HB Life

No Work and All Play

+ Things We Love

TRASH CHIC BAGS
Why wait for Christmas to throw a little love on your friendly neighborhood garbage men? These decorative bags, available in five stylish designs, are sure to keep ‘em giggling year round.

MCBRYDE AND ALLERTON GARDENS
These adjacent gardens, spread out over more than 200 acres on Kauai’s South Shore, are home to one of the largest collections of Native Hawaiian flora in the world. Its stunning greenery stretching from mauka to makai could very well be the reason they call Kauai ‘The Garden Isle.’

FREELOADER SOLAR CHARGER
This portable gem holds a solar charge for up to three months, allowing you to juice up your iPod or your phone (or your iPod phone) sans electricity.

CHEAPO EUROFLIGHTS
Forget rail. The easiest, fastest and oftentimes cheapest way to country-hop through Europe is on one of the many discount air carriers. EasyJet and Ryanair lead the pack but dozens of other carriers offer one-way flights for as little as .01 cent.

FATBOY HEADDEMOCK HAMMOCK
The fittingly named Fatboy is soft, squishy and big enough for three. And you don’t even need any trees.

-Jacy L. Youn

An Overdose of Cute

Need a work break? Well, if wide-eyed pooches, curled-up kittens and panda bear cubs make you giddy for hours, this online collection of cuteness could leave you in a furry, fuzzy coma.

photo: courtesy Cute Overload

Cute Overload scours the Web for photos of baby animals that meet any of their more than 30 patented Rules of Cuteness, such as Rule No. 15: If it has a small ear-to-head ratio, it’s cute.

With more than 65,000 hits daily, and a mantle full of awards, Cute Overload’s appeal and reach is considerable: Even editors at ultra-masculine Maxim confessed to sneaking to the site to “sit back and aww like a schoolgirl.”

If you think your tolerance is high enough to prevent a cuteness OD, you can get adorable updates delivered straight to you with CuteMail. You can even meet other self-proclaimed “Cuteologists” in Hawaii by following Cute Overload’s Cuteologist Map.

Of course, this all assumes IT doesn’t strictly monitor your Internet use.

–Matthew K. Ing

Lighting up the Black Barrels

In your younger days, you ruled the waves. But ever since you got that promotion, you’ve spent more time inside the boardroom than atop your surfboard.

photo: courtesy Santa Cruz Light Wells

Reclaim those lost hours on the lineup with the Light Wave Surfboard, a shortboard with LED headlights. Yes, headlights. The Light Wave, manufactured by California-based Santa Cruz Light Wells Inc., comes in sizes ranging from 5 feet 5 inches to 6 feet 2 inches. It has battery-powered lights on its nose, rails, fins and body. The batteries are replaceable and should last for at least a three-hour session.

Want to shed some light on a friend? Simply lift the nose to activate the headlights. A right- or left-handed dimmer switch activates the rail lights, and the board even responds to killer snapbacks and airs, creating a dazzling light show for jealous spectators.

With a $2,950 price tag, the Light Wave Surfboard is an expensive way to make your summers truly endless. However, we hope that all those bright lights don’t make you a nighttime snack for some misguided shark. www.sclw.net

-MKI

Diamond Vision

photo: David Croxford

You’ve already got a dazzling smile, how about putting some sparkle in your eyes? The Leonard Trinity Collection of eyeglasses feature clusters of precious and semi-precious gems encrusted along the outer edge of the frames. The jewels are placed just out of your field of vision – but not everyone else’s. The frames themselves are made of 14k and 18k gold and come with certificates that vouch for the authenticity of the gems. The top-of-the-line model features 10 diamonds and four emeralds and is priced at $7,000 – without lenses. (Dream Vision Eye Care, 1221 Kapi’olani Blvd., 596-4445)

–David K. Choo

Launching Pad

photo: courtesy Wildcharge

The WildCharger promises to revolutionize how you charge your mobile devices by replacing your multiple chargers, a jumble of wires and plugs, with a single, paper-thin bed of energy. The charge is transmitted wirelessly. Simply place as many compatible hand-helds as you want on the 0.1-inch charging pad and watch the charge flow. WildCharge Inc. is currently working with manufacturers to integrate the wireless charging technology into everyday products. Until that technology is available, you’ll need individual adapters for each device. From $40 to $100, www.wildcharge.com

-MKI

photo: David Croxford

The Other Meeting Spot

The next time a colleague says, “Let’s meet for coffee,” head to Satura Cakes, a Euro-Japanese-style patisserie that serves specialty iced drinks and gourmet blends. Finding empty tables at this store is rarely a problem, and beverage prices are comparable to the franchise that uses green-and-white cups. If you’re not a coffee drinker, ask for the Hot Chocolate, a rich blend of dark French and Belgium milk chocolates. You may even want to sample a dessert, such as boxed chocolates, mini cookies or the Satura Shortcake, a fluffy sponge cake laced with cream and berries. There are two locations in Honolulu: the Harbor Court lobby downtown and the Ward Gateway Center on Auahi Street. A third store is scheduled to open this summer in the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center. Satura Cakes was founded in California by Hironobu Tamaki, an entrepreneur who made millions when Golf Digest Online went public in Japan in 2004.

–Cathy Cruz-George

A New Wrinkle on Packing

You spent hours folding and packing your clothes into neat little stacks the night before. Yet when you got to the hotel room, opened your travel bag and threw on a shirt, the crimps and crinkles made you look like walking origami.

photo: istock

According to Doug Dyment, creator of OneBag.com, the online guide to packing right and light, unsightly creases in your clothes result from applying pressure to folds. To combat the crumpling, Dyment suggests using a technique called “bundle-wrapping.” Simply find an object to use as your core (Dyment suggests an organizer pouch containing your socks and underwear) and wrap your clothes around the object, starting with the smaller, thinner items – like shorts and knits – and working your way to heavy pants and jackets.

A carry-on-size suitcase with the ability to zip open on three sides will allow you to wrap right in the bag. If done right, the whole process should take about one minute. The result is a creaseless bundle that drastically increases your bag’s carrying capacity, and leaves you looking a lot less like an unwrapped paper crane.

-MKI

photo: istock

Long Live the King!

What: Elvis Week
Where: Memphis, Tennessee
When: August 11 – 19
Why: It’s been 30 years since Elvis Presley left the house
(or did he?), so this annual
celebration of the music, movies, memories and magic of the King promises to be the biggest and best one yet. Some of Elvis Week’s activities include Fan Appreciation Day at Elvis Presley’s birthplace in Tupelo, Miss.; Elvis Expo 2007; the Fourth Annual Elvis Film Festival and Elvis: The 30th Anniversary Concert. www.elvis.com

–DKC

photo: courtesy Pbtravel

Laundry Room

Got only one pair of underwear and socks left but three more days on the road? Not a problem, if you’ve packed a few sheets of Laundry Paper. Simply place your garments and a single sheet of Laundry Paper in your hotel room sink, add water and wash. The 30 single-use sheets are suitable to hand carry on any airliner and feature an ocean fragrance. www.npw-usa.com

–DKC

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