Flirty.Thirty.

I had plans for what Thirty would look like on this blog. There would be some sort of this much i know is true post - maybe there would be a photo montage - maybe a letter to myself...that I could read later in life...

None of that seemed like enough.

I.was.really.excited.about.turning.thirty.

I mean, really, really excited.

I think there are quite a few people who worried that I wasn't excited so much as flipped out but, I'm here to set the story straight.

I was ready to not be in my twenties.  Majorly.  Buh-bye.

I remember years ago my Cousin K up in Canada said, 'being in your thirties is awesome...it's like you can finally just be yourself...'.  Amen Sister.

What I knew about turning Thirty was that I was not going to let it slip by unnoticed.  I was going to do something, damnit!

At first I started planning a trip abroad.  It's been awhile since I went abroad as a tourist....who could leisurely sip her coffee at a sidewalk cafe.

Then I decided I was going to Napa.  I had never been.  I like wine.  Like, a lot.

Then I invited my Cousin (she doesn't have a code name but, I love her thiiiis much!!!!!), and the trip just came together.  Girl Cousin's birthday was on the 4th the day after my own so it was a birthday extravaganza.

(I should say, the trip just came together with a little help from my friends....Ari, you get an A+.)

The day before yesterday I wrote about how epic Napa was.  What I should have said was:

Turning Thirty Was Epic.

It was such a lovely day.  Such.

I woke up at The Waterfront Hotel at Jack London Square in Oakland.  It's all kinds of nautical goodness...if you're a Lady Sailor this is a fun place to pass some time.

I woke up really early - I'm sure it had something to do with jet lag - and decided that an early morning photo safari was a must on the first day of my thirtieth year.

Then it was off to breakfast at The Cock-A-Doodle Cafe.  There were crepes and graham cracker french toast.  Delish.

A stroll through a farmers market?  Flowers?  Yes please.

Of course no city tour is complete without admiring some local architecture.  Pictures looking up at buildings....check.

You can't cruise the Bay Area and not check out the Golden Gate Bridge.  amiright or amiright?

I got to visit with a long lost Auntie.  It was amazing.  Silly me hadn't been to her house since I was a kid.  Apparently, I was geographically challenged as a youth because I didn't know she lived in the Bay Area.  I totally thought she lived in SoCal.  I know, right?  Who doesn't know where their Aunties live?!

Said Auntie had a pack of Chihuahuas.  It was awesome.  Can you see George?

After a full afternoon of visiting we got in the car and took off for Napa.  Aaaah.  Deep sigh.  This meant we needed a coffee to go.  Clearly.

First stop Napa?  The Andaz Hotel.  Oooh La La!

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Birthday Dinner.  One Word.  Bottega.  It came highly recommended.  It didn't disappoint.  There was a personalized Birthday Greeting....and beet raviolis with fennel.  Just Sayin'.

Want to know how I ended the evening?  Food Porn.  Panna Cotta with winter citrus, micro basil, mint syrup and a wheat cigar stuffed with sweet lemon ricotta.

Happy Flirty Thirty To Me!

Here's the Sitch

...and by sitch I mean:  Situation. I have waaaay more photos from my trip home.  I can't NOT post photos of Hilo.  It just feels sacrilegious.  I also can't just cram them all into one post - I mean, where's the fun in that?!  So gear up for seeing them every now and then!

Day Two in Hilo began with a quick jaunt down to Coconut Island.

Coconut Island is Hilo's picnic GO TO.  In fact, it's such a go to place that on the weekends you may be hard pressed to find a blanket spot!  There is usually an impromptu game of some sort on the large lawn - touch football, volleyball, or maybe even soccer.  There is an old tower that is the perfect place to launch yourself like a canon ball into the water.  It's the perfect place to go fishing with the kids.  There are some pavilions for covered parties as well but, you better book these early - they go fast!  In fact, I had a really fun birthday party there when I was a kid.  All that goodness set aside, the best part of Coconut Island are it's views of Hilo Bay!

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30x30 :: BOKEH

20. Do the cool camera trick where you get shapes of light by covering the lens with a cut out (bokeh?)

After doing a little research I can in fact confirm that this cool camera trick is called BOKEH.  A more thorough description can be found here but, in a nutshell, bokeh means blur in Japanese.

I can't exactly explain why but I've always wanted to take a photo where my lights were shaped like hearts.  It just seems so magical.  I spend a lot of time with my camera - a little magic was well deserved.

My nights have been pretty mellow in Houston - mostly because I don't have television or internet - and no things.  I needed to get creative....I figured that Big Bertha was chomping at the bit to get some time out of the purse...what better time to bokeh the night away?!

