Monday Musings

We stumbled across this awesome mural while running errands Sunday.

My week: It was a pretty quiet week here. My alarm either didn't go off one day or I turned it off and went back to sleep with zero memory of doing so, so that was fun! We had an afternoon of pouring rain with a bit of thunder and lightning, which is super-rare for Hawaii, and that actually was fun. College football started back over the weekend and I'll now be a football widow for the next several months. On the plus side, Hawaii plays my alma mater Colorado State in a couple weeks and we'll be going to the game!

Reading: I'm continuing to read "One Summer: America, 1927" in 25-page chunks, though I admit to skipping a couple days last week because I didn't have as much time to read. (I'm thoroughly enjoying it, though, and I've learned a ton!) I started "The Essex Serpent" last Monday and finished it on Friday; I loved the first half but the second fell a bit flat for me. Still, I gave it 4 stars.

Now I'm reading "Red Sister," the first in a new fantasy series. I grabbed it when I saw it at the library because I remembered it was on my to-read list, but I had almost no recollection what it was about and I decided to just dive in without reading the blurb. I'm a little ways in and it's really good so far -- and I'm intrigued by the wholly new world it's set in -- but I really couldn't say yet what it's about! (A young girl who gets rescued from the gallows to become a nun/assassin maybe?)

Watching: The "Game of Thrones" season finale, "Homeland," season 2 of "Outlander." We didn't watch any movies last week.

Buying: Some new pillows for the couch! I splurged and bought some big, fancy ones from Pier 1 and then found two complimentary pillows at Target. I'd been wanting to change out the pillows -- we still had the same ones that came with the couch four years ago --  and I love how such a small change can just brighten up a room!

Making: It's time to change up my giant bulletin board in the kids' section at work again, and this time it's Banned Books Week-themed. I (with help from a fabulous co-worker) have been working on "AzkaBANNED Prison." It features books behind bars (with speech bubbles saying why they're banned or challenged -- i.e. "Diary of Anne Frank" tells people "I'm too depressing."), and when it's done it'll have a dementor and an Azkaban wanted poster photo board for patrons to take pictures with. I'll post pictures when it's done -- I really need to do a wrap-up post of all the boards I've put up since I took over bulletin board duties in March!

Blogging:
Monday Musings
11 Hidden Gems on My To-Read List
Book Title Book Tag
15 Intriguing September 2017 Book Releases
Turning the Page on August 2017

Looking forward to: Our weekend getaway to Kauai! I'm a little nervous about leaving Alohi for the first time -- she is probably going to drive the friend who's house/dog-sitting for us absolutely crazy -- but I'm sooooo ready for some rejuvenation and relaxation on our favorite island!

*I'm linking up with Kathryn of Book Date for It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Monday Musings

Highlight of the week: We got the keys to our new house on Wednesday, which also happened to be our 8th anniversary! We didn't do anything special other than eat at one of our favorite Hawaii places, Teddy's Bigger Burgers. We were tired and sweaty from moving the last of our stuff over from base lodging and picking up and hauling in our new washer and dryer. We had to leave our old washer and dryer in Ohio when we sold our house, and the Navy-owned home we're "renting" doesn't provide them, so we decided to splurge on a fancy new front-load set. I love it so far!

We still have two more weeks until the moving company can deliver our stuff (ugh!) but we have a few military loaner things until then. The furniture is not particularly comfy and cooking with the few pots and gadgets we could borrow from the Air Force loan closet requires some creativity. I cannot tell you how happy I will be to sleep in my own bed again! July 1 can't get here fast enough. (Plus, until then, I'll be by myself every day sitting in a house that's basically totally empty! At least we were able to pick up our other car Friday so I can make up some excuses to get out of the house. I see some Starbucks runs in my near future! And maybe some retail therapy...)

Reading: I didn't get a whole heck of a lot of reading done this week. I blew through the rest of "The Wolf Road" by Beth Lewis (review -- I loved it!) and then started another advanced-read book, "The Age of Myth" by Michael J. Sullivan, the first in a new fantasy saga that comes out next Tuesday. I'm enjoying it ok, but I'm not really hooked into the plot yet and have to keep reminding myself to pick it up. Something I'm struggling with a bit is having absolutely no idea what time period it's taking place in. It could either be the very-long-ago past or the future. I think I'm just having trouble orienting myself in the overall setting. I have no idea if it's totally fictional or based on a real place. I need details!

