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We’re going to a restaurant opening tonight and there’s a red carpet. Which is tres fancy because in my experience Hawaii is the anti-fancy. So when it comes to fancy situations Nordstrom at Ala Moana Shopping Center is the one-stop-shop-for-all-your-fancy-needs department store.
The exciting part is that K got his first Aloha shirt:
and I got this delicious thing:
In the parking lot I saw this which I liked alot:
And when we got back to the car there were cookies on my seat which K said were from the Aloha Santa. They were YUHHH MEEEE:
Steven, aka ESKAE , aka Sarah’s boyfriend does a party at thirtyninehotel called Soul Clap every last Friday of the month. FINALLY for the first time K and I went. It was much fun. Particularly because I got to hang out with my most favorite people here in Hawaii and we got to DANCE. I can’t believe it took us this long to go. Great venue, great music. I wanna go again!
Every last Friday of the month the Honolulu Academy of Art sponsors a party called Art After Dark. By the time we got there last night to meet my friend Seth everything was pretty much over. We identified at least two gallery wings that flanked an open air courtyard. One of the galleries we were able to go into before it closed housed a Picasso, a Van Gogh, a Gauguin, and a gorgeous Cassat. It was an interesting environment: intimate well curated galleries and a thumping DJ in the courtyard with hundreds of inebriated twenty-somethings gyrating good-naturedly . I’d like to go back at a proper hour. We walked up to two bars only to have each of them close , my mouth poised to yell above the din ‘white wine please!’
The other day, a poet named Brenda invited me out to meet some Filipina writers at a special event welcoming a visiting artist.
As K and I were about to head over, Brenda sent a message that she couldn’t come but that I should still go. As we drove up Kamehameha I thought we were looking for a performance venue and I was half expecting a converted plantation house to emerge from the lush greenery. But what I read on the evite as The Churma House was actually the Churma home. Silly.
I knew one person there– a writer named Amalia. She explained that most of them had come together a couple of years ago to do a production of The Vagina Monologues which benefited the Filipina Rural Project. All of them were writers. A number of them were librarians which I thought was very cool. Rose, the host, owns a book distribution company called Kalamansi Books which exclusively sells titles from the Philippines here in Hawaii. Their house was lovely–serene and warm.
We had to leave before the reading started but Amalia said we should eat and get to know people. We stayed as long as we could. The pork adobo was delicious.
I’ve been searching for the perfect yoga mat. Methinks it doesn’t exist. I bought a Manduka prolite from local Lily Lotus (my favorite) a few weeks ago and it didn’t work out. I was slipping around in downward dog so bad that I thought I was going to fall and break my nose. My teacher, Brigitte, came over to adjust me and I whispered ‘too slippery!’ And she got me a rental mat to use over the Manduka. Before I left I checked the brand: it was a Harmony mat.
Trolling the internet for credible user reviews, I found a great blog called Om Shanti: A yoga blog. Not only did he have a nice post about slippery mats but he also had a recent post about the lack of diversity in American yoga classes. Good stuff and thoughtful product reviews. The blogger seems to prefer Manduka’s eKo mat.
I sent my proLite back to Manduka by UPS this morning. The customer service person said she would send out my new eKo as soon as they receive it.
Ah yoga. Ah things. When will I not need things to do other things.
We visited Eric at Lanakila Pacific today for our Meals on Wheels orientation. We start our route next week. As someone that has worked almost exclusively in the not for profit world, I’m pretty impressed so far. They’re organizational model is unique in that they’re striving to be wholly independant– cooking their own meals, hiring workers from their training programs. Every element seems to be well thought out and carefully developed. I’m most impressed by their relationships with Hawaiian farms–sourcing all of their food locally and cooking all meals in house. K liked the fact that they’ve built relationships with schools and when young people are studying relevant periods in history Lanakila will refer one of the seniors they serve as a first person witness to give a testimonial. I’m looking forward to getting to know the organization more.
Many years ago, I had a beloved little white top from a store called Language on Mulberry St. It was a white silky bandeau that fit me perfectly. I wore it for many fancy occasions. When it was time, I brought it to the dry cleaner across the street from my apartment in NY. It was nothing special, just your average neighborhood dry cleaner.
A few weeks later I was getting ready for a party and brought it out, still wrapped in the dry cleaner’s plastic. I put it on…I mean, I tried to put it on. After the initial shock I realized it had shrunk to a fraction of it’s original size and would have fit a 5 year old snugly.
Since then I’m more careful. It’s not so easy here in Hawaii to find things by researching online. As I’ve mentioned before, the best way to find anything is by word of mouth.
I called my favorite store in town, Aloha Rag, and asked them if they could recommend a good cleaner. They came back with Hayukosha Royal.
We have to attend a restaurant opening on Saturday so we took our fancy duds to be cleaned today. Their website says they use a GreenEarth system of dry cleaning– detail oriented and environmentally aware. Best of both worlds.
K’s family is arriving in a couple of weeks. We agreed we need some help getting the house in order..
I’d missed 4 days of yoga and felt bad about it. Being sick this week made going to class feel like a chore. I didn’t want to slip into that rut. The day I went back Brigitte read this:
For years, copying other people, I tried to know myself.
From within, I couldn’t decide what to do.
Unable to see, I heard my name being called.
Then I walked outside.The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open.
Don’t go back to sleep.
