hawaii & my 30th birthday.

So it's official.  I am now officially old... which is actually totally fine by me.  I had way more fun in my 20's than I did in my teens, and I had way more fun in my late 20's than I did in my early 20's, so I'm just going to go ahead and assume that my 30's will be off the freaking hook.Thanks to frequent flyer miles, we headed to Hawaii in March for my birthday, and stayed with one of our best friend from Buena Vista, who now lives on the big island.  I've been to the big island before but haven't spent a ton of time there until now.  We totally fell in love with it! Nowhere near as touristy as the other islands, and everything is so green and rural - there are tons of big plantations and family farms.  The whole island (Hilo included) is so laid-back, friendly, slow-paced, and quiet.  I loved it!

Yep, this is still Hawaii... the  view from the Keck Observatory on the top of Mauna Kea!

Hiking Hi'ilawe Falls in the Waipi'o Valley:

Now, the really awesome bit.  Here's what we did for the actual day of my birthday:

1) The night before, try to sleep a little bit.  Not very successful.

2) Get up around 1:30 / 2 am

3) Drive a few hours towards Hilo

4) Park and start hiking another few hours across crazy sharp lava flows in the dark

5) Find the point where lava is still actively flowing into the ocean

6) Sit and wait for the sun to come up

7) Drink champagne

8) Hike back, find a greasy breakfast joint, drive back, pass out around 1/2pm.

Please ignore the cheesy white shoes.  I didn't bring anything other than sandals, not realizing we were going to be doing so much epicness - so, on the drive down to Volcano, I stopped and bought the cheapest pair of closed-toed shoes I could find.  $4.99 at WalMart, baby!  Glad I did - that lava was SHARP.  One of the craziest parts of this whole hike was feeling the ground beneath my feet start to get warmer as we got closer to the active lava.  I knew we were getting really close when we could see steam coming up from these huge fissures in the ground.  Nope, my shoes didn't melt, but for a while I was sure they were going to.

Pretty epic, if I do say so myself :)

adventures in africa : part five (safari and giraffe manor)

Man... it's hard to write this final post about Africa, because then it feels like the trip is truly over.  The last few days of the trip, as we were all starting to make our separate ways home, Cyndi and I decided to go on a safari.  Now, I am no wildlife photographer, and I have to confess that, although many photographers would dream about shooting in Maasai Mara Park, I thought it sounded interesting, but... I shoot people.  How exciting can a safari be?Boy was I wrong.  It's seriously like the Lion King, as soon as you drive into the park.  I was surprised to see that we didn't have to go looking for animals or make any sort of effort to track them down.  Just a thousand animals, all hanging out together, with zero fear or skittishness around the safari vans.  Also, the several-hour drive from Nairobi to the Mara gave me lots of opportunities to shoot some street scenes out of the windows :)

We spent three days on the safari and stayed at a camp / lodge on the outskirts of the park.  Late one evening, we were sitting in our room and I heard a soft thump on the window, right behind my head.  It almost sounded like a dog jumping up to try to peek through the window, like my dog often does.  Curious, I stepped outside to see what it was.  Um, yes, it was monkeys.  Monkeys, robbing all of the rooms of their food.  I watched this guy and three of his monkey friends jump in and out of our neighbor's window, stealing all of their granola bars and chocolate bars, one by one.  Seriously, one was even keeping watch while the other ones ransacked the place.  

Ostriches!

See?  Sunrise in Maasai Mara - exactly like the beginning of the Lion King.

When we got back to Nairobi, just a few hours before our plane left, I got to do one of the most epic things of my life.

Backstory: maybe two or three years ago, I came across this image on Tumblr.  I was so sure it was fake, a movie set or something, but I loved everything about it and saved it.  Fast forward a few years, and I decide to join Photographer's Vision for Africa and travel to Kenya.  While doing research for the trip, I came across the exact. same. image.  Wait, wait... this place is real?  I could not have been more excited.  Visiting Giraffe Manor quickly became my singular life goal, and it almost didn't happen (turns out you have to make reservations).  We finally made it in for high tea a few hours before our return flight to the States.  It was every bit as epic as I had imagined - moreso, even.  Everyone was so friendly, and we got unlimited tea, wine, and fancy pastries.  This place lives in my dreams.  Yes, that's me in the blue dress, sipping my coffee.

Craziness.  Africa, I love you!

february in san francisco (travel)

i hope you like food.

I hope you like food.That might seem like a no-brainer for most people, but for over a decade, I hated it.  It was the enemy, something to be feared, something that unfortunately had to be dealt with after weeks of triple-digit calorie intake would leave me shaky and foggy-minded.  On a daily basis, my body now deals with the repercussions of years of disordered eating.

In the last few years, my perspective has begun to shift.  I love the way my body feels after weeks of living off of healthy, whole fruits and veggies.  I love spices and strange combinations of flavors.  I love the crunch of red bell peppers and cucumbers, the creaminess of avocados.  I'll put ginger or lavender or goat cheese or rosewater on pretty much anything, and if there's something on the menu that sounds strange, I'll probably order it just out of curiosity.  The last few months, I've been really watching what goes into my body, and paying closer attention to how good I feel when I eat well.  Those of you who know me  know how totally sucky I am at cooking, but it's because I've had years and years of avoiding food at all costs, and haven't had a chance to learn, like so many of my friends who have always loved being in the kitchen.  But now... I've started cooking.  I actually started a while ago (sssh!  It's been a little bit of a personal secret).

I've fallen in love with good food.  It's such a paradigm shift to begin to see food as nourishing, essential, and helpful, not as something I have to constantly fight against.  My skin is smoother and brighter, I don't get sick, I need less caffeine to get through the day, and I feel more excited about life.  I've become passionate about the fruit and protein I eat every day, the veggies that I base my meals on, the jug of water a day that I originally forced myself to drink but now can't live without.  Yep, if you see some nerdy ultra-white chick walking around Boulder with an entire gallon jug of water in tow, that's most likely me :)

I hope you like food, because, I do... and there's about to be a whole lot more of it on this blog.

I recently decided to go back to school for Nutritional Counseling at a school here in Boulder.  My first day of class was today, and I left SO. PUMPED.  So much to learn!  Aagh!  Am I quitting photography?  Most definitely not!  I absolutely love this job, and can't imagine life without it.  However, Colorado being what it is, the outdoor shooting season is pretty limited, and I'm looking to fill in the gaps in the winter so I can moderate my crazy schedule in the summer a bit more. So, there won't be any less photography on this blog, but there's about to be a whole lot more food.

And I hope you like it.

adventures in africa: part four (the boys' home)

Love these kind-hearted, inquisitive, goofy boys... we spent a lot of our time talking about Jackie Chan, dancing, and showing off our sweet fight moves.  They're REALLY good dancers.  Me... not so much :)

A note from a sponsor:

Again, to all of you who donated cameras, THANK YOU.  Some of the more advanced cameras went to the older boys, who spent hours with us poring over the manuals and asking detailed questions.  It was so amazing to watch others experiment and fall in love with photography!

Yikes, I miss these guys!

For more Africa posts, check out Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.