Catching Up

I wish I had better excuses as to why I haven't been updating the blog.  I'm not out on adventures that I'm not telling you about.  I'm working 5 days a week, and then being lazy the other 2 days of the week.  I definitely wish I had more exciting things to tell you.  I've been reading a lot, but that's probably not news to any of you.

I whipped through Susan Casey's "The Wave," a nonfiction book about scientists and surfers who chase down big waves.  Casey wrote one of my favorite books, "The Devil's Teeth" about the great white sharks that gather and feed off the coast of San Francisco.  I would recommend both of her books, but the one about sharks is better.

I just finished reading David Sedaris' "When Engulfed in Flames," a book of short essays.  David Sedaris is laugh out loud funny.  I would be reading it in bed and start cackling wildly, and only when I was able to catch my breath would I be able to share with Bryan what had tickled my funny bone.

Now I'm reading Constance Hale's "Sin and Syntax," a modern guide on English grammar.  It's much more entertaining than I made it sound.  But it's nerdy.  Just like me.

You have now all been appropriately filled in on what I've been reading.  Now, onto what I've been eating:



Just kidding.  I didn't eat that.  That was a double bacon cheeseburger with furikake garlic fries that the Aloha Mixed Plate cooks made for my boyfriend.  He managed to eat all of that.  And he's still skinny as a rail.  I envy his metabolism.

I got to see more of this superhuman metabolism in action yesterday, when Bryan took me out to the tourist trap Cheeseburgers in Paradise yesterday afternoon.

I've lived up the street from this Lahaina institution for over a year, but I've never been in to eat.  Bryan had never been there either, but he was recently given a gift certificate to the place, so we now had a solid reason to see what all the fuzz is about.

We managed to miss the lunchtime crowd by showing up shortly before 3 in the afternoon.  We got appetizers (fried wontons and fried coconut shrimp--both served with the same mango chutney sauce) and burgers.  Bryan went all out and got a Kobe burger with a fried egg, bacon and banana peppers.  I got a turkey burger with guacamole.

The food was definitely tasty, but the atmosphere was kitschy and rushed.  Cheeseburgers in Paradise is a turn and burn establishment that does not provide an environment where you would want to hang out after wolfing down your cheeseburger.  Glad I got to check it out, but I wouldn't go back or recommend it to others.  I think Cool Cat Cafe has far superior burgers and a more relaxed environment.

I hit up another new lunch spot today when I ventured for food this afternoon.  I was thinking of hitting up my old favorite Sunrise Cafe when I simply walked past it to The Wharf, a shopping center in front of the Banyan Tree that houses a handful of restaurants, including Cool Cat Cafe.

I was thinking of maybe picking up some Indian cuisine from Monsoon India, but I stumbled upon a brand new place: Bamboo Fresh.  It's only been open for a week, and I hope it sticks around!  The owner specializes in organic, local produce to make tasty, cheap and super healthy food.  I got her four onion and spinach stew as well as a veggie wrap filled with fresh vegetables including avocado and kale from Hana.  My whole meal, including a drink was only $10.50!  A great deal for one of the best, healthy meals I've had in a long time.  The food and the price was definitely worth having to listen to the owner preach about choosing whole foods over processed ones, reversing cancer with good food and the health benefits of Himalayan rock salt.

Maybe next time I'll call my order in and just run in to pick it up and pay before running out the door again.

And since we're catching up, I want to let you know that is the next movie on my "to see" list:



The Descendents is written and directed by Alexander Payne, the gentleman behind Sideways.  The movie comes out January 20th.  It's already getting rave reviews from critics.  I'm excited for the story, the acting and of course, the scenery!  The movie showcases both Oahu and Kauai.

What about you guys?  What are you looking forward to seeing in theaters?  And is anyone reading something I should know about?

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Shopping!!

November is a big Birthday month.  Many family members are celebrating their birthdays, as is my boyfriend, and then of course, Thanksgiving is thrown into the mix and Christmas is coming up...

...but instead of getting bogged down by all the birthdays and preparing myself to eat my body weight in turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing on Thanksgiving day, I get excited.

I love shopping for presents.  I would like to think that I am quite good at it.  Although, if anyone is winning hands down for the best presents ever given, it would have to go to my Uncle Kevin.  I think all of us in the family can remember quite a few gifts we have received from him that have been so amazingly unique, but so perfectly chosen that once we had it in our hands we can't imagine how we have lived without it for so long (even though we had never known that such a thing existed before Kevin got it for us).

Receiving presents is awesome.  Who doesn't like getting stuff?  But receiving a gift that is unexpected yet perfectly matched to our personalities and lifestyle is the ultimate.  What's even better?  When you are the one who has found that gift.

