It was nice to come home to the puppeesh, I'd missed the Twin Terrier Terrors. And the grand fairies. I've been making up for lost time with plenty of snuggles since I got home.
Here i am trying to gracefully pose by a waterfall, and I slipped just as the photo was being taken.
Its not easy to go from Paradise to real life, so I've eased into it with playtime with the kiddos and finishing my travel journal. Yes, I know, I should be back to work, but it's taking me some time to get into gear. Maybe next week I'll have some new goods for the Boutique. I really do need to beef up my pay pal account, we went broke in Hawaii.
Literally, out of money!
We had no idea that there would be so many cash only places. Plus tips were cash only for classes and couldn't be added to the credit card when the class was paid for. And the surfing instructor wouldn't even take a card for the class itself.
Before the trip, we'd just gotten new debit cards and changed our password, and then promptly forgot it. And we never do cash advances on our credit card, so didn't have that pin number handy either. We arrived on Thursday and realized by Saturday that we were low on cash.
Then we also realized it was a three day weekend and we couldn't get ahold of the bank. Luckily, we had my pay pal business account, but unluckily, I'd transferred cash from it to our checking account for the trip and had only a couple hundred left in it!
In Hawaii, that isn't much more than an afternoon's spending.
We came up with a plan where my husband could go to my online store and buy a bunch of tutorials from me to refill the account if needed, or we could wait till Tuesday to get hold of the bank after President's Day.
But by Tuesday, we were pretty much done with lesson type activities and souvenir shopping. We were were ready to roll on the Road to Hana and visit the volcano the next day, so we had a couple of days where we did okay without much cash on had.
If we ever go back to Hawaii, I will know to pack one suitcase full of money and one full of light sweaters and wind breakers. (this single white sweater that I brought was kind of grimy by the end of the week, and I had to buy a hoodie. Somewhere that took credit cards)
Thanks to everyone who left a comment to enter the drawings for Amy's books. The winners are:
Charlotte
and
PS- the Valentine Journal Workshop is this Saturday and I have PLENTY of room for more students. email me for details if interested. I would love to see you here….
Oh, dear. Don’t need to be counting your on hand cash while in Hawaii. Where Kona coffee can be $25 a pound. I also love keeping the doors open to the breeze, 7 x 24. I’ve never needed a sweater or jacket, but I’ll take one along. My friend was just in Kauai and said she got chilled in the evenings. I still need to put together a travel journal…but the inspiration hasn’t hit yet. Perhaps I shall go sit in my swivel chair, spinning around the studio, until something catches my eye.
Definitely not inexpensive…I understand it’s hard for the natives, too, with grocery prices being higher because a lot of things need to be flown or shipped in. But, DEFINITELY WORTH every penny!! Lovely, lovely photos! You look so happy!!
It looks like you had a lovely time! Just one question, if the surf instructor did take caredit cards, where would he swipe them? Hm…..
That explains why he couldnt!
Karla Nathan
http://www.karlascottage.typepad.com
http://www.karlascottage.com
I’m delighted you had a great vacation 🙂 That photo of you hanging on some sugar cane looks like it could be a photo of sugar wings when she gets older…. you two have the same playful spirit 🙂
big hugs,
Cheryl
paradise so worth the price… also your post confirms my theory ( and I mean this in a nice way) travel makes you stupid.. I have been there and hope to be again.. passwords or pin numbers I wish you could do a fingerprint or an eye scan at least I would not forget them
Hawaii looks just gorgeous. Welcome home!
What a great post. Love the photo of you among the roots. Yea for Mitzi as one of your winners. I adore that gal and her blog.
I love that your scheme to get money involved HIM buying lessons from you! lol! I thought you’d have set-up a stand selling bedazzled sea shells!
looks fabulous!
I also thought about doing cartoon drawings of tourists on the beach.
Karla Nathan
http://www.karlascottage.typepad.com
http://www.karlascottage.com