Well it’s been a frustrating week for me.  I’ve been battling the weirdest cold I’ve ever had.  Seriously, I don’t even know what I have.  I’m constantly tired, my throat hurts on and off, and my nose runs whenever it feels like it.  Cold medicine doesn’t seem to help, but napping sure feels good.

But honestly, that’s not the most frustrating part.  Bryce started his bar prep class on Monday (yep, the day after graduating).  I know I probably complain a lot about not seeing him.  And I do realize that there are far worse situations than mine.  But I just miss the guy so dang much.  His class goes from 6-9:45 pm most days, and when he’s not in class he has to work on the assignments.  We haven’t talked unless he’s driving somewhere.  So I have to stay up late to talk to him (which has been hard with my cold haha).

I knew this was coming.  Really, I did.  I was going into summer thinking how little I’d see him until the end of July.  But it became a reality this week.

Apparently I have to put on my big girl shoes a lot sooner than I anticipated.  I’ll get through this.  My friends may just be seeing more of me than they want to.

Congrats to my bubu (I’d be in so much trouble if he knew I said that) for graduating from law school yesterday!  It’s been three long years, but all his hard work has finally paid off.  And while he is still not done (he needs to take and pass the bar), I feel it’s a huge accomplishment.  I love this guy so much and I’m so proud of him.

My favorite picture of the day?

Him showing off his argyle socks.

Before I start this post, I feel it’s important to let you know that I scare pretty easily.  My mind kicks into overdrive and my imagination runs rampant at all the horrors that could potentially harm me.  Scary hands reaching for me in the shower, people appearing out of nowhere, creatures coming to eat me — oh you know, the usual.

So anyway, you know how I only see Bryce on weekends?  Well, it’s turned into a Saturday to Sunday kinda thing.  It was hard at first, but I adjusted surprisingly well.  It actually worked out well in part due to the situation with my dad.  (Update on that by the way: he’s doing well.  We send him to a day-care while we’re at work and I think he’s adjusted to the new situation pretty well.  Of course it’s still a lot of work, but it’s better than having to visit him at the care home.)  Anyway, all that to say that I’m basically alone on Friday nights since my mom works.

To keep myself entertained, I’ve become accustomed to watching Ghost Adventures every Friday night.  Have you heard of it?  I can’t explain why I love watching it.  The show keeps me riveted in my seat as I long to snuggle my dogs for comfort who are always either off doing their own thing, or sleeping on the other couch or floor.  And once I turn it off, the images and sounds still follow my lonely self into the bathroom and when I turn the lights off to go to bed.

So there you have it.  I scare myself and yet I can’t seem to stop!  It’s a problem.  Anybody else have the same problem, or am I just weird?  Maybe you shouldn’t answer that.

Skyped with my sister yesterday!  It was the first time seeing her face since she left.  We were really excited to finally get to speak to her.  Emails just don’t cut it.  Plus, it was proof that she’s alive!  You know, for my mom.  Who asks me every so often if I think she’s alive.  For reals.  Isn’t technology wonderful?

She’s doing well!  Still adjusting to the colder weather (it’s constantly in the 50′s, which is cold for us Hawaii peeps).  Her host mom is really nice.  And luckily, they have a cute dog named Choco!  She’s having some camera issues, so I’m thinking I may need to get a camera for her (I can’t stand the fact that she’s abroad with a dysfunctional camera).  However, hearing her stories and all the fun that she’s having was awesome.  I’ll just share one of them.  When she arrived at one of the train stations, she couldn’t find an elevator so she had to lug her big suitcase and carry ons up the stairs.  Apparently an old man with a cane helped her up the stairs (and even carried the huge suitcase!).  Randi didn’t know how to react because she didn’t want him to strain himself.  Ok, that may not have sounded as funny through text, but I promise when she told us the story it had us all cracking up!

Anyway, just wanted to share that she’s doing well.  I make fun of my mom, but I have to admit it was nice to see her after so long.  I knew she’d be ok.  The big sister in me is so proud!

This weekend was kind of a doozy in the sense that Bryce and I weren’t able to do much.  He got food poisoning on Thursday night, so Friday and Saturday were spent mostly cooped up at home.  We made the most of it though!  Here are some weekend snapshots:

My new favorite Starbucks drink – iced green tea lemonade!

