December in Hawaii

Well its December 5th and 80 something degrees outside, what to do? Go to Waikiki of course! We are still not quite used to it being warm all the time here, not that I am complaining, its just a little weird. We went to Waikiki to see if they had decorated. There wasn’t much and it sure still didn’t feel like Christmas time. Let me show you…

Photo Shoot

So our friends just had an adorable baby girl named Claira. They wanted some baby announcement pictures and they had seen some of my old photography photos and asked me to do them. I was very flattered but a little nervous because I had never done baby pictures before. Well here’s how they turned out…

Labor Day Weekend

Well for Labor Day weekend, Stephen's family all came to visit. It was a crazy weekend but we had lots of fun. They stayed at the Hale Koa so we spent time relaxing there. We also went to sharks cove, north shore and pearl harbor. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

Jazz for Jesus

We have been attending a Presbyterian church called Trinity Church since we moved to Hawaii. We have a great group of Christian friends that we met there and have Bible study with on Sunday nights. We like the church and the pastor but the worship music is lacking a bit. The songs that are done are usually overplayed worship songs from the 90s that lack much depth. Stephen decided about a month or so ago to join the worship band to see if he could influence the quality of the music. Since he volunteered, he has played the drums, bongos and the sax. I didn’t even know he could play the drums! The last two Sunday’s he has done the special music with a guy in our church who has written the songs and Stephen just “jams” to it. Here are the 3 videos I was able to get from my cell phone of the song he did last week. You can’t really see him (I was sitting in the very back because I was on call that week) and you’ll need to turn the volume up all the way to hear him too. But he sounded great and I am so proud of him! (I call it "Jazz for Jesus" because that is what the woman sitting behind me in churh said when Stephen was playing :o)

Polo

Well I have discovered that the awesome game of polo is in existence in Oahu. There is a great field right along the beach. We decided to get some friends from church together and go to the last game of the season. We drove out there with the two dogs in the back of the truck and parked on the edge of the field just a few yards from the beach. It is certainly interesting experience. There are some people there who are in fancy dresses and big hats and then there are people BBQing out of the back of their truck with shirt off and beer in hand. If you have never watched polo I would highly suggest it. There is nothing like watching horses gallop down a 300 yard field with riders with croquet like sticks hitting a soft ball size ball. Unfortunately I gave Stephen the task of taking pictures during the game in which we ended up with not a single picture of the actual game. Silly boy :o) Here are some of the pictures we did get. Mostly of the dogs playing on the beach at half time. Lilo loves to fetch her ball in the water. Willow is still not too sure about the water but loves to play the sand (you'll see what I mean when you see the last picture).

Best Buds

Lilo and Willow are doing great together! They play all the time and chase each other back and forth across the yard. Willow chews on Lilo's leg while Lilo chews on Willow's head. It's fun to watch. Here are some fun pictures of the two of them.

Meet Willow

Yes, yes, I know, ANOTHER pet! I promise that it’s the last one. Now we have a complete pack, 2 dogs and 2 cats. With me starting work this week, Stephen and I decided to get a second dog to keep Lilo company. We found a place called Pawprints Rescue and they had a puppy that they thought would work well with Lilo. It happened to work out that they brought her over for me and Lilo to meet on our birthday. She is sooo cute but was really shy and just hid under the table. Lilo was more interested in the lady that brought the puppy than the puppy. The lady said that she had found Willow in a parking lot when she was really little and she had Parvo.

She is probably a hound mix and about 4 months old. She is 17 pounds and will probably be a medium/large size and she has really long legs. She spent the first few hours with us hiding under the table. Then she got curious and wanted to explore outside so her and Lilo went outside together. As soon as they got out there they started playing! It was so cute. They were chasing after each other and jumping on each other and Bagheera and Giselle were watching them from the window. After that she was less shy. Lilo was a little possessive of her toys at first but now she is getting better at sharing. Bagheera has pretty much ignored her so far. Giselle surprised me by going right up to her and playing, they actually look a lot alike with their coloring.

So as for the name, none of the Disney girl names seemed fit her. But then, when I was looking at a list of Disney character names I saw “Grandma Willow” from Pocahontas and Willow fit her so well! So I got a puppy for my birthday and Lilo got a little sister.

Lilo Turns One!

Well its Lilo’s first birthday today. (And my 23rd, yes we have the same birthday). It’s been a fun week for her. I took her to a huge pet expo in Honolulu on Saturday and then to the dog park. She didn’t really like the dog park, the Chihuahua puppies scared her (no I am not kidding, they were the size of her foot and she was afraid). I took her to the beach and the park on Thursday and she got to do some swimming and digging in the sand. Then she got a bath, not her favorite, but she looks so pretty! Today I took her to Petco to get her favorite treat, a huge raw hide which she will probably finish by the end of the day. She’s been a great dog and I hope this is the first of many great birthdays to come!

A Job, Finally!!

Well after 5 months, 12 jobs applied for and 3 phone interviews (all for the same job) I will finally start working on the 18th. The job is as a victim advocate for the Army. The job is not a therapy job so I will be looking for a job more in my field while doing this job. The job is to provide advocate services for members of the military and family members who have been victims of domestic violence or sexual assault. I will be helping these victims get the medical, legal and counseling services they need. It will be interesting and it’s a foot in the door to work with the military. I just hope I do well at the job and am able to keep myself from being too much of a therapist. But all in all I am praising God for providing this job.

Bagheera's Back!

