Harlequin Horror

I just got back from 6 days in Colorado (husbandless). Colorado is the best and I had a lot of fun. Whenever I go on vacation I read. As I have recently acquired an Amazon Kindle from my husband's grandmother, it has made the process of buying books VERY easy (too easy says my bank account). Anyway, I didn't think I would read a ton in Colorado because I usually don't (there are too many people to see and visit with), so I only brought one book (Austenland by Shannon Hale) and my Kindle.

Because my sleep schedule was still a bit messed up from Hawaii, I finished the one book I had brought the very first night (at 4 AM). Just as a little plug, I really like Austenland. It was fun...even though I don't read a ton of Jane Austen. Anyway, that left me bookless. I decided that I had spent too much money on books as of late so I started sifting through the free books you can buy for the Kindle. Now there are some really great options of books to buy for free. Most classic books that you can get cheap Barnes and Noble editions of are free on the Kindle. Well, truth be told I wasn't really feeling like a weighty classic. I wanted something light and easy. So I continued looking. Eventually I realized that you can get many Harlequin romances for free.

Now let me explain. I have never read a traditional romance novel. I mean, I've read some Nicolas Sparks and Twilight (of course), but I have never read a true Harlequin romance novel. I decided to give it a whirl. I knew that there would be a lot of sex...I had no idea how much. I read this book called Slow Hands (nice name huh). It was about this woman named Maddie who finds out that her stepmom is planning to cheat on her father by purchasing this European gigolo at a charity bachelor auction. In order to stop this from happening, her sister Tabitha asks Maddie to go to this auction and purchase the man for herself (Tabitha doesn't think she can purchase the man and not engage in sexual behavior with him...which would be bad since she is engaged). Maddie goes and purchases #19 for $25,000 right out of her stepmothers hands. The problem? Whoever created the program got #19 and #20's profiles mixed up. #20 is actually the gigolo. #19 is a normal guy...a paramedic named Jake. This wouldn't really matter since Maddie tries to duck out, but Jake follows her and insists on taking her out (she did pay $25,000 after all). They go out and have a wild night of sex. Maddie realizes she kinda really likes this guy, but she still thinks he is a gigolo. She offers to "employ" him full time for a month. This confuses Jake (after all he is just a paramedic). However, he kinda figures out what is going on and agrees to the deal. Of course, they go out for the month and eventually he tells her the truth and they fall in love, blah, blah, blah. Truth be told...I really did enjoy the characters in this book. They were kinda fun. The story, however, not so much. It was pretty boring. Lots of talking that always led to sex. Which leads me to the main topic of this blog.

There was so much sex in this book. Now this isn't Nicolas Sparks sex which gives you a good enough picture. This is X rated, extremely detailed stuff. It is so specific...which I totally didn't expect. I probably should have stopped reading right away, but I just don't do that. When I start a book I always try to finish it. Truthfully these books are pornography in the simplest sense. I considered how many women read these. Millions probably and they don't realize there is anything wrong with it. I started wondering if the women who read these would be upset if they were to find out that their husbands watched pornography online. I don't think that would be really fair. Moreover, I started thinking about how accessible these books are. They are everywhere. They are in Borders, Barnes and Noble, Walmart, grocery stores, everywhere. Walmart won't even sell CDs with parent advisories on them, yet they have a HUGE section of Harlequin romances. Walmart would require an ID in order to buy an R rated movie, yet I am certain anyone could buy these books. It really started freaking me out. I mean...it was bad enough that I read it, what if one of my 13 year old students read one. That would be so horrible.

I am not one who is all about censorship. In fact, I am against it in a lot of ways. However, I am for ensuring that children don't have access to things that are only appropriate for adults (and maybe not even appropriate for them). We as a society try to protect our children from violence, sex, and language in movies and music (though music is becoming more and more hyper-sexualized...look at Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, and Katy Perry). Why doesn't this apply in books? It is just an interesting question. I really don't have an answer.

I told Nephi about the book and we had a really good discussion about sex in society and how we want to try and protect our children from things like that. Apparently he already knew they were pretty bad...some guy on his mission worked in a library and would always talk about the women who would come in and read "nickel nasties." I thought that was funny.

Anyway, no real point...just something I experienced and learned from. I love how life works like that.

Vacation 2010: A-Z

I thought it would be a fun to create an A-Z list of our vacation. Some letters have more than others for obvious reasons. The items are in no specific order, just the order that they came to my head. :)

A: Asians; airplanes; anemones; ABC Stores; aquarium; Advil; animation; arches
B: beaches; bald eagles; blue oceans; Borders; Big Island; blogging; Band Slam; brainless birds; baseball; bowling; billiards
C: coral; cacti; chickens; cliffs; cookies; crabs; constellations; centipede; convertibles; clams
D: dragon teeth rocks; driving; dancing
E: endangered; entertainment; excitement; eel; expensive; Ender’s Game
F: fish; ferns; Ford Focus; Ford Mustang; fish tacos; Forks; farmers’ market; flip-flops; ferry
G: grey oceans; goofy signs; gun ranges; graveyards; grocery stores
H: hiking; Honolulu; hula; Hard Rock Café; Hawaii; How to Train Your Dragon; Ha Breath of Life; Hilo; Haagen Dazs
I: islands; ice cream; illegal maneuvers; iPod; itinerary
J: Jack-in-the-Box; Janae; jellyfish; Jeep
K: Kailua-Kona, Keauhou, Kimo’s, Kobe Steakhouse; Kamehameha; Killers; Kona Brewing Co.; king beds
L: lava rock; lava tube; Lahaina; laptop; luau; laundry; Lanai; Laie; lizards; lobster
M: Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder; moss; maps; Mariners; Maui; movies; miniature golf; Mauna Kea; Miyazaki; mosquitos
N: nachos; night sky; neon colors; new experiences; Nintendo DS
O: Oahu; octopus; observatories
P: pizza; palm trees; Prince of Persia; postcards; Pizza Hut buffet; Pearl Harbor; pools; Polynesian Cultural Center
Q: queen beds; QEIBAS; Qdoba
R: rain; Robin Hood; rainforests; risk; rainbow
S: sea stars; snorkeling; steam vents; sunsets; Seattle; sunburns; swimming; sea slugs, sea cucumbers; stars; The Shack; stingray; Sandy Beach; sand
T: turtles; teriyaki; Taking Pelham 123; Thai food; trees; trumpet fish; t-shirts; temple; treaty line; tsunami evacuation routes
U: u-turns; unicorn fish
V: valet; virgin lime daiquiris; volcanoes; Vampire Diaries
W: waves; Waikiki; Washington; walking; wet; waterfalls
X: x-ray machines
Y: yellow bumble bee pants; yearning for my cats
Z: ziplining; zzzzz's

Day 19: Back to the Mainland

We woke up early and packed for the last time. Yay! By this point I was so tired of packing. We drove to Pearl Harbor and spent about…10 minutes there. Haha. We wanted to spend more time, but we had to catch a plane.

We headed to the airport and waited patiently for our plane. We boarded and we were off for the mainland. Nephi and I rented a digital player that had a bunch of movies loaded on it. We watched It’s Complicated, which was fine—not great, not bad. Then we watched half of Percy Jackson. I had seen it in the theaters, but Nephi hadn’t. He wasn’t impressed (nor was I when I first saw it). After 6 hours we made it back to Seattle.

As we waited for our bags, suddenly the carousel stopped functioning. It was apparently broken. We ended up waiting about another 30 minutes before it got fixed. Finally we got our bags and called the hotel to send the shuttle. An hour later…the shuttle arrived. That was pretty annoying, but oh well. We made it to our very ghetto hotel at about 11 pm. The neighborhood was very scary so we decided to order pizza for dinner.

Day 18: Wicked Waves

Nephi woke up feeling worse than the day before, so we nixed our plans to go to Pearl Harbor. Instead we decided to just head to the beach (not that he was really feeling up to that either). After some brief internet research, I found a beach with waves called Sandy Beach. We headed that way (stopped at a Jack-in-the-Box where EVERY customer was a senior citizen of Asian descent), and were pretty excited for the beach. The waves were awesome and the beach itself was not very busy. We lied out, enjoying the sun and breeze. Finally I decided to venture into the water. The waves were super intense. Even though the water was only up to my mid-shin, it totally pulled me on my butt. It was cool…I had no one to impress.

It took me about 3 minutes to get over the crazy break (that was SO close to shore) and go for it. After I made it out past the break it was really nice just hanging in the waves. I did some pretty basic body surfing and had some fun. I headed back and after I dried off I decided to put Nephi out of his misery and take him back to the hotel. We chilled in the hotel for a few hours.

We headed to dinner at Dave and Busters. Nephi got Mac and Cheese (and said it was better than Hard Rock Café’s) and I got chicken fingers. After dinner we played some arcade games. We snuck in some Haagen Dazs (since Utah doesn’t have any stores) and went to bed.

Day 17: Foundering in Honolulu

We started our 17th day by sleeping in a bit. We got ready for the day and made our way back toward Koko Head because we needed to return our SD card (as it apparently wasn’t going to work with our camera). The day before we had seen that there was a Kona Brewing Company right by Radioshack, so we figured we might as well. It was yummy, as always. After we ate and exchanged our SD card for one that would work, we headed to the Waikiki Aquarium.

We decided to take the scenic route which took us around Diamond Head. It was nice…though nothing TOO special. We made it to the aquarium and found a parking space (Hallelujah!). The aquarium was pretty small, but cool. My favorite things that we saw were a really cool octopus, a GIANT clam, and a spotted (and very friendly) stingray.

Unfortunately Nephi started not feeling very well this day and was really tired by this point. We headed to the hotel and took a much needed nap (well he did). Afterwards, we headed to dinner. I had my hopes on getting Thai in Honolulu and I had looked up the highest rated restaurant. We headed that was and got hopelessly lost. That is a lie. You could never get hopelessly lost with me in the car. No truthfully it was confusing, but we didn’t even take a wrong turn…technically.

