Three One Nine » beach

Housekeeping

thethreeonenine — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:44:29 +0000

We use alot of towels here. We got to the point of only being able to use them only a couple of times before they would smell really mildewy. It bugged the heck out of me and I would wash them in hot water and dry them at the hottest settings. It didn’t help. I looked up ‘getting mildew out of towels’ and I found this and it works!

Another neat thing that I found was dry cleaning sheet. I was skeptical about them but they work in a pinch. I wouldn’t use them on big stains but they’re very useful for freshening up clothes.

Voila!

Without a dream in my heart…

thethreeonenine — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:15:22 +0000

image from T.K.

K’s friends Paul and Tom came to visit us one weekend from NY via Kauai. We grilled lobster tails on the lanai and had it with rice and poke. The World Series was on and we got to see the Yankees go-ahead run before going down to the beach to watch the full moon.

We spent most of the next day driving all over Oahu. K was working so it was just the three of us. I’ve come to love driving. I marvel at how just a few weeks ago I was terrified of driving on highways. Now, as K predicted, I prefer driving on highways to the stop and go of downtown. I love driving. I actually feel markedly happier when I get into my car to head off somewhere.

I had to parallel park with Paul and Tom in the car. I usually can do it when I’m by myself but if there’s anyone in the car with me I get super self-conscious. I told them this and Tom talked me through it. In two turns of the wheel I was in the spot. Tommy was singing my parking praises and even talked about taking a picture of it because it was such a perfect parking job. I smiled on the outside but on the inside I also did a little dance.

Dress code

thethreeonenine — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 22:13:31 +0000

When we first got here I had to get a new bathing suit because I’d left mine in NY. We wound up in the swimwear section of Nordstrom’s at Ala Moana Mall. Along with a wide variety of swimsuits they have all manner of beach cover-ups. This is generally somthing you wear over your suit when going to the beach, sitting at the beach, or leaving the beach.

I was so enamored by these light loose fitting garments that I got a few. I think I believed that these dresses would help me ‘fit in’ to what felt like an alien sunshine-filled culture. I don’t think I’d ever owned a beach cover- up before this. I also got three pairs of glittery flip flops.

I proceeded to wear these dresses not only to the beach but everywhere else too. I think I wore one to my first staff meeting at HIFF. I was always confused when people in non-beach situations would say to me ‘oh I like your beach cover-up.’ I always thanked them but then wondered how on earth they knew it wasn’t just a regular dress.

Now that I’ve had a little time to mull it over I realize it’s because of several reasons:

1. they’re usually see-through
2. if they’re not see-through they’re made of terry cloth
3. they usually come in offensively bright colors and patterns.
4. and often times they’re held together by drawstring, ribbon, or elastic.

I started to notice that outside of Kailua, people wear very normal non-beach clothes. Honestly I don’t know what took me so long to realize this. I also realized that although flip flops are pretty prevalent out here it’s not really appropriate to wear them everywhere. Say, dinner at a fancy restaurant.

So this time around I left half of my beach cover-ups back in NY so that I wouldn’t be tempted to wear them everyday. I have a new one that’s all black and doesn’t even look like one. Honest. I only wear it around Kailua and the times I wear it into town are times we’re actually going to the beach.