ACCESORICE: Back Home in Hawaii Post One

(image courtesy of http://wallpapersforyou.info)
Hey kiddies, long time no talk. Well, my trip back home to Oahu, Hawaii was very short-lived. (July 11-July 29, 2010) *cries and sighs* As much as I'm thankful of living in California, there is no place like home (in Hawaii). If I could, I would definitely move back home, but my goals in school can't be accomplished back there, so for now I would just have to settle with my vacations home until I do finish school (in about 5 years or so..) Anyway, I will never take living in Hawaii for granted ever again - I guess you only realize how much the place means to you until you leave it. But enough whining, time to blog about my trip.

Arrival

So we arrived around 11am at Honolulu International Airport greeted by my bf's family - his mom & dad, and his two sisters with their kids who just arrived 2 days earlier (one sister lives in Okinawa, Japan, and the other lives in Houston Texas). Since we stayed up the night before and didn't have any sleep on the plane, I'd rather not show any pictures of myself at this point.

Zippy's

Kapolei Zippys and menu image from here
Right after picking us up, we decided to head over to Zippy's in Kapolei which is where we met my brother & mom. Zippy's is a very popular restaurant chain in Hawaii favored by the locals and tourists alike. Zippy's serves a mix of hawaiian food, island food & local food. Some popular favorites might be the chili / fried chicken mixed plate, saimin, or zip pac (bento of fried chicken, teri beef, hoku (fish filet), and fried spam with white rice and furikake on top). There are zippy's restaurants all over Oahu, and I remember going to Zippy's after a long night of dancing at the clubs with friends. (Some Zippy's are open past midnight). However, on this trip, this was the only time I got to eat there ;_; I was so hungry & excited about finally eating here that I only took a picture after I was packing the leftovers. This time, I skipped the typical favorites & had the oxtail soup with white rice which I shared with my mom. Very delicious and feeling, definitely comfort food - it was great with the ginger.

After we ate, we headed over to my bf's parent's house, where we hung out for a bit and then we went to church (church that my bf grew up in) with my bf's mom & family (omg, by this time ~ I was almost ready to pass out but service can't be missed as far as ian's mom is concerned; my mom is the same way). Anyway, my bf performed before the service started, he sang a tribute song to his grandpa who recently passed away (he sang, "Yesterday" by The Beatles) Ian's mom and sister's were tearing up, it was very moving. Anyway, we headed back to Ian's house, and then finally I left in the late evening with my mom and brother to sleep. (I stayed at my mom's house most of the trip)

The next day, I finally got to meet up with my BFF Juvy! When I moved to California last August 2009, I cried because we just started becoming close and hanging out again, along with my other friend Lani (we three called ourselves Feel Enjoy). Anyway, I was so happy to be reunited with her again, even though unfortunately, Lani moved to Alabama 3 days earlier before I arrived so I wasn't able to see her again. ;_; But I was so glad to see Juvy again! It was a Pinklovesoxygen reunion! :) (for more on pinklovesoxygen, please read Juvy's blog post here. Anyway, she came over to my mom's place where my mom cooked some of her homemade food which we ate until our high waist shorts couldn't fit, and afterwards we watched "The Beatles First US Visit" while sipping on some Sakura black tea (which I got from Shirokiya). It was very relaxing and fun to catch up in person (even though we talked almost everyday on skype when I moved).

Please don't mind my large arm, I gained about 10lbs ;_;

Then we got ready to leave

to go take purikura & go to Ala Moana Shopping Center. It was very humid that day, and the a/c was broken in my mom's room, so I decided to try Juvy's oil blotting paper.. needless to say, the swear and oils went right through when I placed it on my sweaty nose (see picture above). I know it's gross, but I was so fascinated by this oil blotting paper, and it worked wonders for my face (the ones that I've tried previously always had powder on it, which i did not like) that Juvy had to document my fascination. In case you were wondering what oil blotting paper it was, it was called Hakugen, Sweat & Oil Film, and I highly recommend it. You can get it from sasa.com : here. Great to keep in your purse for those hot & humid days!

Fun Pix Purikura

So we ventured over to town to take purikura at Hawaii's first purikura place, called Funpix. They actually opened a couple months right after I moved to California, so this was the first time in a long time that I finally got to take purikura with Juvy (the last time was when we visited California and went to Japantown in 2006). So, if you are ever in Honolulu, Hawaii, be sure to stop by, I recently heard that they're getting a new Rilakkuma & Mickeymouse purikura machine (wahhh, why couldn't they have opened it when I was visiting?) Their address is: Ste 101, 1750 Kalakaua Avenue, Honolulu, HI 96826-3756

Awkward pose by me, Cute pose by Juvy. It's funny because we both wore our high-waisted shorts that day. If I could change my outfit, I would, I'd pair it with a cute tube top instead of my t-shirt. Oh well...Anyway, here is some of the purikura we took that day:

Don Quijote & Shirokiya

image from here
After purikura, we headed over to Don Quijote (also called Donki in Japan) on Kaheka St. by Ala Moana shopping center, where we spotted some Dollywink eyelashes for sale (again, why do they decide to start selling these until after I move?) >_<

They also had lots of japanese beauty products (the product on the right kind of reminds me of Pringles chips, don't you think?), I wouldn't be surprised later on if they started selling fake deco nails & cute gyaru clothes just like the Donki stores in Japan. (Although they already have a japanese nail salon right inside when you walk in Don Quijote).

Right outside Don Quijote was a row of fast food restaurants, and one of them sold Taiyaki. I was in a meat & salty food kind of mood, so instead of getting the Azuki Bean Taiyaki which I used to get, I got the ham & cheese one.. It was pretty good.

Afterwards, we headed over to Shirokiya (japanese department store) at Ala Moana Shopping Center (one of the biggest outdoor malls in the world), where I proceeded to eat some more.

Ala Moana Shopping Center - image from here

Shirokiya - image from here
They have a food court upstairs (2nd floor) also, and sell all kinds of food like fresh takoyaki (my fave! unfortunately, the takoyaki stand was already closed), and bento lunches. Surprisingly, they also had korean sushi which I haven't ate in ages, so I ate some as well. Yes, the first full day back and I started indulging myself.

Eating taiyaki outside Don Quijote / eating korean sushi at Shirokiya

I love this picture of Juvy while we were sitting down in Shirokiya. She's so cute, no? By the way, this was all taken with her new camera, the Panasonic DMC-GF1. She ordered it from Japan, I love it so much, I'm thinking of buying my own. Cutie Monica of cuterockmoni.blogspot.com also has one (that's how Juvy found out about it). So thanks Monica!

So before I get to mention, Shirokiya's 2nd floor was for the food court as well as beauty & bath products, but the first floor holds all the cute stuff, books & magazines, and electronics.

Cute little bears, I named them, Janis, Juvy, Lani & Monica. ^_^

Omg, these takoyaki figurines are the cutest! Since I'm a big fan of takoyaki, I wanted to get this, but I didn't. (I regret it now!) ;_;

We walked around Ala Moana Shopping Center for a bit before we decided to grab some macaroons before heading home. We got these at a lovely outdoor tea & dessert shop on the third floor of Ala Moana Shopping Center overlooking the center stage.

We got green tea and guava macaroons. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to taste the other delicious things on their menu, such as the mango tea sorbet, lychee sorbet, pineapple coconut rooibos tea, hawaiian cupcake, and delicious vegetarian sandwiches as some yelpers talk about here. Oh well, next time!