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picture this

Well, the title says it all. I am leaving this blog to your imagination due to a complete lack of picture taking in the last few weeks. Don't get me wrong, I still take 500- 1,000 pictures a day for work, but in my off time, I have been slacking when it comes to capturing the memories of my day to day life. So, step into the imagination station and enjoy this very wordy blog post.
Rewind, to 1979, Louisburg, Kansas. My uncle moved out of the house after high school, leaving my mom with my grandparents. What better way to fill the extra space than to host a foreign exchange student? Enter, Rika, a Japanese teenager ready to explore what America had to offer. She spent a year with my family and remained close with them after returning to Japan. Fast forward, June 2011, Honolulu, Hawaii. Rika has moved to Honolulu with her husband and we were able to meet up. The last time she saw my family was in 1983, but she immediately drove toward me as I stood on the pier waiting to meet her. She said she recognized me from a mile away because I am the spitting image of my mother. (I have been hearing that a lot lately and I don't know how I feel about it yet!) Rika and I had a blast grabbing sushi, going shopping, and swapping stories. I got to hear a lot of stories of my mother's glory days that she has failed to tell me, and it was fun to hear stories about my grandparents that no one else has ever shared! It has been way fun getting to know her and I can't wait to spend more time with her.
The following weekend was the Monsters Inc. extravaganza 2011! What started as a movie night for three people turned into a large event. We each started inviting a few friends and realized that the group of people attending would no longer fit in a cabin. We booked a conference room on the ship. The party was BYOP&S (Bring Your Own Pillow and Snacks) With an array of pizza, popcorn, chips, candy, cookies, and soda, we all dove into sugar overload and movie madness. We all had a great time and have decided to make this a regular event!
This week I met a hilarious couple from Australia on board. They stop by the photo gallery each night and make fun of all of the photos we take. It is hilarious to hear the captions they create for photos. To top it off, they are obsessed with www.peopleofwalmart.com. Being from Australia, they did not realize that Walmart was actually a legitimate and popular place to go. When they found out the ship offered a free shuttle to Walmart, they were ecstatic! They grabbed their cameras and had a ball visiting the Walmarts on the islands in hope of finding something that is website worthy! It has been quite entertaining getting to know this pair, and has made the week fly by.
Other than that, I have been catching up on sleep, eating lots of fruit smiles, and hanging out with friends on board. I can't believe my birthday is just around the corner, and I am certainly glad I am avoiding the extreme heat at home. Hopefully the next post will be a little more visually appealing, but thanks for continuing to join my adventures!

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