Happy Thanksgiving! A List of Just a Few Things I'm Always Thankful For:

Life.

My good health.

My amazing parents.

My wonderful boyfriend.

My sweet little dog whom I miss.

My expensive two-bedroom apartment.

My fulfilling education at UH.

My amazing life in Hawai'i.

My awesome friends.

My great job.

Love. 

Right Where I Left Off

Two months ago I booked a one-way flight to Portland, Oregon. My boyfriend and I got accepted to the University of Oregon, and we were excited to begin our new lives as Ducks. Within these last two months, there has been a whirlwind of emotions about whether or not I even wanted to move anymore. The stress of the move was extremely overwhelming to say the very least, and it even landed me a trip to Urgent Care.

My friends were all very worried about me, and they tried to offer me advice to help in any way they were able to. My boyfriend, having to already carry his own burden of stress, was at his wit's end trying to figure out what to do to save me from the emotional and physical strain that I was in. My mom wrote me countless emails and called me constantly, begging me to "just come home" to her. She wanted me to let her take care of me. My boyfriend wanted me to let him in, and my friends wanted me to take their advice to heart. I think there was a point where I found myself in a fetal position on my bedroom floor not knowing what to do with myself because I am so steadfast on keeping everyone out, and the fact that everyone in my life was trying to find a way in simply knocked the wind out of me. That was why I made the decision to just move and figure it all out once I got to Portland.

My flight to Portland left at 8:00 a.m. this morning, and on it I was not.

There are many reasons that played into my decision to stay in Hawaii. The main one is being that my life was just starting to pick up here. School has been going really well aside from that one B+ that ruined my perfect 4.0 GPA (I'm just now starting to get over it), and also I was recently promoted at my job. If I transferred my job to Oregon, I would have had to go back to my previous position with no benefits at all. Not ideal. Also, I was lucky enough to build a strong network of friends and coworkers, and I did not want to have to start again from square one in yet another place where I don't know a single soul aside from my boyfriend. Speaking of the boyfriend, yes he is staying with me. The debate over whether or not we should stay was not easy on our relationship, because there was a possibility that we might have had to split up. In the end, we realized that the two of us have come too far after almost two years of being together to even think about leaving each other just for a new school when we are already in a good school already.

I know that this isn't much of a change now that I am not moving back across the Pacific Ocean. To many, it may seem like an anticlimactic end to a long series of stress and turmoil, but to me, I am very excited about continuing my life here in Hawaii. I have been looking at everything with such sadness, not knowing when I will ever be able to see it again. Now, I even feel excited when I see the Ala Moana Shopping Center, knowing that I still get to shop at such an awesome mall! Also, I am happy to still be able to swim with turtles and eat the best pineapples in the world.

This is my city. This is my paradise.

Taken from my hike to the top of Diamond Head.

Oh, the little things...

A Glimpse of Life as of Late via Instagram

I apologize for the lack of posts lately, but I have been painfully busy with finals and work. I promise to provide a more content-stocked post later on. For now, I hope that these Instagram shots will suffice in providing you with an idea of what I have been up to lately. Hopefully this first photo will excuse me from being post quiet lately. 

Finals pretty much owned my soul, and I spent several nights researching into the early morning before dragging myself out of bed to get to work or class.

As soon as finals were over, I headed straight to the beach with my friends, which is where I have been spending most of my time. 

Waikiki Beach is about a ten-minute walk from my apartment. I am so blessed to be able to live in such a beautiful and peaceful place.

I've been going to Waimea Bay on the North Shore quite a bit, and I absolutely love it out there. This is a shot of the bay from the highway.

This is the giant rock that everyone always jumps off of. I definitely jumped off of it. Twice. It was life changing. 

Nothing beats watching a sunset in Hawai'i. It's probably one of the most breathtaking experiences of my life.

So there you have it, a glimpse of my life lately from the daunting effects of finals to the beautiful beaches of Oahu. I have been feeling extremely happy lately ever since finals ended. I'm excited to get back into the blogging groove again, and I promise to post more often. I have quite a few posts lined up in the near future so stay tuned! In the mean time, I will leave you with some thoughts that I jotted down in response to spending a beautiful day at the beach with my boyfriend.

"Lying on the beach hand in hand, 

The sun warms our bodies in the sand. 

The ocean's waves crashing before us, 

Palm trees swaying right behind us. 

We should always be this happy."

The True Meaning of Living in Paradise

My friend just updated her facebook status, and it was one of those moments when you wished facebook had a "Love" button, because I felt that it perfectly described the beauty of being young and living in Hawai'i:

"When your nicest things are broken, drink a bottle of dry red, and go to the beach.. 'cause in paradise, you dont need nice things. You just need a few more dresses, and to lay in some sand."

