Adventures in Maui

It's been over a month since we got home from Maui and I'm finally sharing some pictures. We had so much fun! I loved showing Daniel around all the places I used to visit with my family. Daniel loved it so much that he wants to move there. (although he said he would have to create some climbing routes somewhere on the island...)

This is the view from our hotel right on the beach. If any of you plan a trip to Maui but don't want to spend a bunch on the hotel, stay here!! It was perfect.

Take-out from the Maui Fish Market.

Daniel on the Scuba boat. The ride to Lanai was about 45 minutes

There was a HUGE school of dolphins that gave us a little show on the way out to Lanai. so cool.

The first hike on the road to Hana through a super dense bamboo forest.

Secret Beach. Probably the most picturesque beach that I have ever seen.

Delicious plate lunch of grilled ono, purple potatoes, and fresh Hawaiian fruit.

This is the little cart where we got the plate lunch, right by Secret Beach.

This is a part of the island that I had never seen before. We took a hike through an old plantation. The views were absolutely breathtaking.

Big Beach. The best place to play in the waves! This was my favorite place growing up, and it was just as wonderful as I remembered it.

We chose this hike because there were TWO bridges we had to cross. I felt so adventurous. This is Daniel using the first bridge as his throne.

Another picture from our mountainous plantation hike.

The trees are so big here!

We LOVED the snorkeling. There were so many awesome places to go.

How beautiful are these flowers?? I want one of these trees in my yard.

A school of fish we saw on the dive. There had to have been thousands of them! I wish the pictures did this sight justice.

SCUBA diving is my most favorite thing ever!

We got to hold this octopus. I even got inked... aMAZing!

We definitely lucked out on our first snorkel trip. Daniel had never seen a sea turtle before.

We dove through these lava tubes that were basically hollowed out mountains just covered in coral and sea life.

To be continued...

My Latest Project.

Looking forward to our travels next week, I was online searching for a big bag that I could use as a carry on. I was a little disappointed at how much people charge for a stupid bag, between 50 and 100 dollars! So I decided that I would make one. I planned out what it would look like and what I needed then I went to the fabric store and got this:

Just guess how much I ended up spending... 50 bucks!!! So much for saving money! Although, now that I'm done I can see that I bought way more fabric than I really needed and I only used two zippers instead of four.

I think I ran into problems at every step of the way. I broke my last sewing machine needle with the thick fabric, but then the heavy duty needle that I bought wasn't cooperating with the machine settings. Eventually I bought another set of "all-purpose" needles that seemed to work like a charm until I bent one on a straight pin. The FOURTH needle didn't work because I put it in backwards (stupid me), and finally I worked through all the kinks.

I experimented with different kinds of pockets on the inside.
Sorry, this next picture is fuzzy.

I have a weakness for big, bold prints while I'm at the fabric store, then I bring them home and wish I had gotten something more neutral. This time, I tried to find something that I wouldn't get sick of but they didn't really have a good selection of canvas. So big flower print it is. I also wish I would have made it a bit stiffer so it wouldn't sag. I blame that one on the girl cutting my fabric who was too lazy to open the bag of thicker interfacing. oh well. When I fill it full of stuff I think it will work nicely.

On a side note, Daniel's birthday was on Sunday! He spent the weekend mountain biking with his brothers down south. We celebrated when he got home. For the past little while I've been telling my patients at work that he was already 24 in hopes of avoiding the people-get-married-so-young-these-days talk. Now when they ask, I don't have to lie! ha ha

Daniel doesn't know how to smile in pictures.
Those are new bike tires. And that bowl? That's what he ate his enormous salad out of....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LOVE!!!

The BEST thing about Easter month is the candy. I love peeps.

I decided today that the reason I love them so much is because of the texture. I also like to put hot chocolate mix on top of my vanilla ice cream. It's tastes all gritty like peeps do. Delicious.

Dessert for Breakfast

I went to the grocery store the other day to restock my yogurt stash (my go-to breakfast is yogurt and granola. yum) and they were out of my usual brand. In fact, they were out of almost every brand that makes Greek yogurt. By the way, I've been loving this new Greek yogurt craze because it really is better than normal yogurt. So delicious! So I picked up a bunch of flavors in this LIBERTE (with an accent) brand. With flavors like coconut and apple crisp, I was pretty intrigued.

