On May 26th, my girlfriend and I went to Las Vegas to watch and support Hawaii’s own BJ Penn, defend his UFC Lightweight Championship belt against Sean Sherk. It was a memorable event, and to watch how many people flew over to support the champ amazed me.

Now you can see BJ Penn next Saturday, on June 26, at Barnes and Nobles in Ala Moana. He will do a signing at 10am. He will probably sign his book “Mixed Martial Arts: The Book of Knowledge”, where he showcases his techniques that he uses in his UFC fights. I own this book, and I have to say it is the best MMA book I have ever read. It is very comprehensive with lots of pictures at different angles, and with very detailed explanations. I know I will bring my book for him to sign on Saturday.

Make sure you make it out to show your support if you are a fan of MMA, and bring a camera! I know I will! See you there!

Since it’s opening on March 7th, Hawaii’s first full blown Nordstrom has been getting a lot of attention. I visited the Nordstrom located at the Ala Moana Center after the storm calmed down because one, I wanted to get parking, and two, it was just too crazy to be with so many people at the same time, just because it was a new place.

I have to say I was kind of impressed. Nordstrom is normally pretty expensive, so it’s not a place I would probably go to purchase things, but they did a pretty good job with the interior. What surprised me was two brands of clothes I didn’t think they were going to carry, which was Affliction (a lot of UFC fighters are sponsered and wear this clothing line and RVCA (pretty much use designs from various artists to support them). I own both clothing lines, and was very happy to see them there. Then again, the price was still pretty steep, with the Affliction costing around $55-70. But it was pretty cool to just see it there. Now there is another place to purchase Affliction clothing besides Blue Buddha on Kapiolani.

What was also pretty cool was the children’s section. Where they have the fitting room for the children, there was also a room for kids to play XBOX 360. This is a good place to have your kids just chill while you go off looking for clothes (well, one of you parents have to stay to keep an eye on them). Just offering something like that for kids to play was a cool idea.

We walked into the Cafe which was pretty much a cafeteria where you point at food, and the put it on your plate. It wasn’t too expensive, but still was more than I would normally pay. They have the cafe on the ground floor.

We visited one of the two e-bars, where they let you buy anything you want. Their menu didn’t look like they had more than 10 different items, but the lady who helped us said you could order any type of coffee beverage and they’d make it. Pretty cool if you ask me.

We did walk into the gelato bar, but didn’t buy any of it since there was a line. It looked pretty good, but they had limited flavors. If you want more flavors, I suggest going to Mondo Gelato on the Waikiki Beachwalk.

I guess Nordstrom is a good addition to the Ala Moana Center, since they cater a lot to the tourists who want to spend money, and the fact that Ala Moana has a lot more ritz-ier stores than any other shopping center on the island. Is it a cool place? Sure. Places to eat, e-bars to hang out, gelato for a date…it has it all. Would I purchase stuff there? Not likely, but it is a little more affordable than Neiman Marcus. Then again, they are both too expensive. Maybe after a few more raises…