Mai Tai Bar

Aloha!

So, I think since we've now settled in and everything seems to be normalizing, I want to start using this blog for what I originally intended it to be- a descriptive account of all that Hawaii (well, Oahu in our case) has to offer. So from now on, I'm going to try describing all the different places we go (i.e. restaurants, bars, happy hours, beaches, etc) and basically give a thumbs up, thumbs down or a SHAKA if the place is REALLY good. Hopefully I'll be able to include some photos for each place as well.

So the first place I'm going to review is the Mai Tai Bar, which we visited yesterday for their happy hour. The Mai Tai bar is located on the 4th level of the Ala Moana Center pretty much in the center. So one thing we noticed right away is that there is absolutely no view of the ocean, even though it's basically 10 feet away. Happy hour goes from 4 to 7 which is nice. A lot of places in this area don't start until 5. We got there probably at a quarter past 4, and the place was already pretty packed. There was no cover and a live band was playing some modern pop songs with a bit of Hawaiian flavor. The atmosphere was all-together pretty relaxing and laid-back.

We ordered our first drinks: a pint of Hawaii's Longboard lager and a Mai Tai-tini for me (3$ and 4$ respectively) which isn't bad at all! We also ordered one of their pupus: the popcorn shrimp. The shrimp was really good and a decent amount considering it was only $5. The drinks were pretty decent as well. So overall, I would've given the Mai Tai bar a thumbs up despite a lack of view. However, when we went to take care of our bill, we noticed there was an extra beer on the tab that didn't belong. We specifically counted Daland's beers to be 6- but the tab said (7). When we mentioned this to the bartender, he insisted that Daland had ordered 7 beers, turned to the other bartender to ask him if he had made one for Daland as well, and then proceeded to tell us that Daland may have even had 8 beers! Well, this was a bad move. Trying to screw people over by implying that the customer is either too stupid or too drunk to count is enough to prevent us from ever visiting this particular establishment again.

So the Mai Tai Bar gets a THUMBS DOWN from the Lahiff's.

Lonely Nights

Aloha,

Well tonight is the 2nd night in a row that I've been alone. Tomorrow night will make it the 3rd. Daland is working nights a lot at his new job and doesn't get home until after 10 usually, which means he gets home pretty much right as I'm getting ready to go to bed. Tonight was particularly lonely though. No one was on facebook to chat with, nothing engrossing to watch on TV... I cooked dinner for myself, ate by myself, did the dishes by myself. Man, I feel like it would really suck to live alone all the time. It's times like these that I wish I lived close to my parents. On nights like these, I could just go over to their house and have dinner with them and just hang out until Daland got home. But here, it's just me. I go through waves of sadness, and I wonder when they will subside. I'm embarassed to say that I cry quite frequently. But I just can't help it. All of this is just so much to take. I wonder when I will really adjust... or if I ever will. I just hope that this makes me an even stronger person. But at the same time I wonder: is it worth it? When I'm at work, I don't really think about it at all. I'm enjoying the job and of course I feel very grateful for it. But when I'm all by myself, especially at night, the solitude really eats at me. Maybe once my puppy gets here it will be a little bit better when I'm alone. At least I'll have her to keep me company and I can take her for walks if I need to get out of the apartment.

I just wish that such a great opportunity didn't come with such a high price. I'd like to just pick up everyone I love back home and move them over here. That would be pretty sweet. Until then, I'll just have to try and cope the best way I can.

Needless to say... I miss everyone so much. And I can't wait to see you all again.

Love,
Chelsey

Hawaii Fishing & Seafood Festival

Aloha everyone,

Today is Columbus Day- and while I don't believe Columbus deserves his own holiday named after him, I am thankful for the day off! Yesterday was the Hawaii Fishing & Seafood Festival... so instead of being able to sleep in (on a Sunday no less) I had to be ready to leave at 7:30 a.m! So I'm happy I had this morning to make up for it. Anyway, the festival was actually a lot of fun. NOAA Fisheries had a few booths set up along the back of the pier/docks right on the water. It was soo windy though! Each of us volunteers was assigned an activity. I got the microscope station, which was probably one of the busiest activities at our booth because of all the kids! I never thought I was particularly good with kids- I always feel sort of awkward around them. But yesterday, I think I did a pretty good job interacting with the public. I tried my best to engage people in conversation to try and educate them about what NOAA Fisheries is all about and what we do in the Pacific region. I was aboslutely shocked at how many people had no clue what NOAA was. Some guy even asked me "Who funds you guys?" and I was like "Well, we're a federal government agency... so we're funded by the government." Just goes to show the lack of information and awareness that's out there. But anyway, one of the coordinators for education and outreach for the entire Pacific region came over to me and said "So you know I'm going to be bugging you from now on everytime we need volunteers, because you're really good!!" I guess my countless experiences speaking and/or performing in public has paid off. Here are some pictures from the festival...

