I <3 the Mainland

Well folks, it's official. We have finally made it to the other side. I am no longer stuck on a small tropical island! I'm currently freezing my butt off in California. Seriously, we've got lots of June gloom and I'm loving it because it is not Hawaii! I'm so glad to be back on the mainland.

I did fear for a little while that we might not make it off the island. Those last three days were some of the most hectic and stressful of my life. In fact, I can't talk about it yet. It's still all too fresh in my mind. Maybe in a month or so, I'll be able to chronicle the adventure of moving but suffice it to say, it was awful and we barely lived through it. But here we are, finally in California. In a little over 24 hours, David and I have eaten at In & Out (pure bliss), Chipotle (fantastic), done a session at the San Diego temple, and met my adorable new niece Isabel, all of 11 days old. She slept in my arms for over an hour and I think I have succeeded in convincing her that I am her favorite aunt. Lucky for me, my brother-in-law has no sisters.

The rest of my family arrives later this week for a bit of a family reunion and I cannot wait. It really does get quite lonesome when you live in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. And I'm starting to think it's going to be even more lonesome living in Seoul with 11 million other people. But I'll think about that next month.

Moving Day

Weeks ago, David and I scheduled the movers to come pick up our stuff on Friday, thinking that that would give us plenty of time to prepare. Ha! Thursday night, we were up until 3:30 a.m. trying to finish last minute cleaning, packing, and organizing in time for the movers' morning arrival. We didn't necessarily have to pack ourselves, but I had kept a lot of the original packaging for some of our more delicate items (Kitchenaid, plates, Foodsaver, Wii, etc) and wanted to pack them all myself to ensure that they were properly and carefully packed. We also had to clean and decide what would be packed and what would stay with us. We wanted to make things as easy as possible for the movers once they arrived in the morning.

We woke up at 7 a.m., hopped in the shower, and then proceeded to wash our bedding and towels and continue to get things ready and make final decisions about how much clothing to pack with us. The movers arrived a little after 8 a.m. and went to town wrapping and taping and boxing up all our belongings. It was overwhelming to watch our stuff being dismantled and packed away into 5,000 boxes. I tried to be watchful of the packers' techniques (especially of my books) and direct them as best I good to be gentle, but this soon proved to be impossible due to lack of sleep and multiple eyes to oversee everything. Eventually, I just decided to trust the packers and pray to God that my stuff would still arrive in one piece and I took a 30 minute nap on the floor of the spare bedroom, nestled between a pile of David's accounting books and two suitcases. David slept in the bedroom closet.

By the time I emerged from the spare bedroom around noon (where we were keeping all the items we did not want packed), the packers had basically finished packing up our bedroom, closets, bathroom, and front room, and were beginning to pack up the kitchen items and inventory all the boxes.

This was the scene as they packed up our beautiful dark cherry wood bookcases, filled with our linens. That big blob in the background is our loveseat.

And this is what our bedroom was reduced to. Those top two boxes in the tallest stack are David's collection of Legos. He was quite concerned over the safe packaging and transportation of his large collection. He even called our insurance company to double-check that they would be covered. They laughed at him. So did the packer who wrapped them up.

After inventorying all the boxes (another hour), the big moving truck arrived, and they began packing all our belongings into three big wooden crates. But first, they taped a bunch of boxes to our stairs to create a big slide. It was quite ingenious, actually, but it also meant that a lot of our stuff was simply being shoved out our front door and rolled down the chute. I mean, yeah, our stuff isn't that nice, but it's still OUR stuff. And I'd really, really like to see it all again sometime soon. Also, it's weird to know that everything we possess in the world can fit into three crates.

By 2 p.m., our front room was empty, sad, and forlorn. I don't like going out there. I can still see where the couches used to be. I miss having chairs to sit on.

And this, my friends, is everything we currently own in the whole world, exploded all around our spare bedroom. We borrowed an air mattress, blankets, and towels from a friend, which we've set up in our bedroom. We can check into a hotel tomorrow, but we haven't decided if we will because none of them will let us bring Suyom.

