Bloody Ka’ena Point

I took my mountain bike to a Laguna Beach bike shop to get it taken apart. I needed it taken apart so I can bring it as a carry on with me to Hawaii. I didn’t want to sell it. Plus if I did sell it, I know i wouldn’t have received much for it. It wasn’t a cheap bike to begin with! So like a trooper, I marched in the shop and the guys their took care of me. Laguna Beach Cyclery did a great job! I came back less than a week later and the beauty was dismantled and packed in a box.

Since I’ve been in Hawaii, Joe decided to take up on the sport too! Thank goodness I have a riding partner. His bike is awesome. It’s matte black with a blue stripe.  On a beautiful Saturday afternoon I made us lunch and packed us several snacks and off to Ka’ena Point we went.

It’s such a beautiful spot and its very windy up here. We parked our car several miles back because when you get to a certain point, no cars allowed unless you are off roading. We road for what seem miles and here are the pictures I took along the way. We saw monk seals at the point. They seem to be just relaxing and bathing in the warm sun.

***********DO NOT READ BELOW THIS POINT IF YOU DO NOT LIKE BLOOD OR FLESH!!!!!!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!!!!

After reaching the point, we wanted to go further, we wanted to eat lunch on the other side of the point and swim in the water. The water there was much flatter than this side. We made our way up the mountain. I didn’t mention this before but there are loose rocks from the moment we started peddling from our car. It’s a very bumpy ride and definitely  not for the faint of hearts. As we escalated above the path and onto the mountain there was a part that where you had to carry your bike. Being macho as I am, I wanted to carry my own bike but Joe ended up heping me lift it. As we continued biking further, there were more loose rocks. Somehow Joe’s bike slipped on the rock. Joe didn’t fall off it but the bike slipped underneath him and while it was slipping, the gear made it’s imprints in Joe’s shin. Below are pictures of when it first was cut to weeks later.

When this happened I was mortified. I couldn’t believe the gear did that! However I am very good under pressure. I made Joe sit down so we can just relax a moment. I could tell that the slight of the gash put him in shock.  I took off my top and immediately went into my backpack to see if i could use anything. I found hand sanitizer and poured a handful into the wound. I needed to make sure it was at least clean. I then wrapped up his wound with my shirt. How were we going to get out of there? My thoughts were call 911, wobble back or bike back to the car.  After some water, Joe decided he wanted to bike back. I was shock but so thankful he was able to still move. Plus he was probably still in shock and he had adrenaline pumping through his veins.   I figure I’ve got a good 30 minutes before the pain really kicks in and things get worst. Joe was awesome, not only did we get back to the car but we even stopped to each lunch before we got to the car.  My poor baby. I need to find shin guards for the future.  Every morning after making  Joe’s breakfast and lunch, I would tend to his wounds. Prior to this, I also had a harsh cut on my hand so I had antibiotics and grafts for him to use. The wound took about 3 weeks to get to the point where plasma wasn’t oozing out of him.

The lesson I learned in this is dress appropriately! Mountain biking on a trail is easy. The worst thing that happens there are people walking around you. On the mountain however, nature can take over. I’m so happy it didn’t resulted into anything worse. There were no infection and it healed appropriately.

Fade and Draw

I have been “playing” golf since 2004. By playing I mean hitting buckets at the range and not going on the golf course. I took up golfing back in 2004 because my dad started playing.  My dad is an athlete. He was a ping pong champ in Vietnam and played amateur tennis and basketball in California.  As a young girl, I was always interested in sports.  However the only sport activity I got to learn was swimming. I was the kid that had the tutoring and piano lessons after school. I remember joining an after school sports program in middle school and having to lie about why I was home late every day.  I played outside all the time. Despite my mother always putting me in a dress, I manage to still play just as hard.  In high school, I decided to go after tennis and basketball. Why? Because my dad played it. I wasn’t great at tennis so my major focus was on basketball.  I played basketball for 3 years in high school.  I played very well my 2nd and 3rd year. I was 1st string and won awards all three years: most improved, MVP and I cant’ remember the last one.  I left my senior year because I couldn’t stand Coach Martin. I then assisted the freshman coach and help coached for a year. After I graduated high school, I coached a couple years at the local church’s girl league. Those were good times!

In 2003 my dad’s knee took a turn for the worst and he wasn’t able to play tennis or basketball. Even though I was already in college, I still wanted to play the sports my dad did. So I went on ebay and hunted for my first set of golf clubs. Boy was it brutal. My arms hurt and my dad made me practice the golf swing position over and over. I would go as far as 4 bucks in one practice. That’s over 600 swings! Regardless I was with my dad at the Aliso Country Club for many months perfecting my driving swing. I’m pretty good at my drive. Besides golfing with my dad, no other man has ever made the cut with me when it came to golfing so my efforts after that were minimal until I met Joe.

