Happy New Year

"...Recognize that even right now, this period in your life is also an era that will pass as well. Are you going to spend it, lamenting on who wronged you and why? Are you going to carry the bad and the ugly forward? If you do you only create a block to recall in the future. This era of your life belongs to you. No one else. In 10 or 20 years what senses will fill you when you recall this time in your life? I say recall this era as so many more beginnings.The only constant in all the years of your life, will be YOU."

Scott Abel

Oh really.

“The United States expended its carrots, including delisting North Korea from the terrorist list, in exchange for a verbal promise that Pyongyang would sign on to these verifications,” he said. “We now know the North Koreans tricked us.”

Somebody give this guy a medal.

In Setback for Bush, North Korea Talks Collapse.

"One of the main reasons I train my body is so that my mind works effectively." - Paul Chek

That's Paul Chek with a 160# db over his head. This man is 47. I think we should listen to him. He has some really interesting thoughts on training in this T-Nation article. Enjoy!

Our Wedding Website

Oh my gosh, you guys have to go check out our AWESOME wedding website that my sister has been putting together!! It's still a work in progress so check back again soon!

THANKS KATIE!! :D

Adam and Michelle

Kaneohe Condo

Hey y'all! Sorry I've been neglecting to post! I'm just really trying HARD to stay balanced with all the stress going on in my life. I will be happy when this weekend comes and I get a big break! I've had days off from work since I got here, but we've been running around trying to get stuff done for the wedding and the condo and have barely had time to catch our breaths. It's taking a toll on my mental and spiritual well being!

I'm going to have an acupuncture session on Saturday! It's something I've been wanting to try for a while now and I can definitely use it. The woman said I will see results right away and she will do a lifestyle interview with me to see where any imbalances might be and if there are any herbal remedies that can help.

Also! I met Misty May-Treanor today! She and her husband and father came to the PACOM headquarters to do a professional development forum - it was way cool! She is totally nice and sweet and soft spoken and down to earth. She was just a regular girl! Definitely a role model.

You can go to my mom's Picasa album and view the pics of our condo. Thanks for taking and posting all those, Mom!!

Kaneohe condo!

There was a little girl who had a little curl... right in the middle of her forehead.

I have officially broken up with my blow dryer and my flat iron. Bye bye. Hasta.... or as the Italians say, basta (finished). One of my first tasks after getting on the island, after finding a decent place to get a pedicure, was finding a hair stylist. I asked the wives in Adam's squadron - no luck. They all just rolled their eyes and clucked about their bad haircuts at all the salons on the windward side. I pretty much knew I'd have to go downtown to Honolulu to find an acceptable stylist - but you always want to get a word of mouth recommendation. Except that I have no friends here... and all the females I work with wear their hair slicked back in buns so I can't tell which of them has good hair! I resolved to ask the first girl I saw whose hair I liked for a recommendation, which happened to be in line at the Navy Services Center while I was waiting on my ID card for work. The stylist, Katie, works at the W Salon in the Ala Moana Center. She took one look at my fro, listened to my sad tale about spending hours straightening my hair only to have it poofy by lunchtime, and told me to stop fighting my texture. She gave me a layered cut that actually ACCENTUATES my natural curls and body and sent me off with some curl enhancing hair products. I can actually let it air dry and it looks fantastic. The End.

My plate is full

We have been busy! My parents flew in on Wednesday evening and we spent Thanksgiving downtown in Waikiki. We went to a sports bar to watch the Cowboy's game and then over to one of the hotels on Waikiki beach to eat at their traditional turkey/stuffing/pie buffet. We got to sit out on the balcony RIGHT on the beach while eating our turkey!

THEN! Black Friday was neverending. We have been planning to get a big screen TV for Christmas and Adam had researched all the brands and models and had one picked out that he wanted. He called around all the shops on the island and the only place that had it on sale on Black Friday was Best Buy in Honolulu and they only had 3 left on Wednesday! So we planned to go there at 5 am to get one on Friday morning. We were also planning to look a couple other places for furniture we need (living room, dining table, outdoor furniture).

