Red Velvet

CINAMMON'S

Jac always talked about taking me to Cinnamon's in Kailua for breakfast and so we finally did. It's always fun driving to the windward side, going through H3 and arriving next to the beautiful Hawaii mountains and ocean! I always feel like a tourist whenever I go to that side.

Cinnamon's is known for their (delicious) Red Velvet Pancakes. It's a cute, as their sign says, family restaurant. Staff is super friendly and very homey. You get the choice to either sit inside or outside. We got sat inside where they have white christmas lights and even a huge gazebo where you can sit in to eat also!

More info on Cinnamon's HERE.

More pics of our Cinnamon's breakfast on my Flickr site,

on the right column.

We ordered the short stack which comes with 2, but it was pretty big! When we were slicing it up into triangle pieces the butter knife was pretty much sliding through it like...butter! It was so so so delicious. At the end of our meal we find out that this old couple sitting next to us offered us a 25% off coupon for our tab! How very sweet! We don't know why they gave it to us but we are very thankful.

nomming on the pancakes

FUNPIX HAWAII

Afterwards I thought "why not stop by FunPix today? We're already out on this side of the island and my purikura stamp card is filled AND their new machines should be up!" Yes! their new machines ARE up! I was like a little kid in a candy store. The only problem was, my best friends aren't here with me on the island to enjoy this (Janis, Monica, Lani). AND to my sadness the machine I was MORE excited about (the Rilakkuma one) was out of order. The owner of the shop said they are waiting for one more part :(. But I was still excited to take the Mickey Mouse one! For some reason there was always a difference in Japanese Disney and American Disney. Call me crazy, but there just is...to me. There's just something about Japanese Disney that seems vibrant, alive, fun and very creative. Hmmm okay moving on.

These machines aren't your typical 'go-into-a-mini-room-and-take-6-to-8-shots-then-get-about-2-to-3-minutes-drawing-on-it' type, these were what I like to call "quickie" booths. I also noticed that newer purikura machines are built with a automatic 'make-your-eyes-look-extra-girly-and-huge' effect! Jac did not sit well with this! Lol.

Here's the inside of the machine (the Rilakkuma one is the same type of machine also). You take the pics there and you design there, all in one spot. It's very fast paced so you better know what you're doing!

I'm definitely going again (hopefully with my girl friends) and hoping this time the Rilakkuma one is up!

For those of you who live in Hawaii,

more info on the purikura shop HERE.

Me being very excited for the new machines!

PB&J

Forgot to eat dinner tonight so I made myself a pb&j sandwich on multigrain bread. Washed it down with organic unsweetened soymilk. Drank it out of the leftover christmas disposable cups. Mmmmmm :)

And to top off my night, I FINALLY FOUND MY (favorite) BLACK SLOUCH CARDIGAN! I've been looking for it for weeks. It ended up being in my mom's closet. Curse our somewhat same size-ness. -____-

Crazy crazy crazy

I've been so busy lately, I didn't keep the promise to blog more. I tried! And you all know how lengthy my posts can be!

So I've been putting my Beatles playlist on pause for now and lately I've been rummaging through old cd's from my past. These include bands like Jimmy Eat World, Weezer, Blink 182, American Hi-Fi, Emery, Rooney and few more I can't remember right now. Jimmy Eat World is on heavy rotation at the moment. It's helping me get through a hard time I'm going through right now. As they did before, they are here to the rescue once again.

By the way, a question to you all: Do you believe in signs? As in...something happens, it triggers something in you like you were meant to hear/see it and it somehow relates to whatever you're going through at the moment. Like, RIGHT ON POINT. When ever I see these 'signs' it's like everything around it blurs or fades out and that 'sign' is crystal clear.

So do you believe in signs?

Pinklovesoxygen 2010: Day Two

DAY TWO ❤

We hit up Waikiki this time. Even though I've been living in Hawaii for 10+ years, I still feel like a tourist. There's so many places and things I haven't done yet. I pretty much am still foreign to this paradise. I've actually always felt that way. Don't get me wrong, I love Hawaii and I always will but there's just something about this place that I feel like I don't belong. Hmm..maybe that's just me. On to the pics and detailed post! So we basically stayed in Waikiki. There are two sides to Waikiki. There's the end that is by the beach and where majority of the hotels are and then there is the side where a lot of the shopping can be done. I usually always stay on the shopping side (which also has the Military parking area). Since Janis and I are too old to have a Military ID, we could no longer park there, so our only option was by the zoo area (which is by the beach). Still keeping in mind the difference between the two ends of Waikiki, we were definitely not dressed in what everyone else was wearing on that side. I mean come on, it's the beach side! We were for sure tourists at this point. while every girl on that side was seen wearing just their bikinis and other type of beach-wear, Janis and I were dressed in trendy outfits. I could definitely feel the foreign stares. We just kept the mindset that "Hey! We're tourists! We don't know you guys, you don't know us, who cares?!" and keeping that in mind, we had a hell of a time.

