dreaming of hawaii

i know that it's been a while since posting (for whomever may be reading my blog regularly!) but life has been so hectic lately that i have not had time to do proper research on any piece i have, nor have i had time to be creative. mostly i've worked nonstop and then read the twilight series as a getaway. (our book club gave in to an easy read this month, so i ventured into teen angst, and did not put it down until i was properly finished so i could feel good about something...anything...i could cross off my checklist.)

it's times like these that i start to fantasize about being in hawaii.

we went to hawaii for our honeymoon and it was truly such a perfect vacation.

so, i've decided to write about one of the things that we have on our walls in our bedroom.

hanging above our dresser are these two leis from our honeymoon in hawaii.

(for this post, i'm going to offer a little mood music...and then let you visit a little of my current 'happy place' through some honeymoon pictures.)

we stayed at the fairmont orchid for the first part of our honeymoon. it was such an amazing hotel... beauty around every corner, peaceful quiet, and amazing service. whenever life gets tough, we say, 'oh the fairmont!' it was our heaven-on-earth. these pictures show the grounds and the outdoor patio where we had breakfast the first day. it was blissful- soft music playing, lots of yummy food, and the best breeze ever.

that day we spent the entire day at the pool, under the hugest umbrella ever, on completely comfortable padded lounge chairs. unlike our other hotel, this one was deserted- we had the whole pool to ourselves, it seemed. marc slept and i read- perfect! i love the palm trees reflected in his sunglasses. :)

the second day we ventured out around the big island.

we went to a lovely botanic garden that was truly impressive. i also got eaten alive by mosquitoes, but that isn't part of my hawaiian daydreams anymore. :)

while we were out we found this little snack shack that had the BEST smoothies and i also had a chicken wrap that was uh-ma-zing. we sat on the porch and took in the scenery.

i loved the flora of hawaii and was amazed by the shapes i saw. i'm remodeling our place to be a little reminiscent of hawaii, and want to redo our pillows and decor... perhaps these pictures will inspire some lines and designs.

our copy room at school has pictures of hawaii posted up all over. in some ways, i think it is torturous that they are there- as if they are mocking how chained we are to our jobs. on the other hand, sometimes i sit there while i wait and imagine being in hawaii right at that moment. seriously, i want to go back. i know it is cliche, but there's a reason for it.

i've got a lot of stories to tell about me, and my mom, and i know i've shared a lot of lovey dovey stories about marc and i. but they're the easiest ones to tell b/c i already have the pictures and i know the stories. so for now, until i get my head above water, they are the ones i will share. plus, it was so wonderful to think on hawaii for a little bit, i had to share my pictures and music with you as well.

at least you know what i'm thinking. :)

cleaning out my photos

One of the drawbacks of valuing the story in every little thing is that I have held on to a lot of stuff.

We've been working on simplifying our life at home to create a 'refuge' together and have home be a more peaceful place. I'm really not a packrat but with 900 square feet an extra pile is all you need to have chaos.

I've been going through everything. And I've been nearly ruthless with what's gone out.

A recent a-ha I've had is that I can scan a lot of things I want to keep and get rid of the physical item. For example, I've saved nearly every paper I've written from high school and college. Totally unnecessary, right? So I'll scan them and get rid of them. Done.

Another thought is that I will post an R.I.P. entry for the things I'm getting rid of that mean something to me, and that way, I'll feel like I'll always have it around.

The other thing I'd like to do is really organize my digital space. It's the messiest space I have.

So in cleaning out my school computer, I found three photos I had taken a few springs ago. I brought the photos into school to tell my class about the strange incident that took place one morning.

Before leaving for school, there was all sorts of commotion on my balcony. My cat, Levi, meowed incessantly to alert me to the issue. Two birds were fluttering around on the ledge. They were nearly fighting. I grabbed my camera.

Eventually the second bird flew away, and the first bird laid an egg! Right on my balcony. Unfortunately my camera focused on the screen instead of the bird.

The bird flew away and the egg remained, precariously perched on my third floor balcony ledge. I didn't know what to do. Would the mother bird return?? I left for school and told our librarian about the situation. (She knows a ton about cocoons, insects, birds, you name it.) She looked it up and apparently it was illegal to move the egg. Good thing I didn't touch it, right? I told myself if it was still there when I returned I'd do something.

I came home and it was gone. And it hadn't splattered beneath my balcony. I'm sure it was lunch for something. What a bizarre little moment!