And speaking of Suyom, I think she hates us. Not only did the movers take away all her favorite toys and cat condo, but we also sedated her during the big move. I asked the vet if we could get tranquilizers for Suyom for our flight(s) to California, Altanta, and Korea and the vet said we'd have to test it out before she'd give us more, because some cats have bad reactions to sedatives. So we gave Suyom a quarter of a pill at 8:30. She calmed down a bit, but instead of knocking her out so that she simply slept through the morning (like I had expected), she wandered drunkenly around the spare room, meowing piteously and looking glassy eyed and stoned. Poor cat. It wore off after about 4 hours, but I don't know if I can do that to her again. I think she just might pop the air mattress during the night in retaliation.

Anyway, the packing portion of the big move has been completed. Now we just need to clean and paint our condo, sell our cars and get everything settled with the property managers. And I really really really hope that we'll get our plane tickets on Tuesday. Because if we don't, I might just have to have a mental breakdown. And that just won't be pretty. And David is already stressed enough because his computer's hard-drive just crashed and died and he has to completely re-do his accounting mid-term. But that's another sad story for another day.....

Oh please, let it be Friday soon.

Survival

Hi. I'm still alive. Just so you know. Just very busy with the big move and all. The movers come on Friday which means that I only have one day (ONE!) to finish organizing, packing, cleaning, etc. I knew it was coming on quickly, but I've been slightly distracted by other things this week:


1. I had a quick outpatient surgery on Saturday. Nothing major, nothing big. I'm fine and all and was up and moving around that night. My doctor gave me a prescription for percocet, but I haven't taken a single one. Actually, my tongue is taking the longest time to recover from the ordeal and not the actual bits that were sliced open. Apparently, the face mask they put in your mouth during general anesthesia to help you breathe often pinches the tongue and numbs it for several days. I'm slowly getting the feeling back, but if I stick the tip of my tongue into anything cold, like ice cream, I can't feel a thing. It's really annoying. I was pretty scared going into the surgery since any number of things can go wrong. Like I said, it wasn't anything life threatening or major (I don't mind going into more detail but a public place like this blog just isn't the place for this discussion....if you're curious, I can explain more), but I was still apprehensive about going under, the recovery process, and the fact that it was happening only 2 weeks before we were leaving the islands forever. But my doctor assured me it would be fine, it was a short procedure (less than 30 minutes), and that it was better to take preventive action now than to than wait until it worsened and I was was in a lot of pain. Which would not be fun since I'll be spending a lot of time on airplanes in the next month. Luckily, David was absolutely wonderful and supportive during the whole process and it even got him an extension on his mid-term for his accounting class.

2. I've taken a few sub jobs in the last few days since I figured it would be a good idea to earn a few more dollars before taking off and not having a paycheck for who knows how long. All I can say is that I am now 95% convinced that I will homeschool my own children. (David is 120% convinced.) Public school is, quite frankly, a big huge waste of time. (For the record, I want to homeschool while our children are elementary age and then put them in a traditional high school so they have the opportunity to get involved in other activities and take AP classes.) Anyway, subbing takes a lot out of me.


3. Parties and good-byes. Much more to come next week but it's so hard to say good-bye. Especially when you're not really gone yet.


4. Last day of work. Today was my last day at my part-time job. It was kinda sad, but I was done about 3 weeks ago, so I'm not going to miss it a whole lot. Actually, I'm quite relieved.


Right now, my biggest concerns are to finish packing, sell our cars (which is proving to be quite difficult), and to finally get our plane tickets. (The Navy is sure taking their sweet time with those. I'm a planner. How can I plan if I don't even know when we're leaving?) Hopefully I'll get a chance to update ya'll on our progress and adventures during the next month, but if you don't hear from me, you'll know why.

In just over a week, I'll be in San Diego with all my family and I get to meet my brand new niece Isabel. Yay!

Mission Glasses: Accomplished

Uh. So my last post was my 100th. Yay for me! 100 posts....that should be a milestone or something, like 100 episodes is always a big deal on TV. I don't know why. But they always make a big deal about it.

