Did I do that?! (Think Steve Urkel)

I recently got hired to do Internal Audit for Kauai Community Federal Credit Union and I started 2 weeks ago.  I feel pretty blessed because I had been looking for random jobs since there wasn't anything in my field, and when I applied to be a Loan Counselor, they looked at my resume and said they may have another position that they could open based on my past work experience (not to mention it pays double).  Long story short, things worked out and i'm excited to be working again!

Soooo, I am considered a part of the management team with all the VPs and the President (crazy huh?) and along with that comes a really nice office with great views! 

 

To top things off, I also have one of those bank robbery buttons that is under the desk.  When I first saw it, I thought it was so cool, but now i'm rethinking that...

During my FIRST week of work, I was working at my desk and the VP of HR came by and asked if I had pushed the button.  Of course, my answer was, 'No'.  So, he said he was going to figure out what was going on.  Later on, I find out that the police showed up because of the robbery button and guess who pushed it?!  Yup, ME!!!  Embarrassing?!

One week into the job and here I am causing false alarms for a freaking bank robbery!  Now I wish I could just have the stupid thing taken off so I don't 'accidentally' push it again.  Bleh.  Guess i'll just cross my fingers that it doesn't happen again!  On the bright side, at least I know it works :P

I love my pops!

My dad decided last minute to come visit us for the weekend (since I was going to be starting my new job this past Tuesday), so we picked him up Friday night at 10:30pm.  We had already made plans to go kayaking with our friend Cliff, and luckily, he had room for one more, so we brought my dad along!

 

It was the daddios' first time ever kayaking, and my first time kayaking in the ocean!  My dad and I took one kayak and then Kai paddled a single.  Anyways, it was pretty amazing.  We headed out from this beach called Rock Quarries and paddled about a mile around this point to a secluded beach.  You can only get there by boat or kayak, so we had the whole place to ourselves. 


Thankfully it was a beautiful day, but its crazy to be in the swells.  In the pic on the right, you can barely see the tops of our heads. 

 

When we got to the beach, it was surreal!  There was a seal just resting on the beach!  And the views were beautiful from every angle!

We basically, just hung out on the beach, and then there was a small tunnel/cave thing there the ocean water goes through.  The boys said they were going to swim through, but the water looked a little crazy for me, so I had decided I wasn't going to do it.  Luckily, after the guys all went through, they reassured me I would be fine, so I did it, and I'm sooo glad I did! 

Anyways, after that, we had lunch, talked, and my dad went and got a bunch of opihi.  He ate some and said it was good, but when Kai tried it, he wasn't a fan.  I think Kai was probably right, it didn't look appetizing at all!  After a long day of relaxing, we all headed back in to paddle back.  There was a pretty crazy shore break where we were launching out on so we had to swim out and then climb onto our kayak after we passed the breaks.  BUT, me and dad did good.  We almost made it all the way back without tipping (we tipped when we were about waist deep and pretty much back).  In our defense, pretty much everyone else did too. 

That night, my pops bought stuff for dinner and then we came home, ate dinner, and watched the BYU v Utah game.  I was so tired, I fell asleep through half of the game and woke up just in time to see BYU miss a field goal (which would've tied the game).  Anyhow, we'll get them next year! 

Monday was my last day of freedom before becoming a contributing member of society again, so we were planning on doing some sightseeing in the afternoon.  We dropped Kai off in the morning and went to WalMart to get RainX wipes for my windshield and we got a flat tire!  I was so glad my dad was with me because I heard a weird sound, but had no idea what it was.  Thankfully, my dad knew so he told me to pull back into the parking spot.  He got everything out and was starting to change the flat, and then as he was taking off the lug nuts, he realized there was one with a key lock (aka, a stupid thing that is supposed to prevent people from stealing your hubcaps/tires).   Of course, with our luck, we didn't have the key, and there is no VW dealer on the island.  I called around to a few auto shops, tire shops, and auto parts stores to see if they could help, but everyone said the same thing...they didn't have the part!  After trying to figure out what we were going to do, I remembered that our neighbor has the exact same car as us, so we called and she was on her way into town, so she brought us her key.  Problem solved, right?!  Nope!  It had 13 spoke things and ours had 17!  So, I called the dealer and found out that the keys vary by vehicle.  AND even if I told them how many spoke things I had, they couldn't guarantee that it would be the right part.  Not to mention, it costs $40!  It was a nightmare!  After about 5 hours of trying to figure out how to get it off, a guy at Napa overheard me and said he would come help.  He had a bunch of tools and he finally smashed a thing over the lug nut and even though he stripped part of it, he got it out! 

