Score one more for Hawaii!

I didn't think she existed. Living so far from her for three years was going to be rough. But when I came across her at the mall the other day, I was ecstatic! It's like old friends reunited.

My life is now fully complete. Thank you J.Crew. You complete me.

The Curtains are finished!

The Living Room

Huge picturesque windows are what I love about this room. But, I dont love the whole neighborhood looking in. And it gets super hot in the afternoon when the sun shines in. It may be November, but it was 87 here today-hot.

Curtains were a MUST!

Cant go wrong with yards and yards of orange polka dot! (One of my life's mottos)

More windows!

Simple Velcro tie backs

The view on the inside is every bit as nice as the one looking out

Up next: Curtains for the guest room. But you might have to come see them for yourself!

My Super Hero's

Black Spiderman and Batman keep things under control around here.

This picture was taken during the costume fittings. I hemmed the sleeves and Batman's pants and they were good to go!

Some Spiderman moves. The day has been full of awesome moves.

This little guy loved his costume, he was so proud. Plus the "muscles" came in handy. I saw him total belly flop and slide on the gym floor at church. Thanks to the muscles, not a scratch on him.

We partied hard at our the church party. Then tonight Spidey and I hit the streets. I was totally surprised by how awesome the trick or treating was in our neighborhood! There were TONS of kids and all the neighbors were sitting outside with their houses decorated handing out candy. He had a lot of fun. Till his Crocs gave him a blister (I didnt think Crocs could do that, but they did) and we came home.

We have WAY more candy than we need. Baker is a candy-holic. Seriously for a one year old, he is really into it. He knows where its hidden and he just points and grunts till I throw him a candy corn. Im pretty sure he's going to start pooping skittles if he keeps going at the rate he did today.

It was a good Halloween. Now all I have to say is, GET OUT THE CHRISTMAS TREE! Its going up early my friends. The debate is still on for how early is acceptable. We will be in Arizona for two weeks in Dec so I want to have plenty of time to enjoy the tree.

Can I put it up before Thanksgiving? What do you think?

Its Good to be Four!

We ate, we sang, we watched Scooby-Doo. It was a fun little birthday!

Happy Birthday Spiderman!

My New Wallet

My latest creation:

Inspired by Kat from That Darn Kat tutorial

I made a few changes, but it was pretty easy for the most part.

Finally, a project worthy of this super cute fabric! Thanks again JJ!

I discovered if I zig zag the edge of fabric it almost looks like its surged with a rolled edge, or maybe even cooler! Thats how I made the ruffle edges.

It has room for everything! And even though the bottom pocket turned out smaller than its supposed to be, its the perfect size for my mini Maika'i card (Foodland Store discount card) which ALWAYS get lost in my purse. So, YAY!

My phone fits nicely in the top pocket (happy accident!) and its yellow so it matches! But I guess when most of my stuff is yellow, everything tends to match. But it still makes me happy!

And my checkbook can be tucked in the back of the top pocket. My checkbook has a habit of hiding from me too. Problem solved!

I learned a lot and am excited to give this another go, or 5 ;) They will only get better from here! Who wants one??

A Tour of My House: The Dining Room

I've been forbidden to go to the beach till I post something, so this is for you Laura!

I love this room.

I have never had my own dining room till now.

Its not huge, but it fits our table perfectly and my sewing desk. The desk is to the left, but it has some Christmas gifts in the works so Im not going to show it yet.

Still only have 2 chairs, one finished one half way there. I think the blue color is perfect for this room. It really brightens it up. Just close your eyes and imagine 6 pretty blue chairs in here... nice huh?

The built in cabinet is one of the things I was really excited about when we looked at this house. I keep my cookbooks, pretty mixing bowls, cake plates, and some of my favorite vintage pieces in here. Oh and all our empty Waialua Soda Works bottles. Not sure what we are going to do with those, but they are kind of cool so I dont want to throw them away! (Pack rat much?)

And Im all decorated for Fall in here. I always feel special this time of year. Its like the world is paying homage just to me. JK! But I do love seeing my name everywhere! The awesome pendants were a gift from my sister-in-law Adrienne. It has glitter AND leopard print ribbon. She knows me well.

