The Week in Feet

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Last week I started a little photography challenge for myself - something that I thought would inspire some creative joy and keep my on my toes.  (Yes I did - pun completely intended.)

So I'm taking a picture every day of my feet - just a quick snap on my iphone that, hopefully, captures something about where my feet have brought me that day.  I'm absolutely in love with the project so far and enjoying the challenge of finding some new and different way to capture that same part of me each day in a way that expresses something about my life.

I'm putting all my photos on instagram (@ktmade) with the hashtag #weekinfeet.  Feel free to play along.  I'd love to see where your feet area taking you!


The Great Outdoors

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One of the key selling points for our new house - aside from the perfect location between mine and Navah's jobs, the house itself, and the cute town - was the one acre of land that came with it.  When we put in our bid on the house, the ground was covered in snow.  It was a beautiful, woodsy location, but that was all we knew.  A nice portion of it was clearly lawn, but there's a fair amount that is woods with a tiny little stream.

So we've been excited to walk around on the property, get out with the lawn mower, and start buying some plant starts for the raised beds the previous owners put in.  Nothing's in the ground yet - well, aside from the garlic they planted last fall and a whole mess of chives.  I spent a couple hours this weekend preparing a few of the beds while Navah mowed the lawn, but we opted to hold off on putting the plants in since there were bad thunderstorms (including hail) in the forecast and lows in the freezing temperatures this week.  So the beds are ready, but the plants are waiting until a little later this week to go into the ground.  You can see them doing some sunning on the back deck up there - 3 tomato plants, 1 cherry tomato, 4 peppers, 1 okra, 2 kale, 3 basil, 1 dill, 1 lemongrass, 1 lemon verbena (oh, the glorious smell!), 2 marigolds (for pest prevention), 1 rosemary, 1 thyme, and 1 mint.  We're going back for a few more things, but we got totally overwhelmed in the garden store and had to just stop where we were!

Jammer's beside himself with excitement over the new space.  In the three years we've had him, we've never had a yard for him to play in.  We don't have a fence yet (the one in photos is just around the garden and we'll likely be changing out for a more basic chicken-wire fence), but he gets to go outside when we're outside.  When he's done sniffing (very big job!), he likes to find a soft place to relax - even if that's in a garden bed.

Of course, it hasn't been all fun and games.  As with any new house purchase, there are some surprises.  When we got several days of torrential downpours last week, our lawn quickly developed an impromptu "pond" - not to be confused with an actual boggy little pond at the end of a stream where our property borders our neighbor's.



At the closing, the previous owners had mentioned that the area on one side of the driveway sometimes flooded and that they'd put in a drain to help with that.  We looked around the day we moved, but the grass was high and we were tired, and we figured we'd find it another day.  Bad new homeowners.  The rain started before we got back out there, and it was clear nothing was draining.  Once the rain stopped, we tromped around in rain boots to try to find the drain with no luck.


Finally, the "pond" began to shrink, and I found the drain - completely clogged with pine needles.  We've cleared it off and hopefully it'll help in the next big rain storm.


Even with the pond issue, I'm so loving it here.  I loved digging in the ground (even while being traumatized by all the spiders crawling out from under the dead leaves) and walking around our yard talking about what we might plant where, watching the birds, and imagining friends and family visiting.      

Mostly, I'm feeling incredibly blessed that we found such a wonderful place to make our home.


April Photo Walk: Spring!

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Yesterday I grabbed my camera and took Jammer on a long walk, on a mission to scope out every beautiful little sign of spring I could find.  I thought perhaps I was still too early, since most of what I saw were little buds on trees.  But looking back through the photos, there is no doubt that spring is upon us.  I've never been so excited for it or in such agreement with the good ol' saying, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." 




One little word: GIVE in February

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Rather than making resolutions this year, I chose one little word for 2013 - a way to set my broad intention and create a guide for my path as I meander through a new year.  I chose the word GIVE, and you can read more about that process here.  At the beginning of each month I'll look back on the previous month and share with you how the one little word has been working in my life.


