;)
Sunday, November 13, 2011
DIY Art: Sunshine!
I love pinning stuff on Pinterest and pretending that I am going to become a craft maven and make all of the delightful things I find myself. I have hundreds of pins, but haven't really made anything, save for a few recipes.
That is until yesterday, when, inspired by the rain, a 20% off coupon and a Michaels gift card, I finally made my first pinterest-inspired craft! Obviously, all those pins come from someplace beyond pinterest, so in the spirit of giving credit where it's due, my Sunshine canvas idea was from this etsy shop.
I loved the bright yellow they used and thought it was just what our bedroom needed. Our walls are painted in "Shark Loop" a grey-blue color, which I love, but could use some brightening. I can't wait to hang my homemade canvas art on the wall next to our bed, and flank it with framed photos of the husband and I. :)
Anyway, this was super easy to make. I typed out the lettering in Word, using two different fonts, and set the font size around 500. After I cut out each letter, and laid them out on the canvas, I painted over them in buttercream yellow acrylic paint with a large foam brush. The hardest part was keep the letters from moving around while I painted; I didn't use anything to stick them down because I was afraid it would ruin the canvas, so I just held them down with a finger or two as I painted. It wasn't perfect, but it worked well enough. :)
The husband originally thought this was a stupid idea for a craft and that it wouldn't work, but he was pleasantly surprised when I was done and it actually turned out well. :)
Friday, August 19, 2011
Shark!!!
This is my last Hawaii post, I promise. I can't not share pictures from our shark cage diving adventure, so I figure one more post won't hurt.
The Husband has wanted to go shark cage diving as long as I can remember. Every year we watch Shark Week, and he gets super excited over the idea of swimming around in a cage surrounded by sharks. In fact, sometimes he goes a little nuts, like the time we saw a Shark Week show with a scientists sitting ON TOP of a dead whale in the ocean, while great whites ripped chunks of meat from the carcass--the husband proclaimed that he wanted to do the same. Yeah right fool, you are nuts!
I've always told him there is no way I would get in a shark cage, seeing as I don't have a death wish. But then....I don't know what happened, somehow I warmed up to the idea. When I found out you can actually do this in Hawaii, I signed us up right away. As the days got closer and closer, I became more and more excited, while the husband was feeling anxious. My how the tables have turned.
So the day finally arrives for us to get in the cage, and we woke up super early, jumped in the awesome convertible we rented, and set out on the hour drive up to the North Shore. When we were about 10 minutes away, we got a phone call that the trip was cancelled due to high winds and rough seas. You'd have thought we were kids who just found out there is no such thing as Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy, all at once. But, we rallied, rebooked the excursion for our last day on the island, then went and ate shaved ice with ice cream and sweetened condensed milk (on a side note, I gained like 10 pounds while we were there).
Monday rolls around and we get in the Jeep (we drove 3 different rental cars) and again make the drive up the island, though we booked a much earlier trip this time. My Sea Bands strapped to my wrists, underwater camera charged, we jumped on the boat, ready to go. Rocky seas had me worried I would barf, but those silly looking wrist bands actually worked and I was fine. We pulled up next to the cage and immediately could see sharks swimming around in the water. Seeing their fins cut through the surface was thrilling! I couldn't wait to actually get in the cage and see them up close.
We were the second group in, and I was the first person in our group to get in the water. The guys running the show gave all sorts of instructions about getting in carefully and holding onto the cage; I totally didn't listen, and pretty much jumped off the ladder and swam around the middle of the cage, over to the side. OMG, the water was crystal clear, yet deep blue at the same time, and there were a bunch of huge sharks right next to us.
I apologize for the less than stellar photos. It is hard to take pictures when you are in a cage in a very rocky ocean that is knocking you all over the place. :) I banged my head into the bars several times and the husband swallowed lots of water, but I would do this again in a heartbeat.
This one was below us, I think. Sharks around and below us!! SO awesome!
Those aren't my toes. Maybe the husband's? I'm not sure; there were other people in the cage with us and I kept crashing into this other guy when the waves knocked into us.
