Happy One Year New York

A year ago today, we had breakfast at Bogart's on Monsarrat near Diamond Head Theatre with Mom, Shasta, Ria, & Gerald. Delicious Acai Bowls, Ono Shrimp Fried Rice, & of course their ever so delicious Belgian Waffles w. Bananas & Nutella. This would serve as our last Hawaii establishment where we were partaking in our last breakfast in Hawaii before getting on our one-way flight on Hawaiian Airlines to begin our new adventure in New York.

We dropped Ria off at school & then headed home to Ewa to finish packing our bags & then headed over to the airport.

My aunties were there along with my cousins. Lehua stopped by & tears had to be held back. Aunty LeeAnn prayed over us & everything was checked in & all that was left was to say goodbye to Mom, Dad, Shasta, the aunties, & the cousins. The Goodbyes weren't as bad as I thought it was, up until I hugged Shasta & the tears started flowing out of my eyes. Mom didn't cry & neither did Dad. Goodbyes always suck no matter how many times you do it.

But this goodbye was the first goodbye of many goodbyes that will always be hard. The one that informs your brain & your heart that you won't see these people that you love & see on a weekly basis for a very long time. But of course we did these goodbyes twice more in 2013. When we came home for Ria's graduation in May & then again for vacation in October.

2013, was by far, the best year I have ever had & I am not at all exaggerating. Everything in life that could possibly make me happy happened in this fine year. And that only makes me more excited for 2014.

We moved in the dead of winter, from 80 degree weather to 30 degree weather within 24 hours. The first day we got here I had rented a van to transport ourselves as well as our luggages. We did a huge Target run for everything that we needed for the apartment, which was going to be ready by February/March. We got our televisions from Best Buy, because, you need tv, you really do. The next couple of weeks was looking for jobs, getting reacquainted with New York, & basically enjoying life before we both had to go back to work. Gerald met our neighbor who worked at the Old Navy on 18th street who was a Visual Merchandiser Manager & suggested that Gerald get transferred to his store instead of going to 34th street's store. And that worked out very well. I got an interview with the New York Kids Club & immediately got hired & have really enjoyed working for the company ever since joining them last year.

Cara moved here in March & immediately found a job at Demarco's. We had many visitors throughout out the year. Ria came up in May. Heather stayed with us for couple days. Dani celebrated her 24th birthday here. Nikki took us to see Lorde's first ever tour in the U.S. Jessica came & stayed with us after moving away from Hawaii to scope out the city. We met up with Megan while she was here for a bit, before she made her move to London. My cousin Chloe & her friend Julia stopped by enroute to Italy. Leilani visited for couple days & got us drunk almost every night that she was here. We were also blessed to have been able to hang out with my high school friends Chaz & Bronson while they were here visiting. Chavonne came up too & we all had a really nice dinner at Serendipity. Along with friends visiting, Autumn moved up here in August, Drew is moving here sometime in February & Shasta moved to Connecticut with her boyfriend Robert back in September.

We saw Winter go into Spring. Spring go into Summer. Summer go into Fall. And then finally Fall into Winter. Spring was beautiful, flowers blooming everywhere in neat little rows. Temperature got a little warmer. Summer was hot & not just hot during the day, even during evenings & also at 2 in the A.M. Hottest it got was mid 90's. We tried to hold out on getting an air conditioner, but one morning, I woke up & could not handle it & finally I walked up the street to the hardware store & purchased an AC, of course couple days after that it got cooler, but at least we have an AC for this year's sweltering heat. Fall was beautiful, it got cooler, although, trees & flowers began "falling". And then Winter came. I always say I prefer Winter over Summer, because at least when it's cold, you can always warm yourself up with clothing & be exceptionally comfortable. But, when it comes to heat, it's hard to keep yourself cool. It really is. Especially at night, when you're sleeping & it's HOTTT. Needless to say, I'm enjoying the cold weather for as long as I can, because once it starts hitting 80 degrees, LORDDD…

Gerald finally experienced The World of DISNEY. And of course, he had his mind blown. We celebrated his birthday there as well as our 2 Year Anniversary. We stayed for 5 days. But, I'm sure everyone can agree that even 5 days isn't enough to fully experience all of what Disney & Universal Studios has to offer. It was fun though & we can't wait to go back. Hopefully during Christmas this year.

Speaking of Christmas. Thanksgiving as well. They were both amazing holidays to have been spent here in New York. It went by hella fast though, but it felt great being here, spending Christmas in the cold & actually seeing snow. Also, New Years was pretty awesome. Thanks to Robert we were able to celebrate ringing 2014 in right in Times Square & that was such an awesome experience, cold experience, but an awesome one.

Along with eating at new restaurants, discovering new places, & making new friends, I've also been dancing at Broadway Dance Center & enjoying every class that I've been taking & have found that my brain & body is finally fusing with each other. I've gone on many auditions & have gotten very good results from it. I haven't booked a gig yet, but we'll see what 2014 has in store.

To New York, Thank you for a year of awesomeness & Love. May the next year be even more bomb & filled with awesome awesome awesome memories that will last a lifetime & beyond.

KdenShoots,
LeviKaihui