Idea Boards!

Aloha everyone! Wow, another week has flown by ~ it seems like time stands still here one minute, then the next thing I know it's been an entire week! We are slowly but surely settling into Casa de la Willey :) There are times when I look around and think how blessed we are with our big house, the beautiful mountains, stretches of beaches and the cultural experiences we're getting here ~ i.e. getting kissed by a Hawaiian today when we went to look at his car :) Anyways, then there are times (especially when Bryan's at work and Noah's sleeping) that I wonder how I can feel so absolutely lonesome when I'm on a tiny island full of millions of people. Anybody know? There are people everywhere I turn, but they're not my family, my friends, my familiar surroundings. It's a wide range of emotions my heart goes through, but we are trying to make the most of what beautiful Hawaii has to offer us! So many things to do, three whole years to do them. :)

I watch a couple blogs, usually decorating ones, and one in particular always caught my eye ~ brynalexandra.blogspot.com. I love checking out her latest outfits (she thrifts like me!) and especially her latest design idea boards. She only charges $25 dollars for a large idea board, which is waaay less than she should in my opinion :) I decided when we were in the hotel to check in with her when we finally got our house. So last week I emailed her, we chatted about the stuff we already had and the designs I liked and voila! She worked her amazing magic and sent me three absolutely awesome idea boards! I've never met her in person, but she absolutely was spot on with my style. I am still swooning over all the ideas :) If you know me well, you know how my spastic head goes on and on with all kinds of creative ideas ~ and now that Bryn has pointed me in the right direction, the rainbow-riddled Hawaiian sky is the limit! :)

Here's the Living Room/Dining Room board:

Isn't it just awesome?! I would have never gone for the cobalt blue before, but now I'm in love! Totally beachy, without being themey. Make sense? :) This is the first room I'm attacking, now that Bubby's room and playroom are done. I've picked up some blue pillows, plates, a blue/white jute rug (1/2 price at Pier 1! Go me!) and some sweet lamps (1/2 off as well!) I solemnly promise to put pics up this week! :)

Here's the next board she sent me for our bedroom. I wanted a relaxing retreat to suit both Bryan and I ~ once again, Bryn outdid herself. She is so thoughtful in her designs, thinking of both of us and both our tastes. She based this board on the sand that surrounds us, and even worked in some Etsy finds, which is a website for all things handmade (which I love!) I can get my quirky accents that nobody else has and support a small business/crafter/artists at the same time! Everybody wins :) Here it is:

I am eyeing a new dresser right now that's posted on our local craigslist, and I'm on the hunt in all the furniture stores for a beautiful upholstered bed like that ~ boo that Overstock can't ship it :( I tried my best, but it weighs too much they said to ship to Hawaii :( But I think the rest I should be able to get online, woohoo!

Last, but certainly not least, is our office/scrapbook room. This one is probably my favorite only because Bryn really took to heart that Bryan is in the Army, and she incorporated his awards and plaques. I love that! And I love green ~ so right on, Bryn :)

So there's the latest happenings in the Willey household this week ~ let me know what you guys think! I highly recommend you check out her website if you get a chance or if you also need some outside inspiration for some project/room you've been waiting to tackle or change up. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and hope to hear from you soon! We love and miss you all!

xo,
Jenny

A sneak peak...

Aloha everyone! :) Wow, I am sorry it's been two weeks since I posted! And oh, what a crazy two weeks it's been. Where to start ~ we finally moved into our newly renovated 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath house on March 5th after almost six weeks in the hotel, yay! We have new laminate hardwood floors (which I've been swooning over forever and now we have them!) new sinks, tubs, countertops, carpet, etc. And fresh WHITE paint. That's right, I said good ole' white. Now if you know me, you know I love color on the walls. But in these times, we are blessed to have a roof over our heads, right? It was absolutely nervewracking and exciting all at the same time, taking a house sight unseen and then waiting weeks for it to be finished. When we finally got our keys that morning, we all held hands and walked in the front door of our new home together ~ and were pleasantly surprised! The more we walked around, the more we liked it. And the longer we're here, I can picture us making this a home for the next three years. Noah was so cute, he kept running full speed around and then he'd throw himself on the floor, as if to say "all this space is mine, all mine!"

