more hawaii.

another goal of mine for our time in hawaii was to hike to manoa falls. i told james about it, and he agreed that it would be fun. after talking with mike's uncle about it, we decided that it was a must do event. it's a pretty easy hike, but so beautiful. here are some photos:






we also hiked up diamond head, which is a big crater that served as a look out during the second world war. i thought i might pass out with all the stairs we had to climb... a set of 77 followed by a set of 99 then two sets of spiral stairs and various other sets of stairs to get to the top after the hike up the mountain. it was a mistake not to bring water with me since we were doing it in the heat of the day. lesson learned. i just can't imagine doing it with all the gear the soldiers must have carried. here are some photos from the top:[this was taken as soon as we got to the top. i was drained... apparently too exhausted to smile.]


and here are some photos of the route:




we wanted to make it out to pearl harbor and visit the uss arizona. unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to do this before james left, but deepa, mike, and i went bright and early on our last day. they showed a little film about the day before the ferry ride out to the memorial. definitely eye opening. here are a few photos from the memorial:



we hit up ala moana shopping center [more than once.], which mike told us is the biggest outdoor mall in the world. it quickly became my most favorite mall. it reminded me of horton plaza in san diego, but it's better. they honestly have everything you could want. i had to get a photo of this sign...
:] i was excited to find a dress i've been wanting in there. deepa and i also had fun in the le sportsac store at ala moana. they had so many really adorable exclusive designs, and i couldn't resist. i limited myself to two, but i actually wish i would have bought a few more. my bank account is probably happy that i didn't though. ha.

we also walked around waikiki at night a few times, where they have some great shopping as well.
i was trying to learn about my new camera at this point. i had basically just taken it out of the box, and i tried to become friends with it during the trip, but i'm not sure i succeeded. i like this shot though. it's james, deepa, selena, and mike.i also made sure to get a photo of this statue of duke kahanamoku after mike told us about it. i thought it was really cool how there were leis on all of the statues along the beach. mike said that it's always like that. how fun.

oh and i found the cutest bead shop. mike let deepa and i spend lot of time in there on the last day while he went to get a hair cut in preparation to go meet up with selena in nyc. deepa ended up making two bracelets with the help of the sales girl while i wandered around picking out some beads to bring home. they have some really fun classes too... i was really wishing we were staying longer so that i could take some of them. deepa said that she may have found herself a hobby. she's been looking for a hobby for a while now. :] 

selena's parents own a jewelry store, which we also stopped by one day with selena. her mom let deepa and i each pick a necklace to being home, which was so sweet. it's one of the best momentos from our trip.

the other store where we got into some trouble was the volcom store out by north shore. they had special shirts that you could only buy in that one shop featuring the famous rainbow bridge, which is like right outside the store... we all got the shirts, and intended to get a photo in them before we left, but i don't know what happened to that plan. we'll have to get one here i guess.

i took these last two photos from mike's balcony. what a view. we kept telling him how lucky he is to wake up and see that each day, and he told us that he hardly notices anymore! goodness.
[this one is a good look at diamond head.]
[this one shows the city pretty well.]

i guess that's about it. deepa and i are going to trade photos one of these days, so i might post a few more eventually. i know she got some group shots that i don't have. i'm really on the hunt for red ink now, so that i can print some of these. i might actually just go to costco. :]

catching up + hawaii.

i went into vacation mode a while before we even left for hawaii, probably because i went to vegas. i never fully caught up on everything after returning from vegas, so now i'm feeling a little over my head in stuff that i need to do. between unpacking and getting back into a routine, i've almost been ignoring my computer and everything online. i was definitely in fear of my inbox, which had over 150 unread emails to deal with by the time i was home. i finally checked my google reader today, and it's over 700. yikes. i don't know where to start with all of this online stuff... so i've been ignoring it. which is pretty easy. kind of makes me realize how unnecessary all of this is, but it sure is fun. :]

then there's the fact that i got about 3 hours of sleep in the last 60 hours i was in hawaii/coming home. you can imagine that i sort of crashed when i finally arrived at home. the couch was a welcomed sight, and i pretty much immediately fell asleep when i walked in my door. i'm not even sure how i made the drive from s.f. to reno with so little sleep. i guess coffee might have helped. i've been drinking basically only tea lately, but i knew that coffee was in order when i didn't get any sleep on the plane.

