Sunday, August 30, 2009

Target

So this is totally stupid-I know! BUT I had to blog it cuz its funny to me! So Target is SO NEW to the Islands! They have never had a Target and Oahu just got two new stores. Chan and I had some gift cards from the wedding so we went to get a few things we needed! Can I just tell you this Target is totally in the future all the way! It was crazy! It was so nice! I loved it! Everything was so high tech! First off check out these carts- now is it just me or have you seen a cart like this before? The new smooth rounded corners, the nicer basket and kids seat, the wheels on this thing were Legit! Ha! No joke this cart drove like a Cadillac! We were rolling in style at target! LOL!

The other thing that caught my eye was in the freezer and grocery section all the lights that are inside the freezers remain off at all times but when you approach each freezer door that opens the turns ON by motion! The freezers were so cool! I was tripppin out walking back and forth for fun to watch the freezer door lights turn off and on off and on! It was entertaining!

Friday, August 28, 2009

School for Chandler


Well Chandler started school! He absolutely loves it so far. But he has a busy schedule and a tough one! He is taking History, Biology, Bio lab, Chemistry, Chem Lab, Critical Thinking and of course Ball and weights! He had a world religion class but he got out of that because his teacher was really hard to understand (language barrier), and it didn't quite fit with his schedule so he will get into another one sooner or later. He of course is one of maybe 4 members of the church at Chaminade. We both love the diversity here though- its great! So far he enjoys his teachers and is eager to see how his first semester will turn out to be! I am so proud of his hard work, devotion, ATTITUDE, and his energy towards everything he does! He works so hard at staying on task, organized, and up early starting his full day. He is already swamped with hours of homework so he keeps busy with that. His first day of critical thinking they jumped right into some interesting topics and Chan really liked that and got involved (and of course got many complements on his shared comments after class by other students). He is understanding his Chemistry so far so he's cool with it. He usually dislikes Biology but he really likes his teacher and the way she approaches it so he knows he will like it.

Chan has practice every morning from 8 to 10am. Plane and Simply 8 to 10! I say that because last year he never knew how long he'd be running or who on the team would upset the coach and make them stay longer or come back again for #2 practice for the day. Coach Mo and Mahar are so so different then his coach last year and unbelievably RESPECTFUL! Chan has said to me each day how much he just loves it here and loves his coaches. He says to me "you have no idea how excited I am to play for these guys!" The coaches worked them GOOD this week. Chan has been so sore- (dont worry I gave him a 30 minute just leg massage) They ran the timed mile, did many tough screens, and drills. What Chan really enjoys too, is the team is put into groups of 3-4 and they have individual workouts with the coaches on assigned days. So the 3 others in Chan's group gets to have all four coaches UNDIVIDED attention. They give them nothing but positive reinforcement on the court and in the weight room on what they can do better! Just the way they approach their players is so great. I as a wife really appreciate that too, in them because it makes our home life so great even if Chandler is beat as all get out from running, Chan still come home happy! Another thing I really liked about his coaches style was that they handed out papers to the players of the necessary info but also an expectation sheet. For those of you that knew a bit about Chan's college ball experience last yr I think this will be of peace at mind for you too- the paper Kinda looked like this

What We as Coaches expect out of YOU:

* 100% effort when stepped onto court
* Will not be Late
* Expect you to respect the staff and your team mates
* Expect you to Compete for minutes everyday
* Make people around you better

* Leave problems on sidelines

* Concentrate on Bball
* Take ownership-lead by example

* Be upfront and honest

What you should expect out of your coaches:

* Put you in positions to win games

* Be here for you when you need us-our door is always open (newer concept to Chan this yr that he can turn to his coach as a role model in college)

* Expect us to be HONEST and Upfront with you (new to Chan this Yr when it comes to coaching)
* Expect us to get on you every once in awhile (Chan CAN handle anything;) after last yr)


And So forth- Again you can see how straight forward and legitimate these guys are-They are fun too! They are so kind and sweet to me as well. They want the boys to enjoy their college years so they even get days off to have a good time around certain events or holidays he gets two days off practice after Halloween- Wants the boys to be smart and safe but have a great time. Com'on what coach does that ? ;)
Its so structured and we both love that! We know its going to be a GREAT year! This is the most crucial time for Chan during college to really love and enjoy to the fullest what he loves doing most. Basketball is so so important to him and how awesome for him to be stoked about waking up each day to face practice and conditioning and future games. Again, as his wife I am so excited to be his sole support for the majority of the year. I am so excited to watch him play again and have fun doing it!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Well it Happened.....