The next morning I tried the coconut one. After the first bite, I was in heaven. It was literally the best yogurt I have ever tasted. I scarfed down the whole thing and I became a little curious. what could possibly make this yogurt so GOOD?

So I looked at the nutrition facts...

dun

dun

dun

...and that's when I discovered why it was the last brand on the shelves.

a whopping 12 grams of fat!

It was like eating ice cream with my granola.

after learning that deadly news, what could I possibly do with the rest of the yogurts???
well, I ate them. All of them. And I'm going to be really tempted to buy them again. THAT'S how good they were.

the sad truth

I bought a gym membership this week.

I've been meaning to get one for a while but I've been SUPER lazy this winter. (Last Saturday is evidence of that, when I did not get off the couch all day unless it was to get more food to eat.)Then after our trip to Florida, Daniel saw this picture and said something that I would have been really mad at, had it not been true...

He said, "Wow, we are so fat. We need to lose some weight."


Yes... "WE", not "I"
I was inclined to be really offended at first.. I mean, why in the world would you tell your wife that she needs to lose weight. Jerk.

Really, this picture is pretty awful. Daniel looks fine, but my legs look like munchkin stumps.
And the life jackets don't really help either.

So, I got the hint. Or rather, the stab, and I got to work.

I've had my but kicked three days in a row now, but it really feels good. The best part about the gym is that they have classes. As a dancer and a swimmer growing up, the only way I know how to push myself is to have someone else push me.
My reward this weekend will be a nice massage that I've been waiting to use.

My motivation??
Well, besides being attractive for my snooty little husband (joke), Maui is quickly approaching. And so is summertime. And then there is that family history of high cholesterol and heart problems... but I'm too young to worry about that, right?

The Sunshine State

Our recent travels took us to Pensacola Beach. I thought I would share a few pictures

It was such a gorgeous little beach town.
And it would have been even better if the weather was as warm as these pictures make it look...
The water sure was pretty though. I even got in once. My body went numb.

We ate lots of sea food...

Sat on the beach...

AND we went parasailing! (I've always wanted to try it)

This is the reason we decided to take this random little weekend trip.
It was an awesome wedding. The groom is Daniel's best friend from TN.

And this is the rest of his Tennessee crew. They were all super nice guys and strangely, really good dancers! We partied all night long.

And this post would not be complete without this extremely dorky picture of Daniel and me:)

lately

I don't really have a reason to blog other than the fact that it's been a while. Here's a little update!

School

This semester is a cake walk for me. I'm taking an EMT class that is practically a joke, and a drawing class that I really enjoy. I've had a lot of free time on my hands and I think I've been wasting most of it. Daniel on the other hand, always overloads himself and then suffers all semester...

House

We love it here. A few weeks ago we bought a pool table for that large dining room we didn't know what to do with. I was skeptical at first, but now I love it! Other than the occasional unwanted guests, its been totally worth it. Also, our renters are moving in this weekend. Hooray! It will definitely an adjustment having someone in our basement, but when I consider the extra money that it brings in, I can suck it up. I can't wait until spring when I can plant my new vegetable garden.

Projects

You'd think with all my free time I would be sewing all kinds of things. Well, that's not really the case. But I have started 3 new ruffled clutch wallets for the boutique my family is planning for the fall. Stay tuned

Vacation

Next week we're taking a little vacation that we can't really afford. Daniel's best friend from Tennessee is getting married in Navarre Beach, Florida. We debated for a long time whether to go. Airfare is so expensive and so is gas... but Daniel just happened to find really cheap tickets today sooooo we're going! it'll be our little spring break.

Money-sucker

A few days ago we took my car in to get the timing belt and the water pump changed. That turned into fixing the thermometer. The next day I went to get an oil change and they pointed out that my tires were unsafe to be driving on. New tires are NOT cheap... I hate cars. oh, and I just realized that my plates are expired.

Pilates

This week I added a little pilates workout into my routine. The first day I did it, I was a little disappointed because it didn't feel like it did a thing. But when I woke up the next morning and I was totally sore, I decided that maybe it did do something after all. Its nice to switch things up a bit. Otherwise, working out gets boring. And did I mention that the pilates workout came from Netflix?? Awesome.

Desperate Housewives

I hate to admit how addicted I am. Its not even that good of a show...