Look at that guy!!! I wanted to pet them!
The husband said he was terrified as soon as he got in the water. I found it exhilarating!
The Husband has wanted to go shark cage diving as long as I can remember. Every year we watch Shark Week, and he gets super excited over the idea of swimming around in a cage surrounded by sharks. In fact, sometimes he goes a little nuts, like the time we saw a Shark Week show with a scientists sitting ON TOP of a dead whale in the ocean, while great whites ripped chunks of meat from the carcass--the husband proclaimed that he wanted to do the same. Yeah right fool, you are nuts!
I've always told him there is no way I would get in a shark cage, seeing as I don't have a death wish. But then....I don't know what happened, somehow I warmed up to the idea. When I found out you can actually do this in Hawaii, I signed us up right away. As the days got closer and closer, I became more and more excited, while the husband was feeling anxious. My how the tables have turned.
So the day finally arrives for us to get in the cage, and we woke up super early, jumped in the awesome convertible we rented, and set out on the hour drive up to the North Shore. When we were about 10 minutes away, we got a phone call that the trip was cancelled due to high winds and rough seas. You'd have thought we were kids who just found out there is no such thing as Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy, all at once. But, we rallied, rebooked the excursion for our last day on the island, then went and ate shaved ice with ice cream and sweetened condensed milk (on a side note, I gained like 10 pounds while we were there).
Monday rolls around and we get in the Jeep (we drove 3 different rental cars) and again make the drive up the island, though we booked a much earlier trip this time. My Sea Bands strapped to my wrists, underwater camera charged, we jumped on the boat, ready to go. Rocky seas had me worried I would barf, but those silly looking wrist bands actually worked and I was fine. We pulled up next to the cage and immediately could see sharks swimming around in the water. Seeing their fins cut through the surface was thrilling! I couldn't wait to actually get in the cage and see them up close.
We were the second group in, and I was the first person in our group to get in the water. The guys running the show gave all sorts of instructions about getting in carefully and holding onto the cage; I totally didn't listen, and pretty much jumped off the ladder and swam around the middle of the cage, over to the side. OMG, the water was crystal clear, yet deep blue at the same time, and there were a bunch of huge sharks right next to us.
I apologize for the less than stellar photos. It is hard to take pictures when you are in a cage in a very rocky ocean that is knocking you all over the place. :) I banged my head into the bars several times and the husband swallowed lots of water, but I would do this again in a heartbeat.
This one was below us, I think. Sharks around and below us!! SO awesome!
Those aren't my toes. Maybe the husband's? I'm not sure; there were other people in the cage with us and I kept crashing into this other guy when the waves knocked into us.
Look at that guy!!! I wanted to pet them!
The husband said he was terrified as soon as he got in the water. I found it exhilarating!
Friday, August 12, 2011
More Hawaii
Are you ready for some more Hawaii pics? I am! :)
These should look better than last time...I smartened up and uploaded off of flickr rather than straight from my desktop.
So, I shared this one on my last post, but since it uploaded all weird, it didn't do it justice. Don't you just want to jump right into the water there?!
The lagoon "beach" right outside our tower. Blue is my favorite color in the whole wide world--I just loved the way all those blue umbrellas looked lined up on the sand. I'd like to crop this or somehow edit it to make a more interesting picture...
I wish the palm trees in California were this awesome.
A waved crashed into my butt while the husband held down the button for about 300 photos. This one cracks me up. And no, those aren't short shorts; I was pulling them up to try and keep them dry. Fail.
Kind of underexposed, but oh well. This is the view we first saw when we pulled up to Laii Beach. Except when we first arrived it was sunny and bright. About 10-15 minutes later some big, grey clouds blew in and it started pouring. I snapped this pic then wrapped the camera in my shirt and jumped in the car. I was more concerned about the lens than myself. lol
Breadfruit. I have no idea what it is or tastes like.
