My Top 10 Apps for an Amazing Hawaiian Vacation

Back when I lived on Oahu (yes, it already pains me to say "lived" in the past tense :( ), there were a few apps that never left my side either when I was coming up with ideas for an afternoon or night out on Oahu or when I was planning a vacation to one of our neighbor islands.  Many were indispensable to how I planned or got new ideas, and I figured that many of you readers would probably love to know about them and my thought process for planning.  

Some of the apps are already pretty popular and some of them aren't so well-known.  I have all of these apps on my iPad, but they're also all available for the Android platform as well and I've included both the iTunes and Google Play links for them all.  So without further ado, let's get started!

One quick note -- this is in no way a sponsored post.  All the opinions expressed are 100% mine and no app, company, or person has swayed my thoughts in any way, other than by being independently awesome, of course.  And no, this isn't an April Fool's post either!  ;)

Think: Net Neutrality

You all may have noticed the giant freakin' banner at the top of my blog appear overnight, but I assure you, it is for a good reason!  I am participating in the Battle for the Net in order to protect a free and open internet for all U.S. citizens, not just those rich enough to afford it.  This is also known as net neutrality.

You may have heard that term before, but if you want to understand it better, I highly suggest this video from John Oliver of Last Week Tonight:

For the Battle of the Net, this is what is going to happen.  On September 10th of this year (tomorrow), participating websites, including Netflix, Reddit, Vimeo, Etsy, Credo, Upworthy, Tumblr, Digg, Foursquare, Kickstarter, Mozilla, Imgur, and many, many more will be displaying the same kind of loading icon I have at the top of my own blog in order to protest the idea of internet fast lanes.  Although these websites won't actually be slowing down their speeds (yours truly included), this kind of outpouring of support for net neutrality is huge and will surely cause people to take notice.

But getting attention isn't the main goal here.  We want U.S. citizens to contact their lawmakers and make a statement about what the internet should be like in this country.  Congressional action is how we will force our voices to be heard and it's one of the most powerful tools we have in our arsenal.  In order to ensure our Congresspeople are doing what we the people wish, we have to tell them first.

Use the widget at the top of the page to fill out a form letter and send it to your Congressperson.  Make phone calls to them as well.  Share on Twitter, Facebook, or your social media platform of choice.  Talk to your family and friends about this, especially those who aren't as connected to digital media and news as others may be.  Get the word out so we can fight what Team Cable has in store for us!

For more information on the Battle for the Net, go here.  This website goes in depth about this specific event and also includes known members of Team Cable and Team Internet (where does your lawmaker stand?) and tells you how to participate in the battle on September 10th.

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Ch-Ch-Changes!

As the end of the year ticks down (and inevitably the end of our time in Hawaii), I'm becoming more and more willing to shake things up around the old blog here, except this time in a big way.  It's been on my mind for a while now to really revamp my blog, and the occasional new background and color schemes just isn't cutting it anymore for me!

via TheStressSurfer.com

I have a few ideas in mind for how I want to go about all of this, but first and foremost I wanted you all to know that it will most certainly involve a blog title change and a domain name change.  I'm going to figure out the best way to make sure this transition is as seamless as possible and that it doesn't affect any of my readers in any way.

Why am I changing my title and domain at this stage of my blog, you ask?  Mr. L and I will soon be undergoing a major transition in our lives.  The possibility of Mr. L leaving the military is getting stronger and stronger every day thanks to his illness, which is still yet to be diagnosed.  Because of this particular upheaval and everything thing else that will ultimately come with it, I feel like it is time to graduate from "The Landrum Wife" and onto something a little less "wife-y" and a little more suitable for my personality and overall perspective.  Since I suppose this could be considered a "lifestyle" blog, I want to represent my viewpoint on my life and I'm hoping I'll be able to find a good "brand" as a vehicle for that message soon.

As I go through this process, I will keep everyone updated, and when it comes time to make the switch, you all will be the first ones to know.  Hopefully this change will be received well and will be as easy as possible to accomplish, haha.  Thanks so much for your understanding and support, and until next time, aloha!  :)

One Blog, One Tree

Did you know that each time someone browses the internet and clicks on a web page, CO₂ gases are emitted?  It may seem strange, but it's true!  These emissions come from the energy consumption of computer servers and hardware.  According to one study by a Harvard physicist, a blog with an average amount of traffic can emit about 8 lbs of CO₂ gases each year, so it's definitely obvious how this can be considered a significant issue after you tally up the number of blogs and websites out there!

I wanted to add pictures to this post, but since I didn't have anything terribly related, you get to see pictures of Hawaiian trees.  Here are some lovely coconut palms!

Pinterest's New Place Boards

If you've been browsing over at Pinterest lately, you may have noticed that they've implemented a new feature called Place Boards that lets you add a map feature to your pins.  At first I thought it was interesting, but I honestly didn't think much else of it.  And then I pinned one of my posts from my Getting to Know Hawaii series and it hit me -- this would be perfect for my Getting to Know Hawaii Pinterest Board!

Now you can see the locations of all of the posts I've done in relation to one another.  This is a great way for you to plan out a day trip if you happen to live here or a vacation if you're visiting.  Pretty neat, huh?

Go ahead and click the link below to check out my Pinterest Place Board.  And if you have one of your own, share it with me below!

Follow Mrs. Landrum's board Getting to Know Hawaii on Pinterest.

Photo-a-Day OIC - Week 5

Here's the very last week of pictures, meaning October is over!  And it's already November!  So crazy.  And I know, I know, I'm definitely behind getting this post up and I didn't get a chance to post these on Instagram, but hey, at least I finished! :)

Day 27 - Dinner

Lunch that became dinner from Tin Hut BBQ -- can't get enough of them!

Photo-a-Day OIC - Week 4

Looks like we're almost through with October -- one more half week to go!  Here's week 4's collection of pictures:

Day 20 - Spread the Spark

Recipe on the dinner rotation this week from SparkRecipes

Photo-a-Day OIC - Week 3

I can't believe week three is already behind us!  Here are all of my pictures below:

Day 14 - Harvest

Not your typical fall harvest, but I love me some grapes!  :)

Photo-a-Day OIC - Week 2

It's the end of week two of the Photo-a-Day October Instagram Challenge!  Check out my pics below:

Photo-a-Day OIC - Week 1

It's the end of the first week of the Photo-a-Day October Instagram Challenge hosted by SparkPeople!  Here's my collection of photos below:

Day 1 - Lunch

Gotta love a warm bowl of broccoli cheese soup!

Photo-a-Day October Instagram Challenge

As far as I know, there isn't another October Photo Challenge going on that I've been participating in for the past two years (check out the previous challenges here and here), so this year I decided to join up with SparkPeople's Photo-a-Day October Instagram Challenge instead!

Every Sunday I'll be posting the week's pictures on the blog and I'll attempt to upload a photo every day over on my Instagram account.  Feel free to join up if you have Instagram or a blog (or both!) and don't forget the tags #sparkpeople and #fallfavorites on your pictures!

I can't wait to see all of the pictures of fall, especially since we don't actually get fall out this way.  Hopefully I won't get too homesick for my favorite season, though!

Are you a fan of fall?  Think you might join the challenge?  Let me know in the comments below!

Pinning Frenzy!

Like everyone else in the cyber-universe, I've recently joined the ranks of Pinterest.  Let me tell you, I am thoroughly raptured by the wonderful goodies just waiting to be pinned by my eager clicking finger.

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