About

Hi.  I’m Kahea.  K-uh-hey-uh (it’s Hawaiian).  Welcome to my blog!  

About The Girl:
I'm not quite 30 and have been living in the Bay Area for the past six-ish years with boy and dog.  We live in the East Bay where the temperature is 10 degrees warmer than San Francisco, you can always find street parking, and rent is about a bajillion dollars cheaper.  The Boyfriend/Manfriend/Manpanion's name is Nate and he's a high school teacher.  Three years ago, we adopted a six-year-old child Border Collie/Australian Shepherd who likes to punch people in their crotches and cuddle on Saturday mornings.  We named him Finn and I think he's the best in all the land. 

I grew up in the sticks of Hawaii.  It was one of those childhoods where everyone in town knows you, your family, your friends, and the fight you had with your mom the other day.  I went to college in Washington state and fell in love with the Pacific Northwest.  I also fell in love with traveling the world and, after meeting him on a trip to New Zealand, with Manfriend.  We've been together for almost eight years and are stupid in love.  He puts up with my ridiculous and I enjoy his dumb jokes.  Most of the time.

I'm a law school graduate.  The only reason I mention that is because I know I'll bitch about law school in a blog post at some point and context is key.  After graduating and realizing that my plan of corporate lawyerly-ness and world domination would make my humanitarian soul wither and die, I retooled.  I landed a nonprofit job that I quit a year later, then got a part-time job in environmental justice and began copyediting on the side.  I've also decided to quit screwing around and write the book I've always wanted to write.

I like snark and the great outdoors.  The word "love" does not even begin to describe the depths of my feelings for Diet Coke and iced coffee.  I read a lot, but am pretty picky about it (and by picky, I mean I only like trashy romances, fiction for the masses, and adventure-memoirs).  I should probably use my camera more and Pinterest less on a daily basis.  I think asshat is the greatest word just about ever and my favorite expression is, Well, fuck.

About The Blog:
I began blogging in 2007 on another site out there on the internets.  However, after four years, I felt it was time for a change.  That blog has since been made private and GirlHeartsLife is the only place I post regularly these days.  The name comes from my hope that I'll remember to celebrate more than I complain.  Because I know how lucky I am to have the life I do (I'm not stupid), and complainers are just annoying (unless you are a complainer, in which case I love you anyway).

GirlHeartsLife was always intended to be a general lifestyle blog because I have too many things I'm interested in and narrowing that down would be like, death.  So, here you'll find my forays into becoming healthy, book reviews and my obsession with Aaron Sorkin tv shows, recipes for the foods I want to cook even though I don't actually cook ever, me waxing poetic about Seattle or anywhere else I travel, my journey to becoming a long-distance hiker, my amazing taste in depressing music, things I find inspiring, movie reviews (mostly for Twilight and The Hunger Games.  You know, important films.), a rare rant or two about Hawaii and/or race, my struggle through semi-unemployment and getting out of debt, and anything else that strikes my fancy.

Oh!  AND, if you’re like me and really love knowing random things about people you’ve never met, have some real fun with this list of 101 things about me (last updated 9/20/2012):   
 

101 Things About Me

1. It took me almost a week to come up with this list.
2. Kahea (short for Kahealani) is one of my two middle names.  It means "call of heaven."
3. My little sister (Hi!) is the only family member that reads my blog.  I think it's because she's the only one that really knows what blogs are.
   
4. I think my fingernails and toes are my best features.
5. The dream is to be a writer.  So I'm currently trying to write my first novel.
6. I'm in the eternal process of trying to kick a really bad Diet Coke habit.
   
7. I don’t know the parts of speech. I can actually remember the day in second grade when they were taught and I was absent.
8. I get crazy emotionally involved with fictional characters.  I'll talk about them as if they actually exist.
   
