March 27, 2008Unexpected congratulations are in order
I received a call from my brother the other day wishing me a happy birthday, but also to inform me of his recent engagement. Bruce & his long-time girlfriend, Jenny, have finally decided to tie the knot! November 9 is the wedding date, but nothing else has been decided as of yet. Frankly, I was surprised they knew that much! (My brother's not much of a planner). So anyway, congratulations to Bruce & Jenny!!
Posted by Olivia at 10:17 AM | Comments (1)
January 23, 2008The start of a new year
2008 hasn't exactly started off on the right note for me. January 2nd, my first day back at work I started feeling not so hot. By Friday I could barely swallow so I went to the doctor. Strep throat was the diagnosis. I haven't had strep since I was a kid! I had been off the antibiotics maybe 4 days when it started feeling sore again. I figured it wasn't a relapse when it stopped hurting, but I practically lost my voice. Oh, and the coughing began. And then there was more coughing. I finally went to the doctor today, after a week, and was diagnosed with upper respiratory infection. Even the doctor wished me a better February and I hope she's right!
As I've been really, really slacking with posting, I'm just going to recap the latter part of 2007 instead of writing separate entries for each event:
Colorado
In the middle of November Jeff and I went to Colorado for our big ski-themed vacation. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperative and decided not to provide us any snow that week. Nonetheless, we managed to get in one day of skiing, even if it was mostly man-made snow. Instead we drove around. A lot. But we did get to see a lot of the area, including a train to Pikes Peak, (not so) fine dining at Casa Bonita, a nighttime view of Boulder & Vail and a spontaneous 2 day trip to South Dakota. I think that was the most fun.
We had planned to make the drive to Devil's Tower (WY) and Mt Rushmore (SD) in one day, so we didn't bring any overnight stuff. Half way there we decided it was silly to rush, we should just spend the night. After stopping at Devil's Tower we braved the frigid winds and saw Mt Rushmore at night, then found a hotel in Rapid City. We had to make a trip to Wal Mart for toiletries and clean shirts for the next day, but what a great trip that was!
View pictures >>
Christmas comes early
Jeff & I treated ourselves quite a a bit this year with new gadgets and electronics. Before my trip to Biloxi I purchased a new camera and phone. To top that off Jeff found an awesome deal on the HD Tivo he just couldn't pass up, so we got one of those. Then the TV in our bedroom died so we bought a new 26in flat panel to replace it. At some point in there we got a Wii, but I can't remember when that was.
Christmas
This year was our turn to head west to Arkansas to visit with my parents. It had been over a year since I'd seen them so it was really nice to spend the week there. My brother & his girlfriend were only able to come for Christmas day, but we got to go visit him a few days later (they live about 2 hours away from my parents). As usual the menagerie of animals kept us all entertained. 3 cats, 2 dogs, 1 outside cat (he was the only smart one who stayed away!), and 6 people were quite a handful. We're hoping to host Christmas at our place next year, that should be interesting.
New Years
Kelly & Eric played host to the new year festivities. This time Jeff & I chose to spend the night rather than having to drive home with the crazies on the road in the early morning hours. We missed everyone who couldn't be there, but I think we had a great time. Some of us have spent the last 9 New Year's Eves together. Hard to believe.
View pictures >>
Posted by Olivia at 9:53 PM | Comments (1)
January 18, 2007Work weary
Every day I think, this is going to be the day I blog again. And every day I go to bed realizing I never blogged. Not that I have anything exciting or new to share.
To pick up where I left off the last time, we finally did get the TV. Jeff and Brian got it installed and it's fantastic! I was a little skeptical at first because it's higher up than I was used to, but it's not bad. The room is finally starting to come together. Now, if I could just figure out what kind of curtains to put up.
Christmas was a little different for me this year as it was the first year I didn't get to see my family at all. Jeff & I spent the weekened before Christmas in Bridgewater then came back to Richmond. Even though I wasn't as productive during my holiday break as I could have been I enjoyed my much needed time off.
As our third week back to work comes to a close I find myself thinking more and more about looking for a new job. Maybe I've just having a bad week or maybe I'm just worn out, whatever the case may be, I haven't looked forward to coming to work. If anyone comes across a job opening that looks interesting, let me know.
Posted by Olivia at 1:45 PM | Comments (0)
September 27, 2006Attack of the weeds!
Wow, almost 2 months since I've even started to blog. I think that's my personal best! (or worst).
Here's the highlights:
Work:
Lost 4 people from our division; 2 are manager level positions with one above the other, so the interim director has 3 jobs to do now
3 of the people that left went to the same agency (hmm...)
Purchasing was cut in half with the losses meaning there are fewer people to process orders
Orders have not slowed down
Been working overtime every week just to keep up
Submitted application to upgrade my position to the next level (with pay increase)
Found out last week it was approved; yay!
Family:
My parents came to visit over Labor Day; it was a short visit, but it was really good to see them
My mom made potato salad & pie mmmmmm
Jeff's parents, Jennifer & Chris came over too and we cooked out
My parents brought me 7 boxes of my old toys and things
Bruce wants to move so if anyone knows of any jobs around here in the photography field please let me know :)
Jennifer quit her job, but not before securing a new one with a pay increase
Friends:
Chris's company decided to downsize, but he landed on his feet with a new job right away (congrats to you both!)
Maggie & Quentin had a baby girl the day we left for Hawaii; she's so cute!
Brian is making waves in the Lego community with his Brickworkz mosaics; playing with Legos rules! Err, rulez!
Home:
I now have 7 new boxes of stuff to deal with (thanks mom & dad)
We have finally taken control of the weeds in the backyard; hopefully grass will start to grow soon
The sunroom has been painted bright green to kick off the Hawaiian theme we're trying to do in there
We finally found a couple of chairs for the sunroom
New storage shed lets me park in the garage now
We planted a tree in the back yard
Personal:
Tabb had it's 10 year reunion last Saturday; Jeff & I toured the school in the morning but ditched the main event to spend some time with Melissa at her daughter's 2nd birthday party
I finally got my new license plate
My glasses broke one night right after I got home from work so I had to buy some new ones (that sucked)
I went off the deep end and cut my hair really short last week
Posted by Olivia at 9:47 PM | Comments (2)
May 18, 2006One week to go
With officially 1 week left until closing, Jeff and I finally made a dent in the ever present task of packing. We were trying to hold off until we sold the townhouse to start because it makes such a mess of things. And last weekend was out because we were in DC riding Segways.
::sidenote::
The Segways were awesome!! I was a little apprehensive at first, espcially after watching the first few people step on, but it was so easy! It's all about weight shifting. If you want to go forward, put weight on your toes. Want to go back, lean more on your heels. The 6 of us picked up on it pretty quick, but one of the other people in our group had some difficulties. He kept trying to push it like a scooter.
::end sidenote::
Our unexpected inspection yesterday actually works out better for us in the long run. We would have spent a few hours this week fixing up the house, but now we can concentrate on packing. We'll have plenty of time after we move out to do the minor repairs needed.
Work is still unrelenting. I've been able to squeeze in some overtime, which will be nice when it shows up in the paycheck. Speaking of, I guess I better get back to it.
Posted by Olivia at 12:31 PM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2006So bye-bye two-thousand five..
Where did it go?? Did anyone see 2005? These last few months have been very busy (as evident from my lack of bloggage). So what have I been doing?
