Is there really a perfect paradise?

Well, here are a few photos from my last trip as a "kid" to Maui and O'ahu, Hawai'i. It really was an amazing trip and since how I only have about 10 minutes to write before I have to go to bed for my first day of work tomorrow... I will hit some high points with some pictures.

I love flying and there are many reasons for that. One reason is because it seems to turn my world upside-down when I see it from a far. This photo is of a boat I saw in the water from 35,000 and my great 80x zoom camera. But it's funny how normally it would be like looking up into the sky and seeing a plane zip by instead of what I was seeing.

Hawai'i really is near perfect. I know I haven't been everywhere, but honestly I wasn't even that excited about going. I don't mean to sound spoiled and elitist, but I prefer architecture, fabulous historical buildings and different kinds of scenery, not just beach after beach. But There were volcanoes and mountains with rain-forests on top and waterfalls with lava-black beaches and soo much wildlife. The temperature was even perfect!

I got to do some amazing things too. I jumped off waterfalls and into fresh water springs. I drove 52 miles and back on a road with over 600 sharp turns through the mountains. I road my bike down the volcano through fields of lavender and forests of eucalyptus trees with intoxicating aromas.

I also got to go to a luau filled with Hawai'ian food and dancers, rich with historical culture and extraordinary flavors.

I got to ride on a catamaran dinner cruise of which the winds were so hard it was all I could do to hold up my camera and take this ridiculous picture.

We also got to see a fireworks show from our hotel room on the thirteenth floor over looking the amazing beach sunset behind the spectacular explosions.

The resort we stayed at was even like a zoo and the flamingo below was in a pond near our building hiding from me.

Finally we left on a 5pm flight and because of excitement and other feelings I couldn't sleep and I watched the Pacific ocean sunset go from 13 colors, to 8 colors to a bluish black before I finally fell asleep on my last day of officially being a kid in paradise.

Grace is stalking me.

Here are some recent revelations in my life that are driving me forward currently.

We only live once... so why do what people expect you to do!?

We were at an Ingrid Michaelson (AMAZING) concert at the Pittsburgh Arts Festival and it was full of hippies and people that really express themselves through art and their appearance simultaneously. I thought to myself, their weird... but then I thought so many of them are really not weird and are only doing what makes them happy. Although as a Christian I believe we have to draw a line, but that is not what I am talking about. I mean if I want to shave my head or get a tattoo or even just wear things that don't necessarily match, why shouldn't I? I think we need to ask ourselves is what people think driving is or holding us back?

Somethings seem faddish and everyone is doing them, but they make me happy anyway!

I try my best to avoid what's popular at the moment. I feel like if I am a sheep and I do what everyone else is doing than I can't be true to myself or be my own person. But at the same time, some things are a part of my just like they are a part of everyone else! Photography for example. I LOVE taking pictures. I know everyone just about loves taking pictures and if you have a keen eye and a good lens you'll get good results. So sometimes I feel like I am just like everyone else. But that is honestly what I LOVE about photography. It is the art form for unskilled artists. And when I say "unskilled" I realize that it does take some skill. But ANYONE can get behind a lens and press a button. No need to spend the time slaving away at a painting when, for me at least, it's going to turn out ugly anyway.

God's grace is everywhere I turn.

Grace is stalking me. I don't fully understand God's grace, but the more I understand about it the more I am blown away with how surrounded I am by it and how inescapable it is! I would love to go into a deep theological topical discussion on GRACE and how it is undeserved and I keep trying to earn it and how it is the basis of our salvation in many ways, but I won't because I am not theologically trained and I am sure there are great books out there on it like this really great one I read called... The Bible. :)

Think about it.

From the Depths of My Sole

I have spent the last few days browsing on-line for black high heels. I really need a new pair for work because my old ones are sad, years old, squeaky, and scuffed. It seems the closer I get to work and moving out the more things I can come up with that I "need" and the less money I have, considering I haven't actually started work yet. A pair of black heels are pretty standard though and so I am willing to put out a little extra cash in order to get a good pair of long-lasting shoes.

Fashion these days bugs me a bit. Maybe I have simply become too trendy. I really like these fun and crazy pieces that are stylish, but I don't have the pay check to accompany the new trendy pieces every season.

Ok... I will not end of getting any of these shoes but I decided that I would put together a list of edgy black shoes that I saw in my search. Most of these shoes I found on polyvore.com. So here they are:

Top 10 Black "Work" Shoes that I will NEVER buy (mostly because of price :)

1. Swiss Cheese Victim

2. Simple Beauties

3. Menswear Liberation
4. Geometric-Trojan Cowboy
5. Ankle-boot Whoops
6. Punk Boot-Heel
7. Frog Throat Clackers
8. Jetsons Jet-packs
9. Victorian Medusas
10. Tinker-toy Trotts
I think if I was a millionaire/billionaire and had already donated most to charities, I might buy a few of these... definitely starting with the Geometric-Trojan Cowboys, my personal favorite! (Just so you know, in case you couldn't guess, all of these "shoe-names" are fictional in order to save the dignity of the designers.)

to See the World in a New Way

I Still haven't quite figured out this whole posting images thing and Blogger always seems to post the images in the opposite order that I want them in... but anyway!

The last two days I was at the Three Rivers Art Festival in Pittsburgh. There were more photographers there than should be allowed and many of them did beautiful scenery just like you have seen it done a million times. Additionally there were some photographers that were taking a more edgy and modern approach to photography and showed up close abstracts, manipulations, and saturated colors or rather pale monochrome visions.

My favorite of the photographers was Susan Verberg (http://verbergphoto.com/enter.html). All of these photos are hers from her on-line gallery. But All but the first one I saw at her exhibit. The last one is great because the entire picture is a reflection except the very bottom. The bottom window one so so great because the room is completely dark and hidden except for the one section illuminated by the window that allows you to picture the whole room. The window and the bench picture is difficult because you can't tell if you are looking through a window or if it's a reflection.

The very first photo is one from her older collections and obviously very different from the others but if you look through her collections she has so many different and unique themes that she works with that it's surprising. She exemplifies in her photos the kind of beauty, uniqueness, randomness, fun, and color that i hope to be able to capture in my camera one day.

ENJOY!