We arrived at our destination called Siam Garden Café. I ordered the Pad Thai with chicken, extra hot and Nephi ordered the Pad Kea Mow (or something like that…Drunken Noodles is another name for them), medium. Mine wasn’t very hot nor was it very good. Not horrible, but nowhere in the same universe as Wild Ginger. Our service was atrocious, but I wasn’t in any hurry so it wasn’t a big deal. The entertainment was fun though. They had Thai music videos on the television. They were hilarious. Mostly they involved girls crying…because of lame boys (I think). We really enjoyed that portion of the experience.

On our way home, Nephi ran a red light. To his credit he was turning right and in honesty it was BARELY red, but a policeman saw him and pulled him over. Thankfully he had pity on us in our orange Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder and didn’t give him a ticket. There is an expense we don’t have to worry about.

We dropped off our car and decided to get Haagen Dazs (my current favorite ice cream). It was SOOOO yummy. We walked back to the hotel and tucked in for the evening.

Day 16: Hula of a Time

Alarm clocks can be annoying when you want to sleep in. Hawaiian signers are in every which way worse when wanting to sleep in. They are loud, obnoxious, and you can’t turn them off with a mere button. We don’t own a gun…so it continues to sing. You may think, well that’s what you get for sleeping in till 12 noon when such singing usually commences. No, this ‘crazy A’ hotel has their singer start at 7:30 in the morning. …of course this means the people who crafted this bright idea must have excellent parking spots wherever they must go cause they be mentally, a no show.

Well we switched rooms that morning. No balcony, no view of the pool, or ocean…which means way less noise, and silly singers. Thank the fluffy things that are blue.

After resituating we left for some lunch. We tracked down ‘The Shack’ for some awesome cheese sticks and seasoned fries. The actual meal was just all right, but the ‘rest of the raunts’ interior and location was pretty epic. You see Brianne and I (yeah, Nephi is writing, could you not tell?) are ‘The Shack’ experts. They only have locations in Hawaii, San Diego, and Littleton, we’ve visited each of them. Perhaps the first of mankind to do such. Eat it Neil Armstrong. …we did.

It was actually somewhat difficult to find the restaurant because the streets here do not display addresses. That’s always a joy. Like Hawaiian singers. Exactly.

After lunch we stopped by the shopping mall from hell. The parking was all compact and everyone had SUVs. We went to Radio Shack to get a new memory card since are current one is full. We also ended up visiting Starbucks, Blockbuster, and Foodland. Guess which actually had a bathroom. Didn’t even have a shower. I know right!

After all this we drove for about an hour to get to the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was the opposite of the Hawaiian singer, impressive in simpler words. Nice atmosphere, nice people, very energetic, detailed dances. We saw a canoe pageant, went to a dinner Luao where we met people from ‘Shee-cago’, and honeymooners from Japan. They were nice, the dinner experience was nice. I am nice. Oh yeah, we also went on a tour that showed BYU of Hawaii and the Temple. That was nice too. Like my wife. SAVED!

From there we went to an evening dance show called ‘Breath of Life’. It was surprisingly long, but they did an amazing show. In other words, it was like the muppet show…with less puppets. Yeah, mind blowing.

I also bought a shirt featuring the character from the animation segments presented throughout the show. The animation was done by one of my animation professors, so that was cool. Like ice ‘ya all!

We then left for home…or at least tried. For some reason the latch on the convertible top had gotten stuck. It took us a good 10 or 15 minutes to finally figure out how to fix it. The struggle is best described as playing Tetris, holding the old-school cabbage green screened GameBoy upside down. Bri apparently is really good at playing Tetris in an upside down fashion. Who knew.

We made it home, we went to bed. Yeah, the end.

Day 15: Close Calls

We had heard that the breakfast at our hotel was super good. We got up and headed down. It was only okay. The potatoes were old tasting…and other than that, what is good about breakfast? The pancakes were pretty good I guess. Our hotel was right on the water and we really wanted to check out the tide pools so we ventured out. We saw a turtle, but he was being lazy and not really moving much.

When we got back to our room we only had 30 minutes to pack. We packed as quickly as possible. It is getting more and more difficult to do so because we keep buying clothes and gifts and such.

We were running behind on our way to the airport. We finally made it to Enterprise, dropped off our car, and hopped on the shuttle to the airport. At the first stop a man left his sweatshirt. I felt bad for him, so I chased him down. He was very grateful. At our stop, I left my backpack. The shuttle man caught up with me and said, “I don’t chase people, but since you did a good deed, I do a good deed for you.” I thought that was nice.

We had another short flight to Honolulu. Again, we upgraded our car to a orange Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder. It is a fun little convertible. We drove on our first real highway in Hawaii and made it to our hotel, which is right on Waikiki Beach. When we drove up, we realized it was a valet parking deal. I was stressing because when I booked this hotel it said parking was free. The valet guy was super rude and refused to speak in full sentences. I was already cranky so it was pissing me off that he kept saying things like: “No items in car!” “$30 a day!” “Car damaged!” I don’t know what the heck you are saying dude…and you are making me angry. I decided to just get away from him and figure it out later. We checked in and learned that the travel agency we booked through pays for the parking, so that made me feel better.

We settled and then headed out to some Anime/Manga/Comic stores that Nephi really wanted to go to. They were pretty intense. I felt like a complete nerd (and we were the only non-Asian people in the stores). Anyway, it was slightly fun. Then we headed back to the hotel. Unfortunately for us…there was a parade on the street our hotel is on. It was nearly impossible to get there, but eventually we decided to go the wrong way on a one way street. It all worked out.

We walked down to Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville. We had eaten there in Vegas and enjoyed their nachos. We got the Volcano Nachos again and some Boneless Buffalo Wings. They were really good too. I got a virgin lime daiquiri (my favorite). On the way back we stopped in at some art shops. I fell in love with this artist Heather Brown. Look her up. We also stopped at 10 ABC stores in search of Code Red. Again… no luck.

Day 14: Starlight, Starbright

We woke up late. We texted Janae and made plans for lunch. We went to Splasher’s Grill. It was decent. The burgers were huge. I got the Chipotle Bacon Burger and Nephi got the Sweet and Sassy Burger. There were flies everywhere and I got tired of defending my food. We stopped back at the farmer’s market for Janae. She bought some gifts for her family, then we headed back to the hotel. Nephi and I went swimming in the pool, while Janae went in the ocean. We quickly showered and then headed up to Mauna Kea.

Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world. I know you are all saying, no Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain in the world. Well…you are wrong. Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain above sea level. Mauna Kea is just under 14,000 feet above sea level. However, if you count the part of the mountain that is under the water, down to the Earth’s crust, it is 56,000 feet tall. That is pretty darn tall. Anyway, on the way we stopped at the visitor’s center. Nephi bought a pink shirt. Then we drove on a very scary, 4 wheel drive only road. Janae’s friend, Krystal was driving and thankfully had a Jeep. We watched the sunset which was pretty awesome. Then we headed back down to the visitor’s center and watched a star show. I saw Saturn’s rings through a telescope and I was proud I was able to still identify a bunch of constellations that I learned in astronomy.

We headed down the mountain and Nephi and I got a quick bite at McDonald’s. Then I totally crashed in bed.

Day 13: Landscapes

Nephi and I were severely running out of clothes, so I woke up at 5:50, so that I could be at the Laundromat when they opened. We had stopped by the evening before and it was a zoo, so I wanted to beat everyone. I got down there at 6, and started 2 loads (they only had 2 machines). Those were finished in a jiffy, and I put them in the dryer and put one more load in the washer. One of the dryers stopped after about 45 minutes. Those clothes weren’t dry so I paid for another 45 minutes. The other dryer kept going forever. A little after an hour I stopped the dryer that kept going, pulled out the clothes (which were dry), and threw in the clothes that were in the washer. Once the other dryer was finished, Nephi had finally joined me. I had him fold the clothes while I ran up to the room to get ready for the day. When I came back down the final load was done. It was 10 by this point, and we had missed breakfast.

We grabbed Wendy’s really quick and watched some really cool lizards. They were green with red spots on them and they were sooo quick. They would chase each other. It was fun to watch. After that, we stopped by Blockbuster. The employees were lame and ignored me, but I bought The Price is Right for the Nintendo DS.

Finally, we headed north. We had plans to go to Hilo to get my mom her favorite cookies. Along the drive, we saw every landscape imaginable. We saw grasslands (yellow ones), we saw green rolling hills, we saw rocky fields, we saw cacti, and finally we saw rainforest. It was a really cool drive, especially since we had upgraded to a Ford Mustang and had the top down. We got to Hilo, and went to Big Island Candies. We arrived at the same time that a whole tour bus of Asian women arrived. From the store you can see the women working in the factory. We watched some cookies get hand dipped in chocolate and then we proceeded to make our selections. The only problem, there were people everywhere (namely Asian women). Now, I hope I don’t offend anyone…I have nothing against any group of people…and I totally get that it is a cultural thing about space, but these women drove me crazy. They were pushy and loud and yapping away. I couldn’t get anywhere. They were a swarm of frantic shoppers and it was impossible to escape. Finally they started to trickle out and I got the stuff I wanted. Nephi decided to try these pineapple filled shortbread things and caramel/chocolate dipped shortbread cookies. Both were really good. I just got the normal and we bought some gifts for family back home.

After the cookie place, we looked for a fast food restaurant so that Nephi and I could go potty. There was none to be found. Anywhere. Finally we settled on a Borders. We continued our drive, this time down the east side of the island. After a while we made it to Volcanoes National Park. First stop was the steam vents. This is where steam comes out of the ground because rainwater touches the hot rocks underground and turns into steam. Then we went to the Thurston Lava Tube. It was pretty cool. It was essentially a cave that had been created by lava. It had been paved and lit for tourists, but at the end there was this portion that they hadn’t touched that you could explore. Nephi and I didn’t have flashlights, but some nice people offered to take us with them. It was pretty cool. At the end some teenage girls jumped out and tried to scare us. We had seen them so it was pretty lame (they weren’t fully committed either).