The coconut man. I was going for photojournalism here, people; I'm not going to print this one up and hang it on my mantel or anything. Though I think it would be more interesting in black and white. What do you think?
Germaine's Luau. I drank too many mai tais, got bitten by a million mosquitos, met people from California, took way more food than I could ever eat from the buffet, and in general had a great time. :)
I had a major crush on that male hula dancer. The husband was embarrassed on my behalf. It's not like I was going to ask for his number, husbad.
I'm bummed that this pic is out of focus because I love the lighting.
FIRE dancers! And, ummm, shooting at night on a Rebel is hard work. I may have become irrationally upset about this.
So we had no intentions of going to a luau during our vacation at all. Personally, I think they're a bit cheesy and would rather spend my time in the ocean. But, one day we were walking along the main drag in Waikiki and stopped at one of those kiosk-type shops that offer discounts on various activities--the catch is you have to attend a 90-minute presentation about their vacation program. Kind of like a timeshare, but not for a timeshare, and apparently not as high pressure. Well, luau tickets are about $72 per adult for this particular luau we went to, and the guy in the kiosk offered us 2 for $50 when we first walked up. Then it was 2 for $40. We kept saying no, because really, who wants to give up any of their vacation to listen to a sales pitch? Well, the guy must have really needed a "sale" because he eventually offered us 2 luau tickets and 6 boxes of chocolate covered macademia nuts (which are my crack) for $20. I made the husband pull out at $20 and signed us up on the spot. The macademia nuts alone were enough for me, but throw in a luau with free booze and dinner, and well really, that was a great bargain. Food is expensive in Hawaii, and unless you're eating at McDonald's or something, there's no way you're getting dinner for 2 for $20, so we just looked at it like we bought dinner.
The sales pitch was more like 2.5 hours, not the 1.5 we were promised, but we didn't buy. I have to say I was really tempted, but the husband is a hard nut to crack, and held steady. I'm telling you though, if those sales people had left our table for a few minutes, I may have convinced him. They said they don't use hardsell tactics, but when your manager looks at the husband and talks about a funeral of a young guy -- "about your age"-- that she just went to, then says something to the effect of you need to travel more or that could be you in the casket, ummmm, yeah. Listen, I want to travel more than anything, but I know the husband is not going to drop dead tomorrow from lack of vacations. And they wouldn't let us leave until everyone else in the room had signed up. So it came down to us and one other family, who was also not buying, stuck in the room and they tried to convince us...eventually we were able to convince the sales woman to sneak us out b/c we definitely were not going to change our minds by being held in their room.
We finally got our prizes, found some food, and set off for Kailua Beach, followed ATV riding on a ranch.
Hot, right?! lol More like a hot mess. Dude, I had the helmet on backwards at first, and the husband was helping me do up the straps, when some other guy was all like "ummm, you're wearing that backwards. ::eyeroll::" Yeah, the husband didn't bother to tell me, he just let me look like a goon. Thanks. Oh yeah, so I packed like 7 pairs of shorts and 4 skirts for this trip, yet in every pic I am wearing those same blue Nike shorts. lol I pretty much wore them every day. Elastic waistbands were my friend.
These should look better than last time...I smartened up and uploaded off of flickr rather than straight from my desktop.
So, I shared this one on my last post, but since it uploaded all weird, it didn't do it justice. Don't you just want to jump right into the water there?!
The lagoon "beach" right outside our tower. Blue is my favorite color in the whole wide world--I just loved the way all those blue umbrellas looked lined up on the sand. I'd like to crop this or somehow edit it to make a more interesting picture...
I wish the palm trees in California were this awesome.
A waved crashed into my butt while the husband held down the button for about 300 photos. This one cracks me up. And no, those aren't short shorts; I was pulling them up to try and keep them dry. Fail.
Kind of underexposed, but oh well. This is the view we first saw when we pulled up to Laii Beach. Except when we first arrived it was sunny and bright. About 10-15 minutes later some big, grey clouds blew in and it started pouring. I snapped this pic then wrapped the camera in my shirt and jumped in the car. I was more concerned about the lens than myself. lol
Breadfruit. I have no idea what it is or tastes like.
