Panoramic Crazy!

While we were in Hawaii I obviously had my DSLR with me most of the time, but sometimes I'd find myself putting it down or even leaving it behind to take some photos with my iphone.  Now, most of the time that was so I could post something immediately to instagram (you can see/follow me here), but I also found myself going a little pano crazy!  I mean, you're in Hawaii surrounded by these spectacular vistas, crashing waves, lava rock, green grass/mountains, palm trees, etc. why wouldn't a person go a little panoramic mad?

The beach at the Kona Reef Resort, where we crashed our first night after flying all day.

Kekaha Kai State Park, near Kailua Kona (Big Island).

View from the Kukuihaele Park, some little park we stopped at while waiting for our tour of the Waipio Valley.

Early morning view from the Waipio Rim B&B (the day of our wedding).

Evening view from the beach of the Laupahoehoe Point County Park (Big Island).

Kolekole Beach Park (Big Island).

View of the Onomea Bay from the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens (Big Island).

We stayed at airbnb places for most of our trip and this Kailua Kona one was by far our favorite (and a total steal for the price).

The Pali Lookout (Oahu).

Ka'ena Point State Park, ocean side (Oahu).

Ka'ena Point State Park, mountain side (Oahu).

Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden (Oahu).

Waimanalo Beach Park Lookout (Oahu).

Are you like me, do you love taking panoramic photos with your iphone maybe just a little too much?  Or have you never taken one?  If so, you're missing you and you need to start!   

We Eloped!

Hi, everyone!We are officially back from Hawaii and somewhat settled!  If you're not my facebook friend then you might not know that we secretly eloped while we were in Hawaii, just the two of us!  I say secretly because we only told our parents, siblings, and best friends before-hand so it would be complete surprise to all other family and friends.  Yesterday was our two week anniversary...crazy huh!?

A little info about our elopement.  We got hitched on the big island of Hawaii, overlooking the Waipio Valley.  I originally found it while we were planning, saw pictures of how beautiful it is, read a little about it (and found this tour), and knew we had to go there.  Then I found the Waipio Rim B&B and a light bulb went off in my head.  I asked Antoine, "what if we got married here, overlooking this amazing valley?"  His response was obviously, "yes!"  Now, a little about this incredible B&B (though I'll share more later).  It had/has the best reviews on Trip Advisor and the photos (like those of the valley itself) were unreal.  I contacted the proprietors, Steve and Nancy, via email to see what they thought of two people eloping in the their back/front yard.  They were so sweet and said yes!  Then we tracked down a photographer, Karen Loudon and an officiant, Cheryl...and we were pretty much done.  We wanted to keep things as simple as possible.  I got a dress from Modcloth, did my own hair (which decided not cooperate the day of, but oh well) and makeup, and went barefoot.  Antoine wore a simple button-up he got at Macy's on sale and some khakis.  Easy-peasy!

Here's some of the sneak peek photos we've received from Karen...

I was kind of terrified to get in the swing, but those photos ended up being my favorites.

There's our elopement in a nutshell.  So far, since we've been back, people have been so congratulatory and happy for us.  I've been blown away by everyone's generosity, just like they've been blown away by our ability to keep a secret.  I think eloping was the absolute best way to go for us.  Neither of us likes to be the center of attention and we don't like parties really, so the idea of a normal, traditional wedding kind of made both of us freak out.  Plus, what better way to celebrate your love and relationship than just the two of you, without all the stress and commotion?  I'll probably have another post about our wedding day later, maybe once we get more photos back.  Until then, happy Monday and stay tuned for a huge wave of Hawaii photos.  I took nearly 3,000 photos this time around and spent a good part of my weekend organizing and editing (and barely made a dent...so there's much to come.

The Flying Pig

Almost two weeks ago now was Cincinnati's annual Flying Pig marathon and half marathon.  There's also a bunch of other races associated with the Flying Pig like relays, a 5K, a 10K, and even a 2-mile run called the "Flying Fur" where you can run with your dog and for each participant Iams donates a bag of food to the SPCA.  I've only been to the Flying Pig once before...4 years (!) ago when my brother-in-law ran the full marathon and my sis and our friend, Helene, ran the half.  Well, this year Helene was running the half marathon again so Michelle and I couldn't pass up the chance to go down and root her on!

We got up bright and early before the sun and headed over to Silverton Donuts really quick...you know, to carb-o-load.  For our cheering! Cheering is hard work people!!  Anyway, for our first cheering point we headed down to Newport, right around mile marker one.

Michelle's adorable sign that she made for Helene.

Mmm, Silverton Donuts.  So good!  [We were nice enough to try to finish our donuts before the runners came, so it wouldn't seem like we were torturing them!]

We stood around for a bit taking in the beautiful morning and then we finally spotted Helene!  And she spotted us!

Look at her!  She's running a half marathon ridiculously early in the morning and she looks amazing!  I mean, look at the other people around her, they look like a person should look running a marathon.  Helene, on the other hand, looks like everyday, beautiful Helene.

I'm pretty sure she's a superhero.

Love this building, I just wish it was still the public library.

For our next stop we headed over to DeSales Corner/Walnut Hills...

And there she is again, mile marker 7 and she's still crushing it and looking frickin' amazing!

High-fives!

Unfortunately, due to traffic craziness and Helene running too quickly (darn you, Helene!) we didn't make it downtown in time to see her finish.  Two hours and 30 minutes...GO, HELENE!!  But, I did take some pictures of these really cool art deco-y lights.  So, at least there's that.

I'm so proud of Helene and I admire her determination and hard work so much!  I have some more photos to share from that day.  After the race Michelle and I went to Bellevue, KY and had a lovely brunch. I'll share those photos eventually though at this point I'm not sure when.  This weekend my sister is graduating from Xavier University (!!!!) so the weekend will be full of celebrating and awesome.  And then Antoine and I are heading to Hawaii to celebrate our 6 year anniversary of being together (!!).  So yeah, I'm just a little busy!  But I'll be in touch, I promise!

Spring in Ault Park

A couple weekends ago Antoine was in KY visiting his mom so I decided to take a little walk around the Ault Park gardens with my camera.  It was a gorgeous day and the park was packed with people, some where laying out on the lawn with their dogs while others were playing frisbee or catch.  And then there were a couple of us taking photos of anything and everything that was blooming.  The gardens still aren't at their peak yet, that'll happen in about a month or so when the roses and other summer flowers really take off, but there was still a good variety of things coming to life and coloring the area.

 The first thing I noticed, besides the enormous ornamental pear trees (that are everywhere in Cincinnati) with their clusters of white blossoms, were these bleeding hearts.  I got really excited because I just planted some bleeding heart bulbs in our backyard and I can't wait for them to come up next year!

 You might remember this hornet's nest that Antoine spotted near the rose garden back in March?  Well, it's still there!  I'm planning to keep an eye on it and see if hornets/bees/wasps/whatever start to call it home. 

 This tree was so insanely pretty (actually there were too of them), the pink was so deep and beautiful.  It was also swarming with bees, the whole tree was practically buzzing! 

 One of the ornamental pear trees I mentioned, this one is front and center when you enter the main area of Ault Park and it's pretty substantial. 

 A lovely dogwood hiding amongst some larger trees.

And the "flowers & bees" series begins again.  Brace yourself!  I just love taking photos of these little guys hard at work, covered in pollen.

Happy Friday everyone!  I'm so glad it's Friday, as I'm sure everyone else is too.  I've got an exciting weekend planned, starting with a fun girls' night in with two of my favorite ladies tonight!  How about you, any fun plans this weekend?