I told Joe I golfed when I first met him. We were at his house for drinks back on my first trip here and he had a putting range that I immediately went towards. I didn’t have any intention on being impressive, I was just being myself. I started talking about last week’s tournament. Tiger Woods did poorly and I had no problem explaining why. So since then, Joe and I golf every Tuesday. I learned from Joe that my swing tends to fade. A fade is when the ball goes right. A draw is when the ball goes left. He’s been the only person who has been able to consistently get me to golf. I love golfing and because Joe is so freaken good, it’s so much fun learning from him! The only course we’ve been on together has been the Turtle Bay Resort. It’s an amazing golf course. There are two, The Palmer and The Fazio. The Palmer is insanely difficult. I always dread going on it because I can guarantee you I’ll lose about 6 balls. The Fazio on the other hand is difficult but so much easier to learn on.

If anyone wants to learn how to golf, definitely get a good set. It matters so much! Also you must hit the ball a zillion times on a golf range. Having a good swing is so important and being good at putting is even more critical. I need a lot of work on my short game. Some days I’m in love with golf, other days I want to break up with it. However every game there’s always an amazing hole that keeps you come back for more. It’s like an abusive relationship, I keep coming back to golfing!

Next Blog: Mokuleia

My New Norm

Everyone always asks me “what’s life like on the island?”

It’s been about a couple weeks since my arrival. Island living is indeed very simple and slow. What I love about it is that you really get to take in everything around you. I’m so use to moving at such a fast pace, you really don’t get to slow down and just enjoy the simple things. It’s a big adjustment getting used to considering weeks before the move I was working hard tying loose ends before I left. My routine back at home consist of getting up around 6:30am. I would walk Aiko for about 30 minutes. I get ready and leave the house around 7:45am. I head to Nektar to grab my smoothie for the morning and I’m usually in the office around 8:15am-8:30am. Then from 8:30am to about 7pm I manage to run around and manage a bank with a staff of 16-20 people. I head home, walk my dog, make dinner and work out until 10pm. Life was definitely more fast pace and routined. I was constantly moving and I sure as hell didn’t do it in flip flops.

Now I wake up at 5:45am Sundays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. I wake up at 3:45am on Mondays. Joe has Tuesdays and Fridays off. We wake up, he makes his coffee while I make breakfast, lunch and snacks for him to bring to work. What do I make for breakfast? He gets pita bread stuff with anything from chicken, turkey or sausages. I’ll change it up with a breakfast burrito. For lunch, he gets a sandwich, burger or a pita sandwich. For snacks I pack him chips, cookies, pistachios, beef jerky or goldfishes. As you can see, Joe has a very good life. He is very well fed. I pack it all up and I send him off to work. I kiss him see ya later and off he goes.

Now what do I while Joe is gone? I do what I want! I get the morning to myself until about 2pm.  I keep the house tidy. Back at home, I hired someone because it’s so much work with a full time life. I can’t believe it but when you have the time, keeping a home clean is very rewarding. There’s a lot of elbow grease involved but it’s definitely satisfying and it’s quiet a work out.  I work out at the beach or on the patio. A gym is about 20 minutes away so it’s difficult to get to without a car. I will bike around the North Shore. I visit Joe on bike or bike around the area to get familiar with it. It’s such a beautiful place. I go snorkeling by the beach across the street. I pretty much take a dive in the ocean every day. I went from a girl who own a couple dozen work suits to owning a couple dozen swim suits. Joe always says life is better in boardshorts…. well life is definitely even better in a bikini.

HIking Sunset

Aligator’s Beach

One of the many beautiful sunsets!

Next Blog: Snorkeling Adventures

Panic Attack

I am moving to the beautiful state of Hawaii! It’s probably the prettiest of all the states too. I couldn’t help but feel like I’m leaving the country though! How many states do we have that you can pack a bunch of beachwear and sunblock?  Hawaii felt so far and I was reminded how far it was when the flight attendance declared the time zone change.  Joe taps me on the shoulder and tells me we are passing Maui! Joe didn’t get much sleep and I was too anxious to get any real rest. I did love having a travel partner. It was great to slip my feet into Joe’s when I got cold or when I needed a shoulder to catch a quick nap, his was right there. He makes me smile. Everything about him is so refreshing. He’s kind, thoughtful and geniune. However he always seems worried though. I wonder what he fears or what he’s thinking sometimes. I on the other hand don’t hide my emotions well, not that I intended to but I would never want to make him worry intentionally.  I looked over and Joe points out Oahu. It was just as pretty as I last remembered when I was on the plane with Cat. I smiled and was excited to land. I really hate long flights. That feeling was quickly over when the flight attendance made an announcement to strap on our seatbelt because we would be landing very shortly.  As we were declining in elevation, Joe took my hand and kissed me. I smiled and squeeze his hand.  Ten, nine, eight…three, two, breathe… and we landed.