We woke up at 4:00 and were downtown by quarter to 5. When we pulled up to Best Buy, the first thing we saw was that the parking lot was full and there were cars leaving to find other parking spots. Then we saw the line! OMG, there were seriously at least 1,000 people lined up to get inside before 5 am! It was insane. We weren't sure how long we were going to have to wait to get in the store, but they pretty much let everyone in right away and we went straight to the TV section and got the LAST TV on the island in the brand we wanted!

We left there by 5:30 and headed over to Home Depot where we got the LAST patio furniture set on sale, plus a pre-lit Christmas tree for $50 and a bunch of plants. We headed over to Macy's around 8:00 to look for the comforter I wanted, which they didn't have. We were on our way to the Navy Exchange furniture store when my mom called and said she saw some interesting couches on craigslist, so we drove all the way to the other side of the island to look at them. They were just ok and we wanted to check out the NEX furniture store, so we went over there and were there for HOURS deciding what to buy... we ended up getting an entire living room (couch, loveseat, coffee table, end tables, lamps, tv stand), a dining room table, and a bedroom set... all of it 20-25% off.

On Saturday we rented a truck and went back to get everything and spent the day unloading the stuff and the carting all the packing material back to the store. Yesterday we thought we deserved a break so we took my parents to hike Kuliou'ou - one of the best views on the island at about 2,000 ft elevation, but also a brutal, steep and slippery climb to the summit. They made the trip like champs, although we were all tired and sore afterwards! Then we went to run errands and church!

Man, I need a vacation after our holiday! Today it's back to the grind.

I'm working with the Precision Nutrition coaching program online (more on that later) and I start my new workout program today, so I'm excited to go to the gym this afternoon! My parents are in town for the rest of the week.

I will be really glad when all of the stress of moving, getting settled and planning this wedding subside - Adam and I both feel like we have way too much on our plates at the moment. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!

oh... hi - we moved!

Hi. We moved. Forgot to mention that! I have pics of the new place! But we don't have internet access at the new place until December 6!!! Can you believe that shit?! Plus I can't access gmail at work anymore BOO. I can blog at work, but I can't access gmail.... and I can't upload pics. I might be out of pocket until then, it will be hard for me to blog!

Sunday was moving day. It was long and tiring to move yet again. But we are not going anywhere for some time now. I hope! We are both tired and looking forward to the long weekend. I have loads more to say, but I need to start cleaning the studio so we are not over here all night!!

BTW, my friend Jen had her thyroidectomy yesterday and came thru with flying colors... which would be November 24... MY surgery was November 24, 2006. How weird is THAT.

Peace out y'all.

Wedding color inspiration - purple and green

Ok, I've moved on from the flip flops. Le sigh.

I think we're going to go with this invitation - simple and has a tropical feel. We both liked it.

And how cute is this idea? Name cards in grass!

I think I've settled on colors - purple and green. These are some ideas I like:

I really love the plumerias... they are so pretty! I'm thinking maybe white plumerias with green orchids and purple lilies or something...





Purple and green inspiration! These are plumerias too.


I don't really want roses, but this is kind of nice - it's the colors I'm drawn to....

I don't think I want all green though... needs some pop of color - purple and lavender.

Here's what I like...
Pretty!
More inspiration. I like the dress in the top left...

I liked these lilies - like I said, with some white plumerias and green orchids...


Ideas for leis that I liked... this one is plumeria

Purple and green ...
For the groomsmen...

And the groom wears maile.
What do you think?!

WANT!!! oh my gosh, I <3 these!!

OHHHH my goodness... HOW PRECIOUS are these wedding invitations????? They are PERFECT!!! I waaannntt them! WANT! <3

So. Cute.

They are too expensive. :( Like way too expensive - probably $700 for all the people we want to invite - YIKES!

But... but.... flip flops! FLIP FLOPS!!! wannnnnt.

Superior Scribbler Award

Abby of I'm Not Neurotic was kind enough to bestow upon me the superior scribbler award! Y'all should check out her amazing result with the TT program!

Here are the rules:
Post the award on your blog
Link to me for giving it to you
Link the originating post
Pass it on to five deserving people
Post these rules for your recipients

I'm passing it on to:

Evenstar
Beka
Laurie
Sara
Shantay

Pass it on to your favorite bloggers! :)

Wedding at Turtle Bay!!

Well, it's settled! We're getting married Thursday February 19, 2009 at St. Anthony's Church in Kailua with the reception at Turtle Bay Resort in the Sunset Room! I feel like a major hurdle has been crossed, but really this is just the beginning. EEK!

