Sunday, May 30, 2010

4 Day Weekend Bliss

I'm loving this Memorial Day weekend and the official kickoff to summer. Eve is camping with my friends, Khristy and Tracy. Yesterday, I worked out and then spent the afternoon at Rocky Point sunning myself. Today, I spent the day at Lanikai on the pristine white sand beach.

Tomorrow, I shall find yet another gorgeous stretch of sand to lay myself upon. My bff, Cheryl comes on Thursday. Bradley arrived last Thursday to stay with us for 2 months and help watch Eve for the summer...life is good. I had a lovely, laughter filled dinner with CRH, Kevin, and Bradley tonight...good friends, good food, and crappy (cheap) wine...good times.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Ode to the S40

When I was pregnant with Eve, we had a Toyota Camry and a Saturn something or another. The Saturn was a 2 door straight drive car...not a fam car. I went and picked out the blue Volvo S40 one day while I was killing time at work. I fell in love with that car. Initially it was CRH's, but once my Camry lease ended I found him his dream car (yep, the Volvo wagon) and I took this one. We moved both of them here and in the past few years this one has been giving me some problems...so our relationship has been a love-hate one. We had to buy CRH a new car last summer when his died and so sadly we really aren't in a great position for mine to have died this second in time, but I would like to point out that this car did make it to over 200,000 miles. It needed gas, so it died on empty saving me $35. I was sure that it was going to die one day right after I'd filled up. It needed an oil change and a safety inspection this month too. I was going to go earlier this week and do it, but I've just felt like crap all week and was lazy...thankfully because it saved me $60. Finally, the car was nice enough to die about a block from my house. It needs a new transmission (along with many, many other things), so it's just not worth fixing. It's currently out under the mango tree...RIP dear Volvo...RIP.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Stand Up Paddleboard


I have been dying to do this since we moved, but it's one of those things I keep saying I want to do and just haven't gotten around to until today. I freaking LOVED it. I went out in Haleiwa, got on a board after about 4 attempts of trying to stand up, and paddled around for about an hour and a half. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I just paddled the beach area in front at first and then I made my way over around the pier to the rainbow bridge in Haleiwa. It's so peaceful and serene back there. Then, I went out across the beach the other way. This is when things got a little dicey. I paddled out past my experience level and the water was a little choppy and the wind was up. I was afraid of falling, so I sat down and paddled. I was wayyyy out and doing fine, until a turtle came by. It distracted me, so the current took me down a little bit. I was able to turn myself around and get safely back to shore, but for a few minutes I thought Search and Rescue might be required. It was such a fun experience...I can't wait to go again!

Snorkel Time

We had an awesome weekend of sun and fun. Saturday, I spent 5 hours at the beach. I can't remember the last time I did that...nor can I remember the last time I was able to do it without hearing a lot of complaining from the family. I should thank their friends, really. Anyway, we went to a new beach for us Saturday here in Haleiwa and I sat in my chair watching sea turtles swim around for hours. Finally, CRH brought some snorkel equipment around and I actually swam with 2 of them in the water. One was a smaller, younger turtle and one was pretty huge. A few weeks ago, I saw 3 baby turtles swimming at Papa'iloa. That was awesome! CRH went wayyyy out on Saturday and swam with like 7 or 8 of them.
Sunday, I did manage to clean the house. Sometimes I actually do chores before I play...it's rare, but the floor was dirty and it was bothering me. We went to Shark's Cove and I found the snorkeling kind of lame, but we did see another turtle and hung out with him a little. I saw some humu humus, a Moorish Idol, a parrot fish, and a giant unicorn fish...so I guess it didn't totally suck. It just wasn't as gorgeous as I'm used to seeing there. I'm ready to trek back down to Hanauma Bay. C'mon visitors!!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Happy Mother's Day!

Today was an awesome day...I wish everyday could be Mother's Day! The family treats me so very well. Yesterday, they came home with a box of Godiva...always a winner. I woke up this morning to Kona Coffee flavored chocolate chip pancakes with Nutella...can you stand it?? Eve made me the cutest poster ever and they gave me a cool turtle necklace. Initially this weekend, we were going to hike Koko Head Crater. Yesterday we had to go get CRH a futon, so there was no time. Today, I had wanted to go to the Farmer's Market and the beach but I thought it would be fun to do something new. Then, we got there and I saw that the steps went straight up the mountain. I have huge height issues, but I thought I might be able to manage it ok. We got about half way up and I bailed. I kept looking up thinking OMG, I'm going to have to get back down...looking down and thinking HOLY CRAP...so I pulled the Mom card and said I couldn't do it. They were all gracious and down we went...very slowly with a long line behind us.
It was BEACH time afterwards. We headed to Kailua for lunch at my favorite deli and then attempted to go to the beach there, but it was super packed. I hate packed beaches immensely, so we decided to come back up to the North Shore. I often wonder why I ever leave this area...there's just no need. We have the most awesome beaches, grocery stores, shops, food...I mean what more do you need?? I do occasionally leave for work and once school starts in August I'll have to leave, but that's it. We spent 2 delightful hours out on the beach and came home to taco night!
It was a great Mother's Day weekend! Hope you all had a great one too!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Martha Stewart I'm Not...

