So, I'm kinda pre-occupied with my other blog right now. I love this one too, but you can check out my other one because keeping up with two blogs is obviously way too much for me to handle right now!

Aloha

So it's almost embarrassing how long it's been since I've last published anything on this blog. I have no excuses as most of you know I've recently found myself with an abundance of free time on my hands. I haven't had many new pictures that I've taken myself or any new adventures from the island to make note of. I am sure that majority of you who read this know that I dislocated my knee in March and the road to recovery has been painfully slow (both literally and figuratively). This experience has made me open my eyes to a lot of things, most of which are extremely personal, and it has taught me a lot about myself and also Austin. And even though it sucks to no end, I was and am very fortunate and thankful for a few things that did or did not occur:

1) The vascular system in my knee (veins, arteries and nerves) were all in tact after a very pricey CT scan. This was a fun (based on the circumstances) experience actually because the contrast that was given through my IV suddenly made my entire body extremely warm...ok, it made me feel/think I pee-ed myself! But, finally once I did a couple Kegel's, I realized I did not in fact pee myself and rather enjoyed the feeling of complete warmth coming from the inside of my body (up until that moment I had been freezing and the hospital blankets weren't helping). I was taken in by the weird feeling, and sad when it was gone! Results of the CT scan revealed that veins, arteries and nerves were in tact and I didn't need to go into surgery immediately...something my bank account is also thankful for...OH, did I mention that at this time, I didn't have insurance?! Ya, so this was all out of pocket, bring on the airline miles!

2) I didn't have any fractures. Pretty self-explanatory there; however, before going into the X-Ray, my knee was so swollen (so Austin tells me, I was already nicely drugged up) that no matter how many times we said I dislocated my knee, the doctor(s) thought it just looked like a dislocated kneecap. The X-Ray proved otherwise and finally the doctors went into emergency mode.

3) I had Austin right by my side the entire time, except for the scans and x-rays of course. Thankfully it happened on a Monday night, when the baseball team has the night off from practice. Otherwise, it would have been much more scarier than it was already and I don't know how I would have handled being in the hospital alone.

4) Dr Brown. He was the man who, I don't know how to say it in medical terms, "popped" my lower leg into place. It is hands down the most painful and disgusting feeling I've experienced, but the moment I heard/felt the POP of my leg, my entire lower left extremity immediately felt better. I am thankful that Austin is a realistic guy who knows when things just need to be done, like my squeezing, screaming bloody murder and, if I remember right, biting his hands. This along with watching my leg be put back into place probably wasn't on his Top 100 Best list, but he loves me and realized it would be over shortly. It was a long night in the hospital...just Austin and me and a few doctors, an odd and eccentric date night you could say, but, I was the only one taking in the "cocktails".

Those all became extremely overshadowed by the fun (joking) influx of medical bills that shortly followed my visit in the hospital. Even though Austin showed up before the ambulance did, everyone (I was playing indoor volleyball when this happened with HPU) decided that it would be best to take the ambulance to the hospital...cha-ching. X-Ray, CT Scan, IV...cha cha cha-ching! The drugs they put in my IV drip, which, funny story, they said that at anytime if I needed more pain meds to let them know. So when I do tell them I want more drugs, the drug nurse said that, after he gave me another shot in my IV, if I couldn't handle my pain level I was going to have to check in and stay over night. I told him, that I can handle this pain, however since the resources were there, I do not want to handle this pain...or maybe I said that to Austin?! Either way, he (the drug nurse) let me know that he just gave me one of the hardest (correct term?) narcotic that they had for pain...cha-ching! It was unreal coming to reality with these bills. I had to pay for the one doctor, who, thought just my kneecap was dislocated, to look at the x-rays and evaluate my knee...cha-ching! She didn't even touch me! It is insane, the medical industry.

Every day though, I'm surrounded by love. Austin, the obvious and most prominent one, reminds me every day how blessed I am to be with him. He did not hesitate to take over everything from tiny tasks like filling up my water bottle and keeping by the bed to big ones like dinner after he's had a long day. He's awesome. Even without this event, our journey together has been wild, throw this in the mix, well, I believe there's nothing we cannot handle together. Obviously, my mom and dad, but it's been tough with the distance between us. I think everyone can relate to a time when you just want to hug your mom, well, this is definitely one of them! I've made some wonderful friends here on the island. They've have been a blessing and haven't hesitated to take me off Austin's hands for a bit or offer any other kind help! But even on the streets here in Honolulu I've encountered love. Many times we'll be crutching along and someone will pass us and say, "I wish you well," or some other sweet words of love in regards to my healing. It has touched me and I refer to them as tiny rainbows sent to my heart. I, like everyone, am blessed.

