Are You a Fan of Delicious Color?

Summer is slapping me in the face today. I'm sitting here between two breezeless windows, eating mint chocolate chip ice cream and listening to the Decemberists (ironically). I realize that for most of you on the mainland, summer has been slapping you a great deal harder, so I'll stop complaining. 

I have very exciting news though...

In my last post, I shared my article on How to Survive a Vacation in Hawaii in the hopes that I might get to the next round in the HubPages Share and Share A Like Contest. Surprisingly enough, a different hub, Fun Summer Activities with Sidewalk Chalk, was nominated for the Fan Faves round! If you want to help me win, you can vote right here on Facebook. It was fun putting this together and sharing a little of my love for sidewalk chalk (it's not just for kids). Some of my friends and I decorated the sidewalk at the beach park recently - yes, we felt like kids and yes, we had a great time. It was fun just adding a little more color to the world. Chalk art goes way beyond the neighborhood sidewalk though. Professional chalk artists create amazing 3-D paintings - talk about optical illusions! Some cities put together chalk festivals and Sidewalk Chalk Floods where the whole community colors the sidewalks of the city - it would be so much fun to go to one of those! 

So forgive me for this little self-serving post! I hope your summer is bright and colorful and full of sunshine! I was going to share my waterfall discovery with you, but I think I'll save it till next time....

photo courtesy Steve Johnson via Flickr

Surviving Hawaii

Happy Monday, everyone! It's been a mildly Mediocre Monday for me (as opposed to Miserable, Manic, or Magical), what with getting my head out of the weekend and into the tasks of the week ahead. But I have been getting things done. I worked in some studying this morning with my pedagogy texts and was able to practice Chopin and Debussy to my heart's content as well. This afternoon I've been working on a project which I will reveal after I show you this...

Looks a bit crazy, doesn't it? It's actually only about 10 or 15 feet, but I jumped off (didn't dive like the boys in the picture)! ...to my own dismay... It was fun though, and I'm trying to be a bit more adventurous. One doesn't always get the chance to live in Hawaii where cliff-jumping opportunities abound. 

Other adventures on my list of late: 

sat through 3 hours of an all-boys Halo party

survived an attack of the cockroaches

walked into a library without my library card (*gasp*)

cooked pasta with white wine sauce

refrained from ice cream

played a game of Battleship

made multitudes of music

Extremely exciting, I know. 

But I love my life <3

OK, so back to my project. You may or may not be familiar with my HubPages site, but HubPages has been hosting a special contest this summer. It's called "Share and Share a Like", and seeing that the whole point of the contest is social networking and writing articles that people want to share online, I thought I might as well share this one with you. In the process of putting my hub together, I found myself outside in my snowboarding jacket, to the confusion of the neighbors...

 My hub is called "How to Survive a Vacation in Hawaii". I was inspired by my dad who always tells visitors the Worst Case Scenario about activities around the island. I always think it's funny, so I thought it would be fun to write from the perspective of a worry wart. So please check it out, and if you like it, share it on Twitter and Facebook! 

Sea Turtle and Sea Swell

There is a deplorable amount of soaking wet roosters roaming around today, and I'm beginning to wonder whatever made me think that the rainy season was ever over. Still, an umbrella-accompanied walk through the morning rain shower has its own delights, especially when succeeded by a hot shower of the indoors sort. 

Despite the abundance of water that's been pouring around lately, yesterday saw a bit of beautiful sunshine on the seashore. There was a south swell, causing high surf, which, combined with a strong wind, was splendid to watch from the safety of dry land.

 And not only was the ocean a gorgeous sight, but a cute someone on the beach caught my eye ... This handsome stranger was about 3 or 4 feet long, I'd say. He had been swimming in the strong surf, only coming to shore to take a little nap before going back out. His face in the sand, his flippers sprawled out, he slept soundly beneath the warm sun despite the crowd of fans that surrounded him. 

A giant sea turtle! This is a rare sight to find on the beach. I often see turtles swimming among the waves, eating algae off the rocks, but they don't like to come ashore very much. So it was a treat to see this one sleeping on the sand, oblivious to the surplus of tourists snapping his photo. He was so adorable, I wanted to take him home, but I didn't think he would fit in my bathtub.

Eastside Beach Town

I recently had a quite a bit of time to kill one day so I thought I'd explore a small seaside town on the east coast of the island. Even though an island by its very definition is isolated and limited, I find that there's always something new to discover, some road never traveled. And though I've been in this town a thousand times, I still managed to find new things about it. This is the backdoor perspective, empty lots and rusty roofs included. Disorder and imperfection, beauty beneath a blue beaming sky. 

Surfboards can be strapped to any kind of vehicle...

Shee thin...

Something's rather beautiful and mysterious about this falling down house...

Cinder block house...

Rusting right into the ground...

Mower and Marine...

An Asian mural inside the Dragon Building...

A cute cafe stuffed between buildings..

Hundreds of orchids and all different...

Empty lot...

Fruit stand...

These are sold all over the place, but I still can't figure out what they're supposed to be...

Tower of lumber...

Untouched beauty...

The clearest water...