Red Wines and Good Times

Sunset Power Walk

I went on a sunset walk along the Kapalua Coastal Trail (about a 10 minute walk to get to) one night while hubby had to work. I meditated on God's beautiful creation and prayed while the sun set.



I Spy THREE wedding couples on Kapalua Beach at sunset :D
That's how beautiful it is



How can there be a question in anyone's mind whether God exists with such a beautiful landscape as this. You know God made this for you. He made it for me, he made it for you to see pictures of or experience personally, and he had you in mind while creating it.

Our Hawaiian Food Exploration

Jon has gotten in touch with his Italian roots and has dove into making delectable extravagant dinners for us on our nights off from work!

Steak skewers with a spaghetti squash pasta salad, a red wine reduction and a candied starfruit garnish

 

Lilikoi wanted to get in on it!
2009 Bella Sera- Italian Pinot Noir



Flatbread home made pizza with balsamic vinagrette marinated veggies and chicken
2010 Tierra Brisa- Argentina Merlot

Italian marinated steak pinwheels stuffed with spinach, garlic, and cheese made for our BBQ party
2009 Alamos- Argentina Cabernet Sauvingon
2009 Mirassou- California Pinot Noir
2009 Yellow Tail- Australia Shiraz/Cabernet

Organic Bowtie pasta salad with olives, corn, green beans, carrots, italian vinagrette, finished with a tomato lomi lomi for the BBQ as well

The beginnings of a 30oz red wine and mustard marinated steak

A steamed broccoli, grilled zuchinni, chunky tomato and garlic cheesy pasta salad with balsamic marinated chicken.
Astoria Lounge- Italian Brut Rose

Stuffed homemade zuchinni, mushroom, bell pepper, onion, and marinated chicken pizza
2009 Los Gatos Locos- California Syrah

Oh Lilikoi...





If you didn't notice, we share a bottle  of wine with each dinner. We started with sweet white wines, then went to the more dry whites. We've recently broadened our horizons to Reds. Beginning reds with Pinot Noirs and now we drink everything. Jonny built this adoreable wine rack from palm tree leaves and old corks. Then he bought 14 wines for $70!! Carazay! We don't need super nice wine to enjoy with dinner, half the time a $40 bottle tatses like a $9. So we are trying them all out- training our palate.

 Maui Grown Dragon fruit :) FUNKY looking fruit!

 

The result of the cut up Dragon fruit with some red wine :)
Dragon fruit makes a MESS when cut up.,or if you drop it while eating it.
In my journey to finish this bowl of dragonfruit and drink red wine with it, I almost stained a white shirt, the tan carpet (twice) and the matress... They are "slippery little suckers!"
 No worries Auntie Candy, I got it out of the carpet.



My favorite frozen yogurt on Maui- Island Fro-Yo

This is a Mango Passion Fruit frozen yogurt with Maui grown strawberries, mango, pineapple and Lychee juice balls (the best part)









Funny tidbit:

        For the BBQ we invited a few friends to, I remembered last minute that we had some Coke Zeros that could be a beverage choice. So I stuck them in the freezer to cool them quicker.

        We ended up only drinking wine and beer, so I never took those Cokes out of the freezer. So at about 1:30am when we were drifting off to sleep, a LOUD pop resounded from my aunt's kitchen. Then another. I said, "ummm Jonny... that doesn't sound like the ice machine, it's way to angry sounding." So he slumps out of bed and I hear him open the freezer door and a large splash and "what the effff... Oh No!" The Cokes EXPLODED!!! We delicately put them in the sink and covered them with a towel in case more popped. Then got to work cleaning the freezer. Sorry again Auntie, if you find some things out of place in the freezer, and a cleaner freezer than before, now you know why :-D

Many many Starfruits on our tree

By Jon's estimate: We picked 30lbs of star fruit...



All of the Star fruit was ripe THAT DAY. No day or two to let them ripen. I like fruit, but didn't have room in my tummy for 30lbs of star fruit. Aside from the bowl we kept for me, Jon made some candied starfruit (YUM), I took some to give to friends, and Jon took some to work. Pineapple Grill used them as garnishes for some dishes. 



