8.28.2014

YO HOMIES 

I HAVE SOME NEWS. GOOD NEWS. FUN NEWS.

I'VE MOVED BLOGGING PLATFORMS!

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTINUE FOLLOWING MY ADVENTURES
PLEASE RUN, DON'T WALK, OVER TO


I'll be broadcasting live from there, so I do hope that you'll join me

As always.

Annie


8.26.2014

Well everyone, the summer is coming to a close. Can you believe it? It's been about 5 months since I left Oahu, and you haven't heard from me at all. Life be cray.

- The summer has been great. I've been doing an internship at my dad's office, and it's been a blast. Between dealing with death all day and running errands, the job has been a real eye opener. Cut attorneys some slack; this job is more stressful than I had ever imagined.

-  I go back to Hawaii in 3 days. WHAT IN THE CRUD - how is that even possible? It does not even feel real. We leave on Friday morning. Hallelujah.

- BIG NEWS - EVERYONE LISTEN UP - I'll be living off campus this year in a cute blue house right across from Hukilau Beach (which I happen to be paying for all on my own. It's a big step for me. Calm down.) Come visit me. I cannot wait to finally live where there's good food and a more relaxed dress code. (Hello scandal). MORE BIG NEWS - I'm getting a car. AN ACTUAL CAR. THAT DRIVES. IT HAS 4 WHEELS. Shoutout to my parents for being so incredibly awesome.

- I have 1 suitcase packed. 1. I have ceased caring about what I am going to wear, although I have made a pledge to be more fashionable and not give up on myself this semester.

As always, I will write as soon as I return to the island. Expects lots of posts about the beach and all the fun that I'm having.

If you'd like to follow me on Instagram, please look up my oh-so-clever username, annieholds

Don't let boys be mean to you and don't kiss anyone.
Queen Anne

PS - I have no idea why the photos in my previous posts are not working. I apologize and will try to work that out.

4.06.2014

Today, I conquered a mountain.
We climed 3,922 stairs in the middle of the night to watch the sunrise. It was so worth it. I'll describe it to you as best I can on 3 hours of sleep.
We started out at 1:30. We left campus in our rented car and drove into Kaneohe. We drove to a neighborhood near a church, and began our journey. As soon as we got out of the car, I realized that I forgot my GoPro. Really. I got it just for this kind of stuff, and I forgot it. I maybe said some choice words. But we werent going to drive home, so we made due without it. We climbed up a closed road to the church, and went into the forest area behind it. There was a chain link fence that had a gate that didn't open anymore, but we had to get onto a trail UP to the stairs, which means that we may have had to climb thorough a hole or two in the chain link fence. Through the hole was a path full of logs and fallen trees - it essentially looked like something from a nightmare. I thought there would be a psycho hobo hiding out in the trees waiting to take his next 5 women victims.
So we tramped through the forest, snapping twigs and being as silent as we possibly could. As you go through the logs you get the pleasant feeling of your feet sinking into several inches of nice and squishy mud. That's a great way to start out a hike, I'm telling ya.
After we crossed the logs of doom, we met the paved road. When the stairs were more legal, this was the way to get to them. Thank goodness for that. The road was paved for the rest of the way to the stairs. As the trial continues, you literally walk parallel to the freeway - that's over 200 feet above you. Keep in mind it's like 2:30 in the morning, so every noise and every movement was assumed to be a murderer in the dark. You have to follow the trail past a gate that used to say PRIVATE PROPERTY before it was covered in graffiti tags.
This was the first interesting part of our night. The gate separates a road up to another gate, which is for a water treatment facility. We're walking along and we hear the unthinkable - voices. Now there's a guard that waits out in front of the stairs, so we assume that the jig is up and we are caught. We wait in silence and anticipation only to find out that it's a group of 6 foreigners who are looking for the same trail. Hallelujah.
So we follow the road, and more people join us. The freeway rumbles above us and there's mud all over the road. We get to a clearing on the left and look up - there are lights STRAIGHT UP THE SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN. We found the stairs. Now let me tell you - it was wise to do this in the dark, because we couldn't see just what we were getting ourselves into.
We go around a fence that says NO TRESPASSING and the stairs start, right there. Let me explain these stairs to you.
These stairs started out as wooden planks in 1942. It was originally a trail made for soldiers for easy access to a satellite on the top of the mountain. They were remodeled, and now they are steep and slim metal slats that go straight up the side of the mountain. There are rails on each side, which was a very blessed thing that I am currently thankful for. The stairs were closed in the 80s due to complaints from the neighborhoods surrounding the site, and it's been closed ever since.
Onward with the story. The stairs weren't going to be climbed until we started, and so we did. Think of the stairs in a home, only make them straight up and never ending on the side of a mountain in pitch black. I will be seeing stairs when I close my eyes fro the next 3 months.
We climbed. And climbed. Higher and higher, taking a break every 25 steps or so. Our legs were burning and our arms were shaky. This was just as much of an arm workout as it was a leg workout, believe it or not.
 I'm not sure how far we climbed before we hit the first platform. There are these pleasant little platforms that you can stop at and catch your breath and hope for death to take you before you have to take any more steps. We hung out on the top with the stoners and foreigners for about 20 minutes and continued on our way. We climbed until we hit the second platform, which was much easier than the first to get to. Our rest was much shorter, and we were halfway there.
There was a bunker that we had to go through, which was really interesting and covered in graffiti. There were some rusty machine parts and a big old wench which was really cool to look at in the dark (that's a joke).
More stairs, more hiking, and we finally made it to the top. We climbed that mountain and made it ours. It was incredible. We reached the top around 5, and waited with our new found friends underneath an old graffiti covered satellite that was on top of an old concrete bunker. Our sweat was cooling off in the wind, and it got downright cold up there. We brought layers and bundled up and waited for sunrise.
Guys, it was incredible. It was so worth it. This island is so beautiful, and it made me love this place even more than I already did. We could see for miles - it was easily the best view on the whole island. This place is amazing - please come if you haven't already.
The hike was hard. SO hard. But it had a great payoff. It was incredible. Something I'll never forget.
The way down was a different story. Straight down the side of the mountain in the daylight was a whole new enchilada. Straight down, into the forest. Literal drop in front of you and to each side of you. There were parts that we had to turn around and go down like a ladder. There were parts where your legs were shaking so hard that you were just praying that they wouldn't give out and send you tumbling down the mountain. But, we made it down and I'm here in our kitchen blogging about it.

