Category Archives: family

Palos Verdes Half Marathon

This past weekend was jam-packed and I enjoyed every second of it!  I am living up my time in California since I go back home to Hawaii tomorrow.

On Saturday morning, my cousin Scottee and I ran the Palos Verdes Half Marathon.  We spent Friday night at her sister’s/my cousin’s apartment and fueled for the race with some late night snacks:

I love running with my cuz.  She kinda rocks.

My parents couldn’t make it, but we still had my Mimi and Daddad, my Aunt Pam, Uncle Dennis, and cousin Shannon to cheer us on!  Actually, they kinda sorta missed our crossing the finish line on accident, so they re-enacted how they would have cheered for us.  My aunt is awesome…she brings a cowbell to our races.The weather was AMAZING and perfect for running a race at around 60* and overcast.  The course was a beautiful out-and-back and we got to run through ridiculously nice neighborhoods with insanely huge houses overlooking the ocean.  Considering we both didn’t really train for this race, we were not ready for the never-seeming-to-end-rolling hills.  Scottee killed the hills and soared up them but they made my legs way more tired than I was expecting.  (I’m also just being a baby and still bitter I was far, far from a PR :)…but I guess you should probably train to get one of those).  We finished around 1:57 but still had SO MUCH FUN!  We chatted the majority of the time…or more like she talked and I would answer when I wasn’t dying from a hill.  Since I don’t get to see my fam that much, Scottee and I always try to schedule a race together when I come to CA!  It’s quite a party when our whole family gets together – I love it!  We saw the super speedy Pam around mile 10 when she was flying past us during her mile 12!  Overall, I had an awesome time with Scottee and it was a great race (with tons of FREE swag at the finish line!).  LOVE YA SCOOT!

After waiting in an hour long shuttle line to get back to the parking lot, we went to Tammie’s Corner House Cafe in Hermosa Beach for some lunch.  It was the cutest little place and had really good food (and ginormous Blueberry Oatmeal muffins which I literally inhaled).

I love my family so much and I am so glad I got to see them so much when I was here on the mainland!

because i like to pretend i’m a photographer…

here are some more pictures of my time in that little town i adore called Santa Barbara!  (I promise this is the last time I talk about that place.)  Forget the fact that I desperately need to clean my lens and there are lots of spots on some of the pictures.  Just go visit and think of me, will ya?

Our grandparents came up to have lunch with us on Tuesday at Los Arroyos, a delicious Mexican restaurant in Montecito.  They are the cutest things ever and our Mimi is always dressed to impress.  Check out her snazzy hat and her zebra jacket!  Although they were excited to hang out with their granddaughters, they mainly drove up to SB to be my personal chauffeurs and take me back home to my parent’s house since I no longer have a car in California (I caught a ride up there with my little brother on his way back to San Luis Obispo where he goes to school).  Aren’t they the sweetest!?



fun in SB.

I am having so much fun in Santa Barbara!  Scottee and I are running the Palos Verdes Half Marathon this Saturday so yesterday afternoon we went for a gorgeous 8-miler by the beach.  I really miss SoCal running weather since Hawaii is hot and humid and great for laying out at the beach, but not so much for running.  I am taking full advantage of the cool breezes and midday runs that I can go on while I’m here and its really nice finishing a run not looking like I just went for a swim.

I went to school at UCSB and Scottee went to school at Westmont and since we are only one year apart, we got to see each other a lot during our college years!  I miss that so much!  We both worked at the same restaurant, Paradise Cafe, which is the cutest little restaurant in downtown Santa Barbara with really good food and drinks.  It was funny; when we both worked there, our regular customers always got us confused.  I liked to tell people we were twins and they totally believed me.  If you are ever in town, you HAVE to go there.   And you need to get the Paradise Burger with avocado and french fries.

After dinner, we went to Mcconnell’s, a well-known ice cream shop and also one of my favorite places here.  I’m not even kidding – in college, my roommates and I would come here 4x a week for frozen yogurt.  We were seriously obsessed.  And broke.

Today is my last day here and we are off on a mission to find some race outfits for Saturday :)