So we moved in on the 5th, armed with our lovely "aloha" furniture (borrowed 70's rattan from housing,) our air mattress, and Bubby's toddler bed (that we shipped early enough to arrive in February.) We had a fun weekend, scrubbing walls, floors, appliances, cabinets, etc. Ah, the joys of moving in :) Then on Tuesday, March 10th, Bubby had tubes put in his ears :( All was well, it was definitely harder on Mommy and Daddy then lil' man :) The Dr. said he was such a little soldier! It took him quite a while to wake up from the anesthesia, and the waiting room was of course, right next door to the recovery room. So, as only one parent was allowed in at a time, Mommy rushed right in, only to have poor Noah screaming Daaaaaadddddddyyyyyy! for about 10 minutes. Talk about a heartbreak. Poor Bryan was pacing in the waiting room :( So the nurses go get Daddy, who came in only to have Noah scream Mooooommmmmmyyyyyyyyy!!!! for the next ten minutes. Needless to say, I was pacing outside the door, not knowing what to do until some sweet doctor walked by and asked if I wanted in. Uh, yeah! So that was that, finally they let us both in. So two parents and four juice cups later, he was awake and we were on our way :) I know tubes really aren't that big of deal at all, but if you're a parent, you understand. I just love my adorable, curly mopped little man! Here he is on moving day, watching Buzz:

From New House

Wednesday, March 11th the movers came with all our household goods. Can you believe our entire lives fit into these six crates, or better yet that they made it across the Pacific Ocean? Yeah, me either...

From New House

Bless the moving guys, Bryan was at work for the better part of the morning, so Noah and I "directed" them which room every box went into, after we checked it off the list. We had 181 boxes/items. Can you believe that?! One of the guys, poor thing, everytime he asked me where something went it was always the spare bedroom. Which is upstairs. So after quite a few trips up, he started joking about it. The microwave came out of a box next and immediately he asked, in his cute Hawaiian accent, spare bedroom? Haha, yeah no. :) Kitchen, please. They were awesome, and we thanked them for all their help with plenty of Mountain Dew. Which we had plenty of since I don't drink it anymore. Boo-hoo! I also bribed the box picker-upper guy to take ALL 100+ of our boxes with some Mountain Dew ;) Oh yeah, they came on the 13th. The same day the cable guys came :) Yep, it's been a busy two weeks.

I'm sorry I don't have any better pictures yet, I promise that I will get some in the next few days. And I'll have even more once we hang things up, get some rugs and window treatments, and all that fun stuff. It's fun to do those things now that we're unpacked. For the most part anyways ;) Here's the living room:

From New House

Pardon the army gear, Xbox and Vtech box ~ gotta love my "men" and their video games!

From New House

Not sure what to do with the wide entry way yet ~ any ideas?

From New House

The dining room was originally on the other side of the kitchen, but we decided to skip the formal room and make it Bubby's playroom. It works out perfectly, because the sliding doors are back there that go right out to the lanai (patio). So the dining room table is tucked in the back of the living room. I think we're going to put a desk on the other wall where the white hutch is ~ so much space to decorate! :)

From New House

Our bedroom ~ desperately needing new furniture and personality! :) Again, any ideas?

From New House

Hopefully this weekend we can hang Bubby's things up and I can get some pictures of his vintage cowboy room. Oh, and his froggy bathroom. Which is bigger than ours, might I add :) So there's your sneak peak for the day ~ I'll leave you with this parting shot of my two "men" after a hard day's work watching Mommy unpack :) Haha, just kidding ~ hope you all have a wonderful weekend and hope to hear from you soon!

Lots of love,
Bryan, Jen and Noah

From New House

Adieu...

to Room 1058.

You've been wonderful, being our temporary "home" these past almost six weeks. We will/will not miss you! :)

From Room 1058

From Room 1058

From Room 1058

From Room 1058

Also, adieu to the blogging and emailing world for a few days until we get cable/internet/phone hookup :( But yay for landline phones! Hopefully never again will we go over our cell minutes...

