Jamie and B on the half pipe

New Year, 2013

Happy New Year! Each year if better than the last, so we are excited for what this one will bring! For New Year's Eve, we celebrated in Fort Collins with some of our best friends. We ate a long and fabulous dinner at the Melting Pot and then went out and about in Old Town.

Of all the long flights I have been on, the flight to Hawaii is by far the worst. I hate it. There aren't tv's. I can't stand that. But after a decent flight to Honolulu, where B's sister, Autumn, picked us up, we headed to the base where she lives. Autumn's husband, PJ, is currently stationed in Japan, so we decided Thanksgiving would be a great time to visit.
After a long day, we finally arrived at the Ostlund home. Autumn brought me a lei! We also met 5 month old Kona for the first time.

The next day, we rented stand up paddle boards and hit the beach! It took us a few tries to get the hang of it, but before long we were doing laps in the bay!

On day three we drove to Honolulu and got to see more of the island. Then B and I went on our first salt dive! Other than some sea sickness, some issues with equalizing my ears, and the fact that B's breaths are faster than any other human being alive, we had a BLAST! After we were finished, Autumn took us to her favorite place to eat in the area and we had yummy mai tais and fresh fish dinner!

Day four we toured the North Shore. We ate yummy fresh shrimp, met a lazy turtle, had shaved ice, and saw some amazing views.

The next day we checked out some beaches at Koalina. They are man made coves that mostly get used by the residents of the hotels there. Brendon and I snorkeled at each of the coves and found a couple turtles in the third one! Then we sat at a bar, had some snacks and drinks, and watched the sun set.

I always start to get a little bit sad at about the halfway point of our vacations, knowing that we'll have to go back soon. Hawaii really has so much to offer for ocean lovers, adventure lovers, food lovers, adult beverage lovers.... its got it all.

But I was starting to miss Layla and our friends back home!

On day six we met some of Autumn's friends for a boat ride out to a sandbar! We snorkeled and ate snacks and had a great time in the sun!

Seeing Pearl Harbor was really emotional. There is still oil on the water from the ship.

We snorkeled in Hanauma Bay, which is beautiful and loaded with reef and fish!

Hawaii is full of beautiful views, violent water, and the most gorgeous sunsets I have ever seen. 

One morning we woke early and took a hike to the "pill boxes." They are World War II era bunkers used to watch the coastline for Japanese invasion. We went to see the sun rise, which, unfortunately was hidden behind the clouds. But we did get an amazing view of the area!

After years of talking about wanting to learn to windsurf, we actually learned to windsurf! We aren't very good at it, but we'll practice :)

We spent out last day in Hawaii on the beach of Lanikai. It's a floury beach with perfect waves and not too many people.

The best part of Hawaii was spending time with Autumn and Kona. Brendon and I can't wait to go back! 

No plan November

It's been about a million years since I wrote last. We have been crazy busy! Between weddings, trips, work travel, and other obligations, I slept in my own bed about 5 times in the month of October. It got old really fast. We has lots of fun times mixed in there as well, including a trip to Ohio to visit my grandparents and my sister and her babies!

Now it's No plan November. We aren't planning ANYTHING this month (other than our trip to Hawaii), and it's going to be awesome!

There are two types of sailors...

“There are two types of sailors, those who have occasionally run aground, and those who lie.”

B and I charted a boat in Washington last week and sailed the Puget Sound. B's cousin Jared joined us as well. Day one: we ran aground. It was weird. We were cruising along and all the sudden I shot forward as the boat came to a dead stop. I think we ran into the only 5 square feet of area where we would have hit ground.

We are newbies to sailing, so it had to happen sometime. It took us about 20 minutes or so to figure out how to get out of the situation and back on our way, but we did it! The rest of the trip was stress free and we learned a ton!

Sailing is where our life is headed. We are talking about trips we want to make, adventures we want to have, time we want to quit working and just… sail. It’s wonderful for me to watch B while we are sailing. We are so different in the way we do things. I just try things and figure out if they work or not. If they work, I keep doing it. If not, I start over. B has to know why and how things work. We are pretty good for each other.

Our life...

Is pretty rad. Brendon and I have been fortunate enough to travel and do awesome things. Last month we went to San Francisco (where my heart lives) for my birthday. We spent a day sailing in the bay on a Santana 22. It was a great experience and made me crave sailing even more! After that, we were joined by our best friends for the rest of the week.

There have been a few moments in my life where I feel outside of my body with happiness and content. The first time I remember this feeling is when I got off work for the last time before our wedding. I drove away with the windows down on a BEAUTIFUL afternoon thinking about the exciting weeks ahead of me…and I was blissful. Being in San Francisco gives me this feeling. The air, the water, the people, the smells… everything about that city! There is no better way to celebrate my birthday that to be in my favorite place in the world.

Last weekend we went to Las Vegas to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Vegas is a different story. I had fun and vacation is better than no vacation, but Vegas feels like purgatory.

There were five of us on Seascape; B and I, the instructor (Tim), and Marilyn and John. Jon pretty well made us crazy. He had to have his hands in everything (literally... would actually be trying to tie MY knot for me.) But we dealt with it pretty well given that we were stuck on Seascape with these people for 7 whole days with little reprieve.

Marilyn was a teenager in the 60's in London. I think that automatically makes her awesome. She had so many stories about seeing the classic bands in tiny little pubs and church basements. She is somewhere around 65 and is the #8 most traveled person in the world for her age and gender. She has been to over 120 countries. I think that's pretty amazing.

Each night we took turns cooking. Whoever was the cook that night got to pick the music. I thought we were bad ass when we played Rodrigo Y Gabriela on my cook night. The next night was Marilyn's turn and she totally schooled me. We listened to some really fantastic music!

Marilyn and I got drunk and danced on the bow of the boat in the moonlight. Sailing is rad.