The door of the plane opened and a burst of warm air hits me. It felt warmer this time. Only minutes outside and I felt sticky. Joe grabs my hand and we moved through the crowd. We had a lot of luggage to pick up and my fingers were crossed hoping that it all landed safely. We stood by the baggage claim and since majority of my luggage was considered oversize, it didn’t take too long for me to collect everything. We then headed to the parking structure to find Joe’s truck. Joe effortlessly threw the luggage in the bed of his truck and off we went.

As soon as we got on the freeway, a burst of emotions hit me. I starred at the highway and just started to notice the kind of people that were around me. Then I noticed the cars, the homes and the street names. I felt sweaty and thoughts of my family and friends ran through my head and I immediately thought “what have I done!” Joe felt I was off and without saying much, he squeezed my hand and told me his loved me. I didn’t response so he asked me if everything was ok. I replied with a half smile and asked him to give me a few minutes. I needed to recollect my thoughts and more importantly I needed to breathe. Everything at that moment seem so chaotic. The freeway felt small, the air felt hot and nothing looked familiar. I didn’t want to stress Joe out but I couldn’t help but freak out. I was always thought I was adventurous but this really was taking it to a whole different level. I thought about how I left my parents, my siblings, my friends and my job!

To keep myself distracted and to not worry Joe, I talked about Tahoe.  I told him I loved him. I started talking about how we fell in love and asked him if he promised to be honest and faithful to me. He grinned and said ” I love you. I absolutely will be honest and faithful”. Just like that I smiled and I remembered why I decided to take this risk. Love is worth it.  Since my last relationships, I can honestly say that none of them were worth the risk, the heartache or the time. However I don’t regret any of it either. Those relationships made me wiser and more determine that I was close to finding my soul mate.  I can honestly say with Joe, that everything is worth the risk. You can’t pass up this kind of love. This kind of love only happens once in a lifetime and to walk away from it because of fear seems silly.  We got to North Shore and I immediately felt at ease.  Who would have thought the country would put me at ease. I looked to my left as we continued to Haleiwa, I knew everything would be awesome.

Next blog: First Adventure

Meet Christian and Crystal

For the pass decade, Joe has gone to Tahoe every year for about 3 weeks. Tahoe is like a second home to him.  Every year he would meet up with a few friends who shared the same passion, snowboarding. This year was no different. Of the few friends Joe was with, I got a chance to meet his friend Christian. I was very happy to meet another good friend of Joe’s. One of the things I liked about Joe was how much his friend cared for them but also for how he treats them. You can tell a lot about a person on how he talks about his family and friends. Joe is extremely kind, giving and patience!

On the mountain during our first time, I got to see Joe on his board. Good snowboarders make snowboarding look so effortless. I make snowboarding look like a train-wreck.  I figure Joe and I would start off the same each time we started a run and end down at the mountain differently but meet up on the lift. I figure why on earth would he want to wait! The last time I went with a significant other, I remember being yelled at the entire time. Let’s just say it was a horrible experience. Joe however was by my side the entire time! I was shocked and pleasantly happy. I could definitely use the pointers. Seeing how patience he was really made me happy. Mind you this is the kind of boarder that could zoom right pass me and probably already made his second run down the mountain still passing me again. During the way down, he was right there observing me and giving me pointers. I loved that he was patience and great at teaching me. My skills improved a bit but we both are still unsure if I’m a goofy or a regular. Goofy or regular implies which foot do you start with in the back. According to Joe, I tend to go both ways.

When Christian came to visit that evening, I decided to see if my girlfriend Crystal was able to come up! She booked her flight and came the next day. She’s so adventurous and I love her work schedule. I wish when deciding a career earlier on they told would ask you what kind of work life balance you wanted.  I picked her up in the morning at the airport and Christian and Crystal joined Joe and me on the slopes.

It took a bit of arm twisting but after Joe and Christian boarded with us a couple times down the slopes, I was able to convince them to go off on their own and that we’d meet up with them for lunch. I had so much fun on the mountain with Crystal. We are on the same skill level with her being a bit more advance than me but regardless I had a blast with her coming up! We took our time trying to carve and not fall on our asses. My best run was with Crystal,  maybe because I wasn’t as nervous with her. Love you Crystal!! The rest of the day consist of lunch, movies and the hot tub. By the way, I have to say if you ever get a cabin, you  need to get one with a hot tub. Especially hot tubbing at night, under the stars, it’s one of the most romantic things ever. It also does wonder to a sore body after a long day of snowboarding. After this trip, Joe will always get one with a hot tub outside.

Before Tahoe, I was able to convince Joe to let me plan one date I could surprise him with. I tried to be discrete by casually asking about what he’s done in the pass on a mountain and what he hasn’t done. I booked…. snowmobiling!! I figure, it’ fast and what man doesn’t enjoy fast toys! Joe and I decided if we ever got a cabin, we needed to buy snowmobiles. We also agreed that mine would be pearl white with glitter all over it. That way every where I rode, you’d see me sparkling. Corny but he agreed!  I was very happy that Christian and Crystal joined us as well.

