Hanging Loose in Hawaii!

As the sun sets on my second day in Hawaii, I finally figured out my internet situation so I can update you what’s going on!
The time difference between California and Hawaii is three hours, which actually works in my favor. I tend to be a late sleeper but the three hours helps me be an early bird here in Hawaii. Our flight was actually delayed four hours from Oakland but thanks to the time change, we still have plenty of time to explore.

Our first day, we checked in and scouted out the place. We’re staying in the Hilton Waikiki Hawaii Village and the entire place is made to keep you in their constructed village. It’s a pretty nice set up with a different hotel towers and a range of shops. There’s the beachfront and a small lagoon and plenty of places to paddle board or learn to surf or snorkel. We had a pretty relaxed day walking around and having dinner at one of the hotel restaurants and ended the night with a couple of rounds of Cards Against Humanity and Heads Up.

Today was mostly a planning day. After waking up relatively early, we grabbed a quick bite before heading out to the beach and to enjoy the sun. No matter how many times people say it, the ocean is always a surreal blue in Hawaii and it feels so nice to just float and bob around in it. After lunch, we did a bit of planning to figure out what we’re going to do for the rest of the week. As nice as it is just sitting on the beach, you have to take advantage of the sunny skies and all the fun ocean activities there is to do. So far, we have planned a snorkeling trip tomorrow and a visit to North Beach and hopefully a trip to the Dole Plantation.  I have not gotten my fill of pineapple yet!

My internet isn’t actually the fastest, unfortunately. It takes quite a while for each page to load, but I’ll do my best to keep you updated on the sunny beaches of Waikiki!

Look at the guys with their fruity drinks

What's In My Bag?

So since I'm headed to Hawaii, I thought I'd give you a quick peek into my bag. I tend to carry a larger purse with my at all times and my trust navy Longchamp has doubled as my school bag for the last year. I got it as a gift from a relative and I've been using it ever since!

Cards Against Humanity // Gift Card Earbud Holder // iPad + books // Small Longchamp Pouch // Sunglasses // Post-It Notes

Cards Against Humanity: This game is the best! In a very convoluted way. I just printed out my own version since the actual game is often sold out. It takes a bit of time to print and cut but it works just as well. And since I don't have a ton of black ink, I just inverted the colors on the black cards and printed them on green cards instead.

Gift Card Earbud Holder: My brother showed me this easy way to keep your earbuds untangled with an old gift card. I used an old Lululemon gift card I received for Christmas and my brother made it into a cool earbud holder for me. Don't worry, I made sure the card was empty before cutting into it!

iPad: I like bringing my iPad around because you never know when you might have a bit of down time and might want a book to read. I used to carry around paperback books but with the iPad, I can bring around a whole bunch of books at once.

Small Longchamp Pouch: My mom found this pouch in a stack of old things she had and I'm pretty sure it's not a real Longchamp but it fits perfectly with my bigger Longchamp tote and I use it as sort of an emergency pouch. There's bandaids, hairties, allergy medication, and some make up touch up tools in there.

Sunglasses: Because the sun can appear at the most inconvenient times. Who am I kidding, I love the sun!

Post-It Notes: Just because you never know when you need to jot down a quick note, give someone your number, or just leave a note for someone in the future to read!

I am the Lord of Catan!

There’s no denying it, I’m an extremely competitive person. Ever since I was younger, I’ve always loved friendly (or sometimes not so friendly) competition. Though I’ve gotten better about not being a sore loser (when I was younger, I would actually stomp off in the middle of games if I was pretty sure I wouldn’t win), I still get a great deal of satisfaction from winning, usually board games.

Being competitive runs in my family, I guess. With three kids in the household, we often get compared to each other despite the fact that the three of us are all extremely different. In a way, it’s pushed us to all to “specialize” in our own comfort zones but it’s also led me to shy away from things I have anxiety that I might not do well in.

The pressure of competitiveness is a double edged sword – while on the one hand, it can drive and motivate you to excel and be better, it can also leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth when you constantly need to be number one and can’t settle for anything less.

Recently, my competitive attitude has really come out while playing a game called “Settlers of Catan.” I’ve never played this game before college and while I was an undergrad, there wasn’t much time to play board games so when we played during Game Night, I was hooked. It’s a combination of luck, probability, strategy, and a good poker face. It’s a bit of a steep learning curve and there are a lot of pieces that go on the board, but once you get the hang of it, it’s a pretty addicting game. The total game time can total more than an hour, so it’s a time investment but in my opinion, it’s totally worth it. Also, if you win, you can rejoice in my victory cry: “I AM THE LORD OF CATAN!”

I’ve played both the original version of Settlers as well as the Star Trek version. Yes, call me a nerd but when I saw the game at Target, I couldn’t resist. Another one of my favorite games is Set. That one is more a game of reaction and spatial thinking.

I hope there are more Game Nights in my future. What are some of your favorite games to play? (I sincerely hope someone says Cards Against Humanity because that game is the shi* in a kind of convoluted kind of way.)