It's dangerous when I have nothing to do

...stuck in Hawaii, surrounded by designer stores, and not a whole heck of a lot to do.  It could have been a lot worse.  I scoured the stores for Lei's for my Primary class - one of the girls specifically asked for them - and I'm a push over - so they got them...and some chocolate covered macadamia nuts.  It wasn't my fault that I walked past 3 Coach stores in my efforts to find the Lei's!   I managed to keep the shopping to a minimum, just one Coach purse, and a t-shirt from Dukes - it could have been so much worse!!

I realize that I had meant to take a photo of the incredible dessert from Dukes; they only have one on the menu, and I felt obligated to have it.  I think the only way to remedy this problem is to have it again tomorrow - such sacrifice :)  Nonetheless, I did take a photo of the view from my table at Dukes - this is one of my favourite places!

Last time I was in Hawaii, I realized that surfing is 95% boredom and 5% exhilaration - people have to sit bobbing in the surf and wait for a decent wave; and honestly, they sit there for AGES; I decided to watch them and wait with them for a decent wave to come along, and then I realized that the only thing more boring than being a surfer waiting for a wave is being a photographer waiting for the surfers waiting for a wave...so I took this and went back to shopping...

Those Mormons sure know how to put on a good show

What an incredible day.  It was raining this morning, so I decided it would be a good time to go to the Polynesian Cultural Centre (PCC); I booked onto a tour bus that picked me up close to the hotel and took us to the  PCC - the tour guide explained that the Centre is managed by BYU - Hawaii and all proceeds go to helping fund students at the University.

The Centre itself was fascinating; so well put together; I really left with a deeper appreciation of the multiple and diverse cultures of the Polynesian Islands;  This is a photo of me with the tour guide, Thanathon (from Thailand), just after I had my tattoo done - (apparently it will wash off :) - excuse the hair, I had been caught in more than one rain storm

The show in the evening was breathtaking. It was called "Ha - The Breath of Life" I honestly don't think you could see anything better than this in the West End or on Broadway.  Any show that can make you cry and cheer at the same time deserves a few awards - and it was hard to believe that it was completely done by University students.  I know there is nothing I can say that will do it justice - you just have to come to Hawaii and make a point of seeing it.  This is a photo of one of the cast members after the show - it's a poor photo; but it's all I have...

I snuck out during the tour to go to the Temple - it was just re-dedicated after extensive renovations in November - it was beautiful.  It's always nice to get grounded by spending a couple of hours in the temple.

Days don't get much better than this.

Back on the road again

I was barely home long enough to do a little laundry and pack my bags again for the quick trip to Hawaii.  It was nice to leave the snow of Calgary....fly over the lush green of Vancouver Island (actually, I'm not sure that is what this is a photo of, but it's in that general vicinity!)

...and then landed in Hawaii late at night.  I am SO looking forward to the next few days - no work to even think about; not a care in the world :)  This may not happen again until I retire!!

I'll miss this place!

This is the view from my bedroom window at Jenny and Darrell's house - it really is quite breathtaking.  I have had the most delightful weekend:

• Shopping with Jenny and the girls
• John Chandlers soccer match
• Two sessions of General Conference in the Conference Center
• Hanging out with Jenny and Daz
• Hanging out with Lincoln and Daz - catching up on old times

Really had a lovely time - I need to do this more often!!

General Conference

Details to follow...but this was my favourite photo of the day...

General conference

This is just a placeholder - I took a few lovely photo's - but I'll add them when I have more time!!

Unemployed

Today was my last day at Flextronics, it was really strange to finally finish my list of things to do...ok, so I didn't quite finish, I have one other project, so I'll stay on line till Monday - but then I'll really finish :)

I am in Utah and so I worked all morning and part of the afternoon from the hotel, then I wandered around Temple Square before heading down to Jenny and Darrells house. 

The Deseret Bookstore had an amazing display of fresh flowers...I had so many photo ops today, I wish I could make them spread over the next few weeks!

Oh my goodness it is nice to see them!  And how the kids have grown - they are just adorable!  Daz went to a mission reunion with the boys this evening and Jenny and I went shopping, I can't think of a better way to train a couple of girls!!

It was a beautiful day...here is a shot of the temple - you can see how lovely the weather is!