Our Elopement

Last night we finally received the photos of our elopement from our photographer, Karen Loudon!  We had eagerly been awaiting their arrival for the past month or so and we were nervous about how they would turn out...mainly because we were both major goofballs when we were having our photos taken, so we were pretty sure we ruined everything!  We're super positive people, can't you tell?  But, fortunately, the photos turned out amazing and we are beyond happy with them!  And we are so grateful to Karen, who was able to capture these images despite the fact that Antoine and I have no clue on how to pose for pictures...

 A detail from the Waipio Rim B&B.

 Me, pretending to get ready.

 At the start of the ceremony, before we got really sweaty!

 I like this one because I'm stealing a glance at Antoine while his eyes are closed!

 One of my personal favorites!

 This is what happens when we try to "pose"...goofballs!  But it's still pretty cute, right!?

 Another personal favorite.

 

 This was such an uncomfortable position for me, but it was totally worth it because I love this photo!

Now for the outtakes, which are definitely on my list of favorites because they are totally "us"!

 Wiping the sweat off Antoine after "the big kiss"!  It was so flipping hot since we were standing right in the sun!!  We would actually take little pauses throughout the ceremony just to wipe the sweat off our faces.

 I think this was the "what?! we're married?!" realization!

After the ceremony one of the first series of photos we took were the ones where I was on the swing by the tree.  When Karen said, "how about you get on the swing and we'll take some photos there?" I'm pretty sure I gave here my umm-WTF?-face!  I was so terrified to get on the swing and then, near the end of that series of photos, Antoine decided to push the swing and I FREAKED OUT!  But the resulting images are kind of hilarious, even though at the time I wanted to punch him...

This is such a bad/funny picture of me, but I love the look on A's face!

Details: 

location : Waipio Rim B&B
photographer: Karen Loudon
officiant: Chery Pascual
dress:  Modcloth
earrings (which you can't really see): Shlomit Ofir

*Please do not copy/use these photos they are for my personal use only and are copyright Karen Loudon Photography.

July 4th Weekend in Instagram

I hope everyone had a nice long weekend!  Mine had its ups and down, but overall there was lots of good food and time with my little family.

 The weekend started a bit early at work with a birthday celebration of one of my coworkers.  I whipped up this chocolate cake with chocolate frosting from Completely Delicious.  It went over pretty well!

 I started off my Fourth with a very patriotic yogurt bowl.  It was pretty and delicious!  Then we headed over to French Park for a nice leisurely walk through the woods, which is always a good time.

 Then we headed over to my sister's, though they were out of town, to grill some food and hangout with Cheese on their new patio! [Above: blueberry lemon white wine spritzer I made for myself]

 Cheese had a blast playing fetch...look at that smile!

 Antoine grilled up some steaks and fresh corn, but the highlight for me were the grilled honeyed peaches with vanilla bean ice cream....SO GOOD!!

I couldn't resist a little nightcap once we got back home, it was the Fourth after all!  [Above: a blueberry mojito, made with fresh blueberry simple syrup]

 Saturday morning Antoine spoiled me with probably the best breakfast hash he's made yet!  He's a wizard when it comes to breakfast!! [Rosemary-garlic-chive breakfast potatoes, with Turk's bacon, cheese and a perfectly fried egg (at least how I like them), sprinkled with some fresh parsley!]

After breakfast, while Antoine was doing some yard work outside, I decided to go to Spring Grove to take some pictures.  And of course, because it's me and I'm apparently an expert at hurting myself, I fell and twisted my ankle.  I was walking by the pond, taking pictures and not paying attention, and I stepped into a hole and "CRUNCH!"  Then I hobbled back to my car and by the time I got home I had a swollen, sore ankle.  So the rest of the night was spent icing my ankle and watching tv.

 But no worries, I had this guy to keep me company...he even held my hand!

 With my ankle still swollen and sore my Sunday pretty much looked like this [me and Cheese taking it easy on the sofa]...though I'm not complaining!

Oh, and that husband of mine went ahead and spoiled me again with a delicious homemade breakfast:  homemade biscuit/bacon/egg/cheese sandwiches and breakfast potatoes!  He actually made the biscuits from scratch and they were AWESOME!!  I'm too lucky!

So, that was my weekend in a nutshell [ie Instagram]!  How was your 4th of July?  Did you do anything fun?!

