Beach

Angie made it to iStock :) This is a photo taken at the beach near where we live. What sexy legs!! ;)

The above photo is Copyright 2006 Nicole Young. Please visit iStockPhoto.com for purchase information.

Marathon!

Here's one of the photos of me running the Honolulu Marathon a few weeks ago. I bought a whole CD of all the photos they took of me, which ended up being about 15 images. This is my favorite one, cause I look like I'm really running. The other ones I'm smiling and waving at the camera, which is nice, but this shows the real deal ;)

Pay it Forward

So, I decided that today would be a good day to mow my front lawn. So I get the lawn mower, weed-wacker, rake, broom, and blowy-thing and head on out. I get about half-way done, just after raking the leaves and doing the initial mowing, when my neighbors come by (who happened to be doing their lawn too) and was like "can I trim the edges for you?" I was like "do they look that bad! Okay, if you want to!" So he proceeded to trim the edges. Then, after he was finished, I started sweeping up the grass and leaves, but then they finished with theirs and started picking up mine too! I was like "no, it's okay, I'll do it!" But they just kept it up ... they were so helpful ... it was so sweet! So, I raked my other neighbor's leaves from her yard to pay it forward ;)

Done!

Aaaahhh ... finally done with my college class. I'm having a nice relaxing weekend, my house is (mostly) clean, and aside from finishing my college today, I did a whole lot of nothing. I've been playing around with my photo equipment, and I'm realizing that I really do need at least another AB-1600, stand, and soft box. My "wish-list" doesn't stop there, but that's my first priority! In time, Niki ;) Gotta save up some $$, cause this stuff isn't cheap!

I took a quick video of my cat Kashi, if you're interested. He likes to jump in our sink and drink water from the faucet, but the water fills up all around him at the same time. You can check it out here.

Yay!

Such a good week :) First, I ran the Honolulu Marathon on Sunday -- my first one! I finished in 5:11:38, which is a lot better than I was expecting. My goal was just to cross the finish line, and I'm really happy with how I did. It was so much fun! I can't wait until next year :)

Just yesterday I found out that I'm getting a new job at work! I'm going to be one of the people in charge of physical fitness for the command. It seems to be mostly an admin job, but I like that kind of work. I start on Monday ... I'm so excited!

Just today I finally got the last thing I've been waiting for to finish off my mini-photo studio. These photos are my first attempts at taking photos with all of my equipment. I still could use another light to balance the shadows on the right side of my face, but for now it works great :)

Busy week

This is now my best selling image on iStock, even though it's been on the site the least amount of time (compared to my other photos). I guess it's just that time of year! I actually took this photo a few years ago while sitting in the back of a limo on a tour of Christmas lights in Richmond, VA with Andrew and a bunch of friends. :)

I'm back in Hawaii now. It was nice to be home and visit with family again. It was especially nice to see my nephews, since they grow up so fast and I miss it all! Andrew is still gone, but hopefully will be home before Christmas. I expect work to be kinda crazy the next week or so, too ... I "applied" for a new position at work and really hope to get it. I'm not sure what my chances are, so I'm really anxious about finding out, which might be sometime soon. I'm also attempting the marathon this upcoming Sunday, so I have a lot to be nervous about this week!

The above photo is Copyright 2006 Nicole Young. Please visit iStockPhoto.com for purchase information.

Hunter!

Check out Hunter (above), my very my cute nephew here, playing in his bouncy chair.

I'm home now and for another week to spend time with family. My grandma recently passed away so I was able to fly home to see everyone and attend the funeral. It's been bittersweet ... home for a sad occasion, but good to see everyone and stay for the holidays. It is nice to see my baby nephews ... I miss out on them growing up and so it's good to see them as much as possible :)

Almost there ...