Knitting: I made a tiny bit of progress on my Cap Sleeve Lattice Top this week. You can see a picture from last Wednesday here on my Yarn Along post. I'm sure I'll get a lot of knitting done this week with Jarrod working and me having a massive amount of free time.

Watching: We don't get our cable hooked up until Wednesday, so we've been subsisting on Amazon Prime. I read "Dark Places" a couple weeks ago and I was excited to see the movie version on Amazon. It was ok... definitely not as good as the book, though. I felt like a lot of backstory was missing and that it jumped around too much. Last night we started the TV series "Mr. Robot," about a cyber security expert/vigilante hacker. We watched the first two episodes and we're both totally intrigued!

Eating: I had the best chocolate croissant this weekend! One of my favorite Hawaii restaurants is La Tour Cafe. I particularly love their sandwiches, and they also sell macarons and other fresh-baked breads and pastries. When we ate there on Friday night they had some chocolate croissants for sale and I snatched one up to have for breakfast on Saturday morning. It was sooooo good. There's a photo on my Instagram.

Looking forward to: Our kitty, Lily, has been hanging out with her grandparents in Colorado for the past 3 1/2 weeks, and she'll finally be heading out to Hawaii on Thursday! She was supposed to come out sooner, but we couldn't find any cat-friendly lodging while we were searching for a house. I'm excited to have a furry companion around again -- though I'm 100% sure she'd rather stay in Colorado and avoid the plane ride! I'm also looking forward to getting my Hawaii library card now that I have proof of address. I've been reading e-books for the last three weeks and I'm so ready for a real book!

*

I'm linking up with Kathryn from Book Date for It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

My Week in Pictures

Today is one of those days when I have a ton of things to do (clean, do laundry, make the cucumber salad for dinner, do some research for our trip to Tennessee at the end of the week, run errands, enjoy the gorgeous weather) but all I really want to do is read my book -- "Reached," the final installment in the Matched trilogy. It hasn't been the most awesome series I ever read -- it's YA, the second book was kind of boring, etc. -- but I'm nearing the end of the saga and I just want to know what happens RIGHT. NOW.

 

Anyway, since it's Monday and I managed (through sheer force of will) to put my book down, I'll share with you a few pictures from my week, which was fantastic because my husband got home from two months away at a military school!

 

 On Tuesday, Conan had his first experience with the ice cream truck!

 

 Playing with Daddy.

 

On Thursday we went to the Melting Pot for dinner. Neither of us had ever had fondue before (and we were only having it because I bought a Groupon) but it was really fun and quite tasty!
 

Conan is the self-appointed supervisor of the grill!

My Week in Pictures + Cell Phone Humor

Before I show you the pictures of my week, I have to tell you about an -- as the young bucks would call it -- "epic fail" of technology. Just over a week ago, I traded in my trusty old Android phone for a brand-spankin'-new iPhone, which has some cool features like text dictation. You say out loud the contents of your text and your phone magically types it up for you. Fantastic, right?

Not exactly, since it doesn't work so well when it would really come in handy -- like driving on the interstate (the road noise is probably to blame, but still!). I tried to "text" my husband (who is currently in Florida) yesterday on the drive to Indiana, and the gibberish the phone spat back out was enough to keep me giggling for the next five miles!

Here's what my phone thought I said:
Just saw a Boggan flying low over the highway with something in me. I guess it's just a birdbrain week, although your house definitely try my comment has done. (WTF is a Boggan?)

Here's what I really said:
Just saw a falcon flying low over the highway with something in its mouth. I guess it's just a bird-themed week, although your owl definitely trumps my kamikaze dove.

(Context: A dove flew into our back window and died, prompting me to say, "Didn't I get married so I didn't have to pick up dead birds???" And my husband had a close encounter with an owl at his house in Florida.)

(Cell phone picture of said owl -- very cool, and definitely trumps a dead dove!)

 

And here's my week in pictures:

 My new phone at least seems to have a decent camera, and of course my inaugural picture had to be of Conan!

 

 This was the view from our backyard a few nights ago. All those different cloud shapes and colors were so pretty!

 

 Daisies are my favorite flower, and I was thrilled when they started popping up in our garden. We had no idea what the previous homeowners had planted, which has made for several headaches, but at least they had some good taste in flora!

 

 We also have two hibiscus bushes -- except I recently learned that here in the Midwest this flower is called a Rose of Sharon.

 

 "Hey, I put some new shoes on and suddenly everything is right!"

Last week I worked almost every day at the library, so it was the perfect time for my cute new flats to arrive from Zappos! (They're Clarks "Poem Journal," if you're interested, and very comfortable. And they're the only pair of shoes I own that are made of actual leather... coincidentally, they're also the most expensive!)

