The girls checking out the silent auction, and placing a couple bids!

The Sustainable Coastlines 1^st Annual Fundraiser on February 9^th at the Elks Lodge proved to be a huge success. The night-featured celebrity Hawaii Five-0 star Alex O’Loughlin, a Marine Debris Fashion Show, Silent Auction, and Local bands jamming the night away. UMU is very honored to add Sustainable Coastlines to our growing family.  We really love their fresh, young, hip way of life and their passion for protecting our beaches. This event was a perfect representation of this.  Check out the Sustainable Coastlines website: www.sustainablecoastlineshawii.org for more photos from the event.

A great sport in the fashion show.

Sustainable Coastlines main goal is to educate the community to care for the coastlines through hands on beach clean ups.  Although this non-profit has done many great things for Oahu’s beaches and coastlines, the battle is far from over.  This event helped raise awareness of what Sustainable Coastlines has accomplished in the past two years.

 The First Annual Fundraiser raised over $14, 000 for Sustainable Coastlines (more than double their goal).  It was an amazing event with a network of talented like-minded individuals who know how to have a good time. We are already looking forward to next year’s fundraiser. We will keep you posted! 

The boys living it up on the lanai

1st Date in Our Black Book:  A sustainably romantic evening with Alex O’Loughlin & Sustainable Coastlines

Under My Umbrella is proud to welcome Sustainable Coastlines to our family.  We have been busy planning their first large-scale fundraiser which is happening this weekend.  In conjunction with the Hawaii Five-0 cast,  we will host our “Heart The Ocean” Annual Fundraiser on February 9, 2013 at the beautiful Elks Club.
We are looking forward to an evening of sustainable fun with our very handsome celebrity host Steve McGarrett (Alex O’Loughlin).  There will be live music by Cynth & The What’s His Faces and Discord & Rye, delicious food, a marine debris fashion show, a robust  silent auction, and a whole lot of fun.

Sustainable Coastlines is a 501c3 non-profit that is dedicated to protecting Oahu’s beaches. Their mission is to inspire local communities to care for their coasts through hands on beach cleanups. Recently established in February 2010, Sustainable Coastlines has already been a huge success; engaging people of all ages in beach cleanups.  In the past two years they have organized nearly 4,000 volunteers who have worked together to remove 27,454 pounds of garbage from our beaches. This special event will celebrate and honor those who have contributed to keeping Hawai‘i’s beaches and environment clean while raising the funds needed to keep their programs running.

For more information on the great work of Sustainable Coastlines  visit www.sustainablecoastlineshawaii.org

There are only a few tickets left, but if you hurry you might be able to get yours.

Monday was a great partnership between several like-minded organizations gathered for a day of giving back in He’eia.  We partnered with Pili Hawaii and Pacific Catering to provide delicious locally sourced lunch for Kaiser Permanente’s annual day of service.

Loving logistics like we do, UMU had fun working with Kaiser staff to plan for the organization of the big day and distribution of  lunch to their employees working at 4 different sites in He`eia.  From the mountain to the ocean, we assured everyone was happy and satiated with Chef Mark “Gooch” Noguchi’s delicious and healthy lunch bentos.  Thanks to Pili Hawaii for all of your efforts, and a special thanks to Moumen, his boys, and Pacific Catering for your support! We are looking forward to many more collaborations with our new family.

Hey folks, just an update on our progress for Sustainable Coastlines Fundraiser.  Alex OLoughlin from Hawaii Five-O will be taking us through the evening with some great live music by Discord & Rye and Cynth & the What’s His Faces!  Things are starting to come together for the Marine Debris Fashion Show; if you want to showcase your fashion talents you can post a photo of your work and how to contact you on Sustainable Coastlines facebook site.  We are also excited about the progress on the silent auction, if you’d like to donate an item you can contact Erin O’Connor at aloha@undermyumbrella.com.  Finally, just come to the event!  You can purchase tickets or tables here.  We’d love any support you can give to help Sustainable Coastlines continue their amazing efforts to clean up our coastlines.  In the past two years they have organized nearly 4,000 volunteers who have worked together to remove 27,454 pounds of garbage from our beaches!  Try imagining your local beach with all that trash on it!  We hope to see you all February 9^th at the Elks Club in Waikiki!

International Surfing Day prompts beach cleanups

Celebrating Francisco and Jennifer at the Halekulani

While we were on break, we weren’t fully on break.  UMU staff members helped to create a few  memorable experiences that we felt lucky to be apart of.  Once day Erin was putting final touches on an engagement party and the next Adam was manning the set-up and logistics for a beautiful country wedding.

Erin assisted with the  celebration of the engagement of Francisco and Jennifer at the Halekulani. An evening filled with family, friends, food, and music. A great way to celebrate the holidays. Francisco and Jennifer will be officially tying the knot in Columbia, but wanted to celebrate with their friends and family in Hawaii before hand and asked for our help. We enjoyed working with the Halekulani staff as always and loved seeing Jennifer relax with friends while we made sure things ran smoothly.  A beautiful couple with many more amazing things to look forward to in this New Year!

