two birds fly south for the winter

I learned to surf. I am learning to surf, rather. It's something I've always wanted to try, and now that we live in Hawaii it seemed ridiculous not to be doing it. Since I mostly talk about but rarely get around to actually doing these sorts of things, R took it upon himself to arrange a lesson for me as a birthday present.  This made me happy.  Surfing made me happy.  It was fun...and surprisingly easy. The repeatedly paddling into oncoming waves was not easy. That was hard. Really hard. I ached for days. No, the actually standing up to ride a wave - that was the bit that surprised (and pleased) me. Or, I surprised (and pleased) myself by being able to do it. Suffice it to say, there were good feelings.

Now let's talk boards. San Fransisco based, Two Birds Fly makes boards. They are cute - decorated with art from local artists. They are also green - carved from Biofoam and equipped with bamboo fins. This is good.

photos via Two Birds Fly

Now, I would like to be surprised (and pleased) by finding something comparable in Hawaii. Extra surprise (and pleasure) points awarded if I can afford it once I find it.

p.s. I first learned about these beauties over at green{goody}.  Head that way...it's a good one.

love, love

I happened to catch this performance the other night while channel surfing. She's delightful.

More on Sharleen Spiteri and her debut solo album here.

our town

grant hamilton

If you're in Utah you'd best be making your way to the Saan's Downtown gallery in Salt Lake City for a look at Grant Hamilton's Polaroid Photography Show. It'll be in town through February 12th. Do it for me...then tell me everything. See more from Grant Hamilton here.

(info via Black*Eiffel, photo via swissmiss)

bowling for my birthday

Other possible titles for this post include:

• more things we did in Utah
• happy belated birthday to me
• look at this amazing neon sign
• reliving many a morning bowling excursion when I was supposed to be attending high school instead
• seriously...the best sign ever
• reasons it's no fun to be born on Christmas Eve (one reason being the fact that nothing is ever open except slightly dodgy bowling alleys...there are a heap load of other reasons...I'm holding back for your sake)
• any sign with a mini bowler up top is a winner

this makes me happy

I recently (re)learned that my maternal grandmother had a pet lamb as a child. Her mother (my great-grandmother...for whom I was named) would allow the lamb in the house, but their pet cats had to stay outside.

a walk in the park

subtitled: things that are green

night life

The bad news is that we accidentally left our good camera at my parent's house in Utah. The good news is that R got a new smaller camera for Christmas meant to replace the one that got broken then stolen while he was in Asia. We've been busy experimenting with the smaller one while in the car at night.

What I want to ask you is, doesn't night time Honolulu look like fun? And don't you want to come visit us and spend your evenings this way? Yes? Thought so. Do it.

home again, home again

jiggety jig.

We made our way home from Utah a few days ago. It was great seeing our family and friends, but a couple things (like spending massive amounts of time sick in bed for me and a small trip to the ER for R) are making me rethink visiting during the winter again. Sadly, these things also prevented us from seeing/doing many of the things we intended to. Here is something we did see plenty of:

salt lake city

happy new year.