southern california, i just love you a whole lot.  why did i have to move away for a few years to appreciate you to the fullest!?

we’ve been settling in pretty well to our new neighborhood and i’ve fallen in major love already.  the first thing we did on move-in day after we got the keys to our place was buy some vintage cruisers.  we’ve been exploring these parts by bicycle and it’s one of my favorite things about where we live.  we can bike to the ocean in about 1 minute and 30 seconds and then cruise alongside the coast for a few more minutes to get to TRADER JOE’S (!!! we are beyond happy to be reunited with this place), starbucks, and yogurtland…all of the essentials.  we’ve hit up most of the local coffee shops around here and are slowly making our way to all of the cute, beachy cafes.  i absolutely love mornings here.  the 60 degree + overcast weather makes me all sorts of happy…especially now that summer has arrived and a few miles inland is 20 degrees hotter!  my collection of sweaters is growing and getting lots of wear in the AM and PM and i’m already super giddy for fall since hawaii didn’t exactly warrant the wear of scarves and boots.

i’m trying (keyword trying) to get back on a regular blogging schedule so bear with me as i catch up on work and slowly make my way through the boxes i have yet to unpack!

i’m [finally] blogging from my very own home office!  there’s still a lot to be done and a few pieces of furniture to be bought, but i have a desk and a chair and that’s all i really need right now.  when we were house hunting, it was at the top of my wish list to rent a 2 bedroom so that i could have my own space and not occupy the living room 24/7.  i’m so thankful this wish became a reality because mannn, it’s SO nice to have a designated workspace.

moving is exhausting to say the least.  and of course we’ve had our fair share of hiccups…including BOTH of my computers failing me at the same time!  (i’m getting real tight with the peeps over at the genius bar).  our crate that we shipped over from hawaii finally came a few days ago so it’s been one giant unpacking party.  we’re painting our bedroom and building lots of shelves and i can’t wait for our house to feel like a home!  it’s an unsettling feeling not feeling settled, ya know?  being surrounded by boxes, making 16 trips a week to target and tj maxx, and sleeping on an air mattress is all part of the process so we’re doing our best to embrace it!

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!