Today’s Aloha Friday matsumoto studio pos, finds it way here too. A phrase that deserves a double share here because I really never want to forget it. I never realized I grew up surrounded by aloha. People in Hawaii are nice. People in New York are just sometimes not. Surrounded by strangers everyday, it’s like being in a different city all the time. You don’t often see familiar faces and you definitely don’t run into people you know very often. It’s easy to  not care. It’s easy to demand attention. It’s easy to look the other way. But that’s not aloha. Aloha is more than just flower leis and hula girls. Aloha is a way of living. You help out a friend, go the extra mile, or give up some time for yourself to practice aloha. Aloha is giving, loving and heartwarming. Aloha is how you carry yourself in the worst situations because that rubs off on others who might have it worse than you. New York City is not a place to be “Aunty Aloha” and talk and smile at strangers like how we do in Hawaii. In a world where I often still feel like a fish out of water and where the weather is a little colder than what I am used to, aloha is something that I can practice to keep me warm just like home–aloha over everything.