"Hey, no hurling on the shell, dude, ok? Just waxed it."

Two and a half years ago, we moved out to Berkeley so Sam could attend grad school. It hasn't always been the easiest thing for me to be so far away from our families, but I have to say, some of his grad school perks have made it a little easier :)  This year, his research area's main conference took place in Maui! Thankfully, he also had a paper accepted to this conference, which means I got to tag along for the ride- woohoo!

Unfortunately, it took place between my two finals weeks of school, so I was writing papers and finishing take home tests on the flights to and from the island, but it was totally worth it. I felt like I was in paradise. I mean, in the first hour I was at the hotel, I saw a whale while eating lunch! Amazing!

The conference took place on the sunny, southern coast of Maui in an area called Wailea. The area is home to four of the island's fanciest resorts (as in, we would never be able to afford this place without the conference rate...). We stayed in a suite at the lovely Fairmont. The place was gorgeous, and I swear our room was bigger than our apartment in Berkeley. Sam shared a room with another student for the first few days he was there without me, and then we had the place to ourselves for the rest of our stay.

The room included a big lanai that had a partial view of the ocean and then the mountains inland. Also, fun fact: those beautiful trees with the large canopies are called monkeypod trees!

While Sam finished up his conference stuff, I spent my first day lounging on the beach. Oh my, it was so wonderful! Especially coming from a foggy and cold San Francisco!

Thankfully, Sam only had one day of conference obligations after I arrived, so the rest of the time we were able to spend beach bumming together and touring the little area. The resorts were so beautiful with lush, green plants and beautiful, exotic flowers!

All of the hotels were completely open to the elements. Apparently it doesn't really rain much on this part of the island, so they didn't worry about any damage. The resorts were all decorated for Christmas since we were there in mid-December. It was sort of weird to me to see this beautiful sunny beach and then a big Christmas tree all decked out! At least they stuck with the beachy theme :)

The weather was a lovely 82 degrees just about every day, and the water was pretty comfortable. Speaking of water, it was the clearest and most beautifully blue water I have ever seen! Sam and I were able to go snorkeling right off the beach from the hotel, and we saw so many beautiful fishies and even a sweet sea turtle passing by- it definitely took my breath away! We were also in love with the beautiful sunsets. We made a point of walking down to the beach every night to watch the sun sink beneath the water.

We enjoyed all the snorkeling off the beach so much that we actually decided to take an early morning snorkeling trip, and I am so glad we did! We woke up around 5:30 to be at the beach for pick up at 6am. It was so crazy to be standing on the beach in the complete dark, and then see this shining light from the catamaran pulling right up on the beach.

The tour took us out to Molokini, a crescent volcanic crater right off the coast with a beautiful reef, home to tons of colorful fish. If you ever have a chance to go, I would strongly suggest taking an early morning trip. When our boat arrived, we were the only ones there except for one other group of scuba divers. It was amazing to be in the water watching all of these fish and then look up to see the sun rising over the crater. I just can't even convey how peaceful and perfect the whole experience was.

Unfortunately, our pictures from the underwater camera just do not do it justice. All of the fish were so vibrantly colored, and the water was so clear, we could see all the way down to the bottom.

I honestly thought I would be nervous to be in such deep, open water without a flotation device or anything, but I was not the least bit scared. We just floated on top of the water watching the peaceful little world below. I really did feel like I was part of Finding Nemo!

After an hour or so at Molokini, the tour took us over to Turtle Town, a little area off the coast known for being the home to green sea turtles who hide in the shelved reef, but come up to the surface every so often for air. We were lucky enough to see a few different turtles, one of which swam straight toward Sam. Again, these pictures just do not do them justice! Both of these turtles were about 3 feet across- so majestic!

The colors of the turtles were so beautiful and vibrant. Our tour guide also suggested we swim down under the water a few feet without our snorkel to listen to the whales singing to each other. Seriously. It sounded just like the whales in finding nemo! I think I could have stayed there all day swimming with the fishies and sea turtles!

The rest of our little vacation we spent mostly laying out on the beach and snorkeling- perfection.

Since we were only there for a few days and the cost was rather expensive, we decided not to rent a car. We were fortunate enough though to tag along with one of Sam's colleagues who did have a car on a drive to the top of the volcanic crater, Halaekala.  I was so not prepared. Even though it was a comfortable 80 degrees at the beach, it was VERY cold and windy at the top of the mountain. We drove from sea level, up to the top which was at 10,000 feet!

