fulfilling my committment

I don't feel particularly inspired to blog today but I will post a picture, as promised. This is me and my boy twin in Hawaii. It is one of my favourites and I always get a smirk across my face when I look at it. I love it. So I'm adding it to blogsville.

getaway

I missed POTD yesterday. Oops. I think I had a pretty good reason though and to make up for a day missed I will provide a photo montage of that reason...

CASTLE MOUNTAIN!!!! OMG. OMFG (for you sister)... And any other equally awesome acronym can suit the hilarity/epicness of 'our adventures at Castle' - I think I'll title it - though I can't think of any other acronyms except for the two most obvious; my brain is hazy (and still in a state of academic hangover from staying up until 3:30 finishing a paper after a day of ripping, after a night of partying, after a day of paper writing).
So, my soul mate, and our soul friends took a much needed break from the chaoticism (that should be a word) that was M-F of last week. Dave and Renee had been to Castle but K2 were both newbies (I promise I will try never to refer to myself in the third person again). Anyways, this story could be a long one so I'll keep it short with point form, some parts may or may not make sense to the random reader but that's not my fault..
-Castle Mountain: nothing but a ski hill 50 km. off any main road. As such, nothing but ski bums to inhabit the spectrum of dwellings anywhere from rusty trailers to beautiful cabins, to the Holiday Inn type hostel, and probably a snow hut thrown in there somewhere too.
-The T-Bar: the 600 square foot bar that these inhabitants, be it 'locals' or passerby's, cause a mega ruckus. I am, and forever will be, in love with The T-Bar. The bell means free shots for all... free shots for all!
-Bachelorette parties were crashed, though I like to think we added to the flair of the evening.
-Ski poles doubled as swords that attacked unknowing margarine containers.
-Various fridges were explored in fine detail using said sword.
-Piggy backs ended in piles in the snow, more than once and more than twice.
-Heads hit the pillow past 4 to dream of the snow that would follow a few short hours later.

The riding was fabulous. We mixed the day up with some serious tree action at the top with fun cruiser blues half way up. Sometimes I couldn't tell whether a cliff was 1 foot in front of me or flat ground the light was FLAT at the top, but a few cautionary moves led to better and better light and SO MUCH FUN in the trees. I LOVE CASTLE!!!

FREAKING FUN.

OUR CREW.

What's going on behind that bag of "hot wings" Ruffles (????!) is anyone's guess

After we closed the bar down we went searching for a apres-bar trailer party. What we found was a gorgeous cottage filled with fun girls to hang with. Let the sunglass-off begin..

ROCKSTARS!

SOULMATE ROCKSTARS!

There was no way to know this at the time but this was some major foreshadowing of what was to come. Unfortunately, only I have the 6 minute video that captures the evidence and I have been sworn to secrecy by one, KMB.

Intact Margarine container.

SNOW DAY!!! Renee rocking out.

We laugh in the face of the "easy way" down.

EPIC WEEKEND. Thank you Castle :)

timeless

Day 3.. it's day 3 people and I just realized if I don't post this pic in the next 10 minutes I wouldn't have time.

For some reason this picture has been resonating in my consciousness for the last few days. Last night I just had to find it to make my background. So it seems natural to make it today's photo of the day. This is looking across the Grand Canal, across from the Rialto Vaporetto station on a summer's eve when all you need is light shawl for nothing but a bit of added comfort. Venice is truly one of the most stunning and unusual places I have ever visited. When I was there I wasn't sure if I'd return, but on reflection, I just know I have to..

TIME
I had a stimulating conversation recently, so recently I could almost still be having it, regarding time and how so many of us perceive our lack of it. It was one of those conversations when you leave realizing how silly it seems that we possibly couldn't have enough time. Ironically, not more than 12 hours after that talk, today, it would appear, I am one of those silly people.

There are 3 geographic locations to visit between now and 6pm in a 300km. radius, there are (new!) snowboarding boots to pick up, icy roads to navigate, a 10 page paper to conceptualize and write, lights to be held during a photo shoot (my important job), gear to pack for a weekend away, tunes to be enjoyed, dinner to be had with my favourite family, a kitty to be loved, roses to be smelled and coffee to be delighted in.. oh and throw in a 20 minute meditation session. So although there is no abundance of extra hours today to be spent taking new pictures for my 30 day photo challenge there are 12 hours and 38 minutes of March 25th that will be mindfully filled and thoroughly enjoyed to the max. Ah, the good life, life at my pace..

