Nine Lives

Exciting things have happened very suddenly in the past 72 hours or so on the Elliott front. The Elliotts (who we live with) have been officially matched with two children for adoption! To put it short: the entire process has been hurry up and wait since last spring or so. They've been praying and wanting to have the kids home by Christmas, and right when that wasn't looking too realistic, God once again shows his control of all things and Chris and Carrie get an email with a picture of their son (Jackson, who will be 3 on Jan. 1) and their daughter (Mykah, turning 4 on Dec. 26) waiting to be brought home. Then on top of that, they want Carrie to be there ASAP, so she is leaving on Saturday. Needless to say, things are crazy right now trying to figure out logistics with me being gone for two weeks, then Chris for two weeks, then Megan for two weeks. I told God I wanted adventure, and He is definitely delivering. We don't know if Carrie will be back in time for Christmas, but regardless, she will still be spending the holidays with family, whether it is the nine of us on Kauoha Place (I know how to pronounce my street name now!) or with two of her dear, sweet children in Africa. Maddie (3 yrs old) is so excited to have another sister. From the moment she saw her picture, she started talking about painting her nails and doing her hair. Mykah will be princess-ified in no time once Madeline gets her hands on her :) It just warms my heart everytime I hear Colin and Maddie talk about their new brother and sister. Since I've been here (before there was even a hint of a match), every night at the dinner table, or before bed when they would pray they would ask God to keep their siblings safe in Africa. A 5 yr old and 3 yr old challenge me to be persistent in prayer requests and they don't even realize it the slightest bit. Sweet baby Gracen will just be excited to have more people to chase after and beg for food :) It has been fun watching Gracen (18 mo.) grow up in the past three months. That chica is ambitious. She is now learning to sit at the dinner table and is feeding herself with a spoon. She already can distinguish (and loves) hot coffee from blended drinks, climbs bunk beds and jumps (falls) down without a care assuming someone will be there, wants nothing more than to be independent in the pool and swimming on her own, among other things. There is nothing this girl won't try to do--she laughs in the face of her age so to speak.

Megan and I have begun the dreaded job search. It has been humbling, to say the least. This is the first time either of us have had to actually work to find jobs. I know we'll find something.

Talking about finding jobs makes my head hurt almost as much as Taylor Swift songs on the radio do right now. (I usually don't mind her, but after her opening number on the CMA's her voice makes my ears hurt a little). I would like to brag for a moment, however. I share a room with a wonderful Sesame Street licensed tshirt designer who's designs are in big name stores! At an old job Megan designed most of the Sesame Street kids shirts which are selling like hot cakes at Target, Bloomingdales (I think), Barneys New York, and most recently Fred Segal in LA to name a few. I am so proud of her! The shirts are wayy cute, and if I had a kid and was willing to spring $70 bucks for a shirt he/she'd grow out of by the end of the day, I'd buy all of them but one.

Changing subjects again, since Megan and I have prescribed each other heaping doses of "beach therapy" (it is illegal to self-prescribe), we have started to be more active so we can have hot bods like the professional dancers on Dancing with the Stars. (I'm slowly getting Megan hooked on my shows!) This is being done through a carefully scheduled out routine (well, we're working on making it routine but when it comes down to watching that extra episode of NCIS and driving to the YMCA, it's a tough call. When I opt for the former, I merely think of it as a sacrifice because by not driving I'm not contributing as much to pollution and my carbon footprint. You're welcome earth.) Anyway, our repertoire consists of Zumba, Salsaerobics, Dance Core Kill Your Abs So It Hurts to Move for 2 Days, Run Club (don't have a heart attack, Megan's the only one doing this. I don't even think these two words should be in the same sentence without a negative), and Ultimate Frisbee (that one is me). I tried softball again, and other than an RBI my highlight reel will consist of all of those times I almost hit the ball, or almost made it to first base.

Well, time to finish packing for the mainland for two weeks. My first neice should arrive any day now (or any second if you ask Megan), I will eat plenty of Chick-Fil-A (LOVE those minis), and of course watch my beloved Gamecocks play against Clemson (provided Carolina actually decides to show up and play a game this year...if not, there's always next year! SEC Champs 2010? Anyone?)

California Dreaming

not only did I vacation and have dreams in California, but it was also a great TV show and is an even greater restaurant (miss those croissants). Triple Threat. Bam.

It seems like a good idea to wait and update after long vacations are over, but in hindsight I've realized that I can't possibly remember all of the memorable-worthy moments. So this time when I say I'll be better about updating, I mean it.

Our first trip to the west coast was a way fun and busy one. 

Lodi (our home base, so to speak) actually produces more wine grapes than Napa Valley so we chose to go on our wine tasting endeavours right where we were. Some places don't have tasting fees, and the ones that did waived it for us citing our unemployment as the reason. I don't want to hold a grudge against the one place that did make us pay, we just assume they didn't give themselves the chance to get to know us first. We went to the Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi winery for a tour and were the only two there so we got quite the extensive golf-cart tour from the wonderful Karen. When we were done and about to go in for tasting she saw grape trucks roll up, so she spoiled us for a bit then we got to go see the actual process taking place. Pretty neat. We also go to eat some of the cabernet grapes so if you buy a bottle of Woodbridge's 2009 cabernet, know that our hands have touched some of those grapes so there is a little extra love in that bottle. Karen then continued to let us taste all of the wines on the list and then some.  We bought a bottle of Tempranillo (a spanish grape I'd never heard of since I'm new to this whole wine education thing) as a thank you.

We got to go on some fun family outings such as Big Trees to see all of the Redwoods and we got to see the cute kiddies get ready for Halloween. Colin asked what I was going to be and I told him we were going as his babysitters and it got a little scream out of him. We figured our costumes would be too scary for other kids to see so went to watch the Gamecocks dominate the Vols at PoisonApplebees instead.

Other things on the agenda included a taping of the Jay Leno show with Dr Phil (we should've gone to Conan. Next time.), being touristy in Hollywood (walk of fame or whatever it's called, Kodak Theatre, Beverly Hills/Rodeo Dr. Okay, pause. We were told to go use the bathroom in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in BH which is where Pretty Woman was filmed. This bathroom was awesome. Each stall was it's own little private room so you could have complete privacy to take care of things. I recommend it if you ever visit. Okay, unpause. We walked around Pepperdine University (it is ridiculous how beautiful that campus is. Not to mention the view from campus. Seriously I feel like for what private schools cost you get a little more bang for your buck there just from looking out the window.), saw some cool beaches in San Diego (Diago), and met with old friends in San Francisco where we got to take in a lovely view of the city from Dolores Park.

ANNNDD at the top of the list of things we saw in Californ-i-a-a-a are these two glorious sights:



That's right. Two things we are deprived of here in Hawai'i. Oh the sacrifices one must make living in paradise. Eating those chikin minis tasted almost as good as the first time, and nobody in Hawai'i drives over 60mph so I was able to fulfill my little need for speed.

Well, now here's a little treat for you. Our in-house entertainment, Madeline "Maddie" Elliott. This is just a teaser. Just wait until we get her dancing along with Dancing with the Stars. Priceless.