Pure Beauty Project @ Marciano Spring Fashion Launch - Beauty for a cause!

Spring fashion is here girls and maybe guys?? Although many people might think Hawaii does not have an obvious four seasons difference but trust me, you can feel it especially when it gets colder during Fall and all the beautiful flowers vanishes!!! boo!!! When spring is here, you can smell it in the air, and all the trees on campus are dotted with beautiful flowers:) Love it! And...............this gives girls some excuse to erm..."shop" for new clothes, because it is warmer right?

Yesterday, I was invited to an exclusive cocktail party hosted by Jessica Hoffman, a celebrity make up artist, stylist, beauty journalist and most importantly, the founder of the Pure Beauty project! A brief note on pure beauty project, it is actually a part of a non-profit organization called positive connections. I like the idea of this project's purpose of empowering women to educate them about creating a positive self image and self worth. Have you ever wondered? Why so many women out there are constantly abused by their husbands and don't leave? That is because they don't have the confidence to leave and think that this is the best they have got! Some of these women don't love themselves because they are not just abused physically but emotionally and verbally. Hence, they keep sinking deeper and deeper into a negative self portrayal of themselves. However, with this particular project; battered, abused women are taught to love themselves not just from the outside but from within.

A phrase from her project:

" As women, we truly are made to be beautiful, and we are called to be Pure. Remember to live a life of vision, embrace your dreams, realize how truly valuable you are, and continue to pursue the beautiful path to purity"

Marciano was a part sponsor for the event in conjunction with their spring fashion line. Women that attended got 20% off purchases, a goody bag and 50 % of the proceeds went to the project! Cool huh? So, women were basically doing charity by buying clothes!! heheheh...

With Jessica Hoffman herself

Out of four of us, we didn't expect to shop but three spent money in the end!!!! What the heck? It's for a good cause:)

They had dj Abel spinning

Waitresses going around with finger food and drinks, and they were all delicious!

I love how these chandeliers were all over the store!

Bouncer next to the super sexy poster!

Now, on to the fashion!

Two of the models displaying the spring fashion line

Look at the bags!!!!! I was going crazy, too bad it was soo expensive!

Upstairs, more clothes! I prefer the stuff upstairs, more casual chic and spring like!

Some of the stuff downstairs for your preview

Classy cash register eh? They were definitely busy that night! :)

To tell you the truth, I was considering not to go at first, but I am so glad I went. I not only got to see a whole new idea of charity through pure beauty project, but the whole concept for the event was interesting and fun! Good job Marciano and Jessica Hoffman for organizing such a noteworthy event! I am also happy that many women bought clothes, because half of the proceeds goes to the project, which means more workshops, courses organized to help these battered and abused women learn to love and accept themselves as a beautiful:) You go girls!

xoxo

Meiz

Hawaii foodbank-charity comes from the heart

An apology is needed to those who check my blog for updates!!!!!! I am sorry but I have been busy with finals and writing up a few papers......school stuff, don't want to get into the nitty-gritty details or I will bore you...!!!hehehe......

Last week, I volunteered to help the Hawaii foodbank which is a nonprofit organization established in 1982 by a guy named John White. He basically single handedly opened a small warehouse to collect food from people and he would distribute it to other charitable organizations to feed the lower income people, homeless, children,etc. To be honest with you, I am pleased to hear and read about such a person, being able to have a vision to help masses and just going for it! Now, Hawaii foodbank distributes nearly 9 million pounds of food per year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I was happy I could be a part of this amazing organization...here are a few pictures of how I "helped"......:)

Listening to where we were stationed.......look at all the green shirts, you get one if you volunteer..ehehe..BUT I did not because they registered me somewhere else...:( I had to wear an ugly orange vest instead!!

We were fishnetters again....seriously, that is how they collect donations here....but this time, I collected much less donations compared to the last time...I realized that people who live in the city are less generous....boo to you guys who drive Mercedes Benz's and BMW's and not even have the heart to give 1 dollar! You don't even realize how much 1 dollar can contribute to a person.......OR do you think they didn't donate because of my striking orange vest????!!?????