Since Daland had yesterday off from work, he came to the festival after my shift was over and we took a look around at the different booths. Most of the booths were for local Hawaiian fishers. We checked out NOAA's Law Enforcement Booth and Daland of course asked a few questions. For the most part, people were selling products like fishing lures, anti-rusting agents for boats and equipment, fishing poles, etc. etc. So considering we're not big into fishing ourselves, we decided to leave a bit early and go get some lunch out. We ended up at Teddy's Bigger Burgers (which we've been to a couple of times before) and both got big juicy burgers. I swear, they have the best burgers I've EVER had. I don't know what they do to their beef, but it's absolutely delicious.

So for the rest of the day we just stayed at home and relaxed. Daland is working today and I'm just watching some TV for now. Think I'll do a little bit of cleaning and be somewhat productive today. Other than that, I'm going to enjoy the day off!

Lots of love,
Chelsey

Daland got a job!

In all of the craziness lately, I forgot to mention that Daland got a job! He is now working for Macy's at the Ala Moana Center in their security/loss prevention department. And no- he is not a mall cop! He basically gets to walk around incognito keeping an eye on both customers and employees to prevent theft. This particular Macy's is in the top 20 busiest stores in the country (out of a 800+) and they deal with 30-40 incidents of theft every month! The pay isn't too bad and he'll get full benefits. WHEW!!! What a relief that we both FINALLY have jobs! The great thing is, the Ala Moana Center is literally right next to my office building. So we'll be able to go into work together when he works the morning shifts and even have lunch together! Oh, and did I mention the employee discount card?? HELLO SHOPPING!!! haha

Seems like everything is starting to fall into place. Have to admit, I was getting a bit worried there for a little bit. Now we can breathe a sigh of relief that we won't be living paycheck to paycheck. We might actually be able to start having some fun!!!

Missing October

Aloha everyone,

I just simply can't believe it's already October. I feel like it was literally just yesterday that I was going out for Halloween in Miami- me as a cop, Daland as a mullet wearing redneck. And now, that time of year is upon us once again. It always seems to creep up on me. It is really scary how each year is moving faster than the last. Has it really been 6 months since my 24th birthday?! I digress...

Last Sunday all of our stuff from the mainland FINALLY arrived. We were the first delivery of the day (whew!) but we were having some problems with figuring out payment. When we tried to get money out the day before from ATMs, were only able to get about $400 out per card. To make things worse, we were told our daily limit was exceeded for the day. We thought we were in big trouble, but decided to just try again in the morning. Morning came- no luck. Then I thought, oh I'll just pay it with my Macy's VISA. Well, the guy came upstairs and swiped the card: DENIED. At this point I'm just really upset. It took them so long to get our stuff here in the first place and now we're going to have to wait another WHOLE day! So while I was on the phone with the Macy's customer service people, Daland decided he'd try his card one more time. Low and behold, it worked! So we were able to pay the rest of the balance off, and the boxes started coming up the stairs. When they came in with the first box, I was mortified. It looked as if it had been beaten to hell and back. The box was ripped open in certain spots, had to be re-taped and was crumpled in on the corners. Luckily, we only had a few casualties (only 2 of which were significant). We lost 1 dinner plate, 1 drinking glass, a collectible UM figurine, and the worst- my swarovski crystal turtles that Daland gave me for our first Christmas. But alas, besides those few mishaps, all of our stuff arrived in the same condition it left Florida.

The apartment has really come together and finally feels like "home." It's spacious, airy and bright during the day, and warm and cozy at night. It's perfect for us. The only thing is, we have no one to show it to! No one to have a "house warming" party with... so a lot of this is bittersweet. Especially since, as I mentioned before, it's October...the start of my favorite time of year...the holidays. Even though Florida is not known for seasonal changes, there is always a different hue in the sky in October, especially around dusk. There is always a slight different feel in the air. Even if the leaves don't change colors, enough changes in the stores, and the restaurants, and the malls to make it look and feel like Fall. That is something I will miss this year... something that I began missing this morning when I woke up, realizing that it was indeed, October.

I guess that is just something I will have to deal with. I will have to start recognizing the little nuiances that makes it feel like Fall in Hawaii. So far, I haven't seen much Halloween stuff except for a few decoration isles in supermarkets. And of course, the weather never changes here in the slightest. A few degrees at most. But I have to remind myself that this is a part of life. I was at work the other day in a conference room for a talk on a sea turtle conservation program in Brazil when I spotted a really beautiful poster. The quote on the poster has given me comfort- making me realize that in order to really live life, you have to take some risks... the quote read:

"You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore."

And that is exactly what I've done...