Gastronomical Additions and Gadgets

It's the day after Christmas, and it's time to bust out some of the new prezzies!

I strapped on my new Nike Fuelband this morning.  I'm still not entirely sure how this bad boy works, but it's meant to track your activities throughout the day and measure your steps taken, calories burned and most importantly, your "NikeFuel."  NikeFuel are points that are allotted for your movement throughout the day.  These points are measured the same for everyone, so you can track your progress and compete with friends online on the Nike+ website.

{I wonder if my Nike FuelBand is measuring all the calories I'm burning reading David Foster Wallace}

I'm definitely not using this to its full potential yet...especially since I don't think I've got this set up right.  The FuelBand is still not displaying all the information across the LED screen that it's supposed to (NikeFuel points, time, calories burned and steps taken).  So far, my FuelBand is handing me information by piecemeal throughout the day when I press the button instead of cycling through the entire list of information promised by the product and website.  I fired off an email to the Nike Support team, so we'll see what they propose.

I'm looking forward to wearing my new gizmo tomorrow.  I'll be taking it through a workout at home, a bike ride to work, a 6 hour long shift walking through the restaurant and up and down stairs, then a bike ride home.  I'm confident that I'm going to wrack up some serious NikeFuelage.  Watch out world!

After my afternoon workout--where I supposedly burned 500+ calories during my at-home circuit workout--I busted out my new collection of gourmet olive oil and vinegar.

I was given sample sizes of 3 different vinegars and 3 different olive oils.  After looking over my options, I decided to use the Cranberry Pear White Balsamic Vinegar and the Organic Chemlali Olive Oil to dress my salad.  I have no idea what Chemlali is, but it smelled good, and its scent seemed to pair well with the sweet and tart tones coming off the vinegar.

I'm no food critic, but I was pretty impressed.  I eat lots of salads these days, and I'm totally invested in making my own salad dressings (much to the dismay of the refrigerator shelf crowded with old, separated, pre-made dressings I bought at the grocery store ages ago).

I can't wait to taste test my through the other samples.

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Mele Kalikimaka

Mele Kalikimaka--Merry Christmas from Maui.

Here are a few snapshots from our Christmas.

{homemade Cinnamon Rolls with Ashley and Will on Christmas morning}

{loving my new earrings from Mom and Dad}

{Bacon-wrapped Pork Loin for Christmas dinner. I know this looks obscene, but anything this delicious wrapped in bacon is going to look pornographic}

{Mike carving up his culinary creation for the masses}

{Creamy Scalloped Potatoes made by yours truly}

{Everyone pitching in to assist Bryan's first Gingerbread House attempt}

{Will taking over}

{Cheers!  Kimo and Bryan}

It was a warm, humid and voggy (volcanic fog) Christmas for us here on Maui, and we loved every second of it.  The party continues at our place now.  Bryan's got Guitar Hero on the Playstation with Matt and Will standing in line for their turn to rock out.

It's gonna get loud!

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Merry Christmas

Besides our Extendo Leg Santa and oversized stocking gifted from my dad, Bryan and I have zero Christmas decorations in the house, but I feel that the two story Christmas Tree at my work more than makes up for our lack of Christmas spirit.

It's a gorgeous tree filled with that deep piney scent that makes me think of snowy mountain Christmases with the family.

I'm excited to be spending Christmas with Bryan.  We both have the day off tomorrow!  If you recall, last year Bryan had to work, but I made a late night Christmas dinner for us and his roommates.  It was all fun and games until I burnt my fingers to a crisp rescuing the garlic bread from a fall from the oven.  Ouch.  It was still a fun night, but I have a feeling this year will be a much more fun and relaxing Christmas--as long as I can beat my cold on time for the festivities.

A few of us from the restaurant are having an afternoon Christmas potluck tomorrow afternoon.  I'm making scalloped potatoes and a mega salad loaded with goodies (fresh green beans from Kula!), and Bryan is bringing the dessert.

Should be delicious!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years.

Love,

Paige

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I Just Can't Get Enough

I just can't get enough of super cute bikinis.  And I honestly don't think I'm alone.  Every girl on Maui has a very serious collection of swimwear.

I've been doing some online window shopping, and I'm looking forward to adding to my own collection.

I've been eye-balling pieces from San Lorenzo:

{I LOVE that one!}

And I've also been checking out Tori Praver...but she's a little out of my price range!

{If I do splurge--this is the top I'm getting!}

How are all my mainland friends enjoying their winter?  It sounds like everyone is getting some serious snow!

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I'm Ba-aaack!

Photos are a go--so, here's a little photo overload for you from the past two weeks.

{Feet shot when hiking solo on the Kapalua Walking Trails}

{A humungous hibiscus growing in our yard}

{I mean, HUGE! I put my hand next to it so you can see how ridiculously big this thing is.}

{Our new game obsession: The Settlers of Catan.  Thanks to the Leslie boys for introducing me to the game when they were here on vacation many, many moons ago.}

{My favorite neighbor crashed out on our porch--he's keeping my herb garden company.}

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Booyah!!

I totally don't get this Google account, but apparently, I can post photos again...for now...

Until they boot me back off, here's a fun photo of T-Bone looking hot and put out.

Don't tell Will and Ashley, but he may be my favorite neighbor.

Just kidding, guys!

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Still

Still super bummed about not being able to post photos, but Google cannot hold me back to linking to other cool people's blogs that post photos!  So bwahahahaaaa!

I win!

Anyways, while I'm on hiatus, please enjoy this old post from actor/comedian Max Greenfield on his Emmy experience.  It's humorous, and has photos.  Lots and lots of photos.

Can you tell that I'm a picture-happy poster and I'm dying without being able to put up pictures for you?

