Family Time

Over Thanksgiving break my whole family was here! We had to take a picture! Back in Sept. there was a JC Penny groupon so I got it. I am glad we did this. Larry sadly was in the hospital over the break...so we missed him in the picture. Kaijsa is being difficult and wouldn't come see us. So, that is why two people are missing. And I have no idea how to get everyone to smile at the same time. For some reason the cd I got only has this one pic on it. No one ordered this pic....maybe I will scan the ones we got..but not tonight. I have had 2 long days at work which means I am tired and grumpy.

I have been working for 3 weeks now. It has been good. I have been busy. I used to only do 3 massages and then need a break. I am trying to do 4 hrs. and then a break. IT is pretty hard on me. The girls up front that book us don't pay attention to your limit so I am constantly reminding them to change it for me. I like the people I work with. I take a book with me and that keeps me happy for down time. This office is much more stat obsessive. I have 3 things I am supposed to be watching and I can't even remember what one of them is. O-well. I figure if I do a good job people will come to me and it won't be a big deal. I need to get myself a massage and a tub for my arms to do an ice bath. I can't neglect myself or I won't be working! I have Sun and Wed off...and then every other Sat. It is a good schedule.

I have most of my Christmas shopping done. A few things I still want to get. I love this time of year, but it seems to be going too fast. I should have started listening to Christmas music in Oct.

No big things coming up....just work. I'll take it.

Cake Boss

I have watched Cake Boss for a few years. I am just amazed at how Buddy can get cakes to be so amazing! When his book came out last year I had to read it, but I have not attempted any of the recipes. Rachel had to go to New York last week for work. She was able to give herself time to go to Hoboken New Jersey to see Carlos Bakery..so jealous. But she loved me enough to come back with these:The lovely packaging--

The goodies inside: Chocolate and regular canolis. The chocolate are better, but they are soooo tasty! A chocolate mousse cake (it was ok....not my favorite) a chocolate truffle (SO GOOD-- maybe even better than the canoli. I need to taste it again to decide) and lobster tails. The lobster tails were ok. I mostly wanted them because after reading the book I learned how HARD it is to make the dough. Good, but I liked the others better.

and then me enjoying every bite. (Who cares that I was sick and should have waited!)


Maybe I will need to find me a guy from this area of the world so Buddy can make me a cake...here's to dreaming!
Thanks sis--loved every bite!

Utah

I had a lovely time in Utah mid-Oct. So good to see family and friends. Mostly what I did was set up lunch or dinner dates with friends-- that way I was sure to get in my friend time and favorite Utah places (Zuppas, Cafe Rio, Brick Oven) and I was introduced to Yogurt Stop-- SO GOOD! You get to build your own yogurt concoction and man I do a good job! Maricopa has a Yogurt Jungle which is the same..

Life keep plugging away. I can finally say AZ weather is getting nice. The mornings are cool and the days are under 95 now! YEAH!!!

I am just waiting on a background check and THEN I will finally have my massage license. This has taken forever! But I am very happy with the classes I got to take. I feel like a better therapist now. I will work at Massage Envy...because... I am filling out mission papers! I hope to leave before March. It is crazy, but I am so excited.

Pics of Kauai

I guess SLIDE is no longer doing slide shows so this is how you get to see some more of my pics. I got them from Darlene. I am going to make a scrapbook so if you want to see the whole trip...come see me!

Kauai Day 9

I was the first to leave--Darlene and her Dad flew home on Sunday. But we had to leave the time-share and they were going back to the cousins home. We got to go to a few more shops...and that was about it! When at the cousins I saw these cute critters:

And this was my send-off view from the time share

I think we saw 3-4 rainbows the whole stay. I miss Ono Shaved Ice. And the cooler weather!
I really had a wonderful time! Aloha!

Kauai Day 8

This was Friday-- the last full day on the island. And it rained. I kind of liked it. So, we had seen so much we decided to shop this day. It was fun. We got some good deals on things because it was "sidewalk sale" day. Not sure if that happens every weekend or not (like the going out of business sign that is there year round for us silly vacationers) but it was successful for all of us! Due to shopping we got to tour most of the island too! I really wanted to see a sea turtle--so we went to Poipu beach. And I saw a HUGE sea turtle! (Again need pics from Darlene so I can prove it.) There were several chickens at this beach:

and lots of Plumeria:

They smell so good!!!
Thankfully it did stop raining so we could enjoy this beach. It was really rocky so not much fun for swimming, but still beautiful!
This night we watched "Soul Surfer". It was fun to watch as most of it was filmed on Kauai (as that is where she is from!) I recognized a lot of the places. Great movie.
Good times in Kauai!

