Hawaii: Cures What Ails You

Would it be cheesy and over the top to start out this post by yelling "Aloha!" then pretend to wait for your response of the same greeting, then act like your first attempt just wasn't good enough, and yell it at you again? It would? Sweet.

Aloha!
no, no, no, I said...
Alo-ha!

I needed this vacation like you wouldn't believe...like McCain needs a prayer...like my oven needs a cleaning...like I needed a tan. Stresses manifested from all areas of my so-called-life had been tugging at me from even the most unsuspecting places. It was all I could do to pacify those nasty stress monsters with overdoses of Sour Patch Kids knowing that a blissful vacation was on the horizon.When I stepped off the plane in Honolulu, the most amazing thing happened. That one thing I freaked out about? Over it. That other thing I was stressing about? Poof. Gone. And those other little petty things keeping me up at night? Nada. And for that reason, Hawaii is a magical, mystical place with special healing powers that I will forever be grateful for. It is because of Hawaii that BD is still my PerfectDarlingAngelBearClaw and no one else has lost their life due to my unpredictable bouts with craziness. P.S. I might also feel this way about Hawaii because LOST is filmed there. But I'm still iffy on that part. So, thank you Hawaii.

My Hawaii Top Ten
10. Hot malasadas filled with cream. Fat free, calorie free, but only in Hawaii. And if you've heard otherwise, keep it to yourself.9. Contemplating whether to take the golf cart or walk to the beach was the most important decision I would make all day, and all week for that matter. It was incredible to really vacation and really relax. In my world there's a huge difference between a trip and a vacation. Hawaii was meant to be the latter.8. Hawaiian Shave Ice from Matsumoto's. Not to be confused with regular shaved ice, or even a snow cone for that matter. Shave Ice is in a sweet-sugary-sticky world all it's own with ice cream and beans to boot.7. Sand in your toes and in all the places in and around your body that sand shouldn't ever go, but still does. That naughty sand.6. Cliff jumping at Waimea. Or in my case, watching the cliff jumpers at Waimea. Don't judge me, I'm not a baby but someone had to stay back with the kid, who BTW is an actual baby, and I'd rather that someone be me, with my butt safely parked on the beach where it belongs. Crazythrillseekingadventurists...as if it wasn't enough that I allowed myself to swim in shark infested waters (AKA "the ocean"), I didn't see the need to go carelessly flailing my body off a mountain into that same death trap.5. Eating delicious shrimp from a broken down bus on the side of Kam highway, discovering you have a rather unpleasant intolerance for palm oil, paying heavily for eating that delicious shrimp for the next several days.4. Being reminded that I am officially back to "baby hungry." More like carnivorous actually. Sigh. Thanks a lot Nixon, you cute little monkey you. If you need me, I'll be working on my denial routine for the next 6 months. To speed up the process, be a dear and send me pictures of your little brats doing terrible, horrible, no good things to you and your house, preferably with snotty noses and germy hands. My posterity thanks you in advance.3. Living like a rock star better than a rock star for a week. Mahalo to the Murdocks for including us in their summer vacation. Someday, we'll return the favor (translation: we'll never be able to return the favor, but we'll die trying!).2. Sunsets on the beach, holding hands with my beau, and feeling more relaxed and rejuvenated than I ever thought possible.1. Spending 7 days in Hawaii together as the perfect excuse to connect, reconnect, and make incredible memories with dear friends. These two beauties are my old roommates from back in the day, like way back, when it was probalby still cool to say "back in the day." I've since given up on cool, but I still heart them. Possibly even more than I heart Hawaii.