Partyin' in Waikiki...thanks to Heather!

July 3
This day is dedicated to my fabulous neighbor Heather who put me in touch with her friends from her old job. They have the best job in the whole world; they travel to the most amazing locations to facilitate business incentive travel. I’ve been hinting nonstop that I want to work there too…but apparently the economy isn’t doing too well right now and hiring isn’t happening? Maybe next year.

Today I got a late start (which is happening more and more lately). I hopped onto the bus and headed to downtown Honolulu, which I really haven’t seen much of. It’s a really nice downtown, it just doesn’t have the hustle and bustle of most big city downtowns that I’ve seen.

I arrived in time for the beginning of First Friday art walk, so I walked around the city meandering through galleries and checking out the beautiful jewelry sold by street vendors. I found a turquoise, mother of pearl, and silver bracelet that I wanted so badly, but as usual, I had forgotten to bring enough cash with me to purchase it. Why can’t everyone take credit?

From there I walked down to the Aloha Tower, a touristy area near the pier where they were preparing for an early firework display. The most exciting find in the shopping area there was a local surf store where everything was on sale, and they took credit! Unfortunately, I was short on time (had to catch a bus to meet up with Heather’s former coworkers). So, I bought a few items and made a mental note to return in the morning before heading out.I can’t describe the excitement I was feeling to finally be going out on a Friday night - to a bar!

First stop: We met up at a local bar in the Ala Moana Center called Mai Tai’s. That’s when I met Chip, Nathan, Alex, Jay, Lacey, Katie, Alexis, & Sabina. They were all sooo nice and immediately I knew it would be a great night. We hung out there listening to live music on the top floor of the open air mall, had a delicious dinner, a few mai tai’s of course, then took a cab to stop #2.

Second stop: Bar #2 was called Sandbox. I liked it even more than the first. It was a small dive with live music. We danced, drank, danced and drank more…for hours. It was a blast! And the shots…after the third I must’ve lost count. But being older and wiser (dad would be proud), I drank 2 glasses of water between each drink…it would definitely pay off come Saturday morning. My favorite memories of the evening were dancing with Chip to the music of the eighties and nineties. He cracks me up!

Third stop: I don’t remember getting there, but the last stop of the night around 2 something was a basement bar called Nashville Bar. Well, at least I think that was the name. My recollections of this one aren’t too clear. It was a cowboy bar…I remember lots of cowboys…lots of military boys…and a drink that I definitely couldn’t finish.

By 3:30am we had said our goodbyes and took off in different directions home. Them to the luxurious Hilton Hawaiian Village; me to the 70’s Brady Bunch home filled with roach motels. I probably should’ve taken a cab as the 3 in the morning walk home isn’t the most comfortable of walks (sorry mom), but I made it, despite having walked into a tree while some guy was talking to me on the street. Smooth huh? But all worth it for a Friday night out partying in Waikiki!

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