TODAY, WE WORKED.

we now have a job. or three:

kauai cuisine. small town coffee. oki diner.

after three weeks of being unemployed we have finally found ourselves some jobs. we are now caterers, baristas and servers. once we found out that chicken in a barrel was more then likely not going to reopen we filled out application after application praying that something would turn up. in the beginning it was a little disheartening and we had our moments of doubt. during our few weeks of unemployment, when we weren't filling out applications, we found ourselves exploring even more of the island. we surfed pakalas (mammone's favorite wave in the universe, a perfect left that last forever), watched the sunset at the top of the Waimea Canyon, snuck into some of the nicer resort's hot tubs and pools, checked out two new churches (Calvary North Shore and North Shore Community), kayaked to a secret water fall, found a new swimming hole, ate a lot of poke, bbq'ed on the beach, picnic'ed under a swinging bridge, roasted a banana boat (a hawaiian s'more) over a campfire, watched the sunrise, caught some rays on the north shore, explored CoCo Palms (an abandoned resort where Elvis filmed Blue Lagoon) and surfed, surfed, surfed.

after 24 full days living on kauai we are starting to feel like we are no longer on vacation. this island is becoming our home. we have accepted the cockroaches, misquotes, geckos and roosters. we're ready to get back to work, while still enjoying the beauty and simplicity of our new home.

with aloha,

megan and megan

DINGS AND THINGS

yesterday, while enjoying another responsible free day we decided on a little surf sesh at kealia. never have we been so intimidated...to make matters worse, the only shredders in the water we're girls and groms. we've never seen so many amazing young surfers in one spot. with our tails between our legs we paddled out, caught some waves and met a few locals. it wasn't until we we're sitting on the beach catching some of that hawaiian sun that we noticed a gash the size of a fist in the bottom of mammone's borrowed board. ber also got her first ding on the nose of her new board. shoot.

we ended our dinged up, jobless day with a bbq on the beach and a restless nights sleep.

after a slow and relaxing morning that consisted of mangos, kashi, coffee and a few tv shows we decided to begin job hunt 2.0. we walked through the mile long town of kapaa and filled out application after application. Lord willing we'll land something soon.

after walking home in the warm, humid rain, evan picked us up to fix the dings we so gracefully decorated our boards with the day before. we learned how to sand, resin, and sand some more. then of course, we had to test out our handy work in the stormy waters of kealia.

tonight we'll go to bed still jobless, but at least our boards, both borrowed and owned, are once again rideable.

with aloha,

megan and megan

CHICKEN IN A BARREL

after four hours on day one we are unemployed 'til further notice. the health department decided to stop by today and shut us down... apparently they don't have permits. management is on it and Lord willing we'll be up and running in a few days. looks like we have a few more responsibility free beach days then anticipated.

with aloha,

megan and megan

WEEK ONE

we're here. in kauai. sitting on our couch in our new condo looking at sleeping giant and reminiscing about our action packed first week here.

lets start from the beginning.

after a busy and stressful month of may we boarded the plane in san diego and ten hours later arrived at our new home, kauai. our friends evan and olivia picked us up from the small humid airport, welcoming us with homemade leis. our first request was to jump straight in the water. we hoped in the back of the pickup, snacked on some lychee and headed to the beach. it was a little after eight at night when we took our first jump into the warm hawaiian ocean. we then found ourselves sneaking into the kauai beach resort's hot tub. the whole time pinching ourselves that this was our new home and our new life.

the next day we allowed ourselves complete freedom. no thought of responsibility crossed our mind. we woke up in the wailua homesteads to evan so graciously cooking us eggs and potatoes followed by a ride to our new condo. our condo is at the north end of kapaa, a cute, little, furnished, two bedroom place over looking sleeping giant. once we threw our two hundred pounds of luggage onto our living room floor we headed for the north shore, evan, jason, brittany and ourselves. we had many stops along the way including: swimming in a water cave with breathtakingly cold water, snorkeling with turtles at tunnels, getting a start on our hawaiian tan, jumping into roadside ponds, enjoying an evening brew overlooking the kilauea lighthouse and making new friends. we finished off the night by eating pizza and salad in the homesteads with some of our new friends.

wednesday we woke up in our new apartment and headed the the local coffee shop, small town. evan meet us for some kona coffee and fresh coconut bran muffins. the rest of the day we ran errands: costco, walmart, local post office, bank, etc. when we were done with a few hours of responsibility we sat on the road side, picked plumerias and learned how to make leis to lei evan's 13 year old twin brothers with. after picking the brothers up from the airport we headed to kipu falls to swing off of a tarzanesque rope swing. after chowing down on some more pizza we ended the day with an evening hike up sleeping giant. from the top we could see the entire island and once again pinched ourselves that we were looking down on our new home.

thursday was the day of the big hike to hanakapiai falls. two miles in to the most beautiful beach along the napali coast, two miles more to the giant waterfall, then a four mile trek back. yeah, that's eight miles on day three of our life here. no big deal. that night, just the two of us, made our first dinner in our new home and recovered from the long but incredible day.

olivia had referred us to a little bbq place that was about to open up in town, and said they were looking for poeple. friday after walking half a mile into town we smiled and shook hands with our new manager. after filling out our new employee packet at small town coffee, olivia picked us up and took us home to pack for our first camping trip. evan, the brothers and the megans headed to the west side. we camped in the sand, under the stars at polihale (please google image this). the following morning we jumped in the water for our first, of many, surf sesh's. although there wasn't much swell we rode our first hawaiian waves. after packing up we met up with olivia and brittany to spend a few hours on the beach, do some road side mango picking and jump off a 30 foot cliff at shipwrecks, in poipu. we ended the day with some pasta and wii.

today was our first day of rest. its consisted of church, sushi and meeting up with the manager at chicken in a barrel (our new job). sorry there are no pictures... ber brought the wrong charger so we don't have a camera. dummy. this just means we have to do all these amazing adventures again.

with 87 bug bites, 2 mountains hiked, 1 beach camped and lots of sore muscles and bruises we have finally had a chance to sit down and start blogging.

with aloha,

megan and megan