It's about 9am and I just made it to Starbucks right before it started pouring rain. When it rains here it kind of reminds me of Back to the Future 2, when Marty and Doc first arrive to the future and are in an alley way and it starts pouring rain and Doc says it would let up in just a few seconds and it does and the clouds go away and the sun comes out. Thats what the weather is like today in Honolulu.

WEEK 20- Five months have passed! Can you believe it??! This week I realized that I'm pretty much just over working in general, the other day I walked into my cabin and told my roommate, Amber, "I dont want to go to work tomorrow or the day after that or the day after that or ever again.. this place is so draining." and its not that I dont love my job, we are just soooo over worked. I don't think any contract should be over 5months, people tend to just not work as hard as they did when they first got on the ship. Ahh just four months to go, i mean 18 weeks or should I say 132 days to be exact... not that I'm counting ;P

After blogging at Starbucks on Saturday I facetimed with my wonderful friend Stephanie then headed back to the ship to be at work at 11:30 in the terminal with Lauren. While we were passing out raffle tickets for embarkation our table for the Spa was set up next to the Photography table where they were handing out raffle tickets as well which is where I met my new friend Alex, he's one of the photographers in the studio on the ship from Moreno Valley, Cali. Alex is very very easy to converse with, he was intrigued that I was interested in photography and had all this other experience with past jobs and schooling and pretty much asked me about all I had accomplished in my past and my plans for the future so I gave him a quick summary. He said I'm more than welcome to use the studio on board when I get off work if I want to do any shoots, I just might have to take him up on that offer. When I got up to the spa I finally received my book my buddy sent me about a month ago! The book is incredibly good, Its called The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller, I learned so much within the first chapter and have been reading every chance I get. I already have a couple of girls from the spa lined up to read it once I'm done and it's information I want to share with everyone I come in contact with. Silvia received her new $300 cowgirl boots, she's in love with them and wears them whenever she gets a chance, the night she got them she even thought about sleeping with them. On our dinner break we went to Gordon & Beirsch, it's a restaurant we tend to go to every saturday on our hour dinner break. Apparently they changed some of their menu and finally have sweet potato fries that are to die for! So so so gooood! I also ordered an artichoke and goat cheese flat bread which was really good as well.

Sunday was my day off along with Silvia, Lauren, Alana, and Amber. We booked in to go horseback riding in upcountry, Maui. Lauren woke up early to get the car rental and picked the rest of us up at the ship around 9:15am. We went to Queens mall down the street and we had talked about having breakfast at a diner, the girls made it sound like a hole in the wall diner and to my surprise it was a Ruby's diner! I was so excited, I didn't even know they had a Ruby's at the mall until then and none of the girls had been to one before. I told them how we have them in California and I always wanted to work at one when I was younger just because of their outfits, either a Ruby's diner or a Frisco's. They all agreed that I would fit in nicely working there and I jokingly said I should just work one day at a Ruby's to fulfill my childhood dream. It made my morning having breakfast there. Oh and just so you know, at just about every diner in Hawaii they have macadamia nut pancakes or banana pancakes and coconut syrup, its really sweet but really good!

After eating we did some quick shopping and I bought some cute cowgirl boots for horseback riding, not that I'll ever really wear them again but theres always those times once in a long while I wish I had a pair of cowgirl boots to wear so it was a good investment. I'll just add them to my collection of boots back home.

After we left Queens we went to Paia where Lauren wanted to check out this quilt she had been dreaming of for the past five years from this india type store but they didn't have the style she wanted. I went to Dakine to finally buy a backpack because I need one for all my stuff when I'm going on my adventures, hiking and all, and just to have something to hold all my camera equipment. Then I went to my favorite grocery store to get two cases of coconut water, its so cheap to buy there and I knew I probably wouldn't have a chance to shop there again anytime soon so I stocked up. We left Paia and headed to the Lavender farm, we decided to listen to country music in the care the whole day on our "country" adventure, on our way there we stopped in this little town called Makawao in upcountry. Its really country with cowboy shops all around, we stopped in one store and Lauren bought a cute pair of cowgirl boots, which she'll get use out of because her and Silvia love horses and plan on going riding together during the summer. We were running out of time so we just made a quick stop at the Lavender farm, it was my first time there, the rest of the girls had been before but I didn't get much time to walk around, Alana just wanted to buy a couple things from the gift shop for her mom. Hopefully I'll have a chance to actually tour the farm someday, everything there was purple! with little lavender benched all about the place and lavender umbrellas, It looked like a place my parents would enjoy seeing.

We jumped back in the car and finally after a 45minute drive from the lavender farm made it to Triple L Ranch where we were going horseback riding. Because I was the smallest I had to ride the smaller horse, Alana laughed and asked why I was riding a pony. My horse's name was KiKi, it was a beautiful ride through the hills that over looked the water. We made it back just before sunset. After our ride they fed us Bully's Burgers which is a little burger stand by the ranch where they raise their own cows and make their own burgers, they were really good, I would drive the hour it took to get there just to have their burgers. Come to think of it, I've had some really good food in Hawaii, I feel like I blog about food the most haha.

After Dinner it was a long drive back to the ship. Before returning the car, Lauren and Alana drove me to safeway to do some grocery shopping since I was completely out of food, I got some Samoa girl scout cookies from the girl scouts in front of the store:] then finally made it back to the ship and showered, I was so filthy from all the dust from horseback riding. Gina had texted me earlier asking if I wanted to get Thai food with her when I got back but I told her I already had dinner but I met up with her anyway to keep her company, I really enjoy hanging out with her, I honestly enjoy the company of all the girls.

