Week 12: 365 Photo Project

I find that if I go straight into the office instead of downstairs, I actually get something done on my days off.

Cloudy walk with Tsunami

I usually take my camera with me to work but on Thursday I found myself thinking that I usually take the same route during lunch and on my way to the bus stop I’m too loaded down with bags and mail to be able to take my camera out. I thought I’d used all my photo opportunities up. So of course when I got to the bus stop that morning this tiny little bush was making a great shadow on this woman’s pants. iPhone to the rescue.

Shadow

From the new farmers’ market that finally started just a mile from home. It’s on Thursday which is kind of a bummer, but at least I don’t have to drive 30 minutes to the nearest one. One egg is free range from the market and one is organic (in probably the least hippie sense of the word) from Costco. I’m definitely making the switch to free range local eggs.

This is Molly, our neighbor’s tea cup Chihuahua. And Tsunami, being submissive to her, even though this photo makes her look indifferent. She spent the better part of the afternoon alternately trying to play with her and hiding behind Wes because she doesn’t know how  to play with something that size.

It finally rained last night and we hope there’s more to come. Anything to break up the every day sunshine. I know some people might be screaming at me to just enjoy the sun and all that. But every day? It just gets old. Variety is the spice of life.

The Second Time Around: Ko ‘Olina Triathlon

Compared to last year, the race yesterday was a fiasco. Last year I felt prepared and rested and ready to kick major ass. This year I felt like sleeping in. I didn’t get enough sleep on Friday night, which is usually more important than the amount of sleep you get the night before the race. The night before the race we didn’t get home until nearly 10 o’clock. I threw my things in a pile and figured I’d sort it out the next day.

The first thing that went wrong was the temporary tattoos we were given to mark our arms. I’ve put on temporary tattoos I don’t even know how many times. I know how they work. And, yet, that morning I read the directions carefully just in case they were some fancy new tattoos. I put the first number on – a zero – and noticed something wasn’t right but soldiered on with the four and the five. They weren’t sticking and they had this weird clear sheet that I’d never seen before and I just knew they were going to fall off. I read the directions again and that’s when I saw – in the first step, no less – the direction to remove the protective covering before putting it on. I had forgotten about the protective covering and had ruined all the numbers. I wanted to cry because this is so typical of me and I’d been trying to change it but even when I tried I still screwed things up.

Driving to the race all I could think about was the tattoos and how stupid I felt for messing them up. We cut it close for the arrival and I was scrambling to get everything set up (and my numbers marked on me) before they closed the transition area. The start is about a 10 minute walk from the transition area so we walked over with 30 minutes to spare. There were people milling about a few announcements were made before the first wave went. A woman asked me about the run course and we were talking when a man interrupted us to ask if we were the third wave because it was up next. I panicked because I was the second wave and I hadn’t even heard the first wave start. I ran up to the start where a few other women were also wondering what just happened. The second wave was already half way across the first lagoon when we started.

I’m somewhere in the back discussing the run course and not realizing the race is actually starting.

So far: ruined tattoos and a late start. The late start, though, turned out to be a good thing because I wasn’t fighting for space in the group. My goggles fogged up and instead of letting them be I wiped them off on my way to the second lagoon and I swam the entire second lagoon with my goggles half full of water.

The bike part wasn’t as awful as I had been anticipating but I could definitely have used, oh, any  amount of time training on my bike before the race. The wind caught up with my on the way back but for the most part I held my own.

Ending the ride, pretty nervous about the run.

The run, though, was pretty rough. My legs were heavy from the ride and my left leg hurt for most of the run. But I didn’t stop running.

The last half mile or so I started feeling better and managed to pick up my pace a bit to finish.

I crossed a 1:57, which hopefully means my time is closer to 1:46 (which is what I did last year), though I’m thinking it was probably closer to 1:50.  Still, as we were leaving the race I was talking about signing up for one in March. Even when a race is rough, it’s still a great feeling when you cross that finish line.

I should have had Neal do my tattoos.

Week 11: 365 Photo Project

 

Pictures posted in a timely fashion? Who am I and how long will this last?