And giving the ultimate gift doesn't necessarily have to have a big price tag on it.  Sometimes the best gifts are the ones that don't cost anything at all.  I like things that you have made yourself, and I think some of the coolest things I ever gave were things that I made when I was little.  I still think giving someone a mixed CD of songs they've never listened to yet but are going to fall deeply in love with upon the first few notes can be a great present for the right people.

If you are having trouble coming up with unique gifts, I will let you in one of my best kept shopping secrets: www.uncommongoods.com

Many of the gifts that I have purchased for my family and friends have come from this site.  I bought my dad a set of BBQ tools that were all modeled after golf clubs with real grips on the handles.  I also bought a friend an indoor gardening kit to grow her own marinara sauce that sprouted but unfortunately withered.  I'm not sure if this had anything to do with the kit or the sunless conditions of our apartment.

I also love shopping www.etsy.com

Etsy is a website where artists across the world can share and sell their handmade and vintage goods.  This is such a wonderful and fun site to explore, and because there is so much to see, Etsy employs a lot of fun and whimsical search engines to help you narrow down what you are looking for.  This is such a great site to seek out great gifts for yourself, others or your home while supporting artists from across the globe.

Amazon.com is also a great site featuring much more than just books and movies.  I bought a birthday gift for my boyfriend just the other day, and to score free shipping to Maui, I bought myself something too:

I guess that's my only downfall on shopping for others...I usually can't help but get inspired to gift myself something as well.

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Brunch

Sunrise Cafe off Front Street is one of my favorite places to grab a satisfying, belt-busting meal made of fresh and wholesome goodness.

This was the place I had my very first meal when I arrived on Maui.  I took a beach cruiser and biked down Front Street and locked my bike in front of the tiny restaurant that had been recommended to me when I told someone that I was starving (having not eaten anything since the plane flight from California to Maui).

This is a Mom and Pop shop where they accept cash only for their goods.  I am not an early riser, so these days I always manage to beat the breakfast crowd when I amble in for "brunch" at one or two in the afternoon.

I would recommend you do the very same if you stop in at Sunrise Cafe.  This place is super tiny with a tiny staff (just Dad and Son taking orders and Mom doing all the cooking), so if you sit down at peak breakfast times, you could be waiting a half hour for your food.

I usually get one of two things.  The Breakfast Burrito stuffed with rice and eggs and tropical salsa or my personal favorite, the Greek Bagel with a side of 2 poached eggs:

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I carefully put a poached egg on each bagel half and splash Tapatio hot sauce on top of it all, then I dig in with much gusto and fanfare.  It is delicious.  Each bagel half is topped with a slice of tomato, sauteed spinach, garlic and Maui Onions, sliced cucumbers and a handful of sprouts.  Oh yeah, there is also feta cheese and a sprinkling of black olives.  

This one meal gets me through my entire day.

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P.S. I Am Amazing

This post is mainly for my mom.

Mom, I haven't had a single sip of frosty, bubbly Diet Coke for over TWO weeks.  My will power has been so amazing and steely that I haven't had any real cravings for the stuff so I'm not even exactly sure how many days I've gone without it since I'm not marking down the days on the walls of my room or anything crazy like that.

I am awesome.

I'm also hoping that I quit my Diet Coke habit early enough that I won't develop some strange debilitating cancer from ingesting all that manufactured sugar.

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It will be sunny one day

I am a letter lover.  Although I have sent out less and less personal correspondence lately, I'm still an advocate of sending handwritten notes in the mail.  There is something exciting about sending out mail and of course, there is a wonderful pleasure in receiving it.

If you haven't done so recently, you should try mailing off a postcard or just leaving a handwritten note to a loved one that is not just a reminder to take out the trash.

My mom would always tuck small notes into my packed lunch when I was a kid.  There was nothing better than opening up my lunch and seeing a note telling me to have a good day.

I'm sure others of you have experienced something similar.  So, get out there and write something down for someone special!

If you need some inspiration, may I suggest checking out the wonderful website Letters of Note: correspondence deserving of a wider audience.

Many of the letters collected are to and from "celebrities" and others are humorous or thoughtful pieces that are delightful to read that have been written by normal folks like you and me.

I came across a letter written from comedian and actor Stephen Fry to a woman who wrote to him out of desperation regarding her depression.  His response can be read here:

It will be sunny one day

I hope you enjoy it.  And write someone something!  It's even better if you mail it.

