To my family and fellow postcrosser.

Päivi of Finland will be getting this gorgeous surfing postcard! Although this wasn't one exactly on her list, I hope she likes it. I looked through her favorite postcards and she had a lot of water ones...and so I decided on this one. She also mentioned that she loved cats and the Christmas holiday. Because she she said she loved Christmas, I decided to put some Christmas-y stickers on her postcard and also a picture of a kitty cat. I hope she enjoys it!

These next postcards I decided to send to my family here and on the mainland. I actually was going to write them on Sunday, but then I got super tired and I wasn't able to write them until now...so that date is kind of off...oh well. :)

This vintage Hawaiian island postcard will be making it's way to my cousin in California. He just recently got two new jobs in the Bay Area and so he was able to move nearer to home (where we both grew up)...so I wanted to send him a congratulations postcard! Something fun to get at his new place. And plus, his wife (who just so happens to be one of my closest friend...err...cousin (now!)) told me that he rarely, if ever, gets anything fun in the mail...so I hope that this is a nice surprise! :)

Of course I couldn't send one to my cousin without sending one to his wife as well! So I send her this vintage postcard. I miss this girl so much! It's so fun to see how life happens. I know that I wrote about this girl in my earlier posts when I first started to blog. She actually was my room/housemate in the Philippines when we went to school there. My cousin and her had been dating for nearly 10 years before they got married this past January...and I am so glad to be able to call her my cousin. I miss her a lot. And I wish that she were closer to me...but I'm not complaining because although we are still an ocean away...California is still a LOT closer than Thailand!

This other Vintage Hawaiian Island postcard I sent to my sister. I can't remember the last time that I mailed off something to my sister and so I wanted to just sent her a little something something to make her day. I know that she has long days being a mom and having two business going on...she is doing an awesome job...but sometimes, I think, you need something random and fun to make you smile...I hope this postcard makes her smile. :)

#kauaigirls2016.

Kaua'i. Enough said. Kaua'i.

No seriously though. Kaua'i is beautiful and I had an absolutely amazing time there. I am already looking forward to going back and just staying there for a few WEEKS! I don't know if I could live there, but to visit...now that place is paradise.

I love O'ahu, and I can see this place as "home" for now...but Kaua'i, although is still "Hawai'i" is so different than O'ahu. I heard that all the islands are different from each other, O'ahu being the most industrialized island of all the island. And I would have to say that I agree. Kaua'i seemed so untouched and so different from my beloved O'ahu.

I was there only for the day with three of my very good girl friends and the whole day was a day of relaxation, story talking, and lots of laughter, and lots of memory making. We saw a lot of beaches, all different from each other, and we saw a lot of beautiful sites. I was able to take a few pictures with my phone camera...but my other friend took her "complicated" camera and was able to take some really nice shots. I plan to go to all the islands. Multiple times. And just explore and have a lot of adventures.

We left early this morning. I got up at 2:45am to leave the house at 3:15am to meet up with everyone at 3:30am and to be at the airport at 4am to make our flight at 5am just so that we can see the sunrise on Kaua'i at 6:22am. And after complications with our car rentals (for future reference, I don't think that I will ever rent a car from Advantage, super poor customer service and an infestation of baby cockroaches in the car. But I didn't let that ruin my wonderful time there!), we were able to go to the Lydgate Beach Park only about 9 minutes away from the airport.

 

"Friend" with the "complicated camera getting an amazing sunrise shot!

 There were so many drift wood at this beach! Beautiful, beautiful driftwood, that I have to admit that I took 3 pieces home. :) I don't get much driftwood at the beach that Iive by...or any of the beaches that I live nearby! So I was pretty excited to see all the driftwood!

 

 

My friends and I were pretty tempted to stay here for a LONG time, it was so peaceful and although the storm (oh yeah, I forgot to mention that despite TWO hurricane warnings, we decided to go anyways...oh we are that daring! :)) was churning up the water and make a lot of huge waves, it was so relaxing just to watch the waves and just be near the ocean. I think it was the storm that brought all the driftwood up because I heard that normally there wouldn't be this much driftwood. But even the driftwood was beautiful. And yes, the sunrise was breathtaking.

After tearing ourselves away from this beautiful beach, we decided to find somewhere to eat. That was one thing I loved about this trip. I did write up a list of places that we could visit...but mainly it was, drive down the one road that Kaua'i has, and stop where ever we wanted to. :) But we were starving by this time and so we went to the first place that I listed. And that would be The Beach Hut just a few minutes away.

