Out & About

Normally, I would profusely apologize for take a month hiatus but that would just sound like my last update so I'll just get straight to the point...here's some pictures...*ahem* sorry, I meant TONS of pictures :)...try to keep up if you can:

First, let me start by saying Engrish is awesome. If you can't read what's written, it says "Mixican Red Peppers"

I'm sure it's just because the cactus didn't translate as a "y" but this was still pretty awesome.

Btw, I wonder what ume cactus honey tastes like...

Vicki, Salena and I went to a new restaurant called "Hot Pot Heaven..."

And that we were...yum!

We went to the new dessert store next door after we ate...it was called snow.

It looks like there's more than you'd think...It was very light and I almost prefered it to ice cream...

...That is, until I went for a scoop of ice cream with Brent right after at Bubbie's

Besides the awesome ice cream, I love the awesomely creeptastic names of their ice cream cakes...like "come here little girl"

 I got to enjoy a sushi party at a family friend's place. they had all sorts of great sushi making things and we got to make our own sushi....you get surprisingly full off of this.

 They also served up very expensive wine...it was pretty delicious.

 Brent taught a class for "National Dance Day" at the Boys & Girls Club

 Then we went for shave ice!

 As always, Waiola's is ever crowded but soooo worth the wait.

 Brent and I checked out a new store at Ala Moana called Q-Pot. They sell intensely intricate jewelry and accessories with a food theme. The Golden Burger is a pendant that you get to customize by putting together any of the toppings....crazy!

  The layout looks more like a sweet shop than a jewelry store.

 That night, Brent, me, Salena, my momma and MakKen went to Los Chapparos for some mexican. Apparently, Brent was craving a taco salad..

Ironically, Brent ordered a HUGE burrito instead but the food was delicioso!

We got churros for dessert!

 I think this was a Sunday: My momma, Salena and I went for a drive to Kailua...

 ...in order to meet up with MakKen for brunch (at 1pm).  I guess others had the same idea because we ended up waiting for an hour.

 The crazy thing was that the restaurant's closing time is 230p...and it was still this busy!

 If you were wondering if the food was worth it, it absolutely was!

 On First Friday, I babysat! Just kidding,

 We went to our first First Friday event at the Hawaii State Art Museum in Downtown.

 They had live entertainment and a lot of food booths. It was cool to see the mix of people gathered.

Entrance to HiSAM

 They had a little cafe inside the place called Downtown.

 We learned that although they're only opened for lunch, once a month (during First Friday), Downtown does a Latin tapas-style dinner menu.

 Obviously, we had to try the food...I mean it's only opened once a month! Here's lamb on couscous.

 Here's a risotto with sausage. Both delicious!

 August 10th was Hiroyo's birthday! 

 So we all went to dinner at Tanaka of Tokyo.

 Hi mom!

 Artistic angle.

 Gang's all here!

Tonight I went to my first bonodori (Bon Festival) in a long time. My momma and sister got dressed up...as did I :)

 Although it was a different atmosphere from the ones I had been to in Japan, the bonodori here was just as lively and much more diverse!

It was cool to see others get dressed for the occassion and even cooler to see visitors trying out the dance. 

They had food stalls...this really made me miss Japan. I haven't been back in years :(

 They even sold masks like they do in Japan...

And yes, my sister got one.

 I heart my family!

omgican'tbelievei'veonlyupdatedtwicethismonth!

Uh-uh. Not cool. Just for that, I will attempt to do an update everyday this week. Just to make up for the time lost.

  I had a good weekend. Brent and his dance crew, Hype Beasts joined another dance battle....and won. Again. But I think that the boys were a tired by the time it was their turn considering the fact that they didn't compete in a battle until 1030ish....when they had been there since 4pm (well, atleast Brent had been).  After they won, Brent and I went to eat at Shokudo and ate our own bowls of Tokyo ramen and a sukiyaki bibimbap. It was delicious. We washed it down with an order of Sake, tho I forgot the name of it.

  Saturday I was supposed to meet up with VIcki (who is btw engaged!!!!!) but she had a family crisis and couldn't make it. I felt helpless because I've always been there for her in the past and recently, I feel like I haven't been the bff I had meant to be for her. My heart goes out to her and her family and Vicki, I promise that I will be there for you much much more from now on....

  Ok everyone, dry your eyes, sappy moment's over. But seriously guys, you're going to be hearing about Vicki a lot more than you have been (or might want to) from now on so get used to it. The other bff is Chiface but she's stuck in Seattle (my heart goes out to you as well, Chiri. We'll be here. Waiting for you to come home anytime now....anytime...). Fortunately for her, her highschool sweetheart is finally moving out there for her (well and for himself too, I'm sure) so life's all coming together pretty nicely right now.

  Sunday I went to see Inception with Brent and MakKen (one half pictured...Makke). Although I walked out of the movie thinking eh, it was alright, the more i thought about it, the more it grew on me. As though director Chris Nolan had in fact planned to perform an inception on a mass scale by making people walk away from the film slightly confused and utterly awed. I found myself unconfused and I caught on to what was happening at the end. However, the more I talked about it and debated about it with various people (Sey and Jermaine saw it last night as well), the more abstract my theories became until I came to the conclusion that....you'll have to watch it yourself to form your own opinions. No spoilers here, sorry boo. I do have more pictures though....K, bye!

Guess who's beyond excited for this to come out? I've been waiting for Tales from the Earthsea since, forever ago. For those who aren't Miyazaki superfans, allow me to explain...This movie is Hayao Miyazaki's son, Goro Miyazaki's first full length film. It's got a pretty interesting history behind it but it's also Miyazaki's inspiration for a lot of his films (the author originally said no to allowing him to make a movie out of her book. She finally said yes 20 years later but Miyazaki was in the middle of another project and was pretty bitter about the fact that his son got to make it instead of him...understandable.)

Anyway, guess which HP superfan is super tempted to embarass her bf and dress up to the premiere of this film?

Ok, moving on from dorkdom. Super yumtastic! Yes, I mean the bf and the food, duh.

My cat took a bath and wasn't happy. He ran away to get cuddled by Junior.

And then hid in a box, just for good meaure.

We went to this place called Flamingo Marketplace today. Apparently, they specialize in banana pies and oxtail soup.

So we bought a slice of the banana pie to see if the rumors were true...I haven't tried it yet. It's waiting for me downstairs.

And on that note.....Fin