Never a dull moment...

Inoke and I have been married over six years already and it never ceases to amaze me how much I learn from Inoke. No this isn't going to be a sappy love post to my darling hubby, it is about how crazy it is to listen to Inoke's take on things verses mine. He always makes me laugh at his honest and at times totally off the wall opinions. Like for example this weekend we were blessed to be given some fresh fish. Inoke LOVES fish and I tolerate fish. Don't get me wrong I am an Alaskan girl after all, and if you have some nice salmon fillets or herb crusted halibut I will be the first to dive in. Inoke just loves FISH... the whole fish. His preferred preparation involves frying the entire fish skin and head and tail and all then adding coconut milk with sliced up onions and tomatoes. Then he is ready to fight for his favorite part of the fish... the head. Ugh. But anyways, I digress. So we got some fresh fish and Inoke tells me that we need to leave the fish out on the counter for a little bit before wrapping it and putting it in the fridge. I look at him with a quizzical look on my face and say "Why?" after all I was raised to put everything in the fridge immediately so bacteria and semolina and all those other horrible gross things don't begin to grow on food. He proceeds to explain to me that we should leave it out to see if flys are interested in the fish. Yes you read that right. Because after all if the fish is a good fish then flys will swarm around it and want to get in on the action. If the fish isn't good than the flys will leave it alone. My response was something along the lines of, um if a bunch of flys land on it I won't eat it anyways. Needless to say I washed dried and put the fish away without testing it, so we will just have to take our chances.

Which brings me to the second half of my story. This weekend was absolutely beautiful. The sun was shining, the water was blue, and the trades finally came back. We took advantage of the weather and went swimming. I have to admit I love the beach, but I really love the pool. I mean the sand just gets EVERYWHERE and I hate that sticky dried salt on my skin feeling. Of course Inoke loves the ocean. It was a minor miracle to get him to agree to go swimming with me during the sunny daylight hours, he usually will only go in the evening or when it is raining. I go to the beach to add some color to this fairy white princess look that I seem to be sporting lately; he on the other hand avoids the sunlight at all costs, he might get darker... heaven forbid. So we made it to the beach and Inoke and Rio immediately begin smoothing sand all over their bodies... ick! I asked what they were doing, and how in the world they could stand to have sand EVERYWHERE? Inoke again has another outlook, he told me that it was a Fijian Spa Treatment, I mean after all I do use a loofa and I love my puff. I guess in theory it makes sense. So they really enjoyed scrubbing down in with the sand, and I have to admit Inoke's skin was very soft after. It just makes me laugh, I spend plenty money going to get my pedicures and buying fancy bath scrubs; while my sweet Inoke uses some sand and accomplishes the same if not better results.

Here are Inoke and Rio. They opted for the "Botanical Skin Resurfacing" a natural approach to microdermabrasion... a treatment that will leave the skin with visable improvement and radiance.

Here they are again. Step two of the process wash all that sand off. Doesn't the water look so BLUE!

I even gave it a try... well not the whole body exfoliation (baby steps here) I went for the all natural sand pediucure. Let me say my feet are pretty soft after walking on the beach for a while.

So that is why I never have a dull moment with Inoke. He always makes me laugh and teaches me that there are other opinions or ways to do things besides my own.

Oh and here is our "home" yes this is about all we can afford on the Island of Oahu right now with the median home prices currently set at $635.000.00. But hey Location, Location, Location, right?

Laie vs. Kahuku

Saturday Inoke told me we were going to watch rugby then we would go out to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. He knows that I love that place and I will even consent to a couple hours of rugby watching if it means I get a slice of cheesecake out of the deal. So we headed down to Kapiolani Park and waited for the game to begin. As we were sitting there waiting for all the team to show up, Inoke told me that he was not going to watch; he was going to play. So in true Polynesian fashion in less than two minutes he managed to borrow shorts, socks, a tee-shirt, and oh so conveniently his rugby boots were in the back of the car. Here are a few pictures of the match; I have to say Inoke did pretty good at keeping up with the young guys out there and I was relieved he only got a little black eye and a scraped up leg. Of course after the match he was sweaty and dirty and so my Cheesecake Factory turned into KFC on the way home.

Coach Chris giving them a few words of encouragement before the match...

The match was Laie vs. Kahuku, so why couldn't we play out in Kahuku???

There was only one little fist fight between the rival teams... At least they didn't have to cancel the game and were able to continue on playing.


It's OK that Inoke has green shorts, and his socks only go mid calf...


Baby Vaea was chilling there watching the match with Siki.

And here are the war wounds... not so bad this time around.

Happy Birthday Inoke!

The Big 3-0...

Today Inoke is 30! One thing that has always baffled me about Inoke, is that he doesn't care much about birthdays. Growing up I always looked forward to my special birthday dinner of choice, and my special birthday cake, and my presents, etc. Not, Inoke. Over the years I have slowly gotten him used to the idea and he has actually gotten pretty good at celebrating MY birthday (yeah!!). I however, am still working on getting him excited about his own. SO Happy Birthday Inoke! I was reminising about all the fun times we have shared together over the last eight years and I thought a slide show down memory lane might be kind of fun. Please excuse the quality of the photos, they are scanned. (After all, we didn't have a digital camera back in those days... )

Fishy...

