Maui-wow-ee

M and I decided that we, as grown-ups, would get ourselves a little vay-cay and so we planned, schemed, looked forward to and schlepped ourselves to beautiful Maui the week prior to la navidad. Thanks to a wonderful recommendation we stayed at the Mauian hotel on Napili Bay and it was just fabulous. We had a cute little kitchen in our unit, our room was a strenuous 20 or so paces from the sand, the water was blessedly waaaaaaaaarm, we ran almost every day, relaxed everyday, cooked most meals but also enjoyed some yummy yummy yum yum ones in local restaurants, most deliciously here, caught up on some reading, snorkeled a bit, experienced some BODACIOUS people watching and overall had a lovely time.

It was kind of weird having a big vacation in the middle of the school year and right before Christmas but so nice at the same time since it was such a difference from our day-to-day and we're both quite grateful for the time we had together in the warm Maui sun. Here are some pictures of those wonderful days and look forward to more blog posts catching me up until now!



  
Early morning flight to paradise...view of the shuffleboard courts from our room.
  
Our little abode and lanai =)
  

  

  
The above are views at our hotel.
 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

     
These are for you Dad!
  

  

   All of the above are scenes from the resort next to ours. There was a coastal trail that goes out for about a mile and a half that we would run/walk and it included a very lunar-at-some-point volcanic patch which I loved...so pretty and fun!    Bathing Beauties!
Mike made a friend (or the other way around?) on the shuffleboard courts.

Mai Tais at the resort next door...and flowers in our hair! 
  

  

  
The biggest Banyon tree in...somewhere, I can't remember. It's in old town Lanai and it's so super cool because Banyon trees actually drop down roots from their branches and that's what all those "tree trunks" are!
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
We caved into being tourists and did it up luau style, as seen above. There was an entire roast pig that was buried in a sand pit that was unveiled for everyone and I made a plumeria hair clip and we got leis and it was fun fun fun. The Polynesian dancing was my favorite part, that and sitting traditional style on the ground.
  
Our first day celebration shave ice (these are a bit out of order I guess).

Our Maui pet. M was none too pleased, rather displeased actually, when this friend tried to join us. He and a couple of furry friends live in the neighborhood and just get to hang out at the beach with tourists all day.
 Maholo Maui for our great vacation!

Shady's Back!

Or I am, I guess. Well, I let work and the holidays get the better of me and have hopefully lived to learn my lesson. All of a sudden today I found myself "thinking in blog", which is when my thoughts run how a blog post would run, and then I got nostalgic for the time when I was a blogger (or at least tried to be one; ha!) and realized that I miss the catharsis of writing about my days for the .5 people who read this (me) and that I've been remiss and that and that and that so anyway here I am.

Since November: the holidays happened and we went to Hawaii (why didn't we just stay there?!?!), the semester ended, the new semester began, I finished 27 years of living (and began a 28th), we planned a bit of wedding, the dog barked a lot, some running was done, fish tacos were made (delish!), we saw not one but TWO local waterfalls, Michael fractured one of his pinky fingers, we ate a princess cake, we had our first (and probably only) wedding caterer/restaurant tasting (which was like 16 courses), and and and and...

So, I'll try to put up some pictures of the aforementioned events and post more regularly. My computer is a bit antiquated (slow) so many of the pictures I'd like to post are still being loaded into iPhoto (I am not owning up to not putting any new pictures in since, oh, like, September) so hopefully it will work itself out and there will be some visuals in the next few days.

Until then, happy almost hump-day!

The Windy City

So earlier in August I schlepped myself back to the good ol' Mid West. As I may have mentioned before, I remain smitten of this area of the country thanks to my Minnesota college days. It's a beautiful place and wether it be true or not, I find it relaxing after the frenetic Bay Area lifestyle (what really is that anyway? I kind of think of it as ALWAYS being on the way somewhere and trying awfully hard to look very casual meanwhile spending quite a bit of cash on that casual, earthy [northface jacket, $300 jeans, Toms shoes, iphone 4, Prius, etc.] look...not that I care or anything...I digress). Anyway, I was en route to a wedding in Milwaukee of a college friend and went early to spend time with my dear friend but never posted the photos. I do believe that I've already posted about this but I want to get up the pictures so that I don't forget that this ever happened, which is really why this blog exists, so that I can remember things that I've done, not that I forget easily or anything...I do believe that I've already posted about this but I want to get up the pictures so that I don't forget that this ever happened...

