OOH EE

NEW YORK....

2012-01-30T16:06:00.000-08:00

"these streets will make you feel brand new, big lights will inspire you, hear it for NEW YORK!"
-alicia keys-

yup...just got back a few days ago and i wanna go back! i never thought i would have enjoyed myself in the big apple as much as i did this weekend. i'm not gonna lie...i'm not that big of a city girl. i like my country side and big open spaces. crowded cities annoy me. BUT...its always been a dream of mine to go to new york city...mostly because of everything that i've seen on tv and in movies. everything just looks so exciting!!! so i've always told myself that i will go there someday....and it has finally happened!!!

so thursday night two of my long time girlfriends (who happen to both be married with kids...props to their husbands for letting them go) and i started our journey. since we all have flight benefits we had always talked about going on a girls trip for some time now...so we were excited that it actually worked out this time.

here are some of the highlights of our quick trip:

*getting help from all the friendly people of NYC who could tell we weren't from there from the "i'm totally lost" look on our face"
*getting yelled at by the subway conductor for walking too slow....lol*
*walking in the rain...which really wasn't that bad because it was surprisingly warm*
*meeting lia (our hostess with the mostess) and baby nohea (the cutest lil chubba lubba ever)*
*feeling artsy and learning some history at the met*
*chicken and rice*
*getting yelled at by the chicken and rice guy for taking too long to order....even when we were the ONLY ones there*
*yummy red velvet cupcake from magnolia bakery*
*rockefeller center*
*manhattan temple*
*times square*
*the red stairs....so amazing*
*john's pizza...where the bruschetta was waaaaaaay good*
*MAMMA MIA*
*cruisin it back to brooklyn to take lia back to her hotel*
*talking story with the cab driver back to OUR hotel*
*being informed that the pepsi cola sign along the manhattan bridge...is not a warehouse...just a sign...lol (inside joke)*
*finally getting some much needed rest*
*waking up late, but still making time to tame the bush...lol*
*catching the PATH to hoboken, nj which was surprisingly fast and easy*
*carlo's bake shop...where i discovered the lobster tail pastry doesn't have ANY lobster in it*
*walking around the outside of the world trade center memorial*
*battery park*
*staten island ferry*
*statue of liberty*
*talking story for days on the way back to times square, only to discover we passed it by 7 stops*
*eating dinner at bubba gumps at times square where the waiters "yelled" happy birthday for savani*
*enjoying the stop and go cab ride to the airport*
*walking 5 miles to our gate...ok maybe not that long but dang it was far*
*making it back to slc safe and sound*

the met

rockefeller center

times square and broadway

chicken and rice and carlo's bake shop pastries

home of the cake boss

now that i'm home...i can't wait to go back! there's so much more i wanna do....so maybe in april???

i'm so ready....

2012-01-26T16:05:00.001-08:00

....TO GET OUT OF UTAH!!!!!!

i have one more hour of work left. still gotta pack. and then i'm off to see...
and I.CAN'T.WAIT.

bridal shower extravaganza!!!!

2012-01-15T19:43:00.001-08:00

so in a previous post I mentioned how two of my besties will be getting hitched in a few months. well as is tradition, i had the pleasure of hosting a shower for the bride. one problem...she lives in cali, and i live in utah. solution....fly her here!!!

bunzie boarding her flight in long beach. next stop salt lake city!

the theme of this bridal shower extravaganza was based off of the movie/book "eat, pray, love." it just so happens to be one of the brides favorite movies, and she always talked about how she wanted to go on a trip similar to that of the author's. so what better way than to create our own little version of it for her?! first stop...ITALY...via utah. lol. yup...we jump started the tri-state event with an italian based shower complete with italian cuisine...spaghetti with meatballs....hahahaha...(hey...i had to feed a lot of people so this was the easiest way to go). along with salad and garlic bread (thanks to my big sis), and a chocolate fountain for dessert! the decor was simple with red and white checkered table cloths and a simple glass vase with dried pasta for the centerpieces.

some of the decor...soooooo simple

but i think the highlight of the night...aside from the bride to be...were the games! i had asked one of my fellow music boxers, raija, to plan a few games for the occasion. raija was ana's actual roommate in the music box, and they have a special connection, so she went ALL out with her games!!! i mean...ALL.OUT! with a full on intro for both too! it was so much fun! the best part was one of the games she planned was the traditional toilet paper wedding dress competition...but raija added a little flava to it. she straight busted out the project runway wedding dress competition!!! it was ridiculous!!! everyone had their own little kits to see who could come up with the best wedding dress...best wedding accessories (accessible on bluefly.com..and yes she really said that)...and best honeymoon outfit! i wish i had videotaped her introduction because she was just on point with the terminology and everything! it was great! i never had so much fun making a toilet paper dress! lol

our project runway contestants...lol

not only did she outdo herself with the games, but with the prizes as well! one of my faves was the homemade biscotti. not only was it delicious...but the packaging was the cutest ever!

raija's prizes for the winners. soooo cute

afterwards...it was my turn to buss out a few more games. for those of you who know me...i like to plan ahead...but there are times when i tend to do everything at the very last minute. this was one of those occasions. i've thrown many a bridal shower before, and have attended many as well...but i couldn't, for the life of me remember any of the games we played! so i called my trusty bff maria...and she refreshed my memory and MORE with these little treasures.

the first game i had everyone play involved a golf club and toilet paper. lets call it toilet paper on a stick. i had 4 teams of 2 partner up, and one person had to stand on one end of the room with the golf club between their legs (handle sticking out) while the other person waited on the other side with 4 rolls of toilet paper. that person had to walk across the room with a roll of toilet paper between their legs to their partner, and transfer the roll onto the golf club without using their hands. it was HILARIOUS!!! pictured below are our winners in action...eileen and crystal. man...eileen was booking it back and forth with those toilet paper rolls!

eileen working it with that toilet paper! hahaha

next we played a hot dog game. i had strung a thread through the ends of hot dogs and had everyone tie it around their waist so the hot dogs would hang between their legs. hahahaha. then i put a plate of tacks on the ground and everyone had one minute to get as many tacks as they could on the hot dog without using their hands. they could still adjust the string...and that was the hint to winning the game. the methods used to get those tacks were crazy funny!!! there were tacks flying everywhere!!! hahahaha. in the end...crystal came out victorious...AGAIN! she was the smart one who used the string as opposed to using her body. lol. i wish i got more pictures of everyone trying...but here's one of some of the contestants before the game started.

eileen and lindsay getting ready to play

the last game was a fun one. i had two gift cards wrapped up in tissue paper and a lot of tape. each group was given a dice/die?? and every person took turns rolling. who ever rolled a one could start unwrapping the card. the catch was everyone else could keep rolling until somebody else rolled a one. once they did, they could take the card away and have a chance at unwrapping it. whoever unwrapped the card was the winner. at first it seemed a little slow, but as each layer of tape came off, the volume got louder and louder. with people yelling "ONE" every time a one was rolled. lol. in the end, the two players who joined the game at the last minute came out victorious...hahaha.

molly and shelby...last to join in and end up winning

the shower was a huge success. what was supposed to be a small and simple event, turned into an evening full of good people, good food, and good good fun! congratulations ana!!! march is just around the corner!!!

some of the music box ladies with honorary musicboxer malia...lol

time to git'er done 2012!

2012-01-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

i know we're already 2 weeks into it....but i'm a little excited for this new year! BIG things will be happening...and i mean HUGE! aside from many random trips currently in the planning stage...we have a few celebrations coming up. first one will be next month when my little twinkies turn ONE!!!! yup its finally that time of the year! it seems like it was yesterday when we would be camping out at the hospital after these two little monkeys arrived. and now they're crawling everywhere, getting into everything, and just being loved by everyone. what's even more exciting is that we're having a big party to celebrate and everyone's coming up for it!!! RAYJAH status!!!! i can't wait.

then...the following month will be the wedding of the year! hahaha. two of my besties are getting married.....to each other!!! hahaha. yup...i'll have to share this lovely love story in a later post, but i'm so excited for this union. since both the bride and groom are close friends of mine...(practically family), my whole family here in utah will be flying/driving out to california for this blessed event! since i'm in the wedding line, i've been getting into the "i'm in a wedding line so i need to get skinny" mode. i started adjusting my diet (kind of) so that i eat less, and i try to work out more. and i'm proud to say i lost about 12 lbs in about a month. the holidays kinda got me sidetracked, but i've been going to the gym at least 2-3 times a week...and i'm hoping that helps.

after the wedding i get a few months break (hopefully i can squeeze an international trip in april), and then its graduation season...where my oldest nephew will be graduating!!! omg i feel so old just writing that! with his graduation at the end of the month, it just brings us that much closer to his graduation party the following month...which will hopefully be in hawai`i if all goes as planned. if the party doesn't go through...then we're taking a family trip on a cruise!!!!

*phew* just writing all this stuff down is making me tired. and that's only HALF the year!!! later this year my 2 nephews are getting baptized...and then the biggest event of all....I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!

SIKE!!! hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!! but the year is still young...so you never know. happy 2012 ya'll!!!

slacker...

2012-01-05T16:44:00.000-08:00

ok...i have been a total slacker when it comes to blogging. but it has just been a CRAZY CRAZY holiday season. well...kind of but not really. lol. lets just say i've been finding a whole lotta new things to occupy my time. here are some of my latest addictions/time wasters:

ipad

santa came early this year with a brand spankin' new ipad!!! i've been wanting one for a while to make my trips home that much more enjoyable. or ANY trip for that matter. so i've been downloading new apps...playing different games and just exploring the many features of my new toy! i LOVE it!!!

las vegas

i started watching this show from the first season (for FREE thanks to tv links), and it has been monopolizing my time..especially within the past few weeks. it helps to make time go by a lot quicker while i'm working overnight (its been SUPER slow lately..i LOVE it!).

pinterest

pinterest. this is probably the root of all my other "distractions." after trying to avoid it for quite some time, i randomly perused the site one day and that's when i got hooked! ugh...i would spend hours just viewing random pages and looking at different DIY projects. they make it all look so easy! u know its bad when you're browsing the site dead tired, but then you see something you want to try out, so you would jump out of bed just to make it! ugh.

sewing

since pinterest opened me up to a whole new world of craftiness, i started to test out my sewing skills. i took a beginners sewing class a few years ago, but never got to finish...i can't remember why. so with the easy to follow tutorials on pinterest i thought i'd take a shot at sewing some christmas gifts. here are some of the finished products.

rasta bags i made for my niece and her cousins

notebook and colored pencil holder for my other nieces

my family seemed to be impressed with my new found hobby that they got me my very own sewing machine for christmas!!! the basement will be my new "craft room" so as soon as i get a big enough table for my sewing station...its ON!!!

crocheting

another hobby picked up via pinterest. and this has yielded the most finished products. i don't know why..but i just can't seem to stop! it comes in handy when i'm working overnight because it keeps my hands busy between calls. and it keeps me awake too! so that helps. here are some of my latest finished projects.

my poor niece and nephew. they're my models for all the new crochet patterns i see. they have like 3 beanies already. hahaha. i've had a few requests, so i'm trying to finish those up so i can start sewing already! i haven't even opened up my new machine yet.

family

this year our family spent the holidays together here in utah. since my oldest brother back home got hired with delta, his kids were super excited to have their very first white christmas...and my brother was just excited to be able to spend the holidays with the rest of us. poor guy always seems to be the one missing out. so one by one they all started trickling in. first my mom and sister...then my niece and nephew...and then my brother and his other daughter. his wife who's expecting originally couldn't fly...but as soon as she got clearance she came up after christmas to spend a week with us too.

road trip

a few months ago my cousin had called to let me know that she and her family would be sealed for all time and eternity. since she only lives down in st. george i knew we HAD to be there. this is my ride or die chick...we been through so much together in our youth (we'll save that for another blog). and to see her become the beautiful woman, wife and mother that she is...the feeling is beyond description. since mahea was here (and she has no flight benefits) we decided to drive down for the festivities. one of my friends tagged along as well since she just got out of school. when we got to her house it was like we picked up where we left off. it was so good catching up with her and some other old childhood friends who were there. luv my hau'ula roots.

us with the suliafu's

holiday festivities

having the family here for the holidays was probably the highlight of the season. having to WORK on said holidays...PRETTY.MUCH.SUCKED!!! yup...i had to work christmas eve, christmas day, new year's eve AND new year's day! our family always does a big christmas eve dinner every year, and we usually have everybody open their gifts at midnight. well, this year, since my sister and i both had to work that night the kids were lucky enough to open their gifts at 9pm! hahaha. (everyone always asks..."what about santa?"...ummm our kids pretty much knew he was fake by the time they were 3...so sorry bout it santa). since we moved to utah, we started a new family tradition of going tubing at soldier hollow on christmas day. but since christmas day fell on a sunday, we went on monday instead. every year we go...we always have at least one casualty. this year...we had 4. lol. but the trophy goes to aaron who flew off his tube (head first) and jumped back on in time to enjoy the last 40 ft. hahaha!

at soldier hollow. luv this place...especially luv getting pulled up the hill. hahaha

aaron and his battlescar

so...as you can see...with everything going on...when do i have time to blog?

day 25...

2011-11-26T23:34:00.001-08:00

today was such an uneventful day. i woke up mid afternoon and spent the day doing absolutely NOTHING!!! well actually i take that back. i did do some online shopping...read some articles on those crazy black friday shoppers...and caught up on some missed television shows. so with that i am proud to say that i am grateful for...

lazy days!!!

u know what i mean. a day where you just don't feel like doing anything. a day where you just wanna lay in your bed. a day where you don't feel like picking up your phone....cuz today you're not doing ANYTHING! lol...thanx bruno mars.

its nice to just sit back and relax and do nothing after being on the go every other day.

day 9.....thru 24!!!!

2011-11-24T01:45:00.000-08:00

so this challenge has been a complete FAIL FAIL FAILURE!!! *heavy sigh* what can you do?

so to catch up i thought i'd just include the last 15 days in one post. so here you go! lol.

day 9: keiki o ka 'aina la's

with the younger saaga's and keo's a few years back. these kids always keep me on my toes...luv them to pieces!

day 10: twinkies

the newest additions to angie and david keo's mo'opuna's. luv seeing how the change and grow with each new day. such a blessing to FINALLY have them here with us.

day 11: google books

i LOVE getting lost in a good book, and googlebooks makes it that much easier when i'm able to download it on my phone. don't you just love technology?!

day 12: facebook

i have a love/hate relationship with facebook. i love that it keeps me connected with the ones i love but i HATE that it connects me to random people. thank goodness for security settings.

day 13: last minute swaps

this was a busy busy day for me with a missionary farewell and all, so it was nice to get an email from a coworker saying she would like to pick up my shift that night. nothing like getting a good nights rest.

day 14: haloa

learning more and more about haloa...keeps me culturally connected even though i'm physically disconnected from my 'aina.

day 15: GNO's

luv getting together with my girls out here in utah. even though they're all married with kids...its good to see that they are still down. here we are at karaoke...lol

day 16: hawaiian cultural center

having the opportunity to work in a place that keeps me "rooted" has given me a better appreciation for my background. mahalo.

day 17: team potluck

even though i hate driving into the office...i'm grateful for an amazing team who coordinates amazing potlucks. it kinda makes the drive worth it.

day 18: snow

another love/hate relationship here. love watching it, and playing in it...but hate driving in it. it snowed today and it ruined all my plans of going out (i was soooo not gonna drive down to provo in that!). buuuuuut....i love being bundled under a huge blanket sipping on some cocoa while watching a movie. "eets dee beeeesss".....name that movie

day 19: besties

i love these two. and i love that they're GETTING MARRIED!!! so grateful to have them both in my life and to have been a part of their looooooong overdue union. all i know is march is gonna GET IT!!!!

day 20: cali love

here's another shot with the besties and their families....BOTH of whom i LOVE! i love that everytime i go to cali (long beach/murrietta/san fran) its like i'm returning home. luv my cali 'ohana!!!

day 21: laughter

me and jan...omg this girl is the BEST! she and i both flew in to help with aforementioned besties proposal...and it was sooooooo much fun hanging out with her. she cracks me up this girl! this whole weekend was nothing but gutt wrenching fun. can't wait to go visit her up in the bay soon.

day 22: eternal families

i.miss.him. but so grateful for the plan of salvation. a constant reminder that i need to shape up my life so i can be with him again. luv u jason.

day 23: skype

meet my sister mahea. THIS is why skype is the best thing created EVER!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! not only can i talk story with her but i can see what she's doing....from 3000 miles away. and here she's trying to show that she can dance tahitian in her chair. hahaha. so mento.

day 24: thanksgiving

i love the holidays. nothing but family....food...fun...and relaxation. well...at least up until i have to go to work at 1030 at night! but alas...i'm grateful for this holiday...which reminds me to be grateful for EVERYTHING i have.

so now that i'm all caught up...we'll see what the next few days left in this month will bring.

day 8

2011-11-11T00:31:00.001-08:00

day 8: chapstick

with this dry weather coming up i've never been more grateful for chapstick! without it i would have some pretty dry chappy lips..no bueno...so here's to you nivea lip care! its the simple things in life.

i.love.nivea

day 7

2011-11-07T15:08:00.001-08:00

day 7: missionaries

yesterday i had the privilege to witness my uncle open his mission call via skype. he has been called to serve in the west indies mission (english speaking). i'm so proud of him and the decision he's made to be a soldier in God's army. he's worked so hard and prepared for so long for this moment, its exciting to see it actually happen. the BEST part about him opening up his call was everyone shouting out where they thought the west indies was. some thought india. some thought japan (lol). some thought africa. hahahahaha. when everyone finally stopped cheering and looked at the map in his packet, we all started laughing as we attempted a rastafari accent. lol. too funny. so good luck uncle mark! we'll be here cheering you on as you serve those in the west indies!!!

i.love.missionaries.

day 6

2011-11-07T14:11:00.000-08:00

ok i'm totally falling a day behind here but eh...its been busy.

day 6: delta

thank you delta for letting me go home at LEAST 4 times a year.
thank you delta for letting my parents come up to visit every other month.
thank you delta for letting me take last minute trips to california to visit my besties.
thank you delta for taking me to korea and thailand.
thank you delta for letting me experience the WORLD.

i've said it before...but i'll say it again...i LOVE the benefits of working for an airline!!!! flying for free has been the biggest blessing this past year and a half. after moving to utah, these benefits have made it possible for me to fly out to different destinations for various occasions.

i.love.delta.

day 5...

