Halloween 2010

Halloween was lots of fun this year, even though the inflatable donut did not match either of my costumes!

Travis, the NatGeo photographer, Rolo, the pirate, Steph, the Hawaiian (I mean, how often do you get to wear your mu'u mu'u?), and Britt, the butterfly!

RSMAS always has a little party at the Wetlab, so our lab put on our costumes and spent some time hanging out at our favorite local bar!

Rolo, Marc, Lorraine, and Andy

Scott, the banana, Nancy and Teah, the monkey!

Pirate vs. Butterfly...the smack down!

The Hawaiians stick together!

On Saturday, I drove up to Hobe Sound to attend the annual Brown Khyn-Hansen Halloween party!  It took me a little longer than normal to make the drive since I had to stop about every 20 minutes to give my tush a break, but I made it eventually! 

I was super excited about my costume this year...I've been wanting to dress up like a flapper for a long time and I had the perfect shoes for it!  My roommate Britt let me borrow her awesome dress too!   

 Me and Gaga!

 Gaga and David Bowie!

As always, the party was lots of fun and the food was amazing (cupcakes, Skyline dip, artichoke dip, kale chips, etc)!  It was a nice low key evening which was perfect for me!  I woke up pretty sore from standing around in the "perfect" shoes all night, but it wore off eventually.  Thanks for hosting, Claus and Michelle!  Can't wait for next year!! 

Last weekend, my friend, Kerry, from Hawaii, was in town for business.  Lucky for me, she had to pass through Miami on her way from the Keys to Puerto Rico, so we got to spend some time together.  She drove up from Key Largo on Friday afternoon and we went out to the Sandbar for some tacos and a 9 lb burrito.  Let's just say we had some leftovers available!

We drove up to South Beach with some friends to attend a Surfrider Foundation event.  They have food, drinks and show surf movies.  They also have a raffle to raise money for the Foundation.  Guess what....I won a skateboard.  I know....exactly what I need.


The next day, we were guests of my friend, Ben, to a Reef Environmental Education Foundation (http://www.reef.org/) Sustainers and Advisory Event which in layman's terms means presentations, demonstrations, and lunch and dinner at Paul Humann's house in Fort Lauderdale.  For those of you who don't know, Paul Humann and Ned DeLoach are the authors and photographers for the best identification guides for reef fish, creatures and corals.  Basically, these guides were textbooks for me as I learned how to identify all things Caribbean.  Paul has a wonderful home with a huge garden which he started due to his large collection of palm trees.  We got to hear presentations on the invasion of lionfish, see slide presentations on the latest cool diving trips from around the world and see behind the scenes of Discovery Channel's Shark Week.  We also got to tour the gardens and see a lionfish dissection. 

View of the water lily pond.

Look at all those palms!

Cool fountain.

Very cool walkway!

The best part....Kerry got her hands on two signed copies of the newest Tropical Pacific Reef Creature Identification book...before it's even been released!  She graciously gave me a copy for hosting her while in Miami!  Thanks Kerry!!!!!  It's awesome!

Unfortunately, Kerry's visit was short and she had to leave really early the next morning to catch her flight to PR (but the good news is that we remembered daylight savings time and she actually made it to the airport at the right time), but it was great to see her and catch up!

Tailbone Update- Week 4

See week 3....except the donut casualty is now up to three.   

Tailbone- Week 3

Can't it be week 4 yet?

Still in pain, still super sore by the end of the day, still have to go home and medicate, still have bruises on my hips and tailbone, still don't have an appetite, still get hot flashes from the meds, popped my inflatable donut yesterday at a Acropora workshop......I'm ready for this to be over.