Maui

So it's back to reality for me. The past couple of weeks have been amazing, starting with an amazing wedding shower that my parents threw for me. From the luau decorations, tiki bar and the food, it was phenomenal! for last minute invites and registering at bed bath and beyond, the turnout was awesome and I got almost everything off my registry. I got to catch up with old friends and family I hadn't seen in ages, and afterward went back to my house with all our loot and cash and partied at Mark's pig roast/keggar, with a lot of fun people, followed by me passing out and throwing up after many shots of tequila.

Traveling to Maui was no picnic. All in all it was about 22 hours of travel time, including a not so fun 5 hour layover at LAX, and going through security multiple times because I needed a cigarette. We arrived in paradise at about 11pm, so we couldn't see anything, we got our rental car and slept like rocks. I woke up early the next morning and stepped out onto the balcony only to see beautiful palm trees and my first view of the pacific ocean, it took my breath away. The week was filled with amazing firsts and moments I wouldn't trade for anything. We rented snorkel gear and only 20 feet out on our beach we saw a turtle, it swam right underneath us. We took a snorkel cruise and a huge school of dolphins danced and jumped and swam right next to our boat. We got up at 2:30am and drove to the summit of Haleakala (a dormant volcano, 10,000 feet!!) and watched the sunrise above the clouds. We drove a good portion of the road to Hana and drank coconut water from full size coconuts, ate fresh pineapple from a roadside stand, saw a waterfall and trekked through lush and beautiful rainforest. And of course we had to go to a luau, where we saw awesome dances, made new friends with a ton of newlyweds, ate until we could burst and watched a man toss flaming sticks all over the place.

I've never truly fallen in love with a location before. After a little while, I'm always ready to come home, but in less than a day of smelling the flowers and seeing the ocean and just the feel of the island, it broke my heart to have to leave it and come back to New England...and yes, I did cry when it came time to leave...

The wedding was nothing short of amazing. Mark and I felt so close and so in love, we didn't even remember that we had a camera on us the whole time. We were almost late to our own wedding, after I spent close to three hours at the beauty salon! Makena Cove was beautiful, with the waves crashing on the rocks behind us as we exchanged our vows. I was more than happy with the ukulele musician, it was perfect throughout the whole ceremony. Just after we were pronounced husband and wife and we kissed, he began to play "Somewhere over the rainbow" and I lost it, it was the happiest moment of my life, and I balled like a baby. Even in the wedding video you can hear me say, "This is the most perfect moment of my life."

It was hard coming home, lucky only about 13 hours of travel coming back. So far out of all the pets, Toots is the only one home and he's happy that way. My parents leave for Florida tomorrow, it's not going to be an easy couple of days. Then I go back to work on Monday, from what I hear the place is horrible, my lead tech took early maternity leave (3 months early to be exact), short staffed and shitty...honeymoon is over...