Every time I step outside here I feel like I'm in a constant state of awe. Seriously, how did I get to live here?

It seems so funny now finding out so long ago- over 5 months now- to the actualization of living here. And it's crazy to think that while it's been warm and sunny here (I'm already completely acclimated to the warm- I can't stand cold weather!) back in Maryland they set records for snowfall and blizzards. Literally the day after I left, the airport began canceling flights, two blizzards came in one week, record-setting snowfall, even I-95 was shut down. I don't think I've ever seen that before.

I'm really lucky I left when I did because it would have been over a week later I would have finally been able to get here.

I'm still adjusting a little bit with the time difference. It's definitely not hard to get up early here since it's kind of like sleeping in in Maryland. :) Unfortunately, Nick and I have been sharing a car off and on so I've had to drive him to work a few times if I needed the car that day so I would get up at 5:30am and be exhausted by 9:30pm that night...doesn't help get on schedule.

I think I'm just about there now. Five hours is a lot to adjust by. I think I'm closer to California time at the moment, but that works.

Last Monday we got me a car. A little aqua '99 Toyota Corolla which I have promptly named "Little Clunker," due to its slightly clunking engine. Also "Little Beater." That's actually more of an island term- the crappy little cars that people drive a lot of times when they live here are called beaters. Much of the island is military so people just get temporary cars. Also, you don't put a lot of mileage on cars here since it's not like you can suddenly plan a road trip out of state. The funny thing is my new (to me!) little car had 117,500 miles on it when I got it last week- the one that I sold had 117,555....Weird.

We moved into our new house on Friday. Well, I got here and got to read a few pages of my book before realizing I had no toilet paper in the entire house. I walked over to the office to borrow a roll (take a roll? not like I'm giving it back) and by the time I got back to the house, the moving truck wasn't far behind. We have three shipments total coming. Our biggest one on Friday was from back in October when they boxed up almost everything from Charleston, SC. The second which is coming this morning is from the end of Nick's being stationed in Groton, CT. The last one which I think will probably be sometime next week will be the final one they took from my house in Baltimore, MD the week I left. Oh, and technically four shipments- Nick's car isn't here yet either. We'll be expecting that sometime next week.

I hate dealing with movers. I feel bad asking them to unpack everything, but it's what they're getting paid for. Also if they don't unpack the stuff while they're there, for one you end up with a ton of packaging materials you don't know what to do with until they come pick it up. But the biggest thing is that if something is broken, you can't claim it because you can't prove you didn't just break it after unwrapping it.

In our shipment Friday, our dining room table didn't make it- the legs broke on the journey so now it's sitting awkwardly in our living room. My bedside table lost the whole handle and looks pretty ugly now. My favorite Target lamp is no more. Our couch has some slashes on it. And they dropped a dolly on the side of my car and put a nice gash in the front of the fender. We'll get reimbursed but it's a bummer. Especially with the dining room table because I have no idea what to do with it at the moment. It's big. I don't know if they'll be able to fix it (I think a claims guy will come out and tell me that) and I really don't want a new one- I love my old one. It was a $100 Craigslist purchase in Charleston and well worth it. Beautiful oak table.

So at the moment, I'm waiting for the second shipment to get here and today will be spent trying to organize everything and put it in its place. It's helpful that the moving company unpacks everything- it saves a ton of time. But then you're left with mounds of THINGS in every room piled up high. Sigh.

Nick is working extra long tonight and I might not see him until tomorrow. He took the car since I have so much to do here anyway.

Other than the craziness of moving, Hawaii has bowled me over so far. It's incredible. Especially the area we live, called 'Ewa Beach (pronounced Eh-vah). We stayed in Kailua the first week with friends on the base and Kailua was incredible. There was even a beautiful beach you could walk to that was on base. I went two days in a row I didn't have a car. I saw 4 different kinds of crabs I had never seen before, sea anemones, got stung by a jellyfish, and even rescued a tiny little octopus which tried to squirt ink at me. Twice. (His little tentacles were so cool! They kept sticking on my fingers as I was trying to get him back in the water so he wouldn't die.) 