Beautiful right?
Then a car rolled up in my apartment complex with its engine revving, blasting this song:

Ahhh....paradise. :)

A Recap and a Thanks

Since I've moved here, I feel like my top three priorities have become: school, work, and blogging. I think I'm OK with that. Before the move, I was highly involved in my college and community. That, along with school and three jobs was definitely overwhelming to say the least. I am glad for a much slower pace of living out here, where I can do what I want without any worry about a social timeline or other people.

Anyway, this is just a quick update to say thank you to everyone who participated in the 11:11 Tagging Party. I had a lot of fun reading all of your answers, and I see that I still have a couple more to read up on, and I'm pretty stoked to get to them! This week's update will be a brief one followed with pictures of last night's adventure. It was midterm week, and today was my last test, and my first day off from work all week. So, you could imagine the amount of crazy that my life has been for the past couple of days. Well, not necessarily my life, but more like my mind.

Which has always been rather crazy regardless.

Not sure if this validates my craziness, but I would like to introduce you to my new friend, Mr. Birdie. He comes and sun tans in front of my work every day, and the birds over here are so carefree, that they don't fly away when you approach them. Snow White better watch out before I swoop in and steal all her friends.

Moving on, after work last night, I went out to dinner with some friends. My friend's uncle owns the Kobe Steakhouse down in Waikiki, so we decided to treat ourselves to a delicious, discounted dinner. For those of you who haven't eaten at Kobe Japanese Steakhouse, I suggest you go. It's a lot like Benihana's, only the atmosphere is more private. At the Honolulu location, there are several sections of the restaurant that are spread out on different floors. This was not my first time going there to eat, and it definitely won't be my last. It went as follows:

I believe the hunger got to our heads, as we were not sure what to do with our chopsticks in the absence of food. Please note the tiny paper hats.

The onion volcano is always my favorite part of the chef show.

I don't normally eat red meat, as it does some pretty funky stuff to my stomach, but I wasn't about to turn down quality steak...at a steakhouse for crying out loud. That's like going to the gym, and not wanting to work out. It's like, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING THEN?? GET OUTTA HERE!!"

I had a mojito (on the eve of my midterm, I know), and some dessert wine to go with my ice cream. It was all very delicious.

Apparently, some of us couldn't control our drinks, as it turns out we got so drunk we ended up with each other's faces. I know, I get wild sometimes.

So there you have it, a recap of my week so far. Now it's time for me to get reading with those bloggie boos of yours. I hope you all have a great weekend, and for those of you who just finished midterms as well, party safe!

Life as I Know It

With finals looming in the horizon, it is only natural that I suddenly develop a knack to think of everything else except for what I need to study for. Like most college students, procrastination is a mastered talent that holds detrimental consequences to my academic career if I indulge in too much of it. Anyway, I have done a lot of day dreaming ever since I locked myself away in study mode, and one of the things I often catch myself doing is looking through all the snapshots I've taken on my BlackBerry since I moved here. I have decided to share these photos with you in hopes of providing a glimpse into my new life.

Living in Hawai'i entails:

Nasty Bug Bites

 This is a shot of my ankle in an extremely swollen state as the result of a horrible bug bite.

I don't want to know what happened there suffice it to say that it healed rather quickly.

Chopping Off the Mane

I cut off over ten inches of hair due to the unbearable heat, and donated the hair to Locks of Love.

 The result has been so much easier to manage!

L&L Hawaiian BBQ inside of Walmart Instead of McDonald's

Huh????

Intruders in Our Home

 Some were cute...

Others not so much.

Sharing the Road with Wildlife

I spotted him as I was rushing to catch the bus to work.

Friendly Strays

This guy comes around to our apartment every once in a while, and he always likes to play with my boyfriend!

Ballsy Birds

He was going to stop at nothing to get to my vegan enchiladas!

Beautiful Beaches

 Waikiki Beach: a short walk from our home.

 The sand here is unbelievably soft!

Hanging out at Kaneohe Bay: the location where Pirates of the Caribbean 4 was filmed. No big.

Beautiful Storms

Daily Rainbows

It's been almost four months since I moved out here, and life has definitely been interesting to say the least. There have been hard times, and I've had my fair share of uncomfortable moments, but for the most part, I have truly enjoyed this entire experience. I can't wait for what's in store. :) How's everyone doing with finals? I hope you aren't killing yourselves over the stress. For those of you who do not have finals to worry about, I hope you have been enjoying your holiday season. :)

Stay tuned for my next post which will be the last installment of The Virtue Vows. This week, I have been focusing on Temperance, and I can't wait to fill you in on my endeavors!

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Symphonies of the City

A baby is screaming and the police sirens are blaring. 


Somewhere downstairs, a girl yells, "Get the FUCK out you FUCKING asshole!"