anyway, the trip was fantastic. we saw so much of the island, and i'm really thankful that we had mike to give us the inside scoop and show us all the best places. we spent plenty of time visiting various beaches, which are all so unique from one part of the island to the other.

i attempted to snorkel at three tables, but it didn't turn out very well. i pretty much had a full blown anxiety attack, complete with crying. it's hard to snorkel with a snotty snorkel mask. ha. i ended up just sitting on the beach to calm down while everyone else enjoyed snorkeling. mike's girlfriend, selena, found a turtle and tried to get james and deepa to come see, but they had already come on shore, so she couldn't find them. they were so bummed. [james and me at three tables.]

we went to waimea bay after three tables, and i really enjoyed relaxing on the beach. much better than having an anxiety attack. :] james eventually convinced me to get in the water, and we had a lot of fun playing in the waves. i got carried under by one of them, but i didn't freak out too badly. deepa yelled at james "get her!" but it was too late. i was actually a little surprised at my ability to stay rather calm even though for a split second, i thought i might die. i didn't even give up after it happened, i stuck it out for a few more waves. :] eventually, the rain took over, so we left during a break in the storm. we attempted to go back another day, but it was raining again. james and mike did jump off the rocks before we gave up on waiting for the storm to pass and left. [i intended to get a better photo before we left, but the rain sort of got in the way of the plan. both times.]

we spent one day at makapu'u where james and mike attempted to body surf. deepa and i had fun playing in the waves again... it wasn't quite as rough as waimea up near the shore. there were some pretty good waves a little ways out for mike and james and all the other body surfers though. it was definitely cool to watch the experienced surfers do their thing. james and mike didn't have too much luck, but i think they still had a good time. [it was a really pretty day that day.]
[you can see rabbit island to the left, behind mike and james. when mike told us about it, james said he could see the rabbit... i still think it looks more like a dog, but they thought i was crazy for saying that. ha.]

on our way out to makapu'u, we stopped at this observation area to take a look at the halona blowhole. we had stopped there once before at night, which was pretty intense. it was super dark outside, and the waves were super loud. it was interesting to see it during the day so that we could get a better idea of what it was all about, still pretty intense though.
[despite my best efforts, i couldn't get a fabulous shot of the blowhole going off... you can sort of see a little bit of water coming out of it is in this photo though. mike said that it goes off as a result of water collecting in caves down below. interesting.]
[mike also told us that this whole area used to be open and you could walk out too it, but someone fell into the hole. yikes. i was glad that it was all fenced off... james can be a little too daring at times.]

on our way back, we stopped at another look out point, which was also pretty intense. if the cliffy rock formations weren't enough to scare me, there was also a coat of sand over much of the area, making it super slippery to attempt to walk on. deepa had one spill that made my heart start racing. i did manage to actually walk out a little ways though. it was beautiful, even if i was terrified. :]
[james and mike went right out, while i was hanging back trying to be the photographer. ha.]
[i think you can still see the terror even though i'm smiling. oh and you just have to ignore my horrific hair in most of these photos. part way through the trip, i just gave up.]