Played some Jenga.  The fastest way to raise your blood pressure! Also, worst first move ever. Sheesh.

We managed to walk around the Koko Crater Botanical Garden.

I bought a new candle to try out! It has 3 scents and makes a marvelous crackle sound while lit.

And finally, we had lunch at CPK and tried their new Lemon Cake! It is SO good. Try it!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend as well!

Ok guys, here’s my first vacation recap!  Warning: this is going to be a picture filled post.

This was our longest vacation together (it beat out Disneyland), but it actually felt like it went by really fast! Day 1 was the worst.  I was adjusting to the cold (ok, I never really did get used to 50 degree weather), we walked ALL over the place after arriving in the early morning since we couldn’t check in, and got back to the hotel late.  By the end of the day I could barely walk!  Anyway, to give you an idea (if you know the area) our hotel was close to downtown and we walked through Union Square, up through Chinatown, and all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf.  Google it.  It’s a lot of mileage.  But here are the pics to prove we still had a good time!

Ripley’s Believe It Or Not

Only 1 in 3 people can roll their tongue!                                              3D walkway

Bryce and Optimus Prime                                      A wedding dress made out of toilet paper!

Bryce is tall…                                                                …and I am short haha.

Chinatown

Entrance                                                                Tea shop where you can taste for free but buy in bulk

Fisherman’s Wharf

The only day I ever wore sunglasses…                                                  There was a merry go round!

Which we totally rode with no shame

Seal lions at Pier 39! They were fun to watch.

Alcatraz

The sunset from Alcatraz was so pretty!  We were able to see the sky turn so many colors.

Boudin’s

We were so cold after our Alcatraz tour that we had to get chowder!  It totally lives up to it’s reputation.

Crab spinach and artichoke dip w/ toasted sourdough bread! Their famous chowder in sourdough bread bowl. Delish!

That’s pretty much day 1!  I know, we did a LOT.  Believe me, my feet remember it well.  Hope you enjoyed looking at these!  I’ll post the others slowly.

Yesterday Bryce and I celebrated 6 years together.  Isn’t that crazy to think about?  We were going to celebrate by going around the island, but the weather didn’t cooperate.  So we only made it as far at Kailua for some delicious crepes from Crepes No Ka Oi!  But enough jabbering, I’ll let the pics speak for themselves.

Starting with breakfast.

We got one sweet and one savory to share.  The savory was called The Popeye and the sweet one was called Lovers’ Delight.  Um, YUM.  We’re totally going back there again.

Since we were sitting outside and it was super windy, Bryce got a tea and I got this hot chocolate.  I don’t usually like eating whipped cream, but for some reason this tasted awesome.  Especially since it was sprinkled with cinnamon!

My date for the day.

Then we went to Kailua beach and I made a heart with my feet.

On our 1 year we went to a beach too, and took a picture like this.  I thought it only fitting to do it again.

Love you, Bryce.  Here’s to many more years to come.

“She’s going to be ok, right?”

As my mom asked me in a soft voice, I realized just how worried she was about my little sister and how much she had been holding in.  We were eating dinner together and had never really talked about her leaving for Japan before.  I guess it just crept up on all of us.  Bryce and I, on the other hand, have spoken a lot about this.  I told him how good this would be for her, but at the same time I was worried that she’d arrive there safely, find her way around Japan, and that she would be able to fully enjoy her trip abroad.  But I simply answered her with this (and making sure I sounded sure of myself):

“She’ll be fine.  She can do it.”

Because I know she was seeking reassurance from me.  And I know she needed it.

The last night with Randi was spent really low key.  We had dinner together after visiting my dad and helped her finish up her packing.  My mom hovered over her with a vengeance because that was her way of coping.  I inherited her constant need to worry, but she internalizes more than I do so I can pretty much understand how she operates.  Randi was getting frustrated so I had to remind her to just brush it off because that’s her way of dealing with things.  At one point my mom had to go in her room because she started to cry.  I sent Randi in there to console her because I didn’t want either of them to spend that last night like that.  It all worked out, but I’m sure it’ll take some time to adjust to life without her.

