USA

Operation JB

Posted by Claire on Jan 19, 2013 | 0 comments

Second semester has just begun and this is the first long weekend, so of course my first and natural instinct pointed towards visiting my bestie, Laura. I planned on driving down Friday after class and I was packing in the morning when I received this text from Laura:

Oh my gosh I totally forgot we have to go to this seminar tonight downtown for my class, would u be okay with going?

Ski Trip to Breck

Posted by Laura on Dec 26, 2012 | 1 comment

Merry Christmas Everyone! Claire is currently down under in Mornington, Australia enjoying some sunshine with her family and I just returned from a ski trip with my family and some of our close friends. We had such an amazing week staying at Beaver Run Resort in Breckenridge, CO. Both of our families have visited various ski towns together over the years and Breck has continued to be our top destination choice.

A Californian Adventure

Posted by Laura & Claire on Jul 29, 2012 | 4 comments

Last weekend was pretty incredible! We’ve spent the past eleven monday nights watching the Bachelorette, and it was all more than worth it when we made our way to LA for the live final rose ceremony. Emily and Jef… need we say more?

We were wearing white and magenta… did you see us on TV?! (We were right behind the previous cast members!) We anxiously counted down the minutes until we finally entered

Layovers Around the World

Posted by Laura & Claire on May 19, 2012 | 2 comments

It was Mother’s Day when we parted ways with our families and headed to New Zealand via Los Angeles and Sydney. However, weather delays weren’t exactly in our favor. Laura ended up making it to LA, but Claire got stuck in Atlanta for the night. An early morning brought us together the next day and we spent a wonderful day traveling around Santa Monica and the surrounding areas with Laura’s sweet cousin, Ms. Debbie, who lives in in Orange County. (Check out her awesome blog: Make it Delightful)

We had a fun-filled day riding the ferris wheel at the Santa Monica pier, eating delicious Italian food, stuffing ourselves with cheesecake (we each ate a whole piece), and seeing the beautiful and funky California beaches. We even got our very own medical marijuana licenses in Venice Beach… (just kidding).

That afternoon we made our way to the LAX airport and awaited our seat assignments for our flight to Sydney. We were both flying standby and ended up getting business class seats (flat beds, awesome food, and deluxe service). We were so happy and well rested for our day in Sydney! It was Laura’s first time in first class and she didn’t even want to get off after fifteen hours. Whoever says there isn’t much difference between first class and coach is lying… it’s SO much better. Hopefully we will get lucky again on the flight back to the U.S.

It was early in the morning when we arrived in Australia (about 6 am) and we took the train into the city. We were practically the only people around. It was so neat because the only other people around the city were business men walking to work and joggers. We had the whole outside of the Opera House to ourselves for a few hours! It was so relaxing and such a beautiful day.

(In Sydney, we exchanged business cards with a fellow travel blogger we met. You can too with UPrinting business cards.)

Our day consisted mostly of walking around trying to find a good lunch and a smoothie place, but we ended up finding both and spent a few hours just enjoying the view of the Harbour and sitting in the sun all day.

And being pestered by this freakishly looking bird that kept trying to attack us.

Then… we were off to New Zealand.

Hawaii in Black and White

Posted by Laura & Claire on Mar 24, 2012 | 14 comments

Hawaii is one of the most colorful states I’ve been to, but sometimes being colorful is what makes the most interesting black and white photographs. Here are a few of my favorites…

Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay

Posted by Claire on Mar 18, 2012 | 6 comments

Countless people began telling me, “Go to Hanauma Bay!” as soon as they knew I was heading to Hawaii. Not even knowing what it was, I had no idea what to expect. I picked up a few brochures at the airport with photos of Hanauma Bay… but they all looked too good to be true.

Still, I didn’t know what I was in for.

Not until I arrived at the infamous snorkel reef formed from the core of a volcano did I realize the beauty of the bay. Not only were the brochures right, the bay is even more amazing in person!

I walked down the curving path to the beach, threw off my flip-flops, and took in the moment by pressing my feet in the sand and listening to the sound of children’s laughs… THEN I took out my camera!

We ventured over the left side of the bay, where the shuttle driver told us was the best place to snorkel. The company we went with is called Snorkelfest and they are great, I highly recommend calling them if you are going to Hanauma! It’s family-run by a lady named Rachel and she’s very nice! They are the most reasonable company we could find, plus they pick you up from your hotel, provide all the equipment you need, and then drop you back off afterwards!

The fish at Hanauma are beautiful! The left side of the bay was definitely the place to be! It was, however, a time of low tide, as we were warned, so it was harder to get over the coral in some parts.

I found myself at times just stiff-legged, stiff-armed, floating over the water, trying not to scrape my knees on the rocky coral. As the waves began crashing, that became a difficult task and I ended up getting slammed into the coral once. I learned my lesson and stayed away from that area after that incident!

For the rest of the day I enjoyed just swimming around and enjoying watching all the beautiful fish. I was wanting to see a sea turtle or two, but unfortunately they weren’t anywhere to be found. Apparently they are a common sighting around Hanauma Bay, so I’m sure you’ll have better luck than I did if you go!