Sparknotes

It's been awhile and my head hurts and gets quickly jumbled with what's been going on since May when I last posted. My life looks completely different than it did then. Here's sparknotes version of each month:

May - lived in Waikiki with my tsunami friend Hannah. After 4 months of no funds and collecting parts I got Julia (Land Rover) back. Started on the job hunt. Oh, and dad was diagnosed with lymphoma and was going to start chemo treatments.

June - got job as hostess at a restaurant right on the beach called Shorebird. Don't get me wrong--I enjoyed always having a gorgeous view and ocean breeze while I was working...but it wasn't at all like I'd imagine  beach front restaurant on an island job would be like. Fastforward to the end of June when I totaled Julia (the truck I had just gotten back the month before after 4 months of not driving her. RIP Julia). Dad started chemo treatments and was handling them very well and had high spirits. I spent a good deal of time riding the complain train about my $8/hr part time job but God is faithful even when I doubt and somehow....bills got paid that month. I've given up trying to figure that one out. I kind of hated my life in June.

July - still at Shorebird. Realized I was ready for a "normal" schedule again. I hated working Saturdays and my nerdiness started to show when I started itching to do something accounting-ish and I started full-time job search. Stumbled upon Nordic PCL Construction, Inc. available positions, interviewed, and got the job. Things were starting to look up, even if I wasn't so much.

August - started my new job. Not the most challenging work, but it's busy and I like the company and especially the people. Who knew that you could put 5 women working in a cluster of cubicles and there be NO DRAMA. You read that right. None. Everyone works hard and helps each other out. We all just get along in general. So wonderful yet I still kind of don't believe it. Alice, Ginnie and Katie came to visit which was absolutely refreshing and wonderful and I just love them so much. Also got great news from dad's doctor that he was almost cancer free

September - getting the hang of the job thing. We have a great group of young people and we hang out pretty regularly. My cousin Maria and her friend (and now my friend too) Becca came to visit. It wasn't even super planned until a few weeks earlier. Loved having them here. 

October - I don't think there was much to talk about in October. Although it might've been sometime around Halloween that our Tuesday night routine of shooting pool (it's the super cheap night) started up. I'm slowly getting a little better...but it's fun to just hang out with coworkers we don't see during the week. (not everyone is in the office...we usually don't see people who work on jobsites unless it is after hours). 

November - played in another ultimate tournament. Even though my tent could not handle the wind on the beach for camping, it was a fun weekend. Especially the little hat draw beach tournament on the last day. Love playing in general on the beach. Spent Thanksgiving with the Elliotts and a coworker relatively new to the island (transferred from a Canadian district) came along for her first American Thanksgiving. Fun times with a great family!

December - Worked a lot in the beginning, and sucessfully made southern style bbq (this will earn it's own entry later) then went home for a little over a week for the holiday. Stella is growing up so much! Jenny came to spend Christmas with our family, and then Ginnie/Alice/Katie are awesome friends and came up for a few days after. I was bummed I didn't make it to SC, but was so glad to have a little SC come up to me. 

January - Mom and dad came to visit! Glad to finally be able to show them my life now. Good balance of being touristy but also seeing what I do in Hawaii. By day 2 dad had his routine - found his breakfast spot, then read the news while mom laid on the beach. I think they could've gotten used to that lifestyle... Some friends in Pharmacy school did a rotation on Maui. I went to spend one weekend there, and they came to spend the next on Oahu. This prompted our first Sunday Funday where a group of people from work and a few others went on a hike on the pretty side of the island then hung out on the beach and wrapped it up with barbeque at Joe's house. I made my bbq again. Love my one crockpot "dish"!

February, part 1 - Had February's Sunday Funday early this month...and on a Saturday. 15 of us rented kayaks and went out to the Mokes (Mokuluas....little islands right off of Lanikai's shore) and hung out for the day. Such an awesome time, and it was fun to walk around the mostly lava-rock island exploring little tide pools, etc. 

Jadeveon Clowney is a Gamecock and tonight I will eat steak with the Elliotts and do their taxes so they can pay off their children. I love those children so it will be quite a fabulous Valentine's Day.

til later.....

New Year's Eve...or "the Day of Fireworks"

This time of year I will say with confidence that when it comes to per-capita fireworks sales Hawaii's top of the list. In our neighborhood, people about go Griswold-crazy with lights (and inflatable holiday-themed exhibits....who knew Santa flew in planes, rode merry-go-rounds and swings like at the fair? Not to mention the snow globe he skated in...). It isn't quite as much as the Griswolds, but compared to neighborhoods I've lived in before, it was quite impressive. Then there's the Elliott's. I forgot to take a picture but that is probably a good thing to save from embarrassment. On either side you have the works, then you look at our house in the middle. One night to appease Colin and Maddie, Megan and I attempted to put icicle lights on a palm tree in the yard and on our balcony. The ones on our balcony lasted about 5 hours and fell, never to be restored. Whatever, they had something to plug in outside so they were happy.

