Hawaii 2010

I see that I haven't even posted here in 2011. It was a busy year. I now have a toddler on my hands and a full time very demanding career. I'm happy to say that it morphed from just a job into a career but at the same time it has been exhausting. I find myself spread very thin between work, family, and carving time out for myself too! Blogging definitely took a backseat. Photography did too to some degree. I didn't completely put away the camera though so I'll start here where I left off and attempt to go from there!

At the end of 2010 we went to Hawaii for our wedding anniversary. It was my first time there but Ryan had been there many times. He was actually born there but the family moved to Southern California when he was a toddler. There are a lot of pretty sights to see but when you look closely you see a lot of what we would call poverty on the mainland. Basically it just looks pretty dumpy but no one minds because the surrounding beauty is so intense it offsets any other less-than-ideal living conditions. Personally I wouldn't mind living there myself.

Hawaii was another place I used to only dream of visiting. It seemed so out of reach. Similar to the way California seemed like only a pipe dream. But hey, now I LIVE in California and going to Hawaii suddenly wasn't such an unattainable goal. My view on goals is also very different than it was way back when I used to only dream about visiting the islands of Hawaii. If you can dream it you can do it... IF you've got the cajones to make it happen. This year we are planning on our 2nd visit, this time to the island of Maui.

These are some of the photos I look on Oahu. Our visit was only a short 6 days but it was 6 days well spent.

This last one was taken at Kualoa Ranch where they filmed the series Lost. This was by far the coolest place I saw there and we just happened to discover it while out driving around the island. They have a Movie Tour you can do which was great. Highly recommended!

You can find more of my Hawaii photos at my website: http://www.itstheecotone.com and you can also see a collection of Hawaii photos on FineArtAmerica at: hawaii photos