Have you ever flown Hawaiian Airlines?

If you have, I’m sure you probably would remember. This sign was outside their terminal in Oahu. We thought it was hilarious.

On the not-so-funny side, we flew Go! Airlines, whose airplane to Maui smelled like a nursing home and/or urine. Tyler repeated the entire trip over to Maui: “We only paid a dollar (for the flight). We only paid a dollar.”

 

Hawaii Recap

So we’re finally back from Hawaii. It’s been a whirlwind since we’ve been back, at least for me. We returned Thursday night a little later than we had planned because our planes from Honolulu and Houston were both delayed. When we arrived at home, Tyler’s parents were already here. They had graciously kept Lola for us while we were gone, so they dropped her off at our house so we wouldn’t have to make the trip to their house to get her. We were so happy to see familiar faces and be in a familiar place. Don’t get me wrong, Hawaii was great, but there’s just something about home. And then of course, yesterday I had two of my wisdom teeth removed. My face has swollen to the size of a basketball, but luckily I have little pain. Tyler and his mom have been saints in keeping me comfortable. I couldn’t be doing this well without them.

But on to what you really care about, the Hawaii trip. We left very, very early Wednesday morning to catch out 8:10 a.m. flight in St. Louis to Houston and then from Houston to Honolulu. None of us slept very well on the way over. I slept maybe 20 minutes at the most, but seeing the island from the sky was a breath of fresh (okay, more like recycled) air.

In Honolulu, we waited for what seemed like an hour for the shuttle to take us to our rental-car company. We took the Impala to the house we were staying at in Eva Beach, which took us more than an hour with the loooovely Honolulu traffic. We quickly put all of our things in the house and set out to find some food. All of the places we wanted to try near the house ended up being total dives, so we settled on IHOP. Yeah, Tyler and I celebrated our anniversary with a dinner at IHOP. We were so tired that we didn’t even want to take a picture to celebrate the momentous occasion. I’ve never slept so well in my entire life as I did that night.

On Thursday, we were scheduled for a helicopter trip around the entire island of Oahu. We were a little worried that it was going to rain and we wouldn’t be able to make our trip, but we learned that it was not rain clouds in the sky, but vog from the volcano in the Big Island, which had recently erupted. So all of the pictures from the helicopter tour are a bit hazy, but we saw some really cool things, nonetheless. It was one of our favorite things of the entire trip.

This is the actual island where Gilligan’s Island was taped:

This is the Magnum PI house:

We also saw the Dole Plantation and USS Arizona from the air, which we saw later on our trip. We had such a blast!

Afterward, we went to Waikiki to get some beach time. It was hazy with vog there, too, so the pictures aren’t as pretty as they could be.

We also took in some shops while in Waikiki. There were Coach, Louis V, Gucci, and Tiffany’s stores, but this one caught our eye. It had some of the funniest t-shirts in it:

On Friday, we went beaching. The first beach we went to was at the Ko’Olina Resort. It was a little man-made cove with lava rocks all around. It was definitely a gorgeous place. Unfortunately, I cut my foot on a rock while snorkeling with BJ, so I was hobbeling around for the next couple of days. If you look really close in this first picture, you can see BJ and Rachel with their snorkel gear on.

We also went to Hanauma Bay. This was one of the most beautiful places in Hawaii. It’s a sanctuary for fish and turtles; they even close the park one day to give the fish and other sea life a break from the people.

Just down the road from Hanauma Bay was a scenic lookout. The sunlight was peeking through the clouds, and I just loved how it was highlighting the city below:

On Saturday, we decided to visit the North Shore. On our way there, we stopped at the house where my mom and her family lived while my grandpa was stationed in Hawaii for the Air Force. It was on Koi Koi street in Wahiewa, and just seeing it gave me such an indescribable feeling. It was an honor to be able to capture the image of the house and bring home a piece of my family’s history to them.

The first beach we went to on the North Shore was Sunset Beach. The waves were so loud and very powerful, but we loved every minute of it. I took this picture of BJ and Rachel, and just love how it turned out:

After Sunset Beach, we ate lunch and then headed to another nearby beach. It was here that BJ, Rachel and I got to touch a sea turtle. They say that touching a sea turtle in Hawaii is good luck. It was such a cool feeling to have this beautiful creature swimming around us and not being afraid of our presence. After that, we stopped at a Hawaiian shaved ice stand on our way to the Dole Plantation. It was delicious!

