olivia

Jul 18 2012

It Did Not Rain on Our Parade

A rainy day, three tropical storms somewhere far away. But that’s okay. It did not rain on our parade. The rain was beautiful and warm, leaving little waterfalls trickling down the mountainsides. Time to explore Hanalei Town, hike between downpours, and enjoy the evening at the pool, clouds parting to a stunning, setting sun.

Proof it only rains on your parade if you let it.

Ephemeral waterfall running off the mountain from the rain.

Hard-earned sunset in the pool.

New fruit adventures… The one on the left was really stinky and weird, we don’t know what it’s called.

Dragon fruit tastes just like kiwi, delicious.

Tagged Dragon Fruit, Hanalei Town, Kauai, Rain, Sunset, Waterfall

Jul 16 2012

9 Comments

Life, Travel

Permission to Enjoy Life

This afternoon I had the good fortune to lay out on the beach of the St. Regis in Princeville, Kauai. If my husband and I were traveling alone, we’d be kicking it a lot more low-key, but we are fortunate to have family that invites us places. Absorbing all of the opulence around me, I could not help but understand why people strive for wealth. As a teacher of low-income kids, I will be the first to proclaim wealth and happiness are not the same thing, but sometimes a bit of splendor can be pretty alluring.

Anchored out in the bay was an impressive yacht, complete with its own helicopter parked on back. The St. Regis staff told us it belongs to the owner of Budweiser, whoever that might be. What a different world from the rest of us on this planet. While a yacht is more than I would wish for, it still struck me as a very interesting contrast.

Back during the school year, on days that were particularly challenging, I would imagine myself lying on the beach in Kauai, and everything else would be fine. The fact that I could have this fantasy and really live it out provides a different, but also very real contrast between the relative prosperity of middle-ish class America and the poverty that exists in our country. While I may feel like a have-less when I look at the truly wealthy, I am a have-a-darn-lot when compared with much of the world.

What I am trying to work on is transforming the guilt that sometimes accompanies this disparity into an extreme gratitude that I am as lucky as I am. As I was sitting there thinking about the differences in worlds between myself and the people on the boat, as well as myself and the students in my classroom, I finally had to just tell my mind to shut up and enjoy it. Life is short, we work for a better world, but we should also give ourselves permission to enjoy whatever good comes our way.

I’m on a boat and I’m going fast and…

Tagged Beach, Kauai, Princeville, St. Regis, Summer, Wealth, Yacht

Jul 16 2012

12 Comments

Health, Life, Travel

Wanderlust vs. Sleep

It’s my little tradition to wake up early in Hawaii and run on the beach. Our resort is perched up on a bluff, so I had to get creative. The people at the front desk warned us not to take the public access trail to the beach at the entrance of our resort. I figured they just wanted it for themselves, so of course, that is where I had to run.

At 5AM, like clockwork, my eyes opened, not accustomed to the time change. Fighting the urge to just lie there, I pushed myself out the door, reaching the dirt trail by 6AM. At first, I was a little nervous, reading all the signs warning me of danger, suddenly alone in a canopy of trees. Determined to keep going, I carefully maneuvered down the steep, muddy slope, and discovered a glorious little beach.

So glorious, in fact, a few smart campers have their tents protected beneath the thick tree branches, waking up to this amazing view. I startled a bohemian sort of man, meditating alone at the base of the trail, his canoe and tent behind him. Or, maybe he startled me. Either way, he has the best front yard on earth.

Jogging on the beach, I let a passing rain storm drench me, smiling with my face pointed to the sky. My wanderlust restored, I reveled in life. Sleep is tempting, yes, but nothing beats an early morning outing, alone, on the beach.

Tagged fitness, Kauai, Meditation, Princeville, Running

Jul 16 2012

Day One: Kauai in Three Pictures

I’ll spare you the long travelogue, today at least.

Three simple pictures to share why I love Kauai. The first shows its raw, natural beauty. The second its down-to-earth vibe. The third what all of life should be, enjoyed in its own time, not hurried, delicious.

I might not come home. Ever.

Garden Isle.

I fell in love with this cute little fruit stand.

Did you know pineapples are supposed to be yellow? I didn’t…

Tagged Kauai, Princeville

Jul 14 2012

5 Comments

Travel

Travel Rant: 3 oz, really?!

I remember standing in front of the guard at Heathrow a few years back. A gruff man whose first language was definitely not English. “You’re going to have to throw away the chocolates,” he told me flatly, pointing to the sign with the liquid regulations. Tears welled in my eyes, $100 worth of Bavarian liquor-filled chocolates purchased as gifts for others down the drain. I’m not sure if he took pity on me or was joking the whole time. “No, you’re fine,” he finally smiled, letting me through.