There's far more things to be thankful for and sometimes, even though unfortunate, a bad (not my first choice) event has to happen for us to realize all the great things we are surrounded by and have in our lives.

One person said, "Apparently, it's your time to slow down for a while." And you know what, apparently.

Love you all, more than you know!

Aloha 2009

We made the most out of 2009 in Hawaii. Between work for me and finishing up the semester for Aust, we tried to fill in the cracks with fun, relaxing things! So here's a random assortment of pictures from events we did. All of the pictures are from Austin's camera, most taken by him, less taken by me! Love you all! Namaste!

Austin and Johnny Angel at Pipeline

Broken board.

Moo, Jamie O'Brien's dog, who decided we were the coolest people to chill with that day.

Opening ceremony at The Eddie

Me, fixing the toilet seat that Austin broke.

The beer of the islands.

Famous young surfer, note all the photographers and their cameras.

Awesome wipe-out to get outta the wave.

Talking story at "The Eddie"

Competitor in The Eddie, classic.

2010

Twenty Ten, Two-Thousand-and-Ten, I've heard just Diez...no matter how you're going to say it, it's a new year! I love new years. The beginning of another one. Time just flying by. Fun. I spent my New Year's Eve working at Murphy's and by the time I was finished cleaning up from the party I hosted, it was after 11 and Cymry Chang twisted my arm until I agreed to stay and ring in 2010 with her and Chad the bartender. Needless to say, one bottle of Champagne that Don Murphy gave us and two shots later, we were ready for 2010! Midnight came and went with hugs and kisses and cheers and we moseyed up the street to thirtyninehotel where many pictures were taken with Ms Chang and a guy named "Bill"...real name unknown. Hopped across the street to Manifest and used their bathroom which was bright blue, I think, and on the way out, the bouncer, who Cymry knew, popped my back which changed my life! After that, we returned to Murphy's, said good-bye to Chad who took our keys (Mahalo Chad) and found a ride home. It was a fun night, to say the least. The only way it would have been better is if Austin was here to celebrate too! He's still enjoying the freezing temperatures of his homeland in Montana! Love you Dutch!

These are pictures we, or mostly Austin, took before we left for Christmas. Downtown Honolulu is decked out in lights, they were so beautiful!

weekend xterra warriors

For some reason in the past week and a half we've decided to race. Our latest accomplishment was the Xterra World Championships 10k Trail Run at Kualoa Ranch. It was a toughie and if not for the waived entry fee (Austin worked for xterra this summer) I don't know if we would have done it...or it would have deterred us if we knew just what we were getting ourselves into also. It was the hottest and hardest day of my life I believe. I"m going to say 65% of it was a constant uphill climb, and I emphasize climb. We did a large loop which consisted of climbing the same 4 huge hills twice! Ya, twice! Had we known this ahead of time, I believe I would have just went for the 5k which was once around the loop...actually after I was 95% finished with my first lap, this thought went through my head, "hmm, I do NOT want to run up those hills again, I didn't pay for this, I don't need to run anymore, this f-ing sucks" (emphasis on f-ing). However, at the gates when the volunteers were separating the 5k finishers from the 10k second lap-pers, I decided there weren't many girls in front of me and I needed to suck it up because I might actually do ok...and I can walk up the hills if need be. Well, need be. I ran the first hill, but the second, third and fourth were a graceful, I'm sure, combination of a trot, jog, stride-out, power walk of sorts that actually propelled me past other racers. I was impressed. Midway through hell, I kept playing "leap--trot, jog, stride-out, power walk-- frog" with a guy who kept encouraging me up the climb. Three-fourths of the way up the third climb, he says to me, "ok, this one's it," and I'm like oh hell ya in my mind, but then we get to the top and around the corner and, "Shit, there's more," pops into my mind and "Oh, God, I'm so sorry," comes from him...the fourth and obviously forgotten last hill. My words to him were, "That's ok, I have a short-term memory and don't remember so many hills from the first lap, I like to block out pain," which resulted in, "That's a good thing today." Which was true.

