January, February & March...yeah I suck at updating :)

Aloha Friends and Family!

Wow has time flown by! I can't believe it is already April 2010! I hope you are all having a productive and positive year so far. As things have become more routine here (and busy) I have definitely let the time between our chats slip a little more and for that, I apologize! It is 6 months + now that I have lived here and it gets better everyday but with everyday I miss you all!!

First off, I have to say congrats to Matt and Melissa on their recent egagement!!

Here goes a little catching up on life on the island for me...

A while back...in December I got to go on a wonderful night hike up this ridiculously steep, borderline rock climbing expedition up Mariners Ridge and camped on the top. We woke to watch the sun rise above the east side of the island/the Waimanalo side. (for those that have visited, it overlooks the road you take to get to Lanikai and Kailua Bay). It was awesome, we packed our packs that night, grabbed some food and headed up around 9pm. The hike begins in a residential area so we had to park and run at first so that the residents didn't see us as you are not supposed to do the hike at night. (mom, I am fine :) It was an amazing experience! We set up a fire at the top and had a great night! Any of you that come for a visit, I would love a repeat!

Soon the holidays came and went...Christmas was crazy busy at the hotel! Right after Christmas, I got an email from some family that they would be visiting the Big Island so I hopped on a plane and headed over to the Kailua-Kona side. I did feel as though I had landed on the moon as the airport sits on black lava rock. It's really crazy looking! I got to visit with my adorable nieces and nephew for a day and a half (way toooooo short!). We played at the beach and went to a great luau that night at the Mauna Kea Resort. The kids were talking all day about how they couldn't wait to get up and dance with the dancers at the luau when they ask all the kids to come and participate. Push came to shove...they chickened out!!! So the luau is wrapping up and they send the dancers out for one last dance to get participants and of course yours truly gets pulled on stage (very, very reluctantly) by a gentleman in a grass skirt to shake my non-existent behind in front of the crowd of oh....200 ppl! Lovely...it was a less then impressive showing however proved to be the most entertaining moment for my nieces and nephew (chickens!!). I had to fly home the next morning for work and NYE was approaching.

I had to work on NYE until 11pm but I managed to skip out in time, grab a bottle of champagne, head to a friends house to climb on his roof and watch the most fantastic display of local fireworks one could imagine. I mean these people take their home showing of fireworks very seriously! They are legal here so WalMart, Target, Safeway...all the stores have thousands of kinds for sale. I am willing to bet that some of these were illegal but regardless, it was like a 360 degrees show around us! Words can't describe but it sounded like we were in the middle of a war zone but with beautiful colors all around! Its like the same fireworks you see from the barges in San Diego but in people's driveways!!! And then the smoke came on so thick, you almost couldn't see 5 feet in front of you. The next morning, the streets were littered with debris.

Work slowed a little after NYE and I got to have a little fun :) Kevin's friend house sits for this beautiful beach side house in Hawaii Kai and we BBQ there from time to time since the owner is out of town a lot. For those of you that know the story, it's Ty Gurney's house who is also the guy the movie"Flirting with 40" was about. (hehe). Anyway, we headed over for some good times bbq'ing on the beach...it's the most amazing dream house! The owner has the most amazing dogs, Rupert and Mabel...what characters! (Rupert is below...)

January was moving right along, work started getting busier again but I managed to get an amazing hike in (there have been quite a few but this one takes the cake). It starts up Manoa Falls which is where the University of Hawaii is located. The falls hike is about 30 minutes and is really easy. The falls itself is rather

unimpressive however if you veer to the left on another trail that keeps going, you end up in this amazing bamboo forest! It takes you up about 2 hours until you reach the top where you can see to 2 sides of the island! It overlooks the Pali which is a beautiful highway the runs right through the center of Oahu but you are way above it. Oahu really has some amazing environments...one minute you are at the beach, the next in a bamboo forest and then in a sea of evergreens and you would think you are in Tahoe or something? I had no idea!!!.

So life continues pretty much day to day. I work, work and work but when I do manage a few days off here and there the perks are pretty amazing. A friend of mine, Kevin, works for a parasail company and they also runs a jet ski activity area as well so on a day off, we headed out to Sand Island where their barge is located and the skis are stored. We spent the day with some cold beers, sun and jet skis. I really can't complain. It was an amazing day...

