Germaine's Luau

Wednesday we had reservations for Germaine's. I had been like 4 years ago but it's always a treat for first timers. An extra bonus was the kama'aina discount...we got $30 off each ticket cuz I live here...woot woot.

We had to fight a little traffic to get there but it was well worth it. It's located right on Barber's point and the sunsets are pretty amazing.

They did the imu presentation, which ironically Emilie is vegetarian so pulling out the pig from the ground was pretty funny. Those of you who have never tried kalua pork...omg, so missing out...fantabulous.

Our meal tickets also included 3 drink tickets each...guess what we ordered...mai tai's! Although, I was only able to drink two, we had tipped the bartender so he assumed we wanted rum with a splash of juice...oy.

I was a little concerned that Emilie wouldn't get to eat much since she's vegetarian...nope, no worries there...plates were piled to the max. My faves were the kalua pork and the haupia (coconut). Ono grinds :)


One of the dancers


Self portrait skills are lacking here :)


Two fisting


Nice plate!

Cirque Hawaii and Dukes

On Monday Emilie booked us for Cirque Hawaii. I hurried home from work and we cruised over to the theater...were we in for a treat...lol. I'm used to the Vegas Cirques: O, Mystere, Love...um not so much. It was so low budget it was awesome. The acrobatics were impressive none the less. We had a few mai tai's and yesterday's overly buttery popcorn. They pulled some dudes out of the crowd to embarrass themselves and then on to the show. I got in trouble for taking pictures...seriously? my flash was off too...lame.

Afterwards, we headed over to Dukes for some more mai tai's...seeing a trend here? We had a great time, good food, awesome music, great drinks and lots of self portraits.

I live pretty close to the beach but stumbling back at night was quite the adventure...haha.


Getting the camera warmed up


In the theater with our tai's


Vili the Warrior embarrassing the tourists


Who's thinking about work in the morning...not me!


Evidence of a good night :)

Visitor

My friend Emilie, who usually does not make decisions without hours of research, surprised me before I moved and spontaneously bought a ticket to come visit me. We had an amazing time and I'm so glad she was part of my daily adventures.

She arrived late on Saturday the 4th. We didn't do much that night but she is quite the planner so I armed her with tour magazines and she created a list of to do's.

Sunday morning we headed out to breakfast at the ShoreBird, cruised the International Market, went surfing, snorkeled Hanauma Bay, took a scenic drive around the island and went to a bbq at a friend's house...ohana style.


Breakfast at the ShoreBird...I inhaled coconut pancakes and washed it down with POG


International Market...we got really good at the self portraits :)


Here fishy fishy


Sup party people?


Hanauma Bay


Blowhole by Sandy Beach

OMG...

I finally have internet again! Being unconnected is seriously torture. Lots of updates to come :)

Aloha

Koko Head/Costco

I had two adventures today. 1st was Costco...Honolulu has the busiest Costco in the world...yup I experienced that shiznit today. First off, the parking lot is a mad house, even the spots in BFE are taken. Getting in and maneuvering your cart takes a special talent!!! Holy shiz...there are real live cart traffic jams...puts 520 to shame...lol. I got my milk and a few other things that of course were not on my list..can't pass up pineapples from Maui :)

2nd was Koko Head. It's 1059 steps to the top, going over old rail ties. Half way up is a ravine that you have to climb over...best not to look down! When I went 3 weeks ago, my heart rate was soaring and I seriously thought I was going to pass out. My legs were like jelly coming down. This time around, not so much. My heart rate was much lower and I made it to the top in 35 minutes. I even had my backpack on, full of frozen bottles of water. My daily 6 mile walks to work are paying off :) The hike is pretty crazy but the carrot at the end of the stick is the AMAZING 360 views from the top. It was clear today, so I was able to see Molokai in the distance, as well as the body surfers at Sandy Beach.

Good times today and to top it off...Desperate Housewives season premiere...woohoo.

Back to work tomorrow and 5 more days til the weekend. A friend of mine is coming to town for a week...should be good times. Can't wait to show her my new home and all the amazing things it has to offer :)


Half way up


View of Hawaii Kai from the halfway point


Hanauma Bay


From the very top


Koko Crater

Grateful

I'm seriously grateful today. I spent most of the afternoon on the beach right in front of Duke's, listening to the live music, people watching, swimming and hanging around to watch the sunset. As 6:30 approached, swarms of people came out on the beach to take pics of the sunset. It really made me appreciate what I had...I live in paradise and get to see/do these things every day and these peeps are on vacation and if they are lucky, they get to do it for about a week once a year. As I walked back to my apartment, I had a little extra skip in my step :)

Earlier in the day, I cruised over to Cake Couture to check out their cupcake goodness. Funny thing, is that I had been to their location (they are in a strip mall) in May and didn't even know it! The shop was cute and their cupcakes looked SUPER YUMMO. They only make certain flavors on certain days, so no marshmallow today :( BUT they did have chocolate haupia (coconut filling) cupcakes with a scrumptious whipped cream topping with chocolate shavings...got one of those and also a vanilla one, just cuz it had a pink wrapper...lol. Since it was really hot out, I figured I better eat the chocolate one asap. OMG, it was to die for!!! I wore half of it on my face. Cake Couture was definitely much better than Hokulani Bakery.

