Scrapping on a Sunday

No, I didn't get into a fight, I went over to Dawn's house to work on my Grand Canyon scrapbook. I ended up finishing eight pages (4 front and back) with one two page layout (for those of you in the know-otherwise known as side to side pages with the same theme) and that's the most I've completed in one sitting since November! I'm up to the last day Chris, my mom and I were at the Canyon, so it's almost done! The sad thing is that as soon as that one is done, I still have quite a few projects lined up and waiting! The more life happens, the more I have to scrapbook about!
Dawn had invited me over to get some scrapping done (I know I've said this before, but she's great for getting ideas from!) and hang out for the day with her and Declan- he's still growing and getting much happier at sitting by himself in his swing or bouncy chair. He's also starting to giggle (it's amazing what babies can do by three months- watch out Rebate- I've got a lot to learn!!).
I also tried the pastry puffs from Beard Papas for the first time- they are seemingly tasteless pastry puffs filled with flavored custard (we tried the vanilla, caramel, and chocolate flavors- apparently on Monday they have the green tea flavored ones- I didn't make a mad dash this morning for those!). I think I'll just order a cup of the custard next time (think they will look at me strangely?).

Surf's Up (but not on the North Shore)

Aloha and Happy Saturday!


Had a great day today- Annette and I spent the day exploring the infamous North Shore of Oahu. During the winter, the north shore is "the" place to surf in Hawaii, but apparently we missed the memo that there wasn't any surf today (more on that later!).

We got a little bit of a late start, but we headed up towards the North Shore and made a little pit stop at the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Chris and I visited there in November on my scouting mission, but Annette had never been and I can't ever get enough fresh pineapple. We got some lunch (Kalua pork and rice) and pineapple ice cream, watched the demonstration on how to cut a fresh pineapple, and walked around the little pineapple garden!

Next on our tour, we went to the Waimea Valley to the Botanical Gardens. The area is considered a sacred place to ancient Hawaiians and there are still old ruins and burial grounds. They have a great walk that takes you through some of the native vegetation around the world (which seems to contradict the "native" part). Anyway, you can see lei flowers, all kinds of palms, plumeria, hibiscus, banyan trees, bamboo, ferns, etc. My favorite were the ginger plants! There is even a resident peacock! At the end of the garden there is a small waterfall that you are still allowed to swim to and sit under- it's not private at all or secluded and there is even a lifeguard, but cool to see an open swimming area. Most of the waterfalls around the island are closed off to swimmers and unfortunately, it's dangerous to drink and swim in some creeks and pools. I think the gardens are worth the trip (even though a lot of the trails are closed right now and not labeled on the trail map or even at the trailhead) and you get to see so much gorgeous vegetation- trees, flowers, and fruit!

After our "hike" through the gardens, we made it across the street to the Waimea Beach Park. Seems to be one of the larger beaches in the north shore and when we got there around 4pm, it wasn't crowded at all! Might have been that there wasn't any surf- I've seen bigger waves in Waikiki! The North Shore is home to some of the great surf competitions and there are constant stories of 20ft+ waves that come into shore there in the winter. Not today however (can you tell I'm a little disappointed?)! There is a big rock nearby for cliff jumping into the water (which is definitely on my list of things to allow time for next time) and lots of space for throwing the frisbee or swimming. I did see two humpbacks breaching in the distance (but couldn't find them again for confirmation). I had been hoping to make it up a little farther up the coast to get a glimpse of the Banzai Pipeline, but that can wait for another visit!

The huge surf at Waimea Beach Park!

As the sun was close to setting and the breeze was getting chilly, we decided it was time for nourishment and refreshment. Being new to the area, we had our guide books with us which suggested Haleiwa Joe's for sunset dining. We didn't want to wait for a table to sit outside on the terrace for a view of the sunset, so we just took a table inside. The food was good- I had coconut shrimp and a house salad while Annette had the Tako Poke (which is not fish by the way- imagine our surprise when the plate came out and Tako turned out to be octopus!) and the Monger soup (fish-probably marlin). The most excitement of the day came when we were leaving the restaurant and we passed Terry O'Quinn who plays John Locke on Lost! He made his way through the bar and sat at the very same table that Annette and I had been sitting! I am relatively new to the series, but Annette recognized him right away- very cool to see a celebrity!