Another tradition during the month of December besides outdoor decorations, is freaking fireworks every night. Every single night at some point you would hear some neighbor setting them off. Sometimes aerials, then often the regular littler ones. This however did not prepare me for New Years Eve when fireworks and barbequing is a full day affair. All day it sounded like bombs being dropped in the Ewa by Gentry war zone. By the end of the night, there is a haze in the sky accompanied by the smell of gunpowder. 

On the morning of December 31, 2009. I woke up at 4:30am at Heather's after a few hours of sleep where their dog managed to finagle more bedspace that I. Heather, her oldest son (Braden, 6yo) and I went to join others for a sunrise hike to the top of Koko Head crater. It is on the windward (eastern) side of the island so after climbing 1000+ steps we made it to the top and saw the last sunrise over the Pacific of 2009. My final day of the year was a really really good one. Post-hike we met up with the rest of the Holliday family for an oceanfront brunch with banana-macademia nut pancakes. So Hawaiian, I know. I had a successful Target trip (where I only purchased what I went in there to purchase...this is probs the first time I've been in there and left without spending enough to cover their mortgage payment for the month). Heather basically found me some friends in my peer group so I danced the night away with a fun group of people. To top it off, every time I got into Julia (my truck) on that day, Beyonce was playing on the radio. New Year's Day was uneventful--I basically spent all but 4 hours in bed passed out/trying to give my legs (dead tired and sore from hike/dancing) a pep talk and reminding them how to put one in front of the other, etc.

Starting today, however, my 5 month Hawaiian vacation of paradise has come to its close. I started a job. I'll be doing taxes, so that's good in that it'll be me on top of things, but the idea of working in general is still something to get used to. The thing that will keep me going is that the software we use is TPS which means we print out "TPS reports." I just might have to watch that movie soon.

That's probs all I'll really have to report in the next few weeks until Carrie finally comes home with Mykah and Jackson! So in the meantime, I'm going to have to ask you if you could come in on Saturday...

Aloha, ya'll!

I know this is long overdue, so buckle up kids it will probs be a long one--but hopefully it won't seem as long as having to watch "Hotel for Dogs" followed by "The World's Biggest Teaparty: My Little Pony LIVE" (on DVD) just to catch the last 30 minutes of Top Gun, get tired, and go to bed. I'll get better about this.


I feel like I've run a mental marathon since my last post since I've been going nonstop. Considering I can't even physically run a 5k much less down the street, I'm quite worn out. But oh what a time it has been, filled with plenty of new adventures, mai tai's, sand, and food. I had my first visitor from the mainland, Elisabeth Pawula (pronounced like "koala" with a "p" since I know you didn't figure it out on your own). We stayed on Waikiki for the first few nights, all of which I spent sick and sleeping. Luckily we were downtown so she could walk around and entertain herself while I slept on and off through NCIS marathons. Just to list some of the touristy things we did: aquarium, climbing Diamond Head (not a rigorous climb by any means, just lots of steps), dinner cruise, Pearl Harbor, North Shore (Turtle Bay, Polynesian Culture Center, Hale'iwa, Dole Plantation), Kailua, luau, SKYDIVING, island-hopping to Kaua'i, ziplining, etc.


My tandem master was Ed White. A man I hardly knew, yet trusted enough to jump out of a plane at 14,000 ft. I was nervous/excited driving to the place (which I think LOST was being filmed down the road...they keep the Oceanic 815 wreckage and some other props at/near the airfield we went to) but the nerves actually lessened as it got closer. I kept reminding myself that at no point will I feel "ready" to jump out of a plane like that, but you gotta go big or go home, ya know? Anyways, it was incredible, and perhaps a bit habit-forming. I'm definitely going to jump again and the north shore is one of the top places in the world to do it. Basically if you come visit--you're skydiving. Get pumped and don't dwell on the 8-pg waiver you sign that repeats in bold letters that you may die and agree to not sue anyone in the world if anything at all goes wrong. I'm not exaggerating this at all. It does make you think again before signing, but I just decided that if it's my time--it's my time. Not to mention it would probs be one of the more exciting ways to die. I hope dad isn't reading this. That's why I don't tell him about these things until after the fact.


