post no. 171 -- Big Ticket

When Kris and I moved to Hawaii most of our furniture was either hand-me-down or IKEA. So far I've loved to brag that our whole house cost under $2,000 to furnish and decorate, but lately I've been thinking it might be time to rectify that.

In military housing it seems that one of the most popular sofa/couch options is actually a sectional. I like to think of the Navy as an extension of high school and college. You have a bunch of 20-somethings, either single or freshly married, coming from all over the country who have one major thing in common, partying. Every weekend it seems there is at least one beer pong tournament, poker game, or drunken skateboarding session, on our street alone.

With the Navy specifically, your ship becomes an extension of your family. When you are not underway or on a long deployment for months at a time, you are in port working with the people you have been living with for the last year plus. Naturally, these "extended family" make their way over to your house, eat with your family, and pass out in your guest room until you both carpool back to work the next day, and begin the festivities all over again.

I am now used to unexpected workout buddies, dinner guests, and late night Madden contests in our living room. But being used to it doesn't mean I can't be prepared. that is why I have begun the search and savings plan for a new sectional. At first, I hated the idea of a sectional. Mainly because of that fact that everyone seemed to have one in our housing. But after searching for a suitable couch to house the masses of friends that tend to gather at our house, I figured it just might be the only suitable alternative to a sofa and loveseat.

I think I just might have found the perfect one too. I don't like the conventionality of an L-Shaped Sectional, but I love the look of a simple couch with a chaise on the end. I can just picture Kris sprawled out after a long day at work playing Little Big Planet with me.

This is what I have decided to dedicate the savings plan to. I hate the pillows on the back, but I love the corded style of the chocolate brown contemporary yet casual sectional. Having Jack be Jack, means that the darker the furniture, the better. Our current sagey-khaki couch has her wonderful paw splotches that will just not come out despite my determination.

Well this sectional will be our next big ticket purchase for the place. We haven't really made any real purchases other than the TV in the Living Room, so this should be a fun adventure for the both of us.

post no. 170 -- Friday Finds: Illustrators Galore

French Illustrator Sibylline Meynet

Mexican Illustrator Anita Mejia

Brooklyn Based Illustrator Alex Eben Meyer

Spanish Illustrator Octavi Navarro

post no. 169 -- Things I Want Thursdays

Can you believe it's already Thursday?!? I woke up thinking today was Tuesday or Wednesday, but no it's Thursday! For this "Things I Want" post I figured I'd focus on something that has been near and dear to me since I moved into our place: the spare room.

I love different things about each of the photos listed above, and all are sure to lend some inspiration to the studio revamp. Until then, I'll just keep collecting more photos to share.

post no. 168 -- Wedding Snippets

So as some of you know, Kris and I have already had two "weddings". The first wedding was a strictly legal ceremony done in a living room in Virginia to help expedite the move and transition to Hawaii. The second was a faux wedding for our families to experience (mainly due to the fact that my mom wasn't able to come out to our first wedding). Lately though, I have been thinking of doing a third (and final) wedding as a sort of real renewal, just for us. The first wedding felt a bit rushed, as I flew out two days before and took care of the details from across the country, and the second, although surrounded by all of our family, seemed more a show for them and less a re-committing to each other.

So in honor of our third anniversary (which won't be for another almost two years) I think we should go with threes a charm. I don't want to focus on the reception or anything like that, I really just want to focus on us. Sure, we'll make it gorgeous, with gorgeous photo and yummy courses, but I want to have a wedding that feels like everything you picture your perfect day as. No bridesmaids, no crazy uncles to deal with, just close friends and family, love, and most importantly each other.

March 16, 2013 will be our third anniversary, a Saturday, and Kris will be home from deployment. How much more perfect could it get?

Here is some eye candy I have been compiling for the event:

I want the whole experience to be intimate yet inviting, warm and friendly, and just full of love. 

post no. 167 -- What Inspires Me Wednesdays

Old couples still in love. 

Pretty vases.

This little tid bit from Anita Mejia. 

Some lessons to live by.

Snuggly gear for the cold weather.

Wine box gardens.