If you come to Hawaii, DO IT. You will not regret it, I assure you.
This was incredible, and I would possibly consider doing it again in the far future when I can walk without wishing that my legs would fall off.













brooke, sam, alexia, and yours truly 




pistols baby















4.05.2014

Saturday. The day between Friday and Sunday. The second to last day to the week. The name of Kate Spade's new clothing line - which is adorable by the way and I want of everything they have to offer. Saturday Night Live comes on tonight. Saturday day was named after saturn - it's Sæternes dæge in old english. 

Today is my last Saturday on the island. I have 5 days left. How did that even happen?
Today was also general conference. It was delightful and I loved every minute of it. (You can learn more about it here.) Post conference, I headed down to the beach with my good friend Brooke. It was one of the last real beach days, and I'm pretty sad about it. I'm also excited to come home, although I know after 3 days I'll be ready to come back. 

In 6 hours I'll be leaving to go hike up the side of a mountain on some stairs. Yeah, at 1 in the morning I'll be leaving to do something that I've wanted to do since I got here. I'm going with some friends, and it's going to be INCREDIBLE. I'm incredibly excited and also a little bit nervous. But it will be great, I know it. 

I've been doing online shopping lately (because that's the only kind of shopping that I can do at the moment..) and there are so many things that I'm determined to buy after I start work. So what if some of these items are ridiculously priced. And so what if I want stars and stripes converse. SO WHAT.

I'm getting ready to drink my first red bull and I'm not looking forward to it. 


4.04.2014

Alright, I missed a day. Sue me.
Today is Friday. My last Friday on the island, if I'm being more precise. I took an exam today, and did not as well as I had hoped but better than the previous. Economics is killer, I am telling you. Never take it until someone forces you to. Which was the case.
I also spent a good portion of today packing and organizing my various little doodads and junk. Ya know the stuff that you're not really sure how you accumulated, but there's a lot of it hiding in your drawers and under desks and behind beds. I have two flat rate boxes that are currently staring at me waiting to be shipped back to the mainland. I'm also putting off homework that I know that I need to do, but hey - what are Saturdays for.
EXCEPT this Saturday is for hiking stairway to heaven, aka, the haiku stairs. Yes I may have to wake up at like 1 in the morning to drive to Kaneohe, and yes it may be 4,000 stairs up the side of the mountain, and YES it is maybe not the most legal thing to do, BUT it will be an adventure and we'll be among the majority of the campus that's done it. There will be some good pictures and a good video to go along with it, I assure you. But more on that tomorrow.
If you don't want to read a serious blog post, I encourage you to stop reading right here and go get some ice cream.