The coconut man. I was going for photojournalism here, people; I'm not going to print this one up and hang it on my mantel or anything. Though I think it would be more interesting in black and white. What do you think?
Germaine's Luau. I drank too many mai tais, got bitten by a million mosquitos, met people from California, took way more food than I could ever eat from the buffet, and in general had a great time. :)
I had a major crush on that male hula dancer. The husband was embarrassed on my behalf. It's not like I was going to ask for his number, husbad.
I'm bummed that this pic is out of focus because I love the lighting.
FIRE dancers! And, ummm, shooting at night on a Rebel is hard work. I may have become irrationally upset about this.
So we had no intentions of going to a luau during our vacation at all. Personally, I think they're a bit cheesy and would rather spend my time in the ocean. But, one day we were walking along the main drag in Waikiki and stopped at one of those kiosk-type shops that offer discounts on various activities--the catch is you have to attend a 90-minute presentation about their vacation program. Kind of like a timeshare, but not for a timeshare, and apparently not as high pressure. Well, luau tickets are about $72 per adult for this particular luau we went to, and the guy in the kiosk offered us 2 for $50 when we first walked up. Then it was 2 for $40. We kept saying no, because really, who wants to give up any of their vacation to listen to a sales pitch? Well, the guy must have really needed a "sale" because he eventually offered us 2 luau tickets and 6 boxes of chocolate covered macademia nuts (which are my crack) for $20. I made the husband pull out at $20 and signed us up on the spot. The macademia nuts alone were enough for me, but throw in a luau with free booze and dinner, and well really, that was a great bargain. Food is expensive in Hawaii, and unless you're eating at McDonald's or something, there's no way you're getting dinner for 2 for $20, so we just looked at it like we bought dinner.
The sales pitch was more like 2.5 hours, not the 1.5 we were promised, but we didn't buy. I have to say I was really tempted, but the husband is a hard nut to crack, and held steady. I'm telling you though, if those sales people had left our table for a few minutes, I may have convinced him. They said they don't use hardsell tactics, but when your manager looks at the husband and talks about a funeral of a young guy -- "about your age"-- that she just went to, then says something to the effect of you need to travel more or that could be you in the casket, ummmm, yeah. Listen, I want to travel more than anything, but I know the husband is not going to drop dead tomorrow from lack of vacations. And they wouldn't let us leave until everyone else in the room had signed up. So it came down to us and one other family, who was also not buying, stuck in the room and they tried to convince us...eventually we were able to convince the sales woman to sneak us out b/c we definitely were not going to change our minds by being held in their room.
We finally got our prizes, found some food, and set off for Kailua Beach, followed ATV riding on a ranch.
Hot, right?! lol More like a hot mess. Dude, I had the helmet on backwards at first, and the husband was helping me do up the straps, when some other guy was all like "ummm, you're wearing that backwards. ::eyeroll::" Yeah, the husband didn't bother to tell me, he just let me look like a goon. Thanks. Oh yeah, so I packed like 7 pairs of shorts and 4 skirts for this trip, yet in every pic I am wearing those same blue Nike shorts. lol I pretty much wore them every day. Elastic waistbands were my friend.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
AlooooooooooHA!
So, the husband and I just got back from a week in Hawaii. Oahu to be precise. This was my 3rd trip to the island and his first. After 8 glorious days basking in the sun, and one afternoon gorging on junk food while watching Rise of the Planet of the Apes (yep, we went to the movies in hawaii), the husband is now officially in love (with Hawaii. He was already in love with me, of course. right?)and wants to buy property there.
Ummm, can someone let him know we're not millionaires and I am still a public school teacher? Yeah, not much extra money...yet.
Unfortunately, we're now home, back in the I.E., sporting tans (ok, ok, I'm sunburnt), mosquito bites, jet lag, and a serious case of ready to return to the land of aloha. And I go back to work in two weeks. So how about some pictures? They're all unedited because I'm too lazy to post process them right now.
