I intended to be much more active on this blog to this point, but life happens, and that’s okay.  Here’s my long catch up post!

What we’ve been up to…

David and I took our first trip back to the Bay Area (work for me and family/unwind time for David) at the end of April. It was nice to spend time with family and friends and appreciate the differences between our two homes. Cali weather is so high maintenance though…what the hell do people pack when they come to CA? It was 66 one day and 90 the next….is that why us Californians tend to be so indecisive?!

Two weeks in Cali for me and then William and I flew back to Honolulu with my pups! They are nice and settled in now and are enjoying the HI life! Josh arrived a few days later to surprised David for his 24th birthday…we had such a great time! We visited the Byodo-In temple and hand fed birds and koi, we fished, we finished the world’s largest maze in 43 minutes (the world record is under 10 minutes), we went sailing in the Kaneohe Bay on a Hobie catamaran where the guys were able to play catch standing in the middle of the bay on the sandbar with the Ko’olau mountain range as the backdrop. (Take a moment to Google image search “Kaneohe Bay sandbar” for some amazing imagery). We found a somewhat hidden beach that we’ve renamed “Ninja Beach” due to it’s location and lack of beach goers. Since I took some time off as a quarter-end come down, I played tour guide to Willy and Josh – we kayaked the Anahulu canal in Haleiwa (one of my favorite things to do on the island!!), stopped by Ted’s Bakery for some treats, and checked out Turtle Bay resort where the guys enjoyed the fairly strong and delicioso pineapple martini at Roy’s beach front bar. We met up with my cousins for some beach time and had a private star gazing at one of the Ko Olina lagoons.

It was so nice to have the guys with us for David’s birthday as well as to share the joy and beauty that Hawaii has to offer. Also major shout out to William for accompanying me and my pups home. We all miss you!

Next on our list was a week with one of my best friends, Julian.

Julian and I met over 10 years ago through an old coworker. We instantly hit it off and he has been one of my dearest friends ever since. I feel so lucky to be able to spend quality time in Hawaii with my loved ones, and this was no exception!! We had such great conversations about life, confidence, motivation, balance, people, expectations, you name it. It feels so good to just breathe and talk life out with the people closest to you. Julian was having a bit of free floating anxiety when he arrived and we were able to pin point that it was due to the things we all experience: every. day. life. Life demands so much of us…there’s a schedule, people to see, bills to pay, progress to make. When is it enough? The answer to all of these challenges and more are within ourselves. We really only have three people to whom we’re held truly responsible: Me, Myself, and I. Julian’s trip to Hawaii did more than I was expecting just by giving him a little room to breathe. It’s amazing how much energy you can feel when you just take a moment (or a week) to press pause and actually have time to think about your life goals and drivers and put it all into perspective. I wont share the details of what Julian is working on, but he has big things on the horizon and I am so freaking excited to watch his journey.

Julian’s visit only added fuel to my fire for life progress. To be continued. 🙂

It’s been interesting packing for our trip to California. Oh, California how high maintenance you are with your unpredictable weather! We realized almost immediately we were going to need to bring a bit more than we were anticipating due to various events and work, but primarily due to the weather! It’ll be about 15-20 degrees cooler on average than it has been here in Hawaii, so it’ll be interesting to see how we feel when we’re there. No flip flops and bikinis for two weeks, what am I going to do?! 🙂

We’re very excited to head back and see our friends and family. We will kick off our trip with a wedding celebration in the Monterey Bay area with David’s family, Stacey will give my poor neglected hair some TLC, David can catch up with his friends and Cali coworkers, puppies will get ready for their move, I’ll close out another quarter-end with Callidus, shop Leti’s LLR boutique, and hopefully catch up with as many of you as possible!!

Yesterday my cousins Jason and Lizel came over and we spent the late afternoon fishing and showing them around our beautiful neighborhood. We’re trying to convince them to come be our neighbors! 🙂 Their pup Sylvester was my co-worker for the last bit of work and having him here made David and I so excited for my puppies to arrive! There’s just something about a dog’s spirit in a home that makes it complete for us. Sylvester is such an adorable little guy and he’s so energetic and happy. He’s a small black Yorkie and looks like a stuffed animal. I have to seriously try to not put his little paws in my mouth…he’s just too cute. Yeah…I’m weird.

Our flight gets in later this evening so we will be heading to the airport shortly! Aloha!

Hello out there! I have been neglecting this blog, but the good news is that productivity in living is high!!

