Hawaii Day 1 - The Arrival

We arrived in Maui around 1:00 pm on Tuesday, February 1st. I packed flip-flops in my carry-on bag and boy was I grateful! My feet immediately started to roast right when I got off the plane - because it was 80 degrees and I had just come from 10 degrees in Salt Lake City. I picked up the rental car - and we got a free upgrade to a minivan! Which was great since we had 4 girls and a monstrous amount of luggage to cart around. It also worked out great for carrying around our play toys - floaties that we bought, body-boards that we rented, etc. It wasn't as great for the Road to Hana day, but I'll address that in another post.

My phone was awesome to provide navigation to all of our destinations and it got us to our hotel which was an hour away from the airport - in Lahaina. We had the best view of the ocean and the island and we were on the top floor - the 12th floor! We roamed around downtown Lahaina that night, ate our first plate lunch at Aloha Mixed Plate, got some ice cream, and checked out the monster banyan tree in downtown!

I'm Outta Here!

And off to here, as in Maui. Don't be jealous. 

I'll blog all about it when I get back. :)

My Little Roommate

I have a roommate again. But this isn't just any roommate. She's my niece! Jennifer! She moved in with me at the beginning of December and will stay here through the end of this semester in April. She's here under the guise of saving money for a study abroad, but she's chiefly here because she had some crazy roommate drama last semester. I'm talking two suicidal roommates, one anxiety-ridden roommate, and her other two normal roommates were utterly absentee roommates. Who gets those kind of odds for crazy roommates? Apparently Jennifer. I've never heard of that kind of luck - even in all my years of having roommates. So I finally convinced her to move in with me.

And it's been great! It's kind of fun to come home to someone to talk to. And it's delightful to watch movies with someone - like we are this very moment. And speaking of movies, the poor girl has been deprived of all the best girly movies (like the classic 5-hour Pride & Prejudice, Becoming Jane, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Gone with the Wind,  An Ideal Husband). We are going to rectify that this semester.

But my favorite thing about living with her.... is when she wears this:

This... is her plush-a-licious... and in my book it is the snugg-a-licious. I just can't take her seriously when she wears it! And I just start into giggling fits every time. LOL! She loves it. And she wears it all the time. And she laughs with me. And she instantly knows what I'm smiling about when I start to smile while talking to her. And then we start laughing together.

Jennifer is also 19 years old. I'm 31. We've got a little bit of a span, but we're getting along great. And she's handling my crazy, stuck-in-my-ways, comments with class! And the best part about her being 19....??? She hardly has any stuff, so we had no problems fitting her into my kitchen and guestroom and I didn't have to give up my beautiful kitchen organization -- like my baking center! :)

The End is Nearing....

The end of my anxiously waiting for Hawaii that is! I leave in 8 days. I'm so excited. I have all my plans figured out: scuba diving, surf lessons, hiking, snorkeling, laying on the beach reading a book, luau, shaved ice, plate lunches, waterfalls, whale watching . . . it's going to be fabulous.

On a more recent note, I went to Logan this weekend to visit Teri and Kelly. We had a pretty good day of skiing! I wasn't on my game, but one can't always be, right? And as usual, they treated me to some yummy food and a movie. We saw Unstoppable in the theater. It was intense. I liked it. :)

And a little side note that I need to keep on the down-low at work: I got another award at work. This one is a Performance Award that I got for excellent performance for the past year. It came with a little $$$. That will help with my trip to Hawaii and boosting my savings! Of course taxes are going to take a chunk out of it I'm sure. Yay for taxes!

A Couple Things on a Thursday

• This week, I've slept four nights with laundry that needed to be folded on my bed.
• I passed my SCUBA skills update last night so I'm good to go SCUBA diving while I am in Hawaii next month. I still have trouble equalizing my ears, but I think I figured out that swallowing helps me equalize my ears more than anything. 
• I've fish-tailed my car twice in the past two weeks (on the crazy ice that won't melt because of our long lasting, below-freezing temperatures we've had) - both on the night when I have had school. One was in the parking garage up at the Salt Lake Center; the other was coming out of the park-n-ride parking lot. I can assure you that I now know that my natural reaction is to turn my steering wheel the way you are suppose to when fish-tailing.
• I have zero plans for this upcoming 3-day weekend except to do homework. Zero fun plans. Kind of strange. But next weekend will make up for it when I go to Logan to visit Teri and Kelly.

