Hippoland

noreply@blogger.com (dunkhippo33) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:03:00 +0000

Blue Wedding Flowers

Excited about today's post on blue wedding flowers. This year, cobalt blue is predicted to be very popular, but natural blue flowers are a rarity. The post talks about expert advice from florists and offers some photo inspiration. Check out. http://blog.shinyorb.com/blue-wedding-flowers

noreply@blogger.com (dunkhippo33) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:58:00 +0000

Beach bridesmaid dresses

Recently, I wrote a post on choosing beach bridesmaid dresses. The post is about my search for finding dresses that would fit both the beachy-theme I had at my wedding as well as fit the windy environment of California beaches.

noreply@blogger.com (dunkhippo33) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:55:00 +0000

Wedding photography Tips for Brides

Shiny Orb was excited to feature it's first wedding vendor blogger of the year, Shang Chen. Shang wrote a great post about 5 tips in choosing a wedding photographer.

noreply@blogger.com (dunkhippo33) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:08:00 +0000

Inspirations for 2010 Weddings

At Shiny Orb, we decided to take a look at what wedding trends to expect in 2010. We wrote a full report on location, styles, and what bridesmaid dresses are en vogue for the year. Check out these 2010 wedding inspirations.

noreply@blogger.com (dunkhippo33) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:06:00 +0000

Advice on bridal shoes

My friend Christine wrote a nice post on what to consider for bridal shoes. She discusses whether to choose shoes that could be worn outside of a wedding. Check out the post here:

http://blog.shinyorb.com/bridal-shoes-glass-slippers-or-comfortable-sh

noreply@blogger.com (dunkhippo33) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:02:00 +0000

Turquoise Inspiration Boards

Happy post-holidays! I'm behind in my blogging. Over the holiday break, Shiny Orb posted some nice wedding tips from guest bloggers and from their own trend reports. According to Pantone, the leading expert on colors, 2010 is expected to feature turquoise as the color of the year for weddings.

We're already seeing a number of turquoise dresses being featured.

Check out these inspiration boards:
http://blog.shinyorb.com/turquoise-bridesmaid-dresses-and-turquoise-in

noreply@blogger.com (dunkhippo33) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:36:00 +0000

Oceanic Geo Dive Computer:

I've heard great things about the Oceanic Geo Dive Computer, but the reviews on amazon look less than stellar.

Thoughts?

noreply@blogger.com (dunkhippo33) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:27:00 +0000

The Pearl Izumi Women's Vagabond Jacket:

She's also considering this other jacket, the Pearl Izumi Women's Vagabond. The Vagabound is pretty sleek, though the pink color looks pretty terrible. Thoughts?

noreply@blogger.com (dunkhippo33) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:12:00 +0000

My friend Jennifer is interested in buying a jacket for cycling. She's thinking about the Pearl Izumi Gavia jacket. What do you think of this?

noreply@blogger.com (dunkhippo33) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:45:00 +0000

Lately, I've been finding some great deals on the web. As we start to think about super bowl season, here are some cheap super bowl tickets for sale. In this economy, these prices are actually quite good! Now...if only my team the 49ers would ever go to the Super Bowl....

noreply@blogger.com (dunkhippo33) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:47:00 +0000

Jennifer and I are pleased to announce the launch of our new site shinyorb.com. We'd love to hear your thoughts.

It's a comparison shopping site for bridesmaid dresses. We aggregate thousands of dresses from across the web, and unlike on most online bridal stores, people can search by price, dress attributes, and designers. In addition, we also have a unique, co-shopping tool that makes it easy for friends to browse in real-time together. I'm re-posting the original blog post below:

Shiny Orb launches!

By Jennifer

Elizabeth and I are proud to announce the launch of Shiny Orb, a new online store mixing real-time social shopping with bridesmaid dresses.

Our inspiration for creating this store was quite simple. While Elizabeth was planning her wedding, she wanted her bridesmaids to wear dresses they would like and would look good in. Since all the bridesmaids, including me, lived in different places worldwide, we tried to coordinate what we would wear over email. Very quickly, however, our inboxes were cluttered with too many emails filled with links and opinions leading to much confusion and frustration.

Wouldn't it be easier if we could all get online and shop and browse together in real-time?

And so the idea for Shiny Orb was planted. With a co-shopping tool developed by Parrotview Inc., we've built the only place on the web where you can shop for bridesmaid dresses online with your friends in real-time. You can see what they're looking at and can chat and share opinions. Best of all, we require no downloads or sign ups.

We would love to hear what you think. Check it out at Shiny Orb.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 21:00:00 +0000

Minuteman Trail: also pwned.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 20:57:00 +0000

About 7 miles in a solo river loop out to BU. This was after 1 hour of sleep from it being a late night in lab. The run felt pretty OK, although I was getting tired in miles 6 and 7. After I took my shower I took a nap for five hours though.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:39:00 +0000

Got in a rather fast 5 mile run with TC today. Felt good to having a running buddy again; scheduling snafus and travel by CL had had be operating solo for a fair bit.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:38:00 +0000

About 8 miles today, solo, along the river. Felt great, even though it was really hot, humid, and windy.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:24:00 +0000

Managed to do 16 miles today along the Minuteman Trail. Felt really good, although I did stop along the way to get a drink. Unwisely, I decided on a Sobe Blackberry Grape Life Water, which was 100% vile.

