Memorial Day Weekend

The picture to the left was taken by Jeff's friend Carrie at her wetting down at the Dixie Grill in Aiea May 19. There are Dixie Grills all over the island, serving fried okra, peel-and-eat shrimp, and everything healthy made tremendously unhealthy; it's like I never left South Carolina!

We had a very busy weekend! Saturday Jeff went out and played golf in Kaneohe and got a terrible sunburn (I arm myself with SPF 30 nearly every time I leave the house, so I have yet to fry myself, luckily), so we were a little behind schedule checking on condos in Kapolei and Waianae for my parents. The Marriott Ko Olina resort was pretty easy to find - around 45 minutes away because of a bit of traffic. It's a nice place with a swimming lagoon (pictured on the right) and a golf course in an area with lots of other resorts. We continued up the road to Waiane and passed what appeared to be a Hawaiian separatist camp, marked by a bunch of tents and signs calling for secession and supporting the Akaka bill. We kept driving and eventually discovered that we had missed the second "resort" and ended up at a Kaena Point surf spot. I wasn't all that upset that we missed the resort; Kaena point (left - pictures don't do it justice) was breathtaking. So Jeff and I turned around and headed back down Farrington Highway, only this time I saw the street we were looking for...not too far from the where the separatists were set up! We turned in to find that it was fenced in, like a condo people live in. So needless to say, we recommended the Ko Olina resort.

Sunday we met Dan and went sailing in the afternoon. It was a gorgeous day; we had a great time, and luckily Jeff avoided getting more sunburned! The Pearl Harbor didn't make for very interesting sailing pictures, but we were out on a 29-foot boat for a couple hours. Apparently Jeff and I can get certified and take boats out reasonably easily, so I am looking forward to more of that!

Yesterday we leased a car for me, so I am no longer stuck in the house! It is a purple 2006 Mini convertible (I'll post pictures soon). I STILL can't believe Jeff agreed to it, but it is worth getting a job to drive around in such a fun car, and how many times are we going to live in a place with year-round perfect convertible weather?

Jeff had a three day weekend followed by two days on the ship, so I am on my own until he comes back Thursday. I've given myself the mission of finding the job and possibly a sense of direction before he gets back...

--jess

Locked OUT!

I'll update when there are things to update...such as embarrassing stories...like me locking myself out of my running car on Pearl Harbor this afternoon.
Fortunately, I found a wire hanger on the ground just by the car. Unfortunately I couldn't get it to work.
Fortunately, an acquaintance showed up. Unfortunately, she didn't know how to get into the car either.
Fortunately, she had a working phone. Unfortunately, I had to wait for awhile for Jess to show up with a spare remote unlocker.
Fortunately, it didn't take long for her to get there. Unfortunately, the unlocker didn't work with the car running.
Fortunately, she has a phone, and we called AAA. Unfortunately, they took about an hour to show up. But they did, and the car opened, and I feel like an idiot.

-Jeff

Hooray for keeping my AAA membership up to date. Hooray for french fries. And everyone's an idiot occasionally - just as long as it doesn't become a habit, it's perfectly fine.

--jess

Submarine

Apparently, now that I am here, Jeff no longer wants to update!

We had a fun day in Waikiki yesterday. We started out with some yummy sushi at a restaurant we went to when we were here looking at houses and getting married. And he got us tickets for an Atlantis submarine tour, which was really interesting. It was a gorgeous day to be out on a boat, kind of breezy and clear (it rained later, but we were back on shore). We met the sub and toured the artificial reefs off the coast, sunken ships, metal structures, and some made with cement. Probably the neatest thing we saw was a big sea turtle swimming by. Unfortunately there weren't any sharks (I guess that would be fortunately for the surfers and swimmers at Waikiki!), but they're still on my to-see list along with feral pigs and waterfalls...

Bathroom Picasso

I'm going to take a little break from painting the bathroom to say DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME; HIRE AN EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONAL (especially if you are only 5'2" and can't reach those nasty, nasty corners above the bathtub).

I think I will be calling on Jeff's gymastic skills this afternoon, sheesh.

--jess

!

Jeff has overnight duty tonight and left me with the car, woohoo!