The Sunset Room at Turtle Bay Resort

Next on the list....

1. Invitations

2. Figure out colors / order flowers for church, reception, bouquets, leis / other decor (table runners?)

3. Figure out what the men will wear (formal? semi-? casual?)

4. Lose 5 lbs

4. Find a dress

5. Lose 10 more lbs - heh

6. Schedule photographer

7. Cake

8. DJ

9. Transportation (limo?? ....)

10. Honeymoon!

Wouldn'tcha Know...

Talk about shit luck today!!

Behold:

The Bane of My Day

The screw that lodged itself in my right rear tire! This caused me to have a flat while I was over at Hickam AFB on my lunch break talking to the wedding coordinator! I came out to the car and the tire was flat. I called Adam and he's like, I guess you're gonna change a tire! And I was like, I know you're not addressing me. Oh hell no. I am in a skirt and I have never done this before.

After a feeble attempt on my part, which involved me pulling the pathetic excuse for a jack out of the trunk and screwing it open several inches while crouched over in the hot sun in said skirt, I could not figure out where to put the jack under the car, became extremely disgruntled and gave up. Let's call a spade a spade, right, who would expect ME to change a tire??? Apparently Adam, because when I got home he told me I needed to learn how. To which I told him he was being mean. I'm a princess. That's it. I'm not tryin' to be changing tires on the side of the road. Anyway, lucky for me Adam was in front of his computer to google a number and also lucky I was on base cause I just called up the auto hobby shop and asked if one of their mechanics wanted to rescue a damsel in distress. Fifteen minutes later, Tom rolled up in his super car-ambulance thingie and patched my tire on the spot.

And oh by the way I got to the gym and realized I had neither socks nor an elastic for my hair. AND the "check engine" light came on in my car. AND I found out the set up at Hickam includes some ghetto-ass looking chairs that amount to glorified lawn chairs. AND THEN Adam and I had a tense "discussion" about wedding stuff.... he is online right now geeking out over diagnostic equipment for the aforementioned dashboard light - apparently he "needs" one of these toys to figure out what is wrong with my car.

I?

Need to have my wedding reception ON THE BEACH.

So, you want to hear more about the wedding??! Oh good! That's exactly what I want to talk about! See, I don't know about Hickam, y'all. I mean, it's nice and affordable, but THIS is where I want to have my wedding reception:

The Pavilion at Turtle Bay Resort

Oh yes. It is perfect. Sheltered but outdoors, and RIGHT on the ocean, and the sun will be setting just over there to the left. Perfect. Also? Pricey. But did I mention perfect?! le sigh.

In other news, the temperature dropped yesterday evening and I got cold enough to need a blanket! But since this is Hawaii, the only blanket available is our bed comforter. I was minding my own business all wrapped up nice and snuggy when Adam snapped this:

Eskimo

He thought I looked like an eskimo. I think I look like a worm. It's all good though. The sun came out again today and it was sunny in the 80's. Here's the lovely sunrise on my drive to work this morning:

Pretty island sunrise

Y'all have a great Thursday - almost the weekend!!

This is for Mike S.!!! More on salivary gland treatments!!

Every once in a while, I get a comment from a thyroid cancer survivor who's found my blog. I'm only too happy to help and hope that they get some comfort or reassurance or sympathy from reading my cancer experiences. I know it helped me to talk to people who had been through it before and I would have loved to stumble across a blog by a "thycan"!

Oh, btw, I forgot to tell y'all that my good friend at work, Jen, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer right as I was leaving! Can you believe that??? Seriously, we were the dynamic duo, our offices were right across the hall from each other and we worked the same issues tag team style. She's my age, similar lifestyle... anyway, she found a lump in her neck, just like I did! She asked me about it one day and I just told her I was sure it was nothing. Now she is going to have surgery pretty much on the exact same day as me, right before Thanksgiving! Our office in the State Department is launching an investigation to find out whether the two cases are related, even though I told them I found my lump before I ever even moved to D.C. Who knows... I'm interested to find out if they discover anything.