Note: There are no pictures of Pearl Harbor. Oh we visited all right. We even decided to be economical and ride the bus. It took over an hour and the bus driver decided to go ahead and skip our stop, which we didn't realize until we were a good 5 miles beyond it. Oh, but that's not why there aren't any pictures. No, there's no pictures because I charged the battery for my camera the night before. And left it in the hotel room. (ok, I lied. There are some pictures. We took them on our iPhones. Thank God for overpriced phones!)
oh yeah, I don't know how to sharpen for web, so these photos don't look as good as they do on my monitor. Anyone want to explain that process for me?
View from our room at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Pretty nice right?
Turn your head slightly to the left, and another view from the room. If we weren't 25 floors up (wellll.....24 really, since hotels don't have a 13th floor), I would have wanted to jump in from the balcony. But I don't have a death wish. I did have to stay off the balcony after drinking....it was dizzying and I was afraid of dropping my camera over the edge.
We got lei'd! ha ha ha
The State Seal of Hawaii. The husband's sister is a budget analyist for Hawaii's senator, so we went to visit her at the Capitol building.
The husband and the gates to the Iolani Palace. Go google Iolani Palace and read up on the history of Hawaii as a kingdom. Interesting stuff! Their Queen was imprisoned in one room of the palace for 8 months as the land was taken from the native Hawaiians.
I enjoy acting like a jackass
More jackassery. This time with King Kamamaha. (yeahhhhh, that's not spelled right.)
We stumbled upon an old cemetery. This gravestone is heartbreaking-it's for a baby.
Those were all on the North Shore in the town Haleiwa, where we went shark cage diving. (yep, we got in a cage with sharks swimming all around it. Since I am a jackass, I decided sticking my hand outside of the cage would be a good idea. Multiple times. I still have my hand. The husband still thinks I am an idiot.)
See that rock? It's in Waimea Bay and it's a good 15-20 feet high. I was all stoked to jump off of it when we got there. I climbed up to the top, stepped onto the edge... and then backed up. 30 minutes later, after watching a little 7 year old girl jump multiple times, and being "encouraged" by a group of pre-teen boys, I finally jumped. Scaryist thing ever. I never need to do that again. But it was totally awesome at the same time. The husband was a little annoyed that it took my so long to jump, as I left him floating the ocean, "watching" our stuff (he didn't have his contacts in so he was in effect blind) on the sand. After I (finally) jumped, he wanted to leave bc he was hungry. Oh husband. You can just admit you're too scared to jump. It's ok.
Shrimp Truck on the North Shore. There are shrimp trucks all over the North Shore, but unlike their mainland counterparts, they are always parked in one location, rather than driving around. This truck was delish! (I had spicy garlic shrimp, the husband had butter garlic shrimp. The husband won.) and in the next lot was a really cool antique shop and a guy selling the wood-carved tikis he and his sons made. He was something of a wood carving celebrity too; he's done commissioned pieces all over the mainland. We saw quite a few tikis we wanted to buy, but they were super expensive, so we passed. We'd already purchased two at a different location to the tune of over nearly two hundred bucks, but next time we're definitely budgeting for one of the $500 pieces.
The husband's favorite beach, Laii on the North Shore (both pics are the same beach). Smooth, soft sand, aggressive waves, uncrowded, and beautiful. This is where he'd like to live if we ever move to the island.
The Blowhole near Sandy Beach. The Husband was not impressed. I know. I don't understand him either.
One of the very few photos of the two of us together. I hate asking people to take our picture.
Alrighty, this is getting too long. I'll do a second post with more pics later. I took like a 1,000 pictures while we were in Hawaii, so I have a lot to show off! Of course, at least 20% of them are pretty much the same thing b/c the husband loooooooves using continuous shot. lol
Ummm, can someone let him know we're not millionaires and I am still a public school teacher? Yeah, not much extra money...yet.
