we made it to california!

June 6, 2013

we made it to california! we’ve been here for about a week so far and things have been a little bit crazy and eventful. i am so happy to be back here, though! it still hasn’t sunk in that we aren’t just on vacation here. we still kinda feel like we will be flying back to the HNL in a few days.

we moved into our little cottage in redondo beach on saturday and we love it so much! our neighborhood is adorable, we live about 2 blocks from the ocean, AND we have HARDWOOD FLOORS! ah! dream come true for this girl right here. it has a whole lotta charm and i am currently in a major nesting phase. i can’t wait to get the whole place furnished and feeling like home. as much as i want this to be instant, i realize it does not happen overnight and is actually quite a long process. we have spent the past few days trekking all over LA chasing craigslist finds and hunting for good thrift shops. reis is slowly getting his bearings driving in the big city!

we miss hawaii and our friends + family over there, but we are really excited for our new adventure here in the golden state! there’s something about starting fresh that is really refreshing and exciting. we can’t wait to explore and adventure more in our new town! more to come!

*we had heart-shaped sparklers at our house that we hadn’t packed so we lit them on our last night in hawaii!

a graduation/farewell party.

May 24, 2013

last monday when my parents were in town, i threw reis a graduation party! i also used it as an excuse to round up all of our good friends in one place one last time before we take off for california (next week!). planning a party for a dude is quite the challenge. i think i have a pretty good handle on planning girly soirees, but this one had to feel more manly. i went with a kraft/black/gold color scheme and am pretty happy with how everything turned out. our good friends kezia and ashton hosted the party in their amazing backyard on the north shore up in pupukea and it could not have been more perfect! thanks kezia for ALL of your help too! i kept the decor pretty simple and tried to be resourceful about what i did use. good thing my friend natalie drinks sparkling water multiple times a day because she gave me 3 trash bags full of bottles that i spray painted gold (thanks nat!). i’m also so thankful for my mama who used precious suitcase room to bring out the black tablecloths and the gold M.D. balloons from our ever-growing party/wedding/event decor stash in california.

i only managed to snap a few pictures because it started raining right after we set the tables and the kraft placemats and tablecloths got pretty soaked. boo. we had beautiful weather once it stopped raining and we had such a good time spending sweet time with our friends and family!

of course my favorite part of planning parties is always the design aspect. invites, menu cards, favors…i love it all! i wanted the menu cards to look stamped, but it wouldn’t be very cost effective to get individual stamps made, so i just designed them to look stamped and printed them myself. i also wanted to tie a very subtle hint of “doctor” into the party (without it being too cheesy or having stethescopes as the centerpieces) so i decided on mini prescription bags filled with candy for pills. i played off of the Rx thing and turned it into reis’ initials and included a [definitely cheesy] prescription on how to cure “reis-withdrawals.” thanks to my sis for her creative wording!

thanks to all of our friends who came out to celebrate with us! we will miss everyone so much!

WALLS | our humble honolulu abode.

May 16, 2013

Jaymee + Reis' Honolulu Cottage

i’m really glad i took these photos last week because since then our house has been turned upside down, inside out, and looks like clothes and boxes threw up everywhere. we are in the middle of packing and ouy, it’s one big mess over here.

anyways, i’m excited to finally share some pics of our [very] humble abode since it will no longer be ours in less than 2 short weeks (so sad!). our place is tiny, but i love it so much…mostly because it’s been our first place as husband and wife and making a home together has been so much fun! we live underneath the main house in a one bedroom and have an incredible view of the ocean. this house for sure has its quirks (i.e. our bedroom is actually just a giant hallway from the living room to the kitchen), but it also has so much charm (those windows!!!). we’ve definitely had to get creative with the layout. we have way more furniture than what comfortably fits in this space for practical reasons as well as the fact that my office is also our dining room and our living room. i’m not really sure what our style is…kind of an eclectic mix i guess? most everything in this house is a random find from a garage sale, craigslist, or it was picked up for free on the side of the road (like my desk and our dresser!). while i’m excited that we are purging or selling just about everything and starting with a clean slate in california, i’ve grown a bit attached to our home and its quirky character. it breeds the homebody in me because i just love being at home.

Jaymee + Reis' Honolulu Cottage our bedroom gets the best natural light and wakes me up every morning! our pillow is also special because we got it on our honeymoon in italy.we’re not big drinkers and cute bar carts are hard to come by, so i decided to utilize an industrial cart as a beverage cart and for more storage (we barely have any counter space)! we get so much use out of this little corner whether we are blending smoothies, storing sparkling water for dinner parties, or making our morning coffee.

Jaymee + Reis' Honolulu Cottage i will miss you, little cottage. you’ve been so good to us!

new letters.

May 13, 2013

Reisgrad

yesterday was a pretty big day. reis gained a few new letters after his name…M.D.!!! we started dating in college before he even took the mcat so i’ve gotten to share in the [long] journey for the past 5+ years. lots and lots and lots of studying was involved combined with hours upon hours spent working in the hospital. it’s been his dream to be a doctor since age 5 and seeing him work extremely hard in pursuit of that goal has been pretty incredible. i couldn’t be more proud of him and i am so excited for our next adventure!

congrats, DOC! i love you with my whole heart.

WALLS | R+D.

May 10, 2013

RD9 RD1

i featured morning glass a few weeks ago on walls and today i’m showing you their “sister shop” (at least that’s what i call it), R+D. i’ve been coming here with my friend nicky once a week for the past month or so to work since we both work from home. i love coming here for the rad atmosphere, free wifi, and delicious food and drinks (which are the same as morning glass…their scones + sandwiches + stumptown = YUM). plus, they have a bookstore at the front of the shop that sells the best kitchen and coffee table books ever. i would probably buy almost every book on the shelves if my wallet would allow for it. the whole cafe is a pretty hipster little joint and has abundant tables for working and good lighting (very important!). i give it two thumbs up and encourage you to check out the rest of kaka’ako while you are visiting! so many of the surrounding shops are new and really neat so you should take a little looksie!

crazy times ahead.

May 6, 2013

realcrazy

[night time view from our little house on a hill]

i can’t believe we are SIX days into may already! ay yi yi. the past six months have flown by and i’m positive the next month will too. things are about to get reeeaaalll crazy up in here. reis is graduating this weekend and i’m busy planning a little celebration shin dig for him, my parents are coming into town for a week, we are selling most of our belongings and packing up the few things we are keeping, i’m finishing up quite a bit of work, ANDDD we are trying to enjoy our last few weeks in hawaii before we MOVE across the pacific in 22 days. eeeks! it’s all really exciting and we’re so excited for our next adventure, but it’s also bittersweet leaving hawaii. the good news is that we found a place to live in LA! i’ve been scouring craigslist since match day and found the perfect place a few weeks ago. it’s an old 1930s bungalow a few blocks from the ocean and we can’t wait to make it our own. here’s to hoping for a fun (and not stressful) next few weeks!