Last Mediterranean photos: Shipboard fun!

Ever since my first cruise to the Caribbean on our honeymoon almost 15 years ago, I've been in love with this way of traveling, and my favorite cruise line is Crystal Cruise. For this Mediterranean food and wine tour, we were lucky enough to be aboard the Crystal Serenity. With Crystal, at-sea days are possibly even more fun than days touring on shore!

Uncle Joseph does a magic trick for the kids on a formal night at sea

Mom and Carolyn on the slots. Can you believe it? My mom hit a $1500 jackpot that night! (Won't tell you how much she gave back!)

Dads and daughters dancing. How cute is that?!

Breakfast with mom and dad. The ocean breeze makes you hungry!

Lobster, anyone? The Grand Buffet certainly lived up to its name!

There's so much food... where do I begin?!

Nicki and classmate Preston celebrate their birthdays together

'The Boys' bonding in the Connoisseurs Lounge over cigars and scotch. (It's a guy thing!)

Mayumi learns a few dance moves from one of the Ambassador Hosts, while Carolyn and Joseph dance in the background

Nicki and new gal pal Alexia make dancing plans of their own

Ahhh! Now this is living! Lounging on the balcony as we sail into a new port

Yes, this was a wonderful family vacation, and Nicki is already asking when our next cruise will be!

It's time to go home. I interviewed Gary Hunter, the Cruise Director, on our last night about the Crystal Cruise experience. (I'll post the video shortly.) Until next time, Crystal Cruise... yes, it is a wonderful world!

Ahoy! First workshop on the high seas

One of the highlights of the Mediterranean for me has to be the mini-workshop I gave aboard the Crystal Serenity. It’s the first time I spoke in front of a Crystal audience and my first at-sea workshop ever!

A few days earlier, the cruise director, Gary Hunter, interviewed me for Crystal Cruise TV, which airs the morning of the event to get people excited about wanting to come. Gary also happens to be a pretty famous ventriloquist himself, and the interview was a lot of fun. We’ll post part of it here soon.

Totally impressed with Gary’s setup up on the bridge deck. Can you believe it was a three-camera shoot?

I kept the workshop pretty short—I had to, since I only had an hour! I focused on colors, showing how to layer colors into a space and tie them into Mediterranean mementos people may have bought, such as a work of art or a rug from Turkey.

This was a food-and-wine cruise, and my workshop happened to be up against a red wine lecture and a demo by a mixologist! Poor Darrell, I even had to convince him to come, and a lot of the wives in our Hawaii group dragged their husbands to my show! Mahalo, guys!

Believe me, giving a workshop itself on the Mediterranean high seas was a thrill for this Hawaii girl! It doesn’t matter, you can meet people from the opposite end of the world, and they still have the same challenges: how to incorporate color, how to find their style. I have to say, I was thrilled to meet some fascinating people—I’ll tell you about them in my next blog.

All aboard!

I've got great news for you--we're going cruising in style! RSVPstyle! As I've mentioned before, my favorite cruise line is Crystal Cruises, and we have just finalized arrangements to hold a workshop aboard the Crystal Symphony's November 23 cruise to the Mexican Riviera! Is that exciting or what?!

This amazing trip will be during Thanksgiving weekend. The Crystal Symphony will sail out of L.A. for seven days of cruising between amazing destinations including Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta! We will get you more details shortly--check the travel section of The Honolulu Advertiser and our website for upcoming details. If you can't wait, you can contact Lynda Bell of Travel Lynda at (808) 395-2980.

When the idea was first brought up by Outrigger Travel to do this workshop, I immediately jumped at the chance. To incorporate all of my favorite things--cruising, eating, teaching design and decorating, being with my family and having fun--what could be better than that?! Just imagine, a whole group of us learning, sharing and vacationing together--I can't wait!

For those of you that have been following our last trip, the third part of our Amazing Asian Adventure will be going up in a few days. This last part even has a few video clips of the Crystal Symphony and the refurbishment it went through. After reading about our incredible cruise, I think you'll understand why I am so excited to be going on Crystal again--this time, I hope, with you! So come aboard and let's cruise and learn together!