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Honolulu Foodie Part 1

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Leonard’s is famous in Honolulu for their Malasadas. They are portuguese donuts, basically sugar dough balls that can be stuffed. I did not get an actual picture of the donuts, whoops. I will say they were more filling than donut. The line was long but moved fast. 6/10 on my scale of foodie experiences. I like my donut with a side of filling. They also have a ton of other goodies. I’d compare this experience to going to Mike’s Pastries in the North End, except the cannolis are way more worth it.

Tiki’s on the other hand, totally worth it. We were able to get reservations, that is a huge plus these days. They had really sweet souvenir Mai Tai glasses. Brian’s (red volcano) is named Aloha Bob. Mine is King Kalani Paiʻea Wohi o Kaleikini Kealiʻikui Kamehameha o ʻIolani i Kaiwikapu kauʻi Ka Liholiho Kūnuiākea. Or, alternatively, Tiki Man.

The views were pretty incredible and we already booked reservations for sunset for when my family visits in April.

The food was great, drinks were great. 10/10 recommend this place. Some places we’ve visited but don’t have pictures:

  • Waikiki Brewing 8/10 Decent food, relatively easy to get a table, cocktails available
  • Maui Brewing 5/10 I had a symptom flare here… I was feeling overwhelmed by their ordering process (walk up to a window and it gets brought to your seat which you have to fine), it was really loud, decently long wait
  • The signature Prime Steakhouse (top of ala moana hotel) 8/10 Really delicious food but you pay the price, piano music, have to have luck getting a table near the windows, service was great
  • Beach place that I mentioned previously that’s not worth remembering

We tried to go to Duke’s, which seems famous, but it was a THREE HOUR wait. Pass. Stay tuned for more food adventures.

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First Ever New Car

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Brian was an eager beaver to get a car immediately when we arrived. I am not kidding… we were at the dealer the afternoon we arrived. There was a rental car shortage because we’re coming out of COVID and the rentals were all sold to keep companies afloat. People were renting UHauls to get around. Brian was very adamant he have a car and the Venza was still on its way.

This was the first car either of us bought brand new from the dealer. I think it had 46 miles on it. It’s basically the hybrid version of the Civic. We both really like it, although I still feel Toyota does a lot of the little things better. I was not a fan of the prius, though. We went with new because we are in a great financial position, but it took a lot for me to be persuaded. There were a lot of costs tacked on that I now understand why people sell cars used for a higher price than MSRP. I also think Honda is worse about that than Toyota. (We would have to pay extra for parking sensors.) Brian is using it as a commuter car and he loves not having to gas up often. I convinced him to buy the highest trim because my Venza has the highest trim and it still feels like it’s a new car even though it’s a 2012. And also I can’t live without heated seats should we live somewhere cold again. He then decided to take a loan on it. I am personally VERY anti debt. It’s a low interest rate, we can invest the money, yeah I understand that financially a loan probably makes sense. But when we go to ship it again, we need to get special permission from our bank. Also it’s one more payment to keep track of. What’s funny is Honda keeps messing up the paperwork for all this, and I have to bear the brunt and I kindly remind Brian all the time this would be a non issue if we had just paid the dang thing off. But, such is marriage and such is compromise. I think we’ll end up paying it off before we leave the island anyway.

We had the option of Navy Blue or Fire Red. We both agreed the fire red looked nicer. It’s getting a nice addition of a rainbow license plate sometime. I am choosing to get the volcano one for the Venza. How many states am I going to live in that I can get a VOLCANO on my license plate??

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Honolulu Part 1

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Brian’s new Captain is trying to turn the morale of the boat around, and I think we were early benefactors. When we arrived at the airport we had a greeting party of four men in uniform and two leis for each of us. We were also given a welcome bag with some sunscreen, Hawaiian treats, water, etc. We felt very welcomed. The flowers smell beautiful. And of course we had to wear our matching outfit.

We stayed in a hotel for a few days when we first arrived in Honolulu, otherwise we would’ve had to sleep on the floor in our new apartment. We chose the Ala Moana, which wasn’t the most optimal choice… we should’ve picked the Hale Koa which is apparently a really nice Navy hotel in downtown. The Navy will help pay for your hotel, but TBD whether they will pay for ours or not because we already had an apartment available. Yes, you’re expected to land and get into your apartment with furniture on the same day. Whoever manages those logistics is a superhero. Nonetheless, Ala Moana was in a great location in Honolulu. I took a walk to go see the beach. Here’s looking the direction of Diamond Head.

Then in the opposite direction toward Pearl Harbor. I am not totally convinced I was in the same spot for both those, but you get the point. Beaches and high rises everywhere.

This whole thing was pretty much a blur, so who knows when we did what, but one afternoon we went to Barefoot Beach Cafe. It was the epitome of touristy tourist place, and I would 10/10 not recommend going there unless you want that. You have to fight for a table and the food was typical beach quality. There was live music which was kinda nice. We had this pineapple smoothie? Thing? In a pineapple. But it was like orange juice with pulp except thicker and pineapple. Anyway, just take my word for it and don’t go here. However, the busser was really nice.

At one point we went to a huge mall, called the Ala Moana mall. It really is huge and there are no directories… like what? I would get lost without phone GPS. But of course I went to the Disney store and proceeded to buy Hawaiian Disney Dress, shorts, and a beach blanket which has come in very handy. This my best hoola dance stance. Room for improvement.