2011-11-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

day 5: my car

last may i purchased my first brand new used car..lol. it was a proud moment for me. i actually purchased a vehicle that wasn't a bomber...didn't have rust spots all over the bumper...it didn't require any tricks or prayers to get it to start. it was legit! coco has gotten me through many winter storms, kept me cool through some hot winters, and has taken me to various destinations here in utah. i'm so grateful to have her...so much so that she just reached her 100,000 mile mark the other day. lol. yup...i've racked 40,000 miles on this car in a year and a half.

i.love.coco.

day 4

2011-11-04T03:08:00.000-07:00

day 4: my house

i'm so grateful to have 4 walls that keep me warm in the winter and cool in the summer. this may not be "home" but it's a great substitute. we just barely moved from a 5 bedroom 2 and a half bath to a 3 bed 2 and a half bath. its a lot smaller than what we were accustomed to but its a perfect fit for my brother's little family...and me...the live-in nanny. lol. not only that but the location is ideal. its only 2 minutes away from my brother's place of employment, and since we're so close to the freeway it takes 10 minutes off my commute to the center.

i.love.my.house.

day 3

2011-11-03T03:51:00.001-07:00

day three: hau'ula park place

this is my home. if i won the lottery and had unlimited income...i would want to retire right here. not even kidding. i would fix my parents home...buy out a few other properties on the street (namely the ones who i don't even know) and move my whole family there. lol. i'm so fortunate to have this be my place of upbringing. i've never felt so safe anywhere else. from playing kickball and skaiini in the lane to picking flowers from granny's puakenikeni tree and plumeria's from paul down the road...this is my home.

i.love.hauula.park.place.

30 days of thanksgiving...

2011-11-02T18:00:00.000-07:00

a few of my friends have been posting pictures on facebook of one thing they are thankful for...and will continue to post one thing a day for the month of november. so i figured i'd do that on my blog! since the second day of the month is nearly over i guess i'll post the first two items i'm thankful for with this entry:

day 1: the parentals

the 'rentals in their prime...lol

of course i can't list EVERYTHING when it comes to these two AMAZING people...but here are a few...

thank you for being great examples
thank you for loving me unconditionally
thank you for teaching me how to serve
thank you for dropping me off at school even though we only live like a block away...lol
thank you for chasing down the school bus whenever we woke up late
thank you for waking me up to go to school
thank you for cheering me on from the stands
thank you for driving me to and from practices
thank you for allowing me to make my own mistakes
thank you for being there for me when i made said mistakes
thank you for everything you done...continue to do...and will always do.

i.love.you.mom.and.dad

day 2: my siblings

the most recent pic of us 5...the BEFORE pic...lol. the AFTER is under construction lol
*sigh* miss him

as the youngest of six...it is assumed that i am the spoiled one. well...i am! hahaha. but not only by my parents. i have five WONDERFUL siblings who have all contributed to my spoils...lol. i mean who wouldn't want to spoil me right?! i'm so thankful for all of them and i couldn't imagine life without them. it would be so...boring. lol. man...i especially miss jason...i can't imagine how things would be if he were still here. i mean we get pretty crazy already as it is...and if jas were still here i think our neighbors would probably call the cops on us every time we have a game night. not to say that that hasn't happened before...but yeah...my sibz pretty much ROCK!!!

i.luv.you.sibz.

kap kun ka thailand...

2011-10-17T23:46:00.001-07:00

so i've been putting this off for the past few weeks because 1 - i knew this was going to be MONSTER of a post 2 - i was overwhelmed with the amount of information i wanted to share and 3 - i was lazy. lol. but...it must be done. so here it goes.

thailand

early monday morning my two besties (who just so happened to be in town for conference weekend) dropped me and my cousin taualai off at the airport to embark on our journey. we got there early...in hopes of getting on the early flight to minneapolis....and FAIL!!! so we desperately researched different alternatives til we settled on the next flight to seattle. luckily...we got the last two seats. we knew that as long as we got out of salt lake, we would make it to bangkok. and the rest of the trip was cake.

gotta luv business class

we landed in bangkok late tuesday night, and our flight to chiang mai, (a province north of bangkok known to have the best elephant tours) wasn't for another 7-8 hours. so we tried to kill time by getting a massage, dined in some of the airport restaurants (which had some amazing food), and conversed with random travelers who were also waiting for their flight in the morning. one lone traveler in particular gave us some great tips on what to do and where to go while in chiang mai...which turned out to be very useful later on.

sawasdee ka bangkok

after being on airplanes and in airports for the last 31 hours or so it was nice to take in the fresh air...but man was it hot!!! the first thing i wanted to do was go straight to our hotel and take a nice shower. our first hotel...the kuang singh residence was located just outside of the main city. excellent accommodations for an amazing rate! only about $15 a night! if you EVER plan on going to asia...agoda.com is the best place to book your hotel. the staff was so nice and extremely helpful

our hotel in chiang mai.

after getting refreshed for the day we made our way to the city! it was a little difficult at first trying to find a taxi since our location wasn't in a routine area. our attempts at asking for help or getting directions were pretty good considering the language barrier...but i found that as long as you know at least one landmark, and have a map...you're good. thank you lonely planet. we finally saw a tuk tuk headed in our direction so we flagged him down and we were off to get a massage!!!!

time for a lomi lomi

thanks to our new airport friend kevin, we knew an area that was flooded with massage shops. and they were all dirt cheap...i'm talking $5 an hour cheap. so we found one highly reccommended by kevin, and opted for a slightly pricier massage for 2 hours! and by pricey i'm talking about $17 for two hours!!!! holla! it was EXACTLY what we needed after all that traveling. i was about dead after we were done. i could've ended the day right there...but we decided to explore.

wat prah singh temple

we must've stuck out like a sore thumb cause almost every taxi driver would stop and ask if we needed a ride. and they asked at the right time, cause we were still trying to recuperate from our amazing massage treatments. so we hit up one of the local temples...sat in on a prayer session there...visited the silk factory...and since it was crazy hot, we thought we should head back to the hotel to rest. what was supposed to be a two hour nap turned into being a 12 hour dead bird session into the next day!

outside of temple

and that brings me to the elephant tour. i can't even begin to describe how much fun this was. here was the basic outline for the day:

pick up from the hotel and drive out to the elephant camp
elephants put on a show where they do tricks, dance, play soccer, and paint
go on an ox cart ride
do a little shopping
go on an elephant ride throughout the village
lunch
take a bamboo raft down the river
head over to the orchid and butterfly farm
return to your hotel...or in our case we had them drop us off at a spa

all of this for a grand total of roughly $35!!!! ridiculous!!!! one funny story...everywhere we rode...the local villagers kept pointing at us saying "big big." hahaha...eh! more worse the elephant trainer that was taking us around was saying "yeah big big. big money." i was thinking to myself...yup...keep saying that and your tip is gonna be small small! but in the end the experience was amazing. take THAT bucket list!so...of course when we got back into the city...we just HAD to get another massage. this time we went to an actual spa...and paid a little more for a full on spa package....which included an hour long body scrub, an hour long massage, and a facial. i'm not even gonna discuss the price....lets just say it was about 10% of what it would normally cost here in the states. crazy cheap! and man was it worth it. i felt so fresh and rejuvinated afterward...ready for a night out on the town.

after getting worked on, we developed quite an appetite...and we opted for....mcdonalds. hahahahaha! don't judge me. but after killing time eating...drinking...and people watching, we headed to the muay thai boxing arena. to be honest i was a little hesitant about going cause it wasn't really my thing, but i'm so glad we went. i found it so interesting to see the different type of protocol performed each match. but the highlight of the night was their exhibition match. they had 5 random guys fight against each other blindfolded, for like 5 or 10 minutes. it was hilarious!

after the fight we headed back to the hotel to get some rest as our flight was first thing the next morning back to bangkok. our flight left bright and early at 7 am, and we almost didn't make the flight because it was so full. but we go on and left beautiful chiang mai for...the monster that is bankok.

our time in bangkok was nothing like chiang mai. first off our hotel. we got there and it was an amazing lobby. so clean. so modern. we even enjoyed their breakfast buffet before heading upstairs to our room. the room. hmmm. i swear it was like entering the twilight zone. as soon as those elevator doors it was as if we were totally different hotel. the hallway was so cramped and dingy..and the room was worse. so bad that when i went in the bathroom i got locked in!!! seriously?! the stupid doorknob broke! irraz. granted we were spoiled by our luxury accommodations (lol) in chiang mai...but seriously?

disgusted by the room...we head out to do some shopping!!!! finding a taxi in bangkok was cake...trying to get the drivers to take you where you needed to go...not so easy. they always wanna make different stops on the way so they can get gas credit for bringing tourists. annoying. we kept saying "MBK...MBK...just take us straight to MBK!!!" we finally got there.

that shopping center was ridiculous!!!! i was overwhelmed by the time we entered those doors. it was weird because in some sections it was like a regular mall, and others more like a indoor swap meet. and thats where u find all the bargains. u can totally bargain to get stuff for like half off their asking price there. i had so much fun doing that. we also watched a movie and interesting thai fact...after all the previews, they have this short little 2 minute slideshow of the king of thailand where everyone in the theater is asked to stand to pay tribute to him. they also had a karaoke booth that we totally took advantage of.

post shopping activity...dinner at an authentic thai restaurant. that was the plan at least. but i don't know if that's what we got. lol. we trusted our tuk tuk driver to take us somewhere nice...and he FAILED! after refusing to get out of the tuk tuk...he finally took us to a better place. he offered to wait and take us back to our hotel for 50 baht...but when we came out he fully left! hahahaha. we didn't pay him...so he pretty much took us there for FREE!!!!! we headed back to the hotel and packed up for our flight early the next morning.

omg i can't believe how long this post is! but needless to say...it was an AMAZING trip!!!! i seriously came home ready to go back! i feel like i just didn't get enough shopping done..and i would love to explore the southern part of that country next time. who's down?

sawadee ka....

2011-09-22T12:09:00.000-07:00

just booked the hotel today....and i'm ready to GO!!!! in less than two weeks i'll be doing this!!!!

SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!

tita's in town!!!!

2011-09-15T16:01:00.000-07:00

since i moved to utah almost two years ago the transition has been easy with my sister and her family...and my brother and his family here. not to mention the *almost* monthly trips back to the rock. but i know that it has been hard for my other brother and other sister back home to be away from all of us...especially me. hahahaha...jk. so whenever they get a chance, they try to take a few weeks off to come up and spend some time with us. more so mahea than aaron...tis the life of a single lady.

so...as leone (oldest sis) and i got ready to pick her up...we joked about the different things mahea would say as soon as we picked her up. here's what we came up with:

"its sooooo coooooold!!!!"

"i'm soooooooooo hungry!!!"

"i HATE utah!!!!"

buahahahaha....you really have to know my sister in order to understand how funny this is. so i guess this is just for my own personal documentation.

so needless to say as soon as she stepped out of that airport...she repeated each phrase almost verbatim! not necessarily in that order. lol. and then there was her FAMOUS line...which she says almost everytime we're driving somewhere NOT in hawai'i...

"WHERE are we?! i don't even know where we are!!!"

never mind she's been here like 5 times already!!!! and she wants me to list her as my companion next year???? hahahaha. omg...i LOVE my tita.

luv my twinkies!!!!

2011-09-08T16:16:00.000-07:00

one of the best parts about coming home from a much needed vacay is coming home to this...

this...
this...

and this....

don't forget this....

i was only gone for a week but these two monkeys changed so much while i was gone! they both started crawling...and hili girl's first two teeth broke through!!! ugh...they are growing so fast, and i'm so excited! i can't wait for them to start walking/running around. it's gonna drive their dad NUTS when he comes home to a messy house. hahaha!!!

much needed vacay...

2011-09-01T16:18:00.000-07:00

just got back from one of THE best vacays i've had in a while. much of my time was spent relaxing...eating...swimming...more eating...exploring...playing games...talking story...did i mention eating?...and spending quality time with some quality people.

destination: Lake Powell
duration: 7 beautiful days
company: my murr town/long beach 'ohana

i don't know if words could describe the grandeur of lake powell. before i met greg, i've never even heard of lake powell...let alone planned to go there at any point in my life. being the island girl that i am...forever surrounded by the largest body of water there is...the pacific ocean, i never....EVER thought i would be spend time in a...lake...let alone spend 7 days there!!! but it was freakin awesome!!! we spent our entire time there cruising on the dowden's houseboat...and exploring the canyons on their smaller boat and seadoo's.

the dowden's have been going every year for the past 30 or so years...and the murphy's (greg's grandparents) have been going almost every year since the lake opened up back in the 60's! they knew every nook and cranny there! man...i swear i was so luck to be with them, cuz if i ever went by myself i swear i would get lost. every corner looks the same to me. lol.

i'm kicking myself right now for not taking that many pictures. thats wut happens when you go with people with cameras...you're too lazy to take any of your own. but here are the few that i do have.

wahweep marina..the morning i arrived
the other side of the marina...where all the houseboats are docked
the back of castle rock...its HUGE!!!!
the dreamcatcher...my home for the entire trip
rainbow bridge...one of the natural wonders of the world. a 747 can fly thru it. MASSIVE!!

the cliffs by our campsite
hole in the wall (yup thats what its called) an lds historical landmark. you can read about it here.
some indian ruins. if you look closely you'll see the opening to their homes. these guys would scale these cliffs (which are a couple hundred feet high) just to get to their HOUSE! i'm never complaining about my drive to and from work ever again! lol
there were a lot of HUGE cave. if you look closely to the bottom left you'll see greg and josh on the seadoo's...just to give you some perspective of how GARGANTUAN everything was.
i forgot what this was called...but it was another HUGE hole in one of the cliffs. lol
just a shot of the water reflecting on the rocks as we were coming out of one of the canyons. pretty cool huh? and...while i was there i discovered a new app that does some pretty cool effects with your pix. this is the modified version. i call it..."fiyah on the rock"... lol
i thoroughly enjoyed the different colors and lines on all the cliffs.
here's the same pic after its been instagram-ed. i call this one "rawr like tigah...on the rock" lol

the pix really don't do it justice, but i had so much fun just enjoying God's creations. who knew the desert could be so beautiful?! with all the swimming and exploring you can guarantee that i got my tan on! and here's proof...

me and anabunz on our way to rainbow bridge...

this was one of the few pix of myself while there. its been instagram-ed...but it stays true to my color. lol. anyhoo....thats the extent of my trip. i don't know if i'll ever go back again by myself..but if the dowden's extend the invite again...i'm so there!

random ramblings...

2011-07-13T01:32:00.000-07:00

almost had a breakdown at work today. had to fight back the tears. recently posted pix on facebook just brought a flood of emotions.

i.miss.my.aunty.

it doesn't help that its my own mother's birthday today. i called her this morning. she's in hawai'i...anxiously awaiting her "cheat day" breakfast cooked by my sister...while i'm here in utah...driving to work. *eyeroll*. being away from my "park place" 'ohana really sucks right about now.

my sister tells me how they've been having dinner down the road at aunty's every night since she returned to our Father. i flashback 15 years ago. when it was OUR house everyone was convening at. our community has lost a great woman. i luv u aunty *tear*

june.

2011-07-06T16:13:00.001-07:00

i can't believe how fast june came and went. its ridiculous! i would always look forward to this month because it usually means end of school, beach days, graduation parties = da BOMB food, king kamehameha day (lol), and the best day of the whole year...the anniversary of my day of birth. lol.

so what did you bring me this year june? end of school? not for me since i'm not in school anymore. beach days? ugh...no! they've turned into pool days though. lol. graduation parties? YES please!!! and along with those came a few extra pounds...NO thank you. king kamehameha day? do utah celebrations count? haha. birthday? of course! thank you ladies.

i love graduation season...the smell of fresh flower leis...the excitement of a loved one transitioning into a new stage of their life...and of course...he mea 'ai ono!!!! this year three of my lil cousins graduated. graduations here in utah are sooooo different from the ones back home. tropical flowers aren't easily accessible here, so everyone makes due with what they can when it comes to leis. one the major differences i saw was the lack of signage for graduates. my SIL made awesome signs for the cuzzies...and we soon realized we were one of the few. ummm...hello...how else you gonna find your graduate if they don't have letter markers for them to stand under??? but it was fun seeing their faces when they saw their sign. it definitely had my racing with ideas for when my nephew graduates next year. watch out westlake!!!

me and HG with this years graduates lolo and eve..just missing damien

but my dear dear june...you had me riding that emotional roller coaster like it was nobody's business this year!!! still a little dizzy here. the saaga's all went home soon after graduation...so that was pretty depressing. even though i don't see them everyday...it just sucks knowing they're not around if ever i feel like driving down the road to their house. then getting pix of them having fun out there without me?? RUDE. i just wanted to go home.

my lil heartbeats cruisin on the boat with aunty mahea. i shoulda been there damnit!!!

and what made things WORSE...i got sick! blah! so i was in quarantine in my room for almost a whole week! i couldn't even hold my babies!!! irraz. it was even MORE depressing! for a whole week i was l.i.m.b.a. (lying in my bed alone) catching up on sleep....old tv shows i missed...and more sleep. the only good thing that came out of that...i lost 10 pounds (5 of which quickly found me after said sickness...blah!). thus adding to previously mentioned depression.

but the hardest thing of all??? not being with my parentals. dad was diagnosed cancer earlier in may and had a HUGE tumor growing along his left jaw. it caused him a lot of pain, and it hurt to know that there was nothing i could do to help him. especially out here. thanks to my benefits i was able to go and visit him when we initially found out...but due to work commitments i wasn't able to go back since then...and won't be going til the end of THIS month. so father's day was especially emotional this year.

before chemo...

but...the good news is that dad's doing a lot better now. his tumor has gone down significantly, so he is no longer rocking the elephant man look. lol. his second treatment was later in the month (my birthday) and his hair started falling out...but he's taking it like a champ. i don't know what it is about this man but he doesn't let anything bring him down. always smiling and laughing. just.being.him.

after chemo...

aside from the sickness and the worry...it has been a pretty busy month. we found a new place and spent the last few days of the month cleaning and packing up. thanks to the help of our family and "professional" mover friends, we were out of the old house and into the new house within two days!!! woot woot! it has definitely been an adjustment having to move from a humongous 5 bedroom 2 and a half bath home to a 3 bedroom 2 and a half bath town home. really makes you realize how much you own. but we've made it work and i'm loving the easy access to the freeway!!! the 10 extra minutes i get taken off of my commute to the hawaiian cultural center makes a HUGE difference...i LOVE it!

not only are we closer to the freeway...but we're also closer to our cousins...and their pool :) and that's where i spent my birthday. me...the SIL...and the twinkies headed over to cuzzin lena's for a day full of chillin' in da pool. those babies sure do LOVE the water! if only we could put their beds in the water because that seems to be the one place where they just knock out! the rest of the night was spent watching movies and vegging out. it was nice.

twinners chillin in aunty lena's pool

the next night was party time with the girlies. our gno's lately have been nothing but stuffing our faces and cracking up...as always. this time was no different. hahaha. we went to chili's...got harassed for making too much noise...(remind me never to go to orem chili's AGAIN)...and continued to have a good time. my one request for the night was to go karaoke. so we headed over to a local bar in orem that had karaoke every wednesday night. since the other karaoke bars i've been to have been pretty mellow, i thought for sure we would be able to get a few songs in before the night came to an end. WRONG. the bar was packed with crazy drunken white people who were ready to be heard. so we spent a whole two hours or so waiting thru "white noise" til we had our chance to make our debut. but its always fun hanging out with my girls. luv ya ladies!!!

all of us minus vaueli...who was taking the pic

so that was june in a nutshell. *phew* that took a while. i just realized i started writing this post 5 days ago!! yup...it really took me that long to get it all in.

change is good.....right???

