Upcoming Adventures

So, coming off the Hawaii high makes me long to travel again. I don't have any BIG trips coming up, but I have some small adventures planned. Also have ideas for big plans. : )

ACTUALLY HAPPENING - Photos come from the first image in a Google search for the name of the destination city

Trips to Chicago

I just booked two trips for work that both take me to Chicago. My first trip will be May 4-6 and my second will be June 19-21. I am not the biggest fan of Chicago, but I also haven't really seen the city. My distaste comes from the O'Hare airport, which always ruins any flight that comes near it. I don't have any friends who live in Chicago, but in case I have time to do anything fun I would love any tips on restaurants or must-see sites.

Lodi Roadtrip Wedding Extravaganza

My friend John is getting married on August 6th in Lodi, CA. I kind of pushed Justin out of the journey to be able to roadtrip with friends Sarah, Jessica and Holli. We don't even have the invites yet, but we already have a schedule in place (that requires a ::GULP:: 3 am start time) and reserved a room at the posh Holiday Inn Express. I'm super excited for the trip and to hang out with some of my favorite people (like this girl) at the wedding.

Malibu Wedding Trip

Oh, did I mention I've been invited to like 7 weddings that all take place before November? Yeash! One of these is between Justin's lovely aunt Sherry and her boyfriend Mark. I'm not positive I will be going to this wedding, but I'm hoping to. Wedding on the beach in Malibu when it is gross and grey in Seattle October? Yes, please!

Texas Christmas Trip

Justin's wonderful grandparents live in Texas. It is a tradition in the family to reunite at Christmas. Justin and I went down to Texas for Christmas in 2009, but didn't go this past Christmas. It is usually pretty pricey to fly down, but will be worth it for family and a possible trip across the border to Mexico for cheap margaritas!

WISHFUL THINKING

Alaskan Cruise

I really fell in love with cruising after our honeymoon cruise in 2009. It is a great way to see many different places and considering it includes food, lodging and entertainment is pretty cheap. I haven't been to Alaska and we can leave right from Seattle on a cruise. The summer is the only time I would want to go on a cruise, so if we don't go this summer we will have to wait until next summer. I think I will look for last minute travel deals for August and September.

Ireland/ Scotland/ England

These destinations have been at the top of my list for places to visit FOREVER. I want to visit them so very, very much! I would love to get a vacation rental in Ireland or Scotland and journey to the other countries from there. Or backpack and go on the cheap. I've talked to my friend Heather about a possible couple trip, but this is just talk. ; )

Abu Dhabi 

Haha okay this one may be a long shot. My friend Jill lives in Abu Dhabi and I believe still plans to stay there another year. Whyyyyy? I have toyed with the idea of visiting her. Mostly because I like her, but also because when else would I ever, ever go there?

I ran into Jill's friend Shauna (twice in a week actually) and she actually did visit Jill quite recently. She echoed my thoughts - when else would you go there?? I'd like to combo it with a trip to Egypt or India. Okay, Egypt is out for obvious reasons. Traveling by myself to these places is maybe not the best idea.

Volunteer Travel

I like helping others and I also like travel, so combo those two and wam bam awesome. Habitat for Humanity has trips to New Zealand (yes, please!) and other cool places. My friend did a H for H tript to Bali and loved it. See Bali-themed cupcakes to celebrate her departure. There are also super cheap trips through this organization. Maybe South Africa, India or Thailand?

What do you think? Where are you going in the next year?

Hawaii - Part 1

For the last month I've been terrible at reading my friend's blogs and writing in my own. Not toooo much is going on these days except being incredibly busy. We went to Hawaii the first week of March and since I haven't even posted photos anywhere else, I'm going to tell you about that adventure.

I may also touch on the depths of sadness that wash over us on a daily basis since. I love Hawaii and Justin and I are already making plans to move there in 2013. : )

DAY 1
Justin and I drove to Bellingham to catch our 5 pmish flight. We got such a good deal because Alaska just began direct service from Bellingham to Honolulu. My good friend Taune was nice enough to let us park at her apartment and drive us to the tiny B-ham airport.

We got into Honolulu at 10 pmish and got to our vacation rental in Kailua after 11. The room we had was...not great. Not at all. That's what you get for being cheap I guess.

