Adventures: Hawaii 2014 - Oahu Day 3

Day 3 on Oahu was just our shopping day but we cant forget about the most important meal of the day: breakfast! We had made reservations at Ama Ama where we got desserts on the Mouse thanks to Tanya's cousin. As always the food was delicious. Their fried rice and the Strawberry Velvet Pancakes were so freaking good. And that's actually saying a lot because I don't usually like red velvet anything because it's too sweet. But this Strawberry Velvet was just the right amount of sweet.

strawberry velvet pancakes - BOMB DOT COM

two egg breakfast with fried rice instead of potatoes

dessert plate on the mouse!

After breakfast, one of the things I wanted to see in Hawaii that I hadn't seen before were sea turtles. The Ko'olina Lagoon actually had a sign saying that sea turtles do tend to beach themselves there and Tanya had seen them there before so we decided to head over.

turtles need their personal space

However, we forgot to check the tide report and it was low tide so the turtles wouldn't be able to make it over the reef.

We did some reef walking which was super scary because it's EXTRA slippery. It's literally like walking on ice if you don't have the proper footware.

After looking for fishies, we walked to Island Vintage Coffee again and got our usual. We then proceeded to visit the hammerhead sharks and sting rays at the JW Marriott hotel.

i was obsessed with these cardinals lol. they look so cute!

After that we had a decent amount of time left so we decided to finally make use of the lazy pool. No footage from lazy pooling this time because my waterproof camera was out of juice but there's a lot of footage from my 2013 Hawaii Vlog if you're interested.

After some swimming, it was time to head into town where extensive damage was going to be done via credit card at Ala Moana. But first we grabbed some grub at Ono Seafood. This was the first time we had ever gotten a parking spot so I thought I'd document the occasion.

The first time I had Ono Seafood, I liked it but I wasn't super impressed but this time I was totally satisfied. I really like spicy food so last time I got the spicy ahi poke. The spicy ahi poke is very filling because the sauce is creamy and heavy. This time I went with what Tanya always gets (I believe it's the shoyo ahi poke) and it was delicious. It's got a bit of spicyness to it so don't fret if you're a lover of spicy food.

After grabbing the grub to go, we headed to Ala Moana where we sat and ate in the car (classy, we know lol). After grubbing, we did some serious damage. Pretty much bought all of Sephora and made my first Chanel purchase. Mischief managed majorly. Sephora post will be coming up soon (I was waiting for my package to arrive).

Happy Monday friends! 

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with your loved ones!

p.s. we've got some big news so I apologize in advance for a lack of posts! we'll pretty much be completely booked all thru December! I'll let you all in the good news as soon as we get everything finalized which should be very soon! Again, thank you all for reading and tagging along in this roller coaster life of ours :D. Love you all!

Adventures: Hawaii 2014 - Oahu Day 1

Finally back and settled into a regular routine so here's the first of a few posts from my most recent trip to Oahu and the Big Island.


First stop after landing is always a trip to Aiea Bowl for their tasty chicken. Noms.

After getting some grub, we headed to a few stores to grab some necessities for our trip at Walmart and then headed to Aulani. This was my second time staying at Aulani and I was very satisfied. My expectations were just as high as the first time and they were totally met. On arrival the hotel staff pretty much rushed to give us leis. When we arrived in our room, we found this towel Mickey head! This was not here the previous time so it was a nice surprise.

After doing some unpacking and vegging out, we headed out to the pool. I must say that you seriously can't take a bad picture anywhere on the premises. I swear the palm trees are strategically placed lol.

I absolutely love the infinity pools they have at Aulani. This one you see in the picture below is their kids pool but they actually also have an adults only (18 years and older) one too.

We were walking around and I saw this little guy.

Aulani is a great place for whether you want to be super bumming it or if you want to have an action-packed time. I was pretty tired from a day of travel and we were both ready to be total bums for the rest of the night so we ordered pizza from Pizza Corner right across the way (they actually deliver!) and went over to pick up these bad boys (see garlic rolls below). They were pretty bomb. Be very wary if you are on a romantic trip though 'cause your breath will stank. Anyways, going back to Aulani. They have a great little DVD rental place at the community center which is open until 8pm where you can rent 2 DVD's per day. They have a DVD player in the room for you all ready to go. These are mostly/all Disney movies (not just the cartoons but some newer ones as well). You can always just bring your own DVD's too. We usually watch stuff to fall asleep so on this first night we ended up watching The Proposal. Love Sandra Bullock in that movie!