2011-06-06T16:58:00.000-07:00

last week i got some surprising news from my roommate. we were being EVICTED!!!!

nah nah nah...just kidding. but we really are moving. the loser who owns the house we currently reside in decided he wanted to move back in once our lease was up. NOT COOL! especially since he's gonna be the ONLY one living there!!! what is one person gonna do with a 5 bedroom house??? oh well.

so here we go...on our house hunt. applications have been submitted...and credits have been checked. we're just waiting for the approval.

but there is one thing i dislike in the world...and that is moving! let me rephrase that...i dislike moving families. since i'm single...i don't really have all that much stuff to drag along from house to house. when i moved from my sisters house to my brothers, i literally grabbed all my clothes out of my closet, my shoes and other misc things, and threw them in my car. that's how i move. i left all the big stuff...or the ONE big thing, my bed, for my nephews to move over. lol.

helping FAMILIES move is a whole other monster. my sister has moved her family over 5 times in a period of 10 years, so we definitely have some experience. but it doesn't mean we like it anymore with each new time. packing room by room...running out of boxes...forgetting things...CLEANING....blah!!! dislike dislike DISLIKE!!!

but change is good....right??? i would love to stay in the same area, so we're not too far from family...but living closer to the freeway would be a lot better. since i'll be working from home (for delta) by the end of this month...i really just want to be somewhere that cuts my commute to the hawaiian cultural center down by maybe 10 minutes. that will definitely make a huge difference.

wish us luck!!!

land of disney

2011-05-16T00:28:00.000-07:00

if i knew creating a talking mouse cartoon would allow me to have a whole "land" park named after me, i would've done that a looooooong time ago! ahhhh...mr disney....where did you ever come up with the idea to create something so amazing?!?!

i had the opportunity to free my inner child last week as i revisited the happiest place on earth ...disneyland. i've frequented the park many times before, but this was my first time (in a long time) going with people under the age of 18. lol. little humans (thank you arizona from grey's anatomy for introducing me to the new slang for 'children') are by far the BEST to roam the magical kingdom with. the excitement in their eyes...the screams and giggles on every ride...and the nonstop urge to run towards every ride in sight! pure awesomeness!

the day started off with a scrumptious breakfast courtesy of the marriott residence inn in garden grove. if you have a big family and are looking for reasonable accommodations, this is the place. when the sis told me breakfast was available downstairs...i was expecting your usual donuts, cereal and fruits. i was pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a full on breakfast buffet complete with waffle bar!!! my fave!!! so...naturally we all stuffed our faces (and our ziploc bags...YES...my sis brought those down with her...hahahaha) with everything in sight. this was all in preparation for the mad amount of walking/running that awaited us.

then we were off. and of course a saaga family trip wouldn't be complete without someone forgetting something. this time...it was one of the kids tickets to the park. so the sis caught the shuttle back to the hotel while i forged on with the little humans. after getting off the first ride, sister caught up with us. as we headed towards MY favorite ride...indiana jones temple of doom...that's where we checked off another saaga family trip 'must do.' we lost not one...but TWO children. yup. kawika and latafale, in all their excitement, RAN off to the indiana jones ride, and ended up going the wrong way. by the time the rest of us got to the entrance to the ride, they were no where to be found. so we waited for a good half hour to 45 minutes until their glorious return, where they were greeted with the signature saaga slap to the back of the neck! hahahaha!

the day continued with more rides...more laughing...and more ulavale kids getting lickins. lol. we ventured over to the california adventure side of the park and it was pretty cool. it was my first time there, so of course i wanted to try to squeeze in as many rides as i could. the roller coaster, ferris wheel, swings, hollywood tower hotel and a few more. by the time we were done i was pooped! and it was only 4 o'clock! but the brother in law showed up with a bag full of jacks (that's jack-in-the-box for those of you not up to par with the fast food lingo) which was the sustenance we needed to charge on thru the next four hours (the park closed at 8).

after our lunner (get it...lunch + dinner...lol) we headed back to fantasy land to relax the rest of the night. well....so we thought. those dang little humans turned into little DEVILS by the end of the day!!! they were running all over the place trying to get on every ride they could. it was pretty ridiculous. ok...maybe i'm exaggerating...but i mean c'mon give me a break. my feet hurt and i was dead tired. so we got as many rides/pictures/shows in as we could til we finally bid farewell to walt's wonderland. we made our way back to the hotel just in time to get a good soak in the hot tub...and then it was moe moe time.

all in all...the trip was definitely one to remember. it just makes me that much more excited to go back with the rest of the 'ohana. thank you mr disney...and big mahalo to the saaga's for the SPONSORING this memorable trip. lol. luv them!

p.s. pictures coming soon...

mom

2011-05-06T23:28:00.001-07:00

oka...so sad...this was the only pic i had of her on my comp...lol

with mother's day coming up, i can't help but be overwhelmed with gratitude for the woman who brought me into this world. as i was browsing through previous posts, i noticed that i had a few entries about my dad, but not too many about mi madre. well...here you go mom...this ones for you....you crazy lady.

angeline lina keo....where do i even begin??? do i start with her intimidating demeanor when i was a tween/teen...where no matter what i said/did...it always seemed to irritate her? or do i start with the time she pulled me and my sister by the hair when we were fighting over something as ridiculous as who got to ride a stupid bike??? or maybe all the times she would sew all my outfits for may days/banquets/proms at the last minute and would be stitching me up as i'm walking out the door???

i can hear her saying "fia poko!" while she reads this....lol

*sigh* so much to be said about this woman, but if i had to describe her in just one word, it would probably be ~~strict~~ ~~stubborn~~ generous. lol. i mean...aside from always laying down the law with her kids...and everyone else's kids, (click here to see what i'm talkin bout) my mom would give the shirt/mu'umu'u off her back to anyone who needed it. and not to mention take in strays..(ahem dana and migi...you know i'm talking bout you)...lol. she always serving others no matter what, and taught all of us...her children...to do the same. i love her for that.

she supported us with everything...and i mean EVERYTHING!!! i remember leaving school early most weekends during my elementary years because we had to drive to town to watch my brothers football games. i hated it because the games were soooooo long. especially when you had to watch TWO games! *bratty status right hurr! lol. but being the supportive mother, she would always drag us along. *small disadvantage of being the youngest...cause i swear nobody got dragged to any of MY volleyball games! lol

needless to say this lady has been there for it all. from waking up early to take us to the bus stop, to chasing the bus down when we slept in. from cleaning up cuts and scratches from falling off a bike, to giving us lickings for not being where we were supposed to be when falling off said bike.

i love you mom :)

update

2011-05-03T18:21:00.001-07:00

it has definitely been a minute since i last blogged. so much has gone on this year that i haven't even touched up on...mostly because its been CRAZY busy. since i got back from korea i have been on the go non-stop. with work, family, friends and more work...i haven't really had much time to do...well...pretty much anything. but here it is in a nutshell:

*february 19*twins*saj hilina'i*stein maluae*homeward bound*beach*tsunami*besties wedding*qt with bff's*back to bootah*work work and more work*homeward bound again*keo babies visit from hawaii*baby blessin*mini family reunion*family time*GNOs*beachin' it up*mayjah rayjah*beachin it with the twins*beach beach and more beach*boots and kimo's*work*LBC*besties birthday*oceanside dinners*karaoke*late night convos*early morning airport shuttles*back to reality*back to working 2 weeks straight

so that's pretty much it. life is good. what makes it even better is that i'll be working from home in approximately 6 weeks and i am soooooo stoked!!!! i can not wait!!!!

something that i miss

2011-04-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

this one is easy. i miss being a kid. carefree...no responsibilities...no worries about money or my future. just being able to live life to its fullest. when i look back at my childhood i always tease my mom that my other sister right above me, mahea, and i were the only latchkey kids in our family. the madre was home for the rest of our siblings throughout their elementary years. dropping them off and picking them up from school. i can imagine the occasional afternoon snack would be waiting for them after school. but not for us. we would get dropped off...but had to walk home afterwards. if the key was not in its designated spot there would be times when we had to break in.

which by the way...surprises me how our house NEVER got broken into! i mean...if an 8 year old could do it...what's stopping a grown adult. thank goodness for tight knit communities.

but don't get me wrong....my mom did the best she could to support our growing family. and in a way it definitely made me mature a lot quicker. i learned to cook, clean and do laundry all at the ripe age of about 9. then you can throw in taking care of ANOTHER little person, my nephew...at the age of 10. i had to grow up fast. i guess in a way that's part of the reason why i miss that stage in my life so much. when i look at my nieces and nephews now...and see how carefree they are...it makes me wann climb in a time machine.

i want to be able to play in the rain without worrying about getting sick. i want to be able to ride a bike down a hill without worrying about falling off (trust me when i say it can happen to grown az adults too!) i wanna be able to climb a tree without worrying about it breaking....hahahaha. most of all...i just wanna have one day without having to worry. PERIOD.

my favorite place

2011-03-22T14:23:00.001-07:00

sunday breaks after church
easy walks to think about the day
swimming
digging holes in the sand
sand castles
playing in the rain
playing in the mud
mudfights
walking the dogs
sunbathing
late night jam sessions
catch phrase after being kicked out of the house for making too much noise
(ie pono jumping up and down waking everybody up)
getting stuck in the sand
meditation moments

these are just a few of the things that make this my favorite place....

my fears

2011-03-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

as far as i can remember...i've always been afraid of heights. i don't know why, but every time i found myself higher than 6 ft, the worse possible scenarios seem to flood my mind. if we're on the 15th floor of a hotel, i would imagine the guard rail on the balcony becoming loose, and me falling to my tragic death. gruesome...i know...but for some odd reason, stuff like this always freaked me out. but i always faced it head on. whether it be trusting myself to take that extra step towards the edge, or going on that amusement park ride that pushes the limit. but....i wouldn't describe this as being my biggest fear. my biggest fear can be summed up in one word....loneliness.

having been brought up in the lds church, i have always been taught the principle of eternal families. and i've never fully understood that concept until a member of my eternal family left our earthly home. when it happened...people would tell me..."don't worry...you'll see him again," or "thank goodness for eternal families and Heavenly Father's plan." so of course i was comforted then knowing that i would see him again. however...eternal families are dependent on living a worthy life here on earth. so the thoughts begin to race in my mind again....what if i don't live up to my part? what if he didn't live up to his? what if i screw up and never see him again? what if i never see my family again? because to me...losing my family and being all alone is my biggest fear.

but...just like i face my fear of heights...i have to face this head on by working towards living a worthy life. unfortunately, i'm currently not on the path i should be on...mostly because i miss out on church and various church activities. but i've come to accept that i'm simply a work in progress.

facebook quotes

2011-02-10T13:36:00.000-08:00

i have recently downsized my facebook friends list to about 100+, just keeping those i keep in contact with on a steady basis. and when new friend requests come in, i'm pretty picky on who i accept and who i ignore. recently, one of my coworkers requested to be a friend, and her newsfeed updates have been nothing but uplifting. her most recent status shared a quote that i found totally blogworthy:

history, depsite its wrenching pain...cannot be unlived...and when faced...with courage, need not be lived again.
-maya angelou

*sigh* thank you ms. angelou...for the uplifting reminder that i shouldn't let my past affect my future.

a first

2011-02-07T14:49:00.000-08:00

so i figure i'd knock down two birds with one...BLOG...lol. as i was approaching this topic, i couldn't decide what "first" i would discuss. my first time getting lost at the swap meet? my first time falling off a bike? or maybe even my first time getting into a car crash? but alas...all these firsts seemed miniscule when compared to one of my greatest firsts...my FIRST trip to south korea!!!! hahahaha. ok...i'm fully cheating because i'm using this as an excuse to talk about my adventures in the land of kim chee.

for those of you who have been following along...i have been planning my australia trip for weeks now. the flights were looking great up until about three days before i was scheduled to leave. all of a sudden the business cabin started to fill up, and it was a lost cause. so i had to devise a new plan. i was not about to let my whole week off pass me by without crossing over international waters. so i facebooked a few friends, and hoila...within a few hours before the flight was scheduled to depart, i found myself preparing to go to south korea!!!!

two of the most amazing people i know have been living out there teaching english. i have been meaning to go and visit them for some time now, but the opportunity had never presented itself...that is up until now. as i hopped on the next flight to lax...i couldn't contain myself. i was actually going to korea....BY MYSELF!!!! hey....another first.

i had to make two stops before reaching my final destination...lax and narita, japan. i would have loved to cruise around japan for a quick minute...but i was by myself, and it has been a while since i've spoken a lick of japanese. so i figure i just stay in an area where english was a kind of guarantee. lol. my flight to japan was ridiculously empty. i had a whole row to myself...in BUSINESS CLASS!!! which was perfect for that 10-hr flt.

i finally arrived in seoul tuesday nite. it was too late to really do anything, so tee and idz met me at the airport and we took the hour-long trip to downtown seoul where our hotel was. and the rest was all a blur pretty much. here's the simple PBP (play-by-play) of what we did.

flight arrived. triple threat reunited. train ride to seoul. check in to hotel sunshine. heated toilets. catching up. laughing. talking. sleeping. s l o w l y waking up. pack up room. trek to subway. bags in locker. subway to market. naemdamu market. zip up hoodies. korean drums. fur. fur. MORE FUR!!! street performers. honey demo. suckered. bought honey. peanut butter pancake thingy. crazy taxi drivers. getting lost. alleyways. lunch. tight spots. chopsticks. spoons. hot food bowls. awesome food. palace. painted koreans. mochi demo. spinning tops. picture time. taxi ride. subway to train. 3 hr train ride. freezing jencheon. korean bbq. BEST EVER!!! korean karaoke. tamborines. new friends. NEW YEAR!!! 12 hour nap. cruise all day. sick tee :( movie marathon. rummikub. chinese jax. more. talking. laughing. singing. puking (poor tee) lol. packing up. bus station. goodbyes. headed home.

i wish i could explain everything that we did, but it would be a really long blog. all you need to know is that it was an amazing experience. especially since it was quality time with two very dear friends. it definitely made me nostalgic of our days at the musicbox. since their contract is up in may...they'll be moving to australia to try the workforce out there. now i definitely have to make it back to australia when they get there.

annyeonghaseyo!!!

2011-02-02T22:44:00.000-08:00

yup....you guessed it...i chose KOREA!!!!! i'll have to update you on everything when i get back as i am having waaaaay too much fun right now exploring the massive city of seoul, eating all the korean bbq i can, and being totally engulfed in the culture. but i just had to let my blogfrenz know that i am alive and well! see u wen i return to america!!!

workaholic

2011-01-28T06:34:00.000-08:00

the term workaholic has a whole new meaning. yesterday was my first day off in 19..yes...19 straight days!!! ugh...so not the business. but tis the reason for my lack of writing. my daily schedule the past few weeks consisted of nothing but sleep and work. literally. but hopefully it will all be worth it soon. if all goes well with the flights, i should be headed over the great pacific to the land down under. i'm a little worried though because last i checked the flights are tight, and the business cabin is already full. call me a brat...i DO NOT care...but if i can't fly in business for that 14 hour flight...I'M.NOT.GOING!!! so i've started looking into visa opportunities for some other international destinations with korea or japan being at the top of the list. lol. but we shall see. any suggestions/recommendations???

something that makes me cry

2011-01-18T17:37:00.000-08:00

these are a few of the things that make me cry...

NEW LIFE...death

UNIONS....separations

LAUGHTER....anger

interesting how two contradictions can evoke the same reaction???

something that makes me feel better

2011-01-06T14:04:00.001-08:00

what else is there right???

i {heart} my family

aussie aussie oi oi!!!!

2011-01-01T01:58:00.000-08:00

yup....just HAD to share that in approximately 30 days i will be on a plane to see this guy....

and i am sooo flippin' excited!!!!!!!!! just need to get two more days covered at work, then get my visitor's visa...and i'm headed to the land down under!!!!!! thank goodness for friends and international weddings.

ps...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

something that upsets me

2010-12-21T16:26:00.000-08:00

i like to consider myself a happy-go-lucky person. i don't really let all that much get to me. but if i were to choose ONE thing that upsets me...it would have to be...

stupidity

hahaha. seriously! i can't stand it. pure dumminess irritates the heck out of me. and i'm not talking lack of education stupid...i'm talking the "ignorant-i-can't-be-bothered" idiocracy. ESPECIALLY when it comes to my cultural background. this irritation has obviously become more apparent with the move to the mainland. i mean...i understand some people really don't know...so i don't hold it against them. they're not the ones i have problems with. its the ones that THINK they know, and try to correct me. seriously?! annoying. here's an example:

dummy (directed to a friend of mine): your daughter's gonna have to get a t.b. test for school.

friend: yeah...she did that already.

dummy: no...she's gonna have to get another one since she moved from another country.

friend: what do you mean...we just moved from hawai'i...

dummy: yeah...that's what i mean

friend: ummm...hawai'i IS part of this country. it's the 50th state.

dummy: no...it's not part of the REAL u.s. its a little island out there.

friend: no...hawai'i IS part of u.s.

dummy: no...you know the REAL u.s. hawai'i doesn't count.

IRRAZ!!!

dummy#2: do i need a passport to go to hawaii?

me: no.

dummy #2: are u sure?

me: positive.

dummy #2: sure? i just want to make sure i have the proper documents when i travel out there. don't i have to go through customs when i get there.

me: i'm 100% positive you don't need your passport. hawai'i is a part of the united states.

dummy #2: it is? are you sure?

me: yes ma'am. i'm sure. i'm from hawai'i. born and raised.

dummy #2: wow...you speak really well for someone from hawaii.

IRRAZ!!!

another moment

2010-12-13T15:13:00.000-08:00

how about a lost moment. like the time i got knocked out today and lost a few teeth!! lol. yup...today was the glorious day the nagging pain that kept waking me up for the past week or so came to an end. all in all the procedure was quick and painless. went in. got some laughing gas. got poked like 5 times with needles because the nurses were unable to find a vein. (curse u shallow veins-happens every time i go to give blood). and then it was a little awkward when the last thing i remember was the oral surgeon reminiscing about how he was the lead in his high school play "guys and dolls" (?) and then something about P-90X. and then i was knocked out.

***sorry...no brittney spears hallucinations here*** all u gleeks know what i'm talking bout right?! lol***

next thing you know i'm being woken up by the nurses and they were done! then they hand me my purse to call my ride. i'm so out of it when i'm calling the BIL to pick me up. luckily he's just pulling in. next thing i know they start wrapping some kind of contraption around my head, but it gets caught in my hair. so i take my hair down and the nurses start going on and on about my hair. and for some reason i start asking them if they've seen the movie/documentary good hair with chris rock! buahahahahaha!!! omg. the BIL finally walks in the office and helps me out...still buzzing from the anaesthesia.

long story short i am sooooooooooo relieved its over. besides the bleeding and the vacant spot in the back right of my mouth...i'm good. i'm just keeping my fingers crossed the antibiotics fight off any potential infections...and hopefully i won't have to take any more painkillers. bye bye pain. hello sleep!

the challenge is coming to an end...

