Jet Lag?

I have traveled across the US, to Europe, heck, even Africa and up until yesterday I have yet to suffer from jet lag. Sure, I've been tired from my trips before, but nothing like what I have suffered from since returning from visiting my mom in Hawaii.

My flight out of Kona was at 9:30 Sunday evening, yes the red eye, and I arrived in LA at 4:45 am. I returned home about 6:00 am, dutifully unpacked my bags, worked out, and then got my clothes sorted to start the laundry all by 7:30 am. And that was the end of me. About 7:30 I crawled into my wonderful, comfy bed "just for a little while" and woke up at 9:30 am.

I called my friend who was watching my dog while I was away and said I'd be there in a little while to pick up Koho. I went back to sleep and woke up about noon. Often I sat up in bed and told myself it was time to get up and then I'd fall back to sleep. About 2:30 I finally pried myself out of bed, put on sweats and went to get Koho. On my way home I remembered I had laundry to do. So when I got home, I went back upstairs to get the laundry, but found myself back in bed. I think I woke up again about 9:00 PM to let the dog out and went back to sleep. Still forgetting about the laundry.

Even after all the sleeping I did yesterday, I still slept soundly and didn't wake until about 9:00 am. Again, let the dog outside, came back up to bed, checked my email, and fell back to sleep. Finally, about noon I dragged myself out of bed to do the laundry and work out. However, I forgot all about the laundry again and just worked out.

After deciding I had a couple of errands I needed to run I took a shower and then sat on the couch for about an hour trying to get up the energy to go outside. I had three places to go, all three in the same side of town, but instead of going in that direction, I went the other way - the whole time trying to remember where I was going?!?!?!?!

I ended my errands with a trip to the grocery store and I got out of there without incident. As I drove into the garage and saw the washer and dryer I remembered that I needed to do my laundry. So I went upstairs to get the laundry and got side tracked on the computer when I realized that the groceries were still in the car. Ugh!

After the groceries I went outside three times to get the mail and take the garbage cans out and two of those times I forgot why I went outside. Seriously.

It's so weird. This flight was only about 4 1/2 hours and it's only a 2 hour time difference right now. I keep thinking that it's because I'm 35 and not a spring chicken any longer, but I'm hoping it was just because of the red eye!

It's about 10:00 PM, a day later, and I finally feel back to normal. Oh, and I just finished the laundry.

Meeting the Artist

This past week my mom and I visited the Wyland art gallery in downtown Kona for an artist event. Wyland is a marine life artist who is most known for his 100 "Whaling Walls" all over the world. I have seen his work a lot as it is quite prominent in Southern California and Hawaii. On Sunday, Wyland was at his gallery in Kona and I got to meet him.
After some champagne and hors d'oeuvres he painted a picture in front of everyone. It was amazing! His work is not really my style as far as it doesn't go with the decor in my home (plus it's super expensive), but his work is truly beautiful and to watch him paint was so cool. First he sketched out the honu (sea turtle).

Here is a closeup of the sketch.

After letting the paint dry a bit (and signing books and prints), he went back in and added the color and detail to the honu.

Then he signed his name to the painting.

Here is the finished product. The honus are my favorite part of Hawaii so to watch him paint one right in front of me was quite a sight. I also must add that he was very friendly and seemed to enjoy his audience (I'd be a nervous wreck). It was a fun night! Oh, and in case anyone was interested, the painting was put up for sale for $15,000. Yikes!

Mele Kalikimaka!

Merry Christmas From Hawaii!

Taken on Alii Drive, Kona, Hawaii - December 21, 2008

My Mom Had Cows In Her Backyard...

Which wouldn't really be funny if she lived on a farm or anywhere else known to have cows, but my mom lives in Hawaii.

I talked to my mom on the phone the other day and this was the conversation.

Mom: Well I had an interesting night last night.

Me: Why?

Mom: Oh, it was about 1:00 in the morning, and I heard a noise in the backyard.

Me: Yah?

Mom: I listened for a bit and the noise kept getting closer and closer to the house.

Me: Oh, no (feeling scared)

Mom: I got out of bed and ran to the front of the house. I figured if it was a burglar trying to break in the back door, I could run out the front door and yell for help.

Me: Oh, jeeze

Mom: I stood by the front door and listened. There was still a lot of noise along the side of the house and I thought this was the loudest burglar I have ever heard.

Me: Yah, cuz you've heard a lot of burglars before.

Mom: (Laughs) Right, no I just figured he was being pretty loud for someone trying to break in.

Me: Right

Mom: So I quietly opened up the front door and walked out onto the lanai (that's what they call the patio in Hawaii). I hid on the linai for a little bit.

Me: (Imagining my poor mom scared and hiding on the patio.)

Mom: After a little while, I snuck around to the side of the house to see if I could see anything.

Me: Yah?

Mom: I looked around the corner and staring back at me was a....cow. He had horns, not the big guy's horns, but still he had horns.

Me: Oh, god, not again. (Yes, this has happened before)

Mom: So I whispered, "Go away," and waved my arms at him.

Me: (Laughs)

Mom: I wanted him to run out into the street so he wouldn't be on the side of the house anymore, but he just turned around and ran back into the backyard, scraping the side of the house with his horns.

Me: Oh, it was his horns that were making all the noise?

Mom: Well, yes, when he walked along the side of the house. The noise I first heard was of him leaning over the rock wall eating my tea plants and he knocked the wall over.

Needless to say, I was relieved that my mom didn't have a real burglar, just a burglar who wanted her tea plants. There is a field behind my mom's house. Every-so-often the owners of the field let their cows out of their normal area to graze this field. There is an ancient rock wall that lines the field, and that wall is the backyard wall for the houses that back up to the field. The wall is not grouted or concreted in, but rather stacked in a special "Hawaiian" way. So when the cows are sent out to this field, they sometimes eat the foliage of the residents. When they do that, they lean against the stacked wall and the wall falls over.

This is not the first time this has happened. When some of my mom's friends were staying at her house while she was here in CA, a bull knocked the wall over and grazed in the backyard for awhile. The people who own the cows have repaired the wall each time it happens. My mom will have to keep their number on speed dial. She had 7 more cows looking over the wall tonight.

I'm so glad it wasn't really a burglar.