2006: Kauai, Hawaii to Hamptons, New York

My life in pictures.

Try as I might, I can’t seem to stay in one place for more than a few weeks so I roamed about some 35,000 miles of our planet last year.

La bella vita
2006 started with a trip to Waimea Canyon and watching the whales play from our lenai in Kapa’a on the island of Kauai. I pit stopped in Washington D.C. to trade in surf shorts for winter layers before I settled into my new home in a medieval village in Italy complete with three terraces, stunning views, and a fireplace so large I could nearly dine in it.

While drinking countless cappucini at the town cafe, I befriended the locals. Nearly every day I joined my new amici for meals, traveled to nearby towns, visited their homes, went horseback riding, bike riding, and attended classical concerts and art openings with them. Three of my closest new friends threw a party at the cafe upon my departure. To contribute to the community, I documented their Dessert Festival for the local tourism office (we tasted desserts and vin santo from across the Umbrian region, gratis), translated the local restaurant’s menu into English, brought in a few tourists, and tried to make myself as useful as possible.

Living in the geographical center of Italy made it easy to explore with my endless stream of friends and guests in tow. Kirk, JK & Tracy, Ashley & Sarah, the Climans, Craig, Mike & Eileen, Tina, Miranda, and Adrienne covered north, central, and southern Italy with me, though none of them were there to help during my firewood (mis)adventure. Call me lucky, I got to visit Venice (twice!), the many hilltowns of Tuscany and Umbria, Firenze (my favorite), Pompeii, Positano on the Amalfi Coast (complete with an ocean view balcony... thanks SLJ&M!) the beautiful Cinque Terre (thanks M&E!), and of course, Roma.

Uh, ok, so I didn't settle down.

With the intention of settling down upon my return to the U.S. in June, I failed miserably. I spent my first week on U.S. soil in Arlington, traveled to New York City, Florida, Santa Monica, back to Florida, back to Santa Monica to Kilauea, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Florida, Arlington, NYC, and landed in the Hamptons with Teresa for new year's. Of course, we jumped just about everywhere. Special thanks to Mike and Mike for all those rides to the airport.

Celebrations were abundant with Nigel’s big 60th bash at the Figueroa, Denise’s 60th birthday be-in, I broke the fast with the Frescos, spent Sukkot with the Grossmans, volunteered at Dogfest in Orlando and at Beach Clean Up Day in Santa Monica, enjoyed yoga by the ocean, barbecued Vietnamese style at Stevie’s, brought the kids to see Oren play with Me’shell Ndegeocello, spent time with Aunt Joyce and family at the OPA bbq, donated 15" of my hair (thanks Patti!), listened to Iván Fischer and the NSO with Mike & Eileen, watched Doubt with Tricia in L.A., Pericles with Shawn at the Shakespeare Theater in D.C., and the reading of Marni’s new play at the Woolly Mammoth, and spent Christmas with the Dohenys.

We said goodbye to my Ba Ngoai, who lived the fullest life and left us after 97 years with her ten children at her side.

And Now
These days I'm busy with my own graphic design studio and (this week anyway) I'm living in Washington, D.C. in a historic building. No, it's not permanent, I don't know how long I'll be there and I don't know where I'm off to next. But I'll keep you posted!

May the new year bring you peace and good health, and maybe a semi-permanent place for me to stick around. Thanks for being a part of my life and for letting me take your picture. And special thanks to everyone who fed me. Big love and cheers.

"Hani, let's just say I always knew you were a flight risk." -Les Johnson (my friend and for-now roommate.)

Photo albums of the year are organized by date or event and you can click on the 'guest pass' available under most of them to see more (and the link for the detail view is best). If you register using your yahoo id, tell me your handle so I can add you to my contacts list (also to see more photos).