I'm Hooked!

So last night Charles and I went to pick up my seat and my helmet so I can ride on the back of his new motorcycle with him. And let me tell you, Harley D stuff is expensive! We got the bike to save money by less note and less insurance, but I don't know how well that is working out so far. Maybe we will see the difference after we finish buying all the "accessories".

Once we got home he immediately began installing the new seat and foot pegs for me! He's so handy and smart when it comes to motorized things (cars, etc!) In about an hour, he had finished and wanted to take me for a spin around the neighborhood! I threw on my new sparkly helmet, and he explained to me how to get on and off we went! Even though he was going really slow (since it was my 1st time EVER on a motorcycle), it felt like he was flying! Once we got home, we went inside and couldn't seem to decide who should get to watch the big tv downstairs....Soooo to settle the dispute and compromise we just decided to head back out on the bike and make the large block down Nimitz Hwy, up toward Tripler (where I work) and back down Salt Lake. IT WAS A BLAST! I felt a little uneasy at first, but once we got going it was great! I'll have to say that I see what all the hype is about and I'M HOOKED!

My new black sparkly helmet!

And the beat goes on...

I can't even begin to say how much I want this year to be OVER! I am ready for a new year and a new start and a lot of CHANGES! I feel like I'm just barely getting through work, barely getting by to my countdown to our "real" life as we call it.

Work has been somewhat, shall I say, StReSsFuL lately. I have been doing tons of procedures, some double booked and some triple booked. Although I love the doctors I work for, I just feel so burned out. My hairdresser says my hair is falling out and far too thin for what is normal for me. He says I must be super stressed. And I tend to have to agree once I pulled out an entire pony tail's worth of my beautiful blonde locks from our bathroom drain. Ugh. It might not be so bad if people weren't also commenting on how tired and stressed I look at work. I am getting pretty tired of hearing it actually. And even with all this unnecessary complaining I am doing, I am still thankful to have this job. I don't have too much longer to "hang in" there. I just keep telling myself "if I can make it just__ more days"....

but for now....the beat goes on....

A Tripler Christmas...

So its Christmastime once again here in Hawaii! It never feels like Christmas much at all over here, which doesn't make me feel too cheery this time of year. Its not chilly or snowy and there are no fireplaces or smores or any traditional Christmastime things. I know, I know what you're thinking...."BUT ITS PARADISE".... Even so, I miss some of the traditional "normal" activities and feelings of the season.

Today was our Christmas party at work. I am thankful that I work at a military facility where I am still allowed to say the word... "CHRISTMAS". Not many places are like that anymore. I enjoy handing out gifts to all my co-workers, and this year I made most of the gifts I gave out. I took a few snapshots of the gifts before I ran out the door this morning.

I bought a nice pineapple wine for each of my doctors that I work for. I thought it was a neat gift because it is from a winery in Maui and made from pineapples. I wrapped them each in a brown bag with a cute red ribbon and a personalized tag. I had five of them so dragging them up the stairs to the building was quite challenging!

I also made each of the ladies a personalized glass ornament with a cute red ribbon. Everyone seemed to like them, and they were very economical gifts (lots of time though). But when you have around 20 gifts to get, it can become quite pricey!

And all the men got Starbuck's gift cards. I know, not very creative. But guys are so hard to buy for. And everyone can find something they like at Starbuck's.

A new Harley D...

At the end of November, Charles' new Harley Davidson was delivered to our house. He was so excited! He got on it right away and started figuring it all out. He didn't do too bad for his FIRST time on a motorcycle! Here's some pics of how things went.

Charles helped the delivery guy lower the ramp

And he hops right on...

A good fit for him, I think!

Puttering around the cul de sac...

2012 Harley Davidson Sportster, our newest addition...

Besties & Yardsgivings

Thanksgiving dinner @ Yard House, or "Yardsgiving" as Charles' friends called it

Our Thanksgiving Day crew...

Beautiful amazing sunset from Barefoot Bar @ Hale Koa

Me & Bestie @ Barefoot Bar

Vegas Trip & 11.11.11

@ The Bellagio for the water show

Dinner @ Smith & Wollensky's on the strip for 50th anniversary dinner

11.11.11

Rod Stewart @ Caesar's Palace

The Venetian

Our picnic in the Grand Canyon during our heli tour

The REAL Pawn Stars pawn shop

Over 3 Months!!!

Wow! Has it really been over 3 months since I blogged? I am just a horrible blogger I guess! So I guess I should get you all up to speed. Let's see...our friends have moved (as previously mentioned in last blog). It's been a loooong few months for me without my good friends. The only thing getting me through is thinking that soon our time will come to move home too.

In September, I flew home for ScrapFest in Mandeville, which was a blast! I got a chance to see my family and had a great time with Mom, Aunt Debbie, Bonnie and Valerie. I truly cannot wait to do it all over again, hopefully next fall.

Not much happened in October. There was no dressing up for Halloween and no trick or treating like last year. Gee, we sure are getting to be old and mean, huh?

November came with lots of activity. Lots. On the 6th, I flew out from HNL to meet my mom and my grandparents in Vegas. It was their 5oth anniversary trip! Wow! FIFTY whole years. What an amazing accomplishment. I arrived on the 7th and we got started right away on our exploring. It was a wild, cold, fun filled week of food, casinos, helicopters, lights, taxis and water shows to name a few! We stayed at the Monte Carlo and it was really nice and decently close to most everything, right on the strip. We were constantly busy, and constantly going somewhere! We also visited the Pawn Stars pawn store while we were there. Lucky for us, they happened to be filming that day. It was neat to see how they filmed and what was edited and so on. We also got some tee shirts autographed by Chumlee. Look for us as extras in an upcoming episode ( I hope!).

On the 23rd, Charles decided to trade the Cobra in on a brand new Harley Sportster. I know he really hated to give up that car, but he is really enjoying the bike. I know that he will eventually have another awesome Mustang. (Not to mention the '66 he has in the garage back home).

My best friend Hollie also came in for Thanksgiving week to stay with her fiance'. We laid out on the beach and just hung out. It was great to spend time with them both and talk about the plans for their upcoming wedding. On Thanksgiving Day, we joined some more friends at the Yard House and had "Yardsgiving"!

Now here we are in December. Wow, I can't believe it is already here. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Pearl Harbor and there will be lots of festivities over here by the base. I hear that they are bringing some remains of one of the survivors down there by navy diver. I will try to keep you updated better in the weeks to come. We have Christmas on its way, my birthday and our mini trip to Big Island. What fun!

I will post some pictures soon of all our happenings!