Let's see, Thanksgiving was spent in Bridgewater, with the Pollards. Jeff had a very busy weekend planned, so we came back to Richmond Thursday night. He spent all weekend doing some upgrades and changes to CustomTacos and in the process found out that he had damaged his ulnar nerve. After this self diagnosis, he decided to check with a doctor to be sure. Now he has to wear a 'sock' with a padded elbow during the day to prevent putting pressure on the nerve. His checkup this week was good, supposedly he's making good progress.
The first week of December brought our first good snow, and some snow days! Well, a day of leaving early a couple of delays and a cancellation after a delay, for rain. That's right, rain. We're not exactly sure what happened that day, it was snowing/sleeting through the night, but was going to warm up and change to rain by the next afternoon. Since we have multiple campuses, not all of them had the same forecast, so we closed because the roads were still slick. Didn't bother me much, I got a lot of my Christmas shopping done that day!
Somewhere in there I took a day to get my 'hair did.' This will be the third time I've done it in this shade of red, yet everyone seems to think it's a completely new color. Maybe I wait too long between appointments?
I'm not really sure what I spent my December weekends doing....Christmas shopping, Christmas decorating, stuff like that. Jeff & I ending up ditching both our office 'Holiday' parties. But we did go to Kelly & Jon's! Theirs was much cooler, they had an ornament exchange and hot cider!
Work has been crazy busy. Before Christmas was the worst, with everyone trying to get as much done before our extended Holiday break. I ended up working a half day on the 22nd so we could go to Fishersville and celebrate Jennifer's birthday.
We went ahead and packed for our Arkansas trip, including luggage, gifts and the cat, taking it all to the Pollards before meeting up with everyone for dinner. Dinner was at the Mill Street Grill, a very popular local restaurant; it was very good. We passed on dessert and went back to Jennifer's house for cake and gift opening.
Friday morning we left Bridgewater about 8am for the 12 hour drive to Arkansas. (Leaving from Bridgewater cut down a little on our time) We only stopped a few times for gas and food and got to my parents house about 10pm (that included the one hour time change); not too shabby.
Our time in Arkansas seemed to go by so fast, as it always does. We had quite an animal farm since my parents have 2 dogs and 2 cats, we brought Gizmo and my brother brought his cat, Mogwai, for a day. It was quite interesting, but worked out pretty well. I think Gizmo actually enjoyed being around other animals. Betty, a very boisterous beagle just wanted to play, so Gizmo got a little exercise running from her.
Bruce only had Christmas day off, but we got to spend some time with him and his girlfriend, Jenny. Later in the week we decided to see more of the area and drove north, with only a vague idea of a plan. We stopped at the Mystic Caverns up in the Ozark Mountains. It was really neat to be in a cave again, but felt weird to be taking a walking tour, not a crawling one. :) After that we continued up, past the state line, to Branson, Missouri. Jeff & I had never been there before, so my parents gave us the grand tour. It's a little like Vegas mixed Myrtle Beach, without the beach. And without the beachwear shops. And the casinos. And since it was winter, a lot of places were closed. We didn't really do much there, stopped at a Go-Kart track, went to a couple of shops in the downtown area, and then ate dinner. We got back to Arkansas pretty late, and we all slept in the next morning.
The next couple of days we just relaxed around the house, did a little more shopping, and got my parents hooked on Lost. We left there Thursday and drove the 14 hours back to Richmond. Maybe next year we'll host Christmas at our house.
Posted by Olivia at 12:30 AM | Comments (0)
October 17, 2005Paper Anniversary
I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by. It's amazing to think that at this time last year Jeff & I were in a plane somewhere over the US with no idea we'd be spending the first night of our honeymoon in the Honolulu airport.
As I sit here sorting through my huge stack of mail I sure do wish I was back on Maui...
We didn't really do anything special to celebrate. The 2nd Annual Tac-O-Ber Fest was planned for this weekend, so we spent it in Pennsylvania with the CT guys. Looked like everyone had a good time; bigger turnout than last year, from what I hear.
To all you married folks: what did you do to celebrate your first (or second, third, etc) anniversary?
Oh yeh, we did pull out the cupcake we've had in the freezer. It was a little tough, and the icing was kinda funky, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. :)
Posted by Olivia at 10:54 AM | Comments (2)
August 15, 2005Myrtle Beach
What: Vacation
Where: Myrtle Beach, SC
When: August 1-5, 2005
Why: To enjoy a week at the beach and some quality time with the in-laws.
Sunday, after a second day at Paragon, we drove home, packed up our bags for the beach, and fell into bed, exhausted. Monday morning, bright and early we were up and headed out of Richmond. After a brief stop at the gas station and the bank, and witnessing a small fender bender, we finally hit the road about 8am.
Continuing our tradition, we stopped for an early lunch in Dunn, NC for some yummy Sonic goodness. I think we got to MB about 2, and joined the Pollards at the pool. The next 4 days were filled with relaxing mornings at the beach, moving to the pool then on to dinner, followed by an activity of some sort. Even though I wish we could have stayed longer, it was nice to have the time we did.
Monday:
Pool
Cruised around checking out all the sites
Tuesday:
Beach - very crowded
Pool
Dinner at Carolina Roadhouse - Good rolls!
Boardwalk - Of course we had to walk through the Gay Dolphin gift shop and play some skee ball. At the Pavilion I tried the "Guess your age" thing and won. Good except the guy guessed I was 30! Oh well. Oh-do not, I repeat, do not, ride the new wooden coaster at the Pavilion. If you don't have neck problems beforehand, you might afterwards. One of the worst, jerkiest coasters I've ever been on.
Wednesday:
Beach
Pool
Dinner at Nascar Cafe
Minigolf - I won!
Thursday:
Jet skiing (Myrtle Beach Watersports) in the intercoastal waterways; awesome! I got mine up to 53mph.
Pool - My Little Pony anyone?
Dinner at Burro Loco - Great salsa!
Grand Prix - Jeff & I waited in long lines, rode 3 courses, then left frustrated
March of the Penguins - Mr & Mrs P went to the movies
Friday:
Tanger Outlets
Boiled peanuts from Sparky's, on the way out.
We definitely have to thank the Pollards for letting us crash on their sofa bed at the SeaWatch Plantation. Despite having one shower I think we managed quite nicely. Maybe we can join them again next year. Or maybe we'll go to Hawaii instead. ;)
Posted by Olivia at 10:53 AM | Comments (3)
July 7, 2005Spring Wrapup
Now that June is over I finally have some time to breathe. For a little while anyway.
I finally blogged about the Lewis Family reunion we had a few weeks ago. Don't have any pictures though; maybe I can snag some from my dad who finally joined the digital age and bought a digital camera.
The last week of June was pretty stressful. I would come home every day and be totally exhausted. I think I fell asleep on the couch around 8:30 a lot. But this past week has totally made up for it since I have done practically no real work. Almost everyday this week has been spent moving, boxing or tossing out files. I couple of weeks ago I purchased the Desk Apprentice from Staples, so I got that up and running. That probably sounds odd, but having such a large organizer requires some creative arranging. So far I like it a lot, I just wish I had a bigger desk!
As a stress reliever we spent a couple nights in the Sos' attic. I finished tiling Mike's desk and got that grouted. I think grouting was the most fun part; it's like playing with mud. :) Lauren finished up the bar area while the boys worked on various other projects. It's coming along so fast now. Tuesday we starting cleaning up in order to begin flooring. The best part was being able to throw stuff out the window instead of carrying in down the stairs.