We also drove up during sunset, which didn't help with the warmth. It did make for a really cool view though of the sun setting below the cloud line :)

We decided to stay at the top and have dinner while waiting for the stars to come out. I am not sure I have ever been some place so remote that I was able to see so many stars! It was such a beautiful sight! If not for the cold, I could have stayed up there all evening. This was also during a meteor shower, so we were able to see a bunch of shooting stars from the summit and then later on from our balcony :)

By the end of the trip, I was totally in love and didn't want to leave. It is almost two years later, but I think Sam and I can finally say we had a honeymoon, and it was perfect :)

Hakuna Matata in New York

New York City in the fall, or at Christmas, or really any time, has been on my list of places to visit for a looooong time. When our good friend, Robert, moved up there recently for his residency, I knew the time was coming when we would finally make a trip out there! And then, lo and behold, ALL of our best friends could actually meet in this fantastic city at the same time?!?! I was over the moon. But then, Hurricane Sandy swept through the northeast causing trouble. She actually hit the weekend before we were scheduled to all fly into the city. So of course, the next week we were all on pins and needles waiting to see who wouldn't make it. Thankfully, none of our flights from across the country were canceled.

There was still a lot of damage in the city when we arrived. We had no idea about the serious gasoline shortage until our taxi driver told us about his long wait in line to fill his tank and of all of the road closures from flooding and damage. Parts of the subway were also closed, and a few of the restaurants and cafes we visited had damage. Thankfully, Robert's apartment, where half of the group was staying, was unaffected and had power. Our hotel was a different story. After many attempts to find a different hotel, four of us actually checked into a hotel that had no power, no running water up to the rooms, and no heat! Also, the hotel, in true New York fashion, was decked out with bright red and neon paint with crazy paintings that looked terribly creepy in the dark with a flashlight. The place was also a little on the older side and was mostly empty due to the conditions. It felt very much like The Shining. Thankfully, the power was actually restored late that evening, so by the time we came back to our room, everything was a-okay!

Though things started out a little stressful, the rest of the weekend was awesome! Even though we were only in town for a few days, we were able to see most of the major tourist attractions. Times Square was completely overwhelming and awesome at the same time. You'd never know that a major disaster had just affected the city by the number of tourists around!

We also checked out Rockefeller Plaza, and I was disappointed that we didn't see Tina Fay heading to work :( We did see the awesome set up where the election coverage would take place just a week later.

On Saturday, we strolled around town and visited Union Station, Wall Street, the New York Public Library, and I even caught a far off glimpse of Lady Liberty.

We ended the chilly afternoon by getting hot dogs from a street vendor and taking a horse drawn carriage ride through Central Park. The fall leaves were gorgeous, and our driver filled us in on tons of fun facts about the park and surrounding area. 

Our pretty horse's name was Thor- I think he liked me :)

That evening, we had a delicious meal at a little Italian restaurant down the street from Robert's apartment. I think our group of 11 took up 1/3 of the restaurant. I loved having all of my wonderful friends eating all together and sharing food and wine. It seems like forever since we have all been able to spend time together.

After dinner, we went to the Minskoff Theater to see The Lion King. IT WAS A-MAZ-ING!!! I think I was sitting on the edge of my seat the entire time. The costumes, music, singers and dancers...everything was wonderful. Ever since I was a little girl and watched the TV recording of Cats on broadway, I've wanted to attend a show in person. My wish finally came true! Although, it wasn't quite the same cats...

After the show and walking back through Times Square, Sam and I made our first celebrity spotting! We saw a group of people standing around someone outside a building. As we crept closer, we spotted Snoop Dogg! Pretty cool. We then hit up a local dive bar where we stayed way too late, sang way too loudly to songs on the juke box, and ate way too much pizza. It was a wonderful night :)

The next day, we finished off our trip by heading to Katz's Delicatessen, known for that infamous scene in When Harry Met Sally, for one of their famous pastrami sandwiches. Trust me, it did not disappoint!

For someone who has waited so long to explore New York City, I have to say, I think it was everything I hoped it would be and more! But, the best part was spending almost 72 hours with some of my favorite people in the whole wide world. Love you guys.