2011: Fresh with No Mistakes in It . . . Yet

Happy New Year! I think I've started a tradition of going snowshoeing on New Years Day. Some friends and I went snowshoeing up the Alpine Loop road behind Sundance and Timpanogos. It was lovely, but very cold! It was 1 degree that day while we were out there.

Wrapping Up the Year

4.0. That is correct. Four. Point. Zero. I think this is my first semester ever in college to get a 4.0!!! I can't believe it. I figured I would get an A in Organizational Behavior, but never would I have hoped to get an A in Economics! I thought maybe a B+ or even an A-. But not an A. Pretty sweet accomplishment if I don't say so myself. All while working full-time, still taking piano lessons (for the most part), and going through dating disappointment #3. 

Christmas was wonderful. Sometimes it is just so wonderful to go home, be anonymous, and not have to put yourself out there. And that is exactly what I did for Christmas: just spent time with my family. The only picture I took was when we went to the Garden-a-Glow at the Idaho Botanical Gardens. 

 

I came home from Christmas in Idaho Tuesday night - just in the nick of time to beat the mess of weather we've had yesterday and today. We got several inches of new snow Tuesday night into Wednesday morning and then it rained most of Wednesday. During the little bit of driving I did Wednesday, I think I hydro-planed on the freeway several times. And then the real cold front hit last night just as everyone was getting off work (except for me since I took the day off). We had a little blizzard or something because we had quite the white-out for about 30 minutes while it dropped another several inches of snow. And then all the water from the rain and slush froze solid. And today, the roads are pure ice and the temperatures freezing cold! I'm talking 20 degrees. Tomorrow the high temperature is going to fall to 11 degrees with the wind chill taking it down to -2 degrees. So what is a girl to do with all this cold weather and time off?

Oh my goodness. There are so many things that one can get done when she has four full days at home with no plans .... well very minimal plans.

• Cleaned out my old, nasty tupperwares and replaced them with new ones I just bought
• Organized my tupperware cupboard, complete with little baskets for my lids
• Cleaned out all of my old chocolate and candy in my stash and replaced them with all the new treats I got for Christmas
• Cleaned out and organized my pantry
• Organized a few shelves in my laundry room
• Put away my Christmas decorations
• Cleaned out my Christmas decorations to make room for my new, full Willow Tree nativity set (thanks Jill!)
• Cleaned my house
• Re-organized my hobby room closet - I made a super easy-to-access stationary drawer and some drawers for my little outdoorsy supplies (you know ... flashlights, headlamps, batteries, my spork, bug repellent, sunblock, backpacking towel, etc.) it's all so easy to find and access now!
• Created a little tote for gifts to so it's all together and easy to get something to give
• Organized my random crafty stuff: all my crocheting stuff is together, my cross-stitch and stitchery stuff is together, my gift-wrapping and ribbons are all together now... so lovely. 
• Cleaned out all of my old coloring stuff that I haven't used in ages
• Finished and ordered my first blog book!
• Found a place that I can take my recyclables to since my HOA won't get a recycling bin for us. Now I just need to figure out a way to organize the recyclables and where in my house to do it until I can drop them off at the compost station - the recyclables have to be separated. Maybe organize them in my trunk?
• Went to spin class every day
• Went grocery shopping
• Delivered a meal to my visiting teachee that just had a baby (thanks Mom! for helping me make the meal and telling me to not make chili!) :)
• Had my two newest tires rotated back to my front so I can actually have traction in all this snow we have been getting

And things I still hope to do:

• Start another baby quilt
• Go snowshoeing
• Paint my empty frames and hang them 
• Read the book I'm currently reading: The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
• Call the lady that is restoring my great-grandmother's quilt to see how it's coming - she said it might be done by Christmas (that is another blog entry to come)
• Make sure my quilt journal is up to date
• Make a butternut bisque soup 
• Dabble on the piano with my new piano book: Piano Solos Film Music The Costume Drama Collection. I finally got it! I ordered it on November 21st! It has pieces from Little Women, Becoming Jane, Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice and other movies.

Okay. So you are probably sick of reading about everything I've done over that past couple of days. So I'll finish. :)

Here is my Willow Tree nativity that I got for Christmas from my sister, Jill! (Correction, she got me parts of it.)