Thanksgiving with the Nahinu Family

I am so thankful to have family here on the island! This Thanksgiving I stayed at my mom's cousin's house in Wainae, Hawaii. They are such an amazing family. Brandi is married and has three children - two gorgeous little girls and a baby boy in Heaven. They are always willing to take me in, despite the two hour drive around the island. I am so thankful for them!

Kapono, Brandi, Montana, and Ke'iwa

Ke'iwa loves wearing my glasses. She always wears them when I come! Hopefully they won't make her blind like me!!

In the backyard of Auntie Thell's house. It is absolutely gorgeous. 

Thanksgiving day began with a ward Turkey Bowl! Oh side note - in choir, when they announced "Turkey Bowl", the majority of the people had absolutely no idea what that meant. They asked, "oh...is that where you play football with a turkey or something?...Oh, that must be it. How strange." Ha! I laughed to myself. But I digress. We had to wake up very early to get to the game. Dallin and Kapono (Brandi's husband) were dropped off at the park with the kids and Brandi and I went to go get breakfast for the ward. It was a very busy day! After running around getting last minute things and then watching the men play football, we went back home to get ready to eat. (I also got to talk to my family in Colorado...probably the best part of the day :) I wanted so bad to be with them!!)
We went to eat at a million dollar house about 45 minutes from Brandi's house. It was Kapono's side of the family, so I didn't know anybody at all. The house was gorgeous (it's amazing, though, the difference between a million dollar house in Hawaii and a million dollar house on the mainland - you don't get nearly as much for your money here). There was a big patio in the backyard with a big gazebo type of covering and we all ate there. There were probably 40 people there! I met so many people but I don't remember anybody's name. I just call everyone 'auntie' ha. That's the Hawaiian way! The food was delicious and the people were so welcoming. I felt so thankful for all I have.
After we ate, Dallin and I went to a movie. While I loved being with a family, I just needed some calm time to myself that wasn't tense and where I didn't have to keep recognizing people I didn't know. We saw the Muppet's Movie! It was so funny! I needed that laugh. Dallin loooves the Muppets so that was probably his favorite part of the day! We had a great time. Then Brandi picked us up and we headed back to her house. It wasn't my normal Thanksgiving at home, but it was still something! It made me miss home more than ever because holidays away from home are just never the same. But Christmas is right around the corner. Only a few more weeks! I cannot wait :)

The Sad Result of Boredom

I don't know if I have said this before, but without a car here, there is nothing to do!! So one Saturday Dallin and I decided to go to the beach and just take a bunch of pictures. A very fun cure to boredom, if you ask me. We were determined to get a jumping picture perfect. It took a ton of tries with my little camera on a timer!

Take One: Dallin jumped the gun.

Take two: Dallin covered his face as if he were Zorro.

Take three: Dallin jumped the gun again.

Take four: WIN.

Now, at this point we needed some variety, so we decided to do a heel click. We put my camera on the mode that takes a few pictures at once and on the first try, we were COMPLETELY synced with each other! Observe! 

Frame one: Prepare...

Frame two: JUMP!...

Frame three: Land! (Ignore how ridiculous I look in all of these, please!!)

So, in our excitement, we had to show our success!!

And I just think this one is so silly so that's why I had to put it up :)

Someday, we will look back at these pictures and realize how ridiculous we were, but as of now, we are just bored, poor, and very crazy college kids!!

Birthdays

Today is my best friend in the whole world's birthday! Nicole Curtis turns 20 today. How old! I was just reminiscing on the good ole days and had to share.


When I think about birthdays, well mostly when I think about Nicole's and my birthday, I am reminded of the days when we both lived in Colorado and did joint birthday parties. Those were so much fun! Nicole's mom always made the most amazing cakes that were perfectly decorated in the most creative ways. She made a smiley face cake one year that was so adorable! And then she made a monkey cake that was the cutest cake ever. Nicole and I had to have monkey parties! (We both still LOVE monkeys.) There were many more, but my memory is terrible. 