Flash forward to today as I pack for Kauai. Going about my business, oh, wait, all of this frickin’ sunscreen we just bought is in containers larger than 3 ounces. Shit. Google to make sure the ban still stands. Yep. Alright, options, options. Try to find same “naturalish” sunscreen in Kauai, ehh… Okay, what else… Smaller containers!

So you’re telling me that I can have the same bottle of four ounce sunscreen divided into smaller containers? What is the f’ing difference? Seriously. Why not just set a limit on the TOTAL number of ounces that can be carried on, or to whatever can fit in that dumb ziplock bag? Is that so difficult?

I know what you’re thinking, just put it in your checked bags, but there’s where you’re wrong. My husband and I have a commitment to avoid checking baggage at all costs. Too many bags lost or delayed or damaged along the way, not to mention the time lost waiting for your delightful goods to come around that magic circle. No thanks. Hawaiian Airlines now charges $25 per checked bag, too. Insult to injury. So, for now, all I have are my rants and my thousand little containers of sunscreen.

What’s wrong with this picture? Pretty sure the pile of sunscreen containers on the right is the same as the nice, protected container of sunscreen on the left… Too bad TSA doesn’t think so.

Tagged Airport, Flying, Heathrow, Kauai, Rant, Summer, TSA

Jul 14 2012

10 Comments

Life, Travel

Around the World in Words

Blog stats are every nerdy international relations major’s dream. Yes, I am talking about myself. I won’t annoy you with breakdowns, but I will say this. I am in awe of the global community on WordPress. My words have gone more places than I have, and while this does make me a little jealous, I also think it is incredibly cool. Armchair traveling at its finest.

Sure the good ol’ US of A is shaded darkest, but the fact that I get 10% of my traffic from other countries makes me geek out, in a good way.

30 countries and counting! (Each time a new one hits the list I get excited like a little kid.)

Tagged Blogging, International, International Relations, Maps, WordPress

Jul 13 2012

2 Comments

Life, Travel

Kicking it Old School

Oh gloriously happy day, an old friend was just brought back from the dead. My new MacBook has roused my little old school pink iPod mini from at least five years of sleep. It took a few tries, I didn’t think it was going to happen, but then it lit back to life. Talk about time capsule. This baby is filled with all the wondrous stuff I listened to in college– Drop it like it’s hot, anyone?

Okay, I did not just admit to that, there are plenty of songs I’d rather take credit for having on there, as well as some impressively intellectual podcasts (what in the world was I thinking?), but for some reason it’s the rap I’m sitting here reliving. Laid back. I can feel my feet hitting the dirt trails in Davis, rocking out on my afternoon runs across never-ending ag fields with my high-tech, pink iPod mini fastened to my side.

Now I just feel cool that I have one that still works. Like, you have an iPod touch or one of those new iPod classics that fits 40,000 songs? Well, I have a pink iPod mini! And it works! Who is the cool one now? This little discovery is going to make for much better travels in the coming weeks– space for audiobooks galore! (And, all those glorious rap songs.)

Happy Friday, indeed.

Welcome back old friend. I guess I named you Spunky in 2004.

Tagged Davis, iPod, Music, Nostalgia, Rap, Summer, UC Davis

Jul 12 2012

4 Comments

Life

New Rule: Good Books Leave My House

Packages in the mail are magical. I get just as much of a kick out of sending them as I do receiving. Today I packaged up two books I recently finished, Sarah’s Key and the Snow Child, to mail to my aunt in Montana. It only seemed fitting that Eowyn Ivey’s book set in the Alaskan wilderness reach her before her first winter surrounded in snow.

As I taped the box shut, I realized I usually do not keep books I like. With the exception of a handful that I love, most of which are in Spanish because I have no one to pass them along to, my shelves are full of books that range from mediocre to downright lame. All the good ones leave in the hands of guests. Visit my house, you’re likely to leave with a book.

Now, I’m thinking that maybe I’ll start mailing more books after I finish them, assuming they’re any good. I like the idea of a book being passed on and on in this fashion. Read, then send to someone else you think might enjoy. That way, the book lives on. And, who knows, maybe good books will start arriving at my doorstep in return.

Life’s little pleasures unite: Passing on good books and mailing packages.

Tagged Books, Reading, Summer

Jul 11 2012

4 Comments

Family, Life, Writing

Enough.