I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends - John Lennon

Napili Beach with Holly

My friend Jessica's husband, Dave, works on the Gemini- a beautful catamaran that takes people out on sunset cruises or off for the day to enjoy the ocean and some great snorkle spots. Because of that connection, when another girlfriend's sister came to town, we all went out on the Gemini to show off our beautiful island, only having to pay $20, originally $60-$100. They are nick named a "Booze Cruise" because of the open, endless bar. Snacks and goodies are provided as well.

      

  Jen's WTF?! party:

(WTF stands for "What The F***?!" meaning wear something that makes the host exclaim... "WTF?!" when they see you. I was a Zumba instructor)

 Spoons drinking game

And now for:

Only in Maui

Cockroaches

-in the shower

-in my wallet

-in my purse

-in my work shoes

-on the stove

-flying in the room

-in the kitchen droor

-in my car

All are dead now, except for the one in my car :-/

Recently coachroaches have been traveling with me from the work locker to the gym or home. FML

All cockroach phobia is gone now tho... Just like how growing up at home I'd yell for daddy or mommy to come kill the harmless daddy long legs while paralysed in fear- then you get your own place and have to face the fact that when you're home alone, YOU have to do the killing. It matures you. Hawaii has matured me from the general fear and disgust of seeing a cockroach



I wanna ride one of these



Kitten sleepy time

 

Some tourists are desperate to get to the beach and are not willing to look for further parking spots. So they park diagonal and in the opposite direction...



Asleep with Kea while housesitting, sneaky Jonny with his cameras and such...

"The parrot guy"
Rides around Lahaina with his parrot on his handle bars. Not sure if he does much else.
I wonder where he lives?
Or works?
Does he eat?
He cycles so much I wonder if he's lost a bunch of weight?
Why does he never wear a shirt?
Does he get sunburnt?
Does he use protection?
Sunscreen protection! for those with dirty minds...

Maui No Ka Oi

Smitten by Kittens with Mittens

We have a new addition to our little family here in Maui

KITTENS!!

       We rescued them from the Maui Humane Society (The SPCA of Maui). My auntie told me that the Maui Humane Society had at least 20 kittens in need of homes and Jon's and my soft spot belong to kittens (and puppies :)) So I trucked down to Kihei with a friend to pick out two kittens to call my own and bring home to Jon (he had to work).

        I knew I wanted Keanu the minute I walked in. He was the fluffiest of them all. Keanu is the all black male kitten with the Hawaiian meaning "cool mountain breeze." No we did not name him after Keanu Reeves! We paired him with a few females from other cages to see who he'd get along with. Lilikoi was the cutest of the females, aside from an all white kitten who was just too skiddish, and they got along the best out of all the rest. We named the tiger coat female kitten Lilikoi (lily-coy), the Hawaiian word for passion fruit.

        Surprisingly, they ended up being from the same litter! For some reason they were in seperate cages, but that's why they got along so well!

       The next step was to introduce them to my aunt and uncle's cat Kiko and pameranian pup Kea (Kay-uh).

Poofed up Lilikoi, ears down, back arched

Hissing, growling, territorial Kiko, with totally calm and curious Keanu

Soon enough the kittens got comfortable and Kiko stood by with her eye always on them.
Shortly after this picture Keanu jumped up the get something on the wall and fell right on Kiko haha!

        Kea is a lover and just wants to play, the kittens have gotten used to him roaming around unless Kea appears to come out of no where, then they jump and hiss. It confuses Kea because everyone loves Kea, why would anyone be hateful??? :)
        Sorry for those who don't care about pets, you could have just skipped this section. Pets have my heart so I could talk all day long about my pets! Some last few funny/cute pictures:

Thanks to my Auntie's cat Kiko, a hole was ripped in the bottom of our futon.
Our new kittens have found a home in the bottom layer of our shizzy futon (we don't mind, it's a piece o' poo)
So this is me trying to get the camera in to get a picture of them in their favorite sleeping spot. The black fuzz is Keanu with Lilikoi popping her head up.

Keanu sticking his booty in daddy's face, daddy thoroughly enjoying it :)

Haha keanu jumped on the turning fan tower. He slowly turned along with the fan for about 5 minutes. hahha
Last night he jumped on top of Jonny's head and just hung out. He must like small high places.
 I forsee some dangerous shenanigans from this adventure-seeker.