Kauai Day 7

Another beautiful day. We decided to drive south for this day. We saw the Spouting Horn



This also had a great place to shop! I love the cheap jewelry! But it is so nice!
I also had to try a Puka Dog. This place had polish sausages...wrapped in a bun...I chose a pineapple salsa and Hawaiian sauce. SO GOOD!

I loved the yellow hibiscus all over the island.

Then we went up to the Waimea Canyon-- the grand canyon of Hawaii

Now that I live in AZ I guess I should go visit the actual Grand Canyon!
Then we got to see views of the island like this:

and then some hydrangea:

Such a beautiful place.

Kauai Day 6

We got up EARLY today. We had to drive to the southern end of the island for our boat tour. I wish I had brought a jacket or sweatshirt with me. I was just so excited for cooler weather I didn't think I would be cool! Anyhow we got to said boat place at 6 AM. We launched about 6:30. We got to have a nice breakfast on the Catamaran. All of us took some dramamine as we left which was a good thing. Poor Darlene should have had more. It was a pretty ride out. They moved quick... we got to stop and watch the Spinner Dolphins. I think we saw about 20 of them. So beautiful! That was really great for me as I LOVE dolphins. We also saw a lot of flying fish--so COOL! We went to around the Na Pali coast. SO beautiful. So many movies have been filmed on Kauai. The guy showed us where the recent Pirates movie was filmed. We went back really slow so we could get good pictures. (Darlene will someday send me those.) The water was so BLUE!!!
We then went to a place where the top of a volcano comes out of the water. This is where we snorkled. Saw some amazing fish. A Sea Lion came to check us out and swam below us. COOL! Then we got to see the "forbidden island" It is a very private island and you really have to be special or $$ to go to it.
The way back-- we went through a place where 3 currents came together. Darlene and I were at the very back of the boat because she had been a little sick on the way out...I was bouncing around like CRAZY! It was fun for me-- like a roller coaster. I made the guys nervous so they finally found a place for me to sit so I wouldn't go flying off the boat (and I really came close 2-3 times.) Darlene's Dad said the waves had to be 20 feet high in some places! I have no idea. The water kept spraying me so I had my eyes closed. I just know it was intense!
Next to the boat charter place was a chocolate factory. YUM!!! I got some great chocolate---I want more!
We went back to our timeshare. It was a "7 hour tour".
A wonderful Day! I can't wait to see the pictures!

Kauai Day 5

Tuesday--we decided to go kayaking up the Waimea River. Darlene's cousins had the kayaks YEAH!

Darlene and I shared and her Dad went by himself. It was a nice day--the river was calm. I enjoy kayaking. We decided to go straight to the Fern Grotto. It was so beautiful!



I loved the flowers. They were my favorite part of the island.
When coming out of the grotto we met a couple who said the falls that we could kayak to had a ton of people there... so we decided to skip that. The way back down the river was nice. EXCEPT---I discovered my camera was in my ziploc bag--swimming in water. Not sure how the water got in, but it did and it killed my camera. SADNESS- not even rice could save it. I didn't think about using my phone as a camera until towards the end of the trip. Darlene has some good shots but she is still in possession of them.
The pics job my memory--and so I don't remember what else we did this day. We went to bed early because day 6 started EARLY!

Kauai day 3

Monday, Monday--I bet this was the best Monday I have ever had! Again the chickens woke me up...and I enjoyed the quiet of the morning. We had a "get to know the island" by the time-share people. This was quit informative and we got a lot of great tips on where to eat and what to see. The best part was at the end they gave away coupons--Darlene was able to steel an answer from someone that had already won-- and we won a discount on a boat tour (details to be in day 5)!! This was the prize I wanted so I was super excited she could get it! We decided to get lunch at a place we were told to go and go to the North end of the island. For lunch we had rice some meat with a fried egg on top with gravy. It was really good! Different, but good. I think the meat was like a Salisbury steak.
We drove to Tunnels Beach