Monday I didn't have to be at work till ten so I was able to read some of my book, we had a Drill in the Spa, which means they have a fake fire in the spa with fake smoke for the fire team to tend to and the rest of the ship does the rest of their duty's for drill. After drill we had our Monthly "All Hands Meeting" in the hollywood theater. They went on to tell us about the New Norwegian ship porting out of New York called the Breakaway, and I really want to do a cruise on that ship it's all about New York with all kinds of restaurants and they are featuring Cake Boss and the Rockettes. They also talked more about Dry dock and how we are a couple weeks ahead of schedule because they've already started on some of the construction, which is great. They passed out some years of service awards for people who have been loyal to the ship for anywhere between 10-30yrs!! I can't believe someone has worked on the ship for 30years! Gina, of course, was recognized and awarded a humanitarian award for her trying to save a life last month, she was so nervous to go up in front of everyone, we applauded her and gave her a standing ovation she really deserved it. When I arrived back to the spa after the meeting Aaron, from excursions, was waiting for me to cut his hair. While cutting his hair I told him about how my Neighbors from back home will be cruising on the ship in April and he said he would more than likely be able to get them tickets to the Luau which would be great, they would really enjoy that, he said if not him, my friend Brendan would be able to when he gets back from vacation. So thats very nice of them. Monday was also my other friend Aaron Kleinerman's 30th birthday, I rarely see him on the ship so didn't get a chance to tell him happy birthday but Gina said that he felt it was kind of odd that he wasn't in his 20s anymore. It was a slow day in the spa and i asked lauren to play with my hair we started a line and i played with Silvia's hair and Lauren said, "this must be what it's like to have sisters:D" then we reminisced on how we miss our brothers, I can't wait to be home for dry dock.

Tuesday my brother texted me saying my friend, Mark Aragon, passed away, I thought about how strange it was that so much could change in nine months… or in a week… in a day… in a second. The last time I saw him and his wife, Ann, was at my Bon voyage party, and to think, that was the last time I would ever see him. I read what people had posted on his Facebook, its a funny thing now that when people pass you post on their Facebook like they are still there, saying your last goodbyes. I wasn't very close with him but we connected when we first met because he likes puns and I enjoy a good pun as well, he's a punny guy. I'll miss seeing him around church.

That evening Lauren, Silva, Amber and myself ate at skyline. Tuesday is Swordfish night, we all ordered the Swordfish and it was delish. After dinner I ran into Alex and he was excited to show me the new wall they had in the gallery and was about to go shoot photos of the lava. Apparently people pay $5 for pictures of the lava when we sail by it. I told him how I had been meaning to go out there and shoot the lava with my new lens so he invited me to go with him to shoot. So I ran down stairs to change and grab my camera and met up with him on the deck, sadly the lava wasn't as good of a flow as last week so I didn't bother to shoot anything. I told him how I like going out to deck 7 at night, all the way forward where the crew pool is and he said he had never been so I took him there and we just stood on the deck a talked forever about photography and what not.

Wednesday was just a difficult day. I had a hard time waking up, I had a super difficult time with a crew member that was my guest in the salon that I really don't want to talk about I was so upset after doing her hair that I didn't have an appetite to eat lunch. Later a crew guy named William came in for a hair cut, and he loved the way I cut his hair before. William use to have dreads before coming on the ship, he literally looked like the kid with dreads from glee. His hair looks so much better how he had it now. Good thing it was wednesday, it always makes my day better knowing I will be having goat cheese and tomato bisque for dinner, I always look forward to that.

Thursday I had an interesting guest named Emma, she was very open and pretty much poured out her life story. Her image didn't reflect her personality at all and we just connected, probably because she was closer to my age and she was raised christian. She got married when she was 18 and has a 1yr old baby girl and is going through a terrible separation. I told her about the book I was reading and wrote it down for her so she wouldn't forget it, I really hope she reads it. I can't imagine being in her situation.

After work right when I was closing up shop I got a phone call and I never get anyone calling me, I was so happy to see that it was a phone call from my friend Monse so I answered and her and Jasmine were hanging out together and they were excited that I answered. We talked a bit, Jasmine told me about how she just got my postcard earlier that day because she had lost her key to her mail box and hadn't checked her mail in months, she loved it. After a while we called our girlfriend Toni, Toni answered, she was sleeping but stayed on the phone with us anyway. Then I asked about Alyssa and called her and she Joined our "conference call" It was so nice to hear all their voices, it felt like we were all hanging out together and made me miss home sooooo much! I really love that we all have stayed in contact over the years ever since high school and I could hear from them still being all the way in Hawaii. I feel so loved.

After I finished my phone call with the girls I met up with Alex and we walked over to Dukes for dinner, he talks a lot but it was a good conversation, it wasn't all about himself he's pretty smart, very knowledgeable and very ambitious theres a lot of different things he'd like to do in life but are all completely different from each other, he's the opposite of myself almost entirely.

Friday I woke up late for work! Luckily I didn't have anyone until 9am. On my lunch I went down to my cabin and turned on the tv and watch What about Bob, it made me think of my little sister because I remember that movie being her favorite. After work I went to have sushi with the girls at East meets West, I sat at a table for two with Anjulia because we all aren't able to sit together. It was nice to chat with her one on one, she'll be finished with her contract during dry dock, I'll really miss having her around the spa, she's a great girl.

Well it finally stopped raining I should probably head back to the ship before it starts up again. I'll be home in 17days and 7hrs! Looking forward to it soooo much!! love you & Miss you!<3

"Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure." - 1John 3:2-3