Dee Came To Visit!

Diana has been a sister to me my whole life and while every minute of our childhood wasn't spent skipping down the street arm-in-arm she is one of my oldest, and best friends. She just finished her first year of law school in San Diego (whoot whooot!) and flew up here for a visit.

When i picked her up from the airport we headed straight for Monterey to go kayaking in the bay (someone forgot the GoPro..) and we saw at least 10 sea otters and some jelly fish and a whole bunch of sea lions.

Friday we made our way to San Francisco

A requirement 

Pretty sure this is not the same "bush man" from my childhood..

Before you came along..

When i was in high school i'd occasionally ask my mom what she did with friends when she was in high school or college because rumor has it she was quite a riot.. Maybe i was gleaming for ideas or it's possible i wanted a to have something in my back pocket for those rare times your parent says "You did What!?" and there really isn't a good excuse or any type of reasoning that makes it a rational choice, but the fact is you i did it and what's done is done. So by knowing a silly (stupid) thing your accusing parent did makes it not so bad. Right? Apple doesn't fall.. that sorta thing

Possibility #2 is that i wanted to know my parents had a life. You know, in their past life.

Hahahaha that sounds so terrible out loud!

But seriously, Once kids come parents are too wiped out to do something for fun right? So i've heard..

So to my kids, here is proof that your parents would in fact have fun and did a thing or two before you came along and were a black hole of time and energy.

Two weeks ago we flew into SFO and began our search for an apartment. But what's a trip to the Bay Area without a trip to the City!?

(note for others. When you live anywhere up in NorCal and someone says "the City" they are talking about THE CITY as in the only one that matters in California. Don't get me wrong, i love where i grew up, i love Los Angeles, i love San Diego and most everywhere in between, however The City is my favorite, and none other than San Francisco. Glad we got that cleared up.)

Good heavens! How did we live before Yelp?

This is a lovely chocolate store we found in Noe Valley and could have spent all night frolicking through, as well as the better part of our savings. We ended up with some dark chocolate with chili, a local bar, and 2 from Cuba & Trinidad. The owner said he has chocolate from 96 different suppliers from around the world and has hundreds of different kinds. Some he rotates and others will always be kept in stock.

 

I think our favorite was the dark chocolate chili. It lets you know about 30 seconds after you eat it that it has other plans for your mouth and lightly sets it ablaze. (This would be a horrible but funny trick to play on someone since you cant see the chili)

From there we when to dinner at Lers Ros Thai which was wonderful! Any place that has a good green curry is good for me.

After that we drove to the DMV people said to park at for The Independent and walked the 2 blocks to the venue. 

 We got SO lucky!

(sound check up stairs)

Imagine Dragons was doing a benefit show and was completely sold out!

However we don't take "No" for an answer so we busted our way in!
"We don't take no prisoners!"

(not really. Just a good friend who we are very thankful has a big heart and got us in)

We could also get used to the VIP area..

After a night that good how do you let it end? So we didn't.

We drove from the show to the Financial District to Pier 1to Bay st to Marina blv to The Palace of Fine Arts (you know, to pick out our future house) for a very cold photo stop for Matty's favorite place in the City. Then up and down the steepest hills we could find and finally back to our hotel.

Oh yeah.. The whole reason for our trip. We found a place we liked and move up next month!

(-side note- please don't try to keep up with my present/past tense flip flopping in this post or ever, i sure as heck don't so it's not going to do you any good to try. Like i said this is to my future kids) 

Stylin TOMS

You know those projects you start and have every intention of finishing?

And then life happens... we moved, started school, job hunted, doctor visits, squeeze in some exercise, and every other thing that takes up the day.

Normally i'd say i love art projects and can get sucked in so fully that hours will go by and the only thing to bring me out of a trance is seeing that the sun has moved and now i need a light on. Then as i get up to turn it on i notice my knees are stiff and i've lost feeling in my feet

As i wobble to the light switch i take note of the time.. How on earth have i been sitting for 5 hours and not moved!? (if only math were like this) At this point it wouldn't be uncommon for me to realize i haven't eaten since breakfast and now it's almost 7:00 pm. Oops.