Anyways, there was a bunch of other crazy stuff that happened (I got kicked off a bus after I was stranded in another city, my phone died, etc.), and I was soooo mentally drained!  Luckily, my dad was there to help me with everything!  After he got my tire fixed, he took me grocery and household goods shopping, gassed up my car, and then took us to dinner before we had to take him back to the airport to catch his flight.  Then, he took the part with him and went to a few dealerships to find the right part so he could send it to us!  Now we will be able to change our tires out and hopefully not deal with this again!  Basically, my daddio is the best!  He is cray cray sometimes, but at the end of the day, he is always there for me and is always doing whatever he can to take care of me and make my life easier!  I love him lots and am glad he got to come visit!  Can't wait to have them come again in December!

Alakai Swampee

One of the coolest hikes (in my opinion) we have done while we have lived here was the Alakai Swamp Trail.  I think it's about 3 miles each way, but you go through all kinds of terrain (i.e., forest, rain forest, swamp, etc.). For the majority of the hike they have a boardwalk that you hike on (I can't imagine having to be the person to put the boards down...it most def would've been a pain).

Here we are at the start of the official trail...i'm obviously really cool hanging from a tree (thats a joke, btw).  We hiked with some friends who are pretty much professional trail runners (ok, not really, but they are avid hikers/marathon runners, so they might as well be professionals), so of course, Kai and I were scrambling to keep up :) 

Here we are going down the stairs...they were easy going down, but coming back up was HARD!  If I were in the front, I would've stopped so many times to rest, but Lena was leading, so we powered up the whole thing!

This is the end of the hike.  The bottom picture is the view from the lookout spot, but of course, when we got there, there was tons of fog and we couldn't see a thing!  We waited for about 30 mins, but nothing cleared up, so we headed back.  Guess i'll have to cross my fingers that next time we will see the view.

 

The weather changed so much during the hike.  We hiked through swamps and it was so foggy that you couldn't see too far in front of you, and then we made it through the clouds, and the sky was super blue!

Also, did I mention Kai brought the machete my dad gave him?  I was making fun of him at first, but his excuse was that he was going to do 'trail maintenance'.  So, as we are walking, I can hear him swinging away at the overgrown branches. 

Of course, after a little coaxing, I decided to take a turn, and it was actually really fun!  I think I was actually better at using the machete than Kai...must be my Samoan side!  Haha!  (see the before and after pictures above...i'm a nerd!)

 

On the way out, we stopped at the Puu Hinahina lookout.  When we got there, there were 2 tourist guys with nice cameras on tripods who were standing there doing nothing.  Anyways, we asked if one of them would mind taking a picture of us, and they were sooo annoyed!  Seriously, they weren't even really nice, but oh well, I got my picture :)

AAAANDD, to finish off our day, we stopped at Pakalas, so Kai could surf.  While I was waiting, I got this sunset pic!  I will admit, I often miss having the hustle and bustle of LA (food, shopping, friends, etc.), but then you see these pictures and you realize how lucky we are to be here! 

Ghetto Camping!

A little while back, we were invited to go camping with some friends up in Kokee.  Although we didn't have much camping stuff, we decided one night was doable, so we packed up our ONE sleeping bag, a tarp, and the dutch oven that my parents gave us and headed up.

 

These pictures reminded me of camping in UT :)

Growing up, we always ate well when we went camping.  Since we had just gotten the dutch oven, I had to try it out!  I made a pineapple upside down cake and it actually turned out really well.  Of course, everyone we were with was shocked that I made a cake over the fire, but they loved it and it was gone in no time!

 

Did I mention that we only had ONE sleeping bag and a tarp?  I would've bought stuff, but we were going to be heading up to my sister's wedding in Utah and my parents said I could bring back more camping gear, so we figured we could rough it one night.  Thankfully, there was an extra canopy, so our friends said we could sleep under it.  Basically, we put the tarp down on the ground, and then lowered the canopy as low as it would go (see picture above).  THEN, because it was kind of cold and we only had the 1 sleeping bag to share (don't worry, we brought a few blankets too), we took the dutch oven, lined it with foil, put a bunch of the hot coals inside, and then put it at the top by our heads (Kai's idea).   

Anyways, besides the fact that we were both cold, sliding down the little slope we were sleeping on (out of the protection of the canopy, so we kept having to wake up, and shimmy ourselves and our makeshift bed back under the canopy), it RAINED that night!!!  I was seriously soooo grateful that we at least had the canopy over us or I don't think we would be camping again ;)  Thinking back to it now, it is pretty laughable!