During February, I've spent a lot of time thinking about who my giving role models are.  Whenever I'm trying to get better at things, I always find myself focusing in on people who inspire me with their skill - whether it's knitting or writing or painting or decorating my house.  So it's no surprise that I've done the same thing with my one little word - GIVE.

 As I've thought about it, I've realized that there are an incredible number of people in my life who show me incredible examples of giving all the time - my wife, who cared for me endlessly while I was laid up with a hurt knee; my stepmother, who delights in sending thoughtful little packages for no reason at all; my friends who email videos and articles to brighten my days; and there are so many more.  

 But there are a few that really stand out.

 My friend Beth

 Not only is she a delightfully fun person - kind and generous.  But she is the only person I know who sends cards for no reason except that she wants to say hello.  And she does that on a regular basis. Opening my mailbox to find a little card or postcard from Beth is a day brightener every time.  I'm hoping to beef up my own card-sending activities with some inspiration from my dear friend.

 Fellow blogger Alexandra 

 I met Alexandra just briefly at BlogHer outside the elevator bank, and she was delightful. But the reason that she's an inspiration to me is her behavior online.  I've mentioned before that I can be a bit neglectful about saying thank you.  And I can be guilty of the same thing on the computer. Not Alexandra.  When I comment on her blog, she doesn't just reply back to me.  She emails me.  She hops over to my blog, reads my latest post and comments on that.  Then she sends me a tweet saying hi and thanking me for visiting.  Every time. Her behavior has encouraged me to work on creating better connections online, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

 My sister Hannah

 Hannah is giving in that way that I could never hope to be.  Her desire to be of service to the world has been the primary impetus for every career decision she's ever made.  But if you try to praise her for it, she'll shoot you down immediately and explain that she's only doing what she wants to do.  And while my personal desires don't send me flying across the ocean to help the most impoverished populations, knowing her does inspire me to look around, to pay better attention to what's going on in the world and to find a place where my particular gifts might be of service.  
Who inspires you?

You can find my thoughts on my one little word in January here.

Weekend Happenings: Skiing at Jay Peak

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 We spent Saturday at Jay Peak, a ski resort about an hour and a half from our apartment in Burlington.  Far enough that they've been blanketed in snow about five times as often as we have, and there were no icy patches to slip me up.  Being relatively new to the slopes, I require the best of conditions to stay upright.

One of our friends came along to give me a refresher lesson, which was exactly what I needed.  After figuring out the basics a few years ago in Colorado, my more recent ski attempts have been disappointing.  Lots of falling and never really making it into a parallel stance.  I felt constantly out of control, which if you know me, is my least favorite way to feel.  Within a few moments of skiing with my friend, who used to be an instructor, I was confidently making my turns and keeping my skis parallel.  It was the best ski day I've had in years, and at the end I was telling Navah I wanted to go again next weekend.

Unfortunately, a fall I took early in the day turned out to be more problematic than I thought.  Somehow I continued skiing, but on our way home and as the evening progressed, it was clear that my knee was not doing so well.  After an annoyingly long visit to an urgent care center (isn't that always how it goes?), I'm now not allowed to walk unless I'm using crutches or a knee stabilizer thing.  So there'll be no skiing for me for a little while - at least until I go to the orthopedist and see whether my knee injury will heel with rest or needs something more.  Here's hoping it's the former.  Please please.

Either way, it was a wonderful day that left me convinced that skiing could eventually be an enjoyable activity for me.  I just need a little more practice.  And it seems worth it, if only for the views!




PS - The skier in the blue jacket is Navah. I'm not advanced enough to ski down from the top like that. I just took the tram up, snapped some photos and took the tram down!