I'm alone, once again. I dropped Ace off at the airport this morning for another journey out to sea. He's supposed to be home by Christmas ... I'll be crossing my fingers and toes until I hear from him ;) Angie, my sister, will be here too! I'm excited ... only a month and a half until the holidays :)

I should be getting the rest of my studio gear in the next week. I'm just waiting on the background stuff, and then I can take people pics! I took the above photo today; it's my version of a "Christmas" martini ... it's really just water with food coloring ;)

I've been rethinking the marathon thing, and I think that I'm going to go ahead and do it. I just want to finish, that's my only goal (oh, and not being the very last person to finish too!). So, wish me luck :)

Someone commented on my last post that my blog was hard to read ... if you were that person (or have any insight on the matter) could you please be a bit more specific? Is it the font size? Colors? Maybe it's just your computer/browser's settings that don't mesh with mine. Hmm.

Dilemma ...

Well, here's proof that I can run 18. 6 miles :) I look pretty good, considering I ran that far in pouring rain and an earthquake ;) I'm not so sure that I'll make it to the marathon, though. I'm trying to find a hotel to stay in the night before and the night of the race, and silly me I waited all this time before making my reservation. It turns out that every single hotel room in Waikiki is booked -- seriously. I live about 30-45 mins from the race, which means that on race day I'll have to:

1) Get up around 2 am, drive downtown to the finish area ...
2) ... find parking (much more difficult than it sounds) ...
3) ... hope that I find parking and make it to the finish area before 4 am so I can make the shuttle bus to the start area ...
4) ... start the race at 5 am ...
5) ... run 26.2 miles ...
6) ... hopefully finish in under 6 hours ... and then finally ...
7) ... drive myself home, exhausted.

I'm not sure if I'm willing to do that. This year I have once again neglected to train myself properly, so I might just have to wait until next year ... again :( If I find a hotel room then it cuts out a lot of the process, and it's just a matter of making to the start line in time for the race. I haven't given up hope yet ... the worst that could happen is I try and don't finish. I guess it's just getting to the starting line that is the toughest part of all ;)

Lights!

Here is my first official photo taken with my Alien Bees lights. I'm still waiting on the rest of my studio gear to arrive in the mail ... after that I should be able to start taking people photos. :)

Last night was the Navy Ball, celebrating the Navy's 231st birthday. It was okay ... it seemed to be lacking in a lot of the typical traditional ceremonies that you usually see at those events, which was disappointing. I got all dressed up in my dinner dress uniform, and Andrew wore his tux. I even got to meet the MCPON, who is the most senior ranking enlisted member in the Navy -- that was pretty cool, he even gave me a coin! I have a bunch of photos of last night and I'll be posting those a little bit later in the week.

Image Copyright Nicole Young, 2006.

I've posted this image here before, but I learned a new trick on Photoshop from a magazine and just tried it out. Kinda cool, huh! I really need to update my Photoshop skills, and so I'm using a magazine called Photoshop User to try and get better.

If you've seen the news lately you all know that there was recently an earthquake here in Hawaii! I didn't feel it, cause I was in the middle of a 30k race (that's 18.6 miles). I noticed all the power going out but figured it was just the pouring rain I was running in that knocked it out ;) I actually was a little bit nervous about that run, since I've been a little bit sick (okay, and a little lazy) and didn't train at all for it. But I finished it in a decent time and didn't hurt myself in the process :) Now I just have a 5k this weekend, another half-marathon in a few more weeks, and then the Honolulu Marathon on December 10! I'm just hoping to cross the finish line, and not worried about time at all, which means it will probably take me more than five hours to do :)

Miracle Grow

Back in May, my mother-in-law was visiting and happen to spread some tomato seeds in our "yard", or should I say the rocky area next to the garage (see the photo above). Somehow those little seeds sprouted into a full-grown plant, and they even managed to grow a full-fledged tomato! I was so surprised to see it there, amazed that it grew on its own and also that the birds hadn't eaten the it yet. There were plenty of tiny bugs flying around it, but the tomato seemed to be in one piece. Wow. God is really amazing ... I guess it's really true about building on a rock :) The tomatoes seem to like it!