Yes! Chandler and I got our church calling! It happened pretty quick! LOL! We are in PRIMARY! We are teachers together-I love our ward it is very very diverse. There are some cute young couples our age too so its nice- We got introduced to the bishop and the first thing he said was " Oh! Hello! Can I meet with you both in my office!?" He is very chill, relaxed AND respectful! He learned alil about us and then told us we are serving aren't sure what age yet! I am actually really excited about it! Its completely new for the both of us! Of course sense Chan did not ever go to Primary i am so excited for him to see what it is like and to learn the Songs! I am so excited to work with kids and to teach them- I will learn more then them- I know! The bishop told us the kids will look up to us with these wide eyes is "AW" that they have two white people as teachers - especially a blonde! HAha! Yay! lol I think I might be the only blonde at church- maybe on this island ;)

Snorkeling at Ko'Olina

When I traveled to Hawaii on Vacation with my parents in Nov we stayed at this Huge resort called Ko'Olina- They have 4 Private Beach Lagoons- Locals can still use the beaches though too! Chan and I FINALLY got our car! It has made all the difference in the world to have it here! So many places to go and do and see! So we drove out to Ko'Olina to go Snorkeling!
Its a Beautiful resort!


Here is Chan checkin out the fishies!
He was cracking me up!
I wish I had an Underwater camera- We saw some Huge fish, small fish, colorful fish, and much more! Pretty cool! I'm loving it here more and more!




Kinda crazy lookin-Yeah?


The Sunsets are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G here! We had a great day!
Here Chan is messing around on his new boogie board (even attemping skim boarding)

Luau Time!

Chaminade hosted a Luau to welcome the new students! Chan and I went up to campus to check it out! It was fun to meet other students and for the dancing! We met another member of the church there- Alicia, She was really sweet...she is in charge of a few different groups and clubs at Chaminade including the LDS group. She took this photo for us! Chan prob wont be too happy about this... HA...but I was admiring how pretty his skin looked-I just had to take a picture! As a wife and his private esthetician I have done a few things for his skin- Laser hair removal(to reduce follicle bacteria breakouts), he is on a good mens face wash, and he uses a glycolic peel everyonce in awhile in shower! I know you all wanted to know that ;) But I am just proud of how handsome he his! I dont know if this is a good thing or not but we live right next door to a TCBY! Love it! Chan again, so cute! Here we are eating some Nasty colored ice cream!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Heaven on Earth!!

Well... when we got to Hawaii I took my resume to ONE spa at first and the owner called me back right away! I was planning on going around to more places to check them out, but I was recommended this spa by at least 4 people. My sister in law, Gerie, back in in Utah heard that Heaven on Earth was supposed to be a great spa here in Honolulu. Then my friend that lives in North shore and works at Turtle Bay Spa told me to apply at Heaven on Earth. Then this girl at Chaminade that was in the gym shooting with us the other day told me to go to Heaven on Earth to work, AND someone in our ward mentioned it to me too! SO...with all that being said I went in! What is so good about Heaven on Earth..is what I was asking myself.... Well Its a large day spa right in the heart on downtown Honolulu! Very popular by many business people and loyal locals. The spa offers a variety of things, making it a hot spot. There were 8-9 other applicants for the position. I GOT THE JOB above all- because of all my skills and experience! Usually I probably wouldn't just take the first job offered to me, BUT from talking with the owner, the interview, the tour of the spa, the other staff, and much more I knew it was a right fit! It is a professional spa- ran pretty smoothly (That's important to me and I noticed that right away!) Its competitive right now in Hawaii to find a good paying aesthetics job, A lot of the beach resorts are slow with the economy and laying off spa staff- Heaven on Earth is Slammed everyday with their 10yrs of establishment. I must say people here in Hawaii have money! So I would rather have loyal local clients so I can build clientele and sell product to.

