Before I begin on this journey, I would like to share with you a small book that was put together by me and the rest of the SVA Art Education team in 2009. I never got a copy in the mail, but found that it was also available online. My illustration is featured on page for. Take a look at it here.

Now, back to our show.

It has been a few weeks now that I have been to Hawaii. I decided to wait until a snow day to finally post my experience. As I said in an earlier post, the boyfriend and I took a 6 day trip to Waikiki Beach to watch the LOST premiere on the beach, along with 12,000 other fans. The trip came in a nice little package. We were greeted right off the plane with a lei that smelled amazing, and a VIP driver.We got to meet other fans, podcast hosts, and writers. We were set up with a sweet hotel with a balcony that overlooked the ocean. It was like waking up every morning looking out into Heaven.

The week included a wonderful dinner serving traditional Hawaiian cuisine, including a roast pig. We were fascinated by the Hawaiian dancers and their not-so-much of a barely there outfit.

The premiere was on a Saturday…I think? People were camping out overnight from what we could see from our hotel. By the time we got there at 10am, it was crowded. The premiere wasn’t showing until sundown, but you know how these things go. Our group had been awesome enough to save an area with towels. I almost felt like I was in a cult.

Click on the picture below to see the full panorama:

The whole cast was there, it was amazing. the guy who plays Richard Alpert was by far the nicest guy ever. All the up close and personal pictures we got with the actors were great. There’s just something so authentic about watching a movie, while laying out on the beach in the warm breeze. The day before we had gotten a VIP tour around the entire island to see all the areas LOST was filmed. My favorite was the barracks, which is actually a summer camp for kids.

Oh, I forgot to mention that because Hawaii is so close to Japan, about 80% of their goods and advertisements are in Japanese. And I loved every second of it. There were even games at the arcade like the one below with instructions we couldn’t understand.

I have to also mention that I ate the most amazing tasting sushi I have ever had in my life. Actually, come to think of it, ALL of the food we ate in Hawaii was amazing! On our last day there, we took a cab to THE COUNTER BURGER, where the best burgers are made to order any way you like them! Jin from LOST actually owns this restaurant, so we HAD to go. The menu consisted of a massive list of ingredients to add to your burger ranging from sprouts and avocado, to potato chips and fried egg.

I know I am skipping around and shortening a bunch, but there is just soo much to write about, that I would be here all day. I’s also a really impatient person, and type so loud that my boyfriend thinks I am angry at the keyboard.

On our last day, we took a 2 mile hike up a dead volcano called DIAMOND HEAD. It was over 80 degrees, sunny, and a long ass haul.

When we finally got to the top, it was beautiful. The view was amazing, and we were so high up. There was a ledge over the railing that Jimmy wanted to climb over. It was terrifying, so I did.

While we sat there to enjoy the view, and catch our breaths…something both shocking and amazing happened.

He asked, “Will you marry me?” The first and only thing I saw was the ring, and I was so in shock that I didn’t even here him ask! He had to repeat it again so my brain could come back to earth. So, like I should , and did…. I said YES!

And I am going to leave you with that.