Obama is in Hawaii and I got to see Air Force One at the airport today in Hilo. Pretty sweet...
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Christmas...already?!
Whoa! The last real post was so long ago I forgot what I wrote! Lots has happened over the summer and into the fall...and through Christmas and over New Years...
My trip to MN in July was long and well needed. We stayed at Island View Lodge for a week before the wedding, it was fun to finally be paying customers rather than hired help! Not much has changed there in the last 15 years, it was definitely like entering a time warp! Mandy, Kaleb and I all had jobs there at one time or another...and it brought back many memories and great laughs. Lots of friends came out to visit...got to see Krista, Missy Walls, Sara and Missy Tate. David and Mindy Nguyen (plus I got to meet Jackson!), Davina and JP, Dave and Jessalin Karsnia (who are also expecting this summer!), Jimmy Peterson stopped by for an adult beverage or two (I also got to hang out with him in Boston) and the list was endless when we hopped parties and took Mitchell's pontoon boat over to Sha Sha. There is nothing like summer on Rainy Lake...nothing!
The week ended with Brook and Brackin's wedding. All the family was there and it was great to see my cousins from San Antonio. Brackin was beautiful and we had fun dancing (thanks to many glasses of White Zin!). The night ended with a party at Sutch's house (of course Kyle planned that one!).
The next day was Mom's birthday...so we headed back to Grand Rapids for a little R & R before I took off to shake my tail feathers at Moon Dance Jam. I can tell you how nice it is to just wake up and have a cup of coffee with your family. I cherished every second...
Moving on to Moon Dance Jam...Sara picked me up in Grand Rapids Wednesday morning and we hit Duluth with a fury. Missy's boyfriend Vinny was playing at a local watering hole with his band and we decided to grace them with our presence. It was a hoot. Got to see Josh and Christine (can't wait for their wedding in May!).
We packed up on Thursday and made the LONG drive to Walker, MN to kick off Moon Dance Jam. It was ridiculously COLD this year and I was NOT prepared! I didn't bring one pair of socks...remember now that I live in Hawaii and socks are only worn by people who go to the gym...seriously...
This was also the place where I fell in love...yes, with Bud Light Lime. I.can't.stop.drinking.it.
Anyways, all of the pics are of us bundled up in jeans and sweatshirts...wishing we had mittens and scarfs and perhaps some long johns! I will not be making that mistake next year...and I think the cold weather has prompted us to upgrade from tents to a camper...or is it our old age?! Hmmm...either way, we will be better prepared!
The line up at MDJ was AWESOME! Journey, Sheryl Crow, Kansas, Lita Ford, Whitesnake, Judas Priest, Foghat and Spin Doctors...classic rock!!! Next year already has Lynyrd Skynyrd and Buckcherry signed up...yay!
Following that long weekend came the incredibly long trip back to Hawaii...did you know that I live closer to Japan than MN? Yeah...threw me for a loop too...insanity...
Went to the No Doubt concert in August...Gwen Stefani was RIPPED...no joke. You would never be able to tell she has ANY kids...crazy. Such a good band, brings me back to high school and Spiderwebs!
Ok...so fast forward another month and I am back on a plane headed to Boston. Kaleb and Angela finally got married (after 7 years of dating!). I flew out the weekend before so that I could go to Angela's bachelorette party in Cape Cod. I got to meet all of the other bridesmaids and a few other friends. The weather didn't really cooperate, but then I get a lot of sun here, so I wasn't sad we couldn't "lay out" before Fall weather hit.
After the Cape, my Mom, sister and the kiddos flew in. They had a LONG layover in Atlanta ( I know, I know, cheap tickets...we should have paid extra for the direct flight!) and Kaleb and I picked them up around 11pm...we headed down to the beach house we rented (I had to make last minute plans, as the house I had originally rented was suddenly "double booked" and the guy had already spent my deposit...needless to say I am still trying to get that money back!). The house we rented was absolutely amazing! It had four bedrooms and two bathrooms, a large wrap around deck, hot tub and private beach right on the ocean! There was a little seafood store a block away and we got FIVE 5lb lobsters...yep...FIVE! The guy who sold them to us laughed all the way to the bank...TOURISTS! HAHA...it will probably be one of my most favorite memories of all time! I will never forget Kyle putting that gigantic lobster on my plate...I think I screamed it was so big!