Then a week or two later, I am in bed, sleeping. The phone starts ringing like crazy at 3:30am. Who is calling me at 3:30am???? It's a friend calling to let me know that I should pack my important belongings and head up the hill to their house because there is a BIG wave headed our way from a gigantic earthquate in Chile. So I do just that...we live in an evacuation zone (just on the edge but I didn't want to take my chances with my swimming skills). The sirens start at 6am...the come on every hour until 11am when it was supposed to hit. The sirens make it feel like it's the end of the world. It was so eerie. A big group of us gathered at my friends house, sitting around the TV just focused on the footage of Hilo Bay. We watched this water under a bridge at the edge of the bay start off calm, no movement and then it would start washing out to sea so fast that a white rapid formed. It would last for 5 minutes or so and then it would rush back in the same way it went out. They said the major sign of a tsunami or tidal wave coming is the massive recession of the water before the giant surge comes ashore. We kept waiting....then it would happen all over again....this went on for an hour or so and then it all just stopped. The huge wave on it's way from Chile just dissipated and nothing happened. The strangest thing is that days later the same thing kept happening, The water would recede and pull away from the shore 50% more at low tide then normal. They say it takes some time for it to go back to normal but it is just so weird how the planet works, makes you think a bit more about the big picture.

Anyway, that's about it for life out here for now. Things are becoming more normal here for me. I have a trip planned to CA at the end of April/beginning of May for Kelly's bachelorette party in Palm Springs. Can't wait to see you ladies then!!! I will be in San Diego May 3-6 and want to put together a Happy Hour at Bareback Grill on Tuesday, May 4th....so be there, I can't wait to see everyone! I will send an email or something out.

And I will say it again as I have many times before....book a ticket!! You are all welcome to visit anytime you need a little Hawaiian vaca! I will gladly be your host :) I just got a chance to visit the Honolulu Zoo for the first time (right next door to my apartment...) and it was great! What an amazing zoo we have here. The zoo, aquariam...so many activities are discounted here for "locals", or those of us that have local ID that's it's a great deal. Come on out and we'll check it out.

I hope you are all doing great things and enjoying life right now! If I didn't say it to you already, happy 2010!

Love and Aloha!

Jackie

Life on the island

Aloha!

Well tomorrow is officially my 3 month anniversary in HI. I am finally settled and very happy. It took some shuffling around, adjusting but I have been in my great apartment for 2 months and decided on 2 jobs that are working out very well. I could not have lucked out more with roommates, especially considering all the places I looked at before deciding on this one. They are awesome! I don't have too many photos of the place but here's our living room. Milo, our kitten has decided she is no longer an outdoor cat and has morphed into a little ball of fur that lays around all day, gets fed way too much and sleeps 90% of her life. It's a rough one. The neighbor cat, Meesha, is awesome (white and grey)! She has 2 crossed eyes but is fierce hunter and is very skilled. She keeps the gross cockroaches away...they are a lovely part of life here.

I took the job with the Kahala Hotel & Resort in their restaurant Plumeria Beach House. At first I was unsure about it but now that I have found my groove there and made friends it has become enjoyable enough to be there as much as I am! It is a "full time job" but here F/T is anything over 20 hours a week so it is working out as I wanted. Some weeks are a bit crazier then others based on a few things and also my second job which is waitressing at a bar in Waikiki. It is a fun job for the most part, the people are very cool and it is very laid back. They have a few other bar/restaurants in the area where my employee discount allows my friends and I to enjoy food and drinks at a nice little discount ;-)

Since I last wrote, I have had some visitors and have been very busy. My parents and Aunt came out, rented a house in Hawaii Kai which is a bit east of where I am at and stayed for 2 weeks. I also had a couple other visitors for a few days here and there that have made my time here even better with some familiar faces around. It is a great excuse to do some of the tourist stuff too which I have to admit it quite fun.

It is still warm here everyday although we did have a great rainstorm the other night with some incrediblly thunderous thunder and lightening! It actually was a treat however Milo would beg to differ! She was hiding in the corner all night. The only draw back with the rainy season is the bugs want to be inside too. I have had my fair share of some pretty nasty bites...spiders are the one that really get me pretty bad. Although we have no snakes, we have our fair share of BIG bugs. The holidays are a BIG deal on the islands. Halloween is nuts in Waikiki! Unfortunatly I was a bit under the weather so had to sit it out but the roomies made up for my absence by hitting the streets. The main streets in Waikiki (mainly Kalakaua) basically shut down for the massive foot traffic and the streets turn into one big bar. Christmas is just around the corner. The roomies put up a Christmas tree and the presents are starting to pile up although most of them are going to be sent off to their family back in Michigan. We have a few for each other to open sometime soon. All the houses here are lit up with thousands of blinking bulbs. People really do get into the spirit here!