Cheers!

Coral Connections

As part of the Hawai'i International Year of the Reef, I went to the lecture series at Hanauma Bay last night- the topic was "Coral Reef Connectivity: what does it mean and why should you care". It was presented by Dr. Rob Toonen from the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (the lab on Coconut Island where I took my boating course). He is using DNA testing to see how populations of organisms living on the coral reefs in Hawaii are related and how the populations may be connected between and among islands. This would have serious implications towards the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in order to protect the areas where organisms are reproducing and settling so that a positive flow of recruitment occurs. In other words, we need to protect the areas where all of the organisms are coming from so that they are able to make it to where they are going and maintain healthy and sustainable populations. It was really interesting to see how many species flow between the main Hawaiian islands to the Northwest Island islands which is now a national monument and it will be a testament to the MPA program to see if we can manage the resources at home to help maintain the resources elsewhere!
(I apologize for all the science listed in this post, but it's what I love!)

Ahoy!

Hey there!

I've been so busy the past two days with my boating course, but I officially passed! Monday, we had classroom and practical exercises for rescue swimming, righting an overturned vessel in the surf (or as I called it- unwronging!), victim recovery in the surf, and navigating in surf conditions. This was all practiced in calm waters near the sandbar off of Coconut Island. Tuesday, however, it was time to practice our new skills in the surf. We were only dealing with about 4-5 ft. waves, but it's definitely different than just cruising along in calm conditions! We went right out in the boats and practiced coming along side a moving vessel (useful for trading gear or personnel between boats and for launching/recovering small vessels from a larger ship (like we do for NOAA cruises- they always have smaller boats to launch off the side of the mother ship to navigate to the actual dive sites- this picture was taken when I did research with my former advisor in Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary last June). Then we put two boats in the 'calm zone' and using two man teams (plus one instructor with us in the boat and one on a jet ski), we took our little inflatable out into the surf. Finding the channels between wave sets and then judging the waves to figure out when they were going to break and the timing between sets was very important to getting past the surf zone and into calmer water. After that, we were split into teams of 4 and towed out into the surf on a stripped inflatable by the jet ski and we capsized the boat (on purpose- this was actually pretty fun!), so that then we could 'unwrong' the boat and get all of our crew safely back in the boat! While we did a great job and we were very efficient, I had a little mishap and slipped in the boat as a wave went by and ended up really banging my right knee and elbow! I've got some really pretty bruises to show for it!

After all of that excitement, we still had to go back to the classroom and take our written exam! I was so tired by that time, but I passed!

Afterwards, we all met up at Bru Moon, a microbrewery in Ala Moana, for dinner and a few beers. It was nice to finally be able to relax and get to know my classmates and instructors on a personal level once all the hard work was over. We had a really good class that worked well together and the student:instructor ratio (8:3) was awesome! Although I spent most of the class nervous and feeling so out of my element, I feel much more confident in my boating skills now and I realize the importance of routinely practicing the skills I've learned- I really need to keep up on my knot tying!

I had today off- it's a Hawaiian holiday in honor of Prince Kuhio from the Hawaiian monarch. I got a very slow start to my first official holiday (I was so exhausted from the class and from going out last night), but I got my gear cleaned up from the class, did some laundry, and I'm 85% done with my taxes!

So, Happy Kuhio Day!

Happy Easter!

Hello everyone-

First of all, let me wish everyone a Happy Easter! I started my day with a brunch hosted by my friends Heather and Coleman. They have a brunch every year (this was the 4th annual) to help raise food for the Hawaiian food bank. It was such a good time and I got to meet a few new people along the way. After brunch, I made it to the beach for some sun and reading! I had a nice relaxing weekend after such a busy week.

I found out last Monday that I was going to go to Advanced Coxswain (the person that drives the boat) training for four days starting this past Thursday. I've already had basic boat training through my old job in Florida, but this is much more intense! I have to admit that I was a little rusty when it came to my boating skills (how to tie knots had completely left my brain!) and it seems as if most of the people in the class (there are eight of us) have had much more experience and training than I have. The class is being taught in Kaneohe Bay on Coconut Island which houses the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.