And that concludes my first day in Oahu! Day 2 was our day for 3 hikes and 

Day 3 was our shopping day! Stay tuned for those posts and our Big Island posts!

note: most of the pictures taken on this trip were taken with a Sony Mark III which unfortunately was stolen on my way back to San Diego. I was lucky enough to have transferred all my pictures onto my computer beforehand. So I would advise to keep a close eye on your belongings because this was a very expensive lesson to learn :/. Plus it was actually my birthday and Christmas present combined so it was quite a heart-wrenching loss. 

March 2014: Month in Review Part 2

Mar. 15: Hiking at Torrey Pines

Whenever we wake up early on the weekends we spend the mornings thinking about 2 things: where to hike and where to brunch. One of the more talked about hikes in San Diego is the Torrey Pines hike just because it showcases some of the best that San Diego has to offer. The hike offers some of the most amazing views and even lands you at the beach if you choose to go that direction. There is a path where you can actually hike down to the beach depending on whether it is low tide or high tide and then walk along the beach back to where the hike begins. There are also multiple paths so even if you've been once before, there are plenty of other trails you can try out. 

hiking down to the beach
(amazing what a few vsco cam filters can do huh? lol)

cool railings they have. just a few steps down and you're at the beach!

After the hike it was time to decide where to eat. We decided on this place in Del Mar called Stratford Court Cafe. It wasn't anything to write home about but it was decent.

Later on that night we met up with some friends that just came back from Hawaii. They were craving some shave ice so we went to this one place in Tierrasanta called Sunset Ice Shack. Considering this place has 5-stars, I was not impressed. Honestly they have some cool names for their products but they taste weird! Meh. Nothing beats having simple flavors in Hawaii.

Mar. 16th:
There's something about chain restaurants that I freaking love. First off, I love Cheesecake Factory and people think I'm weird but honestly their stuff is delicious. One of my favorite chains that I've discovered in San Diego is Sammy's Woodfired Pizza. OMG. Take a look at this Truffle Mushroom pizza *drools*. It was absolutely DELICIOUS. We opted for a light meal since we were about to head over to Tony's grandmother's house for their annual St. Patty's day celebration so we got the Spicy Thai Grilled Chicken Salad. Both dishes were delicious.

Mar. 18th:
After work, the man came by and picked me up for some happy hour at Whisknladle. I've been there before with some of my friends from LA when they visited but the man has never been. We weren't that hungry but we ordered the Spicy Fried Chicken Wings (a little disappointed with the portion size on that one.. see picture below), bacon wrapped dates, as well as the Bone Marrow from their regular menu. Their bone marrow was super good as usual and the dates were good as well. I opted for the white wine sangria and Tony got the bartender's choice.

bacon wrapped dates

bone marrow

spicy fried chicken wings

Mar. 22nd: Kings of Leon

A few day before the 22nd, I was mulling over whether or not to get tickets for the Kings of Leon concert. I've wanted to see them in concert forever but I wanted to see them at one of the festivals. Coachella line-up came and went, Bonnaroo line-up came and went and still no sign of Kings of Leon (this was before the Lollapolooza line up was announced...) so I decided to just go for it and look for some lawn seats for the concert. I wasn't too hopeful that there would be anything left since it was literally 2 days before the concert but I just went for "Best Available". Lo and behold I found orchestra seats in the 6th row. I nabbed them right away and was so glad I did. I think just seeing them play Closer was enough to put me over. Eargasms for sure.

Mar. 27th:
The man's birthday dinner at Fogo de Chao. I actually wasn't too impressed. I think my favorite cut of meat was the top sirloin.

Mar. 28th:
Birthday celebration continues at Blue Water Seafood Market and Grill. I swear every time I come here I am not disappointed. Despite the long lines, their portion sizes and delicious food make up for it. I'll have to say that the prices are a tad high but I'm willing to pay for the tastiness.

Mar. 29th:
And even more birthday celebrations. Late lunch at Cucina Enoteca. Extremely delicious.

And that concludes March! Happy Friday everyone!