I would like to go into something that I've been thinking about lately. Deep collegiate thoughts, ya know?
I was thinking about what I wanted to become/do/go into while in college, and what I wanted to achieve with that. I'm getting my bachelors in marketing (for now), and I hope to go on to Law School.
My reasoning for being a lawyer has always been very clear to me. I want to prove that I, a woman, can be a dominating and successful business owner. I never want to have to depend on someone else to take care of me - EVER. I want to be able to go out and do whatever I want with MY money. I also refuse to fully support someone. How does that make sense? Well, I don't want a deadbeat husband that won't work because I have a career. I refuse to support someone who won't put work in as well. I don't want to have to wait on someone else to go out and do what I am perfectly capable of doing. I don't want to be restricted in any way. I'll be able to live where I want, drive the car I want, and do what I want, when I want. I refuse to depend on anyone other than myself for as long as I possibly can. (Except in college - thanks parents, you're the bomb:)
This brings me to another rant - bossy vs. assertive.
I want to be successful and have a strong business, I'm bossy - because I'm a woman.
A man wants to be successful and have a strong business, he's assertive and gets the job done.
Well, I guess I'm bossy then. But everyone already knew that long before this blog post :)
FIN RANT

Enjoy your friday night my friends.
Don't join a drug cartel.
 

4.02.2014

Wednesday. Hump day. 2 days down, 4 days ahead of ya. The day between Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesdei for all of you old english folk. Mercury's day for all of you other worldy beings.

Wednesday. OH Wednesday.

I had 1 class today. 1 class that started at 3:40 in the afternoon. Sure, I could have spent my whole afternoon at the beach soaking up some rays, but sometimes you realize that you have a 5 page research paper due when you walk in to class at 3:40. Sometimes it takes you 3 hours to write/annotate/cite/research, and you walk out of the library with just enough time to eat 2 bowls of sugary cereal and scamper off to class. Could I have spent my morning at the beach? Yeah, if I wanted to fail and crash and burn. Also it was cloudy and windy, which isn't surprising in the least.

I did go to the temple today, and it was wonderful as always. This temple is SO beautiful. Me gusta mucho. I only have 8 days left to enjoy it. How crazy is that?

I should be studying, but I just am not feelin it. I told my roommate I'd be in bed by 10, and it's currently 9:40. I should be washing my face. BUT no.

Just kidding. I'm going to go to bed like the good child that I am.
If you'd like to follow my instagram adventures, you are more than welcome to click the following:
http://instagram.com/annieholds




4.01.2014

Tuesday Tuesday Tuesday.  The day of the week after Monday, but before Wednesday. It gets its name from the day of Tiw, who was the God of single combat and victory in Norse mythology. It's somehow related to the planet Mars, insert more information on Tuesday here.
Tuesdays are uneventful; they're close to the middle of the week, but too close the beginning.
Today was a good Tuesday, simply because today was the LAST day I EVER had to go to economics.   Did I know this when I went to class? No. Was I pleasantly surprised? Yes. Do I still have several hours of homework, an exam on Friday, and a project due on Monday? Oh you betcha.
Today Tuesday was a good day. There was maybe a little tsunami warning and maybe a little bit of wind and rain, but what of it? Today I got my ecclesiastical endorsement, and I also got a blessing. I feel ten times better about so many things.

I love this gospel, and I love this university. I love my bishop - he is such a great guy! I love my friends that are worthy priesthood holders and I love that I'm surrounded by such great people. I'm thankful for the opportunity to come to this blessed island and have the experiences that I've had. I'm thankful that I am able to get an education, although I may complain about it 23 out of the 24 hours in a day. I'm thankful for my great parents and their ability to send me out here. I'm thankful for the great friends that have supported me and wait for me back home. I'm thankful for the ability to overcome fears.

By the way, does anyone know the symptoms of being fergalicious? Because I think I'm coming down with it.




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QUEEN ANNE

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