Thanksgiving '09

We finally experienced our first holiday here in Hawaii. Although we live in paradise sometimes it's not paradise without family and your closest friends, especially on holidays. We decided the only way suppress our desire to be home was to do something we knew we couldn't do at home. We decided to snorkel Hanauma Bay. If you have never snorkeled this bay before, please put it on your top 20 things to do in your life. It is beautiful. I am pretty sure I saw a mermaid too.

After snorkeling we went and had Thanksgiving brunch at one of our favorite hotels, Kahala Resort. This is where all of the celebrities and famous people stay at when they come to Oahu. One time when we were there everyone though Nic was Tito Ortiz so we got extra special treatment. The spread was unbelievable and of course the view was stunning. They also have a big dauphin pool here so we got to hang out with the dauphins for the afternoon. My favorite part though was their living room. They has fresh noble pine
Christmas trees that they imported so the whole room smelled like Christmas. The the trees were stunning. I am quickly learning how fortunate I was to grow up in the Northwest. I am probably going to bring my sleeping bag next time and wait for Santa underneath these Christmas trees.

Our First Visitors, the Fritzwalds

We had our first visitors last week, Larry and Phyllis. We were both so excited to see them and of course our week together went by too fast. Saying goodbye almost was just as hard as the first time. They hadn't planned on coming as early as November but we encouraged them to do so as it was their 26th wedding anniversary which sounded like a good enough excuse to come to Hawaii as any. I am pretty convinced that my parents and Nic's parents were separated at birth because being with them always makes me feel so much at home with my family. And I am sure you could image the amount of incredible food and booze that we consumed in last week. I am scheduled for my kidney transplant tomorrow.

Our first day together we took them to our favorite beach, Ko'olina where we snorkeled and swam. Phyllis refused to go in the water without her floatie which of course became the gateway of "let's make fun of mom" day. My favorite scene was when she tried to sit in her inner tube and of course went ass over tea kettle. Not once, but twice. It was perfect. We also got a good laugh at Larry in his snorkel gear. We named him "Great White" like a giant beached shark. Later that evening we came back to our apartment to play a few rounds of Yahtzee before catching the fire works. I proceeded to introduce them to my house rules of for every full house rolled results in a social and points for a Yahtzee can only be received if the roll is followed by a dance. You will be surprised as to how many full houses are rolled in a single game. Needless to say we didn't make it to the fire works.

The remainder of the week was spent site seeing, introducing them to our new Hawaiian life and creating unforgettable memories together. One morning Larry volunteered to drive me into work. I told him that if he is going to be taking Nic's position then he also has to cook me breakfast and make my lunch too (yes, Nic really does this for me every day). I woke up the next morning to eggs, toast and coffee and a lunch menu. Nic got demoted when Larry picked me up from work the next day with a cold cocktail ready to go for me in the car. I have revised this job description.

HNL Halloween '09

Sometimes I forget how big this city is until everyone comes out for events like Halloween. Or maybe this city really isn't that big, we are all just confined to one small area. Whatever it is small spaces + big population all trying to achieve the same thing = chaos. I have never seen anything like Hallloween here in Honolulu. We started off in Chinatown as word on the street was that was the place to be. Plus, it is only three blocks from our apartment so we walked there. They had the streets blocked off, five stages of music, endless beer gardens and of course all of the bars packed with people as well. Our goal was to eventually make it down to Waikiki however cabs were not even driving there due to the chaos. It was a blast but we spent a lot of our night just trying to navigate through the sea of people. I am glad we did but next year maybe we will settle for a house party.

I ended up recycling one of my burlesque costumes and went as a pirate. (No, a sexy pirate in effort to keep up with Shan.) Nic went as a Greek god. It was something we threw together at the last minute and of course he looked awesome. Three of our friends met us at our apartment where we all got ready together and got our prefunk on. Leena went as a 50's housewife, Liz went as a flapper and Olga was a glamour girl. We finally called it a night at about 2 am and stumbled back to our place. Sunday morning was a little rough.

Hawaii, meet Nicky Croon.

As many of you know Nic has swooned half of America with his dreamy voice. Okay, well maybe not half but pretty close. Back in Portland he was known as Spank Sinatra. We had a standing gig at Hawthorne Theatre as Sugar Q where he was our host and he would sing crooner songs in between our acts. He killed it.

When we came to Hawaii in June for my interview we thought how fun would it be if Nic were to get a singing gig in the fancy restaurant and wine bar at my work. It was a little bit of pipe dream but fun to think about. Well kids guess what. He has a standing gig now there. I swear there is nothing he can't do. Starting next Saturday he will be singing there every Saturday night as Nicky Croon. Although we loved him as Spank, we knew his former name might not be appropriate for this type of gig. Also, have to give a shout out to my friend Leena who has made this happen for us. High five girl.

John, you've been trumped.

Kim: "JJ, ask me what I did last night. I dare ya."

JJ: "Fine. Kim, what did you do last night?"

Kim: "Oh nothing much. Just cruised Waikiki on our new Nightster. In a tank top. What did you do last night?"

JJ: silence...

Home Sweet Home

Last night was our first night sleeping in our own bed again. I have been longing for this day. It is so nice to have actual furniture to sit on and dishes to eat off of. I was starting to feel like I was back in college again. Note to self though; when moving to an island don't ship your furniture. I think just about everything took some type of beating. I guess if you think about the 1,000 times our container got picked up, moved and dropped from Portland to Seattle to Honolulu and God knows where else, you kind of have to expect it.

Our apartment is starting to really feel like home. We set up the living room last night so we could watch our first movie together in our new nest. I voted for Top Gun but of course lost to a surfing moving with hot chicks in bikinis. Here is a sneak peak of our new place. I will be posting a virtual tour as soon as we finish unpacking, which should be this time next year.

Coming Up For Air

Sorry, I have been making out with my new husband for the past week. I forgot how much attention we required from each other. Especially when we haven't seen each other for the past month. I can't even begin to tell you how happy I was when we walked off of that plane. Damn is he a handsome man. It feels so good to wake up to him every day again. We have been having a blast together and he makes me laugh so hard. Our furniture is floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean right now on a container so the only furniture we have had for the past few weeks is an air mattress. It is so sexy. We have to pump it up every night. Each night Nic goes, "Pump, pump, pump it!." (just like the Bump It commercial). It has been fun showing him the island and he has made a few discoveries on his own too. Yesterday we went up the the North Shore where all of the beautiful beaches are. The waves are already up to 20'! We spent our afternoon at Turtle Bay. Although I miss the Autumn leaves and Oregon's fall beauty, I get to have this at my finger tips.
Each day feels like a vacation even though we both still have to work. There are new foods to eat, people to meet and beaches to explore. I can't wait to share this with everyone.