we went out to lanikai one day. we stopped for breakfast at the famous boots and kimo's. we all concurred that peg's has superior breakfasts, but the macadamia nut sauce on the pancakes was delicious. :]lanikai is so serene and pretty, but the fine sand is a little bit hard to deal with, especially for a sunscreen wearer like myself. it gets picked up by the wind so easily, and then it just sticks everywhere. oh and there happened to be jellyfish the day we went, so i was adamant about not getting in the water. james and deepa had no problem getting in though. i honestly think that james was so curious about how it feels to get stung that he kind of wanted it to happen. we found plenty of jellyfish on the shore, and mike kept offering to put one on james. he wasn't to keen on that idea, but i don't think he would have minded if it happened "accidentally". ha.
[you'll notice that i was well onto the dry sand. ha.]
[this picture makes me laugh... james is trying so hard to get me into the water, and i was trying so hard to resist. i was scared of getting stung, but it was pretty funny too.]
[finally, i got brave enough to be in that water a tiny bit so that we could get some jumping photos. unfortunately, our attempts were basically a bunch of failures, but this one is ok.]

we visited chun's reef so that deepa and i could see some sea turtles. we visited the day after james left, which is kid of sad because i know he really wanted to see a sea turtle too. it was really pretty and relaxing there. i liked that for a while, we were the only people on the beach. i also got brave enough to make my way out the this big rock formation, which offered a really pretty view. oh and we saw a school of fish too. :]
[deepa and i were so happy when this guy came pretty close to the shore, we were hoping he would make his way up to the beach, but he swam off. it was super cute to see him pop his little head up out of the water.]
[i just like this one. ha.]

as part of one of my goals, i enjoyed plenty of shave ice during the trip. yes. i learned that it is not to be called a snow cone, or shaved ice. shave ice is the proper term. :] my favorite actually wasn't the famous matsumoto shave ice near north shore... i preferred the little store on waiola. matsumoto's syrup was too sweet and the ice wasn't as smooth as waiola's. waiola has some seriously smooth ice! i always wanted a second one after finishing. plus they offer mochi, and matsumoto doesn't. mike was pretty shocked that i didn't like matsumoto after we waited in line for like 30 minutes to get it. ha. i mean... it was good... just not as good.

one of james' goals was to have good korean bbq during the trip. whenever we travel to any larger city, this is something he tries to find. they had several places in honolulu, so james was in luck.[selena and deepa.]
[i loved the design on this can.]

we also ate at the local favorites including zippy's and rainbow.i was a big fan of the slush floats at rainbow. mike told me that i had to get one, and he was right. it was so good. way better than the arctic rush floats from dairy queen.

another lesson i learned in hawaii is that rainbows are just a symbol for happiness. they don't designate a certain neighborhood as they do in big cities like new york and san francisco. they are all over the place... it's pretty cool. oh and we got to see a full rainbow while we were there, but i don't think i managed to get a photo of it.

we stopped at leonard's bakery one day to try their famous malasadas. they were pretty fantastic.
we got some other baked goods there as well. my favorites were the chocolate dipped macadamia nut cookies. i'm still craving them. ha. james got a chocolate dipped macaroon, which i know he really liked. he doesn't usually like sweet stuff, so that was good.

we ended the trip by picking pineapples from mike's yard to bring home. i have big intentions of now growing my own pineapple here. mike said it could be possible if i plant it inside. but instead of the usual 10 months to get a pineapple, he said it will probably take over a year. at dinner one night, mike was commenting about how it takes longer to grow a pineapple than a human. ha. mike's parents were so nice and welcoming. his mom cooked dinner for us several times, and we got to meet a lot of his family. his two grandmas are adorable and completely hilarious. they pretty much melted my heart, and it was just fun getting to know them.

ok. well i think blogger is trying to tell me that i've added too many photos to this post already, and i'm sure this is getting a little long by now anyway. so i'll be back soon with another post about our hiking trips and our visit to pearl harbor and anything else that i didn't cover here. it seems that all i really covered here was food and beaches, but that was what most of the trip was all about. :]

vegas.

