Quelle Surprise

Yeah...so much for my posting about Hawaii shortly after my one picture. Alas, it will come....probably on a bitter cold day when I need to take some time to think back to the warmth and wonder of Hawaii.

So, for now, a holiday post of sorts. I had a few moments of slight sadness/nostalgia coming into the holiday season thinking about Church St. and the lights and music pipping through the street, lights outlining each tree, kids playing in the snow, Leunigs with it's warm glow and cozy bar. It's been almost 6 months exactly since I called it home there. But the memories are so fond I look back on them and enjoy that slight pain of sadness, it means I did it right.

Holidays. Family. Too much food. It's always nice to be back with my family. There are always surprises, some bigger than others. We found this old book that my mom used to write in that had sections for various notes about each holiday. There were only a few years, starting with my first Christmas and about 6 or 7 years. It was really neat to read...it said what we did the night before, what we ate, watched, read, who came over, what was happening in the world, what was happening in our city, what we all got, what christmas day was like and other notes. There were some funny quips about me, just further solidifying the fact that I was clearly a kid with a lot going on, including a lot of energy and pizzazz. There were notes that reminded us all how thankful we were to have each other.

Now we are approaching a new year. Can you believe it? How is is almost 2011? I was just emailing a friend that I made exactly a year ago early December and couldn't believe it had already been 365 days since being in Colorado for work and staying in this crazy huge house, watching a Toyota truck get tipped after a crazy party, having some amazing runs on the hill and making memories with a new friend. A year. Another year. So much has transpired in 2010. I will need to devote some time to thinking about it, really digesting the past year. Maybe I'll do a post about 2010 memories, learnings, experiences. Those things that I will take w/me moving into 2011 and beyond.

I hope everyone had a great holiday and remembered to love the ones you're with. It's all about love and family and friends. We mustn't forget that. To all my VT family, miss and love you always. Have a French 75 at Leunigs for me after a nice stroll up Church on a snowy evening.

Teaser

Hawaii blog post coming soon...

Reverse Order

Ok so, I really should blog about Hawaii to keep chronology correct on here, but for some reason I am not feeling like I can properly get words out to describe my vacation to paradise. Who knows, maybe by the end of this post I will be ready. In any case, I have been wanting to blog and putting it off, not feeling the right words, not finding the time. Admittedly I tended to blog at work when I lived in VT and my job now doesn't afford much time to do that (not to mention my computer screen faces the general room so probably not a good idea anyways). Also, I've been neglecting calling Penelope back after a quick game of phone tag, but have been thinking about her a lot which maybe is inspiring me to blog seeing as she was the initial inspiration behind even starting this thing.

So, let's see. I guess today finally fit for blogging because I had a day that wasn't necessarily out of the ordinary, but just seemed really great...like things all fit together quite nicely. I was stressing a bit about a proposal but we pitched it and it went really well. During the pitch itself, I felt so comfortable, so confident, the words just came, the flow was spot on, it just worked. Then I got some necessary errands done, chilled out for a bit and then packing seemed to go so well today...like I feel I packed pretty perfectly for the Thanksgiving break. You have to understand, as someone who travels ALL the time, I constantly strive for the "perfect" pack...essentially arriving somewhere and not thinking, "why the heck did I bring this shirt?" or "great, I packed about 1/2 of what I actually need". Nope, I'm feeling good about this one...so, here's hoping I'm right!

The energy is good right now. Not just today, but the past few days. Heck, maybe since the first day of my vacation. Despite a raging kidney infection the past week which should have gotten me down, the energy has been good...that kind that you feel and know it's glowing, not brooding or weighing down, but glowing.

This past Saturday was one of those perfect days...a day that I woke up Sunday smiling from. I planned a brunch for my small group of friends here, planned a grand fall menu, cleaned my place, got smelly candles out, had coffee brewing. The food was amazing (pumpkin pancakes, you did me right) and we ended up hanging out in my kitchen, eating, drinking various cocktails and playing Catch Phrase for literally 5 hours. We eventually moved to the living room to play another game and continue the slow day drinking, and finally moved to my local pub for cards and beers. The energy of the group was so perfect, the fact they all got into the games, the way the food went down, it just couldn't have been a better day. It was the first time I'd held a gathering at my place and I think it made me feel really "here", like I'm not floating around still nailing down my life here, I think it's really happening now. It's a pretty cool feeling.

Return to my childhood home

I'd be lying if I said I could focus on normal life right now. I'm so completely distracted by the recent development of travel. I will be flying from NYC to Honolulu, HI on Tuesday to visit a friend who's living there for the next 2 months to do live editing of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. It kind of came up last second and I was able to snag a ticket w/very few frequent flier miles (I mean, I have 200K of them) and have a house to stay at w/my friend and a few others there to work on the video production of the event. Not to mention I have all these vacation days that will be lost come January and I've been trying to take a vacay since September. So, stars aligned and in less then 3 days I'll be en route to paradise. So yeah...I'm having a little bit of difficulty focusing.

Beyond getting to see my friend Drew, a friend formed from another perfect aligning of stars last winter, I will be returning to my homeland! Yes, a little known fact is that I spent a few of my childhood years on the island of Oahu. My dad was stationed at Hickam Air Force Base for a few years...my dear ages of 3-7 years old. I have only 2 memories, literally, before Hawaii so essentially my life as I remember it started there...I'm a lucky girl, there is no doubt.

I think back to those years in Hawaii and they were some of the best. I'm definitely planning a trip by our old house, my elementary school, the place w/the amazing, huge, warm chocolate chip cookies, the Keyhole, Turtle Bay and more. It'll be like a reunion w/some of my favorite age years. I wonder what it'll feel like to see it again for the first time since I was 7...