Girls Night Out

We had one last Girls Night Out before I leave Chicago. GNO started 2 years ago when a few of us girls from church (Holy Covenant UMC) wanted to do something more social. We would try to get together once a month by going to dinner and sometimes dancing. It's been so much fun!

This time we went to Jin Ju, a Korean restaurant up in Andersonville...one of my favorite neighborhoods in Chicago. They have martinis that are made with soju, a vodka made from sweet potatoes. They are delicious! Here we are...Carrie, Diane, Cindy, Rebekah, Sara, Maria, and myself.

Cindy had one of the interesting, but very tasty, martinis. It was scotch (or bourbon, I can't remember), champagne, and Campari. YUM!

We all had a great time! The food was delicious! I don't think there was a drop of food left. If you like spicy, I would recommend the Dak Bulgogi.

Smile girls :)

After dinner we went over to my favorite bar, The Hopleaf, to have a beer. I found out that they have almost all of the beers from Unibrou, the same brewery that did the beer and chocolate tasting. So I had a bottle of Terrible. It was a great way to end the evening.

I will definitely miss these nights. I always looked forward to them and we all became such good friends. Thanks ladies for all the memories! I'll miss you all very much.

GERMANFEST!

As most of you know...and if not, now you do...I'm predominately German. I remember having traditional, family-style, German food in the Amana Colonies and had always wanted to go to the Chicago Brauhaus. So, I was having lunch with Sara and we were planning my final weekends in Chicago, and I said "I have to go to the Brauhaus before I leave". It was on; we decided the weekend at that moment. We had a great time. I wish I went there years ago and then I would have had the chance to eat and drink many times.

Fabulous! The Chicago Brauhaus sign and me next to the Stiegl sign.

Oh, Okay, Yeah, We're almost ready, but it still turned out to be a great picture of Sara and me. And on the other side of the tabel is Matt, Cindy, and Happ (his full name is Michael Happ, just so you know). The stein of beer was the drink for the evening.

WOW! Is that the most gigantic shank you've ever seen? I don't think I've ever seen anything like that, but it tasted delicious. And too bad Cindy was next to Matt (she's a vegetarian, and to us non-vegetarians it smelled wonderful, but to her...it was disgusting)

MMMMMM!!!! Again, a stein of the dark, delicious German bier.

Okay, so, I wasn't having the head cheese..which is below on the left. Happ and I both had the Brauhaus Special (see right). But the appetizer was head cheese. I just couldn't do it, but I did try it...and I thought it was absolutely disgusting. Sara and Happ enjoyed it. Sara said it tasted like braunschweiger (that's liverwurst to you non-Germans). As my father would say, "to each his own".

"Yes, Sara, this one's for you!" Sara had been to the Brauhaus before for drinks and the same band was there. The singer through a little "shout out" (via pointing) to her for this song. The band consisted of an acordian player and the singer who played guitar. They were great!

It was our friend David's b-day party that day too. So, we all went over to Fat Cat to say hi. But we were a little early so I decided we needed more pictures. Once again, the self-portrait of me and Happ, and then Miss Cindy and Miss Sara.

Awe, a little brotherly love. Happ and Matty have a moment.

So cute!

So, this is an empty glass of my favorite drink. If you don't know, it's a Manhattan. I have a funny and interesting story of my fav drink from when I was first in Hawaii. If you haven't heard it, let me know...I'll tell you. All I'll say is that it has to be made with Makers!









Here's the b-day boy! Happy Birthday David!

We had a great time! What a fun night! And I'll leave it at that. ;)

Beer and Chocolate...Yum!

Who would have thought of pairing beer with chocolate? I definitely would never have thought of it, but when Sara sent an email asking if I'd like to go to a tasting of one of my favorite beer company with chocolate, I had to say yes! And it was one of the most delicious nights EVER! Forget about wine and cheese, you have to try beer and chocolate!








The beer was from Unibroue (uni-brew) and the chocolates were from rr chocolat. I was so happy to try 3 beers from this brewery that I never knew existed. It's a French Canadian company and I love every beer I've tried from them. I had never heard of the chocolatier, but it was fabulous. (As you can see, I have more of a hankering for beer than chocolate)

Matt and Cindy say "CHEERS"

Sara and I say "Delicious!"

We decided that we hadn't had enough and stayed at Latitude to have a bite to eat after. Beer and chocolate makes everyone very happy!

