Anniversaries Part Two

The third week in January did not differ from our special treatment month of anniversaries.

The set up for a wedding reception at the Hyatt has the
 Cirque Du Soliel wheel rider practicing.
Now that's some wedding entertainment

In the afternoon we went on a beach walk all along the Ka'anapali Coast, both sides of Black Rock. For those who know West side, we walked from Honua Kai where Duke's Restaurant is (a sister restaurant), over Black Rock, down to the Hyatt Regency and Canoes Beach, and walked back to the middle where Hula Grill lies, to meet some friends for lunch. Overall it was probably a 6 mile walk. We had definitely worked up an appetite for some drinks and food. And then we walked back to the car 3 miles away. Needless to say, I think we walked off those calories from lunch, and worked back up an appetite for our fancy dinner that evening.


Along our Airport Beach walk there was a monk seal laying on the beach. A 50 yard by 50 yard area was marker off for the monk seal so the public would not bother the seal. They are very dangerous and almost extinct 

That evening we went to Merriman's. One of the fanciest restaurants on Maui. The executive chef and a part owner of Hula Grill is Peter Merriman, and he also exec. chef and owner of  Merriman's restaurant on Kapalua Beach as well. (He also just opened Monkey Pod a year ago, but we'll get to that...). Jon had won a $50 gift certificate to Merriman's through a raffle at his work.

• An example of the beautiful Aloha and caring nature our employers have, an employee at Pineapple Grill had broken his leg from an accident while on his motorcycle/scooter and he did not have health insurance and was struggling. The restaurant decided to help him out by doing a raffle for visitors and employees to partake in. Jon wins every time there's a raflle or game. He's one of those that is ruthlessly lucky when it comes to those kind of things.

Because Peter Merriman is Hula Grill's executive chef, Hula Grill employees get a 50% discount at his restaurant. So a half off discount with a $50 gift certificate, we went all out. The wine was $50 on it's own (and that's considered kinda cheap for a bottle at a restaurant). Even though we had walked all day... we like walking. So we walked to dinner as well. Just a short trek away. And we wanted to be responsible since wine would be included.

White chocolate Malasadas!! "Happy Anniversary"

Our view. It's a better view when the sun is out. But it overlooks the ocean.
Later in the evening this lanai becomes the wine bar 

Fire pit surrounded by chairs. This is the wine bar.
 Sit by a  bond fire and drink wine, sounds like my kind of thing 

Trying to see if the flash will reach palm tree leaves above. It did not..

Walk home. Did I mention wine was involved... :D

The next week we walked from the bank in Kahana down to Times Supermarket in Honokowai (hoe-no-kauai), 4 miles there and back. We stopped at the Farmer's market in Honokowai and I experienced my first acai bowl! If you have not heard of this new fad food, acai (ah-sigh-ee) berries are the next best thing. It's the super berry that is packed with top nutrients,vitamins, blah blah blah. And then came along acai bowls. It is bascially acai berries blended with other healthy fruits, real fresh juice, etc with granola and sliced fresh fruit on top. I had never gotten one before, it sounded too healthy. Like those grass shots people get at Jamba Juice just because they are good for you but are horrible tasting. But it's like a fruit smoothie parfait.. mmmm Not to mention its topped with organic locally grown fruits when bought at the Farmer's Market. It was a pleasant walk with a light breeze to keep us from burning up too much. I stopped at the beach where I had done some modeling (pictures at the bottom of the blog) where turtles are a common sighting. And boy were there turtles...

Four that came and went

And these two. This is reality

And this is my interpretation

Then we went to Hula Grill in the fine dinning room to have our last celebratory dinner. When an employee has completely one year of work at Hula Grill, they are rewarded with a $100 gift certificate to the restaurant. I had that anniversary a few days before our outing, perfect timing :)

More occurred in January than just our anniversary celebrations. One was a photo shoot with my girl friend Kristin for Karamel Collection, photographed by another girl friend Cassidy.

Some post-shoot one-on-one time with  honus (turtles)

More to come...

Maui No Ka Oi