More art on the wall. These are our biggest pieces. Done by moi

The window view. These windows never close. They are open 24x7. Just like the other 25 windows in the house. That might be why my floors and everything else is so dang dusty!

Our newly acquired pumpkins! One for each boy.

It may look like Fall but it feels like Summer, so NOW, Im going to the beach!

A Tour of My House: The "Library"

This is an odd sort of space. Its not really a 'room', its kind of like a really big open hallway/entryway. We didnt want to use it as an office since the computer is pretty much our lifeblood around here and we didnt want to put it in a corner. Cuz then how would I watch Project Runway on mylifetime.com? From the computer chair? No thanks. We have it in the living room. Anyway, here are some pictures...

Before: A plain open space. So much potential!

After: A colorful reading area!

I wanted to hang the paintings with a sort of a gallery feel.

The kid books are here on the lower shelves.

The taller bookcase is organized by color courtesy of Bradley. I love it, such a cool idea.

I swiped these oversize jacks from my Mom. Arent they the coolest? Ive loved them since I was a babe.

A closer look:

The YELLOWs

The ORANGEs

The GREENs

The REDs

This corner gets a lot of use!

I might make some big cushy pillows to throw down in the corner. What do you think?

Make Over My Dining Room

We are pretty much settled in here. I have some follow up posts coming to show a little of what we have done with the place. I love our dining room, but it still has a ways to go. My plan for is to get a variety of chairs and refinish them all in the same color. Im looking for six chairs total. We bought a super cute white pedestal table at Crate & Barrel before we moved here sans chairs. I think bright Tiffany's blue will really make the whole room bright and happy!

I found two cute chairs at Salvation Army. They were originally $10 each, but when I got to the register the lady gave me 15% off! I think its funny when thrift stores have "sales". Isnt everything in there super cheap anyway? A few weeks ago I found a black spiderman costume for Avery at Goodwill and it was 50% off, it cost $2. Why even bother with the % off? I would have paid $4.

Anyway, here is what I did with them.

Before:

After:

Distressed just a tad with my very first power tool! Love me some power tools.

My two models trying out the new chair:

I want to give a special shout out to my awesome and incredibly talented friend Julie, who is a pro at refinishing furniture and inspired this project. And this color always reminds me of her! (Miss you Julie!)

If you need me...

If you need me, look for me here:

Its were I go most days.

Can you blame me?

A Few Things

1. My baby can walk! He even wears shoes, well sometimes he wears shoes. No babies wear shoes in Hawaii. But when I do put them on he giggles.

2. Aforementioned baby can also do an evil villain laugh. Muah ha ha. It might be his best trick.

3. We bought a VW van! Brad was the driving force (sorry) behind it. I go back and forth. I love the way it looks and the fact that its a van and a VW makes it really cool. But, its old and I we have a lot of work to do on it. But that might actually turn out to be on the good side of the list.

4. If you had a VW van what color would you paint it?

5. Its 4:40 and both my kids are asleep. I think Im in trouble tonight!

6. I have a garden! I just picked some rosemary for tonights chicken.

7. I talk about super heros for approximately 90% of my day. Avery is borderline obsessed. Its cute to see him so into a topic. But a little variety in our lives would be nice!

8. There is a really zen looking yoga studio just down the road. I think Im going to start taking classes there. I might join the "Yoga For Surfers" class.

9. The guest suite is almost ready. So pack your bags. Im dying for some visitors.

10. Have you seen the model in the newest J.Crew catalog that looks exactly like Jesus in a suit? I love it!

Mailbox Love

Thanks Aunt Spicy, I am in love with this fabric. The colors, the print, the bow you wrapped around it. I don't want to cut it!

Maybe I will just leave it looking all cute on my table for a little while longer...

Pool Upgrade

Loving the new, bigger pool! Plus water sprays out of the whales head. What more could two little water babies want?

In other news, the curtains are done (yay!!!). I just need to make some tie backs and then I will post pictures here on a blog I have with my cousin who is the awesomest. More on that/her later!

We are almost moved in. We hung paintings this weekend and did some final furniture re-aranging. We are getting there!

And we got a van! Its truly an island car, a VW Vanagon. Its sweet. I think it looks like a Storm Trooper. We are going to pick it up this afternoon.