Fast forward a couple months and we decided to go camping again on our anniversary weekend! We decided to go on our own, so we packed up our new (to us) tent, chairs, and a ton of food and headed up.  First of all, we have a Passat and it has manual transmission.  Sooo, getting to the campsite is always an adventure.  The roads are definitely made for 4 wheel drive cars (as in, we REALLY shouldn't be putting our car through so much torture), and everyone always stares when they see us roll up.  Anyhow, the first time we camped, we broke our skid plate almost all the way off (quick side note: Kai drove the car to Costco to get the skid plate fixed because it was making a bunch of noise dragging.  As he was driving up, EVERYONE at Costco was staring!  hahaa).  But, we figured, since we made it the first time, we could make it again.  We drove out and realized the camp spot we had camped at before was taken.  So, our only other option was to drive through a small stream (which we did), and then the campsite was down this really crazy area.  The roots of the trees were sticking up a ton and made for a pretty treacherous drive in.  We both breathed a huge sigh of relief when we parked and were able to start unloading our stuff.  

 

I got to teach Kai how to set up a tent (he isn't so experienced when it comes to tent camping), and then he started our fire while I prepped dinner.  I will say, Kai is quite the pyro.  It had rained before we made it up there, so a lot of the wood was wet.  I got a little nervous when our fire wasn't looking too promising (see below).  Luckily, Kai was able to make it happen for us and we were able to make our chicken and rice in the crocpot.  Then, for dessert, we had some pumpkin pie and smores!  It was sooo good (although, my mom always said everything tastes good in the mountains!)

 

Kai was pretty proud of his fire, especially since the people at the site next to us' fire was not working at all.

After eating, we sat by the fire, looked at the stars, and then headed into the tent to play some cards.  After a few games, we were ready to sleep.  I slept fine, but Kai didn't do so well on the hard ground.  Next camping gear purchase?  Sleeping pads!  

I woke up before someone else!  Hehe :)

The next morning, we (and by we, I mean Kai) slept in.  Then we made sausage and eggs for breakfast (Yay for Paleo), and started packing up.  Of course, as we were driving out, someone had parked their car where we had maneuvered our car in, so we had to go over the crazier part of the road.  Of course, we got stuck, so we had to take out our tub of gear, and then I drove while Kai picked up the car and pushed at the same time.  It was pretty ridiculous, but thankfully we made it.  At that point, we decided that as much fun as camping was, we weren't going to do that to our poor car anymore!  Luckily we made it out without damaging anything major. 

Anyhow, moral of the story...slowly we are becoming less ghetto campers!  Maybe one day we will have enough to be normal campers :) 

Sistahs!!!

Growing up with 2 sisters, I remember more than a few instances when we would fight. My parents would remind us that your sisters would turn out to be some of your best friends. Well, they were right!

Thank goodness for FaceTime because we can stay in touch even though we all live in different states. My younger sis Deina got married and now lives in Virginia with her hubs. He is doing his officer training right now, so they will only be there for a few months. Since they are only there short term, it has been a challenge for Deina to find a nursing job. She starts a temporary nursing position starting tomorrow, but since we have both been unemployed, for the past few months, we 'hang out' over FaceTime (cause we are cool like that). Basically it usually entails us talking for a bit and then since there is a 6 hour time difference between HI and VA, we set up our phones so I can wash my dishes and clean my kitchen while Deina makes dinner. Other times we watch TV (I.e., I put my phone up by the TV so we can watch together) and fold laundry. You know, totally normal!

Anyways, my sisters are awesome. They nuts, but I still love them! Go team Ige--er, kind of (technically we aren't all legally Ige's anymore)!

2 years and 20 days later...

So this post is 20 days past due, but oh well!  On August 14, 2 years ago, Kai and I got married!  It seriously feels like time just keeps flying by!

I'm not gonna lie and say every day has been amazing, because lets be honest, there have been multiple occasions when I wonder (and i'm sure Kai thinks the same thing), 'What the hell was I thinking?!'  BUT, thankfully, there are many more times when we have lots of fun together and we remember why we got married in the first place!