Yesterday we drove into Honolulu for an art exhibit and even more house shopping (surprise, surprise). And of course, we found the exact same dish set at Macy's that we'd given up and ordered from the Bed, Bath and Beyond website. We haven't really been updating the site lately because other than finally being together, the week's been pretty boring! We've ordered a bed (thank goodness; the Navy loaner is a nightmare!), a couch, and a few other things to make the place more comfortable, and we're still trying to figure out what we are going to do for storage, because Jeff and I both have soooo many CDs, DVDs, and books!

It's been fun driving around the island some with Jeff. We met up with his friend from college, Dan, at the Hale Koa in Waikiki last night after our day of art and shopping. We went to a yummy little Thai restaurant at the North Shore last week and saw about fifteen cats and kittens gathered around his car when we were ready to leave - I wanted to catch one! It's very strange not having kitty cats around the house.

Today I broke out the weed whacker and went to town on our little patch of grass in the backyard, and I'll probably go buy some paint for the master bathroom later. Jeff's definitely got the "yes, dear" face down to an art when it comes to paint colors and bathroom coordinates, so I figure I'll make it easy on him!

And Happy Mother's Day to all of our mommies!

--jess

Jess has arrived in Hawaii!

After a few delays at the airport, I made it to Honolulu around 7:30pm Hawaii time. The flight wasn't as bad this time; I had the entire center row of three seats to myself, so I put all the arms up, curled up and took a nap. I was nowhere near as exhausted as I was last time when Jeff picked me up, and I don't think the time change is going to be quite so hard to deal with since he gets up so early to head to work anyway. I just stayed up, did some yoga and a little reading, and took a little walk up the road to a place where I actually get cell coverage. I think we're going to have to do something about the phones; bear with us if we're not so great about keeping in contact via phone in the meantime.

We have Internet, in case you were wondering!

It was raining a bit when I got in last night, but now it is gorgeous, and I will probably take advantage of it! I forgot how much I loved the patio at this place...

--jess

Last couple weeks

Okay, I am slacking!

Weekend of the 21st: my best friend Nikki threw a wonderful going away party/wedding shower. I think around 20 people showed up over the course of the night. She made a yummy cake with turquoise sugar sprinkles for water, some tan ones for an island and brown long sprinkles that made up a palm tree. It was a ton of fun, and she did a great job. It was bittersweet because I knew that it would be years before I see some of them again, but that's why we have the Internet!

The last couple weeks have flown by, and I am finding myself surrounded by stuff I don't know what to do with!

Last weekend I went to Youngsville, Pennsylvania to visit my grandparents - when I say grandparents I mean my dad's dad Felix and my mom's mom Marian. My 20-year-old (well, more or less; her birthday is the 5th) cousin Kathleen picked me up at the airport in Buffalo (after a bit of a security hassle caused by booking in my married name when I haven't gotten a picture ID yet...) and we had a pleasant drive through upstate New York, through Jamestown to Youngsville. Grandpa was waiting out in the driveway when we got there. We talked a lot, had the fish at Richards, and Saturday Kathleen and I walked over to Grandma's and had some of her delicious blueberry muffins with hazelnut coffee. The four of us went to the Deerhead restaurant together that night and church Sunday. The flight back was uneventful, but I got back late to Zeke going berzerk! I mangled my glasses thoroughly while I was up there; yet another task on the to-do list!!!

While I was gone, Casey and Amber met my parents in Florence, SC with Anais. She does not ride well! Anais stayed with my parents in NC until Dad put her on a flight to Indianapolis this morning. Linsey's running the Feline Fat Camp up there with her and Jack; I fully expect to visit her sometime and see kitty treadmills and Jack and Anais wearing sweatbands and reading diet self-help books. So Zeke was on his own all day Sunday and insisted on pawing at the bedroom door and yowling until I agreed to let him snuggle with me. Hopefully he will adjust to being alone for a little bit and not drive Amber crazy this summer. We should be able to fly him to Hawaii in late August or early September.

I'll be flying out to join Jeff Sunday at 10:10am. Wednesday is my last day at work. Thursday they're coming to pack and move my things, and Friday I am going to escape to my parents place in Manning, SC for a couple of days while Casey and company move their stuff into my house.