Dear Dad, "I got work!" Love, Caroline

* First, we'd like to apologize for the missed post last week! 
** Second, according to our survey we only have four blog readers! :( :( 

For as long as I can remember, my dad commonly ended a phone call by saying "write if you get work!" Any of you who know my dad know that he has a small but hilarious bank of phrases that he characteristically uses, so a phrase such as the one above is not uncommon. Others that I love are "Jimmy crack corn" and "chestnuts roasting on an open fire." You might be thinking to yourself that these aren't unusual phrases. However, you need to realize that these are said randomly during conversation or while puttering around the room - in no way connected to their intended usage. I love my dad.

Anyway, last week I was offered a post doctorate position in Jim Collins' lab, a professor in Biomedical Engineering at Boston University (visit his website by clicking here). I had interviewed right before the wedding. For those of you who don't know, a post doc is a research position that typically follows one's graduate work and allows that person to deepen their expertise in a particular subject. It does not work towards a degree, and it pays a little bit better than graduate research positions. I will begin working in the Collins lab on November 4th - just over a week away! As a post doc in this lab I will be using network modeling to help improve the understanding of how antibiotics kill bacteria and find ways to "boost" the antibiotic's killing efficacy. To celebrate my future employment, David and I had dinner together at our favorite Indian restaurant in Davis Square - Diva.

There have been many loose ends for me to tie up at home to prepare for having a job outside of the house. For one, we had to find a dog walker. Ash and Pepper have grown very accustomed to having me around all day to keep them company, so spending five days a week alone in the house will be a big adjustment for them. I managed to compile a list of 14 potential dog walkers - ridiculous I know - and I emailed over half of them. Many didn't have availability for clients needing regular walks, but we ended up with a list of four reasonable options. We interviewed two of these options, and our final choice was made by Ash. Ash isn't always comfortable around new people, and for one of the walkers we interviewed he barked at her when she arrived, after she arrived, and when she left (he also didn't really want to sniff her hand). The second walker we interviewed, however, Ash warmed up to after just a couple of barks. He let the guy sit with him and scratch his head and when the guy left Ash approached him with a slow tail wag, put his paws on the guys legs and sniffed his butt. Winner!

I will continue to tie up lose ends (e.g., changing my name, taking the dogs to their annual vet appointments, getting them groomed, organizing all of the left over wedding stuff, etc.) over the course of the next week. Then I can sing "hi ho, hi ho, its off to work I go!" as my Dad would say :) I will of course check back in after I've settled into the new job and let you know how it is going!

New blog pages and a survey!

We have finally added content to the "About Us" page that you can see in the top tabs of the blog. This is just a short summary of who we are and why we have this blog. For a direct link to this page, click here. 

We have also added a page called "Photos" that is also located in the tabs at the top of the blog. This is a link to our SmugMug home page and contains folders and galleries of all of our pictures. You can see things from dog and karting photos to honeymoon and other travel photos. For a direct link to our photo page, click here. 

We'd love to know more about who is reading our blog and work to increase the number of readers we have. To help us do this, we'd very much appreciate it you would take a moment to complete this short survey!

Hawaii Honeymoon!! (Part IV)

This will be our final post detailing the events of our honeymoon on the island of Kaua'i! We are now back home and resting up from the effects of the time change. Admittedly, we both slept until 10:45 am this morning. That's very late for the two of us! In this post we have included a few "overview" comments from the entire Kauai adventure.

Shave ice review
We ate shave ice at Wishing Well Shave Ice near Hanalei, Hee Fat General Store in Kapaa, Uncle's Shave Ice in Poipu, and Jo Jo's in Waimea. Our favorite was Hee Fat, with Jo Jo's coming in at a close second. Uncle's Shave ice was not fine enough and had too much sugary syrup on it, and we didn't like the ice quality of the flavors as much at wishing well. Hee Fat had great taste AND very fine ice, as did Jo Jo's. Jo Jo's had an interesting quality where the ice seemed to melt instantly when it hit your mouth, making it very refreshing. The mac nut ice cream at Hee Fat was nicer than at Jo Jo's. In closing, David says that Hee Fat is orders of magnitude better than even Jo Jo's. I'm a little less strong on that statement.

Hee Fat General Store Shave Ice

Things we recommend to someone visiting Kauai
If we had to recommend our top six favorite activities to a future Kauai vacationer, they would be:

• Hike to Hankapiai Beach and Hanakapiai Falls. This is an 8 mile round trip hike, but well worth it. The falls are beautiful and serene, the jungle vegetation is neat, and the entire hike is simply unique. At the end of the day, it also feels great to sit back and think "I hiked 8 miles today to a very cool place."
• Helicopter tour of Kauai. A great way to see the entire island, and if you have never been in a helicopter before its a pretty awesome experience. Don't expect great pictures though, unless you pick the touring agency that flies the helicopters without doors (the windows have some glare). 
• Shave ice from Hee Fat and Jo Jo's and ice cream from Lappert's (as long as you don't get cookie dough ice cream - our favorite was vanilla with hot fudge on top). 
• Check out a farmer's market. We went to one at "the shops at Kakui'ula" that was pretty good - lots of tasty fruits, vegetables, and prepared foods. 
• Tour some beaches. We went to Ke'e, Secret Beach, Poipu, Mahaulepu, and Salt Pond Beach. There definitely seemed to be some great others that we didn't make it to. Of the ones we saw, I think Ke'e and Mahaulepu would be our favorites. Though we didn't get to see the lava pools at Secret Beach, that might have changed our minds about that one. 
• Drive to the top of Waimea Canyon and to the lookouts in Koke'e. If you have time, try some hikes in the area as well. 