Anyway, I'd like to take this opportunity to announce that MJ is the winner of the "What glasses should Liz buy?" sweepstakes. She was the only person who thought I should go with the #3 option and that's exactly the pair of glasses I purchased last night at Wal-Mart before David and I went to see Star Trek. (Awesome, by the way.)

Basically, it boiled down to this. (Since I know ya'll are so interested to hear why I picked the glasses I picked.): I decided #4 (the Umbro pair) were out of the running because they were the most expensive and the more I looked at the picture, the more I did not like their rounded edges. Plus, they looked weird. I also eliminated the pair from Costo (#1) because, while I did like their look, I ultimately decided that I did not want to live with random flowers all over my glasses for the next several years. They're cute for right now, but I knew I'd start to get sick of them after a year. So, that left me with pairs #2 (Levi Strauss) and #3 (No Boundaries). I tried both of them on and could not, for the life of me decide between the two. And then the optican or whatever said that he preferred the No Boundaries #3 because they had a noticeable break in the bridge, whereas the Levi Strauss pair were the same height all along the bridge line and made it look like I had a uni-brow.

And that's what ultimately sold me on the No Boundaries pair. Plus, they were cheaper. That might have had quite a bit to do with it. And, they felt more comfortable on than the Levi Strauss pair, which felt a little tight right above my ears. So thanks for all your help! I couldn't have decided without others' opinions. And thanks, MJ, for giving me encouragment to like the third pair since no one else even mentioned them. :-)

Up next for this week, a trip to the vet so Suyom can get a rabies shot, more visits to the doctor for me, and the never-ending project that is packing and organizing for the big move. Oh, and tomorrow, I have to give a talk in church and then teach Sunday School. Perhaps I should go get started on that......

HELP! I need somebody!

If I survive the month of May, I shall be very happy. I cannot even begin to list the insanity that is this month....and it just keeps getting better! [/sacrastic tone] Anyway, I need to buy a new pair of glasses and quick, so I need your help chosing my frames. I decided to go for black frames this time since my current pair are brown and I'm looking for something in the $50-100 price range, so I stopped by Wal-Mart and Costco this week. So here are the final choices:

Freelance frames from Costco, $49.99. The price is the best and I like the shape of the frames, though I question if they are too long for my face. Also, there are random flowers on the sides.

Levi Strauss from Wal-Mart, $84. Not bad, though maybe too wide?

No Boundaries from Wal-Mart, $52. Again, a cost-effective choice but I'm still not sold.

Umbro from Wal-Mart, $98. Please excuse the face. I was rather cranky yesterday. At first, these were my favorites and of course, they were the most expensive. Although, now that I look at the picture, perhaps they are too round and squishy for my face.

As you can tell, I desperately need your help, as I am completely undecisive and incapable of objective reasoning. And I need to order them ASAP so I can have them before we leave Hawaii in 22 daaaaaaaaaaaaaaays! I'm just going to pretend that I don't have 5 million things to do before May 29th.

But seriously. HELP ME!

Kaua'i, Days Two and Three

One of the things you learn quickly about Kaua'i is that it is infested with feral chickens. And being springtime, there were lots of mother hens with their little chicks wandering behind them. The chickens have no natural predators on the island (for some reason there are no mongoose on Kaua'i which have kept the chicken populations on the other islands under control). But I liked roosters the most, who have beautiful colored feathers and like to crow at all hours of the day.

Why is that that male birds are always so much more beautiful than the females? This rooster was the only one who didn't run away when I tried to get a close-up.

It was fun to see chickens where ever we went. But it's still weird to see chickens sun-bathing out on the beach.

Well, on Day 2, David and I rented a kayak in order to kayak down Wailua River. Kaua'i is the only Hawaiian island with a substantial river that runs through the island.

We kayaked for a few miles down the river, and then parked our kayaks at a little island.

And we crossed to the other side and hiked a mile to a gorgeous waterfall, Secret Falls.

It was absolutely breathtaking. And there was a little pool in which to swim.

