to think of people buried there long ago…

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After an hour or two walking around the gardens we headed to a mall. We were so in need of some AC XD. We ate a yummy lunch and shopped around until it was time to go to the airport. A late flight and a stop over in the early hours of the morning are not fun but eventually we landed home, in Bali.

KOCHI
Gracie:
We arrived in Kochi and we were so excited to see my Dad, who was India with the US Navy.  We didn’t get to spend long with him but after a few months apart, it was great to see him. We arrived in our hotel and spent some time relaxing before we headed out to see a traditional Kathakali dance performance. We got there early and we were able to watch one of the performers preparing his makeup. Once the show was about to start, we headed into the theatre, which was hot and stuffy. I couldn’t imagine what the performers were going through. They were wearing huge and heavy costumes with wigs and tons of makeup.

The next day we left early to go on a house boat on the rivers of Alleppey, India. The boat was super nice with an open living/dining room, two bedrooms, and two bathrooms. It was a really relaxing two days of just hanging out in the sun, relaxing and reading. On the second day, we hopped into a canoe and were paddled down a small river, where we saw where and how people lived along the river. The river was where everything was done — clothes were washed, people bathed, people fished, teeth were brushed. All in all, the river was really beautiful and peaceful. After our two-day boat trip, we flew back to Dehli, where we spent a few hours in the airport before flying back home to Tokyo, followed by a train ride back to our home town of Zushi.

Incredible India | Part One

Hey friends, Gracie and Lulu here!

Recently both of our Moms were invited to India for a little meet up with their friend, Kirsty Larmour, and her two kids. Since our Moms had never been to India before, both were very excited and accepted the invitation. We travelled all over the state of Rajasthan including the cities of Mandawa, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Jaipur and Delhi. We took lots of photos and it was so much fun.

MANDAWA
Lulu:
Mandawa was the first stop on our little tour through India. It was a 7-hour drive from Deli where we flew into, (which was Delhi) so you can imagine how we all felt (well no, I can’t speak for other people, so you know how I felt). Just gotten off of the plane then into the car. “Don’t worry it’s only 7 hours” the parents told us. Uh, only 7 HOURS? And when we complained they said, “When we were kids we’d drive 12 hours and stay at caravan parks… We wouldn’t even go overseas, blah, blah, blah” well times are changing guys and it’s not like how it used to be 35 years ago. People fly when they go on holidays.

We finally arrived at our hotel. The rooms may not have been fantastic but the outside was so beautiful! It was covered in breathtaking Haveli style painting filled with detail and colour. We each had our own room but sadly they weren’t next to each other, but at least we were going to be out the whole day!

Since the drive was 7 hours we arrived pretty late so we all went to bed. The next morning my mum and I woke up super early (time difference) so we decided to go for a walk. We saw the locals going about their business and we also saw a lot of cows. Cows are very sacred animals to Indian people. They let their cows roam the streets and nobody is allowed to hurt them. If someone hurts a cow, they can end up in jail.

After breakfast, we got a guide who took us around to some “Haveli” style buildings. The Haveli buildings are old Indian houses with intricate paintings covering the walls. These Haveli houses were more like mansions, for the rich people to live in. They were so beautiful. A little later that day we walked to dinner from our hotel and we had a herd or men following us. It was quite scary. Maybe 30 – 40 men all in a clump just following us. We eventually managed to lose them XD (thank goodness!)

On our final morning in Mandawa we woke up and got into our mini bus, and drove another 7 hours to Jodhpur.

JODHPUR
Gracie:
On the drive to Jodhpur, we stopped at a temple that worshipped Hanuman, the Indian god of monkeys. The temple was beautiful. The people worshipped Hanuman by giving him coconuts as an offering. We went in one hot, sweaty room where a large group of people were worshipping. The main man looked at us and signaled for us to come up to him so he could put the dot on our forehead. Not sure what to do, I quickly shook my head ‘no’ —  and walked out. When we FINALLY arrived at Jodhpur (I’m not very fond of long drives), we walked into the homestay and the owner told us about the puppy they have. The kids were so excited when the owner took out their little one-month old dachshund named Lily. She was the cutest thing! After playing with Lily for some time, she sadly had to go back inside, so Lulu and I sat down and drew until dinner. Dinner was excellent, at a pizza place around the corner, but of course the tomato sauce was spicy, tomato sauce. Yes, seriously. We quickly learned that EVERY FOOD is spicy in India, even when you say, “no spicy”.

On our second day in Jodphur, we had an early start with a delicious breakfast and headed to the old town market. The market was not as pushy as some other places in India, but that is probably because of our very early start XD . We saw lots of different kinds of fruits, vegetables, toys, animals and much more. I learned that the dogs run up and bark at you but don’t actually attack. The locals just walked up and waved the dogs away so that we could easily walk through.