It all hit me when I drove to work and realized how odd it would be not to see her at dinner.  She’s a big pain most of the time and I give her a hard time about it, but she’s still my little sister.

The funny part was that as I hugged her goodbye, I found myself reassuring her also.

“You’re going to do great.  Learn a lot, but have some fun.”

I got an email from her this morning saying how she’s already so homesick, but she feels guilty for that because she’s been wanting this for so long that it doesn’t feel right.  All I can do at this point is keep reassuring her that she’ll be fine.  It’s so new for her to be on her own.

We’re going to be fine.  She’s just the first to “leave” home and she’s the baby.  But I’m proud of my mom for handling it so well!  And I’m proud of her for following through with studying abroad.  I wish I had done it when I was getting my undergrad degree.

She’s thinking of starting a blog to document her journey, so I’ll be sure to let you all know about it if and when she creates one!

Taken on her last morning.

Yes, that title totally deserved an exclamation point.  Is anyone else SUPER excited for the movie???  I’ve been trying to contain myself and not overdo it like I did with Twilight all those years ago.  So kudos to me.  But seriously, I’ve stopped myself from buying a LOT of merchandise.  I wanted to be all decked out when I saw the movie but money’s kind of tight right now and I can’t be buying all sorts of things I won’t use very often.  Wow, I feel so grown up.

Anyway, let’s take a look at Etsy because the official movie merchandise from Hot Topic sucks in comparison.  Here are my favorites!

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I’m obviously Team Peeta.  And for the record, I would totally put that Peeta pillow around my house and Bryce would just have to deal with it haha.  Also that painting?  LOVE it.  Peeta really had some great lines, didn’t he?

How cute is that “real or not real” bracelet??  That question always brought me to the brink of tears when he asked.  And that last line where he asks if she loves him?  I die.

Have any favorites?  Please please share.  I’d love to see!

Happy Wednesday, friends!

Have you ever stared at the blank screen of a new blog post and felt intimidated?  There’s just so much I want to say and I’m not sure where to start.  I guess I’ll just run with it.   Sorry in advance for a post that will probably be all over the place!

First off, I’m a horrible person.  I never thanked you all for your kind words, thoughts, prayers, texts, for the situation with my dad.  I so appreciate everything and I know it’s because of all of you that I was able to work past a lot of my anger towards him.  My family and I are still adjusting and dealing with a lot, but we’re not in the stage where it feels like a constant downward spiral.  Which is awesome.  Mostly my mom is now having to deal with the financial aspect of it all, which I don’t envy at all.  To be honest, I’m not sure how she does it.

Another twist to life right now is that my sister is going to study abroad in Japan for 5 months.  She leaves on Wednesday.  It’ll be really different around here.  This is good for her to grow as a person, so I have no problems with it.  Well maybe one – such bad timing haha.  But what can you do?  Actually, I just realized I have another problem.  I can’t go out at night anymore!  Nobody will feed my dogs!  Sigh.

This past Sunday I had a “woe is me” moment.  I was taking a shower and it kind of hit me.  I had just finished trying to wake Bryce up for the umpteenth time to get him in the shower and we always “argue” about who showers first (98% of the time it’s me).  I even ate breakfast without him.  Nothing glamorous.  Just some nutella and wheat bread.  When he asked what I ate and I replied he said “oh that’s it?” all I could say was “well yeah I just didn’t feel like cooking.”  So in the shower I was sulking while thinking how nice it would be for someone to cook ME breakfast for once.  How I’m always having to do things for everyone else.  I’m not even sure when I took that role upon myself.  I think it kind of just happened naturally.  So I was in a funk all day and wasn’t very good company.  Once you start feeling sorry for yourself it’s hard to stop.

I hate to be such a Debbie Downer lately.  But this blog is my outlet.  I do have some good news to share though.  I’ve finally decided on a Master’s program!  Hopefully if things work out, this coming fall, I’ll be taking courses in Library and Information Science.  Imagine that.  And now that I’ve made a decision, a sense of peace has come over me.  It’s accompanied with a sense of fear, but I think that’s natural.  So hooray!

Hopefully this is the start to many good things to come.  2012 has been an interesting year so far, don’t you think?  At the end of the day though, I’m glad Bryce is with me.  He sticks with me through thick and thin. <3