Fun with Polish: Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Girl Flower

Looks like my nails are ready for New Years! Happy new year, everyone!

Sally Hansen Salon Effects in Girl Flower - $9.99 at CVS

Christmas in Dallas

We went to visit my sister and brother-in-law outside of Dallas this year to celebrate Christmas. This is what we saw/ate: 

Lights synced to music at Frisco Square

A Christmas tree outside of Frisco City Hall

Puffy tacos at Posado's! I have never seen these things outside of Texas

Christmas morning at my sister's house

ICE! at the Gaylord Texan. This year's theme was Shrek the Halls

Some crazy kids decided to go snow tubing

 

We visited Gingy's house!

Christmas decorations at the Gaylord Texan

Korean barbecue at Omi, followed by bubble tea, followed by karaoke

Went to my first Texas steakhouse. III Forks. Amazing service and old school style food

The rest of the trip included exploring my sister's toy museum, watching movies, lots of good conversation, more desserts than are necessary, many children everywhere you go, and Jean Paul Gaultier at the Dallas Museum of Art. 

Good times!

Posado's
9506 State Highway 121
Frisco, TX 75035

Gaylord Texan
1501 Gaylord Trail
Grapevine, TX 76051

Omi
2625 Old Denton Road, Suite 326
Carrollton, TX 75007

III Forks
17776 Dallas Parkway
Dallas, TX 75287

Honeymoon in Hawaii (part five): Among the trees

I tried to include this in my last Hawaii post but it was getting unwieldy. We stayed at the Mahinui Treehouse for two nights to coincide with our visit to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The treehouse is about five minutes away from the park entrance. On top of that, this is by far the most special place that I have ever stayed in. My sister sent me a link from TripAdvisor for the treehouse and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to book it. It was romantic, thoughtfully designed and a little inspiring in terms of the eco-friendly aspects of the place.

The treehouse is actually located on a residential road but somehow you are also in the middle of the rainforest. There is a driveway where you can park. On the driveway, these is also a tent that contains the generator and headlamps and backpacks that the owner provides. You have to unpack your luggage and transfer it to the backpacks because it is impossible to take any suitcases or large bags up to the treehouse. At the end of the driveway is also a moongate that leads you into the forest and towards the house. 

A moongate welcomes you to the treehouse

After a short walk through the rainforest,
this ladder leads to the house

This beautifully carved door is the first thing you see at the top of the ladder.

Main entrance to the treehouse

Hot tub and porch with an outdoor eating area

It rained every night so we weren't able to make use of the outdoor dining area but we still used the hot tub briefly every night until we couldn't take the cold or wetness anymore.

There was a small kitchen where we were able to prepare breakfast.

You'll notice there is beautiful stained glass window around the house as well. 

This small fireplace did wonders in warming up the whole treehouse. 

After our hikes, we used this outdoor bamboo shower. Unfortunately, these showers also took place at night when it was raining so it was a tad cold. 

A ladder leads you up to the bedroom. 

The bedroom also had beautiful stained glass in it.

I loved staying at Mahinui. It was such a unique experience and I found the treehouse to be absolutely beautiful. It also made use of the space that was available to create a comfortable and homey vacation spot. 

Honeymoon in Hawaii (part four): A volcano

We ended our very short jaunt to Maui and headed to Hilo on the Big Island on Monday morning. We decided to have a little fun so we upgraded our rental car to a Mustang convertible. I actually wasn't really on board with renting the Mustang because to me a car is a car, but I was oh so wrong. It was so much fun to drive. 

We stopped at Ocean Sushi for lunch. Usually, affordable and sushi are a scary combination, but I thought the food was pretty decent. Of course, I ordered the simplest things, which, in my opinion, are the best types of sushi. 

Ocean Sushi in Hilo

Sushi roll with tuna, avocado and tobiko and chirashi bowl

Hilo is the largest city on the Big Island but I found it to be extremely quiet and thought that it felt like a  small town. Hilo is one of the wettest cities in the world and that is supposed to be what makes the buildings look older than they really are.

Hilo shops

After lunch, we headed to Volcanoes National Park for a half day before we needed to check into our treehouse. We started at Kilauea Visitor Center and drove up Crater Rim Drive to the Jaggar Museum. The road past the museum has been closed for some time.

Our first stop was Caldera Overlook. To get to it, walk across the street from the visitors center and past the Volcano House, which was also closed. There is a great view of Kilauea Caldera and Halema'uma'u Crater. This overlook is not that well-visited and there was only one other group of people when we were there.