Meet said project.

i started these a long time ago for my cousin and bit by slow bit they have come together

A big problem for me is knowing when to call it quits. Sometimes things just don't feel as if they are complete and heaven help me if i'm going to let part of me walk around unfinished! i think this is one of those "artist's problems" once you're so invested in something if feels as if (phony as it sounds) it's part of who you are as a person. Maybe because it's the style in which someone draws/ paints/ photographs/ writes (whatever your medium is) shines through and it's possible to identify the the person by the art. You certainly wouldn't confuse a Monet with a Picasso right? That little piece of me can't be judged till i'm done with it and that is a hard conclusion to come to after a while.

Now i can call these done and get them sent!

ps - if you don't know what the (Harry Potter) theme is i do apologize you had no childhood.

Troy read the first four books to me and then we fought over the rest. My mom would literally have to set her strawberry twist timer for allotted time we each had to read. Can you say NERD children? Who fights over reading a book? Well if you read them you do understand and possibly had a similar experience and if you didn't.. Like i said, i'm sorry.

Three Years and Three Days ago..

Matty and i went on our first date! He picked me up from school and we went to Steamers for dinner and music with our good friends Scotty & Tristen (who by the way, also got married!) i had a panini of sorts and it was good, can't remember what Matty had, we did have a good time joking around about the (drummer?) musician's big striped socks and this weird lady singer. We talked the whole time in the car there and back and i had a lovely time! On one hand it seems like it was recently since i have very vivid memories of it, but on the other it seem SOOOO long ago when i think of what we have done since then. Crazy how time zooms by!

Then Oct 2010 looked a lot like this..

i loved our Fall dating

More to come!

It's too hot..

We moved away from our beloved first home together in Hawaii back to California.. i'm still having a hard time with it, particularly on days like this

That's right. triple digits.  

Matty and i are going to jump in the pool now and i'm going to pretend i see this

(Our last few days in Hawaii)

Yes, i took these pictures. i did not steal them (and neither should you).

Just in case you haven't had the joy of being in this position.. This is the back side of a wave at one of our favorite beaches. After the wave crashes a whole heck of a lot of sand gets thrown back (and in your face) and temporarily you can't see anything else. This is right before that happens.

And this is when you're too close to the tube and it starts sucking you in.

We love our GoPro

A little humor for your day

There are so many of these that bother me i just thought i'd share one that caught my fancy

i was laughing for a long time

and by "these" i mean:

Check it out here

What a good weekend..

Why is it Monday?

Over the weekend it was so hot! (not really. 83F. Hawaii problems..) On Saturday afternoon we all decided to head to the beach. The "we" is because Matty and i moved apartment buildings about a month ago and LOVE our new place! Our neighbors are fantastic! it's quiet! it's on the second floor! More counter space! We really wish this could have happened sooner because we all hang out a few times a week so we'll be sad to leave at the end of August.

On our way we stopped at the farm in Kahuku and got an incredibly good panini stuffed with all their fresh goodness from the 100 acre farm

I'm not sure how we ended up at Kawela Bay but Matty and i have wanted to check it out for a long time. it's probably one of the more hidden beaches on the island because when you pass Turtle Bay going towards Haleiwa it's no more than a mile but the path to get there is hidden by trees and over grown plants. (it's across from the fruit vendors) We parked on the side of Kam hwy and through the trees we went.

This is where Turtle Bay goes on their horseback riding tours.

it reminded me of a movie (which i'm sure there have been several filmed here. So it goes with most of the island) but i liked the tree canopy above us

The actual beach part is tiny so it's a good thing crowds don't come here

And the water is murky with a lot of small rocks & coral so not great for swimming

We couldn't see our feet when we were only in to our hips.. Although we did see 2-3 turtles pop up out of the water that was it.

Since it's a good size bay the wind doesn't come through very easily so we got hot fast and jumped in the water anyway. The water is really calm (where is it not this time of year?) so we just waded in a sandy area for about an hour and headed home after the guys got some touch football in

We showered off and headed to the Laie Days Food Fest in the big field close to the PCC and listened to live music and ate some Tita's Grill (nothing special) and hung out with friends.

