Announcing…

A brief look into my Google history for the past few months: hummus while pregnant feta while pregnant iron supplement while pregnant bath temperature while pregnant tea tree oil while pregnant how much water while pregnant heart rate while pregnant can i have a hot dog if i’m pregnant snuggleme vs dockatot why can’t i have brie while pregnant left side cramps first trimester best baby carrier best baby…

Currently // 05.02.19 AND Hawaii Photoshoot Photos!

Happy Friday-Eve! As Joe works through the details of building our tiki bar (post coming on that in the near future…) we’ve been reminiscing on our Hawaii trip even more than usual. Especially with the SNOW we got last weekend. Snow. At the end of April. (I know, I know. We live in Michigan. It happens.) But still – NOT GREAT.

Currently:

Amused by all the random things being shilled by…

I feel like I should start off by saying: if you have friends with a place to stay and you’re invited on a group trip…just GO! Especially when it’s somewhere as amazing as Hawaii. Joe and I hemmed and hawed on the idea for a while, and looking back I truly don’t know why we didn’t book a flight the MOMENT our friends asked. We had the best time, and our only regret is not staying longer.

Anyway. We flew out of Kalamazoo – which on one hand added at least 4 hours to our trip and cost a little more money, BUT.  We didn’t have to deal with driving to DTW or Chicago, and didn’t have to pay to park our car for 9 nights, PLUS flying out of our little regional airport is just so low stress and chill, it was absolutely worth it.

(Side note: if you’re reading this and are like “wow that looks great, but flights are so expensive!” seriously look into an airline credit card. One where you get airline points for using in your day to day life. We have a Delta SkyMiles Amex, so used points and basically paid 1/4 of what it would have cost without points. Cannot suggest this highly enough.)

19 hours after we left our house in Kalamazoo, we arrived (very jetlagged) at the Kona airport; with friends waiting in our shared rental car to bring us to the condo. (We rented a Jeep. Not all it’s hyped up to be, people!) The next 6 days were a whirlwind of sunscreen, mai tais, dolphins, and the most amazing views. Check out some of my favorite pictures below! Mostly from my phone, some snagged from Joe, and some from my friends who brought their nice cameras.

I could easily type on and on and on about everything we did and saw, but I think in this case pictures are definitely worth 1,000 words. Instead, you’ll get a top 5.

Hapuna Beach on our first day. We got there early and basically had the beach to ourselves.

Swimming with a HUGE pod of spinner dolphins.

Driving to the summit of Mauna Kea for sunset – the tallest mountain in the world when measured from its oceanic base.

Friendly feral kitties everywhere.

Waipio Valley and Pololu Trail hikes.

On our last full night on the Big Island, we did a mini sunset photoshoot with my friend Rachel, owner of Emwill Design Co, and the photos turned out SO great. Stay tuned for a post with those pics. I got to live out my “go into the ocean in a dress” fantasies, and I think Joe had some fun too. 🙂

But wait, there’s more!! Before our Friday afternoon flight to Oahu, we got to learn ALL about what to do in case of a sea urchin sting!

1) Urgent Care is useless. 2) Listen to the locals, who apparently get sea urchin stings all the time. 3) $5 on white vinegar and a small plastic tote: way more affordable than an urgent care bill. 4) Once they’re out, you’ll be a little sore, but SO MUCH BETTER than leaving them in. Unfortunately Rachel had to learn all this the hard way, but she was a trooper.

Any questions about this leg of our trip? Feel free to leave them below! Otherwise, hope you enjoyed this (mostly pictorial) trip report! Aloha 🙂

Kitchen Reno: It’s Finally Done!

Oh hey! I’m still here. Maybe I’ll get better at this blogging thing one of these days. I haven’t given a kitchen update since November 7th– oops! It’s been almost ONE FULL YEAR since I first reached out to The Kitchen Shop to get our reno started…and Joe just finished up the last of our baseboards last week. So crazy and frustrating BUT it’s all done. Not perfect, and we totally should be…

I can picture you reading now…Another update? Huh. The kitchen reno that started at the end of June isn’t done yet?! It’s been over 4 months!! Their kitchen isn’t that big!

Yep. And the progress as of my last post (end of July) was looking so darn good, right?!

Well, the 6-8 week countertop lead time came and went, and our countertops were finally delivered at the beginning of October. Great…

Quick overview of our trip: we flew into Dublin, and promptly started a trip clockwise around the country. It was rather exhausting, but I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Full disclosure: I had 90% of these places planned out by February of this year – a whopping 7 months before our trip. There’s a good chance some of these places would be available with shorter notice, but you never know! I love planning, so the peace of mind in having things situated so far ahead of time works well for me. The majority of our stays were AirBnbs, so if that’s not your cup of tea…scroll to nights 6 and 7!