Been attemting to surf more and continuously get beat up by the ocean but that's part of the fun. I never seem to get out of the water with at least half my body bruised and scratched. The swell has pretty much died down on the south shore where I live so I don't get out as much but as some of you may know we are having one of the biggest swells on the North Shore in 20 years! I obviously am not surfing these waves but they are pretty incredible to witness. I check the waves daily as some of the big wave competions are in their holding pattern while some are happening right now! The biggest wave compition is the Eddie Aikau and is held at Waimea Bay only when the waves are at 40 feet which they reached today so it took place for the first time in 5 years so the North Shore and the whole island is packed with wave worshiping visitors and locals. It is pretty amazing to see natures power however I didn't make it up for the Eddie today.

Yesterday, I went on a great hike with my friend Ryan and the dog Nami which you all have heard of many times. Nami and I spend a LOT of time together. Nami and I have sleepovers and go on lots of walks because her dad works so much! (Check out http://www.hawaiianfire.com/ if you want lessons!) Anyway, we hiked up a trail above Makap'u which is on the east side of the island just past Koko Head Crater and went off trail down a VERY steep hillside for about 200 ft to reach some incredible tidepools below. The hike down was extremley challenging as it was very steep and basically rock climbing down a hill. It was worth it. That swell has basically wrapped around the entire island and has filled up many of the beaches but this particular set of tidepools was still there however they were getting wacked with waves once in a while. There is a blowhole that is called the dragon's roar (or something like that) and it literally would ROAR with power when a waves would come under it. It shot water out of there with a power that would knock you over if you were near it. We went in some of the smaller tidepools for a quick swim at low tide and then decided that it was a little too dangerous to be in there anymore so quickly retreated back as I didn't feel like being sucked into the ocean along jagged rocks that day. The hike up was just as challening as the way down but using some different muscles. Needless to say, my legs were jello this morning.

I have settled into life here for the most part very well. Got my Hawaii drivers license for which one does need to take the written portion of the state's test. I passed on my first try however my score carries no bragging rights.

Life has become pretty comfortable here for me. I am meeting new people however a lot of them are from San Diego...go figure. It's become consistent and predictable but in a positive way. I am happy with where I am living, comfortable with my jobs and make enough to enjoy life here which doesn't cost that much if you take advantage of what HI has to offer for free. I have a friend who runs a parasail company so I do get to take advantage of that on Friday for the first time and go for free. I am terribly afraid of heights but who can say no to a view like that for free!

I do hope more of you can come visit soon. Anything I can do to get you here in the way of hotel hook ups, free couch to crash on etc... let me know. I would love to show you HI! Happy Holidays to you all.

A hui hou!

(until we meet again)

Aloha!

Welcome to my blog....or my attempt at blogging :)

I have officially been in Hawaii now for just over 1 month. I miss you all but it is wonderful to finally be here! I have spent most of my time so far getting settled and finding my way around. It took some time to find the right place but I finally found a home and I believe a job! When I arrived, I stayed with my friend Ryan for the first few weeks and made great friends with the other roomies at the house, Flynn and Kate. (Below are Kate, Ryan [in the hat] and Flynn... then Kate and me.) The pictures below were from Ryan's 25th birthday on September 18th (Happy Bday Ry) on the Na Hoku sunset mai tai cruise. It is so fun! It's $20-$25/person for a 1 1/2 hour cruise with an unlimited bar and you get to jump off the boat at one point and swim out in the beautiful ocean.

Oh and here is my other former roomie and also one of my best friends on the island ;-) Nami...she is Ryan's dog and I have fallen in love. She is a wonderfully sweet dog (pit/sharpei mix) who loves to snuggle but hates the water....she surfs but won't wade slowly into the water. Yep, you read that right. She SURFS a longboard but HATES the water. I think the only reason she surfs is to get out of the water! We hike, go to the beach and cruise together when Ryan's at work.