After we were done with the market, we went up to the famous Fort in Jodhpur, built in the 1400s. It was breathtakingly beautiful, but also scorching hot.

The next morning, we off on another seven-hour mini-bus drive to our next home stay in Jodhpur. This home stay was a little more of what I was expecting in India. We slept in small huts, or, shacks made of a clay material with dried leaves on the roof. Inside was a bed and a bathroom — not much but it was an amazing stay. And a bonus, they had a CALF, which was super adorable! The family was so kind. Everyone lives in one house so there were definitely a lot of people. When we got there, it was time for a late dinner and bed (seven hours of driving doesn’t leave us much to do).

After a good night’s sleep and delicious breakfast we got into the jeep for a safari and village tour. Our first stop was to a family’s house to see the traditional opium welcome celebration. We all sat around on benches with the man showing us how they do the presentation. Sitting in the middle of the floor was a wooden contraption, which strains the opium. He chipped off a little piece of opium from a larger chunk and mixed it together in water. Once the opium dissolved he strained it three times through a small strainer in the wooden contraption. He told us that the respectful thing to do is drink three small handfuls, which he did. After that he showed us how to put on a turban and let Lulu and my brother try it on.

Next stop on our tour, the Shepherd  Village! I loved, loved, loved the Shepherd Village! We arrived and a young girl immediately welcome us into her house to see it. There was the mom, grandma, and three kids. Not even five minutes later, we had an audience of about 20 kids watching us, trying to communicate with us, showing us hand games, telling us there names. I WAS EVEN OFFERED TO HOLD SOMEONES BABY XD !!! Lulu found baby goats on the other side of a fence and we asked if we could pet them — AND WE COULD!!! Oh my gosh, they were adorable! We could pick them up and they didn’t move at all, besides a nibble at your shirt every once and a while. Lulu bent down for one moment to get a picture and was attacked by little nibbles. It was time to go when the sun began to set.

The next day was a visit to the village festival at the temple! The festival was super crowded and it seemed that everybody wanted to get a look at us. At first I couldn’t really tell, just glances at us here and there. But at one point we went over to look at camel and a huge crowd of people came over with us, except, these people weren’t looking at the camel, they were all looking at US XD !!

The next day we were off on another seven-hour drive to Udaipur!

To read about the rest of our trip to India please read Incredible India | Part Two!

 

Paper Wings

Christmas has passed, and twas a good one! This christmas I got the most magnificent dress from Paper Wings, given to me by my grandma. I absolutely love this dress and I adore everything Paper Wings makes! But, this post is not about how much I love Paper Wings. (even though I could easily write a whole post about how much I love this clothing brand!) It’s my first ever fashion post!

Audrey wears:
Dress: Paper Wings
Shorts: Coco & Ginger

Photos taken by: Rowe Timson, Edited by: Audrey

Thanks for sticking around! If you’d like to see more fashion posts like this one, be sure to let us know! [gracieandlulublog@gmail.com]

Love Gracie & Lulu

3 Ways to Spruce up a Boring Case!

Hello peeps! Lulu in the house!

Todayyy I will be sharing with you 3 easy ways to spruce up a boring iPhone or iPad case! My case is just a clear case and I was really tired of it being so boring so I came up with these easy ways to make your case look THAT much better!

So without further ado, lets get started!

#1 – Washi Tape

For this one you will need:
– At least 2 different types of washi tape
– Scissors

I decided to go for a diagonal look so for that you will need to unroll a little of the tape and hold it above the case to make sure you cut off more than you need. Once you have figured out the right amount needed, cut the tape and place it one the tape in a diagonal line. Push your finger firmly along the tape to get rid of air bubbles and cut off the access tape at the sides. Do the exact same for the next piece of tape directly underneath the first.

You don’t have to do it diagonally but I experimented a lot and I think diagonal looks the best!

#2 – Polaroid

For this idea you will need:
– A selection of polaroid photos that will fit nicely into your case
– A see-through case

Remove your case and place the polaroid on the back of your iPhone/iPad. Get the polaroid into the position desired then carefully place the case on your phone again without bumping the photograph.

#3 – Stickers

For this final DIY option you will need:
– A selection of stickers

Choose a few stickers and stick them onto your phone case. The simpler the better so I recommend not using too many and not using stickers that are really big.

Well I really hope you enjoyed this DIY. If you try one of these ideas be sure to email us a photo – gracieandlulublog@gmail.com – we would love to see!

Love Gracie & Lulu

5 Themes – Month 1

Hey guys!

Today we’ll be a doing something a bit different… We have 5 themes, Water, Pink, Food, Dog and Flowers and we both have to take a photo for each theme! We will do this every month so that makes this post – Month 1!

