Party Pooper

Nothing ruins a week worse than a cold. Actually nothing ruins a week worse than a cold and a hurricane. 

This week I was attacked by a serious cold bug. It was no Ebola, but it sure knocked me on my behind. I spent most of the week in bed. When I wasn't sleeping I spent my time catching up on daytime tv. While laying in bed I discovered only two things were being covered by the news media: the threat of Ebola and the threat of Hurricane Ana. Every once on in a while a talk show host would mention enterovirus 68 just to switch things up. 

On several occasions the expert panels on Ebola were interrupted by a news update on Ana. With all the talk of impending doom, I now feel like an expert on both. 

Check out this symptom comparison chart. My virus wasn't a match for any of these. Guess my flu shot worked. Also I don't have a rare/deadly disease ... Woot woot!

One of the highlights of the hurricane was  these cute memes referencing Frozen that I found on Facebook. 

Another highlight... With all the rain I got to wear my rainboots!

Now that the rain is gone and my cold is going away, I can stop being such a party pooper and get back to life in paradise. 

And now for the pic of the week:

Yep... They're selling this cute little fella at the grocery store. Arrrgh!

Mahalo!

Here comes the Sun

It seems like the record setting heat wave may almost be over. This summer has been full of days with temperatures in the 90's. As a girl raised in the Deep South, I'm no stranger to hot summer days. However this weather feels even hotter as the wind is still and the humidity is high. This week the tradewinds came back and the weather in Honolulu was almost pleasant. 

Over the weekend I enjoyed the weather with a beach day. I met up with a group of my friends on the beach of Waikiki. Half of the group spent the day surfing. I was in the other half... I spent the day lounging in the sand. 

The view from my towel. 

Diamondhead was super green and the ocean was super blue. 

By the afternoon I needed a little something to cool me down. 

It's hard to believe that it's October and officially fall. 

I'm not sure if it's because of the return of the winds, but the sunsets have been amazing this week. Lots of clouds in the sky to reflect all the pinks, purples and blues. 

Here's some of the photos I captured this week from my lanai:

And now for the pic of the week:

Perhaps its the changing weather, but I've got a case of the sniffles. So I brought out the trusty "P" mug and enjoyed a warm cuppa tea. 

Mahalo!

Local Living

This week I tried to get in touch with my local side. Now with my blonde hair, blue eyes and my "southern" accent no one is gonna actually mistake me for a local, but it can't hurt to try!

This week I started ukelele lessons. My grandparents gave me some money for my birthday and I decided to put the cash to good use. 

I bought a months worth of lessons at Roy Sukuma Ukelele Studio. After my first class I can already pick a scale and strum a song. 

I'm well on my way to becoming a master. 

The ukelele's small size makes it easier than the guitar... at least for me!

I also took my local efforts into the kitchen. I bought a rice cooker and have been practicing using it. According to my friends there shouldn't be any practice needed with a rice cooker, but I guess I'm the exception. My first batch was burnt. My second batch was scalded. My third and most recent batch had a brown film on the bottom. At least I'm getting progressively better!

Also, remember that mac salad I raved about last week? That delicious scoop of goodness from All Kine Grindz? Well I attempted to duplicate it. My friends told me the secret is to use Best Foods mayo (east coast friends that's the same as Hellmans). I then searched the internet and compared different mac salad recipes. Finally, I compared my memory of what All Kine Grindz tastes like. The result wasn't too bad, but I'll probably makes some changes for the next batch. 

My batch. 

The original. (I'm pretty darn close)

Now do I think the ukelele, rice or mac salad will magically make me local?!? Nope. But at least I don't have to show up empty handed to any BBQs. 

And now for the pic of the week:

I totally stole this picture from Pinterest, but I love all my friends both new and old. 

Mahalo!

Birthday Bash

They say it's my birthday. Do do do do doodoo. I'm gonna have a good time. Do do do do doodoo!

This past week I celebrated my birthday. When I lived on the mainland I had a few b-day traditions. Every year I would have a celebration with my family. This would involve a home cooked meal (fried chicken, mashed potatoes, strawberry salad and cake) and presents. I also liked to do a dinner out with a couple of friends (last year was La Tavola... yum-o!). And in recent history sister has bought me tickets to Music Midtown so I've been able to celebrate with a weekend long music festival. 

This year was a little different. I couldn't be with the family, but I still had a weekend of fun and, of course, food!

Friday night I went to the Eat the Street food truck event with a group from the gym. This month's theme was Oktoberfest with lots of beer, sausages and pretzels to choose from. 

The weather couldn't make up up its mind (rain, sun, rain). On the plus side there was a beautiful rainbow. 

An appetizer of hashrounds with beer cheese. 

The only thing better than mac salad from All Kine Grindz?!? Free mac salad from All Kine Grindz... Woot woot!!!

Sushi sliders. Very ono. 

I finally got to try the lilikoi lemonade in the mason jars. Usually the line is 30+ mins long, but with the unpredictable weather the lines weren't as bad.  

Pop Pop Donuts had a car bomb special with a Guinness and Irish creme glaze. Yummy in my tummy. 

On Saturday I went out brunch with my Hawaiian bestie. She took me to this cute breakfast place, Sweet E Cafe. 

Unlimited refills of delicious coffee. 

Lox and cream cheese. Only thing that would have made it better? A bagel from Goldbergs!

On Sunday, the attention switched from me to another friend who was celebrating her birthday. We celebrated her day with a pool party, board games and dinner out. After the long weekend, I was exhausted and ready for bed. Now it's back to reality!