Work on the new neighborhood is progressly nicely (but not fast enough for me!). As of last Friday there were 7 houses with at least framing started. I believe the model is supposed to be done sometime this summer. We finally got a 'Home Site' sign, although, it doesn't have a sold sticker on it yet. Hmm... < pics >
Sunday (3rd) we hung out with my coworker Kim, and her family & some friends, for a cookout. It's always fun to spend time with coworkers outside of the office.
The 4th was spent in Bridgewater with the in-laws. We cooked out, played our usual game(s) of Koosh, visited with the grandparents, and made some yummy Oreo ice cream. Jeff had Tuesday off, but I had to go back to work, so we couldn't stay the night. < pics >
Jeff reminded me tonight that 5 years ago today we were moving to Richmond. Broken keys (Uhaul) and bruised fingers (Mrs P) were the only casualties during that move; hopefully we won't have any during the next one. Sometimes it feels like we've been here much longer, but most of the time I can't believe we've been out of college for 5 years. Where did the time go?
The rest of our summer is quickly booking up. A wedding, an off road trip, a truck show, and a trip to Myrtle Beach are all coming up in the next few weeks. Maybe August and September will allow for some free time.
Posted by Olivia at 11:14 PM | Comments (1)
June 23, 2005Lewis Family Reunion
Last Friday Jeff (06/17/05) and I shipped the cat off, packed up the car and drove 6.5 hours to Mars Hill, NC for the Lewis Family Reunion. Even though this was the 3rd reunion held in 5 years, the last time we were there was in 2001. My paternal grandfather's family hails from a tiny town north of Asheville called Walnut.
After some slight confusion with the hotel rooms (if you book more than in the same name, and not all parties are arriving at the same time, don't let the hotel mark those additional rooms as checked in.) we crashed around 2am.
Saturday we headed up the mountain to what used to be an old school house. After a fire destroyed most of the building it was rebuilt as a community center. While helping set up for the vow renewals my grandparents were going to be doing later in the day, we chatted with various members of my extended family.
Everytime we have a reunion or an event where a lot of family is present I have to get the whole family tree explained again. I guess I just don't see most of the people enough to remember.
After eating and waiting for the rain to subside my grandparents renewed their vows. This past December they celebrated their 51st anniversary. Afterwards we had a mini-reception complete with cake and punch.
Most people headed out shortly after so the clean up crew got to work. You know what I mean; there's always a group of people that stay to help clean up after any event. Once the 'schoolhouse' was properly cleaned we hung out at one of my great-aunt's home for a while.
My great-grandparent's (both deceased) house is at the top of the mountain. A few years ago, a cousin moved in and began renovating the entire house, barn, and land. It's been really neat to see what he's done with the place. The old barn, once used for drying tobacco which was grown in the fields, has been turned into a horse barn. He works for the State Police and takes care of several horses used by the department.
Later on we had dinner with my parents then went back to the hotel. Sunday morning all the immediate family (parents, brother, grandparents, aunt, cousin) met at the local Huddle House for breakfast before getting on the road.
Jeff and I headed north, Bruce & his girlfriend west, and the rest went south. My parents spent a few days in Kingstree visting with my grandparents before going back to Arkansas. If the timing hadn't been so bad (work) it would have been nice to go with them. At least we got to visit for the weekend.
It's nice having these reunions; I have so many family members I don't know, sometimes is hard to believe we're all related.
Posted by Olivia at 1:56 PM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2004Birthday #18
Happy Birthday, Jennifer!
Posted by Olivia at 9:36 AM | Comments (1)
November 29, 2004Birthday #16
Happy Birthday, Bruce!
Posted by Olivia at 2:20 PM | Comments (2)
October 30, 2004Birthday #15
Happy Birthday, Mom!
Posted by Olivia at 2:22 PM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2004Honeymoon, Days 1 & 2
<10/19/04 2:00am Pacific time>
Oh wow, what a start to the honeymoon!! Who would've guessed a little bad weather could so completely ruin plans? As I sit here typing this it is 7am Tuesday morning (EST) and we're sitting, or laying, in the Honolulu Airport. Let me back up...
We arrived in NoVA Sunday night, technically Monday morning, around 1:30. The nice man at the Holiday Inn upgraded our room to the hot tub suite. Too bad we never got to really enjoy it since we were out of there 6.5 hours later. The hot tub was massive; 10 people could have fit in there! Oh well, at least the 4-poster king bed was very comfortable!
The 8:30 shuttle took us to the airport where the ticketing line was non existent, and security took all of 10 minutes. The extra time gave us a chance to grab some breakfast at Starbucks (and I was glad for that later!). About 10 we started to board the plane only to be turned back around because Cincinnati was closed due to bad weather. Must have been some storm to close the airport for 2 hours!
Even though we immediately jumped into line to be rebooked it ended up taking us and hour and 40 minutes with the Delta rep to come up with a plan. Ironically enough, we ended up taking our original flight to Cincinnati when they decided it was time to go. It was kind funny, they decided the delayed flight was going to be taking off and 10 minutes later had everyone boarded and ready to go. And because of that, we didn't get boarding passes for our next flight, we would just have to check in at the gate when we got to Cincinnati.
To make this easier to understand, here's our original flight plan, the one given to us at Dulles after the flight was delayed, and the one we actually ended up with:
Original
IAD to CVG Flight 5799 10:30am-11:57am
CVG to LAX Flight 1019 12:30pm-2:13pm
LAX to OGG Flight 541 3:25pm-5:52pm
Rerouted
IAD to CVG Flight 5799 12:30ish (Delayed Flight)
CVG to LAX Flight 49 4:45pm-6:30pm
LAX to OGG Flight 161 6:25pm-8:44pm (American Airlines)
Actual
IAD to CVG Flight 5799 12:30ish (Delayed Flight)
CVG to LAX Flight 49 4:45pm-6:30pm
Ran like crazy to catch Flight 161; missed it (duh) because we landed at 6:45
LAX to HNL Flight 341 8:15pm-10:45pm
10/19/04 HNL to OGG Flight 106 5:25am-6:02am (Hawaiian)
<10/19/0410:30pm Pacific time>
So, yes we spent Monday night in the Honolulu airport. We had to pick up our bags because there were no more inter-island flights until the morning, and in doing so, left the secured part of the terminal. Which meant, without boarding passes or tickets, we couldn't get back in. Luckily there were benches and seats outside the security areas (near the check in counters) were we could sit, and, at times, sleep. We were run off once, from the first area we chose, looked like they were cleaning or something. But the second place, which was closer to the Hawaiian Airline terminal, had several other people, and no one bothered us.
I'm sure some of you wonder why we didn't get a hotel room; we just couldn't justify spending money on a room we'd be staying in for 4 or so hours. Plus a cab ride to and from the airport. So we just stayed put, sleeping on cold,s tone benches with a blanket stolen from the last Delta flight. :)
We woke up at 4:30am (Pacific time) and made our way to the Hawaiian airlines counter only to find out Delta had not given up the right paperwork to allow Hawaiian to book us seats on the 5:25 flight, and bill Delta for them. Well, turns out they actually had, but the gate people in LAX took them with our tickets when we boarded the plane. Doh. So we chose to pay for the island hop and deal with reimbursement from Delta later. At this point we just wanted to get to Maui.