There was a guy that got in the ocean with his electric car key (and only electric). Darlene's Dad saved the day by driving him back to where he was staying so he could figure things out from there. (His wife and kids not so happy, but thankful for a kind stranger.)
We also got to see the Dry Cave

and the Wet Cave

Now one of these was from Raiders of the Lost Ark--when the giant rock is rolling after Harrison Ford!
This is the northern most accessible area of the island. Hikers can begin their hike of the Na Pali coast here. The guy at the timeshare said it was a 12 on a 1 to 10 scale. Needless to say not on our agenda.
While we were swimming in the ocean a group of people were staring our direction saying "look!". Now that is NOT something I want to hear when in the water...I looked for a shark fin (Remember Soul Surfer's shark attack was on this island.) and didn't see one, and then a guy said there was a sea turtle near us. That still kind of freaked me out, and then I looked for it and couldn't find it.
We went back to the timeshare and swam in the pool and sat in the HOT tub (110* at least!). We enjoyed a yummy Chinese salad from Costco. And then drove to a lookout spot for the sunset




Perfect ending to a perfect day!

Kauai day 2

Day two of Kauai was a Sunday. We didn't have church until 1 so we got to sleep in... meaning the chickens woke me up around 4 and it was then 7 AZ time.. but I slept on and off until 7:30ish I think. I was usually the first one up, which was fine with me. I would sit on the balcony, eat a yogurt, and just enjoy quiet time.
We had a lovely pancake breakfast and got ready. We did some sight-seeing. We saw a waterfall or two.


We went to Anini Beach

If you have seen Soul Surfer I really think there was a shot of this beach. It has a lot of trees up to it. We never did go back and swim there.. bummer. Another time.
And we also went to Kilauea Light House



We didn't get any closer to the light house because it cost and we didn't want to pay! But it was so lovely from there!
We stopped along the way and had a picnic lunch. Then it was time for church. I just love how in Hawaii you respond to "Aloha" when the person speaking says hello. Just so friendly. It rained some while we were in our meetings. Then my friend, Darlene, has some "cousins" (a distant relation) that we went to see. A family of 4 boys. A BEATUIFUL home that sits on the Wailua River. We had dinner with them. They are also close to the beach and a park so we took a stroll during sunset. The clouds had lifted some so we could see Mount Waialeale--which is the wettest spot on earth! It gets close to 500 inches of rain a year!!

This is a tourist pineapple tree. The fruit on it looks like it is a pineapple, but it really isn't. I suppose all of us "mainlanders" get confused a lot!
Another wonderful day in Kauai.

Kauai day 1

I guess now that I have been home 3 weeks I should tell a little about my trip to Hawaii. Darlene & I took a summer trip last year, so we of course had to do it again this year! Her parents have a time-share so we asked if we could use a week and they said YES!. I think we started planning in January of where we wanted to go. Since I was living in TX at the time we thought of going to Savannah, Georgia or the Houston, TX area. When I moved in May to AZ we thought of going to Sedona, AZ....but why go there when you can go to Hawaii?! So, we decided on Kauai. (Best decision!)
I flew out on Sat.--I arrived in Kauai about 1:15 in the afternoon so we basically had a half day. Darlene's Dad came with us because the car and time-share were in his name. Lihue is about 1 hr. from Princeville where we were staying so we started the trip with a slow drive of the island. Our first stop was ACE--now in the mainland ACE is for hardware, but not so in Hawaii. It has EVERYTHING! Darlene needed scrapbooking tape and that is where you get it!
The next stop was a MUST-- Ono Shaved Ice--seriously the best shaved ice on the island. For $3 you get a ginormous snow cone! I had tropical flavors, Darlene had a rootbeer float.

Then we drove on to our time-share. We were some of the first to get there so we were lucky enough to get beach mats, camping chairs, and a body board. They even had movies that were filmed on the island. We got Jurassic Park. This was the view from our balcony.

I had read on-line about a sand-castle making contest at Hanalei Bay so we decided to see if we could catch the end of it. We didn't but we did really enjoy the beach!


The musical "South Pacific" was filmed here. This was the beach where the girl sang, "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out of My Hair". Fun!!! The water was warm. Just so beautiful!
To end the night we went to Kalypso. We had coconut shrimp (SO GOOD!) and I had fish tacos (Not the best I have ever eaten but so good!) And then we had some grasshopper icecream pie to end it all.
I was actually a little cool this night. Being used to 110+ heat I was so GRATEFUL for 80* weather. Ah... sounds so nice.
The island is beautiful. I couldn't get over how green everything was. I miss that color! The humidity didn't bother me too much. And the noises of the night were nice. A piece of heaven on earth!