April Showers...

...not in Hawaii! Summer is fast approaching. Yes, it's summer year-round, but once you've lived here for at least a year you can tell the differences between the seasons. The rain, milder temperatures, and the cloudy days are slowly disappearing completely and is getting HOT. Which means lot's of play time outside! Soon I'll be begging for the trade-winds to come :)

Bellows is probably my favorite beach, especially on a non-windy day like this one.  It's gorgeous AND good for boogie-boarding. It's a military beach, though, so it's only open to the public on the weekends.

Brody- Sarah and Kyle's dog. Dug himself a hole down to the cooler sand.

April is also my BIRTHDAY month!! 

First stop- submarine tour!

I had an entire weekend of festivities planned. Friday was dinner and night out in Waikiki. Saturday was filled with kayaking....and I left Sunday up to Tim. He was a good boy and planned a whole adventure for Sunday 4/10, my actual birthday.

On the boat that took us to the submarine. I got pretty seasick even though I bought the "seabands" that are supposed to use acupuncture to alleviate symptoms.

One of the man-made reefs. The reef in front of Waikiki is wearing away so the University of Hawaii and some other organization were funded to sink man-made reefs including ships.

I stealthily captured a picture of this professional picture that was taken as we boarded the boat...or not so stealthily since I got caught red-handed. "You're no allowed to do that!" And the photo was swiftly taken away- she never asked if I wanted to buy it :)

The second part of my birthday surprise was a dinner cruise! I've been wanting to go on one for a while, so I was quite pleased :D It was part of the Atlantis Submarine package. This is us on the ship out in front of Honolulu. 

Appetizer- shrimp in cocktail sauce!

I'm scared of my lobster. Part 1 of 2 main dishes. The other was a prime roast something or other.

How do you eat this thing? The waiter was quite amused my all of us "unrefined" folk. He was graciously helping all of us twist the tail off and poke the meat through...whilst laughing in our faces :)

Gorgeous view of Honolulu.

Diamond Head. We (sailed?) (cruised?) (rode?) from Aloha Tower in downtown Honolulu around Diamond Head and back.

This bona-fide cowboy was from "Oklahoma, ma'am" and a 6th-generation one at that! Notice his walled strapped to his back, knife in the front, green boots, and green handkerchief to match!

Diamond Head to the right with Waikiki and Ala Moana to the left.

Since it was my birthday, I got a candle in my dessert.

Also since it was my birthday, I got called up to do the hula :) I've never danced hula before [except random moves during trainings at Kamehameha] so it was interesting!

Haha lucky Tim was asked to go with the waiter. Little did he know that he was volunteering to dance in the finale!

I have other pictures of Friday night and Saturday- I'll post them later...maybe :)

Back again...

Welp, I'm back in Hawaii, yet again. Round 4. Not sure how long this time, but probably at least until August. I came to visit Tim- was only supposed to be for 10 days...but within the first 3 days of being here, I got 2 house-sitting requests and 2 babysitting job offers- and a third yesterday! So, rather than just getting to lounge around all day basking in the sun, I'm keeping busy this time being a nanny/babysitter 3-5 days a week. But definitely still enjoying the year-round sunshine and summertime! I feel a contentment in being back- not sure where I'll be a month or 6 months from now, but right now I'm where I'm supposed to be :)

 Tried crab legs for the first time- delicious!

 The result of being in WA for so long + no sunscreen...oops.

 Riding the bull @ Mardi Gras! People would gather round every time someone rode, so I had quite the crowd cheering me on.

 Go COUGS! I got this water bottle for Tim in WA as a "surprise"- we love surprises :)

 Keeping hydrated at Lanikai Beach

Date night at Haleiwa Joe's, Kaneohe, HI

 I [and Tim] can check another first off the list!

back on the good 'ol mainland

Ironic that as soon as I finally get my HI license I decide to move back [yet again] to WA...although I have to admit, I did see it coming. But now whenever I flash my id I get collective "oohs" and "aahs" and "WHY did you move back to rainy Washington?!" Haha. I've been back for 3 weeks exactly. Here is a photo montage of all the holiday festivities [including HI]:

Every year Tim's company [Watt's Constructors] throws a mean Christmas Party. I love them because I get to buy a new dress! :)

Holiday Party @ Brent & Amanda Barr's. 

[Tim, Sonja, Sarah, Rachel, Amanda, Matt, Ryan, Karla]

Ok, just kidding. I'm too tired to write/post more. But I shall continue this holiday posting at a later date! Hopefully I don't procrastinate like I usually do...it could get bad. I'm already about 3 years behind on my scrapbooks. Why did I start a blog again?

Officially Kama'aina!

After 1.5 years of procrastination, I finally went and took the written test and got my HI driver's license! I think I was mainly scared of failing...and then having my WA license taken away on top of not obtaining a HI one. Even though I was unsure on 9 answers [you have to get 24/30 to pass], I only got 2 wrong! One was the school crossing sign- I marked it as simply a pedestrian crossing...idiot!

So I'd just gotten my hair trimmed...asked for the Jennifer Aniston haircut ASSUMING he knew I meant the current celebrity- it's bad to assume. I ended up with the 1994 Jennifer-cut/mullet. And this was before I plucked my eyebrows. Also, I'm ghostly white. lol

I'm tan!

Although I could usually get it without an ID, now I can for sure get the kama'aina [local] rate on everything from free snorkeling @ Hanauma Bay to 15% off at Cheeseburger Waikiki. 


Haha, can you tell this is a huge deal for me? Usually renewing your license doesn't call for such celebration. Unless you're turning 21, I guess. ;)

In the beginning...

there was a beach, a 25-year-old-professional-turned-bum, and time. Too much time, in fact. Time enough to create this seemingly mindless blog in hopes of entertaining herself and, maybe, others. 

haha i look like i'm trying to be hard-core