Koko Head Marina, Oahu (c) KC Saling, 2013
These are the kind of sights I should be most excited about being able to share with you. However, they’re really not where I’ve been spending most of my time lately. Instead, Scott and I have been working on the house. We’re finally done with the boxes, and everything that can physically be put away currently is put away {sort of}, but we have a lot of work to do.
So we’ve been spending a lot of time looking at things like this:
Home Depot
I love me some Home Depot. Their designers are helping us map out the framework for many of the projects on our list, but most extensively, the kitchen renovation. Ohhhh, the kitchen. The kitchen is going to be b-e-a-youuuutiful! The plans are drawn up and the materials are mostly picked out, and once the installer gives us a quote, I just have to see when it can happen. I’m thinking right now that it’s going to happen next summer.
Yes, dear friends. You will, if you please, go back and look through the amount of traveling and moving we did this last summer? This past summer we were in Europe, Alaska, Canada, several continental states, on a cruise, and moving. In the interest of behaving like responsible adults and being actually able to pay for what we want, we’re waiting.
In the meantime, there’s a ton of other stuff for us to work on, like floors and baseboards and walls, closet organizers and new bathroom vanities and tile, window treatments and light fixtures and beadboard…okay, we have a lot of work to do. So over the next few months, Scott and I will be living at Home Depot as much as anywhere else. But don’t worry, we’ll still have plenty of scenic pictures to share. Even if all we do is look out the back door.
Beauty is everywhere. You just have to open your eyes and look.
Currently…
In…Hawaii. Or I am, at least. My husband is in Florida rescuing our cats from boarding and taking them through the last stages of their quarantine before bringing them back to Hawaii. We’re almost to the end of 180 days of banishment for the poor things, but if you’ve been following my updates on Instagram, you’ve seen they’re not suffering. Nope.
Feeling…like I’ve been pushing myself pretty hard lately. I had a crappy day Friday {I’ll tell you about it tomorrow as part of this week’s Monday Motivation}. It was just a lot of little things piling up that normally wouldn’t have bothered me, but for some reason, I felt like the dam was going to break. Good thing it’s a long weekend!
Reading…at the moment, Mike Holmes‘s home improvement books. I’m researching. Later today and tomorrow, notes from the paper we presented in Barcelona. We’ve {translation: my sister} already got one paper in, but there’s another journal we want to submit to, and that’s the one I’m supposed to write. I want to get that done before other things pile up.
Writing…said paper. A couple letters of intent for a couple really cool positions set to open up after my tour here is up {hey, I prefer not to wait until the last minutes for opportunities to present themselves}. A couple of guest blog posts that will be going out later this month {excited!!}. Novel stuff.
Cooking…my way through all the things left in our pantry from the move and from my latest Costco haul. I need a better system for groceries. Stuff goes bad in two seconds here in Hawaii, so I’ve really got to be good about using up the things I buy before I buy more. Hmmm…maybe I need to back off on Costco. Buying bulk doesn’t help this.
Clicking…on beautiful seaside craft tutorials from Kim at Sand & Sisal and DIY how-to stories of success and not-so-success from Young House Love. Maybe I’ll take on some of these, maybe I won’t, but they’re going on my Pinterest boards just the same. Didn’t I have a 101 in 1001 goal to make some of those Pinterest projects? Yep…and I’m actually going to try some of these. Someday. I promise.
Listening…to my Lindsey Stirling Pandora station. I find myself swaying in my seat and bouncing along to so many of her songs when I listen to them while I work. Instrumental pieces are easier for me to do work along with, I don’t know why.
Smelling…my English breakfast tea. I decided today was going to be a tea day instead of a coffee day. It has such a beautiful crisp smell to it.
Thinking…that life could use even more simplifying around here. We still have a lot of stuff for a small place, and I really don’t want to live amid a bunch of piles and things stacked everywhere. It will help if I can get all my work stuff to my new office this week, but even so, there are plenty of things in the house still that belong at Goodwill or on Craig’s List.
Wishing…that I could afford to put that kitchen in now. It’s beautiful…but it also has a ton more cabinets and storage options than our current kitchen. There is stuff calling to me to be put away and organized. I mean literally. It bothers the heck out of me. I’m a little compulsive, okay?
Hoping…that we can do all the things we need to do to get this house sellable without running ourselves house-poor. Y’all know how much we like to travel. I can handle putting all of that temporarily on hold, but temporary is a relative term…
Wearing…oh, you know, the Hawaii usual. Shorts and t-shirt for going hiking later. I don’t think there’s going to be much breaking out of this rut of mine, although I’m still going to try for Friday Style! I’m also thinking of trying another 7×7 challenge to see if I can come up with more ways to use what I have already.
Loving…warm and sunny Hawaii days. Hikes with friends. The internet for making it easy to connect with my husband, 6000 miles away, and friends and family all over the world in the blink of an eye. The wonderful folks who read and like and comment on this little blog of mine. Life.
What’s on your mind, currently?
KCS
Linking up with Lauren at Siddathornton for the Sunday Currently.
And no, Home Depot didn’t sponsor me or this post, though I wish they would.
