Living in 600 sq ft

Back when I lived on the mainland in Atlanta, it used to be considered an outing to go to IKEA. You knew you were committing to several hours of wandering through the superstore warehouse. One of my favorite parts was the apartment displays. They had incredibly small homes set up with everything you needed to live compliments of Swedish furniture designers. Each display was labeled with a little sign declaring its size..."Living in 600 sq ft".  

I now find myself living the dream and it's nothing like I expected. My small apt seems to magically change size. When I first moved in, it was terribly small. Then I got all my belongings settled and suddenly it felt "just right". A week ago mama came to visit and I swear the apartment shrunk a little bit right before my eyes. But now she's gone and it feels empty and large. Weird. Magical. Just one of the unexpected joys of moving to Honolulu. 

I've found a couple of ways of coping with my new home. First, everything needs to have a home. Each object needs a spot. And if anything is out of place, the place quickly looks cluttered. I can be an organized person, but my new apartment is making me take things to a new level. 

Next, I try to spend as much time outdoor as possible. I walk a mile to and from work each day. When home, I'm always sitting out on my lanai. I also found out that I'm a beach girl. Give me a  beautiful beach, a comfy chair and a good book and I'm set for the day. Who would have predicted 6 months ago I'd be getting so much use outta my bathing suit in January!!!

Here are some pictures of my place:

My huge lanai where I watch all my sunsets and drink my weekend coffees. 

My bedroom ... With the bed made!

My place comes with a 1/2 bedroom. They suggested it would make a good nursery or office...um, no. I use it as a large walk-in closet/dressing area. 

Tiny bathroom, but it works. 

Luckily my kitchen has tons of storage. Sadly, it does not have air conditioning. 

Dining nook... I have yet to eat at that table. 

Living room. With all the natural light I don't have to turn on lights until after 6p... Crazy!

Instead of sitting inside, this is where I'd rather be. 

While the polar vortex covers the mainland, I'm in my bathing suit. I'm not bragging... I'm baffled!

And now for the pic of the week:

Sunrise on the way to work. Simply. Stunning. 

Mahalo!

Mama Mia!

This week was big... epic...full of adventure (and a little bit of work)... this week my Mama came to visit!

As soon as I announced my move to Hawaii, my family started planning trips to visit. Since December is a busy time to travel to the island, Mom came by herself. The plan was to help me get settled, do some sightseeing and celebrate the holidays. I think we exceeded all of our goals!

Because I'm a new employee I haven't technically earned PTO. Luckily my new boss & co-workers are understanding and I worked several half days this week. This left a lot of quality time for me and mama together!

Mom and I spent our time shopping, watching sunsets and just sitting quietly on the lanai. We went out to eat to try some local food & spent a couple of meals at home so I could show off my cooking skills. We drank wine, beer, Mai tais and prosecco ... All in moderation of course!  Mama did her part to help around the house with laundry and dishes. And at the end of the week what did we have to show for it? Mom had a new lei, I had my belated Xmas presents and both us had about a hundred pictures. Here are a few:

First night on the town. 

Mama being adventurous and trying local sushi... Though I had to give her a chopstick lesson!

Dinner, drinks and a sunset on Waikiki. 

All my Christmas goodies finally arrived!!!

Dole plantation, where we ended up spending three hours instead of thirty minutes. 

Waimea valley and waterfall. 

Sunset on waimea bay (my favorite part of the week). The waves were huge, the surfers were daring and the sunset was truly peaceful. 

Punchbowl National Cemetary, Grandpa Drake would've loved this.  

Although mom couldn't stay until midnight we took several opportunities throughout the trip to celebrate the new year... Including counting down with the ball drop in Times Square and taking cheesy pictures at the mall like japanese tourists. 

As the rest of the city was celebrating NYE, I drove mom to the airport for her redeye flight. Afterwards I was standing on my lanai reflecting on 2013, my week with Mom and what 2014 will bring. I also was in awe at the amount of illegal fireworks being setoff around the city. Can you believe the whole city was smoky and smelled of explosives. The whole effect left me excited about what's to come. As they say in Hawaii-

                 (Happy New Year!)

And now for the pic of the week:

Mahalo!

Mele Kalikimaka

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say

On a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day!

Well it's currently 81 and mostly sunny and weather-wise doesn't feel how you'd expect Christmas Day to feel. For my first Xmas in paradise I've done some extra work to create the holiday cheer.

I find it takes all your senses to create a memory. Since I can't make the temperature any colder, I'm working with my other senses to make things feel cheery and bright. I've got my eye, ears, nose and mouth full with the Chistmas spirit!!!

My house smells delicious with the holiday staples I'm cooking. I've got monkey bread for breakfast. For the midday meal I have turkey, dressing and homemade cranberry sauce. I'll end the day with a nice glass of wine (or maybe two). 