Since my last post we have fully moved into our ridiculously awesome home and are comfortably settled in. We listen to the birds  and the trade winds blowing through the palms every morning. We have been busy working, decorating, and hosting my parents for my Dad’s 60th birthday. We toured Disney’s Aulani and deepened our love for all things Disney, we’ve caught 3 fish, so we’re basically pros now, we met up with our good friend Marie and some of her awesome buddies, and I personally have eaten about 2 dozen Hawaiian shortbread cookies. Don’t worry, they’re part of the diet plan. 🙂

Seriously though, David and I are going to be the next big pro fisherpeople in Hawaii…beware fish! 😉 When my parents were here my Dad taught David some knot tying and techniques for shore fishing, and he’s been wanting to get back out there every chance we get. It’s been really peaceful and meditative to fish down the street from our house, and was such a great experience when adding friends to the mix. Activities with friends in Hawaii > activities with friends in California….everything you do here can be done in flip flops and a bikini/swim trunks. Thank you weather Gods. Anyhow, I’m really looking forward to improving our knowledge and skills (and grocery bill), and we have the perfect little fishing spot down the street, where the fish are always biting!

We’re flying back to California this Friday where I will be for 2 weeks, David for 1 week, and when we return we will have the missing piece of my heart with us, my pups!! I can’t wait to have Miley and Bella at home with us. A home just isn’t complete without dogs. David’s cousin William will also be flying back with us and we’re so excited to share our island lifestyle with him!

I have been having lots of random thoughts about lifestyle, people, business and culture. There’s a mental storm brewing and I’m just kind of waiting to see what shakes out. I welcome it!

Anyone who wants to catch up, I will be in Cali from the 21st-6th and David from the 21st-30th. Feel free to reach out to us if you’d like to grab a Fudd’s burger and talk story.

Drop us a comment to let us know you’re out there! Not sure if anyone reads this blog, but my intention is to really get on it when we get back from California, Things are finally starting to slow down now that we are settled and getting into the groove of island living!

Good morning everyone! Since my last post a lot has happened. David and I broke our lease, house hunted, killed 100 bugs, fell in love with an amazing community within Ko’Olina, applied for a new house within said community, signed a new lease, ate 20 poke bowls, got a sun burn, ran out of coffee and peanut butter, realized once again how lucky we are to have one another, started shopping for a golf cart and beach cruisers, and lost a few pounds. I’d call it a successful week.

You know the sayings “everything happens for a reason,” or “the silver lining…” or “what’s meant to be will be”….well yeah, I agree with all of that (and thank you Mommy for being my mommy and being the best one in the whole wide world…I miss you). We can’t play God but we have to have faith that everything will work out because we all know that it always does. This is not to say David and I are completely out of the woods on the issues we’ve been facing with our original home…we are now going through every single preventative measure to make sure we don’t take any lovely little buggies to our new house, but we are feeling SO MUCH RELIEF. Not just to be out of a neighborhood we couldn’t fall in love with, or away from the bug issues, but because we truly feel that this was all part of a greater plan to help us find the perfect home and community.

WE ARE SO EXCITED YOU GUYS!

A bit about where we’ve moved: Ko’Olina…in Hawaiian this means place of joy. How fitting! Our new home is a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath, 1264sf, plus a nice 2 car garage, a yard with a patio, space for puppies, and amazing palm trees which David cannot get over. The landscaping leading to our front door is absolutely gorgeous (photos to come). The community is clean, safe and inviting. Ko’Olina is a golf and resort community. Hence the obvious need for a golf cart and beach cruisers to ride around to the 5 LAGOONS just down the street from us. There’s some nice restaurants, a marina to take excursions from, the Paradise Cove luau is right down the street. The Disney Aulani is about a mile down. I can’t contain my excitement…just want to be there already! We will either finish moving today or tomorrow and then it’s about furniture placement, organizing, and just settling in to finally just be.

I can’t wait to host our guests! We definitely upgraded in part for you guys!

We will post some photos shortly once we get a bit settled. Videos also to come! 🙂

We finally moved into our place last Wednesday…and back out yesterday. >_< We were the lucky recipients of a zoo of bugs in our home. The good news is that it’s being taken care of, and I feel lucky to have such amazing people working for the community we’ve chosen to call home. We moved back into the corporate suite here and will most likely be here for 3 weeks. The silver lining to this is that we don’t have to pay for any utilities for the next 3 weeks, so that’s nice. Free AC, woohoo!