This is a picture of Joe very happy about his surprise!

What would a surprise be without a prom pose picture!

From left to right: Christian, Crystal, Jen and Joe

Joe and I are very pleased that Christian and Crystal joined us. It’s so much fun to be with friends in such a beautiful area. After a fun time together, we took Crystal to the airport and Christian went back to South Lake Tahoe. We ended our perfect day together at In&Out. Apparently that is the one food Joe and Christian enjoy because there isn’t one in Hawaii.

 

Next Blog: Valentine’s Day

Joe Askes Me “Will You…”

Steaks and potatoes. That’s the kind of man he is. He likes his meals simple and hearty. I on the other hand prefer color and healthy. I marinated the steak and he grilled the steaks and potatoes. We opened a bottled of wine, stacked the fireplace with wood and had a nice dinner.  I couldn’t help but notice his grin on his face the entire time. He genuinely enjoys my company and is eager to get to know me more. After almost two months of just talking via phone, text and FaceTime, it was great seeing him in person.  We enjoyed the rest of our night with good conversations and a hot tub.

The next morning, we made our cup of coffee and looked outside. I got a clear look at where we were.  Our cabin location was amazing. It was cozy, warm and comfortable.  I realized something when we went outside to explore, he got a cabin next to trails! Our cabin was on it’s own little street and no one next to it. It was very private. Next to the garage was the entrance to the trail.

Walking the trails behind our Cabin.

I am usually great at keeping track of how far I walked but I had so much fun laughing with Joe I had no idea. We talked a lot about our families and swap sibling stories. I’m the oldest of 5 kids and Joe is the baby of 3 older sisters.  It does explain a lot on how we get along so well.  We come from a similar background of blended families. We have had our shares of difficult and happy upbringings. We are both close to our moms and siblings. I loved that he comes from a big family. I have dated men that are the only child and I have to say they tend to be more difficult. Let’s just say I use the term “only child syndrome” a lot in those relationships.  Joe estimated it being several miles. Since we weren’t wearing the appropriate shoes, we headed back to visit the Lake. I never realize this but I’m a very clumsy walker. I’m a natural at walking in heels. Give me a pair of 5 inch heels and I’ll work them. Flats and ice combined isn’t a good combination for me. I fell twice and on the second time back, he held me closer to keep me a float. He was practically carrying me.

Joe and I at the Lake.

We walked around the lake. It’s freezing and gigantic for a lake!

I have lived in California for 20 years and it’s amazing to me that I still have not seen majority of California. Lake Tahoe was breathtakingly beautiful. It’s so gigantic! It even had little waves from the wind. Joe told me that because the lake was so big, it couldn’t freeze over for ice skating.  I was a bit bummed I couldn’t ice skate and then decided that was probably a good idea. I had no intentions to find out how cold the water really was.

That evening we decided to stay home, make dinner, hot tub and watch a movie. After being in the hot tub Joe and I headed to wash up. As I was entering into the house I headed to the fireplace to get warm for a second.  Joe pulled me close to him. He held me tight and kissed me passionately. He then looked at me and asked “Jen, will you be my girlfriend.” I grinned from ear to ear and answered “yes.”  He picked me up and held me even tighter. Then it lead to the next question “will you move to Hawaii?” Without hesitation, I said “yes”.

 

Next Blog: Meet Christian and Crystal.

Keep Me Warm in Tahoe?

New Year’s Eve was spent with my second family.  The Liu’s, Tran’s, Muchowski’s and Howard’s. I have known them for about 6 years and I love them all. There are 4 couples, 6 kids, a dog and two cats.

Meet my midnight kiss partner.

Meet Sierra, my NYE kiss partner.

We spent the night eating, drinking and gambling. We even made it to midnight! None the less, my New Year’s Eve was accompanied by amazing people who were all really tired by 12:01am, myself included.

Joe and I continued our conversations after I left Oahu. We said hello every morning, in between and nights.  We would talk for 2-4 hours everyday.  Our conversations always were always natural, long and easy going.

If you missed the earlier post, I wrote about how Cat asked him what does he like in a girl. Instead of giving Cat an answer he pats me on the head. That was too easy of an answer so I decided to follow up with more questions.  I got my answer!

During the first week of chatting with Joe, you can only get so far with “how’s your day?” and “what’s your favorite color?” I decided that I really wanted to get to know him. Weekend trips are not possible. That’s 12 hours of flight time and less than 24 hours together. So say goodbye to date nights on Friday/Saturdays. Joe was willing to do anything to prove we could make this work. This whole time I really wonder how can you be so sure about someone you’ve spent less than 24 hours with. His response was simple. “I have never met anyone like you.” Typically, I would roll my eyes when guys tell me this but there’s just something about him that made him sound genuine about it.  I decided to be open minded and give this a shot. After all, the greatest love isn’t always conveniently in your backyard.

