Happiness on this Valley Island

A lot has gone down in January and February. As I watch the beautiful sunset out my living room window, listen to "Don't Worry, Be happy" by Bob Marley on my Itunes, I reflect on the beautiful times of these last two months. Photo montage? I think yes

There are some essentials to feeling happy for me. Here is how I have fulfilled them the last two months:

Girlfriends

Ladies night and fondue!

Beach Bar crawl

Breakfast and lunch in Lahaina

Time with my Husband

Date night at Pineapple Grill

One of our favorite past times. Beach walk from Airport beach to Hula Grill for a drink and back.

Lunch date at Kimo's in Lahaina and a movie after

Hiking our favorite easy hike along the coast of Kapalua

The Beauty of Maui

View from my living room

Always wondered what's at the end of a rainbow? Now you know, Maui is. :D

My backyard. Literally a few steps away from my condo, called S-Turns or Kahana beach

Mighty wind and waves. See the rainbow?

The simplicity of a day by the pool/steps away from the beach and a darling lady bug lands on me 

Food

The sushi special at local favorite sushi restaurant Sansei's

Home made fancy caprese

My friend's home made cheese cake

Jonny bought me ice cream to make me feel better

Animals

Morning kitty grooming

Auntie's babies

I wake up to a lot of lap sleeping

Silly kitty, wine is for humans!

Mister turtle cruising on the beach in front of my condo

Fashion
(a little sneak peak into the last two fashion shows)

Dancing

Zumba (Christmas was more December, but I don't have a current photo of Zumba :)

My friend owns a recording studio. We were getting together often to plan a party together (a seperate blog will be done on that) but most of those nights turned into karaoke and dance nights. So fun

Local famous band Sounds of Addiction

They always bring a crowd

My friend is the drummer in this colaboration that plays at Fleetwood's (The new restaurant that Fleetwood Mac's drummer Mick Fleetwood owns). So like 15 of us friends came to support. I started a dance party (like usual) and a few joined in. We went out dancing afterwards as well

This is uncle. He's the "Lahaina dancer." He put on a show for everyone

So Kale decided to start a dance battle with him

During hard times, it is best to look at your life and count your blessings. Pray for my family.

From Maui, with Love


Maui No Ka Oi

Unexpected on Maui

Isn't it beautiful when everything you plan goes wrong, yet you have an even more amazing time than if everything actually went correctly?

That is what happened on our 3rd year anniversary celebration day. We had booked a helicopter tour over the West Maui mountains and neighbor island Molokai for the morning of our anniversary. Then we would cruise around Paia, our favorite little town in Maui, and then have a fancy Italian dinner in Wailea to end the evening.

We woke up early stoked for a helicopter ride. As we ran out the door, we got a call that the helicopter tour was cancelled because of "mechanical problems" - I put that in quotes because I am pretty sure they lied about that. I had won some helicopter tickets from winning first place at the Halloween costume contest as a belly dancer at Hula Grill's party. So my tickets were donated and therefor not top priority to the company to take us out. I was told later when they cancelled our rescheduled appointment also because that they needed to pair us with a couple that PAID for the tickets, or else they are going up and wasting gas and all for free. I get it to an extent, but why'd you lie to me the morning of my anniversary and blame it on mechanical problems... Don't trust AlexAir :D :D

Anyways, so we were already in the car. Thought about a hike. Jon wanted to do his favorite hike but it was really muggy and hot, I didn't want to do that hike. So we drove past Paia and headed towards a waterfall hike. But then almost ran out of gas so had to turn back and get gas in Paia (last spot to get gas before Hana which is over an hour drive away). Needless to say we are both a bit irritated, our perfectly planned morning wasn't really going down very well.

