Wow. It's been a whirlwind few months. Since my last post, I took my hubby on a surprise vacation to Hawaii. It was awesome. I also went to Hartford, CT for STITCHES East and then to Chicago for VK Live. I've also published two new designs with Jimmy Beans Wool and been published in a magazine. I'm thinking to really catch you up on all of this, it's going to take a few posts. Let's start with Hawaii.

Nick and I never took a honeymoon when we got married two years ago. We went away for a long weekend just after the wedding and planned to take a real trip when we had more time and money the following year. Then I went and broke my wrist last year and needed surgery. So that pretty much fouled up our plans for a trip because I had to use all of my accrued vacation time for my recovery since I couldn't really work for two weeks (my job is 90% computer work). We talked about doing a trip this summer, but we had so many weddings to go to and it just didn't work out. Also, Nick had just finished school and was trying to get hired by the school district as a teacher. We had no idea if he'd get hired in time for school to start and we were waiting and waiting for them to call him in to interview.

So, August rolled around and I was getting restless. We had no vacation on the horizon and every time I tried talking to Nick about it, he was non-commital about it. It's not that he didn't want to go, he just didn't want to plan anything until we knew more about his job situation, and really I think he just didn't have an opinion about where to go or what to do. Planning kind of stresses him out. And then the stress gives him migraines. So he tries not to do things that stress him out. Like plan, or think about babies, or 401Ks. So you know...it's a fun learning curve for me. :) I'm probably being a bit dramatic but it's at least half-true. :)

Anyway, so I just decided to do it. I planned the whole shebang. A bunch of things sort of fell into place around this time too. Alaskan Airlines was having a fare sale and flights to Hawaii were dirt cheap. My parents were able to trade a week at their timeshare in Mexico for a week in Hawaii for us (their wedding gift to us that we finally used!) I had a ton of vacation time to use so that was all good. Plus, our two-year wedding anniversary was coming up at the end of September. Done. Perfect. We were all set.

And then I decided it would be even more fun for me if I didn't tell him. Yup, I managed to plan an entire 10 day vacation without my husband finding out. I even managed to get his boss involved. She gave him the time off and then played along by putting him on the schedule so that he'd actually think he was working. Everything fell perfectly into place. Everyone knew except for him. Muahhhhhahhah! (Evil laugh, rubs hands together.)

So, the night before we were supposed to leave, I decided to finally tell him. I handed him a box with a new sun hat, a Hawaii guide book, and a packing list and told him to open it. He barely knew what to think when he opened the package. He was so stunned. He just kept looking at me like, "How the hell did you pull this off? Wait, we are really leaving tomorrow?" It was a priceless moment. I wish I'd thought to take a picture.

So that was it. We left the next morning and spent 10 fabulous days on the Big Island of Hawaii. We swam in the ocean, snorkeled (Nick saw sea turtles for the first time!), swam with manta rays, saw an active volcano and hiked across a volcano crater, hiked into (and out of) one of the most beautiful valleys ever (Waipi'o Valley- probably the toughest two miles of my life!), ate amazing food, especially sushi, swam in a volcanic heated warm pond, saw some amazing waterfalls, hiked to the top of the 8th tallest mountain in the US and the tallest mountain formation in the world from sea floor to peak, and in general had an amazing time! Here are some of my favorite moments from our trip:

So, that's pretty much it for our trip. Well, I won't bore you with every photo in the album, but it was a much needed vacation and a trip of memories for sure. It also inspired my October design for Jimmy Beans Wool called the Ohana Shawl. You can read more about it on the JBW website.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

Aloha,

Kristen