Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving with family, friends, and those you hold dear.

I'll be heading to Northern California for Thanksgiving and on Friday will once again visit the crap fair, I mean craft fair. The weather will be cool, crisp, and the holiday spirit will fill the air. I can already feel it!

Thanksgiving is a special time, a time for reflection, thankfulness, memories, and family.

Let the fun begin!

It's Friday

And I'm nosy...

So here's the question: Do you watch The Office?

They showed a segment of The Office on the plane Wednesday. I've never watched it...I'm just not a TV watcher.

Are you a fan of the show?

I go back to work today after being gone for 2 whole weeks. Wish me luck! I do know that one of my patients, a 50 year old man, passed away while I was gone. Even though our patients are on dialysis, it's still always a shock when one of them passes away. Such sad news!

Home Safe and Sound

Thank you all for your well wishes for safe travel. We got home early this morning (1:30am) and I must say, home feels good. The hotel bed was comfy cozy but truly there's nothing better than sleeping in your own bed, with your own pillows!

Jake is home now too so all is well in my world! He hasn't left my side and is scooted up so close to me right now. He missed his momma! Howard went out and got him a McDonald's hamburger and he scarfed down that hamburger patty so fast! Life in Jake's world is well again too!

There were 28 wonderful comments on my Hawaiian giveaway, thank you! To make things easy, I asked Howard to randomly give me 5 numbers between 1-28 to select the winners, sooo...

April #3, Emma #8, Deb #9, Tammy Howard #16, and Connie #25, congratulations!

Just email me your address and soon you'll be receiving good mail from Maui (April, I still have your address). The only bad thing about giveaways for me is that I'd like to send out something to everyone! You're all winners in my book!

Thank you ALL again for following along with me on this enjoyable vacation. I read and appreciated every sweet comment you left! I shed more than a few tears yesterday. This trip was especially hard to leave because it was the most relaxing 2 weeks of my life. I ate very healthy, I exercised, and I spent time with God. I feel like these last 2 weeks were life changing for me in alot of ways. I feel rejuvenated!

Hey, I think I'm even ready to tackle Christmas now!

We're On Our Way Home and An Unforgettable Reward

Our bags are packed, "stuffed" is actually a better word for it. There's no way I could possibly put one more item in either of my two bags...stuffed I tell ya! As much as I hate the idea of leaving, I do need to get home. I've got to get busy...the.holidays.are.coming! Plus, I miss Jake! I cannot even begin to describe how much I miss that dog!

I've always wanted to come to Hawaii during Christmas but I've heard it gets crazy busy here. Well, this vacation I've been able to see Hawaii decked out for Christmas. Last night I noticed Christmas lights up at a nearby mall, plus the stores have all of their Christmas goodies out just like home, but trust me, it's not the same. The lights didn't elicit the same joy and excitement for me that it does at home. It all seems rather odd. I'm usually here during spring or summer, and the weather is like summer now, so Christmas displays seem out of place. It just doesn't feel or seem like November, almost December. It feels like June. I think it must feel like June everyday here in Hawaii.

Yesterday morning I headed out for my last long walk of the vacation. I have been religious about walking and as I reached the main street, I got teary eyed. I have treasured my outings each day and realized this would be the last one of its kind for awhile. I've developed a routine and I've soaked up the sights like never before. Again, I attribute this partly to blogging. I'm looking at things differently, or from a different angle at least. When you have the opportunity to share things with others, the world, and life, becomes so much more interesting! Have you felt this way at all since you started blogging?

My daily walks have been long, but with views that go on for miles. It's at least 2 miles up the road to my turn around point, so I started rewarding myself on the way back.


Sitting here has been my reward for walking each day. It's offered me comfort when I've been hot and sweaty, it's offered me peace and quiet, and it's been my prayer bench. How can you not sit here and talk to God when this view is directly in front of you...




My greatest reward for getting out and exercising has been time alone with God. It's no wonder that I love it here so much! I've had many talks with God from that bench, and offered up dozens and dozens of prayers, but most importantly, I've thanked Him. We serve a loving, compassionate God, a God who only wants the best for us.

I will never forget the special time that I have had alone with Him.

I will never forget the unbelievable beauty I was able to see everyday, the beauty which God created.

I will never forget that special bench.

Saying Good-by and a Giveaway

We took this beautiful, sweet girl to the airport last night and soon our time here will be coming to a close as well. Whenever I leave Hawaii, I feel like a piece of my heart is being left behind. I love it that much. My son lived on Maui for 2 years and I can only imagine how his heart must have hurt when he moved back to the mainland. He still talks about his time here and how much he loved that time in his life.

We fly home on Wednesday but before I go I'd like to show you some Aloha spirit, and what better way than with a Hawaiian giveaway. Maybe some Kona coffee, chocolate covered Macadamia nuts, a necklace, coffee mug, Hawaiian 2010 calendar...

Just leave a comment, that's it. I'll randomly pick 5 names and send each one some good mail from Maui! It's a small way of saying thank you for taking this trip to paradise with me. I've loved sharing it with you!

Aloha!

The Many Colors Of Hawaii & Blue Monday - Part II

Thank you Sally for hosting Blue Monday each week. To join in the fun or to visit other Blue Monday participants, click here.

Again, Blue Monday...Maui style! Are these telephone booths still around anymore?


With the exception of our zipline day, I've walked between 4 and 4 1/2 miles each morning. It's been glorious, walking in the sunshine and taking in the sights, sounds, and smells of Maui. It will be hard leaving this heavenly place. I love the Hawaiian lifestyle and feel I could easily adapt to living here. It would be a perfect fit, but until we win the lottery or somehow strike it rich, we'll be heading back to the mainland on Wednesday, and back to reality.

