ALOHA! Part 1

January 29, 2009 Day 1:

I woke up at 4:15 this morn to finish packing (which I procrastinated on and most definitely over packed. But I figure, since I have to pay $15 anyway…I might as well take everything that I might want in the next 6 days with me). So I turn the corner to get on the highway and I find one of the remaining patches of ice on the roads and swerved and skidded. Did I mention its 21 degrees outside? I am glad to be leaving this crazy cold weather! Yeah, I know it’s January and WINTER, but ice on the road is NOT conducive to my happiness. ;)

I get to my window seat (which I luckily stumbled upon yesterday) and get comfy and drift off as the Hawaiian music plays over the P.A.…

I got to sleep for about FIVE hours! (Getting to sleep for 5 hours straight is not a common occurrence for me.) It’s awesome!

I awoke just in time to see Ratatouille (1^st time, pretty cute). At the moment I am watching Good Will Hunting on my ipod. In a bout an hour, I will be landing in Honolulu, Hawaii. I will be spending the next 6 days my best-est friend on the entire planet (of 27 ½ years) Stephanie. I can’t wait!

I arrived at the airport and Steph and I headed over to Thrifty Car Rental to pick up my car for the week…or so this was the plan. If you value my opinion in the least please DO NOT EVER rent a car from THRIFTY CAR RENTAL. They are sooo not cool. Somehow their computers were jacked up and they kept refusing my form of payment. So not only embarrassing, but also super frustrating after waiting in line for roughly 30 mins…with no A/C.

So Stephanie & I’s first adventure of the week would be heading back to the airport to find a car…any car at this point. Well it turns out not ANY car…the only other place that happened to be open at the time were just plain ridiculous with their pricing. Luckily, Steph’s boyfriend, Ed was near by and saved the day by taking us to a place that rents to “locals.” Success! And we were on our way.

***NOTE***

For those of you first time visitors of Seizin’ the Day the following blog posting will and does contain pictures of beverages and food…along with other things…go ahead and laugh…it’s what I do. ;)

Back to the story…

After arriving at Stephanie’s apartment, in Kailua, and getting a quick shower, we (Stephanie, Ed and I) set off down the road to a place called Lucy’s for dinner.

There were a couple of fruity adult beverages involved...

I had some of the best coconut shrimp ever…

It was a good dinner.

We continued down the street and decided to get some ice cream. (unfortunately there is no picture of my birthday cake ice cream, in a sprinkled waffle bowl…but trust me it was delicious…well the 4 bites I ate were before I decided I had had enough. ;)

Wandering back to the apartment I had the “pleasure” of meeting Lucy their cat and their roommate Brent.

It’s about 10 o’clock and I am exhausted. Ya see, there’s a 4 hour time difference between Dallas and Hawaii.

See ya in the morning. :)

January 30, 2009 Day 2:

Last night the sky opened up and the rain came pouring down hard! But thankfully it was done by the time the sun came up.

The first stop was to Cinnamon’s (apparently Rachel Ray has enjoyed this place as well) where we had way too much food for breakfast. The Portuguese sweet bread French toast was pretty darn good.

We then headed back to pick up Ed and off to Lani Kai Beach we went. I can honestly day that if I was to live here in Kailua, I would make this beach a mandatory part of my everyday routine.

Back to the apartment to pick up Brent and we were on our way down the Kam Highway on a very scenic route towards North Shore. (Steph and I had two of the craziest backseat drivers/singers ever!)

Thanks to Brent, we stopped at a Mac Nut Farm…as in they have everything you could possibly want with macadamia nuts in them. Yeah, I made a purchase or two. :)

Lunch time was upon us and there’s several shrimp trucks along the way to North Shore, so of course we had to stop. We ended up at the Romy Shrimp truck/farm.

***Side note: I’m not big on seafood, but I do have a fondness for shrimp…mostly of the coconut, fried or grilled variety…oh yeah, they also always come to me sans HEADS and LEGS.

So we ordered and found a picnic table in the shade and waited for our order to come up.

And to my surprised, what I was about to consume needed a little more preparation…by me. As in, I had to de-shell, head, leg them. EWE! (one of the many reasons I don’t cook lol)

Anyways, I sucked it up and did it…when in Rome right? Nana would be soo proud. :)

After a hand washing, it was back in the car, heading towards Sunset Beach. So pretty.

But there was definitely a “kick” to this current. Notice the signs…

…but of course that didn’t stop me from getting in. I was told I should probably leave the sunglasses with the towels. Did I? Course not. Did I lose them in the ocean? You bet it did! Lol No worries though, I stopped buying expensive sunglasses years ago. ;)

The water felt amazing. And then I met a set of waves that decided that I was to be pounded into the beach…yeah that’s me in there somewhere under the current.

Thanks Brent for the pics…but thanks a lot (she says sarcastically) for the help up! ;)

Obviously, I survived!

The sun was close to setting on Sunset beach so we got back in the car (this time with an added bonus of SAND…everywhere)!

Next on the agenda was Matsumoto Shave Ice…

…where I decided to go with the Creamsicle/Ice Cream combination…

and Steph with a more colorful option. Sooo good!

Did a little shopping in the nearby shops, then back to Kailua we went.

After a (much needed) shower, Steph and I did dinner at a little Italian place called Lia’s. Good stuff.