The Dole Plantation was a really interesting place. We took a train ride through the plantation and learned about the history of the plantation and how pineapple is farmed. Afterward, we each got a snack: Tyler got chocolate-covered pineapple and the rest of us got pineapple ice cream, which was veeeery tart.

 

On Sunday, we went to the USS Arizona Memorial. It was great to be able to honor all of the men who lost their lives that tragic Dec. 7 in 1941.

That night, we left for Maui. On Monday, we were supposed to go on a 5.5-hour horseback ride into Haleakala crater, but realized if we did, we’d miss our flight back home. Luckily, we were able to get a 1-hour trip around the ranch of Pony Express Tours. It was very educational, but poor Tyler’s horse kept trying to buck him off as we went down hills. Luckily, we made it back without anyone being thrown off a horse.

We also went to the summit of Haleakala, which was 10,023 feet high.

On Tuesday, we went on a snorkeling and kayaking trip. Since I took my waterproof film camera, I don’t have any pictures of this yet. This was right up there with the helicopter tour, though. It was a beautiful day for it. Along the trip, our guide pointed out the homes of Shaquille O’Neal, Adam Sandler, Paul Mitchell, and Shirley Temple. And once we got back, our tour guide found a seahorse in the canal. It was really cool to hold it, especially since these beautiful creatures are becoming extinct.

On our last day, Wednesday, we went back to Ko’Olina Resort because we had so much fun there the last time. It was another beautiful day, so Tyler and I bought some drinks and took a walk out near the marina. Of course, Tyler got a “frosty Monster” and wanted me to take a picture of it. I think he’s obsessed, but it’s cute:

The flight back was not nearly as bad since it was at night and we were able to sleep some on the way home. Hawaii was great, but it’s so true that there’s no place like home.

 

We’re baaack!

We’re back from Hawaii, but tomorrow is going to be a big day for me. I’m getting two wisdom teeth removed, so I have to be up early. Really, I should be in bed already. But I wanted to share this picture of me and Tyler at the BE-A-U-TIFUL North Shore in Oahu, Hawaii…

 

 

Trading in the Indiana weather…

for this in Hawaii. Be jealous. I would be if I were you. ; )

Wed May 21		Partly Cloudy	85°/73°	20 %
Thu May 22		Mostly Sunny	85°/73°	20 %
Fri May 23		Mostly Sunny	86°/74°	20 %
Sat May 24		Mostly Sunny	86°/74°	20 %
Sun May 25		Sunny	86°/74°	20 %
Mon May 26		Mostly Sunny	86°/74°	10 %
Tue May 27		Sunny	86°/74°	10 %
Wed May 28		Mostly Sunny	85°/74°	0 %

 

Busy as a Bee

In the next few months, I’m probably going to wear myself out, but I’ll have a blast doing it. I have so many fun things coming up in the near future that I just have to blog about it…because, you know, that’s what I do.

Yesterday, I got my first client for photography. Granted, it’s not a paying client because I’m not ready to charge for my work just yet, but it’s a client nonetheless. A co-worker’s son is graduating and because they haven’t gotten any senior pictures yet, they are running out of time. She only needs a head shot, but I’ve talked her into doing an entire session as well as some family shots so she can give them as Mother’s Day gifts. I’m very excited about just getting out to practice using my camera and finding creative shots.

I got the okay yesterday to work in Indy the couple days before the 500 Festival Mini Marathon. This is so great for me because I don’t have to stress about leaving work the day before the Mini and fighting the traffic (there will be 35,000 runners in this race) to get there on time, get settled in, get dinner, and get to bed early. I’m planning on staying the weekend with my college friend Jaimie, who has been the one who has encouraged me to take on this beast of a race. I’m so excited she did, because I think this is going to be a really fun race. And to top that off, we get tickets into opening day at the Indy 500. How cool is that? I’ve never been to the race track; I’ve only driven by it, so I think this should be a blast! I can’t wait! My training is going fabulously. Last week I only ran 25 miles opposed to the 30 I had planned, but they were some really great runs (even the 10-miler I did on the treadmill). I got in 5 last night and am hoping to do another 5 tonight. This is the best I’ve trained for a race, so I’m hopeful about the outcome.

After that, the biggie is the Hawaii trip. After the whole fiasco with ATA, I was a little worried that we wouldn’t be going after all (one of the guys I work with was on his way to Hawaii on ATA, but made it to Phoenix where he was stranded in the airport after ATA decided to cancel all their flights), but so far, our airline is still in business. I’m praying that it stays that way, too. It’s going to be the trip of a lifetime with some really great people (we’re going with our friends BJ and Rachel). While we’re there, we’re going horseback riding into a dormant volcano, snorkeling, kayaking, and going on a helicopter ride. Of course, we’ll get plenty of beach time, too.

