Hawaii Convention Center

The whole reason for us going to Hawaii was that Dan was presenting a poster at the American Association of Orthodontics Annual Conference. The conference is not always held in Hawaii, but it was a great incentive to the trip that's for sure!

The conference center was located right beside our first hotel. Not only was it handy to be so close for Dan to run back and forth, but we also had this great view of it from our hotel window! To me it looks so much like the Denver Airport.

The convention centre itself is not only huge but really beautiful. It is extremely open and airy so that you feel like you are outside not stuck in at a conference. I have been to a few convention centre's through my work, but I have to say that this is one of the nicest that I have seen.

There were about 14,000 conference attendees and another 6,000 people there with the tradeshow. Because of these large numbers the session rooms were massive. In this one I think I counted enough seating for 860 people, and Dan said that they were full every time.

And of course the real reason we were there. Dan's poster was an e-poster, which means that he really did not have to present anything. People would walk up to the computer, search through over 100 papers and read the ones that interested them. If you had questions or wanted more information you could email the presenters right from the computer you were reading it on. A pretty neat idea if you ask me.

Although the convention centre was really beautiful, we both could not wait to get back outside and enjoy some Hawaii sun!

Birthday Boy Facts

Well today is Dan's birthday and because he is getting featured on the blog more all the time I thought I would share with you 10 things you might not have know about him!

10. He is getting his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, with his thesis being on orthodontic appliances. Yes he is a very smart guy!

9. Before dating me he had only been to a friends farm a few times. He was young so he never did much, but we have changed that in the last year

8. He is very well "trained". Everyone thought that when we moved in together I would have lots of bad habits to break, but the truth is that I think he might be cleaner than I am!

7. When he is not at school, he is coaching power skating with Elite Power Skating. You can even see him here in action

6. He officially has his first animal. A bull calf of mine that was born this January came out not quite the colour I was hoping. I disowned him and now he is Dan's calf. Now it is up to him to halter break, feed, and sell Wildcard.

5. He is an iphone guy and bugs me about having a Blackberry.

4. He is a big nerd at heart. We now have a playstation, xbox and wii in our house and he loves the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

3. He is 345 days older then me.

2. He is a serious scotch drinker liking unpeaty scotches.

1. He may have a slightly smaller closet then me, but he has just as many clothes as I do!

Loving This Right Now

This week I want to share one of my favourite fashion events each year. The MET takes the crown for my all time favourite, but Cannes Film Festival is quickly become a contender for the most anticipated event of the year.

For some reason Cannes is where everyone pulls out all of the stops. It is no different than any other film festival, however, maybe it is the nice weather, the beautiful area in South France, or the fact that it is the first large festival of the summer.

This year there have been a few great looks already, so I decided to pull a few looks from this week, as well as a few from the past few years as well. Enjoy the eye candy, and I am sure there will be much more over the next few days. To stay up to date on the amazing looks check out Red Carpet Fashion Awards.

Paradise on Earth

There are few places on the Earth that can take your breath away, one of those is Hanauma Bay in Oahu. Dan had told me that this was one of his favourite places, but it was really more then anything I could have imagined.

The drive out to the Bay is really great. Our tour guide showed us where Cher and Keanu Reeves lives. We also seen a property owned by some Kaiser that is worth 90 million dollars. It is the only property in Hawaii that has its' own harbour, pretty cool.

Stairway to Heaven hike

Hanauma Bay has the most amazing sand, bluest and clearest water, and some really awesome fish that you can see when snorkelling. The bright coloured ones wear really my favourite. Although it is a tourist hot spot, I would highly recommend stopping at this spot if ever in Oahu.

Kualoa Ranch

While in Hawaii I really wanted to see what their agriculture was like. We had found out about the Dole Pineapple plantation, but it was going to take up all day, and there really was not all that much to see. That is when we found out about the Kualoa ranch located about 1hr from Wikiki Beach.

The ranch is one of O'ahu's largest and oldest cattle ranches covering over 4000 acres of mountains, valleys and ocean front property. The ranch really prides itself on preserving the land and making themselves self sufficient to the land and workers.

We had to try out some of their beef jerky

While at the ranch we took part in 2 different tours. The first was the Movie Sites and Ranch tour. During this hour trip around the ranch we see the oldest sugar mill, WWII bunkers, several different movie sites, as well as a portion of the ranch and the cattle out grazing.

Brangus grazing on the front pasture

Film location from Jurassic Park

Footprint from the "Godzilla" movie

The second tour that we did was of the ancient fish pond and gardens. On this tour we seen the ranches 125 acre fish pond that is stocked from the ocean. We also got to tour around and see the flower gardens as well as the fruit orchard.

cracking macadamia nuts

fresh coffee beans

Back to the Grind

Well we arrived back home Saturday afternoon after spending a week in beautiful Honolulu. This place is amazing and I would go back in a heartbeat if I did not have to work.

Over the next week I will have some more pictures and stories for you, but for now, here is a little taste of what we experienced each day!

Loving This Right Now

I am more of a shoe girl then a purse girl, but hey both are pretty important to an outfit! In the mall that I work in there is a BCBG MaxAzaria next to us. I have always loved their clothes, just not the price point that they come with.

For the last few months I have been wanting an envelop clutch. They have been really hard to find, and the ones that I do find are all $500+, not the price point I was looking for.

After some serious hinting and it being the only think that I wanted for my birthday last week, my mom and dad had this delivered to the hotel for me! It has been getting some use in Hawaii this week, and cant wait to use it some more!

Harlow Reptile Print Clutch $68

Thinking of Home

Dan and I have been in Hawaii since Friday afternoon. The weather is amazing, and it is stunning here. If it were not for these guys we may never come home!

Elle up to her knees in mud

Elle x Joker Bull Calf- Wildcard

Sweet Talker heifer

This guy has the baldy gene! He was 90% this year

Farmer Dan and his dog Bud

See all of you next week with lots of updates and pictures!

Loving This Right Now

I mentioned that we would have some new features on the blog, and each Friday I am going to feature something that I am loving right now.

This weeks item, shoes. Not just regular shoes, but custom made shoes. These come from a company called Shoes of Prey. This company is out of Australia but deliver all over the world.

There are several types of shoes and heel highs to pick from, and then you get the fun of customizing them. The shoes vary from $150-$335, with shipping being an extra $25.00. Check it out and have fun designing your dream pair!

My dream shoes! Only $290!

The Games Room

While we were in Iowa for Jon and Crystal's wedding we stayed at Jon's parents house. Not only do they have a beautiful acreage, and house, but they have the coolest basement in the world!

Welcome to the games room. It is everyone's dream fun place. Everything from VLT's to shuffle board, to bowling and pinball. Out of any place that we spent time I think that we might have spent the most time in this kick ass basement.

Oh and the best part? I beat Jon in bowling, so much for him being a bowling champ!