Anyway, Chicago pics here-you-go!

O'Hare airport...this one's for you Dad!

 

The Chicago Cultural Center...a super neat free museum that is so much more that the name implies. It's a BEAUTIFUL old building that houses several exhibits that change from time to time. People also take advantage of the fabulous architecture for their wedding venues. Me, I love the architecture mostly, though the exhibits were pretty cool. There was one on a MId Western architecture but for the life of me I CANNOT remember his name and I believe that his exhibit has moved on so the cultural center website offers no solace for me...help me out here! Anyway, the bean is also on the right. It was, as I mentioned several posts back, that it was beyond humid but sunny and very summery that day in the city. 

Some pretty pics of the cultural center. I had chosen the wrong sort of url/html/whatever-l from Photobucket because they weren't super clear, even though these were taken with a real-live camera and not just my phone, but now they're much better. There were very nice quotes about books up on the walls and beautiful mosaic work as well as the lovely rotunda.


Random Wrigley Field Shot!

More Cultural Center beauty...I am a sucker for buildings and history, all rolled into one! Actually, the Cultural Center has a really neat-o history. It was not the first city library but it was basically the first official library built to be not just a library but a...wait for it...cultural center! What I think is super cool, though I wonder how some more conservative citizens of the time felt, is that a 1% tax was levied upon the citizens of Chicago so that it could be said that the library was truly that of the city residents (check it out here). Groundbreaking was in 1892 and the building stands solidly still today. If you're ever in the city, go check it out and appreciate all that it has to offer.

¡El frijol!

This was Marshall Fields and now it's Macy's. I love-love-love old and classic department stores (Menkins, anyone) so I just HAD to take some pictures in Macy's, though I tried my hardest to look discreet (an oxymoron, no? "Look discreet"...). It just tickles me pink and makes my week when there's a food court and book store and toy store and clothing and everything else all in one place. One of my favorite memories growing up is when my memaw took me to London when I was ten. She and I are kindren spirits for many reasons, an appreciation of shopping being one of them and I swear that we visited the Liberty House store, Hammonds the six or seven storied toy store (which had quite a nice cafeteria!), Marks and Spencers and Harrods just about every day and made our rounds. Anyway, the favorite part is the pet store that was inside of Harrods and that you could walk out of that building with a brand new outfit, some books, a make-over, a dalmation puppy and lunch in your tummy.

The main rotunda area.

The book store.

 Book store.

The toy store.

My friend and her friend. He was nice enough to treat us to a boat ride down the river that night. The evening was sooooo warm and pleasant; being on the water and seeing the lights all around us was super awesome...thanks for the ride friend!






Maybe not our finest moment, but you can't say we weren't feeling the love!








Oh those silly girlz.

The Chicago part of my trip was a blast and it was sooo so so so good to see my friend. Stay tuned for Part-II of the midwest excursion as well as what else is going on in my life...

Darn you Parade Magazine...

Do you read Parade Magazine? I'm definitely not ashamed to admit that I do like to read the Parade Magazine that faithfully arrives every Sunday if I can find it; the newspaper in my grandmother's house tends to grow legs and meander around, splitting up sections willy nilly and Parade happens to be a repeat offender. The whole "darning" of said magazine, though, refers to today's article that you can read here and cry your eyes out about like I did. It's about a young couple who recently got married but face quite a bit of heartache since the groom has been battling a very rare and agressive form of cancer. It just about shot me through the heart to read about this pair and how optimistic and in-love these two are, so mozy on over to that link and check it out and you just might realize, like I did, that the trials and tribulations that plague your days really aren't all that bad.

I must also confess that I've been very remiss again and decided not to post for more than a month. Well, I'm back and hopefully will be better about blogging. Since it's been work and life that has gotten in my way and I really do enjoy blogging and find that it helps me relax I'll hopefully be better about sticking to it since it brings some calm to a busy life! There are several things to catch up on, but I'd like to work in chronological order from the past; I've a bunch a pictures from my/our Chicago/Milwaukee trip that I'd like to post. I also want to catch up on the school year and how busily that goes. I also would like to catch up on just normal day-to-day biz-nass.

Anyway, that's about where things are. I'm going to post aforementioned information in upcoming individual posts so look forward dear readers!