Kona with a side of fin

When we took the 20 minute drive to our hotel from the airport, I kept staring out the window, as the driver kept saying, ‘and there’s a wild goat..and there’s another..and there’s another’; thinking to myself, ‘this is it? Its one big lava field, why would anyone come here?’ Not 24 hours passed and I’m staring at awe at the lava mixed in with the beautiful greenery and the water crashing over the jagged lava rocks and think, ‘why wouldn’t anyone come here?!’ It was incredibly beautiful.



I think it surprised G-man how much he liked it there too. All he kept saying the entire time was how relaxed he was. How incredibly relaxing being there was. He even called the front desk on our last day to stay another night, but they were all sold out due to a concert, that’s how much he wanted to continue his relaxation.

One thing I enjoyed the most, was seeing the dolphins perform. Anyone can pay to interact with them, but we sat back and watched the kids and their parents have all the fun.

Did you know they not only do flips but they also twist and spin in the air? I’m amazed at what they can do.






its universally known that I am not tech savvy…so showing you a dolphin flip in the air in 3 pictures is h.a.r.d! But this is what I ‘created’ for your eyes only. you can thank me in a comment

Have you ever seen dolphins in person before?
Has everyone seen Angie’s post AND video of her swimming with wild dolphins?! It’s so beautiful! You have to see it if you haven’t. Even G-man thought it amazing.

Oh oh..and before anyone forgets…today is the last day of November. Just in case it slipped your mind. again…you can thank me in a comment.

Pin It Now!

Spontaneous is not my middle name

Contrary to popular belief, I’m not spontaneous. I appreciate a well thought out plan. Mentally relax knowing an itinerary was created with dates and times. Activities scheduled well in advance at the lowest possible price.

I know in August, I jetted off to Hawaii at a moments notice for a couple weeks and last Thursday we took off within 2 hours of booking a trip, but we aren’t always this way. During the trip we talked about going again, only this time, booking activities, excursions and reservations since this trip there was no way to do anything scheduled. But still, we had such a great time. It was unbelievably relaxing.

We debated which island to go to. We’ve been to Hilo on the Big Island already and wanted somewhere different. I pushed Maui big time since the ever so sweet Angie w/Living Aloha is there and I’m dying to meet her but we ended up going to Kona on the Big Island instead.

::one day, Angie…one day::

We stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa Beach Resort and oh my word, it was ah-mazing!! If you go and stay there, stay in the Ocean Towers. First off, the grounds are over 60 acres, so bring some good walking shoes, though they do have a tram and boat ride from end to end. But there are 3 separate towers and the Lagoon Towers had the majority of the families there. So if you’re looking for a kid break, shoot for Ocean Towers.

We made it to the room just in time for the gorgeous sunset.

After, got some dinner right next to their dolphin quest and can I just say I was so excited to see the dolphins?! I’d never seen them in person before so I was like a kid, craning my neck at dinner to see their heads pop up.
ack! they’re so cute!!

Throughout the weekend, we walked the grounds, watched college football at the pool, saw the dolphins perform, got up close and personal with some sea turtles, ate enough food to feed 5..or 6..or 10 and much more.

I realized on the last day, within the last hour before taking a cab to the airport, that not one picture was taken with me in it. Let alone G-man, besides the dark one above. Not intentional at all. Guess that means we’ll have to go back to take care of that.

Enjoy the pictures.


let the record show, we did not put those stones there to make it look like the dog statue pooped…but we did think it hilarious..hence the picture


Birds in the lobby

Turtles sunbathing

Pin It Now!

I’m thankful for 41

Happy Cyber Monday!! This is my shopping day. I thrive on this day. I despise Black Friday and would far rather sit in my comfy home with my laptop in my lap and click away my savings. Besides, who wants to get pepper sprayed by an idiot for a stupid video game!? No thanks.

The last time I did Black Friday, I was standing in line being shoved from behind by a woman repeatedly…and well..in my ‘not my finest’ moment, shoved her back with my back, turned around, made eye contact with her, and that was the last she touched me.