And now for the pic of the week:

This Smart car made me smile :-) OK Bye!

Mahalo!

Celebrate good times...Come on!

This week was all about celebration. 

On Friday night I went out with the girls. We were celebrating my friend's Hawaiian anniversary. What's a "Hawaiian anniversary"? It's when haoles remember the date they moved to the island. I'm not sure this is an official celebration... But we sure made it one. 

We started out the night with cocktails. We then took the festivities up a notch with some party favors. Finally we finished up with some legitimately good pizza (My friend is from NYC, so she would know). The pizza was a special treat since I've only had it a couple of times since the move. 

Cocktails and blowouts... Cheers!

Pizza at JJ Dolans. The Joisey (white pizza) was delicious!

On Sunday I went to a baby shower. One of my co-workers is having twins. Showers are a nice time to celebrate the momma-to-be, but it's also just a good excuse to hang out with the girls. 

We went to Macaroni Grill, which I'm pretty sure I haven't eaten at since college. Between the pizza on Friday and the pasta on Sunday I'm surprised I'm not in a carb coma. 

Since it wouldn't be a shower without gifts, I tried to come up with a cute gift idea. After spending some time on Pinterest I found the most adorable idea for cupcakes made out of onesies and tiny baby socks. 

These are my "cupcakes". So stinking cute if I say so myself. 

I packaged them up in a bakery box with some speech worthy items tied on top. 

The final "celebration" was mostly sentimental. A year ago this week I made the decision to move to HI. I remember making a pro/con charts, talking with my family and finally making the decision standing in the parking lot of Allison's place before we went to dinner at La Tavola. Ahhhh... Memories!

And now for the pic of the week:

Sunsets + Instagram = Gorgeous results

Mahalo!

Embracing the suck

Several months ago the owner of my gym was giving instructions on bear crawls. This animal movement involves walking on your hands and feet while attempting to stay low to the ground. As the group grumbled about having to work on this, Chris encouraged us to "embrace the suck". His rationale? It is only by doing things that are hard that will we ever get stronger. 

In order to be strong I must embrace my inner warrior princess!

The past week I've had to keep that mantra in mind.  It's not that it was all bad, but there were moments where I was pushed out of my comfort zone. 

Here are some examples:

Every morning I wake up without an alarm between 5:30 and 6 am. This week I woke up like I regularly do, but was so sleepy I refused to get out of bed until the last possible second. I embraced the suck. 

At work I had a day filled with a type patient that I don't normally see. I like to consider myself an expert at my job, so it's not easy floundering around with diagnoses that I have little expirience with. I embraced the suck. 

I had to own up to a mistake I made. Everyone loves to be right all the time, but that isn't always possible. When you're wrong it's best to say you're sorry. I embraced the suck. 

This weekend I spent a morning at the beach, but instead of working on my tan I was working on my fitness. The workout involved open-water swimming, burpees, push-ups and running ... While in my swimsuit! I embraced the suck. 

And now at the end of the week I'm a stronger, better person. I know I can get ready for work in <20 mins. I've added on to my work expirience with another patient population (maybe someday I'll even feel like an expert). I felt the shame of making a mistake, but also the support of the people around me. And of course I proved that I can get through any workout on land or in the sea!

Perhaps "embracing the suck" is easier when you live in Hawaii. 

BTW- Everytime I wrote "suck"  Blogger autocorrected to "duck" and I had to manually change it back. This would have been a completely different post if it had been about "embracing the duck"! Quack quack. ;-)

And now for the pic of the week:

What a great view for my drive home!

Want to know my guilty pleasure this week? I made crack crackers! Here's the recipe:

Crack Crackers

1 box mini saltines (or one sleeve regular)

1 cup olive oil

1 packet dry ranch mix

2 Tbsp chili flakes

- Preheat oven to 250 degrees 

- Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl & let sit for 10 mins

- Bake for 15-20 mins stirring once halfway through

- Enjoy, but be careful cause these crack crackers are addictive!

Mahalo!

Sunday Funday

What happens when you take your workout into the great outdoors? What I got was a chance to test my endurance and agility all while taking in some amazing views!

This weekend a group from the gym spent Sunday hiking on the North Shore. The selected hike was Kealia Trail. In Hawaiian, Kealia means "salt encrustation". This is an interesting name since the only salt I saw was a result of all my sweating. 

In theory it was a perfect day to hike. The sky was blue. There were very few clouds in the sky. The downside... Hawaii is in the middle of a heat wave. Sunday's temperature was SO hot and SO humid it was this close to breaking records. 

The hike started with 19 switchbacks up a mountain followed by a path that went STRAIGHT up. 

The reward? Beautiful views of the North Shore and Makua valley. 

The whole hike took almost 4 hours (Actually I used a timer so I can say it took 3:50:03.31. How's that for exact?!? Ha!). 

There were a couple of highlights to my day: 

I made some sweet little friends. One was my own personal encourager. She kept yelling "Come on Aunty, you can do it!" 

I loved my post-hike Mexican food and jalapeño margarita. Ole!

And nothing beat the sense of accomplishment I felt at completing Kealia Trail. I can now say with confidence that I'm an intermediate hiker ;-)

And now for the pic of the week:

I think I just might be a Mai Tai connoisseur. I know where to find the best (Moana Surfrider), worst (Hale Kulani) and the best deal (Snappers). Raise a glass to that ... Cheers!

Mahalo!