Finally we get to the crest which had an aid/water station. I sip a bit and pour the rest on my back and we're off on the downhill slope. This whole time, my "running angel" stayed by my side. I don't know if he was comfortable at my pace or if he just felt a camaraderie with me, but he pushed me way past my comfortable limits that I would not have allowed myself had I been alone. It was a touching moment in the last 400 yards when he let me know that after this small hill, turn left and your on the home stretch. Thankfully, this time he was correct! He helped me and to him I am very thankful and touched that he would stay by me and push me. He could have just ran off or ignored me, but he didn't. That's what runner's do for each other, we unite in pain and paces and root for each other deep down under our competitiveness. It's binding labor ending in euphoria.

I crossed the finish line ahead of him and lost him in the rush for water and orange slices, but he found me later and shook my hand and congratulated me, I couldn't thank him enough for guiding me and pushing me past what I thought not possible. It was awesome. He truly was an angel of sorts.

I also found Austin, or maybe he found me. We semi-joked about not knowing how hard it was going to be and we shared the thought of stopping after one lap, but we didn't. It paid off. I placed 2nd in my age division, 5th overall while Austin was 3rd in his division and 19th overall.

It was challenging and frustrating and painful and now we are suffering the soreness from a day like that, massaging each other's tight calves and icing sore knees with frozen asian stir fry vegetables!

xterra's website has the results and some pictures from the race. If you want to see the pictures they took of us individual racers, go to brightroom.com and find your pictures. my bib number was 584 and Austin was 590. I look like I'm about to fall over. I was in a lot of pain at the finish line, as my face shows! Hope you enjoy! Aloha!

well well well

Howzit?! A hodge-podge of events:

Lots of work and lots of school. Austin's finishing up his semester and group projects while I make $$$

Some surfing on Saturdays. Some running on every other day.

Saw New Moon. A little slow for my tastes, but it did follow the book. I'm still on "team Edward" however, I don't admit that openly, but I guess I just did.

Hopped on over to The Blind Side. Loved it. Cried multiple times throughout it. It was sooo good. I would watch it again and again!

Been quilting. Ready to be done quilting.

A long ten mile run early in the morning, it was a little rough in some parts, but when we had all crossed the finish line, we were all very pleased. Great Pre-Thanksgiving.

Amazing dinner. The best one we've ever eaten hands-down. Nobody held back in preparing dishes and it was even less-guilt filled since we had just ran 10 miles!

Truly thankful for our friends Carmen and Ekhi who let us crash at their home and raid their kitchen and share in making the meal together. It was so much fun.

I made an amazing strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert. A crowd pleaser.

Slept most of the day after Thanksgiving. Most definitely did not go shopping on black Friday.

Slept most of the day after the day after Thanksgiving.

Now we're almost to December and counting down the days until school's out and we're on the plane to Montana. Yay!

This is what I'd look like if I had siamese twin heads.

Yup. Our new computer is pretty awesome. We've yet to unlock all of it's capabilities and probably never will because with the track record of Mac, it will never end! We're enjoying it though! It's huge! Every time Austin walks into our room, he says, "Holy, that's huge!" And he finally admitted that he probably will never stop saying it because it is so shocking every time he sees it! It makes me laugh.

Meeeeee! Looking at my twin head. Photo booth is fun.

I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 30...oh! 27...inches that is...how big our computer is!

It's been a fast fall here. Nothing very notable, except Austin's finishing up fall ball, our 4 year anniversary is this week and I'm starting a baby quilt...not for me, gulp, someone asked me that in passing.

We are planning on having a fun Thanksgiving with some friends. A random bunch when you throw in the guests that will be arriving the day before. Some from Helena, it's a long story, but they talked us into running the Honolulu Turkey Ten Mile Trot, so here's to that!

I can't believe there's 7 weeks left in this year! It's amazing how fast 2009 came and almost is gone. I'm making lots of money now and I don't mind it at all. I'm busy when Austin's busy so we don't see each other much anymore! Laugh! It'll be great when fall ball is over and this semester in general!

The sun has been MIA this past week. It came out yesterday and I decided to make the most of it and join the thousands of tourists who had the same idea and soak up the rays at Waikiki...solo. I'm used to it now. There's not much I wouldn't do alone and sometimes I like to go to the movies stag...except you have to pay for yourself! Our "dashboard" on our iMac, appropriately named O'Shaughnessy, is expecting showers Monday and the rest of the week looks cloudy. I hope it changes its mind on my days off!

So cheers to November. I'm thinking about running, does that count in my training log?! Love you all. So excited to see those of you I will see in December. And to the rest in CO, you know I'll be thinking of ya! Be happy for me that I'll be in my new winter boots and (pray) snow! Instead of a bikini and sand!

Love all, Serve a Guinness.

::Peace::