These Days

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Spending a little extra time outdoors to save ourselves from going crazy these last few weeks.  I learned to cross-country ski, which was somewhat harrowing.  I actually fell about 15 times more than when I've been learning to downhill ski.  But it was beautiful out on the trail and quiet in that way that only snowy woods can be.

I'm appreciating the slow lengthening of the days.  Not driving home in utter blackness really helps my moods.  And a few warm and cheerful touches inside the house, combined with some outdoor activities (when the  temperature isn't in the negatives), is keeping me sane.

Under a few inches of snow as I write this, and it's still falling.  I've been here for a little more than a year, and heavy snowfalls still feel like magic to me.


These Days

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These days are filled with Fall.  Lots of apples and baking, yogurt making, snuggling. Mending a few things and enjoying a new yarny hobby.  Wishing I could ride on the top of my car with a camera while I'm commuting to and from work.  The scenes are so beautiful that sometimes I gasp when I round a corner.

The sun goes down sooner than I'd like, but I'm fitting in as much goodness in there as I can.


What are your days like?

Katie

Back to Real

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I remember - many years ago - looking at a photo in a magazine of Shania Twain, after she had released her third album and won a few awards and thinking, "She doesn't look as pretty as I remember."  I mean, don't get me wrong, she was still gorgeous.  But there was something different. Being in high school at the time, this felt like a very important issue, so I dug out the jacket of her debut CD  so that I could compare.

The more I looked at the two, the more I realized what I was really noticing.  She looked less real.  On that first CD jacket, she looked like a beautiful girl.  She could've been one of the homecoming queens in my own high school.

But in the later photograph, she looks manufactured - a perfectly coifed and manicured version of someone who is pretty.  She looked a little like every other gorgeous celebrity, and something of her unique beauty was lost in the creation.

I thought about this the other day.  I've been struggling over my blog.  In the last few months, I've begun to see it as something with potential.  That seems like a good thing, and it is, but it's also complicating. Even though I said I wouldn't, I started to wonder if this blog might become something more.  I started studying lots of blogs. 

What makes a "successful" blog?  Why does that blog have thousands of readers?  Why were they able to quit their jobs and do this full time?  What is it about their blog that makes people love it?

And how can I make mine like that?

I've made lists of action items and emailed myself links: 

All the blogs whose blog designs I really like. 
The blogs who've done a good job branding themselves. 
The posts about how to get sponsors. 
The posts about affiliate links. 
The types of posts I should write. 
The types of posts that bring in readers. 
The posts that get the most comments. 
The stories of bloggers who "made it" and how. 
The posts where bloggers tell how they spend their time.
Pie graphs of how bloggers make income.

I committed to posting five days a week.  I made an editorial calendar for myself.  I submitted my posts to other aggregating sites.

All of those things are things you should probably be doing if you want to turn your blog into a business.

But lately I'm wondering if this blog looks like me anymore. Or am I just trying to create a blog that is like everyone else's? 

I mean, it looks the same.  Nothing's changed in that regard (though that's on the to-do list), but I feel like every time I try to up the ante, I lose something. 

For one, I lose my joy.  I've written about this before.

The to-do list of crafts is so overwhelming that I can hardly enjoy the creation process itself.  And if a recipe is delicious, but the lighting was all wrong to get any photos, suddenly the creating and eating feels like a total waste.  A weekday without a blog post is a sign of failure, my inability to stay disciplined.

Navah's home for one evening in a week of late, late work nights (for her) where we hardly see each other, and I'm frantically typing out a post and cursing about photos and looking up to realize that she's done all the dishes and changed the laundry over and is in her pajamas in bed.  And I'm saying, for the fourth time, "just one more minute," unable to tear myself away from the computer.

Is this me?

I'm not suggesting there's something inherently wrong with the things I'm doing.  In fact, like I said, they're the right things to be doing if I want to grow this thing.  If I want to have a shot at making it into a business.  But they're things that require sacrifice.  And I'm realizing it's not just sacrificing time and energy and money.  It's sacrificing little pieces of myself for this goal.