All of my memories are kind of linked through different things. When I think about birthdays, I think about Nicole's old house. Oh, how I miss it! I remember when we used to gather every pillow in the house and find the slipperiest sleeping bags and slide down the stairs over and over and over until Patty had to tell us to stop! So then we would take the sleeping bags down to her basement and lay them out and have wars on them. Once we got bored with that, we would blow up tiny plastic balloons with little straws. You know, the kind of balloons that come in really small tubes? Anyways, we would blow those up, and make balloon sculptures until I earned the nickname "Da Bubbly" because I loved those so much. After blowing up balloons, we could proceed to play Pacman on Nicole's computer. Nicole was such a pro!! I think that is how she earned the name "Da Button." So from then on, we were Da Bubbly and Da Button! How silly! I still love it :) 
It seemed we were inseparable. Then, the more than terrible day came that Nicole had to move to Washington. I still remember her coming to my house to say goodbye, then returning one more time after I was already asleep to say goodbye one last time. We were both a mess! And those were two girls who did not cry! We were tough, but somehow not tough enough. It seemed to me like the end of the world. Who was I supposed to hang out with every single weekend? Who was going to come over for Thanksgiving and Easter and cause a ruckus with me? Where would I go every Halloween for a haunted house? It seemed to be the worst thing that ever happened to me. 


But it was all okay! I took many trips to Seattle over the years to help me to get my "Nicole fix". We made it a point to do something crazy every time we saw each other, so maybe her move wasn't too bad after all. It really made me so much more thankful for our friendship and the amazing person she was to me. We went indoor skydiving (twice), para-sailing, went to drive-in movies until 2am, took tons and tons of pictures, and spilled our souls to each other! And we have yet to go skydiving, but it will happen! (There is a place out here we can go, Cole, so if you come out to visit ever, we WILL do it!!) Seattle became my new favorite place to travel.


Then college happened. And boy is it crazy! Now, we are thousands and thousands of miles away, but I feel closer to Nicole than ever before. We don't talk nearly as often as I'd like (we are both so busy and the time difference is such a little bugger!) but every time we talk I feel it has only been a few days. I love her with all my heart and I am so thankful for a friend like Nicole in my life. I hope everyone in this world has a "Nicole" in their life like I do! 


So on this wonderful November 19th, the happiest day of the year, I would like to wish Nicole Curtis all the happiness and joy the world has to offer. I can't wait until we meet again. Love ya, girl!!

I just did something CrAzY

I did something absolutely crazy today! Oh man. I guess I should start from the beginning.

So there is this girl. Her name is Rachel. She has a problem with me, but I have no idea what I ever did. All I ever do is say hello to her. It makes it worse because she is my neighbor so I see her all the time, but she refuses to make eye contact or say hello in return. I know this isn't just her personality because when I met her at the start, she was very friendly and seemed very excited to meet me. She even invited me to walk with her to church so she could show me how to get there. (She never followed through though even when I asked her in person...which should have been my first sign that I offended her or something, but I digress...) After that, she started avoiding me at all costs. I thought maybe she simply had a small soul...but she had a big soul around other people! I sat next to her in church and then she moved. I sat near her in choir and she moved. I sat next to her in this stake choir performance and she moved. I say hello to her and she looks the other way. It didn't matter to me at first, but now I just feel really terrible and wonder what I did. I know I shouldn't feel this way, but it is kind of offensive now. And this girl who I met who was super nice is now friends with Rachel and won't talk to me either. And this girl is so mean about it - at least Rachel is good at pretending she doesn't see me... She doesn't even try to hide that she dislikes me. All I know about her is her name!! How could she possibly hate me that much already?! I always always always try to smile at them and just say a simple hello, but it is always in vain.