I read a few online tutorials (like this one and this one) and decided to give it a whirl however; in typical Megan fashion I read the instructions and then did my own thing....which didn't exactly work out.

The premise:  You cover your camera lens with a dark piece of paper with your desired shape cut out.  Then you adjust your camera to aperture priority - or you become a magician with manual settings.

My first try consisted of a brown paper bag cut to fit over the lens with a hair elastic to hold it in place...this let in waaay too much light.

I tried a paper bag in several different ways - no luck.  Then I decided to try a paper bag from my lanai...

Because it was so much darker out there I could kind of get it to look like hearts.

I was running into several problems.  I didn't have the 50mm lens that every tutorial recommended.  I had my two kit lenses:  18-105 and 75-300.  This meant that I needed to zoom in on something further away.  I had decent results with my much larger lens on objects across the street (the above photo is using a brown paper bag zoomed in on streetlights).  I also didn't have the black poster board that was recommended.

Road Trip!  I zoomed off to target and bought a piece of poster board and some black electrical tape.

I sat in the driver seat and constructed a cap for my lens like the second tutorial recommends.

(Does it ever crack you up when you try to recreate a craft project and yours looks like a Kindergartener made it?!)

THEIRS:

MINE:

NAILED IT.  (insert light hearted chuckle...)

(Also, I needed to make one small modification...The heart shape wasn't big enough so I cut a circle their and then cut out a larger heart that I taped over this one...)

Then, I looked like a total creeper and sat in my car in the Target parking lot with my telephoto lens.  I pretty much had it down at this point...things were going well.

I zoomed over to my favorite christmas light display (sorry, this was pre-hawaii trip).  (Canadiaunt - remember that tree that had large tendrils of lights with balls hanging from the tree?)

Next problem - I couldn't stay steady enough.

I came to my next realization.  You HAVE to have a tripod.  There really isn't an option.

I went home and decided to reconvene my mission on the following day.

The next evening - tripod in tow I went back to my tree.

SUCCESS!!!!!

The tripod is majorly the answer.

Then, not only did I feel like a creeper but, I felt like I was going to get busted by the neighborhood watch.  I had my tripod set up - with my telephoto lens - crouched behind my car - kneeling on the street - pointing my camera at peoples homes to capture their christmas lights.  How exactly would you explain that?!  'Oh don't worry, I'm just trying to take heart shaped photos of christmas lights?!' - Riiiight.

Any which way - it worked.  I used my big lens, I stayed further away from the lights and zoomed in and I used a tripod.

My favorite photo of the evening.  Slightly out of focus angels made up of hearts.

Wanna see more?  No Problemo:

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Hawaii Volcanoes National Park

When guests visit me on the Big Island I always make sure that we visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.  I mean really, I live on an island where the potential exists to view molten magma.  How can I not take guests to a National Park where they can learn all about lava and volcanic activity?! The thing is, although I myself have been to the park about ten million kazillion times I still love to show it off!

I never have the same experience twice.  Volcano is tricky.  Sometimes it's gorgeous and sunny.  Sometimes it's misty and sunny.  Sometimes it's freezing cold and sunny.  Sometimes it's freezing cold and misty.

When I visited with my Cousin Rhiannon it was a little chilly, a lot windy and mostly sunny.  Yesterday when I visited with Travel Buddy it was freezing cold, raining with whipping wind.  Still fun!

The other thing is that the climate changes dramatically.  Yesterday, the viewing area around Halemaumau was miserable but as I descended the Chain of Craters Road the sun came out and the temperature increased by about 20 degrees.

My favorite things to do at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park:

Thurston Lava Tube, The Sulphur Banks, The Steam Vents, Chain of Craters Road (specifically viewing the sea arch and watching for sea birds living on the cliffs), Kilauea Iki, Jagger Museum and the Halemaumau lookout (which is currently featuring a glowing lava lake), and a pit stop at the Volcano Art Gallery (of course).

See more!!

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Nautie Tidbits :: Quinoa and Boats

I'd love to say I'm sorry for the lack of posts....but.... I've just been having too much fun!

Since I've been 'away' for awhile I figured the best way to get caught up would be to share some photos from my phone....because honestly my iPhone has been my go to girl lately - Big Bertha has been spending too much time at home.

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1.  I spent a day on the couch (what?  I'm on vacation!) and I decided that I'd go to my neighborhood variety store for a pizza (now you're jealous).  As I was getting out of the car there was a little girl parking this sweet ride right in front of the shop.  I was instantly jealous and decided that I had to take a picture.