And I keep finding myself asking Is this what I want?

The answer might be yes.  The answer might be that this is hard and inconvenient and might mean some rough times and fewer snuggly nights with Navah, but it's what I want.  And those are the sacrifices I have to make to get it.

But I'm wondering also if the answer might be yes...but.  Yes, I do want it.  But not like this.  Not with this sacrifice.

And that's a scary answer.  If that's my answer, I don't know what the next step is.  I don't know how to let go of that dream. Or how to modify it.  I don't know how to go back to what was real before. 

It's been several days since I wrote this post, and I've had a lot of thoughts and feelings about it in the interim, some of which have been reminding myself that I'm still getting used to a longer commute which has lengthened by work day by about two hours.  Some of the thoughts have been comforting, some have not been.  I don't know the answer, and I think there's more to say.  But I wanted to share this in its raw form because I think that this question of identity versus goals is one that many people struggle with, particularly in the blogging community, and I think it's helpful sometimes to hear other people's struggles before they've "prettied" them up.


Katie

Instagramming NYC...Again

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New York City is one of the absolute best places to do iphonography.  There is just so much to see, and  I don't go many places with such iconic architecture.  So this weekend with my mom and sister, I was constantly stopping on the sidewalk and telling them to go ahead, that I'd catch up.

 




Of course I didn't get any good shots of the super exciting event of the weekend - the Barbra Streisand Back to Brooklyn concert!  It was so so much fun, and I was thrilled to be in the same space with her.  Her music is, in many ways, the background soundtrack for my life.  Not in the sense that her songs spoke to the actual things that was happening to me or that I was feeling - I had the Indigo Girls and Fiona Apple for that.  (Oy.) 

 No, it was her songs that I went back to again and again to feed my joy.  I was belting her songs out in the car and in the bathroom mirror with my sister.  I had a special CD case with just Barbra CDs.  I soaked up her movies.  My sister and I have probably watched Funny Girl more than a dozen times.  And that movie is absolutely the reason that I went into theater.  I wanted to be a star just like Fanny Brice. 

 Turns out I didn't Ms. Streisand's vocal chords or her personal drive, but that simply increased my admiration.  She's my all-time favorite singer, and I will forever relish the experience of watching her in real life. She is a true star.


Katie

Peeping

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The new hour and a half of commuting each day to and from work (since my office moved locations) is certainly not ideal.  But with an episode or two of This American Life saved up in my itunes and these views out the windows, I'm making the adjustment.  

 Though my likes-to-get-lots-of-sleep-and-have-lots-of-time-for-projects self is a bit annoyed at the loss of time, my photographer self is in heaven.

 What's your commute like?
Have you done any leaf peeping this season?


Katie 

The Wedding Reception

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The fabulousness of our reception, which we named a Celebration Jamboree, is due, I believe, to three things:

 1.  The fabulousness of our wedding guests
2.  The fabulousness of my wife, and
3.  The fabulousness of having a tornado watch and torrential downpour during your celebration.

 Our guests were so ready to party down with us, and it was flat-out awesome to watch.  There were more than a handful of folks who were on the dance floor from the moment we invited everyone out until three hours later when we finished the night with a wild give-it-everything-you've got dance to Raise Your Glass by Pink (password "taylorspero").

 Shout out to Makoto for making that video and to our friends Greg and Leslie for coming up with the idea of a jumping circle dance and making our send-off so incredible.

 But before that final moment (or psuedo-final - we actually hung out with folks at the "after party," which consisted of sitting around and eating the leftover food and chatting, for another two hours), there was a ton of awesome celebration jamboreeing going on.


After the kick-ass hora dancing and the amazing food, and some wonderful toasts, it was time for the dance party.  And that's where my wife's fabulousness comes in.  To keep to our budget, we opted not to hire a DJ.  Instead, Navah spent dozens of hours putting together a playlist on itunes and then importing all of the songs into a DJ software program and blending and cross-fading them so that it sounded just like rockin' out at a club (guest post on that process from the lady herself coming up in the next few weeks).  And there was some serious rocking out.