My blog maybe dying a long, slow death from want of pictures.

Le sigh.

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A Brief Hiatus!

Apparently you are only given 1 free GB of space for photographs when you sign up for a free blog under Blogger.  Unfortunately, I've just been told that I've completely depleted my free GB.  Please bear with me as I take a short break to explore my options in purchasing more GB for photographs.

Thank you!

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Something a Little Funny

This is probably old news, but I just stumbled upon this myself and had to share this clip of Emma Stone on the Ellen Degeneres show.  Ellen dares Emma to dance behind unwitting strangers backstage:

Fun, huh?

And Bryan and I can't stop laughing over this oldie but goodie:

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Airbrushed Sunset

One of the great, great perks of my new house: watching sunsets over the ocean right from my lanai.

The clouds look painted onto the sky.

Gorgeous.

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Oops.

I think the brownies were still a little too hot to decorate...

But Bryan still loved his birthday treat.  What a guy!

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Growing Pains

My little herb garden is really going off! 

This is a photo from last week:

And this is a snapshot of the herb garden today:

{From left to right: Cilantro, Basil and Thyme}

{thyme}

{basil}

{cilantro}

When I first planted these herbs, I got overexcited and dumped the full seed packet of each herb into these 4 and 6 inch pots.

As you can see, my seedlings are a little crowded--but I'm too attached to thin them out!

A week after starting the pots, I decided to get a bigger planter and plant the seeds with a little more care.

I spaced out the basil and cilantro a little more carefully.  Now that I've got a few sprouts, I planted a few more seeds in between the rows that are already growing.

I hope everything turns out okay!

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Happy Thanksgiving

A little ditty from Adam Sandler about the joys of Thanksgiving.

I hope your Thanksgiving is cheery and bright and filled with delicious foods.

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Thursday Fun Day at Poli Poli

A handful of us have Thursday off regularly, and last Thursday was no exception.  Our friend, Will, usually spends his Thursday upcountry at the disc golf course at Poli Poli.  Occasionally, Bryan will join him.  When Bryan comes back from their excursions, he always tells me how beautiful it us up there, and how I should come with them and check it out.  Last Thursday, I decided to take him up on the offer.

Will and our friend Sean piled into Will's Toyota truck with Will's dog, T-Bone, and Sean's new puppy, Makena.

Bryan and I followed closely behind in my car.

{On our way!  With T-Bone keeping watch}

We headed north up towards Haleakala.  The day was overcast, but the clouds and coolness were welcome after the heat and glare in Lahaina.

{Looking down towards the rest of the island from up on the banks of Haleakala}

The drive up to Poli Poli is a fairly steep climb, and unfortunately, my little green monster of a car had a little trouble making it al the way.

We overheated!

{the boys assessing the situation--you can see Bryan laughing under the hood}

We waited for the car to cool back down, and then we left it on the side of the road and continued up to the disc golf course in the back of Will's truck.

{lots of orange moss on all the trees around the course}

{scaring cows away at the first hole}

Disc golf is similar to traditional golf, but instead of playing with clubs and balls, players throw a disc (similar to a Frisbee) from a tee box towards a "hole."  The holes around the course are a type of basket that are raised up off the ground.  As the players progress down the fairway, the player must take each consecutive shot from where their disc has landed.  This makes the game very interesting if the disc has gotten caught in a thicket.  The last shot of the game is the putt when the disc is thrown into the basket.

The Poli Poli course is a dramatic course with gorgeous views (when the clouds lift) and steep climbs.  I got a serious workout simply from hiking around with the guys--and they were carrying coolers with them!

{view from the first tee}

{Will and Bryan up on a hill, working the fairway}

{crazy plants galore on the course}

{and, of course, plenty of cows.  Seriously.  A LOT of cows!}

We came across small groups of cows all afternoon.  Many of which did not seem at all perturbed by us  sending discs right over their heads.  We got a big kick listening to them moo.  Many times, we couldn't even see them in the distance because of the fog, so they sounded like faraway ghosts.

Our favorite moment of the day occurred when two cows decided they had enough of us and the dogs, and they galloped off down a cow path aiming for T-Bone.  I have never seen that dog move so fast.  He took off loping down the trail, constantly looking over his shoulder to see if the cows were still in hot pursuit.  He finally left the cow path and headed back uphill to where we were all standing, and the cows continued down the trail.  Poor T-Bone!  We all got a great belly laugh at his expense.

{all the boys resting before teeing off.  From left to right: Jay (unofficial grounds keeper), Will, Sean and Bryan with T-Bone and puppy Makena up front}

{Will teeing off}

{Bryan sending his disc flying}

{Sean in action}

{and of course, more cows}

{a mom with her baby}

{a small Buddha tucked behind a tee box}

We were up on the course for about 3 hours.  During that time, Jay managed to put a disc in my hand and gave me a few pointers.  I was terrible!  But it was a great introduction to the game.  I was impressed by the camaraderie up there.  We ran into Jay when we first parked the cars, and we had him join our group, and then we ran into an older gentleman out on the course, and he joined up with us as well.  It was a great afternoon.

After playing, we piled back into Will's red truck and drove back down to where we left the car.

{T-Bone and Bryan}

{cows on the ridge}

{Look at Makena's ears!!}

The little green monster had not caught fire in our absence.  The boys replaced her coolant and looked her over and deemed her safe to drive.  Bryan and I followed Will's truck down into Makawao where we ate a feast of epic proportions at the always popular Mexican restaurant, Polli's.  I may have overdone it.  We got their Happy Hour nachos (amazing!), and I picked at my Fish Burrito, most of which had to be packed up and taken home.  Those nachos did me in.

Another great Thursday Fun Day with the gang!

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