nalo farms.

when my parents were in town, i wanted to show them something they would really be interested and inspired by.  what better than to show them the farm where produce is locally grown.  so who did i call??  dean okimoto - mr. nalo farms.  he was very gracious and gave us a tour of his farm.

take a look at some of the produce he is growing...  so awesome.  we had

chef morimoto gave some tomato seeds to dean and so he's growing them for him.

shiso - japanese basil.  delicious with sashimi!

lahaina eggplant - cute huh?  i guess they don't get much bigger than that.

red cabbage

this here is amazing.  gobo - burdock.  they usually grow in the ground, but dean is doing an experiment and using slates, pipes and zip ties to grow them.

how clever right??

mini opal basil

nasturtium - edible flowers, the leaves are almost like watercress

lemongrass

mint

mizuna - salad green from japan

sage

mexican merigold mint

opal basil

dean is also making honey!

papaya tree.  my friends call me aya-papaya, but i really don't like papayas!  hahaha.

field of nalo greens!

me and my mama & papa under the coconut tree

dean even gave us a tour of their processing center.

this is where the nalo greens get washed and packed.  these are the greens were use to serve the nalo salad at the restaurant!

my hope is to take my staff on a field trip to nalo farms one day so we can all be more educated and knowledgeable about where our food comes from.  

in due time...

i LOVE my birthday!

it's my basudae again!!??  i swear i just finished celebrating my 25th birthday just a few months ago!!  .... wait, that's because i DID have a four month long 25th birthday celebration which ended with going to the lady gaga concert in august with mel-dogg.  i would never have thought i'd be bringing in my 26th year in hawaii though...  strange how life turns out yah??

i absolutely love my birthday!  it's just another excuse for me to have extra fun and do (buy) something nice for myself!  :)

what a way to bring in the morning of my birthday huh?  thanks robbyn for the cupcakes and rachel for the lei and balloon!!

no fo'get - it's my mother's birthday too.  we have the same birthday!  i was an amazing gift to her!  buahahahaa!

i worked on my birthday...  everyone asked me why, but why would i want to be off when all my friends are working?  i'd rather work and surround myself with the people who make me smile.  i did go to the shack after work for a little birthday shot - and this is evidence of what happens.  ;)

ever since i could remember, i've always wanted to go to birthday bash - birthday bash is a two night reggae concert that happens at the end of july.  i was never able to attend because i was always visiting at the end of june.  but NOW that i live here, i can!  i guess there's a "pre" birthday bash concert called mayjah rayjah.  the way my friend matt describes it, mayjah rayjah is the nfc playoffs and birthday bash is the superbowl of reggae concerts.  

the concert was held at the waikiki shell.  it was my first time there - it reminded me of the greek theatre in la.  this is a view from where we sat on the lawn.

that's christina and matt, with beer in their hand.  shocker.

this is us before it became a "major rager".

from left to right - anthony, joey, matt, kevin, todd and christina.

you know krizpin - he has and always be my concert buddy.  we've been going to concerts together since back in our san diego days.

this is at the end - everybody was feeling pretty good by then!

i was fortunate enough to take the weekend off for my birthday festivities.  saturday at the concert was so much fun.  i wanted sunday to be a mellow and relaxing day at the beach.

that's michelle to the left and kristina on the right.  michelle gave me the best gift ever - makapuu beach location.  she woke up early with me and helped secure the best spot ever!

take a look - makapuu beach.  amazing right?  john-wayne said he's done a lot of bbq's there but sunday was the most beautiful day.  :)  

here's some babies that came to play!  silly boys!

lucky me!

little rascal!

guess what came in this box?????

cuuuuute yah???  thank you ian & kristina!  kitty wasn't crying when they gave me the cake on friday!  i think she was too hot so she started to cry.  hahaaa.  as ian said, "it's my birthday and i'll cry if i want to!"  inside was red velvet cake - amazing!!!

kristina & sheila

looooove!

from left to right - michelle, kristina, reri (looking happy as ever!), sheila and jaclyn

thanks for spending the day with me!

i had yet another special and memorable birthday celebration.  looking back, i've had some fun fun fun birthday celebrations...  let's take a stroll down memory lane:

20th - party at my house in san diego

me and lauren.  never a dull moment.

yes, that is me doing a body shot (of cranberry juice) off of john konno's belly.

good times.

21st - tgif after work.

back in the day at la jolla.

i will NEVER forget my 21st - krizpin got me my first (and last) mind eraser shot.  i recall puking in the parking lot behind the bushes.  for that, i will never forgive krizpin..  but, we'll always get a great laugh about it!

22nd - some bar in san diego

lauren, drea and cristle (my sailormoon).  that's ivan in the background.

23th - laker game

lauren always made me funfetti cupcakes!  yummmee!

what better way to celebrate my birthday with great seats at the laker game!

24th - lucky strike

look - she made me cupcakes again!

24 wasn't really a good year - i was fat and ugly this year.  yuck.

25th - karaoke, taylor swift concert, dodger game AND lady gaga concert

karaoke:

i made journey's "don't stop believin'", MY song.

lovely roy's girls.

us with stu - the womanizer.  ;)

taylor swift concert:

thanks to steve joudi from aeg, i was able to get great seats at the taylor swift concert at the staples center.

of course, i took gina with me!

lunch at la market:

edgie & denise took me to an amazing lunch at la market at the jw marriott.

we enjoyed this AMAZING dessert platter - SOOO good.

dodger game to meet my fav, andre ethier #16:

thanks mel-dogg for the best looking cupcakes ever!

pre-game party at ciudad

my stu-bu made this all possible for me.  his gift to me was to take me and a friend onto the field and enjoy a game.  but he knew damn well that i wasn't going to be able to choose a friend, so he let me take four friends instead!

my dream come true.

i am now complete.

xoxo.

it didn't stop there!  mel-dogg took me to see lady gaga in concert!  i wore black, sequin leggings just for the concert!  amazing!

you know what i realized?  i've been fortunate and blessed to celebrate my birthdays with friends that are very special and close to my heart till this day.  thank you for being a part of my life.

here's to a great twenty-SEX year!  ;)