 Super nice people and yummy local food. I think that the best thing about this day trip was the company. There was never a dull moment. :)

 

And who can say no to the view! I had the Portuguese Sweet Bread french toast...and it was yummy! And I had to have my lemonade! :)

We saw many things, went to plenty beaches, and even stopped at Ross to buy some sunglasses! :) I am not going to write in any particular order, there was way too much to say! But Kaua'i. I can't wait to go back. :)

One the the many waterfalls that we saw! It was so mesmerizing! You can see the amazing power of this waterfall! I have to admit that looking at this waterfall brought be back when I was younger and I use to go to Yosemite and go place on the rocks of the waterfall there.

Here is my crazy friend! All through this trip she kept getting in crazy, and sometimes DANGEROUS positions to get really good shots!

This was surrounding the waterfall. It was SO green and it was so tranquil! The birds in flight and just the peaceful feeling of the place...this was another place that I felt like I could have stayed forever!

White we were driving we all agreed that we needed a coffee stop and so we decided to look on yelp for a place to stop for coffee and I am so glad that we found this place!  If ever you go to Kaua'i, you should stop here! The service was so amazing, and the ambience of the places was so welcoming and homey! They were playing Christian music and the workers were singing along to the music and it just made you want to sing along as well!

This is the Kilauea Lighthouse. Another beautiful place! I love the contrast that the storm clouds brought to the blue, blue water!

We had to randomly stop here to take pictures of the Lo'i. Our friend that wasn't able to come with us really loves Lo'i's and so we stopped to take a picture of this one for her. I couldn't really get a good shot with my phone cam, but I'm sure that my other friend got a good one. :)

The chicken here were really tame and just came up to you...and so we sprinkle some bread that we had in the car for them to eat.

The wet and dry caves were so amazing to experience! I have to admit that I was weary to go inside...I'm not the biggest far of the dark, but it wasn't too dark and it didn't go too far deep, so that was cool. But one of my friends took a picture and another tourist exclaimed how awesome the flash bounced off the spider webs from the ceiling...and that's when I knew that I had to get out...the whole top of the cave was filled with HUGE, HUGE, HUGE spider webs with HUGE, HUGE, HUGE spiders. That I could not do...but it was pretty cool inside...and the acoustics was amazing!

The place outside the caves was just as beautiful! It really does look so untouched and so pure! It was so breathtaking!

This was the beach that was on the other side of the caves. The waves were really huge, but there were a lot of cat eye and puka shells here...and so we stayed here for awhile to pick some shells.

I love the islands! There is always a beach nearby, no matter where you are! So in this picture you can see were the caves are, and just across the street is the beach!

This is another random beach that we stopped by. High, high waves...but they were super messy. There were a few paddleboarders who were braving the crazy, messy waves though. So we stayed for a while and watched them.

A dream come true! I am a mermaid! :) I bought my DollGirl a shell here...so that she can always have the ocean with her. :)

The last beach that we stopped at before heading back to airport. We stayed for awhile just watching the waves crashing on the shore.

I am home now...and I am tired! I feel like I can sleep all day! But I wanted to write this post before I forgot everything, although I highly doubt that that would happen! Today was an amazing day...and I am looking forward to the next time that we will go there...but the next island that I'll be going to is Maui in a few weeks! But Kaua'i. It was everything that I had hoped it would be and more. Until next time, Kaua'i...aloha!

Now I am going to knock out!

Waimea Bay.

Kaleo had a swim race at the Waimea Bay so we all decide to truck our selves over to make a day of it. I have to say that this is the first time that I've been to Waimea Bay, but I would so go to this place again, and its high on my favorite places here in Hawaii. I have so much fun. I loved this beach...and I love this place. I hope that I can find someone that can go with me here plenty of times...shoots, I am even willing to say, that this could be a place that I would call...nah, I won't say it...just yet! *laughs* but oh my goodness...I loved this place...and I felt so relaxed in the ocean here. Like I said before, I loved it.

Although, we had to leave like at 6:00 in the morning...I didn't mind...because the bay was amazingly beautiful...and it did rain a bit...but that cleared up fast. 

Well, it was a race...so I would be lying if I didn't say that there was nothing else that caught my attention other than the beautiful bay. There were some gorgeous, gorgeous men there. Yes. *laughs* :)

After the race, we just chilled and just enjoyed ourselves. We took out the standup paddle board and DollGirl went out with us. Kuya Neal took out the GoPro and we had tons of fun.

This girl just melts my heart every time.

We brought lunch and used the paddle board as a table. 

I loved this day. I love this place. I hope to come here again.

Fun Day.

Today was fun. It's been awhile since we been to the beach...and today we went to Manana Beach...and sucks so bad that I didn't get a picture because the water was beautiful! I was too busy playing in the water...oh how I love that water! :) I wonder what it would be like if I really were a mermaid! I guess I'll never know! But I can always imagine!

