The Skull Necklace From Waikoloa

Courtyard at the Kings Shops in Waikoloa

Are you a casual person or do you dress up? I stared at the skull necklace in the jewelry case. A shopkeeper asked me that question yesterday, and upon quick reflection I’d have to say both. It depends if I am in a business environment or home binge-watching Madam Secretary in my usual attire of tattered shorts and a t-shirt. The latter was my attire yesterday as I went back to Kings Shops in Waikoloa to have lunch again at Three Fat Pigs. No need to dress up on my wor-cation on Big Island.

Three Fat Pigs at Kings Shops in Waikoloa

I went back to Three Fat Pigs so I could repay the server for the Diet Coke but he wasn’t there, and it didn’t seem appropriate to hand $4 to some other server or slap it on the bar. At least this time I carried cash and a VISA card. I ordered a bowl of roasted red bell pepper soup with a full-bodied texture; my spoon could rest on top without sinking into the bowl, and the charred flavor was deliciously dominant. I also devoured a caprese salad, the mozzarella was too chilled, the tomatoes too small and not much flavor.

Earlier in the week I had asked a server at my resort if the flatbread selection was just tomatoes, mozzarella and basil, thinking it was a caprese salad that would be served with a side of bread. She said definitely yes, just those 3 ingredients, and then she brought me a pizza!

Skull necklace with hand-carved bone skull, rubies and spinel.

Since I was already at Kings Shops, I strolled through a few more stores and found several interesting things. Well, I found lots of incredible jewelry like a white gold bracelet with 3 rows of diamonds that cost $5,600 and I would never buy in a million years but it felt good to admire it on my wrist for a few seconds. I’m more practical than that. Instead I bought the skull necklace. The skull is carved bone, attached to a few tiny rubies on a necklace made from black spinel.

Sure, I also yakked with my team members and prepared a CMA for a new client who wants to sell her home in South Land Park and matched her with an agent to look at homes, all the usual stuff that goes on in any workday. Not to mention, I accomplished all of this many miles across the ocean. Yes, I definitely deserved a pair of butterfly earrings from Australia, made from real butterflies who weren’t killed or anything cruel-like, according to the literature, they all died naturally, and I guess they found their dead bodies lying on the ground begging to be made into earrings. The earrings were exactly $150 with tax; such a deal.

Morris the cat is a regular at dinner time at the Marriott Resort in Waikoloa

Still, I hadn’t yet made it back to the resort where later at dinner the cat, Morris, who I was feeding under my table, caused me to spill an entire glass of cabernet on top of my lobster tail. No, you can’t have two lobster tails, the server had explained, because this was surf-and-turf night. Silly server. You have lots of lobsters in the kitchen, right? A bit of wine splattered my shirt, and the server came running with a towel and glass of soda. It was all good, though. I was wearing my skull necklace.