It’s been a couple days since I first opened my Inbox after
my wedding time off, and I’m happy to report that my outstanding emails are now
in the single digits. I’m actually happy
to be back – my schedule (to account for the five hour time difference) has
shifted from 7am – 3pm, so I get to work on the projects I’m passionate about
and still have a few hours in the afternoon to enjoy the beautiful Hawaiian sun
and sand.

Hawaii
is new to me (I’ve been here just once before several years ago with my family on
vacation), and since it might be new to you too, I thought I’d take a couple
minutes to orient you to the spots I will surely mention. First, Hawaii
consists of six islands. Oahu, where we live, is the most populated by far. Lloyd and I were hoping to get to most of the
other islands while we’re here, but since we’ve been on Oahu,
we don’t have any desire to leave.

Here’s a closer look at Oahu. Honolulu
is considered the “rat race” around here.
Coming from Washington,
DC, I hardly agree. But I suppose it is much more cosmopolitan –
restaurants, bars, shops, packed beaches – than the rest of the island. I’m a city girl, so I’m happy we’re only
about 30 minutes from Honolulu. Also, this is where I’ll likely be getting some of my
fresh fish. We’ve asked around, and the
best place to go seems to be an open air fish market there.

Another area we can’t wait to explore is the North Shore. The heart of it is between Haleiwa and
Kahuku. This is where the pro surf
competitions go down in the winter on six-story-high waves. This is also where the famous shrimp shacks
serve sweet white shrimp raised by local farmers in shallow freshwater ponds.

The final area we’ll be spending the most time in is
Windward Oahu. The Marine Corps Base is
right on the piece of land that juts out between Kaneohe
and Kailua. You may have heard of the latter because it’s
where the Obamas stayed on their Christmas vacation. It’s also the town we’re hoping to live in,
but as you can imagine, it’s quite desirable and pricey. For now, we’re in temporary lodging on the
Marine Corps Base, which is nice enough, and today I noticed, has an outdoor
grill! We’ll be using that very soon.

Windward Oahu holds its own when it comes to restaurants –
in addition to Mexican, Island, and sandwich spots;
we also stumbled upon delicious and inexpensive sushi take-out. Last night we got the rainbow roll, dragon
roll, and sauted mandoo (dumplings) from Hojin Sushi.

Tonight, I’m hoping we can use that grill. Now that we’re married, I can go to the commissarry and buy groceries all by myself, so that’s where I’m headed now.