David swam in it, hence why he's all wet, but I didn't. That water was cold.

But here I am. After we hiked back to our kayaks and kayaked back to the landing dock (our arms and shoulders were quite sore by the end), we ate at Bubba's Burger, which have absolutely delicious hamburgers and then drove to a few other waterfalls in the area.

Like this one. I believe this is the waterfall that used to be featured on Fantasy Island.

On our third and last day, we woke up early and drove to a secluded beach to go snorkeling. David isn't much of a snorkeler and I tend to freeze up from time to time under water too, so we didn't spend a long time there. Besides, there wasn't much to see either. The reef was pretty sparse and I only saw a few fish, sea slugs and a starfish or two.

After snorkeling, we went back to the hotel to clean up and check out and then headed into Lihue to visit Kilohana, a former sugar plantation which has now been converted into a restaurant and shops.


The house was built during the Great Depression and is a beautiful building.

They even have an old horse-drawn buggy outside. The restaurant, Gaylord's, named after the plantation owner, is outside on the back deck. We ate a delicious lunch there.

Here's the main sitting room of the house. It was very gorgeous and David especially liked the ceilings and wood panelings. If I were rich, I'd probably spend all my money on a beautiful home full of antique items and custom-built furniture. I'm a sucker for a beautiful home. Which is why I had to stop subscribing to Architectural Digest because it gave me unrealistic expectations. And made me salivate with jealousy.

After our dinner at Gaylord's, we drove to the western side of Kaua'i and drove up Waimea Canyon, Hawaii's Grand Canyon. I was only two when my family went to the Grand Canyon, so I really can't say how they compare, but it was very pretty, with lots of striking colors and cliffs. Unfortunately, it was also rather cloudy, so we didn't get to see much.

And when we got to the very top of the mountain, we had gotten above the clouds, so we could see even less. But it was gloriously clear and sunny at the top.

As we came down the 20-mile drive, we stopped at a few outlooks on the way to see if we could capture more of the canyon. Luckily, some of the clouds had moved away and a nice woman took this picture of us. David and I have so few pictures of us together because we always go places alone and then it's up to the kindness of strangers to snap photos for us and let's face it, they don't always do the best job. Also, it's not the most flattering photo. Goodness, I need to lose some weight.

After driving all around the island, David and I were quite sick of being in the car. So we drove back to Lihue, ate dinner and then returned our car and went to the tiny airport to wait for our 20 minute flight back to Oahu. Kaua'i was wonderful, but it was nice to get back home. At least, our home for the next 25 days. But at least now I can check off a few items off my to-do list.

Kaua'i, Days 0.5 and 1

David and I spent 3.5 glorious days on Kaua'i this week. And I went almost 4 whole days without checking my email or going online at all. It must be a new record for me. Of course, as soon as we walked through our front door on Thursday night, the first thing David and I did was say hello to our poor Suyom (who was quite lonely in our absence) and then turn on both our computers. We're addicts, we are.

I try to explain to people that the palm-tree waving tropical paradises they associate with Hawaii exist on the neighbor islands (Maui, Kauai, the Big Island, Molokai) but not on Oahu. Oahu is not a tropical paradise. So it was a pleasant break to escape from our island and visit Kauai. Of course, after three days of one-lane roads, no easy conveniences, and sparse civilization, I was ready to leave the beauty of Kauai. Because while I can get a little island fever on Oahu, it's nothing compared to the tiny emptiness of Kauai.

Day 0.5

We flew into Lihue, the biggest town in Kaua'i (big being a relative term), Monday evening. We got our rental car, checked into our cheap hotel, and grabbed some dinner. I may have watched a little TV in my excitement. (I haven't had real TV or cable in over 3 years now so watching TV on a real TV and not my computer is exciting for me now.)

This was our view of Kaua'i as we flew into Lihue right at sunset.