I am a believer of online dating. When I was working in the financial world, it is very easy to pull 10-12 hour days and 60 hour weeks. If that’s the case, where do I find the time to meet anyone! I find that it’s easier to look through a bunch of profile to see who I am physically attracted to and then proceed to read their profiles to see if there’s any compatibility.  Then we’d pass a few messages and perhaps go on a lunch date or happy hour.  With Joe, I got to meet him. I saw him in an environment where he was a leader. Then I saw him in a relax environment. I saw his bachelor pad and I witness him cook.  I even felt his lips for a second when he kissed me goodbye. I decided if I were to even consider this, I needed to know what cards I’m holding.

So what did I do, I consulted with my girlfriends. I asked fellow online daters on what they would do. We concluded that I should ask him questions from a dating website to see if we were compatible. Here’s an example of what I asked:

Looking back on your life, what are you most proud of? 

How often do you lose your temper?

A: practically never
 B: once in a while
 C: on occasion during a week
 D: probably once a day on average

When in a relationship, how much personal space do you generally find you need?

A: I don’t have a great need for “personal space”. I like lots of together time.
 B: I find my time spent working is enough personal time, the rest I like to spend with my partner.
 C: As long as I can get one night a week to myself, my personal space needs are met.
 D: When I’m with my partner I’m completely there, but I do need considerable time for personal reflection.

If you had three wishes, what would they be? Why?

If you had to characterize the end of most of your romantic relationships, they would be described as:


A: pleasant as breaking up can be, with both people feeling it was the best decision
 B: sad, with one partner being hurt and feeling betrayed
 C: very dramatic, with lots of hurtful accusations
 D: angry, with lots of feelings of disappointment

Which of the following marriage issues do you fear most?


A: fear of growing apart
 B: fear of marrying the wrong person
 C: fear of becoming “your parents”
 D: fear of being hurt

How important is chemistry to you? 

A: I need to feel that instant “click”
 B: within the first couple of dates I need to sense a certain chemistry
 C: I think chemistry can be generated over the long-term with someone I really like
 D: I don’t believe chemistry is really important to a successful relationship

For more questions click on this link:

Eharmony Questions Part 1

Eharmony Questions Part 2

21 Questions to Ask a Guy

Questions to Ask Someone Before You Marry Them

These questions could be very forward and extremely personal. Maybe because I’m in sales, I have no fear of asking questions like these but I feel that these are questions that I needed to know about Joe before I could even pursue the idea of anything serious.  Now keep one thing in mind, these aren’t questions where if they score enough points you should date them, they are meant for you to understand how your potential partner feels about certain topics. We all adapt due to our experiences in life so finding out why your potential partner feels about certain things are important. I wanted to know how Joe felt about things through his life experiences. I wanted to hear how he coup with difficult experiences and what he wanted  or what he wouldn’t tolerate.

Needless to say, I learned  A LOT about Joe. I told my friends that I was doing this to Joe. My girlfriends thought it was brilliant while majority of my guyfriends were impress he stayed around to be interrogated. The more I learned about Joe, the more I liked him. He was really nice. Nice sounds lame, but there are not enough of nice guys in this world.  I have had my fair share of fun and adventures. I never thought I would say this but I did wanted the husband and kids.  If you asked me a couple years ago, I would have say “no thanks!”.  Could he be the one?  Well, only one way to find out!

Next Blog: Tahoe Adventures

Wanted: Nice, Kind, Adventurous and Romantic

Every morning Cat and I would wake up around 9am. Sometimes one of us would wake up earlier but we pretty much laid around until 10am.  That’s how we wanted our vacation to be. We didn’t want to be on a strict timeline, we wanted to go with the flow.  The next day after seeing Joe, it made this morning different.  I sat in bed a little bit longer thinking about what happened yesterday.  Am I feeling this way because I’m on vacation? Is my guard down? Am I really allowing this to happen? I decided that it’s only because I’m on an island and because I’m on vacation. The rational part of me kicked in and decided to get up. I got ready for breakfast with Cat. During this entire time, Cat and I have yet to make it to breakfast. Although we get up early, we lay in bed chatting like little school girls gossiping about our lives.

Breakfast time at Eggs ‘N Things!

Eggs ‘N Things: I had the egg benedict, scramble, potato and spam special.

After a filling breakfast, we headed to Waianae to see if there’s anything great there. We saw lots of local people and a typical lifestyle of a native Hawaiian.  After seeing the countryside Cat and I concluded it was nothing amazing to see. I did see some great bodyboarding spots and Cat and I laid out for a bit looking at the clouds.  We also found Ka’ena Point State Park. They say it’s a good place for mountain biking and bird watching. It’s definitely on the bucket list.

Clouds…. go away!

As I was laying out on the beach I got a text from the Mr. Joe.  As I was reminded how high school girls get giddy over a boy crush, I have to admit I was excited to hear from Joe.

Drinks and a sunset? Count me in.