So I bid a final adieu to this first leg of our journey, and hopefully very soon we will have pictures to post of our new Hawaiian home! :) Thank you everyone for checking in and keeping up on our blog, it's greatly appreciated and exciting to know that everyone can know what's up with us, all these many miles away. Hope you all have a wonderful week and we'll talk to you soon! xo

P.S. ~ here's a cute shot of Bubby wondering what in the world I was doing...

From Room 1058

Another clue!

Okay, so I left you hanging last week, wondering if I made it to the orchid place...and the answer is yes! Bubby and I headed out there, following the clue we found on top of Makapu'u. To refresh your memory, it said:

You've come so far
now look around
leave the old you
back on the ground.

Back to the main road
then right you go,
all the way to Waimanalo.

There's a big crooked tree
then a tiny sign
at the orchid place
is what you must find.

So we headed down Kamehameha Highway (dare you to say that 5x's fast) and then hung a right onto Kalanianole Highway. I promise to say both of these, error free, when we visit! :) Anyways, okay our first sign we were getting close was a crooked tree:

From Makapuu 2

don't worry, I didn't take these while driving :) I pulled over. Then a tiny sign (it looks bigger in the picture ;)

From Makapuu 2

So I turned into this driveway, and met the cutest little man you ever did see ~ he doesn't speak English very well, but he was very relieved to see me! He kept saying, you're Jenny? I cannot believe it, your sister was here two month ago! He told me that he thought it was weird because he couldn't figure out why she left him a piece of paper in a plastic bag for someone to come later named Jenny. I tried my best to explain to him what Tori was up to and then I think, I think he got it :) As you can imagine, I was dying inside with laughter. He took good care of my note all these many weeks, he had it saved inside his "office." (really a box inside a greenhouse ;) So, here's the best part ~ Tori already had paid him for me to pick out...drumroll please...my very own orchid! He helped Bubby and I pick out one of the very best and most beautiful ones. I was so surprised and excited, what a reward! :) Thank you sissy!

Once back into the safety of my own truck, with my new orchid perched next to me in the passenger's seat, I read the next clue. You will never believe it. *Sigh.* Guess where I've gotta go next? Read on...

Like the orchid buds
side by side,
it's hard for others to see
what's on your inside.

So get your orchid,
tend it with care
just like yourself
this is my dare.

Then back to the lighthouse
from which you came
another trip up
but it's not the same.

Read the plaque for the soldiers
towards the left a rock alone.
In a crack by 3 more rocks,
you'll find what sends you on.

Back up the mountain!?!?! Are you kidding me?! Another sigh. Only Tori would be that cruel. Haha, just kidding :) Apparantly the mountain and I are going to be great friends. Actually, I was kindof excited because I know the trail now and I thought, huh it'll surely be easier the second time. And it was. A little.

I headed up there again with Bubby on Sunday (Bryan was sleeping after a night shift so it was perfect timing to get out of the room). Ahhh, I sighed as I looked up into the top of the sky. Here we go again! :) But I hope you can tell the sense of accomplishment I'm getting from this ~ this is now the fourth clue I'm after! Oh, and I made sure Tori by her phone on standby, just in case I had a hard time finding the 3 rocks again :) So here's a picture of Noah at the bottom, eating his traditional mountainside snack...

From Makapuu 2

Camera, check. Drinks, check. Spongebob Cheeseits, check. We're good to go!

Here's a shot about halfway up (yup, I'm still out of breath halfway up and have to stop and rest) of the lighthouse that sits on the coastline. It's beautiful...

From Makapuu 2

Also, this is a great lookout point for whales this time of year...

From Makapuu 2

So 43 minutes later (as opposed to the 60 minutes it took me last time) we made it again! Yahoo! Can you tell it's realllly windy?

From Makapuu 2

Okay, so after a quick look around at the beautiful scenery, we got down to business. I was on the hunt for another clue. So I found the plaque for the soldiers...