Night One – Ballyteige Lodge, a 1900s hunting lodge in the Wicklow Mountains (Airbnb)

Pros: beauuuuutiful location, land to hike, cute dog, solid breakfast, good tips from host.

Cons: got a little lost coming back from dinner, dog had smelly farts.

  Night Two – Bannow Bay Seaside Farm, Wexford area (Airbnb)

Pros: um, hello!? seaside, farm, church ruins, cute pup, perfection. also a kitchenette.

Cons: didn’t get to use the tub in the airbnb listing, didn’t pet a cow.

  Night Three – Urban Tranquilatree, a treehouse in Cork (Airbnb)

Pros: view, location, TREEHOUSE, privacy, robes, fresh croissants

Cons: one way streets + hills with manual car

  Night Four – The Glass House, Inch Beach, Dingle Peninsula (Airbnb)

Pros: architecture, 4 cats, view, breakfast, good tips from host. (The nearby beach was awesome too, but it was COLD and windy.)

Cons: ???

Night Five – Clai Ban Bed and Breakfast, Inishmore, Aran Islands (BnB)

Pros: privacy, authenticity, lots to explore, restaurant very close, good breakfast

Cons: had to hunt down owner, payment in cash only, rough boatride back to shore

  Night Six – Abbeyglen Castle Hotel, Connemara Mountains (Hotel)

Pros: bougie AF, bathtub, an hour of bottomless champagne, anniversary dessert, fireplace

Cons: not enough bubbles in my bath, not techhhhnically really a castle

  Night Seven – THE BUBBLE (Finn Lough), Northern Ireland (Resort)

Pros: IT’S A BUBBLE! Also the food (!!!), mountain bike rental, hiking/biking trails

Cons: only there one night, expensive, lots of activities weather dependent (we missed out on beer + cheese on the lake by a fire due to rain.)

  Night Eight – Mountcharles/Donegal Home (Airbnb)

Pros: close (ish) to slieve league, very hospitable hosts, kit kats in room, en suite, yummy breakfast (additional 5 euro each)

Cons: nothing at all, but also not as exciting as a bubble, farm, or hunting lodge.

  Nights Nine and Ten – Bedroom in Victorian Home, Dublin 8 (Airbnb)

Pros: mostly walkable area, en suite, curb appeal, cute dog

Cons: mildly questionable area at night, tight quarters

  Some things I looked for while planning/booking:

is breakfast included? if not, is there a cafe nearby or will we eat granola bars?

is there a private bathroom? en suite a plus, but not necessary.

is it in a city, or more rural? how far would we have to go for dinner?

how far will joe need to drive to get here? is it out of the way? (and sometimes out of the way is okay – see: Finn Lough)

are there animals for me to pet? cows, sheep, dogs, cats, donkeys, chickens…all acceptable.

is it memorable? (doesn’t always have to be!)

And that’s that! I could totally go into MUCH more detail about any of these places – likes, dislikes, tips, etc., but I’ll let the photos and pro/con lists speak for themselves! Definitely leave a comment if you have any questions or end up staying at any of these places 🙂 I can highly highly highly recommend every single one.

You won’t believe what our kitchen is looking like right now. SO GOOD. I get excited just thinking about it! In case you forgot, we decided to bite the bullet a couple of months ago and remodel our kitchen. We’re doing what we can on our own, but have been using contractors for the big stuff (cabinets, tile work, and counter top) so we know it’s done right, and so we don’t have to work a full day, then come home and do more work. We’re spending more than would be ideal, but it’ll be worth it in the end. Even if we are only using our kitchen to cook ramen for the foreseeable future!

Over the past few weeks we:

demo-ed (with help from some Habitat for Humanity guys – we donated our cabinets to the Re-Store)

did SO much sanding, patching, and priming

tore up a floor

redid basically the entire house’s plumbing

moved our microwave up and vented out the side of the house

had cabinets and our sink installed

got a new floor put in

did a little more plumbing

took down the ceiling fan and installed recessed lighting!

If I’m being totally honest, I’ve mostly been around for moral support, giving a hand when needed. Construction is not my forte. That said, I definitely won the husband lottery – Joe designed lighting (and how lighting would be installed in various museums, stores, etc) for a few years, so knew exactly what he was doing with new kitchen lights – hooray for saving $1k on having someone come out to do that! (and hooray for going with the flow when we discovered our kitchen actually has 2 ceilings. This house is full of surprises, I swear.) AND he replaced 98% of our plumbing with PEX – no more rusty pipes, PLUS more water pressure than we’ve ever had in our kitchen.

