I've decided to start using my blog again. It's been about a year & a half since my last post, and it's almost ridiculous how much has happened and changed in that time. Thanks to my photo albums on Facebook, (my memory sucks; unless I have a picture of it, it didn't happen) I was able to go back and look at the pictures that prove just how much I've experienced since December 2010. I'm going to use this first post as a general but thorough update on my life. Read it or don't. This is for me.
Christmas 2010 was so much fun with my family at home in California. It started with an amazing trip to Disneyland with Kayla and Natasha. We spent two days at Disneyland & California Adventure and had a blast! The rest of the holiday season was spent catching up with old friends, hanging out with my family, watching Sam & Henry play hockey, going to bride expos & wedding dress shopping with Emily, and simply enjoying my time home.
At the end of December my Raya Butt came to visit me for the Rosebowl! She's a big Wisconsin Badgers fan, so she flew all the way from Wisconsin to come stay with me for a few days. We got to celebrate New Year's Eve together, went to a Kings game, ate like pigs, took bubble baths, went to the Rosebowl game & parade, and even made a trip to Disneyland. It was her first time!
I spent the next few months hanging out in California waiting for Johnathan to come home on leave in February. During that time I had a lot of fun hanging out with my friends and just enjoying being home. Taryn & I got really close again & made an epic trip to Paso together. I also spent a lot of time with Peter. Love that kid. :) Joey, Christopher & Johnny all came home around the same time and it was AMAZING! That leave was honestly the best one I've ever experienced with Johnny. We had so, so much fun together. It was a good four months in California, and then I headed back to Hawaii at the beginning of March.
Kelsey and her roommate Jackie came to visit me from Michigan for their Spring Break on the same day that I landed in Hawaii. I had fun playing tour guide and showing them around the island. (Mom and dad were also there for part of Kelsey & Jackie's trip. Mom spent about two months in Hawaii (around January/February) taking care of Zack because he got really sick. And then dad came to switch places with her. He took over caring for Zack and mom flew home to be with the kids. & Then dad flew out the same day as Kelsey & Jackie.) Peter also came to visit & surf. His trip overlapped with Kelsey & Jackie's by a day or two. That was fun too!
Then in April Taryn came to live with me for a month. That was the best month our friendship has ever experienced. We grew so close and had SO much fun. We were so happy that month-- exploring Hawaii, taking pictures, meeting new people, spending time together, living together! Gosh, it was incredible. Also during that time Sandra and the fam came to visit. The fam came for the kids' spring break, and Sandra came just for a quick trip and it was her first time. It was fun. :)
At the very end of April Taryn and I went back to California, and I spent about a month there before heading to Michigan to work at camp. I fit a ton of summertime activities into that month: lake trips, a Dodger game, Emily's SUPER cute bridal shower & INCREDIBLE bachelorette trip to Palm Springs, outtings with friends (etc!) It was a good month. :)
Then June-August I worked at Fortune Lake & had another AMAZING summer at one of my favorite places on the planet. Of course I went home to CA after a week and a half of Staff Training for Emily & Tad's wedding on June 18th. Their wedding was in our backyard and it was the BEST! Such a perfect wedding. After their wedding I road-tripped back to Michigan with the cousins. What an adventure that was! (Also, Zack moved home in June for Emily's wedding & because his health was still declining and he needed to be home to get the proper care.) As usual Michigan, the Pharm, and camp, were all so much fun. I love the U.P. :)
After camp I stayed at Kiril and Gina's house for a while & Johnny and I broke up over the phone on Emily's birthday (8/16). It was kind of a long time coming, especially after the summer. Yes, we had an amazing leave together in February, but everything kinda fell apart in the months that followed. I initiated the breakup, but it was "mutual." At least I thought it was, but more on that later... I hung out in the U.P. for a bit after camp ended, going to the beach with camp friends, visiting Grama & Grampa, and celebrating Raya's 21st birthday. Then I road-tripped to Chicago with Gina, Molly & Felicia, spent a few days there with them & then flew home to California. Then I spent the remainder of August through May there with a few trips elsewhere during that time.
A few days after I got home from Michigan/Chicago, Taryn and I took a miniature roadtrip to Oregon to take Tristen's dog Lady to be quarantined. We made a fun little trip out of it, and stopped to see Katie in San Fransisco on our way home. When we got back, I went to the L.A. County Fair with my dad & the kids (which was super fun) & Natasha's bridal shower was a few days later. It was luau themed and so cute!