Trail to Hanakapiai Falls from Hanakapiai Beach

Things we'd do, or do again, if we go back to Kauai

If we went back, six things we'd do are (some are repeats of things we enjoyed from this trips, some are things we didn't have time to do): 

• Spend more time at Ke'e beach and other beaches on the north shore. We saved most of our beach plans for the south shore because we had more time at our condo down there and had heard the beaches there were quite nice. The beaches were nice, but based on our limited time at the north shore beaches and our guidebook we think that the north shore has more to offer in terms of beaches. Ke'e beach seemed particularly nice for sunbathing, swimming, and snorkeling. David in particular would like to have had the time to try snorkeling at Ke'e. There are other beaches on the north shore that are supposed to be great for snorkeling as well, like Tunnel's beach. 
• Hike some of the trails in Waimea Canyon and do the 4WD Miloli'i Ridge Trail. It was pretty rainy the day we set aside to go to Waimea Canyon, so we didn't do any hiking and didn't get to see many beautiful views. Additionally, there was an "adventure" listed in our guidebook that recommended doing the 4WD Miloli'i Ridge Trail. This is a dirt road that takes you down one of the "finger-like" cliffs characteristic in the views of the Na Pali coast. However, the book clearly marked a certain point on the trail that shouldn't be passed in the rain. David wanted to continue anyway (we did drive partly down the trail) but I was adamant that we listen to the advice of the book. Next time, we'd schedule in some time to do one of the longer day hikes and find a dry day to drive the entire ride trail. 
• More shave ice from Hee Fat and Jo Jo's and more ice from Lappert's Ice Cream. They have a cool story, delicious ice cream, and even more delicious hot fudge. Caroline was in love. We didn't like the cookie dough though. Read more about Lappert's here.
• Drive on the sand at Polihale Beach. David really wanted to do this, Caroline was nervous about it, and in the end we just ran out of time. 
• Consider hiking the Kalalau Trail. This would require a lot of planning but seems like it would be pretty unique experience. 
• Visit more farmer's markets :) David loves fruits, I love food. Farmer's markets are therefore pretty awesome for us. 

Our honeymoon in a nutshell
Awesome. We had a great time. Looking back through all of the pictures already makes us nostalgic and happy. I've caught David grinning at pictures and blog entries several times. We wanted a honeymoon where we could relax, enjoy warm weather, see beautiful views, and spend time with just the two of us. Success! And it was fun to be called Mr. and Mrs. Porter all the time :) 

Hawaii Honeymoon!! (Part III)

Highlights from our final days on Kaua'i! Pictures from the entire trip can now be found on SmugMug by clicking here. 

Day Eight (Sept 30)

We literally did nothing but relax all day. We only left the condo to watch the sunset and take the trash out! It was a very nice day though. We sat around, listened to the waves, watched some TV shows, organized pictures, updated the blog, and made dinner together. A nice day of nothing specific with our special someone.

Beautiful sunset from the lawn in front of our condo.

Day Nine (Oct 1) 

• David took a surf lesson at Poipu Beach. We had talked about taking a surfing lesson together, but in the end I decided I'd rather read on the beach and take pictures of David's efforts. I had taken a lesson once before in California. I enjoyed it, but was happier to stay on the beach. David did pretty well and was lucky enough to have one-on-one instruction even though he paid the group rate! While tired and sore afterwards, he had a great time and can't wait to try it again sometime. 
• Walked around the cliffs at Mahaulepu Beach. This beach (or set of beaches actually) had a beautiful shoreline with great views of the ocean. The sandstone cliffs were really neat.
• Uncle's Shave Ice. This shave ice place was really close to our condo and was recommended by our friends. It was good (huge serving sizes!) but not as good as Hee Fat. I tried something called "Shave Snow" which had milk, sugar, and flavoring in the ice. It seemed like a great idea, but my choice of root beer flavor was questionable. 
• Shopping for gifts and souvenirs to take home. We sought out as many shops with Kauai-made goodies as we could find. We didn't buy much, but are excited by our finds :) 
• Dinner @ Merriman's Gourmet Pizza and Burgers. We picked this place because it had good reviews, was in a nice shopping center with outdoor seating, and they had truffle fries. The truffle fries weren't as good as Harvard Garden's (where we ate often while Christine was at MGH), but they were tasty. Nice cocktails, salads, and burgers too. David was excited to see his surf teacher there with is daughter (6, already in surf competitions). 
• Ice cream from Lappert's. We bought a pint of vanilla and a cup of hot fudge from this ice cream shop earlier in the week to enjoy at home. It was delicious. I was in love with the hot fudge. So we went back. Still delicious, though David tried their cookie dough ice cream and it was pretty gross - some weird tasting cookie dough. 