Well, I hit my last straw tonight. I walked into the cafeteria and Rachel left, which I am sure had nothing to do with me, it is just a delicious cherry on top of one of those days, then when I was going back to my room, I opened the door and saw a girl in a hurry. It was Rachel's rude friend and I held the door wide open for her without hesitation. She looked straight ahead and didn't even acknowledge my existence with that same "I am pretending you aren't human" look. Is it too much to ask for a thank you for holding the door for you while you were obviously in a hurry? I didn't say hello this time, so that should have required a thank you, too!!  I know it must seem as if I am overreacting, but this has been going on since school started. I just don't know what to do.

I take it back. I do know what to do. And I did it. I did something crazy! I wrote Rachel a note! Ah! Crazy, huh?? And it looked something like this:

I did not sign my name, because that would be a bit weird. It is comforting to me that no matter what she does at this point, no matter how rude her and her friends are to me, I helped her to have a good day without her even knowing it. It is much better than treating her the same way she treats me--that is childish. I have no idea what is going on in her life so I cannot judge why she immediately walks the other direction when she sees me (yes, that happens, too). But she is missing out on a great smile everyday! So hopefully that will make up for whatever I possibly could have done in the first few moments of meeting her.

I got this!

So last time I posted I just had an explosion of emotion that had to be released. It was such a rough week with it being fall (my favorite time of the year) and so different than I expected. But I have turned over a new leaf! (Hehe...get it?...leaf?...) Things are much better now. I am much more tolerant of my roommate, I am making a lot more friends, and I am actually improving my singing! Yay!

I went to a fireside on Sunday and it was amazing. Exactly what I needed to hear. It was mostly about dating/getting married/having children, but interestingly enough, that is not what I got out of it at all. The parts that stood out to me were about self improvement and coming closer to Christ. President Whiting, the president of BYUH, said something that really struck me. He said that it is a commandment to be perfect and we all need to set a date when we will achieve that commandment. First we should make a reasonable list, then start checking off things on the list as efficiently as possible. The first thing that came to my head when I thought of a list of things I can do better was negative judgments. So many times, I have been so quick to judge people based on one small encounter where either they were having a bad day, or I was. It isn't fair to anyone to judge someone based on that.
Here is an example. That girl who never let me eat because she said I was dressed immodestly (which still isn't true) is actually really nice! She is in my ward now and I talked to her on Sunday and she is so sweet. I really like her. Now whenever she is working it is a nice hello instead of awkward stares! Hooray! Another example: There is this girl who always said negative things and comes off a bit stuck up because of how she acts and dresses, but she apologized for speaking her mind so much the other day and bam! She is so cool and a really fun person to hang out with. We also had an awesome chat about the amazing Sutton Foster, so more points there! Everyone just has so much to offer no matter what and you miss out on so much if you can't get past the first hello.
So the first thing that I am checking off my list is judging people and making negative comments. I have already started to see an improvement! It's amazing. My list is extremely long, but the day that I want to check everything off is the day I get set apart as a missionary of the Lord. I can do it!

While I am here, I might as well show you the most delicious dessert that Dallin and I had the other night. Good thing I am not huge yet! (That in itself is an accomplishment!)

 This is a banana sunday. It has tons of cut up bananas on the bottom, followed by three scoops of ice cream--macadamia nut, cookies n cream, and dolce de lece--topped with caramel, hot fudge, condensed milk, whip cream, and three maraschino cherries! Mmmmm!

i wish the leaves would change

It has been awhile since I have posted and I'm bummed about it! There just hasn't really been anything good to say lately. I have taken on the challenge of remaining positive, but I'm just about ready to quit! The sun doesn't even shine anymore! It's all cloudy and rainy. I wish the leaves would turn gold and red and brown and fall off so I could jump in them then proceed to get bundled up in a cute grey jacket with white worn out mittens and wait in line at a big corn maze freezing my bum off while I drink steaming apple cider from a foam cup. I can't explain how amazing that sounds right now! 

