Kauai- Part 1- What We Ate

Every morning we ate a papaya (sometimes 2) with lime and apple bananas.

Lau lau is my favorite Hawaiian dish. Usually consists of fish or pork wrapped in taro leaves and steamed. Sadly I usually have a hard time finding this and when I do it is in short supply. I should move there and sell lau lau out of a truck.

Banana Joe's. My guilty pleasure. But not so guilty really.

They have what they call "frosties".

The only two ingredients in this magical treat are frozen pineapple and frozen banana.

Blend the two together and out comes a delicious, creamy, all natural delicacy.

I think we came here 4 or 5 times. I hear I can make this exact same thing in my blendtec blender. I must try.

We found amazing chocolate haupia pie at a bakery Hanalei.

This place was a new find for me. Pat's Taqueria. A taco truck parked in the parking lot by the Hanalei pier. It was out of this world. We tried the carne asada and fish tacos and both were excellent. Full of flavor and spice. Pat Grenz, who once cooked at Bar Acuda, opened this joint because he wanted to run a place that serves the food he loves....and for that I love him.

...and there were gold fish. Parmesan gold fish to be exact. A girl should never go kayaking without them.

Want to eat this stuff too? You should:

Lau lau- Pono Market
Banana Joe's
Haupia Pie- Village Snack and Bakery
Pat's Taqueria

New Print

We are looking to frame a new print in our house and are deciding out of these four.

What's your vote?

PS. If you need more dets to make the decision, it will be printed 12x12 and matted and framed in a white 21.5in frame.




Thanksgiving 2009














Nothing I love more than food and family.

The meal was delicious. HUGE thanks to Nancy and Hugh for doing 99% of the work. We appreciate all the service and love you give to us and the whole family and only hope we can repay you someday.

I made a couple pumpkin pies and a chocolate haupia cake (in honor of Kauai). I didn't get any great photos of the results. All in all my baking was tasty, but I sure do struggle getting a flaky crust on my pies.

Tribe and Tani have always made me stare, but look at my niece and nephew! I was drooling all over them.

Until next year homemade rolls...I will miss you.

(photos featuring me, taken by my bro in law Darren. Thanks for proving I exist!)

Wishbone

Weeks ago, when I was making my 20 quarts of chicken stock, I spyed this little wishbone. I cleaned it and set it on the window sill to dry....thinking I could use this for a romantic moment with Grant. Everybody thinks animal bones are romantic, right? Fearing Grant would catch on to the surprise, I dropped it in my bathrobe's pocket in a moment of concern....and forgot about it! I know. Gross. Animal bone was missing. Miraculously it turned up. After almost a month of waiting, the time was right and I whipped that baby out on the airplane on our way to Kauai. We made our wishes and crossed our fingers. I won, but I have a feeling we wished for the same thing. The end.

Are You Happy?

Bought this here a couple of weeks ago.

Seems like a good question. It never hurts to be reminded that if you aren't happy you have the choice to change something. I firmly believe true happiness is a choice, and now I can look at a pretty piece of art to remind myself.

Edible Gift


My cute friend and visiting teacher, Frances, MADE me this cake for my birthday! She knew I was going to be out of town today so she made it for me before I left.

She baked, frosted and decorated it. I was so impressed and so excited.

It was a thoughtful and amazing gift. Frances, thank you so much.

(It is my actual birthday today and me and the husband are spending it in Kauai. I can't wait to share all of the fun stories with you when we return. xo)

Good Morning Dance Party

Props to my 8yr old niece for getting this song stuck in our minds. Yesterday morning we had, had enough. We purchased it and then played it on repeat for about 30mins.

Who knew that Miley Cyrus would make it into my music collection? Sometimes I guess we all need a good addictive pop song to start our day. Just throw your hands up and dance 8yr old style! Trust us. It feels good.

Here is another happy song for you dance into your weekend with (Thank you Steph).

(Shooting a wedding in Salt Lake City today, tomorrow shooting a wedding in Newport/Huntington Beach...busy busy and happy happy. Leave for Kauai on Sunday but have pre blogged a lot of good stuff for you while I'm lazing around in mu mu's. xo)

Fan Club




I made this wee little book for my sister to take with her on her mission.

It is 5x5in (the perfect size to fit.. anywhere really. I wanted her to be able to keep it close). It has photos of all of the fan club members and words of encouragement.

Really I think the best part is the corner stripes on the front and back covers (Italian flag colors), which were Grant's idea. It pays to have a creative brainstormer in the next room.

Faith

This is my niece. She was my first niece. My first obsession. My first photographic muse. She just turned 8 and we had a photoshoot to celebrate....











While editing through her 8yr old photoshoot, it started me thinking...I have been taking photos of her for 8 years! For 8 years! I don't know why that seems like the longest time range, but it does. I think I had my first paying photography job 12 years ago, and I am pretty confident Faith is one of my oldest clients. For some reason she keeps coming back...or....I keep obsessing.