Well, this is the last weekend that I'll see my sister and her family for awhile. Even Tracy and Kaleo...and so I'm trying to make the most of it. It's good that we went to the beach today because I'm not sure that they will be able to get to the beach in California...but I know that Tracy and Kaleo will be able to go to the beach in Japan...Kaleo has to swim in his Strong Man race after all!

Yesterday night, Tracy threw a small birthday dinner for my sister since we all won't be together for her birthday. I love when Tracy cooks...she is an amazing cook! She made her tostado's...YUMMY! I don't think that I spelled that right! But trust me, it was yummy. *laughs* Jeremy and Amanda also came over...so it was good to have all of us together. I hope we have more Friday night dinners... I miss those.

Every morning that I am here...this little DollGirl loves to look at my itouch! After giving me her "two toys"...she goes for my itouch...I have to sleep with sound...and so I have an app for a sound machine on it...so she is mesmerized by it, I guess. :)

Then we snuggle together and make faces. Exactly like this every morning that I sleep here. I can get used to this. Sometimes I just want to sleep in during my weekends...but she changes my mind every time. How can you have a bad day after this?!

So, today before we went to the beach was a bit chilly so my sister asked me to dress DollGirl up. She usually runs around the house in only her diaper...and sometimes some "bibidies"...(underwear)...and if I know that we won't go anywhere for awhile, I let her choose what to wear...look what she chose!! She is SOOO silly! Those are long socks that she wanted to wear! *laughs*

AND she is stepping on my water bottle! *laughs*

Today was a fun day. I can't wait until we can do a day like this again. Life is ALWAYS better at the beach! *laughs*

"And at the end of the day, your feet should be dirty, your hair messy, and your eyes sparkling."-Shanti

Last Post of 2013!

So, things have been mad busy lately, so I have a huge feeling that this is will be my last post of the year! I need to get on it! *laughs* This year, I wasn't able to post as much, hopefully with the new year coming in, I'll be able to post more! *crosses fingers*

Well, Christmas was a lot of fun! I went to my sister's house...and I didn't even have to go into work on Christmas Eve! Yay...but BOO, I have to work New Years Eve...oh well. Amanda left December 20 to go home she came back today though. I feel bad for her because they had to cancel her flight going home and so her and two other friends had to scramble to try to find new flights. Good thing though that the flight help person was able to help them! Coming back was okay though, and I"m glad that I'm not alone in the house anymore!!

Anyways, I am in a rush, so here are some pictures that I took of from Christmas and some!

Yes, I did change my nail polish! Even though there isn't a huge design here...the nail polish is pretty cool, don't you think?! :) Plus, since I did choose a Blue theme for the house, I matched it with my nails. :) My friend got me at least 5 different colors of this nail polish! I ADORE IT! DollGirl liked it too! She couldn't stop looking at it! :)

Here is my sister with DollGirl! Oh mandope! That little one had a lot of fun opening her stalking! It was adorable...I super enjoyed watching her open her stalking with her mom. I loved how this year she was more aware than she was last year when she was just a few months old. Plus since we went to the Mainland for Christmas, this was her first Christmas here in Hawai'i...and I loved her excitedness for everything!! :)

Oh, my goodness! I think this little DollGirl was our entertainment opening presents this year! *laughs* She had a lot of fun! And was SUPER excited over everything! I got her that basketball hoop...and look at her loving her "ball" one of the words she LOVES to say...and she loves to play and throw already! Her Dad, Uncle and I are already playing basketball with her...it's soo fun!

My brother-in-law got my fish a Christmas present! I have THE BEST brother-in-law...and I thank my sister plenty for giving me an awesome brother! :) But he got them that "Surf's Up" aquarium decoration. I love it. My fish seem to like it too. :) Amanda and Jeremy got that "The Mermaid is In" sign for me for my birthday this past year...I adore it. :)

So, I am loving tea. Don't get me wrong though, I still love my coffee...but I love tea...and I love trying different kinds...and so my brother got me this amazing glass teapot with Flowering Tea...! Oh my goodness...I LOVE it! My brother SO knows me!! I love him...and Amanda got me the cutest Elephant tea spoons. My brother had gotten me the elephant mug for my birthday one year...but I love my family...they soooo knows me when it comes to getting me things that are SOOO me! :)

So, I did try the Flowering Tea...and it was really beautiful to watch...:) Not too strong, just right...and yes, I do like my tea with milk and honey...so yummy!

 Here is DollGirl playing with one of the toys that Amanda got for her. SOOO cute! She is going to be just like her mother! Cooking and baking!

Well, here is to the new year...I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful new years day...and an amazing year to come!