And Away We Go

It's been interesting thus far... uprooting all that we've known as life together and move it all to a place I've only ever visited. It's been eight days since I put my new husband on a plane to begin the process of moving us in to our home on the other side of the big pond. I stayed here to finish the 120 day "quarantine" process for our sweet Bailey and Behr.

As miserable and lonely and terrified as I thought I'd be once Philip left my side, it seems I'm either in complete denial about what's going on, or somehow my guts feel no need to panic. I've been okay. Granted, it's only been eight days. And I have 82 more to go before I will leave the only place I've ever called home to join my sweet babe in Hawaii on July 31. That's a lot of time for my indecisive nerves to give me trouble. But we'll see! Maybe I'm just tougher than I thought.

Skype has been a life-saver. Being able to see my husband's face and watch him speak makes the distance so much easier. I'm surprised we didn't utilize this service more before he moved to California just more than three years ago. It would have made all of those long distance months easier to take. And now that I know how much it helps, I'll be sure to Skype with my family and friends from home once I made the move.

Before he moved, we decided that I would also move out of the house that we occupied for more than two years, as the rent would be more than I could sustain on my own. It wasn't easy packing up our belongings - deciding what to keep, what to sell, what to give away and what to throw away. I can become quite attached to my belongings. The process of selling or giving away our things was actually pretty easy... I like the idea of another family living with these items. But when it came time to get rid of the things people didn't want, it was a bit much for me to take. It was the first time during the move than I broke in to tears... at the dump.

Luckily, the pups and I have been adopted by one of my most favorite couples. These two are hilarious together and they love my dogs just as much as I do. They've given me a wonderful little space in their home to call mine for the next three months. It hasn't been easy downsizing an entire house into a single bedroom, but I'm so perfectly comfortable here. This will be a nice place to finish my stay in Sacramento. I feel rather fortunate to have such good friends.

A creature of habit, I find myself feeling a bit nostalgic and scared to leave my roots. As I get closer to making the move myself, however, my excitement is beginning to bubble over. I'm moving to Hawaii with my husband who loves me more than I could have ever hoped he would, into a hugely supportive and loving family, on to the top of a big, beautiful mountain overlooking the island and the crisp blue ocean. I suppose you won't find me complaining about that!

"I'm in a hurry to get things done - oh, I rush and rush until life's no fun. All I really gotta do is live and die - but I'm in a hurry and don't know why."

1,095 Days of Magic

On this day, exactly three years ago, I had no comprehension of how fantastically my world would be changed by the tiniest 6 pound bundle. I proudly offer 1,095 exciting days of Olivia Marie Sattler. Happy birthday, sweetheart... Titi loves you.

Lazy Weekend

The weekend is over, and in true Kahalelehua fashion, we really didn't get much done.

Last night a handful of girlfriends and I spent a few hours together for dinner and to celebrate our annual Secret Santa gift exchange. It was a generally low-key evening, but so nice to continue our little tradition with my favorite ladies. We exchanged gifts and laughs. These women are my lifeline! I hope I'm able to come home every year to partake in the tradition.

Hubby and I slept in this morning. We woke up slowly and finally ended up at our favorite hole-in-the-wall breakfast joint, Annie's Breakfast and Steaks, where we stuffed ourselves full of bacon and eggs and strawberry french toast. Afterward, we took the pups for a long leisurely walk by the river to work off the hash browns. It was a spot near the dam that I'd been to a few times to fish with my dad when I was younger. It was nostalgic and the weather was warm enough that we didn't freeze. Behr even got into the cold, quick water ankle deep. He's such a lab.
And now here we lay...


Apparently the anticipation of getting right home to finish our chores was enough to wear us out. We got home and flopped onto the bed for some much needed quiet time. When we finally conjured up enough energy, we got up and finished decorating the Christmas tree. Now it's done and it makes me so very happy. If only the gifts could wrap themselves.

Our Family Tradition

It's funny...
Life feels so busy at times that finding an open window to sit down and put my thoughts into text seem few and far between.
And when I do have the time, I can't seem to come up with anything interesting to say.

But, as a newly married lady with nothing but enormous milestones ahead of me, I feel a responsibility to document all of these fun and daring tasks. With family strewn all over this great plain (and even across the large Pacific lake), this may be the only way they can keep up with my adventures.

That said, I will to my best to peek in more often not only to clue you in as to the new happenings in the Kahalelehua house, but to also check out what you've been up to.

With Christmas a mere 15 days away, our home is littered with little wintery nick-nacks and doo-dads. We have yet to dress the tree, but we'll check that off of our list now that the weekend is here. The smell of cinnamon candles burning seems so symbolic of Christmas. We have had the pleasure of adding two "First Christmas" ornaments to our collection this year to celebrate our recent commitment.

We're thrilled to host my family's traditional Christmas Eve get together this year. As far back as I can remember, the entire family would come together on Christmas Eve at G'pa Lou's to stuff ourselves with his fabulous creations and to spoil each other with gifts and laughs. When G'pa Lou passed three years ago, we kept the tradition alive by continuing to celebrate the family Christmas on the eve.

