Aloha everyone! Daniel & I just got back from Kona, Hawaii!! It was our first time to travel alone even tho we've been dating for almost 8 years, believe it or not. I want to write down our whole trip so I can look back and remember the places we visited. We picked Big Island to go to out of all the islands because it is less crowded = less polluted = lots of nature stuff to visit and see. And as expected, the sky and water there were super duper blue, just looking at them made me feel like I was in paradise! haha. We were there for a total of 5 days, 4 nights...really wish we stayed longer but Daniel can't take that many days off work.

*****Warning: LOTS of photos ahead*****

Day 1- jetski at Kailua Kona Pier

We arrived at Kona around noon and took a shuttle from the airport to Budget and got our rental car. Drove directly to Kailua Kona Pier and ate lunch at the Fishhopper (highly recommended..it was right next to the pier, open air enviornment with nice view and good food!):

^Daniel with his Blackened Rare Ahi Tuna and Crab Stuffed Artichoke Hearts

^Me with my Dungeness Crab B.L.T. Panini

After lunch...we did jetski with Aloha Jetski at the pier. One thing that was unexpected about the jetski was that we had to take a boat to a platform in the middle of the ocean and did all the paper work and waiting on the platform...the platform was moving UP and DOWN so much that Daniel & I were getting really really sea-sick. Nevertheless, it was Daniel's first time to jetski and he liked it a lot...so it's all good =) I kept telling him to go faster and faster! The waves were definitely bigger than san diego..so it was super fun.

^the mini plateform that made us sea-sick a little bit

^Daniel got so wet!

After jetski we checked in at our hotel...stayed at Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort & Spa. The hotel itself was pretty nice...it was more family-oriented with lots of kids at the pool and game room. The hotel was right next to the water...and our balcony had a pretty nice view:

^look at how blue the water & sky were!

For dinner, we ate at Kenichi in the Keauhou Shopping Center.

^Daniel had Ahi once again and i had their bamboo salmon. The food was yummy! Oh yeah, and their local beer Big Wave Golden Ale by Kona Brewing Company was really good! I had the same beer four days straight =P

^yummmie..I wonder if I can buy it in Cali

Day 2- Rafting & Snorkeling & Luau

We walked around the hotel in the morning and took some photos:

For lunch, we grabbed some food at the Manta Ray Bar & Grill and walked to the Keauhou Bay Pier for rafting and snorkeling. Went on a rafting tour and got to see lava tubes and dolphins!

^Daniel & I inside a lava tube/sea cave!

^Snorkeled at Captain Rock..supposedly the best place to snorkel at Big Island. We did get to see lots of fishes and stuff..so clear!

^Daniel & I right after we snorkeled...can you tell we got darker already? haha.

Luau dinner at night:

^all you can eat hawaiian fooood and OPEN BAR, haha.

^me and the cast..daniel didn't want to be in the picture..made me look like a dork!

Day 3- Hawaii Volcanoes National Park!

Lots of sight-seeing..got to see lots of lava, steam, volcano erupture sites...these scenery photos are taken by Daniel with his camera:

^lava meets water

^2003 lava...looks like poop huh..haha..

^steeeamm

^me inside a lava tube....water kept dripping on me!

we took so many photos at the volcano park..for more photos..see Daniel's facebook Kona, Hawaii album!

photos from my camera (i only really take head photos with my camera cuz i sux at taking scenery photos and my cameras not that great too)

Went back to the hotel and ordered room service for dinner because we were so tired from all the walking! u have to do lots of walking at the park to see something...so wear good shoes cuz i didnt and i suffered!

^over-priced room service food

Day 4- ATVing on top of Waipio Valley!

^nobody told me what a dork alien-like I looked with all those gears on! haha..ATV was fun nevertheless...it's as rocky as mountain biking but less scary (because you have 4 wheels) than mountain biking..highly recommended if u never tried..the power!

^Overlooking Waipio Valley

^swam in a hidden waterfall! the rocks were sooo slipper...both me n daniel slipped..daniel scratched his precious watch and i hit my boobies, haha.

^our faces were soooo dirty

^look at how dirty i got!

Ate our last dinner at Huggo's...nice view..nice food...except my camera sucked and it couldnt capture the water we were sitting on top of:

Day 5- gift shoppping & home

btw, the kona airport was really cool, it was open and had live hawaiian music and dancing and you actually walk on the stairs to go on the airplane..old school style!