I went to the Haunted Lagoon at the Polynesian Cultural Center and they were selling hot chocolate...except it was probably 78 degrees. Not the same at all! (I didn't get any.) But it was a really cool event that they did. It was a haunted canoe ride! Because it was family oriented, it wasn't too scary, but some parts were pretty terrifying. They had people in the water swim up to the boat so you couldn't see them until they were in your face. And the islander girls have suuuuper long dark hair so they put it over their faces and wear white and crawl really fast toward you in the water and it's ridiculous. They are so scary. It's like The Ring in real life! 

Oh! And I got my first college job :) I work for BYUH Catering. I worked Saturday for a Tongan buffet and that was a good first day. They never really taught me anything so I was just sort of thrown in. A buffet is a good place to start, though. But on Saturday there is an international etiquette dinner with about 350 people and only 15 caterers. I am terrified! It isn't a buffet so I have to carry the huge trays with tons of plates on them. Gah! I have never done that before, so if I fail, it will be in front of so many important people. I wish I got time to practice before that, but I don't unfortunately. They just hired a bunch of people to work this even this weekend and didn't teach us how to do it. Welcome to Hawaii, the land without planning or sense of time. Oh well!

I'm just missing home a lot right now. I miss being around people that I know I am not disappointing. People who know exactly what I am capable of without me having to prove myself or pretend I enjoy something I really don't. It will be so nice to go home in December. I can't wait.

"Modesty"...

I try to stay positive about all situations here, but sometimes it is just ridiculous. I need a moment. I wasn't allowed to eat again today in the cafeteria because I was dressed "immodestly." The first time they sent me back, I was wearing basketball shorts (covering my knees) and a t-shirt. I thought maybe that girl was having a bad day. She had no reason to send me back because plenty of people get in with basketball shorts. So I walked back to my room, changed, and let it go. The following Sunday, the same girl was working and sent this girl in front of me home. She was debating with another worker whether the dress that girl had on was too short. She then looked at me and said, "oooh yeah well, it's basically the same as hers..." My dress was clearly 5 inches longer than the girl's in front of me and completely covered my knees. It was apparent she had a problem with me. Luckily, there was someone else there who just said "um...no...she can go in," so I was allowed in. Then today...ugh today. I went in this morning and ate breakfast without a single problem. Not even a double take from the person working. I then proceeded to attend my classes without getting kicked out for "honor code" reasons so obviously what I was wearing was okay. Then I tried to eat lunch around 3. That girl was working again... I was all happy and said hello and after looking at me without a hello, she just said "Sorry, you are going to have to go change." I was appalled! 
"REALLY?" 
"Yep. You aren't allowed in wearing sweats."
"But these aren't even sweats. These are nicer than sweats. I have even worn  these to work before."
"Nope. No sweats allowed. Go change."
This is what I was wearing: (Sorry about the bad quality, I was in a hurry to eat..)

Those don't qualify as sweats at all! Besides, the other night an entire team of soccer players ate dinner in soccer sweats. To make it even better, behind me was a girl with leggings as pants and a tight shirt and she was let in. And so was the guy wearing a swimsuit. She better be careful next time she finds an excuse not to let me in. When I'm hungry, I get angry...and you don't want to see me if I'm angry! Haha!...Anyways. If I wasn't dressed modestly, that would be one thing, but that clearly is not the issue here. 

The Plan of Happiness

I had this plan set out for the next 10 years of my life:

Go to college with a major in Teaching English as a second language with a minor in Chinese

