Sunset

Tank: Island Snow; Shorts: Loft: Sandals: TJ Maxx

I'm not sure I've ever left the blog alone this long, in it's entire (almost 3 year) existence. But if there was ever an excuse to abandon blogging and most social media, it was this past week.

Ben and I arrived on O'ahu last Sunday afternoon, the 22nd of March, and promptly picked up our best friends (and my maid of honor), drove across the island to our house rental, and settled in for the full week of festivities. Between Sunday and Saturday (our wedding day!), we had one birthday party, one rehearsal dinner, one bachelor and bachelorette dinner (separately), two house parties, and we went to four different beaches multiple times a day. My bridesmaids and I got manicures, arranged bouquets, dropped dresses off for pressing and steaming, did a venue walk-through, and recited our vows/ceremony/quotes in practice for the wedding. The guys went spearfishing, snorkeling, bodyboarding, surfing, and hiking. We all toured the island, driving back and forth from beach to beach, shave ice spot to poke shop until we were exhausted and our car had many a mile on it. We actually all lost weight from the go go go, raw-fish-consuming, always-hot and usually-tired, constant-swimming vacation life we pursued.

We stayed in a house with 5 other people for a week on the East side of the island before transitioning, post-wedding, to Waikiki to spend a few quiet days together. It was nice to get out of busy house full of the sounds of 20-somethings drinking, waking, cooking, and attempting to sleep with the sound of the street a constant background din. Ben and I just laid around for most of our honeymoon watching the views, reminiscing and making sure to get some quality salt-water time. The perfect way to relax after a mad week and a mad year of planning a wedding. These photos were taken at sunset in the crowded Waikiki area during our short honeymoon stay, in a brief break from the crowds of tourists clogging all walkways, streets, and beaches.

The transition back to real life officially starts tomorrow with work starting bright and early, school starting back up for Ben, and we're having a terrible struggle. In an act of post-vacay and new-last-name confusion, I cut off all of my hair today (pictures to come after the vacation recap), bathed my cat, ate my weight in Indian food, and did a billion loads of vacation laundry.

Interested in wedding sneak peaks? Check out this candid photo of us getting our picture taken at the wedding ceremony, this photo of us right before the ceremony, our table decor, and our reception view!