The property management company has to go through a process to clear our home of the many residents it has over the next 3 weeks and  do weekly cleaning so when we move back in we’re totally comfortable. We will still have access to go in and out whenever we want, stay there, etc., but we prefer to stay at the suite and just head to the house to get things we may need, build furniture, etc., until the dust settles. #paradiseproblems

Here’s a sneak peak of the house featuring Kunu, our Hawaiian sea turtle…

Can’t wait to get fully moved in and show you all the place!!
***

We have been truly enjoying ourselves in Hawaii. Saturday night we treated ourselves to a yummy dinner at Monkeypod in Ko’Olina. We got a great table upstairs on the big outdoor covered patio and had a great spot for listening to the live music coming from down below. Sunday we woke up and hung out for a while before heading over to Wet n Wild water park. We rode 5 tandem slides, took a loop around the lazy river, and got tossed around a bit in the wave pool. Our good friends Lori & Marie gave us season passes, so we will be spending a decent amount of them there as it’s just a few miles from our house! We love it!

Aloha family and friends! We have officially been here for two weeks. I had planned on blogging our way through it, but I’ll get you all up to speed. Apologies ahead for the long post.

David and I spent our last night in California at each of our parents’ houses. It was kind of cool to sleep in the bedroom that was mine when we first moved from San Leandro to Livermore when I was in 3rd grade. Since we had taken our cars to Matson for shipping that morning, we had no vehicles. I had my mom drop me off at the gym for a bit and then spent the evening cramming the last of my belongings into three large suitcases, watched the Warriors game (wasn’t pretty – a nasty loss to the Nuggets, come on guys), and cuddled with my puppies as much as I could.

In the morning, my parents and I met David with his Dad and cousin William at the Oakland airport. We said our last goodbyes and were on our way. We rented out a little condo on the golf course over at Turtle Bay on the north shore in Kahuku, just a few miles from the house I lived in when I was 5. We had a pretty low key first night and the next morning treated ourselves to a seaside couples massage, which was so amazing and much needed.

We spent the rest of our first week relaxing, skimming the internet for furniture, walking the Turtle Bay trails (where we saw Hawaii Five-0 being filmed throughout our stay), and trying our hardest to not give in to all of the delicious temptation the North Shore of Oahu has to offer. We did however fit David’s first Hawaiian shave ice into our macros one day via Matsumoto’s. We opted for the sugar free flavors so we could afford the ice cream and adzuki beans! Worth it! We also went to our first live concert, which was at Surfer the Bar, to see Spawnbreezie. We have had so many reminders that we aren’t in the Bay Area anymore, and this concert is probably one of the biggest ones. We went a little after the doors opened, around 8:30, with the concert starting at 9. We ended up standing against the bar counter, right next to the stage, and had an incredible close-up view of the entire show. Events here are just not crowded the way we’re used to, and people aren’t uptight and fighting for space, to be first in line, to cut you off. It’s such a healthier environment, and my stress levels are almost non-existent. It’s how life should be!

We are super lucky that we actually have family here! My cousins moved to Oahu on January 11th, so we have been able to hang out with them and enjoy some delicious meals, gaze at the ocean, bond with their adorable puppy Sylvester, and just kind of exist in this incredible place. We all felt very drawn to Hawaii, and it feels right that we’re all here together! Here’s a shot from our first meet up. We got lunch at Bogart’s in the Diamond Head district, then took it to the beach to enjoy. Then we caught the last of the day’s sun at Kaimana Beach where we watched Sylvester make new friends, and talked about life and the decisions we’ve made that have led us to where we are today. I really enjoy spending time with my cousins, comparing notes, and feeling inspired by their story. We had a different approach to getting here, but share the same goal of living out our dreams while inspiring the ones we love to do the same. We’re all so excited to have this incredible island as our playground. Lizel and I have a date the next time there’s a big storm to go early morning shell hunting! Hawaii is already starting to feel like home for us.

About a week ago we moved from our North Shore condo to our temporary townhouse in Kapolei (pronounced COP-O-LAY as I stand corrected by the nail technician who did my first mani in Hawaii…”that’s how they know where you’re from, how you talk.”). So far we are loving this town – it feels new and upcoming, with all of the comforts of home – hello Target. The touristy areas of Kapolei are a bit removed from our neighborhood, but still close enough to where pristine and manicured beaches, live ocean side music, and a fruity cocktail on the beach are within our reach. Click here to see some of the more popular tourist attractions in our area (which we will definitely be enjoying). We have already spent a few afternoons lounging at the Ko’Olina lagoons. They’re man made lagoon beaches which are just ridiculously picturesque and family friendly. David has questioned whether or not the grass is real at these beaches because it just looks too perfect. Thank you tourism industry for providing us with such a gorgeous playground at our fingertips!

