Hawaii - First day - April 28

I ran off to Hawaii after being unemployed for 2 months. There were not any jobs, temp or permanent, available, so I decided it was time to treat myself. I found tickets from SFO to Oahu for only $300 round trip, and tickets for the hotel for only $60 a night.

So I left my house at 7am PDT to catch my flight. I arrived in Oahu at about 11:30am HT. I checked into my hotel and was immediately amazed that I was in Hawaii. I called my aunt Val and just had to gush about the fact that I was in Hawaii. After I calmed down I went out for lunch and then on a bus (TheBus) to go to Diamond Head.

I was able to hike up Diamond Head and I was amazed at how awesome it was. Man, it was super humid. I got to a lookout and asked a man to take my photo and he was so cute. He was telling me all about the history of Diamond Head. And he made me pose with a shaka. I also met lots of people. It was funny how many people want to talk when they are on vacation.

The way down was a bit scary. There was some stairs that made me wait until every one was off of them because they were that scary.

At the bottom I had some shaved ice and man that was some good stuff. I never had any the rest of the trip, so I can't say if it was that good, or if all the hiking made it all that much better.

I came home after hiking and was taking a moment to check email and look for jobs on Craigslist, when I started talking to a friend through instant messaging and she was like, why are you in the hotel room. And I was like, true. So I went for a walk and to watch the sunset. I did have a small mishap when I accidentally fell into the ocean, but my camera was okay.

And then it was home to get some rest because I had to be up early the next morning. More to follow.

April trip to Southern California and Family Picnic

So while I was still unemployed (and I still am now) I was talking to my friend Peggy, who I use to work with. She has an uncle in Whittier that she hadn't seen in a long time and suggested we take a trip to Southern California to see our families. So off we went, with a brief trip in Gilroy to show Peggy my sign. We had fun driving through LA during rush hour. And it was fun seeing Whittier. I rolled into Yucaipa after being on the road forever. And then I ended up babysitting Mikey and Kendra while Jason and Kirsten went to see a movie as adults. Mikey and Kendra and I had fun making sun catchers and Mikey taught me how to play Guitar Hero. As you can imagine... I suck at Guitar Hero. The next morning Kirsten, Kendra and I went to go pedicures. And I even had flowers put on so that I was ready for Hawaii. We then jammed on over to the family picnic at Ford Park in Redlands. We had fun playing around. And then I was off to go hiking with Tim, my brother, and Tim, my brother's friend, and my cousin, Austin. We went hiking up to Vivian Creek in Forest Falls. It was quite the hike up. The beginning of one of the hardest hikes in Southern California. There was still snow on the ground. The next day was pretty casual with some church going and then off to visit my friend Melinda from high school and then off to have dinner with my cousin, Kris, my aunt, Carole and my cousin, Cortney before Kris and Carole headed off to Europe. The next day I dropped off Mikey and Kendra at school, where they asked if I was picking them up. It was hard to say good bye because we had had so much fun. I went to Whittier and picked up Peggy and we enjoyed the long way home through Santa Barbara. It was my first time going that way and I must say it was gorgeous. Peggy and I stopped to get out and walk along the beach and cut across the train tracks. We hadn't been off the tracks but a minute afterwards a large Amtrak coming bounding through. Peggy and I really enjoyed lunch in Santa Barbara. It was great to visit family and take the road trip.

Kendra's Baptism Trip in March

At the end of March I drove down to Southern California with my friend April for Kendra's baptsm. I was there from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. Yeah, a really quick trip. I was able to spend time with Ruth, who came down to go to Disneyland and attend Kendra's baptism. We had a great Saturday before the baptism by playing around with Diet Coke and Mentos and rolling down hills. It was so much fun. The whole weekend was amazing. I even enjoyed the drive down and up and spending time with April. Even if April's fan broke and we had so much fun being blown out by the fan on the way down. And I made April stop in Gilroy to look at my sign I designed a couple of years back.

FUnemployment Update

I have become addicted to Facebook, so I haven't updated my blog in forever. I was laid off in February, But man, I've been having a lot of fun being unemployed. I am going to be updating my blog now with the photos and actions that I've been taking over the last couple of months while I've been finding ways to spend my time unemployed.