That was 7 years ago.

So today, on the last Monday of the month, I’m thankful for:

- my bluetooth. I’m serious. This is the best bluetooth ever. I can’t believe I used to hold a phone to my ear to talk. When this puppy’s battery is low and I have to hold my phone, I want to cry.
- safe travels to Hawaii. I actually had a great flight. The flight attendants were so friendly, as were my seat buddies. A rarity.

- great times with my love all week.With the impromptu trip to Kona, it has made this trip all the more wonderful. Can’t wait to show you all the trip!
a sneak peak of the view from the room

- my haircut. I’ve been waiting and waiting to get back here to get a cut. I know no one can tell, but it feels great. I even texted the before and after picture to G-man and he was confused why I sent it to him.
I do look oddly chesty in the before picture. I promise, I did not stuff.

- seeing all the Christmas decorations everywhere!! I love it. Can’t wait to see how everyone will decorate this year.


- seeing Jupiter. People, this has to be the best picture I’ve ever taken. Please take note as I’ll never take anything as good as this, evah! I made sure to watermark this picture too, because I know many will attempt to claim it as theirs.

I’ll explain more on this experience another day, it was great.

Do you have a bluetooth that you just love and can’t live without?

Who’s finished with their Christmas decorations already?
I can’t wait to get back home to get my decorating on!! G-man only has so much at his place but you can bet your sweet fanny I’ll be decorating his place too.

Pin It Now!

Up up and away

I’m in a speed demon of a hurry. We’re minutes away from leaving to go to the airport on a spur of the moment island hopping trip.

I say spur of the moment…we talked about this over a month ago but didn’t decide until just 2 hours before leaving Thanksgiving day. Bought the flights, hotel and everything else just 2 hours before leaving.

So with that, I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Don’t go crazy today at the stores. I don’t want to hear you were the one shoving that woman out of the way to grab something… I kid.

I can’t wait to tell you about our relaxing trip!!!!

Alooooooooha!!

Pin It Now!

Thanksgiving for everyone

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving. Not running around too crazy, I hope.

Last year this time, I made a big huge feast for G-man, his brother and myself right here in HI. They loved it all but freaked out that I didn’t tell them there were pineapples in the sweet potatoes I made. Those southern boys weren’t quite prepared for that.

Since clearly I didn’t blog back then, it never occurred to me to take a thousand pictures to document all the food, so instead I’ll show a picture of our dinner we made together, last night.

Southern food at its finest. He was in his prime.
Fried catfish, hush puppies, and homemade mac and cheese

Even though the hush puppies are darn near black (I fried those), they were just right. You can see the catfish is perfect (he fried those) and I nailed the mac and cheese.

Have a food filled day, my sweet friends. Full of family, friends and fun.

Pin It Now!

All you marrieds, listen up!

And non…as I fall in that category and didn’t quite have a choice on hearing this.

I didn’t ask to know this. I didn’t inquire to hear and be told. It was without being fully prepared, dropped on me like a bucket of ice water.

A certain 78 year old woman, who will remain nameless, just so happened to inform me of a little nugget of information that I will probably never forget. As it is seared into my brain.

You may have always wondered…as I admit I have; and never felt it was appropriate to ask. One of those things that you always felt you should keep to yourself and thought you’d just figure out when the time came for you. Well ladies, I’m here today to put your minds at rest.
{and perhaps make it a little uncomfortable}
No longer will you ever have to wonder about such a thing at your young age. Never will you ever have to question if its so, because I’m about to tell you its all going to be okay!

Sex feels the exact same way when you’re in your 70’s as it does in your 20’s.
via

::blinking in wide eyed silence::

Bet you didn’t see that coming.

Yes my friends, I was told this. I was told other things, but I’ll refrain for your benefit. {you’re welcome}

Any way, so umm, yeah. There you have it. Nothing to worry about when you get older…if you’re enjoying it now, sounds like you’ll be enjoying it then.