David surfing at Poipu Beach

Panorama of Mahaulepu Beach

Day Ten (Oct 2)

• More shopping on the way to Waimea. We bought a tile that says "Hawaiian Style: Please Remove Your Shoes. Mahalo!" We'd been looking for one of these because they were all over the condo complex and we thought they were a neat way to ask guests to remove the shoes. We think the tradition is prevalent in Hawaii because of the red dirt. We also bought a ceramic tile clock with the traditional Hawaiian bread fruit pattern on it, some Alaea salt, and Auntie Lilikoi's passion fruit jelly. 
• Lunch at Island Taco and Waimea. We had heard great things about this place. It was a cute shop with outdoor seating. David was reasonably happy with his "classic taco" but I was very disappointed with my teri chicken taco - it was much too sweet. 
• Dessert at Kaua'i Granola and Sugar Cane Snax. This was right next door to Island Taco. Delicious macadamia nut shortbread cookies, generous sample offerings, and frozen chocolate dipped cheese cake. Yum. 
• Driving through Waimea Canyon and Koke'e State Parks. It was unfortunately raining most of the drive so our views were very misty and limited. We were able to get the general idea and see the beautiful red dirt mountains, waterfalls, and numerous valleys. We tried going down a paved ridge road, only to discover that it ended in a missile facility of some kind. Whoops (didn't say don't go down!). We turned around and went back up without getting to appreciate much of the scenery at the bottom of the ridge road. We drove part way down the 4WD Miloli'i Ridge Trail recommended by our guidebook, but it said not to pass a certain point in the rain so we didn't make it the whole way. I was on the third day of a head cold as well, so wasn't really feeling up to much adventuring. I had a Kleenex box strapped to my body. 
• Shave Ice from Jo Jo's in Waimea. We shared one this time, we were starting to learn how big these things are. It was very tasty, though the mac nut ice cream wasn't as good as at Hee Fat. David still thinks Hee Fat has the best shave ice, but I really liked how Jo Jo's shave ice melted as soon as it hit your tongue - it made it very flavorful and refreshing. 
• Farmer's market @ "the shops at Kakui'ula". We bought lots of fruits and veggies, a brie and starfruit croissant for the morning, and a taco type thing that was what I had hoped Island Taco would be like. Really nice farmer's market. 
• A swim and dinner at the condo. After a dip in the pool we made grilled chicken and pineapple, salad, and sourdough bread with butter. Delicious! 

Waimea Canyon

Sunset view from our lanai

Day Eleven (Oct 3)

• Breakfast on the patio. We enjoyed our fruit and pastry from the farmer's market while drinking tea and watching the ocean. 
• Hung around the condo reading and relaxing. Enough said. 
• Snorkeling, swimming, and reading at Salt Pond Beach. David really wanted to find another nice snorkeling spot so after some research we decided this beach sounded like a nice one to try. It was secluded, quiet, and had a good swimming spot. However, the water was really murky for some reason so he wasn't able to see much. So we defaulted to reading and swimming. As we were leaving the beach we realized we had a flat tire! Boo. David changed it pretty quickly (luckily Jeep's have a full size spare) and we went to a local auto service station to repair the tire - there was a nail in it. 
• Pre-dinner at the house. Wine and salad, to use up some things from the fridge. 
• Dinner at Brick Oven Pizza in Kalaheo. We sat at the bar and ordered a homemade sausage and onion pizza. This pizza place had gotten great reviews as the best pizza on Kauai. I ate one piece and couldn't taste a thing because my nose was so stuffy - I was very sad! My nose cleared some by the second piece and I was able to enjoy the delicious pizza. I proceeded to out-eat David, as expected. (She said the first piece didn't count because she couldn't taste it;  doesn't explain 5 vs. 3 slices though :) - D)
• Sundaes from Lappert's ice cream. Brownie, hot fudge, and vanilla ice cream for me. Mac nut ice cream, hot fudge, and caramel for David. 

Breakfast on the patio

Salt Pond Beach

Sundaes from Lappert's Ice Cream

Day Twelve (Oct 4)

We ate breakfast on the patio, packed up, and headed to the Lihue airport! While eating breakfast we were lucky enough to spot a sea turtle and catch some pictures of it. I had been watching the ocean all week, hoping to see SOMETHING, so this totally made my day. Our travel home was nice, with lots of food and movie watching. The timing of our flights was entirely off making it so that we didn't sleep much on the journey. We arrived home tired but happy to see the doggies - and our chauffeur Katie. Katie had dressed the dogs in their leis for the occasion! They were very happy to see us. 

Hubby and wifey enjoying cold stone at the Honolulu airport