Category Archives: Random

saturday in california.

i flew into LAX last Saturday morning after a red eye from Hawaii (and a 4-hour delay at the Kona airport) and landed around the same time my older sister and brother-in-law got in from Austin, Texas!

Kimberlee + Me = bestfriendssistersloverstwopeasinapod since birth — so as you can imagine I was so excited to see them because I haven’t seen them since Christmas!  Our parents picked us up and we went out to breakfast after flying on the 405 since nooo oneeee was on it because all of that carmageddon hype.

after breakfast, one of my BFFs sarah and I went over to heather’s house and met precious baby logan for the first time!  reis might have some competition because this little guy has stolen my heart.  he is seriously one of the cutest babies i have ever seen in my life and just seeing one of my best friends as a new mommy was such a sweet experience.

after staring and oooing and aahhhing over logiebear for a few hours (and having heather describe the whole birthing process to me in FULL detail), my family went over to my grandma and grandpa’s house for a lasagna dinner (thanks grams!).  my brother drove up for the weekend from san diego to see all of us since he couldn’t come on the cruise because of his summer internship.  perfect saturday spent with family and friends!  next post up: cruise-ing to mexico parte uno!

jet-setting.

HNL >> KONA >> LAX (yippppeeeee!)

tonight immediately after work i am off to the airport!  first stop: kona, second stop: LA.  i’m going on a really fun vacation on sunday for the week with my entire family and i can’t wait!!
work, please go by fast.  thanks.

garage sale finds.

the closest thing hawaii has to a flea market is the swap meet (10 tourist t-shirts for $5, anyone?) which is far from comparable to any of the flea markets in LA or SF.  so to find fun pieces for my new place, i am going to resort to garage sales, good will, and craigslist.  they take plenty of digging/searching/browsing (and seeing things for their POTENTIAL) and require lots of time – but i think it’s a really fun process.  the pieces you get have way more charm than brand spanking new pieces, and its a heck of a lot nicer on the ol’ wallet.  my current place was fully furnished when i moved in two years ago so i am starting from absolute scratch.  that is a lot of furniture we’re talking about: a bed, dining room table, coffee table, couches, entertainment center, a dresser, chairs, etc…so i actually have no other choice than to go the cheaper route.  and speaking of steal deals, this weekend when i went garage saling, i got some pretty sweet finds.  a huge wood-framed mirror for $5 and a cute/chic/nice desk for $5.
convo between me and garage sale man:
me: (looking at this desk that a bunch of his crap for sale was sitting on) hey, is this desk for sale?
him: um, sure.
me: how much?
him: $10
me: whoah! (in total shock because i was expecting him to say like, $50 or something)
him: what – $5?
me: SOLD!
i got a bargain and i didn’t even try!  that, my friends, is how you do it.

typical day as of late.

1) wake up at the [butt] crack of dawn.  press snooze about 3 -5 times on average.
and i sleep through a lot of those snoozes…which explains the 3 different alarms.
2) finally get up and go running or to the gym.
by far one of the best parts of my day!
3) NEED COFFEE.  after that 4:50 AM wakeup call, by 8:00 AM,
helllloooooo iced coffee.
(im normally very partial to starbucks IC,
but lately coffeebean has been doing the trick)
4) sit in front of those fancy dual screens for about 10 hours.
 do some nifty accounting stuff.
5) hit a wall at 2 PM.  NEED MORE COFFEE.
6) get home around 8.  eat dinner. (which is mexican food 5 out of 7 nights a week…
or cereal when im lazy, which has been most nights recently.
taco salads, burritos, quesadillas..
honey nut bunches of oats, cheerios, puffins…i. love. it. all.)
7) blog/do design work/read in bed.  then crash hard.
8. repeat.

oahu food guide: part I

i am no foodie by any means.  i am actually a very picky eater according to others….i don’t think i am, but i guess not eating any kind of seafood when you live in hawaii is constituted as being picky.  if anyone reading this is planning a trip to hawaii in the upcoming future, i want to share with you some gems i’ve discovered that are beyond the “waikiki-tourist-central-realm.”  this past weekend we went to Shokudo Japanese restaurant in Honolulu; a really fun, yummy, and affordable place if you like sushi or fish (don’t worry – i got teriyaki chicken).  but if you go, you HAVE to get their famed honey-toast for dessert.  it really is the simplest concept, but it tastes so so good.  thick pieces of bread crusts toasted with butter and smothered in honey + cubes of bread (scooped out of the crust) with honey in the inside + vanilla bean ice cream.  umm…YUM.  and yes, we still did go to Yogurtland after too.  don’t judge.  (our friends that met us for dinner live on the north shore — a land where froyo places do not exist — so we gotta live it up when they come to town.)
.
then on saturday afternoon reis and i went to lunch at my favorite cafe ever: Bogart’s.  everything I have ever gotten on their menu has been delicious but my all time favorite meal is one of their salads — the Avocado Chicken Salad.  it’s kinda pricy at $12 but worth every penny.  their chicken is out of this world and I guess it’s a top secret too because I asked the lady at the register what seasoning they use and she wasn’t allowed to tell me.  fine then.
.
anyways.  if you come to oahu, go to these places.  they will make your tummies very happy.  the end.

it’s almost the weekend!

[update: Logan was born last night an absolutely BEAUTIFUL and HEALTHY baby boy and both baby and mommy — and daddy! — are doing well!!  Thanks for your thoughts and prayers!]

yesterday was quite a roller coaster of emotions:

  • my car wouldn’t start in the morning.  (it has been acting funny lately and every time i go to start my car its like a guessing game if it’s going to start or not.)
  • when if finally did, i rear-ended a parked car at 6:30 AM (leaving a fat ugly dent in the person’s door).  sweeeet.
  • found out my insurance will cover everything! (thank you God!…and Geico customer service is awesome.)
  • i could not focus for the life of me at work.
  • dude-whose-car-i-hit called me back from the [veryyy sincere & sorry] note i wrote and left on his windshield…and called me a not-so-nice name.  how rude.
  • reis calls me :  “that was the hardest and worst test i’ve ever taken in my life.”  poor thing.
  • and at 8:30 PM i got the best e-mail ever saying that Logan was born and with a picture of him:  he is completely perfect.
overall crazy day.  but a seriously blessed one too.
this weekend, to celebrate reis being done with his test, we are going:
.(well, at least until he starts school on Monday)
.
(or more like for me, try and surf is more like it.)
.
We are staying with his parents for the weekend and I’m so excited for a relaxing few days!  Have a great weekend.