::cough cough::

Ok, I’m a little uncomfortable now…

Pin It Now!

Food, glorious food!

Since you all are smarter than a 5th grader (who watches that show??), I’m sure you figured out where I am.

Hawaii. How can I not spend Thanksgiving in HI, right?! I spent it here last year, too. So I figure it’s only fitting I do it again, this year.

I figure since this is a week of glorious food, I’d show you my over indulging from the casino buffets. One boasted to be a lobster buffet…which it was, but the lobster I got was so dried up and gross, I got about an inch of actual meat. Oh well, it was free so no complaining here!

Please sit back and enjoy food ala iPhone…

And because the dessert was so delicious, I figured you’d want a closer up full image of it. I was already eating it before realizing I probably wanted a picture of it…so yes, there was more on the plate.

This one was a bit of a disappointment. You can see the very dry lobster on the right and I wasn’t all that hungry so I loaded up on veggies. Purple, yellow and green broccoli. Those were good.
Naturally I couldn’t resist the roasted garlic. I resisted eating the entire thing but I did have about 7 cloves, I think. yum!
If you even want to get in my good graces, give me a delicious cannoli…they are my absolute favorite dessert ever. The good kinds, mind you. Not the sad ones below.
For those wondering, that is an avocado in there with my desserts. Random but yummy.

I also had the yummiest breakfast burrito, ever. Sadly I devoured it before thinking of a picture, but just close your eyes and think of a burrito, bam! there you go.

Who’s making Thanksgiving dinner this year? Who’s never made it before and this will be your first time??

Pin It Now!

I’m thankful for 40

Hello, my friends.

Long time no speak. You know when everyone goes on an internet break, completely unplugs and basks in the ‘silence’ of not having the internet?? Well, that wasn’t me. Well, it was. Don’t get me wrong. It was nice not always being hooked up to my computer, because when I’m home that’s all I do. Sit with my laptop on my lap for far more hours than I’d like to admit. But it was really hard not having access when I absolutely needed access.

I had a nice time with my Grandma though. We went and had it up at the casinos. Hung around making dinner, watched movies and slept in.

I’m thankful for:

-winning a bloggers giveaway for a $50 gift certificate to Sephora online. But darn it all if I can’t find out who she is. I have her name but not her blog, but I won. woot woot! and she forwarded me the certificate so its all good!! Can’t wait to use it. What should I use it for?!?!
 
- a safe arrival to my grandma’s house. I left far later than I meant to and thankfully the L.A traffic wasn’t too bad and made it within 6-ish hours.

- the great weather. I packed thinking it was going to be chilly like at home, so plenty of sweaters and yet people are in shorts here. I’ll take it though.

- my grandma’s generosity. Letting me stay with her for a week and taking care of everything. More than generous.

- getting a chance to meet up with Victoria, last minute. It really was great meeting up with her and getting to know her more. I was a bit nervous wondering what she’d think of me. Or even if she’d recognize me..so I told her I’d be the girl that looks like Emily online. ..she recognized me.

- all the waaaaay too good of food I ate. Buffets are ultimately of the devil. Just sayin’

- the fitness center in the hotel. I was practically running down there, I was so eager to workout. Odd I was by myself both times I was in there. Odd but so so thankful. I like having a gym to myself.
yes, I had it on ESPN…sort of not by choice. I just gave in and made G-man proud.

Now it’s onto my next location. I’m most likely either driving or flying at this moment. Must make it in time to my next stop. Can’t be late for this very important date…

With that, I’ll be back up and about come tomorrow, so be ready for me to ambush you.

That was a warning..not a threat.

Feel free to fill me in on all your happenings over the past many days. I need to be caught up!

Pin It Now!

I blated…

Well, hello there.

So clearly I couldn’t go longer than a day without popping in here to say, wat up. I lounge here on my hotel bed, tap tap tapping away, reeking of cigarette smoke from the casino down below; while my grandma attempts to sleep on her bed over yonder.