Pearl Harbor is of course a must-see for anyone visiting Hawai'i. You grow up learning about it, but just like visiting Ground Zero, or the D-day memorial, or any other memorial of this sort, it just invokes a different sense of what has happened and what people lived through. Standing at the USS Arizona memorial and looking over the mountains where the Japanese came in, you try to imagine it. People went to bed Dec. 6, expecting to wake up Dec. 7 to yet another ordinary day. We also toured the USS Missouri (Big Mo) which you can get lost in very easily. So neat, though.


We were hungry after Pearl Harbor so I look up nearby food in Tim, my trusty TomTom. Tim knows me so well because lo and behold, in black block letters there it was: Dixie Grill. I know Tim has preloaded maps, but I feel confident that it was the smell of barbeque that helped him to lead us to dinner. The place definite emphasized the redneck aspect of the south but I loved every minute there. The only thing missing was some Maurices sauce. I'm sure I'll be eating there again soon enough.


Don't worry, I won't continue in this much detail about the rest of our adventures. Just know it was all so fun and come visit so you can check it out for yourself. Now, for some of the questions I've been getting:


No, I'm not a professional surfer...yet. I actually haven't been but once (twice, actually. The second time they gave me a board and sent me out alone, long story short--I got knocked in the head by the board (this was not a dramatic instance) and the leash ripped off my ankle. When I came up, I couldn't see the board anywhere, then I looked to shore. Where it had taken me 10 minutes to paddle out there (it's a workout), my board managed to make it back to shore in about 10 seconds...needless to say, I don't really count this experience). I've been doing a lot of babysitting this month for the Elliotts to help them out during a busy time. Good thing it doesn't get cold here, so it's not like I'm running out of time. Next month is when the north shore starts to get bigger swells from Pacific storms and Nov-Dec are three big surf contests that make up the Triple Crown of Surfing. So pumped about checking those out. There's also this other Quicksilver Invitational that has a 3 months window, but only actually happens when the conditions are perfect. (Forecasted 20-ft swells which usually meants 30-40 ft waves). If the forecast meets the conditions, they announce that it'll happen and those invited have 12 hours to register, and people just flock there. The last one was in 2004 I think. Let's keep our fingers crossed 2009/2010!


The Elliotts are still wonderful. I'm just glad that I can serve Chris and Carrie in a small way by helping them when they have busy work schedules since they are doing so much for me. The kids are fun and make me laugh everyday. I will say, however, that if you're getting the baby itch just come watch these (or any younger) kids for a bit. It'll cure you. They keep you busy and I get worn out even after one day--Carrie is supermom. When they are pushing my limits I just think of how glad my mom and dad must be that my sister, brother and I were all such perfect angels from birth. You're welcome.


I also haven't been to the beach as much since I've been babysitting, but it's always nice to know it's right there and not going anywhere. As with surfing, after this month things will slow down considerably so I'll be able to catch up and maintain my tan. Oct. 7 Megan gets here so we'll go to the beach a lot so I can feel good about myself since she's pale and freckly....but we'll change that even if it means we have to spend every stinking day on the sand. Clearly I have my priorities in check.


Still checking out some churches. There is one I'm going to on the other side of the island in Kailua next weekend (this weekend I'm going on the YL staff/leader retreat on the north shore to check out YL here). The way Carrie describes it sounds like what I'm looking for so I'm excited to go and see for myself.


One thing that has been really weird to get used to seeing is liquor available for sale on any target, walmart, or grocery store shelf just there for the taking like it's OJ or something. I'm used to the stuff being on lockdown so it always just kind of throws me off. From a marketing standpoint, I can see the strategic placement of this shelf at Target. Last Friday night I was at target agonizing over what kind of toothbrush would best suit my needs (4 out of 5 dentists recommend a lot...it can get intimidating). I realize I never ate dinner and didn't know what was in the house so I wandered to the frozen dinner aisle which they now label "Meals for One." Ultimately, I'm okay that I spent part of my evening reading the backs of toothbrushes and body washes to find which will be the best exfoliant, but I can see how this could be a stab to the bitterly single woman. If you walk one aisle over, you find ice cream--a good the best comfort food. This would be enough for me, and because I'll take a pint of Ben and Jerry's over a lean cuisine anyway, I picked up some. However, for the not as strong willed, one more aisle over and you have shelves full of liquor if that's how you deal with things.


Once again, I've posted some pictures on facebook. I tried to upload some on here but it takes so freaking long and never puts them where I want them. It's too much sitting and waiting and extra work. If you aren't on facebook and want to see some, shoot me an email kayleighahudson@gmail.com