One Wednesday evening...

I accidentally left my keys on my desk at work. And I didn't realize I left my keys on my desk at work until I WALKED home and got to my front door (you see, when I walk to work I don't need my keys until I get to my front door.....no car to access = no need for keys). In case you were wondering....today is that Wednesday to which I am referring. I made the trek to and from work twice today....good thing it was a beautiful day!

This weekend is supposed to be hot (at least hot for Portland) and so I'm doing what I can to prepare. I've got my fans well-situated around the apartment (no A/C here) and I'm trying to figure out how I can hang out in some water over the weekend. The goal is to embrace the heat without suffering because I know I'll long for the warmth come next January!

Hawaii Pictures...

I only have the pictures that were on my camera, so it's not really a complete look at my vacation, but I thought I'd share a few pictures since I have them downloaded....

Apparently the first place I started taking pictures was on our hike the first Sunday on the island. We traveled to the north part of the island to see the Pololu Valley. The view was breathtaking....

Mom and me on the way down the hill


Crystal, me and Melissa on the way down

Melissa, Crystal and me on the black sand beach at the bottom

This is the beach at Mauna Kea Resort... definitely one of my favorite with fine, white sand and warm water. We stayed in the water a lot that day thanks to the strong winds that coated you in sand if you tried to lay on the beach too long.

Another view of the beach at Mauna Kea

The day we spent at Mauna Kea was also the day my mom fell in love with boogie boarding. We couldn't get her off of that thing.....and in such massive waves too! =)

Just another beautiful Hawaiian sunset from A-bay (the "A" is short for a really long Hawaiian name that there's no way I'll ever remember). Pictures don't do sunsets justice.....it's amazing the beauty God gives us day in and day out.

I'll post more pictures later when I get them from other cameras. It was great to relax with good friends and get refreshed. While it would be a stretch to say I'm excited to get back to work, I'm not dreading it because I've had a chance to rest.

Back from the Big Island

I had an absolutely wonderful vacation on the Big Island of Hawaii!!!

I don't have my pictures downloaded yet, but I'll put some up when I do.

Here's a quick run-down on my vacation - explored multiple beaches, hiked to a beautiful black-sand beach (Pololu Valley), ate on the lanai at the condo every day, kayaked alongside dolphins (so incredible!), snorkeled at Captain Cook Monument, laid on multiple beaches, attempted boogie-boarding with very small waves, laughed a lot with incredible friends, enjoyed some time at the spa getting a pedicure, laid on multiple beaches, attended a Luau, chased a gecko out of the condo (only to later not care that there were multiple geckos in the condo), laid on multiple beaches, and relaxed.....relaxed a lot. It was an amazing vacation - I soaked up every relaxing minute of it.

Today is my last day off from work - after being gone for 10 days I decided to take one day to get life in order here at home before jumping right back into things at work. I'm glad I chose to do that because my internal clock did get moved a bit towards Hawaiian time. (We never really slept in past 6:30am, but that's 9:30am Pacific time....).

I'll be back with pictures as soon as I locate my camera cord.....and take care of a few errands around here....

8:45am flight PDX to....

my tropical summer vacation!

Tomorrow I take off for my summer vacation.....well, I guess at this point it is today that I take off. I don't usually stay up this late, but for one I'm kinda like a little kid the night before Disneyland, for two I worked out late tonight so I'm still running on that energy and for three it is crazy hot tonight so I probably won't be sleeping well anyway. Regardless it'll be a short night tonight because I leave for the airport at 6:45am....but I don't care because I have many days of relaxing ahead of me!

Amazingly enough I am going to be heading somewhere cooler (in temperature) than Portland, at least over the weekend.....it's blazing hot here. Once the thermometer hits 90 degrees up here, it feels hotter than Hades. I don't wish for an air conditioner very often, but tonight is one of the about 7 nights of the year that I do wish for one. Oh well, the small fan pointed directly at me will have to do.

So I might be leaving you wondering where I am going....for now we'll just keep it at "tropical".... more details to come later! I'm going to be hanging out with 4 other people who are very close to me and I can't wait to lounge around, read multiple books, go on cool hikes, kayak, snorkel and just have a chance to recharge on a "me" vacation.

When I decided to take this trip, and in the time leading up to departure, I realized that it has been a VERY long time since I took a vacation that was more or less for "me". Sure my year abroad in Germany was very "me", but it was still during school and you just can't really count that time. Don't get me wrong, I've been blessed with many, many great trips in recent years. However most all of them had a purpose beyond relaxing (i.e. weddings - lots and lots of weddings, graduations, reunions, etc.). This vacation is all about relaxing. No schedule. No major plans or itineraries. Just a lot of rest and relaxation. Excited doesn't adequately describe the how I feel about this trip..... I'll get back to you when I have an adequate description.

Have a wonderful and safe 4th of July holiday!