Harbor Seal at the Honolulu Aquarium

I  babysat on Monday and took the kids to the Honolulu Aquarium in Waikiki where I thought we would spend hours. Instead we spent an hour, which included the 20 minute apple break near the big-fish tank. It’s small, is what I’m saying. But the kids enjoyed it and I got to see a Harbor Seal.

Antler chew toy for Tsunami

You don’t take self-portraits at the dog park? You’re doing it wrong.

I’I’m trying not to think about how many cockroaches there probably are in the lawn.

This is our friends’ dog, Toto. She likes to suck on her toys and blankets for comfort.

The only shot I took yesterday because I was so tired from the triathlon I did.

That Time I Went to Thailand: Bangkok

I have been meaning to write about our honeymoon to Thailand for, well, since we came back from our honeymoon. In September. of 2010. Clearly I’ve been slacking on this, and as it got further and further away from our return it just felt weird to write about it or post pictures. But we went to Thailand and had a lot of fun and took a lot of pictures. And what’s the point of vacation pictures if you can’t make people look through them? There is no point, that’s the answer. So enjoy our trip to Thailand.

If you saw The Hangover 2 you should recognize this hotel.

We got in around midnight and took a cab straight to our hotel where we had to mime birds flying and then wait half an hour while they changed our down bedding.

Waiting for us in the room was a small cake wishing us a Happy Honeymoon, which we devoured before falling into bed, exhausted from our full day of travel.

Thailand is hot. And humid. From the moment we stepped out of the airport until we landed in Honolulu we were dripping in sweat (what a way to start a marriage). This is the view from our room’s balcony and when I stepped out that first morning my camera fogged up from the change in temperature. Added to the already smoggy city, the picture turned out really fuzzy.

All of our hotels in Thailand had a complimentary breakfast, but the Lebua Hotel in Bangkok was the best. They had every option from sushi and dim sum to standard American breakfast fare. I loved the honey comb they had set up.

I have never seen a dirtier river or more smoke-producing boats. We caught a water taxi from our hotel to the Grand Palace our first full day in Bangkok. I loved the breeze in our face but I had the smoke that was created from such a short trip.

We arrived shortly before the walking tour began and after a few minutes of blindly wandering around we decided to wait so that we could hear about the construction of the palace. Walking around and admiring things by ourselves would have been fine, but it’s always nice to learn a little about what you’re looking at.

Palace protectors

Small palace protector

Their job is to hold up the structure.

The Grand Palace is still very much in use as a place of worship and while we were there we saw people leaving their offerings of food and flowers, as well as a couple of larger groups setting out entire picnics for their departed.

Did I mention it was crazy hot in Bangkok? And the Grand Palace required a certain dress code? Wes had to wear pants and closed-toed shoes, hence the sweat. Though the heavy polo shirt was his idea.

After the Grand Palace we walked a few blocks down the street to get our picture in front of the world’s largest reclining Buddha. Here he is just chillin’ while we get our photo snapped.

After the Grand Palace we crossed the river to check out another Palace (Thailand is lousy with Palaces), Wat Rakhang.

Engineer Wes insisted we take this picture. It actually looks more stable than a lot of scaffolding we’ve seen in the states (yes, being married to an engineer means you notice things like correctly built scaffolding).

After the two palaces we were pretty beat so we grabbed lunch and headed back to the hotel to relax by the pool and find dinner.

View from our balcony that’s not fuzzy with humidity.

The next day we scheduled a cooking class, something that our friends who had previously visited Thailand said we should do. We met our instructor and the rest of the class outside of an open-air market to pick up the ingredients for our day of cooking. Wes kindly held both of our baskets so that I could take pictures.We went to the Silom Thai Cooking School and I cannot recommend it enough. Our instructor’s English was great and the food was delicious, despite how sketchy the following pictures make this whole things seem. Though, walking to the apartment we were wondering just what the hell we’d signed up for as we just kept getting further and further into a pretty run-down neighborhood. We also passed a few cooking schools that were being run out of garages. When we arrived at the apartments, though, we were pleasantly surprised. The school is the entire third floor of an apartment complex, with gas ranges set up on the balcony.