2.  Sampling my homemade toothpaste.  I was thinking of saving this tidbit for a post of its own but alas, time is getting away from me.  Let me just say - it was better than I thought it would be!

3.  Boat shoe wearing in March?  Yes, please!  When I stepped off the plane in Maine (that rhymed....and made be giggle because even in my head as I was typing I was saying, 'the rain in spain'....heehee) it was over 70 degrees out!  I was wearing shorts and slippers!  Sadly, it was incredibly short lived.  I did however; get to ride on a boat in my sassy little Sperry Topsiders with friends who are also sassy Sperry wearers.

4.  Aforementioned boat.  Don't be jealous.

5.  I got my hair cut and colored.  I sat down and said, 'you can do anything you want as long as it all goes up in a pony tail'.  (Anyone who has tried to secure an anchor in the middle of the night with hair that is just slightly too short for a pony knows that they will never, ever have hair too short for a pony again!)  The sylist says, 'I think we need to give you a more mature length'.  To which I responded, 'You mean, you don't think I should have hair that makes me look like a sixth grader who loves horses?'.......and then she cut off six inches.  (I'm still deciding if this should count as my 'something sassy' on my 30x30 list (#8).  I decided I'd wait till I'm home in Hilo to run it past my Mom first.)

6.  I made a Quinoa salad.  With beets, oranges, almond slices and mint topped with honey goat cheese.  I personally thought it was quite yummy.  Please note that next to the dish of quinoa is an orange goodness.  Hells yah.  Funny story about the Quinoa (welll...I guess I'll let you be the judge on the funny factor).  I was having trouble with the ratio of Quinoa to water - I was following the instructions of a recipe that I had found online but was modifying.  My housemate walked in and I decided to ask her opinion.  She was all - just do the same thing you do when you're cooking rice....and then I was all - who the hell knows how to cook rice in a pot?!  Don't you have a rice cooker?!  Seriously folks.  Who doesn't own a rice cooker?!  My Mom doesn't because she thinks cooking in aluminum is terrible.....valid enough reason.  I however; bought trader joes rice in little bags that I can microwave because the thought of cooking rice in a pot makes me cringe.  If you've never used a rice cooker I seriously recommend it.  (I was going to write a whole post about this...aren't you glad I didn't?!)

7.  The yummiest breakfast burrito ever.  I thought it was so yummy that I actually emailed a photo of it to TravelBuddy.

8.  This is my friends dog named Diego.  As far as dogs go I like this one a lot.  This is his little toy named Elmer.  My friend will say, 'Diego, go get Elmer!'.  I can't tell you how funny I thought this was.

9.  Confession:  I'm addicted to Gossip Girl.  I know, right?!  What's wrong with me?!  This show is completely bizarre.  Realizing young women around the world are watching this is frightening.  The thought that some of these young women are too young to discern the show is complete fiction and grossly unrealistic is even more frightening.  That being said, it's Netflix crack - don't ever, ever watch even one episode.

*I realize that this Nautie Tidbit post might be a little long but, dang! it feels great to be sorta caught up!

Sidenote:  Thanks to all of you who 'liked' me on Facebook!  I'm still figuring out how to more fully integrate it with my blog but, in the meantime check in every now and then for random Tidbits!

GPS, Squishy Grass and Caterpillars

I've been trying to 'get out in the city'.  For awhile I would just get into the car and drive around - it ended up not being that much fun.  Plus, I really thought I was going to kill someone because I'd get 'lost' and I'd take out my iphone for mapquest.  Kinda scary.  I decided I had to have a GPS.  For the record - I'm now having the most fun I've ever had driving around ever!  What I've been doing is getting in the car and putting a random intersection into the GPS - then I take whatever turns I want and let the GPS reroute me - I think I got a good GPS because it doesn't ever scold me....it just tells me where to turn next....although, it does scold me a little bit if I miss a turn - so, in a nutshell I drive around the city with no real destination in mind taking wrong turns on purpose......and it's FUN! The only sorta bummer is that the weather hasn't been stellar.  Where are those crisp and clear fall days?!  It's been rainy and cloudy...icky.  I've been wearing my Bean Boots pretty much everywhere (except yesterday so of course that meant I parked in a puddle twice).

I discovered the Eastern Promenade a few days ago.  I got lucky because the sun came out for about 30 minutes!  I squished through the grass and then walked along the water for a bit.  It is definitely a cool place to people watch - and if I had a dog it would be my hang out (someday I'm going to write a post about how much I want a dog).