At 6am, we arrived. Yay!!! That early in the morning, there was no line for the rental car, so we picked up our bright green Jeep Wrangler and set off to find the Sheraton. Our first officlal stop and purchase on Maui? A dozen doughnuts from Krispy Kreme! Aww, yeh! Some of us had not eaten in over 12 hours and were very hungry. Once we arrived to the Sheraton, we were greeted with leis and complimentary valet parking as well as porter service for our luggage.
On our way in the door, who do we run into? Randy, fellow CTer from Missouri! Ok, so it wasn't a surprise really, we knew he and his wife were vacationing here this week, but it was complete coincidence that he came by to leave us a note at the same time we were checking in. So sometime this week we will be getting together with them for dinner maybe.
We spent the rest of the morning napping (in a real bed!!), eating at Maui Tacos, and shopping in Lahina. We picked up some really cool beach artwork and a few other things. The sun went down around 6:30, so after a while we headed back to the hotel to check out the amenities. We're going to try to make it an early night so we can start fresh in the morning. Lots to do, so little time!!
Posted by Olivia at 5:49 AM | Comments (7)
April 19, 2004A completely relaxing weekend
This weekend made a mock start Thursday night when we all gathered for a rare, during the week meal at Legends. FYI, the appetizer nachos are HUGE! After stuffing ourselves silly it was off to Chris' to enjoy some reality tv with Survivor and The Apprentice. It was a nice change to do something during the week instead of waiting for Friday or Saturday. Of course I temporarily forgot it was Thursday and was very disappointed to remember I had to go to work the next day. :(
Saturday Jeff and I headed to Bridgewater to for Mrs P's birthday. Jennifer had the weekend off so she joined us as well. After an incident with the a koosh raquet, we spent some time with the grandparents before refueling at dinner. Overall it was a great day. The weather was beautiful and although we stayed later than probably planned, it was a good visit.
Sunday morning we just kinda lounged around watching tv and washing the truck until it was time to head to Mike & Lauren's for a cookout. I can't wait until we get some patio furniture. It was a perfect day/night to be chillin' outside. Thanks again for having us over!!
Posted by Olivia at 9:37 AM | Comments (1)
April 17, 2004Birthday #11
Happy Birthday Mrs. P!
Posted by Olivia at 9:19 AM | Comments (0)
January 2, 2004Birthday #1
Happy Birthday Dad!
Posted by Olivia at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
December 25, 2003Home for the Holidays
Merry Christmas everyone!!
Monday morning at 4:30 Jeff and I got up to get me to the airport for my 7:15 flight. Who knew it wouldn't be crowded and I'd be through security by 6? Oh well. So I waited. And then in Atlanta, I waited some more. Two hours and 40 minutes. Plus the plane we were taking came in late. Almost 3 hours in the Atlanta airport. There's not much to do there. But I did see a security guard riding round on a Segway, that was cool.
About 12:30 we landed in Little Rock. Bruce picked me up since mom and dad were at the dentist. We've just been hanging out since then. Did a little shopping with my mom on Tuesday. Picked up those last minute presents that always seem to pop up no matter how hard you try. And of course we had to visit the cross stitch and scrapbook stores. :)
My dad tried to set up his old train around the tree, but the engine quit working after a couple laps. Stormy (cat on the right), was awfully interested though!
Yesterday morning my dad and I picked up the Mustang from the shop. They were surprising my brother for Christmas by getting it up and running again. I still can't believe he didn't hear us pull into the garage around noon. I guess I would still be sleeping if I'd gone to bed after 4 too.
Mom (& dad) have been busy fixing food for today. We're on our second batch of rum balls already. :) That's what they're fixing in the picture. And that's my dad keeping me away so they can finish!
Opening presents happened this morning and now we're waiting for Bruce to get back from his girlfriend's house so we can eat. I'm getting really hungry (it's 3:30!). So he better show up soon!!
Posted by Olivia at 4:24 PM | Comments (2)
November 27, 2003Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday we headed out early for Bridgewater to spend the day with Jeff's family. Shortly after arriving, we piled the food into the car and went to his grandparents house where Jennifer had already arrived. We got the food all ready then dug in. Mmmm...green beans...
As we began cleaning up I started feeling..not so good. I had the chills and my body was aching. By the time we finished, I was pretty cold and had begun to cough.
Jennifer had to leave right after we ate since she had to work. The rest of us hung out an visited for a while before heading back to the Pollards house. I fell asleep while everyone else watched Road to Perdition.
Friday Jeff had an appointment to get the exhaust on his truck worked on. After he returned we, along with Mrs P, headed out to the book fair. A quick stroll around and a visit with Mr P then we went to Costco.
By about 5:30 we were on the road for home. Later that night we both decided it would be nice to have a Frosty, so out we went. On our way back into the house we heard a loud meow. A kitten darted out from under our neighbors car. I immediately tried calling to get her to come over. But she was so skiddish, she wouldn't come close enough to touch.
We decided to go on inside and hope she would head for her own house. But as I watched from the window, she had followed us to the door and was running around near the house. I told Jeff I would give her 20 minutes, then I was going to bring her in. It was a really cold night and it was obvious she was a house cat.
20 minutes later she was still outside, hanging out in the mulch. She still wouldn't come up to me, so I grabbed an almost empty can of cat food. It didn't take too much coaxing before she gobbled that up. I was actually able to pick her up twice, but both times she jumped out of my arms before I could get inside.
So we grabbed Gizmo's carrier. I used more food to get her inside. Once the door was closed though, wow, did she move! Meowing and jumping all over the place. We put her in the bathroom upstairs and let her calm down some. By the time we went to bed she was letting me pet her with no problem.
Posted by Olivia at 11:47 PM | Comments (2)
October 30, 2003Celebrate!
Happy Birthday, Mom!!!
Posted by Olivia at 9:48 AM | Comments (2)
July 16, 2003A very merry birthday!
A very Happy Birthday to Mr P today!
Posted by Olivia at 1:08 PM | Comments (0)
June 28, 2003Another long flight
Hawaii time:
4am-getting out of bed
4:45am-on the road to the airport
5:15am-waiting in line for the Agriculture Inspection station to open (5:30-didn't know that, could have slept longer!)
5:45am-checking luggage, getting tickets
6:00am-going through security-have to take shoes off here!
6:30am-boarding plane
7:00am-takeoff
California time:
3:15pm-land at San Francisco
4:30pm-leave San Fransisco
Virginia time:
12:00am-arrive at Dulles
1:30am-get back to car at hotel a few exits from airport
2:00am-on road home
3:30am-eating 'dinner' at WaWa in Fredericksburg
4:15am-arrive in Richmond
5:30am-go to bed
With the 6 hour time difference, neither one of us were really all that tired by the time we got home. I know that the best way to get readjusted to a new time zone is to force yourself to act like you've been there all along. But it's really hard to make yourself sleep when you're not tired!! But eventually we did.
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June 27, 2003Oahu, under a parasail!
Our last day...no one really wants to leave, but we definitely made the most of our time in the islands. Jeff and I took advantage of a couple free hours and did some last minute shopping. At 2:45pm a van picked us and Mr P up for our para-sailing adventure while the ladies went shopping at Hilo Hattie. Mr P was just along for the ride, and as camera man. The real adventure for us was the ride to the dock! This guy driving the van was crazy. Imagine a NYC cab driver in a 15 passenger van. Yikes! Speed bumps? Speed is right; we were bouncing all over the place.
