back to reality

Always hard to leave vacation paradise. Note to self: time to start buying powerball tickets again! I still have a ton of pics to go through from the wedding and the rest of my trip but I wanted to post a few more for all my loyal readers :)

"Aunty Header" and Charlotte

The Fujinakas!

Turtle Bay definitely lived up to its name. My last day there I saw at least five turtles in the little cove by Jenny and Brent's fab beach bungalow.

Of course, I had to include a shot of my hilarious miniature bathroom at the condo - don't I look giant??

another day in paradise!

The wedding was absolutely gorgeous. Jenny had the biggest smile on her face all day. The ceremony was outside at Kulima Point at the Turtle Bay Resort. The reception was in the ballroom, which had amazing views of the water (and sufers!) I survived my toast (after almost tripping up the stage - I hadn't even had a drink yet!) and included a shout-out from the mainland ohana (family) that couldn't be there in person. The reception wrapped up around 3 and then I hit the beach with Kimberly, Erin and Sam. And we bumped in to Jenny and Brent who were on their way to go surf right after the wedding :)

It's been so nice staying up at Turtle Bay - I found a great little studio condo in the Turtle Bay complex - much cheaper than the hotel :) Jenny and Brent's beach bungalow is FABULOUS - it really is a gorgeous resort. Someday when I win powerball, I'm going back and staying in one of those :)

This picture is actually from our surf session this morning - it was SOOO much fun. Way better than surfing in waikiki! Really nice, decent sized waves, very few other people. I caught a couple waves and then accidentally caught a FAB wave with Jenny :) Tomorrow is my last day - I fly out on a redeye late Monday night. But I have all day to hang out with Jenny, Brent and Char, so that rocks.

Erin and Char had some bonding time today too :)

Sunset at Haliewa on the eve before the wedding

almost time...

Tomorrow is the big day! Yesterday was the rehearsal, which they held at the beach park by Jenny and Brent's favorite surf break (Toes). It was very chill and relaxed. Char will be walking (or running more likely) down the aisle with her little friend Elliot - they are SOOO cute together.

Then we all went out to dinner to a fab chinese buffet - ate way too much, of course. Then went out for drinks at the Moana Surfrider (fancy hotel in waikiki). It was a gorgeous night - almost full moon and so nice to relax with Jenny, Kimberly, Laura, Sam and Erin. Although there was a slight drama because they didn't have any pineapples to make my traditional pineapple drink (um, hello, it's hawaii - how can you run out of pineapples??) So I had to settle for a mai tai.

Hit the beach this morning with Kimberly; we are headed up to Turtle Bay in an hour or so. Here's me with Diamond Head in the background. I managed to NOT get sunburned this morning, pretty proud of myself :)

aloha!

The pre-wedding festivities are in full-force and I'm getting a TON of great auntie time in with ms. charlotte (who is killin' me with her cuteness and super-chattiness. she's talking up a storm and says things like 'oh my goodness' and 'auntie header!!!!!!'). Jenny and Brent worked Monday and Tuesday but then have the next week and half off, so I volunteered for Charlotte duty. Fun times :)

I must say both Jenny and Brent are very chill and handling all the pre-wedding stress fabulously. On Saturday night, their friends held a big poker tournament (serious stuff - they hold a tournament every month but this was a special one in honor of Jenny and Brent). I didn't play (too serious for me!!) but Jenny held her own and hung in for a long time - and Brent WON (we call him the BIG POKER CHAMPION now!) We were out until 2 am (Charlotte was staying with Grandma), lots of good food and fun times. Jenny had THREE beers and was hilarious :) And the guys kept trying to get Brent to do shots but he avoided most of them (I got a pic of one though!) - and then trounced the competition.

Sunday Jenny and I got up and went surfing (first time we have surfed together in 3 years!) So much fun, I didn't do great but we decided it was the board's fault (right jenny?? i had a broken skag on my rental board so that is why I didn't get any real waves, right?? :) It was a great time and then we hung out at the Diamondhead lookout and goofed around while I took my 365 shots.

Sunday afternoon was Jenny's bridal shower tea at Mariposa (Neimen Marcus). Very swanky and fabulous, hosted by Jenny's friend Gail. Unfortunately, that was right around the time I realized I managed to get quite a nasty sunburn from surfing in the AM. Not fun.

And then there's just been a ton of great times sitting around watching olympics, giggling madly with Jenny, playing with charlotte and not thinking about work stress at all :)