Hawaii Edits

Hello - I wanted to show you people a few more photos from Hawaii - something to hold you over until I'm fully back (mentally) and can tell you more of a story behind these places.

These are just a few (some you saw in the last post, others are unseen) that I've been playing with in Photoshop- enjoy!

This first picture is a Red sand beach on Maui - it's quite a hike to get there (not so bad in distance, but the trail is .. iffy .. in some spots).  In all the books it's warned that this is a clothing optional beach - lucky for us, everyone had their clothes on :)  Isn't that blue water simply amazing?

 You've already seen this one - but I added a slight vignette around the edges to pull in the focus a bit.  I almost wish there had been a cloud in this picture - I feel like it looks fake.

 You've also seen this - I just adjusted the levels and tried to brighten it up a bit.  I really like this picture, I think it's fun.

 You've also seen this - again just tried to make the colors pop a bit and brightened it up

 This one is new to you - these were the only surf boards we seen in a rack, and I was on a mission to find them.  It was a cloudy day, so I had to do some editing to make the sky look blue - I don't remember how I did it, but I like it!

 Mai Tai's at the Luau :)

 This next one I'd like your opinion on.  Top picture is the original photo, straight out of the camera, then photo below is the edited version that I've played around to get.  Which do you like better?  I'm toying with framing this one.  It's our real flower lei's that we got from the luau - which is one of my favorite memories from the trip, I was even able to get these lei's home with us ... I'm hoping I'll be able to move them to the new house successfully.... ugh.  So - which do you like better?

 Same picture, just brightened up; too much?  Not enough?  Thoughts?!

Back to work now... 

I suck

I promise that I am back ... I've shown you pictures so you know.

Steve and I are moving on Saturday, so I'm trying to get all my shit together.  Work is stupid busy with a software upgrade.

I promise I'll get some more pictures up and tell you all about the trip - the positive about this?  I'll get to relive my trip again... that'll be fun, right!?

A Meme

Alright, while I was off vacationing, Harley tagged me in this post - it's a writing meme.  You probably need to check out her post though, for reals - I'll wait while you go read it.


Done?

Her writing is pretty amazing and she has all sorts of cute little drawing to go along with everything (even a football, sushi, and a smiley face where she tagged me- THANKS!)

So it's a handwriting meme... I decided to play along.  Seems a lot of people are getting into vlogs these days, Harley included, and I really want to buck up and give it a shot, but... I'm chicken shit.  So you get to see my sloppy handwriting instead, without cute drawings.  :( fail.

Here is what I have to write and those tagged have to write as well:

1. What's your name/Blogger name?
2. What's your blog's URL?
3. Write "the quick fox jumps over the lazy dog"
4. Favorite quote?
5. Your favorite song?
6. Your favorite band/singers?
7. Anything else you want to say?
8. Tag 3-5 other people

Hawaii Randoms

You guys - ... ~ *** !!!

I don't know where to start.  Upon uploading both mine and Steve's cameras we had 733 pictures.  I've tried to go through and am still going through all of them, deleting ones that have a bad camera setting or a series of waves... those types of things, so that I can print them all off into an album.  Wait - I'm not deleting them completely, I'm just taking them out of the online gallery.  I've managed to narrow it down to 653 so far... hopefully I can cut more out.

I haven't edited but one photo - but I want to share some randoms with you.  We did a bunch of stuff... I'm hoping to post a few blogs to cut down on your day to day reading... one post would be crazy long.  I will most likely repost some photos as I edit and make them a bit more bomb - I still have to pick my favorites.

So here are some random photos from our trip - please enjoy! (that was so Iron Chef of me)

This is Steve and I at the Denver airport - our first layover with a bloody mary

First day we went to Pearl Harbor (those of you on Facebook probably noticed that I checked in there, I was trying out that feature of Facebook) - here is a pretty amazing photo of the palm trees - there will be a post about this, full of other pictures:

Right outside of Waikiki Beach there is a Police Station, one of the cops stopped us asked if we wanted our picture taken and made us do the 'hang lose' sign for the picture - being that we were still new to the area, we thought it was a little strange

This is Waikiki Beach, looking towards Diamond Head (Diamond Head is pictured to the right in the top picture, and closer up in the second picture)

We went to Senior Frogs one day for drinks and ... well mainly just drinks, but we did get some chips and guac too - we were able to try some local Hawaiin brews (after tequila shots, of course)

We were looking for a sushi place and the server at SF's suggested Morimoto's... I got super excited and asked 'as in the Iron Chef Morimoto?!'  Indeed it was.  So we took a walk to find it

Food was crazy delicious - fish was FRESH as can be.. and the wasabi was fresh wasabi root, freshly grated in front of us - pretty sure I've only ever had the paste stuff... and HOLY CRAP STICKS!  That fresh shit is BOMB.  I took no pictures of our food, even though I should have.

Little side topic: You know how when you walk past someone and smile, but it's not a real smile, it's like head nod smile...??  Well, Steve's head nod smile is obnoxious - and I always try to mock it.  I decided to take pictures of it one day waiting for the city bus

Wuddya think?  I don't really make this face (at least I hope I don't).  I feel like I give a real smile when I do the walk by.

One of my many pretty drinks

Some more randoms

I suppose that'll be it for today.  I have MANY more photos to share with you... baby steps.

Still to come... Black Sand Beach, Red Sand Beach, Luau, Writing in the sand, waterfalls, some amazing views, a whale and passion fruit!

I'm back

So I've been home since Friday morning, early Friday morning.  Steve and I spent the weekend trying to figure out how to get back on a 'normal' sleep schedule - it was hard and I've yet to figure it out.

I'll post blogs soon... though, I'm not sure how many there will be, I may just post a few picture heavy posts... we had a great time in Hawaii!

Here is a little sample:

and the picture I changed to my default on facebook this morning:

I'm Off!

Hawaii bound this day :)

This post is scheduled, so that's why you're seeing it as I'm flying. 

I have Google Reader on my phone, so I plan to keep up with reading while I'm on the beach, but it's not the most user friendly for commenting... so if I comment, feel lucky!  Just know I'm reading everything you're writing.

Have a fantastic week and a half and I'll make sure and let you know I made it home safe.  I may even post a few pictures while I'm there, if I can figure out how to do it.

Stay safe and stay warm!

It's the first of the month!

For as long as I can remember my mom has {annoyingly} always made it a point to wish me a Happy 1st of every month (ie Happy February 1st!!!).  It was always in person that she'd do this... until I got a bit older.  It became a game once I got older - I started playing along and trying to beat her to it.  It branched into sending emails (because I have a big girl job and all), phone calls, in person banter... however we could get it out to each other.

For the last... several months... I've been dominating my mother (I really hope that line doesn't get a lot of Google hits)!  Being that I have a big girl job, I'm up early.  I can send that email, I can make the phone call... I can cover my ass before she is even thinking about waking up for the day.  I'm awesomesauce - that's why.

Today though... I'll be damned if this woman wasn't laying in bed awake when I went upstairs to grab my lunch... she yells out "Angela?"  I say "Yeah", not even remotely aware of the date at this point... "Happy February 1st!"

Shit.

"Ugh, Happy February 1st" I say, and just walk away with my held hanging in shame.

Its kind of a fun game now that I'm older.  I look forward to continuing this tradition when I'm not living with her anymore... it'll be interesting.