So without further ado, lets get straight to those photos! 😛

Water:

Gracie –

Lulu –

Pink:

Gracie –

Lulu –

Food:

Gracie –

Lulu –

Dog:

Gracie –

Lulu –

Flowers:

Gracie –

Lulu –

Thanks for sticking around!

Love Gracie & Lulu ❤

P.S if there is anything you would like us to blog about or blog more about feel free to contact us by emailing – gracieandlulublog@gmail.com – commenting or writing us on Instagram! xx

 

Kota Kinabalu, Borneo

Hiya peeps, Audrey here!

Recently as you may or may not know already… My family and I went to Borneo the day after Christmas and we cannot wait to go back!

We did lots of fun stuff even though we were only there for 4 days.

On our first day we went shopping at the best mall in town, IMAGO. For anyone who is confused and thinks Borneo is just a giant jungle then you’re wrong, Kota Kinabalu is one of the main cities in Borneo! It’s got everything from shopping malls to skyscrapers! It’s quite similar to Singapore except Kota Kinabalu is smaller. I liked Borneo more because although it had an awesome, huge city feel, it also has a really nice cultural aspect.Anyway back to the original topic, the first day we went shopping and ate lots of delicious (and unhealthy) FOOD! I got some really cute overalls from H&M, a mid drift and a cover for my mini Instax camera which I got from my nanna for Christmas!On our second day in Borneo we went to the Shang Ri La Rasa Ria which is a hotel that has an orang utan rehabilitation centre with lots of cute, adorable orang utans. The Rasa Ria rescues orang utans and nurtures them for four years, then once they are old enough they are sent on a 7 hour car ride to a big sanctuary.On our way back from the Rasa Ria we stopped at a beautiful Mosque. On our third day we decided to go ‘island hopping’…. BAD IDEA.In Bali there are a few islands nearby that we visit quite often, you usually go on quite a nice medium-ish sized boat and so I was expecting it to be like that… BUT OH NO IT WAS NOT. It was on a very small, poorly cared for speed boat thing. Don’t think I have a problem with small boats cause I don’t, I like them better than big ones but I had a problem with this particular boat ride! We all thought we were going to die, period. XDThe island itself was beautiful, with lots of greenery and crystal clear water. It really reminded me of America… Even though I’ve never been to America so therefore it cannot remind me of America but whatever right? We swam and snorkelled right off the beach for a couple of hours and then it was time to go. Our second boat driver was a little better but I still thought I was going to die!By the way, this was not our boat… Ours was much smaller!All photos of me, taken by Rowe Timson (my mum)

Well I hope you enjoyed your whirlwind trip to Kota Kinabalu! Don’t forget to stay tuned for more posts to come!

Love Gracie & Lulu

Walk Around the Neighborhood

Hey ladies and gents, Gracie here!

Today I’ll be writing about my walk through our neighborhood with my adorable little pup, Charley! We saw lots of plants (which I absolutely love) and all the houses with Christmas decor (sorry, I’m a a bit late on sharing Christmas stuff )! Our neighborhood is a lovely little place with good friends, nice people, and great hiking trails to explore. We live right in front of a park that we nicknamed “The Ninja Park” because it reminds us of the American Ninja Warrior T.V. show. Our house is very efficient and…very compact.
Now onto the walk…

One thing about Japan is that almost everyone air dries their clothes by hanging them outside of their home or apartment. We see clothes hanging outside everywhere we go,
Here is the view walking down our ‘big’ hill, which is VERY hard to bike up. Trust me, I know XD .

Along one of the main streets right outside our neighborhood is a ton of shops, which all have to fit in their own tiny space. Quite often, the family lives above their shop. Japan doesn’t have much room so everything has to fit together, however and wherever it can.
 These, are a vegetable called daikon. Before I moved to Japan I had never seen a daikon before in my life. They are like giant white carrots and are very popular in Japan.

While we were on our walk, we came across a temple and decided to go in and have a look. All temples in Japan begin with a tori gate. The photo below shows one of the pillars of the tori gate.

One of Japan’s top modes of transportation is their train system. There is a train station in almost every city. Our closest train station is the Hagashi Zushi Station.

Right outside of our train station, in a small fenced-off grassy area, we discovered a bunch of large, wooden boards with trick art images on them, so of coarse we decided to take a picture. 🙂


Something I find very funny (and awesome) about Japan is that there are vending machines EVERYWHERE. One time we were walking on a hiking trail and we saw a vending machine just to the side of the trail, where there was nothing else around.
If you didn’t already know, I LOVE PLANTS!!! And the Japanese seem to love their plants and decorations too, as you can see!
Everyone in Japan is very polite and respectful, so all around the neighborhood are signs reminding you to not leave your dog poop there.
Thank you everybody for reading. I hope you enjoyed the tour around my Zushi neighborhood!!!
Love, Gracie and Lulu ❤