Run!

I just went on the best run I've had in a while. It felt so good, the sun was a beautiful deep red, setting behind the clouds and just absolutely gorgeous. Ah, I feel great.

Also, here's what my new business cards look like ... not too flashy, but I didn't want to start out too crazy ;)

Minty Fresh

This is a photo of some of the herbs that Andrew has grown so far in his garden. He has mint and basil growing beautifully, and there are some small peppers starting to emerge from one of the other plants. I think he'll be happy to see how they've done when he gets back ... they are full to the point that I can probably start cooking with them. Yay!

I'm still dreaming of a beautiful portrait studio ... I can't wait to start getting the equipement! In about three weeks (hopefully) I should be able to start getting the stuff I need and get it up and running. I'm hoping that it won't be too frustrating setting it all up. I just recently bought a new accessory for my camera that (theoretically) allows me to transmit the images directly to my computer via a wireless network and FTP. I am having the most difficult time trying to set it up ... I think I have the wireless connection down ??? but I don't know a thing about how FTP works. So, this has been totally frustrating me and taking up a lot of time with trying to figure it out by trial-and-error ... and lots and lots of error!

I got my first set of business cards in the mail today :) Once I get my studio set up then I'll feel like a "real" photographer. It's only a matter of time :)

Photo Copyright Nicole Young, 2006.

Success!

I managed to complete everything I wanted to this weekend. I finished my online psych quiz for class, ran 4 miles this morning, and mowed the lawn (that's usually Andrew's job ... I hate yardwork!). I guess that the psych class I'm taking is helping me out -- it's a class on motivation ;) So, I'm feeling pretty good right now. I still want to clean the house up a bit, but that's not too pressing. It's only 4:30 pm so I have all evening ... but the new season of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition starts tonight. I'm doomed ... I got into way too many t.v. shows last year and now I can't take myself away from them! This summer has been a nice break from t.v., even though I am looking forward to the new season ;)

The above photo is Copyright Nicole Young, 2000. (Sunset in Monterey, California)

In the works

I've decided that I am going to build a small portrait studio in my house, after I talk to my hubby about it when he gets back, of course. I guess there's not going to be much building, but more buying of lots of equipment. I'm already starting to save up to get what I need ... I even have "clients" already willing to let me take some photos of them and/or their kids! I'm doing it for free, or in exchange for their signature on a model release so I can post the photos to iStock and try and sell them. I'm still new to portrait/studio photography so I'm going to use a lot of guinea pigs until I feel I'm well established. Right now it's all I can think about ... my brain is so obsessed with photo stuff right now I can hardly sleep without dreaming of taking photos! Ahhh! Well, it's what I love to do so it's not so bad :) Hopefully one day I can make it my "career" and do it full-time :)

(The above photo is Copyright Nicole Young, 1997.)

Burnin' the midnight oil

I started taking an online psychology class this week. So far it's going well ... I'm not looking forward to writing the two papers I have to do later on in the class. I've never had to write a paper for any college class I've taken (all four of them!) and so I'll probably screw up the format and reference stuff. It's an upper-level class, too, so I probably won't get much slack from the teacher!

Ever since I've finished working the 12-hour mid shift, my sleep has been all messed up. I go to bed at 6 pm, wake up around midnight, and then stay up until I have to go to work. I'm hoping that this weekend I'll be able to nap in the afternoon and maybe get back on track. (It's Saturday morning at 3 am right now ... I've been up for two hours already!)

I'm still busy with photos ... I'm almost 1/3rd of the way done scanning all of my film. I guess it's going a little bit faster than I expected. It's fun going through all of these photos ... I haven't looked at some of these in almost ten years so it's brining back a lot of good memories :)

(The above photo is Copyright Nicole Young, 1998)

Studio

I've been slowly working on reorganizing my house. It's a slow process. But, I was very relieved to find my Nikon F4 in my closet. It wasn't downstairs with the rest of my photo equipment, and so I was really worried that it "disappeared" somehow. I'm so glad I found it!

