Some more pictures of our wonderful Hawaii trip. Derek graduated, we kayaked out to the Mokulua islands, went to Sandy’s, did the booze cruise, and stayed at a cabin on Bellows for 3 days. We ate at all of our favourite restaurants, and just relaxed.
It was heaven. Excuse the gratuitous beach porn shots, it was soooo beautiful I took like 500 pictures of nothing but sand, sky and water.
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I’ve wanted to do a triathlon for as long as I can remember. And by wanted to do, I guess I thought about it abstractly in the same way you would think “I’d like to have the power of flight” or “I’d like to be able to wear 6″ heels all day and not want to die”. Things that are nice in theory, but basically impossible.
I even had triathlon down on the list of life goals I made when I was 13, but I really never thought I would do it. Luckily I had a really good partner to do it with. We didn’t train anywhere nearly as much as we should have, but we did eat a lot of carbs the day before, and we bought oreos to bribe ourselves with when things got tough during the race.
The swim was by far the worst part, my goggles were leaking, I got kicked a few times and I swallowed so much salt water that I had a sore throat the next day, but we actually did the swim almost twice as fast as we had planned. The transitions were a bit shaky, when I got off the bike to start the run I felt like a newborn baby giraffe, wobbling around, but after the first few kilometers it was not bad.
I’m so glad we decided to do it, we were definitely nervous going into it, but as soon as the gun went off and we started going, that stuff kind of fell away. You forget about the other people (when they aren’t kicking you in the knee) and just concentrate on yourself and getting through that next section.
All in all, it was a great experience, and it was actually pretty fun. If you had asked me the day after I ran the Marathon if I would ever do another one, I would have punched you in the face. But honestly, I would definitely do another triathlon, and I’m excited to start looking around for my next challenge.
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| Before… |
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| Setting up at 4 am |
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| Our trusty steads |
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| “It looks like I’m wearing a condom on my head” |
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| 1364 representtt |
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| Sweaty and tired, but finished |
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| sexy |
Yesterday I got to celebrate with that one guy as he graduated with his Associate’s Degree.
I’m very proud of him, it’s been two years since he started taking classes, while working full time, commuting an hour and a half each way to work starting at 3:30 a.m. and still finding time to do lots of fun things with me since I was sad and lonely and had no other friends in California.
Next up, his Bachelor’s Degree.
Salty. Sun soaked. Satisfied.
This morning we had a great big breakfast and relaxed, then went to rent a car for the rest of the week.
We went to SSG for lunch, I had the BBQ chicken plate with two peanut butter temptations for dessert.
After lunch we went to sandy’s beach. It’s so beautiful over there but a bit windy so the waves were huge.
Sandy’s has a shore break so it’s pretty dangerous, and it’s awesome to watch the body boarders getting rolled in the surf.
We flew into Honolulu today and it’s so nice to be back. We’re staying with my sister at the dorm where I used to live and it’s pretty surreal to be sleeping here again, so many years later.
I’ve been up for exactly 24 hours as of now but I’m not tired. I’m laying here listening to the sirens and sounds of Waikiki, thinking that I used to be so accustomed to hearing them every night that I would often have a hard time falling asleep when I went back home to Canada because it was too quiet.
I am so glad it’s finally May. For some reason, so many good things are happening this month, and I am so excited that it’s finally here. This weekend we are off to L.A. on a mini-roadtrip, and we are driving home on Sunday just in time to watch the Sharks play the Canucks.
Next weekend we fly to Honolulu to visit my sister, and Derek is walking in his graduation ceremony for his Associate’s degree. I am so proud of him, and so excited to be going home for 9 days. I am also possibly running a triathlon while I’m there, I’ve been training a little bit but we haven’t signed up officially. In true Spearing fashion, we are waiting until the very last possible second to enter. We are slightly indecisive.
We fly home on the 19th (I am sad to be missing Bay to Breakers, but it’s definitely going to be worth it) and the next weekend we are flying to Vegas to see my other sister. We haven’t seen each other since Thanksgiving, and I am super excited to spend the weekend with her and her husband.
On top of all of our traveling, I also got a promotion at work, and I start my new job on May 6th. It’s definitely going to be a whirlwind month, but those are my favourite kind. I’m feeling very lucky and grateful for all of the good things in my life at the moment, and I can’t to see what the rest of the summer holds.
A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to attend the wedding reception of some of our friends from Hawaii. I met them on the island, but they are from California, and they held a small reception at the Purple Orchid near Livermore.
It’s a bit out of the way, I thought perhaps they were luring us out into the woods to kill us, but once we arrived it was the most adorable little spot. The new owners bought it a few years ago when it was falling into disrepair, and they were able to get some help from Hotel Impossible (a TV show) to get it fixed up.
Sadly that night my phone completely died, it is possible I dropped it into my champagne glass without noticing. Some of my pics were saved, but all of the ones of Derek, and Derek and I were gone, which was disappointing because he cleans up real nice.
My first year living in Hawaii, I was introduced to the South Shore Grill by my boyfriend at the time. The relationship didn’t last, but SSG and I have been an item ever since. One of the best things they have there (although everything is delicious) are their desserts, especially their peanut butter temptations.
Now that I’m not living on the island, I don’t get these delicious treats every week, and it’s quite sad. When I went back to Hawaii in January we took my mom to SSG so that she too might know the joys that are peanut butter temptations. I’d never even thought about trying to make them myself, since I couldn’t fathom the wizardry that would be necessary to get the Reece’s into the cookies without baking them into a melty disaster.
My mother took one look at the cookies and declared “They probably just push the peanut butter cups in right when they come out of the oven.” I’m pretty sure that’s why we have parents, for exactly such moments as those.
I was able to find a recipe, and made them last week and they were amazingly delicious, and so simple to make (literally 15 minutes from when I started to when I took the first bite) that I was kind of embarrassed I’d never thought to make them before.
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| basic peanut butter cookies in a mini muffin tin, bake about 8 minutes |
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| push in peanut butter cups once they come out of the oven |
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One final tip is to make these on a night when you are home alone, so you don’t have to share with your husband.
Not that that’s what I did. I would never do something like that, especially knowing how much Derek adores these cookies. Obviously.
loveliness. 