DAY 2
We went to Mokes Bread & Breakfast for breakfast. At this time, Justin first fell in love with an island dish called Loco Moco (a combination of rice, egg, hamburger and gravy). After breakfast, we drove to University of Hawaii's Aloha Stadium in Honololu for the Wednesday swap meet. I've never been to a swap meet so large! I bought the most delicious pineapple covered with a red seasoning called Li Hing and Justin bought a coconut. News to me: I hate Coconut water/ milk. I also hate fresh coconut.

 After the swap meet, we stopped at Costco to stock up on cheap alcohol. And oh man is the alcohol cheap!! Gallons for nearly nothing compared to Washington. Hawaiian Costco also has an entire aisle dedicated to macadamia nut products. It's pretty magical.

Since the sun was out we decided a trip to the beach was a requirement. We stopped at Ala Moana beach, which certainly isn't the most magnificent beach around, but it was great to be in the sun and near the water.

After the beach we headed back to Kailua and got a lot of much-needed items at the drug store and then ate dinner at a local Thai restaurant. We weren't aware of all the great dining options yet - if we had been I wouldn't have chosen a random Thai place. We ended the night with a drink at a sport's bar.

 DAY 3
On Thursday we decided a trip to the North Shore was a must do. We headed along the east coast and up north. Along the way we stopped at beaches and took in the sights. At one beach we tried hopelessly to get photos of sea turtles, but they allusive little bitches.

We stopped at the Polynesian Cultural Center, but it doesn't have a lot to offer if you aren't paying to do something there - except these cool tiki statues.

We briefly drove through BYU's Hawaiian campus. I am obviously not Mormon, but the Mormon's have my respect for thinking to put a campus in paradise. Funny enough their other campuses are in Utah and Idaho, which I would define as the opposite of paradise.

Eventually we ended up at the city of Halei'wa, which is a quaint little beach town with lots of cute shops and restaurants. A friend recommended a Mexican restaurant called Cholo's, so we stopped there for lunch. I am very impressed by their name, but found their food really underwhelming. You win some, you lose some.

After stopping in Hale'iwa we moved on to the Dole Plantation. I am a big fan of pineapple and learning new things, but the Dole Plantation is not a place I would recommend if you have anything else to do. It consisted of a large area to buy things and attractions that are pretty lame after all the pineapples have been harvested. We did hop on the Pineapple Express train ride, which is still pretty lame when there are no pineapples to look at.

After a ride on the express we made our way back to Kailua. Kailua has a farmer's market on Thursday nights, so we headed to the market to check it out and eat dinner. Justin got kalua pork, I got crab corn chowder and we both got lumpia (that took fooooreeeever to make). I also snacked on a delicious Pineapple Vanilla OnoPop for dessert.

That's it for Round 1 of Hawaii. Stay tuned for the next installment!

Adventures in Antiquing

For the most part I like things that are new. New furniture. New jewelry. New cars. New buildings. When I was younger I used to really enjoy making old things new and buying the bulk of my clothes at Value Village. At some point I either really fell deeply in love with Target or got tired of rummaging through things to find treasures.

So, when my dear friend Sara suggested I meet up with her and my other dear friend Sarah (try not to be confused by the name similarity) to do some "antiquing" I don't think I was suuuper excited. But I was super excited to see them and I am usually up for doing pretty much anything, so I gladly agreed. Sara suggested we check out antique malls in Puyallup.

The Sara(h)s both own their homes and are much better than me at putting old things to good, modern uses, and heart antiques. So, it is amusing that I was the one who alerted them to a HUGE ANTIQUE SHOW happening that very same weekend at the Puyallup Fairgrounds. It features more than (gulp) 425 booths!

 With the antique show as our new destination, we met at the fairgrounds in the morning this past Saturday. There were as many antique people as there were objects. On average I guess antiquing isn't so much a young person's hobby. I was very overwhelmed by the large number of booths and people. Somewhat thankfully 95% of the booths didn't accept credit cards and that's all I had to pay with.

I spotted a few pretty crazy awesome antiques and I asked Sara to take photos of them.

I really feel like these two statues should
be sold as a set.

Yep, that's Ronald Reagan as a teapot.
His nose is the spout.

Oh, man. This is pretty horrifying.
Who wouldn't want a spinal cord lamp
in their living room??

I don't have a photo of him, but there was also a Abraham Lincoln impersonator at the show. They had a special Presidential Camp set up for him. Haha. We were at the show for a few hours and my feet were killing me at the end. I didn't find anything I couldn't live without, but Sara got a planter and some cylindrical...candle holder? Sarah got a milk crate.

Even though I didn't buy anything it was definitely an experience and a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.