2010-12-10T02:23:00.000-08:00

ok....to all you loyal followers...(yes all 5..lol), i just thought i'd update you on my status with the challenge.

i only have 10 more topics left!!!!

yup...and then i won't have anything else to write about. lol. for those new to the challenge..here's a little background. feel free to take the challenge yourself. would LOVE to hear what you have to share.

the challenge

this month....

2010-12-06T21:55:00.000-08:00

it's that happy-go-lucky time of the year again!!!!! i love the holidays...but my waistline surely dreads it. oka...those damn grocery stores set you up by putting ALLLLLLLL the baking stuff in little stations...throughout the store. eeeeh!!!! i've already made butter rolls, banana cream pie, my version of haole brownies, regular brownies, and yellow cake with chocolate frosting. sadly...there was no special occasion. it was all just cause the stuff was staring me in the face at the store...so i bought it, brought it home, and MADE IT!!! all i know...it's back to insanity come january! ugh!

anyhoo...enough of the weight-whining. so it seems like its gonna be a pretty mellow holidays. especially since i have to work the evening of christmas day. that really isn't a problem since our family always does our big dinner on christmas eve. so with that...the SIL started decorating around the house. so far we just go the staples...

the tree

the garland for the banister

and the stockings (check out the itty-bitty ones i got for the twins...lol)

man...when the SIL brought the tree home i thought it was huge!!! but i was quickly informed that it was nothing compared to our sisters tree. so i drove down the road to check out her tree...and i was greeted by this MONSTROSITY!!!!

one and her 12 ft tree put our little 9 footer to shame. hahahahaha!!!!

last week, at work (the hawaiian cultural center) we had a fun little activity for all the little chillrenz. so SIL and i went and took no'a, since it was mostly for kids his age. i called a couple frenz and invited them to bring their kids as well. it was so cute. we had different activity stations set up including:

cookie decorating

making crafts (reindeer windsocks???)

coloring

and story time

it was the perfect activity to jump start the holiday season. i was planning on going home...but i'll be spending my week off getting oral surgery!!! fun right?! WRONG!!!!

after weeks of avoiding the dentist, i couldn't take the nagging pain in the bottom right corner of my mouth. come to find out my wisdom teeth have been growing the wrong way and i need to have them removed. IRRITZ! so i go in next wednesday...and hopefully it'll be a quick recovery. i'm kinda nervous, but at the same time relieved, because its time off from BOTH jobs!

then it's christmas!!! don't really know too much about our plans...only that its dinner at sisters for christmas eve, and then tubing the next day before work. it should be a lot of fun. only thing missing is the parentals and the two sibz back home and their chillrenz.

BIG SAD FACE :(

something i regret

2010-12-05T23:54:00.001-08:00

omg...so many skeletons in my closet. from failed relationships to really stupid decisions. i definitely regretted making those decisions back then. but now that i look back at it...not to sound too cliche, but the ultimate life lessons were learned from those experiences. but i think this quote sums it all up for me:

"regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable."

shoulda coulda woulda. especially with opportunities past...that i'll never get back.

my favorite birthday...

2010-11-24T00:30:00.000-08:00

birthdays birthdays birthdays...who DOESN'T love birthdays?! i know i do!!!! lol. i have to admit...i usually don't make all that big of a deal when it comes to my own. i usually like doing stuff for OTHER people. weird..i know...but there's nothing like seeing the expression of someone's face when you surprise them with a party...or just randomly stopping by the office with a dream cake from ted's. its all worth it. so when friends try to return the favor...i don't really know how to act.

like when they try to throw you a surprise party, but you think you're waiting for them to get ready to go to the movies. so you get all irritated when you have to go IN the house to get them to hurry up cuz you're going to miss the movie...and when you open the door and everyone yells "SURPRISE" you blurt out some "special" words, shut the door and try to run away. hahahaha!!!

OR like when they attempt to break into your house to decorate your room while leaving their brother outside as the "lookout"and all he does is look at YOU while you pull up in the driveway staring at him wondering "why is 'iasi outside my house???" hahahaha...thanks line ;)

OR like when they throw you a surprise bonfire (one of my fav past times with good '01 frenz) but i fully knock out after having dinner with frenz...one of whom decides to invite a RANDOM chick who does nothing but drain me of my "birthday-glory-ness" by complaining alllllll night about her ex who also happens to be my cousin. hmmmm...the food was good though. lol

but don't get me wrong...i'm soooooo not complaining. i have the BEST friends and FAMILY anyone could ever ask for. these are just some of the few memories i have of my special annual celebrations. if i had to pick just ONE...it would have to be my 24th. i only pick this one because i think it lasted the looooooooongest. it wasn't just a birthday..but a birthWEEK!

friends flew in from texas to celebrate. totally unexpected. the brother-in-law rented a car for me and my friends to cruise all weekend long. from ice blocking in the middle of the night...to taking the visitor friends clubbing for the very first time...to witnessing a friend freak out when he realized his pina colada had a little extra kick (innocent mistake)...it was a whirlwind of events. ironically...this also happened to be the year of the ruined bonfire surprise. but my brother totally made up for that by taking me on a surprise retreat to the hilton waikaloa...one of the premier hotels on hawai'i island. i was spoiled rotten. now that i think of it...i don't even know how i was able to get that much time off work.

but whether it be my 24th or my 42nd...i am grateful for each new year of life. which just may be the greatest gift in itself. so here's to another year!

gone too soon...

2010-11-23T03:11:00.000-08:00

its 4:11 in the morning...and i can't seem to fall asleep. too many thoughts racing through my mind. my heart yearns to be with my parents. my family. to be home. to be with my community...as it mourns the loss of yet another young spirit. i did not know him, but i recognize the pain his family must be going through. i can't help but think back to that tragic morning 14 years ago. its all too familiar. the michael jackson song keeps playing in my mind...and my heart aches for the tafuna/fotu families. rest in love dee dee.

32 years ago...

2010-11-22T15:23:00.001-08:00

32 years ago......

* "We Are The World" was recorded

*The last Volkswagen Beetle was ever made in Germany

* The 1st Iron Man Triathalon was held in Kona, Hawaii

* The BeeGees "Saturday Night Fever" goes #1 for 24 weeks

* The TV show "Diff'rent Strokes" premiers on NBC

* Sweden is the first to ban aerosol sprays

these are just a few of the random events that i could find that occurred in 1978. but 32 years ago today, a beautiful soul was born.

when i came into work today, i performed my normal ritual. talk story with my coworkers to catch up on this weekend's events. the snow. parties. sleep. etc. afterwards...it was time to get to work. but facebook first. lol. first entry i see on my news feed was a status update from sister...

"hau'oli la hanau jason keaunui keo, miss & luv u my braddah"

i nearly broke down in tears. i had totally forgotten.

when jason passed, aside from the pain experienced from such a great loss, one of my biggest fears was forgetting him.

i made it a point every year to visit him every year on his anniversary and birthday. it was easy the first few years. since he was just down the road. but as the years went on and life became "busier", i found the visits less frequent. does that make me a bad person???

but then there are those random days where i see/hear something that reminds me of him and i just break down. what would he be like if he were still here? who would he have married? what would his kids look like? *sigh*

but then i remember...although our physical ties have been broken, we are bound eternally.

so with that. here's to another year. happy birthday brother.

luv and miss u,

ur little sister

my favorite memory

2010-11-20T04:28:00.001-08:00

"memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, and the things you never want to lose" --some old t.v. show...can't remember the title

how appropriate for today's entry. obviously i can't think of just ONE favorite memory. so i thought i would share a few that, although random, are unforgettable:

- playing pictionary by candlelight with the WHOLE family after hurricane 'iniki turned into a tropical storm...and getting surprised by the neighbor who invited himself over and randomly jumped on our kitchen table.

- playing in the pouring rain outside the house, and slowly making our way to the bridge on homestead and not EEEEVEEEN caring about getting kaki'o's from the dirty water..hahaha

- driving around all of hauula/laie/kahuku with sister and looking for byuh students we could bark at. but then feeling bad after making said student fall off her bike. sbi

- playing secret santa for random people in the ward and delivering baked goods to their homes anonymously.

- late night drives to walmart cuz there was nothing else to do.

- late night drives to zippy's....for the same reason as the aforementioned memory. heffer status. lol

- seeing imaginary cats crossing the road while driving home after aforementioned late night trips.

- ward.camp.

- laughing sooooo hard i literally couldn't breathe.

- beach days

these are just the tip of the iceberg. if i mentioned every single memory i think i would lose readers. lol. but i look forward to making many...many more.

challenge interruption...

2010-11-15T15:24:00.000-08:00

ok...so i know i've been on the verge of finishing up the blogger challenge, but i just had to interrupt to document the events from this past week. my days off from delta have been so sporatic lately, that its been hard to align them with days off from the center. so when the boss lady at the center said i was relinquished from my daily duties on wednesday, coincidentally my day off from delta as well, i took that as a sign that i was meant to go home to attend the temple open house. so immediately after work tuesday night/wednesday morning, after an EARLY morning breaky (breakfast) with the cuzzie, i hopped on the first flt to lax. luckily one of the diamond medallion members didn't show up, so i snagged the last seat. my hopes of getting first class on the la to honolulu flt were smashed when they announced the last minute purchased upgrade option.

**sidenote: i'm officially spoiled cuz i HATE flying home in coach....especially when i fly alone...cuz i dislike sitting next to strangers. *sigh*

needless to say i still got a decent seat, and made it home safe and sound. so...since majority of my family had already gone to the open house, i went with my bestie maria. she had invited one of her nonmember friends, and i invited one of my other buddies who IS a member, but just hasn't had the opportunity to go yet. one word to describe the open house: MAJESTIC. going through each room, and feeling the spirit...amazing. definitely an eye opener for myself. haven't been the most active lately...but i'll leave that for another post.

after the open house...we hit up kahuku grill. i was feenin' some local grindz...but didn't want to travel too far. if you haven't gone there yet, i HIGHLY recommend it. they're known for their "twice as much" burger (crazy-ridiculous-good), but i opted for the teri chicken plate. fav part of the meal. the salad. it was huge. filled with tons of goodies, and oh-so-FRESH!!!!

this trip was short and sweet considering i flew out the next evening...had to work friday...boo!
but little did i know i would be back on a plane later that evening. my flight arrived early friday morning...so i drove home to catch a few z's before work. while driving to work, i got a text from greg..."you should fly in to long beach if you're off tonite." after reading the text, i thought to myself..."hey...why not?" i was able to get someone to work my shift at delta that night so after getting off work at the center, i stopped by target to by a toothbrush, and rushed off to the airport to catch the last flight out.

my bestie's brother had put together a mini film festival in the area, so it was a perfect venue to stop and meet up with friends that i haven't seen in a while. the films, the music, the people....all worth the two hours of sleep i got that night...because i was back on a plane headed back to salt lake city...for work :(

loooooong story short last week was a whirlwind of events. its definitely been a while. but it was all worth it considering i'll be working straight for the next 10 days. *sigh* the life of a nonrev...i love it.

my first kiss

2010-11-04T02:07:00.005-07:00

first word that comes to mind when i think of my first kiss: awkward

hahaha. yes. very true. it was in a movie theater. as we were walking out after the movie ended. and as i turned around to say something to him, he kissed me. weird. what made it worse, there were people behind us trying to leave too. it was another couple...who gave us dirty looks as they walked by. i remember THAT. nailz. i also remember thinking..."this fool couldn't wait til these people left." but rest assured...that was my ONLY instance of PDA....even if the public population consisted of 2. lol. so there you have it...my first awkward kiss...lol.

my dreams

2010-11-04T02:07:00.003-07:00

if someone were to approach me and ask me, what are your dreams??? my answer would be...

i.have.no.clue.

i have been in a total slump lately. not even kidding. just going through the motions, trying my best to survive in this "doggy-dog" (thank you gloria from modern family for that one...lol) world. i have been hesitant to write about this topic for this reason. seems a bit loser-ish of me to not have any dreams. but then i came across the following quote

“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” - Greek Philosopher

total justification. lol. but on the real...it's sooooooo true. when i look back at my life a few years ago...there are so many things that i have accomplished up to this point that were all just a dream back then. both big and small. here's a few examples:

- i own my very own car. yup....kept talking about it in the past...just couldn't afford it. now, it's a dream come true

- backpacking through europe. NEVER thought i'd ever get to do that. but i totally did and it was totally awesome. dream come true

- graduating from college. in political science of all majors. it was a long time coming. but i did it. another dream come true.

- the freedom to travel. been bit by the travel bug a few years back, and scrimped and saved for every trip. now i have my own personal fleet of "private" jets. thank you delta. dream come true.

these are just a few examples, of the MANY "dreams" that have manifested themselves in the past few years. actually...this all happened in the past year. huh...go figure. so thank you mr. greek philosopher for helping me realize although i may not have a clue as to what my dreams for the future are yet, its comforting to know that i have already made some older dreams come true.

what i wore today...pt. 2

2010-11-04T02:07:00.001-07:00

nothing special about what i'm wearing today. just that it's a more comfortable alternative to wearing jeans during this chilly-er fall season in utah. so i'm sporting my bright floral print baby doll dress with leggings and a cardigan.

and of course the boots to keep the dogs nice and toasty.

not too sure how i feel about the upcoming winter season. don't get me wrong...i don't mind the cold, and i love when it snows. one thing i DON'T like is driving in the snow. especially since approximately 2-3 hours of my day are spent on the road. just the thought of playing "slip and slide" with other cars on the road is soooo not the business. but i have to keep reminding myself that these are the small sacrifices i would have to make in order to maintain my flight benefits. so bring it on frosty...just please be gentle...lol.

this week...

2010-11-02T19:46:00.001-07:00

what a coincidence...i get to talk about my week right when i'm smack dab in the middle of it. so in honor of this week's hump day...allow me to share what i did, am currently doing, and what i plan to do. haha.

sunday:

tsk tsk. missed another day of church. and this time i was actually in town for it...but got swept away in never never land. you know its bad when people think you're new every sunday you DO go. and you know its worse when the person asking you is NEW themselves!!! eeeeh! i think i should just switch to the ward down the street instead of driving 20 minutes to go to the singles ward. is it really worth it? *sigh* ok...ending confession now. lol. cruised with the madre til it was time for work. worked the night away.

monday:

got home from work around 5am. stayed up til about 6. slept til 12. woke up in a frantic hurry to get ready for work, only to find out it was my day off. from one job at least. drove to sissy's house to hang out with the chilrenz...and ended up cleaning their house and buying lunch for everyone. (am i the only one who sees something wrong with THAT scenario...damn kidz! lol). went home to get ready for the second job. worked the night away.

tuesday:

pretty much the same schedule as monday except this time i worked BOTH jobs. went in to the center by 2pm and caught up on some blogging. lol. but don't worry...i blog for the center as well, so technically its "work". edited some videos, downloaded some pix, and made a couple dvd's. i love my job there. was done there by 6 and headed another half hour north to the lovely reservations center. and yup...you guessed it....worked the night away.

wednesday (TODAY!!!!):

got home from work and was greeted by an insomniac...mi madre. found her resting in her beauty while the tv watched HER. woke her up and advised her to either get some rest or start packing for her flight which left in about 6 hours. she hesitatingly got up off the couch, walked past the stack of clothes piled ON her suitcase (and this is where i get my procrastination from), and went to sleep. hahahaha. don't ever. worried she wouldn't be able to get up in time to go to the airport, i decided to stay up and catch up on some atlanta housewives. is it just me or does this season seem lame??? if i hear kim sing "don't be tardy for the party" one more time, i'm gonna fly to atlanta and slap her myself!

two hours later...woke up the parental and helped her get ready. sissy came to pick her up so i could get my slumber on. or attempt to. did some laundry and finished just in time to go back to work. so that brings me here to the center. and i'm dying right about now. plans for later this evening??? work my night away.

thursday:

lucky for me, i only have to work ONE job tomorrow, and its only for four hours!!! so i plan to sleep for as long as i can...roll out of bed, somehow manage to get ready..and drive a half hour to work. i think we have a meeting tomorrow...so really its just me and my coworkers talking story about how nails our board is. hahaha. that'll have to be another post. after that i can GO HOME!!! not sure what to do then. maybe have movie night with the SIL, since the rest of the family ditched us to go to hawaii. boo to them! but luckily, i won't be working the night away.

friday:

back to two jobs again. ugh. i offered to work for a coworker at delta. how nice of me right? lol. this time i'll get off early, and just work til 1am instead of 4am. trust...3 hours makes a HUUUUUGE difference. but other than that...nothing all too exciting.

saturday:

*sigh* if alllll goes as planned, and i get someone to cover my shift at delta...i'll be on a plane heading up to boise to watch the uh v. boise state game. is it bad that i'll be sporting boise gear, but cheering for uh??? lol. well...that's the plan at least. if things don't pan out...and my shift doesn't get covered, i'll probably be changing the oil on my car, and quite possibly get the alignment fixed. or maybe i'll just bypass all of that to go shopping. the latter sounds better. and then...yup...you guessed it, i'll have to work the night away.

and that's my week. so exciting right?! hope yours has been/is/will be better than mine. ;)

what's in your bag?

2010-11-01T22:32:00.000-07:00

there's no mistaking it that a woman's handbag is her life. how else would we carry our wallet, makeup, cell phone, pen, paper, phone charger, camera, snack, planner, laptop, laptop charger, *lady items*, power surge bar (lol), etc. see...ones whole life can fit in there. or maybe just mine.

lately this has been the bag of choice for yours truly.

i know what you're thinking..."that's not a purse!" but hey...it carries EVERYTHING i need and then some. these are some of the goodies in my bag today:

-laptop
-laptop charger
-wallet
-makeup bag
-surge power bar
-phone charger
-earphones
-gum
-chapstick
-lotion
-dental floss

random...i know. but i promise i use EVERYTHING in here almost everyday. i need my laptop when i go into work....both at the hawaiian cultural center AND delta. the surge power bar is to plug in my laptop while at delta. there aren't enough outlets for the work computer and my computer...so it comes in handy when its slow at work...and it allows me to do this...

hahahaha. yup...that would be me watching movies at work. the earphones are necessary for this to happen as well. lol. and as you can see in the picture above...you'll notice the phone charger plugged into the computer. can't be disconnected from the outside world while working right?
work at delta always seems to fly by with these little toys.

need i explain the rest of the items??? lol.

challenge continued....my siblings

2010-11-01T05:35:00.000-07:00

ok...i got home from work an hour ago, and instead of doing the usual...(reuniting with la-la land), the wonderful world of blogging has prevented me from enjoying my slumber. so here i am...6:37 in the morning...determined to complete the challenge. so i'll start where i left off...my siblings

because there's so many of us, i figure i'd do my best to describe each one with a single word. so here it goes....in order from oldest to youngest. lol. hopefully they don't hurt me if they happen to come across this post.

leone.malia.saaga

the loud one

aaron.kawika.keo
the quiet one

jared.maluae.keo
the OCD one
(yes...i realize OCD is more than one word but the abbrev. can be one word right? lol)

jason.keaunui.keo
the kolohe one

mahealani.angeline.keo
the punchy one

me.
the favorite one
(lol)

back to blogging...