We have spent our time since arriving in Kapolei shopping for furniture and everything we need to make our house a home. We’re scheduled to move into our new place on March 8th, but we are also looking into a few other options in our community, so note: to those of you who already have our address…our address may be changing. The community we are renting from manages so many units. Once we got here we realized just how many options we have. We will update by the end of the week to either confirm or revise our home address. We like to live life on the edge, so hang loose and we will update you as soon as we can! 🙂

I woke up this morning thinking, “in a week from now…” and it hasn’t stopped. In a week from now, I will go to the Oakland airport with my parents to meet David and his parents for our final goodbyes (for now). In a week from now I will be taking off for a completely new life. In a week from now I will be the lucky lady who gets to make a house a home with one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. In a week from right now, I will be landing in Honolulu. Hey, in a week from now it’s Valentine’s Day, so guys, gals, celebrate the people you love.

The cold and rainy weather in the Bay has had me thinking so much about what it is we’re actually in for. We can wear shorts and flip flops every day. I don’t have to do my hair and makeup, no hectic mornings, no commute, no more late nights at the office. On the flip side, I can’t wear cozy socks, I have no reason to get dressed up and ready every day, and my days will be starting a little earlier as I will still work California hours. All in all, I am so ready for the many changes that await us. I’ve been scouring Pinterest for home design inspo, and I am literally burning up for a good DIY project. It’s been too long!!!

We’ve made a ton of progress in the last few weeks…packing up our odds and ends, (and Nikes), and getting them ready to sail across the ocean to meet us on the other side. We found a reasonable ocean freighter after finding that FedEx, UPS, and USPS want a human organ to ship one 20 pound box to Hawaii. David and his Pops are dropping off the goods in San Leandro on Friday. Our cars are being shipping via Matson on Monday, and then it’s just us, our bags, lots of hugs and goodbyes, and the adventure that awaits.

Thanks again everyone for being so inspiring and supportive in this amazing part of our lives. This is the second time in my life I can say my dreams are coming true…second only to meeting David and the ridiculous blessing he has been in my life.

Photo cred: Leticia R. (aka the newest LuLaRoe consultant to hit the block! Best wishes on your new journey as well gorgeous Mama!!)

Today is an important and special day! I woke up early and spent the morning visiting with my wonderful housemates. Lori, Marina and puppers Bleu have been kind enough to share their home with me over the past 4 months and have been a huge contributing factor in making our move to Oahu successful. Marie was the mastermind behind the idea of me staying here and she lives in the room next door. These special ladies have been in my life for over a decade and it’s been nice to spend more time around them and to get to know Lori and Marina better. I can’t wait until they come to Oahu and we can return the hospitality, collect shells, and hell, maybe even do some yoga.

My parents and sister Samantha are hosting an event today at my parent’s house to bring everyone in our lives together for a proper send off. David and I are so excited for our families to meet for the first time, and to be surrounded by so many people that have had an influence and shared memories in our lives. I have been putting so much of my mental energy and time into work in the last month that it will be a nice break to completely shift focus and just be drowned in love and well wishes. Though Oahu is known as the gathering place, today that place is Mom & Dad’s house. It means so much to David and I to have our families join hands and get to know the people who we’re so proud to say raised us.

I have made so much progress in downsizing my wardrobe, so I am starting to feel like I’m coming up for air and can actually stuff the rest of my life in California into a few pieces of luggage. We’ll be shipping some last little boxes of random belongings, but for the most part, we’re ready!

Update: sick car was the first non-convertible BMW to say it’s top was down. Luckily it’s all better now, but we had the dealer highly confused. Also, David is now a certified Bio-Mechanics specialist, so if your shanikwazoid is out of whack, you now know the guy to talk to.

Happy weekend! So much to do, so little time! How exciting! I thrive under pressure…life deadlines make your to-do list so real. I’m feeling the excitement and good anxiety more each day. With only 3 weekends between us and the move to Oahu, David and I are narrowing our focus on what needs to get done, while keeping our work and life momentum going full speed ahead.

