last friday was an exciting day. i FINALLY finished my new site/portfolio/blog design and sent it off to my developer! i was honestly getting sick of working on it and could not have been more happy to pass it off. now i can’t wait to see it live…hopefully in a few weeks! back in october at my bridal shower, one of my very best friends heather and her mom gifted me a luxurious spa day at the moana surfrider in waikiki. and it could not have been a more perfect day to indulge! after an all-nighter and sending the files off to get coded, i high-tailed it to waikiki, enjoyed an afternoon at the spa, and then laid out at the pool with an acai bowl. not gonna lie, it was prettttty amazing. i’m so thankful for such a relaxing (and indulgent) afternoon! thanks so much heath!!
Category Archives: my life
five things.
photo taken in lake como on our honeymoon in italy – currently having withdrawals and want to go back now!
i was tagged awhile ago by my friend ann-marie on instagram to post 5 things about myself and i’m being a #rebel and doing it on my blog instead.
1) i don’t eat seafood. something about the smell/texture grosses me out. it’s funny because when i tell people this, 95% of the time they proceed to ask “what about shrimp? or tuna? or salmon?”
2) i am fascinated by straight teeth. sarah, one of my best friends that i met in 7th grade, was obsessed with teeth and passed her obsession on to me. so if i ever meet you in person and am staring at your mouth, don’t worry, i’m probably just in love with your teeth.
3) if you’ve read my blog for awhile or have ever received an e-mail/text/any form of written communication from me, you probably know that i never use proper capitalization in my writing. i’m not sure why, but i think it’s out of sheer laziness that my pinky just can’t make it over to the “shift” key. whenever i have to write proper e-mails, it takes a serious toll on me (and my fingers)!
4) i really do love hawaii but having geckos as roommates (in the kitchen, in the bedroom…) will just never be okay with me. never.
5) i am a total homebody. i used to be a social butterfly in college and had something every night of the week. and now, there is nothing i love more than being at home on the couch with some netflix, ice cream, and reis.
p.s. isn’t it crazy how THIS day was exactly a year ago!? time flies!!
a morning in waikiki.
last week on reis’ day off, we had a morning date in waikiki that involved iced coffee and a beach walk. i love morning outings on weekdays because everywhere is more quiet and less crowded. you won’t find us in waikiki very often, but this day was particularly beautiful and it’s a close drive from our house. i also carried my new samudra x ladyslider clutch that reis got me for christmas! our friend tara makes them and i dig her whole collection. but this one is my favorite! it’s perfectly fashionable and super functional. i use it whenever i go out for errands or coffee runs and it fits my phone, wallet, keys, and even my big dslr (though i don’t recommend lugging one of those around in a clutch)! check out her shop HERE. and her blog HERE. it’s pretty great and will probably make you want to pack up your stuff and move to hawaii.
working from home + more travels.
the first week of december we decorated our tiny house for christmas and got our very first christmas tree together as husband and wife! we have thoroughly been enjoying our festive little place and i just love being home more now that my office is in our living room. i can light candles while i work, jam out to christmas music, AND wear my pajamas. it’s really great. it does require lots of self-discipline, however, because being your own boss has unlimited amounts of freedom attached to it (which is also probably my favorite part!).
this next month is going to be a crazy month of [more] travel. we flew to california on the redeye last night and will be here for quite awhile! i am so excited for all of the adventures we will be going on and for quality time spent with family and friends.
italian honeymoon photo diary | florence.
the last stop of our trip (*tear) was florence and it was so much fun to be in a bustling city! tuscany and cinque terre were both fairly quiet and mellow, lake como was pretty mellow but a little more city-like, and florence was pure CITY. our hotel was super modern and artsy and hip and located 2 steps away from the arno river — i highly recommend this place! as i’m sure you can tell by the photos, we spent most of our time in florence shopping, eating, more eating, more shopping, sight-seeing, and lots of walking. they have the coolest vintage shops sprinkled all throughout the city and we attempted to find as many as we could because old italian stuff is just really cool. another thing i absolutely loved was all of the neat signage and typography around the city. (it’s so nice to be inspired outside of pinterest and blogs for a change.)
i am pretty surprised that we managed to get by on our whole trip by knowing approximately 6 words of italian. (americans are spoiled – everyone else in the world knows english!). this was also the longest consecutive amount of time reis and i have spent together just the two of us and we had the BEST time. we are so thankful, blessed, and fortunate we were able to go on such an incredible honeymoon. i can’t wait to travel more with him and we already know we want our next european venture to be france and amsterdam…saving our pennies until then!
italian honeymoon photo diary | bellagio, lake como.
*i don’t know what it is about me and publishing blog posts before i’m done! woops.
during our stay in como we went across the lake to bellagio to take a cooking class! it was really fun learning how to make homemade pasta and pretending like i was gourmet for a day using fancy spices like saffron. we got to enjoy the meal we prepared for lunch and it was delicious. it was rewarding to be eating the fruits of our labor…even though the chef definitely did most of the work while we watched and listened.
the whole town of bellagio is on a slope and you have to walk up and down cobblestone steps to get everywhere. reis fell in love with those little fiat cars and i swear he would have shipped one back to hawaii if we had the money. everywhere you turn in bellagio is picture-worthy. the views of the lake were so stunning and majestic we couldn’t stop staring…or snapping photos. the water looked creamy and buttery and the backdrop of the snow-capped swiss alps was majorly swoon-worthy. last stop: florence!