“I would like to share what I’ve discovered in my considerable years of experience. The secret is a simple word and will at first, without contemplation, sound rather flat but give it some thought. We have been raised to have high expectations and excel for excellence — to be the most, the best, the ultimate. And, although I still believe we should work hard and strive for a better life, my contention and my prayer for those I love is that they will find the life they have chosen to be ENOUGH. I believe that word is the most underestimated word in our culture. To look at your husband, family and friends and think this life is enough… What a gift from God!”

Some of my favorite words, left as a blog comment by my aunt earlier this year. I love the truth of her statement. Every time I start to get impatient, I remind myself that what I already have is enough.

Thank you, Aunt Debby!

We always think that achieving specific milestones will fix everything, but really they’re just icing on the cake!

Tagged Enough, Happiness, Motivation

Jul 11 2012

Scenery Writing: More Help From the Internet

“Sometimes you may find it useful to let your characters huddle in the wings without you preparing for their roles, improvising dialogue, while you set the stage for their appearance. Imagine yourself the set designer for a play or for the movie version of the story you are working on.”

-Anne Lamott, bird by bird

I was a strange child. By fifth or sixth grade, I was attempting to read Steinbeck, Hemingway, and Dickens, in addition to more predictable childhood favorites like R.L. Stine and Madeleine L’Engle. What I remember most about those classic authors was the detail with which they described almost every scene. Even my adult eyes now sometimes grow impatient when met with that much description.

One of my theories about why these authors included such long descriptions of space was because the world was a different place when they wrote. Mass media did not exist. People’s prior knowledge of places beyond the familiar was much more limited. Today you mention practically any major city around the globe and mental images abound, helping to catch the reader up to speed without the necessity of a two-page Steinbeck description of Salinas.

However, I also recognize that good writing needs to put you in the setting, so that you can see, smell, feel the place where the characters exist. Admittedly, I have a tendency to glance over this aspect of writing, more fixated on the inner workings of my characters and the actual action of the plot/dialogue than taking the time to carefully establish scenery. I blame this on being part of an impatient generation that is bombarded by imagery in fast-paced entertainment.

So, of my own accord, I am going back into each chapter and making sure I created scenery that provides enough detail, inspired in part by those same great writers that sometimes make me impatient. Today I took myself back to the Gare d’Austerlitz train station in Paris. As I imagined all of the sights, sounds, smells, etc., I began googling for inspiration. Funny how six seconds on YouTube can evoke such strong memories. I am now aching to hear the anxious clicking of that departure board again in real life.

Tagged Anne Lamott, bird by bird, Inspiration, Novel, Paris, Reading, Scenery

Jul 10 2012

10 Comments

Life, Writing

Happy One Year Blog Birthday!

Okay, so technically, I started my blog on 7/22/11, which means today is not my actual blog birthday. Still, I am one of those people that likes to give presents early and draws birthdays out into weeks, maybe even whole months, so why not celebrate a little ahead of schedule? Besides, I’ll be traveling 7/22, and I want this to give this post some thought.

So, let’s take a little trip back in time. One year ago, this month, I decided to start a blog. Inspired by Gretchen Rubin’s the Happiness Project, I was determined to create a regular space for something in my life that I love, writing. I was also coming off my first juice fast, so the world looked especially magical through my newly cleansed, hippie eyes. Thus, I named my blog, “Today is the best day of my life,” my little pinch-me-it’s-real reminder for my first summer break in years.

However, as with many good things, I eventually came to hate that name. Funny how sometimes we even manage to annoy ourselves with our own optimism. Still, the name stuck, because I did not know what else to call it and part of me wanted to hang on to that reminder to live in the moment. Then, two months ago, my cousin suggested I move my blog to WordPress, clean it up, prepare to put myself out there as an author. My chance for a new name, my own.

I took his advice, and here I am. I have to say, there is a night and day difference between Blogger and WordPress. Exponentially more readers, yes, but also the unexpected enjoyment of deeper connections with others. Writers, teachers, travelers. Turns out that deciding to start a blog was less about putting myself out there on my own and more about finding a community, a place to belong, words and all.

Here’s to many more years of blogging and writing happiness!

Live Life, Be Brave is still the guiding principal for my blog, 150 posts and one year later!

Tagged Blogger, Blogging, Community, Happiness, WordPress

oliviaobryon

Writer. Teacher. Occasional Traveler.

Author Archives: olivia

It Did Not Rain on Our Parade

Permission to Enjoy Life

Wanderlust vs. Sleep

Day One: Kauai in Three Pictures

Travel Rant: 3 oz, really?!

Around the World in Words

Kicking it Old School

New Rule: Good Books Leave My House

Enough.

Scenery Writing: More Help From the Internet

Happy One Year Blog Birthday!