So, Thursday I met the rest of the class at He'eia Kea boat harbor and then we were shuttled over to our classroom on the island. We had classroom training in the morning and we learned the concept behind direct and indirect recovery (of items or a victim) and pivot turns (how to turn a small boat 180 degrees in the shortest amount of time). After lunch, it was practical time. We are using three small inflatable RHIB (rigid hull inflatable) boats and for 1) I've never driven an inflatable before (they are like little toys!) and 2) I've never worked in surf conditions before (we don't see many waves in Florida Bay). I did OK, but would have liked to have proven myself more the first time around. I also had my ceramics class Thursday night (after trying twice to make up the class since I was going to be late). I was so tired, but we learned how to smooth off the bases and it's an important part of the process. Also, our stuff is going to be fired for us so we can glaze them next time, so I didn't want to miss out.

Friday, we learned about stern and side towing a disabled vessel and search patterns. This was where my lack of knot tying was a big disadvantage. Luckily, we were able to work as a team and use each persons best skills to our advantage. I also found out that one of the instructors is a new grad student of someone that I have worked with before (back when I was in grad school!). It's such a small world.

Fancy Digs

Although it's not completely finished, I'm happy to show you how my living/dining room is turning out! I'm in need of a few more pillows (Pudge hasn't bothered to make any while I've been at work) and some artwork to add to Brent's photo (http://www.banature.com/), but otherwise, it's home!

View from the front door

Love seat and view into the kitchen

My pigs hanging out with Pudge!

Dinette (view from kitchen/hallway)

Notice all the space for visitors?

Happy St. Patty's Day

In honor of today (which is my grandma's birthday- Happy Birthday, Grandma!), I wanted to share another rainbow photo! I actually haven't seen one in quite some time and this morning I saw a beautiful one on my way to work (although the picture doesn't do it justice since I had to take it from my car)! I didn't get to see what was at the end of it or if the leprechauns had any gold, but it was a nice way to start the day!

Toodles!

Chillin' for the weekend

Hey everyone-

I know I've been a little slow in posting lately, but don't worry, I'll keep you guys up to date on the exciting stuff going on here in Hawaii!

I tried yoga for the first time on Friday- there is a studio walking distance from my apartment in Kaimuki called Yoga Hawaii. They offer a free intro class on Friday and I've been wanting to try yoga for some time now (so what's better than trying it for free?). It was such a great experience! Very relaxing yet invigorating at the same time! I have to admit that it was a lot more physically demanding than I thought! It's closer to pilates than it is to just sitting around and breathing and saying Om. I really liked it and boy can I feel the muscles used to make some of the poses! It was a great way to end the work week too! After yoga, I went with my friend, Annette, to have drinks and dinner at the Yard House for a mini St. Patrick's Day celebration (Guinness!) in Waikiki.

Saturday, I drove to Ewa Beach to my friend Dawn's house to visit, play with Declan, have lunch, do some scrapbooking, and then have Ben's famous fajitas! I've been wanting to get back to work on my scrapbooks and Dawn has such great ideas and all the fancy gizmos! Little Declan is growing up so fast- he's smiling and laughing now! Although I wasn't being extremely creative (and therefore didn't get many pages done in my Grand Canyon scrapbook) I had a great time- the Beadles are such nice people!

Today (Sunday), Annette and I went to have banana pancakes at Boots and Kimo's (check out that macadamia nut sauce on the pancakes!) and then went boogie boarding at Bellows AFB beach. The beach there has awesome surf for boogie boarding (especially when the tradewinds are blowing) and is open to the public on the weekends (it's used for Marine Corp training during the week). We caught some really good waves and had a lot of fun! I took some pictures with my waterproof camera, but it's real film so I'll have to post them as soon as I get them back!

After boarding and hanging out on the beach, we stopped by Ross for a little shopping. I finally found a nightstand for my bedroom (it's my goal to get that room put together this week!) and bought a few little things for my place. Now it's off to buy kitty litter!

Later!

Steph

Ms. Potter

Greetings and welcome to Friday! I've been wanting it to be Friday since Wednesday so I'm really happy that it's finally here!