After the beach house we headed up the reception site. We rented another cabin there, only this one was a little more like boot camp than beach house! We all had to sleep on twin beds and share dorm room style bathrooms...oh well, that's what you get for traveling in a "pack"!
The groom's dinner went off without a hitch, the food was excellent. It was cold that night, so we decided to make a bon fire...but I should probably mention that we didn't exactly have permission to build this fire (please picture a bunch of MN boys out in the woods looking for firewood...Ginter's shack anyone?!) and about three hours into it, we had to "PUT IT OUT...ALL OF IT, OUT!!! YOU DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO BE LIGHTING A FIRE!" This was all done in some foreign accent which gave it a more comical twist than a beat down. Needless to say, we put the fire out and hoped we wouldn't get kicked out before the wedding even took place!
Alas, onto the day of the wedding. It was gorgeous out and a perfect day to get hitched. It was a small wedding about 15 minutes away. Angela was so beautiful and she teared up saying her vows. Precious! We headed back to the reception place for great food, yummy cocktails and to shake our tailfeathers well into the wee hours. Kaleb and some of his college buddies got out the infamous glow sticks and put on a show from their days at the Clubs...hahaha! Techno mania!
My trip to MN in July was long and well needed. We stayed at Island View Lodge for a week before the wedding, it was fun to finally be paying customers rather than hired help! Not much has changed there in the last 15 years, it was definitely like entering a time warp! Mandy, Kaleb and I all had jobs there at one time or another...and it brought back many memories and great laughs. Lots of friends came out to visit...got to see Krista, Missy Walls, Sara and Missy Tate. David and Mindy Nguyen (plus I got to meet Jackson!), Davina and JP, Dave and Jessalin Karsnia (who are also expecting this summer!), Jimmy Peterson stopped by for an adult beverage or two (I also got to hang out with him in Boston) and the list was endless when we hopped parties and took Mitchell's pontoon boat over to Sha Sha. There is nothing like summer on Rainy Lake...nothing!
The week ended with Brook and Brackin's wedding. All the family was there and it was great to see my cousins from San Antonio. Brackin was beautiful and we had fun dancing (thanks to many glasses of White Zin!). The night ended with a party at Sutch's house (of course Kyle planned that one!).
The next day was Mom's birthday...so we headed back to Grand Rapids for a little R & R before I took off to shake my tail feathers at Moon Dance Jam. I can tell you how nice it is to just wake up and have a cup of coffee with your family. I cherished every second...
Moving on to Moon Dance Jam...Sara picked me up in Grand Rapids Wednesday morning and we hit Duluth with a fury. Missy's boyfriend Vinny was playing at a local watering hole with his band and we decided to grace them with our presence. It was a hoot. Got to see Josh and Christine (can't wait for their wedding in May!).
We packed up on Thursday and made the LONG drive to Walker, MN to kick off Moon Dance Jam. It was ridiculously COLD this year and I was NOT prepared! I didn't bring one pair of socks...remember now that I live in Hawaii and socks are only worn by people who go to the gym...seriously...
This was also the place where I fell in love...yes, with Bud Light Lime. I.can't.stop.drinking.it.
Anyways, all of the pics are of us bundled up in jeans and sweatshirts...wishing we had mittens and scarfs and perhaps some long johns! I will not be making that mistake next year...and I think the cold weather has prompted us to upgrade from tents to a camper...or is it our old age?! Hmmm...either way, we will be better prepared!
The line up at MDJ was AWESOME! Journey, Sheryl Crow, Kansas, Lita Ford, Whitesnake, Judas Priest, Foghat and Spin Doctors...classic rock!!! Next year already has Lynyrd Skynyrd and Buckcherry signed up...yay!