Cat and I packed up to head to the North Shore. Can you believe we haven’t seen a sunrise or sunset! I couldn’t believe it and the sad part was that we were leaving the next day. I was so excited to be driving back to the North Shore. It’s very peaceful up here and breathtakingly beautiful. When we got there, Cat and I did some shopping and decided to stop for some shave ice.

This line was shorter.

My shave ice and me. I think I got the Hawaiian combo!

Cat and her shave ice!

After our shave ice adventure, Cat and I went to the harbor to meet with Joe. Once again, we were greeted with open arms and kisses from everyone. Joe, Cat and I headed out first t the beach to start gazing at the beautiful sunset. It wasn’t the best day for a sunset yet it was perfect in so many ways. Ryan came over to join in the fun. Joe and I got lost in our own conversation. We talked about family and our lives. We didn’t get too deep but at the end we just gazed into the sunset and within minutes, my first and last sunset in Oahu has fallen.

Kahala Sunset

After the sunset, Joe offered to cook for us. Cat and I haven’t had a homecook meal in over a week so we decided to take him up on his offer. We went grocery shopping and grabbed all the necessities. We headed back to the house and started the cooking preparation. What Cat and Joe failed to tell me was that neither of them liked tomatoes, mushrooms or cucumbers. I like to make my salads colorful but those two defeated that purpose by taking them out of their plate. I just laughed and we continued on eating the chicken Joe had whipped up for us. As we were sitting there, Cat turns to Joe and asked, “So Joe, what’s your idea in a woman?” Without hesitation, Joe turns his head towards me and pats me on the head and says, “her.” Cat looked at him and said “that’s too easy, we need specifics”.  Joe didn’t seem to want to respond.  He was perhaps even a bit shy about it.  I don’t remember what happened after that but it left me with a grin on my face as I continued to eat dinner.

Joe. It’s a simple name. What did I find catching about him? Was it the smile or the sincerity in his voice? I couldn’t put my finger on it but I was intrigued. He definitely wasn’t the typical Los Angeles or Orange County guy that I consistently come across.  He also wasn’t what I am use to dating either.  He was more laid back, kind, genuine and confident.

After dinner Cat and I literally dashed to the door without cleaning up. I felt so guilty not helping him clean up but I felt like he intentionally kept us there longer then he promised. We needed to help back down to town because the country girls needed to be city girls for the night.

Girl’s last night out in Oahu!

Needless to say, no one I met that night was interesting enough. As Cat and I were dancing, I thought of Joe the entire time.  I wonder what would become of this. Before I left Joe the second night, he brought up the fact that he would be in California in February. He even casually asked about going out to Tahoe. I did tell him I have never been there. I then decided if he were to ask again, I’d go.

Hawaii was an amazing adventure. This trip wouldn’t have been this was without my partner in crime Cat.  We got out of our comfortable zone and just had fun. We even went with the flow! For those that don’t know both of us or maybe even either of us well, we are very calculated people. We rationalize things and we figure out the probability of how this can go utterly wrong. Then we decide because we know what the worst is, we will make on a decision base on that risk. Sounds boring right? This trip, Cat and I both crossed things off our bucket list. I’m happy that two girlfriends sat on the phone at the latest of hours determine to make vacation plans.

Cat, I’m very thankful that I had you on this trip. We definitely needed this time to let loose and have fun!  Perhaps we can even get those tattoos we thought about. Ha! I love you and mahalo girl! xo

 

Just girls being silly on a hike.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next Blog:  Keep Me Warm in Tahoe?

Dinner and Joe’s

As we headed back to the car from the beach, we sat in the car trying to straighten ourselves out. I had sand all over, no make up, brush or even clean clothes.  We made do with what we had. Thank goodness Cat had some eyeliner! I remember my hair was such a mess, I kept my hat on.

At Giovanni’s after the shark tour.

As we got out of the car and headed inside, I really had no idea what to expect. I found the bar and immediately found eyes smiling at me.  This time his sunglasses were off and I noticed when he smiled, his entire face lit up.  I couldn’t help but smile and proceeded to approach Joe and Tali. They both gave us hugs and kisses on the cheek and asked how our adventure was. What I love about Hawaiian culture is that everyone gives hugs and kisses. It’s a great way to make anyone comfortable immediately.  Cat and I told the boys about our adventure.

One of the things Cat and I enjoyed doing was being practical. Instead of buying drinks along the way, we decided on getting plastic cups, vodka, cranberry,  sprite and a bag of ice! Why pay $8-$10 for a cocktail when you can make our own! Everywhere we went, our hands were occupied with our cups. They weren’t just any cups, they were plastic ones with straws. Yes, we upgraded from the red cups to these cool Hawaiian inspired eco friendly cups.

Cat and Jen’s adult sippy cups.

We are at Sunset beach catching some sunshine.

