Aloha... or something

Aloha ladies and gentlemen!  I guess I need to tell you about the major thing that has happened since I posted last... Hawaii!

That's right I got to go to Hawaii for the first time and it was amazing.  It was a family vacation and it was so much fun.  We stayed right on Waikiki beach, the views are amazing just about wherever you are on the island though.  We spent a lot of time on the beach doing a whole lot of nothing, so that was perfect.  I needed some time to get away from the internet and phones and all that stuff to just lie on the beach and lather on the SPF 50... that's how I roll!  I also got to try surfing for the first time and I really enjoyed it.  It was hard to stand up at first but it is a lot like snowboarding in the sense that once you figure out where your balance point is, it's actually not too hard.  Of course I wasn't riding any waves that curled over my head or anything but none the less it was a blast.  

Oh yeah, AND I got a tattoo!  Me and my sister have been wanting to get tattoos for a while now and since we were both gonna be in the same place at the same time for a week we figured what better place than to do it in Hawaii.  So she put me to the task to come up with a tattoo idea.  After throwing around some ideas and several pages of paper I came up with a design that intertwines our two astrological symbols (aries and libra).  When we took the design to the tattoo artist she was able to make two versions of it so Carolyn could have a design that was more feminine and mine is big and manly.  So it's the same design just altered for each of us.   

It was a great trip and now I guess I'm getting "dragged" into a vegas trip.  Hopefully this one will include both my best friends from Dallas and Albuquerque and should be fun.  It hopefully turns out something like The Hangover, because that is an instant classic and will go down as one of my favorite movies of all time.  It is pure greatness and if you haven't seen it yet you must.  

And like The Hangover, I will end this post with a bunch of pictures... Enjoy!

Snorkel! 

Carolyn's tattoo

My tattoo

Surfin' USA

USS Arizona Memorial

Byodo Temple

View of Waikiki Beach from Diamond Head 

Some lighthouse... I guess this one didn't need a caption... oh well

Kick off your shoes and relax your feet

Sunset from Waikiki

Hmmmm...

Yeah... that's how cool I am!

We're on a boat!

Hand carved Tiki and the guy who made it.

Banyan tree... the branches reach down to the ground and become roots again

Waikiki from the plane

Hanuama bay, where we went snorkeling

Good bye paradise.  I'll be back.

Put me on a cool river...

...take my worries from me, fly me high into the big blue sky well there's no one here but me.

Oh how wise of Mr. Pat Green.

This last weekend I took a road trip down to New Braunfels, TX to 'float the river'. Ryan spoke of this event like it was the coolest thing he'd ever done. My sister was in town for the weekend and it seemed like an easy way to have an action packed weekend. So I packed up all my stuff (1 pair of underwear, tooth brush, cargo shorts, an extra t shirt, and as much SPF 60 as I could carry out the door) and we headed out for the weekend. This whole floatin' the river business is just that it is A BUSINESS, I was amazed that putting tubes in water seemed to be a very successful industry. We were supposed to meet some people at one of the many tube rental places but of course Stanny (Adam Stanford's new nickname) missed the turn for the right parking lot. Well that ended up being one of the best mistakes ever, we had to go down the road and turn around in the next parking lot. While we were in that parking lot there was a sign saying that Pat Green was going to be there that night (I'm not gonna lie a little bit of pee came out of me). But we had to go get our float on so we concerned ourselves with the tube rental process.

It was a surely a sight to see. When you stand on the bridge above the river you can look down and all you see is tubes and people slowly moving down the river with the speed of a fat guy climbing stadium stairs. It was an amazing sight to see. This picture is just a google image (not from our trip) but is of the same place we were at.
Once in the river, it was completely relaxing. From the hustle and bustle of city life, it just felt nice to not have to do anything for 5 hours. I didn't have my cell phone, I didn't have email, I just sat in a tube and floated...that's it. Now I know that some of you might think that, that sounds boring but it was actually quite nice. So nice in fact that apparently I ended up falling asleep for about 30 minutes of the float.

So for me the pinnacle of the trip was yet to occur. We went to check out the Pat Green concert to see if I was dreaming or if it was real. IT WAS REAL. Yes that's right folks we pretty much stumbled upon my favorite artist, I was super pumped. We got there right before he started and he put on a great show. One of the best things about the show is that Pat came out on stage in a blue t shirt, basketball shorts and barefoot. How many Nashville guys can put on a great show dressed like that? It's show like that, that add to my love for his music, he truly is just a "regular" guy. The reason he was dressed like that? It's cause he too was out on the river just floatin' with the rest of the people.

A great show, a great weekend, I got to see my sister, and Pat F!#$ing Green. My only complaint is he didn't sing the perfect river song...A Guy Like Me

Hearts and flowers, forget love letters

Pain and anger, forget forgiveness

Love ain't waiting for a guy like me

Debutantes and champagne, diamonds and cocaine

I ain't the son of outrageous fortune

Cash ain't status for a guy like me

Put me on a cool river

Take my worries from me

Fly me high into the big blue sky

Well, there's no one here but me, just me

Long black limousine, pictures in magazines

All night parties, beautiful people

No super model for a guy like me

I'm just a good man, I work with my hands

I get the picture, I heard the message

Hell ain't waiting for a guy like me

Put me on a cool river

Take my sins from me

Fly me high into the big blue sky

Well, there's no one here but me