A Very Mele Kalikimaka 01/20/2011
 Palm Christmas trees, beach days,Hawaiian shirts, sunblock, and Mai Tais...ahhh, Hawaii for the holidays. What an experience.  Nick was more than thrilled to wear his Hawaiian shirt for Christmas Eve. As nice as it would have been to visit my family and/or Nick's for the holiday's, our schedules (and wallets) disagreed with us. Thus we were forced to spend our first holiday season as a married couple, stuck (GASP!) here on a tropical island with our two lovable pups.  The dogs had a very laid back holiday too. My awesome non-profit job gave me paid vacation Christmas Eve through through New Year's Eve and Nick's leave began a few days after mine. The only holiday day he was scheduled to work was Christmas Eve, and he was released early in the day since they weren't busy.  Christmas Eve at Jared & Melissa's in Kaneohe! On Christmas Eve, we were fortunate enough to have dinner with two of Nick's Naval Academy friends on the Kaneohe Marine Base (one of which is stationed here and the other was visiting- neither of whom we have seen in quite some time) and their wives with whom I am also friends. It was such a nice thought to invite us over! (Thank you, Melissa, Jared, and Gunnar!)  'What exactly was my Christmas present?' Christmas day we slept in (as late as possible with a yapping beagle puppy), had banana bread and yummy leftovers from dinner with friends the night before. Then for dinner, since I don't eat meat and Nick's not a huge turkey person anyway, we had favorite foods: bacon wrapped bratwursts for him and whole grain spaghetti with roasted garlic spaghetti sauce for the both of us. With mixed drinks! We even decorated our first Christmas tree (Yes! a Christmas palm tree!) that morning.  The palm tree worked so well as our first tree since we don't have a lot of ornaments yet. :) I was lucky enough to chat with my whole family via Skype on Christmas Eve while I awkwardly was making cheesecake squares and happened to have my computer on the counter- I felt like they were watching me to see if I'd add an ingredient incorrectly! On Christmas morning I opened my presents from my sister over Skype while she watched then she and my niece and brother in law opened the ones I sent/ordered. It was a very technologically inspired holiday.  My family finally got to meet our latest addition, Lili via Skype! New Years Eve is a more important holiday to me and Nick than Christmas. We only spent our first Christmas together last year. Three years prior we had met early in December. On New Years Eve I had started to fall for Nick pretty hard and couldn't picture myself kissing anyone else at midnight. To me, it felt important to start the year off with Nick. Nick had been visiting his family in St. Louis, MO at the time on leave from the Naval Academy.  Flashback to our first NYE together in 2007! Brave (crazy?) as I was, I wanted to see him so badly I drove 14 hours overnight from Maryland to Missouri to arrive in time for New Years Eve. We had such an amazing time that Nick canceled his plane ticket back to MD and drove back with me. We officially became a couple just a few days afterward and I really believe things wouldn't have progressed the same way had I not made the decision to go (so thank you to my best friend Erin for not thinking I was crazy for wanting to go when I asked her for advice). Since there's a chance Nick won't be off next year for NYE and for all we know we may not still live in Hawaii two years from now, I thought we should experience Waikiki on New Years Eve at least once.  View from our waterfront suite in Waikiki We booked a hotel for New Years Eve night and the following night so we wouldn't have to rush home. We went to Tiki's Grill for New Years Eve dinner. Tiki's is one of my favorite restaurants on the island. It's fun, light-hearted, and we had our wedding reception there after we got married in March. Well, a dinner of 5 people but still. :)  Although we must be getting old...After an amazing dinner we walked around Waikiki with every intention of returning to Tiki's for a crazy night of drinking and dancing and watching fireworks at midnight. Instead we returned to our waterfront room and chugged lots of water while sitting out on the lanai watching the fireworks in sweatpants and no makeup. I even forgot to open the champagne at midnight! (My 23 year old self would be ashamed.)  Sunset cruise! (Ignore the goofy faces...) We had an amazing mini-vacation/mini-moon. The following night we went on a very enjoyable sunset catamaran cruise in Waikiki with complimentary beverages included (booze cruise). Nick even bought me a beautiful pearl necklace after the cruise to celebrate our 3 year dating anniversary.  View of Diamondhead from the sunset cruise It was so much fun to kick off the new year on this gorgeous island pretending to be tourists. We moved here one year ago in February- I can't believe we have been island bound for nearly a whole year! I'd say it flew by- and it kind of did- other than that whole deployment time. :)  A very touristy New Years Eve vacation While it was a bit of a bummer not to see my family for the holidays, the 80-something degree weather is very consoling. I hope everyone had an amazing holiday season and a happy new year! Here's to a healthy, happy new year! :)  Add Comment Meet Lilikoi Cupcake (Lili) 11/28/2010
 Miss Lilikoi Cupcake at 10 weeks Meet our new puppy, Lilikoi Cupcake. Lilikoi is Hawaiian passionfruit. It was actually the filling that Nick and I had in our wedding cake when we got married here in Hawaii back in March. Since Lilikoi, who we just call Lili for short, is a purebred beagle, we thought a daintier name would be appropriate.  First meeting! My absolute favorite name was Charlotte, but we were really hoping for something that would have a Hawaiian influence, but that wouldn’t be hard to pronounce or be weird when we leave Hawaii. I think Lili was a good choice. Oh, and I’m obsessed with cupcakes.  Loves grass. I've loved beagles for a long time now. I think their eyeliner-ed eyes are adorable. I know they are loud, nose-driven dogs, but they have a reputation for being sweet and lovable and getting along well with children and other dogs. We wanted something smaller than Maggie (who is at about 45 lbs) and were looking at cocker spaniels, Cavalier King Charles and beagles. The first two tend to have long hair, and we thought it would be easier to stick with a shorter haired dog. Also, Maggie met a Cavalier King Charles one day at a dog walk and Maggie barely sniffed it before it went yipping off frightened. I couldn't have a prissy little dog like that. :)  Also loves stealing Big Sis' bed! Lili was born on September 2, 2010. We picked her up on Sunday, November 7, when we got back from our honeymoon. She was just under 10 weeks then. (We also got a new digital SLR camera just days before getting Lili- our slightly used Nikon D40, with which most of these pictures were taken.)  'What IS this thing that keeps bugging me?!' When we got our first dog, our black lab-border collie mix Maggie, she was already about 6 or 7 months old. We missed out on all the really young puppy phases- including crate training, house training, teething…all the fun stuff.  Don't let the innocent looks fool you! Puppy karma is catching up. We got off WAY too easily the first time. Lili is an adorable puppy. She has learned a lot in the last 3 weeks of having her but she is definitely a challenge. House training especially.  'I wanna be just like big sis!' But she has already picked up “Sit” and is working really well with “Stay.” When we would walk out of the room or go to bed the first week she would cry and whine and bark and howl. She is doing much better with her vocalization now. We also discovered that turning on a sound machine of waves and soft music keeps her relaxed and quiet the whole night. Thank God.  Sleepy time with Daddy! We do have fun when Lili falls asleep after a lot of playing. It's the equivalent of a drunk person passing out and people writing on his face with Sharpie. One night we took some fun pictures of a passed out Lili. Three pairs of sunglasses, a pair of shoes, a beer bottle, a hat, and even a rose in her mouth. Ahh, fun.  Cruel I know. But so much fun.  Just like daddy. Nick and I have been studying Cesar’s ways. Snagging moments to read his bookHow to Raise the Perfect Dog (perfect puppy training book if you are looking for one!) and watching Dog Whisperer every chance we get, we are definitely making progress. Having a puppy really does make you feel like you have a baby! I had no idea we got off so easily with raising Maggie, who is already a wonderful dog, but in comparison to the new pup is just the most well-behaved dog ever.  Me? NOT well behaved? Pfft. Maggie is being a great big sister. She was confused for a while as to what this little critter that kept trying to eat her ears is. We also learned quickly that we can’t give them treats that take a while to eat, like rawhides. Maggie is able to finish hers in minutes and Lili continues to chew them or loses interest, then Maggie goes after her food.  Getting used to the camera, I think.  Sisters! Maggie is getting much more used to Lili’s antics now. She lets Lili chew on her for a little while now. When playing fetch (Lili is learning to bring us the ball back too!) if Maggie gets to it first, often she will drop it in front of Lili so that Lili can have it or bring it back to us.  See- we share! It’s definitely been a challenging experience so far. But they do seem to care about each other already. I almost wish we could fast-forward to the already trained days but Lili is so adorable as a puppy and is already growing so quickly. I think she has already gained about 4 pounds since we got her! Wow.  Grass-muncher Another great thing about having Lili? If there were any cute fuzzy feelings about having children asap, they have dissipated rapidly. We want to enjoy our time with just our canine family hopefully for at least another 2 years. ;)  Kisses! PS. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Nick and I did. We stayed low-key, for fear of abadoning the dogs for too long. We spent the morning at the beach with Pineapple Juice/Ice Tea/Rum concoction, the spent the evening watching the puppies wrestle and eating some of our favorite foods: bacon wrapped bratwursts for Nick (his fave thing I make- bratwursts wrapped in bacon and coated with brown sugar and cayenne pepper), spaghetti and 5-cheese Texas Toast (which I never buy!), and pineapple cupcakes with citrus frosting- Yum! We also got our Christmas tree. I can't wait to show you all pictures after I decorate it. We're not going to be able to go home for the holidays this year, so it should be interesting to spend Christmas on a tropical island. Challenge accepted! Another blog update soon!  Cute Puppy Photo of the Day :) 11/26/2010
 Lili at 12 weeks- full blog post coming soon! Just Maui-ed! (Sort of) 11/18/2010
 I've been lazy about updating. I apologize. I've been eating up every possible moment with Nick that I could lately. And we picked up our new puppy a week ago and I have since felt so completely distracted I can hardly finish--- What was I saying? Due to Nick's many Homecoming date changes and the fun of the Navy not extending our already shortened leave time (from 10 days down to 7), we ended up not being able to visit the island of Kaua'i, but we did get one extra day in Maui than originally planned. And we still got a honeymoon, so that was what counted amd what made me happy.  Yes please!  Kahului Airport- Excited even at 9am! We left on Sunday, October 31st (Halloween!) and came back on Friday, November 5th, spending 5 days in Maui. I was excited to spend Halloween in Maui since Lahaina is supposed to be a fun place to go, but unfortunately this year the town didn't block off the main road Front Street from cars so it was much tamer than I have heard it has been in the past. It was still interesting to spend it somewhere new- and WARM! (I appreciate this more than many people- 2 years ago I was Pam Anderson for Halloween. Pam Anderson from Baywatch. With the red bathing suit. In like 45 degree Baltimore weather. I slow-motion ran for 3 1/2 hours, took shots to keep warm, and stuck hand-warming pads in strategic locations. So yes, a warm Halloween was welcome with open arms!)  Just...drink it up.  Beautiful drive up to Ka'anapali Nick and I didn't really get to put a lot of time into costumes though. We didn't think we would be doing anything this year for it since we were originally supposed to be on Kaua'i, which doesn't do anything for Halloween. So basically I dressed up pretty and said I was Barbie anyone asked, and Nick had a fedora on with some beachie clothes and told people he was Jason Mraz. It worked. We didn't really know anything about Maui other than Haleakala is like the Grand Canyon of Hawaii. I had no point of reference for where we were staying. We stayed in Ka’anapali located in West Maui, about a 45 minute drive from the airport. We had an early flight in, landing at 8:30am. Although it was only a 40 minute flight from Honolulu Airport, you still have to be at the airport early enough to go through all the TSA stuff so we were ready for a second breakfast en route to our hotel. And with my handy Maui Revealed guidebook in hand, we drove the gorgeous drive up the coast to Ka’anapali as I read aloud the history behind everything we passed.  View from breakfast at Longhi's in Lahaina  Our gorgeous resort grounds- Westin Maui We stopped in Lahaina and ate breakfast at Longhi’s. The food was just incredible. We rapidly realized Lahaina was the place to go on our side of the island. We lucked out too- Lahaina was only about a 10 minute drive from our hotel location. Lahaina has lots of shopping, bars, and restaurants. Really fun place in general. After breakfast we strolled around Lahaina a bit before heading to the hotel to check in. Unfortunately, with the multiple changes I had to make with our honeymoon plans due to Nick’s multiple changes in homecoming date, we lost money as well as our ocean view room at the Westin. Fortunately when we got to the hotel around 11am (way too early for check-in) not only were we able to check in early, but the nice guy at the front desk gave us a complimentary upgrade back to an ocean view room after I explained about Nick’s homecoming date complications.  Partay at the Westin! We LOVED the Westin. I had originally wanted to stay at the Grand Waimea because it was fancy and seemed honeymoon-ish. Also because I heard they had a bar inside a cave you swim up to. (Later in our trip I saw where the Grand Waimea was located- about 2 hours south of where we were- and was VERY happy about choosing the Westin.) The Westin was located right by a string of other hotels, restaurants, and shopping. Great location. Realistically if you didn’t feel like going anywhere, you could totally stay at your hotel the whole trip. Of course we didn’t do that though.    We may have had a few Mai Tai's at this point.  Doesn't he do a great Jason Mraz impression? That night we went out to Lahaina for Halloween and walked around. We were so happy to discover the hotel had an hourly shuttle to Lahaina which just made the trip so much more awesome when we didn’t have to decide who had to be Designated Driver for the night. Our second day we decided to book a couples' massage. I wasn’t sure if Nick would want to do it after I told him how much it cost, but when I asked him about it he agreed before I could even finish my sentence. We had our hour long couples' massage in a beach cabana next to a waterfall. It. Was. Incredible. I didn’t realize Nick had never had a massage before. I’d had two in my life. This beat both of those. We went to the Old Lahaina Luau later that night. I had read in our guidebook and heard through multiple sources that this particular luau was the best in all the islands. I had gone to Paradise Cove Luau on O’ahu when my sister visited and it was just okay. I felt pretty cheesy there. It could have also had something to do with the fact that it was only 15 minutes away from my house.  Mai Tai time! Old Lahaina was awesome. We got there early and had $3 Happy Hour Mai Tai’s at the Aloha Mixed Plate restaurant next door to the luau. Three Mai Tai’s each later we headed over to the luau and received an additional Mai Tai at the door. All the drinks there were complimentary. Awesome. (We had taken a shuttle there too.) The food was excellent, the drinks were yummy (did I mention included in the luau price??), entertainment was really fun, the view was just gorgeous. I was even impressed by the flower leis they provided. It's a real sign of quality when they bother to give you the flowered ones- usually it's just the cheap shell leis (that I have about 18 of at this point, all draped on my rearview mirrow).  Pregaming before the luau  At the luau enjoying more Mai Tai's in our school Halloween straws (from my sister!)     Who doesn't love a Hawaiian backdrop?  So many things to love about this picture. Mainly the crazy ape thing.  One of our stops along the drive. Tuesday we decided to do a drive to a waterfall and hike the falls. We drove up the West coast of Maui along this dirt road that was only a lane wide over mountains, basically. I was so thankful that I was not driving. Multiple times if you looked out the driver’s side window the car was literally inches from the edge of the road/mountain with a drop of hundreds of feet down. I freaked a little every time a car came from another direction and we had to pull up onto the side of the mountain best we could. Eeek!  After about 3 hours of driving the Hana Highway we went through this crazy little town called Pa’ia. I was fascinated by the guidebook’s description of Pa’ia: “It has become an attraction without any attractions other than itself. No great views, no waterfalls, no scenery, no big institutions like an aquarium. Pa’ia’s sights lie in its character- and characters.” The book wasn’t kidding. The people watching made it fun to drive through. So much in fact that we purposely drove back that way to get food on our way home. We shopped in a store called Alice in Hulaland that had some fun clothes. I was thrilled actually that I found a great little store with all organic foods and vegetarian stuff. (So sue me. They had awesome food. Even old fashioned real cream soda. So there.) We also drove by a town called Haiku. No kidding. I had to take a picture.  Nick in his element.  Waterfall Number 1 After about 3 hours of driving that morning and shortly after passing through Pa’ia we finally reached our destination: Na’ili’ili-haele Falls. Our trusty guidebook described it as overcoming multiple dillemmas to reach "the kind of scene most people dream of." It stated that due to how difficult the hike becomes eventually, most people stop after only the second waterfall. This made Nick determined. We spent three hours total hiking to make it to that final waterfall. The book promised it would be difficult but worth it. We had to climb essentially a 12 foot rock wall to get past the 2nd waterfall, then a pretty fair amount of hiking afterwards. To get to the last waterfall, the best one, we had to swim through a cold muddy lake where I was freaking out I couldn’t see the bottom. Disgusting. At the end of the lake we had to climb up another mini waterfall to get to the final falls. We finally made it. The waterfall was about 34 feet high. We were the only ones there and just sat there for a few minutes taking pictures and admiring it (and me dreading getting back into that lake again).  Waterfall number 2- the last easy one  Waterfall number 3- and the lake we had to swim through to climb over it  The 4th & final waterfall..thank goodness! That was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. I think it was Nick’s favorite part.  Po’olenalena Beach- basically abandoned  Black Sand Beach! My favorite part was our last full day there. We finally spent that day exploring beaches. I was a little bit tempted to search for Little Beach, which has a reputation of being…well, a nude beach. Alas, Little Beach we did not visit. We did visit one of the Black Sand Beaches of Maui, Oneuli Beach. We spent some time at Po’olenalena Beach which was virtually abandoned. We thought we were alone, but a stroll along the beach revealed some nude sunbathers hiding behind rocks. Oops.  Stealing a moment at the black sand beach  The snorkeling there was awesome. Nick saw a 3 ½ foot turtle before I joined him in the snorkeling. The coral was relatively untouched by humans and looked like the fake kind found in fish tanks. After a little while at that beach, we moved on to another one further up in Kihei and spent some time there before going to lunch at Tommy Bahama’s Café. I had a gift certificate to go to the café, otherwise we might not have gone. When I think of Tommy Bahama’s, what pops into my brain are way-too-expensive Hawaiian shirts that only middle aged white golfers purchase. Definitely wouldn't have thought the food would be good at one of their few cafes. Amazingly I think that was my favorite place we ate the whole trip. The décor was beautiful- it reminded me of Charleston’s laidback, beachie style. The food was excellent and our server was just the best. We took home a slice of Key Lime Pie (I was in a total southern mode) to enjoy later.  The snorkeling views at our abandoned beach  Undah da sea!  Champagne + Hot tub + Love of my life = Perfection The last evening in Maui we had a lovely dinner near the hotel with some wine tasting, then we finally visited the resort's hot tub and beach bar and I got to drink champagne in the hot tub. Definitely such a fun day. The next morning, since it was once of my life goals to order room service at a hotel, we ended up having a ridiculously overpriced breakfast in bed and spent the morning being lazy as we had a late checkout and flight. What a great end to the trip! While I was initially bummed we didn’t get to go to Kaua’i and do the incredible ziplining I have been wanting to do since I found out we were moving to Hawaii, Maui was awesome. I wish we had had more time there. We didn’t make it to the town of Hana which is supposed to be pretty cool, nor did we get to visit Haleakala, the Hawaiian Grand Canyon. But we got to do everything else- hiking, waterfalls, massages, beach time, and more Mai Tai’s than….well, basically I don’t want to see another Mai Tai for at least another year. We came home well relaxed that evening, and Nick had duty the next day. We picked up our new puppy that Sunday. But more about our new little devil later.  Dinner and wine tasting our last night in Maui Thanks everyone for all the homecoming and honeymoon wishes! I just can’t describe how amazing it is just to be able to sit next to my husband on the couch and cuddle and eat pizza. Having him gone for half a year really makes you appreciate those little things, and the honeymoon was a great way to kick off his coming home.  Life on the island/Ticking Down/Beaglet! 10/23/2010
Ahhh, October. Thoughts of burnished leaves, fuzzy sweaters, thunderstorms, snuggly boots, and candy corn pop into your brain. Well, pretty much the only one that applies to Hawaii is the candy corn. Oh, well. Time is drifting along on the island. It seems a little wistful to think that a whole summer went by without Nick, but so is military life. At least it was well spent.  These ladies have been deployment lifesavers. Besides, the deployment clock is visibly ticking down. Now that I'm so much closer to his coming home than his NOT coming home, it makes everything more fun. All the preparation going into our first Homecoming- what a blast! I have my outfit all planned out down to the tiniest of details. I can't wait to put up pictures afterwards! I still have some things I need to purchase for it but I've got plenty of time. I just like to be on top of it all. I also started thinking about a Welcome Home banner. We don't live on base- we bought our house here in Hawaii and have a very strict community as far as hanging things outside (I heard a house nearby got written up for having an American flag outside- just insane). I feel like Welcome Home banners are maybe something that people on base do more. But Eff it. I'm doing it my own way. And by my way, I really mean my way. I'll elaborate more on that later.  Meet the newest love of my life! I also have some other BIG news (in a very tiny package). Nick and I had been talking for a while about getting another puppy. I LOVE my dog and want her to have someone to play with and to keep her company. Also, we adopted Maggie when she was about 6 or 7 months old so we missed out on the very young puppy stages. Which was probably good for a first dog, but it’s still an experience I’d like to go through. We originally were going to get one next year, but with the way the schedule is working out we realized it would be better to get one now than to wait. And I lucked out- the opportunity arose and….we’re getting a beagle puppy (or "beaglet" as one of my good friends calls them)!  Couldn't resist. Bought. I can’t wait. She’s a few weeks old now and will be ready to go home soon. I met her today and she is a rambunctious little bugger but just adorable and a total cuddlebug. I’ve already found the cutest things for her. I’m convinced she needs to have a collar covered in cupcakes and or sprinkles. I was thinking a dainty name would be cute. I was also thinking of some Hawaiian names since we’d be getting her here. I’m brainstorming names now. Since she is a purebred beagle and very lady-like looking, some names I have come up with so far (some from the help of friends) are:
 Trouble should maybe be her middle name. If anyone can think of a great name for this sweet girl, leave me a comment! I’d love more ideas! I did come up with a great one while sitting on the beach yesterday brainstorming and listening to Bob Marley. I thought to myself, “Oh! 'Marley'! That would be such a cute name for a dog! Ohhhh…..Bummer.” Too bad someone beat me to it. Hmph. Seriously. Ideas, people. Countdown may now begin! 10/21/2009
I just booked my flight online for me and Maggie! We leave at 7:50am on Thursday, February 4th 2010. There's one big hurdle down. You'd think it wouldn't be that hard to book a flight but there was actually a lot to it. Most planes will take small dogs for a fee and you can actually keep them under the seat in front of you, but since Maggie is 41 lbs she has to fly in cargo. So I started by researching which planes people have used which fly dogs cargo. I narrowed it down to Delta and Continental. But the Pet Friendly Airlines site I was looking at gave pretty crappy reviews for Delta in the pet department. And I'm not taking any chances. After looking for flights and finding Continental had decent priced flights all of February, I decided 2/4 would work. Nick has to report to work on the 10th and we have a wedding in Delaware to go to on Jan 30th so he'll probably be flying in just before me. I'd like to spend a few days with him (like the weekend) before he has to report. Especially since I won't have a car when I first get there. So Monday night I called the Live Pet Desk at Continental and spoke with a guy who first told me I would have to depart from Newark, NJ in order to fly Maggie. Then he said I could leave from BWI (Baltimore Washington Internationl) as long as I chose flights that had a layover in Houston then flew into Honolulu. The only Continental flights for that day all went from BWI to Houston to Honolulu so I was safe there. So I confirmed with him that all I needed was to choose one of those flights FROM BWI TO HOUSTON TO HONOLULU in order to fly my dog. He said yes. Tuesday I sat down with Nick and we decided that day would work so I booked my flight online, a 5:32am departure. Immediately after booking online I called the animal desk and asked to reserve my spot for the dog. They then immediately replied that I can't for that flight because the office doesn't open until 5:30am and they require a 90 minute prior to your flight checkin time for the dog. So I had to go back and call Expedia to change the flight. They would have charged me $150 to change it (even though it wasn't my fault) but the guys said because it was within 24 hours they could cancel the booking. So they did that. I called back today to the animal desk just to MAKE sure there was still room on the next flight and booked the 7:50am flight while on the phone. I now have flight confirmations for me and for Maggie. There's one big thing down. I will still have to make a vet appt within 10 days of the flight to obtain a health certificate and have them administer flea/tick medication and sign off that they did so. Oh, and of course I still have to send my 4 page check list to Hawaii's agricultural office I believe at least 10 days prior to the flight. Man, are the littlest things complicated. Just a few hundred more things on my to do list..... And back to vacuum packing. | BEACH BLOG
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