On My Mind

Hawaii, I miss you...

Taking it Back....Way Back

I would like to politely ask the people at work to 'save the drama for your mama'. Yes. I said it (typed it?). I have no idea when it became ok to yell at each other in the office. I don't want to hear it, I don't think it's professional, please do not involve me or talk to me about 'your side'. Sit down. Do your work. That is all.

Also? Ambieishome!Ambieishome!Ambieishome!Ambieishome!Ambieishome!

The Last Aloha

Crazy how fast 7 weeks can go. Crazy that I have 3 1/2 days left in Hawaii. 3 1/2 people! What?!
My last few weeks in Hawaii have been pretty fun though, take a look...

Our garden continues in its awesomeness. These tomatoes are gorgeous, and were promptly eaten by the birds. Fail. Net= smart move.

Look at my rockstar. He has pods! Pods that will soon be ready to harvest. When I am in VA. That's okay though, he still rocks.

I went to this beautiful beach. I got badly sunburned. I seriously look like I have some strange skin disease. Off in the distance we saw the Black Pearl from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, (they are filming the next one here now) but I didn't have my good camera with me so I couldn't get a picture of it. The beach is a good second best.

Nick took me to a super fancy brunch at a fancy hotel. We still talk about the food because it was that good. The hotel also had lots of fish and turtles and DOLPHINS. Awesome.

I want to rub his belly. Is the weird?

Then we went hiking. We saw a crashed helicopter. It was being filmed the next day for an episode of Hawaii 5-O. We hiked through lots and lots of mud. I have not seen that much mud since the rainy season in Kenya. There was also a waterfall, and bamboo forest and very cool trees like this one.

This is us at the top- don't we look sweaty? Too bad you can't see our feet, it would help you believe that I am not over exaggerating about the mud.

This past Sunday we went on another hike. Ka'ena is the westernmost tip of the island. It is one of the more beautiful hikes I have done. I took lots of pictures. Nick patiently stood there while I took lots of pictures. He's a nice guy like that.

Can you see me? I am standing on this arch. Looking slightly awkward. There were some closer ups taken. Like I said, looking slightly awkward, so instead take in the scenery.

The coolest part, minus the majesty and beauty, is that the point is a natural area reserve. Albatrosses nest there. In holes in the sand. It is very hard to take a picture of a bird in a deep hole. I tried and failed. There are also monk seals. They are cute, and fat and lazy. Nick said I was not allowed to go and hug them.

I have no complaints, it has been a pretty amazing summer. I've seen and done some pretty cool things, met some pretty great people, and grown to love it here. So, Aloha for now Hawaii- but I'll be back.

It happens THAT often??

I recently went to buy some new running clothes and ended up ordering them to be delivered as my size was not in stock. Fast forward a few days later and I am wonder where my stuff is already??!! I find the tracking number and look online to figure out what the problem could be. Train derailment. TRAIN DERAILMENT. I didn't realize that it happens often enough that UPS has an exception code for it on their tracking system.

Also, why are my shorts traveling by train?

My New Favorite

This may be my new favorite place. I know, I have all of Oahu at my fingertips, and I choose to love Nick's backyard. I like to keep ya guessing. But seriously, it is pretty hard not to be in love with this backyard now that we have planted a little garden. Yours truly has a black thumb. I kill house plants. I once even killed a cactus. I didn't think you could do that, but I did. Lucky for me, Nick has better luck in growing things. I'll give you a sample of photos of some of the plants, because I am guessing pictures of every plant is not as exciting to most of you as it is to me.

Like this plumeria tree. It reminds me of Mombasa. That makes me smile.

Yep, those are limes. How cool is that?

Some green onions:

Some oregano:

Some thyme:

Yep, I am painting the names of the herbs on the pots. I am cheesy like that.

Cute cherry tomatoes. We have some big tomatoes too, but these are cuter and currently more colorful.

This is my rockstar. The soybean plant. I picked him out on a whim. He was small and kind of weak looking and now he is rocking the garden. Seriously, everyday he gets bigger and more awesome. I do kind of worry he will soon take over the other plants.

The best part of this garden is something you can't see in these photos. My very wonderful and handy boyfriend built a lovely sitting area complete with fire pit and tiki torches that is surrounded by our little garden. Not only do I love that I can come out and pick fresh herbs every night for dinner (and maybe even a cocktail, yep there is mint out there too) but it is also a peaceful place to read a book during the day. By night, it is place for us to relax around the fire and enjoy a glass of wine and some conversation. What could be better than that?


Some days we even get a view like this...

Now you see why this, in the midst of so much beauty, is one of my favorite places to be.

Who's Next?

What could be better than being in Hawaii? How about a friend visiting you in Hawaii-because that's a kind of super awesome. Nick took off for Japan for a week to get his work on, and Meghan came to visit and get her "celebration of life vacation" (aka ignoring her 30th birthday)on. We did some serious exploring, had a spa day, and found majesty and serenity...

In sunset dinner picnics...

beautiful beaches...

crystal blue waters...

crazy rock formations...

The Spitting Cave of Portlock. I am not making that up. It is a real place. It is AMAZING. Bonus, you sound like you visited something out of Harry Potter. awesome.

The Valley of The Temples. We went to this one. We found serenity.

and majesty.

and beautiful statues.

We even saw sea turtles while hanging on the beach.

This is just a taste of our vacation people. I didn't even show you the tropical drinks and hammocks. This too could be yours. Who wants to come visit next?