9. I’ll stop conversations mid-sentence if my favorite line in a song is about to be sung.
10. I’m an OCD kind of organized person. But only with certain things. Like my desk and bookshelf.
11. I want to be artsy and poetic and am just so not.
12. I read trashy romance novels, young adult fiction, adventure-memoirs and Mary Russell novels.
13. I believe vanilla ice cream with chocolate and peanut butter can solve any and all of the world's problems.
14. I am completely uncomfortable driving on freeways.
    
15. I want to backpack around the world.
16. I can't hang with rudeness, and incompetency. I worry that it’s because I see those things in myself.
17. For most things I have the attention span of a 5-year-old child. But I also have the stubborn streak of 70-year-old man, so it balances out quite nicely.
18. I’m painfully shy.
19. I’m more lyrical than I am musical.
20. As an Indigenous person, I'm a firm believer in self-determination and sovereignty.
21. I don't really like the taste of alcohol.  If I drink it, it's usually pretty sugary.
    
22. I own more lounge/yoga pants than jeans.  I see nothing wrong with that.
23. In my honest and seriously unbiased opinion my niece and nephews are the cutest kids I have ever seen in my life.
24. It's hard for me to be dependent on anyone else. It makes me edgy.
25. If I could look like any movie star, it would be Mila Kunis.  If I could sound like any singer, it would be Brooke Fraser or Joy Williams.
    
26. I'm Portuguese, Native Hawaiian, Filipino, Spanish and French.  People in the mainland usually just think I'm Mexican.
27. I rarely get through arguments without crying. Which embarrasses me. Which makes me cry even more.
28. I had a pen pal in the 5th grade who asked me if I used a canoe to get to school. I think I told her yes.
29. One of my prized possessions is a poem Boyfriend wrote for me on our first anniversary that he put in a box filled with origami paper cranes.
30. I’m horribly indecisive. I can’t even decide what to eat for dinner most nights.
31. I've been to a renaissance faire.  Twice.
32. I wonder what happened to the boy I liked in high school. And I don’t always hope he’s doing well.
33. I hate chiles, multiple choice exams, and public speaking.
34. I have to read the ending of books before I start them. I have to. It’s a sickness.
35. I'm a San Francisco Giants fan.  Boyfriend is an Oakland A's fan.  And yet we are still together.  It must be love.
36. I have weight issues. I’ve pretty much been trying to lose 50lbs since I was ten years old.
37. I used to wear really thick glasses and was made fun of a lot.  Kids can be mean.
    
38. I think an entire half of my family are pastors. I grew up really Christian. And have fallen in love with a Buddhist.
39. In law school I specialized in federal Indian law. It's ridiculously interesting.
40. I reread books right after I finish them. I literally start them over again as soon as I finish the last page. I feel like they’re always better the second time around.
41. I'm a slippers (versus flip-flops) and soda (versus pop) kind of girl.
    
42. I’m vain about tan lines.
43. My mother has green eyes. So when I’m in an exceptionally good mood, my usually brown eyes turn a little green too.
44. I have a tattoo.
45. I want to be a long-distance hiker.  Hiking part of the PCT is my goal.
46. Apologies make me cry.
47. I graduated from the University of Washington with a major no one understands.
48. I’m not as smart as people think I am. But I think I may be smarter than I think I am.
49. I think Disneyland, Anthropologie and Barnes & Noble are the happiest places on earth.
50. When I was a kid, I wanted to be Indiana Jones with breasts.
51. I’m a product of the *NSYNC generation and thought JC was the hottest thing EVER.
52. I attended boarding school from age 12 until I graduated high school.
53. The smell in bookstores and libraries makes my stomach ache. But I still want to own one. A bookstore, not a library.  Though that would be kind of cool too...
    
54. Hot chocolate also makes my stomach ache. I don't know why.
55. My best friend and I met for a week at "camp" in the 5th grade (though I'm not sure we ever spoke), then began living together in our 7th grade dorm.  We still talk every day.
    
