back to life, back to reality

well they say we work to live and i sure did think that when i came back to an insane couple days of work after such a lovely vacation. but i keep telling myself it sure is nice to have money and be able to do the things i do so work is that necessary evil :)

so 6 days in maui, hawaii was quite nice. all in all it was great to get away, fun with the gals and i got to do some things i'd prob never normally do. like a cool boating and snorkel trip and my first helicopter ride. and a trip up a mountain to stand above the clouds and watch the sun rise up through them at 5:30am. pretty awesome.

i had some incredible food--the best ahi tuna i've ever had and the most fresh fish tacos with mahi mahi, SO good. and i saw some truly beautiful sites. and i'm so glad i finally got to hawaii. i'm not sure, however, i'd choose maui to return to. i think i'd want to explore some of the other islands and find the more remote and lush parts of the islands. we saw some of that when we traveled to Hana--all the waterfalls and green around. but maui overall was less of that than i expected and it was also (as everyone had said) pretty commercialized. so in ways, after being so spoiled by my surroundings here in beautiful southern, ca it didn't feel ALL that different from malibu. but still every bit of beautiful and most off all, relaxing!

i think i did learn that my friends are more adventurous and like to be more on the go exporing and finding stuff that the books say to do...and me, well stick me on a beach or by a pool and a bar and i'm pretty set for a few days :) it wound up being a nice balance though in the end, we had our relaxing days and then our days where we drove around and explored. again, all in all it was great (pricy! but great).

so yes, now back to life...back to reality. and i no sooner get one suitcase unpacked and i gotta pack it up again tomorrow for a trip to NYC for a work tv shoot and then meetings in DE. i'm squeezing in a quick dinner w/ my family when i'm in route from nyc to phila and will get to see some friends on sat night/sunday before work starts in NYC but other than that it's pretty much an all business trip. but even though it's just a dinner w/ the fam, i cannot wait. it helps break up the time in b/w when i'm able to visit and it will be so nice to see the kids too! and i'll get to tell everyone about my trip etc. so i'm looking forward to that.

that's all i got now. for those of you who are my "facebook friends" i added an album with some more pics of Maui. and i'll leave you with a few more highlights here from the rest of my trip. enjoy.