She said she didn’t mind me on the computer, even though I feel every tap is magnified in the silence, but to be truthful, I don’t think she can really hear it anyway. G-man told me I should shower, since I said I was nasty smelling, but that really takes too much energy, so I will just continue to complain instead.

Any way, onto to the crux of this post. My friend who will remain nameless but who I talk about regularly, texted me and it went as follows…

I admit, I felt really special. My head got just a wee bit big. We then figured out she had Friday’s post bookmarked, not knowing I wrote 2 more. Good laughs had by all. So because of that, I decided it was once again my duty to post. People’s lives are CLEARLY at stake here!

I, on a whim, decided to email Victoria @ Our love never fails because I could have sworn I remembered her saying her and her husband lived right where I am. And what do you know, they do!! So an immediate blate was scheduled.

For those not in the ‘know’: a blate (coined by Megan) is a blogger date.

We met up at Starbucks right by my grandma’s house. The same Starbucks I’ve been getting my wi-fi fix from. And for the record, I still hate Starbucks. The only thing I drank were the free samples the guy gave out.

She is so sweet. Even though she had a million things to do before their big trip, she said she had to meet up with me.

I’m so glad she did, we had such a good time talking and laughing. This is my first official blate, ya know, and it couldn’t have been better, if I do say so myself. …and I think Victoria agrees.

I think its safe to say, I’m tall. Or everyone around me is really short. One of the two.

So we did the only thing we knew to do. I squatted down to her and she went on her toes and bam! we were even.

While on this blate, I was told I looked like a certain celebrity. Wanna guess? Here’s a hint…its an old show and she was the main character….and GO!

Well, I guess I’ll call it a night though I’m pretty awake…I think I’ll just lie here and listen to the drunk people who are directly across from our room who have no concept of volume control at this late hour.

what was just yelled by drunk man to drunk girl from the hallway:
PULL YOUR PANTS UP, LADY!

Oooh the life of a drunk person…

Pin It Now!

Flyin’ the coop

I feel I should mention I’m not going to be around this week. Or I’m pretty sure I won’t be around this week.

Yesterday, I drove to my Grandma’s house down south. ..and by down south, I mean Southern California. I’m here all week long and well, Grandma doesn’t have internet, so this here blog along with all things internet will be on pause.


It’s going to be weird and I’m sure I’m going to have withdrawals but we plan on going places that may just have the internets to let me get some work done…since I do in fact have to have it in order to make my living. Or maybe I’ll *cough* steal *cough cough* some wi-fi near by. We’ll see.

But I won’t be able to visit you all, all week and that makes me sad.

And then next week…did I tell you where I’m going to be next week??

Oh, I’ll just wait for that one. I’m going to be all over the place. As if I haven’t been already!

Since I feel it’s my duty, I’m going to leave you with 3 random pictures from over the years.
Savannah, GA circa 2009

My niece and I circa 2007

New York from the Empire State Bldg. circa 2008

Enjoy, my lovies. I have no doubt I’ll be filled with stories when I return. Filled, I tell you…filled!

Pin It Now!

I’m thankful 39

Happy Monday my sweet friends. I’m sitting here listening to Dean Martin sing “Let it snow” and loving every minute of it. I don’t mind one bit that it’s the 14th of November, I’m happily listening to Christmas music. Besides, I know one or two people who already have their Christmas trees up already…

So, for this week I’m thankful for:

- a whirlwind weekend. It was constant and trying but at least in between all the chaotic moments I was able to relax and hangout w/my parents.

- the clearest skin I’ve had in years. Seriously. I can’t get past how much my skin has cleared up since taking the medication the dermatologist has given me. So so very happy. I can even (and have often) walked out of my apt. without any makeup on. Such a relief!

- being given the Liebster Award from Nona at Gr8tday2save. She thinks my blog is dear, kind, and/or the best and that’s just the sweetest thing ever. Thank you Nona.