Graduate in three years

Serve a mission

Get married

Teach English in China

Return home to have a family

Not a bad plan, huh? I thought it was great. Well, then I tried to check the first thing off the list. (It's never a good sign if the first thing doesn't go right.) I signed up for Chinese 301 and to sum up how that turned out, it kicked my butt. (That's a story for another day.) At the same time that was happening, I got the opportunity to become a vocal major. The part I struggled with was that there was a performing class at the exact same time as my Chinese class. So what do I choose? It has always been a choice between Chinese and music. My two favorite things! I was really struggling with this. Well after putting a lot of thought and prayer into it and talking to my family (that always helps), I decided to hold off on the Chinese. I felt good about it and was put into the performing class. This was an audition-only class with just 16 people in it, so I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity. Chinese can wait.
The next day it hit me.
For four years I have had this plan. I never ever intended on dropping Chinese. But that class would have required so much from me, I probably wouldn't have passed it. I was supposed to stick to the plan and keep the Chinese. But the music made me so happy. After a long talk with Dallin, he taught me it was okay through a simple concept. The Plan of Happiness, as he loves to refer to it.
We have been given this plan so that we can be happy. Not just after death, but also on Earth. We have all been given talents so that we can fulfill the Plan of Happiness. My talent, in this case, being music. It runs through my blood. In order for me to be happy, I have to go off my silly plan that I made in high school and remember why I was given the talent of singing. It's not worth it in the end to kill myself over a degree and end up stressed beyond belief without exercising the talent that makes me most happy.
Dallin is so wise :)
So now, I am a vocal performance major and I will also get my teaching degree. I am not giving up on Chinese in any way at all, just simply putting it on hold until the time is right. Everything happens for a reason.

saturday is a very special day!

I love doing things for people. Especially the people I love. And today I got to spend the whole day doing things for Dallin. It was his birthday! Birthdays are the best for this kind of thing because it gives me an excuse to go all out and make everything about him! I began by providing him breakfast:

He ate the entire box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch all in one sitting! That boy can eat! 

Then we spent the rest of the day on the beach. I slept and got sunburned (even though it was cloudy) while Dallin used a tiny shovel to build huge holes in the sand.

To show how deep that hole actually was...

To even better show how deep that hole was!

Time for round two!

After digging holes for sometime, I looked over and noticed Dallin had inspired a young islander.

After the beach we cleaned up and ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant. It wasn't too shabby. Dallin got Hot and Sour soup that looked right, but tasted like a Mexican dish. Kind of impressive for a Chinese cook to get those flavors out of such oriental foods...

After dinner we had the best dessert ever! We went right next door and ate at Angel's Shaved Ice. Oh man was it good. It was a layer of ice cream covered in condensed milk then layers and layers of shaved ice on top. They put three flavors on it and covered it in more condensed milk and whip cream. Holy cow was it good. And massive. (Dallin had already eaten most of the whip cream before I got a picture.)

I love birthdays! Especially Dallin's! It was definitely my favorite day in college so far. It's a really good reminder to always take out some time to spend with the one you care about. Sometimes they might forget or get too busy to think about it. But always always always find a moment to remind them what they mean to you.

Everyone always says "when one door closes, another door opens," but honestly, how easy is it to actually walk through the newly opened door? Not easy! My first week of being on campus is almost over and it hasn't really been the best. Yeah, it's amazing to just walk to the beach and have a picnic whenever I want, but it gets a little old when you don't know anybody. School hasn't started yet, so I know it will get better, but it is still a little bit frustrating. I have never been good at the whole making new friends thing. That will have to change this next year, though. But there have been some good things, too.

The weather is amazing. It gets really hot, but there is almost always a breeze to cool you down. It also rains which is really nice because most of the time it is still warm when it rains. I love it.

The people here are so nice. Everyone is so friendly and never forgets to say hello and make sure you are doing okay. It is a lot different than in the mainland. I love it. Not that there aren't nice people there, too! Don't get me wrong, but it is just different here.