Speaking of photo stuff, I think I'm addicted to my computer. Now that Andrew is gone for a while I find myself sitting here all the time! I'm either scanning photos (like the one above I scanned in yesterday), uploading them to stock sites, editing them on Photoshop, or all of the above at the same time! I definitely need to make this my job, since I love to do it so much!

I've recently been pondering the idea of actually putting a small portrait studio in my house. It will be on the main floor and I'll have to move some things around (which I've already started to do!) but I think it will fit. I might need to take the ceiling fan down though ... I'm going to have to consult with Andrew on this when he gets back! I can't really start building it anyways, since it will cost me at least $800 for the basic materials and I kind of don't have that much money right now. If I actually make enough money selling stock then I think it will go towards my new photo gear, but I've got a long way to go before I make a significant amount of $$ (plus the ironic thing is that I need a studio to shoot the kind of photos that sell, but I need to sell photos to get the $$ for the studio!)

(The above photo is Copyright Nicole Young, 1998)

Weekend

It's been a slow weekend for me. Andrew's out again, so I have some time to myself. I was working 12-hour-mids the last two weeks, and so now I'm finally getting back to a day schedule. I don't mind working those hours, but it sucks having a day off and being awake at those hours. Well, I'm back on schedule now.

I'm running in a 20k tomorrow (12.4 miles). It's not too far from where I live so that's nice ... most of them are downtown or on the other side of the island. That's probably the only productive thing I'll do this weekend! Well, not if I can help it, I guess. I sit at my computer so much nowadays, getting photo stuff scanned and stock photos uploaded ... I enjoy it but it takes up so much time. Too bad I can't get paid for doing it yet ;)

(The above photo is Copyright Nicole Young, 1997.)

Relaxin'

This is a photo of Amy's daughter on the beach after their wedding ceremony ... what a doll!

I've been super busy at work ... 12-hour shifts with no days off until labor day. It's not so bad, and I should get some comp time after it's done. Thankfully I'll have a 4-day weekend to relax after it's all over (oh, except for that 20k I'm running that Sunday ... but I guess that I'll enjoy that!)

The above photo is Copyright 2006 Nicole Young. Please visit iStockPhoto.com for purchase information.

Ah, memories. That was ten years ago, in 1996.

I've still been a busy-bee getting as many negatives scanned as possible. Tomorrow I'm shooting a friend's wedding ... beautiful beach with leis and sand and water. I'm excited and hope the photos turn out wonderful :)

Money

I'm having all sorts of money issues this month, with both good and bad results so far. The good news is that I made my first profit on BigStockPhoto with the above photograph (not too much though ... it is microstock after all!). The bad news is that for some reason the Navy wanted to pay me exactly $0.00 on the 15th of this month. Thankfully I will get paid and got it temporarily fixed, but they still think I owe them money for something that the Navy actually owes me money for. Typical, eh. Well, it will get resolved in my favor in the end (hopefully), I'm just hoping it doesn't take too long for them to figure out what I already know ;)

The above photo is Copyright 2006 Nicole Young. Please visit iStockPhoto.com for purchase information.

Star

Ben, my cousin, brought along his friends he is staying with here in Hawaii to the swap meet today. It turns out that their son, Bobby Coleman, is famous! He's been in a few movies, including one I just saw called "Must Love Dogs". I just thought it was kinda neat, especially since I'd seen that movie just a few weeks ago. He's going to be in another movie with John Cusack coming out soon, initally titled "The Martian Child", but I think that name's supposed to change.

Reunion

Today I'm going to the Aloha Stadium flea market, and I'm meeting my cousin there. He's on island helping out some friends and watching their kid while they do work to their house. It think the last time I saw Ben was at my wedding in Dec '03! I'm looking forward to it. The flea market was his idea, but it's perfect cause I've never been to it either, so it will be fun for all of us.

