The Best Christmas…Gift
The best Christmas gift received in 2014 has to be this “piggy” bank. Watch the sneaky panda steal your coins!
Life
Surge on Christmas Eve
No better way to kick off Christmas than with a Surge, the drink and a boost in blog stats.
Target Kailua on Target
The new Target location in Kailua is slowly coming together. I had a hidden hope that the store would be ready by year’s end, but there’s still a lot of work to be done. But the store is shaping up and looks on target to open in March of 2015.
The bonus part? The interior lights are working and during the evenings, you can see an illuminated green mermaid logo in the window of Target. Yep, there’s a Starbucks inside of the store which is across the street from Starbucks.
Anyone got the ins with Target? I wouldn’t mind taking a tour of the work in progress or attending a soft opening. 😉
Look Out Below!!
File this one under abunai. While at the Super Pool of the Hilton Hawaiian Village, there was a crack of glass as a beer bottle fell from the overhead tower. Not sure how high up the bottle fell from, but it did make contact with a guest, causing a gash on the back of his head. Amazingly the guest looked coherent but stunned by the event. At first, there was no blood, but soon enough streams started coming down from his wound.
Security and the hotel staff came quickly to tend to the injured guest and cordoned off the area due to shards of brown glass scattered about. Soon after, the police and EMTs arrived, taking the guest away in a neck immobilizer. Hopefully, this was for precautionary measure with no lasting injuries.
No Zippys in Kailua in the New Year
The new year of 2015 in Kailua will be one without Zippys. This local staple is temporarily closing its doors for renovations for 6 months starting after the holidays. So if you got some benefit chili tickets, be sure to redeem them soon otherwise you have to go elsewhere for your pickup.
Maybe President Obama should stop by while he’s in town? Who knew the POTUS likes the Zip Min?
Waimanalo Christmas Parade 2014
I’ll let you in on a little holiday secret. For all the Christmas parades that happen around Oahu, the Waimanalo Christmas parade is probably the most authentic and unique event of them all. It’s definitely not the biggest or flashiest nor are there local celebrities (except for an unexpected visit by Nainoa Thompson) walking the route. But you’ll see some interesting local kine sights.
The Waimanalo Feed Supply store is a marquee of the parade procession, and this year along with sweet treats, there were goodies for the canines on Santa’s Nice List.
Horseback riders strolling through the neighborhood community? Only in ‘Nalo.
The fans and the families lined Kalanianaole Highway ready for the show.
The Kailua High School marching band led the way.
But not to worry, order was maintained with the presence of the Bellows Air Force Station security forces. No matter if their vehicles were “holidazzled.”
Who else was out there watching the show? The kupuna, the dogs, a pig, a drone, kids, custom bike riders, new families, and let’s not forget the amped up golf carts.
You just don’t see hats like this anymore…
Although the clouds drizzled down occasional Hawaiian snow, the event was mostly dry unless you were by these guys.
Waimanalo is as Waimanalo is, and there are tractors and trailers, and the Research Station is still going strong.
But they may have been distracted by the offer of lilikoi butter!
Smiles all around.
Then the rolling thunder of the big rigs.
Horns don’t get tired I guess. My personal favorite had to be this crew.
Yeah you!
Brought to you by Ride Safe Hawaii.
Just don’t mind that most of the riders are not wearing protective safety gear. This is the way of Waimanalo.
Santa’s elves roll in these semis I think.
See, there’s one now driving this massive truck with bystanders and kids lining the roadway, just a few feet on each side.
Hydroseeding provided the live music welcoming Santa Claus himself.
Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas compliments of Waimanalo!
Check out even more pictures from the Waimanalo Christmas Parade 2014.
If You Don’t Enter, You Can’t Win
That’s a simple lesson in life, but it’s so true. If you don’t enter, you can’t win. In the case of this raffle at Foot Locker Ala Moana aka the House of Hoops, you need to enter in order to get a chance at purchasing the upcoming Air Jordan 11 Legend Blue. Yes, these Carolina-colorway kicks are in high demand so the raffle figures out who can give Nike and Foot Locker $150-200 for these vintage kicks.
Since I happened to be there, you know I had to enter just because.
If you entered the raffle but weren’t chosen, there’s some nice Adidas Fluxes you can buy for consolation.
I wonder if these tall Asian ballers entered the raffle?
Starbucks for Life. I Won…
…a Peppermint Brownie Cake Pop. Nope, not the free Starbucks for Life grand prize. Seems like every Starbucks Rewards member got a free code, but I didn’t win. My win came from an iced coffee purchase and entering in the long code on the bottom of the receipt.
Playing this contest is kinda weird. First you go to the Starbucks Play site. Then you enter in a long, long code (or copy & paste from an email). Then you have to answer a CAPTCHA-like question.
Getting past this CAPTCHA on a mobile device, you then erase the glitter to see what’s underneath. On mobile Safari, don’t get too excited with your swipes and trigger a back swipe in the browser.
Most times, you’ll see the consolation entry for a chance at the Starbucks for Life giveaway. Hopefully, you do see a prize or two (like a cake pop) come your way.
Up to two entries per day, and I don’t know if the codes expire at the end of the day, meaning be sure to enter your codes right away. You can also request a code without making a purchase. Good luck!
Starbucks January Free Refill Tumblers Are Here
Yes, Starbucks is doing another free-coffee-refills-in-January tumbler, and yes, they are now available in Hawaii. There seemed to be a slight delay in Hawaii, but the special $30 tumblers did release over the Thanksgiving weekend. You may have to try different locations, but when you find them, you may find a lot of them.
The small location in Enchanted Lakes, Kailua, had an entire basket of these available. Check out the Starbucks Melody blog post about the restrictions and limitations of this tumbler.
I Must Be Slipping
I pretty much don’t have pictures from Black Friday at Ala Moana. Maybe it’s because I didn’t have any caffeine coursing through my veins not wanting to wait in this ridiculously long line at Starbucks Macy’s.
Consumed by Hearthstone
Ooops, sorry, posting here has been light over the past week since I’ve been consumed with Hearthstone. Made by Blizzard, this game is just too addictive.
Surge, It’s Been a Long Time
It’s been a long time since my last drink of Surge. Discontinued in the early 2000’s, Surge is now back (at least temporarily) for that retro caffeine kick with the OG recipe. It’s not a reboot or a new flavor. This is straight up Surge.
After 14 years, Surge is more fizzy than I remember. It’s still loaded with sugar, and it still uses the it’s-so-ugly-it’s-glorious logo in green and red. Yup, nostalgia is worth 230 calories.