You never know what beauty or wonder awaits you in Hawaii, so I've made it a habit to take my camera with me most mornings. The green seems greener, the ocean more blue from one day to the next, and the flowers, oh, the beautiful flowers...








Stop back by tomorrow, I think a Hawaiian giveaway is in order!

Aloha and Happy Monday!

Look Who's Here!

Courtney couldn't fathom the idea of us being here without her and we couldn't fathom it either! Thankfully she was able to fly over from Arizona on Thursday and will go home Monday night. I'm so glad she was able to work out her schedule so she could vacation with us. We wanted Brandon to fly over also but he couldn't get away at this time. That's one thing hard about your children getting older, it can be difficult getting everyone together due to individual schedules and commitments. Brandon lives and works 3 hours away from us, plus works in the restaurant business, so we don't get to see him as often as we'd like. Hopefully, we'll all be together for Christmas!

We were originally going on the Zipline another day but rescheduled it so Courtney could go with us. WE LOVED IT! The above picture was taken while we were waiting for the tour to start. Courtney took alot of pictures but didn't bring her camera cord with her so I can't upload any pictures of me...proof that I did it, but here are a few pictures that I took with my camera.



There were 5 zipline courses that we went on. The first one was 100 feet across, with each consecutive course getting longer, higher, and scarier...


The first 4 courses didn't prepare us for course #5, with it's 750 feet in length. Our landing spot ends up being that white spot in the clearing, after you've zipped past it and back again. Course #5 was so high up that they had to use a ladder on rollers to unhook us from the zipline.



We had a great time and definitely would do this again. It took us 2 hours all in all but they also have another one here in Maui that is 4 hours long. We took our tour in an area called "up country." The longer tour is in the Kaanapali area where you have views of the ocean while you're zipping along. Maybe we'll check that one out next time.

If you visit Maui, check out the Zipline. It's a very popular tour and I can totally see why. What an adrenaline rush!

Aloha!

It's Friday

And I'm nosy...

So here's the question: When was the last time you did something adventurous?

We're trying out the "zip line" today. Did you see when the Roloff's (Little People Big World) came to Maui and went on the zip line? We're going on the same one. We wanted to give this a try a few years ago but it's always been booked solid. Well it's the slow season here in Hawaii so we had our pick of available days. Today's the day!


Adventurous? I'd give that a YES!

Would you be adventurous enough to give the zip line a try?

Thrifty Thursday

Thank you Leigh for hosting Thrifty Thursday each week. To join in the fun or to visit other Thrifty Thursday participants, click here.

The Goodwill store near my house increased their prices recently, and not by just a little bit, but drastically. I don't know if it's a California thing or even just a county/city/store increase, but regardless, I've found it's not worth my time or effort to go there anymore. I'm so sad. Here I just start this whole thrift shop/goodwill hobby and they up and do this! Darn it!

A few months back, I did happen to get a really good deal on something though, and I knew from the moment I saw it that it was the real thing.

I've collected Waterford for over 25 years and although I already have this piece, I couldn't pass it up. It is a ring/jewelry holder and retails for around $25.00. I paid $2.00! You can always tell if a piece of crystal is Waterford because the name Waterford will be etched on the bottom of the item.

Here is my $2.00 Waterford find...


So now I'm curious, has the Goodwill in your area raised it's prices too?

A Pleasant Surprise!

Yesterday while we were out driving, I asked Howard to pull over so I could take a picture of something I had seen earlier that day on my walk. We pulled over in a park right next to the ocean and I headed out to take my picture. I walked over to the ledge, stooped down to take a scenic picture when I caught something out of the corner of my eye. I looked down right below me and got startled for a minute until I realized what it was. I had never seen one of these so up close and personal before.



These pictures don't quite show it but this was one very large sea turtle. Guess it came out of the water to relax in the sand and get some sun. I've seen lots of turtles in the water before while snorkeling but never one parked on the sand like this. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time, and with camera in hand!

Aloha!

Just Another Day In Paradise

I'm so proud of myself! I walked another 4+ miles today. Guess I just need a beautiful ocean for motivation, and my iPod. When the weather is near perfect and you are surrounded by all of this beauty, how can you not go outdoors and soak it all up. Seriously, I think I could lose weight and get in shape if I lived here! I'd be one tanned, walkin' momma!

The first 2 days Howard walked with me but he stayed home yesterday and today. He's too busy out by the pool makin' friends. That's him in the yellow hat, chatting away with a man from Seattle. He spent the whole day by the pool and each time I'd meet up with him out there, he'd introduce me to someone new. Truly, he's never met a stranger.


Other than walking this morning, I've pretty much done nothing all day but stay at the hotel and relax. Just what vacation is all about right! I did manage to find the dialysis center located close by and went in to check it out. The clinic here has the capacity to dialyze 7 patients at a time. The nurse was floored when I told her our unit has close to 75 chairs, 2 gurney spots, and we run 3 shifts a day. It's no lie when I tell people I work at the largest dialysis unit in the United States. I was just checking out my options in case I want to move here someday!

If you've never been to Hawaii, you are missing out on some of the most magnificent sunsets imaginable. So, from me to you, enjoy the view!





Aloha!

Blue Monday...Maui Style!

Thank you Sally for hosting Blue Monday each week. To join in the fun or to visit other Blue Monday participants, click here.

We are on vacation this week in beautiful Maui. There is plenty of blue in Hawaii to feast your eyes upon, from the gorgeous shades of blue in the ocean, to the clear blue sky. Let me share some Maui blue with you...








All of these pictures were taken on my walk this morning. I've been walking 4 miles each day. I just need to keep up the momentum when I get home!

Aloha and Happy Blue Monday!