First let me say that I'm not a pigeon hater- when they aren't pooping on my car, they are busy courting their true loves. The males will follow the females around and fluff up their feathers, coo uncontrollably, and bob their heads- they almost bow when they coo! I've yet to see any of the females pay any attention, but evolutionarily it must work because there are so MANY pigeons here!

Anyway, I've decided to go back to school (well, not really-) and I signed up for a ceramics class at the student leisure center at the University of Hawaii. I've been wanting to take a pottery class for some time now and this one came up at a good time! It's close to home and was pretty cheap since it's offered through the continuing ed program. The class is Thursday night from 5-8 pm and is six weeks long. The class includes an instructor, 25lbs of clay, pottery wheels and tools to use, glazes, and use of the kiln (all for $95).

Last night was my first class- our instructor, Brad, was late so there were four of the seven of us just sitting around being afraid to touch and break anything! The other three had taken the class before- you can sign up to take the class again and basically just use the class time to make whatever you want and you benefit from the instructor too! Anyway, Brad gets there and he gets us our clay (we put our name on a locker where we can keep our clay- thank goodness I don't have to lug 25 lbs around each week!) and then he went (very quickly I might add) through kneading the clay to get it soft and remove air bubbles. Next, he just went to the wheel, threw the clay on there, centered it, brought it up, took it down, made the hole in the middle, opened up the center and made a bowl. Through all of this he's explaining hand positions and pressure and tools like the kidney and needle. Now it's our turn. Um, wait, I didn't understand, uh, OK let's go! I got my clay (to start with I got enough clay to make a 'healthy orange' sized blob), kneaded it until it was soft, got out a bat (it's a wooden plate that fits onto the wheel), and sat down at the wheel very nervously.

First, you have to wet the center of the bat where you are hopefully going to center the clay. Next, you actually throw your clay ball onto the bat and hope it makes it in the center (if not you can peel it off and start again!). With wet hands, you start centering the clay at the bottom and slowly applying pressure to bring the clay up into a cone and do the reverse to bring the clay back down. Next, opening up the center to form a cylinder has proved to be one of my weak points along with shaping the cylinder! The cool part about this class is that you just practice the whole time and get pointers along the way from the instructor. Sometimes he has to step in a fix something I've messed up (dry clay and wooden tools are not a good combo!), but he also lets me try and figure it out for myself.

So, after three hours (and a grumbly tummy), I managed to make three pieces. Brad thought I had pretty good technique for someone who had never used a wheel before! I don't think I'm a natural, but I like to follow directions well!

This is my first piece- I tried out the flaring technique using the wooden kidney!

Piece #2 ended up being much shorter than originally intended due to some accidents. Apparently, using the wooden kidney without having adequate water on the clay is not a good thing!

This is my third piece- I was pretty happy with it and I got to play around some with making the clay go in and flare out. Not really sure what this can be used as, but I like it anyway!

Next week, we will start the class by taking the pieces we made last night and smoothing off the bottoms and finishing off the bases. They will then be fired so we can glaze them the following week. But, after we smooth off the bases, we get to start making more! It's going to be a cycle so that we make as much as possible over the next 5 weeks and if we don't get done, we can just sign up for the next session to finish up. Let me tell you, 25 lbs of clay goes pretty far, so I've got a lot to work with and I'll hopefully get faster at it. I sat at home last night and thought of some pieces that I would like to make, but it might take more direction and practice for me to be able to make them.

I really enjoyed myself though and I hope to be able to continue to throw pottery even after this class! Some of you might even be getting pieces as gifts in the future. Remember, they are one of a kind and made with love!

Well, happy Friday everyone and enjoy the weekend!

Calling all pigeons

Things are going well here. After my relaxing weekend, I've been formatting coral disease data and compiling my dive resume for the the past ten years (oh my gosh, has it been that long?). I just found out today that I'm going to be taking an Advanced coxswain course next week so that I'm certified to drive the smaller boats used for diving from the larger research vessels. Should be fun, but also intense based on the strict guidelines and criteria that NOAA always requires!

