White Whine.

Why is planning a vacation so difficult? I feel like maybe because the last time I went away, I was told where to go and when and wasn't really given a choice. Now, I have input. And I have to pay. And that shit is expensive.

My sister and I are going on vacation together this year. I don't think we have ever done a sister vacation. We have visited each other, gone hiking. But in each others respective towns. Now, we are going away. And we seem to have opinions about where to go and stay and...and...and.

Am I the only person who has angst about this? Although I am very pleased to have frequent flier miles because these plane tickets are killing me.

That being said, any suggestions for things to do in Rio?

The Last Aloha

Crazy how fast 7 weeks can go. Crazy that I have 3 1/2 days left in Hawaii. 3 1/2 people! What?!
My last few weeks in Hawaii have been pretty fun though, take a look...

Our garden continues in its awesomeness. These tomatoes are gorgeous, and were promptly eaten by the birds. Fail. Net= smart move.

Look at my rockstar. He has pods! Pods that will soon be ready to harvest. When I am in VA. That's okay though, he still rocks.

I went to this beautiful beach. I got badly sunburned. I seriously look like I have some strange skin disease. Off in the distance we saw the Black Pearl from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, (they are filming the next one here now) but I didn't have my good camera with me so I couldn't get a picture of it. The beach is a good second best.

Nick took me to a super fancy brunch at a fancy hotel. We still talk about the food because it was that good. The hotel also had lots of fish and turtles and DOLPHINS. Awesome.

I want to rub his belly. Is the weird?

Then we went hiking. We saw a crashed helicopter. It was being filmed the next day for an episode of Hawaii 5-O. We hiked through lots and lots of mud. I have not seen that much mud since the rainy season in Kenya. There was also a waterfall, and bamboo forest and very cool trees like this one.

This is us at the top- don't we look sweaty? Too bad you can't see our feet, it would help you believe that I am not over exaggerating about the mud.

This past Sunday we went on another hike. Ka'ena is the westernmost tip of the island. It is one of the more beautiful hikes I have done. I took lots of pictures. Nick patiently stood there while I took lots of pictures. He's a nice guy like that.

Can you see me? I am standing on this arch. Looking slightly awkward. There were some closer ups taken. Like I said, looking slightly awkward, so instead take in the scenery.

The coolest part, minus the majesty and beauty, is that the point is a natural area reserve. Albatrosses nest there. In holes in the sand. It is very hard to take a picture of a bird in a deep hole. I tried and failed. There are also monk seals. They are cute, and fat and lazy. Nick said I was not allowed to go and hug them.

I have no complaints, it has been a pretty amazing summer. I've seen and done some pretty cool things, met some pretty great people, and grown to love it here. So, Aloha for now Hawaii- but I'll be back.

Who's Next?

What could be better than being in Hawaii? How about a friend visiting you in Hawaii-because that's a kind of super awesome. Nick took off for Japan for a week to get his work on, and Meghan came to visit and get her "celebration of life vacation" (aka ignoring her 30th birthday)on. We did some serious exploring, had a spa day, and found majesty and serenity...

In sunset dinner picnics...

beautiful beaches...

crystal blue waters...

crazy rock formations...

The Spitting Cave of Portlock. I am not making that up. It is a real place. It is AMAZING. Bonus, you sound like you visited something out of Harry Potter. awesome.

The Valley of The Temples. We went to this one. We found serenity.

and majesty.

and beautiful statues.

We even saw sea turtles while hanging on the beach.

This is just a taste of our vacation people. I didn't even show you the tropical drinks and hammocks. This too could be yours. Who wants to come visit next?

Speechless

I don't even have the words to describe my trip to Hawaii. Beautiful? Awesome? Amazing? Incredible? None of these adjectives seem to do it justice, so I'll let the photos speak for themselves...

R.N.Y.C.

I know that it's been awhile since I've posted on this thing. I guess about a month. A few reasons for this:
1. I am using my parent's computer and while I am not ashamed of anything I write on here, I really don't want to have to explain it, talk about, create blogs for my parents etc. etc.
2. I didn't really think that I had anything to share. No funny stories, just moving and trying to fit all my stuff back in the apartment already filled with stuff.
3.I am lazy.

The past few days, I have been in Florida visiting some old friends who I haven't seen for awhile. They have spawned a cute little kid with pigtails since I saw them last, moved houses, and it was great to kick back with some wine and great to catch up with them.

