The Busy Town of Richard Scarry...Remember that show?

I just got off the phone with my high school best friend and during our conversation she said “sometimes I feel like I am behind all of my friends.” We were chatting about marriage, all of the babies who have been coming into the world more rapidly than I could have ever dreamed years ago, careers, etc. etc. The word behind absolutely boggles me; who was the mad person who created the reference to be behind?? Dorothy does not believe in being behind. I struggled for a long time with these feelings too. I felt “behind” others who were graduating college before I was, heck I felt “behind” those who learned their multiplication tables faster than I did. What I have learned through these feelings is “being behind” is nonsense. The truth is we are all individuals with one life to live. We make our own choices for what is next, and if the road changes, gets bumpy, curvy, or we take an unexpected turn, we still will never be “behind” in fact, only ahead because of the experiences we had. Thank you world for putting so many opportunities in front of me to choose from; similar to picking out a piece of chocolate from a box of Godivas. Lastly, thank you life and America for choices. I am excited for what is coming and most definitely enjoying the present. :)

Last week I decided to go to concert with Goose and friends....I wore a hippy dress. Consider me ahead! hehe

O.D. and The Pretend Vacation

The most exciting news I am able to share with everyone is.............. after many hours of practically pulling out my hair, little/big O.D. gets here at noon amanya. For those of you non Portuguese speakers, TOMORROW! It will have been 34 long days since we have been able to squeeze his buns. Bringing a dog to Hawaii is no where near as easy as making a Box cake. I would go as far as saying it sits on the same level as passing calc II*. That's right, hard.
After everything is said and done, we have paid about 2000 dollars and have learned he doesn't have rabies. I repeat THE ORIGINAL DOG DOES NOT HAVE RABIES. phhhhewwww. Shout out to the best friends in the world who looked after him in Spokane after we had to leave. Auntie Inga and B -- we are so grateful and deem you two the greatest caretakers around. Auntie T-bag and Jesse! Thanks for always welcoming little Shubby and allowing him to have play dates with his girlfriend Maddie!

I have wondered from time to time since being here if we will want to vacation while living in paradise. Chris and I put it to the test this Saturday and took a pretend vacation. There is a hotel downtown on Waikiki Beach, the Hale Koa, dedicated to the armed forces for rest and relaxation. We heard through the grapevine as nonguest we are still eligible to use the pools, so used the pools we did. Waikiki is about....35-40 minute drive from our door step depending on traffic. However, parking can cost a billion dollars, just like in any city, so we took The Bus. It really is called The Bus. (side note: Chris commutes to work on The Boat....very simple and self explanatory here :) ) The Bus was actually quite an adventure. It took us through areas we hadn't seen yet and only had one crackhead aboard the whole time. ;) But seriously, she owned a Porshe...or was it four?

When we arrived at the Hale Koa (home of koa....Koa is a wood the area is famous for.) we laid our towels out and took a dip in the awesome pool. We could see the beach and stay sandfree! big plus. When on vacation its manditory to have a troplical drink, or summer beer...am i right? Thus a new rule was added to The Book of Pretend Vacationing ....lets just say Samuel Adams Summerale is delicious if you have not tried it. Sun bathing is also a rule, as is cards, and sunshine. Lots of sunshine.

Just as we thought, when there is no work, beach, sunshine, and love a vactaion will always be welcomed. even if it is pretend and for one day. :)

* I never took calc II but I imagine it is very hard ;)

The Quick Down and Dirty

We are exactly thirty days into our great grand Hawaii move! I will warn you, through the process of blogging which will be taking place from here on out, many explantion points will be used! They are used to indicate emphasis. Everything here in Hawaii seems to need emphasis. For example: Palm trees! Delicious asian food! Beach! Body surfing! Swimming in waterfalls! LOVE! Running! Taking out the trash. not so much, that qualifies for a simple period. You get the gist.

I think it is safe to say when we found out Chris was offered a job in Oahu we were overwhelmed with shock and so much excitement that we peed our pants. Not literally of course.....but really we did....no just kidding..... but seriously! I shall let you believe what you want to believe, just know we were absolutely engrossed in the thought, we are going to live on an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. Think about it for a minute, HAWAII. Side note, it had been gray and rainy in Washington for the past what seemed like forty days. Hence we now live in hawaii, how the heck could we say no?

Saying yes did require signing on the dotted line with small fine print below reading: no moving expenses will be paid for. After three or four nights of "sleeping on it" we came a conclusion; the experience would mean much much more than getting rid of most all of our personal belongings! The first things we got rid of were winter clothes. So long green banana republic sweater, I loved you so much! Next came the snowboarding gear. True or false? There is snow in Hawaii and you can ski? Believe it or not, the answer is true. Never the less we sold the boards, I hope the new owners enjoy you guys as much as we did . The next 2 months or so were a blur. I became THE craigslist Hustler. I sold just about everything we owned on craigslist or to friends. The rest was dropped off at the goodwill and every time the donations man tried to give us 10 tax write off slips for the one we deserved. funny man.

The last week was spent visiting my brother Bri and his beautiful fiancé in the Seattle area, enjoying as much time with our amazing Spokompton friends, and finals for Christopher! Amazingly enough he still has a pretty solid head of hair. I was a little nervous for his blonde locks..... his hard work paid off though. He just got his diploma in the mail last week! whooo hoooo Goosey!

The day of the flight was a little....um......I still haven't quit found the word for it. Needless to say it isn't every day a couple moves to Hawaii so we HAD to wear the tackiest Hawaiian get up I could find on Ebay for under 10 dollars!!!...



Not going to lie it was a much cuter and funnier idea in my head.We recieved some "specail looks" when we got of the plane. ps WE THEN OFFICIALLY LIVED IN HAWAIII!!!!!!! For all of those who know me, I am not speachless person. I couldn't say anything. I was completely wierded out. FOR THE WHOLE DAY :) Chris' coworkers picked us up from the airport and took us to the dock to pick up our car. We had timed it just right, it arrived the day before we got there. NO RENTAL!

The first day we had said we were going to check into our hotel then hit the beach. So what did we do?? Walked to the beach, picked up some snorkle gear and went snorkeling! The next 3 days we were on a serious mission to find a place to live. I won't go into too much detail. I will just leave it at this. We found a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath, and a lanai (thats hawaii for balcony) another bonus, its not in the ghetto!!!!!!!!!! YAYYYY!!!!!!!!!!! 2nd bonus dogs are allowed!!!!! seriously, it was so hard to find a place that allows dogs. 2bedroom means room for visitors. foot stomp. nudge. nudge.

Once the mission was accomplished we were able to begin to enjoy where we were living. Here are some pictures of the beach that is just a hop, skip, and a jump from our apartment. Ok like a 7 minute car ride, but still!
SOOOO This blasted blogger wont allow me to upload pictures. and I am frustrated so I will call it a day. Here are 2 videos of Yokahama Beach. We went for Chris's birthday to watch the sunset!