Playing tourist

This past week has given me a whole new perspective on Oahu & Honolulu. With my sister visiting I've been spending the week shopping, eating and relaxing like a tourist. 

I've been to kitschy stores and seen a million tshirts with "hi" printed on them. My favorite purchase of the week: a pair of over-sized purple sunglasses. As the lady at swap meet showed then to me, she saw the glimmer in my eyes and said "I got you"! I bought them not only because the sunglasses were adorbs, but the sales lady was hilarious!

I've eaten at food trucks, holes in the walls and the finest restaurants the island has to offer. The best thing I ate: poke nachos. Sister and I snacked on them while watching the sun set over Waikīkī beach. Delicious!!!

I returned to beaches I had liked before and tried out some new ones. Two of the beaches we visited made Travel Advisors Top 100 Beaches in the World. The best day at the beach had to be snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. Sometimes it takes a new perspective and thanks to Elisa I have a whole new appreciation for my town. 

 And now for some pictures:

Sisters reunitied!!!

Here's the poke nachos... Yum!

Eggs and rice for breakfast at the farmers market. I'm trying to be authentic and using chopsticks to eat. 

Sharing my love  of shaved ice with sister.

 

Dressed up for Elisa's fancy birthday dinner. 

This was everything we ate at the fancy dinner. All the food was incredible! The best thing I ordered was the tomato salad with ling hi mui dressing. 

This is Hanauma Bay. We spent almost 5 hours snorkeling here. Saw a ton of fish, a bunch of urchin and one beautiful eel. 

Check the double blow hole. We had to do some serious hiking to see this. 

And now for the pic of the week:

Some things stay the same.. I'll always love the sun peeking behind palm trees. 

Mahalo!

Too excited to sleep!!!

At least fifteen years ago Walt Disney World had a commercial that has stuck with me over the years. It started with a brother and sister wondering what their trip will be like. The boy exclaims he's "too excited to sleep". Then the screen switches to the sleepless parents & the dad who whispers he's "too excited to sleep".  You gotta love commercials for the happiest place on earth. 

Well in < 24 hrs I think Hawaii is about to become the happiest place on earth. Why?!? Because sister is coming and now I'm "too excited to sleep"!!!

Sunday is my sister's birthday. In honor of Elisa turning 32 she's coming for a week long vacation in Hawaii ... Woot woot! With the help of suggestions from Yelp, co-workers and friends, sister and I have come up with a week-long agenda packed full of good food, beautiful beaches and of course shopping (updates are sure to follow). 

Now I just have to find a way to sleep and make it through work before I can pick her up from the airport. Then let the excitement begin!

If you think these faces look excited, imagine how Elisa and I will look tomorrow!

And now for the pic of the week:

Even this picture couldn't capture the full beauty of the moon that night. 

Mahalo!

Life's a Beach

When I moved to Hawaii I was looking for that magical combination:

Work. 

Play. 

Paradise. 

Silly me, I decided to move in the winter which makes some of the play things harder to do. The upside, the weather in Honolulu is always better than the mainland. The downside, I moved in the middle of the rainy season. Luckily it can rain in the morning and be gorgeous by the afternoon. 

This is not the first time I've lived near the beach. When I was in grad school I had a townhome that was just one bridge away from the beach. Though even with the Isle of Palms and Sullivan's Island just a few minutes away, I only spent a couple of afternoons lounging on the beach each summer. 

With this move, I've made a vow to be different. I know I can't spend everyday at the beach (a girls gotta work, ya know), but I don't want weeks to go by without my toes wiggling in the sand. 

So fingers crossed that the weather and my schedule will be agreeable. And I might as well go buy stock in sunscreen ... with my fair skin I'm still using SPF 50 four months in!

Here are some pictures:

Beautiful afternoon at Kaka'ako Beach Park. 

View of Diamondhead from Point Panic. 

Crab hanging out on the stairs that go right into the ocean. 

View of Diamondhead from Kaimana beach. 

Working on my suntan. 

And now for the pic of the week:

Gorgeous sunset from my lanai. 

Mahalo!

Buried Alived!!!