i'm in the midst of packing because we're leaving in two hours to drive to SF for our flight to hawaii... but i thought i should do a quick post about the trip to vegas before i forget. who needs sleep anyway? :]

we spent lots of quality time with victoria, which was fabulous.
she is getting so tall. it's crazy! still super skinny though. it's a little hard to find pants for her that are long enough that don't just fall off. luckily, it's so warm in vegas that skirts and dresses work out just fine.
she is getting to the point where she is busy busy busy. always playing with her toys, reading her books, or running around exploring the new house. she likes to play the load/unload game where she takes all her toys out of a bag or bin then puts them back and removes them again. so cute. she also has a few favorite words including daddy, ball, ut oh, froggy, doggy, bear, and bubble. :] she responds to questions and knows how to get what she wants. she likes to be held and carried around [especially by grandma], but also likes to walk and run on her own. she pretty much melts my heart.

on saturday night, i went out with deepa, roxana, and some of their friends. i had so much fun. it was the first time i've really "gone out" in vegas, and it was definitely unlike anything else. we went to the palms where we had a wonderful dinner at nove. i took this photo in the bathroom there, and i just think it's kind of fun...it was one of the best steaks i can remember eating. definitely worth the price tag. ha.
after dinner, we went to every club on the property. we had vip wristbands, so we didn't have to wait in line. i think that's the way to go for sure. :]

this is deepa and i standing on the glass at ghostbar. i had refused to stand on it, but there was a couple standing on it who moved, grabbed my camera, and insisted that i needed a photo on the glass... i managed the photo, but i was clinging on to deepa pretty tightly and wiping tears away right after it was taken. haha. i don't do very well with heights. :]
moon was our last stop of the night, and we happened to be there when they were filming for T.O.'s reality tv show. i had no idea he was there, but there was quite a ruckus with people trying to get near him. by accident, we ended up being basically right in front of the booth where his whole group was stationed. they closed off the walkway that went between where he was and where we were, so then he was looking right at us. so random. deepa and roxana called out to him, and he blew us all kisses. ha. it was pretty funny. he definitely doesn't shy away from attention, as you can probably tell from the photo. i took it right after the dj announced he was there, and consequently right before his body guard told me to put my camera away. deepa, roxana, and i had to sign some waivers for the tv people... which means i might have find out when it airs and tune in for the episode featuring him in vegas to see if i'm in the background. :]

ok. that's all for now. i'll be back in a little over a week. i'm not planning to take a computer with me, but you never know what will end up in my bag with the last minute packing going on here. i was doing so well getting all my laundry done ahead of time too... it just never fails that i stay up all night before big trips. ha.

movies and more.

it seems like there are finally a bunch of good movies coming out. i'm a big fan of going to the theater, so that definitely makes me happy. now if only i could see them for free like my sister. her boyfriend is an animator, so they get to see movies for free. can you imagine how awesome that would be?

james and i finally had the chance to see up tonight.
it was fantastic. i don't want to give anything away because i think you should all see it.
we saw it in 3D, which i think is fun, but honestly... i don't think this movie really needs to be seen in 3D. save your money and enjoy some popcorn instead. :]

we also saw the hangover with radhika over the weekend. it was pretty funny. we saw the first show of the morning, and i think all of us were a bit too tired to fully enjoy it. james and i have been considering seeing it again with more people. it's one of those movies that could definitely be enhanced based on who you see it with because the comedy just gets magnified as your friends laugh. do you know what i mean?

radhika and i intended to get pedicures after the movie, but the salon was too busy. we settled for going to lunch instead. james had cooked breakfast for me that morning [yum. i've mentioned before that he is a better cook than me. and he definitely cooks a good breakfast.] but i skipped popcorn during the movie, so lunch turned out to be a good substitute for pedicures. plus it was raining and dreary... so i wasn't quite in the pedicure mood. we had a good talk over lunch. always nice.