This dude here is amazing! He literally risk his life to get donations, weaving in and out of cars, trying to create hype for people to donate! Kudos to you, charity organizations need more people like you! He was funny too, saying he wanted to take pictures to show his daughter what he was doing...I am sure your daughter must be proud of you:)

After a whole morning of trying to get donations, our shift ended and of course, we have to grab lunch right????yes, me and food! how ironic? when I was trying to help the Hawaii foodbank...Anyway, we went to this placed called Banana Leaf cafe at McCully, they served fusion Asian and Italian. Have you guys ever tried that before????? Their pasta basically have an oriental taste to it, loved it!!! Go check it out, its reasonable too.......

The chef gave us a TOMATO salad on the house...although my friend Jennifer and I disliked tomato, we gobbled this whole one up! Yummmmmmmmm........and it looks pretty too....

One of my greatest passion in life is to not only to do charity, but to be at the forefront of helping the less fortunate, especially children. I know many people think, "not all people think like you" especially when they aren't that well off financially. To me, it is not about whether you have the money to donate, if you don't, maybe if you happen to be free and want to help, you can volunteer your time? And for others, their intellect? For instance, tutoring orphans, or simply letting others who want to help know about orphanages you think may need help. Small things like that can go a looong way for some of these children, women, homeless people. Personally, I feel fortunate to be blessed with great parents, a roof over my head, food when I am hungry, educational opportunities, and alot more.....I feel a need to give back and help those who do not have these things. I can honestly tell you, I don't know exactly how an orphan or a homeless person feels and what they go through, but I will at least try to meet them halfway..................

I am actually thinking of going back to Malaysia and making a video of all the orphanages that are truly in need of help and I will be highlighting their plight and needs. Will you guys be interested in this project of mine, to watch videos like that, and help me spread the word?

Let me know guys!

xoxo

Meiz

East West festival- When cultures meet

I realized I have not been updating in awhile....I have been watching alot of K-Drama during my free time....sooooo addicted!!!! kekeke....Anyways, last weekend, for the first time since I have been in the University of Hawaii at Manoa, I attended the east west festival which is held once a year at my University. As all of you know, Hawaii is a place where everyone from around the world meets. There is not only a good mix of Asian and Western food, but the people here are that way too, hence the reason there are many mixed children here(called hapa haole in Hawaiian) 

As I am reading up about the East West center, which was established 50 years ago, it is a center to exhange resources and information of common concerns among the United States, Asia and the Pacific region. This center not only brings people together to exchange views but also builds expertise, and develop policy options. Impressive huh????

It's like a ray of light dawn on me that the famous East West center is here on my own campus and I don't experience and participate in their events....So, I decided to check out their festival this year.....and....I definitely wasn't dissapointed! :)

Everyone was out and about on a beautiful sunny day to support friends from their own and other's culture:)

UH of Manoa's own Japanese garden!

The stage and the emcee, my friend Erenst

Timur Leste performance

Portugese performance

Can you believe it? They had dances and performances from all the different cultures from 1-6pm? And, that my friends, is called "dedication"! Dedication to bring cultures together, to gather families, friends from many different parts of the world, to understand and share what is a part of them(e.g., music, dances, language,etc.). The past two years since starting graduate school has enlightened me in many aspects and one area of that is I have come to appreciate my "roots" alot more. When they say that humans are never satisfied and we always think that the "grass is greener on the other side", I have to agree. Before I came to the USA, I thought the world of it because of the media and the hype I guess, but boy was I wrong!!!!I then realized that I wanted to share who I was with my friends from the USA or other countries such as Japan or Korea, and who I was actually represents how and where I was brought up.........Now, I appreciate my culture so much more because I have come to see how much my culture can offer to others.....:)

Beautiful costumes, from China and our neighbour Thailand

Erenst in his formal Indonesian outfit

You can tell they went all out! You go guys!

With Mei Li, so cantik!!! Make Malaysia proud!!!!

And of course, this cute lil boy in his Vietnamese outfit! I just had to get a picture...he is trying to act like a "gangsta"!

Can you believe that the students of the East West center even made the effort to put up little booths to represent their own cultures!!! I was sooooo impressed...my mouth dropped open when I saw it...kekek...Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a lil but take a look at these pretty booths yourself...my three favourites!

Indonesia

Philippines..i loved that little house!

