Christmas, Hawaiian Style

We had a few days of heavy rain this week, which made me feel like Hawaii was trying to assert that it, too, has a winter season. But now we're back to sunshine and 80 degree weather as we creep closer to Christmas. Here's a few other things that make this Christmas so different than the ones we've had before.

This sign has been posted in our elevator for a week. It really expresses the true feelings of Hawaiians toward Mainlanders, without coming right out and saying it: We know you suckers are freezing over there.


For those who can't see it says: "You are here. [Picture of Sun, and a Thumbs up]. They are there [Picture of... I'm not sure what, but they're getting snowed on. Thumbs Down]. Now isn't that dandy?"

And then this is the Men's Department at Macy's while I was doing some Christmas shopping for John. Aloha shirts as far as the eye can see!

Though it's been said many times... not always this way: Mele Kalikimaka!
-Raquel

12-17-10 Gingerbreading in Chambers

So when we're not taking pen to paper, we're making gingerbread houses. Pooja (left) and Catherine (middle) made the house, I made the very special tree. In the process I discovered my artistic abilities have actually regressed since kindergarten.

Mele Kalikimaka!

Signs saying "Mele Kalikimaka" started popping up around here just after Thanksgiving. It means Merry Christmas.

All the buildings along our street in downtown put up crazy decorations, and it took us a while to figure out why they were so into it, until we stumbled on the Honolulu City Lights Parade.


The blocks in the background behind us were recently in a Hawaii Five-O episode!

Santa (on the float behind John) still came last, as he does in the Thanksgiving Day parade... except this was a Christmas parade so I'm not sure if it still makes sense.

The trusty Bus, all decked out.

It's been sad for us to be away from our families for the holidays, but at least we get to experience some different things-- like a Christmas parade instead of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade! It was fun.

12-11-10 Feliz Navidad!

Our Christmassy Apartment! Remember you can always click the pictures for a larger version.




Merry Christmas from Honolulu! And we are aware that the tree needs more garland and an angel on top

Bonus picture:

12-10-11 Sunrise from our Apartment

Too crazy not to share.

First Car

This weekend John took a day off so that we could go buy a car. We had originally thought we'd do without one. We're living downtown close enough to John's work that he can walk, and I bought a bike and have been riding that around. But not having a car in Honolulu was really a pain. It's hard to pick up hanging dress shirts from the dry cleaner on a bicycle. And I was spending a lot of time going to the grocery store because there are only so many things you can carry on your back! So we caved and bought a car-- the first time either of us had ever made such a large purchase.


It's a 1990 Honda Accord in pretty good condition. Old and not anywhere close to fancy. But it runs really nicely, which is more than we can say for some of the other cars we looked at. We bought it from a car used dealership in Kaneohe whose owner is friends with my cousin. He was really nice, knowledgeable, and helpful.

So John was a happy camper behind the wheel again. Also, his years of experience driving the much-loved Shitmobile have come in really handy now that we have an old car :-)

12-01-2010 Christmas Package from Home

Today John and I got a care package from Pelham. The decorated box was a dead give-away that it was from my sister Emma.

Emma, in an attempt to spread her craftiness during the Thanksgiving holiday, had apparently put everyone to work making us christmas ornaments for our tree! We don't have a tree yet, but now we'll have to get one! Here is the pile of ornaments after we had taken them out of the box:

The Nutcracker cast of characters-- as many of you know, Emma and I danced approximately one million performances of the Nutcracker over the course of more than a decade, and performed almost ever role. We don't do Christmas without the Nucracker.

Arabella made us a tree ornament, among other things.

John got a special lawyer ornament from my mom. Apparently, they don't have "graduate student" ornaments...

And he particularly loved Mare's angel. By the way, Tia Raquel will be happy to know that her grandchild was the only one to include any sort of religious imagery... an angel and a cross. At least i think it's a cross. It might be a snowflake...

Lauren and Adam sent us some beautiful snow-flakes fro the Metropolitan Museum of Art store. (There are three sets, but John was looking at one of them when I took the picture). How you guys got roped into this, I don't know!

And last but not least, Emma made us these awesome stockings. She's got talent, folks!

We miss the Rockefeller tree (the lighting of which we watched 5 hours late here last night), the Saks windows, MAB's Nutcracker, the cold, and all of you! But the nice thing about leaving home is that you get really great care packages, apparently!

11-29-10 Chillin and Grillin

Sorry it's been so long. I'm working like crazy. Took the time off to grill tonight though!

11-22-10 Holiday Spirit in Hawai'i

11-21-10 Sunsent

Nice picture from Saturday that I saved

11-20-10 UH Game

UH Warrior football game!

11-19-10 Rooster

Yeah. There was just a rooster walking around downtown Honolulu. There isn't much more to say.

11-18-10 Sunrise from the Balcony

Purple

While everything is getting gray in the northeast, we're enjoying the bright colors of this island. Particularly purple.

These are the purple and yellow flowers that John brought me on Monday evening. They looked pretty nice in the morning light flooding our apartment, which faces east.

And here is my purple bike! It's made transportation much more efficient. Although it doesn't help with grocery shopping as much as I expected-- a gallon of milk on my back and bags hanging from each handlebar is not that fun to travel with. You'll also notice my helmet. For some crazy reason, I seem to be one of the few people in Honolulu who actually wears one!

Sending lots of sunshine and bright colors to you all!

-Raquel

11-16-2010 Guest Post

Hi everyone! John is letting me post today. On my way home from yoga this afternoon, I rode past the Iolani Palace, as I always do. Except today it was festooned with Hawaii State flags and banners, and the Royal Band was playing. It was a celebration commemorating the birthday of King Kalakaua, who reigned from 1891 to 1894, according to Google.

Members of a heritage organization walked off the porch after the event ended, including two descendants of the royal family.

Afterward, I went to Goodwill to pick up some things we needed for our apartment. The sign behind the counter was funny.

Saludos,

Raquel

11-15-10

The view from my office

11-13-10

I hate to do the same pictures again, but these are much larger pictures from my balcony. You can see the clouds rolling down from Manoa Valley

11-12-10

Sorry I missed a day. I hope the double rainbow (*DOUBLE RAINBOW*) I saw on the way to work today makes up for it! These rainbows never get old.

11-10-10 My Work

The last leg of my walk. The courthouse is the brown cement-y looking building on the left

11-9-10 Night and Day Walk to Work

Starting my third week here in Honolulu, I am still amazed at how aesthetically interesting (and I think pleasing) this city is. These are two apartment buildings that I walk past on my way to work. They feature prominently in skyline shots on the television show Hawaii 5-0. The top picture was taken at 7:45 on my walk to work this morning, the bottom at 6:30 on my walk home.