 Of course there were a lot of really sweet moments too.


All in all, I'm gonna go with Best Night of My Life.


Katie 



Venue: Windridge Tennis & Sports Camp / Photographer: Jonathan Couture / Caterer: Lewis Catering / Cupcakes: New Moon Cafe / Katie's Dress: Corey Lynn Calter (altered to remove sash) from Sweet Lady Jane / Navah's Dress: J.Crew (altered to add straps, no longer available in white)

The Wedding Ceremony

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I guess I'm doing things a little backwards here - telling you all about the honeymoon before the wedding, but I was patiently waiting for the pictures from our photographer.  And we've been so happy with them and of course loving the experience of reliving the wedding as we look through them over and over again. 

 It was such an exceptional weekend.  Even though the rain washed out the option of having our ceremony outdoors as we had planned, I wouldn't change a thing.  It was gorgeous in the indoor back-up location, and that made it more intimate in a way that I ended up loving.  

 I still haven't processed it enough to say much more except that it was perfect and everything I could've wanted and more than I could have hoped for, which might sound like a bit much bit is absolutely the truth.

 I'm not sure I've ever felt more gratitude than I did after the wedding - for our incredible friends and family and how awesomely lucky we are to have them and of course for my sweet wife who looked beautiful and bubbling with happiness to be marrying me.  Of course, the feeling was mutual.



And just wait until I share the photos from the reception!!


Katie 

Wishes for Fall 2012

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We spent the official first day of Fall in the 80 degree weather on Hawaii and in the air on our way back, but it was definitely Fall that greeted us when we returned.  We've been in long sleeves and our fleece jackets, snuggled under blankets and drinking hot chocolate.  

 I'm excited about this Fall - my first in Vermont, with not a single weekend designated for wedding planning. 

 Wahoo!

 What are you wishes for the season?
Katie 

The Honeymoon Files: Helicopters, Volcanoes, and Valleys, Oh My!

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The majority of our time on the Big Island was spent beaching it up, but we put on real clothes long enough to do a few other awesome activities.  

First, on the day after I got horribly sunburned, we headed about an hour a half away from our resort to the mysterious Waipio Valley.  

The drive there was pretty neat because, up until then, we'd been in a little beach resort town and hadn't seen much of the rest of Hawaii.  The drive to and from Waipio Valley brought us into farmland that looked like we could've been anywhere in the US.  



And on the way back, we drove through miles and miles of ranch land covered in shrubby little bushes that seemed inhospitable to even the most undiscerning grazer.  



As for the valley itself, we'd read about it in the guide book, and I was already super intrigued before we even got there.  The valley itself is a controversial place.  Before 1946, it was a booming little town of sorts, housing between 5 and 10 thousand people at any given time.  There were schools and churches, stores, a post office.  And then the 1946 tsunami and a 1979 deluge destroyed everything.  For 1946, no one lived there, and then in the 60s, people started claiming the land (mostly hippies, apparently).  Local Hawaiians cried foul, but the land records for the area were so sparse that they weren't able to provide proof of ownership.  Now it's kind of an off-the-grid lawless area with only about fifty inhabitants that highly value their privacy.  At least that's my understanding of it.  As I said, it's pretty controversial and there are a lot of different notions of whose land it is and whose land it isn't.  You can read more about it here and here. 


Many people just stop at the lookout either because they don't want to make the trip down into the valley or because they're exercising a great deal of sensitivity towards the privacy wishes of the people who live inside. 

And the view at the lookout is pretty stunning on its own.


But we were determined to go in, and our guide book assured us that it was actually totally acceptable to walk down the public road and into the public areas of the valley.  (Also, there are tours that go down into the valley, so we took that as a sign.)  The road down into the valley is a little less than one mile long and it's the steepest road of its length in the US.  It drops 800 vertical feet in 0.6 miles. 


