Aloha! I hope that everyone is having a wonderful weekend.

I want to start by congratulating my baby sister, Mandi, on her graduation from Towson University, and on becoming a nurse!

Today was her pinning ceremony, which I am very sad to have missed! Luckily, I have two wonderful brothers, who sent me pictures throughout the ceremony - with a play by play!

Isn't she a cutie :)

Last night, we went to Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, because of a rumor that Jimmy Buffett himself would be appearing and playing a set for his fans. The rumor started on Jimmy Buffett's Facebook Page with this post "If you happen to be in Honolulu Friday night you may want to stop by Jimmy Buffett's at the Beachcomber around 8p. We're just sayin'," which was than brought to the attention of many others, like myself, at Hawai'i magazine's website, with this article. So we ventured over - but unfortunately it was standing room only, and no food was being served on that side of the restaurant, and we were STARVING! People had started lining up at 3:30pm! So we ventured over to Doraku Sushi for some, as always, AMAZING sushi. We tried a few new rolls last night, and I am already craving it again! Jimmy did show up last night, wish we had gotten there earlier. It would have been a great story to have seen him at a surprise show at his restaurant!

We took it easy today, relaxing around the apartment. Tonight we went to Ala Moana mall - Tony did some Hawaii wardrobe shopping - he did good, buying a new pair of shorts, a few t-shirts, new swim trunks and even a new pair of rubber slippers (what you mainlanders call flip flops). For my excellent personal shopper skills, Tony bought me an adorable new beach hat at Rip Curl - pictures to come!!! After the mall, we watched this weeks Netflix movie, Funny People.

Tomorrow afternoon we are picking up Tony's cousin, Chris Eldridge, from the airport. He is staying with us tomorrow night (on our trusty air mattress), and then will be right down the street the rest of the week, for work. Tony has visited Chris in Cali and surfed on his turf, and is excited to take him to "our" beach!

On Thursday, our good friend Lawrence is coming to visit for a long weekend. We are psyched to show him around the island... and I am psyched to attempt to snorkel again.... and hoping to not hyperventilate again!! There will be PLENTY of pictures to make up for this 1 pictured post!!

Hope everyone is having a good new year so far - WE ARE!

xoxo

12/10/09 Jill and Shannon Visit - Day 1

Tony and I picked up Jill and Shannon from Honolulu Airport on Thursday afternoon. We greeted them at the gate with Leis and lots of hugs! They were excited to get off the plane and to be in the warm, warm weather.

We brought them to our apartment, and within 15 minutes they were changed into their swimsuits and headed to the beach with Tony to hit the waves.

Shannon was craving some good sushi, so I took them to Doraku Sushi, at the Royal Hawaiian Center. On our way to dinner, we stopped to hang out with some parrots!

 

 

 

 

Tony and Jill both ordered Chicken Teriyaki - but impressively, both tried Shannon's and my sushi! Shannon and I shared 4 rolls - the Doraku Roll (my favorite next to Saki's Lasagna Roll), Shrimp Tempura Roll, Spicy Salmon Roll and a New Style Doraku Roll. Our table and food took a little while, so the manager brought over an extra roll of sushi for us - which Tony really liked! All of us were stuffed to the gills when we left!

We made it an early evening, heading back to the apartment after dinner, because a busy day awaited us on Friday.

Aloha!

Yesterday, Tony, with Russell's help, picked up and brought home our new coffee table. The microfiber matches perfectly with our sofa. The top is darker than our other furniture but I works really well!

Last night we went to the UPS Store and I shipped all of my Hanukkah gifts. They will arrive in Maryland tomorrow! Word to the wise - shipping is $$$ for a LARGE box! Well worth it! This week we need to finish Tony's Christmas shopping list and ship those gifts - halfway completed.

After spending $120 at UPS, we went to Office Depot to check out desks, and we found one!! Everything is truly coming together. The only items left on the list are a desk chair, new speaker stands (and speaker wire), a new TV for the bedroom and a moped.

The living room currently looks likes Santa's Workshop, so once the gifts are hidden I will take pictures to share!

The Countdown had begun: Jill and Shannon will be here in less than 48 hours!!

Tonight we are watching our first Netflix movie - Public Enemies.

Aloha! Happy Monday morning! We hope everyone had a good weekend.

On Friday night, Russell came over and played Rock Band 2 and Tiger Woods all night long over some delicious Papa John's pizza. (If you are on xbox Live let us know so we can play you!!)

Saturday morning Tony woke up early to meet some of his surfing buddies out in the Ocean - he paddled out to a new break in Waikiki, that is much further out, and said that he had the best surfing day he has ever had. He was out in the water for over 3 hours!! The weatherman are calling for near 60ft waves on the North Shore this week! Lots of surfing competitions have been canceled, and storm shelters have been opened up for residents of the North Shore!!!  After Tony's safe surfing excursion in Waikiki, he came back to the apartment and woke up his sleeping beauty and together we went to the Waikiki Lagoon and relaxed on our floats for a few hours.

