Category Archives: family

day trip to santa barbara: part II.

after our lunch and a successful shopping trip down state street (i scored a sweet bag and some sunglasses at urban outfitters.  i miss that store!  hawaii reallyyy needs to get an urban and an anthropologie. those online shipping fees just aren’t cutting it for me.), we met up with scottee and her sparkly tom’s for ice cream at the famed mcconnell’s!  love that girl.  and that ice cream.  call me a creature of habit, but i’m pretty sure this trip mirrored all the same stops as my last trip there in may.  before we got ice cream though, reis and i walked across the street to the daily grind, quite possibly my ALL-TIME favorite coffeeshop in california.  the coffee is to die for, their scones are out of this world, the shop is in a super cute area downtown, and it’s across the street from an ice cream shop.  what more could you want?

this day pretty much rocked.  i loved every second.  being back in santa barbara just makes me a happy girl.  plus reis.  plus my whole family.  plus good food and shopping.  yeah, can’t go wrong with that combo.

day trip to santa barbara: part I.

oh hey remember when reis and i went to california over new years?  yeah, let’s rewind a week or so.  i’m a littleeee behind on my photo posting.

on new year’s eve, my whole family took a trip up to santa barbara for the day.  i’ve said it before, but i L-O-V-E santa barbara.  like, LOVEEEE it.  it’s so quaint and charming and beachy and perfect.  reis and i met going to school there so it was so fun to be back there together!  we ate lunch at paradise cafe (the restaurant i used to work at in college!) and roamed state street for some shopping.  and since in the few hours we were there i managed to take a billion photos, part II to come tomorrow!

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!