Hot Yoga Nights

  Hello sunshine. Did you miss me? I know I missed you. In fact, I was always thinking about you and had to download 111 photos off my iPhone because I thought about you 111 times. I swear. But you know the routine--every night I could home, vowing to update and then...I pick up a book and read instead. I read my way through the entire Percy Jackson series, started in on another "young adult"book series by Michael Scott called The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel and I must say, the teen section is where its at. These books, as borderline predictable and lame as they may be, there's just something satisfying about a book where the bad guys get what they deserve and the good guys come out ok and no body really gets hurt. It's almost like watching a Disney movie...it's that sort of cozy contentment these books bring me. Call them my elaborate bedtime stories.

  Anyway, that's pretty much the reason why I've ignored you for so long. Sorry boo. I'll try harder to straighten out my priorities and find a balance in my life as a blogger and overgrown teen series-reader.

  And now for some news that shouldn't be (but probably will come as a) shock--I've been working out. I mean really working out. I can't quite say that I've gotten to the point where I'm in tip top shape (given that I chubbed out at CPK last night...more on that later) but I should tell you that I've been pretty consistent with my plan. It may have something to do with the shock that came to my earlier this week when I went to the doc for a check up, got on the scale and didn't quite recover from the shock. Sey later explained to me that the nurses never weight you right and that they usually add five pounds to the scale in addition to the five extra pounds they add when sliding the weight back towards zero. So really, according to Sey, I'm about ten pounds lighter than what the nurses and their phony scale tells me....yeah...Well, I'm working out and pretending to diet anyway, just in case. I've been--gasp--running and graced the Bikram (the guy in the picture) Yoga floors with my sweat. Twice. All in all, I'm pretty much proud of me and highly recommend that you praise me for my efforts as well. And as a reward, I shall grant you with a billion pictures (less than 111 but more than 2) or all the random things I've been up to in the past few weeks. Enjoy!

Brent and I went on an Ichiriki date.

I went to Brasserie du Vin. Allow me a few photos to rave about this place.

It's got a patio.

It's got appeal.

It's got ambiance.

It's got me completely head-over-heels for this place.

I mean seriously, even the oil and vinegar looked like works of art.

And we were no joke when we ordered food...escargot. baked brie.

Pate, oysters, salads, and happy hour drinks. Sigh...I will be back, ma cherie.

We went to the zoo to watch Grandpa play.

Salena got a tattoo, again.

Make it two.

Gramps was popular.

He's still got it. What can I say?

We went to Peace Café a few times. I tried the Detox tea. It was...different.

I adore this place too...Nijiya never fails me.

I forgot to mention I got my nails done. Kawaii, yeah?

We went out to Gyotaku for Brent's mom's birthday.

Me and Brent.

My food. I love unagi.

My co-worker brought back a baklava set from Trader Joe's.

I went to the Willows for a KoAloha Ukulele party. It was their 15th birthday.

I downloaded an app called hipstamatic. It doesn't show me my pics until I download it from my phone...kinda like a wind up camera. I only took a couple of shots so far....Brent...

....and Sey.

Btw, remember how I told you Ken-san (my marathon guru) runs the Honolulu Marathon bare foot and in full costume...? Well, here's the proof.

He's also here now....pointedly asking me questions about if I've ran up and down Diamond Head three times (like he does every morning)....eep!

In the meantime, I went sunglass shopping with the family. Salena modeled a pair.

I modeled a pair...

Salena hung out with some dinos....

And then we went to dinner at CPK...these are their new Korean BBQ tacos. Delicious...

I tried a sparkling wine with my mom.

I found out that Salena's now darker than me.

Apparently, she loved summer fun,

And I ate a lot more than Id like to confess so instead of harping on that, allow me to direct your attention to CPK's new dessert...the butter pound cake with ice cream. To. Die. For.

All in all, life's good.