Happy Easter Egg!

Last Easter I was sitting on the Big Island with my dear friend talking about how much I love Hawaii. That was my third trip to the island and every time it was harder and harder to leave. That last trip JB and I were discussing how I needed to just move to the islands and stop spending all my money to visit every year. It is hard to believe that I actually did it and have been living in Hawaii for 7 months now!

This year I spent Easter with some friends and their kids. The morning started with quiche, brussels sprouts, seven layer dip and beermosas (beer and orange juice). We rummaged through baskets, went hunting for eggs, and naturally dyed eggs.  We used red cabbage and turmeric to dye the eggs. It took a lot longer than the tablets but was a fun experiment. I was given a lovely 90 minutes without the kids to read a book by the beach and then after being sand blasted by the wind, poolside. It was a lovely easter and a great way to prepare myself for birthday month!

For those of you that are not familiar with birthday month, it is a marvelous treat my mother bestowed upon me for my 18th birthday (the first one she was spending without being with me). I get to open a present everyday until my birthday. I am a well-loved child even into the second half of my 20s.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend with friends and family.

Back in the water.

As I was driving to work the other morning I was looking out at some pristine water to my left. At the moment I realized I had not been diving since Thanksgiving. I pulled out my phone before I stepped foot into my next client to schedule a dive.

There was space on an early morning Saturday dive, and by early I mean arrive at the shop at 5:45 am. There are very few things that can get me up that early and diving is one of them. the first dive was a wreck which is typically not my favorite although this one has made it to my top dive list. We saw over 12 eagle rays floating around the wreck as we explored the nooks and crannies of the wreck.

I was freezing (teeth chattering-body shaking cold) by time we got on the boat. Luckily I was the only girl surrounded by 5 guys so they took steps to warm me up including giving me hot water to pouring into my wetsuit and giving me a second wetsuit to wear over the one I was already wearing.

The second suit kept me quite warm on the second dive. This was when I found my first octopus! It was within the first 10 minutes of the dive and I was so happy I could have gone back to the boat then.

                                                                         TAKO

I am taking all my dives as an opportunity to work on my underwater photography and I feel like this may have been a turning point in my skills.

playing with pictures.

Hiatus

I am sorry I have disappeared for a few months. I promise I am still alive an having weekly adventures.

I had my first non-family visitor back in February. She was hear to visit her sister but I was added to the list. We spent as much time together as I could muster after work and on weekends. This included kayaking, hiking, and babysitting her nieces (that being the most exhausting).

I also had a friend from Kaui come visit for a weekend of shopping and mud running. She flew in for the Warrior Dash. The Warrior Dash was not the best mud run I have done but I had a great partner to run it with. We stayed in Waikiki after the race for a little hotel treat. It is amazing how happy an ocean front hotel room makes two girls. Sunday morning our active weekend continued as we rented two surf boards and I caught my first Hawaii wave. It was nothing huge or terribly exciting but it was surrounded by a lot of asian tourists and had Diamond Head as a backdrop.

                                                                        BEFORE

       
                                                                             AFTER