Then we drove down Chain of Crater’s Road. Nephi loved it. There are some really cool landscapes and the whole drive is you pretty much driving over dried lava. When we got to the end of the road, we walked about a mile to check out the place where a more recent eruption took out the road. We also checked out this sea arch thing that was pretty cool. The waves were HUGE.

Finally it was time to go. We made our way back to Kailua-Kona in the dark. It was a pretty scary road. When we got back we both wanted something yummy and easy so we went to Kona Brewing Company again. It was just as good a second time. We were completely exhausted so we went home and went to bed.

Day 12: Aloha Kona

We woke up early so that we could pack. It took awhile to get everything all together. We checked our email and such then headed out. We stopped at Carl's Jr. on the way to the airport. Nephi loves their breakfast and we rarely eat breakfast together so it is a treat. After breakfast we went to Borders so that I could buy the 3rd and 4th books of the Vampire Diaries (I am almost done with the 2nd one), then we dropped off the movies at Blockbuster.

At the airport the lines were long. It is so hot and humid here I get grumpy quickly. I was annoyed by people's stupidity, but I tried to chill. While waiting to board the plane I called Erin (my sister). Erin has been my savior a number of times on this trip. I have called her and she has done internet research to get me places and look up restaurants, etc. I decided I should call her with no favor to ask. It was nice just chatting with her.

Our flight was SOOOO short. We took off, got up to 10,000 feet, then started our descent into Kona. It was nice. Kona is a cool airport completely outside). The Big Island has a very different feel from Maui, but Nephi and I both really like it. It is strangely desolate...but lush. The lava rock is so cool. Plus it is a huge hill so no matter where you are you have a view of the ocean (even walking out of Safeway). Also, because there are no little islands on this side of Hawaii, you can really take in the vastness of the Pacific.

We rented our car from Enterprise (we ditched Dollar), and upgraded to a Mustang. Sweet. I love convertibles. Nephi is excited just to have keyless entry again. We headed to our hotel (Outrigger Keauhou Beach Resort), and it is pretty nice. We are on the top floor (7th) and we have a view of the ocean. BEAUTIFUL! I am excited to go check out the tide pools.

I texted Janae to let her know we were in and she asked if we wanted to go to a farmer's market with her. We went to go pick her up and got lost (because half the streets here don't have names...it makes it difficult). Eventually we found here and headed to the waterfront. The farmer's market was cool, and we bought some homemade banana bread.

Janae had to go to some festival, so Nephi and I headed to dinner. I had read about this micro-brewery that had really good pizza, called Kona Brewery. We ordered Pele wings (hot teriyaki wings) and a pizza that had pepperoni, green peppers, and tomatoes. It was ah-mazing! It was so so so so good. I can't remember ever having pizza that good. The sauce was good, the cheese was good, the pepperoni was the best I have ever had. I definitely recommend it if you ever come here.

After dinner we headed to the grocery store in search of (what else?) Mountain Dew Code Red. No luck, but Nephi got some other drinks.

We attempted to go to the laundromat in the hotel, but it was busy so we decided to go in the morning. Now we are vegging.

Day 11: Movie Mania

We decided to sleep in a bit. We woke up around 9:00. I had fallen asleep early the night before and missed a television show that I wanted to watch, so we went down to the pool and I watched it online.

We played on the internet for a bit and then we headed to Kahului to go to Jack-in-the-Box (Nephi had spied one). After lunch we went to the theaters and watched Robin Hood. It was alright. A bit slow for my liking, but fine.

We stopped by the local Blockbuster and rented a couple of DVDs (Bandslam and Taking of Pelham 123). We decided to go to a Japanese steak house (one where they cook in front of you and throw stuff at you and such). It was decent, but it was fun because Nephi and I have never been to one together.

On the walk back to the hotel we stopped in this little Vintage Hawaiian shop. It was hip...and expensive. They had some fun stuff to look at though.

When we got back to the hotel we watched our movies. Bandslam was okay. Better than I was expecting (way more depth). Pelham was pretty good...again, better than I was expecting. I really like Denzel Washington and Tony Scott (the director).

Overall it was a pretty chill day.

Day 10: Under the Sea

This is the day Nephi and I had been looking forward to the most. We had booked an all day snorkeling trip around the island of Lanai with a boat company that had awesome reviews online. We woke up at 5:45 in order to be at the harbor at 6:30. We got there, checked in, were introduced to our captain and crew (Captain Dave, Bobby, and Elise), and put on our first coat of SPF 50.

At 7:00 the boat departed. Once we were out of the harbor, the captain made the mistake of stopping the boat to talk to us. Instead of the 5 minute safety speech it should of been, he kept talking and talking. Seriously we were stopped for probably 20 minutes (and he mostly wasn't talking about safety), and I really started to feel sick. I am easily prone to motion sickness, but as long as the boat is moving I am fine. It is when the boat rocks to the waves that it makes me feel queasy. Well we were stopped long enough that I started to feel really sick. We had to drive about an hour though large waves in order to get to our first snorkel stop. I really didn't recover and felt sick the whole time. Elise set me up in the back with a ginger ale. Sitting and staring at the shoreline, intermittently sipping my ginger ale or pressing it against my forehead made me feel better. On the way we saw a few shipwrecks. Apparently that portion of shoreline is super dangerous. There were 16 known shipwrecks and the most recent happened this January. It was cool seeing all the ruined boats.

When we finally made it to our first snorkeling stop, they fed us a quick breakfast, which I shoved down my throat so that I could get off the boat. The fist place we stopped was called Cookie Monster Cove. It was named by Bobby. Because the ride is so choppy and difficult, no other snorkeling tour takes you to the backside of Lanai, so this company just names everything whatever they want. Cookie Monster Cove was awesome. There were so many fish. We saw some super cool fish of all different colors. It was seriously amazing. I wish we had had more time in the Cove because in my opinion in was the best stop all day. After awhile though we had to go back to the boat. On to our next stop.

On the way we got to some cliffs. Captain Dave explained that when the Hawaiians first arrived to Hawaii in 600 AD, they saw the cliffs on Lanai and thought they saw faces in them. The believed that the island was filled with evil spirits and so they didn't land there. Instead they went to all the other islands. It wasn't until 1400 that the Hawaiians finally settled on the island. They are apparently really afraid of it. Anyway...it was cool looking for the faces in the cliffs.

After the cliffs were the caves. The caves also had a story about a banished Prince who lived in a different cave every night to keep the evil spirits from finding him. He got us right up to the entrance of a cave with the boat. He was definitely a crazy captain. You can tell he isn't afraid of being sued, but really just wants to provide a good time. It makes for a much more fun, though sometimes frightening, trip.

After the cliffs we stopped at our second snorkeling spot. SPF 50 application number 2. Again they fed us (lunch) and I quickly scarfed it to get into the water. The second stop was called Buddha Bay. Buddha Bay had a lava tube that was about 10 feet under the water. I swam that then climbed onto the rocks. I was about the 5th person to go through the lava tube, and the fifth person to climb on the rocks. When I got to the top of the jumping rock (about 25-30 feet above the water), all of the people who went before me were congregated at the top. I was like, what's up? They just didn't want to go first. I love jumping rocks so I went. After I jumped off, everyone followed suit. I thought that was slightly amusing. It was fun. After that, Nephi and I snorkeled around the Bay. It was really cool too. We saw a lot of the same fish as the first Cove, but we saw some other cool stuff too. We saw a red sea slug which was cool and we saw a lobster that looked like it someone has painted gold designs all over it. Buddha Bay was cool because we got to go really deep. Again, all too soon, we had to return to the boat.

Our third stop was Shark Fin Bay. SPF 50 application number 3. Shark Fin Bay has a big rock that looks just like a shark fin. It was definitely the least cool stop, but it was still fun.

After Shark Fin Bay, it was time to return to Maui. The waves were HUGE and the ride back was seriously frightening. I thought we were going to die. Seriously. It is amazing the beating a boat can take. We got just as wet on the boat ride back as we did in the water.

Overall it was an amazing day. I would recommend that tour company to anyone. It was so good. As we walked back to our hotel I realized that my back was hurting again. Yes...even with 3 applications of SPF 50, I still got more sunburned on my back. It is ridiculous. It hurt so bad that I demanded we stay indoors til the sun went down. Since it was about 4:30 we had about 2.5 hours before that happened. We lied down and both fell asleep. We woke up at 8:30 and headed to Maui Tacos. Someone had told us that you could get 3 fish tacos for $5.00 on Tuesdays. They lied, but that was okay. Nephi got his fish tacos and I got a steak quesadilla. It was pretty good. We went back home afterward and I fell asleep pretty quick. Nephi, however, stayed up for quite awhile writing down notes for stories.

Day 9: Repeats and Randoms

Part of the reason we made our Maui portion of the trip so long was so that we could have some time to relax. We woke up and just chilled around the hotel. The pool has this really nice pagoda that I like hanging out in.

We decided to go to Cool Cats again because we liked it so much. After that we headed to the movie theaters and watched Killers. It was okay. I liked it better than Prince of Persia and Nephi liked it less. It definitely wasn't amazing, but I was entertained (and Ashton Kutcher definitely worked out for this part and look amazing).

After the movie we decided to go up to this point that some old ladies we met at the beach told us about. On the way I contemplated why certain people love certain things. My whole life I have loved water. I loved water so much as a child that when I was about 3, I ran away from my mom and jumped (without a care) straight into a pool. I definitely couldn't swim and had to be saved, but I was never afraid of water after that. I just wanted to learn how to swim that much more. I love water so much that often when I am in the ocean I seriously just want to stay there...forever. I was thinking about why I have this predisposition. Some people, instead of loving water, love flowers or other parts of nature. It just makes me wonder about how these things get transfixed into our personalities before we really even have personalities. I can't really even articulate my thoughts...but I find it very interesting.

It turns out you have to walk through a golf course to get there...which I felt a little bit bad about. When we got out to the point there were a lot of cool rock formations and stuff. We were at the top of a cliff so we hung out on the edge and checked out what we could see. Well we saw turtles. Lots of them and they are HUGE. They are probably the size of big coffee table. It was fun watching them play in the waves. We thought we saw an eel, but later learned it was most likely a trumpet fish.