Yes, there is a cat sleeping on the table near the seafood. No big deal.

Also no big deal? Shirtless butchers.

At the apartment we were split into groups to prepare the groceries we’d just purchased.

Our first attempt: Tom Young Soup. Delicious.

We cooked all of these meals and they were incredibly easy. I actually convinced myself that when we got back to Hawaii (where a lot of the ingredients are easier to procure than on the mainland), I would definitely make them. I think no one should be surprised when I say that hasn’t happened yet. I have, however, purchased the ingredients for it to happen, like, three times but something always comes up.

Gratuitous pig head shot from the market. We did not eat this.

Being our last night in Bangkok we decided to check out the hotel bar on the top of the hotel. Unfortunately they had a ridiculous dress code that they followed to the t.

Seriously?

This was appropriate clothing, but my cotton skirt and flip-flops were not okay (no flip-flops). Hiking shoes are okay? The carharts and hiking shoes Wes was wearing were okay, but my flip-flops were inappropriate?

View from the bar

Turns out the view from our balcony was better. And the drinks were ridiculously outrageous. $15 for a Bud Light-outrageous. I was incredibly hot and uncomfortable so we didn’t end up staying. Instead we found a cheap restaurant (Thailand is also lousy with cheap food. I loved it.) where we didn’t have to be dressed “up” to enjoy.

Thus ended our time in Bangkok, and not soon enough. The city is huge and sprawling and hot and humid and mostly we were just ready to get to someplace more relaxing. It was our honeymoon after all.

Weeks 8, 9 & 10: 365 Photo Project

Some day I’ll get back on track with this. Until then,three  weeks at a time will have to do.

Looking back, I think she may have been rolling around on a dead slug. She’s been doing that a lot lately.

Freshly manicured

A Christmas gift from Wes’ grandparents that we finally used to watch football. I would have preferred a pub-themed party, but we have been holding on to them for an awfully long time.

I went to a late-night BBQ at my neighbors while Wes was out of town. We got drunk and kicked out two panels in the fence to let the pups play. Good idea at the time, but less good when all three dogs were running in and out of our dog door. Don’t worry, they’re back in now.

Did I not tell you I am obsessed with Michael Scofield? I watched nearly an entire season while I was recovering from the fence-breaking party. It felt right that my daily photo should be him.

iPhone photo

Yes, I went to Vegas and had dinner at Roy’s.

iPhone photo

iPhone photo

Even though our fence is back intact, we still get the pups together to run around in the front yard. Prince, the little one, can keep up when Tsunami takes off and having him yap at her heels keeps her running. She’s exhausted when we separate them.

Whenever Tsunami gets too tired to run around she heads straight for this fern bush. She knows it’s the safe zone, but Titan didn’t get the memo and she ends up just getting slammed into because Titan just wants to play.

Las Vegas

I went to Las Vegas over the weekend and had an incredibly fun time. I flew out on the red eye Thursday night with a friend and landed early Friday morning. Wednesday night I was feeling nervous about the trip for a couple of reasons: 1) I’m not really a club-type person and Vegas is basically one giant club; and 2) there were a lot of people who didn’t know each other or who barely knew each other and I was worried about how we’d all interact.

I worried for nothing because it was an amazing time. Everyone got along. We all got drunk but not drunk enough to fight. No one lost a crazy amount of money and everyone left happy that they’d come.

We planned one night and flew by the seats of our pants the other nights and though we had fun on the planned night, our first night in town was by far the best, probably because there were no expectations. So next time (if there is a next time): no planning.

I’m convinced that Vegas is a single-sex city. There were a few times when we were dancing that I wished I had Wes by my side, but overall I was having too much fun bonding with friends and getting special treatment because we were an attractive group of women and having men mixed in would have changed the dynamic of everything, in that clubs don’t want to offer anything for free to men.

I didn’t take many pictures because my point-and-shoot camera was getting repaired and no way was I hauling my DSLR around with all the alcohol we were drinking, but there are a few and they tell the story of a great weekend. Turns out, with the right group of women, I’m a Vegas person after all.