Home

is not where you live but where they understand you.

After weeks of feeling like I would never be able to eat or be active as I once was I decided, with the advice from counselors, to withdraw. I had already missed many classes and was just too tired to concentrate. Then came the hard decision: to stay in Hawaii or return home. My first thought was duh stay in Hawaii and be a beach bum, but then I remembered I could hardly make it to the grocery store and back. How was I going to keep up with everyone? Plus the cost of living in Hawaii is a tad bit more then everywhere else. So I decided it'd be way more comfortable and reasonable to recover in my own bed at home with my mom bringing me juice, my darling Pyper to keep me company and of course my amazing friends close by

Lauren & Emily. I wish everyone had friends like mine. I don't know what I did to deserve to call some of the most amazing people my best friends. 

I came home to this welcome home sign and a room full of balloons. They left me bottles of gatorade and even a note for Vern. They know me a little too well.

It felt good to know people were happy I was home. 

I miss the beach across the street and all the amazing people I met in Hawaii but it feels so good to be home.

Home

Homecoming made me think of home. 

"Home is not where you live but where they understand you"

I kinda miss these guys.

Probably because I'm sick which makes me homesick. 

I especially miss this guy

Look at that facee

Homecoming

game that is

Allie, Cristine and I went, or snuck, into the boy's basketball game!

It reminded me so much of high school games. Crazy to think that the high school I went to is no longer there.

But it was a good game even though we lost and it was nice to actually do something after being cooped up all day long. I was super tired after but it was well worth it.
A night with these girls always rocks.

The kissing disease

That's right. After being ridiculously sick I finally went to the doctor to figure out why I had a fever, no appetite, night sweats, fatigue, headaches, eye aches, upset stomach, golf ball sized lympnodes and the list goes on.

I have mono. 

Oh and strep throat! Yay

I didn't know people actually got this crap. 

And no grandma it's not from kissing all the Hawaiian boys!

It gets better.. there is no method of treatment for mono.

 I was missing classes left and right. There are still morning that I am unable to get out of bed and I am exhausted. 

Only rest and liquids can save me now.

I have never been so sick in my life and it had to be thousands of miles away from home.

Where's my mommy when I need her?? 

Laie Falls

Saturday we decided to hike to Laie Falls.

Alex Whitney Allie Cristine and I

The walk to the trail head was pretty and just up the road from our house

 Do not enter you will be shot

 There were tons of threatening signs for if you trespassed.

Don't worry I made it out alive

I wasn't able to make it all the way because I was feeling super sick.
Thankfully Cristine's ankle was bothering her so we decided to turn back.
I went home and layed in bed for hours. It was the sickest I had ever been.
It was time to go the doctor.

The Bus

 Sometimes I really miss Roy, my car back home.

It seems like we spend the majority of our time either waiting for the bus

or on the bus..

 with let's just say some really interesting people

Sometimes they can be pretty sketchy

they like to chat it up and try and get your number

or they ask for money

Sometimes they stick their tongue out at you

or practice their martial arts 

or fall asleep

sometimes they are super high and ask to listen to your ipod with you

Sometimes you're not sure if they're aiming stuff at you

They keep things interesting though.

The most memorable would have to be this girl

I know you can't really see her but it takes me back

She was crazyy. 

It started off at a bus stop as we were starting to pull away when we heard banging on the side of the bus. The bus driver slammed on the brakes open the door and got up to see why someone was hitting his bus.

 This lady comes yelling on the bus about how he was gonna leave with out her and was cussing every other word. Our bus driver (keep in mind he was a very large polynesian) was already mad at her for hitting the bus and was worried he might of hit someone was not happy. So after arguing she finally got on the bus and then got off and then back on but kept cussing at the driver so finally he told her to get off and wait for another bus. She got off and stood in front of the bus. He tried to drive but she wouldn't budge! Crazy. So he opens the door and she gets on, but he goes to call security and she starts mouthing again with the f word and gets off for good and we pull away.

Always an adventure.

(Photo's courtesy of Cristine Photography)

Haupia

For those of you who don't know Haupia is Hawaiian for coconut. So anything with the word Haupia in it means delicious goodness. 

Addie and I were all about the Haupia ice cream from foodland. 

We were at Ted's for lunch after spending an afternoon at Sunset Beach and they kept saying you gotta try the pie. So we did and ended up getting a whole pie to take home. 

uhh ya. It didn't last long once we got home.

Shopping

Although there is the Laie shopping center which includes Foodland, Subway, A nail salon, the two movie movie theatre, Ace hardware and uhh ya thats pretty much it we decided it'd be nice to do some real shopping. 

So we hopped on the good ole bus to Ala Moana shopping center which is a huge mall in Honolulu

We kinda like this store.. a lot.

but more importantly I was introduced to something that changed my life even more than Yogurtland.

Jamba Juice. Amazing. I was still sick and eating very little and had some of this and felt completely energized! And it was delicious. Worth a two hour bus ride any day in my opinion.

Whalesss

So one day we were just sitting on a beach (big surprise huh)

Pipeline to be exact. We we're just soaking up the sun, watching all the surfers that look like sitting ducks

when Allie points out something off shore...

A huge splash!

Which turns out to be a humpback whale!

There were two of them! Lucky Cris was quick to get out her camera.

The Lifeguard told us that it was extremely rare to see two humpbacks come that far out of the water and so close to shore! Uh lucky! Now I can save my money on going to whale watching. 

Sometimes I have to pinch myself and say yes that really did happen, yes you really live in Hawaii.

Dang I'm lucky.

Waikiki!

We get quite a few cloudy days here in Laie but we know it's always sunny on Waikiki!

Uhh I live here.

Can you see that guy's sweet tan lines? lol

Love Whitney!

We like to entertain ourselves while we tan.

Me and Megan sporting the purple dresses

Whitttt!

Housemates!

Super cool tree! Look at it compared to Whitney.

They introduced me to Yogurtland. I fell in love.

Before our long bus ride back we snuck into the Hilton to use the bathroom and they had these super awesome chairs! Don't we look like we could be guests there??

Goodbyes

I am amazed every time I meet new people, like each season in Alaska or when I was traveling, how close you can get to some people. Addie was the first roommate I met and we just instantly got along. We went to Foodland together every single day and both got in crazy moods at night. We kept each other entertained in our small house and always joined the others on adventures. 

She sadly left early, after only three weeks. It was for the best but no worries we still stay in touch!

She just happened to leave on Cristine's birthday. We were planning on going out to dinner in Hale'iwa and her shuttle drive was nice enough to give us a ride!

It worked out perfectly and was wayy better than waiting for and then riding the bus.

Thanks Herald! He was wayy cool.

I know I look ill. It cause I am! It was the first day of what I thought to be the flu. 

Birthday girl and Megs and Allie

No birthday would be complete with out Paradise Scoops Ice cream!

Happy Birthday Cristine!

Surf Competition

We decided we were going to spend the day at Sunset Beach up on the North Shore and when we got there it was there was a surf competition!

The Sunset Open. Not as big as say the Eddie which is also going on but it was still really neat to watch.

And the waves were huge! No swimming allowed. 

Some of the waves were huge! One caught us off guard and we had to grab our stuff and run for our lives!

Well not really, we just had to make sure we didn't get wet. 

And they weren't even that big!

They go four at a time each wearing a different color. Here's the winner!

Christine and I enjoying the sun and surfers and people...

I bet that's one hot tan line!

I guess they call it Sunset Beach for a reason. Beautiful.