Ben Harper on Maui!!

ALOHA to you. I am in a pretty darn good mood! I just found out that Ben Harper is playing on Maui in April!! :) I love Ben. (if you don't know that I'm obsessed with him, maybe we should talk more often!) Here's the website: http://www.kokuafestival.com/ . Hoping to get front row when the presale happens this weekend. Also, my friend Tanya took me surfing yesterday and it was so awesome!! I surprised myself because I was able to stand up pretty quickly! It was my first time and the waves were pretty wimpy, but it was so much fun!! I can't wait to go again.

Tomorrow, I'm looking at a studio that's for rent. Hopefully it is as sweet as it sounds on paper. It will be at least $300 cheaper than I'm paying right now and has a little fenced in yard for Jack. :) We'll see.

Got to play tennis in this round robin social thing on Sunday. I wasn't sure if they were going to keep it up b/c the man whose house it's at passed away in December. He was such a neat guy. His last name is Van Steen and he coached tennis right up until the end. His wife decided to keep the tradition going. I always meet such nice people at these things.

My mom's coming in 2 weeks to visit. :) Can't wait to show her around. If I move into the studio, it will be tight quarters, but I have to try to cut back on my expenses for sure. I have to figure out which days to take off to maximize on her visit.

I hope things are going well in your world. Be in touch.

The Back Way to Hana

Greetings from paradise (or so they say)! Howzit? Hope you had a good long weekend... I did but of course it's over too quickly. Spent a bit of it with this new guy, Devin, that I met Friday. He took me the back way to Hana.. a sweet ride. I didn't see Gomer Pyle or Kris Kristoferson(they live there) but I did see a bunch of locals that look like they've eaten too much Kulua Pork. (huge guys- teeth optional)

Hagen is finalizing her plans to visit me on spring break!! I can't wait to show her around. Jamie says he's coming then too, but we'll see.

This is a short one.. I have to run. Ciao, Susie :)

Nothing much going on

It's Thursday afternoon and I just finished lunch. Thankfully my new student has stopped crying long enough to take a nap. My patience was really getting a workout today!

I have been looking for a new place to live that is cheaper and allows dogs, but so far, no luck. I don't want to have to get another roommate! A yard or downstairs lanai for Jack would be great... I'm sure the place won't be as nice, but this $1400 a month is killing me!

Looking forward to the 3 day weekend. I have a training in Kahului on Thursday, and we don't have students on Friday b/c it's a teacher workday! Now that's my kind of week! Mom is coming to visit on Feb. 8 (my bday) for two weeks. I can't wait!! It will be so great to show her around and to just have her here.

I'm getting back into the swing of going to the gym. I kinda fell off the wagon a little before the holidays unfortunately.. Now girl scout cookies are coming!!

Signing off for now...

The longest flight...

I’m somewhere in the friendly skies on my way back to Maui after two weeks in the Blues. I am trying to keep a good sense of humor, but I may have lost most of it sitting on the runway at O’hare for 3 g.d. hours. Something about storms and then needing to refuel.. I’m just glad to only have 6 hours left on this delightful trip. I may have a more positive attitude had I gotten some sleep in the past 3 days!! Friday night I saw the Wailer’s at the Norva. Good show. The best show I almost didn’t see. I met Jamie and a few of his buddies from work down there, just to find out the show was sold out. Jamie and I headed to Havana’s for a beer and to come up with a way to get me in. I had to DRAG him away from the bar after meeting two attractive girls from Brazil. I almost just took his ticket. I don’t think he would have noticed. My fav songs were “Who the Cap Fit” and “Natural Mystic.” Left my car in the parking garage and rode home with Jamie’s friends. Proceeded to get very little sleep thanks to Jamie’s snoring and Sunny’s obsessive licking habit (Sunny is his dog!). After talking on my cell phone too loudly and trying to figure out how to make a cup of coffee for his snoreness, he was up and we were on our way to the parking garage. Half way there, I was reading the paper and he was smoking (which he says he was quitting today, by the way) and he made the comment about a de ja vous from our LONG trip to Key West. Man, that makes me greatful to be on an airplane right now just thinking about that car ride. What a nightmare! But I digress..

New Year’s Eve was great fun. Jamie cooked yummy grub and had people at his house. The usual 12 guys to 2 girls. I was able to double my cd collection between Jamie and Greg letting me download music to my laptop!! Greg was cool.. first time I’d met him-a friend of Laura’s Carl. Fun guy. I need to get his email addy from James. I accidently took his Rage Against the Machine cd home in my laptop. I was going to make him some cds anyway.. Also got to chat with Pat Cox about Maui –he lived on Oahu for several years. We went to Tapas (it was pretty slow) and then to the Coxs’ house. Got about 4 hours sleep that night (no thanks to Sunny). Yesterday when I left, they were cracking open a little hair of the dog and settling into the couch for all day football. Too bad I had to miss that. My head was grateful for it this morning though!

Overall, the trip home was great. The weather wasn’t too cold (60 on Christmas Eve) and I got to see family and friends. It went by so quickly and I probably put 500 miles on my Honda trying to spread my time here and there. Katie is so damn cute. Ryan, Tyler and Gavin were great too of course. I got to see Olivia and Kimberly for a little bit yesterday. Too cute. I didn’t get to see Billy as planned… I was bummed about that. I’m petty sure he was too. I told him he just has to get out to Maui that much quicker now. Other highlights besides just seeing everyone: mom’s cooking, no work, sleeping in, and no Kihei dust. My feet were actually clean for almost two weeks!! Thanks to a pedicure gift from Gina, I am ready to put my ‘slippah’s’ back on in style. Mom hooked me up with several cute outfits. Thanks to TJ Maxx having leftover summer clothes on major sale!!

Hoping to get some good news about the state of my position at Kihei El. for next school year. Hopefully something can happen so I can stay at that school. I will get my resume out to the early intervention program in the next few weeks. I’m scheduled to take this PLT Praxis test this Sat. that Hawaii Dept. of Ed. requires. I hope it’s as easy as everyone has said it is. I’m pau (finished) with taking standardized tests.

Tom (the anesthesiologist) is due back to Maui today too. I’m sure I’ll hear from him this week. Kim Wade asked why I’d need him to have an edge when he is an anesthesiologist! (If you know me well enough to be reading my blog, you know I’m looking for a nerd with an edge!!).

My battery is running on major ‘E’ and I’ve rambled long enough. Look forward to the Top Ten reasons it was good to be on the mainland!!