So! Mike S. Thanks for your comment! I hope your girlfriend is doing ok and please tell her to email me if she has any questions (new.michelle@gmail.com). As for the salivary gland pain, mine started after I was treated with radioactive iodine (RAI), which is the standard treatment for thyroid cancer, but doesn't happen usually until 8 weeks after the surgery to remove the thyroid. The RAI concentrates in the salivary glands and basically nukes them, which is an undesirable side effect of an otherwise very effective treatment! If your girlfriend hasn't been treated with RAI, then it's somewhat more mysterious... not sure how the thyroid surgery would cause salivary gland pain? It could just be a freak coincidence where she is having an inflammation in a salivary gland - it happens sometimes - and hers is coinciding with her thyroidectomy. Either way she would benefit from the salivary gland relief drill:

- drink LOTS of water, take small sips while eating
- swish several times a day with warm water + baking soda mix
- use Biotene (dry mouth) mouthwash and toothpaste - regular toothpaste will aggravate it
- warm compresses can help
- massage the gland with an up and forward motion to coax saliva out of the ducts
- take Mucinex - it helps thin the saliva so it can get out of the ducts easier

Those things really helped me, you just gotta do the drill every day several times a day. Have faith! Eventually they do normalize again!

Good luck!

Rain, Hickam, Marine Corps Gym

It was completely gray and overcast all morning! But I had another rainbow on account of it. It has been like that most of the time since we got here. I hope the weather clears up before my parents get here for vacation next week! Around lunch time the sky started to clear and it was doing that weird island-rain thing where it's sunny with some white puffy clouds in the sky and yet it's raining - seemingly out of nowhere. Now the sky is blue again.

We had our tour of the Marriott at Ko Olina yesterday. It was pretty nice. I wanted the lagoon lawn for the reception - RIGHT on the ocean, next to the hotel's privae lagoon - but it is $30,000 minimum food and beverage cost!!!!! Egads! The other room was more reasonable and not completely out of our price range, but still pretty expensive. The coordinator was telling us all the costs of food/buffet/hors d'oeuvres/alcohol, but I didn't hear her talking, I just heard "cha-ching, cha-ching, CHA-CHING!" Like the teacher in Charlie Brown - wahwahwahwah.

So... I think we are going to do the reception at Hickam AFB in their garden/gazebo area. I mean, it's a military officer's club, not the Hilton, but hey, it's affordable! And it's right on the water, although not quite the wide open ocean, it's a canal or inlet. Our main priority is to not spend an arm and a leg on the reception!

Also, apparently the church is already booked on Feb 21. The priest was looking at a different calendar and didn't realize it was not available. SO! Looks like it will be on Friday then! I feel all this stress and pressure with having the wedding so fast, but I think once we figure out the details in the end it will be better and we will be glad it is done. The next time we will be able to do the wedding would be like Thanksgiving or Christmas next year! Neither of us wants to wait that long. We're already living together. We need to be married.

I'm about to get out of here and go to the Marine Corps Base gym. I was the ONLY chick in the weight room yesterday, it was packed FULL of marines. Oh yeah, that is too much testosterone. And it's not like Gold's or another commercial gym where there are all kinds of guys working out - from the really out of shape to the super bodybuilders. No. All the guys in there are pretty much fit and muscular - geez it's like it's their job or something. (Har har... it IS their job, in fact, their lives pretty much depend on being fit.) I'm used to being one of the fittest people in the weight room at my gym in Arlington. Here I'm pretty low on the fit totem pole, although there are a few Olds who are less fit than I am haha.

Stress exists in paradise too

I am spectacularly bored at work. I still do not have access to email on any of my three systems. I'm using a temporary log-in to access the internet, which thankgod has prevented me from going completely and utterly insane. I've read the news more thoroughly the last week than I have in YEARS. On the plus side, my desk is right in front of an enormous picture window with a view of Pearl Harbor below and the ocean beyond. Three mornings now have greeted me with a giant rainbow arcing directly into the parking lot under my window. My real desk (cubicle) will be faced away from the window, once I can sit there (waiting on my clearance to come through), but even then I will only have to turn around to see the same view.

I must admit, though, this morning I was beaten down by Hawaii.

I hesitate to write anything bad about my experience here since I don't want you guys to think I'm a complaining uptight bitch (haha), but it's my party and I'll cry if I want to... it just goes to reinforce that there are problems EVERYWHERE and you can change your situation and trade one set of problems in for another, but life will never be without its difficulties. That said, the problems are much easier to bear when you get to take a walk on the beach nearly every evening. Tangent!