 

 Yesterday I headed over to Indiana to see my grandma. We went to Menchie's for dessert. Man, do I miss all those frozen yogurt places in Hawaii! (And bubble tea, oh bubble tea, how I pine for thee!)

 

 Here's my concoction. You can't tell by the amount of calories in my cup that I had just polished off an entire meal of stuffed chicken marsala and mashed potatoes, plus salad and breadsticks, at Olive Garden!

 

Grandma took this cute picture of Conan and me. I love it!

My Week in Pictures

This past week has been a big one for us -- after a nice, relaxing week with my family in Colorado, we continued our journey from Hawaii to Ohio where we will spend the next three years. It's been fun to eat at some restaurants and shop at some stores we didn't have in Hawaii (like Olive Garden and Sonic), and to try some new places like the famous Skyline Chili. The weather is much, much colder and the days are alternately decent and drearily overcast, but I've enjoyed getting to wear (i.e. bundle up in) some of my new winter clothes.

1. Goodbye, Colorado! (That's Pikes Peak in the background.)

2. We stopped at Oklahoma Joe's in Kansas City for dinner. I had a drool-worthy dinner of ribs, pulled pork and potato salad. Jarrod had ribs and brisket, and Conan -- of course -- got to sample everything.

 

3. We arrived in Ohio on Tuesday night, and Wednesday morning I found Lily camping out in one of my travel bags.

 

4. We sampled Skyline Chili on Wednesday, which was overcast and gloomy and just screamed for soup!

 

5. Except Skyline Chili isn't exactly soup! You can get it in a runnier form (which Jarrod did, along with some chili dogs, and which I decided I preferred). I got the "five-way" chili, which is spaghetti noodles, chili, beans and onions. Everything comes with huge baggies of shredded cheese for topping as desired.

 

6. We spent the weekend house-hunting with our realtor and we caught this sunset on the way home Sunday night. Corn fields and woods are a big change from ocean and sand, but lovely in their own way. 

My Year in Pictures

I thought it'd be fun to look back through all the gazillion pictures I've taken this year and share a few of my favorites from the last 12 months. It was awfully hard to narrow it down, but I ended up with a nice overview of the year.

1. We took this gorgeous sunset picture when we spent a glorious week on Kauai in October, shortly after Jarrod got back from his deployment.

2. Jarrod returned from Afghanistan at the end of September. This was definitely the best day of the year!

3. In December we went to the Big Island for the third time, which also happened to the best time because we got up close and personal with lava!

4. My best friend Katie came to visit in June and we went to a fancy afternoon tea at the historic Moana Surfrider hotel in Waikiki for her birthday.

5. The highlight of my mom's visit in October was when we rescued this seahorse from some shallow water at the dog beach. Conan helped, too!

6. I went home to Colorado in May for my brother's high school graduation. While I was there we took a scenic drive up Mt. Evans. Ahhh, home.

7. My friend Jessie came over for Easter and we colored eggs together, then took humiliating pictures of Conan with them.

8. Before Jarrod left for deployment, he won Officer of the Year for not only his squadron but the group level as well. We got to go to a fancy awards dinner and I was finally able to take a picture with Jarrod in his spiffy mess dress!

My Week in Pictures

 

1. I love Netflix's newfound holiday spirit! They had fun envelopes for Halloween, and now they've got several different Christmas designs. Of course I'm partial to the one that looks like fair-isle knitting!

2. On Saturday we went to Waikiki so Jarrod could surf. That's Diamond Head in the background.

3. We stuck around for a lovely sunset.

4. Sunday we went snorkeling at Shark's Cove on the North Shore.

5. The weather wasn't very nice -- rainy off and on, and windy -- but it made for a cool photo-op. And we also saw several rainbows.

6. After snorkeling we stopped at Scoops of Paradise for waffle cones. I got maple-walnut ice cream and Jarrod got chocolate-mac nut. I will definitely miss Scoops of Paradise and all their delicious ice cream made in-house, not to mention their pefect waffle cones!

7. A friend gave me a gift certificate for a pedicure and I took advantage of it today. We're heading to the Big Island for a little getaway tomorrow and I wanted my toes to look nice for the black sand beach pictures they'll inevitably be in.

8. My last day of work at the base library was Wednesday and my co-workers bid me aloha with some delicious butterbeer cupcakes and a lei. Working at the library has been the most enjoyable job I've ever had. I had great co-workers to chat with and I got to be surrounded by books all day long -- it definitely suited me well!

