Saturday, August 27, 2011

Writing and Sweating


Walking Baxter, during the morning sunrise.

Whew! I am pooped. I have been writing since 8 a.m., and we have a restaurant to do tonight. It’s at the Hyatt in Poipu, an upscale resort serving Italian food with an ocean view. Sucks to be me! But, that’s in two hours and Dan still has to come home from his photo tour.
I hired a writing coach, and she is the real deal. I bought her book, “Will Write For Food” in 2005, when I was thinking about switching careers. Somehow, the book made it to Hawaii. I have been reading it because it covers restaurant reviews. I decided I needed to hire a big gun to help me take my writing to the next level. Sure, I could have done what most writers do, send out pitch after pitch, and saving up to 100 rejection letters like a badge of honor, but I really don’t have time for that.

It looks cold in this picture but it isn't. I interviewed a local commercial fisherman for my Farmers Markets column. He is going to take us out on his boat in two weeks and we'll learn about fishing!

She’s got me coming up with ideas and condensing them to two sentence pitches. I need to find markets for those ideas and explain why each market is appropriate. In the meantime, I have my two MidWeek columns due, and Thursday night I helped a friend cook for the monthly Chamber of Commerce mixer—Hawaii style; outside, no shoes and lots of aloha.

My gluten-free baker friend and I hiked Sleeping Giant last Sunday. It's an awesome workout as it's mostly uphill. For my friends in Colorado, it reminds me of Mt Falcon in Morrison. It's a two hour hike that burns 800 to 1000 calories! Our goal is to do it every Sunday. I'll have her take my picture in this same spot so you can watch me lose weight, and grow my hair back out!

I also hired a personal trainer. I love going to her house because she has a girlie gym. It’s tough and soft at the same time.  Weights and weight machines fill two rooms, colored tapestries and scarves hang from walls and windows, upbeat music plays from her iPad, and older women work out. I’m older now! My workout partner last Thursday was 69-years-old! Awesome! It’s a real communal feeling, and the women are so nurturing. They all support, and recommend each others services. I’m hoping I can lose weight, build muscle, make some friends and get some work! Bummer is, I may have to quit if I can’t find a way to pay for my new habit. Speaking of, yes! We are still smoke-free, but still depending on e-cigs!
Well, I have to get cleaned up and do a little research before we go. It’s been hot here, not as hot as on the Mainland, but the trade winds have subsided so sweat drips down my body as I write. Ew! Good thing I work from home, alone.
Enjoy the pictures, we had some fun this week!

Sending lots of love and light to those on the East coast dealing with hurricane Irene.

 The owners of Kauai Photo Tours and Dan's bosses, Michele and Vince. Last Saturday, they took their employee's and their wives/girlfriends out to a nice dinner. 

Dan and his fellow tour guide Matt. 

 Levi is the third photo tour guy, he's sitting next to Corene, she pays the bills.

Michele and Vinces son Scott with his girlfriend.


Chris is the new guy. He and his girlfriend got here last week, and he got hired this week.