laura, one of my best friends from college, came to visit me this weekend!  she was on the big island this past week so she came to oahu over the weekend to see me!  and i loved every second.  the one downfall of living in hawaii is having friend withdrawals since they are all on the mainland.  it’s been about a year since i’ve seen her and we had so much to catch up on.  this girl is seriously one of the most amazing women i know and what makes her even more special is that she is the lovely matchmaker who set reis and me up!  her visit consisted of lots of eating, lots of laughing, lots of talking, and lots of beaching.  pretty much a perfect weekend.

[coffee at my second home with kezia]

[gorgeous sunset on our drive]

saturday night we drove to the north shore and spent the night at reis’ parent’s house.  reis had a bachelor party to go to that night and i went out for mexican food with the girls.  so fun!  sunday morning i woke up early and ran a 9 miler before church through laie.  i LOVE running on the north shore versus honolulu (where i live) because the weather is soo much nicer.  it was the perfect running weather for hawaii — cool, breezy, and low-humidity.  i did some speed work at the end by sprinting during the chorus of the songs on my playlist.  i was pretty nasty and sweaty after, but i felt good because i’ve been a little LAY to the ZEE with my running lately (i blame the hot/humid weather).  in town, the weather is creeping on 90* by 8 am so if i accidentally sleep in, my motivation to run is squashed.  (it was exciting too — on my run i saw a flyer i designed for a 5k that kahuku high school is organizing!)  here are a few pictures from the rest of the weekend.

[tortilla chips + salsa = happy jaymee]

[the gorgeous scenery of my run and my flyer!]

[scooby doo reis going on a swim at waimea]

[reis and i both sporting our tom’s shoes]

[rocking the crazy side bun for a HOT drive back to town.  eeks.  i miss california fall weather!]

and the birthday extravaganza continues!  sunday was my actual birthday and reis had an entire day of plans for us after saturday night’s fancy outing.  he’s not exactly mr. romantic so whenever he makes special plans, it means a lot.  we drove to the north shore in the morning like usual (stopping at starbucks for my morning java, duh.) and on the way up he gave me my present: tom’s shoes!  if you read my guest post on friday, you know i love this company (and the owner).  after church he took me on a GORGEOUS hike in hauula.  he even packed my favorite snacks — sobe life water, tortilla chips, and swedish fish — he knows me well!  then on the way back he stopped and got us fresh smoothies at kahuku farms, this cute little place on the side of the road.  next stop was the beach (boy needed to get his surf on and i needed to get my tan on).  then he told me we had reservations at 6 for a casual dinner.  we walked into the restaurant and i immediately saw two tables of a bunch of our friends!  (cutie makelah in the pic below gave me not one, but six (!) adorable handmade cards.  she is so. freaking. cute.)  he totally 100% surprised me.  so fun!  thanks so much to all my friends and fam for making my day so dang special.  i am indeed blessed.

saturday night reis and i had a picnic on the bay in hawaii kai, my old hood.  somehow the whole 2 years i lived there, we never did this even though every time i drove by it (which was every single day) or ran past it, i would think in my head “we should eat there one night.”  well we finally did and it was quite lovely.  we got sandwiches from the safeway deli (which by the way are not too shabby) andddd there was a beautiful sunset to top it off.  and what picnic isn’t complete without licorice?  actually, i don’t even think that’s a picnic food at all, but the box was calling my name at the grocery store.