Because we didn't rent a four-wheel drive car, we walked, knowing that we'd just have to take the long hike back up very slowly (luckily some nice person picked us up halfway to the top and drove us the rest of the way).  


The trek down was also when I snapped my favorite-ever picture of Navah.


I'm sorry, but is she not the cutest?

Okay, back to Waipio...

Looking into the valley as we made our way down the wildly steep paved road (on foot because only four-wheel drive cars are allowed) into the depths, my immediate thought was "a Hawaiian Little House on the Prairie."  So of course I wanted to live there.  


Once you get down inside, you can't blame the folks for wanting to keep the place to themselves.  


I mean, right?

 Don't you want to live there?

 We didn't see many signs of life while were walking around - just a couple small houses, but we stayed on the edges of the valley, in part because it started to rain and was getting late and in part to respect the  wishes of those who had set up their homes deeper in the valley.  

 I'm still incredibly intrigued by it but have been able to find very little information.  In my fantasy life, I go and interview everyone who lives there.  (I don't respect people's privacy in my fantasy life.)
After we left the west side of the island where most of the beaches are, we headed over to Hilo on the east side and went on a kick-ass helicopter ride with Paradise Helicopters in a Hughes 500 (hello Magnum PI fans) with no doors.  It was awesome.  Even though there wasn't a ton of lava for us to see, it was still super exhilarating, and I got a lot of fun pictures.  


We were clearly pretty windblown by the time it was over.  Seeing the island from up above was incredible, especially getting that vantage point for viewing the work of the volcanoes.  You really get a sense of their power and indiscriminate destruction. 

 What an amazing trip this was, and it's been so awesome to relive it through these posts.  Next week I'll be moving on to some other exciting things - aka THE WEDDING, but I might revisit Hawaii a bit since I have a couple more topics I'd like to touch on!

 Thanks for all your excitement about our Hawaii pictures - these posts have been so fun!


Katie


If you're catching up on the honeymoon:


The Honeymoon Files: Big Island Beaches

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We spent much of our honeymoon doing what anyone does in Hawaii - hanging out on beaches.  An inner flap at the back of our guidebook (The Big Island Revealed) had a list of the fifteen best beaches on the Big Island.  I think in the beginning, we thought we might make it to at least a good portion of them.  But we only got to five.  One of those was the Kapoho Tide Pools, which I talked about yesterday in the snorkeling post, but which I'm not mentioning here because it's not really a beach in any normal sense of the word.

So why did we only get to five?  Well, for starters, the Big Island is... big.  We did a lot of driving to get around, and at some point, we had to accept that we simply didn't have the daylight hours to spend a meaningful amount of time at each of the beaches.  Also, my darling wife is a bit of a boogie boarding fanatic, so once we found an excellent boogie boarding spot close to our resort, we kept returning there.  Even so, I'm not sure we would have made it to some of those other beaches since they were a lot further away, and some of them required a long hike in, adding to the time element.

But we were completely pleased with the beaches we did hang out on, so here they are.

Kahalu'u Beach Park




You might remember Kahalu'u Beach Park from yesterday's snorkeling post.  It's where we saw most of the turtles on the trip and where all of my underwater turtle photos came from.  But it also has a small beach and we hung out on the sand for a bit both times we snorkeled.

While it's an excellent spot for snorkeling, it's the least inviting for beach-lounging of any of the beaches we visited.  The sand is a little less fine, and it's very close to the highway, so there's a lot of noise from the road.   And because of all the reefs out in the water, you don't get that view of the waves hitting the sand that I really love.

But it was a fine place to enjoy lunch or read a bit while we dried off from a turtle rendezvous.


That's our little beach set-up.  We didn't originally have an umbrella, but we made our 89th trip to a store for supplies to grab one after my unfortunate sunburn debacle.

