Dinner with Ke`ala, Mac and Sarah!!!

Ke`ala was in Los Angeles for a couple of days with her boyfriend Pierre touring the city and seeing the sights which gave us all a chance to get together for dinner. We were joined by Sarah, Mac and her boyfriend, Joel, who came up from Long Beach. We all met up in Beverly Hills at Gyu-Kaku had a great time catching up on each others happenings while grilling our own food at the table. 

Having criss-crossed the globe on many adventures, Pierre and Ke`ala were slowing down for a couple of weeks to enjoy some time in Hawai`i with Ke`ala's family and relax around the island. Ke`ala and Pierre met in China while Ke`ala was teaching English and Pierre was attending university. It was great to finally meet Pierre and get to spend some time with Ke`ala catching up on our lives.

Mac and Joel made it up from Long Beach to join us all for dinner and it was great getting to see them again. Joel and I had taken up the duties of managing the grilling and were trying to keep up with the vanishing act the cooked food seemed to be playing.

Sarah had the stereotypical glow that comes with being well into the second half of her pregnancy and everyone was overjoyed to see her and see that she was doing well. The girls spent the majority of the night recalling great memories and telling stories about each other which was a lot of fun for all of us guys to hear. When they weren't trading stories, everyone was trying to guess what the sex of Sarah's baby was going to be. Sarah had made the great decision of not knowing what sex her baby was going to be until the birth (hint hint nudge nudge Mahina), so everyone had fun trying to guess and of course throw out names for the baby. It was sad to see everyone go as the night came to an end and everyone went on their way. But, it was a great chance to get to see everyone and spend some time together.

Gladstone's Brunch

Nema and Olivia were in town, and although they had a packed schedule we managed to meet up with them for Brunch this past weekend. Nema was craving a seafood, specifically lobster, brunch so we eventually ended up at Gladstone's. And by eventually, we mean an hour late because the LA Marathon decided to end its course right at the Santa Monica pier, making traffic on the 10 a nightmare. Leave it to Nema to head into Santa Monica as well and it was a disaster of epic proportions.

Meanwhile Mahina and I spent some time at the beach enjoying the ocean and relaxing; this also gave Mahina plenty of time to spew of comments about bicyclists hogging the road, valet attendants high-fiving each other and the general inept driving skills of Malibu's elite.

We all made it to Gladstone's where the four of us were also joined by Nema's cousin Payam and his girlfriend Maritza (Nema correct our spelling on this). We all settled into our booth and enjoyed a great seafood breakfast over watermelon mojitos and drinks. On a side note, Nema and Payam also managed to bring my phone back from the dead after Mahina broke it taking this picture of the beach, I'm glad to say it's alive and well again. It was a great meal and a laid back atmosphere at Gladstone's which made for a really nice brunch.

The Green and Anuhea Concert

Some of my old friends and classmates from Kamehameha had just gone on tour across the mainland and were coming into Los Angeles to play at The Mint. Naturally, Lucas and I made sure that we attended so that I could be with "my people" and he could "get culture."

The Green includes core members JP Kennedy, Caleb Keolanui, Zion Thompson and Ikaika Antone.  Now these boys were no ordinary "opening act," since all four guys sing and two guys can play two instruments.  Their first album, "The Green" hit #3 on the Billboard Reggae charts.  They could have definitely had a concert that only starred themselves, but with Anuhea and The Green teaming up, it was nothing short of a awesome treat.  They started off the concert and from the first strum, never let the energy die down.

Anuhea is in the midst of launching her amazing and I'm sure long solo career.  Already after her first album, she is nominated for five Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, which are like the Grammy's of Hawaiian and Local Music back in the islands.  Needless to say, she makes the whole island of Maui and the graduates of Kamehameha proud.

Thanks to Ikaika Sheehan, The Hawaiian Publicist and "The Guy that Has the Goods," we found out about the great concert and were able to pick up some gear while we were there.  Check out both of their websites that we linked for you for more information on their concert tour and their music.  You will truly not be disappointed!

Mahina's Birthday!!!

It was time to celebrate the joyous birth of Mahina again as she reached the last true milestone that comes with birthdays until the ripe young age of 65 and retirement come along. This year, our special day came a long in the middle of the week.

By virtue of that timing, what would ordinarily have been a birthDAY turned into a birthWEEK, which of course meant there was plenty of celebrating and the constant reminder that "hey, it's my birthday week!" We had a lot of fun though. Mahina finally picked up a dutch oven as part of her birthday gift from her Mom that she has been craving and has already put it to good use. We also started looking around for a beach cruiser that Mahina could take Duke bike riding with. To be clear though, Duke wouldn't be running alongside the beach cruiser, rather he'd be perched right inside a little basket going along for the ride. Sissy.

For her birthday dinner, we went to Benihana's in Beverly Hills and had a great meal. Our chef though wasn't as animated as most of the Chef's, but he made up for it with some great cooking. We had a great time and headed back home to celebrate with the dogs, who also enjoyed mom's birthday since they got to eat the leftover Benihana's for their dinner.  Tough life they live.