Goodnight…yeah it’s only 9…but I’m tired! :)

History

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Presidents of the United States of America...

It's truly an amazingly historic day. I have always been a proud American...today is no different...I take that back, today is VERY different.

God Bless You Mr. President. God Bless America.

much love

New Year, New Look, New York!

Happy New Year to ya! Yeah, I know it’s about 13 days late, but nothing really exciting or spectacular to blog about until now. My Mom and I took a quick trip this weekend and had a great 48 hours…

Friday, January 9^th:

Momma and I landed in New York City (Center of the Universe…RENT reference sorry) at 10:30…the airport was empty (kinda weird since this has never been the case upon landing at La Guardia). We arrived by taxi in the Middle of Times Square at the lovely Double Tree Guest Suites.

Here’s the AWESOME view outside my window…

Thought about going out tonight, but there’s just something about the hotel beds that you don’t wanna leave. :)

Until tomorrow…

Saturday, January 10^th:

I woke up to a beautifully cold morning in Times Square. We headed off in search of…well not really what we were in search of at this very moment. Food? Shopping? Whatever we happen to encounter. :) We entered (one of the many) Starbucks (thanks to Steph for the bday gift cards) where we got “Tall” Caramel Apple Spices (cider). This was a first for my Mom and thus I had to explain that a “tall” is a “small” in Starbucks lingo. :)

We found a bench at the corner of 6^th & 52^nd and watched the pigeons...

...and taxis.

Love the store windows!

Then we headed towards 5^th Ave in search of the NBA Store. (Yes even when I’m not working, I still dig the sport…always have, always will. By the way, the was a few more Mavs merchandise in the store this time around, but until a ring is involved, the selection won’t be anywhere close to the amount of Lakers’, Celtics’, Spurs’, Bulls’, crap lol…I did however make a purchase of a pair of blue and silver, shiny, sparkly Adidas…I dig ‘em.)

Anyways, but before we found the NBA Store, we came to Rockefeller Center.

Several times before we have been lucky enough to see “The Tree” at Rockefeller Center.... This year we got to see it as well…well, what was left of it…

We arrived just in time to see them cutting it down in to pieces. Kinda Cool!

It was lunchtime and we ended up at Gallagher’s Steakhouse where we had a fantastic lunch.

(thank goodness we split it…there was way too much savory greatness…they try to first kill ya with the bread…

…and then finish you off with a piece of authentic New York Cheesecake…dear Lord!)

After lunch, we had just enough time to drop my shoes at the hotel (such a fan of the Doubletree now…location is such a plus) and walked over to the Richard Rogers Theatre for the 2 o’clock matinee.

Here we saw the 2008 Tony Award Winning for Best Musical, In The Heights.

OH MY GOODNESS! The greatness that was witnessed! By now, I’m sure you’re aware of my fondness for the Broadway musical. This one, In The Heights, has definitely entered my TOP 5 Faves of ALL TIME! That being said, and the massive amount of musicals I’ve seen in the last 28 years, I will proudly show it from the rooftops (or here at my keyboard where the soundtrack is currently playing) that I LOVE this musical!

After the curtain closed and the lights came up, we headed back to the hotel to kinda figure out what was up next on the agenda. OH! Did I mention that it’s been SNOWING (actual SNOW) since about noon today! Crazy, beautiful, cold!

By this point in the day, it’s only 6pm so we decided to grab a quick dinner at the Hard Rock Café. (yes it’s touristy, yes it’s cliché, but get over it I dug the one in Dallas and since that’s no longer in existence, I will go to any one of them that I am in close proximity to… I dig the HRC!) Well everyone else had the same idea for dinner.

But, with even a few minutes to spare, we arrived at the Imperial Theatre. For tonight’s main event, we saw Billy Elliot, with musical lyrics and music by Sir Elton John.

(I had the pleasure of seeing this in London 2 summers ago and so glad I went back for a second round.) The kids in this musical were absolutely amazingly, talented. And it’s also a great story. (If you haven’t seen the movie, I suggest you do.) :)

After a few more “Times Square” pictures, it was back to the hotel.

As I had a few friends/co-workers in town working PBR at MSG, I wanted to go say hey. So I ventured out solo in search of their hotel about 8 blocks away. It was cool to see them but very random at the same time. As they had an early call the next morn, I made my way back to Doubletree about 1ish.

*There was only one casualty of the day. Because it was cold, I must have taken my gloves on and off about 20 times today. During one of those times I lost one of my rings. So if you’re ever in NYC and you find a gold and silver puzzle ring with a DIAMOND on it…its most likely mine. :(

Besides that…Such a great, supremely BRILLANT DAY! Good night!

Sunday, January, 11^th:

This is our last morning in NYC. Grr. As it had been icy earlier this morn, Momma and I decide to forego Central Park. (Don’t feel bad for us. We’ve been there before, and I’m quite certain that we will be there again in the future.) Instead, we had room service delivered, (yum) and watch Because I Said So on TV. How appropriate. :)

After it was over, we got dressed and packed and I ran down to the street one last time, in search of that “perfect” souvenir…success!

Back upstairs with Momma and luggage…out of the hotel…in a taxi back to La Guardia…the announcement for our flight just came over the loudspeaker…the flight is taking us back to Dallas…back to reality. *sigh*

much love