Well I picked up Bagheera from the airport on Saturday. He is much larger than he was when we left him. He was about 8 pounds and now he is 14 pounds which is a big deal considering he didn’t get any taller or longer, just wider! He is quite the fat cat now. He seemed pretty uncertain when I first brought him home. I don’t think he remembers me. I introduced him to Lilo first. I am pretty sure they remembered each other. Lilo got really excited and Baggy didn’t hiss or anything. So then I decided to introduce Giselle, which if you remember from a previous blog I got her to be Baggy's girlfriend. He flipped out! She was purring but he immediately hissed and tried to attack her and she ran and hid under the dresser. He was so mad! That was the whole first day, him stalking her and attacking any chance he got. Now they are better. I don’t think Bagheera likes Giselle yet but he tolerates her and even plays sometimes. Giselle on the other hand seems to really like Bagheera. They spend a lot of the day fighting for their favorite spot which is the bench by the window that Bagheera is on in the picture. I hope someday they will learn to share it.

Lilo's Haircut

So Lilo got a haircut today. When I picked her up I laughed out loud. She looks so different and so much like a poodle now. I miss all her fluff but I am sure she feels much better now.

Before and After

Lilo's Back!

So Lilo came back last week after 4 months of being with Stephen's mom waiting out her quarantine. The whole process of getting her to Hawaii was a lot of work and very expensive. But we are soo happy to have her back. Stephen's mom had told us that she was bigger but nothing could have prepared us for how big and fluffy she is now! We were both shocked when we first saw her. I measured her hair and it is 5 inches long! She is just one big afro. She is getting a haircut soon so that she won’t be so hot. We took her to the beach for the first time and she went right into to the water and loved it! Giselle wasn't to friendly with Lilo at first but now they are getting along better. Bagheera is coming this weekend so we'll see what kind of drama will happen then.

Vintemporary

So, because I have been without a job for almost 3 months now, and because I am bored to death at home, I have started a new business venture. I have started to get into sewing. It started with pillows for our house, then curtains and now, fabric bracelets and rings. I would love to make dresses and purses, but I have no clue how to do that, or how to follow a pattern. I don't know where the idea came from, but I started making these bracelets and I thought they were pretty cute. So I sent one to my best friend Anna to see what she thought. She texted me a few days later saying that a hip Fossil employee commented on her bracelet and that that was a sure sign of my success. So I have posted my creations on Etsy (my new obsession, thanks Michelle) and now I just have to wait and see if anyone else likes them. You can check them out for yourself at Vintemporary.esty.com

Here are a couple examples of my work.

Our House

So we have found a house to rent. We moved in a few weeks ago. We love it. Its a beautiful house with a great view and in a great location. Since we've moved in I have been painting all day everyday. The owners are apparently a big fan of samon since every wall, door, closet and trim was some shade of that color. It was a lot of work but it was worth it. Here are some pictures.

Meet Giselle

We have a new addition to the wolfepack. Giselle is our new 3-4 month (?) old kitten. The decision to get her came from the fact that because we live on a busy street we won’t be able to let Bagheera outside. I didn’t want him to be bored and lonely when we are at work all day so I decided that he needed a girlfriend (a purely platonic relation though, due to certain, uh, alterations). So I found a cat rescue organization that had some kittens and we went a week ago to check it out. The whole drive there Stephen kept saying “we don’t need another cat”, “one cat is enough” etc. I knew he would change his mind as soon as we got there, I was right. This “organization” was basically a woman who turned her backyard into a big cat house. She had over 300 cats! It was very interesting. She didn’t have very many kittens, not the right time of year, but she had a couple of litters. The first kittens we looked at was Giselle’s litter, which what 2 boys and her. Stephen liked the boys because they were really playful but Giselle (who was named Gumbo at the time) was really sweet and purred nonstop. We looked around some more but came back to her. Stephen almost talked me into getting 2 cats (this from the boy who said he didn’t want any more cats) but we decided on just one. We of course had to come up with another Disney name for our new baby. We decided on Giselle which is the princess’s name on Enchanted because such a pretty girl needed a pretty name. She is sweet and playful (she is currently sleeping on my lap). She purrs constantly. She sleeps with us at night, usually next to Stephen. She also has a really cute meow. It’s like a raspy old lady meow. Another interesting fact about her is that she was rescued from the humane society who were going to put her to sleep without even putting her up for adoption (I guess the humane society here isn't so humane). Well Bagheera gets here in a month so hopefully he likes her. Ok, now I am turning into one of those crazy pet owners who talks about her pets all the time and think people are going to interested. So, let me end with some sanity.

Hawaii: month 1

Well we've been in Hawaii for about a month now. Things haven't been going as planned, as usual. We planned on renting when we first got here. We found a house that we loved but when we called the realtor she said that the owner had just decided to put it on the market to sell. We were heartbroken. So we decided to see what it would take to buy. So we have gotten all prepared to buy a house, except for one thing, I dont have a job. I have applied to about 12 places and have only had one interview, which I am still waiting to hear back from. So now we have been stuck in the on post Inn (which isnt bad except for the fact that we only have a microwave, too much easy mac...). If I get this job we have a house set up to buy, its actually owned by a person we met in church. Its a great 3 bedroom house with a big backyard (big for hawaii). If I dont get this job we may have to go back to the original plan.

We have been having some fun. We went hiking, went to a luau, went to the north shore, Waikiki, Honolulu and more. It is beautiful here and of course the weather is wonderful. We really miss our animals though.

Stephen is doing really well. Its finally seems like he is really in the Army. He is a platoon leader of a recon platoon. He is really enjoying it.

Well thats all for now. Aloha!