I’m in the home stretch of my photography classes, too. I’m looking forward to being done. I haven’t learned as much as I would like and having class every week twice a week really eats up a lot of my time. I’m nearly finished with one of the two final projects in my Photoshop class and working on my mini portfolio in Basic Photography. I am really excited about my Mini Portfolio, but after being rejected when I asked to take pictures at a family’s home this weekend, I’m a little worried that it might be more difficult than I had planned. My theme is “Aged,” so I’m trying to get shots of anything that looks old and weathered.

On a totally different note, I’m so excited about this fabulous weather! Today is going to be in the 60s, tomorrow in the 70s. Get out and enjoy it…I know I am!

 

 

It’s finally here!

My camera, that is! And it is a beauty, but a heavy one at that. I truly, truly love it so far, what little I’ve gotten to use it. And I love the shallow depth of field that my 50 mm lens gives me, too. I waited with much anticipation yesterday to get the call that I had a package. I never got the call, but when I went to get the mail for work, I saw a box with a big B & H on it, signaling my package from B&H Photo and Video had arrived! I swear I probably had the biggest grin on my face. I was so busy yesterday, though, that I didn’t get to even get it out of the package until the second half of the day. I took it to class and showed it off, though…it was like I was in kindergarten all over again and was having show and tell.

I’m planning on going to take pictures of my new niece this weekend (surprise, Adam and Kyla!) so they can have some (hopefully) professional(ish) pictures of their baby girl to cherish forever. I also have some friends who have expressed an interest in having their pictures taken, as well, so hopefully I’ll get a lot of practice here in the next month. And then I’ll know my camera backward and forward for when I go to Hawaii…aloha, ya’ll!

 

Productive Weekend

I accomplished quite a bit this weekend. I always hate to see the weekend go, but it doesn’t hurt as much when you get a lot done.

Saturday started out with going to get my driver’s license renewed. Long story short, I’d been driving on an expired license since my birthday in October and didn’t realize it until Friday night. I was in and out of the BMV in 20 minutes.  Then I went to pick up our Angel Food order and get the oil changed in Tyler’s car. The rest of the day was spent working on dishes and taking a nap since it was rainy out. I was so excited that I woke up to sunshine, so I put on my running gear and went on a 7+ mile run (unfortunately, I don’t have all those fancy schmancy gadgets that tell me my distance, so I’ll have to drive it to see). It was a FANTABULOUS run! I made it back in about an hour and 5 minutes, which is pretty good. Afterward, I cooked dinner and we had a friend over and watched Saw.

Sunday was a good day, too. I got up early and did dishes from dinner the previous night before I headed to church. Afterward, we went shopping for food to grill since it was such a beautiful day out. BJ and Rachel were to come over and have lunch and finish up our HAWAII plans! We got everything ironed out, and figured out our main activities: horseback ride through Haleakala crater on Maui, and on Oahu we’re going on a 45-minute helicopter ride and snorkel/kayak trip. Of course, we’ll also tour the Dole plantation and spend plenty of time on the beach. We also finalized our car rentals on both islands. It feels good to get it all done, but not to pay for it. Nonetheless, we’re beyond excited and can’t wait for May to get here!

I always feel so reluctant to come back to work. Where do the weekends go? Luckily, I had a jury to get ready today, so that motivated me a bit more than a usual Monday morning.

EDIT TO ADD: Thanks to Tiffany’s suggestion, I now know that I ran 7.46 miles yesterday. Whoo hoo!

 

The long-awaited post

It has been a while, and to all three of my readers, I apologize. Work has actually been busy the past couple days, and when I’m not working, I find myself daydreaming about the life I want. I guess my head is in the clouds about the things I would rather be doing other than working, for example taking pictures, running, or sitting on a Hawaiian beach.

