Just Jessika

So this morning while I was brushing my hair, I heard tiny taps hitting the front door. To my surprise, and excitement, it was hail! I was like a little girl on Christmas morning. I’ve never seen hail in my life, except on t.v. But to experience a cool thing was the highlight of my day. I immediately called my mom, who is on Kaua’i, and told her what I was experiencing. She told me the last time she saw hail was when she was in the 9th grade! I was so excited I started doing my excited march in the living room and tearing from so much laughter! While watching the news this morning, they told viewers to wear your rain boots. I chuckled because no one uses rain boots in Hawai’i, but this weather gives me a great reason to buy some!

Here’s a picture of the hail this morning about 9:15 a.m.

And here’s a picture of the sky from my dorm balcony at Date Street, 3:50 p.m.

So it’s been raining for the last couple of days here on O’ahu; which to me is a good thing since we haven’t experienced this amount of rain in a while. Unfortunately it’s a thunderstorm.

Now i’m all for thunder and lightning, but this is just scary! I wish I could show you the lightning that I am seeing from my balcony on date street. The lightning lights up the entire sky showing a pretty purple tint of clouds hovering over. Thunderstorms always remind me of my mom telling me that the thunder is just the angels bowling in heaven.

Kaua’i, where i’m from, is experiencing some heavy rain and flooding. I don’t think it has been that bad since 2006, when the 40 days of rain happened.

If you own a car, please drive slowly and safely. I know playing in the rain is fun, but be cautious of others

Here are some pictures of Kauai–

This is at Lydgate Beach/Kamalani Park.

A picture of Hanalei before and after.

‘Opaeka’a Falls…waaaah.

Today, I took the day off from my boyfriend to do some me time. Although it is nice spending time with him, it’s always nice to wish him a good day at work and take the car out.

I treated myself to a pedicure and a (much-needed) hair cut as well as dinner, trying to get in some “me time” as much as I can before lent rolls around. This lent I have decided to disable my Twitter and Tumblr as well as focus more on serving others rather than myself. I will be trying to cook more, eat more fruits (my fridge is crying for something other than chocolate and chimichangas, haha) and WORK OUT more. I cheated this week, but for a good reason. Come Monday, I will be back at the gym and on the roads. This will definitely be a challenge.

If you do practice lent, what are some things you will be giving up or challenging yourself to do??

By the way, I love the song Set Fire To The Rain by Adele. I also like listening to covers of other people singing it. Here is a cover of Set Fire to the Rain cover bychestersee (click the link to view)

Hey every one,

It’s been TOO LONG since I have last posted and I figured since I have the time (today at least) and pictures I would update.

Valentine’s Day was this past Tuesday and the best ever! My tummy would definitely agree My boyfriend and I had been planning for months to go to this wonderful Italian restaurant, Sabrina’s. It’s located on the corner of Waialae and St. Louis Hts. We had an amazing dinner and thumbs up to Sabrina and her husband Stephen (we both know them through a mutual friend) for the hook-up with early reservations.

Sabrina’s has a colorful Italian menu and it is definitely worth the money for a special occasion, like Valentine’s Day, anniversary, or birthday.  The meal comes with hot bread and a special dip. I would recommend the Bruschetta as an appetizer. Bruschetta is a combination of sliced tomatoes, garlic and onion on a grilled bread. It’s really delicious and one of my favorite appetizers there. As for an entree I would like to recommend everything, but my absolute favorite is called Sabrina’s Dream. This entree is made with what the menu calls “little ears” pasta. They really do look like little ears too! The sauce is a mix of tomato and pesto with lots of garlic…YUMMY! My boyfriend had an entree called Buccatini. It’s like spaghetti but with HUGE noodles. We ended our big dinner with some lilikoi cheese cake dressed with Valentine’s Day candies and a sliced strawberry. Pretty and perfect for the occasion!

I’ll be going back there in the next week or so because the mutual friend that my boyfriend and I know will be back to visit and she used to work there so it’s going to be a reunion (with lots of bruschetta and Sabrina’s dream!)

I hope every one else’s Valentine’s Day was as eventful as mines, here are some pictures from my date

Hi friends!

I just wanted to see that everyone is still living after the first day of finals! I am blessed that all of my finals are just a paper and a photo essay and I have ZERO in-class finals. Unfortunately, that tempts me to wanna do some Christmas shopping…

^_^* eep!

Any way, don’t stress, take it a day at a time. You’ll be fine; and don’t forget to eat breakfast, that helps A LOT!