Aloha! Means Hello & Good-Bye

I can't believe I'm off to Hawaii in 5 days! It still seems so far off, but it's really right around the corner. I have this weekend and then 3 days of work and then off to the islands. Then, the real mind bend -- home for 3 days and then off to California. I'm not even counting those 3 days at home, although I will go in to work (mostly to show off my tan...) since we're leaving super early on Saturday, June 28. We'll return home on Saturday, July 12 giving me a day to recoup before going back to work on July 14.

My time in Hawaii will be great -- I have a luau the day I get there, a helicopter ride & dinner Friday, the wedding & dinner Saturday and then a brunch on Sunday. There will only be the bride & groom, their parents and 3 friends (2 work friends and me). I finally have my dress, purse and shoes together with a tentative palette of accessories (not real sure of the necklace). I've even been tanning -- something I haven't done in years -- just to make sure I'm not Minnesota-white when I get there.

I still have a few things to try and get done -- a manicure, waxing (not the fun kind) and general packing. The good thing is that I got out of work early on Thursday and did some shopping, which included a new bathing suit, cover-up, some capri pants and some new books. I know -- I still have a ton of unread books but none were really "beach reads" so I needed to get a few to tide me over.

With this trip pending, I haven't even been able to get excited about my (now) annual trip to California. We hemmed and hawed about this, especially with the price of gas, but decided it was too important. Usually, it's a good break for Don before he's off to cover the start of Viking training camp, but he got thrown a curve 2 weeks ago. The powers that be at his paper decided to move him from the Viking beat to the Timberwolves beat. He's never covered the NBA before, and it was all politics, but I'm sure he'll do a good job. The tough part will be the travel. For the NFL, it was 1 pre-season game and 8 regular-season games on the road which meant 2 nights away. The NBA is much different -- there could be as many as 6 nights away at a time, and there are 41 road games to cover. Ugh.

The trip to California will be different, too. We have driven the 4th of July weekend, but with the timing, we're actually going the week before. That means, we'll be in Santa Barbara Sunday - Thursday AM, in Los Angeles Thursday - Sunday afternoon and then back in SB from Sunday PM until Friday AM before we head back to Minnesota. I'm hoping to get appointments with my chiropractor & nutritionist on Thursday, July 3 plus I'll get to see my mom at least once while I'm in LA. I'll see Dad & Dean on Wednesday, July 2 for a bit plus dinner that night.

It's a lot of logistics, but as long as I get a few good days by the pool (for me) and a few long walks on the beach (for the dogs), I should be good until next year.

Work is going very well. I'm loving my new boss and his leadership. I wasn't sure about it when it was announced, but he's really proven himself to me and my team. I still have a lot on my plate, but it seems so much easier than when I was doing my job plus my former boss's job. I'm actually getting home at a decent hour and even got back into the gym on weekdays last week.

I'll try and post a few more times before I leave for Hawaii since won't have my computer there, but I will have computer access when I'm in California.

Anyway, I'm going to try and catch up on what everyone else is doing. I've been a bad blogger from both a posting and commenting stand-point. I want to do better in these areas!!!