About a month ago, the Maritime Museum started to dismantle the historic Falls of Clyde. It didn’t seem real at the time, even though we can see it happening every day right outside our window.  Here’s what it looked like as of yesterday.

All right, it’s time to tell you how to win that fitness makeover.  You know how I have been talking about First Fashion Friday coming up on August 1?  Well, to kick off the events, the Hawaii Athletic Club in Aloha Tower Marketplace is offering a free fitness makeover to a lucky participant.

Interested makeover candidates should email info@alohatower.com with a photo and a short narrative on why they should win the fitness makeover by July 30. Finalists will be selected before August 1; the winner will undergo a fitness program until the finale on October 3.

You can also listen to KQMQ to call in to win, but I think this is harder to achieve! In any case, you’ll be doing a fitness makeover like their DJs: Today, Miss Chanel joined the challenge along with me and Chris Hughes.  As you can see, they have different fitness goals, and we figure you do, too.

I cannot stress enough that whoever wins this, has to stick with the program or it won’t work!

Even if you don’t try to enter to win the makeover, come to our free events anyway! The first one is on August 1 at 6 p.m. Learn fashion and beauty tips from a panel comprised of Alyson Helwagen of LeiChic.com and celebrity stylist Crystal Pancipanci; and a fashion show presented by Shane Takeshita of iCandi Hawaii.

Be watching www.alohatower.com/fff.html to see what direction our online magazine takes you this year! All right, time to go shop.

After all the carbs I had Saturday, I needed to make an amends with my body. Thank goodness, we do our long runs on Sunday, so I ran for a little over two hours in the Ala Moana/Kakaako to Aloha Tower Marketplace area.  As I wandered the parking lot in a daze, classmates David Kansaku and Kyle Unten (who had run Tantalus) pointed me toward the water. Our other running friends, Burt, Muriel, Rex, and Kat, had discovered a free longboard paddling demo by Tropical Blends. (Maile and Val came later.) 

You’ve surely seen this phenomenon out on calm waters: People standing on surfboards and paddling back & forth along the beach. You need to have good posture & balance and a good, strong core to do this well. According to longboard paddling champ Candice Appleby, women seem to take to this sport faster than men do because of their natural posture.

I wasn’t going to try it, because I am really really really NOT a water person, and am by no means athletic. I am just not into water sports, period. But then David said that this sport is a workout for your entire body—your quads, your butt, your arms, your abs. He has a friend who works out like us, but could not shed weight beyond a certain point. He took up longboard paddling, and managed to shed those last extra pounds. Well! That sounds like me and my poundage, so I thought I better give this free demo a try after all.  

I finally got to the water, with Rex helping me. Not sure why the Tropical Blends staff didn’t come along to add their two cents; maybe they thought Rex’s instruction would be enough. He was pretty good about making me be “one with the board” before standing up, and being specific about how & where to place my feet and focus my eyes.

As you can see, I managed to stand and I did manage to paddle toward the reef a bit. Once I started to move, I did feel more confident, even though the wind caused little waves to lap up and make the board wobble. A Tropical Blends staffer paddled past me and said, “Is that board working for you?” And all I could say was, “I don’t know! This is my first time and I’m so scared I’m about to pee in my pants!”

One thing I did not expect was how the wind affects you.  At one point, the wind was blowing and I was trying to paddle as best I could, but the board was not moving! I’m not sure what happened, if the wind picked up and caused a larger wave, or if I paddled too hard, or a combination of both, but in a split second I found myself falling off the board!

From there I had to figure out how to get back on the board without being able to touch bottom.  After some struggling, I managed to flop myself (think of the recent stinky whale carcass) onto the darn thing, and had to figure out how to get myself into a kneeling position, which would be even harder.  I did do it, but had to start paddling on my knees because I couldn’t figure out how to stand from there.

At that point, Rex had already started swimming out to me.  He coached me back onto my feet and served as my “outboard motor” as I attempted to paddle to shore.  It seemed like I would be doing OK, so he gave the board a little push to propel me, which of course caused me to topple backwards and back into the water!

I flopped myself back on the board and Rex decided we’d try to go tandem.  Bad idea.  We capsized yet AGAIN. This was not a good day for someone who does not dig water sports and relies heavily on hair products. Besides which, if you suddenly find yourself swallowing water three times, you start to wonder what the bacteria count is in those parts!

Val & Maile had a much easier time as the wind had died down by the time they started paddling. The verdict? I can honestly say it is a neat sport and probably more fun with more friends in the water. I don’t think I would do it again since I’m not a water sports kinda gal, but I think my running friends are all turned on to it.

