A Tour...

Just in time for my monthly blog entry (ha)... A tour of my current residence and the surrounding areas. 

That's right, I have officially moved into an apartment. I'll be honest, for a bit there it felt like I may never find a good place. Hawaii real estate is tricky. By "tricky" I mean way over-priced and often in pretty crappy condition. The first two places we scouted out both smelled pretty awful, had tiny little rooms, and ceilings so short that Richard couldn't fully stand up inside. While he isn't actually living with me, (don't worry grandma), I did think it was necessary to find a place he could comfortably stand in... call me crazy. I'm convinced that the ceilings here are shorter because most everyone who lives here seems to be short as well. 


Anyway... after looking at several places, I found the PERFECT place. 

It falls in the "perfect" category for a few very basic, but key reasons:

1) Richard can stand up inside. 

2) It's not really big, but offers enough space to have a few friends over, (just as soon as I make more than one friend I think this will come in handy). 

3) It looks clean. This may not seem like a big deal, but TRUST ME, it stands out. 

4) It has a bedroom air conditioning unit. Being that I'm located on the first floor and don't feel totally safe leaving windows wide open all night, this is huge. 

5) It is 4 blocks from my boyfriend's house. Some may see this as clingy, (psh whatever... we lived 4000 miles away from one another before), but if you have ever tried to commute on the H1 highway for more than a few miles than you understand how wonderful it is to be in walking distance. 

6) The surrounding area is beautiful. 

I live at the bottom of a mountain/hill that is part of a big valley. I'm surrounded by the city, ocean, and the valley. Sort of the best of all worlds:) 

So enough talking and on to the tour... 

Behind my apartment is an area known as Palolo Valley. My running loop is around this area. 

This is the view of "downtown"; a conglomerate of a few different areas. This is where most business and tourist activity goes down. The street in the picture is actually the one between Richard's house and my apartment. (Information only valuable to my mother, but I'll include it all the same:). 

This is Diamond Head- a mountain which tourists frequently hike up and locals are almost always surfing at the base of. I myself like to walk or run around the parameter. This is on the opposite side of my apartment as the valley.

So that is all for the tour at the moment. I'll show some inside pics just as soon as the throw pillows my mom is sending arrive in the mail. (Another amazing story in itself...) 

I miss everyone very much. While I appreciate the amazing location I am in, no amount of scenery will ever make a place more wonderful than just being with people I love. (When you sell that line to Hallmark, I expect some of the profits).

A few small leads in the job department... but nothing set in stone yet. I may just keep looking for part time nanny jobs to hold me over till Christmas. All the prayers are appreciated!