Unfortunately, we're now home, back in the I.E., sporting tans (ok, ok, I'm sunburnt), mosquito bites, jet lag, and a serious case of ready to return to the land of aloha. And I go back to work in two weeks. So how about some pictures? They're all unedited because I'm too lazy to post process them right now.
Note: There are no pictures of Pearl Harbor. Oh we visited all right. We even decided to be economical and ride the bus. It took over an hour and the bus driver decided to go ahead and skip our stop, which we didn't realize until we were a good 5 miles beyond it. Oh, but that's not why there aren't any pictures. No, there's no pictures because I charged the battery for my camera the night before. And left it in the hotel room. (ok, I lied. There are some pictures. We took them on our iPhones. Thank God for overpriced phones!)
oh yeah, I don't know how to sharpen for web, so these photos don't look as good as they do on my monitor. Anyone want to explain that process for me?
View from our room at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. Pretty nice right?
Turn your head slightly to the left, and another view from the room. If we weren't 25 floors up (wellll.....24 really, since hotels don't have a 13th floor), I would have wanted to jump in from the balcony. But I don't have a death wish. I did have to stay off the balcony after drinking....it was dizzying and I was afraid of dropping my camera over the edge.
We got lei'd! ha ha ha
The State Seal of Hawaii. The husband's sister is a budget analyist for Hawaii's senator, so we went to visit her at the Capitol building.
The husband and the gates to the Iolani Palace. Go google Iolani Palace and read up on the history of Hawaii as a kingdom. Interesting stuff! Their Queen was imprisoned in one room of the palace for 8 months as the land was taken from the native Hawaiians.
I enjoy acting like a jackass
More jackassery. This time with King Kamamaha. (yeahhhhh, that's not spelled right.)
We stumbled upon an old cemetery. This gravestone is heartbreaking-it's for a baby.
Those were all on the North Shore in the town Haleiwa, where we went shark cage diving. (yep, we got in a cage with sharks swimming all around it. Since I am a jackass, I decided sticking my hand outside of the cage would be a good idea. Multiple times. I still have my hand. The husband still thinks I am an idiot.)
See that rock? It's in Waimea Bay and it's a good 15-20 feet high. I was all stoked to jump off of it when we got there. I climbed up to the top, stepped onto the edge... and then backed up. 30 minutes later, after watching a little 7 year old girl jump multiple times, and being "encouraged" by a group of pre-teen boys, I finally jumped. Scaryist thing ever. I never need to do that again. But it was totally awesome at the same time. The husband was a little annoyed that it took my so long to jump, as I left him floating the ocean, "watching" our stuff (he didn't have his contacts in so he was in effect blind) on the sand. After I (finally) jumped, he wanted to leave bc he was hungry. Oh husband. You can just admit you're too scared to jump. It's ok.
Shrimp Truck on the North Shore. There are shrimp trucks all over the North Shore, but unlike their mainland counterparts, they are always parked in one location, rather than driving around. This truck was delish! (I had spicy garlic shrimp, the husband had butter garlic shrimp. The husband won.) and in the next lot was a really cool antique shop and a guy selling the wood-carved tikis he and his sons made. He was something of a wood carving celebrity too; he's done commissioned pieces all over the mainland. We saw quite a few tikis we wanted to buy, but they were super expensive, so we passed. We'd already purchased two at a different location to the tune of over nearly two hundred bucks, but next time we're definitely budgeting for one of the $500 pieces.
The husband's favorite beach, Laii on the North Shore (both pics are the same beach). Smooth, soft sand, aggressive waves, uncrowded, and beautiful. This is where he'd like to live if we ever move to the island.
The Blowhole near Sandy Beach. The Husband was not impressed. I know. I don't understand him either.
One of the very few photos of the two of us together. I hate asking people to take our picture.
Alrighty, this is getting too long. I'll do a second post with more pics later. I took like a 1,000 pictures while we were in Hawaii, so I have a lot to show off! Of course, at least 20% of them are pretty much the same thing b/c the husband loooooooves using continuous shot. lol
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