My friend's band The Throwdowns, a local Rock/Pop band everyone has heard of and loves, is on it's way to fame and had a show recetly at Maui's major venue spot, Maui's Art and Cultural Center. Some friends and I came out to support.

With the addition of some surprise guests to spice it up :D Keepin' it Maui

Best Ukelele player on the island. Derrick Sebastion.
Also a fellow Barefoot Server at Hula Grill. He recently got back from touring in Cali

A few drinks were involved

Ola. Yes, pronounced "Hola." Our coworker at Hula Grill. Bomb laid back guy that's running the show in the band. His sister Seanna, who also works at Hula, is married to the bassist

Seanna in the red. Ola's sister. The Throwdown's Bass player Kimo's wifey

Waiting for the boys after the show, playin with the kids.
Super cute mother-son shot!

      Work at Hula Grill has been decent. There is a different crowd in the summer than our other busy season (the winter). More families, more people on a budget, more stressed out parents, impatient customers, more foreigners, lousier tips. We have yet to see the summer rush hit us during lunch time which is when I work the majority of the time, aside from a few special RANDOM days. A Wednesday will be busier than a Friday or Saturday some weeks. I sappose a lot goes into that. Good plane ticket deals, if the day is nice most will be out in the water that day, if it's nice but too windy people don't want to get sand blasted so they come in. But most of the summer crowd tend to save money during lunch so they can go out at night for a nice dinner. It will only get slower now, I've heard that the hotel capacity numbers are going down about 10% each week for the next few weeks.

       Jon is working breakfast a few times a week. Pineapple Grill just started breakfast a few months ago and it still has yet to catch on. They are competing with some pretty popular great breakfast places nearby like The Gazebo (on right) or The Sea House (below). The Gazebo is recommended from locals to locals, from locals to tourists, and from tourists to tourists. It always has a 30 minute to 1 hour wait for the... 8 or 10 tables inside. The food is good, the scenery is even better! The Sea House is similar but has a much bigger restaurant so there isn't a wait. Most people not willing to wait at The Gazebo go to the The Sea House. The Gazebo is on the East end of Napili Bay Beach and The Sea House is part of Napili Kai Hotel on the West side of the beach. Both have a gorgeous view. The Pineapple Grill is on a beautiful golf course with good food, but we think the problem is also that no knows yet that they are open for breakfast! After a few hours of work and only 5 or 6 tables, it can get a little boring for Jon. He's getting to know his coworkers though! I've come in a few times to give him a table and something to do, yet he pays for it and doesn't let me tip, because he then has to tip out everyone else on what he's made. Kind of foriegn to me to get food at a restaurant and leave zero compensation.

      I've gotten a few more modeling gigs. Here's a few sneak peaks until I get the rest of the photos. More pictures and stories to come:



Jackie Jean Photography



Jackie Jean Photography

RANDOMS

We went out for Kristin's (in the striped blue shirt) and Toni's birthdays to the other side of the island.
The guy, named JR, was my dance partner most of the night (with's Jon's approval). The only guy on Maui who can actually dance (aside from jon... :D) 

Toni's birthday (on the right) and Simone who is originally from Chico

Homegirl Cassidy. Hot local girl from Paia (Maui)

You can always tell where the employees park in the parking structure at work.
For some reason locals always back into their spot. Especially trucks.
I don't get that. For me, I'm usually late to work so I zoom into the spot and get to work. Then have time after work to back out safely and get going. But people take the time to back into their spots before work.

 

Island Fro-Yo. By my work, so its breakfast at times or afterwork snacky-poo. The big white things are another of my favy fruits here in maui. Lychee (lie-chee). The texture of the inside of a grape with a citrus-y carbinated taste. Like sprite in a fruit... :D

Video of the flip book I got for free at the Wedding Expo I modeled in. The idea is to provide guests with flipbooks rather than the photobooths that some have at wedding receptions. They take a 6 second video of you and then take it frame by frame, print it out, cut, and staple so you get the flipbook in a short amount of time. I used a white top hat as a prop. They had other fun props as well. Super fun idea. I made this one for Jonny.

