Mauna Kea & Bayfront Coffee

Aloha Kakou!
It's been beautiful here in Hilo for the last week.
Hard to believe that it was pouring non-stop before this, but that's island story here!
We are blessed for sure, to be able to view this majestic view of snow capped Mauna Kea each and every day.








I wanted to share one of my most recent favorite places in downtown Hilo. It's right next door to Sig Zane Designs too, and the name of the place is called Bayfront Coffee, Kava and Tea Company. They have great coffee (French pressed!) and food that are all handmade with fresh local ingredients. The place has breakfast and lunch menu offerings that are just hard to turn down, such as all kinds of yummy muffins for breakfast (bagels too), and homemade soup and wrap sandwiches.










See some of the home baked goods...
Mmmmmmmm!!!













Here's Lisa, the proprietor making one of her salads. She uses organic and fresh local produce to make her offerings. And it's packed with aloha too.
Lisa has a long love affair with cooking and restaurant business. She owned and operated her own restaurant by the age of 17!














Here's the information on Bayfront Coffee, Kava & Tea Company. They are open 7 DAYS A WEEK!!!
Hours are:
Mon-Thu: 7am~8pm
Fri: 7am~9pm
Sat: 8am~9pm
Sun: 10am~5pm
Address: 116 Kamehameha Ave., Hilo, HI 96720
Tel: 808-935-1155

Look for the sign in the photo!








You can also purchase coffee beans as well.












I have not yet had the chance to try their Kava so I can't tell much about it to you, but if you do, don't hesitate to comment about it to let me know!

Mahalo and a hui hou!

Love and Aloha,

Reiko

6th Annual Hilo Chinese New Year Festival was FUN!

Aloha Kakou & Kung Hee Fat Choy!
On Saturday, February 16, 2008, the 6th Hilo Chinese New Year Festival was held at downtown Hilo, where at Kalakaua Park, many locals and visitors alike came to celebrate the beginning of Year of the Earth Rat!
At Sig Zane Designs, we all waited for the arrival of the Lion Dancers. The Chinese cabbage was hung above the door for the Lions as an offering of food.

The Big Island Shaolin Arts Lion Dancers who opened the Festival at 9am in front of the Kress Building came down to make its way to our store, as on lookers gathered around to see this exciting event.

The firecrackers were hung from the Kukui tree in front of the store and was lit. It was a huge blast and the blessing of the Chinese New Year was commenced!

The evil spirits are driven away by the firecrackers which excited the Lions to do more dancing. The Lions represent strength, wisdom and good luck in China, and are known to chase the evil spirits away.

Sig welcomed one of the lions to come into the store for the blessings, and offered lysee, a little red packet filled with money. Hope what's inside the lysee comes back a thousand fold this year!!

The two lions walked into the store and blessed its every corner.

And as one of the Lions exited from the store, it "ate" the offering of food and "spitted" it out, showering audiences with "good luck"!

Mahalo to the Gold and White Lion Dancers for blessing our store!

And it was a beautiful sunny day for the 6th Festival at Kalakaua Park.

Sig Zane Designs sponsored the Keiki Art Contest. Children were asked to draw a picture of a rat, in honor of the animal of the year 2008!

Many keiki of all ages participated, at the East Hawaii Cultural Center, who was one of the sponsors of this event.

The Keiki Art Contest winners were announced. And one of the children who got awarded (hey that's my son!) points to his artwork as Kuha`o Zane MCs. Prizes were given by one of my favorite boutique stores, and a co-sponsor to this event, Hana Hou.

The keiki art works are being displayed at Hilo Glass & Art Supply (another sponsor to this event) during the next week, so please go and see what our keiki has put out in their efforts!

Way to go keiki!

Alice Moon (center), the producer of the Festival with Kuha`o (left) and Sig Zane (right)!

She told me it was Sig, who gave her the idea and the official nod of acknowledgement to get this festival started. Although, initially, she told him that becasue she's not Chinese she didn't feel "right" doing it. But Sig being who he is, reassured her by saying "I'm Chinese. Just do it!"

So mahalo to all of you who brought this wonderful event for us in the community!

A hui hou & Lots of Aloha,

Reiko

Aloha Kakou and Happy Valentine's Day!
Wishing you lots of sweet aloha to you and your ohana!

Love Reiko


アローハ＆ハッピー・ヴァレンタインズ・デー！
皆様がスウィートでアロハに満ちた一日を過ごされますように♪

玲子







P.S. If you're looking for a Hilo homemade sweets, check out Hilo Bay Fudge and Gifts at 114 Kamehameha Ave. (tel: 1-808-961-1600), that is two stores down from where Sig Zane Designs' store is!

P.S. メイド・イン・ヒロの手作りのお菓子をお探しであればシグ・ゼーン・デザインズの2件先のお隣にできた「ヒロ・ベイ・ファッジ＆ギフツ」へどうぞ。
住所: 114 Kamehameha Ave.
電話: 1-808-961-1600

SALE! SALE!! SALE!!! Starting February 9th ~ 16th!!!

Aloha Kakou and Good News!!!
Beginning tomorrow February 9th, the Hilo store will have a sale on Studio and Clearance merchandise!
Studio merchandise is anything with imperfections, for example, printing flaws, crooked stitches, or a fabric defect. They will be up to 75% off and tagged with an orange studio tag.
Clearance merchandise is older goods that have been slower to sell or leftover styles with a very limited run in sizes. The markdown on Clearance will be at least 30% off.
Fabric scraps will be part of this sale for $25 per bag.
This Sale period will go on until next Saturday February 16th, as we celebrate the Chinese New Year Festival!
And beginning next Wednesday February 13th, the Webstore will start their sale too! Everything will be marked down 25%!!
So... come on down and happy shopping week!
With Aloha,
Reiko

皆様へ、緊急セールのご案内で～す！
明日2月9日から16日までの期間、ハワイ島ヒロ店にて大々的にセールを行います!
セールの対象となる商品は、「スタジオ」商品：こちらはいわゆる不良品、キズ物商品です。こちらは最高75％オフ!それから「クリアランス」商品：こちらは残ってしまった商品等で最低でも３０％オフになります。その他はぎれを集めた袋、1袋＄２５など、お楽しみ商品が目いっぱいですのでどうぞ！
これにちなんでウェブサイトも全商品２５％オフ、のセールを2月13日水曜日（ハワイ時間）から開催いたしますのでハワイ島へお越しいただけない方もこちらからご参加くださいませ!!!

それではハッピー･ショッピング！

♪玲子♪

Kung Hee Fat Choy 2008 Earth Rat Year!

Happy Chinese New Year 2008!
Yes, the Earth Rat Year has arrived, and there are going to
be lots of celebrating happening around town starting from today.
Make sure to come to Sig Zane Designs store in Downtown Hilo to be part of that celebration! Next weekend is the Hilo's Chinese New Year Festival with Shaolin Lion Dancers, who are going to be stirring and revving up the positive energies for the Festival which will be held at Kalakaua Park. At 9am, the Festival will commence with firecrackers to scare off the evil spirits away, all the way up until 3pm at the park. Sig Zane Designs will sponsor a keiki art contest from 10am, so round up your artists and join in on the fun!

Kung Hee Fat Choy!
Reiko

旧正月あけましておめでとうございます！

今年6年目を迎えるヒロ･チャイニーズ･ニュー･イヤー･フェスティバルは3月16日、朝9時から午後3時まで、ダウンタウンにあるカラカウア公園にて開催されます。獅子舞が行われ爆竹が鳴り響いたらお祭りの開催です！シグ･ゼーン･デザインズにもライオン･ダンサーズ（獅子舞）がやってくるので是非お立ち寄りくださいね♪

それではお天気がそれまでに回復することを祈ります！

ではお楽しみに～!!!

玲子

P.S. The Rat & the Hat are the newest offerings at Sig Zane Designs! Come and get it while it lasts...

P.S.　鼠年T-シャツと野球帽はシグ･ゼーン･デザインズの最新アイテムです！

Rainy & Raging Rat Year is Coming!

ALoha Kakou!
Hope everyone here in Hilo is safe and dry.
Whoa, it's been RAINING HARD here lately! The Bayfront's soccer field area got totally underwater, and there were little streams and falls everywhere with the non-stop rain coming down and thank god, it finally stopped for a few hours yesterday!
So I went to the local spot, Rainbow Falls, and WOW was that exciting... tons of raging water creating tons of minus ions. Refreshing and envigorating to be near such natural force...
I took a short video of the Wailuku River coming down so hope you can get the feel of the rushing water!









皆様へ、アローハ!
ヒロはこのところず～っと雨、雨、雨！しかも一日中止まずに豪雨状態。雨には慣れているヒロとしてもかなりの雨量でしょう。一日の降水量（土曜日）の記録としてあるところでは17インチ（約43センチ）も降ったとさ！お陰で家は雨漏り状態です♪
この雨量のエネルギーを感じたくてヒロでは観光名所として名高い（?）レインボー滝に行ってきました。いやーすごかった！そして興奮しました。自然のパワーを感じ、そしてマイナスイオンを思いっきり浴びてきました～!ビデオを撮ったので見てくださいね！

Well, this is all leading up to... the arrival of the New Rat Year and Rat Year T-shirts at Sig Zane Designs!
As we welcome the Earth Rat Year 2008 February 7, note that this is a good year to begin a new job, get married, launch a product or make a fresh start.
Hey, so we can all look forward to this new lunar calendar!

Aloha & Mahalo,
Reiko

そして2月7日は旧正月ですね。ねずみ年の今年は新しいことを始めるのにとても良い年で、結婚、新商品など事始めに適した年なのだそうです。シグ･ゼーン･デザインズでも恒例の干支Tシャツが店頭に並びましたよ～♪
それでは本年もよろしくお願いいたします！
玲子