post no. 248 -- sketchbook doodles

this morning i did a little illustration of kris' outrageous goodwill outfit from the 4th of july, and decided to edit the crappy iphone photo i took of it. who knows, maybe i'll doodle up some more characters to play around with on the computer. they might start looking like real art sooner or later. 

post no. 247 -- an afternoon in waimanalo

today we spent the afternoon in waimanalo, one of the quaint little towns on the east side of the island. when we first moved to hawaii, in late may of last year, we brought jack to the beach in waikiki. she was all of 9 weeks old when we made our first trip to the sand, and she was anything but pleased with crashing waves chasing her. a lot has changed in a little over a year, as i'm sure you can tell from the photos above. 

after a noon visit to the bark park, and a delicious lunch at teddy's, we headed through hawaii kai and up towards sherwood's park. once we hit the sand there was no stopping these two as they spent the next several hours splashing, digging, jumping, running, and rinsing off. 

it's refreshing getting out and away from the hustle and bustle of the city every now and then to enjoy the nature that's all around us. buzz and i have decided to make a list of all the things to explore around the island, and over the course of our several year stay, slowly start checking off our adventure list. 

now it's time to focus on making the most of our day of rest, so if you'll excuse me, i'm off to go watch some star trek with the tired two. 

hope you all had an amazing weekend!

post no. 246 -- recently

kris shaved off all his hair, and looks like this again.

{ an old photo from deployment visits to singapore }

jack has been going on lots of walks. 

{ groovy new leash c/o my sister }

i've been doodling a lot.

{ house re-design and humorous ginger picture } 

and overall we've been spending a lot of time outdoors.

{ snapshots from the "brothers in valor" memorial park }

more adventures planned for today, but in the meantime...
what have you been doing recently?

post no. 245 -- and i swoon

oh dear lawd.

if i could bottle up this place and make it my own. 

i would oh i would. 

perfection.

post no. 244 -- hitting delete

i'm sitting at work smiling. 

smiling because you just missed her. 

you just missed debbie downer. 

penelope pessimistic. 

and angie agrivated. 

you get ashley now. 

happy, content, smiling, 

ashley. 

a few minutes ago i was ranting into my blogger window. writing out everything i was unhappy with. vomiting. mad about not being paid on time. being expected to do things that were above and beyond what i was hired and am paid for, mad at work in general. frustrated that what i wanted seemed so unreachable, at least for our current situation. i felt helpless, breathless, like all the life in the room was being sucked out by these feelings i was letting control me. then i realized what i was doing and clicked delete.

and you know what? i'm still kind of upset that my boss never seems to pay me on time. and i'm frustrated that i don't have the job of my dreams. but i have a job. i have a way to dig us out of this pile of bills we seem to be covered in. sure, i'm conflicted, and i feel a little crazy knowing that two things i want in life seem to be at opposite ends of the spectrum, but at the end of the day, those things aren't going to have control over me. i am.

as i sit here typing this, i don't want to. because at the root of it, it's easy to be a grump, to be frustrated with your situation, to adopt a give up attitude, and just go pout in the corner. imagine how easy it would be to be a baby, and decided "you know what, i don't feel like walking, or even crawling for that matter. maybe i'll just give up." guess what, no baby says that. they cry and fuss and turn a little pink from concentrating way to hard, but after 9, 12, 18 months, they wobble, and they learn to balance a bit more, and then they walk.

having a positive outlook is a lot like walking. it doesn't come over night, it takes practice. it takes falling down and getting back up again, and repeating that process until you get it right. but at the end of the day, you will get it right, just like you learned how to walk. sometimes all it takes is hitting delete.


Most people would rather be certain they're miserable, than risk being happy.  ~Robert Anthony

don't be most people. 

post no. 243 -- taco tuesday

yesterday we had a little taste of home by way of tacos ricos, this small taco shop in kaimuki. i have not had that authentic of a mexican meal since actually living north of the border. what originally attracted us to this place was the vibrant graffiti styled art covering the building, and one bite into our meal we knew it was a great choice. 

it was a great pick me up after the last several days chained to our apartment trying to get over this cold. these last few days have been deathly hot here, and this morning, horribly rainy, so hopefully the weather will get out of this funk soon so we can head to the beach and turn these pasty pale buns of ours into bronzed perfection.

post no. 242 -- bark park

here are some images from our afternoon at the bark park with jack. it was our first trip to this park, and she loved it. meeting new friends, meeting new owners, and oh the soccer balls galore! she had a fun afternoon. i can assure you of that.

it was good for all of us to get out of the house today. i'm really starting to feel like i might be able to sleep through the night, without coughing up a lung!