Sea Life Park

For our second adventure I found our car pulling into Sea Life Park's parking lot. My hubby had purchased tickets in advance (thank goodness for the MCCS ITT- both of us got in for less than the regular price for one person!) and surprised me. It is a small park but it was nice, clean, and the trainers seriously had a passion for the animals that they took care of.

Honus (sea turtles) are one of our favorite animals!

Makapu'u lighthouse from the sea lion stadium

The sea lion show was hilarious... "Miss Sea Lion Universe" with Miss Cabo...

...and Miss California!

Show in dolphin cove.

A wholphin... yes it's real. Google it.
Combination of a bottle-nose dolphin and a false killer whale.

This picture is so cool!

A humboldt penguin... our other favorite animal!

A beautiful Wyland painting, done in 1988.

After the park I was feeling a little more energetic than I have in awhile so we cruised into town... on the way we found my favorite yogurt shop from Arizona... YOUGURTLAND. It was so delicious. We then hit up the NEX for some things we've been needing. By the time we got home I was wiped out, unfortunately after such a great day I was sick all night long. I finally managed to get to sleep around 4am, which was good because my hubby had pre-purchased tickets to another attraction for the following day (I'll tell you about that adventure next!).

Once again, please do not use my photos!

Reaching the top (Diamond Head)

One of our adventures in the last two weeks included hiking Diamond Head, I was super disappointed in myself because at the top of the flight of 99 stairs I became completely dizzy and nauseous. I had to sit down in the entrance of the 225ft tunnel for 10min sipping water to compose myself. I am so over being sick with something I can't control and that the doctors have no idea what "it" is. The hike should have been relatively easy, there are a lot of steps, but even with my 10min melt-down we made it up in 50min... of course we made it down in 25min, haha!

The view from the top was amazing!

Downtown Waikiki

Random rain cloud over the ocean

The lighthouse

The spiral staircase you have to take to get to the very top!

Post-hike, ignore my pasty-whiteness... like I said, I wasn't feeling so hot.

Please do not steal my photos...

Monday: Pick-Me-Up

The lovely Katie from "The Life of an Army Wife" is spending time with her husband and new baby girl and asked for some guest bloggers to step in and help keep her blog active (not that we haven't enjoyed pictures of her little girl!).

So jump on over and check out my guest blog, it's all about reaching out.

Still here...

Hey ladies,
I'm still here.

Sorry for the lack of posting... since I've been sick and my hubby had been working 16hr days he took the week off before his monthly 24hr duty routine. We got to spend some quality time together despite the fact that my "sickness" tried to ruin all the fun.

I was back at the doctor's this morning, evidently I fall into the "medical mystery" category. Within the next week I should be getting a new medicine to try, meeting with a counselor for stress/anxiety, and have a referral for a GI Specialist go through.

I just want to know what's going on inside of my body... it's not comfortable that's for sure!

Next week I'll catch you up on all of our fun activities, I hope you all have a great weekend.

Monday: Pick-Me-Up

Let's just say that this past week has been a killer... I've been in and out of the doctor's again - still no definite answers. They changed my medicine and have suggested seeing the on-site counselor, endoscopic surgery is still on the table... I joined a women's study at my church to be surrounded by strong women so I may grow faithfully and am praying for complete healing, I don't want to live the rest of my life in this painful state.

Skinnie Secrets #2 - STRESS!

Secret #2

I don't handle stress well, at all. I honestly think all that's been happening to me lately has to do with that... honestly, I went almost 25yrs without any acid/reflux problems then all of a sudden - bam! It's interesting though, before this PCS I worried about things, but they didn't affect me physically (at least not to my knowledge) but ever since we got orders to move here I haven't slept a whole night through, I physically get sick (ie- diaherra/vomiting) when thinking about big decisions, every decision is twice as hard because I'm so far from family, lately it's been the desire to have a job. Financially, I don't need to have a job- we have this one income thing down as well as you can. I think in my head the fact that I have a bachelor's degree and nothing to show for it makes me think I need a job to prove something. But right now a job is causing the most stress... (FYI- I went to the ER a day before a job interview, my husband had to call and cancel/explain the situation for me... and I'm suppose to have an interview next Wednesday) but after talking to my mom I really do think it's the cause of all my troubles. I'm worried that if I take the job I won't get to spend time with my husband before he deploys, I won't be able to travel home for Christmas, I won't be able to spend time with my parents when they visit, and more.

Right now I think I need to focus on me.

I need to spend as much time as the Marine Corps will allow us before my husband deploys. I need to volunteer for things I like, not just apply for jobs that I know I can do but don't have a passion for. I need to get involved at church, especially getting back into the Bible. I need to work on getting healthy again- mainly exercising more. I need to do things I like that make me happy. I want to have the flexibility of going home... seeing my family once every 7-9mo isn't really ideal. I need to make some good solid friendships to have while my husband is away.

