Food, Football, and Frolicking Giraffes

I had a fantastic start to the weekend -- I got a library card! I feel like an official Hawaii citizen now that I can check out books. Well, only two books at a time until the hold is lifted off my account after a standard waiting period of 4 weeks, but then, I'll really be a real Hawaii resident because I can rent an UNLIMITED number of books. I know, I know, it's almost too much excitement for 10:00am on a Friday.

In other awesome news, I got a job offer from Starbucks! (And for those of you who don't think this is a big deal, it's a very big deal. I've dreamt about this for years. If I wasn't so freaked out by IVs, I'd mainline espresso. I honestly can't wait to have all of my clothes smell like coffee. Seriously.) I officially start my barista-ing on Tuesday and I totally can't wait to learn how to make a grande iced caramel latte. For real. We celebrated my return to the workforce with a yummy dinner at the Dixie Grill, a southern bbq joint with some Hawaiian flair and home of the Screamin' Mai Tai, one of my all-time favorite drinks (that I didn't order, for some reason).

On Saturday, the whole family headed into Waikiki to visit the animals at the Honolulu zoo. I'm so excited to be a zoo member! I'll be able to go to the zoo whenever I want. That is, after they mail my zoo card after a standard waiting period of 4 weeks. So many exciting things happening in 4 weeks! Anyway, the zoo was nice, the elephants were huge, the tigers were playing ball, and the giraffes were horny. As we walked past their habitat, a tour guide was telling a group of tourists that they were hoping to have a baby giraffe soon, and much to his surprise, he turned around and Daddy-to-be Giraffe was putting on quite a show of foreplay on the Mommy-to-be Giraffe. The tour guide's quote, "Oh, well, that looks promising." Naturally, we giggled. But I've never seen giraffe foreplay and I couldn't keep it in. It reminds me of the time when our whole family sat down to watch TV (I think I was 8 or 9) and someone was flipping through all the channels and my dad was getting mad so he grabbed the remote and said we were watching whatever was on and the dial landed on the Discovery Channel and we had to watch elephants mating for, like, 15 minutes. To be fair, it was educational, but also quite traumatic.


Today we headed to Kaneohe to the Marine Corps base for an air show/plane festival. The weather was gorgeous and the view of the mountains and ocean was breathtaking. When I said I would love to wake up with a view of those mountains every morning, Katie suggested I find myself a Marine to marry so I could, in fact, move to the base and wake up with that view. And I concur. The planes were huge and doing all kinds of tricks (I wish I knew technical terms to describe what I saw, but I don't, so high/awesome/swirly/whirly/fast/loud will have to do). The food was pretty yummy, too. I had a delicious meatball sub, a margarita, a caramel churro, and some kettle korn. And it was all scrumptious.

Then we came home to watch some DVR'd football. Go Colts! And that cute kid Austin Collie, who appears to be Peyton Manning's new go-t0 guy. Love it! (By the way, we're not talking about Notre Dame. It's not going to happen. I just won't do it. I don't want to say anything I'll regret later.)

Later, friends!

The Wheels on the Bus...

Today was a big day. A big, big, big day. I had my second (second!) interview at Starbucks. I decided while I was out here, I'd cross barista off my bucket list. I was thinking I wanted to barista when I was retired and 72 and living in Maine, but for some reason, I got the carpe diem spirit and decided to give it a go while I'm living in Hawaii. And I really, really love coffee, so it's kind of a match made in espresso heaven. But the interview is so not important.

What is important is that I rode the bus today all by myself! Below you will find a detailed description of exactly what transpired during my first "TheBus" outing.

12:47 -- Garry drops me off at the street corner.
12:53 -- I finally cross the street, then cross another street, then cross back to get to the correct bus stop.
12:58 -- The 20 comes by. It's not the bus I want.
12:59 -- The 19 comes. Not the bus I want.
1:01 -- The 40! Woot woot! I'm reasonably confident this bus will get me where I need to go. I board it like an old pro, deposit my $2.50, and take a seat in the middle. I didn't really want to sit up front, I'm not a brown-noser, but I didn't want to sit in back, either, because it looked like a "we ride the bus all the time" clique had formed and I didn't want to intrude.
1:19 -- Chinatown! Which looked like a lot of fun and one day maybe I'll spontaneously de-bus and visit some of the shops and restaurants.
1:41 -- Arrive at destination.

(Insert interview here)

2:45 -- Minor panic sets in when I walk to the bus stop where I got off and see that there isn't a bus there that will get me back home.
2:48 -- Panic subsides when I find a huge bus depot with no less than 7 buses that will get me home. Whew.
3:10 -- Bag lady boards and, even though there are about 27 available seats, she sits right next to me and proceeded to talk enthusiastically and with maniacal hand gestures for about 6 stops until she de-buses. I kept my iPod turned on and ignored her.
3:40 -- I descend the bus stops no longer a TheBus virgin.

Overall, a pretty successful first try. Now that I've been bitten by the bus bug, I can't wait to ride again. Oahu, here I come!

And, for those of you expecting a more adventurous post, like, say, a detailed description of my first surf lesson...well, I hate to disappoint. Momma needs a job!

(I really had to fight the urge to insert Speed references here. It was hard. Really hard.)

4 Months, 2 Weeks, and 2 Days

Instead of trying to sum up "What I Did This Summer," I'm just totally going to skip over that part and act like the last 4 months never happened. Therefore, I'm going to pretend that you all know that I graduated from Belmont last month. I'm also going to pretend that you all know that I moved to Hawaii. I'll let you draw your own conclusions, but you're probably right. I'm putting off joining the real world for a year because I decided if I want to frolic around Hawaii, it's better to do it in my twenties than in a few years when I (eek!) hit 30.

I suppose the new aim of the blog will be to document my life in the Aloha state. I promise, the minute I jump on a surfboard or sip a Mai Tai, you all will be the first to know. And, since many of you have asked, yes, I will happily allow you to live vicariously through me. Just hit up the comments section and let me know what you've always wanted to do here, and I'll do my best to come through for you. After all, we only have this one life, and if you're never actually going to make it here to Hawaii, the least I can do is take a picture of myself doing something you've always wanted to do!