My Week in Pictures

1. I ordered these adorable Christmas ornaments as baby gifts from LittleWeeShop on Etsy.

2. Jarrod and I both got off work early on Wednesday so we went down to Waikiki for surfing (him)/lounging on the beach with a book (me).

3. Thanksgiving turkey! I was so proud of myself for FINALLY making perfect gravy!

4. We went to Sea Life Park yesterday and I couldn't resist taking some sea lion pictures. They always remind us of Conan.

5. We did the Dolphin Adventure at Sea Life Park, so we each got a dolphin kiss and a belly ride. It was amazing! I was fascinated by how strong and smart the dolphins were. And they didn't feel anything liked I'd imagined -- they weren't slick like a fish at all but almost rubbery-feeling.

6. We saw "Breaking Dawn Part 2" last night and I LOVED it! I thought the big twist was a great idea.

Aloha and have a great week!

My Week in Pictures

1. Both Jarrod and I had Veterans Day off work so we went down to Waikiki. He surfed while I read and we stuck around for the sunset. Though Waikiki is the most famous beach here, it's my least favorite. It's always so crowded and when Jarrod's surfing I don't feel safe leaving my stuff and walking down to the water (and it's near impossible to find a spot to put my beach chair near the water!). Still, I can't complain about the lovely sunsets!

2. Our Air Force base commissary now stocks Lindsay brand olives! This is special because olives are my favorite food. This can (with adorable ducks on it!) will become a pencil holder or something else fun.

3. This is my latest knitting project, a mystery hat knit-along. I really enjoyed participating in my second KAL but I'm not sure I like the finished hat. I may attempt to block it to give it more slouch.

4. My grandma sent us this lovely Thanksgiving centerpiece. It's so pretty and festive!

5. One of the things on my before-we-leave-Hawaii list was to buy some Locals brand flip-flops. They're cheap things made in Vietnam, but they're really popular here and they'll remind me of Hawaii.

6. Another thing on our last-two-months to-do list was a North Shore shark cage tour, which we did today. It was so amazing -- more pictures to come tomorrow!

7. No picture, but we saw "Skyfall" this week and I loved it. I think it's my favorite of all the James Bonds, though it wouldn't hold the same weight without the other two action-filled Daniel-Craig-as-Bond movies to precede it.

My Week in Pictures

1. Jarrod had to work all weekend, so on Thursday we went over to White Plains Beach on the west side of the island. Jarrod surfed while I lounged and read. (That's Honolulu and Diamond Head in the distance.)

2. Right now I'm reading "Thunder Dog," a book about a blind man and his guide dog in the World Trade Center on 9/11.

3. The annual base fall craft fair was yesterday and I spent a good hour browsing around. Among my purchases: two new pairs of earrings.

4. Double rainbow -- the view from my backyard. Darn tree!

5. I made an acorn squash for the first time this week. I topped it with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and honey, and man was it delicious. Acorn squash seems to be a great change-up from sweet potatoes. Plus, getting it ready to cook was like "carving" a miniature pumpkin -- stringy goop, seeds and all. Fun!

My Week in Pictures

 

1. We had some huge pumpkins to carve this year and they yielded a ridiculous amount of pumpkin seeds! I roasted four different batches with various seasonings: cinnamon and sugar; just salt; salt and curry powder; and salt, pepper, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and paprika. The last recipe -- which was very tasty -- was suggested to us by the lady who rang up our purchases at the pumpkin patch.

2. Happy Halloween! I love our pumpkins this year. I posted more pictures here.

3. Poor Conan got forced into his Super Dog costume again this year. I felt a bit bad for him, but the little trick-or-treaters love it.

4. I mailed in my absentee ballot this week. Honestly, I don't like either presidential candidate and really didn't want to vote, but it's one of my goals to say I've voted in every presidential election for which I was eligible.

5. We had a delicious dinner tonight at one of my favorite restaurants on Oahu, La Tour Cafe. I got an Italian sandwich, salad and French onion soup, and we split a basket of fries. Yummm.

6. After dinner, we went shopping at the Pearl Harbor Navy Exchange and I went a bit crazy -- I now have three new winter coats! The one in the picture is my favorite -- it has an adorable ruffle that you can't really see in the tiny photo. It's Guess brand and I got it for just $70! Maybe knowing that I have an awesome new coat (or three) to bundle up in will make our move to Ohio this winter a bit easier.

