january • 2018 keiki cover model

Wishing a very Happy New Year to Lilly Isabelle Alcon and her family. Thank you for sharing her with our readers for our January 2018 cover.

Lilly is seven years old, and is in first grade at Makawao School, where she loves art class and going into the computer lab to play games. Lilly’s mom works in sales at Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club in Ka‘anapali.

Lilly dances hip hop at Maui Academy of Performing Arts and loves to sing, surf, snowboard, and working in the garden with her grandma “DD.”

Mom shares, “Lilly inspires me to go to work  to help families make memories to last a lifetime!” Lilly’s grandma “DD,” a.k.a. Janis Melone, works at Diamond Resorts selling vacation ownership.

habibi on maui: middle eastern eats in a lush oasis

The first thing you notice about Habibi on Maui, located in the heart of Makawao Town, is the enticing aroma wafting out to the sidewalk: one whiff, and it’s impossible to resist stepping into this outdoor café offering the only Middle Eastern cuisine available on the island. Once inside, you feel as though you’ve encountered a lush oasis, where you can sit under capacious market umbrellas or in the inviting lighted cabana while sinking your teeth into luscious chicken or lamb that’s been seasoned and slow broiled on a vertical rotisserie. Habibi’s garden setting, complete with burbling water feature, makes you feel as though you’ve journeyed far beyond Maui, if just for a short while.