Following that long weekend came the incredibly long trip back to Hawaii...did you know that I live closer to Japan than MN? Yeah...threw me for a loop too...insanity...
Went to the No Doubt concert in August...Gwen Stefani was RIPPED...no joke. You would never be able to tell she has ANY kids...crazy. Such a good band, brings me back to high school and Spiderwebs!
Ok...so fast forward another month and I am back on a plane headed to Boston. Kaleb and Angela finally got married (after 7 years of dating!). I flew out the weekend before so that I could go to Angela's bachelorette party in Cape Cod. I got to meet all of the other bridesmaids and a few other friends. The weather didn't really cooperate, but then I get a lot of sun here, so I wasn't sad we couldn't "lay out" before Fall weather hit.
After the Cape, my Mom, sister and the kiddos flew in. They had a LONG layover in Atlanta ( I know, I know, cheap tickets...we should have paid extra for the direct flight!) and Kaleb and I picked them up around 11pm...we headed down to the beach house we rented (I had to make last minute plans, as the house I had originally rented was suddenly "double booked" and the guy had already spent my deposit...needless to say I am still trying to get that money back!). The house we rented was absolutely amazing! It had four bedrooms and two bathrooms, a large wrap around deck, hot tub and private beach right on the ocean! There was a little seafood store a block away and we got FIVE 5lb lobsters...yep...FIVE! The guy who sold them to us laughed all the way to the bank...TOURISTS! HAHA...it will probably be one of my most favorite memories of all time! I will never forget Kyle putting that gigantic lobster on my plate...I think I screamed it was so big!
After the beach house we headed up the reception site. We rented another cabin there, only this one was a little more like boot camp than beach house! We all had to sleep on twin beds and share dorm room style bathrooms...oh well, that's what you get for traveling in a "pack"!
The groom's dinner went off without a hitch, the food was excellent. It was cold that night, so we decided to make a bon fire...but I should probably mention that we didn't exactly have permission to build this fire (please picture a bunch of MN boys out in the woods looking for firewood...Ginter's shack anyone?!) and about three hours into it, we had to "PUT IT OUT...ALL OF IT, OUT!!! YOU DO NOT HAVE PERMISSION TO BE LIGHTING A FIRE!" This was all done in some foreign accent which gave it a more comical twist than a beat down. Needless to say, we put the fire out and hoped we wouldn't get kicked out before the wedding even took place!
Alas, onto the day of the wedding. It was gorgeous out and a perfect day to get hitched. It was a small wedding about 15 minutes away. Angela was so beautiful and she teared up saying her vows. Precious! We headed back to the reception place for great food, yummy cocktails and to shake our tailfeathers well into the wee hours. Kaleb and some of his college buddies got out the infamous glow sticks and put on a show from their days at the Clubs...hahaha! Techno mania!
Soooo...I got back on the plane and headed home...where I have been ever since! (Note to self: DO NOT use all of your vacation days before Christmas...EVER AGAIN!). Halloween came and went...I rented a Marilyn Monroe costume, only to be sick that whole weekend and didn't get to wear it. Nice waste of $50...story of my life. However, I did dye my hair to look like Marilyn...and its been uber blond since. It started out with a little too much gold overtone though, so I went back to bleach it and it got lighter...but not really what I had in mind...still gold in it...tomorrow I get it done AGAIN and I think its going to be WHITE! Sweet...I figured since I have already gone this far, I might as well knock it out of the park and then go back to my old self...or not!
Thanksgiving came and went...nothing too crazy. I got all my Christmas cards out in the mail and presents ordered online. Went to my work Christmas party...walked away with a cool chip/dip platter from the gift exchange.
Christmas came and went...I was sick for this holiday too...had the WORST sore throat...it has now morphed into some kind of sneezy, stuffy nose thing that I still can't believe I have...how do you get a cold in Hawaii...I mean really, people...only me!
New Years also came and went...we watched fireworks from the beach and had a few cocktails. Nothing crazy...hit the pool for drinks the next day...went to bed early and chilled the rest of the weekend.
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