From Makapuu 2

...and then I had to call Tori. Because there were rocks everywhere, and I couldn't find anything :( Keep looking, she insisted. It's right on the edge. WHAT?! Yep, right on the edge of the CLIFF. That's right folks, I said cliff. Now I have a mild fear of heights, no big deal but I'm a mommy now and I was terrified of the cliff. Gulp. No worries, Bubby was never anywhere near the edge I promise! But what would happen to him if I slipped?! Oh the thoughts that were in my head...but I came this far, I wasn't about to go back down emptyhanded because of some silly 100+ foot drop. My mama raised me better than that! :) Anyways, here's a few shots of the cliff, just so you know I'm not exaggerating...

From Makapuu 2

see that rock in the lower left hand corner? It was wedged in there, and the only reason I saw it was that the wind was blowing on the very edge of my double bagged clue. Whew, that's all I have to say about that. Here's another shot of the swirling waters below...

From Makapuu 2

laugh if you want (I've been laughing at myself all week), but you walk out there and tell me you wouldn't be scared...

From Makapuu 2

I was too rattled to remember to get a shot of myself holding that precious clue. :( But I did remember to take pics of the first set of 3 rocks she hid my clue under the last time I climbed up here:

From Makapuu 2

inside those three rocks:

From Makapuu 2

So, you probably want to know what my clue says, after I risked life and limb to get it! :) Here goes:

Up the second time
now don't hate me
after all it's true,
repetition is the key.

Walk a mile, then two
three three and then four.
Til you carve yourself,
and you start wanting more.

It's all to get ready
for Koko Crater Peak
to the left of the top step
by 3 rocks is what you seek.

So here's the scoop ~ I have to work out one month on Tori's plan of walking, then she thinks I'll be ready for Koko Crater. Apparently it's not for the faint of heart, or those out of shape :) I am still amazed that she took the time and loves me enough to have done this for me. I've seen parts of Hawaii I probably wouldn't have, if not for her sending me on this race :) And I'm also shocked that the wind and rain hasn't blown these clues away. My little sis, she knows how to hide a clue! :) So that's the scoop on my Amazing Hawaiian adventure! Stay tuned for updates on my month long training for the infamous crater...xo

Dole!

On Saturday we took a tour of the famous Dole Pineapple Plantation, right down the road from where our new house is. (2 more days!) Bubby, Daddy, and Mommy rode the train, which of course he loved. He kept squealing "traaaaiinn!" so loud that everybody on the train could hear him above the recorded Hawaiian music that was playing. I kid you not. Thankfully most people smiled at their new little trraaaaiiinn! "tour guide."

See the excitement on his face?

From Dole Plantation

A family picture on the "trrraiiiinnnn!"

From Dole Plantation

See all those houses in the background? One of them's ours!

From Dole Plantation

:)
A pretty reservoir used to irrigate several of Hawaii's agricultural fields i.e. sugarcane and pineapple

From Dole Plantation

I always knew I had a funny shaped head...

From Dole Plantation

We had to feed the "fisshhhiiess!" at the coi pond...

From Dole Plantation

I spy a pineapple!

From Dole Plantation

A little baby red (there's that red again!) pineapple...

From Dole Plantation

Noah and his buddy Alex

From Dole Plantation

Someone stopped me the other day and said that Noah was so cute, he should be in a commercial. What momma doesn't love to hear that? :) So I'm thinkin' maybe a Yoohoo commercial and possibly Old Navy...I wish this picture was in focus but it's too cute not to share! Have a wonderful week everyone!

From Dole Plantation

Red...

is hereby declared the state color of Hawaii. Not glorious-red, like in the beautiful Waikiki sunsets ~ or even purple-red, like the new highlights (that I'm unsure about in my hair). Nope, red ~ dirt-red that is. I officially cannot stand the red dirt here anymore. Bubby's clothes have permanent stains on the tushie and the knees, and now my hubby comes home every day (not an exaggeration!) covered in red dirt from the top of his high & tight to the bottom of his size 9's. Yup, I think that red is definitely the new state color. Ugh. Mom, remember when we detassled (a rite of passage for Midwestern kids) and we were filthy dirty? Take that times one hundred times red. Eee.....thank goodness for Shout ~ it usually takes it out ;)

From Dole Plantation