And though G'pa's unique take on the special day will forever be missed, the addition of little ones in the family have really helped to bring a new magic to the holiday. Unfortunately I am not able to spend much time with little Evan in Pennsylvania and baby Andrew in Hawaii but it's nice to be able to keep up with them in other blogs and photos. Little Olivia, Topher and Maryanne find much of the wonderment that we adults have lost. I can't wait to take them for walks on Christmas Eve and ask them if they can hear Santa's bells ringing just as my parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents did when we were children. That was MAGIC! And memories of spending Christmas Eve with the family are some of my absolute favorite.

I want to enjoy every little piece of this Christmas as it will be our last in California. I want to savor a house full of my wonderful family sharing our favorite parts of the season. I am blessed.

Finally... Mr. and Mrs. Kahalelehua

I will never forget the feeling that came over me as I cruised down the grassy aisle toward the man who had asked for my hand nearly three years prior. Complete calm. No nerves, no tears, no impurities - I was completely settled and secure in the moment. The butterflies had escaped my gut. The stresses of the days leading up melted like snow beneath a warm spring sun. Incredible. And here we were.

My sweet father surprised me mere moments before walking down the aisle with one of the most selfless gifts imaginable:
As we stood in the doorway waiting for the music to begin, daddy on my right arm and my beautiful bouquet of white stargazer lilies in the other, my step-father stepped up from behind us and took my left arm. Daddy smiled at me and said, "He's just as much your father as I am..."
I couldn't help but break down as I realized his gift was to have the both of them walk me down the aisle.

Our ceremony, performed by a life-long friend of the family, was short and sweet. I was sure I'd be terrified to repeat the vows in front of more than 100 of our friends and family, but when it came time to offer my words to my soon-to-be-husband, all I could do was beam sunshine and love. My smile was permanent. And everyone surrounding us? I was oblivious that anyone was there besides the two of us.

The evening progressed quickly, as so many brides before me promised it would, but we did our best to stay present and enjoy every sweet moment had between us.

The hit of the night? The Skip-n-Go-Nakeds. What's that, you ask? What's a Skip-n-Go-Naked? It's only the best drink ever and they were quite possibly more popular than me and my new groom.

Recipe:
Add one can of frozen lemonade concentrate to a pitcher. Fill the lemonade can with vodka and add. Finally, empty three to five cans of your favorite cheap beer. Mix, and there you have it!

We emptied 9 handles of vodka, a pony keg of beer and about 30 cans of concentrate trying to keep the crowd happy. We finally ran out, and I'm sure that's about the time the party dispersed. The pictures of our drunk guests are pretty fantastic.

At the end of the night, we headed off to our hotel room to reflect on the events of the day. We could do nothing but glow thinking about the most memorable party of our lives and all of the wonderful people who came out to celebrate with us. A marriage between two people is something so much more special than I thought it would be. But a marriage between two people and all of their friends and family is something so incredibly special, it's beyond words.

Thank you to everyone. We love to you truly.

Liquor and Lace Bachelorette Pub Crawl 8/7/2010

DISCLAIMER:
These are my memories. Because I don't care to protect the privacy of others, names have not been changed, though some characters have been conflated and incidents condensed. If you don't like it, you shouldn't have been at my bachelorette party, sucka.

If you ever needed a less obvious incentive to stay together, for better or worse, through sickness and in health, the all-mighty bachelorette party might just be reason enough.

We celebrated my "last night" as a single woman by pub hopping in Downtown Sacramento. And though our list of bars was pretty short, we seemed to make it most of the day and night.



The party started at 3:30pm at Hamburger Patties. I walked in (late... of course) to an enormous table full of beautiful women and delicious drinks. I realized how splendid my evening was going to be when the bartender handed me my vodsky and cherry soda water and uttered those sweet, sweet words, "It's on the house... have fun, bride-to-be."

Ooohhhh snap.



Then we were off to the next bar, Streets of London, where the real fun began. We busted out the penis dare cards and handed one to each lady. Each card had three options... one worth 2 points, one worth 5 points, and one worth 10. Depending on how daring you were feeling, you could chose to complete the level you were most comfortable with. Most of my girls, absolute fucking troopers, completed the 10 pointers. Love my hoes!






Next stop... Shady Lady! There was no shortage of 86-inducing behavior. First my ladies greeted me with a full round cheer, which really annoyed most of the bar's patrons. But fuck 'em. Or butt fuck 'em. Which ever you prefer.



Quite a bit occurred in this bar. We met the first two sets of the evenings groupies. I took naked photos in the photo booth. And I traced a guy's penis on the backside of a receipt. This may be where I began making out with all of my friends, too. Who's really keeping track.

Onto the next one...
Torch Club where I finally decided to spend the rest of my evening in flip flops and got to rock out with the band. The bartender was sweet enough to keep refilling my boobie flask, too... which I can't imagine was a bad deal for him.





Then to Hangar 17, where we were pretty well on our best behavior given the table full of Sac Sheriffs watching us out of the corners of their eyes. But this is where we had the punch bowl drinks... holy banana hammock.





After skipping a couple of bars on the agenda, we finally landed at Benny's... my absolute favorite bar. Can't give you too much detail about our time here because... well... I don't fucking remember much of it. But everyone tells me I had a really great time.

The evening was eventful to say the least.
From finding the bag of clothes in the bushes and trying them on...



To asking the cop if we could take a picture in front of his patrol car...



To peeing in the men's bathroom...



To say that I'm still tired is an understatement. I'd like to officially apologize to all of the bartenders I hassled, men I verbally molested, and girlfriends I physically molested. You truly made my night one of the most memorable ever!