On September 17th Nikita & Shauna got married in Santa Barbara and it was another GORGEOUS wedding. I freaking love weddings. It was a fantastic weekend with family and friends in Santa Barbara! :) Also in September I started working for Nikita at the Domino's in Calabasas. At the end of September I went back to Oahu for about two weeks to pack up our townhouse so we could rent it out. During that time I had a short rebound fling with a boy named Derek. That's about all I want to say about that for now. ;)
Dave the Party Guy from Michigan came to visit me in California in October and that was a lot of fun. He was only there for a few days, but he's a fun guy so it was nice. Johnny was also home in October... That was interesting to say the least. I'm not sure how much I want to say on here just because I'm not sure who even reads this, but for now I'm going to leave it at, "That was interesting to say the least."
In November I got to go to Maui with Lily for Natasha and Alex's wedding. Another super fun wedding! It was beautiful in Maui and the wedding was a blast! :) I felt very lucky to be a part of that.
Fall & Winter were kind of a weird emotional roller-coaster for me. Johnny became a daddy & a husband (well not a daddy yet, but he will be in November... I'm thinking about writing a separate post about all the Johnny stuff...), Taryn moved to Colorado, and Zack started the process of being put on the donor list for a double lung transplant. I was a mess. & then I reconnected with an old friend from middle school, Michael, that I ran into at a bar that my friends and I always go to on Thursdays, Borderline. Actually, I was there with Taryn, Matty, Johnny (etc.) when I ran into him. That was in October & from the end of October until I left California at the end of May, we were sort of dating. We never made it official, but we had a lot of fun together & he got me through a lot in those months. He helped me a lot more than he knows, I'm sure.
So I spent fall & winter spending time at home with my family, hanging out at Borderline with the gang, meeting new people & going on yogurt dates with Michael. I went to a Halloween party with Michael, went over to his house for Thanksgiving dinner & then invited him over to our house for our week-late Thanksgiving lunch, visited him on Christmas, and would have spent New Year's Eve with him too... but I stayed in with the fam instead. :)
During my months home in California, I kept saying that my plan was to eventually move back to Hawaii. (I think this is part of the reason Michael and I never made anything official-- we both knew we were just "for now", until I moved back.) So at the end of December I made a move to get myself back to Hawaii and applied for a position as Youth Activities Counselor at Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa on Oahu. I applied, interviewed & was told I was put on the "wait list." Not a "no," not a "yes"... a "yes, but not yet."
Spring brought more stability and therefore more happiness to my life. I continued to go on yogurt dates with Michael; we introduced each other to our friends; we went out together on the weekends; we snuggled. I started hiking in Chesebro with mama every morning. I started eating healthier and taking better care of myself. I started realizing who my real friends are & I started distancing myself from people that brought me down instead of up.
I had a fantastic birthday weekend in March, and it made turning 24 practically painless. Michael took me out Friday night just the two of us, and we had SOO much fun together that night. Honestly, one of my favorite times we spent together. On Saturday (also St. Patrick's Day) a bunch of us went to Brendan's Pub to celebrate both my birthday & St. Paddy's, and that was also a lot of fun. On Sunday (my actual birthday) I had a party at home complete with tons of candy, pizza, a rainbow cake & a photobooth. It was great. :)
I had a lot of fun with my friends and family in March and April. a wedding and some tea parties definitely top my fun list though. :) March 31st was Shelleen & Justin's wedding, and it was basically a huge reunion of a whole bunch of my favorite people. :) & The tea parties I had with the girls in my family were epic. SO freaking adorable (and the tea, sandwiches & scones were delicious too!)
At the end of April I got a call saying I got the full time position as Youth Activities Counselor at Aulani. What a mixture of emotions that brought! Excitement, anxiety, incredible joy, panic. I spent my last month in California doing things anyone in my situation would: hiking with my mama, kissing Michael, fishing and cliff jumping at the lake, horseback riding to the Hollywood sign, going out with friends & preparing to move back to Hawaii. Plus I went on a weekend trip to Cal City & a five day trip to Disneyworld.
A bunch of my friends and I went out to the desert during the first weekend in May for a little camping trip in Cal City. We dirt biked, took photos, had a powder paint fight, drank & set things on fire. :) May 15th-19th I went to Disneyworld with Natasha to visit Trey. SO AMAZING! We stayed at the Pop Century, went to all four parks and one of the water parks, and ate like kings and queens. It was a blast! And it was the perfect thing to get me excited for working at Aulani. :)
So after Disneyworld, I spent my last few days in town watching Sam & Hen get confirmed, eating brunch at the Four Seasons, cheering for the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium, hanging out with my family, and saying goodbye to all my friends. The night before I left, I had dinner with my family at Buca Di Beppo and then I had a going away party at Sagebrush with my friends. Afterward I went back to Michael's with him for a bit to say goodbye. :-/ Thennn early morning on May 22nd, Peter & Jeffrey picked me up to take me with them to the airport. Peter and I dropped Jeffery off first (he had an earlier flight to Texas), and then we went to the beach, ate breakfast burritos & headed back to the airport for my flight. And that's where my next adventure began... but I'll save that for another post. :)