2010-10-29T14:09:00.000-07:00

alrighty...i've been through a major blunk (blogging funk). a lot of it has to do with my crazy work schedule. as soon as i get home from work i go straight to bed, and as soon as i wake up, i get ready and go straight to work. i'm not complaining though...because every chance i get with time off from BOTH jobs, i'm on a plane. but i do plan on completing the challenge with an update here and there on a new topic. so stay tuned all you loyal followers. lol...

challenge FAIL!!!

2010-10-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

ok...u guessed it...i totally FAILED at the blogger challenge. but give me a break...it got super busy towards the end of the month...and that sibling blog was just taking TOOOOOOOOOOO long. i guess that's what happens when you have to write about 5 different people...especially when there is sooooooo much to write about each of them. oh well..i tried.

what i wore today

2010-09-09T23:17:00.003-07:00

*so i just realized that its backwards...lol

because the weather is still somewhat warm...it's a t-shirt and jeans kinda day. so...as you can see above (no i'm not getting a shot of my boobs) i'm sportin' my $1 kavaroots tee (made by ammon and his Yu-Do lol), some jean capris and my platform slippers from walmart.

i wanted to highlight the shirt cuz it is one of my favs. as previously mentioned, it was made by my old boss ammon watene, the current owner of kavaroots....which at one time was my second home. for those who follow my blog, i'm sure you remember how much i LOVED working at this place. it was by far the EASIEST and most chill job EVER!!! not only that, but i actually cared about that place. i sacrificed so much for that place as mentioned in a previous post.

kavaroots is a little shack on the north shore known for their acai bowls. for those of you who don't know what an acai bowl is...allow me to explain. acai is a berry from the amazon...packed with antioxidants. it is mixed with strawberries, bananas and apple juice in the form of a smoothie, which is then poured in a bowl, and topped with the BEST granola, sliced bananas and drizzled with honey.

it really is the BEST. and not to brag or anything...but i think i make 'em the best. lol. sadly...we don't have a kavaroots here in utah...and even though i can buy the ingredients up here to make my own, i don't have the right blender. so when i try to use the normal household blenders out here...it really isn't the same.

its funny how these posts work themselves out. i was planning on writing about clothes and how they can sometimes "make or break" a person...but i just got carried away with my memories of kavaroots. *sigh* i miss that place.

my beliefs

2010-09-09T23:17:00.001-07:00

upon reviewing today's topic, i figured i'd be really simple. since my beliefs are just that...simple.

* i BELIEVE in a loving and caring Heavenly Father whose love is everywhere

* i BELIEVE in eternal families

* i BELIEVE that you get what you give

* i BELIEVE the people in your lives are there for a reason

* i BELIEVE in my Savior...and HIS atonement

* i BELIEVE in forgiveness

this may not seem like a lot...but these are the most important ones...to me at least.

a moment

2010-09-09T23:16:00.000-07:00

when i first moved to utah...i stayed with my sister and her family of 8. it wasn't that big of a change considering i lived with them back in hawaii before they relocated. and besides...i'll have to admit that she and her husband have been like my second parents for some time now. i remember when i was in high school, i went to a birthday bash with them, and some of my friends thought they were my parents. i never let one live that down. hahahaha!!!

anyhoo...since my brother and his wife moved up and get a house for themselves, i moved in with them. no more missing clothes, or messy room from kids going through my stuff. no more waking up to kids fighting or babies crying. its been nothing but peace and quiet. its been nice considering i've been working so much lately. but i do miss those monkeys.

so last night, bestie and i stopped by the saaga's. and this is what we walked into:

as much as i enjoy the peace and quiet and the cleanliness of my new "home," its moments like these that remind me why i moved up here in the first place. i don't know what my life would be like without these kids. they make living in utah bearable....and its moments like these that bring truth to the saying "home is where the heart is," cuz these little heartbeats make life worth living.

my best friend

2010-09-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

i was looking forward to this post because there are so many stories to go along with this topic. lol. you know you're best friends when you go through a lot together...and i mean a LOT!!! this girl has had my back as far back as i can remember. we had so much in common from our first crush to our first loss. she truly is my SAS! here are a few things we have in common:

*born and raised in hau'ula

*lifetime H4 members

*both our fathers served as bishops for the ward.

*we both had the HUGEST crush on the same guy...until we both outgrew him. literally.

*lost our siblings (my brother and her sister) in car accidents. first jason. then sarah. both of whom are the same age and grew up together as well.

*both of us got lickings from the same person....who just so happened to be my mother. lol.

*fully dependable.

wen i look back through the years, mine and maria's relationship grew through the young women's program. we would complain about almost every activity, and as soon as we got our license we would ditch the last hour of church to discuss the past weeks activities while stuffing our faces with mcdonalds up at the point. because we went to different schools, these were one of the few times we could catch up on the latest gossip.

one of the BEST stories i have of us is the summer after her senior year and my junior year. we were both single and she was sooooooo ready to mingle. especially after just ending a two year relationship with her h.s. boyfriend. drama dat one. anyhoo...it was ward camp. and she being the outwardly open rebel...and me not being so open decided it would be a good idea to sneak away and attend a grad party that was going on that night. surprisingly...this was the first time she ever snuck out anywhere. lol. so i laid out the plan:

*tell the parentals we were gonna hang out in the main tent.

*wait til they fell asleep...or were about to fall asleep.

*take the van (my parents van of course since i was always the driver)...and get ready for the party at my house since everyone in my family would be at camp.

*PARTY TIME!!!!

so the excuse was going to be...we went home to grab a sweater...and just crashed at the house. after leaving the party at almost 430 in the morning...we headed back to the camp. with our change of clothes in the car. when we pulled up we quickly changed into our pj's. the plan was to circle around the camp and make it look like we were coming from the beach. we were about 50 yards away from a clean break until the dreaded flashlight (a trademark of my mother's at EVERY camp) shone brightly on our faces. busted.

maria started freaking out asking "oh crap! oh crap! what are we gonna do?" me...being the sneaky one...who's obviously had experience sneaking out before (*smh* oka...what a punk i was) told her to just be quiet and that i would explain everything. so as we approached my mother...i could FEEL her eyes penetrating through the both of us. she abruptly asked where we were, and i stuck to the whole going-home-to-get-a-sweater-and-falling-asleep story. she could see right through me. so in an effort to get the truth...she turned to maria, who was standing right next to her (wrong move)....and WHACKED her with the flashlight!!! hahahahahaha!!!! and this was no ordinary flashlight. this was the 10 lb. black security flashlight! and maria is as skinny as a twig...so it obviously hurt. omg...i'm cracking up just thinking about it. that's a true friend right there. after getting the first "beating", my mom asked maria the same question she asked me. and like a trooper maria stuck to the story.

so there we sat...the two biggest liars in the world sitting in front of my mom. when i think back on it now...we were both really stupid. what i thought was frustration and anger was actually genuine worry and concern. mom expressed how during that time of the year she worries about us on the road late at night. especially after what had happened to jason. this made me feel like crap. so we both apologized for being...well...teenage girls.

but this story will forever be etched in my memory. if you can get lickings from MY mom...you know you're family. lol. sadly...later that summer maria and i developed an even stronger bond over the loss of sarah...her eldest sister. unfortunately i was out of state when it happened and could not physically be there when it happened....but i was the first person she called when it happened. and she was the first person i went to when i returned from my trip. we know that we can depend on each other no matter what.

now that she's married and has a family of her own...our relationship remains the same. she has a new best friend...and i know i still have yet to find mine...but she will forever be my sis.

my day

2010-09-08T23:59:00.000-07:00

today was pretty uneventful...much like any other day of my life. i would say that majority of my day has been spent working...but not today. like i've mentioned in a previous post, one of my besties is in town, so i was able to take some time off from my full time job. but poor her. i still have to work at the hawaiian cultural center.

so today...we decided to sleep in since both of us have been overworked the past few weeks. we decided to take it easy. if i had my way...i would have called in to the second job and made a spa day of it. but because i went home last week and spent waaaaaaaaay too much money, i figured i should put a few hours in.

so off we went to midvale. bestie dropped me off so she could spend some time with her brother who lives not too far away from the center. can i just say that aside from having my family here, working at the hawaiian cultural center has made the move up here so much easier. i love that even though i'm surrounded by a sea of "white" here in utah, i can walk through those doors and feel at "home." i don't have to explain myself when i buss out da pidgin. i can mention people and places from back home and not get a funny look. my coworkers truly are like family there. i don't even think i can call it work since all we do is cruise and enjoy each other's company.

so after putting in my four hours...bestie and i headed to the grocery store. i felt the need to cook. so we picked up a few things and headed home. baked bbq chicken, mashed potatoes and corn was on the menu, and bestie cooked up some devilish cupcakes. they truly were sinful. i forget how much i love to cook. i've been deprived of that privilege after working nights at delta. but its all good. the flight benefits make up for it. but how good food tastes when you make it yourself. i really should cook more of my meals myself.

then it was quality time with the brother and SIL. its been nice having bestie in town because it gives me the time i need to relax. i rarely see my "caretakers" nowadays because i work so much. i'll wake up just in time to get ready for work at the center. and then when i'm done there...i immediately report for duty at delta. by the time i come home...their asleep. or...when i have time off from both jobs i'm on a plane. so it was good to just kick back and enjoy a meal with them. that's usually when we have the best conversations. see...again with the food/convo combination.

so as you can see...not so exciting...but worthwhile for me. just quality time with good people.

my definition of love

2010-09-08T19:29:00.000-07:00

my definition used to be:

when you're ready and willing to do anything and everything for a person.

but now when i think about it, it seems to subservient for me. so after much thought and contemplation i think i've come up with something better:

love is when a person helps you realize your worth and loves you for it...unconditionally

what i ate today

2010-09-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

ok...since i only ate on thing TODAY...i'm gonna share what i ate yesterday cuz it was mmmm....mmmmm...mmmmm good. lol.

the bestie flew into town yesterday...so after picking her up from the airport we went straight to the house to refuel. i figured its cheaper to eat at home then eat out. so we got home to find my sister-in-law prepping some lunch. perfect timing. lol. BLT's were on the menu...and i was a little hesitant because i've never had one before. sorry...not that big of a bacon fan. but man...i don't know what she put in THIS sandwich but it was yuuuuuuuuummy!!! so that was my breakfast. lol.

after work that day...my "food storage" started running low...so with ana in town...we decided to treat ourselves to some olive garden. it has definitely been a while since i've eaten there...so i forget how scrumpdiddleyicous their food is. i usually order the basics...lasagna or spaghetti. but this time i was filling something stuffed. so cheese ravioli for me with salad and breadsticks along with a strawberry mango lemonade. ugh...i'm getting full just thinking about it. dessert was the last thing on my mind after cleaning off my plate. lol. but we weren't done.

after leaving olive garden we were off to cold stone down the road to meet up with some more good company. since i've moved up here to utah..i've made it a goal to spend some time with my friends from college who are now married with kids. we usually meet up at chili's or cafe rio and make a meal of it...but this time we thought we'd just catch up over dessert. so we met at cold stone. man...i swear i became diabetic just walking into that place. everything smelled soooo sweet. but it too was yuuuuuummmy! *sigh* that just put me over the top.

one thing that i've realized however is that food is always the staple that brings people together. its the key ingredient in celebrating every occasion....weddings, birthday parties, anniversaries...etc. the list goes on and on. my friends and i have had many a good conversation over some good food. although i should really limit my eating out, you just can't limit quality time with good people.

the parentals

2010-09-08T11:23:00.000-07:00

david and angie
my parents

they met not too long after my dad returned from serving in the northern indian mission...covering north and south dakota and wyoming. he was giving a talk at a young adult fireside that my mom just so happened to be attending. she just flew in from new zealand and was on a mini vacation in the islands. her first impression of him (in her words), "i thought he was so ugly!" *sidenote: i take offense to her comment every time she tells the story because i mean c'mon...my daddy was and still is VERY handsome. so she's crazy. lol.

anyhoo...after the fireside was over, the very one who thought he was ugly, approached him because she realized he served with one of her friends from new zealand. he says he was immediately smitten...and they began hanging out immediately after. one thing that is ironic is that the whole time my mom was here on vacation, she was staying with her cousin who was actually engaged to my dad before he went on his mission!!! hahahahaha! i tease him about how he liked to keep things in the family.

but i'm grateful for that day. had that not happened, i would not be here...obviously. it still amazes me how these two were able to come together. i know that the lord had a huge part in helping them find one another. especially in preparing my dad.

you see...he is a convert to the church. i've mentioned this in a previous post. he saved up enough money to support himself throughout his mission. he always talks about how he had to sell his fire engine red mustang to pay for his mission. he has always been a hardworker. from his years of service in the national guard after they were married, to his years of driving either tourists or high school students, my dad has always been the provider for our family. now that he's retired...he continues to work hard around the house and with his various church callings.

but he wouldn't be the strong, hard working man that he is without my mom. growing up...i've always known my mom to be a stern woman. i could never really connect with her as much as i did with my dad. isn't that true with most daughters??? well...growing up i tease her that my older sister and i were latchkey kids because she returned to the workforce when i was in the 3rd grade. so, when coming home from school, instead of being greeted by an afternoon snack made by our mother...like most kids...we were greeted with a list of chores and things NOT to do when we were done with said chores. hahahaha! but i love my mom. she is just as hardworking as my dad. so much in that she would rather stay at work sometimes, then come home. lol.

i just got back from visiting with my parents last week because mom's health isn't exactly the best at the moment. but one thing that i did observe while i was there was the undying love these two continue to have after 38 years. they are the ultimate example of unconditional love for me. i am forever grateful for them and their living example of what i look forward to achieve when i find my eternal companion. don't get me wrong. they're not perfect. they've endured more than their share of trials, but they continue to come out stronger than before. i could go on and on...but its getting a little difficult trying to see through the tears. lol. i love you mom and dad.

first love

2010-09-05T02:46:00.000-07:00

when i think of my first love...i think of my first date. to this day i wouldn't quite say i was in LOVE with him...more of a deep like. LOL.

it was fall of '98...the start of my sophmore year, and his junior year. although we didn't go to the same school, we had mutual friends who all seemed to hang out together on the weekends after football games or at dances. and i guess that's where we seemed to connect. back when it was normal for the guy to ask the girl to dance, he was always the FIRST to approach me whenever i showed up. we would dance all night, and chat it up for a lil bit afterwards outside the gym. whenever the curfew was an issue (for me of course) our conversations continued over the phone. it was the beginning of a great friendship. or so i thought.

then it changed thanksgiving weekend. i distinctly remember because it was the weekend of the coveted prep bowl. in preparation for the "big event" i remember making leis for all my "boys" playing that weekend. then i got the call. it was him. he sounded different than before. nervous almost. after covering the basics...hey...what's goin' on....how was ur thanksgiving...blah blah blah...there was silence. he asked if i would be going to the dance later that night. me, knowing i still had a ton of leis to make, i told him i was unsure. silence again. then came the confession. he liked me. i mean...i would be lying if i said i didn't know by then...but to hear it straight from the horse's mouth was something different.

it. was. nice.

our relationship grew from that point on. i admitted my mutual interest...but wasn't ready for anything serious quite yet. which, now that i think about it...doesn't really make sense because from that point on...we were practically in a relationship...i just didn't want to admit it. our weekend conversations turned into daily phone calls...with occasional rendezvous at a friends house. our first real date was at laie theaters. hahahahaha!!! i remember my parents picking me up after the movie, and because i was too young to "date" i had him wait in the theater til i left. hahahahaha!!! i know...ghetto. but *sigh* those were the days. had to sneak around.

the prime event...my sophmore banquet. since we had become so close throughout the past few months, it was only natural for me to have him be my date. because i went to a different school where he wouldn't know ANYONE, three of my close friends took three of his friends as their date as well. so after taking group pictures at the temple (aiya...we thought we was goin prom..lol), we hopped into our limo (see! lol)...and made our way to town. all in all we all had a good time.

sadly...all good things must come to an end, and so it did with us. phone calls became less frequent. both our lives became preoccupied with sports and school work, and we just didn't seem to be on the right page. as i became more and more aware of my feelings for him, his seemed to fizzle. we tried to reignite the flame a few years later after i graduated from high school, but we both realized we were better off as friends.

so there you have it...my first "love"....or the way i like to put it....my first "deep like" :)

the challenge is challenging!!!!

2010-09-03T22:56:00.001-07:00

ok....i am already getting off to a bad start. but things have been CRAZY this week...but i'll have to save that for a later post. on to the first topic: INTRODUCE MYSELF.

now...i'm pretty sure that everyone who follows my blog already know all there is to know about me, so here are a few random facts that may not be common knowledge...

*5 scars from a random biking accident back when i was in second grade
(one on each elbow and one on each knee along with one on the chin)

*lived in 4 different homes in a period of 3 years

*got lost at the swap meet when i was 5 years old. i don't remember it, yet it seems to be a vivid memory for the rest of my family...

*spoiled yet humble (are you humble if YOU claim to be??? lol)

*went to 3 different schools post hs graduation..only to officially graduate 8 years later

*teachers pet...in elementary at least. lol. most people think they are. but do their teachers take them to disneyland after graduating from 6th grade??? yup...that's what i thought.

*got a sprained ankle in 10th grade while playing volleyball, forcing me to use crutches for a few weeks. not a good combo when your school is on a hill

*fell off down stairs on school bus while using aforementioned crutches

*used fake hair at sr. prom...which saved me HOURS of prep time.

*love rainy days..only if it means i can stay home

*lived with 9 other girls in a 3 bedroom 1 bathroom house. i don't know how we did it.

*my first car was a whopping $300!!!

*love my family.

i thought this would be a better way to introduce myself. you know aside from the whole mundane introduction...you know, name, family members, education and occupation history. these are just a few of the random experiences that have made my life that much more exciting. granted there are waaaaaaaaay more..but these are the ones that seem to stick out in my mind. so there you have it. uilani.lina.keo

the challenge

2010-08-27T16:52:00.000-07:00

i realize that this past year has not been the best for blogging. but the life of a work-a-holic makes daily entries a thing of the past. so...the other day while perusing through some of my favorite blogs, i came across the latest entry from my dear cousin neena. she had posted a BLOG CHALLENGE (you can check it out here). she basically discusses how over the next month of september, she will be doing a blog a day...discussing various topics about herself. so i decided to take that challenge and do the same. i'm excited to see what stories will come out of these topic starters!

something WICKED this way comes....