Saturday night we went out to dinner with some friends at The Shore Bird. Think Outback meets Melting Pot meets Sizzler, but nicer. There is a nice sized salad bar, which I enjoyed - had sprouts on the bar mmm! Then you pick your meal - which was mostly cuts of steak, Mahi Mahi, or chicken. They bring over the raw meat, which you take over to the grill area and grill up your own meat. They have a big clock, and a board with cooking times. There are different seasonings to flavor your dish. It was interesting. As we were finishing our meals we got the pleasure of listening to the sounds of Karaoke... we left soon after that started!

Yesterday we took it easy, laying around the apartment until mid afternoon. We had to go to Target for some odds and ends, so we decided to stop at the Rooms Hawaii store to look for a desk and a coffee table. No desks but we did find a coffee table we liked... AND it was in the Clearance section!! We got a great deal on a cute coffee table, that we are hoping will match - we know the top is darker than the rest of our furniture, but the price was right! We attempted to fit at 37 x 37 x 16 coffee table in Tony's TL but it just wouldn't budge (duh!) Tony is going to pick it up today and come this evening the living room will be pretty much completed (pictures to come)!! There are no photos or art on the TV wall so I do need to work on that. After Target we made our normal Sunday grocery store run to Safeway.

I have purchased almost all of my Hanukkah presents and we are halfway down Tony's Christmas shopping list! I need to get everything wrapped and shipped today so that it makes our family Hanukkah party on Saturday!

This week is going to FLY by because we are both so excited to have our first guests at Casa de Lindsay & Tony!! Jill and Shannon touch down in Honolulu Thursday afternoon - and as you would expect Tony has a whole list of things planned for when they get here!! Tony took vacation days the whole time they will be here, but you know there will never be enough time to do everything we want to while they are here!

We have not bought our Chrismaka tree yet, but our countdown is working great :)

Lots of new adventures and lots of new pictures to come after this coming weekend with Jill and Shannon!

Aloha! I know it has been over a week since our last post and we are very sorry!

Last Saturday we went to Sandy Beach with Russell and John Michael. Sandy Beach is down the street from Makapu'u Beach. It is a larger beach, with gorgeous views. Unfortunately, being closer to mountains, it rains more and our day was cut short with an afternoon rain.

 The drive to Sandy Beach (Koko Head)

Gorgeous blue water

With a Shore Break - no swimming signs were posted - but that didn't stop anyone from Bodyboarding and Bodysurfing. There was even a Skimboarding contest down the beach.

Look at that sexy back!

After the beach we went home and showered - and then headed over to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the UFC fight with Russell, Russell's Dad, John Michael and Katlyn.

We ordered chicken wings with Hot Sauce - but I think we got the EXTRA hot sauce - because after only one wing, I felt ill for the rest of the night - which carried into the next day.

I am so happy because today I got to video chat with my gorgeous niece and handsome nephews. Jordyn serenaded me and Corey & Brady made me laugh as usual. All three promised to do something very important for me tomorrow when they get to Grandy's and Poppy's for Thanksgiving Dinner. I hope I get to video chat with everyone at their dinner tomorrow night, if you can peel me out of the kitchen!

Today I have been working hard to finish up the apartment so it is ready for our Thanksgiving feast. We will miss all of our friends and family this week and we hope you have a wonderful holiday! We have a lot to be thankful for this year - and couldn't be happier in beautiful Waikiki - unless our friends and family were to fly out and surprise us (give me some warning so I can get more turkey)!

The apartment is only missing a few more things until it is officially complete - a desk for the computer (currently on the dresser), a coffee table or ottoman, and some storage for our lanai (the patio). Tonight we are going out to dinner somewhere - and hopefully to Best Buy to look for new speaker stands that are tall and skinny to fit behind the sofa.

Tony is going surfing tomorrow morning, and I will be in the kitchen all day.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING from Waikiki to the Mainland!

XOXO 

Aloha! It has been a busy week!  Rusty has been very helpful working on the apartment...

 

While I was cleaning he decided to nap on the dining room chairs!

On Friday, our new air conditioner was installed...

And our new sofa was delivered...

 

 

 Rusty is a big fan of the new sofa!

The apartment is finally starting to feel like our home. Just a little more work - finding a home for some odds and ends, and hanging art and picture frames - and we will be there!  The goal for completion is Thanksgiving Dinner!

On Friday night, we went to the Jack Johnson concert at the Hawaii Theater. All proceeds benefited his Kokua Hawaii Foundation - educating Hawaii's Keiki (Kids) on the Environment. 

 

  Jack had HAIR for the concert... I didn't know it was him when he first walked out!