Just a thought.....
Are pigeons actually like they are portrayed on cartoons? Do they aim for your car, especially after you painstakingly remove the existent pigeon poo which so easily gets baked onto your windows and side panels in the afternoon sun? Is there an unusually large population of pigeons in Honolulu or are all parking spaces just perfectly positioned under signs, trees, and power lines? Am I the only person with this problem or do all other Hawaiians living and working around me get up at the crack of dawn to immediately remove all signs of being bombed? If anyone has any answers, just let me know!

Hope everyone is having a good Wednesday!

Happy Weekend

Hey guys-
I hope everyone had a good weekend- I had a pretty low key weekend due to feeling a little under the weather. I got some work done around the apartment though and fed my creative side by going to a couple of craft stores in the area. I found a store completely dedicated to scrapbooking, but I have to admit that their prices are a little higher than the chain store around the corner.
It was my friend Annette's birthday earlier this week, so a group of us went out to dinner on Saturday to celebrate. We went to the Little Village Noodle Shop in Chinatown. I've eaten there before and I'm starting to develop some favorites. Their honey walnut shrimp is awesome!
Sorry I don't have more to report or any new exciting adventures to tell you about, but I'll work on that for next weekend! I've heard that boogey boarding might be in my future soon!

Suzie Homemaker

Last night (while watching AI), I made my first pillow cover for my sofa. I'm giving my mom's old sofa and loveseat a makeover and I decided to make covers for the old pillows to match the new color scheme in my living room.

Here's Pudge helping me out

Trouble is really enjoying the fruits of our labor! (I made the brown one, not the blue one- I'm not that talented!).

Another one bites the dust!

Although it's not that exciting, I find it worth mentioning that I have completed another room in my apartment. The kitchen is now done! Again, I went for the easiest room to complete out of the three that were left- I like being able to cross things off my to-do list!

Here's the kitchen with all of my knick knacks!

I went for a red theme since it tends to hide dirt and spaghetti sauce!

One room down

Good morning!

I am proud to announce that I have finished unpacking one room- unfortunately, it's the bathroom and therefore the easiest to unpack. But, it is one room completed and now there are luckily only three to go!

Isn't it stunning? You're all breathless, I know! Pudge seems to like it though!

More fun in the sun....

Aloha-

I spent all day Saturday working on getting unpacked and I'm proud to say that everything is now unpacked. Unfortunately, not everything is put away. I'm getting close though.

Today, I went kayaking with my friend Annette, her boyfriend, Jeff, who is visiting from New York and Coleman (our surfing buddy). We rented kayaks in Kailua and they delivered them to the beach in Lanikai. We kayaked out to two little islands called the Moku Loa islands- it only took us about 30 minutes to get there. Both are bird nesting sanctuaries (I got to see my first booby!- I looked it up online and it looks like it was a brown booby), but one has a little beach that you can pull your kayak up on (where we stopped to snack on chocolate covered donuts and Cheetos!).

Because of the bird sanctuary, most of the island is closed, but the Big Moke has a little path that takes you around the island. It was pure volcanic rock, but had some great little crevices to see sea urchins and little fish. On the ocean side of the island, we played in Shark's Cove (I think it's just a cool name because I didn't see any sharks). I had just been saying that I would love to go somewhere where you can jump off the cliffs into the water, and low and behold, we found one! You have to climb up the rocks (so I was glad that I wore my diving booties) and then there is a deep, clear pool at the bottom. There is some surge there so it was fun if you timed your jump with the surge coming in! There are some nice little jumping off points (some higher than others), but they certainly feel a lot higher than they look once you get up there! Lots of fun (once I got the nerve to actually jump off) and the water is very refreshing!

I got straight 10's from the judges! Just look at that form!

I still can't get over how crystal blue the water is here! You could see straight to the bottom the entire kayak ride and we got to see some turtles too! We went swimming just offshore and there were three in the area that kept popping their heads up! They looked like small (possibly juvenile) greens, but I would have loved to have had my snorkel gear with me! The wildlife here is so awesome!


After our adventure, we met Heather at the Big City Diner in Ala Moana for some big juicy burgers (and I had a milkshake!). Definitely another fun excursion- anybody want to go next time?

Later!