- fitting into the jeans I talked about not being able to fit into, here. I thought I’d just throw them on last week to see if they fit and they more than fit! I’m so happy I can wear them again.

- finding $10 in the back pocket of those jeans. Could it have gotten any better than that?! Fitting into a pair of jeans I couldn’t 2 1/2 months ago and finding money in them!? I. think. not!

- spending that $10 on a family size pizza and garlic cheese breadsticks, all for myself. (oh, yes I did!) But THEN, I realized they messed up my pizza. I called and whined, they said sorry and we hung up. The owner calls and apologizes and says they’ll deliver me a brand new correct pizza free of charge and when the guy arrived he had the pizza and another order of breadsticks!! Talk about a lot of food. So I ended up giving the 1st pizza and 2nd order of breadsticks to my neighbor.
naturally, a crumby cell phone picture to prove it.

Alright, spill the beans. How many of you have ordered a full size pizza all for yourself? And how long did it take you to eat the entire thing? It took me 5 days to eat this entire pizza, mind you, but I finished!

Oh and can we all just pause and acknowledge the fact Thanksgiving is NEXT WEEK!!

Pin It Now!

2 semi unimportant/important announcements

Have you ever had a ton of things to say yet nothing to talk about?

Welcome to today. It’s Friday. Its Veteran’s Day. How many have today off?
::my hand is raised!!:

Ok, my hand is raised just about every day. Wait…I don’t have today off, shoot!
Well, that’s not fair being that my man (I said that in a sassy tone..make sure you say that in a sassy tone)..is in the military.

I think I may revolt.

Since I’m pretending to be a photographer, I felt it was only fitting to add a little something to the pictures..you know, to make it seem like it’s more real.


that’s right folks! I learned how to do the color side thingy! That’s how much I’m coming into this here world. Thanks to my best friend in the whole wide world {I don’t think she knows we’re besties yet} for giving me a step by step tutorial that she made solely for me. {you know, maybe she DOES know we’re besties..only besties would do that, right?}

{Isn’t my cowl just so snuggly?}

Since I know everyone is eager beavers with knowing which watch I most lust after, be eager beavers no more..

Do you think I could get Breitling to send it to me for a review? I would sooo review the snot out of this watch!

Well kiddies, I’m at my parents for the weekend and have ‘stuff’ to prepare for, for the coming weeks. So. much. going on! but not really..but really. Enjoy yourselves and others in the respectful manner that you do.

oh and in case you’re wondering what those 2 unimportant/important announcements were…
1. I added “photography” to my watermark. (feel free to ooh and aah for me)
2. I chose that Breitling out of the choices from yesterday. (feel free to ooh and aah on that too, if you’re so inclined)

Pin It Now!

Work that watch!

I’ve been forced, forced I tell you to watch lust. Such a cruel thing, if you ask me.

I’ve wanted a watch for a few years now and years ago, G-man and I actually were very close to buying a pair of nice ones but ended up not. So the search continues and I never know what I like.

Black face? Pearl, white, PINK!? Diamonds where the numbers go? Stainless steal, platinum, leather band? Clearly I’ve come no closer over the years on narrowing down what I’d like.

Over the weekend, G-man shot me texts and emails to check out watches he was eying for himself. He’s been on the hunt for months. One thing this man is, is thorough! And by thorough, I mean, thooooorough! He does not rush his decisions. So anyone who is affected by his choice must know to sit back and allow him to go through his process, albeit months of process.

As he was texting me watches to get my opinion, he suggested a ladies watch for me. Let the lusting begin!

For the record, I blame him for this.


I realize they aren’t all organized pretty like others could do, but I’m not others {read: don’t know how to do it}. I think having done this, I’ve now narrowed things down. So much so that I have a favorite among these. I won’t say which, but I’m in love…in. love! G-man already knows which. hehe

Which one is your favorite and which do you think I chose? …if I could have one of these, that is.

all found from: source source source source source source source source

Pin It Now!