After the heavy rains of a few weeks ago (where my car was totally submerged in water in the work parking lot), my car thinks it’s a convertible with it’s top down. I keep trying to tell it to relax, but it just tells me to put my seat belt on, and stop swerving in and out of lanes. It’s very confused. Luckily it has an appointment with the dealership this morning, which means I will have a loaner car for a while. Once I swap sick car for loaner car, it’s time to sort through the remainder of my ridiculous accumulation of clothing. Mom cleared some space in her guest room closet for me, so I will be keeping some cold weather clothes there for our return trips to Cali. Thanks Mom!!

For the last few weeks David has spent his free time working on a certification program on Bio-mechanics. Listening to the lectures he’s been watching has been interesting…who knew there was a shanikwazoid and watermelonikwafilange in my arm? Seriously though, if I didn’t know this was an accredited program, I’d think my Dad wrote it and just made up a bunch of words to mess with people. In all seriousness I’m so proud of David for continuing on his journey to become even more of a health and fitness badass. I feel pretty lucky that I have him to lean on for health and fitness questions, and regular assistance with getting out my knots and tight spots. (Thanks Kevin for the frozen ball of pain!) I need to pause to give a quick shout out to my amazing trainer Carléna Henderson! What a passionate wealth of knowledge she is – I will miss her so much! If you are ever looking for a coach in life, fitness, balance, well-being….she is so real, sweet, talented AND hilarious. I highly recommend knowing her!

Okay – off to downsize my wardrobe. Here’s to the weekend!

So we’re actually doing this: packing up our belongings and moving 2,400+ miles across the Pacific. Away from the foggy Bay Area mornings and into the balmy Hawaiian days. No more scraping the ice off of windshields; tsunami warnings replace the threat of an earthquake. Where we’re going the weather is consistent year round. Highs in the 80’s, lows in the 70’s. A little rain some days, a little more on others. One of the things I love about Hawaii is that the seasons are so apparent in the ocean. With calm waters to the north in the summer, shifting to the south in the winter.

but let’s rewind the beat…

It seems like not so long ago the thought of moving to Hawaii felt like a pipe dream. I have been saying ‘I want to move to Hawaii’ for over 10 years. I went on a solo trip to Maui back in late August of 2015 to do some due diligence on a small accounting practice that was for sale. I went thinking, okay, this could be it. This could be my ticket to the life I have been dreaming of. When I got there I met with the business owners – a nice older couple from California. They ran the businesses like a well-oiled machine. The books and processes were clean, the clients loyal. I could have taken over and easily had a life in Kihei. A dear friend met me there and we spent the weekend talking it over. For how turnkey the business was, something in my gut was saying this wasn’t the right time, and Maui? I wasn’t convinced. I also couldn’t stop thinking about how, if I bought this business and moved to Hawaii, I’d really really miss my personal trainer. Weird, right?

Turns out a few weeks later said personal trainer confesses that if I left he’d really miss me too. The rest on that is kind of history. 🙂

fast forward…

David and I first stepped foot in Honolulu together in May of 2016. We both knew that this trip stood for something more than just a tropical getaway. Hawaii makes me feel at home, and gives me a  greater sense of connection to people, the ocean, and myself. My hope was that David would see this in me, and maybe even feel it in himself too. I can’t recall when, but I remember David saying, “babe, we gotta move to Hawaii.” The slower pace, the reggae music streaming from car windows, the letting you in rather than cutting you off, the food!, the beauty and adventure, the aloha spirit won him over.

There’s been many details worked out between then and now, and I will be sure to dedicate future posts to our research and experiences, but for now here we are…27 days away from take off. What’s left? Getting rid of lots of clothes, sorting out the shipment of our smaller boxes (all of our furniture is there waiting for us), prepping and shipping our cars, and saying goodbye to our amazing and supportive family, friends, mentors, and colleagues.

We are so excited to be moving in together! We’re anxious to make our house a welcoming home and we’re blessed to have enough space to have our loved ones come stay with us and experience the island! We just signed a 15 month lease and will be living in Kapolei. Our home has 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a nice fenced yard for BBQing, and for the pups to run around. We are less than 4 miles from the beach!!  We encourage you to come visit!

Things to do in Kapolei

Our schedule for the first few weeks looks something like this:
Feb 14-21: Staying in Kahuku in a vacation rental – taking this time off of work to vibe out and enjoy the island
Feb 21 – March 7: Moving into a temporary house in Kapolei and going back to work
March 8: Moving day! Our furniture will be delivered and we will officially be home

Mahalo for hanging with me on the long post!