Last night I went through all of my negatives and organized and labeled them all with numbers. I have this number system I'm using to file them all away on my computer. I'm also in the process of creating a website to show all of my work ... it's just with a free site with Bravenet, but I figured I needed to start somewhere. One day when I'm actually making money doing this stuff I'll get my own domain name on a new site. But for now I think the next thing I'm going to do is start designing a business card ...

(The above photo was taken in Lincoln, NE and is copyright Nicole Young, 1996)

Lessons

I learned something "new" the other day -- don't drop your bluetooth hands-free ear-piece device on the ground *twice in a row* or it will break. Yep, I'm definitely smarter now.

I'm still plugging away at the film scanning. I counted that I have over 350 rolls of film to scan, and if I go at the same pace I've been going at (which is basically scanning film whenever I'm home) then it will take me about 4-5 months to get through all of them. It sounds like a long time, but it's not so bad considering it would have cost me about $5 per roll to take my film to a lab to have them scan it for me, equalling about $1750, almost three times the amount my film scanner was. Plus, they don't scan them at the same quality I can get from my scanner. Sooo ... I think I made a good purchase :)

(The above photo is copyright Nicole Young, 2006. I'm still having fun with my "ghetto"-studio!)

New Stuff

I just got my film scanner in the mail a few days ago, and it is sooo nice! I'm very pleased with it so far. It's very odd scanning through old negatives ... I usually only remember the few "good" photos, and never remember the ones that got tossed aside, so looking through them all is going to be very nostalgic. It takes about five minutes to scan a strip of 4-5 negatives though, so I've got a lot of catching up to do. (The photo above was taken in 1997.)

This weekend I went out and bought another computer too, since the one I have is super old and slow. I'm still gonna use both, just the new one will only be used for photo/internet stuff, and the old one will be used for everything else. It even comes with a feature called "LightScribe", where I can "burn" a label on the CD/DVD. Very useful, especially for keeping my disks archive friendly :)

Stock

I've finally decided to delve into the world of stock photography. I was reading through my Popular Photography magazine and found an article about it, and though I'd heard of this in the past and even slightly considered it, I thought that now would be a good time to start. I searched around and found this great site on how to make my own cardboard box studio to shoot small objects, and it works like a gem! (The photos above are a few I've taken in the last couple of days.) I'm signed up at a great stock photo site called Shutterstock but I haven't quite gotten started. They review ten photos of all new photographers before they allow them to officially join, and I haven't submitted my photos for that quite yet. I'm kind of waiting on the new Nikon Coolscan V ED I just bought online the other day so I can put some of my earlier work on the site ... it will allow me to scan all of my negatives into digital form. Yay! I've been procrastinating way too long on getting it, and now it will be here within a few weeks :)

The above photos are Copyright 2006 Nicole Young. Please visit iStockPhoto.com for purchase information.

Fireworks

This is one of the many photos I took at Oak Lake in Lincoln, Nebraska on July 4th. It was a little bit windy out, so the fireworks tended to drift to the left a little right after they went off, but I still got a few good shots. This one above is one of the ones that the fireworks explode in the sky, and then little ones fly in all different directions.

Photo copyright 2006 Nicole Young.

Baby

This is my cute little nephew, Christian, and my brother Nate in the background :) I had the pleasure of babysitting both of my nephews today. I'm actually still at their house watching the boys so Jodi (my sister-in-law) can get some sleep :) Pretty much everyone is sleeping right now, except for me, which is quite all right. My sleep cycle is getting all messed up from staying up late, and today is a nice kick-in-the-butt to get me back on a normal schedule. I really hate sleeping in waayyyy late. A few hours is okay, but sleeping until noon is just icky. Well, most of the time it is ;)

Colorado

I've been on leave for the past week to the mainland, spending most of my time in Nebraska. Right now I'm in Colorado with my parents on a mini-vacation. My dad and I hiked up a steep canyon to a place called Hanging Lake. It was so beautiful and such a good workout! This morning I went running on a trail that runs right in the canyon next to a river. It was beautiful ... I wish I could run that every day ;)

It's been so nice spending time with my family. I've been able to spend a lot of time with my baby nephews, too. The next time I see them after I leave they will both probably be all grown up! Hopefully I'll get to make it out here before they grow up too much.

