As you might remember, I wasn’t able to fully participate in the 7 Days self-portrait project this past June, because I was in Hawaii. I got the first two days’ photos blogged before I left, and then I barely managed to get the rest of the week’s photos uploaded to Flickr in a timely fashion.

So let’s remedy that now, shall we?

Day 3 – loving on Lily

We got our black cat, Lily, when we were newlyweds. When I took these photos, she was 17 or 18 years old (we got her at a shelter, so we weren’t certain of her age), which is pretty old for a cat. She moved with us eight times, and was much-loved. She lived a pretty good life. Her kidneys were slowly, inexorably failing over the last three years, and we knew that her time with us was growing short, so we tried to appreciate her as much as we could while we still had her.

Photo of Lily taken in San Diego in September 2008.

Before we left Virginia, we said our final good-byes to Lily. We’re thankful she’s not in pain anymore, but we miss her still. Sigh.

Day 4 – in Hawaii with Lauren!

When I posted this photo, I was tired and travel weary. I was frustrated that the crappy internet at our hotel wouldn’t cooperate with my laptop, and annoyed that I had to post this photo from my phone, but…I was so happy to be in Hawaii with Lauren!

If you’ve been reading for a long time, you know that Lauren is one of my best friends, and that she lives in Australia. We met via Flickr five years ago, and we’ve met in person three times, every time in the States. The first time, Lauren came to the DC area for a friend’s wedding when we lived in Southern Maryland. The second time, Lauren visited us at our home in San Diego. This last time, we flew to Hawaii and met her there, where she had traveled to help celebrate a friend’s 40th birthday. Each time she’s traveled a little less to meet us. The next time I see Lauren, my plan is that she won’t have to travel at all, and I’ll be the one flying to Australia. It only seems fair that I take my turn, right?

Day 5 – dottery-ing with Lauren

Blatantly ignoring the day’s theme (PORTRAIT), but…who cares? Not me, because I was painting pottery with Lauren in Hawaii!

Day 6 – infinite Bethany and Lauren

And we sneaked Annalie into the photo too. At this point, I’d given up on participating in 7 Days at all, but I was still taking photos, figuring I could upload them later. Which is what I did.

Day 7 – Lauren and me and a Hello Kitty mosaic

I realized a month after 7 Days was over that I’d never uploaded my Day 7 photo. Oops. Better late than never? We took this in front of a Hello Kitty mosaic outside the Hello Kitty store at the Ala Moana Shopping Center in Honolulu. Hello Kitty is HUGE in Hawaii.

Sigh. Internet friends are awesome, but it sucks when they live half a world away. I guess I’ll just have to start planning that trip to Australia.