Who is Champuru? 
Aloha, I'm Donna, known everywhere on the Internet as "Champuru." I'm a Christian, blissfully wedded to my perfect match (the yang to my yin) of 16 years and a stay-at-home mom to my miracle baby, born in October 2008. Living life in Hawaii, less than 5 miles from my hometown, seeking balance in my pursuit of family, faith, recreation, and rest. Read more on the About page.
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Dot-Com Days
In the days before dot-net.
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Made by little hands wielding big crayons!
On Sesame Street today they were talking about drawing. After the episode was over, I turned off the television and Baby Champuru immediately led me to her crayons. She wanted to draw, just like she saw on TV! Here is today’s masterpiece!
 Gesundheit! If you read the title of this blog entry and thought my vog allergies were acting up again, you obviously have not heard of the fabulous NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) which urges bloggers to post an entry a day for an entire month. NaBloPoMo is an offshoot of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which challenges participants to write an entire 50,000-word novel in 30 days. NaBloPoMo is a slightly less momentous endeavor, one that I don’t mind committing myself to every now and then. Teetering on the verge of 2010, one of my resolutions is to blog more regularly. What better way to jump start that goal than to do a daily blogging marathon for a month?
Do you have a blog? Will you endeavor with me on this NaBloPoMo challenge for January? Oh come on, it’ll be fun! 
Just two days ago, I snapped this photo with my iPhone camera for Project 365. These majestic pine trees towered over our development and I often admired them. Baby Champuru and I would take short walks outside to get some fresh air and I always pointed out these trees to her. “See the pine trees? Look at how TALL they are!”
Undoubtedly, these pine trees were here decades before they began developing this neighborhood. So I was dismayed to hear the sound of chainsaws and chipping machines this morning. The condo association had determined that they were unsafe and needed to be cut down.
I wondered if they even consulted an arborist about the health of these trees before coming to that conclusion? Unfortunately, due to other issues I have had with my condo association, I tend to think that they make arbitrary decisions that don’t always make sense. Perhaps I should start attending those homeowner meetings once a month?
This is what the skyline looks like now, without the towering pine trees. It has totally changed the appearance of the landscape fronting my home and I’m not very happy about it.
When I went for my late afternoon walk today, this was all that was left of those four beautiful pine trees. What a sad ending.
Lately, it seems like the microblogging/social networking services like Twitter and Facebook have squelched my desire to update my blog. Posting short entries (140 characters, FTW!) with the ability to share pictures, videos, and links is just insanely easy and enables my innate inclination to overshare. Somehow the nature of Facebook and Twitter is such that I am not ashamed to post a crappy photo taken with my iPhone with a mundane update like this:
 Or share a brief editorial of a local news story:
Twitter is a great venue for my day-to-day updates on life, but the beauty of that platform is the ability to connect with others. I find myself using Twitter more like a chat client than a microblogging site. I often query the Twitterverse when looking for recommendations, advice, breaking news, or even sympathy. It’s like a group hug for the digital age.
Did I mention that I also enjoy immensely the feedback I receive on Facebook and Twitter? And, as corny as it may be, I really love that “Like” feature on Facebook.
Perhaps my lack of updates here stem from the self-imposed pressure of wanting to post content that is somewhat more relevant and interesting than what I share on Facebook and Twitter. After all, content on my blog is “forever” — while Twitter and Facebook updates seem temporal and trivial.
What’s your opinion on this: Loosen up and allow myself to post short, spontaneous entries with iPhone pictures, and content that is possibly less thought-out? Or continue to strive to provide (slightly) better content than what you would normally see on a Facebook or Twitter page? I want to hear from you.
Day #9 of Project 365
Winter in Hawaii has arrived and the slightly nippy weather is testament to that. For our late afternoon walk, I got Baby Champuru decked out in her cold weather gear, an adorable hoodie given to her by my friends Pam and Arnold. The jacket is a size 2T, but it fits her almost perfectly.
I love “winter” weather in Hawaii when the temperatures dip just enough to lift the humidity and bring a slight chill to the air in the mornings and evenings. (I put the word winter in quotes because the rest of the non-tropical world would likely scoff at my use of the words “winter” and “Hawaii” in the same sentence. ) It’s the best time of year to take long walks around the neighborhood, getting a nice workout without sweating buckets. Besides, it also allows me to dress Baby Champuru in the cutest outfits!
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You can make a difference in the life of a child -- I am! Our family is sponsoring Melvin, a 9 year old boy in the Philippines. Click the image below to find out more about child sponsorship and how your pocket change can change everything for a very special child.
Sponsor a Child
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