zip zip & away

if you're a fan of the amazing race, the photo above needs no explanation except to say that you don't need to leave hawaii to enjoy the thrill of ziplining! in the past year, we have friends who have gone on the original canopy tour in costa rica & puerto vallarta and each couple had rave reviews of their adventures flying through the trees.

even though heights are not my friend, i must admit that it looks pretty exhilarating on tv and now that i know people who have lived to tell their tale (and have the photos to prove it) perhaps a zipline tour by kauai backcountry adventures will be in order next time we're on the garden isle. in addition to the zipline, kauai backcountry also offers a tubing tour similar to flumin' da ditch just in case you prefer your adventures closer to the ground.

bio-beetle to the rescue

the folks on maui always seem to be one step ahead when it comes to earth friendly technology. case in point: maui-based bio-beetle which has a small fleet of rental cars that run solely on bio diesel, a.k.a. 100% recycled vegetable oil. bio diesel is a renewable source of energy that is cleaner burning compared to petroleum, and since hawaii is home to one of the most abundant eco-systems on the planet this is a very good thing for the islands. plus they're super cute!

for some reason, even though the rental car market on oahu is huge, bio-beetles are not yet available there (although the company has recently expanded to los angeles). let's hope there will be lots of demand for green rental cars in hawaii and bio-beetle will offer their eco-friendly alternative to the rest of the neighbor islands soon.

tea time

my mom and aunties always enjoy a nice cup of tea so i was happy to discover hawaiian natural tea which is an organic tea company from the islands. this means their tea is not only good for your body (full of all of those healthy antioxidants) but it's good for the earth too. what's not to love?

midweek has a nice story about the owners & their journey to bring organic tea to the islands. longs & daiai are just a few of the shops that stock hawaiian natural tea in tropical flavors like mango peach, passionfruit orange & pineapple strawberry. now if i could only find the perfect pitcher for iced tea.

sneaker pimps

i have a feeling that the fella's favorite shop when we hit the islands this summer will be kicks/hi. this is the place to go if you love sneakers. and i'm not talking about your kids' keds but super cool kicks for sneaker aficionados looking to score limited edition, old school style sneakers.

they have even collaborated on limited edition sneaker designs like the aloha dunk with nike. the masterminds behind kicks hawaii are pchs grad ian ginoza & his friend eddy haus who opened up their first shop a few years ago and recently opened another location at the new ward gateway in town. online shopping isn't available yet so if you're not lucky enough to live in (or visit) hawaii hopefully you're near saint alfred, their sister shop in chicago. 

janet jewelry

lady luck + danger boy

while public school kids were making paper trays in woodworking & key chains in metal shop, the students over at punahou were dabbling in silversmithing. this is one of the more interesting nuggets i picked up at janet jewelry's website. island girl/jewelry designer janet masamitsu is based in nyc now where she creates a nice mix of affordable pieces like these lady luck earrings (perfect for that next trip to vegas).

in addition to sterling silver styles, janet also designs limited edition pieces like the triple drop smokey quartz necklace and many of her pieces can be customized. she also designs stuff for guys like these danger boy cufflinks that captain jack sparrow might fancy (arrr!). shop online or visit her boutique when you're in nyc.