I can't say the boat ride out to the initial launch spot was much better. Riding against the waves always sucks. Jeff and I were the second couple to go up. There were 4 (?) other couples with us; everyone was doing tandem rides. What an awesome feeling. Your harness gets hooked to the cable and then they let go and the wind takes you straight up. We were probably up about 800 feet. Once you're in the air you hardly feel tethered at all; the waves rocking the boat don't transfer up the line. So cool. I wish I'd had my camera up there, but they warned that if there were any problems we would be doing a water landing, so I didn't want to risk ruining my nice camera. I think our ride was around 8 minutes long; what a cool way to end the trip.
We all arrived back at the room within about half an hour of each other. Jeff and I took off for a little while. We sat down by the beach for a long time watching the surfers and all the people. An early (for us) dinner at Yum Yum Tree left us with plenty of time to pack. Jeff and I had packed everything so tightly for the trip that we had no room for souvenirs. I kinda figured that would be the case, but knowing the rental cars we were supposed to have gotten weren't going to be all that big, we opted for using the smaller suitcases. So anyways, we ended up buying a duffel bag at WalMart to fit everything back in.
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June 26, 2003Pineapple Expressing it
After all the go, go, go in the past few days we decided to take it easy and just do some sightseeing. First stop (woo woo [like a train] ), Dole Plantation. One of the few places I had NOT been before, I learned more about pineapple than I really needed to know. :) The Pineapple Express train took us through the planting/harvesting process. Did you know it takes at least 15 months for the first fruit to grow?
Next stop, Waimea Falls..oops nope, can't do that, Falls are closed due to a change in management and the fact that all safety equipment had been taken out. Huh? Yeh, that's what we thought. No matter, back to Aoki's for more shave ice! Yum!
Oh, I think I forgot to mention the Mililani/H1/WalMart fiasco. Before getting to Dole we planned to stop at the WalMart in Mililani (one of two on the island) to pick up some goodies. Somehow we missed the exit from H1 to get to Mililani. (H1 being name of the interstate) Looking back on it, I think I was looking for the wrong exit..it had just been too long. So anyways, we drove a little out of our way before finally getting back on track and getting to WalMart.
So ok, back down H2 to H3 to find the Pali lookout. Pali being a road that runs through the mountains on the east side of the island. Another missed exit found us heading the wrong way yet again. I'm so grateful the Pollards were very patient with me and my funky directions. Ooo, I know what will help, a yearly trip to Hawaii! Yeh!! Ok, now we've reached the lookout. Windy, windy, windy. We got some funny videos of mine and Jennifer's hair blowing around. It's such a cool view from there...mountains to ocean.
From there we headed back to Honolulu to visit the King Kamehameha Statue and the Iolani Palace, neither of which I had actually been to. Dinner was at Hard Rock (nachos..yum!) and some walking through Waikiki topped off the evening.
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June 25, 2003Hanauma Bay
Since Hanauma Bay was closed Tuesday, we designated Wednesday as beach/snorkeling day. After a little chaos and confusion with renting snorkel gear we got to the Bay only to find it full. There are only so many parking spaces in the lot and when it's full they put signs up so no one can drive down there.
We decided to keep driving and ended up stopping at the Blow Hole lookout. Supposedly like Spouting Horn on Kauai, it was no comparison. In fact, I'm not sure I even saw water come up through it at all. We did get to watch some sea turtles battling the waves in a little bay though. We gave Hanauma Bay another drive by, lot still full. But by the time we turned back around to head for Sandy Beach (yes, that's the official name), it was open. Yay!
The admission area sure had changed since I was there last. They've built a new ticket area complete with mini-museum type area and gift shop. And now you have to watch a video about protecting the coral reef and it's inhabitants. I guess there's been a lot of abuse with people standing on it and breaking parts off.
Ok, so finally we're on the beach. It's crowded, but now annoyingly so. Jeff and I sunned ourselves while the rest of the Pollard clan headed for the water for some snorkeling action. I never could convince Jeff to go out there. I guess he'd had enough with Ke'e and Molokini, but he probably missed some good stuff at Hanauma. Oh well, save it for next time!
One thing that he did do, which he failed to mention on his blog, was get buried in the sand. Neck to toe, completed covered. That was kinda fun, for me anyways. :) We stayed there until at least 6, if not later. A yummy dinner at California Pizza Kitchen (which is NOT on Ala Moana Blvd anymore [across from the Hilton Hawaiian Village], but rather in the mall, doh!), completed the evening.
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June 24, 2003Volcanos and Faggios
The big event for the day was the hike up Diamond Head, the, as Jeff puts it, defunct volcano crater. Because we couldn't get our lazy asses out of bed we ended up hiking in the hottest part of the day. But it really wasn't too bad; with the low humidity, it doesn't seem as hot. This would make it the third time I had make this trek as well, but the view is still spectacular.
I do suggest taking water and a flashlight. There's an enclosed spiral staircase near the top that for some reason does not have electricity. Very dangerous I would think. But no matter, we made it up and back down.
After the exhausting hike we enjoyed a yummy lunch of pb&j sandwiches and Maui chips. Made like Grandma Utz, but much, much greasier. With everyone pretty tired we headed for home.
Jeff and I went across the street about 4:30pm to rent mopeds. I know everyone thinks it's a pretty dorky thing to do, but like Jeff said, there are lots and lots of people who do it. It's funny, when we lived there we could always spot tourists because they were on the mopeds, and now I was one of them!
Even though I was a little unsure and unsteady at first I picked it up pretty quick. Don't think I'm ready for a motorcycle or anything, but we sure had fun! After a while we parked and went walking around Waikiki. Because of the late hour we had rented them we ended up getting to keep them overnight. Getting in the parking deck was a real joy...6 levels up, 6 levels down, round and round....bleck. After dinner we headed back out to make the most of our time, but ended up getting lost in downtown Honolulu. At least at 1am there isn't much traffic!
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June 23, 2003Hometown Tour
A late start (to be the norm for the rest of the week), found us arriving at Pearl Harbor around 12:30pm. The next available boat was scheduled for 2pm, so we hung out looking in the museum and gift shop until then. This would be the third time I had visited the memorial, but still found it very moving.
Next stop on the tour was Mililani. After getting slightly turned around, I was able to find the first house we lived in. I didn't even try for the second house though, I had no clue! We rode by the house school both myself and my brother attended, then grabbed some lunch at Maui Tacos. Mililani looks about the same. There are new stores in place of old ones, but other than that the biggest change is the theater. There is now a 14(?) screen theater next to the Town Center. And a Chili's near the Taco Bell. But most everything else was the same.
From there we continued north west to the north shore where we stopped at Waimea Beach to put our toesies in the water. I love the north shore. It's so quiet and peaceful. On the way back through Hale'iwa we stopped at Aoki's for some shave ice. I don't know why the people on the islands love shave ice so much, but it's everywhere. Aoki's is a favorite of my family's, so we had to stop there. (This picture is for you, Dad!)
A not-so-brief stop at Ala Moana back in Honolulu allowed Jeff some geek time at the Apple Store and gave the rest of us a chance to check our email. I guess two weeks is a long time for Jeff not to be amongst other geeky-type people :) And I mean that in the most endearing way! Honest, I do!
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June 22, 2003Are we on Mars?
Our last day on Maui...boy was that a quick visit. The flight to Oahu didn't leave until 5:30, but we headed out early to catch some more of the sites. Maui is shaped like a peanut and we'd only been on one side of one half of the island. There's only so much that can be done in two days I suppose.