Since becoming Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Kai Lawrence, taking time off Tuesday through Thursday is extremely difficult since he has court all those days.  Sooo, since our anniversary fell on a Tuesday, we decided to postpone our anniversary celebrations to the weekend.  Our plan was to splurge and do a helicopter tour, which didn't end up happening :P  We had talked about it for months, but of course, when it came down to scheduling, we didn't schedule early enough, so we are now going to go for my birthday :)

The actual day included, me dropping Kai off at work, running errands, picking him up, and then since we are both injured and unable to really crossfit these days, we came home and played a few games of Settlers of Catan against each other (I know its supposed to be a 3+ person game, but we make it work!).  Then, at my request, we went to one of my favorite dinner places...Panda Express!  Haha!  I admit it.  I love Panda, but of course, since it is not 'Paleo', our days of eating out there are extremely limited.  Anyhow, Kai agreed, so we headed over, got our food, and ate in the little courtyard at the shopping center.  Then, for dessert, we stopped into Papaya's (the local health foods store), and bought some coconut date bites (they are pretty tastey and healthy too!).  Of course, we ran into someone from our ward and I think they felt bad for us when they found out it was our annie (as in, poor things, they have to celebrate their anniversary with Panda Express and a small snack).  We reassured them that we would be celebrating that weekend, so hopefully they don't think we are total losers!

Anyways, fast forward a few days to Friday...I had been trying to think of a gift for Kai (i'm horrible when it comes to getting him gifts because I usually buy him clothes, which he likes, but I know he would rather get something else), but of course, the only gift I really thought he would want was a surfboard.  Since I have no idea of what to look for when it comes to buying boards, I figured I would let him choose (or that was my excuse since I was bad and didn't actually purchase him a gift).

I didn't feel too bad because I figured Kai wouldn't get me anything either.  He never has the car to himself since I drop him off and pick him up every day, and I am always with him outside of work.  BUT, on Friday morning (Kai had the day off because it was Admissions Day), I woke up to breakfast in bed!  I heard Kai get up and messing around in the kitchen.  At that point, I figured things could go 1 of 2 ways...1) He was making me breakfast in bed, or 2) He was making himself breakfast.  So basically, I was either going to be really happy, or pissed (In my defense, I make him eggs, bacon, and sausage EVERY morning) :)  Luckily, the husby was on his game and sure enough, after a little waiting and pretending to be asleep, in he walked with delicious breakfast!  Then, after breakfast, I went into the kitchen to find a bag of Pirates Booty (which I had been telling him I wanted...of course, its food), and a gift card for a mani/pedi at the local salon.  I'm still not positive when he got those things without me noticing, but it was a pleasant surprise.

We relaxed a bit and then decided to go on an overnight camp (post to come).  Then, Saturday night, we drove out to Princeville to have dinner at Nanea, a restaurant at the Westin.  We were both pretty beat from the days activities (we had gotten home from camping, went surfing for a few hours, and then got back and had to unload/unpack our camping gear), so we almost didn't go, but we figured, we had to take advantage of the special occasion!  I'm sooo glad we did!  I was skeptical at the beginning when, it was IMPOSSIBLE to get ahold of someone to make a reservation.  I had to call 4 times before I was able to talk to someone, and I had to talk to the concierge to see if they could just go down and talk to the restaurant since when they transferred me before, it went to the front desk, or to the restaurant, where NO ONE picks up!  I told them I didn't want to drive 30 mins unless I knew I could get in, so after a long wait, the concierge said we were set.  Only then, did we get a call from the restaurant to 'confirm' our reservation on the patio.  When we got there, the girl said it was going to be about a 45 minute wait for a table on the patio...shocking because we had made a reservation.  But then she started rambling on making absolutely no sense about why even though we had a reservation, we were still going to have to wait 45 minutes.  I was getting super irritated, so we finally decided to just sit inside (which honestly ended up being sooooo much better for us!) so we wouldn't have to wait so long.   

All I have to say about the rest is history...the food was ammaaaazzzing!  Not gonna lie, for the most part, i'm not a huge fan of the food choices here..most places are expensive and there aren't many  options...BUT, enough of me complaining.  I wish I could eat there EVERY DAY!  All their food is organic, and it was nice having a fine dining option, that rivals the options we had in LA :)

We started off with a pineapple mango coconut smoothie, seafood chowder, and crab cakes with scallops, which all were delicious!  Not to mention their homemade ciabatta rolls with garlic butter...I could eat those all day!

Then, for our main courses, I had the beef tenderloin and Kai got the boneless short ribs.  Usually when we go out, I order a dish that Kai loves and his dish doesn't end up being the best.  Well, luckily for us, both dishes were sooo good!  We were so full from our appetizers that we couldn't even finish all our food (which pretty much never happens with Kai...he finishes his food, AND mine).

Of course, we couldn't pass up dessert, so we shared a warm pineapple cake that was just the right size!  We love love loved everything about our meal!  Not to mention, they comped it for us when they found out it was our anniversary! 

All in all, it was a great way to celebrate our 'happy annie'!  Here is to another year...maybe next year i'll post less than 20 days after the fact :)