CHRISTOPHER TURNS 29 ON MAUI!

What a better place to spend your 29th birthday than on Maui! I surprised Chris with a weekend stay out at The Westin in Lahaina. We have stayed there previously and loved it, so I knew he was going to have a great time.

We both took Friday off—it was great not having to get up and do anything. I made homemade, breakfast tacos with fresh fruit for him to start the day and then we did a little bit of shopping to start our weekend. We headed towards Lahaina, stopped at Cilantro's—Maui's fresh Mexican food—Chris' favorite— for lunch. Time to check into the hotel!

With a special help from the PR director there, we got a Beach Bell Tower, Deluxe Ocean King room—it was amazing! Spacious room, ocean and Black Rock view for great whale watching from our room, flat-screen TV and the most amazing, comfortable bed you have ever laid on. Seriously, they are known for their beds—you can even purchase them they are that good. We were in heaven.

But the weather was not heaven. The forecast all weekend said it was going to be overcast and rainy. Thanks a lot! But we were determined not to let that get us down. The complimentary (and surprise to Chris) champagne and birthday cake that greeted us at 5 made our rainy day look a little brighter. We got our swimsuits on and went to the hot tub. Yes, it was rainy, but it felt good to be in the hot tub. Happy hour at the lobby bar, then off to Hula Grill for more drinks and dinner. Birthday night numero uno- sucessful!!

Weather the next day was the exact same, crap-tastic weather. Which I of course wasn't excited about because I had surprise, surf lessons set up for Chris and I. We still went, HAD A BLAST! and yes, we both caught some pretty decent ones. We totally rocked it. But honestly, I don't think I could do the whole surfer girl thing because 1- paddling is half of the work and that's way harder than you think 2- those board are heavy! and 3- the waves and having a wipe out freak the sh#^ out of me. I'll take lying on the beach any day and Chris could boogie board all day. Then I also had lunch set up for us at 'Ono Bar and Grill. I had the grilled chicken and mushroom ciabiatta sandwich—the chicken was sliced thin and juicy and the grilled mushroom and aioli sauce brought the entire sandwich together. I am craving it as we speak. Chris, of course, had the fish tacos. Fish was white and flaky and their special sauce hit the spot. It was now some shopping and hot tub time before dinner.

Chris chose to have dinner at Maui Brew Co. Definitely a mans-mans restaurant. Homemade brews, upscale burgers, adult mac and cheese, pizza and more brews. Chris had their jambalaya filled to the bowls brim with juicy shrimp, sausage and chicken mixed with tender rice. I

had the adult mac and cheese (my body craves cardio now!) with sausage, Gouda cheese and mushrooms. We finished dinner off with drinks at LuLu's. Funny story—there was a girl who was celebrating her 21st birthday that night and Chris bought her a shot since they had the same birthday lol! Birthday day/night numero dos—super successful!

You would think the weather would be different the next day? Nope! So, what do you do on Maui when it's raining all weekend?? You go shopping. And boy did we. We went to Whaler's Village Shopping Center and had a blast. Clothes, luggage, cookies, and more clothes. We have a blast s

hopping together and getting each other's opinions on what we choose. We also choose what we think the other would wear. We're right, most of the time! It was just fun to get out of the rain for a little while. We also visited and got our learn on at the Whale Museum.

Now, the sun was finally out! Thanks Sun, for coming out the DAY we check out. We still managed to get a couple of hours and drink time by the pool before we checked out and headed home. But of course, we didn't get enough Vitamin D the whole weekend, so we laid out by our pool and soaked up some more rays. It was great! We didn't want our weekend to be over.

In a nutshell, I think he had a blast and so did I. It was much needed. Though I say that about all the weekends we spend together, it's true. I think it's so important to get away from everything once in a while. Even if you can't afford to take a weekend trip, make it a stay-at-home weekend with your significant other, close friends, family, no computers, phones, and just stay in and watch movies or go outside and spend some time together. We get so wrapped out in everything we do during the week, that sometimes we forget to take the break our mind, body and spirit needs—needs to recuperate from the week, reconnect with ourselves and each other and refresh from the daily stresses.

When was the last time you had a weekend or day that you had time to recuperate, reconnect and refresh? Make it a priority one time, and you'll make sure it's part of your life for the rest of your life.

i love you Chris Skiles and I'm glad I was able to be apart of your 29th birthday and make it so special! Here's to many more together!

Weekend on the West Side

I definitely relish the weekends we have together here - because they don't come often enough. That is thanks to working in the Hospitality industry - open 24/7, 365 days a year - yay.

So when I saw that I actually had a Saturday off, I was ecstatic. We got to sleep in—well, let me rephrase that—Chris slept in, I slept till about 8:45. I honestly can't sleep any later. Once my body gets the 7-8 hours it needs, I'm good to go, literally. My body just naturally wakes up. I would have to say that I am definitely my dad's daughter in that aspect(among many). My day, still to this day, will be up at the crack of dawn. Doesn't matter what time he went to sleep, he is up to get his day started. Thanks dad, I like it this way too :)

I am also a big breakfast person. So I always love being able to stay home and fix breakfast for us. On the menu was homemade Huevos Rancheros—Christopher loves anything Mexican. I have to tell you , they tasted great! AND - he had breakfast in bed. I'm the best.

I put some left over turkey I had in the slow cooker, along with my recipe for Turkey Chunky Chowder so it would be ready for us when we got back.

We ended up spending the day in Lahaina (one of our top fav places here). We love shopping on Front Street. Yea, it's pretty much safe to see that we both have a shopping problem- which isn't good. Seeing as how that is the only thing we really spend money on here. Well, that and eating out. We have a blast going in to the real surf shops here. It by far was a tell-tale sign of the things we use the most here: Chris bought new Reef sandals and I bought a new Billabong swim suit. That's pretty much what we use the most here. Oh, and the day before, Chris was there with his family and bought a swimsuit for himself, too.

It's so weird to see how our wardrobe has changed. We honestly spend out time in shorts, swimsuits and flip flops, or "slippers" as they call them here- I do not like that word BTW. But I think we like the way it is right now.

Then of course, we had to eat lunch at Cool Cat's "Best Burger on Maui for 7 years in a row." Ironically, I had a mahi mahi sandwich, which was so flaky and moist- satisfied my fish craving. I eat their burgers all the time, I like to switch it up. Chris on the other hand, does not. "Why get something else, when I know what I'm going to get is good." We're SO different! I love to switch it up. But we balance each other - that's why we work so well, in case you were wondering.

Next, was beach time at Ka'anapali. It was such a pretty day, considering it had been raining like cats and dogs the last couple of days. Nothing like, beer in the hand, sun on our faces and crystal clear water to swim in. I tried to meet up with my cousin, Carla, but we always miss each other. Maybe next time.

Time to head home. The whole day was amazing. And even better - I didn't have to fix dinner. It was waiting for us. Thank you Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker. We even had the leftovers tonight and it tasted great.

I love weekends like this. I love spending time with my husband doing things we like to do. I love knowing we are making the most of our weekend/time/free time here.

Why can't I be off every weekend, or at least a Sat or Sun? Can all our weekends be like this?

Did you make the most of your weekend/free time?