Anyone have tips on dealing with stress?
Stay at home wives- what keeps you going?
Bible verses?
Ideas?

Shout out: Hawaii MilSpouse Bloggers!

Hello lovely ladies!

Due to scheduling conflicts, trips, and our epically long PCS, I never got a chance to meet up with the bloggy ladies near our old base and it really saddens me... I'm hoping to change that here! I've got some ideas jumbling around in my head... but first I need to know how many of you might be interested in a MilSpouse day/afternoon/evening.


So, if you're in the "land of aloha" and wouldn't mind meeting up with fellow MilSpouse Bloggers, comment below and please make sure there is a way for me to e-mail you back. If you'd rather not tell the whole blogging community where you're currently stationed, simply e-mail me directly instead: skinniepiggie{at}gmail{dot}com. Also, feel free to share this with your Hawaii MilBlogger friends!

{I say MilSpouse- but I know there are some girlfriends & fiancees on the island as well... feel free to join in!} 

Monday: Pick-Me-Up

I've been wanting a Wii Fit for a long time... my parents got one a couple of Christmases ago and I remember loving using it over the winter break.

Over the weekend I finished up dishes after dinner and came back to relax by hubby on the couch and what do I see?

I love my husband!

Needless to say, we've had some "friendly" competition in the versus mode...

Do any of you have the Wii Fit (Plus)?
How do you like it?

He also got me Epic Mickey and a Carnival game because Game Stop was having an awesome deal for PowerUp card owners. 

Fun times for those rainy Hawaiian days =)

50th Hawaii State Fair

{We went back in June and I just realized this was sitting in my "saved drafts" ... oops!}

I always forget how expensive these things are, which is probably why I only went as a child in Arizona and we decided to skip out on the one in Maryland. Here’s what I mean: $5 to park, $5 each for entry, $1-2 per midway game, $1 per ticket for rides, and $5-10 each for food (Oh, if you haven’t had a deep fried oreo- you are missing out! I think it was $4 for 5 oreos but seriously they were like heaven in my mouth).

We went for “the experience,” we watched the ostrich and camel races which were pretty cool… the track was super short though so they were done too quickly to be truly enjoyable. The Pirate Pets show was cute- definitely aimed at the youngsters, it was awesome to learn that every animal in the show (rats, cats, dogs) were adopted from the humane society though! The European Circus made the $5 entrance fee worth it! The three families involved were amazing: unicycle tricks, tight-rope walking, big swing launches, a small clown act, body contortion, juggling, and of course getting the crowd involved. We played a couple midway games, we managed to win a 10in stuffed banana- honestly what am I going to do with that? No rides for us, the only one I would have even thought about going on was the ferris wheel, all the rest looked like a puke-fest waiting to happen!

Mainly I used the time to take some fun photos to try my hand at “vintage editing,” what do you think?

*please don't use my photos without permission

Patriotic Fashion

So I love looking at all of your beautiful fashion styles over at No Model Lady's "All Dressed Up" every Wednesday... but I've never actually participated, until today. My general fashion involves shorts, tees/tanks, and slippers(flip-flops) or TOMS. Pretty laid-back, chill, and perfect for Hawaii...

However, for church on Sunday hubs and I decided to get a little more dressed up than normal (ie: I busted out the heels!) and since it was July 3rd we chose a patriotic motif:

Try to overlook my terrible dark circles... it had been a long week between ER, not sleeping, doctor's visits, new medications, stress.... etc.

Shoes {Fioni - yes, my wedding shoes were $19.99 from Payless!}

Scarf {From the Women's War Memorial @ Arlington - $5.00}

Dress {Speed Control NY - from Ross, $12.99}

Jewelry {Swarovski - 1st Anniversary gift from the hubby!}

PS- you can click on the images to view in higher resolution.

Did you dress up?

Link-up...

Also if you're in the mood for some military love stories... you've got to go here! Our bloggy friend Reina from Semper Gumby... The Return of Sunshine is a finalist. Take some time to vote =)

Weekend Re-Cap, Health Update, "Blog-keeping"

Weekend Re-cap

I hope you all had an amazing 4th of July with friends/family. Our day was pretty fun but I had to take a nap after the parade and BBQ before we ventured down to the beach to watch fireworks, I can't wait until I'm not so tired! My favorite fireworks this year were these red ones that sparkled forever, you can check them out in the video!