Another wedding was taking place under the direction of Adam on the North Shore across from the famous Pipeline.  Under beautifully lit tents, about 200 friends and family joined together on Sunday, December 29th for this rustic style wedding and UMU was again on board to assure things ran smoothly. Congratulations to Mele and Alex!  We captured a particularly amazing moment as Meleana danced the traditional hula for her guests.   The night was festive, fun and pretty relaxed–just the way it should be.  Hawaiian music played in the background, the imu pit was a main attraction and produced most of the food to feed all 200 attendees.

Mele dancing hula at her wedding

Under My Umbrella loves being able to share these moments with our clients and watch them relax while we do the work they shouldn’t worry about on special days such as these. No matter what the season, occasion or size of the task, our staff works hard so that these events are memorable for the right reasons. It was a busy Christmas season, but looking over our shoulder…it really is all about the love. Congratulations to the beautiful couples, may this next year be a blessed one for you and your new O’hana.

We hope everyone had a enjoyable and festive holiday.  UMU Headquarters is back open for business and excited for all of the projects we have scheduled for 2013. We are loving our new space in Kaka`ako and especially loving all of the great collaboration that has been happening. We are lucky to be a part of such an amazing community.

This weekend we will be on the North Shore for another elegant affair at the prestigious Dillingham Ranch.  Our sister company, Pili Hawaii will be providing a mouth watering culinary experience and of course we will be handling the logistics and making sure the event looks amazing.  Stay tuned for photos from this event and updates on all the fun we have planned for the first quarter.

Under My Umbrella, Pili and TASTE would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays!  Although you will usually find our staff working endlessly,  you will not find us in office December 24 to January 1st. We feel that taking a break and spending much deserved time away from the office (and the computer) is just as important as our high level of productivity.   So, if you are reading this from your office computer, GO HOME! Take a break. Go for a hike or a swim, read a book, maybe even do some baking and share it with your neighbors.

We will re-open our office next year on January 2nd, 2013–ready to hit the ground running.  We are so thankful for the wonderful community we have and we’re honored to be a part of the great work that is happening here in Hawaii.

Cheers to a prosperous 2013!

Love,

The UMU/Pili/TASTE Family

P.S. In case you are hours out for a holiday party searching your closet, wondering what “festive attire” means exactly, enjoy this article in the New York Times. We did.

With the new year comes a time for reflection, a look at what we have accomplished, and where we hope to go. One of the biggest changes for  Under My Umbrella is the relocation of our headquarters from Manoa Marketplace to Kaka`ako. With many of our clients and our new sister business TASTE in Kaka`ako, we decided it was time to spread our wings and join them in this  new, hip, rapidly evolving urban hub.

Located at 675 Auahi Street (the old Chai’s) we share our space with Paiko (our favorite florist who shares our passion for  local sustainable practices). With a little help from our friends, we were able to give the space a facelift and build a wall to split the unit in two areas. One side for UMU headquarters and Paiko’s workshop and retail floral shop on the other.

Manoa is where we grew up, and we will miss the serenity and calmness the valley offered, but Kaka`ako has already proven to be where we need to be.  So next time you are out and about, grab a bite at  TASTE, check out the latest art at Two Eyes Gallery and stop by the new office to say hello. In the evening,  Night Market or Eat the Street are also a great way to get a taste of the emerging urban pulse of Kaka`ako.

As the year comes to an end, we are proud to reflect on our continued growth and thankful for all who have helped us to get here. We can’t wait to see what the future holds and we look forward to sharing it with you.

Mahalo Nui Loa Manoa. Aloha Kaka`ako.

On November 17th the UMU team will gather in the beautiful Waimea Valley for the 10th Anniversary of the Surfrider Foundation’s John Kelly Awards. We are happy to be the event producers for this annual affair. Every year this event reminds us why we love our non-profit clients so much. We continue to sell out the event with over 300 individuals from all walks of life who gather to be inspired by and give recognition to environmental leaders of the past and present. The crowd of like-minded individuals fuels the soul and from the awards ceremony and the natural beauty of the valley to the silent auction filled with surf gear, artwork and culinary experiences, the evening always ends on a good note (often provided by a impromptu live jam session with Jack Johnson).

We hope you will join us as we celebrate the people and businesses of Hawaii who are working to protect our islands natural beauty. The event will take place at Waimea Valley Pavillion & Great Lawn at 6pm.  Tickets are $60 and available online.  All proceeds from this evening will benefit Surfrider Foundation’s Oahu Chapter and its efforts to preserve our coasts. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit surfrider.org/oahu.
This year’s awardees include Muumuu Heaven, pro surfer Torrey Meister and Capt. Charles Moore.

Muumuu Heaven is being awarded in the Hawaii-based company category for its leadership in the community and its advocacy work for Hawaii on an international level. The shop’s designs are created with the purpose of minimizing the impact on the environment while maximizing their fashion-forward thinking.

Torrey Meister, also known as the “Happy Hawaiian,” is an explosive surfer whose positive attitude shines through in his surfing as well as his demeanor on land. He is one of the Islands’ top surfers. As an active advocate for the Surfrider Foundation, Torrey promotes environmental awareness and appeared in a PSA supporting Surfrider’s Rise Above Plastics campaign.

Last but certainly not least, the event will honor Capt. Charles Moore, an environmental researcher and dynamic speaker who is best known for bringing the North Pacific Garbage Patch to the world’s attention. Moore founded the Algalita Marine Research Foundation in 1994 and then launched a research vessel and began voyages across the Pacific to document the rise of marine plastic pollution.

See you there!