Maui No Ka Oi

The Summer of Maui

         Our Fourth of July began in Central Maui at the Maui Diagnostic Imaging for my scheduled MRI. AHHHH MRI?!!? No worries my loved ones, just an attempt to further understand why I have chronic headaches/migranes. Perhaps the 3 major car accidents did not help my already daily headache issue. But just like all medical tests run on me, I appear to be just fine and shouldn't be having any problems. LAME. So after my appointment, we went to Makena Beach, the treasured beach in South Maui.



A fire always comes with this holiday

         There's really only one major thing to do in Maui on the Fourth of July. Growing up in Sacramento, there were numerious venues that did a fireworks show for entertainment. Del Campo High School did fireworks usually, where my family went to most often, hanging at my aunt and uncle's house where we could see the show from and do our own playing with fire shenanigans afterwards. But other families had other traditions and venues that did a fireworks show.
       On West Maui, only in Lahaina along Front Street is where they set off a fireworks show. Only one place for families to bring their kids to to see the amazing show. People camped out and pick their spot hours before hand. Reminded me of Disneyland, people camping out to choose the best seat for the Light Parade or Fantasmic, (now for the World of Color in California Adventure as well). Parking was insane, so we chose to park a few miles away and walk.

People camped out for the show

 I had an itchin' for an awesome burger, so Cheeseburger's in Paradise is where I wanted to go. With that amount of people along front street, guess the wait time for dinner at a beach front scrumptious restuarant? ... THREE HOURS! No thanks... So we trekked back to the car and drove over to where I knew the wait would be ZERO hours with great food!...  Hula Grill :) We missed the fireworks. But.. honestly we're over fireworks. It's all the same, it's kinda boring.

          After dinner we headed down to the sapposed Fourth of July party spot along Baby Beach. We walked along the beach lit only with the moonlight. Very romantic and sweet. There were some partiers left, with a boombox and many boxes of Coors Light laying around, but the romantic moonlight made it pretty hard to see if we knew anyone there. So we just enjoyed our time together and chatted along the waterline.

         

      With our schedules for the most part set, we have more time off to spend with friends and eachother.



I went for a run for the first time since.... Highschool?
What better place to get into running again than in Hawaii along the beach boardwalk!
The weather is perfect with always a soft, or big, breeze to cool you off, and the motivation of God's beautiful creation all around you keeps your spirits up.

I think I can, I think I can

I finished around sunset and did some stretching and yoga along the grass behind the beach 

 Then leaned up against a Palm tree and read and rehydrated

      But tisk tisk on me for not reading the beach park sign stating: Gate closes at 7pm. The sunsets around 7:15-7:20. How am I expected (or anyone for that matter) to drive off BEFORE the sun sets? I think they should close at least after sunset! So my heart dropped into my stomach on my walk to my car seeing the gates locked up and my car still inside. I took action and used my girlish charm to get help and get the park enforcer back to unlock the gates. After all I live here, I need my car to get to work, it was dark, and I wasn't about to walk home, and the closest bus station was a few miles away. Thank you God for another funny circumstance but always getting me out of them :)

 We go on many walks. If we feel cooped up but don't feel like beach time, we go for a walk. Here's a funky leaf I found during a walk


We picked up a new hobby that we both SUCK at. We grabbed some tennis rackets at went for it. This tennis court is right under Jon's work: The Pineapple Grill, so we get a discount to use the courts. We just laughed and said "Oopse! Sorry!" a lot but all in good fun :)



Jon and I went out with a friend couple of mine to The Pineapple Grill for Wine Wednesday (50% off bottles of wine). We shared a few bottles and had a great time :) Sitting out on the Lanai (outside porch area) a tiny kitten ran up along the side and peered up at us. Jon and I LOVE cats and are interested in getting a kitten of our own here in Maui. So a little buzzed I stumbled along the windows of the restaurant looking under bushes for this kitten. Probably freaked out a few customers inside. Needless to say I couldn't find him. After saying goodbye to our friends we spot the kitty cat again! After an overall 6 sightings of this cat, we figured out there were two kittens. I almost got one by the foot but he was too quick! Chasing kittens around the Pineapple Grill property sobered us up and we gave up, that's what the above picture is from.





