Half a Heart

Would you pluck a fish out of the ocean and plop it on the sand, expecting it to grow legs to survive? That's how I feel. Like a plucked fish on land. I need to exchange my sea legs for snow boots.
I spoke to my sister when I got into Peoria...She urged me to call my grandfather ASAP. "He's been crying since your car pulled out," she says. "He's not sleeping, eating or going out with friends because he misses you." Why don't you just fillet my heart?
My brain's on autopilot: Make dinner, unpack, get the house in order for the kids, et cetera. I can't let it communicate with my heart much because I'll break down.
Half my heart is floating over the Pacific Ocean, broken in a gazillion pieces to latch onto each family member I love (my stepdad [who's more like my dad], mom, sister, brother, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins)...the other is here with Jeff. It's hard to function with just half a heart!

Ohana Christmas

I spent Christmas Eve re-connecting with family I haven't seen in over a decade...and also connecting with family I've never met before. Lots of hugs...game playing...and spectacular food. My heart will always be torn in two, with a portion in the Midwest and the largest part here in Hawaii. The island of Oahu will always be my home. I have mixed feelings about abandoning my island heritage and my family to plant roots in Central Illinois. But someday I'll return to Hawaii for good with Jeff and my kids in tow--even if it takes a decade to return home!

Alas, here's a snapshot of the centerpiece my mom purchased for my dining room table. I don't know why she warned me about it beforehand and made it sound scary! Her goal is to class up my house. So she bought me a beautiful candle stand & salt-and-pepper shakers from William-Sonoma, along with a red table runner and kitchen towels. She (along with my stepdad and brother) also wants to buy us a new sofa but I asked her for bedroom furniture instead. I've been doing without a dresser and bed headboard for years...our bedroom looks like a dumping ground for Goodwill. So I'd like it to be a little nicer...

Since Jeff & I are getting furniture as our big gift, we just opened a few gifts and watched my family tear open presents--it was hilarious. My mom got two designer purses and squealed, "You can never have too many purses or shoes!" Oh goodness...this is where I get my purse fetish. Jeff and I stepped into the Kate Spade store along Waikiki and my palms got sweaty. I thought, ok it's between my purse habit or adopting a baby. I guess I'll take the baby. 
I hope you're enjoying lots of time with family this Christmas season! I'm wishing you lots of love and aloha from my hometown. I'm praying for ice in Chicago so that our plane is delayed!

Doctor's Orders

Having a doctor in the family has its perks. This morning, my stepdad gave Jeff & I physicals to clear our medical reports for our adoption papers. Jeff was ordered to lay off on the salt because his blood pressure is borderline high, barely registering normal. Gosh, I really don't want to be changing my own children's diapers while I'm changing my husband's! He should be on cholesterol-lowering meds, too.
One thing I admire about my stepdad is that he works full-time as a doctor but he also assumes equal responsibilities in the home. When we returned from the beach the other night, I found him cleaning the sand from the bathroom floors after making a spaghetti dinner for the family...and did I mention he helped my mom do the dishes? I hope Jeff's taking notes...

Hungry for Hawaii

Snorkeling all day in Hanauma Bay made me hungry for Hawaii's soul food--poke. World renown chefs are adapting this island specialty as their own--chopped up pieces of raw fish marinated in spices and herbs...and often mixed with seaweed and other relish. Jeff's afraid I'll get mercury poisoning because I'm stuffing my face with this stuff for breakfast, lunch and dinner! It's hard to resist when I know I won't get it back in Peoria.

The cuisine in Hawaii makes me cry, I've missed it so much. Here's a sample menu of what I've eaten today: Breakfast: bagels with guava cream cheese and pass-o-guava juice (I had malasadas yesterday); Lunch: taco poke (raw octopus pieces marinated in hot spices and onions), spam & rice, and butter mochi; Dinner: Salmon poke (raw salmon marinated in an onion relish and soy sauce). Dessert: mochi marinated in a sweet teriyaki sauce. The other night Jeff pleaded, "Could we please have chicken wings or something normal for a change?" Ahhhh....normal is such a relative term. 

Holiday Lights Tour

If you ever plan to spend the Christmas season on Oahu, you should go on an evening boat tour of Pearl Harbor. The U.S. Navy offers free, 30-minute boat tours during three days in December featuring Christmas music...The boats glide past submarines that are decked out in dazzling red and green lights. Jeff caught his first glimpse of the USS Arizona and wandered through the museum. Hawaii boasts an impressive fleet of submarines...I didn't even realize until last night how many the island had.  

Of course, the big news on the island now is the impending arrival of President Obama. There's a no-fly zone stretching over a ten-mile radius of Kailua, so Jeff and I thought we'd head to Kailua Beach before Obama's scheduled to arrive on Wednesday. Lord knows how many restrictions the Secret Service will impose when he arrives! Most presidents stay at Ford Island when they visit Hawaii...but Obama's a local and I'm sure he wants his kids to enjoy the beaches and hang-outs he did as a child. Maybe I'll bump into him at Leonard's when I grab my malasadas tomorrow! (If you're from Hawaii, you know what I'm talking about)...

Surf's Up!

Every winter, the North Shore on Oahu serves up some of the most impressive ocean swells in the world. For a lot of residents on the island, this only means one thing: Surf's Up! This afternoon, Jeff and I sprawled out on Waimea Beach, mesmerized by those who were daring enough to ride the waves. The month of December can bring swells of 25 feet and higher. Jeff wasn't expert enough to even attempt to get on a board there...

But he did surf at Waikiki Beach! He rented a surf board for two hours...but he couldn't quite make it an hour without quitting. Did I mention we're both terribly out of shape? Once he caught a wave, he called it good. 

Waikiki Beach is renown for being a tourist trap, but it's also the spot where surfing has its ancestral roots. The Hawaiian Kings surfed there...and it's also one of the best places for beginning surfers because the waves are so rolling and gentle. 

Jeff can't get enough of the water...I can't get enough of the sun. He's trying to convince me to go deep sea diving. I think I'll stick to the land, thank you!

Do No Harm

I'm super geeked out on LOST--you know, the most brilliant TV show ever made?! I'm thrilled that the show is filmed on my island of Oahu. While Jeff is fast asleep--can you believe I still wake up at 4:45am Hawaii time?--I'm doing some serious research to find all the LOST locations I can on the island.

And I was psyched to discover that two Christmases ago, when my family took us to the Kahala Resort restaurant as a post-wedding celebration, the same spot where we snapped photos turned out to be the exact place where Jack's flashback wedding scene was filmed in the episode Do No Harm. They exchanged vows at this exact Koko Head gazebo Jeff and I are at!!! Is that the coolest?

And here's a snapshot of Jeff at the crash site of Oceanic Flight 815--Mokule'ia Beach. When my stepdad returned home from work last night, he told me that a patient of his (who works as a teacher at Waipahu High School) got to sit through a day of filming for the upcoming season of LOST. They apparently turned her classroom into a principal's office for the final season (her scene should appear in an episode airing in February). She said the guy who plays John Locke is incredibly nice and by far the sweetest of the actors. They all signed an autographed picture for her and she made a copy for me. I'm so thrilled. It will be proudly displayed on my desk at work!
Ok I'm signing off for now to wake up my husband. I can't take it any longer! I've got the island scoped out for cool photo ops!