Snow...or Lack Thereof

I already know I'm going to catch some flack for this post.
But I don't really care, because you can't really understand this experience unless you've lived it yourself.

I miss the snow.

There. I said. You can commence the hating now.

I've always been one who loved the seasons and watching them change. Fall is perhaps my favorite season, when the leaves are painted with the colors of a beautiful sunset before winter settles in.

However, I love the serenity yet unpredictability that comes in the winter months. The world looks so still when covered in a soft blanket of snow or sealed up frozen in a layer of ice. So dainty and pure. But there is great exhilaration found in a blizzard blowing all around you or snuggling up inside near a fire watching the snow fall outside the window. Not to mention all the fun to be had playing in the snow, sledding and building forts!

February 2010

That being said, I have missed the snow a bit this year. I know, I know, I'm crazy. But it nearly feels like there is missing time in my life. Like I fast forwarded too far...or I'm stuck in a perpetual summer time warp. Things felt especially incongruent when my birthday rolled around this month:
A warm sunny day just didn't feel right.
Wearing shorts didn't feel right.
I was driving with the windows down.
This is January right?
Very bizarre.

Is it possible to have a reverse form of Seasonal Affect Disorder, where the lack of seasons can negatively affect me?
Perhaps not officially, but I certainly believe that when you are used to one type of weather pattern and it changes drastically, it can mess with your internal clock.

Do not misunderstand to say that I am complaining about living in a tropical paradise! I love the fact that I can go to the beach year round and get a sunburn in December :) I've just come to realize how much a creature of habit I have been and how much adjustment it takes to move to a new climate. I already know that I will be a HUGE pansy whenever I come back to Ohio during the wintertime and I give you all full permission to make fun of me!

December 2011

For now, I'll just soak up the sunshine and treasure the warmth that most people dream about during these months.

A Prolonged Hiatus

First off, I must apologize. 
I started this blog with every intention of posting regularly. Somewhere between moving into our townhouse on Hickam, adopting an adorable dog, borrowing household items, preparing for our shipment, actually unpacking our shipment once it finally got here and preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas, my blog simply hadn't stayed a priority. And for that I am very, very sorry!

Now that I feel as if things are starting to mellow out and become more routine, I am hoping I will have the desire to share with you the exciting things that are happening with us as well as my random thoughts and ramblings. Hopefully many of you have kept up with our lives through phone or skype contact, or of course via facebook as I feel this would be an entirely too long post to recount everything that has happened in the past few months. Instead I would like to write about the things I look forward to!

Two weeks from today my younger brother David is coming to visit us!
So. Stinkin. Exciting.
This trip came rather as a surprise to me at first. We knew my parents were planning to visit us in late February for a few weeks, so David and I were discussing the possibility of him coming with them to visit. However, we both agreed that it would probably be more enjoyable if he and my parents came at separate times. We felt that this way we would be able to better address different interests and levels of activity (and seriously, that is a long time for my poor husband to spend with my whole family, hee hee). I figured this meant that maybe David would come sometime later this year or next. But I was surprised to learn that February is one of the slower months where he works and he would possibly be able to get time off to come visit. Needless to say I was pretty excited :) 
We are thrilled to have him as our first guest to visit us for two weeks next month!
Then the craziness continues.
The day after David is supposed to leave, my parents arrive to visit for three weeks! I am super excited (I mean come on, who wouldn't be happy to see their parents after seven months?), but that means we will have house guests for five weeks straight.
Oy.
Despite this fact, I am sooooo looking forward to seeing some familiar faces out here and playing "tour guide" around my new island home! I will be so glad though to simply have time to spend with my parents without having to stare at my computer in order to do so. I am also excited for them to meet our Zeus and spend time with him. He is excited to meet his extended family :)

Look at that sweet face. Who wouldn't love him?

So, this what I am looking forward to in the next several weeks. I'm hoping to provide updates and pictures while they are here visiting to help chronicle their trips!

On that note, in case you haven't seen, I uploaded lots of pictures on facebook to help give everyone a better glimpse into a few of our experiences on the island thus far.  So check them out!