So after arriving on September 9th, my car arrived shortly after :) It was so nice to see Betty on the island. It took some work to get her here and now she is officially registered as a Hawaiian car :)


I spent many weeks looking for a place to live and finally found a great little beach apartment in the Diamond Head area. It's great! The girls that live here are awesome, there are surfboards everywhere which is motivating :) and it's a chill place to call home right now. No TV which is a shift for me but it gets me outside!

It's a few blocks from one of my favorite beaches,, Kaimana and also Kapiolani Park which is a great run in the evening. You can walk to Waikiki if you choose to however I try and steer clear of that as much as possible. There are so many great beaches and little spots to check out around here. The photo of my room is a little distorted as it's a panoramic and those work better from a distance.

We also have a little kitten Milo (pronounced Meelo). She is so cute. She comes and goes as she pleases but it is nice to have an animal around the house.


Shortly after I found a place to live Jon and Nicole came

for a visit. We went on a great food tour of Oahu and enjoyed it very much! We did Waikiki the first day, the mai tai cruise (yes, you will see this is a recurring theme throughout), the North Shore and the east side of the island on their final day. This is my all time favorite place to be on the island. The water is amazing and the little town of Kailua Bay is my ideal Hawaiian town. Lanikai beach is one of the more famous yet unknown beaches on this island. (Those little islands in the distance are called the "mok's"...remember those for later.)

YUM...Kua 'Aina Burger....North Shore :)

After Jon and Nicole left on September 26 (Happy Birthday Nicole), I hopped on a plane for Northern California to see one of my dearest friends Kiri get married to Adam on October 3rd. It was a memory filled weekend catching up with dear friends with whom the years have put a great distance between us. It was so amazing catching up and I am so happy to be blessed to have them back in my life.

Miriam, Kiri and Catherine...I can't wait for you to come visit Hawaii! And CONGRATS Kiri and Adam. What an amazing couple you are!

This fantastic wedding was held at the "Peace Barn" in Bolinas, CA. Now for those of you living in California or near, you must visit this town.

It has a population of 1,000. They don't fancy outsiders too much (local Hawaiians don't either so I am used to that feeling) but it was such a quaint town! So beautiful, surfers everywhere (VERY cold water....they are brave souls), great little beach cottages...such a great area. Anyway, the wedding was fantastic and I felt blessed to be there and re-connect with great lifelong friends. Kiri and Adam, thank you for inviting me to wittiness such a memorable event! Again, congrats!

It was a great but quick trip as I returned back to Hawaii on Sunday,

October 4th to catch Josh while he visited. Josh was here with Sean

(his amazing 8-month old son), Donya (Sean's mom) for a friend's wedding. They stuck around after the wedding to play on the island. Surprise, we did the mai tai cruise, Kaimana beach and the North Shore including the beach at Turtle Bay Resort which is quite nice!

(Turtle Beach Resort beach on the left. Sean and I on Waikiki Beach after the mai tai cruise on the right)

The baby and Donya took off mid-week. Josh and I went to the east coast and did a great kayak out to the "mok's" which are the set of islands off Lanikai that I mentioned earlier. First we stopped at Kona Brewing Co in Hawaii Kai (photo to the left) and had some great local brews in the sunshine. It is one of my favorite places to sit and enjoy life. Anyway, back to the "mok's". There are 2 of them however one is a bird/wildlife reserve so we aren't permitted on it however the other island has a great little beach to land the kayaks on and have lunch. The kayak company packed a little boxed lunch for us and we thoroughly enjoyed it after hiking around to check out the rocky sides of the island. The waves crash up pretty hard out there!

Surprise....Josh and I hit up the sunset mai tai cruise one more time for his last night and I showed him one of my favorite little dive bars, Uncle Bo's. Josh did the shortened version of the "Hawaii Food Tour" by Jackie. (Jon and Nicole have the rights to the business however are willing to franchise if you are interested...lol)

So Josh just took off on Friday and it is back to the slow Hawaiian life. I finally did some grocery shopping and made one of my first meals in my place. I went for a super long walk with Kate as the sun was heading over the horizon and now am relaxing at home writing to you all.

Hope you are all well. More to come as jobs etc... unfold. As most of you know, I have a job offer from the Kahala Resort but am jumping through hoops as it is a union job and there are lots of requirements to get started with them. Until then, I continue to keep my options open. When you have a chance, visit their website http://www.kahalaresort.com/ It's a beautiful property! My family comes out soon and then Matt will make a visit out here at the end of November....

When are you all coming??? Hawaii calls....