As we were talking more people came. I soon met Mack and his then girlfriend, Matt and his fiancé Renee and Ryan. I can’t recall the exact conversations we had. I remember a lot of alcohol, appetizers and laughters. We started our night around 5:30pm. It had to be around 8:00pm when people started leaving. Renee however seem to have other plans. She was pushing really hard on the idea of heading to Joe’s house for drinks afterwards. It appears Joe had a wing-girl. She sure did a great job in comparison to the guys!  I have to admit, if Renee didn’t push as hard to head over to Joe’s house, I really had no intentions of going to a stranger’s house. One of the things I did realize though was it’s rare for a girl to support a guy friend like that. I made the assumption that if Renee was trying that hard to get us over to his house, Joe must be a good guy. It’s rare that girls would support jerks. So I pretty much hoped my assumption was right and said “what the heck, let’s go for drinks”.

When I got to Joe’s house with Matt, Renee and Cat, I immediately saw one thing that caught my eye, his golf putting set up.  I bee lined straight to it and started putting. I could hear Joe ask “you golf!” I said, “sort of and not lately”. I started talking about the golf tournament Tiger Woods played the week before and he just looked astonished. I could hear him tell Cat “and she watches golf.  I think I love her.” I pretended not to hear it and proceeded with playing. I could hear Cat and Renee talk as I saw Joe turned the television on. He turned on the Laker’s game. Without realizing it, I started to bash on the Laker’s season. Needless to say, that got Joe and I arguing for the next 30 minutes. I am a Clippers fan and I’m sick of people saying that I’m on the band wagon. I have been a Clipper’s fan since the Laker’s kicked Nick Van Exel off the team. That was in the 90’s. So since then, I became a Clipper’s fan. I made Joe believe I knew more then he thought by sharing statistics and the pass games I’ve seen. I always enjoy bickering to a Laker’s fan. Your time is up! Clipper time is here.

I was consciences of the clock because I knew Cat and I were suppose to head out to Waikiki nightlife.  After a couple hours passed by, Cat and I left. We said our “see you laters” and headed to our car. As I drove away from Joe’s house I got a chance to talk to Cat about our night. She immediately asked me how I felt. I had to collect myself for a moment because I didn’t expect any of this. Joe seemed to have very strong feelings for me and he had no fear of verbalizing it.  I was pleasantly surprise by how kind and nice he was. Even his friends were nice! He was genuinely sweet and the thought of him made me smile. I have to admit, I was excited about the thought of seeing him again.

Next Blog: Wanted: Nice, Kind, Adventurous and Romantic

Drinks? I’d Love To.

On the day of the shark tour, Cat and I woke up early. We have yet to drive to the North Shore.  I wanted to save the best for last!  We spent a couple of days in Honolulu and Waikiki so we had no idea what kind of adventures lie ahead of us in the North Shore.

We left our hotel two hours prior to 9am tour time. What I still can’t get use to is the quick on-ramps to the freeway. Do I keep going? Do I yield? I’m an Orange County driver so chaos of driving is familiar. I drove the entire trip and I have to say I loved it.  People in Hawaii don’t know what traffic is until you’ve dealt with Los Angeles and Orange County freeways.  It was great getting familiar with the island. Once we saw the sign that read Haleiwa, Cat and I were almost there!  Since we had time to kill, we decided to grab breakfast.

Needless to say, I didn’t need seconds. We had the hawaiian favorite: spam, eggs and rice.

Breakfast: Spam, Eggs and Rice

We waited on the harbor. I’ve read so many reviews about not being able to find this place. There’s only one harbor and if that’s hard, look for a place with a lot of boats.

The harbor and its few boats.

As Cat and I sat in the car, we notice more people start to arrive. We saw someone walk around with a clipboard talking to people. We took it as a sign that they were starting to check people in! We threw away our breakfast and headed to the harbor.

We got down and approached the man with the clipboard. I assumed he was one of the guys on the shark tour due to his shirt reading “North Shore Shark Adventures”. I decided to make nice. After all I wanted an amazing experience! As soon as I said hello. I got his attention. He fumbled his words and finally found his voice to say morning. Not thinking much of it, I proceeded to tell him my last name. He checked Cat and me off his list. Without much talk, he bolted off to the next group.  I went back to Cat to tell her that she was doing the shark dive. She continue to tell me how she can’t swim. All I heard was blah, blah and blah.  My thought was how could you stand so close to amazing and not truly experience it first hand!

After the man with the clipboard made his rounds, he made his way back to Cat and me. His name was Joe. He made the typical small talk. Where are you from? How long are you out here for? What made you do the tour? I have to admit, the small talk made me comfortable with the tour. I wouldn’t say this out loud ever because I pride myself in being adventurous but I was nervous! I even told Cat “I can’t believe I’m actually doing this”!

On the boat, there was a small crew Joe, Dave and Tali operating it.  We waited for everyone to load up. The day was perfect. We set out to sea. I am so thankful this tour was only 15 minutes out. I did not take my dramamine. What was more annoying is that I actually prepared my trip with some but left it back at the hotel.  The sky was bright blue and it was already warm. As we proceeded out to sea, Tali gave the opening speech on what to expect and information on the type of sharks we would be seeing. Joe and Tali were friendly. They made sure their guests were comfortable and was there to answer all questions. Joe made sure to check in with me a couple times before I got into the cage.

