Fat Tuesday

Jeff and I went out with some of my work buddies for Fat Tuesday at a place called Cafe Citron. Just thought I would post a couple of pictures in case you forgot what we look like... The picture to the right is me with Katie and Heather, the audiologists at the office. These are smaller pics because I got them from a website of Heather's.

--jess

6 More Weeks...

Happy Groundhog Day!!!

Jeff has actually started going into work on a regular basis, although he hasn't officially begun work, so he gets home early in the afternoon every day. Jess has worked several weeks already, and her schedule is solidifying into three days a week, plus whatever she chooses to do as far as research. She skipped work (with approval, of course), to take a professional CPR course with the Red Cross.

We're almost settled, but haven't really done anything exciting. Maybe soon.

-- J&J

Christmas presents

Jeff and I printed out the Hawaii photographs we gave out as Christmas presents on Snapfish.com, and I planned to give out the link to the entire album in case anyone didn't like the ones we chose for them (note: if your frame broke and scratched the picture, we'll reorder the photo for you - just let us know if you want the same picture or one of the others). These are just pictures we took for the express purpose of blowing them up and framing them, so if you've seen one in the blog you like more, let me know. We're not trying to copyright anything, so if anyone else wants to use them for their own evil purposes, be our guests. Snapfish does a good job printing and the prices are pretty reasonable, but if you want to use a different company, give me an email and I will send you the original shot so you won't have to compromise any megabits.

THIS IS THE LINK TO THE SNAPFISH ALBUM

We'll do a real update soon. Feel free to comment on the pictures!

--jess

...and, we're back!

Did you miss us?

We've moved into our new place in Alexandria, VA. It's very nice - good location and brand new; we've been spending this week acquiring new pieces of furniture and personal touches to make it feel more like home (which is pretty difficult in the absence of our furniture). Zeke is acclimating nicely, although Jess occasionally questions his sanity when he pesters to go on the balcony.

Jeff's heading back to work Monday, and Jess will be starting at Metropolitan ENT next week. She's looking forward to the research aspect and the change of pace.

Jeff put up curtains in the bedroom today. Don't they look pretty? Okay, the picture is a bit backlit, so come for a visit and check them out for yourself.

Our address has, of course, changed. Give us an email if you want it!

--jess & jeff

Mele Kalikimaka 2007!!!

We've returned to NC for the evening after a productive trip to the D.C. metropolitan area after a brief interlude to the Betsey Johnson Regional Hospital emergency room; we thought Jess might have appendicitis. She didn't, and she is okay now after excessive poking and proding.

The main purpose of the trip was to find an apartment. We eventually decided upon The Tuscany. It is brand new and gorgeous, and we're very much looking forward to moving in. The link goes to our floor plan, which we think is perfect for us. We're excited about being able to have a dining room table, and the community has lots of perks, like free coffee.

Jess interviewed at Metropolitan ENT for a position as a research associate/medical assistant. She was offered the position part time at first with the possibility of going full time, and she will start after the first of the year.

Tomorrow we're heading down to Manning, SC to spend Christmas with Jess's family, and afterward to Columbia to check on the house and spend time with old friends. We're heading back up to DC on the 31st to get our keys!

We probably won't have Internet on the 25th, so early Mele Kalikimaka!

-j&j

Moved!

But not really.

We've had lots to do last week, and minimal internet access in the meantime. Between cleaning the house, meeting up with friends for fun and festivities, Jeff's Hail and Farewell (he also spent unfortunate amounts of time at work finishing up everything), and making one last sunrise trip to Waimanalo, we stayed busy.

Jeff's last day of work on the Paul Hamilton was yesterday, and afterward we checked out of the hotel, shipped the car, picked up the cat from the kennel, and hung out at the airport. Despite anticipations of lengthy delays en route, we moved from Honolulu through Chicago to Raleigh with no difficulties, and have spent the day adjusting to the time change at Jess's parent's North Carolina house.

We head up to DC to look for apartments tomorrow.

- j&j

Moving!

We've temporarily relocated to the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani, Waikiki until we fly back to the mainland on the 17th. The house is empty and we're doing a massive cleaning today. Zeke is staying in a kennel for 10 days and we miss him tremendously - he's flying on the same flights as us. If you mail us cookies, they're going to Jess's parents, and they will probably be stale by the time they arrive. Our Internet access is a bit limited these days, but we'll both try to check our emails daily.

--jess and jeff

Moving

We have less than a week left in this house before we move. Not that we're leaving the island immediately, but rather that we'll be living out of a suitcase in a hotel for several days. It has been a race to accomplish all the remaining things that we want to see and take care of all the personal business associated with relocating thousands of miles. We managed to make it up to the North Shore yesterday to see the big waves; though not massive, still very impressive, and also difficult to capture with a camera. We got this shot, however, of Shark's Cove. To think that just over a month ago we were snorkeling there, and now it isn't recommended to go close to the water!
We don't have a forwarding address yet. If you have something you'd like to send, let us know and we'll let you know where to send it.

--jeff and jess

Happy Thanksgiving!

We cooked our first Thanksgiving dinner this year! We had turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, mashed sweet potatoes with pears (Hawaiian sweet potatoes are about the same color as regular potatoes, so we were a little disappointed that they weren't orange, or better yet, purple), mashed cauliflower (we like our vegetables mashed, apparently), rolls, cranberry butter, green bean casserole, and apple and pumpkin pies. We had six people in our place; for those of you who've been here, you know that's a feat!

After dinner, everyone piled into the living room for some Guitar Hero III. We got a second controller - the picture at the right is Dan and Randy rocking out while Annie watches.

Hope everyone had a great turkey day!

jeff & jess

Sharks!

Yesterday we went up to the North Shore to do something Jess has wanted to do practically since she got here - shark cage!!! We went out around 9:30am in a little boat with North Shore Shark Adventures with about eight other people, strangely enough, all locals. The water was rough, and it rained intermittently, but it was pretty fantastic. We were in a cage with masks and snorkels getting beaten around by the waves (hoping our arms and legs didn't go out through the bars) while about 15 Galapagos sharks (left - the photo is from another outfit that does shark adventures called Hawaii Shark Encounters (we took photos with an underwater 35mm; hopefully some of those came out okay)) swam all around us. Of course, the captain didn't tell us until after we had our turn in the cage that despite how enormous, scary and sharp-teethed they are, Galapagos sharks only eat fish (which is why they weren't snacking on the seagulls that were hanging out on the water's surface while they were up there). We were far enough out that there was no worry of the tiger sharks that like to occasionally feed on unlucky surfers.

It was definitely one of the most interesting things we've done out here, and a great way to enjoy Hawaii in the short time we have left. Afterward, we ate at Haleiwa Joe's, which is a place most people try to eat while they're here, and we'd never been to. It was okay, but there are definitely better places to eat out here.

--jeff and jess