mini spring break with the saaga's

back in my younger years, i remember always looking forward to the different breaks we had in school. spring break being one of them. because usually it meant we got to spend everyday doing nothing but watch tv, play outside or at the beach, or just be a mall rat. back then spring break always fell around the last week of march...which was perfect because we usually had perfect weather. then i grew up. boo. and unless you're a teacher, sorry bout it but no spring break for you!

so....what's the next best alternative? living vicariously through nieces and nephews who still have a week off in the middle of spring. last year it was spent on the west coast at disneyland...this year...east coast to washington d.c. and new york city!!!! so of course being the cool awesome SINGLE aunt that i am...i HAD to tag along. lol. the next few days were all a blur...but there's nothing like experiencing new things with the people you love. since talking about everything would take too long, here's a quick summary:

*smithsonian museum of natural history*walking around the DC mall*picture taking at the capitol*driving for days looking for a restaurant*late night packing*early wake up call for breakfast*checking in 9 people and 12 bags*flying into NYC*picking up the rental car*upgrading car to fit all of us*driving for 2.5 hours in traffic to jersey*naptime*driving through tolls for days*TIMES SQUARE*seeing BFF on billboard in times square*toys 'r us*bubba gumps*red stairs*nighty night*sleeping in*driving through new tunnel back to city*walking 2 miles more than we needed to*missing our appt*lunchtime*sassy subway workers*9/11 memorial*empire state building*hailing a cab...FAIL*dirty subway stations*cruise mode back to jersey*ruby tuesdays for dinner*worst service EVER*jon ken po tourney with the little boys*packing*rest*flying back to bootah*

 

its all a blur...reflections on the metro

holy mammoth!

saaga's and aunty mahea

sisters at capitol hill

entering the concrete jungle

drive into jersey

toys 'r us in times square

TIMES SQUARE!!!

9/11 memorial

movin' on up...to the top of the empire state building

view from the top

tryna hail a cab..but they must've been intimidated by our party of 9! lol

the closest we got to lady liberty that weekend. hahahaha. kaloz to deeeeep sleepers

waiting for the subway after a looooooong day of walking

and that's all folks!

NEW YORK....

"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....

....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.

kap kun ka thailand...

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....

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

SOOOOOO EXCITED!!!!

much needed vacay...

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!

land of disney

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...

challenge interruption...

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.

something WICKED this way comes....

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 new one...

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.