james and i also finished painting the wall in my studio over the weekend. we were going to repaint it because i decided that i don't like the color, but i can't decide on another color. ha. so we decided to just finish up the final details with the blue for now. and i should mention that by we, i mean james. :]
i did help help him a little bit when he was hanging the curtains. i'm not so sure i like them now either. oh well. we picked them up at ikea, so they were pretty cheap. i'll see if they grow on me.

so yeah. i'm just trying to get things in order around here. throwing lots of stuff away and recycling a bunch too. :]
there are still all kinds of things that i just have no idea what to do with... i was talking to my dad about that. we tend to collect a lot of stuff that is too valuable to just get rid of, but there's really no good place for it either. i'm trying to keep that in mind when i consider bringing new items into the house. my problem isn't completely solved, but i'm making progress little by little on bringing less home. i've also been asking james "what do normal people do with this?" when i come across an item that i don't think should be trash, but maybe normal people don't keep such things. he pretty much encourages me to toss whatever the item is 100% of the time. ha.

tomorrow night i'm having art journal club here. that's the nice thing about getting everything in order. it's a lot easier to have people come over. :]

ok. well. i think i'm off to bed. the rainy days just don't provide me with with a whole lot of energy. i'm hoping they come to an end soon, but it doesn't look like they will. i'm leaving for vegas on thursday, so as long as the weather doesn't interfere with my travel plans, i guess it's ok. ha.

today.

i noticed these beautiful rose bushes doing their best to survive the stormy weather while i was walking to my car after my last class meeting for psychology. [i'm super happy that the class is over, and equally happy with my grade.] i decided to stop and get a few photos with my phone...

the colors are a bit off, but you get the idea. so pretty.

on my way home from school, i visited the bead shop. it was my first time to this particular bead store, and i was pleasantly surprised when i got there. they have a really nice selection of all sorts of beads. i picked up a few different kinds...
i'm not sure that you can really read the tags [another photo from my phone], but the yellow strand is coconut and the bag in the middle is shell. i thought those might be fun for the mini journal for hawaii, along with that really fun strand of teal beads. now i just need to find some cool vintage-looking hawaii ephemera. there were a few more strands of various stone beads that i really liked, but i passed on them. for now. ha. i might have to go back... i'm sort of waiting to see what other kinds of items i find to collage the cover of my main journal so that i can choose accordingly.

after finishing my final exam tonight, i had dinner with my mom and we made a trip to the bookstore. i'll pretty much never pass on going to the bookstore. it's one of my favorite places to wander around. :]

i haven't seen up yet, or accomplished much else from my list aside from eating donuts [i nearly ate a whole box. by myself. not the best choice i have made lately.] and finding an new iphone case. the rain has been inhibiting a few of the things i want to do because i mostly just want to stay inside. tonight i might see what other old photos i have to potentially scrapbook. or i might just curl up for a movie and have some tea to celebrate being done with psychology.

i hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

to do:

i'm thinking about all of the things i'd rather be doing while i'm reading my psychology text, so i thought i would post them here to keep track. :]

*visit a local bead store to get some beads for my art journal.
*go to the beach & read.
*visit my family in colorado.
*get a new red ink cartridge so i can print some photos.
*exchange my yarn for something else to make something pretty.
*scrapbook.
*buy some new music.
*travel to a new place. oahu will fulfill that wish in a few weeks. :]
*get a pedicure. i've never had one, but radhika and i have been talking about it.
*see the movie up. hopefully tomorrow night.
*have a snow cone. this will happen in hawaii for sure, but i'd like to have one before then too.
*take the dog for a bike ride.
*buy some fresh flowers.
*play tennis.
*work on a sewing project.
*get some yummy donuts.
*find my camera. :[
*paint something. it's been a long time.
*get a cute case for my iphone. the current one is breaking.
*bake cookies. [alyssa. i just realized i never sent you the recipe! so sorry! i will send it after school tomorrow.]
*laundry. yes. i'd rather do laundry than read this chapter. ha.

what are some fun things on your to do wish list?

p.s. happy birthday to my sister!