OMG....WE'RE HAVING A...

BABY!!!




I know, I know...crazy news, but it's true. Rich and I are so very excited. We got to talking and decided we wanted to do this now. It seems pretty fitting when you know our history. We've told our families and now felt it's time to tell the rest of our friends.


The baby is due January 20, 2009. We went back and forth on if we should find out if it's a boy or girl, but I think we've decided we are going to find out. We have a few names picked out already, and since we are going to find out, we are going to pick 2 names and decide once we meet him/her.


The baby already has a nickname...thank you Melissa! You might have noticed a ticker on the right side of the page...it's the baby's countdown. The baby's nickname is Newbee, which is absolutely perfect! For those of you who don't know, one of Richard's nicknames is Koobee, so you can see how Newbee is very fitting.


We have had many requests for pictures of my belly. I'm going to take a picture at 13 weeks and then every month after that. It'll be fun to see how I change over the next 6 months. The wireless goes in and out, so I'll get those pictures posted as fast as I can.



We're really excited to share this news with everyone. I'll keep you all posted with the milestones that are coming. I hope this finds everyone well. Aloha!!

Computer Update

HI!!! It seems like it's been forever since I've written anything. But here's the computer update...

Rich found out that his hard drive crashed! And this was after a co-worker had his computer for over a month. Not good news...but his computer was still under warranty. THANK GOD we don't have to buy another one. He called Gateway and another hard drive is on its way. I'm hoping it will be here soon. Once it is, you'll see so many posts from the last four months.

Wow! I can't believe it's been 4 months already. It's gone so fast. I can't wait to share what's been going on in our lives. I hope you are all doing well and I'll hopefully be back to blogging regularly very, very soon.

Aloha!

We are still alive!

Aloha!! I know we haven't made any new postings since we left Chicago, but we are still alive and doing well. Rich's computer crashed as soon as we got internet connection. :( So, as soon as we get that fixed, you'll see postings all the time. Plus, the 50 million I'll have to catch up on.

Just some brief FYIs...I am now a concierge at the Four Seasons at Manele Bay. I'm loving it! The people I work with are great and it gives me a chance to learn much more about the island faster than I would have otherwise. Rich and I did Sporting Clays and Archery a week ago, and will go horseback riding tomorrow. We have driven down to Polihua beach and will go camping at Awaloa beach after horseback riding. We've already camped at Lopa beach and Hulopo'e beach twice. I never thought I'd camp this much in my life. IT'S SO MUCH FUN!!! Plus, Isabelle is officially a beach dog. She's loving it just as much as I am.

Well, soon you'll get to see some pictures and know what we've been up to. Rich and I wish you all the best and miss you all! Aloha from Lana'i.

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!