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!

Gumushkey Fest

Every Labor Day weekend my family gets together. My aunt, cousins, cousin-in-laws & their adorable babies drive down to Atlanta. My parents, sister and I then show them the best the city has to offer, which usually involves a lot of food! Several years ago we dubbed the weekend "Gumushkey Fest", a mashup of all our names. 

This year I couldn't join in on the festivities. I had to live vicariously through #flatpenny, pictures, texts and phone updates from sister. I then tried to stay extra busy & make some new Labor Day traditions in Honolulu. 

From all the reports I learned that this years Gumushkey Fest involved a trip to the aquarium, a stop at the Varsity, shopping at Marietta Square, dinner at a taqueria and a feast at the Gumbel House. Whew!

Check out #flatpenny rocking a hat at the Varsity. I told her to order an FO, but I don't think she was very hungry ;-)

My weekend started with brinner (that's breakfast for dinner) at Eat the Streets, a monthly food truck event. I met up with friends and ate my fill of food and drank my fill of mimosas. 

What goes with a mimosa... Why a fried wonton filled with lobster mac and cheese of course! Paul's Poppers are some of the best pupus on the island. 

Then came the mini chicken and waffle, it tasted like home. Thanks Soul truck for making some southern food. 

Finally came the crab cake benny from All Kine Grindz. It was oh-so-Hawaiian on a bed of rice. It also came with a side of mac salad, the best I've tried so far! 

Saturday night I went to a cougar themed birthday party. I promised to leave the pictures off my blog, but let's just say it was the best "25th" b-day party I've ever been to. 

Here's some tot-chos from the b-day party. Imagine all the goodness of nachos on top of tator tots. And then because it's Hawaii, I ate this mess with chopsticks. 

Even though it was a holiday weekend, I couldn't go without a workout (or three). Plus I had to keep moving to work off all that delicious food. 

They finally put a picture of me on the Fitness Ranes FB page and now I know why Coach Jesse is always telling me to straighten my back!

To end the weekend I spent some time in the sun. Now looking at my red arms, chest and cheeks perhaps I spent a little too much time in the sun. 

My friends' pool is a total urban oasis. It's in the middle of the hub bub of Waikiki but we were still able to have a peaceful afternoon. 

And because this post is basically food porn, I should end with my poke bowl from Ono Seafood... By far my favorite!

So even though I missed out on Gumushkey Fest I was able to celebrate Labor Day weekend with lots of food and friends... Success. 

And now for the pic of the week:

Morning rainbow on my way to work. 

Mahalo!

Penny Hungry!

This weekend I found myself wandering the streets of Chinatown (don't worry Mom I wasn't alone). 

Yet again I started the evening off with an old fashioned at The Manifest. I've decided these are the perfect happy hour drink because they encourage slow sipping, but still put the happy in happy hour. 

As the night went on I started to feel HANGRY & that's when the wandering began. . . 

I found a restaurant featuring French Latin fusion on Yelp. Someone had recommended Grondin to me before so I wanted to check the menu out. With three different menu items containing duck I knew I would've found something I liked. But with dinner prices > $20 it seems like it would be better for a fancy date night. Scratch that idea & time to start walking. 

First we stopped by Downbeat Lounge. It's half bar and half restaurant. The best way to describe it: Hipster Diner. The menu looked good, but the tables were way too small to accommodate our group. Looks like a great spot for four or less. 

Then we made a quick pass by Lucky Belly, an Asian fusion restaurant featuring oxtail soup.  A quick look at the menu looked alright, though probably more meat than I like. But we kept walking because of the line at the door. 

Next our wandering took us to The Pig and The Lady. This cute little restaurant features Vietnamese fusion with a lot of pork (if you couldn't guess from their name). Thank goodness they have options for those of us who don't eat quadrupeds.  I've tried their food before at the KCC Farmers Market and was excited to check out the full menu. However, the hostess said it would be a one hour wait and that was not going to work. The hunger in my belly was now similar to the Hulk smashing his fists ("Penny Hungry!"). 

Check out the tofu bun I had at the L&TP tent. You could see why I would want to try more!

Finally we ended up at the perfect spot. Only a few blocks away the Little Village Noodle House had 4.5 stars on Yelp. And most importantly they were able to sit my group in <5 mins. The food came fast, was hot & delicious... Yum-o!

Chinese food in Chinatown... Seems appropriate. 

Tofu potstickers. As the healthy one at the table I got mine steamed (or maybe I just like them better that way). 

Garlic rice. OMG. I could barely talk during dinner. I was so busy eating this deliciousness! 

See I told you I was hangry, very little left behind!

After this weekend I feel like I could host a walking tour of the restaurants of Chinatown. Now I just need to eat at more of them so I decide which ones are the best. Maybe next time when I'm not so hangry. 

And now for the pic of the week:

The big cloud was a storm that rolled in and out in <10 mins. It brought rain and humidity, but also brought the temperature down. 

Mahalo!

Long weekends

Did you enjoy a long weekend last week? I did! What no three day weekend on the mainland?!? Well this little bonus day was thanks to the Hawaiian state holiday, "Admissions Day". 

This is the day Hawiians celebrate (or for some protest) becoming the 50th state. In 1959 after a public vote Dwight D Eisenhower signed all the official paperwork to make Hawaii a legit US state. 

In remembeance of this historic event there's a state holiday on the third Friday of August each year. Ya-hoo!! During the hurricane I was considered essential staff and had to come in to the hospital; however, one week later I'm no longer essential and I got the day off. I wasn't free of responsibilities, I did have to carry the on call pager.  No complaints here though. I enjoyed the weekend by spending time with friends, enjoying the sunshine & getting in a workout or two ;-)

And now for the pic of the week:

I didn't even realize it was a double rainbow until after I took the picture. And check out the flag... The state flag in honor of the holiday!

Mahalo!

Into the Storm

Last Friday a new movie hit the big screen, "Into the Storm". From what I've heard the movie is about a larger than life superstorm. There was no need for me to go to the theaters because I was able to watch Hawaii prepare for their own superstorm. 

If you read last week's post you know all about my preparedness ... This is the story of my survival (spoiler alert: no ones gonna make a movie about this). 

In preparation for the storm my hospital called a "code black". They called off all non-essential staff. Critical staff, like myself, were required to report early in order to arrive before Iselle hit. 

I tried to keep my whining to a minimum. At least the hospital management sees me as essential & had my safety in mind. But it's hard not to whine at 4:30 am when you haven't yet had any coffee. 

To help brighten my mood I wore my polka dot rain boots. If nothing else my feet were flash flood ready!

My island, Oahu, saw limited impact from Iselle. She spent most of her energy hitting the windward coast of the Big Island. The National Gaurd and Red Cross are still helping the residents clean up and put their lives back together. 

This was what is was like in Honolulu. These pictures were taken 30 minutes apart. The whole morning the rain/wind would start and stop. 

Once we got the all clear I headed home and celebrated after confirming my apartment was still in one piece. The next piece of good news: Hurricane Julio path was now headed into the ocean north of the islands.  What better way to celebrate...

Than voting! Saturday was the HI primary. 

Cause as they say in Hawaii:

And now for the pic of the week:

I was feeling a little foodie-homesick. To make myself feel better I recreated Momma Goldberg's nachos (just steam nacho cheese Doritos with pepper jack cheese on top). If I closed my eyes I felt like I was back in the South. Yum-o. 

Mahalo!