optimistic

my parents are serving an lds mission in the rome, italy mission. they are having such amazing and unique experiences. feel free to check out my mom's blog here for good reads. last night i had a hard time falling asleep, probably because I was watching the two part finale to the second season of revenge. on a totally off-topic note: the third season is starting in less than 2 weeks. i had no idea what a cool show this is! but now i'm hooked, thanks kinzee. 

anyway, last night (early this morning), i was still awake when my dad sent an email (the time difference for us is 8 hours) with quotes by william arthur ward. WOW. his quotes touch on an optimistic, gracious, inspirational feeling that i hope to one day have and fully understand. i'm not sure how many of you are into quotes (i am), but i wanted to share some of his. 

quotes by arthur william ward

"God gave you a gift of 86, 400 seconds today. Have you used one to say thank you ?"

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” 

"Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records."

"The optimist lives on the peninsula of infinite possibilities; the pessimist is stranded on the island of perpetual indecision."

"A warm smile is the universal language of kindness."

"Greatness is not found in possessions, power, position, or prestige. It is discovered in goodness, humility, service, and character."

“Happiness is an inside job.” 

"Blessed is he who has learned to admire but not envy, to follow but not imitate, to praise but not flatter, and to lead but not manipulate."

“Optimists enrich the present, enhance the future, challenge the improbable and attain the impossible."

“When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves."

"Today is a most unusual day, because we have never lived it before; we will never live it again; it is the only day we have."

"If you can imagine it, you can achieve it, if you can dream it, you can become it."

those of you who know me, know that i am not a woman of few words. i honestly think, though, that people who can say something so profoundly in only a few words are complete genius. this guy, arthur william ward, he gets it. he sounds very accomplished, according to wikipedia. i'm going to embrace some of this optimistic energy and you can too, if you want. and hopefully i can accomplish the laundry that's waiting to be folded.

(and a little grumpy cat, because she's good for the soul)

**wallace, ayesha and barb**

hawaii

this year mike and i wanted to go to hawaii for our one year anniversary. i feel like we've been planning this trip since my last trip to maui with my parents. they took me for my graduation present after i graduated with my bachelors in 2010. mike and i talked on the phone everyday and talked about how we would come here together. here we are.

day 1 was absolutely fantastic! we took a shuttle to rent our car from al's west maui vans- suuuuper cheap car rental in maui. have you heard of it? For 11 days we are paying $351.00. we are driving a classy, blue 2005 Dodge Neon. The only way the air conditioning keeps you cool is if you roll the windows down (aka it does not work at all haha) but we are happy with the price. no complaints here.

since we arrived in maui @730 in the morning, we were very tired from our journey. we ate "breakfast" at Sam Satos sharing a yakitori plate and a bowl of dry noodles. mike loved the guava canned juice and the sugar donut we also shared after. and he liked the food, of course because who doesn't love Sam Satos? 

then off to Costco. to buy some essentials for a good deal. then back to the hot car and a windy, beautiful drive along the coast to the condo. whales were splashing out of the ocean and we watched them the entire drive. mike was so impressed and we were both extremely excited. we made it to the condo. checked in. showered and took a little nap. Then we went to safeway to buy some household essentials and other groceries. 

we took a walk along the beach and toured around kaanapali, the places close to the condo. Took mike to the farmers market to get some mango salsa. showed him the ABC store. then we cooked dinner which we ate outside on the patio, watching the sunset and a cool big boat that slowly cruised past our view. absolutely beautiful. 

we are debating haleakala sunrise tomorrow early morning. I'm not sure i want to drive so far for it. I think snorkeling is on the agenda for tomorrow if we don't go to the summit. 

everything is so beautiful. i ask mike everyday, "can we please move here?"

(Here's mike on the beach :) love his swimming suit, don't you? )

**Sam Satos**