2010-08-23T16:19:00.000-07:00

yup....finally did it. saw WICKED!!!! and all i have to say is that it was FREAKIN' AWESOME!!!! not even kidding. i've heard soooo many things from friends and family about this play, so if i had a bucket list...this would definitely be on it. so now i can cross that one off. i was fortunate to go with two very dear friends....jan lesuma...
and the birthday girl...ane mapu...

it was a quick trip...but we were on a mission! my flight arrived slightly delayed at around 10am saturday morning. after pick up we immediately made our way to the orpheum theater to check out the prices and see what our chances would be for winning the raffle. two hours before every show, they raffle off orchestra seats that winners are able to purchase for a whopping $25!!! and guess what....we won!!! it was AMAZING!!!!

we were lucky we won because after they called all the names for the raffle, they announced that it was sold out!!! way to visualize!!! it was meant to be. but man...we must be getting old...because after the show we went straight to our hotel room and knocked out!!! which in a way was a good thing because my flight left at 6am the next morning. talk about the BEST day trip ever!!!

the musicboxer episode

2010-08-12T14:59:00.000-07:00

after being all nostalgic with my life at the musicbox, i realized it was necessary to document some KEY moments in the brief time i spent living there. the one that sticks out in my mind the most, was the night we got dubbed the "musicboxers." *sigh* let me just say...that i am a fun loving person, who loves everyone. never do i go out looking for trouble. the same goes for my roommates. we enjoy having a good time, and look for the best way to do so. i just need to disclose this bit of information about us before continuing with this story.

so...back in february of 2007, ms. lauryn hill herself came to hawaii. i am a HUGE...and i mean....HUGE lauryn hill fan. so as soon as they announced she was coming to hawaii, there was not a doubt in my mind that i would be there. NONE! so of course....many of my roommates....avid fans as well....decided to make it a house activity. so half of the house, tiana, ida, crystal and myself went along with our musicbox honorees, kara, and ofo. sadly...ana, raija and kat couldn't make it...but i'm kinda glad they didnt. it would've been TOO much if our WHOLE house got involved.

so anyhoo....we got there early enough to secure a spot front and center of ms. hill's stage. there were like 3 or 4 stages with different groups performing, but we knew we had to get to her stage early, cuz the crowd would be crazy. and boy were we luck we did...cuz it was a MAD house by the time she came out to perform. needless to say...she is FLAWLESS!!! the BEST concert i've been too so far. and now that i think about it...it may have been my last. hahahaha. here's a few pix from that night. and for some reason...i can't seem to find the pix we got of ms. hill herself...but trust...we were RIGHT THERE!!!

now....let's get to the "beef" of the story. so like i mentioned before...we were right at the front, and the crowd was mad packed. there was hardly ANY room for us to move. let alone have people walk through. but for some reason...these two highly intelligent girls decided they could stroll on up to the front. now...as i mentioned before..me and my girls were all G. we didn't care wut these two monkeys were doing...we just thought...they were just tryna find a way out of the crowd. wrong. they started squeezing themselves up to the front of the stage right next to us. which was really fine with us...but the group next to us was NOT feeling it. it really didn't help that these two girls were caucasian, tryna squeeze their way in front of a mess of poly women. wrong move. lol.

one of the girls in the group next to us started yelling at them to get out. but...again...brilliant as they are, these two DRUNK (might i add) haole girls decided to argue back. not a good idea. seeing this...i knew something bad was about to happen, so i tried to intervene and help these girls find their way out. and that's when it started. as i was tryna separate the two haole girls from the group next to us, and lead them out the side....somehow they got separated, one in the very front of the stage, and the other was standing behind me. the one behind me was taller than me (surprise surprise right? lol) and in an effort to get to her friend...she had the bright idea to put her arm around my neck in an effort to choke me!!! are you serious?! are you freakin serious?!

because she was taller than me...all i remember is reaching up and grabbing that chick by the hair. but apparently some girls behind me saw what she was doing to me, and started pulling her hair from behind. hahahaha!! next thing i know, i pulled down, twisting out of HER grasp and just started throwing blows at her face. i got a couple blows in when next thing i know, security or someone pulls her away, and all i hear is lauryn hill stop the concert!!! omg...shame. yes...she stopped in the middle of her beautiful singing because we were fighting.

now...mind you...i wasn't the only one involved in this lovely brawl. and this is why i LOVE these girls. i know they got my back. what i forgot to mention was while i was pulling that girl off of me and bringing her down to my level...tiana...who was like 10 ft away after seeing what was going on came running through the crowd and jumped in to a get a shot at homegirl. and then...crystal and ofo who were at the front next to the other haole chick...were trying to throw her over the barricade to get her out!!!! buahahahahaha!!!! omg. omg. omg. now that i think about it...it was pretty crazy. but it all happened so quickly...and nothing would've happened had that girl kept her hands to herself.

it wasn't long til EVERYONE heard about it. kalofae. and thats when we went from the ladies of the musicbox to the musicBOXERS!!!! aiya. but i must say...this experience brought us soooooo much closer. fo' real. gladly, that was our first and LAST rumble. and this is why i LOOOOOOOOOVE these girls. through thick and thin...they got my back and they know i got theirs.

musicbox memories

2010-08-10T14:50:00.000-07:00

every have one of those days where all you seem to do is reflect on life over the past few years??? well today is definitely one of those days for me. i mean, i can't help but think about stuff when there's NOTHING to do at work....lol. well...i SHOULD be planning for our college fair in november...but come now...i've been overworked the past few months, i think i need some "reflection" time. lol.

anyhoo...while here at work...besides cruisin' the book (facebook for you newbies)...i started going through some old photos on my bebo (another social network) page and couldn't help but reminisce about my life at the musicbox.

i don't recall ever writing about my "life inside the musicbox." (which is an awesome song btw by regina spektor). lol. anyways...back to my nostalgic moment....while browsing thru these flix i couldn't help but smile with every click. isn't it amazing how a single picture can tell a story?! and these were GREAT ones!!! to save me some time from uploading pix...feel free to check out the album here.

for those of who aren't too familiar with the musicbox...this was the home to 10....yes...10 amazing ladies. now before u start trippin...no we didn't ALL live here at the same time...but at times it felt like we lived with waaaaaaay more. this blog definitely would not be complete without sharing the story of how the musicbox was founded...so be prepared to exercise those eyes. lol

in the summer of 2006, i was living in hauula with two girl friends...kat tua'one (now pahulu) and tiana henderson. we lived in a small 2 bedroom house in the country...and it was obvious that we needed more room. with all our late night and sometimes OVERNIGHT visitors, it was time to move on. with the up and coming school year, a few more friends were moving to hawaii to finish their degrees, crystal moleni (now tua'one), and juanita afamasaga. ida aspinall, another friend, who had been living with family was also looking to branch out. then came ana aiono and morgan casey (now gilmore)...two fun-loving gals from arizona who i befriended at work (turtle bay at the time). they were looking for a cheaper place to live that wasn't so far from work.

so there you have it...8 girls...all looking for a bigger place. i took it upon myself to find accommodations for ALL of us. since i had already started looking for a new place for just the 3 of us (me, tee and kat), i thought...hey...why not find a bigger house. after about a month...i found this beauty...

hahahaha! ok...it wasn't this bright blue when we were living there. as a matter of fact it wasn't blue at all. the landlord JUST painted it this year. it was more of an off white color. but anyways...this was our home...or...the second floor at least. the deal breaker was that it was literally down the street from my parents home. so if ever we needed anything...we could just walk to their house. lol. and trust...we took advantage of that many a starving night. we moved in on august 1, 2006.

i will probably have to create another blog to begin to discuss the memories we had at this house. there was never...and i mean NEVER dull moment. from birthday parties, to full on bbqs across the street. from serenades to intense board games. much fun was to be had at the musicbox. ahhhh...which brings me to the name...when we had our first "house meeting" we all brainstormed, and miss nita came up with "the musicbox", because the house was overflowing with musical talent. which just so happened to be showcased almost every other night. be it in the house, or in our front yard...the beach. it was awesome. it got to the point where everyone in our ward referred to us as the "musicboxers" which is a whole other blog in and of itself.

now i know i mentioned 10...and only listed 8. well...in november of that same year, ms. raija joined our lovely group...just before morgan moved back to arizona. and then after crystal graduated from byuh in april of the next year, ms. ofo filimoeatu took her place. it wasn't until january of 2008 when everyone bid farewell and went their seperate ways. some got married. some graduated. and some just moved home.

as i reflect on my time there...i can't help but be grateful for having these women in my life. the time we shared here will be forever cherished. but i know that no matter how far apart we are...since we are an international group ranging from the u.s., sweden, australia, and korea....i know that nothing can come between us. these women are truly my sisters. i will do anything...and i mean ANYTHING for them...and i know the feeling is mutual. so here's to the musicbox. stay posted for a few stories...cuz trust...there are many.

this is the ONE pic i could find with ALL of us and our honorary members...lol

in loving memory

2010-06-23T16:25:00.000-07:00

can't help but be filled with emotion today. its been 14 years today since the passing of my brother JASON KEAUNUI KEO. thats a little under half of my lifetime. its crazy to think that so much time has passed...but the day itself is still so clear. so vivid. the emotions always seem to come rushing back on his anniversary. but this year it is just a little more fresh...being away from home and not being able to go and visit with him.

and a little over a week ago we lost another beloved member of our family. dick. my sister's dog. it may not seem like a big deal to most, but that dog (the brown one) and his brother pitch (the black one) have been in our family for almost 10 years. their keen senses and positive attitudes towards everyone always seemed to brighten our day. he was diagnosed with bone cancer in his foot, and after amputating that leg, the cancer still seemed to spread throughout his body. so he was put down on Tuesday June 15th and his ashes were scattered later that saturday at waimea bay. so it has definitely been an emotional month.

however, through it all i am even more grateful for eternal families. i know dick is just cruising with jason and all the other loved ones who have gone before us. luv and miss u bro and dicky boy.... :(

the new one...

2010-05-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

life.is.crazy

i distinctly remember three months ago i told myself, "i can't wait to start working so i can be busy again." well, if only i could travel back in time and slap myself for saying that, because BUSY is a total understatement. between the two jobs, i have no time for...life. all i've been doing lately is eat.work.sleep.work.poop.work. lol! well...you get the idea by now. but i keep telling myself to be grateful. here's a few of the haps in the past month:

me and ms. raiya at sunset

me and pops chillin' at home

everyone cruisin' at rocky point

the saaga and keo kiddies reunited.

yup...got to finally go home after 4 loooooooooong months. it was soooooo good to be home and more importantly be back with family. now that we (the saaga clan and i) are officially a delta family, we made the trip home for a short visit. it was also nice to just relax and enjoy the warmth considering it snowed the day we left. always good to go home.

happy being me...

2010-04-15T14:54:00.000-07:00

looking back on when i started
had a lot of sun and a lot of rain
i had some joy and broken hearted
but now that doesn't mean a thing
i'm living for the joy and laughter
longing for my befores and afters
all in all it's been cool
and there's nothing i wouldn't do
i'm so happy being me

So happy being me I'm regretting nothing about me Too busy living life, Living love, Freely So happy being me

Stop reaching back from your beginnings All those broken dreams that went down stream As we grow, live and know Some things were never meant to be Just like people they come and go Some will live forever and some will never know That's why god gives us memories To leave us to our victories I'm so happy loving me

All those hidden treasures Feeling nothing but pleasure We could never replace, is love (We can't no we can't no) The sunlight leads us to a place and moonlight keeps us in it's grace I'm so happy being me

"Happy Being Me" -Angie Stone-

this song came on the radio on my way home from work, and as i listened to the lyrics i couldn't help but be overwhelmed with gratitude for everything that i have. and i mean EVERYTHING!!! i reflected on my life over the past three and a half months of this year and have realized that i have been blessed beyond measure. the move here has definitely been worthwhile with the car, the internship/job at the hawaiian cultural center, the other job at delta, and having a strong support system here and at home.

don't get me wrong. my life is far from the best, or far from being perfect, but what matters is that i am HAPPY with MY life! i may not have the perfect car, the perfect job, or the perfect family (lol), but i am extremely grateful for what i HAVE, and i wouldn't have it any other way.

i guess...as of lately, a lot of my focus has been on what i don't have and how i need to change in order to achieve the "ideal" me. but then again..what's wrong with me??? lol...just kidding. that's not what i meant. what i'm trying to say is...what is SO wrong that i can't look past that to see what's RIGHT with me??? i may not have the perfect body, income, or lifestyle...but it's MINE. and this song just helps me realize that what matters most is what I do with it, and not anyone else.

so thank you ms. stone for the reminder to be happy being me!!!

Happy Easter

2010-04-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

Its moments like these that make rushing all over the place on Saturday trying to find plastic eggs at the last minute, and then going home only to spend the rest of the afternoon filling said eggs with candy and money worthwhile.

Hope you all had a "hoppy" easter!!!

Update...again...lol

2010-03-29T21:43:00.000-07:00

Has it seriously been 21 days since my last entry??? I guess its safe to say that work has totally been keeping me preoccupied. Not to mention that I got a totally cool new toy that has kept me away from my laptop for weeks. LOL! Yes...I am officially a member of the cool iPhone club. Thank you very much. But needless to say, life has been busy. Both at Delta and the Hawaiian Cultural Center. With Delta training coming to an end (WOOT WOOT), I am ready to embark on the wonderful journey of taking calls. It has been a week so far since we've been released to the "wolves", but life has still maintained its serenity...so to speak. I owe it all to my amazing coworkers who help me forget about each frustrating call. Their crazy antics in and out of the workplace always seem to keep me on my toes. LOL.

Anyhoo...life is great. The parentals flew out here last week...finally taking advantage of their flying benefits. Did I mention how AWESOME these benefits are? Lol. Ok...I'll stop. Dad and Aaron celebrated their birthdays today, and since they were both in separate states, they each got their own cake. Precious. The Center is doing great. We've had a few activities the past couple weekends, and I've been seeing new faces coming around, so that's always a good thing.

I've been staying in Salt Lake most of the time, so I haven't been able to see the family as much, which is a bit of a bummer. But its been really helpful on my wallet. But man...these kids never cease to surprise me. The other day I got a text from my cousin, who was taking her daughter, and my niece along with some other girls out for her daughter's little birthday party. Her daughter, Briana, has a little friend, of whom I'm not the biggest fan of. In an attempt to prevent this girls (her name is Clarissa) attitude from rubbing off on my already cheeky niece, I told my niece, "you better not let that girl boss you around. And better yet...you better not act like her, or you're gonna get it." So this little piece of friendly advice was offered over a month ago. Little did I know that my niece would take that to hear, let alone remember it.

So...as my cousin was picking up her daughter's friends, what happens to escape my niece's mouth as Clarissa gets in the car?????

"My aunty said she doesn't like you!"

Ahahahahahahaha....oka...my cousin just about died. She text me the incident and I was rolling. So it's totally true what they say. Children are MORE than impressionable...and they do say the darndest things. So be careful what you say in front of them, because it just might bite you in the butt! LOL!

Taking Calls....

2010-03-08T17:15:00.000-08:00

Lately in training, I've been thrown onto the phones...taking live calls. This...surprisingly is the highlight of my day because it allows me to put all that I've learned so far to work. Also, it exposes me to the different kinds of callers I get each day. From people who need assistance with simple tasks such as having a ticket reissued to having their pets cleared to board the plane. But the most entertaining calls, are the ones from the "special" people. They are the BEST!!! LOL! I know its mean...but its their crazy antics that make me appreciate this job more and more.

For example:

Today I got a call from a woman who needed to make sure that her service animal was cleared to sit with her in the cabin. This is absolutely allowed on any of our flights, so in order to better serve her, I needed to get a little more information from her. And it just showed that even the simple things, like spelling your name, can be a bit of a difficult task for some.

ME: "Could you please spell your name for me, phonetically?"

CALLER: "What do you mean by 'phonetic'?

ME: "You know...like S as in Sam...C as in Charlie, and so forth"

CALLER: "OK...sure. So my last name is S as in Sam, C as in Charlie, H as in Harry, I as in Igloo, N as in.........N?......hmmmm....N?.........hmmmmmm.....n.....(and it was quiet for literally 30 seconds).

ME (thinking): Are you serious?????? Buahahahahahahaha

CALLER: "What starts with N?????"

ME: "Do you mean N as in Nancy?"

CALLER: "YES...YES!!! Nancy Nancy!"

Oh man....its callers like these that make me LOVE my job! LOL!!

Utah-an

2010-03-06T08:44:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks I have been a lone ranger on the road, driving to and from work everyday. This has left me with a lot of time to listen to the radio (which btw...Utah stations suck!), listen to my iPod, and at times listen to my thoughts. It wasn't until early this morning, as I was driving home from the airport (picking up some stuff my friends so graciously brought back from Hawaii) that it finally hit me. OH-EM-GEE....I'm a UTAH-AN!!!!!!! I don't know why I haven't realized this sooner.....but ummmm...yeah...I am! As far as how I feel about this...I'm not so sure. I'm still trying to process it, but I'll let you know when I figure it out.

I guess for the past few months I've been transitioning exceptionally well given that I live with my sister and her kids, which pretty much makes up HALF of my family. Not to mention I've been working at the Hawaiian Cultural Center all this time, which makes me feel like I'm back home everyday I'm there. It's uncanny.

But as I drove down 12600S on my way to Draper to pick up an Orange Dream machine, the realization finally hit me...I am LIVING in Utah. LOL!!!

First Time Flyer

2010-02-28T10:14:00.000-08:00

Training with Delta has gone smoothly so far. I have learned so much so far and it's only been two weeks! I *barely* passed my first assessment :) with a 95%. LOL. We have three assessments during training and then a Final at the end. We need an average of 85% in order to continue employment here. So I've got three more to go.

So, after a hard week of studying and pulling hair, I decided it was time for me to test out these benefits. I mean, why work here if I'm not going to fly. So I started small. A weekend retreat to visit my Murrieta (sp?) family. Boy, can I just tell you that it is sooooooooooooooo much better flying for free. The freedom to get on a plane whenever I please is so freaking awesome!!! So hop on a plane I did...the last flight out of Salt Lake City, headed to Orange County, California!!!

The one thing about being a "First Time Flyer" as an employee is the paranoia that lingers. Getting there was a breeze, but the return flights were a bit tricky. After missing the first two flights, I finally got on. Luckily the flights were within an hour of each other so the wait wasn't so bad. And it definitely helps to have my laptop handy.

I look forward to making more spontaneous trips in the near future. And because Delta is now the leading airline to travel to the most destinations...look out world...here i come!!!

training day...

2010-02-17T17:14:00.000-08:00

its official folks. i started my DELTA TRAINING!!!!!!! woo hoo! and the best part...they told us that our flight benefits are effective IMMEDIATELY!!! can i get a woot woot!!! unfortunately, attendance is strictly enforced, so my trips need to be carefully planned to ensure my timely return back to the beehive state for work. today was only the second day, but i look forward to it being over soon. lol.

yesterday was probably the LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONGEST day of my life. it has been nearly 4 years since i've worked for "the man" and i am quickly reminded as of to why i have only returned now. but, that's the sacrifice i am more than willing to make to be the recipient of some amazing benefits.

training is to last a whole six weeks, after which we will be on probation til mid august. there is a butt load of information that i have to memorize, and my head hurts just thinking about it. eh...when i got the FAT binder, i thought to myself..."omg...i thought i finished school already?!" but as my brother would say....a means to an end....whatever that means. lol

the office

2010-02-13T12:12:00.000-08:00

the past week i have been a prisoner in my room. all because of this...

this show is so freakin' hilarious!!!! i don't know how i went so long without it.

but curse you for being the cause of my inproducitvity!