7. This didn't make the photo collage, but we went to see "Argo" last night and it was great! I love Ben Affleck, and I really enjoyed how, as director, he managed to create tension and edge-of-your-seat moments even though we already knew how the based-on-a-true-story movie was going to end.

My Birthday in Pictures

I celebrated my "golden" birthday on Saturday -- 27 on the 27th -- and had a fantastic weekend. I worked at the library all day Saturday (where I stuffed my face on birthday cake), so Jarrod and I went out to dinner afterwards.

On the way home, we learned that Hawaii was under a tsunami warning following a moderate earthquake in Canada, with the first wave predicted to hit in two hours. We got home and turned on the news, then I promptly stuffed my face with a second birthday cake. (This was our third tsunami warning in three years, with little effect on Oahu the previous occasions, so we weren't too concerned.)

Yesterday we went parasailing over Waikiki. It wasn't as thrilling as I had imagined but it was really fun and the views were gorgeous. I'd say this birthday was a success -- I got to devour two cakes and cross something off my Hawaii bucket list, and Mother Nature even decided to spice things up with a tsunami!

My Week in Pictures

Jarrod and I got back on Tuesday from a wonderful eight day getaway on Kauai and I hope to post more pictures of our favorite Hawaiian isle soon. My mom just arrived yesterday for a week-long trip and I'm sure we'll follow up our amazing time on Kauai with another great week!

1. This shot of Kauai's stunning Napali Coast was taken on our sunset dinner cruise.
2. Jarrod at Waimea Canyon, the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.
3. Palm trees at the park where we attended the Kauai Coconut Festival.
4. Jarrod and I at Kauai's famous Tunnels Beach on the north shore. We had planned to snorkel here but a huge swell came in and the waves got to 30 feet high -- definitely not snorkel conditions.
5. How could I resist trying these candy corn M&Ms? They went great with my pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks.
6. Mom arrives!

My Week In Pictures

1. I drove down to the big mall in Waikiki for a haircut, highlights, an eyebrow wax (and a honeydew bubble tea) to get beautified before Jarrod's homecoming.

2. In honor of the first day of fall, my latest knitting project is some miniature pumpkins. I'll post more about these cute little guys when they're all knitted up.

3. I spent a lot of the week getting ready for Jarrod to come home and -- in addition to cleaning, cleaning and cleaning -- I put out some fun welcome home decorations like this balloon and a big banner outside.

4. Jarrod is here! My love returned home Friday afternoon after spending six months in Afghanistan.

5. Last night we went to see Lady Antebellum in concert. Country music isn't super-popular here in Hawaii but the show was sold out and Lady A was amazing!

My Week In Pictures

I thought I'd try out a new little something here at the blog -- a weekly photo collage that sums up my last seven days.

 

My week got off to a rather rough start -- our air conditioner was out of commission from Saturday to Tuesday evening -- and Conan, Lily and I spent our Labor Day weekend camped out in the living room with the blinds closed, the windows open and three fans pointed at us. Turns it was geckos that caused us to swelter for three days, those ungrateful little reptiles! Apparently two geckos got themselves fried in the A/C unit and shorted out some converter thingamabob. Guess they forgot about all those times I saved their cousins from the cat...

The first part of the week was hot, but the second half has been unusually rainy for our side of Oahu. It's rained on and off since Thursday night, which is pretty rare. Incidentally, since it doesn't rain hard very often on leeward (west-ish) Oahu, people here are not so great -- I might even say notoriously bad -- at driving in the rain.

On to the actual photos, Conan turned 6 on Wednesday! He was disappointingly nonplussed with his steak cake and very unhappy about the birthday hat.

 

This week I checked out one of those fancy little cupcake bakeries for the first time (my friend Mindy took me to a cute place called Sugarlina), I got my first Starbucks pumpkin spice latte of the season (on the same day as the cupcakes; talk about sugary bliss!) and I wore my new leopard-print flats for the first time.

 

I have had a thing for pumpkin spice lattes ever since they were first introduced several autumns ago when I was in college, but I love them even more so now that we're stationed in Hawaii. Here we live in perpetual summer, which is really nothing to complain about, but pumpkin spice lattes give me a little taste of the season that I'm missing out on. PSLs are all the best parts of fall mixed together in a magical brew. And they always bring back good fall memories, like the trip Jarrod and I took to Estes Park to celebrate our first dating anniversary in October of 2005. Somehow, all these years later, I remember having a pumpkin spice latte on our little getaway. Since this is a post about pictures, I thought I'd share a couple photos from that fun weekend: