One of the things I’ve been DYING to do is hit up Aulani, Disney’s gorgeous resort in west Oahu. But let me tell you this place is EXPENSIVE! So we finally found a good shoulder-season weekend and booked it. One … Continue reading
Well we now have less than a year left in Hawaii.
Just like when we were geting ready to leave Spain I am getting super sad and nostalgic before we even leave. It does feel like less time than that because Omar is deploying in late winter so we have to get all of out Hawaii to-do stuff done before he leaves.
I don’t want to go! I love, love, love it here. The weather, the people, the food, the ocean, the mountains.
So soon it will be decision time… where to go next. Of course it’s not like it is our decision entirely, the Navy will offer us a list of options and we will choose a few of those. We will either get one of them or have to try again next month.
Now staying on this ship IS an option but honestly not a real one. This command has been ROUGH. In the 3 years we will have been on this ship, Omar will have been underway or deployed for over half of it. We are ready to get away from this intense pace.
Omar would really like to get back to Virginia, he is ready to be back near family buy a house and settle down.
I am not ready to go back! I love and miss our family but I love living all over the world and can’t imagine living back on the mainland.
Its just hard because Mckenna is going to be going into high school soon and I don’t want her to have to move in the middle of a school year then.
But as always I stress and make plans and the Navy will probably throw us another curveball!
What is your dream duty station?
Okay our farmers markets are a tiny bit different here. Our local produce tends to be a little bit different than what you find on the mainland. So no apples, strawberries or peaches. We do however get as much papaya, mango and apple bananas as you could possibly want.
(along with some awesome music to shop to)
Also I don’t think you will be able to see a poi making demonstration anywhere but here.
The flower selection is pretty amazing with every color ginger flower, bird of paradise, and heloconia. (I am inspired to plant all of these in my front garden that is currently a sad patch of weeds again!)
There are tons of produce vendors but most of them sell the same items, lots of sweet onions and local corn (which is outrageously priced anywhere you go, $1/ear!) Lots of greens and herbs, lots of stuff I am not even sure what it is…
I haven’t yet been able to shell out the big bucks for our local dairy products, maybe next time. The $7/lb butter is a little shocking (although I am sure its good) and the local butchers are super pricey too. We only have one dairy on island and one beef farm, so prices are always high.
But you will not go hungry shopping! There are some to die for food vendors.
There are farmers markets held all over the island, most on Saturday mornings. Try to hit one up and bring home some new goodies!
A Sunday with nothing to do was just what I needed! We decided to make it an early dinner so we all just lazed around the house. Until I got bit by the cleaning bug and did a million loads of laundry, dishes and mopped the floors. Yes, I know. I am doing Mother’s Day wrong. However I felt a million times better having a clean house to start the week.
I was a little bit bummed by my meal out, we hit up Nico’s one of my favorite places to eat. It wasn’t too crowded which was great. I ordered a Pier 38 Punch to start, eh, it was okay. My husband decided to be brave and try the oyster shooters. My seafood lover wasn’t a fan, I was actually surprised. I could barely look at them, ugh. It was a brave person who first ate one of those. Well I decided to order the Steak Frites, ribeye steak, medium and was so disappointed to have it come almost well done. Awful. But I am one of those people who NEVER send food back. Like ever. (I have seen Waiting I know what happens!) I am kinda picky when it comes to steak, if you can’t grill it better than I can for $25 then shame on you. Also my husbands seafood scampi was pretty bland.
It’s such a surprise when one of your favorite places let’s you down! We couldn’t get reservations at the Japanese Steakhouse I really wanted to go to, and instead of postponing dinner out, I just went with a second choice. Dang it!
(Dessert partially redeemed it, however, dessert trio- mini lava cake, salted caramel ice cream and smore’s bread pudding)
At least I managed to snag a picture with each of my munchkins, you can tell how delighted they are.
Really that is as good as it gets picture-wise. I am amazed I even got those.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the other mamma’s out there!
So yeah, another looonnnggg absence and I am so annoyed at myself. It felt so good to get back into the swing of blogging again. But I do have a bit of an excuse, I was seriously job hunting again. I have never in my life had such a difficult time finding a job! I have always, ALWAYS gotten the job I wanted before now.