Day 1

The next morning, we woke up relatively early and set out for the Kalalau Trail, a strenuous 11-mile hike along the Na Pali coast, which is comprised of sheer cliffs. It took us about an hour to drive from our hotel in Kapa'a on the eastern side of the island to Ke'e Beach, which is literally the end of the road on Kaua'i's North Shore. The cliffs prevent a road from being constructed all the way around the island. It was a beautiful drive, but there's not a whole lot our there.

At the start of the trailhead. David and I decided that we'd hike the first two miles, which takes you to a small enclosed beach and that we'd consider hiking another 2 miles to a waterfall.

Here we are halfway up the trail, with the beautiful, though hazy, Na Pali coastline in the background. The trail was quite slippery and muddy, but the view was spectacular.

Like this. I wish we could have gotten closer to the coast, but the only way to really see it is by helicopter or boat and we didn't want to pay for that.


We finally reached the beach and David was excited to find raining rocks to stand under. We ate our lunch and decided to head back rather than trek on the next 2 miles. The trail was rather slippery and our feet were already hurting. Plus, I discovered that my trusty hiking boots, which I've had since I was 14 or so, were separating between the sole and the shoe and were no longer very reliable. So sad. I guess this means I need to get new hiking boots, although I'm not sure how much I'll actually use them in Korea.

After hiking the two miles back to our car, David and I set out to visit the other sights along the North Shore. We stopped at this "wet" cave.

And also this "dry" cave. David likes caves. Truth be told, they kind of freak me out a little. But I've done some caving in my past so I guess I'm not totally paralyzed by the thought of being inside a tiny hole in a huge mountain. I guess.

We stopped in Hanalei, where this beautiful green shingled church stands. I love anything with gabled roofs and stain-glass.

And it was beautiful stained glass. The colors of Kaua'i, which is lush and green and aqua blue.

We passed by this beautiful valley where several movies have been shot. Kaua'i has been the location for a lot of movies and there are all sorts of movie tours you can take, but we didn't do that. This valley has many taro farms. Taro itself isn't so bad but poi is absolutely disgusting.

Next, we drove out to the Kilauea Wildlife Preserve with it's old-fashioned lighthouse. Why are lighthouses so cool? I haven't figured it out yet, but I love lighthouses. We didn't want to pay to go into the preserve since they were about to close. So we headed home to rest and relax and recover from our busy day of hiking and sight-seeing.

Later that night, as David and I were sitting on our bed, watching a little TV, David glanced over and saw what he thought was a gigantic spider. But on second glance, we discovered that a crab had somehow wandered into our room.

So we caught the little sucker (crabs can sure move fast) and David took him back out to the beach and set him free.

We also tried this bizarre fruit called a mangosteen which we picked up at a fruit stand along our drive. It, despite it's name, has no resemblance to a mango.

It actually tastes like a combination of kiwi and lychee. It was, however, quite tasty.

Well, that's it for now. I've got to get ready to see Wolverine. Up next, days two and three of our trip.

Expect chickens. Lots of chickens.

Things To Do

Most of you know that David and I have a little over a month left in Hawaii. (Hallelujah!) And, like 95% of the people I've talked to in the last month, you're probably wondering how the packing is going. I really wish people would stop asking me that question for many reasons: 1) The military movers come in and pack everything for you. In fact, they do not want you to pack up anything yourself for inventory and insurance purposes and I'm totally cool with them doing all the heavy work, 2) Because I'm lazy and don't want to do it, and 3) I am insanely talented at deluded myself into thinking that I have lots more time to get everything done. Hence, no packing of any kind has been done.

The most difficult part of the packing process is determining what items we want to keep with us for the two months that we'll be separated from our belongings. (Our stuff will be packed up on May 22nd. It will not arrive in South Korea until July 27th, over a month and a half after we arrive in Korea. Fun times!) I also want to do a complete inventory of everything we own because the military has this really wonderful habit of losing your stuff along the way. I don't have much stuff (most of our poundage comes in the form of books) but I'm rather attached to the stuff I do have. And there are those items (childhood trinkets, journals, and photo albums) that are simply irreplaceable should they be lost.