This adorable bunny baby doll.

post no. 166 -- Matrimony Mondays v. 5

Here's a little eye candy for you all (again belated) Matrimony Mondays got moved to Tuesday this week. Today is again crazy at work so I will leave you with this to hold over to tomorrow, or maybe later this afternoon! 

post no. 165 -- Happy Easter! {Belated}

Sorry for the delay in posting. Since moving to Hawaii it seems as though our holiday schedule has gone a bit bonkers. We moved to the island at the end of May/early June, and Kristopher left on a seven month deployment the second week of July. Labor Day, Halloween, and Thanksgiving were spent at home or Denny's. He was gone through most of December, only coming home early due to an injury which needed surgery. We spent Christmas together not really celebrating much mainly due to the fact that we had already exchanged presents earlier that month (Because of packages taking up to a month to get to the ship, I sent out Kris' presents well before Thanksgiving). Since he has gotten back it's been more of the same, New Year's watching movies on the couch, Valentine's Day with his parents, and St. Patrick's Day out to sea again.

It seems as though Hawaii is a sort of time trap, at least for us. Being far away from family just sucks the life out of the holidays. We are looking into heading home this summer, maybe sometime in June. Maybe that will get us out of this funk that we seem to be in lately with living so far away from everyone.

Hoping that everyone had a wonderful and happy Easter weekend, enjoy your families!

post no. 164 -- Today

Well today has been just peachy. Insert sarcasm here. I don't know if it's my mood or tude or what, but today just seems to be one of those days.

This morning Kris took the Jeep to work and brought with him all the keys, for everything! I got a bit flustered when I went to go get something out of my Vespa and realized the place was on lock down. After about 30min. of phone calls and text message blasts I finally got a hold of Kris and he came home to drop off the missing link between myself and getting to work on time. Luckily traffic was a breeze and I was able to putt on down to Hawaii Kai (the town I work in) in 30 minutes or so.

After getting settled in at work, the day began. In fact, I think it may have even started before I got completely settled. From crabby clients, to my wonderful (again insert sarcasm) boss' attitude about everything, so far today has just seemed to be crap.

I'm looking forward to my afternoon workout with Kris to get rid of some of this steam, and I'm even more looking forward to the day when I can actually do a job that leaves me satisfied at the end of the day, cause right about now, this right here, ain't cutting it.

Thanks for letting me vent!! Love you all :) 

post no. 163 -- Water for Elephants

Last night we went out to see Water for Elephants at the theater. As those of you know who are friends with me via Facebook, I cried. But in between crying, I sat there in awe of Reese Witherspoon's hair.

Reese plays Marlena, a ringmaster/owner's wife during the Great Depression, who develops a relationship with the vet from Cornell, Jacob (AKA Robert Pattinson). I loved everything about her character in this movie. Her clothes, her makeup, her hair, her spunk. Love!

Other than the brief scenes of animal cruelty, I loved this movie (If you haven't already been able to tell...). Definitely a must see!

post no. 162 -- Good Friday

Yesterday was my first full day back to work after my mini-vacation while an old friend was out visiting and now I'm off again for Good Friday... right about now I would love to be a salary employee. 

Well, the last few days have been pretty busy around the Pearson residence... or so it seems. Wednesday afternoon I received my headbands in the mail from Tiffany, That Girl in Tattoos. She included the most adorable extra headband as a gift and I love it! I love that her headbands tie in the back so that you can adjust them for any head size and shape. I found that after chopping off my dreads a lot of things had stretched to fit all that hair and things weren't as snug as before. These are 100% better and I love knowing that I'll be able to wear them no matter how much hair decides to grow back!

After talking with a friend who lives over the river and through the woods (or on the other side of the highway) about grants and financial aid for school I decided to give it a whirl and see what happened. I went ahead and filled out an application for the Pell Grant, and would you look at that I qualify. Growing up under my parent's roof in California left me with a whopping nothing in terms of FAFSA grants (money that you don't need to repay once you complete school). Now that I live on my own though, they'll throw all the money in the world at me, well a little over a grand, but still! This little begger ain't complaining! 

I've been checking out courses in the meantime, and I'm actually really excited about starting back up in the fall. Summer school in Hawaii is much more expensive (try more than 3x) the cost of fall and spring courses so that pretty much rules that out for now. 

I feel that there is a lot to be excited for this year, with both school and the daily life we're living here in Hawaii. We're currently trying to figure out when we'll be flying back to visit home this summer and what other little adventures we might have in the works before Christmas. Life is some fun. 

post no. 161 -- Anchors Aweigh

Yesterday afternoon I went in for my ditch to get filled in on my left arm. I wanted a Sailor Jerry style anchor and bow design with a banner across and some traditional tattoo font. As some of you know, this piece is working into a sleeve along with my sugar skull Anne, and my heart locket. {See more here...} I had given my artist a couple different pictures to go off of for ideas but I really had no clue what he was going to come up with. After a little bit of a wait and some back and forth between us he came back with this design... and well I'm in love. We only got through the outline yesterday but boy oh boy, this is my favorite. Sorry Anne. I was pretty nervous going into the appointment as everyone was telling my the ditch and two inches above and below hurt, but it wasn't all that bad. I'm not exactly thrilled for the color, but so far so good. 