So I wanted some milk to go with my cupcake goodness, so I walked into Foodland next door. Um, $8 for a gallon...yeah no...I'll wait to get it at Costco for $4. While I was looking at the milk, the OJ was there too...$10 for a gallon of freaking OJ!!! Oh and get this...you know Tampico Punch...the super ghetto fruit juice that sells for .99/gallon...here it's $5/gallon!!!! Needless to say, I drink a lot of water...lol.



Cake Couture


The goods on my dashboard...lol


Coconut filling in the middle...YUM!


Sunset


Chilling by the water

Hey Mac...

it's cheese. Miss you Buns!

Smells like Seattle...

The building I live in right now has a mini mall on the ground floor, which includes a Starbucks and a McDonald's. When I walked out the door I could smell the coffee...it smelled soooooooo good and I don't even drink coffee! Also made me miss home...hubby, cats and friends. But as I walked to work, jamming to my tunes on my iPod, I saw the most incredible rainbows...also a DOUBLE rainbow...never seen one of those before! I also proceeded to get soaked. It rained so freaking hard, I was completely soaked from sweat and rain...gross...oh well, at least it wasn't cold.

After work I cruised over to Restaurant Row to the Hokulani Bake Shop to try out some of their cupcakes. It's a cute little shop and some pretty good flavors to choose from. I got a Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Cupcake and a Paradise Coconut Cupcake. They also had really cute cookies so I got a shaka cookie that said 'mahalo.'

As I was walking with my cute little box of cupcakes...low and behold here comes the effing monsoon again...almost the exact same place it soaked me in the morning! Needless to say, I was hauling ass trying to get home and make sure my little cupcakes were safe :)

They made it safely and I got to test them...very good. A little dense and very rich, but not dry in the least. I'm excited to try Cake Couture this weekend...but that means I will have to climb Koko Head to burn it off :::sigh:::

Is it bad that all I had for dinner was 2 cupcakes??? I wonder what's on the menu tomorrow???


The double rainbow on my way to work this morning!


Isn't that awesome :)


The Hibiscus that greet me every morning



My poor box is all soaked!


The goods!




Soaking wet, enjoying my cupcake

First day of fall!

It was 89 degrees today...haha. Gotta love it!

I'm finally done with all my online training and I get to get my hands dirty at work tomorrow...woohoo. Although with the current market conditions...should be GREAT times...lol. I did find out today that my company will pay for my MBA...UH here I come!

Plate lunches...must stop eating them! Every day someone is buying us lunch or bringing in manapua or malsadas...OMG...the 6 miles I'm walking everyday is just for maintaining...jeez. Good thing I have a gym in my new place!

Mai Tai Bar

So today was super chill. I was going to head out to Koko Head and climb today but I was so fried from Kailua that I decided to give the melanoma a rest today. So I cruised over to my other apartment and checked out the new weight machines we got and they had a trainer showing us how to adjust...blah blah. After I cruised across the street and got some octopus poke and chocolate haupia (coconut pudding) cake. Took a nap and then headed out to the Mai Tai Bar at Ala Moana with my co-worker, Jean. Dude...they mean business, they are freaking strong mai tai's. Good pupus too...poke, calamari and chix tenders w/huli huli! Good times to be had at the Mai Tai Bar :)

Aloha and asta manana!

Kailua for breakfast...

I met up with an old co-worker today! She was in Kailua for a wedding so we decided to eat at Boots & Kimo's for their famous banana pancakes with macadamia nut sauce and and pulehu ribs...YUMMO! It held me over for the entire day.

Since I was already out there, I decided to make it a day and hang out at the beach...Kailua is probably the most beautiful on Oahu. It's also a popular spot for paddle canoes and kayaking. The water is the most amazing color I've ever seen and the sand is almost white and super fine/soft. I enjoyed laying there and people watching and would take a dip in the water to cool off. Turns out I got to swim with a turtle!!! It was so close to shore and was just coming up for air.



A message for my special biatches!


This was the cutest dog, he was chilling on the beach with me and would go chase his ball in the water.



My lucky penny I found in the sand.

After frying myself, I headed back and since I had taken the Pali Highway...there are few look outs including the Pali lookout where you can see the steep mountains where Kamehameha threw warriors over the cliffs. They were pretty amazing views and it was SUPER windy...almost spooky like.


On my way to the lookout.


Some wild roosters I encountered...um okay.