The top three photos are Copyright 2006 Nicole Young. Please visit iStockPhoto.com for purchase information.

Half-way

This last weekend I ran in the Hawaiian Half Marathon. It was the first half-marathon I've ever done, and the longest race I've run so far. My feet are still healing (I had quarter-sized blisters on each foot, in the instep) and my throat is scratchy, I think from all the breathing! But other than that the run was great! I feel like I ran it really strong and steady ... I can't wait for the Honolulu Marathon in December :)

I leave tonight for Lincoln, Nebraska. I'm visiting my family for a good three weeks. I'm so excited! It always feels good to be home, and I'm brining my camera and tripod to document the whole thing :)

Baby Nephew

Meet my new baby nephew :) What a cutie!

Hunter Maurice Newcomer
Born: May 24, 2006
Birth Time: 7:31 pm
@ Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center
Weight: 5 lbs 14 oz
Length: 19.75 in.

Babies

So, it seems like everyone I know is either pregnant, has a pregnant wife, or has a cute little baby. Everyone at work is convinced that I'm next ... well, not if I can help it! Unless their definition of "next" is "three or four years from now", then they're right :) (Even the baby birds in my backyard are adorable!)

Andrew is in Las Vegas right now, while I sit at home and attempt to clean and de-clutter our house. So far this morning I ate breakfast, went running, and then had lunch. I've done a little bit of cleaning, but right after I got out of the shower the cats decided to knock over one of my framed photos, and they shattered the glass all over the floor. Then just a few minutes ago I started to hear one of our smoke detector beeps go off, which means I have to change the battery or I'll just go insane with all the beeping. Then, I called Office Max cause we were expecting a delivery, and it turns out that even though they tried to deliver yesterday, left a "Sorry we missed you an we'll try delivering again" note, it wasn't there when I checked but they have it in their system as having delivered it. Hmm.

Car

Here's a photo of my new car. I've been having a lot of fun driving it around. I'm really happy with the purchase so far ... which is good since I'll be making payments on this for the next five years :)

Work is going great. Last week was the first week of my new job within my building, and I really like it so far. It is such a change from my last job, which includes switching to "regular" hours and days, and now Ace and I are on the same schedule. (This is good cause we can carpool to work, since gas prices are soaring ... it was $3.29 out in town yesterday, and only a little bit cheaper on base!) Hopefully I will be moving into a Navy leadership position soon as well, which I am looking forward to.

Andrew leaves for Las Vegas this week to attend our friends' wedding -- Jen Kidwell and Brian Schooley. I'm not going since I already have plans to take more than three weeks of leave in June. Well ... at least I'll get the house to myself for a few days to do some major cleaning :)

Spring

I made an amazing discovery today. My cats have been peering outside our back door at some birds that have been hanging around lately, and so I decided to check it out. Just to the right of our back door we have a hanging basket filled with silk flowers, and it seems that some birds decided to make it their home. I took this photo today after I found the nest and baby bird ... I'm probably going to peek in regulary to see the other babies hatch out of their eggs :)

Andrew and I bought a new car this weekend, a Honda CRV SE. Actually, it's "my" car, since he just got one this last December :). I needed a vehicle with 4-doors, since mine was a small two-door coupe, and eventually we'll have kids and need to stow them in the back easier. Plus, if we get the cars now, then they'll be paid off while we have two incomes coming in ... I'm not planning on working when we start having kids ... preferably after I get out of the Navy in about 4 or 5 years.