The amount of culture here is incredible. No matter where you turn, there is a new language being spoken. I love it! (There are a lot of Chinese people, too!) There are a bunch of islander girls in my hale (dorm) and they are ALWAYS laughing so loudly. It cracks me up! I never know what they are laughing at, but they never stop. It's hilarious!
The Asians are always traveling in pairs. Well, couples. I feel like they escape their hometown to Hawaii to just be with the one they are forbidden to love! There are so many Asian couples! Every corner has them.
My roommate just got in today, and she is from Korea. She is adorable. She is a return missionary and she is 25 (24 American age). She is also here to study teaching English as a second language, which I thought was pretty cool. Her name is Yeji. When I told her I studied Chinese she said, "Oh! I am so sorry I am not Chinese!" I felt so bad! It was so cute though.

But of all the awesome things I have experienced so far, and of everything I will experience, my favorite will always be this:

Isn't that beautiful?? That is where I am going to get married! I can't wait :) I will have to get a picture of how it looks at night because it is even more stunning. The light radiates through the night and it seems to light the sky. It's gorgeous. And the best part is that it is basically on campus! It's about a 5 minute walk! (Campus is VERY small...) That in itself is a blessing.

I guess I should show some pictures of my dorm. It's pretty...well.... the pictures will explain.

And that's it! It's very small and old. The desk is that little fold out compartment in the bottom picture. High-tech, huh? Ha! Everything is made of metal and wood so it's rather rusted over from years of humidity. It's awesome. There are also tons of bugs. Huge spiders and tiny ants on the walls. Since I am near the window, there are tons of those little tiny black gnats everywhere on the wall next to me. I don't want to know if they get in my bed....

The other best part about living here is the sunset every night! I love them! Dallin and I go to the beach and eat sandwiches during the sunset. It's really nice :)

Well that basically covers the first week of my Hawaii adventures! Hopefully I will have better stuff next time. Until then... Remember! :)

Hair: That stuff that's fun to change

How many hairstyles can a person have in such a short period of time? A lot. That is the biggest lesson I have learned over the past year. And now my hair is so short I can't change it anymore...well, unless I went bald, but I don't want that. Let's take a look at where I started:

Pretty long huh? Oh and that is my twin sister, Kamarie. Well, she isn't really my twin, but people mistake us for twins all the time! (I'm more than okay with that, too!) She is three years older and wiser than me. This was taken about a year ago. And then I chopped all that hair off...

Okay, you have to ignore the expression and awkward stance. We are looking at the hair here. Terrible picture but it gets the point across. Then I cut it again for senior pictures.

It doesn't seem like that big of a difference, but it really was. The back I was able to spike and give a lot more texture instead of looking all awkward like the first cut.

 I let it grow out a bit before I went to China.

Pretty nice, huh? This is my personal favorite. Oh, and that is my best friend of all time, Nicole. I went to Seattle to visit her last summer and as you can tell it was a huge party.

I got my hair cut in China after a few weeks of living there during the summer on an exchange. Telling them how I wanted it cut was extremely difficult--they don't teach cosmetic vocab in school! I eventually just told the guy to do whatever. He was really nice about it and was amazed at blonde hair! And that is my host sister with me at her house on the last day there. She was so cute!

When I got home from China, I decided it was time for something new. I cut it again and added some red!

 

Then I colored it purple for one day for a Shakspeare performance. I was Hermia and Maddie (she always has awesome hair, as well) was Helena.

I proceeded to grow out my hair and make it really big! Perfect for homecoming! That is my boyfriend, Dallin Perez. His hair is pretty good too, I guess ;)

I had to get a bob for the musical I was in. This hairsyle was NOT my choice at all. I was Millie in Thoroughly Modern Millie and unfortunately, I couldn't wear a wig. This picture was taken at Disney World when I went with my theatre class. And that is Brittany Shaffer. She was Miss Dorothy in the musical and I love love love performing with her!

And now it's dark brown!! Still a bob, but very dark. This was taken during one of the performances of Millie.

Right when the show was over, I chopped it all off! I hated that bob! It was awful. And there really was only one style I could get out of that. A pixie cut. (This was at senior prom with Dallin. We got to borrow our seminary teacher's Camaro...)

And this is how my hair is now! I'm growing it out and going light so I can start all over! Yay!