Hawaii trip day 4

Thank goodness for a day of rest! I got to sleep and sleep and sleep until about noon when Ashley and I went to church. When we got back I did some photo editing and then won a bet I had with Ashley about a wedding dress. This is how crazy her thinking is...

Remember the dress Bree was wearing on the Scared Falls trail? Jessica also wore it in the surfing shoot. It was the heavy, hard to surf in dress I talked about. Here's some reminder pictures.

Yeah, that's the one. Apparently it was hard for even these skinny girls to get into.
 

 And out of, especially when wet.

But back to crazy Ashley. We had the dress at our house hanging up in the sun room to dry and thought that we might have Ashley wear it in a Punaluu beach bride photo shoot too. She didn't believe it would fit her because in her head she thought Bree and Jessica were smaller than her.

You remember Ashley right?

 

 It's amazing to me how distorted ones thinking can be. I mean their all a size 0 for goodness sake. But regardless, it's a dress and usually a wedding dress can accommodate for more than one size. Anyways, Ashley bet me that the dress wouldn't fit her. I bet her that it would not only fit her but that it would fit me too. And I'm not a size 0!

Well just look who won that bet!

She got into the dress with ease. (Sorry I didn't get any pictures of her in it.) I tried it on after, with a little bit more effort. And since I went to the trouble and knew I wouldn't be wearing it again, I had her take some pictures of me in it. Mostly for Corby, I knew he would like them. But at this point I guess I'm sharing them with everyone.  ;)

Later we planned on going to Dolly's green house to take pictures out by the fire pit since we didn't have time for that on Saturday. On the way Dolly noticed an open house sign out for a home that I really wanted to tour. It was beautiful to say the least! Their selling it for the bargain price of $4,950,000.

 I really want to live here! If you want to see how great this house is click here. The friendly gentleman that gave us a tour of the home said I could take pictures but that they already had professional pictures online, so I didn't take any. That was a mistake on my part because I would have taken so much more than they have available. And while their pictures are of high quality, they do not do this piece of paradise justice!

After breathing the dream for as long as we could we still had a the fire pit shoot to do.

I love this picture. Isn't Dolly adorable?!

By the time we got a fire going, it was too dark to get a good picture. These pics are just some snap shots I got while we were getting the scene ready. Night fell on us so fast. But we did see a peacock in the tree behind us.

You win some and you lose some.


We went back to Bonnie's where she and Leonard had prepared a wonderful dinner to share with us. After dinner Dolly and I watched a movie called Temple Grandin that they highly recommended. I totally second their opinion. It's a must see! Claire Danes is brilliant in it.


 

And that's it for day 4. Good night and I'll see you soon with day 5...

Hawaii trip day 3 / The BIG Day! / part 3

I forgot to mention earlier that while I had been styling the upstairs bathroom, Dolly was working on the outdoor shower. When Mark came back from the trail he took a few minutes to photograph the shower.

I've personally used this shower and I have to say, it's quite the experience! My family was fortunate enough to stay in the main house a few years ago. Corby and I slept in the bedroom right next to the shower. Sometimes at night we would shower under the stars. There is something truly magical about it and about the whole property for that matter. Dolly was inspired to acquire it and turn it into such a work of art!

After the surfing photo shoot we picked up Ashley and headed back to the green house to clean up. We met Mark there and as we started gathering things they realized that we didn't have any pictures to showcase the cupcakes Summer's friend had made specially for the shoot to help kick start her own business. I don't know what she's planning to name it or what her name is but the cupcakes were delicious!

Dolly put the cupcake plate together with extra flowers she had purchased for whatever the shoot might call for. I think it turned out great. She's so creative and it's impressive to know that she doesn't have experience with flowers and weddings, she's simply fearless and has a can do mentality. I love working with her!

Ashley was still asleep when we picked her up, but she wanted to come with us to help clean up, so when Mark asked her to pose with the cupcakes she regretted not even bothering to look in the mirror or having anything on hand to touch herself up with. By this point Summer was gone so she was totally on her own. All she could do was run her fingers through her hair a couple of times and go for it. Good thing she's a natural beauty! And a good sport!! Dolly and I were very impressed with how hard Ashley was willing to work without complaint. I predict that in time she'll have a huge career in the fashion industry.

After clean up we still had a Birthday party to go to. Ashley's cousin Tasia Orton was having a sweet 16 surprise party thrown by her parents. We promised we'd be there as soon as we were finished with our work.

Tasia

Always smiling

Tasia's sweet 16 Birthday party

Her Grandparents gave her a coconut tree. A traditional gift for the 16th birthday.

Family picture time

Tasia and Ashley

Happy birthday Tasia, I hope it was wonderful. It was so great to see our Hawaii family and catch up with good food, a cozy fire and great people. Ma halo :)

After the party we went home and again collapsed. That night I slept so deep, I might as well have been in a comma.

Come back soon ;)

Hawaii trip day 3 / The BIG Day! / part 2

Ok, I know I said I would have video in this post but I don't know how to make the kind of video clip I envision doing yet. It's become a huge mental block for me and I just want to blog! So here's how the second part of the day went.

Next up was surfing in wedding dresses. Ashley didn't have any experience there so she opted to go home to take a much needed nap. It was tempting for me to join her, but as tired as I was, there was no way I was going to miss documenting this next shoot. Plus, I knew Dolly could use my help.

Bree, Seek and Jessica would be the models in their wedding clothes. Dolly and I shot video and stills from the beach while Mark shot from in the water with the models.

Here's how it all played out...

Jessica, right before she headed out for the surf

and then she was the first one out to try surfing in a very heavy wedding dress

Jessica and Mark both in their element in the water.
















This dress proved to make surfing very difficult. When it got wet the train got so heavy and would drag in the water. Jessica, who has mad skills on a surf board struggled in it even though she did get up! When we were done I had to carry the dress back to the truck. It was so heavy, my arms felt like they were going to fall off.



Next out were Bree and Seek. They also know their way around on a surf board, but getting up together on one board in clothes was quite the challenge.







Don't you think Mark chose a great profession? He's a photographer that lives in Hawaii. Why aren't we all that smart?

 

But they were good sports and their persistence paid off.



After a quick break they went back out on their own boards.

Wallah! Easy, breezy, and beautiful. Aren't they just fun to look at?

This picture is one of my personal favorites out of the batch I took.

After Bree and Seek were done, it was Jessica's turn to go back out. Bree helped her out of her dress and then traded dresses with her.

The girl in picture above on the right is Mark's daughter Ruby. I think this shoot made quite an impression on her.

 I had to go help get Jessica out of the first dress too. Have you ever tried to take off a wet wedding dress on the beach?

 I wonder what Ruby was thinking about all this.



Jessica grabs her board

and off they go.

Jessica had a much easier time in this dress.

 

Mark also specializes in under water photography.

Jessica after a hard days work. She's tired but still stunning!