Hanging out with friends at Lulu's to support the Lahaina Canoe Club who put on a fashion show and sold swimsuits. 

Hanging at Baby Beach after Flotopia was broken up by the cops. A friend from work's birthday party included a few DJ's, a beach party, and a thousand floaties in the ocean. Cops came and cited people for opened liqour on the beach, so many people just stayed in the water and finished their drinks before coming on the beach. Ocean is public property and the cops couldn't enforce getting people out of the water. 

We discovered the store Farmer's Market in Honokowai. Not a special farmer's market on certian days, an actual store named Farmer's Market. I bought some AMAZING organic facial moisturiser with natural vitamins and herbs. I also got local Maui Guava Jelly, Maui grown Starfruit and Lilikoi, and Dry Sugar-free Mangos.

You can see why it's called starfruit, when cut they look like stars! It's similar to the texture of an apple

and very juicey. Lilikoi is the hawaiian word for Passion Fruit. Kind of tastes like a tart mango. REALLY good flavoring to add lilikoi juice to smoothies or jellies. Another Hawaiian fruit I have fallen in love with (aside from Pineapple) is Lychee ("lie-chee"). I'd never had a lychee before we moved to Maui. It's the texture of the inside of a grape but has a citrus-y flavor, I descibe it as Sprite in a fruit. I'll get a picture of it soon to show everyone back home. Yougurt Land or Island Fro-Yo is amazing here because of the different yummmmmy fruits available. More to come about that as well :)

An awesome lotion from Farmer's.

Booda Butter.

I plan on getting a can soon. Says it's good for everything under the sun, all natural oils and vitamins.

And it's got an awesome name

Some modeling gigs have come up during the summer. A lot this month. A contact from a previous event contacted me about needing models for a photo/video shoot with the Maui Baseball Team and Jose Conseco. Sounded pretty fun so I agreed, not really sure what I was getting into. The team and Jose Conseco was playing a game that evening so they were 4 hours later than when the models showed up. So we basically just did a bunch of shoots with the girls by the billards, which was our venue's backdrop. Once Jose and ONE baseball player showed up we took a few group shots and was told to just play pool and they'll shoot it. I got bored and left. Apparently us girls were sappose to be the Maui Baseball Team's cheerleaders. They want to make a reality web series of the new cheerleaders for the team, per the owner's request. I'm not sure what that all entails but I hear talk of pay for it all. Once I know more information I'll keep you all updated :)

          I went in for a model casting for the Annual Maui Bridal Expo. Everyone who came were accepted in the show. I'm really excited, it'll be so much fun to model wedding dresses! So many dresses I had tried on for my wedding I loved, it was really hard to choose my final dress. But once I did I knew it was perfect for me. Now I get the chance to wear more wedding dresses! YAY! I haven't gone in for a fitting yet so I don't know what kind of dress I'll be modeling, but I'm stoked.

I've done a few other model castings and I'll let you all know and post pictures when shows go through.

 My friend Kelly that I met through modeling invited Jon and I to hang at the beach with her and her fiance. Her fiance Chris had the hook up with the Ka'anapali Beach Hotel's beach attendant who runs the hotel's beach cabana's meant for the guests, and the Stand Up Paddle boards. We got to lounge on a nice cabana for a bit and then after much deliberation whether to go out or not due to the high winds, we took the SUP boards out. They went first, which was Kelly's first time and Chris's second. Then Jon and I went out. The wind had kicked up pretty intensely when we went out. We were sappose to go toward Black Rock, but the wind instantly took us the oppostie direction. I got the paddling down and was able to control the board pretty well at first.

Sorry for the silent microphone. The water had gotten on it and covered the mic while I was talking.
After this video was taken, I realised we were pretty far out. Out by the boats. Ooooopsies.

 Soon after this happened:

I fell victim to the wind and could not for the life of me paddle against the wind back to shore. That's what happens with a huge board and a tiny body on it with no muscles. Our hook up beach attendent (very annoyed) came out and had to paddle me back in. HAHAHAHA my bad...


Maui No Ka Oi