*sigh*

twenty-ten

2010-02-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

i know its totally too late for a new year's post...but oh well. here are just a few snippets of the events of twenty-ten so far. or wut i have visually documented to say the least. a wedding and a baby shower.first up...the wedding of two of my favorite people...vernon and celia. their wedding was absolutely gorgeous...just like them. established: 1/16/2010

next was the baby shower for my favo cuzzie...tanya opu'ulani. after raising two strapping little boys, she has been fortunate to bring a beautiful princess into this world. this marked my first road trip to st. george (thanks sam), and although the trip was short, it was definitely worth it. i got to kick it with some great people, and establish some amazing memories. as of two days ago, cuzzie dearest has welcomed her new addition, baby tristyn, into the world. congrats tanz!

the transition to utah has been pretty easy...considering all the family and friends that i am surrounded with. the past few weekends were spent in provo catching up with my former roomies...kara, ofo and crystal. i look forward to more good times with them, as i've decided to join the poly singles ward out there. not sure how i feel about it yet, but i figure i should give it a chance.

work is just around the corner. yup...delta training starts. kinda nervous..considering i haven't studied a lick of what's in the book they gave me. but that's how i roll. procrastination is key. lol. also...the hawaiian cultural center has been keeping me busy as well. i've been offered a part time position at the center as their task manager. this is a HUGE blessing because i've been looking for a small part time gig to go along with my job at delta. the pay is GREAT...and i'm able to do some work for home!!! how awesome is that?! more good news?! goldie is going all over the place! now to just get her insured and she is LEGAL!!!! (btw...goldie is my 'dollar' car).

life couldn't get any better. well...it could...but you know what i mean. i'm just grateful for what i have, and am stoked to see wut the future has in store for me.

random ramblings

2010-02-02T11:41:00.001-08:00

there are so many things i wanna write about, but i feel like it won't be enough without a visual snippet. unfortunately, i can't find my cord to upload all the latest vids and pix. what can you do. its been nearly 6 weeks since i've moved to utah and i'm still doing the same thing. NOTHING!!! aside from my 4-hour "visits" to the hawaiian cultural center my days have been filled with camping on either facebook, netflix (gotta love the watch instantly shows) or cleaning house. BOOOOOOORRIIINNNG!!!! i've gone out here and there, but have chosen to stay at home mostly because i'm BUH-ROKE!!!! i don't start work for another two weeks and the anticipation is killing me!!! i HATE not working....especially not having any kind of income.

its gonna be so weird working in the "real world" again. i haven't had a "real" job in almost 4 years. kavaroots was strictly cash, and i got paid everyday!!! it was awesome. whenever i needed money, i'd just go work a day, and be set for the week. now i have to do what everyone else does....WAIT...two weeks for a paycheck....AND get TAXES taken out. ugh! BUT...i am just grateful to have a job. especially with delta. the benefits are amazing...and i can't wait to take advantage of those. i already have my weekend trips planned: l.a., long beach, birmingham...and who knows where else. the 'rents are planning on coming up too! they are loving it!!!

well...time to get ready to head out to the center. hopefully i find my cord soon. til then blog-world....

Update...

2010-01-20T23:03:00.000-08:00

i just checked, and the last time i posted ANYTHING was back in november. oka....so much has happened since then...so here it goes:

1. FINALLY graduating from college. after a long 8 years of being IN and OUT of school, i finally buckled down, and got that diploma. well..technically i just walked...lol. i won't get my diploma til i finish my internship in april.

2. MOVED TO UTAH!!! this was probably one of the BIGGEST events EVER!!! i've always said i'd move to the mormon state...but it took me this long to finally get here. and now that i'm here......i wanna go back. hahahaha...nah...just kidding. all i know is...as much as i've complained about them, i wouldn't be able to survive without the saaga's presence. i don't think i've mentioned it before, but my sister, one, and her husband and their six kids all made the move out to zion in october. and living here with them has definitely made the transition THAT much easier.

3. KEO/SAAGA'S FIRST white christmas!!! yup...jared, his wife, and my parents all flew out to utah for our first white christmas with the saaga's!!!! unfortunately, aaron and his family, and mahea couldn't make it, but mahea DID fly in just in time for Nui's (my oldest nephew) sweet 16!!! so most of the family was here. we're already planning on having the keo #2's here next christmas. lol!!!

4. my FIRST car...kinda. i was blessed to purchase a car for a whole dollar!!! that has been a huge blessing for us because it runs great!!! its a little more "seasoned", but she still goes. i'll have to post pix when i find my cord.

5. DELTA!!!! after applying like three times to work for ANY airline, i finally got hired with DELTA!!! the world is gonna GET IT!!! i'm sooooooo happy i got this job mostly because my parents can travel back and forth to see their grandkids. yes...their grandkids...nevermind their children! lol. not to mention...they can be our gophers whenever we want something from back home. i prolly won't be able to travel TOO much for the first six month since i'll be in training. but oka...watch out after THAT!!! besides frequent trips to cali to visit besties...my first trip to the unknown will be alabama!!! ahahaha. one...to visit my favorite cuzzie coreen...and two...to watch a tyler perry play..a lifetime (since i was 23) dream of mine! lol.

6. HCC...since i don't start working til february, i've been keeping myself busy interning at the hawaiian cultural center. since i want to get my masters in public administration later....and focus on non-profit organizations, i decided to learn more about non-profit management at this center. ESPECIALLY since its mission is to service native hawaiians in utah. who knew...there's a huge community of hawaiians out there?! i love it! i haven't been doing too much as of lately, but with upcoming activities, i am getting more and more psyched to work there.

all in all...this is the latest in my life. i have been fortunate enough to catch up with family and old friends, and i look forward to what awaits me in the future

Lunch and Elephants

2009-11-23T15:42:00.000-08:00

Ok...I just had to blog about this. I swear...my dad's little moments has definitely gotten me back into the blogging world. I mean...who else is gonna document these things right?! LOL! My brother shared this with me and the rest of the facebook world...so I thought I'd share it with my fellow bloggers.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my dad has discovered the wonderful world of texting. So here's another hilarious conversation he had with my brother. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. And for those of you who KNOW my dad...I'm sure you will.

DAD: Boy-Son, when is lunch?

BROTHER: You gotta wait, I have a conference call at 12pm, we go after

DAD: WOW, you just elephant your way out of lunch ah!

BROTHER: What is 'elephant your way out', huh?

DAD: You know, elephants, they just shove guys on the side

Oka!!!!!!! Where does he GET this stuff!!!! First exclamatory...now THIS!!! I swear he has a hidden dictionary full of his own slang hidden somewhere. Gotta love it!

picture courtesy of: http://bilia.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/happy-elephant-01.jpg

Texting 101

2009-11-19T16:19:00.000-08:00

Oh the joys of texting. This is nothing new to me. I've enjoyed the benefits of texting for quite some time now, but to share this magical new world with my DAD has been quite adventurous. It all started last night when my sister texted her new phone number to everyone in her contacts list...including my Dad. Due to his lack of experience with text messages, he proceeded to call her back, which instigated the following conversation:

Dad: Did you call?

Sister: No...I texted you!! You not supposed to call me back, you supposed to text me!

Dad: Oh!

He later comes out of the room and tells me, "your sister sent me a text and i supposed to text her back. How I do that?"

Since his phone is equipped with a full QWERTY keyboard, I proceeded to instruct him on the art of "replying" to text messages. Surprisingly he picked it up pretty quickly. His excitement heightened when my sister replied to his reply and their TEXTersation continued! Amongst all the excitement, I texted my brother to inform him of the late breaking news, and HE texted Dad afterwards. This lead to the greatest milestone ever!

Dad: Oh...Jared texted me.

Me: Well, reply. You know how now.

Dad: pulls out his glasses "Ok...lets see." He then proceeds to have a TEXTersation with my brother.

I don't remember the exact message that was received on my Dad's end, but it was something cheeky enough for my Dad to say, "eh! Poto 'oe!" His popular remark after we joke around with him.

Dad: How you spell..."eh"

Me: Hahaha....E-H.

Dad: "Ok...how you write the EXCLAMATORY MARK on dis ting"

Me thinking: what the heck is an exclamatory mark?!?!?!?!?! OH...he meant EXCLAMATION POINT!!! hahahahahahaha!!!!

I couldn't stop from laughing inside. This experience was definitely blogworthy. So...I thought I'd share with my fellow bloggers...not to mention I had to document this moment. This is definitely one for the books along with his "mermaid" moment. Hahahaha. Ahh...the joys of living with the parentals and teaching them the new technology!

WHOA!

2009-10-01T20:05:00.000-07:00

IT HAS BEEN TOO LONG!!!!! So much has happened since the European expedition that I don't even know where to start. Do I still have readers? LOL! Oh well, if I do, I apologize for the long absence. Life at home has been nothing but a whirlwind of back to back events. After the 5-week long vacation from Kavaroots, I found myself living there for about a month. We renovated the store, and I must say it looks great! Even though it feels like you're walking IN an Acai bowl, it finally feels like OURS!!! A shot of the new paint job. LOL! I'll have to post more pix later.

The store wasn't the only thing that changed over the last 2 months. Another bestie has graduated to the next stage in life. I never thought she would actually do it so soon, but Aunty Bubs is now a married woman. Her last minute decision to have a reception initiated an impulsive trip back to the mainland. The reception was small and simple, but so much fun!

Me and the Bride

After the wedding I was off to Utah to watch my nephew's homecoming game. Which brings me to the biggest change....the Saaga's moving to Utah!!!! It all started out with Nui going up to play football for a couple months. But as soon as One went up there and saw that she could provide her family with so much more there, she made the decision to move. Nui loves it there. It's so good to see him making so much more progress on and off the field. He's finally growing up...a little. Hahaha. He did so good at his game that I didn't even recognize him! They changed his number at the last minute, so the whole time I was looking for #95, he wasn't on the field. I kept thinking to myself, "man..where is he?! #70 looks a lot like him, but he's too fast!" Lo and behold...it was him!!! What a horrible aunty! LOL!!! Well, at least he's doing better right?

Me and #70...LOL!!!

I've been home now for a couple weeks, and have started my last semester at BYU-Hawaii. I'm excited for it to be over, yet afraid of what the future holds. I have a plan right now, but am worried about any other changes that may occur. Moving the Saaga's has been overwhelming as well. Between watching kids, cleaning, packing, and trying to study I have found myself too exhausted to function...let alone blog. Thank goodness for slow days at Kavaroots. I should be doing homework, but this comes so much more naturally.

So with that, I just wanna say....I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack bloggers! I don't know how exciting it will be now that my hearts are leaving me....but lets just say I've already got a few trips lined up!!!!

Greece!!!

2009-07-30T13:56:00.000-07:00

The final leg of our European tour took us to Athens Greece. It took us nearly two days to get there!!! I couldn't believe it. After visiting the New Moon set, we trekked back to Rome, picked up our bags, and waited for our overnight train to Bari (the port city on the other side of the country). Mind you, most of our train rides were quite pleasant. But we must've been too spoiled cause this last train was a mess!!! Hot, sticky, nasty, and a whole lotta filthiness. I'm glad that was the last ride for us cause i don't think I would be able to do that again. LOL!

Anyhoo...we arrive in Bari around 7am, thinking we could catch a ferry soon. WRONG! The next ferry was scheduled to leave at 6pm!!! So we had to wait AGAIN! But, when we did get on the boat, it was so dang huge, we found a corner in the lounge (since we bought the cheap deck tix), and made house. The ferry ride to Patras, a city 3 hours away from Athens took about 18 hours! So, let's see:

Rome to Bari: 6 hours
Bari to Patras: 18 hours
Patras to Athens: 3 hours
Total traveling time: 27 hours!!! Not including the 12 hours of waiting.

It was quite the adventure. But worth it...cause we made it to Greece!!! Athens was not what I had expected. It was pretty dirty and dusty. But I didn't really care too much about that. All I had on my mind was....BEACH!!!! When we got in, we found a cheap hotel close to the metro station, and not too far from the Acropolis. That was cool! So much history there. But my favorite part about the whole trip was the water. Our first beach was kinda dirty cause it was a "free" beach, so the "sand" consisted of pebbles, cigarette butts, trash and dust. Lol. Kinda like a dirtier Waikiki. A whole lotta hairy old men in speedo's too. Soooo not cute. So we caught the bus a few miles down the road outside of Athens, and found a cleaner, less crowded beach. The water was so cool and refreshing, we imagined we were on the island in Mamma Mia! Hahahahaha! For realz...me and Ane sang the WHOLE soundtrack. It was pretty hilarious.

Later that day, we bussed down to Sounio, home of the ruins of Poseidon's temple, to see the most amazing sunset. It was a great way to end the day.

Being in Greece was definitely another memorable experience to add to the list. However, I just wish I had gone there first. By the time we got there I was so broke, I couldn't make it out to any of the other islands. So that is why I plan to go back and do a cruise in the Mediterranean. That seems like the best way to do it!

Now that I'm at home, and I ponder everything that I've done, I still can't believe it's over. I can't believe I actually got to experience all that I have. Goes to show that once you put your mind to it, you can make anything happen!

New Moon in Montepulciano

2009-07-16T08:47:00.003-07:00

Considering we did everything we wanted to do in Rome, we decided to spend our last day hunting down the site of the New Moon movie. According to the fan websites, it was only about 3 hours outside of Rome by train and bus. Since we had the whole day…we decided to go. I guess they filmed a scene in a little town called Montepulciano..which is nestled on top of a mountain in Tuscany. That was a plus. I’ve always wanted to see the vineyards in Tuscany ever since I saw the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun,” and it was just as beautiful in real life. I could totally see myself working out there for a couple months. Since I probably don’t want to promote the production of wine, maybe I’ll just pick olives and make olive oil. Hahahaha.

Ok…getting off track. So…we caught the train into a little town called Chiusi, and then hopped on a bus to M-town. We had no idea where we were going. And since hardly anyone spoke English, we had to use our intuition. After hiking up a hill that seemed to never end, we finally made it to the Grand Piazza where they filmed the movie. We knew we were in the right spot when we saw a “Twilight” menu special at one of the nearby café’s. Then, when we went in to inquire about the special, we saw all the pictures of the set in that café. So of course we took tons and tons of pix to make sure that everyone at home would know that we were there. LOL. So now when we watch the movie, we can totally say we were there!!!

When in Rome...

2009-07-16T08:47:00.001-07:00

Rome was a short and quick visit. We arrived early Sunday afternoon, and decided to do the same as in Venice…walk around til we found a cheap place to stay. Thank goodness we did that. We stumbled across a family operated, multi-faceted business. Lets just say…you know its crazy when all operations are conducted out of a Laundromat. LOL!!! Yup…they are the proud owners of a Laundromat/internet service/hostel service/ baggage storage business. It was great! We were able to get a hostel for 20 euro a night…which was completely within our budget. But what was even better was that it included free internet, breakfast AND dinner!!! Not to mention an awfully friendly staff. It was awesome!!! The rooms and bathrooms were a lot “cleaner” than Archie’s, and the dinner was awesome! Definitely a great find.

After we checked in and dropped off our bags, we decided to head out and see the sights. First stop…the Coloseum. That was really one of the two things I really wanted to see. That along with the Vatican. But anyhoo….it was as grand as I had imagined it would be. Its amazing how people totally try to get you to take the guided tour option. Which is true…without it you’re really just looking at a pile of old rocks. LOL. But there were a lot of boards with information regarding EVERYTHING, so I felt like I learned a lot on my own. Quite fulfilling. Our pass at the coloseum was also good for the Roman Forum, which is an area ancient ruins that you could walk around in. It was HUGE! So by the end of the day I was done with Roman history. LOL. Luckily our hostel was conveniently located a few blocks away from the main train station, so finding our home was a breeze.

That evening we were spoiled with the most amazing pasta!!! Ahhh…just thinking about it makes my mouth water. I don’t know what it is…but any pasta in Italy tastes so much better. Thicker, tastier…and scrumptious!!! Ok..enough of that cause I’m getting hungry.

The Vatican was on the schedule for the next day. We figured we should give ourselves a whole day for that place and it’s a darned good thing we did! We were there for nearly 5 hours!!!! That was enough for me. After walking through the different basilicas, chapels, and churches, I couldn’t help but get freaked out by everything. It seemed so dark and uncomfortable. Hmh…something to think about. LOL. The Sistine Chapel was totally awesome. However, that euphoric feeling was rudely interrupted by the blatant disrespect other tourists had for this sacred place. I mean, there was a guy right at the entrance telling everyone to put their cameras away, and to not take pictures, and to be reverent. But noooooooooobody listened! Right when you walk in all you see is FLASH, FLASH, FLASH!!!! And all you hear is CACKLE, CACKLE, CACKLE!!!! I was so offended. So it was hard for me to fully enjoy the experience. Sad.

Later that evening, we took a stroll to see the Fontana de Trevi! That was gorgeous! I so badly wanted to jump in the water…but I controlled myself. Good thing cause I probably would’ve gotten arrested. LOL. We found the best gelato in town! Their mango and strawberry was probably the best I’ve ever tasted in my life. The mango tasted like I was eating the ripest mango from the tree. It was awesome. All in all…Rome was great…but best seen in a short period. Just like in Venice, once you’ve seen one thing, you’ve seen them all. But definitely an experience I will never forget.

Venezia!!!!

2009-07-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

Well, we said danke and alvidazen (sp?) to Switzerland, and bonjorno to Venezia!!!! Now…when we first got into town, I couldn’t help but think…”dang these buildings are hecka old!” Duh!!! LOL. We got off the train and boy did it stink. I guess that’s what you get when you’re surrounded by “stagnant” water. But…it was somewhat nostalgic walking down the streets of this old town. We went there with no reservations of any kind. Our goal…walk around and compare prices and find the cheapest hotel/hostel. That was quite the adventure. We walked for a couple blocks, and over only one bridge before we found “Archie’s Rooms,” a quaint little hostel nestled in center of town for only 57 euro a night for the three of us. This was a steal compared to the 75-120 euro/nt at the other places.

I know what you’re thinking…hostel = ghetto. But really…we just needed a bed and a place to leave our bags. Some of the perks included:

- HUGE room with 5 beds. We only shared the room with one other girl who was hardly ever there.
- Free Wifi!!!! This was by far my favorite. I was able to do all my camping on facebook, and upload a bunch of pictures. Not to mention update my blog after what felt like forever (when in actuality it was only like 4 or 5 days). LOL. There were also two computers in the common area available.
- Free lockers to store all our valuables.
- Access to a plethora of kitchen appliances (microwave, kettle, stove, etc.) to cook our food that we brought. Not to mention our own drawer in the fridge.
- No curfew.

The only drawback…no hot showers. If you wanted hot water you had to pay 1 euro for 8 minutes. So…we roughed it out and took ice cold showers the two nights we were there. It wasn’t so bad once your body turned numb from the cold. LOL. We decided this was probably the best thing to do for the next two countries considering many of these cheaper places may not be listed online. Ahhhh..the life of a backpacker.