Someone was recently looking at a piece of furniture in our house and complimenting my work, so I think it overinflated my crafty ego. I’m trying to decorate the new house on a budget (Well, because I have to since all our money seems to go just toward the actual structure remaining over our heads.). The new, cool, hip thing is making something old new again and to use “found” items. It’s so very green. I “found” a metal dresser at a local furniture store the other day. It was a basic 5 drawer dresser, white metal that someone had painted a drippy brown with brass handles. Sounds gorgeous, right? It was every bit as horrible as you imagine, but I saw some potential in it. It was only $60 too…that didn’t hurt in the search for potential. The really cool thing about it for me…it was Made in Hawaii. I snatched it up from the nice, Asian, Jesus loving, furniture junkyard selling lady and CRH picked it up for me the next day much to his horror at the clutter of her store. He brought it home and I washed it up and took off the handles to prep it for painting. Here’s a before shot (should have left the handles on for this…but use your imagination).

Thursday, I spent hours working on this…mostly due to the cleanup. CRH told me NOT to paint it outside because of our weather. He did not tell me to tarp the entire freaking house. OMG this made the biggest mess ever and I think I’m still high from the paint fumes. I sanded it some first. My sister-in-law (who could give old Martha a run for her money) told me some basic steps on how to make over this piece. I sanded as much as I could and then I spray painted it candy apple (whore) red. My plan was for it to be a crimson color to match one of the stripes in my comforter, but it turned out more fire engine red. I now lovingly refer to it as the toolbox. Does this not look exactly like your Dad’s toolbox in the garage?? I painted the handles silver because I did actually like the design of them and it was cheaper than buying new ones. Overall, I’m kind of digging it. It’s got flaws, but so do I. I think once I decorate the top, it’ll be awesome. Although now, I kind of need a new comforter for the bed to match it….hahaha!

I know the blogging has slowed down a lot. We honestly haven’t been doing that much. I feel like I drive 1000 miles a day between my current job and carting Eve to Ka’a’awa everyday for school and back. We did go to Ka’ena Point last Saturday and we saw 4 monk seals, several baby albatross, and I found 2 giant cowry shells (which is cool b/c now I’ll stop coveting the neighbor’s). School ends on May 25th and we have a boatload of company coming this summer (yay!!!!)…so stay tuned for some excitement around here soon. I promise it’s coming!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Awesome Visit


My grandparents came this past week to visit. They are the most awesome people ever. My grandfather is 81 years old and my grandmother is 78 years old and the two of them can work circles around normal people...truly amazing people. Anyway, they arrived Tuesday night and I brought them home the loooong way around the island because I had to stop and pick up Eve. I kept Eve home from school on Wednesday since it's a half day anyway and we tried to go sea turtle hunting and to Waimea Falls, but it rained...so we saved that for Thursday. Friday was a Furlough Friday day here (so no school for Eve) and we spent the entire day at Papa'iloa Beach. We saw 9 sea turtles that day. I was in the ocean playing with Daddy Roy, CRH, and Eve when one of the turtles swam up in a wave RIGHT beside me. It startled me and I screamed...then I realized what it was and I took off trying to swim after him. I was swimming against the current and he has flippers...so needless to say I didn't stand a chance. Saturday, Eve had her annual hula performance at Kualoa Ranch (which was the main purpose of their visit). Eve did a really great job! They LOVED watching her perform! After her performance, we had dinner at a shrimp truck and then watched sunset here in Haleiwa. Today, we had a leisurely day here at home, went to see CRH's store, tried to go to the Hawaiian Plantation Village (only to find they are closed on Sundays), and ended up doing the Pali Lookout before taking them to the airport. It was a whirlwind trip...loved every second of it!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Beach Time (Finally...)

All this recent moving really has put a huge damper on my beach time and I've NOT liked it one bit. This morning, I decided today would be a beach day since it rained yesterday and I couldn't go...alas, it rained this AM too. Around lunchtime though, it quit and the clouds parted slightly. Eve, her new neighbor bff, and I went to Papa'iloa and saw 4 turtles out today!! The kids weren't overly into the beach, so we only stayed about an hour and a half (something that quite honestly baffles me). I have high hopes of going back tomorrow.

We are settling into the new house. It's been a stressful week, but things are leveling out. Ya-Ya and Daddy Roy are coming Tuesday thru Sunday. Eve has a hula performance next Saturday, so there is some fun on the horizon!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Remember How I Mentioned Changes?

Earlier in the year I mentioned that 2010 would be a year full of changes...I was alluding to this event, but hadn't fully come to terms with it and definitely wasn't ready to blog about it. I hope this is not how you are finding out if you are family or friends (if so, I'm truly sorry), but CRH and I are separating.
We did move this past weekend to Haleiwa together in the same house. I will NOT be blogging about the details of said separation, but we are living in the same house in our own rooms and co-parenting Eve. She is aware that we are in separate rooms (obviously), but does not know that we are headed toward divorce. We will likely continue this arrangement until I finish my MSW. We are best friends and we are trying really hard to hold onto that through this...wish us luck with that.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Hello 34

Today is my birthday...Happy Birthday to me. It was a fairly low key day, except I got introduced to Jack freaking Johnson!!! I am a HUGE fan of his music. I worked out with my trainer today and it was a beach run day (NOT my fave...much prefer pavement) and after stretches, we looked up and Jack was on the beach with 2 of his kids. My trainer knows him, so he went over to say "Hi" and introduced me. It was freaking awesome! I didn't act like the crazed fan that I am...I maintained my cool...but in my head I was squealing!
After working out, I went to meet the cable guys at the new place and then headed to pick Eve up. I've had a great day of birthday calls, texts, and FB messages. Our friends, Bruce and Amy Jo, are coming over for a spaghetti dinner tonight. Last night, CRH made me a delicious dinner since he has to close tonight. Then, it's packing time...I wish it were Sunday already and our stuff was in the new house. My brother was laughing at me today saying how I should be a pro at moving by now. I think I'm a gypsy by his standards.