Delayed photos!

I know I haven't been keeping up with the blog, but I didn't have any USB cables, and the cheapest I found down here so far was $14. I wasn't about to spend that much on a cable when I knew I had about 4 on their way to me.

In any case, here's some photos of the beach at sunset.

 This is a close up of the front of the rock after the waves washed over it.

 And here are two nice photos of the sunset behind alligator rock.

This was the second rainbow I saw, but the first I saw while I had my good camera on me.

 Shortly afterwards, I saw a hawaiian monk seal! This thing didn't want company, so I got as close as I could without him grunting at me.

 Just another nice photo of the sunset that was happening.

 I see these more here, too!

 Another nice rainbow from probably my 4th day here.

 I just thought these clouds were pretty. I have to say, the clouds here look a lot bigger and lower in general compared to Baltimore.

 This is the Dole plantation where his sister works. She gets tourists to pay a bunch of money to get their photos taken.

 A nice sunset behind the mountains that are just west of Haleiwa

 When I first got here, I thought these were some sort of pine tree, but it was apparently just another form of palm

 This rainbow was actually the brightest I had seen. I didn't take this photo since I was driving, so I couldn't mess with the aperture and all.

Arrived safely in Hawaii!

On my way home, I saw probably the prettiest rainbow I'd ever seen. In Baltimore, all the blue and purple parts of the rainbows are kind of hard to see, but this one, the blue and purple were just as prominent. I tried to take a photo, but it didn't come out. I did get a photo of what the clouds look like from 41,000 feet in the air, though.

After I got in, they took me to a small grocery store. I saw this gem there. It was in a small selection of macadamia nuts.

Small selection.

Quite small, really.

\

When he visited here, he saw the Breyer's ice cream and said that it wasn't called that here. I don't think I believed him until I saw this.

We got home and chilled for a while, and while I was getting my tablet up and running on the internet, he came in and tossed this on the bed next to me.

This is called Lilikoi, which is a type of passion fruit (or just the hawaiian name for passion fruit - I'm not sure). They have it growing on the fence just outside their garage. They also have at least three coconut trees, a mango tree, and a soursap tree. In any case, this was probably one of the best things I've eaten. 

That is, until he made me salted beef short ribs. See, this is why I gained 30lbs when he visited me in Baltimore. I need to start walking down here to make up for his cooking prowess.

My sleep planning really paid off, and I'm waking up at about 7am every morning now, and I don't have a trace of jet lag. We're planning on getting a new bed soon so I can stop sleeping in a recliner (though admittedly it's a pretty comfortable recliner.)

We went to the beach this morning and the water was already pretty choppy, so I missed the calm water of the summer unfortunately. It was calm enough to wade in a little ways, so that's what I did. As soon as I got in the water, within a minute, this huge rainbow appeared over the ocean, followed by a second one above it. It was pretty neat :D Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me, so I didn't get a photo.

Baron has adjusted well and likes to sit on the top of the recliner when I sit in it.

Well, that's all the updates I have at the moment! Just so everyone knows, I don't get cell phone reception in my bedroom, so if you need to get a hold of me, the internet is a much better way to do that.

I miss everyone, but I'm also adjusting well <3 I'll do my best to keep some form of camera with me so I can let you all know what's going on down here!

Update! :D

Still 99 days! I have another friend coming in from July 11th and 12th! I'm so excited <3 My time that's left is just going to be full of meeting friends, packing, eating, and sleeping! Poor Tera. (videogame I bought)

Counting down :D

99 days! Yesterday, with the help of mom and dad, we purchased my ticket to Honolulu. I'll be leaving September 6th at around 6:45, take about an hour to get to JFK, layover for two hours, then take an 11 hour flight to HNL, arriving in Honolulu at 3pm. It'll be a long day for me, but I think I'll be too excited to care!

Less than three weeks until I get to see my friend from Tennessee, and two days after that, I get to go to Montreal to visit my other friend and his girlfriend :D Now that I've bought my ticket, I know I have to get cracking on the whole packing thing. I have (what I think are) all the boxes I'll need for packing.

Seeing amazing people soon!

101 days! I've been kind of busy, so I haven't been able to keep up with this whole blog thing. Management at my apartment found out I have a cat, as well as complained that my apartment was too messy. After giving me 4 days to rectify each (they were rectified after about 6), they sent me a letter stating that my lease would not be renewed and my move-out date is August 31. I guess it's not a bad thing, since I was planning on moving out by then anyway!