Now…onto the city. Honestly, my favorite part of our whole time there was walking around San Marco’s square and along the Grand Canal. After a while all the other streets start to look the same. We realized this when we got lost the first night. Considering we were tightening up on our budget, we decided not to go to any of the nearby islands. Which was probably best considering we pretty much saw enough of what would be found there in Venice itself. Gelatto was the best!!!! Ahhhh….and so was the pizza! We decided to save the pasta for Rome. There are so many little ristorante’s and pizzeria’s it was madness trying to choose one. Mmmm..thinking about it makes me hungry. All in all it was a great adventure…but I’m ready to move on. Being surrounded by all that water made me yearn for the beaches in Hawaii. That was probably the worst…being hot and not being able to jump in the water to cool off. So Rome is our next stop…and then GREECE!!!!! I don’t even care what we see in Greece, I just want to jump in that deep blue water!!!!

Swiss Tour Day 2

2009-07-11T11:54:00.001-07:00

The weather wasn’t quite the best today. A lot of rain…and a lot of wind. I never thought it would be cold during my stay here in Europe…but apparently it can still get under 65 here in Switzerland. But that didn’t discourage us. We still set out to see this beautiful country. First stop…Lucerne.

There is a really old bridge there that was a candidate for for the seven wonders of the world. The reason why it was so special was because it was built over a raging river…which back then would have been impossible to build given the resources and conditions they’ve had/experienced back then. It is a beautiful city. You could see part of the alps from the lake there. After visiting there and having some lunch..we headed towards the mountains.

The drive there was amazing. The mountains are so huge…and so green. What shocked me the most was that there was a lake about 2000 feet above sea level. Go figure. But then we were told it was man-made. What baffled me was there were a bunch of people living threre! Why would you live all the way out there? It is definitely beautiful…but even tho it was sunny…it was still freezing!!!! To each his own I guess.

We drove up to this massive waterfall. I couldn’t pronounce the name if my life depended on it, but it means dust shower or something like that. Because when you look at it, the water actually looks like dust. It was huge!!!! We even got to hike up to a spot that was near the back of it. That was a trip….the hills were so steep. I forgot I was scared of heights until I looked down, and then I was ready to go. LOL. But it sure was beautiful.

Afterwards…we caught a train to a village near the “Top of Europe.” It was even MORE freezing up there!!! That little village had hotels and shops up there which made me wonder why people would even bother staying up there. But as I looked around…I noticed a bunch of hikers. I guess you can hike all the way to the top of that mountain. Those people are crazy! Funniest thing…they were all either really young….or really old. Hahahahaha.

All in all today’s excursion was amazing. I got to experience more of God’s creation, and my testimony was strengthened thru this journey. I’m excited to see what else He has in store for me.

Swiss Tour Day 1

2009-07-11T11:53:00.000-07:00

Today we went to Lunzeberg. I don’t even know if I spelt it right…but it’s a little town about 20 minutes away from where we’re staying and it is the home of one of the oldest castles in Switzerland. But, before we did that, we took a tour of the high school that Dominic, the youngest child of the family we’re staying with…attends. Apparently, it’s one of the most prestigious schools in Switzerland. It was huge. They actually meet in an old monestary…or part of the monestary. They have their own garden…which for me was probably the coolest part. The flowers here are absolutely gorgeous! It seems like many people here are self sufficient. They plant a lot of their own fruits and vegetables in their backyards…and even in their schools. America needs to get on that.

The castle was pretty interesting. It kinda reminded me of Iolani Palace with everything that was on display being roped off. LOL. The only thing though is that we didn’t have to wear booties. It was cute cause they had tours available for little kids where they could dress up like medieval warriors, and they even learned how to fight with swords and bow and arrows. It was pretty cute. I couldn’t help but think that my nephews would’ve loved this place. The castle is up in a huge hill that we had to hike up to. I tell you…I’ve never hiked up so many hills in my life. Sheesh! I better be skinny by the end of this trip. LOL.

After the castle we cruised around the city of Zurich. Our trusty tour guide said that Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland. It didn’t seem that big, so it just goes to show that there are a lot of little tiny villages here. Interesting. It was such a long day. But there’s still more…how exciting!

Hallo Switzerland!!!

2009-07-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

Hallo…as the Swiss say it! Yup…we’ve arrived in Switzerland and it is absolutely GORGEOUS!!!! The 5-hour train ride (not including 3 stops) from Paris to Zurich was unbelievably fast and surprisingly comfortable. This is definitely the way to travel thru Europe. Luckily for us, Umi knows a Korean family that lives in Boden…a small town about 30 minutes away from Zurich. They live up in the country side amongst fields of corn, barley, pastures and so much more. Totally country…totally unexpected…totally AMAZING!!! I already know what you’re thinking…RANDOM Korean family in Switzerland. But they are the sweetest little family you’ll ever meet. So gracious and hospitable. Beautiful home. Beautiful people. Beautiful country. Makes this trip all the more worth it. An amazingly delicious Korean meal was prepared for us and we ate like Queens. It was divine. Next on the agenda…check out some castles. Exciting!

Paris Day Two

2009-07-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

My oh my…so many things to do in this amazing city! First on the list today….CHURCH! What a way to invite the spirit. Even though I couldn’t really understand what was being said, I definitely felt the spirit. The gospel is the same no matter where you go…feels like home. We hit up Notre Dame and the Louvre…just one word to describe both….AMAZING! For one thing I can’t get over how HUGE this buildings are. And to think that they were built hundreds of years ago makes it that much more crazy! How they heck did they do it without the technology that we have today?

So…summary of events for the remainder of the day:

• Check out the home of Quasimodo…Notre Dame. Humongous building!!! Very goth. Would have loved to go up top…but line was too long…and wasn’t up to climbing 400 something steps.
• Hit up the Louvre. Saw Venus de Milo. Mona Lisa. And everything else. Well as much as we could before my feet felt like they weren’t part of my body anymore.
• Hopped on a train to check out the Royal Palace in Versailles only to get kicked off because something was wrong with the track. Got shuttled by a bus to another station, and got to the Palace just in time for closing. YES!!! Gotta luv it!!!
• Caught the train back to the main city to check out some garden just to turn around cause THAT was closing too.
• Finally got hungry, and had some French food.
• Walked down Champs de Ellyse in search of the Louis Vuitton store. I was instructed to take a picture in front of it.
• Headed back to the hotel room to start planning the next leg of our trip.

All in all Paris has been quite the adventure. Even though we’ve hit a few bumps on the way, it was all worth it. With each new place I can’t help but pinch myself because I still can’t believe I’ve finally made it here. After months of talking and planning…I’ve finally made it. But the adventure continues as we head down to Switzerland. I don’t really know what to expect, but I’m open to anything!!!

Bienevenue de Paris!!!

2009-07-05T00:03:00.000-07:00

Well, we've finally made it! After getting delayed the first day due to weight issues with the plane, we finally made the flight out to Charles de Gaulle on Thursday, July 2nd. Business class is definitely the way to go. I think they fed us enough food to last me the whole trip...cause seriously...I haven't really eaten much since.

Anyhoo...we arrived on Friday, July 3rd and stayed in a small town 20 minutes outside of Paris. It was quite an adventure. Here are a summary of the events that occurred that day:

* Looked for Ane's bag for a good 45 minutes, only to find it sitting outside the unlabeled, totally hidden baggage claim office!
* Took our first metro ride!
* Got stuck in the metro station in Chelles because our tickets wouldn't work. LOL
* Hiked for a good hour looking for our hotel
* Meeting some of the friendliest people France has to offer, and loving their patience for our lack of skill with the French language.
* Cracking up at the smallest room and bathroom EVER!!!
* Taking a stroll around town and enjoying the beautiful countryside.
* Having random frenchmen show us their muscles during our nature walk.
* Being scared out of our minds at night because of some of the shady people staying at our hotel.
* Staying up til 4:30 am chatting it up with Ane and Umi...the excitement for the city was overwhelming!

This was just day 1! The next day we packed up and headed out to Paris. After fixing up the drama with our hotel room (they wouldn't allow the 3 of us to stay so we had to book another room!), we took on the city. Here's a summary of that day:

* Took on Moulin Rouge and that whole area! Amazing!
* Went to some Basilica...sorry can't spell it...where Van Gogh and Picasso studied. Amazing building!
* Got hustled by some street vendors. Never been hit on more in my life!
* Got some shopping done in that district.
* Went to the Arc de Triomphe to find some type of ceremony going on for US's Fourth of July. Random.
* Cruised with some crazy people on the metro.
* Hit up the Eiffel tower. Built up enough courage to go all the way to the top only to find that it was closed.
* Went on a boat ride on the Seine River to get a preview of what to expect today (ie. the Lourve).
* Cruised by the tower for a lil' bit to watch the light show.
* Headed back to the hotel after a looooooooooong day.

Now it's Sunday morning, and we're ready to hit up the local ward. Totally excited for that. Sorry I don't have pix, but if you have a facebook, you can totally check out all my pix there! Stay tuned for more of our Euro tour!!!

Summer Tour

2009-06-28T23:09:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm here! I finallys made it off the rock! I arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday and have been living it up ever since! Thanks to Greg and the Dowdens! My weekend has been nothing but relaxation, good food and good company. Got to make some new friends, and reconnect with old ones. Gotta luv those. Now I'm in Las Vegas for a day and will be heading out to Salt Lake City...the final stop before the European tour!!!! I can't believe it's finally here, but I'm fully excited! Here's some pix of my adventures so far! Thanks again Dowden's!!!

Swine Flu???

2009-06-17T14:20:00.000-07:00

I hate you whatever you are!!!!! I don't know if it was the H1N1 a.k.a. swine flu or something else, but some mysterious virus attacked half of my family last week. It was not fun. Sucky thing was we were all stuck together in the middle of Waikiki. So what was supposed to be a mini family vacation turned into nothing but coughing, sneezing, sleeping with a fever miserableness!
After a week of being stuck in a bed, I'm happy to report that I'm out and about and ready to work! Actually, I've been working straight since Monday morning...ALL day EVERY for the next week. Yup...this is what I get to look forward to considering I missed work all week last week. Fun? I guess. Tiring? Totally. But it's just good to be out of the house! So just fair warning...keep a mask on if you're ever by anyone sick, cause you never know what they might have.

Whirl-week!

2009-06-14T18:54:00.000-07:00

This past week has been such a blur. Actually...the past week and a half has been a blur. From graduations, to weddings, to baby blessings, and birthdays...busy is an understatement. But before I even begin talking about those events, I just have to say that I am so glad school was is finally over for me!!!! Woo hoo!!!!

Thursday, June 4th marked the last day of "school work" for me for the next month and a half. The official last day of school was actually June 3rd, but we had a Kid's day at the beach on the 4th which was totally awesome. We taught the kids some stories we learned in class, and one of my classmates taught them how the paint surfboards. It was totally narly dude! LOL! Here's some of the kids getting their creative juices flowing:Saturday was probably the busiest day EVER!!! It started bright and early at 6 in the AM. I offered to be a volunteer for the BYUH graduation, but I didn't realize it would require me to wake up so early. It's all good though...I needed to do more service this year anyway. LOL. I must say though...I haven't been INSIDE a BYUH graduation in some time now, and it hasn't changed much. It's still boring. LOL.

But ushering is a whole new experience. Not only are you bored, but you get sore feet from walking all over the place, a sore back from standing the whole time, and you even get faced with the occasional "I think I'm better than you" guests who just walk past you and the "Reserved" sign. *sigh* But the winner was the old asian man who tried to walk behind the drop down screen, a.k.a the "off limits territory", to take pictures on the other side. He soooooo wasn't paying attention to me trying to tell him to walk around, and uncle ran straight into me. Eh, I never know tackling people was part of the job description. Hahahahaha. Oh well...good times. Congrats BYUH 2009 graduates!!!

After making my rounds, and taking millions of pictures...it was time for some grub at my cousin Anthony's graduation party. Congrats Anthony! You did it! And in only 3 years! You rock cuz!!!

Normally, this is where the day would end right? WRONG!!! After a quick shower and wardrobe change, I was off to Mililani for a wedding reception for one of my dear friends. It's always fun going to weddings of your friends because it's like a huge reunion. All of us from high school always seem to flock to each other and catch up on the latest. Gotta luv those moments. Congrats Granny and Crystal!!!

I think I had the best sleep ever after this day! But there was still more to do. But I'll save that for another post cause just thinking about posting it right now is exhausting. So stay tuned!

I'm Sailing Away.....

2009-06-03T23:01:00.000-07:00

First off...I just have to say that I'm so stoked that I found my battery charger...so my camera is up and running again! Woo hoo!!! So, of course, I just HAD to share some pix of my most recent activities. One including hosting a good buddy of mine around so he's not bored. LOL. I highly recommend parasailing to anyone who hasn't gone. Even if you're a scaredy-cat like me...the whole 40 stories high thing is a breeze. You are as free as a bird. I mean...minus the whole strapped to a rope that looks like all ____ lbs of me might make it snap. But it's so peaceful and serene. The weather wasn't necessarily the greatest, but it was still super duper fun!!!!

Phil, Umi and Me ready to fly!

Umi and Me
And we're off!

Hey you guuuuuuuys!!!!

And a quick dip in the water

2 down...One More to Go!!!

2009-05-28T03:53:00.001-07:00

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG!!!! I am on step closer to being set up for my Euro-tour, and I'm so stoked. I just purchased my Eurail pass which will take me from Paris, France down to Rome, Italy and eventually over to Athens, Greece....with a few stops in between. I'm so freakin' stoked. I wish I took a picture earlier to document that amazing moment where I clicked "Confirm." Soooooo awesome. My trio has increased in size and we are now 5 strong!!!! Woot, woot! The more the merrier. So, for those of you who love to live vicariously through me, here's a rough draft of our schedule...LOL!

July 2 - July 5: Paris, France
July 6 - July 8: Bern, Switzerland
July 9 - July 12: Venice, Italy
July 13 - July 16: Rome, Italy
July 17 - July 22: GREECE!!!!

These are tentative dates, but that's what we've figured out so far. Now, all I need to do is take care of my ticket to Paris, and I'm set. I can't believe its all going to happen in about a month!!! Insanity!!! And I can't believe how broke I'm going to be after this is all over, but it's all worth it! I can't wait!

Overwhleming Morning...

2009-05-25T15:03:00.001-07:00

It has by far been the most traumatic morning! Here are the events in a nutshell:

- Wake up at 7:30 am to get ready for work. Called the parentals for a ride...and they agreed to pick me up by 8.
- Parentals are late, and pick me up at 8:15. Confirmation that I need to get my own car. Ugh.
- Get to work by 8:40, the store's supposed to be open by 8:30. Oh well...it happens. I search my purse for my keys....NO LUCK! The thought just dawns on me that I left my keys IN THE STORE on Saturday.
- Make mad phone calls to all the other girls to see if they can bring me a key. Again, no luck. Since there is another girl scheduled to come in at 10, I decide to wait for her. She should have her key.
- 10am rolls around the corner, the girl comes, and she doesn't have a key either!!!! We're officially screwed!
- Phone calls start up again. Finally somebody answers, and says their on their way from Hau'ula. It should take another half hour. It ends up being 45 minutes.
- We open the store and we jam out an easy 20 bowls within the first 10 minutes. Things look good. Then...the POWER GOES OUT! If there ever was a sign that I SHOULDN'T be working...this was it.
- I close the store down....due to the recent power outage. Arrive at home. Get ready for the beach since its GAWGEOUS outside. Boss calls...asks if I can come in later today if the power's back on. Like an idiot I agree. So my almost "beach day" has been cut in half. If I do go in, and the power goes out AGAIN, I'm burning that store down!!!!! Hahahaha...j/k.

So there you have it. My overwhelming morning for the year. And how appropriate it be on "Memorial" Day. Wut a tragedy to remember!

Beautiful...

2009-05-20T18:06:00.000-07:00

I've never had a greater appreciation for that word. It applies to so many things. Weather. People. Personalities. Music. LIFE.

The past couple of weeks I have been blessed with all of the above. After what seemed like forever, the sun has so gracefully returned. Needless to say we have had the most BEAUTIFUL days here in Hawaii Nei. You're just going to have to imagine it because I lost my stinkin' battery charger, and have been unable to take ANY pictures.

Anyhoo...this has been a pretty busy month so far. Along with BEAUTIFUL weather, I've been fortunate enough to enjoy the company of BEAUTIFUL people. Its always nice to visit with friends from out of town. Line, Savani, Ana, Mele, Deb....and many more...you guys are awesome.

I'm still trying to recuperate from the many adventures I've had so far this month, which include the following:

- 3rd Annual "Mother's Day" Get-Together with an ever increasing crew. The tradition started 3 years ago when a bunch of us decided to go to Waimea for the day. We would swim, tan, eat, sleep, etc...pretty much all day. Then later that night we'd take a trip to the airport to get a lei for our mothers. We had a great turnout this year, and improved on our provisions, complete with the essential pop-up tent. Keep in mind we started off with NOTHING the first year. LOL. Again...sorry no pix. But lets just say that I pretty much got fried....but it was all worth it.

- Visitors galore!!! Ana came in earlier this month on the 9th...and just barely left on the 19th. Now Mele and Deb are here along with Mele's two cousins from Salt Lake. So, its been hard trying to juggle school, work, and cruising around with everyone. But again...all worth it.

- The semester's coming to an end, and I must say it hasn't been TOO stressfull. Majority of the work I need to turn is over, and now its just cracking down on doing all the work for my online class. *Sigh* I can't wait to go back to doing nothing but working soon. I feel I've learned so much this summer, so even thought it was a lot of hard work, it was all worth it.

Hope I didn't lose you in my random ramblings of all that is BEAUTIFUL. But, that thought provoking word...BEAUTIFUL....can really get my mind going. What word/words do that for you?

School's Cool

2009-05-07T15:16:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything mostly because my camera has been completely dead and I can't seem to find my charger, and I don't really like posting anything without pictures. But anyhoo...the past couple of weeks have been pretty boring anyway. LOL.

I am totally in love with the classes that I am taking this semester. Even though the classes are 2-3 hours long. The classes include Pacific Regionalism, History of Surfing in Hawaii and an EXS class online. I never realized how much I LOVE learning about the countries in the Pacific, and the different issues they have to deal with like the rising sea level (poor Tuvalu), phosphate mining (Nauru), and various native land rights issues (all of them!). I think the reason why I enjoy it so much is I am fascinated by the many similarities we all share. We've all been screwed somehow by some foreign colonial power. How annoying!

Then, with my History of Surfing in Hawaii class...I feel so connected to my heritage as a Native Hawaiian woman. I LUV LUV LUV IT!!! It is a little disturbing reading about all the ways Hawaiians were mistreated and even marginalized in the past. And seeing how that is commonly overlooked even today. It really makes me think about what I can do to work towards making positive changes for my Hawaiian community. I get all hyped up when I read about the hoale trying to make surfing a part of THEIR history. But...ummm..yeah..we'll have to leave that for another post. Did I mention that we get to go on field trips for this class too! Yup...we already hit up Malaekahana and Sunset, and then on Tuesday we're going to Waikiki!!!! Woot woot!

I wish all my classes could be like this!