My first trip to Hawaii was 18 years ago when my parents decided to brave the insanely long haul from VA with four children to give us a “Hawaiian Christmas”. Now I know I can be a bit cheesy when it comes to nostalgia and over use certain gimmicky phrases (thank you mom!), but I just can’t seem to shake the memory of when I first heard the words “Mele Kalikimaka” on that trip. I remember it was our first night in Hawaii and we were in Honolulu taking some sort of bus tour around the city gawking at the Christmas lights. Our driver, a large, jovial Hawaiian man, made a lasting impression on me with his charisma and enthusiasm. I vividly remember riding in the bus to the sound of his beautiful voice singing the Mele Kalikimaka song over the microphone. That song was incredible to me as a curious 10 year old fascinated with everything Hawaiian. The words of that song still run through my head at various moments in my life, which always makes me chuckle a little when I think about how silly it all seems.
Fast forward 18 years and now I live in this beautiful state which captivated my interest so many years ago only to find out that its still doing a great job of doing so. As I write this blog, I am proud to announce that I have officially lived in the state of Hawaii for one entire year! Obviously, this place is doing something right for me! As many people know, I have spent the better part of my twenties as a nomad terrified of the “y” word. That’s right, I couldn’t even say “year” because it made me feel like I was disrupting my newfound (adored) lifestyle. So to say I found a place where I have lived and worked for a year means I must have found somewhere really special. This place is beyond special!
I look back on the last year (did I mention I was nostalgic?) and think about the bumpy road that we have had trying to settle into this place. But no matter how trying the situations have been, we are immediately brought back to reality as Maui swoons and reminds us not to take her for granted. The title of this blog is our mission and we cannot forget that while living in such a beautiful place. While searching the world for “bella” we stumbled across it here in Maui, our home. Everyday, the beauty of this place overwhelms me in the best possible way. Everyday, the beauty of my relationship with my husband-to-be makes my heart smile. So as this holiday season surrounds us, I feel incredibly thankful and lucky for the beautiful life that I have right now.
While I am engulfed in my warm, fuzzy happiness, I must digress to bring you up to speed on a few changes we have had since our last update. We had a long and interesting trip back to California, where we got a lot of work done on Isabella. She’s looking mighty pretty these days! And it’s a good thing because it turns out we’re going to be keeping her after all. The deal fell through with the 40’ boat in Oahu, which just tells us that it really wasn’t meant to be right now. So we did what we could on Isabella (fighting against terrible weather might I add) and then came back to Maui looking for a new place to live until we are finally ready to go back to Isabella for our big trip down to Central and South America. We found a nice house to temporarily call home, and Mike even changed gears with his work situation. He is now driving 100+ foot boats for a company that does snorkel tours, cocktail cruises, and dinner cruises. He is really happy to be on the water again, and I am really happy to join him on those trips when I can!
As for wedding plans, we have decided to have a private wedding here in Maui on the 28th of April, 2012. We are both very excited and happy to share our lives with one another as partners and eagerly looking forward to the many adventures ahead of us.
We hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season. Cherish those beautiful memories that you make this year…you never know when they may pop up again in the years to come!
Fast forward 18 years and now I live in this beautiful state which captivated my interest so many years ago only to find out that its still doing a great job of doing so. As I write this blog, I am proud to announce that I have officially lived in the state of Hawaii for one entire year! Obviously, this place is doing something right for me! As many people know, I have spent the better part of my twenties as a nomad terrified of the “y” word. That’s right, I couldn’t even say “year” because it made me feel like I was disrupting my newfound (adored) lifestyle. So to say I found a place where I have lived and worked for a year means I must have found somewhere really special. This place is beyond special!
I look back on the last year (did I mention I was nostalgic?) and think about the bumpy road that we have had trying to settle into this place. But no matter how trying the situations have been, we are immediately brought back to reality as Maui swoons and reminds us not to take her for granted. The title of this blog is our mission and we cannot forget that while living in such a beautiful place. While searching the world for “bella” we stumbled across it here in Maui, our home. Everyday, the beauty of this place overwhelms me in the best possible way. Everyday, the beauty of my relationship with my husband-to-be makes my heart smile. So as this holiday season surrounds us, I feel incredibly thankful and lucky for the beautiful life that I have right now.
While I am engulfed in my warm, fuzzy happiness, I must digress to bring you up to speed on a few changes we have had since our last update. We had a long and interesting trip back to California, where we got a lot of work done on Isabella. She’s looking mighty pretty these days! And it’s a good thing because it turns out we’re going to be keeping her after all. The deal fell through with the 40’ boat in Oahu, which just tells us that it really wasn’t meant to be right now. So we did what we could on Isabella (fighting against terrible weather might I add) and then came back to Maui looking for a new place to live until we are finally ready to go back to Isabella for our big trip down to Central and South America. We found a nice house to temporarily call home, and Mike even changed gears with his work situation. He is now driving 100+ foot boats for a company that does snorkel tours, cocktail cruises, and dinner cruises. He is really happy to be on the water again, and I am really happy to join him on those trips when I can!
As for wedding plans, we have decided to have a private wedding here in Maui on the 28th of April, 2012. We are both very excited and happy to share our lives with one another as partners and eagerly looking forward to the many adventures ahead of us.
We hope that everyone has a wonderful holiday season. Cherish those beautiful memories that you make this year…you never know when they may pop up again in the years to come!
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