Most importantly, it was great that Ape took me to the Redneck Yacht Club. For those of you who do not know this song, I suggest you look it up, at least for the lyrics. The video from YouTube is basically what it looked like...except there were more muscle tees and fewer attractive people.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsGOX7DMVCg
I met someone with a mullet and a Dale Earnhardt Jr. koozie named Darryl. He's my new boyfriend. As soon as I can figure out how to get the pictures off my camera, I will post the pics of PVC pipe anchors and fully clothed rednecks named Bo and Bud hanging out drinking Natty Light.

I felt like a cultural anthropologist.

Cali, Baby, Cali

Where do I even begin? Maybe with how this all came about- let us take a walk down memory lane shall we? So, this has been a particularly yucky year for me, topped off by a mini-sort of-midlife-crisis surrounding my 29th birthday (which in hindsight seems ridiculous now). My solution was to find some thrilling adventure to liven things up a bit. Now, I know I may not seem the thrill seeking type but do not let my preppy looks deceive you. I love a thrill. Give me any adventure and I'm there. Throw me out of a plane, send me down a river, I'll take it. Tell me I can't, won't or shouldn't and I'll be even more likely to do it- and just to one up you, I'll do it first. This need for adventure drives my poor mother crazy, but I figure you only get to live once right? I got it in my head that bungee jumping was what I needed to tackle next and I was determined to do it. So, mission #1: find someone willing to do this with me (because adventure is never as fun alone). Sadly most of friends are not the thrill seeking types, so I could easily check almost all of my female friends off the list of possibilities. Boys, however, are more likely to take you up on this type of adventure. Mission #1 was completed; Mike was in and I didn't even have to do any convincing- now that's my kind of friend. Mission #2: How many activities can you cram into 4 days? Well, if you're us, quite a few. So in four days we hit Stockton, Yosemite, Gold Country, Jumped off a bridge and San Francisco. So here are a few comments on each:

-Stockton: looks like this when you look it up on line. This is what it is really like. (read the crime section) Our hotel was on the same line as the Bates Motel. I thought we were going to get jacked in the night. Take my advice and avoid like the plague. Do not convince yourself that driving half way to Yosemite after being on a plane is smarter than just driving the whole way- in this case it was not.

-Yosemite: Is beautiful. My love of photography was on overload. Big trees, big rock formations, curvy roads. Apparently there were also bears, which we could not find anywhere. I wish there had been more time to see it all. Only downside was people everywhere.

-Gold County: is interesting. There are some cute little towns but it seems as though they haven't quiet figured out how to really make them all that interesting. The area is pretty and very peaceful, and historic.

-Bungee Jumping: is excellent. It is a total rush. Where we jumped was remote and beautiful. It was a feeling I will never forget and hope to repeat. I got a little banged up, pretty much due to user error, but nothing too bad and very worth it.

-San Francisco: is a pretty cool city. It seems like 90% of the city has an amazing view that I am admittedly jealous of. I would hate to drive/park there, no doubt about it. Although I saw so much of the city, again I wish I had had more time there.

Then came the problem of trying to decide which pictures to post here. Too many good ones, and posting pictures of the bungee were a no go. So hopefully these will do... (you have to click on the collage to really get a good look)

So, all in all, I give California an A. Bungee jumping definitely A++++. Now I just have to figure out what adventure to tackle next...

California Dreamin'

Plane tickets: check.

Hotel Reservations: check.

Rental Car: check.

Bungee Jump Reservation: check.

Excitement: check!

YAY for vacation!

If We Took A Holiday...

YAY for the holiday weekend! Thank goodness I got away from D.C. and the hell of tourists. (Although all of the bikers were in town for freedom ride and I always think that is kinda cool) Thank goodness Sheila's principal raffled off her condo in Wintergreen. Thank goodness Sheila won and likes me enough to take me along! The fabulous car ride there included the musical styling of such genius as Wilson Philips and Color Me Badd. Love it. We did some hiking in Crabtree Falls (see above) with an interesting collection of families and rednecks. We ate lots of yummy food. Lots. The trail mix was my BFF. I got my Peds cured. We did some wine tasting. Which was awesome because it was followed by us getting some take out Italian and going back to the condo to eat, finish off a bottle and a half of wine, and celebrate Krisitin's birthday with a cake. All while Krisitin looked up our astrological signs on her blackberry to discover if they matched our personalities (can I add how much funnier this is on 3 glasses of wine. I also think Astrology is total crap). The views were beautiful and the company fantastic. What else could I ask for?

Today I had to return to the real world. Back to work (of which I only have 3 weeks left) where the eggs we were incubating hatched and I had 7 chicks cheeping ALL DAY LONG in my classroom. We named four of them-well they named four of them- Snoopy, Peep Peep, Eggy Wrestler, and Sleepy Head. Where they come up with this stuff I have no idea.