We watched the sunset from the cliff, then we decided to get some food. Nephi wanted a blizzard from Dairy Queen for dinner and since we were on vacation I decided not to appease him. The Dairy Queen was in a mall food court so I just got cheese enchiladas from a cheapo Mexican place there. It was actually really good, which was very surprising.

After dinner we decided to go swimming. It was fun swimming in the dark here. I am seriously the best floater ever. I can just lie in the water and not move a muscle and no part of me sinks. I just floated and watched the starts. In the 15 minutes of floating I saw 5 shooting stars. It was pretty cool. Then Nephi joined me and we played around a bit.

After swimming we went to bed.

Day 8: Hiding from the Sun in Hawaii

We decided with my painful sunburn that we would have a no-sun, lazy day. We began by going down to the pool under a shaded pagoda. We read and wrote blogs and spoke about philosophy. Okay, maybe not the philosophy part, but the other parts were true.

When it got to be about lunch time we headed to the local Pizza Hut. One of my favorite things in the world is the Pizza Hut buffet (something that is becoming more and more rare in the world) and so I demanded that we make a stop at least once. It was yummy.

After lunch we headed to Maui Golf and Sports Park, where we played exactly one round of miniature golf before Nephi and I became overheated. It was extremely humid and we were a bit inland. Nephi won the game (of course), 58 to 68. I think it may have been the closest game ever. If I hadn't been so hot, and started to give up towards the end...I may have actually beat him. I guess we'll never know

We went next door to the Carl's Jr./gas station looking for something refreshing. They didn't have Mountain Dew Code Red (Nephi's favorite) and they didn't have Snapple Kiwi Strawberry (my favorite). We settled with some local soda. Nephi got root beer and I got pineapple. It was pretty gross, but Nephi liked it.

We decided to check out the southwest side of the island. We drove down and went out to Wailea beach. It was pretty...but this place has no waves. Nephi and I are bummed by the lack of waves. After that we stopped by Times Supermarket and purchased some more breakfast food and treats. I got chocolate dipped coconut macaroons and they are amazing.

When we got back to our hotel we decided to read for about an hour. I am reading Vampire Diaries. It is a weird experience because the book is 100% completely different from the show. I am slightly sucked in though. Nephi was reading his Miyazaki book (he is the director/animator who created Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Moving Castle, and Ponyo).

At 6:30 we went and saw the Prince of Persia and the Sands of Time. It was bad. I really didn't like it, however, I did like Jake Gyllenhaal. He is so beautiful.

After the movie we were hungry. We went to Aloha Mixed Plate. According to lore, it is the best local place around. Nephi got the BBQ Mixed Plate which consisted of Teriyaki chicken, Teriyaki beef, pork ribs, white rice, and macaroni salad. I am not into rice and mac salad, so I got the Mixed Grill which was Teriyaki chicken, Teriyaki beef, and french fries. The Teriyaki beef was super good.

After dinner we went back to the hotel and read until we both fell asleep.

Day 7: By the Hand of Nephi

My wife has grown tired of meeting your accumulating daily demands, so her marvelous and proper husband will be drafting today's article. Errr, blog. Thing. Please realize that you have been informed of the risk of any continued reading. In fact, it may be best to hit any number of buttons and links lining the top of your browser which will take you out of this mind raping rhetorical. Like I would know what that means.

Alright, so you decided to stay and hear the bitter contrast of your typical writer, so be it.

The day starts early, a modest 7:30 we arris- no, oh yes it is an adequate 7:35 in the morning in which we, no, oh right, yes in fact we decided actually, well you see we our known for hitting the snooze button enough times to call it a few...many. In all honesty I can't remember when we awoke but it was some time before 8:00 am. In Hawaii it is only right to assume a sloth like demeanor while somberly walking around in morning requirements. You see at one point sloths lived in Hawaii, and so in taking on the physical attributes of a sloth we are able to take on a eco equalizing approach to our stay abroad. The housekeeping will frequently say 'Mahalo' for our efforts.

Well 9 something in the morning approaches and we decide to make our way into the outer abyss of bright sunshine and cool ocean winds to spend some time near the hotel pool. I decide to further educate myself by reading a book that collects and translates the worked of a famed Japanese director. My wife decided to soak in the environment with a laptop. Okay, not quiet as escapist and refined, but I'm sure there is something reflecting and meditative to be found on facebook. Maybe not. Time passes and admittedly I snatch the electronic device from my wife's lap. My precious, my precious! I check some sites and we are off, to embark on real island activities.

We grab some quick energy at a local Taco Bell. To save time we use the 'walk-through'. Actually, that is your only choice, a outdoor ordering window, but I like to pretend there is a bit of democracy in the process.

We then go off to the beach. Since it is an island there are, or rather SHOULD be a lot of beaches. Not really. Most of it are rocky beach fronts, or blocked and barricated by expensive hotels. After a good while of searching we find a cool summer escape. There are no waves, and the water is freezing, but it is beautiful nonetheless. We swim around and eventually Breezy is able to get the sun bathing she has been asking for, for the past month. Oh dear. We only sun bath for about an hour at most but it was too much. Throughout the remainder of the day Breezy slowly transforms in color, like one of those cheap cereal spoons that change colors. Of course instead of changing from one cool color to another, Breezy turns from white white to lobster red. Ouchy.

Eventually we retreat to an awesome local burger joint called Cool Cats. We shared a amazing hotdog, french fries, and onion rings. I ordered a Luna burger which had many ingredients of awesomeness. I loved it. Breezy ordered chicken fingers. Again. This is exactly why chicken's no longer have fingers, because Breezy eats all of them.

We go home and watch TV, drenched by the sun and caked in sand we fall asleep...for 12 hours.

Well my wife is asking if I'm writing a novel, and the computer is telling me the battery is going to die. So I will leave now.

To be continued...

Song: Enjoy a random Hawaiian song we found that is performed by some guy named Nephi Brown.

Day 6: ZZZzzzzz....

Today was the zipline! We got up extra early (6:00 am) and drove to Haleakala. On the way I called Jeff, my insurance guy, and asked about my coverage. He said that I was indeed covered in Hawaii. Since we had to pass the airport to get to Haleakala, we decided to stop by on the way back and ask for our money back.

When we got to the ziplining place, I realized that we were about an hour early (I had written the time we needed to check in on the itinerary, but I thought that was the time the tour started, so I had planned to get there early). Anyway, I used that time to call a few rental car places in case I needed to threaten to return my car if they didn't refund the insurance money.

When it was time to check in, we went up to the counter. I started filling out the waivers, while Nephi went to the restroom. I really had to go too, but by the time I had finished the waivers, the truck that cleans out the porta-potties was there and so I couldn't go. We geared up and started our hike. I had to pee the WHOLE time.

At each zipline, they had information about a native Hawaiian bird. I am not sure what the point was exactly, but it was interesting. It was good practice in reading Hawaiian, because they would have the names written and I would hear them say it, so I got an idea on how to say certain letters.

There were 5 ziplines. The first 4 were pretty wimpy, but fun. I did hit the landing wrong on the fourth one and scraped my leg. I was totally fine, but I got a pretty good flesh wound. The fifth zipline was awesome. It was huge.

Our guides, Sterling and Sal, were decently nice. Sal would crack jokes the whole time, but when people in the group made jokes he seemed annoyed. I thought that was a weird character trait. I mean, people take cues from other people. If you are joking around, other people will start joking around too, but he didn't seem to like it when others did. It was really weird.

After the ziplines we had to hike back to the starting point. I am pretty sure there is usually a van, but that for some reason it wasn't there. It was okay though (minus the disgusting dirt/dust that kicked up and got my shoes and feet all nasty).

When we said goodbye to Haleakala, we headed back down to the Dollar Rent-a-Car. I was full of ammo and ready to go, but I am always nice first. I explained the situation to the lady and she took off the insurance, no problem. I thought that was good, so we kept the car. It was really more convenient that way anyway.

We drove around looking for lunch. Eventually we found a "mall," though Nephi and I couldn't agree on what to eat. He got fish tacos from a Rubio's rip off, and I got pad thai from a thai restaurant. Mine wasn't very good, but Nephi liked his.

I really wanted to go to the pool, so when we got back to the hotel we lathered ourselves in sunscreen (we are both white white white) and headed down. We took the laptop and checked all of our internet stuff. I went swimming and Nephi slept. About an hour later we headed up to the room and were lazy for the rest of the afternoon.

We made a dinner reservation at Kimo's for 7:00 pm. We asked for preferred seating (patio facing the ocean). It was really nice. Nephi and I dressed up (something we never do) and went to dinner. We ordered top sirloin and teriyaki top sirloin and split both. I REALLY liked the teriyaki sirloin. It was soooo good.

On the way to dinner we stopped by a shop to buy Nephi some $10 bug spray. He is getting eaten alive...I have no bites at all. Weird how that works sometimes.

By the time we made it back to the room I was beat. I lied down and fell asleep pretty much instantly.

Day 5: Maui Not So Wowi

We woke up early, packed our stuff, and headed to the airport. Of course there was traffic, but it didn’t make us too late.

We dropped off our car at Enterprise and rode the shuttle to the ticket counter. We checked in, went through security, and walked to our gate. When we got there we suddenly realized that we were about to get on a 6-hour flight, and perhaps eating would be a good idea. We ate breakfast at an overpriced bar right by our gate. It was fine.

Our flight was…long. I have been to Italy, so I have been on longer flights, but it was hard being in the middle of the day. My legs started to hurt and it was hard to get up and walk around. Eventually we made it.

As we started to decent into Kahului on Maui, I was confused. It was so…brown. Maybe it is because we came from super green Washington, but I found myself feeling disappointed. The ocean didn’t disappoint though. The water here is spectacular.

We picked up our bags and went to the rental car place. The experience was less than thrilling. I got talked into the insurance because the lady freaked me out that my insurance wouldn’t cover it. I called my insurance before I left and asked if they covered me on rental cars and the answer was yes. I did not, however, ask about Hawaii specifically and she convinced me it mattered. I still don’t know the answer; I will have to call my insurance guy tomorrow. Regardless…it cost me $300 (sad face). We have some type of Subaru. Nephi likes it and that is all that matters (as he is Mr. Driver).

