Sunday, January 30, 2011

what do you think???

I'm in a wedding this summer and although I get to wear these beauties for the reception

I need to choose some silver shoes to wear during the ceremony.  I'm not 100% sure, but I think this is the dress I will be wearing (in this color)

and these are the shoes I'm trying to decide between.  They're all within about $20 of each other, so price isn't helping me...hopefully you can.  Which would you choose? (and I understand everyone doesn't love a 4 inch heal, but this girl does!) 

1

2

or 3


Maybe I should just order all 3 of them and send back the 2 I like least????  I don't know!  What do you think?!?!?

Friday, January 28, 2011

Hawaii {part 5 and FINAL}

I'm kind of sad that this is the last Hawaii post! 

As I mentioned yesterday, on our last day, I still had 2 major things to check off my to do list.  Thankfully, Jason had some time off work to do something fun with me and we were able to visit the Dole plantation together.

We went through the gardens




 the husband thinks he's pretty funny


got the stink eye from a lizard

saw signs for Tokyo (aka home)

rode a train

saw some pineapples

went through a giant maze

prayed the husband's Army training would help get us out of said maze

and ate some amazingly good pineapple ice cream with fresh pineapple topping

After we left the plantation, we got to see one lonely turtle soaking up some rays

and  spend a little time on the beach



before we headed off to stuff our faces with BW3's for our last meal in Hawaii (lucky for you, there are no face stuffing photos)

And that my friends, was our trip.  Thanks for allowing me to relive my vacation in paradise share our trip with all of you!  Back to my regular irregular blogging tomorrow =)

PS, I was supposed to set this to post tomorrow but I forgot and don't know how to undo it, so I apologize for the multiple posts today!

Hawaii {part4}

There were very few things on my "to do" list while we were in Hawaii and on the last day, I still had 2 of them left unchecked.  Luckily Jason only had a half day at work so I was able to spend the morning touring Pearl Harbor & the USS Arizona with Sarah and the afternoon at the Dole Plantation with the husband.  A busy but perfect last day in Hawaii =)

So I dropped Jason off, then after my 4th stop at Target in 5 days headed to Pearl Harbor.  Since I was early I hung around at the entrance taking photos and people watching until Sarah arrived.  

I'd been there for maybe 5 minutes before I over heard 3 women approach, whining and complaining about not being able to bring in their purses/diaper bags.  It took EVERYTHING I had (and a phone call to my mother) not to scream at these women "DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE!??!?!  DO YOU KNOW WHAT THESE MEN AND WOMEN SACRIFICED ON THIS LAND?!?!?!  IF YOU CAN'T BE APPRECIATIVE OF THE FREEDOMS THEY DIED FOR, TAKE YOUR F'ING HAND BAGS AND GO BACK TO WHAT EVER SELF ABSORBED LAND YOU CAME FROM!!!!!!!!"  Part of me wish I had unleashed on them but I'm 100% sure I would not have been nice about it, so it's probably best that I kept my mouth shut!

After I vented to my mom and Jason and Sarah I was able to move on with my day and enjoy my experience there.  It really is a sobering site to see.  I cannot even begin to imagine what it must have felt like to be there that day.  I would venture to say they have similar stories as those that were in NYC on 9/11.  I'm not a history person, but I'm definitely a people person.  I'm on a mission now to read as many memoirs/autobiographies written about these 2 events as possible.  (any recommendations would be much appreciated) 








(any photoshop experts care to help me remove this guy from the photo?!?!)

 Outside the memorial there were gardens and through out the gardens were these quotes.  This one is a poem Eleanore Roosevelt kept in her wallet durring WWII

"Dear Lord
Lest I continue
My complacent way
Help me to remember
Somehow out there
A man died for me today.
As long as there be war
I then must
Ask and answer
Am I worth dying for?"

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Hawaii {part 3}

If you read Sarah's blog, most of this will probably be a repeat for you.  If you don't, you should!  Go! NOW!  I'll wait................................... =)  Ok, now that that is out of the way, we can get back to Hawaii!

Thursday was supposed to be the best chance for the Eddie Aikau memorial annual surf competition to be held this year.  Wednesday, they started setting up and everyone in the world Hawaii was tuned into the news to hear if the competition would be "on" or "off".  Turns out "it was big, but it wasn't and Eddie day", the competition was a no go.  Sarah and I decided that the surfers would probably still be surfing since they'd come all the way there and had been out there since before the crack of dawn, so we headed up to check out the action.  I am so glad we did.  After getting laughed at by a huge group of locals for not being able to maneuver my boat rental car, and forking over $10 to park we saw some of the most mesmerizing waves I'll probably ever see in my life! In order for the competition to be a go, they wanted consistent 20 feet waves.  I'm sure the waves were 20 feet, just not very consistent.  These photos do them NO justice and I didn't even think to take a video so it's the best I've got








just watching those guys was exhausting and made us hungry so we set off to Haliewa in search of lunch.  We settled on a Mexican/seafood restaurant and I ended up ordering a Spanish meal!  What can I say, I've had a hankering for paella for months now so when I saw a veggie paella on the menu,I had to have it!  SO YUMMY!

then we did a little window shopping before heading to Matsumoto's for some shave ice

I just couldn't get away from the Japanese!

I went against Sarah's recommendation and didn't get ice cream in the bottom (I was STUFFED from lunch) and mine was still delicious.  Plus, now I HAVE to go back to Hawaii so I can try it with ice cream...right??!!?

Then I was off to pick Jason up from class (yay for him getting out super early and us getting to spend some time together outside of the hotel room!)  I took this photo out of the window and I'm pretty sure it's become my favorite photo from the trip...I have a feeling it's going to be a canvas on my wall in the near future!

We stopped to see the Halona blow hole


 Where we saw this beach and decided we had to stop there before going to dinner

Jason spent some time playing in the surf
 
while I stayed on shore and took some photos of these guys


That night we had dinner at Haliewa Joe's near the Marine Corp base with some of Jason's classmates and I had to have my photo taken in front of this HUGE tree by the restaurant



I still have Pearl Harbor and the Dole pineapple plantation to show you, so there may be 2 more days of Hawaii ;-)