Matty and i also got a 15 pound watermelon for this gem of a recipe! We made it Sunday night to go with our homemade pizza night dinner. We will be making it again and again! Very refreshing on a hot day and you can taste all the flavors in there at the same time

Follow that up with some Olympic Games and you have yourself a gooooood night

4th of July!

We went with some friends down to town and rented kayaks from Go Bananas Water Sports (which was interesting because 3 of us talked to workers and all 3 of us got different closing times.. 5,6, and 7:00pm) but anyhow, we got there and got ours loaded onto our little car

and off we went to the harbor.

When we got there we were told we couldn't park in the parking lot because it was full (false) so we unloaded the kayaks and the guys drove the cars to Ala Moana shopping mall and walked back. Meanwhile Lauren and i walked around and looked for a place of escape from the heat (where to launch from) and found that there were decent sized waves on the outer break and the exit of the harbor was being patrolled by police. We walked over past one of the hotel's lagoons and little beach park to the jetty outlet and decided that it was a long way to carry our stuff but the most pleasant looking place to spend out evening. The poor guys get back and we tell them SURPRiSE! We think we (you) should carry the kayaks (+/-) a quarter mile to a little beach to go out from. -Pink is where we walked from -Purple is where we watched the fireworks from -Orange is where we played around and ate till dark, and the fireworks were shot off from the last row of boats at the end (just barely cut off in the picture)

Waikiki beach front hotels

(and clouds that we thought were going to pour down on us)

Matty & Diamondhead Crater

Our group

North Shore Swim

Saturday Matty and i competed participated in the first of four swim events this summer! You can look  up our times even :) it's official!
But first our morning went like this: We woke up at 7:00am and he asked "Do you want to do it?" (in my head) for the past month and a half! (Reality) "If you want to." this went on for about 20 minutes (because i feel like sometimes i drag him into things he doesn't want to do and half way through he probably thinks "And how did i end up here??" so i try and let him take some initiative) by 7:30 we jumped out of bed having come to the conclusion we're doing it and really had to haul to get there and sign up by 8:30. At the little grass area across from Sunset Beach there were two tents that had Check In and Sign Up. We got in line, registered, got our ankle timers, and got numbered (651 & 652). Then we thankfully found a parking spot semi near by and walked back to the beach where at least 400 other people were waiting. They didn't put out the starting buoys till right before the men were to start and Matty looked at it and said "That's as far out as we swam at Hukilau.." (the beach by us that has a buoy roughly 600 meters out) The men got a 5 minute start and then the ladies headed out to the starting line. It was so funny to see bright pink(the free caps) and an array of other bright colored swim caps all bobbing around in the water waiting for the start horn! Matty and i were both surprised to see all the crevasses in the reef and how shallow it was in some (most) spots! He even found a turtle that he pointed out to me! :) As we swam through the finish line at Pipeline we (Matty) were determine to beat this lady who kicked me almost every time i turned around to see where he was during the swim. i felt like i was back in a water polo game! She even had her full body jump suit thing going..
  Also keep in mind this is the same beach in the winter!
All the volunteers and sponsors were lovely with the fruit and salads (need to go to Aloha Salads!) and other various post-race snacks! We got our shirts, that we will wear with pride now! And headed back on the sand to our car (i think my legs hurt more from walking in the dry sand than they ever did during the race! Probably b/c they never hurt while swimming..)

that's one of the bright orange start buoys on the beach 

Pinterest stuff

Here's a few things i want to have a place for other than on a "board" that i may not look at again for a long time.
Hahahahahaha! How did we not have this sign when we had (the best dog) Cinnamon?! -need to do a post about her-
Dad probably scared off more people than she ever did

i want to find this bathroom door!

Amen.

i like it.

Without really having the words to answer the question Troy asked me years ago -"Why do girls even paint their nails?"

i guess variety, a change, occasionally boredom perhaps? 

Little giraffe needs some spice just like girls 

Art i want to recreate 

Yes.

indeed.

May i please keep an open mind when viewing things

-And Finally-

i want another dog!

and time to read

And a big blanket to wrap up in and hot chocolate and at least 2 days with nothing planned