Relaxing at home

It's quiet around the house tonight. Zac is off doing some Navy stuff so Toivo and I are spending some quality time sitting on the couch watching tv. The only reason I'd consider leaving the house is because I've got great hair right now. I went to the salon and got my hair trimmed this afternoon. It looks like Toivo will be the only one who gets to enjoy my freshly washed, cut and styled hair. At some point in my life I'll get smart and get my haircut before doing something more worthy, like going out to dinner. Usually I get my haircut and go grocery shopping or something equally un-glamorous. If I'm shelling out a nice chunk of change for a haircut I might as well get some use from it. But not tonight. I'm relishing my evening of nothing.

It's been crummy here, weather-wise, the last few days. The trade winds have stopped, the humidity is in the high 60%s and the vog is fierce. (Volcanic ash + fog = vog) A couple days ago I though I was coming down with a cold. I was feeling kind of phlegmy and my throat was a little scratchy. I realized after my symptoms didn't change that it was probably due to all the crud in the air right now. Today I could hardly make out the mountains out the back window. That's a lot of particulate matter in the air. On top of the vog, it was really cloudy today. Kind of like those dreary, November days where it rain steadily and you want to curl up with a book. Except that here it's 87 degrees and the rain stubbornly remains collected at the top of the two mountain ranges. (If there's no wind the rain doesn't move - it just stays around the higher altitudes.)

Ha ha ha! Too funny. I'm watching the evening news and the weather man just said we're going to get our first Hawaiian "Arctic Blast" of the winter season next week: High of 82, low of 71. Life here is surreal. They even have a shivering "cooler" written over the forecast for that day. I love it. Although I'll probably be rocking jeans and a long-sleeved shirt whining about the temps . . .

Speaking of temperatures, I'll be testing my Minnesotan-ness in a couple of months when I return to the motherland at the end of December. I am a bit worried that I have become soft in my time in Hawaii. (See the previous paragraph.) Not only am I thrilled to be able to see my family and friends again, I am also ecstatic at the thought of sweaters, mittens, heavy jackets, and hot chocolate. Zac and I are going to be spending some time in California with his parents and sister and then I'll be heading on to Minnesota while Zac returns back to Oahu. I was in Minnesota just this last May, but I had a hard time thinking about being back on the mainland (California) and not heading home. So I get to frolic in the snow in a couple of months - I can't wait!

Speaking of Minnesota, Zac and I went out to dinner last night. Sitting at a table behind Zac, in my line of sight, was a guy who looked almost exactly like Nick Punto of the Minnesota Twins. I kept staring at him and I think he started to get a little alarmed. I knew it wasn't him, but I'm telling you this guy looked sooooooooooo similar. I whispered to Zac, "There's a guy who looks like Little Nicky Punto behind you." Zac tried to get a look but it would have required him to be a more than a little obvious, so he waited until we stood up to leave. Then he glanced over at the guy I was talking about. Zac chuckled - he knew the guy. Apparently the guy is a Lt. on one of the ships. Like I said, I knew the guy wasn't LNP, but I was still kind of hoping . . .

You know, some hot chocolate sounds kind of good right now. I think I'm going to go make some, just to practice getting back into the swing of winter things.