Bienevenue de Paris!!!

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

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???

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!

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.....

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!!!

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...

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!