Saturday, April 30, 2011

island hopping

First off, I'm sorry I've been absent from the blog world for the past week.
It has been such a hectic week for both me and the hubby. I barely found time to sleep, let alone blog.
But, I'm back, and hopefully the next few weeks won't be quite as crazy.

Today has been an awesome day. 
It started out with a wonderful workout with my favorite exercise group class.
Then, my darling friend Erika and I hiked out to an adorable little island about a quarter mile off the beach.


The water is pretty shallow all the way out there. Sometimes it's only calf-deep while other times it's chest-deep.  It was my second time going out there and Erika's first time. 
Meet Erika guys. She is basically my best friend.


She's leaving Hawaii for good in a couple weeks though (so sad).
So we've been trying to have a few adventures together. 
We had such a good time exploring this tiny little island today. 
It was absolutely beautiful.
I was terrified to bring my nice camera, so I brought my little point-and-shoot camera all wrapped up in zip-lock bags to protect it from our hike through the water.
I managed to get a few lovely shots though.








Tonight, I'm having a get-together with all my co-workers that 
should be tons of fun, so check back for those pictures soon!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Sunday, April 24, 2011

happy easter

Happy Easter everyone!
I had an egg-dying extravaganza yesterday.
I'll be sure and put up some lovely pictures of that tomorrow. 
For now, enjoy some easter deliciousness. 
Did I mention that my favorite part of every holiday dinner is dessert? 
What's not to love?

And see those beautiful (not yet decorated) eggs down there at the bottom?
It was the first time I ever made hard boiled eggs.
I would say it was quite the success. Too bad my husband hates them.




Friday, April 22, 2011

a good cause and high school poetry

There are so many amazing organizations in the world.
I am constantly so impressed with people's genuine desire to do good. 
And yet there is still so much sadness, corruption, and heartache in the world.  
Do you ever hear of an organization that immediately tugs at your heart strings?

Well, there is one organization that I feel really strongly that I need to share with you all today.
Perhaps you've heard of it. It's called Invisible Children. 
They are doing something called the 25 Campaign.  
They are trying to collect $25 dollars from as many people as possible. 
And when you read about all the good they can do and that NEEDS to be done, $25 suddenly doesn't seem like that much money anymore. 

Here is the trailer to the documentary that was made some years ago.
But if you're really interested, you can find more information on their website, here.


And for your enjoyment, some poetry I wrote back in high school (that maybe relates to changing the world. Maybe)....


Power—
                Words can have such power.
                Or hardly any effect.
We stress over the right ones. 
And think little of the vulgar ones. 
And isn’t it a little funny
                The way we spurt off obscenities
                                As if we are young children,
                                                Merely reciting the alphabet.
                And the way we talk ourselves
                                Out of saying how we really feel.
With each sunrise,
                Someone wakes and dreams of changing the world.
So why is it that we allow our dreams to become so inanimate?
                Instead of taking action we grumble about another day.
We are only humans though.
And humans are merely another species,
                With greater technology. 
So where does the greatness come from? 
Words unearth it.  Bringing dreams into reality. 
For perhaps we cannot change the world. 
But our words can change the world. 
Why don’t we use them more then? 
                I’m not speaking of the vulgar, meaningless ones,
                For they mean nothing
Where are the powerful words?  The ones that can make a difference?
They are not heard because they are not said—
                No, no, they are not said near enough.
So speak up, speak up with power.  
Words are all we have.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

new classes and exciting news

I started my first day of classes for Spring Term on Monday.  Let's just say that this is going to be a very very busy term.  I've got 8 hours of classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays! I've also got class Mondays and Wednesdays. Thankfully not near as long however.  Every Tuesday I'm required to turn in 15 single-space pages worth of papers.  15 EVERY week! SINGLE space! Here are 5 of the 7 books that I will be reading every word of in the next 6 weeks.  Quite a bit huh? Yeah, my thoughts as well.


BUT, after this term is over, the hubby and I are flying home for about 3 weeks! 
And the best part? We don't have to pay a dime for it! How you ask? Well let me tell you.
Both of us are actually traveling to Washington D.C. to present at a national conference (APS-Association for Psychological Sciences) at the end of May. There's about 10 of us going from the school.  Annnnnd, since my family just so happens to live 10 or so miles from the conference, Beau and I decided to extend our stay by a few weeks.  I met with the school's travel office to discuss the ticket change. Well, it just so happened that our new tickets cost LESS than the original tickets would have been, meaning we didn't have to pay any differences and we get a lovely vacation out of it. I am beyond excited! 

