There's Something About Lindsay...

For this week's featured blogger, we wanted to bring you guys a little bit of Hawaii...

Allow us to explain.  A few months ago we stumbled upon a blog called Aisle to Aloha & we immediately fell for this adorable girl, Lindsay:

Not only are we totally jealous of the fact that she lives in Hawaii, but we had to color ourselves green with envy after we saw what an amazing artist she is.

 

 

We kept on reading & realized that there's another BIG reason to love us some Lindsay...she's a military wife.  Her husband Chris is in the US Navy & he is currently deployed on a ship somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.  We pause at this point in our new blog discovery to put ourselves in this girl's shoes for a minute & to think about the fact that we don't like it when our husbands have to go away for a couple of nights on a business trip...so to say that we admire Lindsay for her strength to withstand months-long deployments is an understatement.  Thankfully, they are going to be able to see each other next week, when Lindsay travels over 20 hours to visit Chris in a super secret location in Southeast Asia...how romantical...we love it!  On the heels of such a momentous victory for the United States in the war against terrorism, we want to extend a huge THANK YOU to all of our servicemen & women for protecting our freedom, but right now we want to give a huge shout out to one particular military spouse & let all of you guys get to know her a little better.  So here's a little something about Lindsay...

HLNC Q:  Obviously the name of our blog revolves around our "late night cravings".  We like to to think that the "Her" in our blog title can be ANY girl & that a craving can be anything from food to music/TV/movies to clothes to beauty products to a DIY project to even your Hubby.  So, we'd like to know what you crave the most??
  

Lindsay A:  I'm pretty sure I could eat pizza every day.  It's pretty dangerous because if someone mentions pizza on twitter or facebook, it's not uncommon for me to order up some Papa John's within the next few minutes!  I've gotta have a bacon pizza with extra sauce. YUM! 

And yeah, since my husband's been deployed the past few months, I could definitely say that I crave time with him!  I miss cruisin' the island with him, paddling out to surf together or cooking up some fun new recipe in the kitchen on a Friday night.  Yeah, he's my biggest craving lately, for sure! 

Q:  We love us some fashion trends & getting all girlie-fied, but we're also all about kicking around in tank tops, shorts/jeans & some flip-flops.  We totally understand that sometimes it can be the most simple & basic outfit that suits your taste the best, or sometimes it's OK to feel the need to don 4" heels & a strapless dress to make you feel a little glamorous.  What we want to know is:  How do you feel that living in THE BEST PLACE ON EARTH, Hawaii, affects (positively or negatively) your style??  

A:  Hawaii is such a laid-back, casual culture, and it's not uncommon for me to spend the whole week in the same denim cut-offs, tank and "slippahs" as we call flip-flops here.  And honestly, I rarely wear make-up here!  If I wear a skirt to the post-office,I swear people are staring at me wondering why I'm so dressed up! 

So, sometimes it's hard to really put effort and creativity into my style since the culture is so chill.  But that's why I love doing my outfit posts because sharing my outfits with my readers keeps me thinking creatively about my wardrobe and that's way more fun than throwing on a tee and shorts each morning! 

Q:  What inspires you as far as your paintings go??  Obviously, you have beauty surrounding you where you live, but other than the gorgeous scenery, where do you pull your creativity from?  What are your favorite colors??

A:  Oh yes, Hawaii is such an inspiring place!  I'd say that I'm most inspired by color.  It's really amazing what kind of effect color can have on our moods and I love being able to lift someone's spirits with bright colors in my artwork!  Hawaii is full of gorgeous hues-- the bright turquoise of the waters, the rich red of the dirt, vibrant greens, pinks, yellows of the flora.  I hope that comes through in my artwork and I feel honored when people choose my art to brighten up their homes.  It's always a blast getting to send a little bit of Hawaii their way!

I probably have a different favorite color every week.  But these days, I'm quite a bit obsessed with the color coral. Um, like, I wear it somewhere on me almost every day. And I've done a lot of paintings lately in coral.  But I also love yellow and teal.  Oooor... pretty much any other happy color! 

Q:  You & your hubby have gotten to travel to some very exotic, gorgeous places (places that we could only dream of one day visiting) & we're just curious if you have one place in particular that is your VERY favorite??


A:  Chris and I have been very blessed to travel all over the world-- both together and apart!  We've been to Romania, Spain, Italy, Mexico (where he proposed!), Japan, Honduras, Belize, and we spent three weeks driving from Maryland to California right after our wedding.   And I'm gearing up to go visit him in probably the most exotic of all our travels, but I can't quite reveal that right now since he's deployed right now. 

It's so hard to choose a favorite from our travels together, but I'd have to say that out of all our travels, one of the most memorable was my trip to Japan to visit him during his deployment last year.  It was such a sweet time together after being apart for several months and I was enthralled with the foreign culture of Japan.  I had never been to Asia and the culture was fascinating!  From the three story Buddha in Kamakura, the busiest intersection in the world in Shibuya and navigating the confusing train lines and trying strange new foods together, I'll always treasure those memories.

Q:  And one last question...now we're really comfortable with each other, right?!?!  Like we might have just become new cyber best friends...  So tell us, what is your guilty pleasure?  All of us have one...or two...or three.  Maybe it's reality TV or it's a smutty weekly tabloid that you pick-up at your local grocery store or who knows, maybe it's a bowl of ice cream at midnight.

A:  Ohhh boy, you guys are going to think I'm crazy.  I LOVE bacon and peanut butter sandwiches.  The hot, crunchy bacon melts the creamy peanut butter on toast and the flavors are just amazing.  I know it sounds totally gross but if you try it once, you'll be hooked. I promise! 

"Bacon and peanut butter sandwiches"...that's one we're going to have to try...might be dangerous for that to become our new late night craving!


Please be sure to pay Lindsay a visit on her blog at www.aisletoaloha.blogspot.com & check out her Etsy shop at www.aisletoalohastudio.etsy.com to purchase one of her canvases to jazz up a spot in your house!  If you're a Twitter-er (or is it a Tweeter??) then be sure to follow her at www.twitter.com/aisletoaloha.


One half of Her Late Night Cravings, Jayme, even recently made her first Aisle to Aloha Studio purchase.  This bright yellow dandelion painting has a spot waiting for it in her kitchen...

Hmmm, oh what to buy next?!?  That's the million dollar question!

Mahalo, Lindsay!!