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Morning Sunrise Walks

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I finished unloading three boxes… so, break time! Almost every morning I leave for a sunrise walk sometime around 5:15/5:30. Sunrises at ~5:50 for now, although that doesn’t change much over the course of the year. I have these walks down to a science. It takes me about 6 minutes to get to the beach. I take off my flip flops and place my water bottle with them at the beach entrance. Then walk down the length of the beach and look for sea glass along the wave line. Usually it’s still dark at this point, so no really great pictures yet. Then, on my walk back I watch the sunrise and walk in the water, ending where I started which is where the best picture framing is.

This morning’s score

The sea glass colors vary by day it seems. Some days it’s clear, some days it’s a brown day, sometimes it’s mostly green. On the rare occasion I’ll pick up a blue. This was today’s haul… must’ve been a green day. I’m trying to figure out the science behind it… is it my mood? The moon changing the tides? I’m filling up my favorite wine bottle in the shape of a lighthouse from Truro Vineyards with the pieces. I knew there was a reason I packed that… Sometimes they are too big to fit the stem so I’m putting them in a different container. When I first started picking up glass I thought it was going to take no time to fill the bottle, but that’s because I have poor spatial evaluation capabilities…. I’ve barely covered the bottom. Hopefully I’ll fill it in three years.

I have to be careful in the morning of the holes the crabs make, I almost face planted once. Footprint for scale. My friend assures me they are more scared of me than I am of them. She hasn’t been wrong yet.

This guy was hiding in the rocks this morning.

I am getting to “know” the regulars… there’s the old couple with a new white puppy they’re trying to train. The guy who walks his big Beethoven dog and small pug pair. The power walker. The fishermen. The gay guy with his coffee (I’m making an educated guess here.) I am friendly and say hi, but no huge conversations yet.

Not that the sunrise gets boring… but how many sunrise pictures can one have? So I try to do something different with some shots. I caught this guy throwing a cast, and the other day I snapped a couple who was here on vacation sitting on the blanket looking at the sunrise. I approached them and took down their email so I could send them the pictures later.

Here’s the one from a couple days ago. The sky was on fire.

In Connecticut I was feeling totally unmotivated. It felt like a lead weight was tied to me making everything feel really hard. I promised myself I’d be more active in Hawaii, but I was worried that I was just using environment as a crutch and I would still have a hard time getting out. That is definitely not the case and although I am a bit tired in the morning, I can find the gumption to get my butt out the door.

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Utter Chaos

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Our stuff is here and I am wishing we lived a minimalist life.

They pack EVERYTHING. Even sometimes trash. I had a hard time letting go of my dried wedding flowers…so I avoided throwing them away and left it to Brian to take care of or the movers. Well… they were packed and shedded everywhere. Brain made me toss them.

Sometimes things break, but this is the only thing so far. I have a ton of boxes to go though.

On the whole, everything looks in good shape. No bugs, which I heard could happen, and we had all four crates show up.

Don’t mind me while I continue to procrastinate by writing instead of unpacking… But in all seriousness I don’t have the stamina I used to and Brian’s not here, so I just have to come to terms it’s going to take longer than normal and I’ll take blogging breaks.

I am off to go get a safety inspection for the Venza. I have to bring the inspection to the registration appointment. However, it will fail inspection because I am not registered in Hawaii. Then I go register in Hawaii, then I go back for another inspection to pass. Yes, sounds efficient.

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Moving in the Military

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We shipped our household goods, (HHGs), on April 25th from Mystic, CT. We were told they can take anywhere from six weeks to six months to get to the Island. To hold you over, the Navy allows you to rent “Aloha Furniture”, which are bare bones pieces (bed frame, exactly 2 dining room chairs, dining room table, couch, coffee table, two living room chairs and two side tables) to get by. So my current desk has been in the dining room. We bought a new office chair because the one coming from Mystic isn’t comfortable and I was going to replace it anyway.

As you can see, my view is facing out the front of our condo. I get to watch the retirees and stay at home parents make their walks to and from the beach.

I tell Brian weekly that if someone offered me a job giving kayaking tours I wouldn’t say no.

I am writing this post while we wait for our HHGs to be delivered. We got a call a week ago that they arrived on island, and I called right away to schedule a time for them to be dropped off. Today is the day.

Usually the movers show up early on drop off day, 8am or so, and unload until there’s nothing to unload. Expecting this, Brian and I took today off work.

Yesterday(!!) I received a text saying the movers would be here between 1400-1500 (Everything is in military time). So I didn’t really need to take off work today, and knowing they won’t get this done in two hours, I am sure we will be continuing this into tomorrow. Now I need to take tomorrow off of work… and hopefully Brian will be able to too.

Yes, deployments are hard, but this type of thing no one warns you about. I mean they kinda do, when they told me I need to be really flexible as a military spouse. But I feel like I was unprepared for just the amount of insanity that goes on with Navy logistics.

They were booking a week out from when we called to schedule drop offs. My friend called a couple days after me to schedule hers, and they were booking 6 weeks out. It could be worse.

It’s 15:22 and the movers still aren’t here. Brian called and they are “on their way”. Wish us luck and tons of patience.

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Hello world!

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My grandmother passed two days ago (yes, we’ll start with the morbid), and there was a really beautiful slideshow of pictures from her through the years (almost 90 of them!)


I only wish I was able to walk through those pictures with her and hear her tell the stories that accompanied them. So here are my best efforts to document my pictures and my stories.

Since my life has been engulfed trying to move to a tropical island, I’ll start with a picture of the first time I visited the beach near us during the day. It’s pretty incredible, and pictures don’t do it justice, but a girl can try.

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