After the conference we will spend some time in Northern Virginia with my family.  We will then head to Virginia Beach for a weekend with my grandparents.  From there we will be heading to North Carolina for an extended-family vacation with Beau's family.  They are actually from Georgia, but their big family vacation in North Carolina happened to line up perfectly with our own travels. We haven't been home since the very beginning of July, shortly after our wedding, so it will be especially nice to have this little time at home.

Also, I'm thinking about having some guest posts while I'm gone. I'm not completely sure what the topics will be yet, but if you're interested (which I hope you are!), shoot me an email and let me know!
Candaceshep22@gmail.com

Sorry for the word overload guys.  
Happy Wednesday!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

breakfast pizza



I found this recipe awhile ago and finally found the time to make it!
I made a few variations from the original recipe.
Hope you enjoy!
  1. Make one pizza crust. You can use a pre-made crust, handmake one, or make a bisquick dough like I did (2 cups bisquick, 1/2 cup water).
  2. Cook the bacon (I made 4 slices in the microwave). Chop up into pieces 
  3. Roll out the dough onto a pizza pan.
  4. Top with parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.
  5. Sprinkle bacon pieces over top of pizza
  6. Sprinkle spinach pieces over top of pizza (I used frozen spinach)
  7. Crack eggs (I used 4) over top of the pizza.
  8. Place pizza in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes.  Leave pizza in oven until edges of crust are golden and the top of the egg yolks are covered over slightly.  
  9. Once pizza is taken out, feel free to add any fresh herbs you like.  
  10. Let pizza stand for 2 minutes.  Slice and serve immediately.
  11. Enjoy!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

saturday out on the town

Last night the hubby and I went out with some friends to get Mexican food in Town.  
I stuck with the plain ol' chicken quesadillas.  Husband on the other hand got tacos de lengua (aka cow tongue tacos).  Yep, tongue. Ew.  



When my husband lived in Guatemala he ate quite a few weird foods. 
I think the two strangest foods were tongue and giant fried ants. 
Let's just say his stomach is braver than mine. 

Friday, April 15, 2011

the art of hair straightening

Sometimes my curly hair gets out of control. 
And so I decide to straighten it. 

It starts out with big crazy curls...

And after I brush it out, I tend to resemble Frankenstein's wife. Just a bit...

And after over an hour of straightening, it ends up like this...

Straight as a stick and about 6 inches longer.


Thursday, April 14, 2011

life at its finest





Look at this cute little baby birdie I found sitting in the grass yesterday. I couldn't help but pull out my camera and take a few shots of him.  Even though his mama--who was sitting up on a roof--was squawking at me until I left.  I went back to check on him a couple of hours later and he was gone, so I hope he was okay. Because let me tell you, that little birdie did not want to move when I was taking pictures. 

10 questions



Leah over at An Ordinary Fairytale tagged me in this fun little question and answer game about a week ago and I'm finally getting around to posting it! Enjoy!

1. What is your dream job?
This is a tough one.  I've always hated the question "what do you want to do with your life?"  Because you know when people ask this, they are only referring to your career--as if a career is the only thing that defines you.  
So what is my dream job though?
Honestly, I'd love to work in the field of social work. I'm really interested in statistical evaluation of programs and program implementation. 
But my life plan keeps changing, so who knows what I'll actually end up doing. 
So what do I want to do with my life though?
I just want to experience life. I want to travel the world. 
I want to help everyone I can. I want to photograph and document my journey through life with my wonderful husband.  I want to have a houseful of kids to teach life lessons to.  
I want to make mistakes and know that it's okay--that I'm better for it.
But mostly, I want to live without regrets.
I want to live fully and completely.
And if I can do that, that's the best dream I could ask for.

2. What is your favorite drink?
I'm a committed water drinker! Boring? Yeah, well, I honestly just love water and rarely drink anything else. I hate drinking cold water though. I'm all about the room temperature water. Hmm, that sounds weird. I have super sensitive teeth though.
Moving on now...

3. What is your most important beauty secret?
I don't really have one? I wish I had some super secret to share, but honestly, I'm not great at the beauty thing. I wear mascara every day, but that's about it. 

4. If you had an all-expense paid vacation to go anywhere, where would you go?
First off, an all-expense paid vacation would be awesome! I don't see that happening anytime soon, but if  I could, I would LOVE to go to Tahiti.  Oh it would be a magical trip. 

5. If a genie popped up right now, what would your three wishes be?
1.  That my hubby would officially have a teaching job for this next year before grad school.
2. That my family and friends would be safe 
3. To be better organized and less stressed

6. If you could only have one type of food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Such a tricky question! There are so many good foods out there! I'm a huge fruit lover though. Oranges, berries, grapefruit, pineapple, yummm...

