post no. 290 -- lady luck

remember awhile back when i blogged about janine basil and her fabulous headbands? well over the lat couple of days kris and i have been joking back and forth about our run of "luck" and are both pretty convinced on getting some #13 tattoos, or for me a lady luck piece. what first started out as a bit of joke has actually got me pretty convinced that i might pause work on my sleeve {as if it's not already paused enough from lack of funds} to start a new irish pride piece on my upper back/lower neck, whatever you want to call it.

i love color, and while i haven't been able to add any to my anchor yet {sad face} i want to be covered in vibrant and bold pieces. that is why the tattoos above appeal to me.

another brief notion i had was to splay out lady luck on my knuckles... but i don't know how well that would go over with work for the time being.

i keep gravitating back to this headband though. it's simple yet it gets across exactly what i want. old school irish pride. and a smidgen of irony. i think this would be perfect at the nape of my neck, and i can't wait to get it done. now if only my bank account will cooperate.  

 did you know that irish luck is ironic in and of itself? take a look.

planning on any tattoos of your own, or have any new ones you'd like to show off??

post no. 289 -- thoughts & things

i've been debating whether or not to push publish on this post for some time now. worried about how it might be perceived. worried i might be beating a dead dog on this subject. but i decided this morning on my way to work it needed to be said. so here goes... 

two weeks ago our lives were thrown through the loop with back to back thefts. kris' shoes, hat, wallet, and keys, plus two of my favorite purses, and my wallet. all gone. at first it doesn't sound bad right? oh a pair of shoes, yeah your credit cards, but you can cancel those. they got some charges through before you shut it off, but hey at least the bank will refund you! at least you had insurance! here's what the insurance won't refund:  the cost of new mail keys, the cost of a new elevator fob, the cost of essentially gutting  my vespa because they can't just cut a new key {yeah, $800 later}, our feeling of security, the anger i have in my heart now every time i see a sovereign flag, this is all just the start. 

why do people steal? i have never come across it more in my life than in hawaii. for $20 worth of stuff, you're going to cause a headache for someone else. you're going to run through their savings and then some, and not even see a single penny of that to profit from. sure, you'll pawn a bag or two, maybe get some cash, but you'll probably throw away the keys, because the address on their license is out dated. you didn't snag any house keys, and the odds of you finding the building the elevator matches up to are incredibly small, so what do you care about some boring looking keys? while those same keys, that you could have just left there to begin with, will now cost me the remnants of the next two paychecks after bills. 

enough of my venting, because truthfully, i never set out to make this post about stealing. because it's not just stealing. it's not thinking. and ultimately it's not caring. not thinking about how your actions will affect others. and not caring about them as people. we all do it, to one extent or another. i have been catching myself more and more being hypocritical and i know i need to stop. i'm mean, and judgmental. i assume things i shouldn't. and that's wrong!

my purpose for this post wasn't to put out the guilt trip on anyone, but simply to ask you to think. before you act, before you speak, before you stop caring about others. this post has been nothing really but vomit and i apologize, but i wanted to share with you all what has been weighing in on my heart lately.

you can have the soapbox back now. 

post no. 288 -- what inspires me wednesdays

pink & grey. i really just don't know what's not to love about this color combination. i especially love the living room on the bottom left {i mean chevron rugs, who wouldn't?}, and baby shower decor to the right {baby bottles for glassware... uhm yes!}. as you can see from the blog scheme lately  i've been leaning a lot more in the flirty and feminine direction while trying to maintain my neutrals. but hey, i'm a girl, and a one of the perks is being allowed to be obsessed with pink now and then! 

are you craving cotton candy now too?

post no. 287 -- fall 2011 shopping list

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

hint, hint, husband...

post no. 286 -- the cool thing about waikiki

one of the coolest things about living in waikiki is how close we are to everything. after running errands around pearl harbor earlier this afternoon kris and i came home to take jack for a nice afternoon walk. our walks also seem to serve as a great time to talk about our day, plans for the future, and what to eat for dinner that night. 5 minutes into the walk we were putzing along the beach while i took pictures of just about anything that caught my fancy.

jack always seems to make our walks interesting as she's always making new friends, and sniffing just about everything that moves. including, but not limited to: small children, birds, and people carrying bags that could possibly contain edibles.

buzz and i are back home now watching the final countdown, which get this, is set in hawaii! we've already spotted several places both on base and off that are time warped in the film. it's so fun living in a place that has been documented in so many different ways!

p.s. this dress is one of my recent finds at ross {my new favorite shopping spot} along with the belt! altogether, this outfit cost $20! awesome much?

post no. 285 -- painting

say hello to a painting from awhile back. right before we decided to make the move to "the city" i got back into my artwork. then as the moving boxes came out, my projects got packed away, and i took another break from painting to get us settled into our new home. i'm definitely no amy or kim-anh, but it makes me happy, and that's enough for me. i'm hoping that i can get back to setting aside time each day to devote to creating and maybe develop some talent along the way! 

post no. 284 -- dinner and then some

 

i think assembling ingredients is probably the most fun anyone could have. second only of course to not having to do dishes after cooking. 

