Does More Money Buy You Happiness?

No one can really understands how much a wedding can cost until they are getting married themselves. Sure, you can have some idea of the end cost, but in the grand scheme of things, the total amount spent is shocking. On top of that, a wedding price tag is even more jaw dropping on a tropical island. To save money, I know many couples who have had small intimate weddings with about 10 guests. Some of these couples viewed weddings as a nuisance and others just wanted a simple day to express their love towards one another.

With all the chaos involved in wedding planning, sometimes I wonder if I would actually be happier with a smaller less expensive wedding. After running every scenario in my head, I think if I had a less expensive wedding, I would regret my choices.

Your wedding should be whatever you want it to be. If spending less money makes you happy, go ahead and do it. There are plenty of married couples who have shared their wedding planning advice with us. Most of them shared that they regretted spending so much money for their wedding. BUT, all of them had the time of their lives! Yes, there are certain things I could have done to cut corners but in the big picture, would I be less happy? Weddings are about happiness. For the most part, this is one of most important days of a person's life. Whether an immediately family member or the bride, a wedding is a special momentous day for everyone.

My wedding is a celebration of my devotion and love to that one special person. That person is my world. They are the other part to my half.

More or less money cannot buy you happiness. Happiness is only found within yourself. My wedding makes me happy.

Beach Buff Bodies

I went to the beach this weekend to work on my tan. I figured that I should be slightly tanned for my wedding. I can't believe it's only three weeks away! Ahh! And I still have tons of little things to do. It's never ending.

Saturday was a beautiful day to go to the beach, but apparently, everyone else on the island wanted to go to the beach too. Ala Moana Beach Park was also hosting some kind of carnival event as well as the Dragon Boat Races, so it was really hard to find parking. Luckily, we didn't have too much trouble and parked in a prime location.

The beach was hot and filled with people. The ocean was bright blue and glistening. I could feel the sun beaming down on my skin as Noah and I walked toward the beach. We found a nice spot near the water that wasn't too populated. Unfortunately, there was nothing else around to provide any shade from the hot sun, but I slathered on the sunblock to save my skin. I was really shiny! The heat wasn't as bad as I thought because the sand wasn't burning my toes after I took off my slippers.

The warmth of the sun was nice, but after a couple of minutes, I started thinking whether I should get a tan? I was wearing a halter bikini. My wedding dress is strapless. Oh No! Am I going to have this weird funky tan at the wedding?

This is the one problem with many wedding in Hawaii. People don't realize how strong the sun is here. In most cases, people end up either lobster red from sunburn or with funky bikini shadowed tans on their pictures.

I didn't want to be stuck with a halter tan, so I quickly jumped into the ocean and waded around. At first, the water was cold. Ahh!! Really cold! But, I said, "What the hell!" and jumped in, submerging my whole body. Yikes! The torture only lasted a couple of seconds, and I acclimated to the temperature. I had a blast wading in the water. The ocean was extremely calm, so it was like being in a swimming pool! I floated on my back, pretended to be a fish, and splashed around like a maniac. It was great! I think I was in the water for a good hour or until my fingers were prunes. I jumped out of the water and laid down on the beach mat to warm-up again.

Do you ever go to the beach just to people watch? It's very interesting. Sitting back, I see tourist, locals, and teenagers. The tourist are quiet obvious. They speak another language and are enthralled by the "beach". Locals are the ones who are overly prepared with their chairs, grills, and cornucopia of food. Teenagers on the beach are usually holding their significant others like it's their last time.

Some people who visit the beach have no taste in fashion or embarrassment factor. I saw a elderly man in his 60's wearing a Speedo strutting his stuff along the water. I believe he was trying to attract the "ladies". There was another man in the water who did the weirdest thing. While I was wading and splashing around, I heard this funny noise. I couldn't figure out what it was. So, I turned my head all around me searching for this mysterious sound. Louder and louder, I saw a man swimming towards me. He was moving his arms like a normal freestyle stroke, but when his head came up, instead of breathing he spit. It was an intentional spit. And sure enough, after watching him for at least a minute, he spit every single time. I was disgusted.

Some people do the strangest things in public even at the beach. Overall, I had a lot of fun relaxing at the beach. Living on this island makes you forget that we're surrounded by beaches. Warm and beautiful beaches too! Not like beaches in California where they're cold and rocky. Hopefully in the weekends counting down to the wedding, I can hopefully visit and relax at the beach again.

Now, off to another adventure...