Health Update
I had my 2nd follow-up with my base doctor today. She said to continue using the Nexium and avoid- spicy foods, caffeine, citrus, tomatoes, and chocolate. *double-sigh!* The caffeine is a no biggie, I don't drink coffee or soda. The rest... plain ole' sucks! I love Mexican food, I live off of lemon water/lemonade, tomatoes are delicious, and chocolate is my go-to "stress reliever," not to mention it's practically mandatory once a month. Seriously, my husband brings me dark chocolate instead of flowers! If things aren't improving within 1-2wks from now I will be getting a throat/intestine endoscopy... sounds fun...

"Blog-keeping"
Okay ladies, I already said how thankful I was for all of your kind words and prayers, and I replied via e-mail to almost all of you! Sadly, there are a few of you ladies that don't have your reply-to e-mails set so it goes to the default of "noreply@blogger.com" ...which is no fun. I generally don't respond to comments via the comments, I do it in an e-mail form. Just like I don't go back to a post that I've commented on to wait for a response. It's super simple to set this up... I have a skinnie piggie e-mail account for this blog so it doesn't go to my personal one, if that's what you're worried about, make one specific to your blog.

Anyway the steps for setting your reply-to e-mail:

1. Go to your blogger dashboard (home page)
2. Click "edit profile"
3. Check "show my e-mail address"
4. Scroll down and select "save profile"

I also have all of your lovely comments e-mailed to me for easy reply, the steps for that:

1. Go to your blogger dashboard (home page)
2. Click "settings"
3. Click "comments"
4. The last section is "comment notification e-mail"
5. Type your e-mail address into the box
6. Select "save settings"

Ta-da! Now I can e-mail you back a response to your comments... and your comments will be e-mailed to you so you don't have to view your blog entries to view them.

Patriotic Yarn Wreath

So while I am in "recovery mode" I decided to do a little crafting. I actually bought all the supplies the morning of my ER visit, but didn't get around to being awake long enough or having enough energy to actually make my Patriotic Wreath until Saturday...

Anyway, start with some form of the following supplies:

 

Multi-colored yarn, 12in foam ring, & "felties" 

(or regular felt that you can cut/design yourself).

You'll also need a hot glue gun & something to use as a hanger 

(I used red ribbon I had in my craft box).

This wreath is a little time-consuming, but very simple! 

Here are the steps-

1. Take the yarn and wrap it around the foam ring, applying glue at each change of color.
2. Place "felties" or your cut out stars where you'd like, then hot glue them down.
3. I measured my ribbon and simply stapled it in place on the back of the wreath, I'm sure you could use the yarn (maybe braid it?) to make a hanger as well.

Displayed on our front door!

 

 I love it- simplistic, cute & festive!

I think it would be easy to adapt this type of wreath for all different holidays! Christmas, Easter, and St. Patrick's Day are just a few that come to mind. Imagine the possibilities!

I hope you are all enjoying time with your family/friends on this wonderful 4th of July. Sometime during your festivities, please take a moment to remember what this day truly celebrates- the freedom of our nation, as well as the men & women who fought to make it and today keep it that way.

The Past 3 Days

Ladies,
I just want to thank you all for your outpouring of love & prayers... despite the fact I have never met any of you in real life you still cared enough to pray for me (and my husband) and even pass on the news so others would pray!

The last three days were rough but progressively got better. I was admitted into the ER Wednesday afternoon with sharp chest & back pains. My husband arrived after all of the tests and blood work had been done, I was so relieved he was there I started crying- that's a lot to go through alone. They couldn't figure out what was wrong- all my tests came back normal, so they waited for my heart rate and blood pressure to go down and sent me home. I was to take Motrin for the pain and return if it got worse, I was also told that it could be my body fighting a viral infection that I could have had anywhere from 2days-2wks prior.

Thursday my husband talked to his CO explaining what happened and got me an emergency follow-up appointment with our base doctor, he ended up having to drive me because I threw up my breakfast and was too shaky. After going over all of the test results from the ER visit my base doctor asked if anything else had been going on lately and if I'd had heartburn problems before. I explained the stressful housing situation and that I occasionally took TUMS but got hiccups multiple times per week (3-4). After a lengthy discussion with the lead family doctor I was prescribed Nexium for severe gastro/reflux issues then sent to the lab for more blood work to figure out my heart rate/blood pressure issues.

Friday I slept a lot, then ventured to the movie theatre to see Transformers. After the movie I was shaky so we tried eating (I ate half a Panda Bowl) then walked around until I was too tired to go anymore. Once we got home I passed out on the couch for an hour.

The pain is basically gone, small heartburn here and there. I do think that may be the problem... not sure about the heart stuff. I have a follow-up appointment with my base doctor on Tuesday morning, we'll see then.

Thank you all so much!
~Skinnie (& her husband!)