Kai’ou is pronounced Kai-oo which means Ocean King.

He was very sweet. He was tall, dark hair and had a good tan. His smile was very warm. I couldn’t see his eyes because of his sunglasses but I knew he was nice. I like to think I have good judgement of character and as it was my turn to get into the cage, Joe was there to lend me his hand as I climbed into the ocean.

Cat and I were the last ones to enter. I had to make sure Cat was alright because I sneakingly told Tali and Joe that she had no intentions in getting in the cage. I told Joe that I needed her in. He obliged by telling me “you got it”. During my time in the cage, it was pretty magical. I didn’t even notice the cold water. All I wanted to do was dunk my head in the water to see the sharks and I did. I didn’t see one, two or three sharks. I saw about fifteen sharks. They were anywhere from 6 feet to 12 feet long. They weren’t aggressive but they were curious. I wanted so much to touch one but I was scared of putting my arm too far out of the cage. I really had no plans of coming back to the mainland with any part of my body missing. Watching the sharks in the water was very mesmerizing. Here I am entering into their world, their home and they weren’t bothered by us. I think they were wondering where the real food was!

We had twenty minutes in the water but I swear it felt like 3 minutes. Joe and Tali pulled us back in. One by one we proceeded to get out of the water. Even though Joe had his sunglasses one, I felt eyes were on me. I turned to look at him and I could see him turn red as he turned his head away. Regardless he had a grin on his face. He looked very handsome. Either he felt embarrass that I caught him or he felt shy and turned away. At that time, I smiled and thought nothing of it.

As we rode back into land, I chatted up with Cat to see where her head was at. She told me she was so proud of herself for doing it and that she was happy we told her she had to do it. It was great to experience this with her. We were just two girlfriends conquering an item on our bucket list.  This I will definitely remember forever. Riding back to land, we took this time to catch up on pictures. I was so afraid to bring out my iphone for pictures because with my luck, my iphone would end up in the deep blue sea.

I sat there staring at the beautiful water, Joe approached me and asked how my experience was. I had a feeling he didn’t care that much about my experience but we chatted about my first time in the water. He asked what my plans were after the tour. I told him Cat and I had plans to drive up the highway to see the pipelines and the turtles. I told him I wanted to see the big waves I’ve been hearing a lot about.  I asked him if he heard of the ‘three crowns’. He asked me “you mean the triple crown?” Normally, anyone wouldn’t like being correctly.  As for me I just laughed and said “yeah, that one too or the  trés crowns”. Joe laughed and proceeded to tell me where to go on Kamehameha Highway. Before I could get Cat’s attention to tell her where we needed to go next Joe asked me quickly “If you girls are still in town later today, I’d love to grab drinks with you.” I stared at him surprisingly and maybe even puzzled. Friends have always told me I’m naive when it comes to men. I always assume everyone wants to be my friend and that’s it. As Joe stared at me, I knew I needed to say something. At the attempt of being cool, collected and calm I simply said, “I’m not sure exactly what our day will look like but if we are still in North Shore, I’d love to grab drinks with you.”

He smiled and said “great, I’ll give you my number.” As he went to grab a business card, I walked to Cat and told her what happened. We pretty much agreed to see how the day goes and if we were still in town, we’d give him a call. At the least it’ll be a new friend we made in Haleiwa.

Now I will admit, I wanted to grab drinks. He was sweet, kind and good-looking however this wasn’t MY trip I was on, this was Cat and my trip. I decided to just let the day happen and see what happens!

As we drove away from the harbor, I was really excited to see some big waves.  They say the North Shore is where the waves are the biggest in the winter! They weren’t lying. We made it to Bonzai, Sunset and Pipeline. My favorite had to be Pipeline. I cannot believe how insane these waves are. I do not surf but consider myself a bodyboarder that has not picked up a board in over 6 years.  I got into a really bad accident that luckily only resulted in a whiplash and an insane wound on my chin that pretty much ruin the next 6 months. Although a little scar didn’t scared me, everyone around me looked terrified. Needless to say I have been hesitant to really get back in the water.

Check out those waves behind me!

The view of Pipeline.

As Cat and I were people and surfer watching, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was almost 3:00 pm yet. It was almost the time Joe said he would be getting off work. I brought up the subject to Cat and asked how she felt about getting that drink. Mine you we did not come prepared. We had no make up and nothing to change into. We were literally in the same outfit. However we figured we were in Hawaii where the slippers (hawaiians pronounce it slip-pahs) and bikini were a norm. I texted Joe.

Cat and I packed up and we headed off to meet Joe at Haleiwa Joe’s Restaurant.

Our first group date.

Next Blog: Dinner and Joe’s