Hawaiian Colour

Sunset on February 17th, 2011. Kristian and I were sipping Vodka and Gatorade, what a perfect way to hydrate while you dehydrate! I was writing a paper(!), he was working(!) and we were enjoying this view from our deck. Lovely Hawaii.

Moments in Time.

Dudes... Hawaii is pretty much the best place ever, ever, ever. I have to send out a massively massive shout out to my parents for bringing me to paradise, I can't believe I've never been here and I will most certainly be back. Sapphire blue waves crash endlessly into the shore, every shade of green you could possibly conceive of is in grasp, everywhere I look there is the lushest of lush vegetation. There is the brilliantly mastermindedness of mother nature combining heat, humidity and wind. There are whales, oh yes, there is no shortage of the majestic presence here (even less so when we head out whale watching at sunrise in a few short hours). There is wild laughter, there is peace, there is love, there is wonder, there IS adventure.. There is much more to be explored and discovered in the next week, I am sure of that.

Really, this is all thanks to my amazing M&D but this post will, for now, focus on the other two lovebirds here. Most of these shots were taken yesterday, February 14th, 2011 (2OLL...????!) There will be many millions more to come, there will be magnificent quality shots that will be mounted and hung in various sacred spots, but for now, here are a few from my not so bad if I do say so myself iPhone 4.

K2 drove the road to Hana yesterday, a 55ish mile drive that is supposed to take 3 hours (I did it in 1 when we came back in the dark, when all the sensible people were already at home, wildly winding the perfectly paved road while blasting some wickedly perfect techno beats). This drive is breathtaking and if you haven't done it, it really must be experienced to be understood. There are countless stops along the way to choose from and we set out at 5:30a.m. with no sure plan except to soak up every precious moment. What transpired was nothing short of something resembling magnetized perfection created by two. Here are a few of our memories:

Early morning shot on the road to Hana, triple espressos and pumping tunes makes these two road trippers bright-eyed and bushy tailed.

This place really has to be seen to believed but basically, there's an infinity pool to my right and a 200 foot drop overlooking the great Pacific to my left all the while surrounded by electric greens. The state of Hawaii has agreed to give me the small parcel of land to inhabit (thank you kind folks). This is my new job, I watch the gear, yah baby, I watch it good, while Kristian got distracted by a King Kong sized lens and a dragon fly. BTW I am not sleeping just a meditation of sorts lying down soaking up excesses of that sweet stuff called Vitamin D and other sweet stuff that can only be felt and not written.

Further on this epic of epicness hike we came to a baboo forest. The trail lasted for about a kilometre and when you looked into the thick of it darkness took over before you could spot the end. It was like nothing I've ever experienced before. On our way back down, as the sun had set, it was like a tale out of Alice in Wonderland.

Final destination: 400 foot high waterfall cascading down on none other but Kristian and my teeny little bodies. We can't believe this was our first Valentine's Day experience. The water pounded down "like meteorites". It was such a beautifully surreal experience to share. The best part was that we were there pretty late in the day and all the people had left, other than one girl who took some pics of us frolicking under the falls for a few minutes, then promptly departed, it was just me, Kristian and mother nature at her absolute finest.

Post waterfall. Look at those happily enlightened eyes. That was some magical water. If you can't feel it, I can't describe it!

And to prove that we are in fact spending hours upon hours near the wilds of the Pacific here is a shot from the day before when my M&D took us on our family Valentine's Day outing which was spectacular and will deserve a post of its own once I get home and organized.

And, finally, here we are, two nights before Valentine's Day lighting up the dance floor at one of Maui's hot spots. Yes, there is tequila in hand, and yes, after the bar closed down there was a short period of time that was spent passed out on a random piece of beach. All in all, an EPIC, EPIC, hilariously fantastic night full of Hawaiian sugary drinks, patrone and NON-STOP groovin'. SO FREAKIN' FUN!!! The next day, however, was not. After a repeat performance of a hangover morning comparable to mine and Lindsay's last morning on the Amalfi Coast I pulled myself together by throwing up, drinking coffee and Gatorade and getting on with another day in paradise. Only in Hawaii can a hangover go from 10-0 in a matter of hours.

Surreal. So real. Soul real.