To keep the spirit going I have Christmas music on constant loop. I'm currently relaxing to Hawaiian slack key guitar Christmas hits. When that's done, I'll go back to iTunes Christmas classic audio station. If that gets to be too much, I'm sure there's a lifetime holiday movie on!

I didn't do too many decorations this year, but I bought a little tree that is tiny, but perfect. I've also brought out the holiday mugs for drinking my Kona coffee..yum! And nothing makes the place look more like the holidays than skype with the family, it almost felt like I was in the living room with them!

Here's what a Hawaiian holiday looks like:

Sand sculptures at the Sheraton Hotel

Christmas Eve rainbow (if you look closely, it's actually a double rainbow). I've been blessed with three rainbows in the last week!

My tiny tree out on my lanai

Holiday crafts at the hospital. Apparently I'm a fancy reindeer... But as always I live purple!!!

Flatpenny getting in on the Christmas fun!

Skype with the family

Through the years 

We all will be together,

If the Fates allow

Hang a star upon the higest bough. 

And have yourself a merry little Christmas now. 

And let's not forget the pic of the week:

Mahalo, Mele Kalikimaka, Merry Christmas & Happy holidays!!!

Welcome to Paradise

Hawaii is where people come to vacation.  It's now the place I call home. Living in paradise is different than visiting for a week or weekend. One thing that I've found incredibly entertaining are the weather reports. Since it's always 75-85 degrees and mostly sunny, the weather reports are beefed up with additional information that you don't normally hear on the mainland. 

Surf report- What's are the waves gonna be like for the next three days? Will they be big enough for the competition on the north shore? Too big?

Tradewinds- How fast are the winds blowing? What direction? Are they going to change?

Vog- Ever wonder why your allergies act up on Hawaii? The locals all blame it on vog, air pollution caused by an active volcano. The weather report supports this belief by giving daily vog updates. 

Neighbor islands- Want to travel to Maui or to Lanai? Don't worry, those islands weather reports are covered too!

For a state with extremely consistent weather the local news continues to give updates every 15 minutes. Seems a little intense to me. 

What's the same as the mainland is the sheer inaccuracy of the reports. Weatherman says 30% chance of rain... It turns out beautiful all day long. Weatherman says <10% chance of rain and I'm huddling underneath my umbrella. 

Rain or shine this is one beautiful state. Check out my pictures of paradise!

The rainbow I spotted while on the phone with Allison C. 

Turned out it was a double rainbow (all the way)!!!!

Sunrise on the way to work

Sunset on the walk home

Driving down the highway is like exploring the set of Lost. 

Storm clouds dramatically roll in and then the rain is gone 10 minutes later.

And let's not forget the pic of the week:

Mahalo!

What's in a name?

In the last month I feel like I've enrolled in an immersion course in Hawaiian language and culture. Although Hawaii is part of America, so much of it is distinctly very...Hawaiian. 

Here's a few of the things I've learned so far:

Mainland: Hello/Hi!

Hawaii: Aloha! If you're a visitor it's often followed with a lei. I've been lei'd three times!

Mainland: Kid/Child

Hawaii: Keiki

Mainland: Peeing and pooping

Hawaii: Making shishi and doodoo

 Mainland: Trash can

Hawaii: Rubbish bin

Mainland: Penny, P, Lal, LK

Hawaii: Auntie, Laura, Laura G, "I know my nametag says Laura, but please call me Penny"!

I've also heard a smattering of Asian words in reference to food items and unidentifiable words that only seem to make sense if using context cues. 

If I keep this immersion course up I should be fluent in no time!!!

And here's my favorite pic of the week:

Mahalo!

Kinda a big deal

So many big things happened in Hawaii this week. Some made national news, others will get no more mention than this little blog. But all of these things are kinda a big deal. And now, in no particular order:

Shark!!!! There were actually two shark attacks this week. Sadly, one of the victims didn't survive. Now I've yet to go in deeper than my ankles, but in preparation for future swimming I did some research. 2013 was a big year for sharks on the islands (12 attacks, 2 fatalities), but prior to this year the last fatal attack was 2004 ... Whew!

At midnight Monday night the first same sex marriages occurred in Hawaii. This adorable little couple was finally able to wed after being together for 35 years. Although many Hawaiians don't support this new law, it's clear I'm no longer in the Bible Belt. 

On a more personal note my car, Betty, finally arrived after her long boat ride from the mainland. I am extra-dextra excited about the freedom that having my car will bring! Next stop... Costco where I will pack Betty with all those things that were to heavy to carry on The Bus. 

Finally I'm back doing what I love working with babies and their families. It's just now my babies are all Hawaiian... Super cute! (FYI- this is not a patient photo, though please don't report me to Hawaii's March of Dimes. In fact, maybe you should just make a donation to them and they'll look the other way). 

Now let's end with my favorite picture o the week. It was of the clouds rolling in before the first big storm of my Hawaiian adventure (Otherwise it's been 80 and sunny).