When Laurie Okawa Moore first met Gina Karas, she thought the newbie at work was quiet and shy.

Boy, was she wrong.

And so was Karas, who thought Moore was, well, pretty scary.

It didn't take long before these seemingly opposites became lifelong friends — and figured out their first impressions were hardly true.

"I was scared of her," confessed Karas, 43 of Hau'ula, over lunch on Monday. "She didn't smile, she didn't laugh. And she had all this black on."

"I was going through my dark phase," said Moore, 44, of Kane'ohe, in her own defense.

"That was right after your divorce, right? And your dad had just died," Karas said.

"Yeah, and I had lost a lot of weight," Moore added. "I think I was channeling Stevie Nicks!"

Then they both laughed.

But not just any kind of laugh. This was an open-mouth, table-slapping, from-the-gut kind of laugh. Heads snapped backward, eyes squeezed shut. They do this all the time.

"It's hard to find people you click with," said Moore, who met Karas at the Hawai'i Credit Union League, where they had worked together for 12 years until last year. "We're not even that similar ... (But) we complement each other."

Like most girlfriends, Moore and Karas have helped each other through just about every major stage in their life, from divorce to remarriage to childbirth. They've bonded over dark chocolate and shoes. They've ranted about men and diets. When Karas threw a baby lu'au for her son, Moore helped out. When Moore got married for the second time, Karas was there — mainly to eat, but she was there.

This Sunday they're planning to celebrate their 12-year friendship — maybe with lunch, maybe with a new pair of shoes — in honor of National Women's Friendship Day, held every third Sunday in September.

Started in 1999 by the Kappa Delta Sorority, National Women's Friendship Day gives women an excuse to celebrate friendships often taken for granted — or ones they haven't had much time for lately.

Over the past six years, women from all over the country have celebrated the day with afternoon tea parties, spa weekends, picnics, community service projects and ice cream socials. They've visited museums and nursing homes, helped out with Girl Scouts troops and women's shelters.

All in the name of friendship.

'WE'RE SO IN SYNC'

Kathy Palama, 54, of Kalaheo, Kaua'i, and Kathy Sherman, 57, of Wailuku, Maui, are planning to toast their friendship on Sunday — somewhere in Alaska, on their 18th cruise together.

They've been friends ever since they met at Palama's wedding on Maui nearly 30 years ago. Their husbands were best friends. So naturally, they started spending time together. It wasn't long before the wives were ditching their husbands for weekend getaways.

"We clicked right from the beginning," said Palama, a full-time mother of two and avid photographer. "We both love to travel, we love the same music ... We're so in sync with one another. We can look at something and not have to say a word. We just know (what the other is thinking). It's uncanny."

Over nearly three decades, the pair has gone on more than 50 trips, from a weeklong trek to New Zealand to weekend escapes on Maui. Sometimes their families come along — but usually not. They've paddled canoes in the Canadian Rockies and shared lunch in Paris. Their goal is to take a world cruise someday — if they can muster up the time and money.

Though they may not look alike — Palama is blond, Sherman is Hawaiian — they're uncommonly similar. They love the same wine, the same rock bands, even the same clothing. Once they bought the exact same swimsuit from different catalogs at the same time.

"Maybe we're on the same vibration frequency," Palama said, with a laugh. "It's just uncanny."

With her family scattered on the Mainland, Palama found comfort in her newfound friendship. They talk about anything, from marriages to children to menopause.

"She just means so much to me," said Palama, fighting back tears. "We're so in sync with one another. It's hard to explain it. She's just so close to my heart. She's someone I can depend on and talk to, and she'll always listen. I can be myself."

EERILY SIMILAR

All it took for Moore and Karas to become friends was a much-needed lunch break at the mall.

"When things would get stressful at work, we'd go shopping," said Moore, who works as a communications officer.

"We'd call it 'commando shopping,' " Karas added, with a laugh.

At the Hawai'i Credit Union League, they sat in nearby cubicles, dishing about ex-husbands and sharing daycare horror stories. Moore likes to refer to them as twins separated at birth — though she's a 4-foot-9 Japanese-Chinese-Filipino-Spanish fireball and Karas is a 5-foot-7 Hawaiian-Portuguese-Welsh former champion powerlifter.

They have much more in common than they realized when they first met. It's almost eerie.