My photography and Photoshop classes are going pretty well. We aren’t covering as much material as I would have wanted by now and I’m not getting as much hands-on exprience, but I guess you can’t rush greatness, right? I’m being totally sarcastic, but to a point, there is truth to it because I want to make sure I master the basics so when I’m out on a shoot, I know how to change the settings on my camera to get the exposure I want. The camera I want doesn’t come out until April, so I have to play the waiting game with that. What I really wanted was the 4oD, but that was out of my price range, especially since I don’t know if I’ll be any good at it, but the Rebel xti didn’t have the features I wanted even though we can afford it. Then I find out that Canon is coming out with a new Rebel xsi and it integrates some of the features of the 40D into a Rebel xti, and I couldn’t be more excited. I hope it will be worth the wait…

As far as running goes, I’ve really slacked in the past couple months. I’ll blame it on the weather, but also on me being lazy and busy. We’ve had snow, rain, ice and downright cold temps lately, so that hasn’t done much for my mileage. I hate running on a treadmill, too, so that hasn’t helped encourage me to run. But this past weekend, we had weather in the 70s, so that was just what I needed to get out and get a couple of runs in: 5 miles on Saturday and 4.3 on Sunday. Both runs were brutal, but the Sunday run was actually worse even though it was shorter. I guess it’s because I was sore from the 5-miler. I didn’t feel very fast at all, but to my surprise, my times weren’t all that bad (I didn’t have a watch, but instead went by the time on the clock when I left and returned). But there is no way I have the endurance for 13.1 miles. The realization that the 500 Festival Mini Marathon really set in this weekend, so I’m much more motivated to do more running. I’m running on the treadmill tonight since it’s raining cats and dogs today. I’ve also been motivated to take off more weight. I’ve put on about 5 pounds overall since the half marathon in October, but I know I’ve lost a lot of muscle and replaced it with fat, so maybe I actually gained more than that in the long run. I’ve been snacking less, eating more fruits and vegetables, and drinking as much water as possible. According to my scale, I’ve already dropped 2 pounds since this weekend, but I’m not sure how reliable that is.

And then there’s Hawaii…it’s 2 1/2 months away. That’s still a long time, but so close considering how long we’ve been planning it. I’m hoping to get some of the final details squared away in the next two weeks: car rentals, getting activities booked, and figuring out what I want to take (read: shopping!). Of course, my desire to lose weight also has a lot to do with going to Hawaii. I bought two new bathing suits at the end of the season last year, so it would be a shame if I couldn’t fit into them! Right now, I need a vacation on a sunny, sandy beach, so that has kept me going. Before I know it, it will be our third anniversary and we’ll be on a plane to our tropical paradise!

 

New Toys!

After our fun outing on Valentine’s Day outing at Walmart, Tyler had the new phone buzz. He was so excited at the possibility of getting a new phone that we decided to go to Sprint that next day and see what plans and phones Sprint had to offer. We were pleased to find out that not only did they have a selection of really cool phones, but we also were eligible for a $150 credit to upgrade!

Tyler got the Sanyo S1 in black. He was so excited that Sanyo came out with yet another slim bar phone that he had to have it. While it’s longer and wider than the old one that he used to have and love (he has compared every single phone to the one he used to have, and none have come close to measuring up), it has a lot of features that he missed after switching from Sanyo.

I, on the other hand, had to have a phone with texting capabilities. I decided to get the LG Rumor. I had never purchased an LG before so I didn’t know what to expect. But other than the poor photo qualities of the phone, I absolutely love it. It has great graphics, really cool ring tones, and it slodes to reveal a texting keyboard. And, it works at Ivy Tech in the classrooms whereas my Samsung didn’t receive good enough reception and was always on roam.

I can’t wait until next month when I actually have a texting plan. And, we also upgraded our plan to include no roaming. That means that from now on when I visit my parents up north (and when we visit Hawaii in May!), I won’t have to pay roaming charges because Sprint does not have a local tower. Although it’s a little more expensive than what we were paying, we think it will save us in the long run because we usually had texting and/or roaming charges tacked on every month.

 

Highs and Lows of 2007 and a Fast-Forward to 2008

Highs:

1) Finishing the Evansville Half Marathon without passing out. As many of you know, I wasn’t that lucky in 2006. And considering how hot the weather was in October this year, this is definitely something to be proud of.

2) Tyler’s band, BorrowedTime, got off to a good start. They played a handful of local shows and one in Columbus, Indiana. Tyler, BJ, and Cassie are the core members and they’ve had some turnover throughout the year. As of now, it’s Tyler on drums, BJ on vocals and lead guitar, Cassie on vocals and accoustic guitar, Logan on the saxophone, and Daniel (aka Dandy) on bass.

3) I really grew spiritually. Much of this is thanks to a little book called Captivating but mostly to some really awesome, authentic Christians in my life. I’m even unofficially getting the youth group at our new church, Sojourn Newburgh, off to a start. I’m very excited about what the future for this church holds.