Taiwan

Finale, catwalk of all fashions from different cultures

Multiculturalism, that is the key word nowadays. Racism, discrimination, prejudice shouldn't exist amongst all humans because all of us share the same DNA!!!!! Accepting diversity or more like promoting it should be the way to go, not picking on people because of their skin color or where they are from. I believe that all cultures have something to learn from one another and that we should all cooperate with each other because we live under the same umbrella which is called the "WORLD".......Thank you East West center and the many many students who made this event happen!

Hope all of you around the world are sharing cultures with one another:)

xoxo

Meiz

Polynesian cultural center- one of the most popular tourist attraction in Hawaii?

You are probably wondering, "why did she end the title with a question mark?" To be honest with you, if you are going to visit Hawaii and you would like to find out more about one of the "hottest tourist attraction" in Oahu island itself, read on........................

I was invited to join Roland and Iris to view the new evening show at the Polynesian cultural center as they got two free tickets! Thanks guys!!!!! I have not been there since 2006 and thought it would be great to check it out although the drive there was arduously long and windy....eeekkkk!!!! Well, if you have not been here, what exactly is the Polynesian cultural center? It is a "living" musuem that spans over 42 acres of land and showcases seven cultures from the Polynesian island groups. For example, you can partake in activities during the day such as cultural games, ride canoes, basically experience daily living of people from those cultures(Hawaii, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, Marquesas and Aotearoa). In the evening, the museum closes and people can purchase packages or tickets to stay for dinner and attend the evening show which was what I went for.....Here are some pictures of the center...

Look at the many many signs!! signifies the vastness of the center!

In front of a turtle shell

This place is definitely a paradise for turtle lovers!! So many turtle's for sale, be it soft toys, glass ornaments, globe ornaments, everything that pertains to a turtle, you can get there!

These lamps light your way through the night

Posing with one of the many stone carvings which dotted the entire museum!

Our ticket basically allowed us to eat the prime-rib, seafood buffet dinner! There was sooo much food and it wasn't too bad!I found it interesting that they had taro buns, it was super tasty!

A group photo by the river before the show :)

The new evening show started with a story about a family and their son named Ha. New visuals were added such as the anime backdrop

I liked the fact that they portrayed a scene of how the locals in the story lived, this was suppose to represent a normal day in their culture

Suddenly, the scenes moved from the initial storyline to portrayingdifferent cultural dances???!!?? Honestly, I started getting confused and sleepy there. Come on! These dancers are suppose to be professionals but they weren't that synchronized. It could be that they probably have to do it every night and are basically tired or bored but it was kind of a let down for me....

Thank goodness there was a break in between, they served pineapple delights! The pineapples were very hard though......

The two main characters of the night

I have to give props to the orchestra because they were amazing! They played well the whole night and I am sure it is exhausting to continously beat on the drums!

My favourite performance of the night, the fire dance, they were very put together, and it basically jolted me from falling asleep.....!yay!

The cast

In all honesty, if you ask me whether it is worth it to pay USD120 for the evening show + the buffet dinner? I would give you a definite "No"! Many tourists are duped into going to the evening show and paying premium price because it is suppose to showcase each culture's songs and dances. First, I didn't really know what was going on because there was no proper announcement of each culture's dance before they begin, and you get lost halfway because you are wondering, "wait, isn't this suppose to be a story about a boy named Ha?". Furthermore, I did mentioned that the performances weren't that great because it sometimes seem that they were not coordinated.

However, the performances did have some saving graces. For example, there were many colorful costumes and the songs of each culture was played well. One of the few notable performances was the Tahitian dancing, it is so fascinating to watch rapid hip shaking, these dancers were literally like an automatic hip-shaker! Amazing! The other performance which everyone loved was the fire dancers, because they were definitely skilled in what they did and everyone was practically glued to their seats!

In a nutshell, you should only go for the evening show if you have spare cash to spend during your holiday. The upside about this money you will be paying to watch the evening show + dinner/luau is that your money is used to provide scholarships to the Brigham Young University students. I have provided you my review of the dinner and performance, it is now up to you as a tourist or visitor to decide whether you want to catch it!!!!

xoxo

Meiz

P.S. Prior attendees, did you have a different/better experience?