We spent a shocking amount of time at big box stores on the Big Island.  In fact, we visited Walmart, K-mart, and Target - some of them more than once.  We went originally our first day there to get boogie boards, sunscreen, and some snorkel gear for me.  Navah already had her own snorkel gear, and buying some for me ended up being much more cost-effective than renting either for the whole time we were there or at each place we snorkeled.

We kept joking that we couldn't go a day without going shopping because then we had to go for aloe and an umbrella, and then neosporin and bandaids after Navah cut herself on some rocks, and then for some sunglasses, and then to pick up the second book of The Hunger Games series.  You know, the essentials.

Magic Sands Beach



Magic Sands was our prime boogie boarding spot.  We visited on our first beach day after snorkeling at the Kahalu'u Beach Park.  They're about a five-minute drive away from each other, so it was an easy pairing.

The beach is just a short strip of sand, and it gets its name because during the winter, all the sand that's there now will be washed out to sea, leaving only lava rocks.  When summer rolls around, the ocean will deposit it all back there again. Pretty amazing.

Also amazing - the size of the waves here.

Navah taught me about boogie boarding early on in our relationship, and I'm so glad she did.  When you've got good waves, it's such a thrill!  And I love just hanging out in the water with the board, chatting and waiting for the next ride in.

The waves at Magic Sands were incredible.  I knew we'd come back after the first day because we had such an amazing time.  In fact, we came back twice. The second time we were there right after high tide on a weekend, and there were so many people in the water and the waves were so high, we were actually a little afraid to go in.  The locals have no such fear, and people are boogie boarding in such cramped quarters that there are bound to be collisions.  And there were.

We were involved in some of them.

On that second afternoon, we left after I got pummeled particularly badly by a wave I misjudged and did somersaults underwater with someone else.  I never figured out who it was, but if you tangled my legs up with theirs, I'm sure I'd recognize them.  As soon as I tried to stand up, I was brought down again. Once I made it out of the water, my head felt a little woozy in a way that worried me, so we headed home for the day.

But I was totally fine, and we ended our afternoon there again the next day.  It was the perfect pre-dinner activity.  Just an hour or so riding the waves, then showers, and off to eat.


One final note about Magic Sands Beach - on one occasion, we were riding the waves with a turtle!  There was a big guy - the biggest I saw on the trip - just floating around, coming in and out with the waves, making his way across the beach.  It actually hit Navah in the leg with its flipper!


Hapuna Beach


Hapuna Beach, named one of the best beaches in the nation, is where we did most of our lounging.  The water's fairly calm, so boogie boarding isn't that great.  What you want to do mostly is either hang out in it or just sit staring at it.  The colors are exquisite.  And the sand is so fine and beautiful.

The first day we were there, they were having some sort of crazy wind that whipped you raw with sand, so we arranged ourselves pretty far back from the water and in a little rock cove where we were protected from the blowing sand and there was a tree for shade.  Or so we thought - that's the day I got terribly sunburned.

We ended up going twice because Mauna Kea Beach, another on the best beaches list, is close by but has only thirty parking spots.  When we tried to go, they were all full (and there's an attendant, so we couldn't just randomly park anywhere), so we headed back over to Hapuna.  With no wind, we sat right up close to the water and had a wonderful afternoon.



Kua Bay



Kua Bay was another beauty.  We spent an afternoon lounging here and even did a little snorkeling.  I didn't mention it in the snorkeling post because it's less of a snorkeling area and more of a beach-lounging area.  The snorkeling's pretty limited, but I did see a turtle and followed it around for a bit.  But I didn't bring my underwater camera with me out there, so no photos. 

Mostly we just lounged and read our books here and floated in the water. It was more of a local hangout than Hapuna Beach, with some folks chatting on cell phones, radios playing, and families having barbeques. 

One of the cool things about Kua Bay is the drive going in.  It really shows how desolate the landscape looks.  And then all the sudden, you're somewhere ridiculously beautiful.