I love her more than everything and anything. She and my other nieces and nephews are what make me nervous to start trying to have my own babies. How could I love others more? How could they be as beautiful...as enchanting? I keep asking and I grow timid at the thoughts of my own attempts to create such beauty. They are masterpieces...and I am just blessed enough to capture a little of their spirit through my camera.

Enjoy a photographic journey of Faith over the last 8years...















Your aunt loves you Faithers. More than sunsets, whipped cream, BACON and the twinkly stars in the heavens.

8 months

It's hard to believe it's already been 8 months since our wedding. 8 months sounds like a long time to me. I've never lived with a boy for 8 months, and I do have to say I'm kind of proud of myself for arriving at the 8 month mark. Lets be honest, I am proud of myself everyday being married. I'm proud of myself for trusting, risking and giving marriage a second chance. I'm proud to say I married Grant. I'm proud he is by my side during the proud and not so proud moments. Has 8 months been easy? When has anything worthwhile been "easy"....but worth it? Definitely. And relatively speaking VERY easy. We have a good life and for that I am grateful.

In honor of hitting the 8month mark tomorrow, here is a little photo timeline I made for our wedding guests to view. We didn't mail out a photo with our invites, instead we directed them here for photo throw-up of the two of us.


I love you Grant. Thanks for being my husband 8 months strait.

Dear Friends

I read and reread your comforting words today and seriously I teared up more than once.

Most of us don't even know each other and yet this mess of a cyber worlds allows us to communicate and comfort and that's one thing that doesn't stink about blogging.

Things you all inspired me to do today:

-Get off the couch
-Put "not bathrobe" clothes on
-Make lentil soup
-Watched TV mid afternoon and allowed myself to think about negative stuff a little more
- Since I'm trying not to eat sugar this week (no wonder I am in a bad mood), I rewarded myself with bisquick dough...eaten right out of the bowl
-Walked to the park, sat under my favorite tree and said a prayer
-Put red lipstick on
-Wrote a letter to my sister and mailed it

Then Jon sent me a link to this Zack Arias video,

http://blip.tv/play/g5187ckJAg%2Em4v

Now I am starting to feel more like myself.

Today wasn't even about photography per say....But I guess to some extent it was about everything so photography is thrown in there. I loved how at the beginning of the video Zack mentions staying up at night trying to think of ways to reinvent his work, his offer, himself. I can totally relate. I even though I know others feel the same way, It's nice to be reminded on days like this.

Thanks Jon for that link, It really helped me feel a little more understood and thanks to all my other beautiful cyber friends. You helped me feel supported and NORMAL.

I just love you all so much. Maybe tomorrow will be better.

mood

Not in the mood to blog today. Too many other things on my mind. Things too personal to even blog about on my personal blog. I'm trying to think of what time in my life I would rather be experiencing right now...But today all I can remember are the hard spots. I feel selfish even typing that. I know my life hasn't been all hard, but sometimes it feels that way.

Oh, November. Why do you always do this to me?

Anyone have some good quick solutions for digging one's self out of a hole?

(I could name a handful, but while in the hole, none sound that satisfying.)

November Sunshine

(photo from Haylie and Ross's wedding)


Happy birthday month to me! Only 2 weeks until I reunite with my beloved Kauai.

Halloween weekend was pretty basic this year...some trick or treating with the wee ones, spaghetti and meatballs with bunker, lazy Sunday afternoon movie at the in laws....

..and then November happened with sunshine. I exercised this morning and it felt good. I felt grateful for my body that moves and my mind that wonders. I always feel the wind of "change" this month. I just know things are changing and that makes me feel like gripping and letting go all at once.

Oh, November. What do you have in store for me this year?

The Original String Cheese

While in Utah, my family and I grabbed a bite to eat at La Cocina (a friendly neighborhood Mexican restaurant, laden with memories of ex boyfriends and overeating).

This is an Iphone picture of my sister showing how far the cheese could be stretched....well just as far as she could reach really. I seriously wouldn't have been surprised if we could have stretched that cheese around the entire restaurant.

Not the best Mexican food around, but I am kind of obsessed with their simple tomato salsa and they do have free non-alcoholic margaritas tuesdays, thursdays and saturdays. Just saying..

Anna



I have been in Utah since Friday helping to send my sister off on a mission to Milan Italy.

It was a whirlwind weekend packed full of shopping, eating, talks in church, family time, a shower for my other sister who is getting married, engagement photos for getting married sister, late night movies, sleepovers....

...and then today we are driving our little Annbanan down to the MTC to drop her off.

Emotional? Yes. 18 months is a long time to not see or talk to each other! But, I can say with confidence she is ready and prepared and is going to be an amazing missionary spreading a message of love and happiness.

Plus, will she not be the hottest missionary? She might have to ugly it up so the Elders can concentrate.

Ann, I started missing you weeks ago. I love you more than ke'e beach, fresh squeezed OJ and papayas. Grant and I will be praying for you and sending you all of our positive energy. xxxxxxxxxxoooooooooo.