4) Tyler and I celebrated our second anniversary with a trip to St. Pete Beach, Florida. We had some rough times in our first two years, but we made it through. And we’re stronger than ever. It was a great trip, but we found out we’re kind of boring when we don’t vacation with at least one other couple.

5) We found out Tyler’s sister is pregnant (I can’t WAIT to be an aunt!). It’s a girl and her name is Elizabeth and she’ll be here in April! We were totally shocked by this because Adam and Kyla swore they’d never have kids. In fact, when Tyler’s parents tell people they’re going to be grandparents, everyone assumes it’s Tyler and I who are expecting.

6) I earned some extra income by writing/photographing for the Courier & Press and also by doing some copy editing. There were some really fun stories that I was pretty proud of and that allowed me to be creative. It was a lot of work at times, but I was glad to earn the extra money so I could buy Tyler an iPod Touch for Christmas.

7) I went on Accutane for my acne. It sucked that I had to do it, and there were times that I hated the medicine with a passion (dry skin, always thirsty, blurred vision, fatigue), but I’ve been off of it for about 3 weeks now, and my face is clearer than it’s ever been. I’m praying that my face stays clear, because it was a lot of effort and it was NOT cheap.

8) I got to go home for Christmas. I hadn’t been up north since May so the trip was long overdue. It was great to see my family (although I only got to see my mom’s side) and share in a tradition that was such a huge part of my childhood. There was nothing like Christmas at the Jones’.

Lows:

1) Tyler’s papaw had a decline in health, thanks to Parkinson’s and Alzheimers. He is now in a nursing home, where we don’t get to see him too often because of his eating and sleeping schedule. I would love nothing more than for him to have a complete turnaround and get better. It saddens me to see a man once so full of life ravaged by these horrible diseases.

2) My allergies were horrible this year. I had to take several days off to take care of them and to basically sleep them off. I’ve been on Allegra for over a year and it still didn’t help. I’ll soon be going on allergy shots soon, which I’m not too thrilled about.

3) I was really sick for about three weeks. In fact, today is the first day that I actually feel better than 90%. This not only made me cranky at home, but also really made me miss a lot of work and get off of my running routine. It was a nasty virus that I just couldn’t shake.

4) I have lost touch with a lot of friends I hold very dear. Life is busy, plain and simple. But that’s no excuse to forget about friends who have made you who you are.

5) We didn’t have any measurable amount of snow. My poor Tyler’s only wish was to have snow to go out and play in. Every time we’d have snow in the forecast, he’d wake up in the morning and check outside, only to be disappointed. It would be great to have a big snow so we could go out and throw snowballs at each other and also so Lola could try to eat all the snow in sight. Seriously, she has her tongue out the entire time just licking at the snow. It’s pretty cute.

Up for 2008:

1) I start classes at Ivy Tech in January. I’ll be going back so I can learn the basics of photography and hopefully build up a clientele so I can have a business. It would be great to be able to stay at home when I’m a mom (one day).

2) Borrowed Time will record a demo in Nashville in January. They will spend an entire weekend as well as the following Monday recording about 5 songs. (I’ll spend much of my time taking pictures and scrapbooking with Rachel.) The band hopes to make it in the lineup for some summer festivals. It would be Tyler’s dream come true.

3) I’ll be running the 500 Festival Mini Marathon (the biggest half marathon and 8th-largest road race in America) in Indy with my college friend Jaimie. She currently lives in DC where she is a law student, but she’ll be coming back to practice law and live in Indy a couple weeks before the race. I’m really looking forward to connecting with her and catching up on things. 

4) We’ll be going to Hawaii for our vacation. A woman I work with is graciously letting us stay in the home she owns on Oahu - for free. I’ve already purchased all the plane tickets and booked our hotel for while we are in Maui for one night. We’ll be going with BJ and Rachel, so it should be a lot of fun.

5) I’ll be doing less work on the side so I can focus on family and friends. This means turning down some stories, but it will be worth it. I haven’t had a chance to breathe lately.

6) Sojourn Newburgh will launch at the beginning of the year. New year, new location, and a lot of faith in what God is doing we hope will equal helping to change the lives of people in the area. We could certainly use prayer, but if you’d like to give, you can do so online at www.thesojourn.org. I’m going to be trying to find interesting ways to decorate the youth room, so if you have ideas, let me know. Right now, I’m thinking chalkboard paint on the walls.

I may add some more later as they come to me, so check back.