They both drove Isuzu SUVs. They both have one son and one daughter, born three years apart. They're both on their second marriages. They've been known to wear the exact same outfit to work. And their ex-husbands were both named John, from California and in the Navy.

But it's the values they share — faith, honesty and humor — that have made their friendship last so long.

"I love that I can tell her anything and she never judges me," Karas said. "She's always supportive — and she always, always, always makes me laugh."

Last year Karas left the Hawai'i Credit Union League for a job at her alma mater, Kamehameha Schools. While she knew this was a better opportunity, Karas dreaded leaving her co-workers, particularly Moore.

"The hardest part wasn't leaving the league, it was leaving my friends," said Moore, who now works as a mentoring coordinator for the school's scholar program. "When you spend eight hours a day with people, they become your family ... I felt like I was being ripped away from my family. It was traumatizing."

They promised to do a Girls' Night Out every first Saturday of the month. They've only managed to get everyone together once — to see the musical "Grease." Last year.

But that doesn't mean they don't keep in touch. Moore and Karas e-mail each other every day, keeping their bond strong despite working in different offices.

The reason their friendship has lasted so long:

"No one else would have us," Karas said.

The friends laughed hysterically.

Show your best girl buds how much you appreciate them this weekend.

Here are a few suggestions for Saturday and Sunday:

Get pampered: Book mani/pedis or matching facials at the nearest day spa. Or splurge. Pitch in for a luxury beach cottage at Turtle Bay Resort (about $525 a night for four adults this weekend) and get full-body massages (about $100).

Catch a flick: Watch that movie your male counterpart refuses to see. Check out "Just Like Heaven," which opens today. The movie is about a lonely architect (played by Mark Ruffalo) who falls for the spirit of the woman (Reese Witherspoon) who used to live in his new apartment. Or rent your favorite chick flick — "Say Anything," "While You Were Sleeping," "You've Got Mail" — and binge on buttered popcorn and M&Ms. That works, too.

Air those gowns: Remember that fancy dress you wore once that now occupies the back of your closet? Well, plan a dinner date with your girlfriends where everyone has to wear that one special-occasion dress. Could be a formal gown you needed once or that old bridesmaid dress you hated. Pick an expensive restaurant and plan for prom night revisited. Overdone makeup optional.

Sip some tea: There's nothing more girly than a tea party. Sample the array of flavors — from mango to chocolate mint — at Tea at 1024 in downtown, open Saturday but not Sunday, for an afternoon escape. Service can range from about $13 to $23. Then let the gabfest begin.

Clean up your act: Make this an opportunity to do something for your community. Organize a beach cleanup or visit a nursing home. Suggestions: Lyon Arboretum in Manoa needs early-morning walkers to hike the arboretum trails Saturday to clear fallen palm fronds and other debris from paths; call Donna Schult at 988-0464 to help. Or hook up with the Sierra Club, Hawai'i chapter, which needs volunteers to collect beach debris at 8 a.m. at the Campbell National Wildlife Refuse in Kahuku; call Sherine Boomla at 739-3936.

Dance for donations: Grab your girlfriends and head to Kapono's on Sunday for Kokua for Katrina. Entertainment by Cecilio & Kapono, Amy Hanaia-li'i Gilliom, Willie K., Kalapana and others starting at, 3 p.m. Cost is $30.

Be brave together: Sign up for a rock-climbing class or take a surfing lesson in Waikiki. Trying something new with friends helps build your confidence — and gives you a memory you're unlikely to forget.

Join the culture club: Go cultural with one of these events: The Chinese Full Moon Festival, with dragon and lion dances and fireworks, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday at the Chinatown Cultural Plaza; or the Autumn Okinawan Dance Matsuri, 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Hawaii Okinawa Center. Both events are free.

Back to basics: Plan a traditional Girls' Night Out on Saturday. Hit your favorite club for dishing and dancing. Try these: MIKAH 9 with Newjass Quartet, 9 p.m. at Next Door; Skyline with Maleko, 9 p.m. at the Hanohano Room; or Electro-Lyfe, 10 p.m. at Indigo Eurasian Cuisine.

They may never miss an episode of "Desperate Housewives," but most American women say they wouldn't want to be friends with any of them, according to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive, a market research firm.

More than half of the women aged 25 to 55 surveyed — 66 percent — said none of the popular show's five characters have best-friend appeal. Topping the list with the most friend potential? Susan (played by Teri Hatcher). The least? Bree (Marcia Cross), of course.

Here are other survey results: