beach day.

(reis’ deaf dalmation — and the sweetest dog ever — simon!)

we hung out at the beach the day after christmas — the boys surfed, and i read/napped.  my mother, on the other hand, isn’t the greatest “relaxer” (and isn’t exactly a beach person either, i mean, check out what she wears to the beach!) and brought paperwork to do!  my family caught the red-eye out of honolulu on monday and reis and i will be joining them in LA this morning!  my dad surprised us a few weeks ago with tickets to LA for new year’s!  my sister and brother-in-law are flying in from Texas so we will finally ALL be together again (reis hasn’t been to california in over a year)!  we’ve got lots planned for this weekend (including celebrating christmas #2) and i am so so excited.  i hope you all have a wonderful and safe new year’s eve!  see you in 2012!

mele kalikimaka.

(new sunglasses i got for reis!)

this year was the first christmas EVER that i wasn’t home in southern california.  i was sad to miss out on traditions with friends and family on the mainland and it did feel a little weird to be at the beach on christmas eve (not that socal screams winter wonderland exactly…), but i am so glad my family was able to come here to spend the holiday with me.  we stayed in a condo at turtle bay all weekend and it was so nice to get out of honolulu and bum around with no work!  i am even more grateful for the true meaning of Christmas and the reason we celebrate it at all: Christ!   christmas day we went to church in the morning, spent the entire day relaxing and watching christmas movies, had a delicious turkey dinner at reis’ parent’s house, ate dessert around a bonfire, and ended the night watching Elf.

christmas eve.

lunch at the turtle bay pool bar + reis/bradley surf session + christmas eve church service + a tortilla soup dinner = our hawaiian christmas eve.

notes from the week.

notes from the week:

+time with my family has been fun.  i wish i could have seen them more, but i’ve had to work all week so thank goodness for getting to join them at night for lots of good dinners, christmas shopping, and movies.

+we drove to makaha, the WESTERN-most point on the island of oahu on saturday.  it was quite a drive, but the gorgeous views kinda made up for it.  (see pics above)

+it’s been raining a TON here in honolulu.  and i love it.  it pretty much rains everyday in hawaii — but for 15 minutes at a time and only a light tropical drizzle.  this winter, however, we have gotten lots of rainstorms and cooler temps which has been making it really hard for me to get out of bed in the morning.

+after work today i am heading to the north shore to join my family who rented a condo up there for the week!  i am looking forward to getting away from town and spending quality time with my family and reis!

oh, and can you believe christmas is in TWO days??  that came so dang fast!  merry christmas, everyone!

happy weekend.

my family (except my sis and bro-in-law…we’ll miss you blake and kim!) got in late last night and reis and i can’t wait to spend time with them for the next 2 weeks in our hood.  and let’s be honest, i am also really excited for the free meals courtesy of mom and dad :)   being the loving daughter that i am, i also created a “chore list” for my dad to do too.  but he really loves doing that stuff so don’t go thinking i am a slave driver.  on another note, i can’t believe christmas is NEXT weekend!  yipppeee!  i still have a ton of christmas shopping to do, but thank goodness for online shopping + free shipping.  except when they exclude hawaii and alaska.  which is usually always in the fine print.

deck the halls.

and she’s up!  my VERY first real christmas tree!  growing up, my family always had a fake one and so it is soo exciting to wake up and smell the goodness.  (how often are you supposed to water real trees?  i am actually afraid i might kill it or it will turn brown before christmas.)  reis put up the tree and helped me decorate the rest of my house with TONS of white twinkle lights that i got at a garage sale in the summer for $3.  my house is so cozy now and i just love being at home!