TLC's "Hoarding: Buried Alive" is a program that is both fascinating and terrifying. Each week they feature 1-2 people whose inner demons prevent them from throwing anything away. They save paper, food, collectibles and sometimes even their own pee and poo. . . Gross!!!

When I moved I was determined to clear out the excess from my life. I went through everything I owned and decided if I needed to keep it or not. With the help of my Dad I made 13 trips to Goodwill with donations. I threw out an incredible amount of junk. And yet I still managed to keep a bunch of stuff. 

I'm living fairly minimally in Hawaii. You can check out my old post "Living in 600 sq ft" for more info. However, all you have to do is look in my parent's attic or my sister's garage to know that I'm still holding on to many things. 

In the last four months I've noticed a lot of people in this town also have a tendency to hold onto stuff, but they take it to a whole other level. I've heard lots of complaints that there is never enough room, but in both the business and the personal realm I've seen people holding onto their junk. 

This hoarding is amazing to me. How can you sit at a desk when you can't fit your legs underneath? How can you enjoy the Hawaiian weather if your lanai is stacked full? I hope to continue living an organized, semi-minimalistic life all while staring in awe at Hawaii's hoarders. Perhaps I should call the producers at TLC...

And now for some pictures:

Check out the boxes on the lanai. 

This is what I imagine the kitchen looks like. (Photo from TLC)

Here's the apt right next to the last one. I don't think they can even get outside on their lanai. 

Their living room has to look like this, right?!? (Photo from TLC)

Even the streets are full of junk. On the first Wednesday the trash men pickup large items so the streets are full of beds, sofas and toilets!

Welcome to paradise ;-)

And now for the pic of the week:

Gnomey making some friends. 

Mahalo!

My Sweet Josie (2001-2014)

Thirteen years ago I made a reckless decision that changed my life. In no way is a college senior ready to care for an animal, some days I could barely care for myself. But when my college roomie asked if I wanted a kitten, I forgot about being responsible and said "yes"!

Turns out I agreed to take in a fiesty little kitty named "Penny". The first thing on the agenda was to change her name, since we needed a way to tell the two of us apart. I flipped through my Cosmo magazines and came up with the name Josie. 

The first couple of years we learned a lot from each other. She learned I wasn't consistent at cleaning her litter box. I learned that she could climb the fireplace in order to get treats. She learned that water from the sink tasted the best. I learned that she would knock anything off a table all in the name of "entertainment". 

In grad school she became my miracle kitty. One March evening she escaped from my apartment. I searched. I cried. I hung signs throughout the complex. Twenty nine days later I called my Mom and we discussed giving up the search. I decided to give it one more day. On day thirty I found Josie while biking around the neighborhood. She had lost 4 lbs, but still had on her collar and meowed at me when I called her name. 

Josie has lived with me in 5 homes. She supported me through two college graduations. She's been on road trips and survived weekends fending for herself. What I love most about my sweet Josie is that she always knew when I was having a bad day & would cuddle. 

In August Josie was diagnosed with a rare connective tissue cancer in her gum/jaw. The vet gave her as little as two months two live. At anytime this news would have been horrible, but this was also the time I was deciding to move to the other side of the country. I was devastated. 

For the last six months Josie has exceeded all expectations. She stayed behind in GA and has been receiving excellent hospice care at my parent's house. She's been spoiled rotten with deli turkey and head scratches. However, today her battle with cancer became too much and today I had to say goodbye. 

I've loved her since the day I got her. I've missed her since the day I moved away. Josie will always be my first "baby". 

And now so you can appreciate how cute she was:

Cuddling on the sofa. 

Burrowing under a blanket. 

Loving on BooBoo. 

A collection of my favorites. 

Dressed up as an angel for Halloween one year. (Yes she was pissed). 

 

Our last FaceTime. Miss you!!!

H2 Oh No!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am cursed. In my life I have lived in seven apartments. Of those, I have had flooding issues in five. The incidents have ranged from minor to disastrous. As a result I am left with the fear that any place I live may wash away at any moment. 

Here are the events in chronological order:

The summer before senior year at Furman University I decided to stay in Greenville and work a summer job. I got an apt with two girls for a couple of months. This is where the trend of flooding started. One afternoon we flushed the downstairs toilet. Instead of the water going down, it came back up ... Along with a pieces of a dead squirrel!!! This event was more gross than anything else. 