Cindy and I say "Cheese". Most of you already know...

I love to take the self-portraits. :)

We had a great time! I'm definitely going to miss nights like these, but now we can look at these memories all the time. Don't you love blogs?! Aloha!

Almost Set...

Richard and I are almost set! He found out yesterday that all the time off he requested was approved. So, today I bought our tickets! We are flying from Cedar Rapids to LA on March 2nd and then from LA to Lanai on March 3rd. I still can't believe that it's so close. I'm getting a little overwhelmed, but I'm also at ease somewhat now that we have our tickets and everything can be finalized. Now, I just have to keep packing, ugh! It's a great feeling to go through everything and purge what's not needed. I'm doing my best to make sure everything will be packed with as much organization as possible. WOW! This is getting crazy! The next order of business is taking pictures of some of my stuff to see if any of my friends want it. Then I need to get all of Isabelle's vet paperwork finished. Well, I better get back to packing. I'll keep you all posted. Aloha!

I'm Back in Hawaii!!! Aloha!

Aloha! I went back to HI for a few days to see Richard. I just couldn't wait until the end of Feb. to see him again. We had a wonderful time together, as you'll see below. It's now only weeks until I move there. It's so exciting!

The first night I was there, Rich picked me up from the airport and we went off on one of the dirt roads to watch the sunset. It was incredible. The sunsets there are so beautiful. I can't believe I'll be able to see them all the time!

Friday we went down to Lopa Beach. It's on the East side of the island and takes about an hour to drive there since it's a red dirt road with a million pot holes and ruts. You have to have 4-wheel drive to get there. This is a very special beach to us since this is where Rich first took me when I was there in September.

I was so amazed to see this peacock. I had no idea they were on the island. We also saw a few spotted deer.

This beautiful church has been abandoned for a while, but there is still something special about it. It's about half way to Lopa, and it was also founded on Rich's birthday. What a coincidence...

So, we decided to camp at the beach. It was two of the best days I've had in my life. I believe we had almost every one of our meals at one beach or the other. How fabulous is that?

This is our "campsite". There's the firepit we used, and shared with some locals, our tent, the "Pig", and you can even see the waves from the ocean.

Our first day there we laid around on these lounge chairs for

a while. Then, as you can see below, I had to take a nap. I was

"too sleepy already".

While I napped, Rich took these pictures, got firewood, and

started cooking dinner. We had steak, baked potatoes, and

baked beans. It was delicious! And the ambiance was to die for!

Lopa is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my

life. This picture of the sunset doesn't even do it justice and it's

gorgeous!

So, we slept in the tent, with an air mattress that had a leak in it, but it was still a great nights sleep. There is no sleeping in when you camp, and thank God! Otherwise, we would have missed this sunrise.

Here we are, the Saturday night at Lopa. This night we ate chicken,baked beans (mmmmm, we love those beans) and macaroni andcheese. Whoever thinks you can't eat great while camping doesn't know what they're doing.

Sunday we went to Sarah's b-day bash at the "Hotness's" house (aka Carl). As you can see, it was a gorgeous day. I was so happy not to be in Chicago weather...wouldn't you? 0 degree weather vs. 75? I'll take 75, thank you!

Monday was such a fun day. We went 4-wheeling around the island. First we took a trial run down to the Garden of the Gods and then we went up into the mountain. Below are some of the pictures. I can't tell you enough how beautiful the island is.

Here we are on the ATV. We were ready to roll. It was so much fun. I can't wait to drive one myself!

Here we are at the top of the mountain. What more could I ask for? It was

a beautiful day...the sun was out (atleast at this elevation), we were out in

nature, and I was with Rich. That's all I need.

Here's the dirty side of ATV'ing on red dirt. This is a tissue with all the dirt I cleaned out of my ears. Yuck huh?! But I'll do it again in an instant!

And here I am...on my last day, heading to the airport. Rich gave me this t-shirt, and it says "New Jersey only the strong survive". I had to wear it back to Chicago.





Well, it was an amazing trip with many memories. And it's so crazy to think that I will be moving there in just a few weeks. I'm very excited, but I am also going to miss so many people. I hope you all enjoy this blog as much as we enjoy putting it together. I know it will be a way for many of us to "keep in touch". With that said...mahalo for all the memories over the last few years. Aloha!