But we took the extra time Sunday to visit Haleakala, a really big mountain on the east side of the island. It seemed to take forever to get up there, but finally we arrived. It was windy and cold and I was very glad to have been wearing pants. Mrs P accurately describes it as Mars-like. The red-dirt mountains are rocky and sparsely vegetated. One of the plants, the Silversword, is only found there, on Haleakala.
Hopefully we'll be able to return to Maui, for a longer visit, so we can see more of the island. I'm sure there's plenty of neat stuff we missed. But alas, for this trip, we had to leave. Another 18 minute hop and we were back on Oahu.
It definitely felt a little strange being back. Everything was pretty much as I remembered, but it did take me a while to reorient myself with the roads and where things were. Not having spent much time downtown and in Waikiki, I didn't really know my way around, but at least I recognized some landmarks.
After getting settled in our smaller than expected room we walked two blocks to Quizno's for dinner. None of us really wanted to fight the traffic to go anywhere further away. Plus, we had to sneak by the security guard. (We were only allowed to have 4 people in the room and we had 5. Whoops!)
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June 21, 2003Molokini bound
Oh look, an early rise once again. This time to be at the docks for our boat tour with Pacific Whale Foundation. We went out to Molokini, a half-crater excellent for snorkeling. After and hour we packed the boat up and headed towards Lana'i, a smaller island near Maui. Another hour or so of snorkeling before beginning the trek back. Overall the trip was pretty good. Much of it was very turbulent due to the waves, but we had fun nonetheless. Mrs P unfortunately ended up with the majority of the seasickness, but at least none of us tossed our cookies.
I heard the snorkeling was pretty awesome. I got out in the water at Molokini, but never did any looking around. Way too freaky. Maybe Hanuama Bay will be better. (I hope) I did get to watch some fish from on the boat, and we saw turtles in the harbor on the way back in. We docked about 3pm which gave us just barely enough time to get back and shower before the luau.
The luau was at the Mariott hotel not too far from us. The show was wonderful and the food delicious. Except for the hot late afternoon sun, it was a great evening. And now I'm going to go to bed and try to sleep despite the residual rocking feeling we all have from being on a boat for 6 hours. Tomorrow, Oahu.
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June 20, 2003A shocker of a night on Maui
Another early morning for us as we were scheduled for an 8am flight. We were all sad to be leaving Kauai, but happy that we still had two more islands to visit. Unfortunately, our 16 minute flight had an hour layover in Honolulu. But that gave us enough time to run through the terminal in search of breakfast. It's been a while since I've been in that airport, so I didn't recognize too much.
Sometime after 10am we finally arrived in Maui. After the last fiasco with the rental car, we insisted on exchanging whatever was booked to a larger vehicle. Thankfully they did have some available so we ended up with a Chevy Venture van. Much, much better than the Saturn!
We weren't able to check into our rooms until after 3pm so we took a leisurely stroll through downtown Lahina. Cute town with some neat stores, but the majority were either selling art or jewelry; very strange.
At 3pm we headed back up to Ka'anapoli, to the Aston Ka'anapoli Shores Resort. We had our choice of a two-bedroom suite with a garden view or 2 one-bedroom rooms beachfront. We chose beachfront of course. :) Who cares if we're only going to be here two nights?
After settling in we left in search of food, but made a not-so-quick stop at the Concierge desk to plan Saturday's activities. Many of the things we had hoped to do were already full so we grabbed the last 5 seats on a snorkeling boat tour of the islands near Maui.
For dinner we found ourselves back in Lahina at the Maui Bistro Brewery or Maui Brewery Bistro, whichever way it went. Very good. Since we ate early, it wasn't busy so service was excellent. And the food was good too; especially the strawberry daiquiri. And the nachos. And the rolls. And the..well, ok, the whole thing was good :)
After dinner we went our separate ways. It had been a long day, but neither of us were ready for bed so we decided to check out the night scene on the beach. After answering yes to a very important question, we hit the hay.
Posted by Olivia at 11:59 PM | Comments (2)
June 19, 2003Kayaking Kauai
Our last official day on Kauai. Mom and Dad P and Jennifer booked themselves on a movie tour. Since so many movies have scenes filmed here you can now take tours of the locations. It sounds like they had a pretty good time.
Jeff and I had tried to go on an ATV tour, but they were all booked up so we settled with kayaking instead. Aloha Canoes and Kayaks was the company recommended to us. Locally owned and operated, we would get a brief history lesson as we paddled down the river.
It was a little scary at first being out in the water, but eventually I forgot about it and enjoyed myself. We paddled for over an hour I think before stopping for lunch. A short hike into the woods found us at a small waterfall. We ate then had the opportunity to go swimming/rope swinging into a pond. But neither Jeff or I were brave enough to jump into that water. As we waited for the motorboat to pick us up (so we didn't have to paddle upwind) some of us took turns on a rope swing they had set up over the river. Supposedly it's the same location where Indiana Jones did his famous rope swing into (over?) the water, but I don't know about that. A very wet boat ride back and we were finished.
By the time we got back the rest of the Pollards were lounging in the pool so we joined them. Dinner at Eggberts finished off the evening. Now we're packing for the trip tomorrow to Maui.
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June 18, 2003Chasing waterfalls
Another semi-slow day found us hunting for waterfalls. We actually only saw 2, but seemed to be driving all day. A brief stop at Oki Diner for lunch was an interesting experience. Definitely a local mom and pop kind of place. Shopping at Coconut Marketplace followed; we picked up a few more souvenirs/gifts. I think Jeff is about shopped out already, and this is only the first island!
We spent some time back at Pono Kai before dinner. Jeff and I walked down the beach a ways and saw people kite surfing. I'm not sure what it's officially called, but that's what it looks like. Another new dining experience at Coconuts was fun. It was more upscale food than we all expected, but it was good.
By the time we got back I was so sleepy. We flipped through the past few days worth of pictures and then hit the sack. How can doing so little make a person so tired?
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June 17, 2003Grand Canyan of the Pacific
Tuesday was a slower, (supposedly) more relaxing day. We got a late start with a visit to the concierge to book our activities for Thursday. A short ride south to Hilo Hatties left us all a little poorer than when we started. Hilo Hatties is the perfect tourist trap/shopping. It has all of the Hawaiian clothing and trinkets imaginable. And of course we all fell for it.
Wailua Canyon was the next stop on our journey. We had seen it from the air on Sunday, but wanted to get a closer look. It's what's considered the grand canyon of the Pacific. Obviously not as big as the Grand Canyon, it's still pretty impressive. The trip up and down the mountain was one I'd rather not repeat. Long, curvy roads, my favorite!! We hit a couple of stores on the way back down where I picked up my first Hawaiian shirt. You'd think after living there I would already own some, but alas, I do not.
Spouting Horn was our next destination. It's just a spot on the beach where the waves come up through the rocks like a spout. Hence the name. :) That was pretty cool. We also got so see a couple of sea turtles battling the waves. And of course, more chickens. When the rain moved in we headed out.
Down to Po'ipu to check out the beach action. It was early evening but the surfers were out in full force; the waves were pretty good. We pulled off and watched for a while as well as walked out on the beach. But 7, 7:15 some of us were hungry so off in search of dinner we went. The place we ate wasn't that great (for those who got the buffet), but I finally got my first meal with sticky rice. Mmmmm...sticky rice. I'm gonna have to eat more of that. Another quick jump in the hot tub before Security Bob threw us out, and that was day 4.