First, let me just say that I am so not a pet person. I don't have anything against animals, I love animals, I just don't want to be responsible for any animals of my own. So a couple weeks ago at a church activity I won the early bird prize. The prize was to take home one of the centerpieces from the dinner. Yeah! I love winning prizes... the theme of the evening was "Teach a Man to Fish" so you can only imagine what the centerpiece was. Yep. A Fish. Inoke and I were flying out to Arizona the next morning so I asked Alumita to watch and take care of the fish for me and I would pick him up when we came back. Really I thought after a week or so she would like having the fish so much she would want to keep him and I would be off the hook. (No pun intended) So we went on our trip and when we came back Alumita called to see when I would be picking up the fish... I managed to put it off for a couple days. Then last week Inoke saw Alumita and she asked him when we wanted our fish. He was so excited that we had a fish! He called me on the way to work and asked "Hey did you know we have a fish!?!" to which I replied... "Uh yes." So that was the end of my procrastinating that evening our little fish was delivered. So next came naming the fish. Inoke wanted to name it Karla... what? I still don't know what he was thinking. I voted for Bruce. Just because he is blue, and wasn't there a blue shark named Bruce on some disney movie??? Inoke didn't like Bruce and I don't like Karla. SO Fishy it is. I think little Fishy is actually growing on me. He is certainly inspiring ideas for Inoke... now he is talking about getting a big aquarium and buying all these big fish for it. Uh Oh.

Mc Dreamy...

One advantage to Inoke working lots of nights is I can go watch all the chic flicks that come out. Inoke is always amazed at how many movies I manage to see without him... so this weekend I was out and about shopping and had a few hours to kill before Inoke finished work. I was very excited that Made of Honor was finally out as I have been wanting to see this one for a while. I know it got some so-so reviews, but I liked it. I mean hello what do you expect from a chic flick anyways. The highlights for me were: they drove Landrover LR3s (my favorite dream car), Mc Dreamy was in a mini-kilt, the beautiful Scottish Castle and countryside, people speaking real Gaelic (a language that really fascinates me because it is pronounced completely different than it is spelled) and some serious laughs along the way. So after watching the movie I so want to travel around Scotland. Inoke has always talked about going to Edinburgh to watch rugby tournaments... hmm... next time I might be a little more open to the idea...

Top 5 things I love about Hawaii...

So the other day I was talking to my dad and he was saying how he had spent something like seventeen years in Alaska; and how for a military man that was quite a long time. Then I started thinking and this August makes ten years since I landed on this island paradise. Back then I was just a 19 year old college sophomore looking for a fun semester involving lots of sunshine and beach time. If you would have told me back then that in TEN years I would still be here in good old Laie, I would have never believed it. I have seen a lot of changes and growth that is for sure; but there are a few things that may have driven me crazy in the beginning, that now are my most favorite things about living on this rock in the sea. So here goes my top five things that I love about living down in this crazy little country town.

5. Teds Bakery

If you know me at all, you know that I have this unbelievable sweet tooth and the chocolate haupia pie from Ted's Bakery calls my name every time I drive past. I have to say that I love EVERYTHING there, the chocolate eclairs, the dream cake, the carrot cake, the danishes, etc. Thank you so much to Amy Basalusalu for introducing me to this little bakery way back in the day. And yes their butter rolls are still amazing.

4. "Free Range" Chickens

When I first arrived I just couldn't believe that there were so many wild chickens roaming around the streets of this town. If you have ever been to Laie you know exactly what I mean, they are everywhere! I mean we are in America, this isn't a little village or a third world country...but we do have some serious chickens roaming the streets. Now I have come to love the rooster calls in the early mornings telling me to wake up and go exercise.

3. Kamehameha Hwy.

I can still remember the first night I arrived. The good old "Coconut Express" came to the airport and we all loaded into a van to head for the North Shore. It was late and dark. Being an Alaskan girl I kept looking out the window and smiling at all the coconut trees along the road and trying to see what was out there in the dark. As we started past Kahaluu I began to realize we were driving right NEXT to the ocean. I mean the road was right there and the waves were softly crashing against it. Anyone who has driven out along the Kam. Hwy. to the North Shore knows exactly what I mean. It truly is a breathtaking drive.

Which brings me to 3A... the speed limit in Hawaii. So when I was younger and in a rush to get to everywhere I totally HATED the 35mph speed limit along the Hwy. I mean it is a HIGHWAY shouldn't it be at least 55mph?! Now I have finally learned to relax and it is normal for a 23 mile trip to take about 45 minutes... Actually when we went to Arizona a couple weeks ago I found myself going about 35-40mph and it felt so fast to go the speed limit... guess it is all relative.

2. 85 degrees year round.

What else can I say. Hawaii is the most amazing place to live for that simple fact. It is right around 85 degrees in the summer, winter, fall, or spring. I can go for walks and exercise outside year round! Even during the rainy season it is still beautiful and 85.

1. The BEACH.

Yes if you know me, you know that I am borderline obsessed with beaches. I love the beach. Even though now I am all grown up and work way more than I should; so I am sporting the "fairy princess white" instead of the "glowing golden tan." I still love the smell, sound, feel of the sand between my toes and the waves lapping into the shore.

So there you have it. Those of you who have left Hawaii, I hope this triggers warm thoughts and happy memories of the little idiosyncrasies of this island paradise.