My first day went awesome! It is important to my boss that her therapist up sale, upgrade treatments, or sell product. I proved to her two days in a row but up selling my treatments to my clients AND sold them product!!! And a new product that I am just now learning..I don't even know it myself but I can sell it! I winged it! LOL Its an advantage of course for me too, to sell because I make and extra 30% commission on top of my tip, and treatment pay- so my first day I made some decent money. And the tips are ALOT better here then in Utah!


So this was today! I have to ride the bus to work cuz its a lil bit far for a bike and too expensive to pay for parking! The bus system here is supposed to be one of the best in the country- Check out how busy my bus stop is!
On my way home from work I take A CITY EXPRESS ;) I hated it at first because of the unknown- but I have the route down now so its not too bad! I get dropped off two blocks from my apartment!

Here is the front of Heaven on Earth
Here it is from across the street- Its all 3 sections of all those glass windows PLUS one more that wouldn't fit in my camera- its almost a good block in length
Here is a lil sitting area-massage chairs
One of the manicure areas
One of the aesthetic rooms
One of the pedicure stations
Another sitting area
One hallway with some treatment rooms
Part of the retail area (and there is so much more than this)

That's about it for pics! I feel so fortunate to have been able to find a job so quickly! Everybody is so nice and easy to work with. The owner is AWESOME! I already went for a cruise with her in a BMW convertible. She's one of those lady's that can be your girlfriend but knows what she's doing in running a spa- love that! The office manager who does my schedule, payroll, and bookings is awesome as well! She knows her stuff and she is willing to do anything for her staff to make them happy and works around their schedules! They let me know too, how happy they are to have me! They told me that I am a great fit for their spa, that I will fit in very well, get along with the other girls great, and that I will be busy! They loved that I can do Everything like; facials, waxing, microderm, acne/peel treatments, manicures, pedicures, makeup, eyelash extensions, body treatments, and can sell product. That's HUGE in Hawaii because here when they go to school its only 600 hours and its for ONE thing! They couldn't believe my training!

Love it! I am happy! Tomorrow is technically my first day and I'm booked!!! YAY!

Thank you everybody for helping me out- and for stopping bye to keep up with us!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Our first day at church!

Chandler and I walked and walked and walked some more to church! We thought it was a lot closer than it really turned out to be. To be quite honest we were sweaty when we arrived! Oh well! We finally found it! And when we got there it didn't look like a typical Mormon church would look in Utah. We meet at the old Hawaiian Tabernacle... It is old but Beautiful. It has a Mosaic of Christ in front with a pretty pond! Our classrooms are all entered from the outside/courtyard area- kinda different but I like it.
The ward was mostly Micronesians with a few Caucasians and other nationalities- We met a cute young couple from Idaho. It was a great Sunday all together- def not what I am used to but I love the diversity! I am excited to continue to meet new members of our ward!
The church building itself kinda reminded me of a smaller version of the conference center in SLC!

Our new Bikes!!

We bought new bikes!!! It feels so good to be out riding around all the time now! We get great exersize! Pretty much everyone here has bikes! We got them for a really great buy! Its fun to ride together!
Mine is hott PINK! Love it!


Chan's is like a silver and charcoal color with a few orange marks!

We stopped and got ice cream at this yogurt store that is a self serve place with many flavors and toppings!

Day at the Beach

For those of you out there (estheticians, and others) That have seen this above photo its a fairly popular photo (in the esthetics world anyway) of this lady ... we are reminded of why we wear sunscreen and can't get too addicted to the sun...

Chandler and I went to the beach and just a few chairs down this lady sat... all I could think about was the above photo I once got a copy of in Aesthetics school... I was cringing as this older lady just laid in the sun baking for hours! (you had to see her in person)


Chandler and I wore our sunscreen...and still got a lil sun ;( we will continue to cake on that SPF.... Mom do you think you could get a back bar size of Glymed's 30spf to sit on our bathroom counter!?

You cant really see in this photo but Chan and I saw about 5 turtles this day... In the photo below the turtle in directly in the center of the photo and its staring back down into the water after if came up for a breath! We'll get better photos!



This video is for ZEKE all the way!! I could not believe it... I thought he was doing it as a dare at first or something! I am so sorry I could not help but to video this young gentleman and how he was checking himself out, Stickin his chest high into the sky as he walked, caressing himself, and dancing! (you gotta watch both videos and watch closely- sorry the video is loud there was a helicopter flyin over)

Thursday, August 13, 2009

WE are Finally Here in HAWAII...its crazy!