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June 16, 2003Swimming with the fishes
With no real plan when we woke up, I suggested hitting the beach for a little sun & surf action. Ke'e Beach, at the furthest point on the road (56) was supposedly a great place to snorkel. A quick stop in Hanalei, at Hanalei Surf Co for the snorkel gear (and a beach mat for me!) & we were on the beach about 12:30pm. The beach is located at the bottom of a mountain so the view was just awesome.
I tried to snorkel but chickened out and ended back up on the beach. A few hours on the beach was all our poor white selves could handle so we headed back to Hanalei to Zelo's for dinner. Another quick dip in the hot tub made us useless for the rest of the night.
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June 15, 2003Kauai by air
Our early bedtime allowed for an early start on Sunday since we were all awake by 7am. Our first order of business was to book a helicopter tour. Luckily we were able to snag a spot that very afternoon. So we packed some lunch and headed north to see the beach a little.
Kilauea Lighthouse was first on the list. The view of the coast/mountains is just amazing. We got some really great pictures from there. A little further around the island was our lunching spot, Hanalei Bay. If I were even lucky enough to be able to live here, Hanalei is the place. It's so gorgeous. A little shopping at the stores in Hanalei and we headed back to the airport to Air Kauai.
I was lucky enough to get a window seat on the hour long helicopter flight. That was one of the most amazing things I've even done. Just being in a helicopter for the first time was pretty cool, but the view...wow. The flight itself was pretty smooth; I did get a little queasy when we headed towards the coast, but it wasn't too bad.
And it wouldn't be a vacation without a trip to Wal-Mart! Dinner at The Shack officially ended the evening.
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June 14, 2003The longest flight
Our 7am flight meant we needed to be at the airport by 5am for check-in and security stuff. Even with Jeff's full cavity search (just kidding) we were through by 5:15am. Doh. Oh well. We sat around enjoying some Starbucks until the 6:30 boarding began.
Five hours later we landed in San Francisco for a four hour layover. We thoroughly explored the airport and ate some delicious sandwiches on sourdough bread before it was time to board. Due to some last minute flight changes we ended up begin seated in separate rows. Since I've made this flight so often, it felt pretty normal to me, but I know it made for a very long trip for the others.
With a slight delay getting off the ground I was asleep for take off (once again). My row-mates on the plane were a very interesting couple that talked a lot. But it was fun. We finally arrived at Lihue, Kauai about 4:30pm local time.
The rest of the day was spent grocery shopping at Safeway and getting acquainted with our surroundings, including the chickens that run wild. Chickens are the squirrels of Kauai. They are everywhere! The 6 hour time change combined with the long flights and the repeating hours of the days, made us all exhausted by early evening. Jeff and I tried out the hot tub then hit the sack by 9pm.
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June 13, 2003First north, to Dulles
As busy as I stayed through the week I still didn't get everything accomplished that I needed to. So when 5:45pm rolled around, there was no way I could leave. I didn't get out of there until 7:30pm and even then didn't get it all done. Oh well, not for me to worry about now!
Jeff had Gizmo all settled at Paws and Claws so I threw my stuff in the suitcase and off we went. About 11pm we checked into the Hampton Inn near Dulles Airport. Too excited to sleep and with other things (like showers) to do, I know I didn't get to bed until about 1am. Our 4am wake up call was right on time and not a welcome sounds. But we leaped out of bed anyway to meet the 4:30am shuttle to the airport.
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June 4, 200310 days to Hawaii!!
10 days until I will be in the sky headed for the beautiful beaches of Hawaii. And I cannot wait!!
I'm still a little nervous about being gone at the end of the Fiscal Year. There's so much maintenance and cleaning up that has to be done at the end of the year and I know my office will be a wreck when I get back. I'm having to delegate out certain tasks because they have to be done, no question. And I really hate giving up responsibility like that.
I know, I'm a control freak. But I like things the way I like them, ok? Ok, I'm jittery just thinking about it.
Now on to more pleasant things.
Even though I lived in Hawaii for a year, I was never able to visit any other island besides Oahu. So this trip is going to be really neat, getting to see other islands as well as returning to Oahu.
Kaua'i - "The Garden Island"
Kauai has been the setting of many movies including South Pacific, Jurassic Park and Six Days-Seven Nights. It sounds like this island is going to be a tropical paradise with emphasis on the natural beauty of the land. Better get my walking shoes ready!
Maui - "The Valley Isle"
Maui is the second largest in the Hawaiian Island chain. As with Kauai, it's known for it's lush vegetation and beautiful beaches.
O'ahu - "The Gathering Place"
The most populated island, Oahu is home to the capitol of the Hawaiian Islands, Honolulu. Waikiki and the Arizona Memorial are just a few of the many tourist attractions that bring visitors from all over the world, to Oahu. It's going to be hard to come back as a visitor. After playing host to visting friends and being the 'local' tour guide for them, actually being the tourist is going to feel strange.
Here's a good article that captures life as a ahu kama`aina (local) on Oahu.
Posted by Olivia at 2:10 PM | Comments (4)
May 20, 2003Parental Visitation
My family decided to make a quick trip out to Virginia this week. Their main purpose was to pick up the canoe we left at a friends house before we moved to Hawaii. I think I'm just a sideshow. :) They arrived last night and shortly after we headed to Outback to meet Jeff for dinner. Since he's got a meeting tonight, I guess we're on our own. I'm not sure what they have planned for today, but I'm leaving work soon to spend some time with them. It's not often they come to visit. :)
Posted by Olivia at 1:35 PM | Comments (2)
April 9, 2003Jennifer's new job
First off, congratulations to Jennifer for obtaining a new position at Augusta Medical Center!!
Henrico Drs recently said they would not be renewing new contract (she's a travel nurse), so instead of taking another travel position, Jennifer decided to find a permanent job.
First interview at her first choice hospital and a week later she's employeed. Oh, and she's moving on Thursday. That's crazy-fast! But we wish her lots of luck!
Jeff called me up yesterday afternoon to make plans to get together with her last night. We ended up at Spinnakers in Chesterfield Mall. That was some yummy food! Mm...chocolate cake.
After stuffing ourselves silly we made our usual after dinner trips to Target & Wal-Mart. As we mosied our way through the endless Wal-Mart aisles, they were playing some pretty catchy tunes. I tried to catch Jeff dancing, but the (secret) movies didn't turn out too well. But as you can see, we had fun in the toy section too.
So we parted ways for the last Richmond outing. Jennifer will be moving back in with mom and dad on Thursday until she finds a place of her own. Maybe then we can help her shop for furniture (since she doesn't want hers back). :)
Posted by Olivia at 12:52 AM | Comments (7)
January 2, 2003Happy Birthday Dad!
Just want to wish my dad a very Happy Birthday!!
Posted by Olivia at 12:42 PM | Comments (3)
December 30, 2002A week's gone by..
A week ago I was sitting here, in this same hotel. Only this time I am heading back east. I had a great week with my family; I wish I could see them more often. Maybe they'll decide to move this way sometime (because I'm not going that way!)
I told them if there was ever a reason to leave Arkansas it would be because of the roads. For those of you who have driven 295, imagine if all the highways around were like that. Ugh! I have to say, some sections have been redone, but man, it's hard on vehicles.
We had a nice Christmas; after opening gifts my mom and I watched a movie while the guys did..guy stuff... We eventually ate..way too much of course. I sure wish I could cook like my mom. Maybe I could hire her :) Bruce left to see his girlfriend for a while so the rest of us spent quality time together.
