Introducing Maui!!!

You guys!!!!  *sigh* 

I have Oahu luau pictures to post but I just can't do it.  Maui is just too breathtakingly beautiful, I can't wait any longer.  I HAVE to take you on vacation!!!  By far my most favorite island of the trip-- it's like a dream!

Are you ready?!!!!  Put on your sunscreen & sunglasses!!!  Grab your bathing suit & beach towel, folks-- you're going to need it!!!  MAUI HERE WE COME!!!!  :)  :)  :)

This was our balcony terrace from our room.  Can you imagine having breakfast in front of this view every morning???  It was HEAVEN. 

 Beautiful fresh air, no humidity... That's Molokai in the background, another island of Hawaii.

I mean... COME ON!!!!

I WAS HERE!!!!

:)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)

This was the view from the outside hallway.  Doesn't it just look picturesque!?  See the rainbow on the left hand side!!??  Hawaii is full of rainbows!!!

Maui is soooo much different than Oahu.  It's a slower pace, it's less touristy... it's soooo chill.  You can breathe here... the world stops.  :)

While Joan was doing laundry one morning, I explored down by the beach.  One of my favorite moments from this trip.  I had begun to feel better and got some quiet 'me time' to just sit & reflect.  All I did was breathe... deep breath after deep breath.  For the love of monkeys in Uganda, look at this water!!!!

Hawaii has always been on my list of places to go but due to where I was at a few years back financially-- not to mention in life-- a trip like this seemed like an impossibility.  I dug my feet in the sand & just stared at this view in utter gratitude.  I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was sooo quiet, soooo serene, soooo peaceful.  I'm a person that needs alone time in order to function and this was just perfect, perfect, perfect.

It's like the cover of a magazine!  Can you imagine sailing every day like this!!!???

The sand was even fascinating to me!!  Pebble-y and grainy!  :)

There was hardly anyone around.  It was... I mean, JUST LOOK AT IT!!!!

 What a gift.  Anytime I feel stressed, all I have to do is look at these pictures & remind myself of the exact feeling I had sitting in such stillness.  This place healed me in so many ways....  

I came back from Hawaii feeling like a different person.  A person with strength that was finally ready to move forward.  A gal excited about how far she's come based on where she was a year ago.... Someone excited about the changes that she'd been making that would make this kind of magical manifestation possible. And even more so... an adventurous gal who is super psyched about what's next.  :)

I feel the need to reiterate the absolute stillness here.  It's just soul-filling. 

I dug my hand deep into the sand and took this picture as a way of acknowledging that I was here.  I wanted to experience, touch, taste & feel everything I could in Hawaii.

And wanted her to remember me...

And as soon as I was here, I was also gone.  Maybe it's just me but I can't help but feel that Hawaii is a deeply spiritual place. I felt the breeze go through me like a wall of healing.  The waves lapped up on shore and in my heart with the playfulness of a child.  That inner, whole, complete voice inside me was so quiet yet so powerful & strong.  God was everywhere here and I just took it in.

In a moment's time, Hawaii had her imprint of me. She knew my entire history, my past and future.  And I knew, sitting in the ocean letting the waves wash over me, that everything was going to be okay. 

So I took a seat in some shade and said some prayers of thankfulness. 

I laid back in the sand & looked up at the lush green & blue sky above me...

And that is when a speck of sand by my head moved at a furiously fast pace.  I nearly lost my sh*t!!!

I thought it was a spider but it wasn't.  It was this little guy-- a Speedy Gonzalez sand crab!!!

And that is when I was done with the beach.  ;)

I never know who actually reads my blog... But it is my sincerest wish that anyone reading it today gets to experience a place like this at least once in their life. I hope you can live vicariously a bit through these pictures and use them in some way to manifest your own journey here.  It really is healing.  It really is heaven on earth!  I am so lucky & blessed to have gotten to visit someplace so magical.  :)

Have a terrific day, everybody.  Big hugs to you all,