^look at how small their airport is! 5 gates total! haha

^glad i wasn't wearing a short short skirt that day =P learned my lesson the first time around.

okay i'm really tired now...this entry took forever! i'm gonna upload all the photos on my facebook sometime...enjoy these for now =)

oh yeah, daniel surprised me with a hello kitty bag at the airport....so cute! my hunniez the best =)

p.s. thx sean for the backpack n swim suits!

 I finally feel like updating my xanga again..mostly becuz i want to post this ONE picture (since eric removed it from his profile )

So during spring break, daniel & i went to catalina with eric & cathy and sean & bessy. it turned out to be a couples trip even though i didnt plan it to be. some things i learned from the trip:

1) sea band (those bands that you wear to prevent sea sickness) did not work for me...i got really sea sick on the submarine tour ride.

2) there's no night life at catalina island (everything closes soooo early..like 5pm), so bring ur own cards to play at night becuz it cost 4 bux to buy it there, haha.

3) DO NOT get a wax after u get sun-burnt...your skin will peel like crazy and hurt for a few days afterwards...and plus it's super embrassing to walk around with peel marks on your face, haha. i finally got a taste of how wonderful makeup can be during those few days.

ne ways i'll write more about the trip with pictures...

couples picture before we left long beach:

^eric & cathy

^daniel & i

^ sean & bessy

^eric & sean (the very friendly additonal couple)

when we got there...daniel & i had to go on to this semi-submarine tour i booked ahead of time while the others went to get food. the semi-submarine tour sucked cuz the boat moved a lot and both me n daniel got really sea-sick....didn't see anything cool except the bright orange fish. later in the afternoon, everyone went snorkeling while me n daniel just walked around to relieve our sea sickness..we ended up going to vons and bought a pack of beer and just drank at the hotel. .then everyone else came back from snorkeling and we decided to go into the hot tub at the hotel...and this was when eric & sean decided to get super friendly in the hot tub (i think daniel was really glad that he fell asleep in the hotel and missed the actions):

^are you jealous willy wang? hahaha...

then for dinner..we all went to a seafood restaurant to grab some fresh seafood.

^everyone minus daniel

^daniel & i (can you tell i was totally sun-burnt? my face was sooo red!)

^daniel with his bubble gum ice-cream for dessert

the next day we rented some bikes and just biked around the island...didn't get really far cuz of the uphills...haha

^us at the end of our bike trip...in front of a bird park?? haha

then afterwards we went kayaking...went on the frog rock tour...it was pretty relaxing, especially for me since i didnt have to do much on the two person kayake cuz everyone i tried to paddle, my paddle would hit daniels and i figure no work is better than negative work =P

^me n daniel looking young there

^our last stop before we left the island...i think we were all pretty exhausted by then.

all in all, it was a pretty fun trip..although i really wished we got to jetski..but that's okay...we can do that over the summer anywhere.

then i went to vegas with family for 2 days...ate so much there that my stomach was so full for a few days afterwards! i mean, i only had 2 bobas total back at arcadia (that's an all time low record for being there 4 days)

met up with a few old friends back at home and got to meet up with some apo ppl at patty's birthday dinner at twin palms. they had live music that night, which was pretty nice.

happy 24th birthday patty! sorry about spoiling the gift...hope u like it though!

^ me & patty (thanks lisa for doing my makeup for me! i really needed the makeup to cover my skin peel marks..haha..)

^daniel & i with our yummie desserts (daniel's face is always red by the end of the meal, i wonder WHY! )

okay i really should do my hw and study for my quiz now...can't believe i have school n hw again =( boooOOoOoo.

 so during winter break i got bored and decided to play with my hair color. it turned out to be an interesting & educational experience. i learned that purple color doesn't stay on asian hair well, even after 2 bleaches...the purple faded within a few days! for those of you that are wondering what color purple fades into, here are some photos of my hair color in chronological order:

^a pix of me n steph right after we got our new haircut/highlights. stephanie did purple in the front, blue in the back and gold highlights on the bottom. this picture doesn't justify the bright purple, so here's another picture of the back of my head:

^i only asked for a FEW highlights but the stylist gave me so many! i looked like an anime character with fake purple hair, haha. but only for a few days =)

some more photos of purple hair...

^sean was supposed to do *super* fob signs with me..it takes two! get it right next timeeee! =P

then after a few days (~3-4 days, less than a week), the purple faded and turned reddish:

then after a few more days, the red faded into pink (sorry no picture with pink hair!)

then after ~2-3 days of pink hair, the pink faded into goldish brown:

^btw, the pot is not huge at all, it's totally just an optical illusion, hehe.

 then more gold/yellow (taken last weekend!):

haha..hope u guys enjoyed the pictures..it was definitely a fun process! let's just hope my hair doesn't turn into super blonde! haha.