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....