Olin & Kira and lots of animals

It's no secret that Olin and I love animals.  I love furry things and flying things, and he loves creepy-crawlies and big dogs.  So when Olin's friend told us about free baby Jackson chameleons, of course we said yes!

His friend gave us two babies, and Olin made them a home in our giant 40-gallon aquarium tank.  (I know a mesh enclosure is more desirable, but our friend who works at a pet shop - because of course we have a friend who works at a pet shop - said the tank should be okay for now!)  Unfortunately,  one baby figured out how to climb up the seam of the aquarium tank, over the mesh screen we use as a cover, and onto the porch.  I think it fell the 12 or so feet to its death, so now we only have one baby left.

Here he (she?) is on Olin's fingers!

The other night (also on our porch), or roommate Tomus declared, "That's a huge moth!", so Olin and I went to investigate: and it was, indeed, a huge moth.

After a quick Google search, we believe this moth is a Daphnis nerii, a Oleander Hawk Moth!  The green, pink, and purple are ridiculously pretty, right?

Finally, this past Tuesday Olin and I went to the local zoo with our roomies, and here are those photos:

Olin trying to pet Namaste, the resident white tiger, because that's not illegal or anything.

Sorry I haven't been updating much - my ultimate goal is to try to write here at the very least once a week, but midterms and work have been successfully kicking my butt.  On the bright side: SPRING BREAK IS HERE!

I'm going to Oahu tomorrow to visit my mother and brother for three days and four nights, and I think this is the longest amount of time Olin and I will have spent apart in almost three years.  (Is that sad?  That's probably sad.)  I'll try to take some good solo photos while I'm there. Without me around, Olin will have nothing to do, so maybe he'll finally get around to poking in and saying hi here.  A girl can only hope!

Our Bedroom!

Hi, sorry for the absence! School and work takes up too much of my time.  I knew I wanted my next post to be some photos of our house and bedroom, but that meant I had to clean them first, har har!  So!  Today I'd like to share with you some photos of our room! And some of our house! :)

First, our kitchen! Our dining table and my latest painting of a women with a too long neck.  I left it there to dry, and haven't moved it yet... I should do that soon...  Anyway, The piece of art on the far left is a score from the thrift store.  It's made entirely of butterfly wings!  A little morbid, but very cool for only $8.50!  The awesome station-style clock is from Target.

Sink, stove, and countertop! A little bit messy because of roommates.  (We have four of them!)

Our bedroom! This is the view from the doorway.  (Not pictured: to the left is our 42" LED TV, to the right is our closet & bookshelf!)  Our room is very small, as are all the bedrooms in this house, but at least we have a private bathroom!  I can't remember the exact square footage of our room, but I think it's about 150 sq. ft?

Our very messy bookshelf.  One day I'll go through and organize it... but that's a project that will have to wait until midterms are over!

My shelf! I collect Lalaloopsy toys - Suzette is my only big doll.  I have a bunch of little ones I'll take photos of sometime!  (Behind her you can also see my favorite manga of all time!)

Olin's shelf.

My necklaces.

My little space next to my bed! Postcards and pretty things go up here. Also a photo of me and some co-workers from Target.

Detail of our paper lanterns and lights!

That's all I have for today... I'll take more photos of the rest of our house, our porch, and our garden soon!

Love,

Kira

Our Zarkana Tickets!

Our Cirque Du Soleil tickets for Radio City Music Hall came in yesterday!!

I suppose I need to go back in time a little to explain: in September, Hawaiian Airlines announced a new flight, direct from Honolulu to NYC - a city that Olin and I have dreamed about for so long.  With the announcement came a special low price for tickets, and we nabbed tickets for about $312 one way!  (Right?! So cheap!!  For both of us go to and come back, it was about $1,300!)

We booked our NYC trip from June 29th to July 5th, and we've been saving up for it ever since!  As soon as our tickets were bought and paid for, we began plotting out what to do once we're there.  I've always wanted to see Cirque Du Soleil in person (and watch my feeble trapeze skills be put to shame), so I looked to see if any Cirque shows would be in NYC when we were - and Zarkana is!!  Tickets for Zarkana at Radio City Music Hall went on presale a week or so ago, so we bought ours.  I'm so excited!

Other New York plans are: to catch a Broadway show, maybe an off-Broadway show, and... that's about it.  So if you have any recommendations as to what we should do while we're in NYC, where we should shop, or where to eat, please drop us some comments!

Hope you all are doing well!

- Kira

Welcome to the Adventures of Olin & Kira!

Hello everyone! My name is Kira, and I am super excited to welcome you all to the grand opening of Olin & Kira!

This blog is the brain-child of my boyfriend Olin and I.  It's a place for us to share with you our lives: the interesting parts, the boring parts, and the just plain weird parts.  If all goes according to plan, we'll both be posting our daily activities, recipes we've discovered, photos we've taken, doodles we've done, gardening tips - everything!

To get us started, here's a little bit of background info on Olin and I.

I'm Kira, a 21 year old Japanese American girl.  I've lived my whole life here in Hawai'i (although Olin and I are saving up to change this soon!).  I have one older brother who has helped shaped my identity by sharing his interests with me (namely comic books, martial arts films, b-horror movies, punk rock, and hip-hop).  I'm currently going to a community college, but am about to graduate with my AA in Liberal Arts, at which point I'll transfer over to the local university to get my B.A. in Japanese Studies.  My favorite musicians are Astronautalis, Dessa, and Murder by Death.

This is Olin.  He's 23 years old, and has lived his whole life on the Big Island!  He has two older brothers who helped shaped his identity by beating him up all the time.  (Don't worry - now that the brothers are older, they don't fight... as much.)  His brothers got him into heavy metal and punk rock, and from a very young age (6 years old!) Olin was listening to the Dead Kennedys and Gwar.  Olin currently works at Target in the Electronics department, but has also spent over five years working in kitchens.

We've been dating for almost four years, and currently live in an old plantation-style house with four roommates.  Olin and I have four cats together who will probably make several appearances in this blog.

Well, that's it for now!  Thank you all for visiting!  I home you come back again!