We made a quick lunch stop at McDonald’s and then drove to Lahaina. We got a bit lost, though nothing the uber navigator (me) can’t handle. We found our hotel (the Outrigger Aina Nalu) and checked in. When we walked into the room, I instantly noticed the bed seemed a bit short. When I lied on it, my feet hung off the end. I started calling it the midget bed (completely politically incorrect, I realize). Nephi and I giggled about it, but finally figured out that it is a queen bed put up against the wall sideways. Weird, but it works. I went to open the blinds and the wand broke. Oh well.

As we got ready to leave I looked in the mirror and realized that my eyelid was pretty swollen. That seems to happen to me when I am dehydrated, and usually it isn’t just my eyelid. I looked down at my feet and ankles and sure enough…they were huge. There wasn’t a ton I could do in that moment, but I made plans to ice them and take some advil.

We headed to the pool (where there is free wifi) to check our email and such. Then we headed down to the waterfront to check out the shops. Our hotel is super close to downtown Lahaina (only 1.5 blocks)! It was great. We watched our first Hawaii sunset on the waterfront and came back to the hotel.

We made a stop at the grocery store where they had nothing I wanted (muffins, donuts, onion bagels, knives, nothing!) and got water and some breakfast stuff. Then we decided to head down to a pizza place some people told us about on the waterfront.

On the way we saw some girls taking a picture of something on the sidewalk. At first I thought it was a lizard, then I thought it was a snake. Then Nephi told me it was a centipede! AHHHHH! Seriously, it was 8 inches long. I kinda pride myself on not being super squeamish. I am not really afraid of much. I like snakes and spiders don’t bug me so much, though I wouldn’t really want either on me, but one thing I cannot stand are centipedes. Whenever I see them on television or something my whole body gets the chills and I feel sick. Well…I saw one in real life and it was horrible. It is a super good thing those girls were taking a picture because if I had happened upon that I probably would have freaked out.

Shortly there after, we made it to Gaby’s, the pizza place. We got a half cheese, half ham and tomato pizza. It was pretty good.

We walked back to our hotel, iced my ankles, and are now going to pass out from exhaustion. Night, night.

Day 4: Downtown!

Nephi and I decided that since we are on vacation we are allowed to sleep in some days. We slept in until 11:00. Actually…Nephi woke up at 10:00 and I woke up at 11:00. It felt so nice sleeping in. We spent about an hour getting ready for the day then we headed out.

First stop: lunch (or breakfast…depending on how you look at it). We had seen quite a few Qdobas, so we thought that would be good. For you Utahans, Qdoba is like Chipotle or Café Rio. Quick assembly line Mexican. In fact, it was the first assembly line Mexican place I ever ate at. I became addicted in high school and was depressed when I moved to Utah were there are none. Fast forward 4 years and Chipotle has moved into Utah, and now I prefer it. None-the-less, Qdoba is still good.

After lunch we decided to go bowling. I realize we can do that anywhere, but the truth is we don’t. We bowled two games, both of which Nephi won (as always). I have NEVER broken 100 in a game and today was no exception. I got 64 on my first game (average) and I got a 74 on my second game (pretty good). Nephi, on the other hand, got 112 on his first game and 106 on his second game. After that we played a round of pool, which Nephi also won (though only after I was generous and let him pull out the 8 ball that he accidentally put in a hole).

I finally got tired of being beaten, so we headed downtown. We had intentions of checking out the Space Needle, but after realizing we would have to pay $10 just to park 10 blocks away (not to mention the $17 a person charge to get to the top), I said forget it. Instead we drove down to the waterfront. We chose a place to park that was in-between Pike Place Market (our next stop) and Safeco Field (a stop later in our itinerary). We walked along the waterfront and found a cute little shop to stop at. They were really nice. Nephi was trying on a sweatshirt and the owner came over and started giving us discounts on everything. It was awesome. Nephi and I each got a sweatshirt and a t-shirt. Yay for clothes.

We continued on the waterfront and climbed about 1,000 stairs to get to Pike Place Market. Truthfully, for someone who hates fish…this was very unexciting. It smelled gross and because it was already after 5 pm, a lot of the venders were leaving. It was cool looking at all the fresh produce though. We even saw some fruit we had never seen before, such as golden raspberries (raspberries that are yellow!).

We decided to start heading to Safeco field. We needed to stop by the car to drop off our purchases and pick up our coats (which I am so glad we decided to pack even though we are going to Hawaii), so we descended the 1,000 stairs and headed south. As we continued walking, I started to realize what a scary place the waterfront is. There are panhandlers, and it is pretty much under a highway. I started thinking about how I definitely didn’t want to walk back down this street in the dark (which we would have to do after the game). However, by the time I realized this we were almost to the baseball field. I decided we would take an alternate route.

When we got to Safeco Field, we checked out the team store. We needed to get Nephi’s brother a gift for watching our cats and everyone in his family are huge baseball buffs. Ken Griffey Jr. ended up retiring today, so it was a pretty cool day to go to the game. There was a ton of buzz, though he didn’t play. The Mariners played the Twins. The game itself was pretty boring. No one really even got on base. Nephi and I figured out how to hook up our Nintendo DS to the MLB network and I played some games against other fans. I was kicking their trash for a while. Then I got bored and watched the game. The Mariners ended up winning 2 to 1.

By this time, Nephi and I were starving. We decided to go to The Hard Rock Café…just because it’s different. As I looked for an information booth in the stadium, a man drove by on a segway…though it wasn’t just a segway, it was a moving information booth. We got a kick out of that. We asked which bus would take us to Pike Place Market and he let us know. We met some fun people on the bus. They had gone to school at the University of Colorado in Boulder so that gave us some stuff to talk about. Dinner at Hard Rock was yummy, but overpriced (though that wasn’t unexpected).

After dinner it was time to walk back to the car. I decided we should stay on the road we were on (and not return to the waterfront) for as long as possible. We started walking, however, I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to find stairs down to the waterfront after a certain point. When we found some stairs I decided we should go down them (even though we were quite a few blocks north of where we had parked). We walked down the stairs and ended up on a VERY dead road. There was no one. Nephi found that comforting…me not so much (keep in mind that by now it is about 11 pm). I was seriously freaking out; I had 911 entered into my phone and I was keeping my finger on the call button (a bit melodramatic probably). I also had to go to the bathroom REALLY bad. We spotted a McDonald’s on the waterfront so we walked the final block west to that road. As we were walking I noticed all these lumps on the side of the road. There were probably 20 homeless people sleeping on that road. That freaked me out. We ran across the street and found refuge inside McDonald’s. We walked the final few blocks to our car and I was glad to be alive.

When we returned back to Maddy’s we decided to take a quick walk to get a picture of this ridiculous sign. It says, “Drive Carefully: Imagine the Impact You Can Make!” Under the caption it has a picture with people diving out of the way, their schoolbooks flying out of their hands. We thought that was hilarious, and had to get a picture.

Now I am lying in bed trying to get this finished as quickly as possible so I can go to sleep. Tomorrow: Hawaii!

Day 3: Hello Seattle

Nephi and I were going to go to Hoh Rainforest…but our shoes were still wet from our beach experience, so we decided to op out (hiking in flip flops really isn’t a viable option in Washington).

Instead we headed to the Dazzled by Twilight store. It was actually pretty cool. They had made the inside look like a forest and it was really fun. They had some goofy merchandise, and it was cool to look at everything and realize…even though I am in Forks, I am definitely not the biggest nerd who comes here. I decided on a pretty basic Forks t-shirt. It has the zip code on it, which I thought was pretty subtle.

We did see this shirt that had golden eyes on it and said vegetarian underneath. I really wanted to buy it for my sister, Megan, as she is a vegetarian…but I was about 99% sure that she wouldn’t wear it (she despises Twilight and its “anti-female perspective”). Anyway…it was good to go.

They had a bunch of sweatshirts, but they were $70, so we headed to the local Thriftway to buy a sweatshirt there. It was almost exactly the same, but I got it for $25 instead. That was good.

After that we started our drive back to Seattle. We made a quick stop in Port Angeles for lunch at Wendy’s. I decided that Port Angeles is the armpit of Washington. The whole place is a little gross.

From there we decided to take a different route than the one we had come by. Our new route required us to take a ferry across the sound, and I thought that would be a fun experience. We entered the town of Kinston at about 2:08. The ferry left at 2:20, and I was pretty sure we were going to miss it and have to wait for the 3:05 one. We made it just on time…I was pretty happy about that. We drove our car onto the ferry then got out to check it out. I really like being on boats…as long as I am outside. If I am inside I start to feel yucky…but for some reason being outside is fine. I really enjoyed the ride…it was fun.

Then the real fun began (this statement is fraught with sarcasm). As I am 23, it would cost me about $30 more per day to rent a car than it cost my old 26-year-old husband. Up to this point he had been doing quite well. In all honesty, Nephi isn’t a bad driver…I just hate not having control and he REALLY doesn’t listen to me. Not at all. So I have a hard time with him driving. Like I said though…it had been going really well. I wasn’t freaking out and he was driving better than usual. However, when we got to Seattle I realized why I had been okay. Before, there had been no other cars. In Seattle…there are lots of cars and I found my entire body tense for the entire drive. It really isn’t a fun experience for me, but it is probably a good thing. I need to learn to let go every once in awhile.

When we were planning this trip, we were trying to be cost effective (especially on the Seattle part). We decided that instead of staying in a hotel, we would try this website called airbnb.com. The general concept is that people rent out extra beds that they have in their house—whether it is an air bed, a sleeper sofa, a shared bedroom, or a private bedroom. We decided since it was our first time we would go with a private bedroom with an attached bathroom. We paid $30 a night instead of the $100 we would have paid for a hotel in the same area. It is a good deal, but…a new experience.