7. What one talent do you wish you had?
Cliche I'm sure, but I really wish that I could sing. I know some people say they can't carry a tune, but I really can't sing. AT ALL. It's painful to listen to. Doesn't stop me from belting out my favorite songs in the car however :)

8. Who is your biggest celebrity crush?
I've never been big into the celebrity crush thing actually.
Sorry my answers are so boring ya'll.

9. If you could look into the future, would you?
Not a chance. As eager as i am to see what my future holds, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for anything. 

10. What made you start a blog?
When I first started blogging, I didn't really know anything about the blog world. I started  it simply as a way to keep family informed on our lives while we were off living across the country on our little island.  I wanted to share pictures and stories of our days with family back home. Recently though I've found that I love blogging. I've had so much fun getting to know all of you! The blog world is so great--I wish I could meet so many of you in real life.  This blog has become a great hobby of mine. :)

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

our weekend, part III

To conclude our lovely day on the North Shore this past weekend, 
we ate out at our new favorite sushi restaurant.  
We ate delicious spider rolls and gnarly marley rolls. 
The perfect ending to a wonderful weekend. 

Sorry if anyone is tired about me only posting about our weekend, but it's been pretty gloomy here the past few days.  Like I mentioned earlier, Beau still has to finish up his student teaching, so he's been up and out of the house before 6:30 every morning. And since I have no classes, I've just working and kicking back and catching up on my to-do list.

Tomorrow I'm actually driving up to the high school Beau is student teaching at so that I can spend the day in town, shopping. Not clothes shopping unfortunately. More like Wal-mart-like shopping.  But trust me, the idea of shopping--any kind of shopping--is exciting for me. Everyone needs a break from where they live sometimes, so I'm escaping about an hour north for the day to get by break. Can't wait. :)





Tuesday, April 12, 2011

our weekend, part II

Some days I never want to leave Hawaii. 
Beau makes fun of me because I'm known for using the phrase "the real world."
I'll say, "When we move back to the real world, can we do such and so?" 
Because to me, Hawaii is not the real world.  
Instead, Hawaii changes daily for me. 
Some days (typically mid-semester) it is a stressful place.
During breaks from school it is a serene, beautiful place.
But more than anything, it is constant. 
The weather is always nice (even raining days are warm), the wind always blows,
the ocean waves always crash. 
The people always says aloha, mahalo, brah, and shoots.
The plants are always luscious and green.
The surfers always surf.

Seriously, I feel like I live in a magical place sometimes.
And as eager as I am to "get back to the real world," I'm happy to be here for now. 
I'm happy to live in a place where my husband and I can take beautiful walks by the beach.
I'm happy to live in a place that makes both of us happy to call home.
I'm happy to live in a place that has taught me about appreciation. 

And one day, when we are living who knows where with little kiddos running around, 
I want to show them pictures of the place where their momma and daddy started their lives together.
Because I can't think of a more perfect place to start off our little make-shift fairytale. 
I want to tell our kids all about crazy adventures we've had here.
The tsunami warnings we survived. The beaches we went to.
The opportunities school gave us while living here.
The fabulous friends that we hung out with.
And the many dreams that we made daily.  






Monday, April 11, 2011

what people think my life is really like

That title should read:
what people think my life is really like / what I wish my life was really like.

When people hear that I live in Hawaii, this is what they tend to think my every day is like. 
Well, I sure wish that were true. Yes, I see palm trees and exotic flowers daily, 
but when rushing from class to class, I sometimes fail to appreciate them.
I love days when Beau and I get to escape our tiny little town and go explore the island though. 
Here is just a glimpse of our day after graduation on Saturday. 
More pictures to come tomorrow!
For now, enjoy our weekend, part I






Sunday, April 10, 2011

graduation!

My darling hubby is officially a college graduate!
The day was perfect.
The only thing that could have made it better would be if family was able to come out for graduation.
We wish you could have been here family! But we took lots of pictures for ya! 
At the very beginning of the ceremony, when the graduates were all marching in, my camera battery decided to die on me! Of all times! I was freaking out about it throughout the whole ceremony.  
At the very end of the ceremony, as all the graduates were marching out, I decided to make my move.
I got myself outside and literally ran home to grab my little point and shoot camera.
Not an easy feat when in a skirt and heels I might add--but there was no way I was greeting my man without a camera! I made it there and back in record time.  

I absolutely love the Hawaiian tradition of giving leis to the graduates. Seriously, people make leis out of everything.  Candy, beads, flowers, popcorn, and even money!
After the graduation craziness settled down, Beau and I escaped to the North Shore for a day of relaxing, sun, beaches, beach towns, and lots of picture taking.
Meaning...ya'll have some beautiful pictures to look forward to in the next few days!