(Not the actual squirrel or the actual toilet)

At the end of the summer I went to move into another apartment in the same complex. On move-in day I discovered a waterfall coming from the upstairs toilet, through the ceiling and even out the front door. Turned out the landlord wasn't as handy as he thought he was!

(This is how I remember this flood, though this picture is actually of the waterfall in Waimea valley. The waterfall is small as far as Hawaii goes, but would be pretty impressive inside a home!)

For grad school I moved to Charlestown. With that move my Mom insisted my childhood waterbed move with me. What no one could have foreseen was that the mattress would pop on a weekend I was out of town. Not the biggest water leak, but very stressful for the roomie who was nice enough to hold down the fort while I attempted to fix things long distance. 

(Now we don't have any witnesses, but I'm pretty sure this is what went down between Josie and Miss Ella)

Atlanta has suffered through a lot of snow and ice this winter. So far my place had gone unscathed (knock on wood). However, 5+ years ago some bad neighbor abandoned their home and stopped paying for heat. Their pipe burst and my townhome was soaked in water. Doesn't seem fair...

Don't worry. Karma worked out. I used the insurance check to put in hardwoods. Bam!

(Again, not the real thing. But this was the prettiest version of frozen pipes I could find. I didn't want to traumatize all my mainland friends who may still be dealing with winter weather)

And now for Hawaii. I should have known it was coming. I mean, I'm living on an island. But as usual, the water comes from unexpected places. 

While doing dishes I noted my kitchen sink wasn't draining. I tried running the disposal. No luck. So I contacted the landlord and went to work, waiting to hear back from the plumber. When I come home, this is what I see:

And the smell... Think wet trash. YUCK!!! 

Good news is nothing of mine was damaged. AND I'm counting this as my water damage for this apt, so no more should occur, right?!? I've yet to have one place flood twice and I don't plan on starting in Honolulu. 

And now for the pic of the week:

Hot dog face. Makes me miss some of my friends at home. 

Mahalo!

'Merica

This week I celebrated living in the USA.
Monday was a holiday, President's Day. I don't think I've ever had the day off before. 

Growing up in the south we always had a long weekend to remember Martin Luther King Jr, but President's Day was a holiday that seemed to only be recognized by car dealerships and furniture stores. As a grownup working in a hospital the tradition continued. I'd get Monday off for MLK which I often celebrated with a ski trip, but President's Day would come and go without me even noticing. 

As I found myself enjoying the long weekend, I realized a disappointing fact... I had no idea what was the point of the holiday. As usual, I turned to Wikipedia for answers. 

Apparently President's Day is celebrated the 3rd Monday of February in honor of George Washington's birthday.  There was a side note that Lincoln's b-day was also in February. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGIE & ABE!!!

Now what better way to celebrate our nations forefathers than by doing my own taxes?!? Turns out that I had enough life changes in 2013 to make this process tricky. Here's the things that turned completing taxes into a day-long process:

- Moving always seems to complicate things. Apparently I get the bonus of deducting moving expenses; however, I was punished and had to file not one, but  two state returns. 

- Giving to charity is a good thing. It would have been even better if I had remembered to keep all my charitable receipts in one place during the move. Organizational fail. 

- Being a homeowner gets you some tax breaks. Being a rental property owner apparently gives you even more. Of course extra tax breaks means extra paperwork!

At least the paperwork is behind me.  Now I can start dreaming of what to do with my refund. God bless 'Merica!

Here's some pictures from my week:

This is a Vietnamese tofu bun bowl. I got it from the local farmers market from a tent called The Pig Lady. Good thing that lady also knows how to do vegetarian food. 

Special treat: sugar free, gluten free, chemical free peach popover. Now I just have to figure out what the heck was in this tasty treat!

 FaceTime with my sweet JoJo.

And oh yeah, I talked to Mom & Dad too!

Morning sunrise. It looked line the sky was in fire as I was walking into work. 

And now for the pic of the week:

BG 

I can't take credit for this one (Mom got this great shot), but it really made me smile. 

Mahalo!