We met our host Maddy. She was very nice and accommodating…though so far, the experience is awkward. It is weird being in someone’s house. I don’t know if I should tell them when we are coming and going, or just come and go and not worry about it. The room is really nice, but the parking is a bit frightening!

We settled in and Nephi took an hour nap while I planned the night. We ended up going to a Chinese restaurant called Twins Garden. We ordered crab rangoons, seven flavor beef, and General Tso’s chicken. It was all pretty good…though not amazing. Nephi really liked it.

After that we headed to a movie. We saw How To Train Your Dragon. I really like it, but it made me miss my kitty cats. After the movie, we went next door to the cheesecake factory and got dessert. It was yummy!

Well…farewell for now!

Day 2: Proud to Be a Wet American

We had planned to get up early to go to the tide pools. I had read a little article online about some tide pools that are about a 20-minute drive away from Forks. The article said that they were the best tide pools in the Pacific Northwest and that the best time to go was in the morning, right after the tide had receded for the day. I was uber excited for the tide pools. Nephi and I went to some tide pools in San Diego and the were L-A-M-E. I was so disappointed. I wanted to see sea stars and all kinds of cool stuff and San Diego did not deliver. I hoped Washington would.

We woke up late. Of course. This is Brianne and Nephi we are talking about here. It is really hard to motivate yourself to wake up when there is nowhere you absolutely have to be.

After waking up an hour after the time that I wanted to be at the tide pools, there seemed no point in rushing. We showered and got ready for the day. Then we decided that since it was later, we better get some food. We chose a place that served breakfast and lunch so that it didn’t matter what time we got there…they would be serving something. We went to a little dive called Forks Coffee Shop. I did some quick research online and it had the best reviews in all of Forks. We got there and they were still serving breakfast, so Nephi got the logger’s special (biscuits and gravy with hashbrowns), and I asked for the picture which I could find nowhere on their menu (eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and hashbrowns). It was just standard diner fare, good but nothing special.

After finishing our brunch we headed out to Rialto Beach. Driving there, I really got to know my inner tree-hugging hippy. Her name is Brisa (or Breeze in Spanish). Brisa was heartbroken by the sweeps of land we passed that had been deforested by loggers. I mean…I know this used to be a logging town, but seeing the aftermath was depressing. Not only are you so very aware that you are supposed to be surrounded by huge, beautiful, green trees, but also you are forced to look at piles of unused wood (the branches) covered in weird plastic that the loggers left behind in their place. It was so sad to me. Yuck! I vowed to never use paper again. We’ll see how that goes for me. Brisa is resolute…but I am far too practical to vow never.

Thankfully, the state of Washington replants these areas that have been cut down. Nephi calls these areas “baby forests.” One of the baby forests we saw was planted in 2004. Right now it looks like a big field filled with perfect Christmas trees (of course that defeats the purpose). While they are kinda cool looking…Brisa remained depressed that she was missing out on the BIG trees—with soul and wisdom—that were supposed to be there. We also saw a not-so-baby forest that was planted in 1984. I called this bit of forest Nephi’s forest…since that is the year Nephi was born. These trees were starting to really get big and in probably 20 more years will look like the originals. I am glad that the state replants…but they should be aware that it definitely isn’t as cool as if they just left it be. It also got me thinking…how exactly do they replant these forests. Surely they don’t just walk around flinging seeds everywhere. But surely they don’t dig a hole for each of those trees…that would take an eternity. I would like to know how they do it.

Eventually we made it to Rialto Beach. Rialto Beach itself is pretty cool. Instead of sand the ground is covered in trillions of perfectly smooth stones of all colors. All over the beach lie trees that the ocean pitilessly took out. Looking out toward the great expanse of water, there are some cool islands that tower, with cliffs and trees. It is way cool.

The lady who wrote the article on the internet said that the tide pools were an easy 30 minute walk north along the beach…so we started walking. The lady on the internet is a liar. First…the walk is not easy. Yes there is no incline, but all the while you are sinking into the rocks, or the sand, or a strange mixture of the two. You are also on a slight slope and so my ankles kept bending all wonky. It was no fun…but it wasn’t the end of the word and I really wanted to see those tide pools. Then…it happened. We realized the internet lady was an even bigger liar! We had to cross a river—yes a river (and not a little Colorado river either with rocks and stuff)—in order to get to the tide pools. We surveyed the area and determined that there was no way to cross at the beach. We started walking up the river inland and eventually found a couple perching by a section of river that was covered in logs. I asked, “Did you cross here?” The man answered, “Well I did, but then I turned around and had to cross back.” I responded, “Did you get wet?” “No…I didn’t, but she did!” I look to the woman as she wrung out a sock. I said, “Was it very hard?” He said, “No…it just depends on your confidence level because those logs are slippery.” I thought that was a little thoughtless considering his wife had clearly fallen in…like he thought she didn’t have enough confidence, but Nephi and I just sorta giggled, thanked them, and decided to go for it. We crossed on the logs no problem.

When we got on the other side we continued trekking. After about five more minutes we saw something amazing! Flying high above us…wings expanded…it was a bald eagle! We watched it fly around and then it found a tree to perch in. It clearly had a power trip as it chose the very highest branch of the very highest tree. It was cool to see it flying, then to see it perch, and then to see it ruffle its wings and kinda groom itself. I never in my life thought I would see a bald eagle in the wild. It was so cool! I am now a true American. The people walking by us must not have been American because they looked up at what we were looking at and kept on walking. I guess they just didn’t understand how special it was to see a bald eagle so close like that. It was pretty amazing.

After watching it for a couple of minutes we continued our adventure to the tide pools. The whole hike there we saw throngs of people walking the other way so we thought it would be busy, but when we got there…it wasn’t. In fact, we were really the only ones there. It was really cool. I think people had gone early to avoid the high tide, which we started to encounter…but not before seeing…SEA STARS! I was pretty excited. The tide pools themselves weren’t all that amazing, but I was pretty excited I got to see some sea stars. Nephi and I climbed around on the rocks for a bit and took some pictures. I got wet in pursuit of a picture of a sea star, but I decided it was worth it.

We started walking back to where we had parked our car. After we had re-crossed the river, we saw something that didn’t quite look terrestrial. It honestly looked like a white squid mixed with some sort of crab. As we got closer we realized it was a bird. The bird was on its back and clearly in duress. I don’t do so good with that kinda stuff…so we tried to help. We flipped the bird so that it was right way up…but it still seemed to be struggling. I didn’t want it to drown so we used my coat to pick it up and take it further away from the water. I hope it is okay…but it probably froze to death to be honest.

When we finally made it back to Rialto Beach we decided to take a couple of pictures. Nephi wanted to get some pictures of the big waves, so he started doing that. Then I realized that the wave he was taking a picture of really was big…really big. I screamed, “Run Nephi!” but it was too late. We totally got clobbered. We were completely wet…but honestly it didn’t matter. We were already completely wet. Why you ask? No we didn’t go in the water. We were completely wet, soaked head to toe because of the rain. Yes…in Washington, when you go to the beach, be prepared to get soaked whether you get in the water or not.

All together…our trip to the tide pools (not including driving time) took 3 hours. According to internet lady it should have taken about 1.5 hours…so we are that much more convinced of what a big, fat liar she is.

We drove right back to our hotel to dry off. From there we showered for a second time and decided to wash some of the clothes that had gotten so wet (and my coat…since it touched the bird).

We decided to drive to First Beach in La Push just to check it out. It wasn’t really any different from Rialto Beach so that was kinda boring, but I got a picture on the treaty line…which is just totally nerdy of me, but I am okay with that. We all know what side of the treaty line I would be on. ;)

We ate dinner at this little place called The In Place. It was okay. I got chicken fingers (what else?) and Nephi got a TBLT (turkey, bacon, lettuce, and tomato). He said it was really good…but he is pretty easy to please with a sandwich. After dinner we continued our laundry and spent the evening reading. Unfortunately the internet at the hotel is broken right now so I am typing this on Word. Hopefully I will get to post this early tomorrow so you all get to read it!

Day 1: Grocery Store Hoppin'

Today was the first day of our 2.5 week vacation!

The cats gave us a sweet send-off. They all came out and begged for attention. I am going to miss them!

We flew out of Salt Lake City on Southwest. We were high up in A so we were in the front row of the airplane. This was a first for me. Did you know that there is nowhere to put your carry-on luggage when you sit in the front? It should have been obvious, but I guess I missed the obvious. Not that it was a big deal, just a minor inconvenience. Other than that, our flight was pretty uneventful.

After arriving in Seattle, we headed to Enterprise to pick up our rental car. They were out...so she had to hunt one down for us. We ended up with a Ford Focus.

As we headed out of the lot we spotted a Jack-in-the-Box (Nephi's favorite!), so we stopped in for lunch. You wouldn't think lunch at your local fast food joint would be eventful...unless you know The Hepworths. Many of you know that Nephi has a small choking problem. The first night of our honeymoon he choked on duck and a waiter had to give him the Heimlich maneuver (no lie). Anyway...stuff gets caught in his throat pretty easy and he had an episode at lunch. I got to watch him choke so hard, he threw up. Fun... I think I must have this effect on people as my friend Kim's baby often coughs so hard he vomits in my presence. Weird.

Anyway, after that fun lunch we headed on an excursion to find a grocery store. It was not easy, but eventually we found a Target. Grocery store visit #1. We got water, Cheez-its, Kudos, batteries, and Q-tips.

After that we were on our way to Forks! After about 30 minutes I realized I forgot to buy Dramamine. Grocery store visit #2. We stopped at another grocery store and bought Dramamine and Advil (just in case).

Washington is SOOOOOO beautiful! There are trees everywhere and it is SOOOOO green! I LOVE it. Something weird is that you will be driving along and it feels like you are in the middle of nowhere and then you will see some huge superstore along the highway and you realize that you are in the middle of a developed suburban area...you just can't see it. It is weird.

At one point we passed a sign that said, "24 hour lights!" Nephi and I had a hard time figuring out how the headlights worked. Eventually we gave up (though I am pretty sure we drove with the brights on...oops).