So, you may be wondering what I've been doing with myself instead of doing all the inventorying and packing and arranging. I would draw your attention back to item number 3. Aside from watching all five seasons of Babylon 5, refinancing our condo so we can rent it out, working, and playing with Suyom (I need to post some photos of her), I haven't really been doing much. But now that I've finally convinced myself that we do not have much time left for such frivolities, here's a list of the fun (and not so fun) things I need to do in the next month.

1) Organize like I've never organized before.
2) Inventory everything we own and take pictures of said items.
3) Clean out the refrigerator and kitchen cupboards, determine what can be shipped and what must be eaten, used or given away before we leave.
4) Scan photos. Back up any files (possibly on an external hard-drive).
5) Go to Kauai. Trip planned for next week, Monday through Thursday. Will write a charming blog post about our many wonderful adventures on the Garden Island.
6) Figure out what to do with Suyom. Take her to the vet for a health inspection.
7) Get appointment with eye doctor and get new pair of glasses since adorable nephew broke my old ones. Which are still functional, just slightly wonky.
8) See other medical professionals as needed.
9) Visit my dentist for the VERY last time. Sing songs of praise.
10) Pack.
11) Make endless number of lists. Like this one.
12) Gather and organize very important documents which must travel with us.
13) Finalize all travel plans and details.
14) Freak out. Just a little.
15) Go to Maui. Trip tentatively planned for second week of May. (Might as well see all the islands before we go!)
16) Go shopping and buy new clothes as I will not be able to find anything my size in Korea, the land of tiny Asian women.
17) Put in forwarding mail address at Post Office. To somewhere....
18) Make minor repairs to our condo including changing light fixtures and outlets, door knobs, painting and deep carpet clean.
19) Find a renter for our condo.
20) Look into Vonage, so we can still call people in America.
21) Say good-bye to friends.
22) Write farewell talk for church, scheduled May 10th. Mother's Day!
23) Remember to call my mom on Mother's Day. And send a card if really ambitious.

Yes, it's becoming all to real to me now. Maybe I should get started on it right now. Or maybe, I'll just keep reading my book and promise to get started tomorrow. Yeah, that'll work.

Obsession of the Week

In an attempt to be more prolific on this blog, I've been trying to think of different topics I could talk about on a weekly basis, in addition to little random updates about our life. My book reviews earlier this month were one such attempt but since the books I've been currently reading look suspiciously like the reading list for a twelve-year old girl, I think I'll suspend that for now until I read something worth mentioning. Right now, I'm reading a lot of "mind candy" which the librarian at my local library calls those mindless pieces of fluffy, fun literature. I think that's an apt description of my current literary tastes.

Back in January, I talked about obsessions and so I'm rolling out Liz's weekly obsessions. It may be bi-weekly. I like a lot of stuff and I think you should like it too.

One of my favorite TV shows that has not been unceremoniously cancelled (stupid ABC) is NBC's Chuck (which is currently in danger of not being renewed even though it's pretty much awesome). It, more than any other show, is able to mix heavy plots with light-heartedness and moments of tenderness. The titular character, Chuck, is adorably goofy and immensely charming and funny. But one of the best things about the show is that it has the best soundtrack and I always find awesome new bands. A month or two ago, the show featured this song, "Freeze and Explode" by Cassettes Won't Listen and I can't stop listening to it on repeat. I don't know why.



This week's episode had a lot of great music, but they haven't posted the set list yet. I can't wait to find more good music.

I really hope they don't cancel this show. That would be a big bummer. And mean one less obsession for me.

New Blog!

Well, it's the same blog, just a different layout and design. I'm still debating whether or not I want to keep this as you see it now (it does have a certain charm) but for now, I'm leaving it as it is because it allows the videos I've posted below to be shown in their full frames, and not cut off like they were before.

I think I need to play around with my blog a lot more. There's all sorts of fun things you can do with a blog to customize it. Of course, I wish I knew enough about HTML to do exactly what I wanted with my blog and it's design, but for now, I'm satisfied mooching off of other people.

What do ya'll think? (About the new look, not mooching off of people.)