Where was I? Oh yes, this morning I woke up all sticky and sweaty like normal here, since there is no a/c and it is hot and I perspire all night. It was 5:15 and I wanted to sleep longer of course. I headed into the bathroom feeling like a puffer-fish, my pajamas were damp and sticking to my legs and I turned on my flat iron to straighten my hair. Thirty minutes later, even after a cold shower and a big glass of ice water, my hair was still resembling more of a brillo pad than silk, and I was sweating my ass off. I was about to cry, I was so frustrated! Don't get me wrong I still would not want the traffic, pollution, metro, job stress, etc of DC back - no way.

Anyway, I can't even do much in the way of wedding planning at work here because I'm in a cubicle farm and everyone can hear my phone conversations, and I keep having to surf wedding stuff surreptitiously since I should be doing something work-productive obv, and not planning my wedding! We are working now on finding a place to have a reception - you'd think it would be easy, but places are booked already on Feb 21, and some are super expensive and there just aren't that many places ON THE BEACH that are going to work. We have an appointment this afternoon with a coordinator out at Ko'Olina, which is a really nice resort area and would have a lovely view of the sun setting in the ocean, and I would love to have the reception there even though it's on the exact opposite side of the island from where the ceremony is going to be held. Plus the price seems a little steep, but seeing as I've never planned a wedding before I don't know what is reasonable..... cakes and alcohol are expensive, I realize, but THAT expensive? We may end up settling on a less than ideal setting just to fit in our budget.

The next items on the list after we settle on a reception venue (which we intend to do in the next couple of days) are the dress, flowers, entertainment, photographer.... I think those are the big ones but I'm probably missing some critical piece of the puzzle. I just want to have everything settled so we can forget about it until the big day!

Hiking Mt. Olomana in Kailua

Tuesday was a federal holiday and Adam and I were both off work so we decided to go hike up Mt. Olomana in our town of Kailua. It was kind of an overcast day, but that kept the temperature pretty cool. It's a grueling hike straight up the ridge you see below, including some boulder scrambling and some areas where you have to use ropes to pull yourself up!


At one point in the hike we came across a grove of those strange Hawaiian pine trees with really long droopy needles that make a carpet on the forest floor that is thick and squishy. The wind was surprisingly loud whispering through the pines!

The virtual stair master of a trail we climbed.... we took lots of breaks on the way up!

View of the peak from the trail below... still quite a way to go at this point.

Some teaser views of the ocean as we ascended kept us motivated!

Looking back towards the mountains. You can see how steep the climb was as I was only a few feet ahead of Adam taking this picture.

And then we came to THIS:

Oh yes. Your eyes do not deceive you, that is a ROPE. Intended to be used to scramble up that steep face of rock. Needless to say, I was FREAKING OUT.

FREAKING.

OUT.
I almost didn't make it, but Adam talked me through it and stayed right below me, which I felt was silly since if I had fallen it would have knocked him right off the mountain with me on top. He insisted he wouldn't fall if I fell on him. Partly what got me up this was that I wanted to go back down LESS than I wanted to keep going up to the flat part!

I was really proud of myself. I conquered some fears that day! Adam had already climbed this before and he's fearless anyway....

View of our town - Kailua from above. At the end of that peninsula is the Marine Corps Base where Adam works and right to the left of it is where our new house is going to be.

Looking out farther into Kaneohe Bay.

What a fun day!

St. Anthony's Church in Kailua

Not much time for blogging here people! I'm supposed to be getting errands done not getting sucked in to the internets! I've been obsessively clicking the refresh button on craigslist for a week and a half now! We think we may have found our home, but more on that later....... right now I need to be headed to Costco to replace our stash of vittles. With two of us eating we are going through food pretty quick. But first I need to straighten my hair with a flatiron. Otherwise I will look like a Muppet.