One last note, I’m glad I was wearing my Kiss Me Mascara for this! (Remember my previous blogs on this?)  After running for two hours and falling into the ocean three times, my mascara still held up. I decided not to Photoshop my red eyes since that’s how they should really look after a dunking!

Tropical Blends Surf
907 South Queen Street
Honolulu, HI  96813
593-0211
www.tropicalblendsurf.com
(Free longboard demos are not offered on a regular basis; check with the store or website for the next one.) 

I was trying to teach Mari the art of retail therapy yesterday in baby steps. I took her to Ward Center to check out Red Pineapple, which was having a “Christmas in July” event.  I thought it would be a sale, but it was not quite. Cute stuff though.

Anyway, after toodling around Borders for a while, we got hungry, so we stopped in at Goma Tei Ramen and…..

Well. That alone tells you that Goma Tei must be the place to see and be seen. (Today I passed by and saw my nephew Jeff with his GF Loni, and our controller Aileen with her DH Dale.)

Anyway, we copied Yong & Christa and ordered the same tan tan ramens—vegetable, and wakame ($7.75). I wasn’t really sure if I would like a veggie ramen, especially since I’m not into soups, but this was exceptional. Since the ramen is from Sun Noodle, it is just the right chewy consistency. They aren’t chintzy with the vegetables or wakame, either—it’s quite filling on its own and you never, ever run out of topping with your noodle. What really got me was the soup was exceptionally tasty. Remember, I’m not into soup…but this, I kept slurping up as if it were my last meal. It’s got just the right amount of spice that it doesn’t overpower the flavor of the food itself.

I was eyeballing Yong & Christa’s fried chicken, but alas….Mari really wanted to be healthy. So we ordered the Ban Ban Ji Chicken ($6.75). It’s basically a boiled chicken, served cold in slices over julienned cucumber and topped with a special sauce. I’m sure we did our bodies good by eating this over the fried chicken, but each piece was hit or miss.  Some pieces were dry and/or tough, some were very good. Since I had already been eating the very tasty ramen, the Ban Ban Ji Chicken’s effect on me was virtually wasted. I really didn’t sense any taste on my buds. Mari said the sauce was very good, though, so that shows you the different strokes for different folks.

Next time if I’m hungry, Yong highly recommends the ultimate treat/splurge is to order the Seafood Tan Tan ($10.50) because it has everything in it. Hmmm….at this blog posting, it’s almost time for dinner….. 

Goma Tei Ramen, Ward Center

Store Hours:
Mon - Sat 11am-9:30pm
Sun 11:30am-9:30pm

Phone:
591-9188

E-Mail:
gomateiramen@yahoo.com

Last night, the Public Relations Society of America - Hawaii Chapter had its annual Koa Anvil Awards at the Halekulani. Individuals and agencies were honored for outstanding programs and pieces created in 2007 for their companies and clients. (For a complete list of winners, click here.)

As blogger Nathan Kam notes, it’s a very rare night when PR people are in the spotlight, since we are usually working behind the scenes to promote our companies. One of the coolest things for me is being able to see so many of my colleagues at one time–in some cases, this is the ONE night of the year when I ever get to see some of these people! To see photos of my peeps, click here.

A record 111 entries were submitted this year, with 17 Koa Anvil or Hammer awards presented and 41 Awards of Excellence in each category. Just having something to submit is a feat in itself, so everyone really deserves a big pat on the back.

There are a lot of celebrations going on this weekend in honor of these winners, but I wanted to point out one in particular:  Nathan Hokama. He was given one of the highest honors by PRSA, the Gregg W. Perry Award (a.k.a. PR Person of the Year).  This is a huge achievement in a PR person’s career, even more than getting accredited! It is given to a PR person who has dedicated a lot of time and energy to the advancement of the profession and has been active in PRSA. While Nathan has been active in PRSA for many years, he is especially notable for coming back to the board as treasurer this year  when the position suddenly became vacant. For one, PR people are not good at math, so getting a (willing) treasurer requires the planets to line up correctly and the Pope’s blessing sometimes.  In addition, Nathan had cycled off the board many years ago after several years of service to PRSA, so getting an old fut like myself to come back also requires an act of God.  As a practitioner, he is one of the best crisis communications pros in town–I would name his clients here but I’m not sure if they are all confidential or not!

As I move to the weekend, I just wanted a quick blog to congratulate Nathan, as well as all of my colleagues on their very good work.  I’m proud to be a part of this profession, and proud to be associated with such great people.

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p.s. just a shout out to Amy Hennessey, a.k.a. the White Samoan, who has made it a tradition to let out the most authentic “chee hoo” whenever she accepts an award for PCC.