Sunday, October 21, 2012

Oye.. Another monthly update...

Aloha peeps.. many apologies, yet again for the delay in my posts. What can I say.. just toooo busy these days. :/  That's ok though.. I can't wait to share all the fun stuff I've been doing... here we go:

These were some atriums that were going to be thrown away after the CAH Gala.. I asked if I could take them and hand it out to the elderly - at least it would be appreciated rather than wasted.. they said yes. I brought them home and it turns out my 80+ yr old neighbor was headed to a 90 year old's bday party at a nursing home the next day, she took all 9  atriums and gave it out at the event - everyone was happy. :)

Over 40 Orchid leis were left over from the event that would've been tossed as well.. they gave them to me so my group and I could commit random acts of kindness and hand them out to strangers the next day.  It was a fun walking through the streets of Waikiki, handing them out at bus stops and inside busses. :)

The Hawaii Street Festival in Waikiki - hoards and hoards of people everywhere you can see. :)

Kelly and I went to go explore the local outdoor shooting range on "hunting and fishing day" the range was free.. but apparently not. We weren't able to shoot. :/  Unlike California where we can rent guns, in Hawaii, you have to own a gun to shoot it at the range.

Target Practice - someday that'll be me
Mediations on the beach, practically every Sunday - life is soooooo good! :)

At meditation, every week, I bring a veggie dish to share with those who come to meditation.  This week I made "kichidi", fresh tomato/cucumber salad and "emli ki chutney" which is the tamarind sauce you see drizzled on top. Ono!

View from my boss's office at the law firm - I no longer work there - 10/5 was my last day. I finally work for 2 non-profits.. no more legal field. Really happy!

An Ice Breaker gift I picked up from the Make-A-Wish headquarters for my interview with a new Make-A-Wish kid at Tripler Hospital. She a 9 yr old who wishes to go to disneyworld and meet cinderella :)

My dear friend Smita flew in from Maui to attend the Art-After-Dark event at the Hon Arts Museum. Here she's with me at the Make-A-Wish Headquarter's office hugging the main character from Monsters, Inc.

I was gifted with a delicious Karma Tiffin gift from Smita when she arrived. She made kichidi at home and brought it to Oahu for us to share. A lovely gift which I shared with the meditation group on Sunday :)

Art-After-Dark was all about the Bhangra Beats - the museum hosted DJ Rekha from New York of Basement Bhangra fame. It was an awesome night. Here Smita is giving a bhangra lesson before the event begins.
In this pic, the awesome Dholi is Malinder Tooray of DholNation in the forefront and DJ Rekha working her magic in the back.

Every year since DJ Rekha has been coming, the museum reaches its max capacity at her event.. everyone looks forward to this event and has a great time.

Smita and I had such a great time we had to go home and soak our feet in hot water and coconut oil. :) Totally worth it.

We were elated to find out DJ Rekha would be performing another night. Yay!

As you can see - we were a mess.. we danced so much that our clothes are soaked. HA.. totally worth it.. I can't wait to organize another event and bring Malinder back.

This pic is of us at a community theatre event - we went to go see a documentary called "As goes Janesville".  The documentary was about a town in Wisconsin which relied upon a car factory for its source of jobs/livelihood.. so much so that when it closed down, the city practically came to a hault. What would happen if something happened in Hawaii's tourism.. what would we do?  Great discussion afterwards.

Also this month, our volunteer group went to learn more about the Affordable Housing and Homeless Alliance (AHHA).

After learning about the organization, my volunteers and I put together food kits and hygiene kits for the homeless. Good work team. :)

Making emli ki chutney (tamarind sauce)

And veggie samosas for my co-workers on my last day of work at the lawfirm. Great group of people - I will really miss them.  The smaller bundle below is for a cute lil 60-yr old Filipino uncle who parked my day everyday at the garage.. whenever I would drive up he would start dancing to the bhangra music blasting from my car. :)

My awesome roomie and I at the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer 5 mile walk.  The very first "walk" I've ever done in my life.. we started after 7 and finished by 830. I was surprised with my time.. in highschool I did 30 min miles! :)

Such a privilege to be part of the Making Strides community


My roomie and I at the Hon Arts Museum - Bhangra Night. :)

Oooo la la.. A pic of me (a total mess.. dancing on the grass - bare foot and had to roll up my pants - but did I care? NO! I had a blast finally dancing to some great music here on the island. :)) with my friends and DJ Rekha and Malinder Tooray :D

The week after DJ Rekha, we had another treat.. the Delhi 2 Dublin crew came to town. Got to take a pic with them.. I'm soooooooooo in love with the Dholi - Ravi, who's in the black shirt next to me *sigh*

My writing on the top right there says "Why can't I ever win anything awesome, like the lotto??" :)
Just this past week, my volunteers joined me at Dave N Busters to help surprise my wish kid for his send-off party to Rome - he's going to meet the Pope! :)


My awesome Roomie and I.

Kristen's friends, family, RAOK volunteers and the patrons of D&B who wanted to be in on the action! :)

The surprise was a success.. :)
Though Kristen was excited and beyond happy - he really was quite calm and I was running around being so excited.. It reminded me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkuBv2tOo2U