Along the way to Forks we stopped at Lake Crescent. The lake was created by a glacier and has a very little nitrogen level. The low nitrogen level makes it so that no algae can grow in it so it is so clear! It also is really deep (as much as 600 feet in some places). We checked out the very clear, blue-green lake and then took a hike up to Marymere Falls (a waterfall that drops 90 ft.) The hike was pretty awesome. Lots of cool trees...and the ground is covered in a carpet of green moss and ferns. Nephi and I took lots of pictures!

After our hike, we figured out all the ins and outs of the headlights on our Ford Focus, and we finished the drive to Forks. We checked into our hotel where we met a very talkative (but very friendly) manager. After asking him if there were any restaurants to avoid, he proceeded to talk (tangent from tangent) for about 5 minutes. Then he realized he was rambling and talked about how in Airplane someone starts a conversation and then hangs himself. Anyway...it didn't make much sense, but he was funny.

We stopped at the local pizza place for dinner. It was pricey, but tasted pretty good. It was an experience for sure. When I asked the woman working there if they had free refills she said, "Um....sure...I guess." I was like, "It's okay if you don't, I just need to know." She responded with, "Well one boss says yes, and the other says no...so sure." Um...ok. Haha. I thought it was weird. They were way busy and not very professional. We were surrounded by people who didn't speak English (there was an Indian family, an Eastern European family, and an Asian family).

After that we decided that the day wouldn't be complete without one final trip to a grocery store. Grocery store visit #3. We purchased shampoo and soda. You would think we had everything you needed, but after arriving at our hotel, I realized I needed toe-nail clippers. Oh well.

Well...that was the first day. Very eventful, but not entirely exciting. Unfortunately, I forgot the cord I need to upload pictures. Maybe at some point I'll break down and buy one, so that you can see some pictures BEFORE I get home. Miss you all!

Childhood Dreams

This evening, in an attempt to distract myself from the loneliness I feel when Nephi goes to work, I watched some movies. Not an altogether rare occurrence for me. In fact, that is what I usually do. First I started with the movie Amazing Grace. I have this slight obsession with period pieces, and I have heard many people talk about how good this movie is, so I gave it a viewing. It wasn't that good. Not bad, just...not good.

After Amazing Grace I was feeling up to a romantic comedy. Nephi rented It's Complicated, but he also expressed a desire to watch it, so I decided to go ahead and wait for him. I put in The Holiday instead (a personal favorite). As always, it was good.

After that was over, I only had about an hour and a half before Nephi got home so I went straight to the animated section. The Little Mermaid popped out to me, so I put it in. In the opening sequence when the fish escapes from the boat and swims deep into the ocean and we get to see a bunch of merpeople swimming to Atlantis, I got tingles in my tummy. It made me think about how when I was a kid I would watch this movie over and over and I wanted to be a mermaid SO bad. I even remember having this very involved dream when I was about 7 where I became a mermaid. I remember when I woke up, I was devastated and quickly tried to fall back asleep to continue the dream. Remembering this childhood desire, I realized...I still want to be a mermaid.

A few years ago while Nephi and I were walking on a pier in San Francisco I remember telling him, "I should probably be embarrassed by the fact that I am 21 years old, and my greatest desire is to be a mermaid, but...I'm not." And it is the truth. I feel this desire nearly anytime I go swimming (though the desire is stronger when I go swimming in the ocean). Whenever I am in water, I feel like I belong there. Like I was made to swim...not walk. I LOVE water and it makes me so happy to play around in it. As a kid I would swim every day, all day throughout the summer. As I got older, I stopped spending my summers by the pool (who knows why really). This summer I fully intend on living at the pool. I am also going to Hawaii and look forward to those really happy feelings that being in the ocean gives me.

After thinking about this childhood dream, I started thinking about others. When I was a child, I really wanted to be a professional singer. I love music almost as much as I love water, and I have always loved to sing. Growing up my parents encouraged it highly and complimented me often. All throughout school I participated in choir and musicals. After high school I took a year and a half off from school so I had no opportunities to sing. Then once I got to college, I just didn't put forth any effort to get involved in that stuff. It is something I regret because while I can obviously still sing, I have sorta lost a lot of the skills I used to have. I also realized as an adult that I was not nearly as good at singing as I always thought growing up. Even though I will obviously never be a professional singer (nor do I want to be any longer), I really want to start participating in church choir so that I can redevelop those skills.

Finally, as a kid I really wanted to get married and have a huge family (a fairly realistic dream for one with such an active imagination). I dreamed of having a husband who would love me more than anything else and we would be together forever. My parents were divorced and that was something I promised myself I would never do if I could avoid it. Now that I am grown up, I have accomplished part of this dream. I have a wonderful husband who I have been married to for 5 years! It seems crazy to me that I should be lucky enough to find someone who loves me so early in life. Of course, the other part of my dream is a work in progress. I still want a relatively large family (though I don't want the 12 children I originally wanted), and it is something that I really ache for. When I first got married I only wanted babies. Now I see teenagers with their parents and it makes me want my own. It has really gotten pathetic. Anyway...hopefully within the next couple of years the second part of this dream will be well on its way.

I know this is a kinda random post, but as I started thinking about my childhood dreams, I realized not much has changed. I still want to be a mermaid, though now I have a firmer grasp of how impossible this is. Instead I am going to try and be better about going to the pool and swimming. Not only does it make me so happy, but it is also a good way to exercise so why not take advantage of this? I still really love music and to sing, so why not work on developing my skills and talents in that area? While I may not want 12 children, I still want to be surrounded by the love of my husband and future children. Why not do better at developing and showing that love TO my husband?

Sometimes we think about how silly children are with their imaginations and their out of this world dreams, but are they really? I hope I never forget the dreams I had when I was a kid as they reveal a lot of truths about who I am today. So...what was YOUR childhood dream?

News to Me

So I pretty much read the news all the time. I would say that I check news websites every couple of hours on average. Obviously I am very up on what is going on at any given time. I read about my local community at www.ksl.com, I read about national, worldwide, and entertainment news at www.comcast.net, and I read about movie news at www.rottentomatoes.com.

I am not sure when this compulsion started, but it is definitely something I have a hard time controlling. The idea of being away from the internet, and thus news, for any given amount of time freaks me out a bit. I like knowing what is going on.

I bring this up because as of late I have started noticing how much certain news stories get to me. Sometimes they cause me to have positive feelings and sometimes they have the opposite effect. Either way...some news stories leave me thinking for days to come.

Take this one for example: http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=10247472

The above link is an article about how Utah needs more permanent foster homes for teenagers. After reading this article I started thinking about whether I would ever be willing to open my home to a complete stranger. I thought about how if something happened to me and all of my family, I would want someone to take care of my theoretical children. I have thought about fostering kids a lot, as Utah also likes to advertise the importance of the concept through billboards.

Anyway, I really started thinking about the idea and I got all hot on it. Like...I want to foster a teenager. Obviously I started really thinking about the logistics. Would a teenager be more expensive than a baby? Yes. Would a teenager take more time than a baby? Maybe, maybe not. Would a teenager be more emotionally exhausting? Definitely. Am I even old and mature enough to deal with the issues that present themselves with a teenager? I honestly have no clue. I still haven't really come to any hard and fast conclusions on whether or not having a teenager would be that much bigger of an adjustment than having a baby.

Obviously I don't have room, money, or time for a teenager right now, but I think that once Nephi and I are both out of school it is something I really want to do. I don't know if I'll ever convince Nephi, but I can only imagine the importance of the impact that would have on a person's life. The part of the article that touched me the most was when they talked about the family who still keeps in contact with their foster child even though they are out of the house. I can only hoped to be so blessed to add someone else into my family. I don't know...maybe I'm idealistic.

Another news story that I can't seem to get out of my head is from today: http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20100405/US.Mine.Explosion/

I haven't read this article word for word or anything, but the headline pretty much does it for me. Apparently there was an explosion in a mine in West Virginia and 25 people died. I totally understand that more than 25 people die all the time, but something about this really depresses me. As I tried to go to bed tonight I found that I couldn't sleep. I couldn't get the image of a woman crying in her bed knowing her husband will never come home out of my head. I guess I feel strangely responsible that I live a life that requires that we send people under the earth to mine coal. It feels so primitive. In fact, when you think about it...mining is something that my subconscious thinks doesn't exist anymore. Obviously I know better (as my mother works for a gold mining company), but it still feels so far removed from my life.

Reading the news usually makes me want to be a better person...which is a good thing since it could easily have a different effect. I could just as easily feel like the world is a sad and hopeless place after reading the news, but I really never feel that way. I just feel like I want to do what I can to be better. I want to foster a teenager and change a life. I want to be grateful that I have grown up in a manner that provides me with a surety that my husband will not be forever lost underground. How blessed I am and I am glad that the news puts that into perspective for me.

Speaking of being blessed, I saw a trailer for Oceans today. I should preface this sub-topic by saying that I really don't enjoy nature shows. I was just telling my husband the other day how horrible I feel watching them. I realized this after having to watch 20 minutes of Planet Earth or Blue Planet or something during flex-time at school. The "episode" had wolves and good old Sigourney Weaver explained that the wolves were starving after a long winter. Instantly I was like, "Awww...poor wolves!" Of course, soon the wolves come across a herd of caribou. "Oh no!" I exclaim. As I watch a poor baby caribou get separated from its mother and then tackled by the wolf, my heart seriously aches and I feel sick. I don't feel any animosity towards the wolf...just sadness for the caribou. Anyway, I feel like it is a lose-lose situation. Either the caribou gets caught and dies, or the wolf starves. I really don't do well with animal deaths in any manner. Anyway...it is because of this constant stress and heartache that I can't watch nature shows. However, as I watched the trailer for Oceans (completely death free), I realized how truly amazing this world is. It has so much variety, color, and beauty. How can anyone live on it and not believe in Heavenly Father (not a diss to those people...I just don't get it). This world is stunning and we are so very lucky to live here.

P.S. If you haven't noticed...the first one or two songs in my playlist match the most recent blog post. This time it is the first two. :)

P.P.S. Please ignore any misuses of effect/affect. I have NEVER figured that one out.