I started working a day job this week. It's going to be so nice to have "normal" hours, and I'll have the same time off that my husband does, which is definitely the best part. We're planning on starting to go to church regularly now, since I won't have to work on Sundays, and we'll probably make going to the beach a semi-regular weekend routine. We went to a beach lagoon in Ko'olina with Dave McLaughlin and Eric Schwarze last weekend (an extremely beautiful resort not too far from where we live) and had a really good time. It's probably one of the best locations to see a beautiful beach in Oahu, since it's not near Waikiki and so there aren't nearly as many people.


The above photo is Copyright 2006 Nicole Young. Please visit iStockPhoto.com for purchase information.

Milestone

This last weekend Andrew and I went over to a friend's house ... we saw a lot of people we hadn't seen since we were in Japan. This is a photo of Bear and Patrick's little girl, Katie ... the last time I saw her she was just a tiny baby! We had a great time and even got to see a side of the island we rarely venture to :)

This week I hit a milestone in my weight-loss endeavor. I am halfway to my "goal" ... I've lost 14 pounds since January! My "goal" is to lose about 30 pounds, but I'm not really going to know if it's my goal or not until I get there. Who knows, maybe I won't want to lose that much, or maybe I'll still have some left to lose. I'll find out in a few more months!

Rain!

Just recently I have finally discovered something that I've had for a very long time, but never took advantage of -- podcasts. Wow, this is definitely one of the coolest things around. Not only are podcasts cool, but I can download TV shows onto iTunes, and then eventually onto an iPod. Hmm ... it seems it might be time for me to upgrade to the new iPod with video, since mine is just a little out-dated. ;)

I've had a lot of time over the last few days to find things out like this. I'm usually so busy working and trying to relax, that I never have time to do random things I wish I had time to do. Monday I had gum/tooth surgery ... I'm having my fake front teeth redone (I knocked them out on an ice pond when I was 15 and it's been a struggle ever since then to get them to look good) and on Monday they went in and had to move my gumline up and chisel out some bone so my new teeth will fit better. So, I've been SIQ the last few days so it will heal up, and I've had a lot of uninterrupted time to relax.

The weather here has been great ... it's been rainy everyday for the last few weeks! I am getting so sick of the constant sunny, hot, humid weather and welcome this change of pace. You all might think I'm crazy, cause I'm sure that for at least half of the people reading this it's freezing or snowy where you are and you all wish you could be in Hawaii. Trust me, you don't know how lucky you are!

The above photo is Copyright 2006 Nicole Young. Please visit iStockPhoto.com for purchase information.

Smile!

These are some of our many attempts to get a "cute" photo of us while at the Cheesecake Factory last night. And, in the end, we succeeded :)

Good Times

Last month Ace and I ran the Great Aloha Run for the second year in a row. It's an approximate 8-mile run starting off in downtown Honolulu at the Aloha Tower, and it finishes at the Aloha Stadium. We took our time and just ran at a steady pace ... both of us finished at 1:32:34. I love stuff like that. I'm seriously considering running in a half-marathon this summer, too. I better start training!

Things seem to be going well overall, almost. It seems like everything is going great, but then there's that one area that can just put a downer on everything ... but then again who is completely satisfied with their work environment and leadership? This place is so odd and complicated to me. I hate work politics. Hopefully things will take a positive turn for me in the near future -- I put in for the fitness-leader job at the command, and with a little luck I might actually get it. There are some forces working against my chances (mainly my division trying to keep a tight grip on all of their workers and not letting anyone leave), but ya never know. I should find out next week. That will improve my quality of life sooooo much if I land that position! I hope karma doesn't work against me on this one ... I've accomplished everything I've gone after this year so far, so I'm thinking that maybe I've reached my limit on fortune. I sure hope not ... wish me luck!

The Verdict is in ...