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Get Happy

One of my favorite bloggers, Maggie Mason,wrote an article "Get Happy: Online Resources for Improving Your Life."  I like being happy, and I'm a sucker for resources.  I'll take mine online, but I'm a big fan of getting them in book form.  I mean, just take a look at my microwave.  Right now it is a makeshift bookshelf, and I have a pile of ten library books teetering on top of it along with a bag of Hawaiian made flour tortillas.  Not so pretty, but my books get warm when I use the microwave.  Now that I write this, I wonder if that's not the way microwaves are supposed to work.  My microwave should NOT be heating up things that are on the outside of it, right?  Well, maybe my microwave is a radioactive bookshelf.

If someone wants to get back to me on that, I would much appreciate it.

And now, back to the topic on hand.  Maggie Mason links to two sites that I think are fairly brilliant, and I'm looking forward to investigating them further and maybe actually even using them rather than being a silent lurker on the sites.  The two that I'll be checking out more include:

The Happiness Project: Gretchen Rubin's website grew from her book of the same name, where she spent a year "test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific studies, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier."  I have not read the book myself, but I have flipped through it on occasion, and I'm stoked to see that she has a very thorough website with exercises readers can try for themselves to make their lives more happy.  I really like Gretchen Rubin's "Twelve Personal Commandments" that she has posted on the sidebar on the left hand side of her website.

750words: I feel like reading about this website is such a coincidence!  The website is inspired by Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, a book on creativity.  Just this summer I picked up a copy of the book. The cover looks super zen with a Chinese calligraphy painting of a mountain top circled by cranes.  It also reads super zen, so as you can imagine, it lost me part way through, but I made it through Cameron's description and celebration of "morning pages."

Morning pages are 3 pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing that are done first thing in the morning.  You don't have to worry about the topics you cover because they are personal and not to be shared.  The more boring, repetitive, negative and bland they are, the better, she says.  Writing this stuff down helps you get it out of the way so you can move on and get on with your day with a "freer spirit."  I had to put that in quotes because you know that's not something I'd say.

Anyways...750words.com is the "online,  future-ified, fun-ified translation of this exercise."  Blogger Maggie Mason gives the site high marks saying that it helps clear her head and gets her in "a more limber mental space for the rest of [her] day." The site tracks your word count in real time and autosaves, and at the end of your session gives you statistics on your mental state based on your word choice.  Awesome!  I'm a big fan of writing personal stuff longhand in my journal, but I'm a much faster typer, so I'm intrigued by doing these morning pages online on my computer.  If I give it a try, I'll keep you posted, but I think I'm going to do my first attempts handwritten on my journal at home.  I'm lazy though, so I'm fairly certain that I'm going to give up and open my laptop and write online.

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A Very She & Him Christmas

Please don't hate me.

I'm going to behave like the worst of the malls and drop some Christmas spirit on you way before you are ready, but not because I want you to get a head start on burning through your cash to buy Christmas presents.  I just have to share the news that one of my favorite musical talents, She & Him, have released a Christmas album!

So, I know it's not even Halloween, and we have a month before we eat turkey for Thanksgiving, but c'mon now, it's never too early to start compiling songs for your Christmas mix.  You'll thank me when you are listening to the smooth sounds of She & Him crooning Christmas songs at your annual Ugly Sweater Party.



She & Him is Max Ward and the super cute Zooey Deschanel.  I am so in love with her silky smooth and expressive voice, so I'm tickled pink that she's singing a whole bunch of Christmas favorites.

I haven't bought the album myself, but I've been screening them for your listening pleasure on youtube.  This album is not for the traditionalist, but if you are looking to inject a little indie groove to your Christmas festivities, then you should get a kick out of these tunes.



Other highlights include "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "Sleigh Ride," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" and "Silver Bells."

Thank you for letting me indulge myself and celebrating Christmas before Halloween.

Then again, I live on Maui.  It never feels like Christmas here.  So, you must allow me a little wiggle room to have a little Christmas spirit when I have it, because last year--my first Christmas on the island--Christmas barely registered on my radar.  The only memories I have from Christmas last year was eating a ham that my roommate made, not having to go into work and opening my presents on iChat with my family.  Other than that, it felt like any other tropical day on the island.

This post will probably be the last you hear from me about Christmas until sometime after Thanksgiving, unless someone else totally cool releases some Christmas songs.  I'm a sucker for Christmas music.  I always like downloading new Christmas carols every year and making a mega Christmas mix to play over and over and over, much to the chagrin of my roommates and neighbors: Sorry, Ann!  I know that you had to listen to a lot of Christmas music when we were roommates.  Feel the joy, Ann, Feel the joy!!  I know you miss me already.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

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