Last week and this week both I tried out ice baths afterward my long run. I was skeptical at first, but I think I like it. It's definitely calming and refreshing after a long run, and I think it also made a big difference in how sore I become the following day, at least for my 20 mile run last week.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:17:00 +0000

I was supposed to meet TC at 7:30am to run ~7 or 8 mi with him this morning, but I didn't wake up until 7:33. Oops, I'm late! I rushed out the door and threw on my jogging clothes, in frantically trying to to find TC before he gave up on me...but when I sprinted into our meetup point, he wasn't there--he must've already left.

A little frustrated with myself for the snafu, but still determined to get in some miles, I continued out to the River St. bridge. But after mile 4, I began to realize that I hadn't attended to all the business that I usually attend to in the mornings before running. That realization became a very pressing urge in no time. I slowed to a walk, just to avoid jostling things around in there too much. Eventually I had to make a detour back over the Mass. Ave. bridge and ducked into campus to attend to the aforementioned business. After that, I just jogged home. Still was about 7 miles total, with maybe 5 or so of consistent jogging.

The best part is, when I saw TC later in the day, it turns out he'd sent me a text messaging bailing out of our running plans late last night. So it turns out I'd rushed myself into this, um, crappy situation for no good reason after all....

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 01:45:00 +0000

7 miles with CL before he took off on his trip. Was still very sore from the 20 miler on Sunday, and perhaps a few steps slower than usual as a result, but it felt good to work out some of that soreness from the ol' legs.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 00:10:00 +0000

Charles River (of previously being pwned fame), long run, 20.13 miles, with CL. He tells me we did 3:21:03, 9:59 pace. I was dying big-time in the last four or so. Glad he was there to bring me home.

noreply@blogger.com (dunkhippo33) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:08:00 +0000

Yawn. Ms Hippo is here. /Trots into the blog after a long time away/

So, I finished the race with a 2:24:26 time, taking over an extra hour over my goal-time. As tentrillion posted, the results are in. As you can see, I finished near the bottom -- there were over a 1000 people who participated, but it looks like a good 400 people either didn't finish or finished beyond the alloted time.

The Waikiki Roughwater Swim was way harder than in a pool. Although the length of the course, 2.4miles, was what I'd practiced in a pool, I wasn't prepared for the current and all the waves. The course was marked with flags so that you could see where you were going, but unfortunately, there were so many times when waves completely blocked my view of the flags. However, the flags were just there for guidance -- to point you in the correct direction. You could have the athletic freedom to severely zig zag on both sides of the flags if you wanted to. You could swim to Japan and back if you wanted to. The only rule with regard to swimming the course was that you had to round two particular buoys (one at the beginning of the race and one at the end) in a specified way. Other than that, all flag markers in between were just for guidance. So, I definitely zig zagged a LOT -- not deliberately, but I had some issues with navigation. Even though you did have the athletic freedom in theory to severely zig zag, I suppose it was controlled to a certain extent -- an official on a kayak at some point had to stop me to tell me I was swimming too far off-course and that I should turn and swim in another direction.

Yet, even though I couldn't see the flags most of the time, it's not like it was a storm out there -- there were just way more waves than in a pool, which I wasn't prepared for. I kept getting pummeled, so I forced myself to breathe only on my right side, which faced the shore, to avoid swallowing unnecessary water. By the time 2 hours hit, I felt like I was really dying out there, because I wasn't prepared to swim much longer than 1:30; I ended up swimming really slowly by the end.

The highlight of the swim was seeing a turtle swimming on sea floor...pretty exciting! However, I soon noticed that it was swimming faster than I was, which was rather discouraging. You know a race is going poorly when a turtle is moving faster than you.

All in all, it was an ok race. I was glad that I finished but was really disappointed by my time. I think I'd be up for swim race, though perhaps in a lake. Any suggestions?

Lastly, thanks so much for all the support, enthusiasm, and smart-arse comments! The blog will continue to be in use for the next month or so until I find another race and tentrillion finishes his marathon. So please do write in with your thoughts on other race possibilities. It could even be as out-there as bog snorkeling.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:25:00 +0000

A NOTE TO OUR READERS: No need to further heckle Ms. Hippo. I've been doing just that. She assures me that a post summarizing her race experience is imminent.

P.S. If you're interested, the results are here if you must peek early. But wait to hear about it from Ms. Hippo!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:10:00 +0000

Vacation, aaaagain. A short 3.5 mile jaunt through Mountain View.

I'll hopefully try a long long distance on Saturday -- I would like to try to crack 20. I can't tell if it will be harder than my last 18.4 miler with CL because I've been slacking lately, or easier because hey, it's not slacking, its "tapering".

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 18:09:00 +0000

Vacation week continues! This time I went for a quick morning jog with DP in sunny (but less hot) Mountain View, CA. Only 2.7 miles, but better than not going at all.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 18:05:00 +0000

A lazy week. CL was sick, but nonetheless I'd planned on doing intervals Wednesday with TC. And then, I wussed out. Boo me. On Thursday I left for vacation. Saturday I went to run a "long" run in sunny (and hot) Moorpark, California. But I only made it 8.2 miles or so. The first few was with vacation buddies DP and SS, but then I was on my own. I did this run in two laps--I was feeling a bit run down after 4 miles or so, so I went back to my home base, loaded up on Gatorade, and hit up another 4.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 18:13:00 +0000

CL was sick and I had a miscommunication with TC, so I was alone this morning. Managed to get in a lazy 3 miles to the Longfellow and back home.