HOME SWEET HOME!!!!! It was very hard to say goodbye to our parents and our family! Uh...not fun! Bittersweet. We laughed a lil, cried a lil, and hugged a lot! It was tough. But now that we are here in Hawaii it is WONDERFUL! Everything has truly fall in into place! We had a long 6 hour eager flight. There is a 4 hours difference so we got here at 1:30 and our parents were just coming home from work and settling for the night and our long day was just beginning! We walked off the plane and Chandler's Basketball coaches were Right there to greet us! Sorry... the above picture is not the greatest but we loaded our stuff right in to the Chaminade Van!


We chatted with the coaches on our way to the the Hotel... His coaches are AWESOME! They are so chill, so relaxed, Mature, and legit! The took GREAT care of us! Here Chan and I are in the Hyatt Regency Hotel they put us up in!

They dropped us off to unpack and unwind in Hotel. They came back to pick us Up in Coach Mahar's convertible.. they took us around a lil in Waikiki Then to Lunch.

riding in the AUDI
Here is ONE of the gorgeous beaches of O'ahu... this is a big surf spot!
Head Coach Mahar, Chandler, and Assistant Coach Mo! ( too bad Mahar's eyes are closed ;(....)

Chan and I overlooking beach... ps. This is what Hurricane Feleisha turned out to be! HAHA Quite the storm!

Here we are pulling into Chaminade... a BeaUtIfUL! campus!

Chandler down at Waikiki!He loves Hawaii so far!
The next day Coach Mahar, and Mo took us on the full campus tour! Here is the New library...


One of the views up at Chaminade from the library...of Diamond Head ( the distinct volcano of Waikiki)

The tropical storm... so it was rainy here on our second day!
More of the tour... (haha I always tried to stay behind and somewhat out of the way so they could really talk to Chan and show him Campus!)
The weight room! Small but Nice!!

All them boys posin for me ;)

Men's locker room....

The track and baseball field....
The gym... We met Zach Whiting... he plays in Germany professionally! He and Chan put some shots up! You can tell how humid it is here but Zach's shirt.. I know that is sweat but this was just after a few minutes.. Chan;s legs, arms, and face was dripping! ( the humid is something we will have to really get used to here!) I miss the dry heat!


He looked good for his coaches! But the air, the gym, the rim, and much more will take some time to make home! But all exciting! I can not wait til games start! I know it will be a great TWO years here! I Am stoked about his coaches- again they are going to be great! Chan is happy to be here and ready to play for these guys! Its a nice feeling to have finally met them!
The coaches took us to find an apt! Everything here under 1,000 dollars is GHETTO! In rough, old looking buildings, and SMALL! Here is a picture of the 2nd apt we checked out. Its brand new building (rare in HI) its a mile form Chaminade, near downtown, and cute...
We went and got Snow cones... they are so yummy here! They top them off with Condensed milk!
It sunny as can be and raining pretty good! Everyday rain happens!
Back at our Hotel....Here are a few photos of hotel- They spoiled us. The courtyard.
One of the towers looking up!
The view from the pool of Waikiki Beach!
THE SPA windows from the pool deck!!!! ( I applied here...along with many others in the next few days!)
The cool water pool...felt amazing!

TODAY... His coach took us to wal-mart to shop shop shop. We got our essenticials... As we were driving we past the convention center,,, I thought it was kind a cool!
And we signed on the apartment TODAY! Here is from the street side... its not super cute .. but its BRAND NEW! I will definately post more photos of the inside as we furnish it! So tonight we are sleeping here! No apartments here really have AC so Chandler is Dying... we bought two fans today and its still HOT! Chan took his first COLD shower tonight and he was in heaven!

Chan showing his guns for signing on the apartment today! Its done..its over! ;) We shopped and got the things we need and the internet hooked up too!
It feels so good to be here in Hawaii, to have met the coaches, seen campus, get an apartment. We are waiting on our car to get here from being shipped ( another wk or so). Hawaii really feels like home now! Some things we will have to get used to for sure! Now everyone come visit us!!!
Thank you for checkin in on us! More posts to come of course!