Waipio Valley Black Sand Beach


The day we hiked down into Waipio Valley is a whole other post because that place was magnificient.  But I'm including the black sand beach here since it's gorgeous.  I'd never been to a black sand beach, and I'll admit that I was a little disappointed when we walked up because someone had told me that it sparkled like diamonds.  And to me, it looked basically like dirt.

But then when we walked in some more and got to the part where the tide had come in, and the sand was wet and glistening.  Maybe not like diamonds, but it was certainly beautiful.


We hadn't brought anything for swimming because our guidebook mentioned that the surf was generally too rough for that here.  It's possible we could have stepped in and waded around a bit, but we opted just to enjoy the beauty of it and our smallness against that vast ocean.



I'm hoping one day we'll travel to another Hawaiian Island, and I'm guessing we'll see gorgeous beaches there, but I'll be surprised if they top these. 

But then maybe that's just the honeymoon talking...


Katie


If you'd like to catch up on The Honeymoon Files:

The Honeymoon Files: The Big Island
The Honeymoon Files: Snorkeling on the Big Island

 

The Honeymoon Files: The Big Island

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And we're back!

 We spent ten and a half days on the Big Island in Hawaii, the island that bears the name of the state.  They were glorious, sun-filled, relaxing days.  

 We were only able to take the trip to Hawaii because my dad and stepmom gifted us time at the Wyndham Kona Hawaiian Resort through my stepmom's timeshare membership.  And we were so, so glad they did.  The resort was lovely and perfect for us.  And the location allowed us to travel to so many different beaches around the area.  A car is a necessity on the Big Island, and we drove a lot more than I anticipated, but it meant that we got to see basically the entire place (which is about the size of Connecticut).

 The west side, where we stayed for the majority of our trip, is drier and has more beaches.  Because the Big Island is the youngest of the islands in the Hawaiian chain, you can still see a lot of lava, especially on the west side where there hasn't been enough rain to turn it into the lush tropics that you might imagine when you think of Hawaii.  It's a striking sight - black lava rock for as long as the eye can see until - bam! clear blue ocean.  

 The east side, on the other hand, is just what you would expect.  Lush gardens, waterfalls, black sand beaches.  Oh, and volcanoes.  

 I'll be back the rest of this week with more photos and information on the honeymoon. 

 I know many of you are itching for photos from the wedding, but you're just going to have to wait! (just like I am!)  Although I'll tell you that from the few shots I've seen, be prepared for loveliness!

Katie


Instagramming NYC

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I spent a whirlwind two days in New York City this weekend, beginning with a 5:40 am flight out of Burlington on Saturday morning and ending with a 9:45 pm flight back on Sunday night.  But it was totally worth it to spend time with my sister, newly returned from Rwanda.  We did some shopping and went on a few Craigslist runs to help outfit her apartment.  I had my iphone at the ready at all times and instagrammed away. 

I found that I enjoyed the city a lot more now that I live in Burlington.  When I lived in DC, I used to find New York overwhelming and a little annoying in its too-much-ness.  But this time it felt more like a fun vacation filled with lots of sensations and adventure.

I'm sure it didn't hurt that I was so excited to spend the time with my little sis either.


What did you do this weekend?


Katie

The dog days are over

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My first summer in Vermont is winding down.

 The days are still warm, but the mornings are crisp now.  At a barbeque this week, we all put on our sweaters and hoodies as the evening wore on.

I'm enjoying the subtle shift, the touch of a chill when I head outside to walk Jammer. 

These months have flown by, and with our constant travel and wedding planning, I've hardly had time to appreciate the gorgeous days here.  Even so, I'm looking forward to Fall.  To sweaters and the crunch of leaves on the ground under my feet, to apples and pumpkin chili. To not planning my wedding. Did I say that?

But for now, I'll soak up these last few days of t-shirts and flip-flops.


Katie

 What are you doing these last days of summer?