On the drive back to Paia for gas the traffic was backed up because of a turned over van off the side of the road. Another big sigh... I looked out the window as we passed the infamous Ho'okipa surf spot. The waves were GOING OFF with locals swarming the beach side and in the water itself as well. We passed the lot and we decided to pull over on the side of the road and hang out. We walked down to the secluded black lava cliffs overlooking Ho'okipa. We pulled out our mini fixings for mimosas and hung out on the cliffs, cheers'd to an unexpected beautiful moment, and felt God's mighty wind in our hair as we enjoyed the talented surfers cruising the waves. Eventually we were joined by others so we bounced and headed to Paia for lunch at one of our favorite lunch spots on the island.

Trial and error. Jon couldn't quite figure out how to sit hahaha

The next part of the day was essential to the success of the day. We went to lunch in Paia. Paia is an adorable little hippie town. Super high end boutiques in the middle of a yoga hippie town. The locals actually living in Paia can't afford the shops along the main drag yet the charm of the village is what draws the attention from those that can afford those boutiques. Dread locks, hairy underarms, super healthy local grocer, yoga mats strapped on their backs with yoga wear and no bras, unshowered musicians playing their ukelele or acoustic guitar as they walk down the street, the charm of a no worries happy town. Although everytime we go there Jon is offered weed. That may have something to do with the happy, no cares, outlook on life by the locals in Paia...  :D 

Paia also has our favorite local restaurants. We went to Cafe Des Amis, a Mediterranean themed restaurant which includes our favorite things. We snacked on hummus and a meat and cheese plate, reminiscing about our time in Italy (where we ate very similarly)  and decided to change our evening plans. We had reservations at the super high end expensive Italian restaurant in Wailea, the wealthiest side of the island, called Capische? That's usually what you do on a wedding anniversary, treat yourself to an over priced, small portioned restaurant with great atmosphere and romance. But that is just not our style. Jon proposed during lunch that we get a bottle of expensive Italian wine, buy some fixings for an Italian picnic and have dinner on the beach that we were married on 3 years ago in Wailea. 

We drove down to Wailea after strolling Paia for a bit. Wailea is about another hour away from Paia. We grabbed a parking spot at our special beach. The beach we were married on is past the famous "big beach" or Makena Beach. The next cove past the well known beach is a tiny cove nicknamed the wedding beach (just like Kapalua beach on West Maui). And of course there were two weddings taking place when we pulled up. There is a tiny entrance that makes it seem like you are entering a secret garden, except it's a secret beach (it is also nicknamed "secret beach" haha). There were a few locals and their families with fishing poles set up with their naked babies playing in the sand.

We set up my sarong as our towel and laid down for a minute. We were so at peace there. The quiet beach with crashing waves, soft breeze, warm sun, comfy sand... that we both drifted off to sleep. Magical. I woke up first and went exploring a bit past the cove where there were literally no one on those beaches. 

January 13, 2013

January 13, 2010

January 13, 2013

January 13, 2010

After exploring and taking some photos, we sat and watched the whales put on a show. The island across the way is Lanai. In combination with the sun setting behind Lanai, lighting up the sky, we could see like 5 whales playing and blowing water up. With Lanai behind them in the distance we could see the water they were blowing upwards! So cool.

Next we set up for our dinner. We fell in love with caprese salads in Italy. Fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and Italian herbs with balsamic, olive oil and salt poured over it. So we had caprese salad, bread, and wine for dinner than night. Our kind of dinner. 

The beach cleared out once the sun was completely gone. We could barely see but thanks to our "seaside memories" candle, we got by, and that meant we got to be all alone on the beach. 

Check out that moon shining above us!

The later it was, the goofier we got :)

And of course we had to use the God-made restroom :) We both secretly snapped a photo of each other and didn't realize until we looked through the photos haha

After we finished the food and wine, we headed back home to get some ice cream (we wished we could have gotten some authentic gelato from Italy..). We shared some dessert and ended the evening beautifully. What a magical day. Little did we know, our plan was never God's plan. It may seem like the correct plan at the time, but He always has something more perfect in mind.


Maui No Ka Oi