 

 

They showed his new DVD En Concert, which follows him through his Worldwide tour from 2008 and then he played a full acoustic set with Zach Gill. Paula Fuga, a Hawaiian artist, joined him for a few songs.  She has a very soothing voice. We even got to hear a song that he hasn't recorded yet, which Paula joined him on. It was a once in a lifetime type of show - with only 4,000 seats in the Theater! What a great show!!! I hope we will get to see him again while we are here.

On Saturday morning we woke up early to join the hundreds of walkers at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk for the Cure at Kapiolani Park. Our team was the Hawaii Terps.

 

 

Rusty got tired, so we took turns carrying him (lazy bum)!

 

It drizzled on our walk over to Kapiolani Park, but the rain held out for the entire walk. But unfortunately when we finished the walk we saw the black clouds rolling in, so we started to head back. It wasn't soon enough, we got caught in some heavy rain - the only heavy rainstorm we have witnessed since we moved here!

Look how pretty the Louis Vuitton store looks for the holidays (sorry for the blurry walking shots - taken on my Blackberry!)

 

 

We love and miss you all! XOXO

____________________________________________________

On November 14, 2009, Tony, Rusty and I walked in the Juvenile Diabetes Walk for the Cure on team Hawaii Terps. Please help us both complete our goals of $350 each!

Lindsay's Donation Page

Tony's Donation Page

Veterans Day

Thank you to all our Veterans and those on Active Duty.

Last night Tony and I went to Dave & Buster's for dinner and games. We created a horse, The Big Kahuna, on the Horse Track game, and only won 1 out of 10 races. We had a great time as always!
Tony was off work today for Veterans Day so we began the quest for a sofa...

We visited multiple furniture stores with an idea of our perfect sofa for the space we have in our apartment, but we were coming up empty over and over again. We couldn't believe how difficult it was to find a sofa, in stock and ready for delivery, but that is just part of island life! No Ikea or Value City Furniture here! We almost purchased a Custom sofa but it was going to take 6-8 weeks for production in California and delivery to the island.

While driving to a late lunch, a delivery truck passed by us for ABC Furniture - so we immediately googled it on our phones! It was only 5 miles away from where we were so we made our way over. Tony immediately spotted THE sectional - we measured it and it was the perfect size! After searching all day long we have finally found a sofa!! Dave, the salesman was VERY helpful and extremely friendly. The sofa is being delivered to our apartment on Friday morning.

Our apartment is really coming together! We have purged a lot and found a spot for almost everything that we have left. The sofa will really complete the living room, with only a coffee table or ottoman left to buy. Pictures to come! After purchasing the sofa, we went to Best Buy and purchased our cable wire so we could position the tv just right (thanks Brian and Kim - paid for with your gift)! Everything is set up and ready for the delivery of the sofa.

On our way home we received a call from our property manager that there was a leak coming from our apartment... leaking in the fire escape/stairwell all the way down 3 floors! She discovered it was coming from the dishwasher. Hopefully we will get an update on this tomorrow.

There are flash flood warnings this whole week, but we haven't seen more than a drizzle. But we have seen lots of rainbows!

We officially have our first guests coming to visit! Jill has booked her airfare to visit in December. Gauzza is flying here in January. And it looks like Chris Eldgridge will be our very first guest, coming out the first week in December. Reserve your stay now! :)

Busy upcoming weekend with the Jack Johnson concert on Friday night and the JDRF Walk on Saturday. Thank you to everyone who has donated! If you would like to support the research for a cure to Juvenile Diabetes, please see the link on the right side of our blog!

Sorry for not posting much lately, but our internet is not hooked up correctly yet - but don't fret it should be all set up in the next week.
We love and miss you all.
XOXO

Makapu'u Beach

Aloha! We have had a busy weekend so far... to top off our busy week. Last night we had a great dinner at Ruth's Chris in Waikiki. It will never compare to Capital Grille, but we were both very pleased with our steaks.

This morning we woke up early to rent a U-haul truck and took the extra mattress to Claude's house. We can now officially walk through our bedroom. Can't wait to put all of our clothes away in the dresser tomorrow! The clean laundry has been piling up with no place to go.

After returning the truck we went to Makapu'u Beach with Russell and John Michael. Makapu'u is on the East side of the island, and it was my first time on this side of the island. We passed Koko Head on the way which was HUGE and very steep. The beach we went to was sort of secluded and much quieter than Waikiki Beach - not too many people and absolutely gorgeous! It was so peaceful listening to the sounds of the ocean that I took a nice hour long nap while the boys were out bodyboarding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The perfect shades of Blue

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow is Sunday beach day, followed by a much needed trip to Safeway!


____________________________________________________

We will both be walking in the Juvenile Diabetes Walk for the Cure on November. 14, 2009. Please help us both reach our goals of $300 each and support our team Hawaii Terps! Mahalo!

Lindsay's Donation Page

Tony's Donation Page