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Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacation. Show all posts

Monday, February 27, 2012

Back from Hawaii!

Gosh - Maui was nice and relaxing!  On our weeklong trip, we:

  • went kayaking and saw humpback whales (one time, they were as close as  25 yards away!)
  • snorkeled and saw some sea turtles
  • got salt water in our snorkels when we tried to backfloat (just kidding - that was only me!!!)
  • went hiking in a jungle and learned what jungle plants we could and shouldn't eat
  • took a sunset sail on a catamaran
  • whale watched from a pretty fast raft-boat
  • relaxed on the beach
  • played in the sand
  • walked along the shore
  • tried to "catch a wave" on a body board
  • enjoyed a luau with great food and lots of hula-ing
  • saw lots of aquatic life in an aquarium
There are PLENTY of pictures to come, mostly of flowers. I didn't want my camera to get wet!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Knowledge is power and flowers are pretty!

The theme for 'Prompt Me' this week is school, which is appropriate for me since I went back to classes this week.
It's been an interesting few days of school so far, which has included a few, erm, snags...along the way.
  • I drive to campus, and haven't quite figured my way around yet. But I have managed to find decent parking. If I got to campus a whole lot later, though, I'm thinking the spots would be filled up.
  • My classes are tiny compared to what I'm accustomed to: 7 others in one class and 20-30 in the other.
  • Long story, here: not necessarily that interesting!! {You've been warned!!} SO, this weekend we stocked up on what was left in the water aisle at the grocery store. I'm not a huge fan of drinking bottled water, so I've been trying to drink them to get rid of them faster.  Between classes I figured it would be nice to eat lunch outside and study. I om-nom-nommed on my apples and green soup, and, lo and bohold, I BECAME THIRSTY. Silly me, I reached for the water in my bag, twisting the lid to open it and... IT FIZZED ALL OVER. All over what? It fizzed all over the bench I was sitting on. My super expensive textbook. My shirt. My pants. AWESOME- I did not know it was carbonated/sparkling water, and was not overjoyed by the minor explosion. Luckily, the bottle of water was not pointed at my face, which I later read on the bottle that it should be opened away from one's face. **plays the "The More You Know" sound** \endstory
  • After the water bottle incident and drying out, I tried to look for a new area to sit which didn't involve so many wasps and bees flying around. I headed for a library nearby, and opened the first door. Then I opened a second door.....aaaaaaand, I'm pretty sure I set some sort of alarm off with lots of flashing lights and sirens. So I didn't wait around to figure it out, and just decided to go back the way I came from. Awesome story, right? That is where the Urkel soundclip (below) comes in.
  • Did I do that?
  • Unlike every other physics class I (or the Mr.) have ever been in, we do not get to use formula sheets on quizzes or exams. Calculators probably aren't allowed, either, I bet. Maybe we'll be each be granted an abacus for the second test if we all do really poorly on the first test. har har har.
  • My drive back from school was alarmingly fast. I'm hoping I wasn't evading the law in some awesome high-speed chase that I wasn't aware of, but it concerned me based on the way the earlier part of my day had gone.
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Switching gears away from school, the theme for 'Picture Perfect' this week is plants!
I took this pic in my sister's yard (hey, em!!) when she was explaining my camera settings to me. I really haven't messed around with much on my camera and so she was helping me learn about the 99% the camera's features that I've been neglecting to use. I think this was my favorite picture of this plant, and I used the 'vibrant' setting.

This picture was taken while visiting the sister's local free zoo + conservatory. I like her picture a whole lot better here since you can see reflections, shadows, depth etc. way better. My camera didn't do too bad of a job fwiw, but I can definitely see the role that camera quality plays in making a nice composition. 

Another pretty flower in the conservatory. :)

 and then, she {snapped} Click It Up A Notch

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Back from Vacation

Phew! It's been quite the busy past 10 days...We had a great trip visiting family and friends in the Midwest. We did a fair amount of shopping and ended up bringing an extra carry-on bag back with us!

The actual flights back east went smoothly and we were quite thankful nothing was cancelled due to Hurricane Irene. Right after we got back to the apartment last night, we headed out to the grocery store to stock up on water and other food. There was no regular or plain water left on the shelves, so we settled for some flavored stuff. We haven't lost any power yet (fingers crossed!) and the plumbing still seems to be working just fine.

So, for today, we will be inside.  Hopefully I can keep updated with the weather online.

Here is a link to the National Hurricane Center with storm tracking.

I hope everyone is staying safe!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Gone last week, gone next week, and apple swans

Instead of a regular blog post, here is a cloud of words that I made using Wordle. Seems like summer is going so fast that I can barely think enough to make a coherent blog post! 
We had family visiting last week, so that's why I've been away from the net for so long. Aaaaand, I'll be gone for awhile on vacation to see more family this next week. School starts right when I get back, so I hope I'm ready!

HONK HONK- I made a swan out of an apple!  Sadly, I do not yet know how to make an apple out of a swan. That might take a little more gene splicing and a lot less fruit slicing. Ha ha ha.

I followed this video on how to make a swan out of an apple. Not really sure how I came across this video.

Isn't it pretty? It will be tasty!