X A N O L I V A S

Category: Destination

  • Dallas Eats: Deep Ellum Pop-Up Sandoitchi

    Dallas Eats: Deep Ellum Pop-Up Sandoitchi

    One of the things that I love about Dallas is the ever growing food scene. Having grown up in Hawai’i and having lived in LA, food has always been so important to me. I was worried when I moved to Dallas 5 years ago that there wouldn’t be a great food scene, but it turned […]

  • Dallas Eats: Iron Cactus [DTD]

    Dallas Eats: Iron Cactus [DTD]

    One of the things I love about Dallas is all the different restaurants. There’s a ton of great old restaurants and always a bunch of new restaurants popping up, it can be hard to pick a place! Iron Cactus in Downtown Dallas was nice enough to host a dinner for two and I definitely left […]

  • Waimea Canyon, “The Grand Canyon in the Pacific”

    Waimea Canyon, “The Grand Canyon in the Pacific”

    If you make a trip out to Kaua’i, you definitely have to make a trip out to Waimea Canyon. Known as the “Grand Canyon of the Pacific”, Located on the southwest side of the island, the canyon is a mile long and 3,600 feet. I think it’s kind of ironic that I’ve never been to […]

  • Don’t Say These Hawaiian Words and Phrases on Your Next Trip to Hawai’i

    Don’t Say These Hawaiian Words and Phrases on Your Next Trip to Hawai’i

    Whenever I tell someone I’m from Hawai’i, it never fails – they respond with “I love Hawaii!” or “I really want to go there!” Every once in a while someone will ask if I speak Hawaiian and while I don’t, we were taught Hawaiian growing up and it’s everywhere so it’s hard not to pick […]

  • Adventuring through Xplor in Playa del Carmen, Mexico

    Adventuring through Xplor in Playa del Carmen, Mexico

    I haven’t been traveling much this year since I’m really buckling down and focusing on my financial goals so I’m living vicariously through myself and going through old photos. I realized I have a ton of trips I haven’t blogged about (I’m still backlogged on Hawaii earlier this year) so I figured, why not post […]

  • Hiking Lanikai Pillbox on O’ahu

    Hiking Lanikai Pillbox on O’ahu

    Lanikai Pillbox is one of my favorite hikes in Hawai’i because the hike isn’t really difficult and the views are amazing. Located in Kailua, it’s called Lanikai because of the views of Lanikai beach and ‘pillbox’ because of the old concrete bunkers that were used in WWII and got repurposed into rest stops and vantage […]

  • Takashi Murakami’s “The Octopus Eats Its Own Legs” Exhibit at The Modern Art Museum Fort Worth

    Takashi Murakami’s “The Octopus Eats Its Own Legs” Exhibit at The Modern Art Museum Fort Worth

    Last weekend I went with a few friends to see Takashi Murakami’s “The Octopus Eats Its Own Legs” exhibit at The Modern in Fort Worth, Texas. Murakami is a Japanese artist whose work you probably recognize – he designed Kanye West’s Graduation album and did several collaborations with Louis Vuitton. I love the work he […]

  • Makapu’u Tide Pools on O’ahu

    Makapu’u Tide Pools on O’ahu

    Makapu’u Tide pools is located off the Makapu’u light house trail. You walk up maybe halfway through the trail then have to hike down the side of a rocky mountain to get to the tide pools. It’s a pretty popular local spot, I remember hearing about it when I was growing up, but I actually […]

  • Staying at Kaua’i Beach Villas in Lihue

    Staying at Kaua’i Beach Villas in Lihue

    On our mini family vacation, we stayed at the Kaua’i Beach Villas. My mom owns a Wyndham timeshare that doesn’t get nearly as much use as it should and when I went home last March, I really wanted to visit another island and purely based on availability, we decided on Kaua’i Beach Villas. Before we […]

  • Touring the Na Pali Coast by Sea with Blue Dolphin Charters

    Touring the Na Pali Coast by Sea with Blue Dolphin Charters

    All views and opinions expressed here are my own and are in no way affiliated with Blue Dolphin Charters. I was not compensated in any way for this tour. On our mini family trip to Kaua’i, we decided to do a Na Pali coast boat tour. If you don’t know, Na Pali is the iconic […]