The whole past year of studying and busting my butt in class really paid off. Not only did I pass my test (yay!) I got a 2+/2+!! (The actual numbers only really have meaning to my past- and present coworkers ... but trust me, it's an extra $150 in my pocket each month so it's definitely a good thing!) This is the first time I have ever gotten scores like that. I went from a 2/1+ (43/38 respectively) to a 2+/2+ (46/46). I think I'm in shock ... it hasn't quite sunk in yet. I'm so happy that I have a whole year of so much less stress, plus now I have even more motivation to keep on studying. Life has been so blessed this year for both me and Andrew, in many ways, and this was just the icing on the cake :)

(I took the above photo in Pusan, Korea back in 2003. I thought it was appropriate, given the topic of my blog.)

Judgment Day

Today I took my dreaded language test. I don't find out until tomorrow how I did, but I feel like I did alright. It's hard to tell, though, cause I usually feel okay after that test but it doesn't usually mean anything when I get the results. I even bought myself some pink roses to brighten my day and make me feel better, cause I'm real anxious about finding out my scores tomorrow. Oh well, I'm glad it's over with at least! Now I can just relax and give myself a well-needed break from language for a few days :)

I'm down another few pounds from my "diet". I feel so healthy and energetic ... I can't wait to see how I look in another few months! I can definitely keep this up. It's so easy, and the rewards from doing it are so much greater than just eating my heart away to lardness :) Hee, hee, hee.

Tomorrow is the start of getting my teeth fixed. When I was 15 I broke out my two front teeth on an ice pond, and I've had them re-capped since I've been in the military, but I need to have them redone again. I can post photos of the before, during, and after if you want ... maybe not the "during", though ... I look kind of scary with a metal rod instead of a front tooth when they have the caps off!

The above photo is Copyright 2006 Nicole Young. Please visit iStockPhoto.com for purchase information.

Enchiladas!

Once again, I've been neglecting my blog. I was in a class all last month and the first half of this month, but now it's over and I'm back to the regular grind of monotonous work, waking up at 2 am, not getting enough sleep, breathing recycled air that gives me a dry cough every night ... oh, and not to mention I've been studying for my language test I have to take in a week that will literally determine my work evaluation for entire next year. After that I will either be in a really good mood, or a really bad mood ... tune in at the end of next week to find out! :) Things aren't really that bad, it's just a quick update of the stress I've been putting myself through for about a month or so. But I've been doing a lot of studying, and I have a very good feeling about it so I'm praying and crossing my fingers that I will do well :)

On the lighter side of things, I just got my new Casio Exilim digital camera in the mail today. Yay! I was playing around with it and thought I'd take a photo of tonight's dinner ... turkey enchiladas. They were quite tasty, yet remarkably healthy, despite their appearance. I've been trying to lose weight over the last month or so. It sounds kind-of silly, but I'm actually using Weight Watchers Online to do it, too! I'm steady at 1 lb per week, which is perfect. I never feel too hungry or deprived, and I'm learning a lot about how to eat healthy. I was never really overweight, and I didn't eat bad at all, but I've been maintaining the same weight for the last 6 years and thought I'd try and trim down a bit. So far so good :) In three or four months, if I keep it up and I've reached my "goal", I'll post some photos so you all can see the difference.

Book

Just last night I finished reading (for the second time) my absolute favorite book: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. If you like to read, you have got to read this book. Anything I can say about it can't even come close to giving it the amount of praise it deserves, but here goes ... it's a love story and a suck-you-in drama, with a twist of sci-fi, that will make you laugh and cry (and any book that can get bawling-my-eyes-out emotion out of me is a keeper!). You get so involved in the characters, and the story is just so darn good and amazingly put together that it's unlike any book out there. I have seen online that it might be made into a movie, which would be a very good movie if it's done right (or, it could be really bad in comparison ... have you ever read the Michael Chrichton book Sphere ... and then seen the movie?) I am just putting this out there like you would a box of delicious cookies your mom made -- you know they taste soooo good and you just want to share them with all your friends! I hope you all get the chance one day to experience this novel.