Priorities

Well...I don't really feel like I have a ton to say, but I have a goal to write at least two posts per month and since it is the last day of the month and I only have one for March, I figured I better update.

It is job search time and I have to be honest, the stress is getting to me. It is such a crazy time to be searching for a job (especially for teachers) and I hate that it is a necessity. The people I express this to all tell me not to worry and that it will work out and even if it doesn't I'll find SOME job somewhere. Well the truth of the matter is...I don't want some job. After teaching for a year I cannot imagine myself doing anything else. I love it so much, which is something that I have never really found in a job. Searching for a job is so important, but I have a really hard time motivating myself to spend time doing it. I keep just hoping that positions will be available at the school I'm at now. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I have a lot of things to look forward to in the next few months. First, Nephi and I will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary in three weeks. It seems insane to me that I have been married for 5 years. Wow. Seriously. I love Nephi dearly and I definitely got very lucky. 5 years is also a small milestone because before we got married we made a goal to wait at least 5 years before we had a baby. No one really thought we would make it (ourselves included sometimes), and while sometimes I want a baby so bad, I am really glad that Nephi and I have had so much time alone together. I am also grateful that I will have my degree by the time we have a baby, because I know that if I was still in school I would really struggle going back.

The day after our anniversary...I graduate! Yay! I am so excited. I have worked long and hard to get to this point and I am really proud of myself. School isn't really my favorite thing in the world, but I stuck it out and I did really well. I go to a top 100 school and managed to get a 3.8 GPA. Not bad.

From there, I have only one month before I will be finished with my first year of teaching. While I am really excited to be done with this year, because of the accomplishment and the following summer months of free time (my first in 4 years), it is a bit bittersweet. When I think about not seeing my kids anymore it makes me sad. Sometimes they drive me crazy, but I hate being away from them for even one day. I honestly don't know how I'll keep it together the last day.

3 days after the last day of school, Nephi and I leave on vacation. We are going to Seattle for 3 days and Hawaii for 14 days. We had free tickets on Southwest so I just found the cheapest place to fly to Hawaii from and it happened to be Seattle (somewhere I have never been). I decided that since we would be flying there anyway, we might as well spend some time there. We are going to spend a day and a half in Forks. I know it sounds lame, and while I do enjoy Twilight, I am mostly excited to see the green forests. I have never been in a forest like that before so that will be cool. I am also really psyched to go to the tide pools. I went to some tide pools in San Diego and they were lame. I am hoping these aren't...and from what I've read I have high hopes. Then we will spend two days in the actual city of Seattle. We decided to try this site called airbnb.com instead of staying in a hotel. It is this concept where people rent beds in their house. They range from air beds to sofa beds to shared bedrooms to private bedrooms. We found this nice couple who rent their extra room (private) with attached bath for $30 per night (about $70 cheaper than a hotel). I am excited to try this out and see how it works...Nephi is worried.

From Seattle we fly to Maui where we will spend 7 days. We plan on snorkeling, zip lining, hiking, and, of course, lying on the beach. From Maui we spend 3 days on Hawaii (the big island) where we will go to the Volcanos National Park and an observatory. Finally we will be on Oahu for 4 days. There we plan on taking a surfing lesson, going to the luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center, and hiking. Needless to say, I am beyond thrilled. I have always wanted to go to Hawaii and I am excited for the adventure.

A couple weeks after that, Twilight Eclipse comes out. I am pretty excited about that. I have always been someone who likes what I likes and could care less what others think...but that doesn't mean I'm not aware of what others think. I know that people think Twilight is silly, but I do really enjoy it. In fact, I just reread the whole series...in 5 days (this last Thursday-Monday). Yes that is right...I read about 2,445 pages in just 5 days. I know that probably isn't healthy, but I just can't help it. As much as people diss Stephenie Meyer, I just cannot put her books down. In fact, I was so sucked in that once I was finished with Breaking Dawn, I reread The Host. That one took me two days and it is only 619 pages, but I had work and such. This brings up my post title, "priorities." When I start reading...I have no priorities. All I want to do is read. I put off sleeping, eating, and everything else so that I can just keep reading. It is something I really need to work on because it is due to this fact that I don't start reading as often as I would like. I only start reading a book if I know I have time to finish it the the following couple of days. It would be good if I could just read a little bit everyday. Then I could read whatever I want, whenever I want.

This brings me to my final point. I hope to read a lot during the summer. I plan on reading the Fablehaven series, Water for Elephants, Wuthering Heights, and Jane Eyre. Hopefully I will read more than just those, but those are my musts for the summer.

Well...that was a bunch of random mumblings about why I am so excited for the next few months of my life. :)

Remember

****Spoiler for Remember Me****

Today Nephi and I saw Remember Me. We all know that I love Robert Pattinson (Nephi is fully aware of this and accepts it), so that is why I ventured a viewing. Honestly, I would have been willing to wait until DVD, however, many critics were frustrated by the ending and since I check up on both Eclipse and Robert Pattinson news often, I kept running into possible spoilers. I decided I had to see it before it was ruined.

Though the original purpose was to simply enjoy a couple hours of eye-candy, I actually did like the movie quite a bit. I wouldn't give it a perfect 10, but the characters were likable and fully developed (something that the last few movies I saw in the theater lacked, such as When in Rome, Percy Jackson, and Alice and Wonderland), and the story kept me interested and involved (also important).

Those of you who know me, know I watch movies ALL the time. I love going to movies, but even when I can't, I see almost every movie when it comes to DVD (just about the only perk of having a husband who works at Blockbuster). So, why mention this one on my blog? Well...because even though I wouldn't give it a 10 or anything, it really touched me in a way I wasn't expecting.

The movie begins with the main girl, Ally's, mother being shot and killed by two men on a subway platform in Brooklyn. Ally, only 11, watches as the men rob then kill her mother. It's a scenario that many movies include...yet it feels different. "Ten years later," we are introduced to Tyler as he rushes to a cemetery to meet his family. It is unclear why he is there at first, but throughout the movie you learn that Tyler's older brother, Michael, hanged himself a few years earlier. Both of these events are subtle and seem to simply set up the bigger story, but it is because of these events that I find meaning and purpose in the story.

This movie is clearly about loss. It is set up to make you think it is about love, but it really isn't in my opinion. Both Ally and Tyler had people in their lives who were there for them in one moment, and in the next they were gone. Of course the two meet each other and fall in love, but that is not really the point (as the ending so clearly illustrates).

In the end, Tyler goes to his father's office. His father, in an attempt to be a better father (something that he has sucked at through a majority of the movie), is escorting Tyler's little sister to school and thus is running late. Through a series of shots, you quickly realize that the day is September 11th and Tyler is in the World Trade Center. You know Tyler is going to die, yet you are forced to watch the lives of those around him in that moment: his little sister in school, his father riding to work, his mother on a walk, Ally in the kitchen making French Toast for when Tyler returns. Life going on as always not knowing that within a few minutes, everything will be different because Tyler won't be there anymore. It hurts to watch as each of these characters realize what has just happened--another loss.

It seems a strange coincidence to watch this movie on the eve of the 9th anniversary of my father's death, but life can be funny that way. I wonder if I would have been as reflective otherwise. This movie really hit me in the gut because in truth...it is the thing I am most terrified of. While it has been 9 years since my father died, I have not completely recovered. I still really struggle with the idea of someone being there with you one moment, listening to music in the car, going to the grocery store, enjoying dinner, and the next moment they are on the floor and the whole world seems to be spinning out of control. I am so terrified of the people I love dying. I honestly can't ever even let my mind wander that way for a moment or I find myself having a slight anxiety attack.

In the end of the movie, we see how each character's life is better because Tyler was a part of it. Sometimes we lose people, but they never really leave us. We are different because they were there. I think that I need to remember that a bit more than I do. Life goes on and we remember, and that is important.

Skinny Love...

I am someone who dreams almost every night. While I wouldn't call myself a dream analyzer and I most certainly don't own a dream dictionary or anything, I tend to believe that dreams reveal important things about ourselves and our subconscious thoughts.

For example, growing up I would often have dreams about going to school naked. As a child, I also happened to never do my homework and often stressed about the next day at school. To this day when I have a dream where I show up in public naked, I know that I am subconsciously stressing about being unprepared for something.

For the last few years I have really wanted to lose weight. I am very picky and undisciplined, and I really struggle to eat healthy things. I also find that I am very busy and lack the time required to properly prepare low calorie meals and exercise.

This desire to lose weight has been in the forefront of my mind, especially in the past few months as I start to consider becoming pregnant. While that is awhile off, I really want to be at an ideal weight when I become pregnant so that I can be healthier for my baby. Still, I haven't been able to motivate myself.

Last week I tried putting together a collage of pictures that would help motivate me to eat healthier. You know, a collage of pictures that show good looking men and beautiful women that I could tape in my car and on the refrigerator (I got the idea from a young adult novel called The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things). I gave up because I couldn't find any girls I wanted to look like (they were either too skinny or too different looking from myself). I just couldn't visualize myself the way I wanted to look. I just knew I wanted to be skinnier.

Well, last night I had a dream. As in most dreams, the logistics don't entirely make sense, but in my dream I was looking myself as I looked when I got married. I was in a bathing suit and dark jeans and I was so skinny. I was skinnier than I have ever been (though not sickly). I woke up feeling inspired that I should look like that in real life. Being able to see me, myself at an ideal weight helped me to decide to go on a diet and to exercise everyday.

Today I spent a good deal of time on the internet looking up the nutritional facts of a lot of the things I eat and I have become convinced it is impossible to eat healthy without a lot of preparation (mostly because it is impossible to eat out and eat healthy). As a picky eater, this becomes very difficult for me (as I detest most fruits and veggies, and I hate-hate-hate left overs). I decided that I have to just buck up and get over it. Eating isn't for enjoyment...it is for energy.

Why do I tell you this? Well...I guess for support. I would love any suggestions you have and if you are someone that I hang out with, maybe you could help me stick with it.