Hawaii: Part 9 (Ka'ena Point State Park)

Yesterday I shared our first day in Oahu, which was pretty relaxed and low key.  For day two I had a little more planned!  We started our morning off right by walking to Moke's Bread and Breakfast, which was only a couple blocks away from where we were staying.  I had read that their lilikoi (passion fruit) pancakes were amazing so I was eager to try them...unfortunately, there was a passion fruit shortage while we were on the islands.  Insert sad face!  But as a substitute they were serving up mac-nut pancakes, which were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  See for yourself here, though the picture doesn't begin to capture just how magical they were!  If you're on Oahu definitely make a trip to Kailua for some pancakes at Moke's, because they are awesome (and I know my pancakes!).  Plus, our waitress was probably the nicest person we encountered on the whole island!

Anyway, after breakfast we made our way to the most western part of the island, Ka'ena Point State Park.  I had read great things about the park and that it was THE spot to see monk seals, but that the hike was a little intense because there is absolutely no shade.  Eh, who needs shade?  Who me...the pale white girl who burns just looking in the sun's direction?!  Nah!  I'm good, I've got my SPF 70, I'll be fine! [Lies, all lies!]  As I kept saying to Antoine..."ADVENTURE!!"

When you're hiking on the trail to your left are these beautiful, bright green cliffs/hills...

...and to your right is gorgeous, blue ocean!

Hiking selfie!

The ocean side is kind of a mixed bag...most of it is rocky with tidal pools (like this) and walk outs but every once in a while you'll come across a nice little beach area.

Here's the cute, private little cove where we decided to take a break and go swimming!

A lot of the trail was mud from some previous rain they had, but it was quickly baking in the sun, which I thought was kind of neat...

A rock with bits of coral embedded into it.

We hiked for about 5 hours...it was pretty intense!  And the whole time I kept saying "ADVENTURE!" the whole time, until the end because I was just plain exhausted.  We didn't get to see any monk seals, which was a bummer.  And this is the hike that left us both so badly sunburned that we were miserable for the rest of our trip.  FYI, Antoine didn't put on any sunscreen (BAD!) and I put on two thick applications of SPF 70 and still burned!  Not fair.  But even with the sunburns and the exhaustion I had a great time and I'd definitely do this hike again!  There were only a couple other people there and I loved the bright blues and greens and the crashing waves!  I'd definitely recommend it, but bring a sun hat and the highest SPF you can find and apply it every 30 minutes!

Well, that's it for this week.  And yay because today is essentially Friday for me (and I'm guessing most people out there)!  It's been a long week and I'm so ready for three days off!  We really don't have any plans this weekend, besides me resting up my back.  Have a great 4th everyone!

Hawaii: Part 8 (Our First Day in Oahu)

Before planning our trip to Hawaii I had always assumed that you could easily hope between the different islands via a ferry.  But as it turns out, that is not the case.  Really the only way to get from one island to another is to fly, which I was initially bummed about.  But in the end it wasn't bad at all.  We got tickets for about $70 each and it was the shortest and prettiest flight ever!

Once we landed in Honolulu the first thing on our list, after getting our rental car, was to grab some lunch at Hank's Haute Dogs (a Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives spot).

Their food truck that was parked in the parking lot next door.

The crazy mural beside the parking lot!

We each got a dog (I got the chili dog and Antoine got the fat boy) and then we shared some onion rings and fries.  Sorry I didn't get a photo of the actual hot dogs...I might have been a little hungry.  Everything was tasty, but my favorite things were the garlic aioli and the furikake ranch dipping sauces!  They were amazing!

Also, while we were eating we were being stalked by this guy!

And after a while his friends joined him...it felt a little like The Birds (except instead of smoking cigarettes we were eating hot dogs).

After lunch we made our way to Kailua where we stayed all four nights we were on Oahu...and I'm so glad we did.  Neither of us really cared for Honolulu or Waikiki.  It was too congested and felt far less authentic to us.  But Kailua was a nice alternative to staying in the capital, since it was only about 30-40 minutes away and still had plenty of places to stay, eat, shop, and go to the beach.  For our first two night we stayed in this adorable little micro-house, which was great!  It was quiet and comfortable and within walking distance of a lot of great food options.  After we checked in a got settled we hoped in the car and headed down the coast to explore for a bit.

I think this is from the Wawamalu Beach Park.

I think this is at the Halona Blow Hole...maybe?

Awesome little swimming area that was teeming with sea turtles.

And I have no idea where this photos are from...it was just a small beach park that we decided to stop at and dip our feet in the water for a bit.

And then we say a rainbow, which is always cool (and apparently very common in Hawaii...since it's on their license plates).

Isn't it crazy that it's already Wednesday?!  I totally meant to have a post for you on Monday, but the last couple day/week have been rough.  Apparently, my fall the first day of our trip did a little more than just bruise my tailbone...it apparently left me with an inflamed disk in my back that has been causing me a bunch of grief over the last couple weeks.  But I'm on the mend and back to posting, so yay!