Since my dad had to work Thursday and Friday my mom and I ended up doing some shopping on Thursday. We had some items to exchange and I wanted to check out some of the after Christmas sales. I'm sure glad we didn't get up early to do that! Man, people are crazy! We checked out 2 Hallmarks'and the people in there were just vultures!! Hardly anything left on the shelves. Complete craziness.
The week has gone by way too fast. Why does that happen?
Well, Gizmo and I are going to go to bed now; we have a long day ahead of us. It's about 8-8.5 hours to Richmond from here. Ugh. But it's gotta be done. Night all!!
Posted by Olivia at 12:55 AM | Comments (1)
December 25, 2002Christmas in Arkansas
I arrived here safely around 3:45 (Central Time) despite the pouring rain that hit once I crossed the bridge into Arkansas. The entire trip was pretty good. I detoured through Radford on Saturday; I've never seen the place so quiet. Looks like part of Adams St is torn up. Had lunch at Sonic then Gizmo and I were on the go, not to stop again until Cookeville, TN.
Cookeville,a midway point in this long trek, is a town my parents and I have always stopped in. So, true to tradition, that's where I decided to stay the night. It only took two tries before I found a hotel that would take pets. Since it was around 7ish, I left Gizmo (with dinner of course) and went to find food of my own. We spent the rest of the night watching TV and cross-stitching (looking out the window and playing for Gizmo). I fell asleep early which allowed an early start the next morning; I was on the road by 8:30.
Monday was fairly uneventful. Traffic wasn't bad either day and I didn't have to go through Nashville or Memphis during rush hour. After I got here I just hung out with my family for the rest of the night.
Bruce (my brother) and I went out for a little last minute shopping this afternoon. His girlfriend came over later for dinner; entertainment was provided by the cats. At the moment my parents have 4 pets; 2 inside cats, and 1 dog and 1 cat, both of which live outside. Misty, the perisan they've had since we lived in Myrtle Beach, is the queen of the house. She could care less about the other cats as long as they stay away from her. Stormy is the baby, about the same age as Gizmo. Twice as big as Gizmo, but just a big baby. The 2 of them have been following each other around since we got here. It's pretty funny.
Since Bruce has so graciously graced us with his presence for the night (he has an apartment across town, but is staying here tonight) I guess I'd better go spent some time with him. And then I'm going to bed; doing nothing sure is tiring!
Merry Christmas everyone!!!!
Posted by Olivia at 12:40 AM | Comments (2)
December 4, 2002Thanksgiving...and beyond!
Ok, so where was I? Oh right, Thanksgiving.
After sleeping in (as I normally do, missing the Macy's parade for another year in a row), we got up to find the rest of my family had arrived. My aunt and her husband -would he be an uncle or a step uncle since he's not my cousin's dad? hmm-had brought their two dogs, so I was immediately attacked as I stepped out of the camper. Don't worry, they're harmless; how much damage can a hotdog dog do? The lab is a different story, but I think he'd just slobber you to death. heheh
My cousin and her husband were also there and later his parents arrived. That would make them my....uhh..I don't think I have the brain power for this. Well anyways, there were a bunch of us there. We ate. End of story.
Ok not really. True, we did eat. And eat. And eat. My super cool mom fixed the stuffing veggie style so I could enjoy it too. :) And then there was the pie. *drool* Cherry Cream Cheese...mmmm. You could use blueberries or blackberries or whatever other kind of pie filling you can find, but I LOVE cherry. Might have to try making that one day; too bad it's so fattening.
The guys helped my aunt move some stuff out of their old house and then everyone left to share the rest of their day with other branches of the family. Really, like a whole other tree...anywayz
I got a chance to look through some photo albums my grandparents had and see pictures of them and my dad as kids. That's always fun.
My parents decided to head out on Friday so they would have a day to rest before jumping back in the fray that is Leisure Arts. Jeff & I decided to do the same since we both had some things we wanted to do too. But before leaving SC we made a slight detour to Myrtle Beach.
The extended-overnight-detour gave us all a chance to relax and have some fun. We split up for dinner (my parents have this favorite seafood place and neither Jeff nor I eat seafood). Jeff and I managed to squeeze in a little outlet shopping before eating at Hard Rock Cafe.
After spending some quality time with my parents at the hotel they hit the sack to be rested for an early start. Jeff and I left there at 11 and headed north. We ended up searching forever for a Waffle House, but finally gave up and settled for Krispy Kreme. But as we pulled out of the parking lot and around the bend in the road, lo-and-behold a Waffle House. DOH!
Oh well, at least we got to stop at Sonic for lunch later. :) Rescued the little monster from the boarding place and made it home by 7:30ish. Sunday Jeff waited at Firestone to get his stock wheels put back on before the snow started and I did a lot of laundry. Hmm...yeh, I think that about sums it all up.
Posted by Olivia at 5:12 PM | Comments (0)
December 2, 2002Pre-Thanksgiving
Is it really Monday again? Can't we go back to last Tuesday when I was walking out of the office ready to enjoy my 5 day weekend? Oh well, at least I had a good time. :)
So as I mentioned, my parents arrived Sunday evening to spend a few days with us. While Jeff and I were at work on Monday, they had the opportunity to explore Richmond, mostly Midlooothian. We all met up with Jennifer at Traks for some oh-so-yummy food. Afterwards was another showing of Star Wars II. Is anybody tired of these yet??
Tuesday my parents headed out shortly after we left for work. From what I hear, they stopped in Tidewater to visit some family friends before going south to SC. They had hoped to drive down the coast, but were running a little short on time and had to take 95 like everybody else. When you've been landlocked for 3+ years, you're ready to see some water!!
Jeff and I got off to a late start on Wednesday. We didn't end up leaving Richmond until about 1:30. Oops! The unspoken or written plan whenever we drive south (or west) is to stop and eat at Sonic since we have none within an hours drive of Richmond. Unbeknownst to me, Jeff had another plan in the works.
So we're driving, and driving and suddenly Jeff asks how far into NC we are. I check the map and notice we're almost halfway. He makes some mention of Raleigh and how we'd get there, so I told him the road to take. He says he had a detour planned, but had missed the road (85) that would have been the best route to take. Figuring it'll be an extra hour or more, I say we should just skip it and move on. But does he listen to me, noooooo.
So we head west towards Raleigh. By this point I'm starting to get a little pissy. I'd already called my parents to let them know when we'd be getting into town, and now this little "detour" was going to put us even later. Jeff reassures me that they know all about it. That makes me even pissier because he still won't tell me what's in Raleigh that can be this important.
After one stop for directions we finally pull into this shopping center and lo-and-behold, it's a Baja Fresh! It's 4:30 by now, I hadn't eaten anything all day, was ready for some Sonic, and a little perturbed at the long side trip to Raleigh. So as much as I love Baja Fresh, I was not that happy to see it. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my meal, I'm just not big on surprises. Maybe that'll teach him :)
Ok, so we eat and get back on the road again. I guess we got to Kingstree around 8ish? Hmm..I really have no idea. A little visiting with the family and then everyone bailed out and went to bed. Since we weren't sure how many people would be staying the next night, Jeff and I were volunteered to stay out in the camper, to allow for more bed space. It was a little chilly, but we had lots of blankets and a space heater to help out.
--End of pre-Thanksgiving--
Posted by Olivia at 4:26 PM | Comments (3)
May 22, 2002Happy Birthday & Anniversary!
Happy Birthday to my grandfather and Happy Anniversary to my parents!! Yay!!!
Posted by Olivia at 2:51 PM | Comments (1)