Steam coming from Halema'uma'u Crater

We got back on the rode and stopped at the steam vents. There is a man-made steam hole in the parking lot that has a gate around it, but if you walk a couple of minutes away from the parking lot and towards the crater, you can see natural steam vents and a view of Kilauea Crater. 

Steam vents

The rest of the drive along Crater Rim Drive was painful because there was roadwork going on and traffic was flowing one way at a time. Once we finally arrived at the Jaggar Museum, we were treated to this view of  Halema'uma'u Crater.

Halema'uma'u Crater from the Jaggar Museum

The Jaggar Museum offered some informational exhibits on Pele and different types of lava flow. We had to back track along Crater Rim Drive and past to park entrance to come to Pu'u Pua'i Overlook to see the hiking trail that we had planned for the next day. A roughly 3 mile hike along the crater floor. 

View of Kilauea Iki from Pu'u Pua'i Overlook

We still had some time left in our day so we continued on and completed the short Devastation Trail, which is exactly what it name suggests. The half mile trail takes you from forest to tephra and back to forest. The contrast is so stark but beautiful at the same time. 

Forest begins Devastation Trail

The landscape becomes more barren...

Until nothingness

But then you can see forest on the other side

And there is life again.

We still had some more time in the day so we decided to stop by the Thurston Lava Tubes. As we pulled up to the parking lot, we saw Matt's dad, stepmother and brother in the parking lot too! So we took a short stroll with them through the lava tubes. I was actually very disappointed in the lava tubes because I was expecting this to be one of the highlights of the volcano. I had read that there was an unlighted portion of the lava tube that you can walk through to see pitch blackness, but that portion was behind a locked gate. I'm not sure how long that section has been closed, but it was a big bummer for me. We split up with Matt's family and went to check-in to our treehouse. 

Ocean Sushi

250 Keawe Street

Hilo, HI

Honeymoon in Hawaii (part three): Luau time!

Our last day on Maui started with a going away champagne brunch with all of our guests at Tiki Terrace at the Kaanapali Beach Hotel.

Tiki statue at Kaanapali Beach Hotel

After saying our goodbyes to most of our guests, we headed to Lahaina Town to explore with Rebecca and Chris, my sister and brother-in-law. Our first stop was to the drug store to pick up some essentials like Spam-flavored mac nuts. Just kidding, we didn't buy these. 

One of the highlights of Lahaina Town is the banyan tree. This tree is over 130 years old and now is 60 feet tall and has 12 major trunks. It provides shade for a large area and is a nice gathering place.

Banyan tree in Lahaina Town

We spent the rest of the time looking at old architecture, snacking and souvenir shopping.

Lahaina Town

I had my first taste of real Hawaiian shave ice at Annie's. I chose the "Pacific" which has mango, passion fruit, and guava.

Shave ice from Annie's Island Shave Ice

We did some un-fun things that afternoon like shipping things back to DC, doing laundry and checking into our next hotel.

That evening, we joined my parents, brother, aunt and cousin at Old Lahaina Luau. To be honest, the whole set-up had a Disneyland vibe with the millions of workers and buffet line, but I really thought the presentation of the hula was quite beautiful. 

Entrance to Old Lahaina Luau

Upon arrival, you are welcomed with a lei greeting and shown to your table. If you arrive early, you have time to wander around the grounds, get boozed up and do some crafts. Here is my mother and me making fresh plumeria hair clips. They smelled like heaven!

Making plumeria clips

With our finished hair clips

At a designated time, everyone gathers around the imu pit to see the uncovering of a whole pig that will be served for dinner.

There's a piggie in there

Unveiling of the kalua pig

Prior to dinner, we also got to watch another Hawaiian sunset.

Old Lahaina Luau at sunset

Next up, lining up in the buffet line with get mass-produced food! I'm exaggerating a little. The whole production was extremely organized and there really wasn't any waiting in line, but I didn't think the food was all that great.

Food from Old Lahaina Luau

Finally was the main event. The dancers presented a variety of traditional hula dances. Old Lahaina Luau is said to be the most authentic luau on Maui, which is the reason why I wanted to go here. I, of course, don't have anything to compare it to but I found it to be very tasteful and well done. Plus, there wasn't any dreaded audience participation! Another thing I enjoyed was that they took you through the various different forms that the hula took throughout history and we also got to see a variety of different tempos, dances and costumes that were used.

Dancer at Old Lahaina Luau

Dessert tray at Old Lahaina Luau

Dancers at Old Lahaina Luau

We said goodbye to my family for the rest of our trip. Our next stop...the Big Island!

Annie's Island Shave Ice

113 Prison Street

Lahaina, HI 96761

Old Lahaina Luau

1251 Front Street

Lahaina, HI 96761