I just wanted to post some pics of the church we are going to get married in! This is our church in Kailua, St. Anthony's. It's pretty right? I mean it's not old school catholic, but it's nice enough - breezy with skylights and interesting architecture. Slowly we are crossing things off our LONG to-do list! We finally got the car registered - a process that took DAYS. Seriously - get the title, get a temporary safety inspection, go to the DMV and get a temporary registration, go BACK to the inspection station to get permanent safety inspection stickers, then go BACK TO THE DMV to get permanent registration!!! THEN go on base to get military decals!!! And oh by the way my car in DC which we were going to sell to my aunt we discovered needs about 2300$ worth of work done on it. If it's not one thing... at least we found our church!!

We bought a car!!

Also?

My hair is a total fro-ball.

Seriously.

It's pleasant and sunny here most of the time, and also humid. My skin is dewy, but my hair is a disaster. I know, you all feel so sorry for me right now, huh?! On to the real news!

Here is my new (to me) car! It's a 2001 Honda Civic. We got it yesterday and Adam just left to go get the safety inspection done. It's not quite driving his BMW, but it'll do to get me to the other side of the island for work. We drove all over the island looking at cars yesterday, all the way up to the North Shore and down to Honolulu where we finally found this one. We knew it was The One pretty much right away - we were going to look at another car after we saw the Civic, but as we were en route, the owner called and said he just sold it. At that point we were decided. Here it is!

It's cute, huh? Forget the car, though, check out the pretty picture of the Ko'olau mountains in the background! Yeah. That's our driveway.

Here's the grass hut we are currently living in. It's kinda ghetto-Hawaii, but it'll do! It's only a few blocks from Kailua beach (rated the #1 beach in the U.S.). We live in the detached studio behind the carport and another couple lives in the proper house on the right.


Oh yeah, and here's my Hawaiian pedicure so y'all can see how cute it is with the little island flower :) It looks pretty blurry but it's cute I promise.

Ok, so here is the studio where we live - this is walking in the sliding glass door on the side, looking towards the "front" door. We don't have air conditioning so the windows stay open and the fans stay on. We get pretty good cross breezes, so it stays cool enough, except for the late afternoon when the heat has been building up. And sometimes at night if I get too hot and wake up sweating. However, the sleep is FANTASTIC with all the fresh air and quiet. It's like camping - I guess my brain is getting so much oxygen from all the fresh air or something. I am sleeping better than I have ALL YEAR. And those of you who read regularly know I complain about my insomnia every so often. Since I got here I've been sleeping deeply and having really vivid dreams! Last night I dreamed we bought this huge house.......

Anyway, here is a shot looking back from the front door - our messy little kitchenette. We don't have enough space to put everything away so there is an explosion of stuff everywhere....
.... case in point, the closet. And my four rather large suitcases. As you can see though, the closet is already full of Adam's stuff! GAH! We need to find a place to live! All this clutter is driving me crazy.

And the bathroom. I busted out laughing when I saw Adam standing there like this! Hehe, he will probably not want me to post this on the internets....

So, here is Kailua beach the other night. It's sunny and blue skies right now for the first time in days! We've been having really overcast and rainy weather ever since we got here on Tuesday. And also "vog" which apparently is a mix of volcanic ash/smoke and fog. Beach is still pretty!

Ew! I guess cause of all the rain or something, there were a literal TON of man o' war jellyfish ALL up and down the beach! Like every couple feet there was another one! Their sting is supposedly really painful.

They have big clear bodies and these creepy long blue tails where the stingers are.

Kiteboarders. Kailua beach is one of the best places to kiteboard, I've heard... they are moving so fast you can't even see them! They get airborne too - how crazy would that be - I would not like it I don't think!

Back to the man o' wars, this one was a monster! Ewwww!!!

I'm headed out to the beach for a walk now while Adam is busy with the inspection. We are going to try more house hunting today now that we found a car.

I'm using the Law of Attraction and the Power of Intention to manifest our dream home. Apparently it works better/faster if you write it down and bring your intention into the physical world...

I would like to thank the Universe for providing us:

A large-ish three bedroom, two full bath single family home
With a carport and a yard
With views of the Ko'olaus or the ocean
Newly renovated
Hardwood or tile floors
New appliances and bathroom fixtures
Walk-in closets
Close to Marine Corps Base Hawaii and easy access to the H3
Rent $2500 or less

It's a lot to ask, Universe, but hey, you manifested a job in Hawaii and now I'm sitting here in Kailua, so now give me my dream home!!

THANKS!!!