We started our jobs last week, so between that and the house purchase, I've had a lot of distractions to keep me from writing! Our new home will be just a few minutes from work, maybe 10-15, and I'm looking forward to having a short commute again. Schools started here on Tuesday (apparently Hawaii has one of those year-round school calendars), and the increase in traffic was notable. Plus, there's some road construction and maintenance going on near this resort, and it can really make traffic crawl. Our commute last week took anywhere from 22 min to 45.
I decided to go to the "Remodel It Right" homeshow at the Hawaii convention center on Saturday and set out about 9:10. I figured I would get there about 9:45, and the home show started at 10:00am, so that gave me plenty of time to park and walk there. But there was an accident on the H-1 interstate, closing two lanes, and traffic just crawled. It took me over an hour to get there, but that is something I have to learn to live with here. The traffic is just incredible. I turned on the radio and tried to be calm. I really miss the SmartCar! Something about driving it always made me happy. I don't have quite the same emotional attachment to the Honda Fit we bought, and I doubt that I ever will (though it is growing on me).
I parked at the Ala Moana mall in Honolulu and walked to the convention center from there, planning to do some shopping afterward. Our new home was just recently beautifully remodeled, but I was hoping to find decorating and furniture info. There wasn't a lot of that there, but I enjoyed walking around and seeing what the show had to offer. Check out the Big Rock site: http://bigrockhawaii.com/index.html
The Ala Moana mall is just gorgeous, and has lots of ritzy stores for shopping (not buying, just shopping). My main goal this time around, though, was Sears for its Lands End collection. I was trying to get some of their sandals without having to pay shipping costs. Chris had already pointed out to me that there are lots of places to buy sandals on this island, which is true, but I really like the comfort of the Lands End sandals, and many of the ones here are the thong style, which I hate. I just don't want to walk around the office making that slappy noise all day.
But of course, once I'm there, I had to check out other stores as well, and Hilo Hattie's was having a sale, so I bought another Aloha shirt. Can't have enough flowered shirts around here...
They also had a calendar for .99 for 2009, which included a picture for December of Mauna Loa on the Big Island, covered in snow. I'm looking forward to going to Maui or the BI in the winter and taking some of my wool sweaters with me! By then I may miss them....
It didn't take me quite as long to get home, but I can see that trips to the Ala Moana will be few and far between, when I really need a mall fix. I'm having a hard time adjusting to all the traffic here. The big local debate currently is whether or not to fund and put in a light rail system. It's a very confused situation with a lot of emotions on both sides, but if rail were available, I'd take it!
But for the last five years, I really haven't done a lot of driving. There weren't many places to go in Alice Springs, and I mostly used the car just to go back and forth to work in Harrogate. I walked into town for most of our errands, which was actually very nice, and we took the train for any longer trips. Our house here is near a small shopping center, so we can walk there, and I hope I can use my bike to go to the larger shopping areas nearby (though we'll be living near hills! So using the bike might get interesting...)
Later in the week I plan to write a little more abt work and about the house. If I'm not stuck in traffic.
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