A door slams, and a man yells incoherently. Another girl (or perhaps the same one) begs loudly, "Stop it, stop it right now! I said STOP IT!!!"


An engine roars, and with the screech of some tires, the yelling stops. 


The baby continues to cry, and the sirens continue to go off.

~

The sounds in my neighborhood paint a very colorful picture of the life around me. As I'm typing, an ambulance is wailing down the streets, and if I'm lucky, they might stop long enough to unmask the sound of the baby's cries that seemingly last all day and all night.

I wonder where its mother is.

Just across the main street and the canal, lies Waikiki Beach. A tourist location that consists of music bumping in the background, glasses clinking, and the occasional laughter erupting nearby. The tourists engage in the hustle and bustle of merriment and joy that goes on every night, completely unaware of the dysfunctional reality outside of their vacation oasis.

This isn't suburban Orange County anymore. Life actually continues past 9pm out here, and people aren't afraid to take their issues to the streets. I've realized that there's no point in holding on to inhibitions out here, because events that are normally classified as crazy and outrageous are a common occurrence in the city. No need to worry about people talking about how weird you are, because they've probably seen someone or something a lot weirder, and they've probably already seen it several times that day already. It very much feels like I moved to Los Angeles, but with a different vibe that I still can't quite put my finger on. I'll elaborate on that once I can truly identify the atmosphere.

Honolulu isn't all bad. I guess the dysfunction is a required feature when it comes to the whole package of living in an urban city. Sleeping has been coming much more easily lately, so I guess that means I'm adjusting to the chaos.

I promise I'll try to update more frequently. I understand that my blogging status has plummeted these past few weeks, and in all honesty, I simply haven't been focussed enough to sit down and find just one thing to write about. I think my only readers are a couple faithful followers, the occasional newcomers, and a dedicated stalker. I do believe it's time to branch out more in the blogosphere.

Nothing Like Getting Lei'd After a Beautiful and Productive Day

Ever since I landed, it has been a nonstop whirlwind of running around the city trying to locate everything we would need in order for us to finally settle down and get situated. I can't even remember what we did since I last updated this blog. Thursday and Friday have been a blur except for the fact that I do remember going to the beach on Friday, and again yesterday...and possibly again later on today. Yesterday, however, can thankfully be accounted for.

We woke up early and went to buy our school supplies, then we went across the street to the Ala Moana Center to get a printer from the Apple Store. Let me tell you about this mall. Basically, every store you can imagine, this mall has it. Now, I come from Orange County, where South Coast Plaza and Fashion Island are just a short car ride away; so, I know a big mall when I see one. The thing that bothered me about this place was that it was flooded with tourists, which I thought was strange, because shouldn't they be spending their time at the world-famous Waikiki Beach? Upon purchasing the printer at $30.00 less then what I originally bought it for in Orange County, I realized what the big deal was. The taxes in Hawaii are much less, and people come here from all over the world (especially Japan apparently seeing as it's officially the start of their vacation season over there) to stock up on all the name brands without the big tax hits.

Anyway, after we dropped the printer off at our apartment, we walked to campus to pick up our textbooks, and while we were there, we got notice that our desk had arrived at the nearest FedEx. So, off we went to pick that baby up. After doing all that, we felt that we deserved a little treat, so we walked around the corner to the Shave Ice joint that everyone was raving about to give it a try. Here are some pictures of our heavenly and delicious adventure.

This place has 4.5 stars with over 750 reviews on Yelp. Best thing about it? 
It's about a two minute walk from our apartment. :)

My boyfriend had the small cup of Cherry and Blue Hawaiian.

I had Pineapple, Passion Fruit, Guava, and Orange topped with sweet condensed milk.

Shave ice is unlike anything I've ever had before. My friends were right; it's absolutely delicious, and it really does just melt in your mouth! It's not like a snow cone where you have to deal with chewing the ice, it really just feels like yummy snowflakes melting on your tongue. If you ever get the chance to visit Honolulu, I definitely recommend Waiola Shave Ice. You will not regret it. :)

After we got our shave ice, we continued on our short walk to the beach where we swam in the amazing water and napped on the white sand.

Here are a couple pictures of the long canal that separates the beach from the city in which I live. It's so pretty, and I plan to go kayaking down it one day. 

This is a view of the left side of the canal which is where the city is. Where I live. :)

And to your right, ladies and gentlemen, are the hotels and the beautiful Waikiki Beach.

And what a beautiful beach it really is. :)

If you can't already tell, I absolutely love it here. After the beach, we went to buy some tools to put together the desk. More on the adventures of that later. On our way home, we stopped by the local key maker who was a cute little old man who told us funny stories while we waited for our extra keys to be made. Upon leaving, he told me to lean closer to him and close my eyes. That was when I got lei'd. Everyone here is so adorable and friendly. I think I made a good choice in deciding to move here. :)