New Apartment

and now the moment you’ve all been waiting for… the new apartment :) It’s come a long way since the night we moved in and our suitcases exploded- that was literally all we had!

This is what it looked like around Christmas time. We have given the coffee table a much needed face lift since then.

The wall above the chair is empty now because that’s where the projector displays. (If you’re thinking.. what projector? that’s because we forgot to mention that’s our alternative to a tv here! Hello 100” HD screen for movies and online tv shows, not to mention the biggest screen imaginable for playing the wii!) We left up the blue strings that held the cards at Christmas. They are currently boasting some Valentime’s cards and wedding invitations :)

Yes, in case you were wondering that IS a saarinen side table with the lamp and my laptop on it! It’s been loved a little but we don’t mind. We got it for an amazing price. It’s got a white base and a black/white marble oval top. Never thought we’d have marble toped furniture in our scheme but we really like it!

In the far left of the picture you can see another project for the living room. Right now it’s serving as the projector stand but eventually it will be where we keep wine and liquor- a little bar cart of sorts. We got this off craigslist for $30 and gave it a good steel wool scrub and a coat or two of spray paint.

Here’s the office/guestroom. the only thing it’s lacking is guest! Get over here and visit already!!

If you’re wondering where the dining table is- we keep it on our lanai. (Hawaiian for balcony or porch) We don’t eat every meal out there but it’s nice to have the option!

I’ve finally got my craft area set up, after some lucky finds with the table (It was free! It just needed a little paint love) and the Uten Silo we found on Craigslist for $20 bucks!! Would cost $400 new! We got this from the same person we got the Saarinen table from. The ABS on the front had yellowed quite a bit from sun or cigarette smoke, but thanks to my good friend Google, I found and mixed up a solution and now it’s much whiter than it was! Here are some of the projects that have kept me busy these last few months!

I saved this little drawer sample box from the office.

with plans of making it into this:

The mirror is from ikea (garage sale) it’s great because it has storage in the back of it so this area serves as my craft table and a place to do my make up in the morning! I’m happy to say that I took this photo last weekend and the table is still that clean! That’s a big accomplishment, I’m known to have a crazy messy crafting area, especially when I’ve been projecting. There’s nothing wrong with a little organized chaos- just so long as things have a place they should go.

In the bottom corner of the picture you can see our bed, yes my craft room is also our bedroom, but I don’t mind! It’s been so nice to have a real bed, when we first moved here this was all we had:

Why yes, that is an air mattress- you might recall here we learned our lesson very quick that air mattresses are not meant to be a permanent bed solution!

Hope you enjoyed the little apartment tour- we didn’t bother showing the bathroom, laundry area or kitchen. nothing special there!

Happy long weekend for those of you that get President’s Day off! I’ll be enjoying the day here at home, unfortunately John has to work.

Old Apartment

We’re coming up on four months in Honolulu, I can’t believe a third of a year has gone by already.  We’ve been working some this weekend on sanding down our dining chairs, getting them ready for some paint and new fabric! We thought it would be fun to share our apartment with you, and since we weren’t blogging much at the old apartment in OKC we’ll share that apartment first.

Our apartment was on the top right.

Here are a few before vs. after pics

living room/dining room pics above, guest bedroom pics below

The good, the bad, and the ugly

 recently came to the realization that I’ve been treating this blog like a new relationship. I’ve only been portraying the best of life here and our experiences these last few months. While we have really enjoyed getting to know the island and settling into life here it hasn’t all been rosey. We both struggled with some home sickness during the holidays but still had all the newness of the island to keep us cheery. Now that we are into our weekly rhythm I’m finding myself missing things from home more and more. When I really stop to think about what it is I miss from our life in Oklahoma City it’s a mix of places and people. We have so many great friends there- some friendships that have grown through the years and those that were just beginning. We cherish those memories and know that as hard as it is to imagine it’s probably unlikely that we’ll ever live in the same city as most of those friends again.

Enough sentiment… for now, if we’re going to do this blogging thing right we want to share it all. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Here’s a little of what we’ve been missing lately:

The current river. John grew up floating this river, it’s become one of the many things we look forward to on our trips back to Salem.

 So many great things about this photo. At the end of the summer we had the opportunity to help get the word out about a dear friend Lee Ellen Starks new album (check out her music and purchase the album here!http://leeellenstarks.com/index.htm) Her heart and voice are unbelievable. Jacob Weaver played at the show and blew us all away with his voice as well. He forgot to mention he was an extremely talented singer during all our nights of cards and fun as neighbors. Then there’s the painting- Tim Krause an incredibly talented friend and designer gave us the painting for our wedding. Just seeing this photograph made me so very excited for the day when we can have this hanging in our house again!

Not the best quality photo but in honor of the annual Superbowl party with all of these friends, it couldn’t be skipped.

I’m not sure this picture needs any explanation- With the arctic weather in the midwest we found ourselves envying our friends who got the day off from work to play in the snow and have moments like this.

This time last year we spent the day sledding with Scott and Ansley and playing the looonnngggeeesssttt game of monopoly in history.

Yes, we even miss our first apartment and our collection of mid century chairs. No worries it’s all safely stored for our return to the mainland someday. (wasn’t worth risking anything getting broken or lost to ship it)

Last year we welcomed in the new year with Chelsi and Matt at the Flaming Lips show. Definitely a NYE to remember!

Long drives between Fort Worth, OKC, and Missouri. We never realized how easy we had it being within a half days drive of both our families.

Speaking of families, this Christmas just wasn’t the same without the chaos of these little rugrats running around.

Sixlets summer float trip. Not missing the waters of Oklahoma, that’s for sure.

We’re getting a lot more nature now (obviously) but boy did we enjoy our front porch, whether it was like this- or like this:

John and little baby Kam

We’re sad that living across the Pacific means we won’t be around for as many of our friends big life moments!

4 of my 6 bridesmaids from our wedding at one of our showers.

John and his annual man trip with Will and the Matts.

It’s really hard to be away from these two! We know that they are better with our families than couped up in this tiny apartment all day. (not to mention we can’t find a place that would allow a dog Beau’s size anywhere..) He’s got 200+ acres of farmland to keep him company for a while.

This list doesn’t come close to covering all the things we’ve found ourselves missing since the big move. We are so thankful for the memories and the opportunity to live in Hawaii, we are also thankful for this new-found  appreciation for all the people we left behind.