Oh, and I almost had to be rescued by the base lifeguard. The water is NO joke here. I was walking in the water up to my calves when it suddenly dropped off up to my chest. And rocks appeared. And waves that wouldn't let me get away from the rocks. Fun. (I did end up with some scratches on my knee, a pounding heart, a talking to from the lifeguard who warned me that the area wasn't safe for swimming, and I got knocked down a few levels in the embarrassment department

Kailua is on the rainier side of the island. It was pretty nice while we were there but they said it had been raining a lot prior to my arrival. And toward the end I drove in and out of rain quite a bit.

The Ewa side of the island doesn't rain as much. It's not too hot here. It's been between 74-88 every day and sunny. But the crazy thing about the rain all over the island is that you can drive into or out of it. If it's raining on one side, just drive out of it. Half the time it will be raining on one side of you and sunny on the other side (see my picture)- which is why you see so many rainbows here. I think I've seen six already in just over a week.

The house is beautiful. It's a new house but needs a lot of work. We've been trying to cover the windows in our bedroom at least with duct tape and sheets and beach towels. And I guess we didn't realize that grass doesn't come with the house- our backyard is a red clay. I have light colored carpets- clay and light carpets do not mix well when you have a dog. So despite the decently sized back yard, we have to continually take the dog for walks. Kind of a pain when I got so spoiled by my parents yard and just being able to let her outside.

We began investigating how to get grass since I think grass and blinds are priority. We talked for ten minutes to a guy at the base garden shop on all the steps we need to take- sand down first for filtration, top soil mixed with spongey rocks since apparently clay is no good for growing, purchasing multiple cubic feet of grass and tearing them individually apart and planting each one a few inches apart. We're waiting for a sale on all that.
We also priced blinds through the base. Nick isn't around much to be able to install a ton of blinds and we thought instead of getting the cheap ones from Walmart/Target, since we already have really awkward sized windows we would get professional blinds done. We're looking at really nice white wood grain horizontal blinds for the entire upstairs and light off-brown verticals for all the downstairs which would match our sliding glass door. We priced it at $2500. Ouch.

Owning a house is definitely not cheap. So many other little costs like those- and just filling up the house, buying a bed and stuff for a spare bedroom. Ugh. Money.

Our realtor actually took us out to dinner last night at the Cheesecake Factory in downtown Waikiki. CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY PACKED area. It's the most touristy part of the island and there is no off time. It doesn't get less busy on a Monday during the day because everyone there is on vacation. It was insane how packed it was. Definitely trying to stay away from there as much as possible. On Oahu they try to keep all the hotels in one area of the island so it's not like that all over. And that's pretty much where they all are. The beach was incredible though and looked like a postcard with the sun setting colors and the palm trees in the foreground. The shopping was incredible. Louis Vuitton, Rolex, Fendi stores. Crazy. But I'll stick with staying out of Honolulu and Waikiki whenever possible. Even the restaurants were ALWAYS packed. Man, that's be a hard but lucrative place to work.

Some of the other crazy things I've noticed so far- traffic is horrendous. I heard someone say it got voted #1 worst- Los Angeles was number 2. Ouch. All the street names are crazy to pronounce. I try to say every one I see out loud to practice pronunciations. You mostly just try to pronounce every vowel. But in some cases that isn't easy- Kamehameha Highway is a popular road here. I still haven't figure out which part of the name to stress. But at least I have the pronunciation right. I think. And just when you think you have pronunciation down- you get three vowel in a row and just have no idea. And then there's the state fish: the Humuhumukununukuapua'a fish. Yeah, try that one when you think you're good at pronouncing Hawaiian. I just figured out this week how to say my street name.

Banking has been an adventure. There are no Suntrusts here. No Bank of Americas. No M&T Banks. Basically nothing there is back home other than Navy Federal Credit Union. There are lots of local banks. Bank of America actually froze my account for suspicious activitiy the day I needed to get money out for my car. AFTER I had already called them to make sure it wouldn't be a problem. I spent 45 minutes on the phone in a bank parking lot. Nice.

Superbowl kicked off at 1:25pm. The only thing live here is football. So during the season there will be 8am games. That's some real tailgating. The 10pm Jay Leno show comes on at 9pm. I still haven't figured out any other TV show times. And I miss good ol' eastcoast Comcast cable. I'd even take ghetto South Carolina's Comcast over this weird Oceanic Time Warner. There's no TV on demand! I miss my Pilates on demand from Exercise TV.

Hawaii is also the place that those "Prices and participation may vary" disclaimers were made for. My first night here we tried to order the 3 mediums for $5.55 from Dominos- only to get "Yeah, that's the mainland price." (They call the other 48 states the "Mainland.") It's 3 mediums for $7 each here. And Subway's $5 footlong is $6. Just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Everything is more expensive if you don't buy stuff on base (which I can't by myself since I don't have a military ID). I heard one of the ladies say they had to go to a regular grocery store one day after commissary hours and spent $7 on a gallon of milk. I bought gas the other day for $3.30 a gallon. Yup, miss mainland prices. It's not a bad trade off to avoid the cold weather and snow. And hey, while talking gardening to the garden center guy, he told us plants grow year round. I'll be planting my own herbs and some veggies too. Oh, and hey, my Verizon cell service works better here than anywhere I've ever been. I didn't even know I could have that many bars!

Well, it's definitely an adventure here so far. I'm not going to have much of an adventure the next few days as I go crazy trying to organize everything-unless your idea of adventures include finding our that hand soap spilled all over my favorite towels. But hey, I do have Nick's bike so maybe I'll ride to the beach once or twice.

And when he is here, we decided to try to explore and have real adventures as much as possible. Every weekend we can. I like that idea.

PS. I have a house and cable now finally so I'll try not to slack on updating. I currently don't have access to pics on my camera though. (Just thriving on pure camera phone pics at the moment.) Darn USB cord went missing. Hey, maybe it will be on today's shipment!

Sometimes I feel like it was so long ago that we found out that we were moving to Hawaii but now that it's almost here it's coming at me fast. And with this snowy crazy weather, it can't come quickly enough.

I feel good about things right now. I feel on top of things for the most part, and that's important. Last week I felt like I was falling apart and was borderline having panic attacks just about every day trying to think of all the stuff that needed to be done.

Maggie had her vet appt on Thursday and got her health certificate. I called the Quarantine Center in Hawaii to make sure everything was fine with her other paperwork and found out she qualifies for direct release from the airport rather than the "5 day or less" quarantine. She still has to stay overnight because of the time our flight gets in, but she will be released the next morning at 8am. So I'm happy she is all taken care of...just need to get through the plane trip with her.

We went to an awesome wedding in Rehobeth Beach this weekend for some friends from nuclear power school in Charleston. It was a snowy crazy weekend but it was a lot of fun. I was particularly excited I got to hang out with my good friend Ali I knew from Charleston (one of the nuke guys' girlfriends). I haven't seen her or talked much since leaving Charleston so it was fun to hang out and catch up and just have fun.

The wedding was beautiful. Nick was in the bridal party in uniform. They had a string trio that played "Tale as Old as Time" from Beauty & the Beast as the bridal party walked down the aisle. So pretty.

The reception was a BLAST. So much fun. Although right afterwards we had to leave and drive back 3 hours to Baltimore so Nick could catch his flight to Hawaii early the next morning. It was a miserable drive. The Eastern Shore isn't used to heavy snow and that's exactly what they got that day. The roads were horrendous and definitely stressed me out a lot. I kept thinking, "I can't wreck the car! Nick needs to get on a plane and I have to sell my car next week!"

Thankfully we AND the car made it back in once piece (each?). Nick caught his flight on time. He made it into Hawaii about 4:30pm Eastern time, 9:30pm Hawaiian time. He was quick to tell me that it was 82 and sunny and sent me a picture of a clear sky while he was driving.

As you could tell from my previous blog entry, my car sold. It was official today. I still keep thinking it's outside the house on the street, but it's not. The girl who took it really seemed to be a little odd and quirky like me so that makes me happy. My Echo was a good car and needs someone a little kooky driving her.

The movers also came this morning and took the rest of the stuff that I don't need immediately. In fact, we won't get this shipment for over a month so it was difficult deciding what I could do without for over a month when it will be warm weather. I wish I had known while we were in Charleston that we'd be getting one more pickup...I could have brought a few more summery things with me for when I first get there before we get into our house.

Anyway, tomorrow is my last day in Baltimore.

I have a checklist a mile long of places I need to go and people I need to see. My engagement ring needs to be picked up (a tiny diamond on the band came loose Sunday and they are fixing it), pick up prescriptions, my license and registration need to be returned to the DMV so I can cancel my insurance, meet a friend for brunch, return a shirt at Target, get to the bank, pay bills, call the live animal desk at the airport in Hawaii to tell them they need to keep Maggie overnight, find out where the dropoff desk is for Maggie at the Baltimore airport, pack,  put all the Live Animal stickers on Maggie's crate, and meet p with my sister tomorrow evening one last time. Whew.
And blog. ;*)

I finally feel okay about everything though. These are just loose ends. Easy to cover- but will just take a little while.

I will still be nervous about the flight. More for Maggie than me. I'm fine. Just not excited about flying for 13 1/2 hours....ugh talk about nap breath. Also Nick is looking into cars there for me. He may be checking out that silver corolla tonight...how perfect would that be?

So thank for sticking it out with me and listening to my ramblings....almost there!

And don't worry. I absolutely won't stop blogging when I get to the beach. The trip getting there is fun but the big adventure is still to come. ;*)

PS. I added some new pictures in Photos de la Blonde - Check it out!

My Dear 2001 Toyota Echo,

As our relationship comes to a close and I pass you on to someone else I can only wish for the best for you. After all, I've always wanted the best for you. Don't let the 4 month old Taco Bell quesadilla under the passenger seat fool you.

We have had some amazing times despite the name calling...mostly on my end. You've been called "Clown car," "little plastic toy," "piece of crap," and "Why won't you go faster dammit?!?" But amidst the name calling, there were also the fond names- "Bubble car" (not meant to indicate you're chubby although you are slightly more hip-pey than your big sister the Corolla), "girl," "little bug," and of course, "Little car."

I pretended not to notice when hubcaps were repelled from you. I've encouraged you along the way when you would creep over the 76 mile-per-hour speed and I could feel you huffing and puffing just a teeny bit but I didn't want to hurt your pride by drawing attention to it.

You were there for me in college when I would nap with the seat back when I got to class too early. You had drunk sorority sisters falling all over each other in your back seat when I was the sober sister at socials (Sorry for the vomiting- but you should be thanking me for that detailing two years ago). You went out with me to meet up with friends in Towson, Bel Air, Glen Burnie, Baltimore, Charleston, and Ocean City. You may have even been accused of hitting some people once or twice...I'm pretty sure you just nudged them when they walked in front of you though.

You are a true beach girl like me. You're from Florida, you were here for me that year I turned 21 and lived in Ocean City for the summer (sorry for all the drunk, sandy people who inhabited your back seat on occasion), and all the South Carolina beaches- Myrtle Beach, Folly Beach, and Isle of Palms.

You traveled back and forth with me from Charleston, SC to Baltimore, MD. (Sorry for the dog's multiple bouts of car sickness.) You were even in an episode of Army Wives (with me of course) which was filmed in Charleston.

You were there during my worst roadtrip ever (although with the best results)- driving from Baltimore, MD to St Louis, MO for some boy at 11:30pm the day before New Years Eve just over two years ago. Turns out that didn't work out too well for you since now I'm going to be moving 5500 miles away with that boy to a tropical island....hence the reason you're not coming with me. Sorry to rub that in. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.

In all seriousness, I feel like you were my first. My previous, the Neon left me high and dry with her flickering ghost dome light that would randomly come on while driving too fast, having the bass too loud, or even if someone leaned their leg too hard against the passenger side door. But I digress.

You're the first car that was mine. I had you the longest and I even paid you off all by myself. I'm sorry you won't be there for me when I go to the ultimate beach.

So I hope that the new girl can appreciate you and have as much fun with you as I have. I hope to be able to find another "little car" who will come close to what you've been to me. And maybe your cute older sister might just do...(I just saw an O'ahu Craigslist ad for a silver Corolla!)

Love,
Your favorite owner