yesterday was spent watching julie and julia on the lifetime channel. in between selling our old dining table, and taking jack out for potty breaks of course. kris was at work all day and that left me to my own devices of loafing, blogging, and the occasional urge to clean things. i have probably seen j&j five or six times, but each time i manage to get completely sucked in, and go on a cooking spree afterwards. yesterday was no exception. while managing to talk myself out of channeling cake boss and concocting a monster of a belated birthday cake, i could not talk the chubby inner child out of cooking dinner. i mean after all it was dinner, and it needed cooking whether i liked it or not. 

so i made chicken. poor kris is sick of chicken after the last couple of meals, but he did comment that this was the best so far. so chicken, some sort of rice pudding thing, and slightly overcooked asparagus. what a domestic goddess i am. 

in between cooking jack decided that jumping {we're talking like gazelle leaps here} throughout our 10'x13' living room was a great way to get my attention for play time. two messy rugs, and one almost broken candle holder later, jack's demands were met just in time to ring kris up on the elevator. 

we spent the rest of the evening being lazy before bed, and talking about christmas plans {hooray, it's coming!}

here are some more pictures from the afternoon:

i hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

post no. 283 -- bedroom tour

welcome to our teeny tiny bedroom! having been in our apartment for just over two months now, i feel like we're starting to get a handle on the decor, and we might just have everything put together in the next few weeks. 

i like to keep my bedroom fairly pristine. a lot of times when kris is gone, i treat our bedroom as my retreat for reading, writing, etc. my ultimate plans are to paint the back wall a warmer taupe/grey and hang some sheer curtains to add a nice backdrop for our bed. and then one day, maybe someday, we can bring some white bedding home! {a girl can dream!!}

what does you bedroom look like? have you done any redecorating lately?

post no. 282 -- from birthday night to morning

what a birthday! as you know from yesterday's post, buzz turned 25. and with the big quarter of a century under his belt, we decided to celebrate. with chicken. after a half day's work kris was able to get off of work and head on home. after a long walk home and a cleaning mission around the house, we had our friends casey and kai over for a couple pre-dinner drinks, mixed with some of kris' favorite music, and a failed attempt at rockband. after that we headed out for dinner and the rest is history. we had to call it an early night seeing as because buzz is cranking, every other weekend he has to be up and out of the house no later than 4:30am. the sun is just about to start rising here so i think with that note and these pictures, i am off to bed.

post no. 281 -- quarter of a century

today kris turns 25!

happy birthday buzzerfords!!!!

now come home so i can make you a big birthday dinner!

post no. 280 -- tgif

thank God it's friday. business trips are over, and buzz comes home tonight! oh and our house might jsut get put back together this afternoon.

lately with all the craziness that has been going on around us, i have been having a hard time finding some peace at home {and a lot of other places for that matter}. i have pretty much been through the ringer trying out every furniture layout in our {from what i'm finding, tiny} apartment. so far nothing is working. it's mainly not working, because in my head, i have a limitless budget and a professional designer just a call away. but in real life, we have bills and insurance deductibles and a weakness for jamba juice.

but i do have a head full of ideas, and pinterest, and the following inspirations:

some of the pictures can't really handle being stretched out to 610px wide, but all are available on my pinterest board: adult home.

lately i've been feeling a more neutral and white color palette. having our windows be such a huge part of our apartment, i don't want the place to start feeling too dark. light and airy my friends, light and airy. in a perfect world, i could get away with a white fluffy bed ensemble. but, in a perfect world, jack is also 30 lbs. lighter, 6 inches shorter, and rinses her paws with purell every time she crosses the threshold. 

in the meantime, i'll figure out some way of making the space our own. step 1) cutting out the clutter of paperwork. step 2) merry maids! 

hope you all are having a great friday!!

post no. 279 -- thursdays are for thank yous

just in case you were wondering, i'm feeling pretty thankful today. overwhelmed a bit, but thankful. 

thankful for my husband, who waits in line with me at the dmv for hours, buys me tasty food, holds my hand when we walk, and let's me sob occasionally on his shoulder on the elevator ride down our building. 

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thankful for my job, that let's me take time off to sort through this mess. 

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thankful for burger king, that let's me break my soda diet for a bubbly treat. 

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thankful for jack, to cuddle with me at night.

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thankful that our jeep can and will be fixed. 

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thankful for my parents, who are always just a phone call away. 

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thankful for my friends, both on island and off. 

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thankful for our home, and the view that tagged along for every sunset. 

and last but not least...

i'm thankful for you all. 

every single one of you.

whether you're just passing through, 

or commenting on every post. 

i appreciate you guys. 

post no. 278 -- find your fortune

ok, i think i might have snapped out of it. i'm sorry all of you had to see that. even though i try to keep things positive, i think it would be a little unnatural to not have a breakdown every now and then, and well... that was mine.

it is hard to see the good in people, in events, and life in general. but at the end of the day, you have to. because finding the good in life, will get you through to your tomorrows. so that's what i'm doing, because with buzz gone again {on hopefully the last business trip for awhile} i need all of the positive thoughts i can wrap my head around.

i needed this today. 1) because it made me feel way better about chowing down on my chow mein, and 2) because this fortune could not be more relevant to my life right now. i don't think anything is ever put before us that we are not able to handle. it might be tough. you might cry. and you might really want to give up, but you will be able to get through it. when i saw our car window smashed in, i wanted to just start bawling. but i didn't. i came very close, but i held it together and switched into 'get er' done' mode. since friday i have been stressed, and this fortune came huge positive reassurance to keep pushing through. that it will get better. and that we will come out better because of this experience.