I have two weeks of earned vacation coming up from June 14-28. I'll be spending much of the 14-18 with my family, spending the 18-20 with a very close friend from Tennessee (it's all the time she could take off work), and spending the 21-28 taking a road trip up to Montreal to see the friend that I got back in contact with recently! I've always loved road trips, so I'm happy that I get one more before I leave. I got tons of advice on how to manage the drive up and the drive back, and here's what I'm doing:

Yes, I'm driving it in one day.
Yes, I've planned pit stops for 10-15 minutes each.
Yes, I'm taking my own food and water in a cooler with me.
No, I'm not driving at night (I know the traffic is better, but my eyesight can't handle night driving well)
Yes, I'm cleaning my car before I go.
Yes, I'm getting the oil changed before I go.

I'm leaving around 7 or 8am, headed north, and planning on being up there by about 7pm, including the rest stops and going very close to the speed limit.

That's really all the news I have right now, but I'm sure it'll pick up when things really get going on the move.

Overdue Apology

130 days.

Nine years ago, I ended up turning my back on a very good friend on mine, choosing the person I was dating over him. I've always felt guilty over it and have finally found a way to send a message to him. I'm not expecting to have our friendship instantly mended, but I do hope I can be forgiven. The apology is 9 years too late, but I would rather do it now than not at all.

Two big pieces of news!

132 days!

I've gotten my first large-scale commission request! Gorgeous sunset as well, so it'll be very rewarding for me.

Second news is my best friend from high school and her fiancee have asked me to officiate her wedding! I'm overwhelmed with a sense of pride and humility that they would think so much of me to ask. I'm already jumping through the hoops to become a recognized minister in DC. Who knew it was actually so easy to get ordained? Fun fact: I'm a minister in the same church that Conan O'Brien is a minister.

So, when it comes down to it, it seems that my time left in Maryland is quickly filling up -not that I mind <3

Options for shipping things

133 days. I just visited a UPS store and got some quotes for shipping a few of my items. Just one of my kitchen pieces and my computer would be over $250. I'm looking into moving services again. If anyone knows reliable movers who would be able to move my stuff to Oahu, let me know, so I can pricematch :>

Seeing everyone

147 days. Been on a bit of an emotional rollercoaster since coundown day 150. Most people would assume that you could work it in to see everyone important before you leave in this timeframe. That's really not the case, though I did get to see my cousin and aunt yesterday, which was refreshing.

Working is becoming more of a distraction rather than enjoyable, since I know it's a means to move rather than a career. I'm currently trying to move my store management position to my associate. I'm hoping to keep focused enough at work to make a decent amount of money to fund the move.

4am, every day

This is where Baron sleeps every night. He has decided that the real estate of pillow in front of my face is the perfect couch, and my face is the perfect back rest. Just to remind you, this is the area required for breathing. If I turn my head to breathe, he becomes uncomfortable, gets up, makes another circle, and lays back down directly on my face again. This usually starts around 4am every morning, but some nights he starts as soon as I sleep.

I have tried getting up to feed him, but all that happens is he becomes happier and just wants to sleep some more. On my face. Any suggestions would be welcome.

153 days.

Out of the Blue

154 days. I contemplated making this post for a while, but decided to just make it short. For those who remember the original situation - my ex-boyfriend from England decided to message me last night (for the first time in nearly two years). I ended up being very blunt and unemotional about it, because after all of this time, I really don't care. I am glad that I can get some of my childhood effects back from him, though.

In moving-related news, I've decided that the money I'll be getting from selling my laptop will go towards shipping my entire computer, case and all, to Hawaii, so I don't have to figure out how to piece it back together!

Evernote

156 days left. I'm making an attempt at staying organized through my move by using a program called Evernote. It's like a journal, to-do lists, and every other sort of organization list all wrapped up in one free program. I have 10 notes for "Moving to Hawaii" currently, and their names are as follows:

• Carry on Luggage (list)
• Arts/Baking/Crafting Hierarchies (list of who gets first pick of each category)
• Packing/Shipping Main list
• Services to stop before moving (and steps for how to stop each)
• Notification for change of address (which service is at which address)
• To gather up before moving (emotional tidbits to take with me, like photos)
• Finance: expected vs. running tally
• Regifting list (longest list I have, and only about 1/8 is regifted so far)
• Main to-do list (milestones to achieve)
• Current to-do list (things to get off my butt and do right now)

One of the super-neat abilities of this program is I can share this list and make myself accountable to certain people. They can see every update I make, and many of these lists have checkboxes, so they can just see things as being crossed off. 

Keeping in touch

I realized that keeping in touch with my family and friends in Baltimore will be harder than I'm assuming, so I'm planning on using this to give everyone updates on me at one time, and hopefully keep connections more open than they would have been otherwise.

As a precaution to all of you, I don't really enjoy writing too much, and I'm really really bad at keeping up with things. I'm hoping to keep this going well enough that you can see and keep up with my move to Haleiwa, HI.

<3