First stop:

❥ TEDDY'S BIGGER BURGERS

This burger joint is known for their burgers (obviously) and also their shakes. This was my first time here and I'm not too much of a burger fan but, oh my, these burgers live up to the reputation. Unfortunately I didn't get to try their shakes, I'll make it a point next time!

I forgot what Janis ordered, but I ordered the Teri burger. I loved the feel of the burger joint with their checkered tile floors and walls to their bright red seats and tables. Their staff was awesome too. Every 5 minutes a staff member would go around checking on customers and offering free wet-naps! How nice of them right? Two *clean* thumbs up from me!

If you want more info on this place in case you're in the Waikiki area, visit: Teddy's Bigger Burger website.

Here is their Yelp! page: More reviews!

After Teddy's it was time to head to our favorite boutique spots! We decided to take routes away from the main strip walkway, so we decided to cut through a hotel. We cut through the Hyatt Regency Hotel and took it as a photo opportunity. It almost felt like we were that same duo 4 years ago that used to travel together! The photo to the left is of Janis walking the Waikiki strip. She is my barbie doll. I dressed her from head to toe...okay well not toe, those are her own shoes, but everything else I pretty much threw on her from my own closet! Doesn't she look beautiful? She told me she was getting into a more "oshare" type of style and what better way to start off by having trial runs with my wardrobe? And plus, I love pulling outfits together. It's actually my position at where I work, I'm a wardrobe specialist. I made an outfit solely on matching it with the shoes. I'm very pleased with the outcome and I know for sure she was too :)

Our second stop:

❥ HYATT REGENCY HOTEL GALLAVANTING / KIMO BEAN COFFEE

Within the hotel we went to, there were various shops. It was a hot late afternoon so we decided to pick up some cold mocha lattes from Kimo Bean Coffee.

I'm not a big coffee fan so I don't normally buy or order drinks from Starbucks or places like that but this drink was delightful. It wasn't too rich (where the flavor would get stuck in your throat) it was very whippy and light tasting. It cooled us down and it helped that we were getting the spray mist from the waterfall we sat near to.

More info on Kimo Coffee Bean here.

More photos on my flickr site (link is on the right column) ↗

Along the way after the Hyatt, we stopped by Marqet boutique, Spark! and Payless. Our last two stops were Genius Outfitters and Pineapple County.

☀GENIUS OUTFITTERS.☀

We absolutely LOVE this shop. 2 floors of boutique heaven what more could you ask for?! This boutique is definitely up to date with trends and has a very friendly and helpful staff. Talked with the cashier and asked a bit about the shop. Genius Outfitters is a Hawaii based store but also has boutiques in Japan as well. The owner of the boutique also owns Pineapple County conveniently located right next door! There goes my money!!!! Genius Outfitters is not only for ladies but men as well. On the top floor there are men items such as shirts, pants, accessories all at great affordable prices! Here is their website. This boutique is definitely a MUST when shopping in Waikiki!

❥ PINEAPPLE COUNTY

Another must is Pineapple County. Another 2 floor boutique! I can't get enough of this store, I ALWAYS, ALWAYS go to this store when I'm in Waikiki. And of course the famous Pineapple County mascots in the front of the store. No matter how many times I come here I always need a picture with it!

More info on Pineapple County here.

This was our last stop for the day. It's always fun to play tourist.

A pic of my purchases from Payless, Genius Outfitters & Pinapple County:

Striped Dress: Pineapple County $28

Buttoned Highwaist Skirt: Genius Outfitters $18

Studded Pointy Kitten Heels: Payless $9 (on sale!)

Pointy Kitten Heels: Payless (gift from Janis)

Before I end this post, I will end with some of purikura we took for this day. ENJJJJOOOYYYYY!!! And have a great day :)