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

Happy Halloween!

Jeff said this was another forbidden picture unless I said something about pollinating him... It really needed to be posted because he was such a cute little daisy.

Happy Halloween!

Albatross

Jeff and I hiked out to Kaena Point from the Waianae side last week. It's definitely a tougher hike than it is from the North Shore, but along the way, we saw lots of baby albatross in their nests! We were both really hoping to see a grown-up albatross, but they were probably out fishing. They can sleep while they're flying and drink ocean water, and sometimes they go five years without coming back to land.

Albatrosses are really interesting birds - I like this site because it tells you about a lot of the animals you see in Hawaii - albatrosses included!

--jess

Jeff added a title

Yesterday we drove circle isle again. We stuffed our faces with yummy food all day - Anna Miller's for breakfast, Bubbies ice cream for a snack, Kahuku shrimp, etc. We did the walk (it's a walk as opposed to a hike since it's paved the entire way, but there was definitely a fun incline...) up to the Makapuu lighthouse that overlooks the windward side of the island. The breeze was fantastic. Later in the day, we found a beach in Laie (Jess still finds it amusing that a word with four letters can have three syllables) where we waded out to Goat Island (there's a Hawaiian name for the island, but we're too lazy to look it up) and had a beach *almost* to ourselves. Afterward, we had shrimp at Giovanni's - one of Jess's coworkers said it was the best on the island. It was good, but definitely garlicky - we both preferred the volcano shrimp at the truck we visited with Jeff's parents last year!

--jeff and jess

Wikao

We are in the process of preparing to move, which unfortunately includes the prospect of selling the Wikao property. Despite the deep cleaning and de-cluttering that should make the house presentable, we have been discussing doing something to the kitchen to make it look nicer. The hazard with doing anything to the kitchen is primarily that we wouldn't be able to enjoy it in long enough to do anything significant; therefore we are soliciting for recommendations on how we can maximize our return on investment while minimizing our costs. If you have thoughts, please don't hesitate to send them our way.

Speaking of the kitchen, we've been cooking lots and having a ball doing it, so if you have a chance, send us your favorite recipes! We're trying to figure out what our favorites are. Among them is spaghetti squash lasagna (to the left).

-jess and jeff