Here are some more snapshots of the appointment. Kris lost his phone yesterday so he decided to use mine for Scrabble tournaments for the two hours we were there but I was able to snap one or two here and there...

I'm very happy with the outcome, so I can guarantee you will be seeing more pictures of the new additional very soon! Hope you all are having a great week so far.

post no. 160 -- Pins and Needles

Today is the day. This afternoon I'm going in to get some more work done on my arm, specifically the anchor in my ditch... I'm a little nervous, but it should be fine. I'm excited, surprisingly, considering in a few hours I'll be getting poked over and over with needles. But by the end of today I'll have something wonderful to look at, so it'll all be worth it!

Keep you posted!

post no. 159 -- Now and Then

Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy.  ~Robert Brault

I love this quote. Many a time in the blogging world we get so caught up into what our next post will be, who we will feature, what we should talk about, etc. We forget every now and then to just live, and be happy with living. This weekend I had a hard time disconnecting from the blog. One of my best friends is in town from California, and although I've taken time off work, I've been having a hard time putting the blog away. I have not checked other blogs these last few days and every time I switch gears in my head, the blog pops in, with a "Hey, you really should be updating with your activities for the day, or at least a little fashion post, or something!!" I get dressed and my first thought is, "Have Kris snap a picture for the blog..." 

This morning was my first post since before the weekend, and while writing it, I realized how much I love blogging. Whether there's one reader or a thousand, I like putting thoughts to type and getting it out there. Like tattoos, I think that blogging is a great way to document life, to create a snapshot in time. While I've only been blogging since January, I observe other's blogs and can sit there reading for hours about their transformations from past to present. I feel it helps to keep the good and the bad in check. Knowing that, while today may suck, and  feel like the worst day ever, tomorrow will be completely new, with the potential for bigger and better. I think that is what draws so many in to a lot of life's experiences. That hope for a change, something consistent, yet something revolving that will never stale. That's why I love blogging, I hope it shows. 

post no. 158 -- Huge Recap {IMG}

This weekend has been amazing. Friday afternoon Kris got back from his week long business trip where he and his group of comrades shot down a ballistic missile off the coast of Hawaii.

Some of you may have heard about it, as it hit the national media stage Friday night. It was a huge mission that took some intense training exercises that had resulted in Kris being gone every other couple of days this last month in preparation, but they pulled it off with flying colors, the first of their kind. Can you tell I'm a proud wife?

Saturday, an Irish Saloon in Wakiki hosted a congrats party for the sailors, and we all headed down. Fun, fun, fun! We danced and drank, and well.. had fun! We saw not one, but two live bands, and a product of the 1970s/post office employee was there all night to entertain us with his dance moves.

My best friend from elementary school, Justin (left picture on the left), flew out to visit Friday night and will be here until Wednesday on Spring Break. So far we've been having an awesome time, bar hoping, beaching, and bumming. As a result I'm as red as a lobster but hopefully that'll start baking my skin brown into tanning submission. That or I'll end up with cancer. Either way, it'll be an adventure. 

Here are some more pictures from the weekend to hold things over until the next post. Don't bother me... I'm on vacation...

Oh PS! Kris got his Kracken / Squid colored in on Saturday afternoon, it looks so good!! He's been on duty since first thing Sunday morning so hopefully I'll be able to snag some pictures of it when he gets home, but it looks great thanks to Cody over at Tattoolicious in Waikiki. 

post no. 157 -- Post Questionaire

Here's a little sneak peak into the behind the scenes here at Pea Blossom. These are the top post views of all time. Notice something? post no. 08 has WAY more views than all the others... by a lot! post no. 08 was dedicated to discussing the inspiration images going into my sleeve. So other than an interest in tattoos, what else could be the driving force? So I decided to ask you, the viewers, the readers, the audience. 

What do you like about Pea Blossom?? 

If you could, just leave a comment, a snippet, a whatever, telling me what you like and don't particularly like about the blog, I would be very much appreciative. Be honest! I'm all ears. 

What do you like?

What do you not like?

Do you feel you can relate to me?

What would you like to see more of?

If you don't care who sees go ahead and post below, if you do shoot me an e-mail and gush to me: thepeablossom@gmail.com

Thank you!!