56. In high school I was given "unlimited detention" for sneaking out of my dorm to go to a Britney Spears concert.  So.  Not. Worth it.
57. I was deathly allergic to shellfish as a kid.  I think I may have outgrown my allergy but am still to scared to chance it.
58. I have the memory of an elephant. It drives Manfriend absolutely nuts most of the time.
59. I usually don't watch or read the news.  I hear about current affairs through word of mouth, Twitter and Facebook.  Yes, I'm ashamed of myself because of this.
60. I'm terrible at calculating tips at restaurants.
61. When I saw Yosemite for the first time, all I kept saying was "Are you f**cking kidding me?!"  It's the most beautiful place I've ever seen.
62. I curse, sometimes a lot.  But never in front of my parents.
63. My magazine subscriptions: Women's Health and Sunset.
64. I like bluegrass and country music, and know the lyrics to most Garth Brooks songs.
65. Seattle and Vancouver, BC are probably my favorite cities.
66. Team Edward and Team Peeta.  Christian Gray FTW.  Haters gonna hate.
    
67. Aaron Sorkin's Newsroom is my new favorite tv show.
68. At age 25 I began developing a fear of commitment.  Says the girl going into year 8 of her relationship.
69. If it's a bad movie I probably already love it.
70. I don't eat lamb, duck, venison and veal because they're cute animals.  I have also gone pescetarian three days a week in an effort to curb all my meat consumption.
71. My dog probably hates your dog.  It's his one flaw.
72. I hate cold-calling people.  Even the pizza delivery place.
73. Retail therapy was once my favorite kind, and I have the credit card debt to prove it.
74. My first concert ever was Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.  I was 9.  See you at the crossroads...
    
75. A large portion of my friends of foodies.  You should come over for dinner.
76. My fingers are double-jointed.  I'm not gonna lie, it's kind of gross.
    
77. I don't understand the obsession people have with Prince. It baffles me. He's a little man who sounds like a woman. Am I missing something?
78. My first "language" was Hawaiian Pidgin English. I still speak it when talking to family, and my mainland friends never understand a word I'm saying.
79. I love going to sporting events regardless of whether or not I like/understand the sport itself.
    
80. I think the Dos Equis guy really does seem like The Most Interesting Man in the World. 
    
81. I could eat artichokes every day for the rest of my life.
82. I'm a sucker for accessories.  Earrings and necklaces preferred.
    
83. I cry every single time I hear these songs: Death Cab’s “I Will Follow You into the Dark”, Brad Paisley's "Whiskey Lullaby" and Nicole Nordeman's version of "How Deep the Father's Love for Us"
84. I believe that everything happens for a reason.
85. I've never lived alone.
    
86. I don't like The Daily Show.  I love The Colbert Report.
87. I think John Muir has written some of the most beautiful things I've ever read.
    
88. I quote lines from “My So-Called Life” in my head on a regular basis.
89. My boyfriend, his brother (his ex-girlfriend), their cousin, my last piano teacher, my childhood friends' grandmother and I all have the same birthday, different years. It's okay, I know it's weird.
    
90. I rearrange my furniture every five months or so. I can’t stand when things stay the same too long.
91. I worry more about animals than I do people.  In almost all things.
    
92. I used to think of Coldplay as the soundtrack of my life.
93. I tend to be an introvert, but I love friendly people and am usually really friendly as well. I want people to feel as comfortable as I can make them.
94. I love ghost stories.  I watch all of those paranormal TV shows too.  But I hate horror movies with a deep, burning passion.
95. I like going to places I've read about in novels.  I've planned entire trips with this in mind.
96. I go-to tube of lipstick is Burt's Bees in rose.
97. I’m often told to stop trying to please everyone.
98. Fall-going-into-winter is hands down my favorite time of year.  I'm pretty much giddy from October 1st through Christmas.
99. Those in the know have developed the ability to make me feel bad for inanimate objects.  Like the broom.  Or a sock.  Apparently, my bleeding heart doesn't discriminate. 
100. I'm really bad about procrastinating.  If it were a sport, I'd be the world champ.
     
101. I’m extremely surprised that I was able to think of 101 things about myself. It’s difficult to be this honest sometimes.