And now that I am thinking about it (and just because I want to) I am going to reminisce about my past jobs…
Age 16: First job, Hastings. I LOVED this job. It is a big Pacific Northwest chain of book/music/video stores. I had so much fun working here. I remember when DVD’s first started trickling onto our shelves. Loved it!
17/18, Schlotzsky’s, went to work there because one of my best friends was working there. Another super fun job, loved it. I ended up getting promoted to baker which was awesome. Got there at like 6 am to bake all the bread and pizza crusts.
17/18, Also worked at ol’ Papa John’s for awhile. I will always, always tip delivery drivers well because of this job.
18, I worked as a cocktail waitress for about 5 minutes at a country club at a golf course. Never really liked it.
-Big move to Virginia-
First week in VA, walked into a Petco, filled out an app got interviewed and hired on the spot. Worked at Petco for three years, becoming assistant manager and meeting the man I was going to marry my first day of work.
After Mckenna was born I started working at a vet’s office part time while Omar went to boot camp. I really enjoyed it but then it was time to move again, this time down to Virginia Beach.
I didn’t want to work outside the home so I started nannying which was great. I got to make some money but still be home with Mckenna. Once again, every family I interviewed with wanted to hire me! I am an awesome interview!
When we moved to Spain Omar was a baby so I wasn’t rushing into work anytime soon and the job market is seriously limited. When he was almost 3 I was ready. I applied at the commissary (one of the few jobs on base) and got hired.
After a year I moved over to the CDC which was even better, I was full time M-F and I could pop in on Omar anytime. I loved working the CDC the coworkers and families were awesome.
Then the move to Hawaii.
Ugh.
What a disheartening time I had.
For the first year I wasn’t really looking too seriously. Omar was deployed and I wanted to be home for the kids.
But then I started looking for real and I didn’t hear back from anyone! I sent out resumes, even got called in for a few interviews and NOTHING!
I know I had a gap in employment and no one really likes to hire military spouses because we move all the damn time, but come on!
I finally updated my resume once again to make it a skills based resume to highlight all my insane skillz, and redid my cover letter and finally got some nibbles again!
I interviewed with a local company and got hired on the spot. FINALLY!
And no, this isn’t my dream career or anything close to it, it’s just admin/accounts receivable (crazy enough I was actually an accounting major before decided I would kill myself if I had to do it for the rest of my life and ended up finding my passion in environmental management. Joke’s on me.) It’s a big parts wholesaler, with a million delivery drivers, but the clerical staff is just me and 4 other ladies. All who are super nice (so far!)
I love the hours, I work four hours in the morning (after dropping the kids off at school) then come home, eat lunch, pick up the house, laze around watching tv for a bit, then time to pick up the kids again. So far it’s working out perfectly. And I am really enjoying being in the ranks of the employed again!
I think that everyone’s idea of Hawaii is living beachside all day every day. I wish. Unfortunately life gets in the way and I go WEEKS without going to the beach. It’s pretty sad I know. I was born and raised in California so I love all things beach and ocean related. It’s a crime to not enjoy what I have minutes from my front door.
After a hectic week and weekend, I was once again driving my daughter all around island. This time to sell Girl Scout cookies for her troop. It was ALLLLLLL the way out in Kapolei (silly it’s only 25 min from my house but feels so far… aaahhh island life) and I didn’t want to drive home then back out again in a few hours to pick her up. I am a champion time waster and was going to hit up Costco and Target and get some lunch.
After dropping her with her troop I went to check out Costco, pure madness on a Sunday afternoon.
I decided to get something to eat and find someplace to eat it. Commence drive around randomly to find beach access. I pulled up satellite Google Maps on my phone and started driving through the industrial area looking for beach access. You HAVE to allow beach access in Hawaii. Finally, I spot surf!
There is nothing like having a beach all to yourself.
It was exactly what I needed. Hot sand, super loud crashing waves and a big ass coke to drink.
I couldn’t have picked a better way to spend my afternoon. This was way better than Target therapy!
Lots of pretty tidepools to explore although Hawaii tidepools are pretty tame compared to California. I saw a bunch of tiny gobies and convict tangs and some really pretty feather dusters (my first time seeing these in the wild actually!)
It was a reminder to myself that I have to stop taking all this awesomeness around me for granted. An hour on the beach recharged me. (Plus I have to be able to post beach pictures in March to annoy all of my cold climate friends)
Sink Or Swim 