Life is good, y’all.

Well, except for the fact that we now have to wait 6-8 weeks for our butcher block. Once that’s installed, our backsplash can go in, and we’ll be DONE. (We also have to paint at some point. Detailssss.) 6-8 weeks for the counter top though. Please everyone cross your fingers and say a little prayer that it doesn’t actually take that long, otherwise we’ll be waiting until we’re back from Ireland in mid-September to get everything finished up. BOOO. Not ideal.

Anyway – progress picture time! Hover for captions if ya need em!

In case you forgot about the grouted countertops and weird cork board on random surfaces…

mid tear out

so thankful for the volunteers from Habitat that took our cabinets!!

Emptiness

Wallpaper uncovered – was behind some cabinets

Paint swatching. We chose city steam, but are a little worried it’ll be too light.

Lots of priming to cover up the blue walls. In 95 degree heat. With like 85%+ humidity and minimal airflow. Oof

Progress!

Cabinet install started on my birthday…Happy Birthday to ME!

Love love love. Waiting on counters, backsplash, and paint.

Coming together 🙂

Recessed lighting, hooray!

Bonus lazy cat pic

So there we are! Hopefully a final update post will be up before we get back from Ireland, but you never know.

PS. Our Traeger and borrowed InstantPot have been lifesavers, keeping us from eating out every night while our appliances are out of commission. Yay!

Mini Life Update + Kitchen Remodel News

Hi Friends! Wow. I just looked. The last time I posted something on my blog was December 2017. I’m still here! Still alive! Still busy! Since the first of the year I’ve been to Florida 3x, Canada, Germany for over half the month of February for work….in addition to keeping up with friends, work, family, snow in April…. You get the picture. But I’m back! And with exciting news! We’re finally going…

Life Update + Kitchen Remodel News

Hi Friends! Wow. I just looked. The last time I posted something on my blog was December 2017. I’m still here! Still alive! Still busy! Since the first of the year I’ve been to Florida 3x, Canada, Germany for over half the month of February for work….in addition to keeping up with friends, work, family, snow in April…. You get the picture. But I’m back! And with exciting news! We’re finally going…

It’s December! Which means it’s now socially acceptable to listen to Christmas music 24/7. Or watch every single Hallmark Channel Christmas movie if that’s more your style. (Or both!?) Let’s be real though, I’ve been listening to Christmas music since Halloween…with some My Favorite Murder interspersed in there too. But now it’s December! 24 days til Christmas! It’s also FRIDAY and I imagine lots…

In case you missed it, we are now back down to a one pet household; Poppy passed away after a long and lovely life (really though, hedgies are supposed to live 2-5 years, she was 7.) Barb and Poppy never really interacted, but I imagine Barb is happy being a single child again. ALL the attention, and ALL the toys and treats. We got her a new toy a bit ago, and she loved it to death within 48…

Summertime Favorites - 2017

Somehow it’s already the end of August – my Instagram is full of back to school pictures, and it’s getting dark before 9pm. Where’d the summer go!? I’m definitely not ready for pumpkin spice everything. Or shoes that aren’t Birkenstocks. But alas, it’s about that time. In a desperate attempt to hold onto the little bit of summer we do have left, I thought it would be fun to make a list of some…

Wowowow. Hey blogo-o-verse. It’s been a minute, eh? Crazy how easily designing packaging for bottles and nipples and pacifiers can consume your life. I am VERY behind on reviews – so so sorry to the brands I’ve been neglecting! (And food recipes I’ve neglected to share out! And lack of general life updates.) Sheesh. Waaay back when, I was lucky enough to be selected by Vanity Planet to try out a…

Uhh wow, hello there, middle (ish) of March. o_O 2017 is FLYING. After all the traveling we’ve been doing, my skin has been in dire need of some epic TLC. So much flying dries a person out, who knew? It also probably doesn’t help that I hadn’t been drinking nearly as much water as a person is supposed to. I’m working on that though. So far for the month of March I’ve consumed at least 96oz of…

I finally was able to add photos to all 9 of my Morocco updates – woo! I didn’t post a ‘Day 10’ because all that happened was breakfast, finishing packing, hanging out for way too long at the airport (and trying to figure out how to spend the rest of our Dirhams) and then taking a taxi to our Airbnb (which was stocked with snacks and 3 large beers. Hooray!) Oh, I also bought a giant bottle of…

Our entire group would have loved to stay in Essaouira for the rest of our trip (all 28 hours of it,) but unfortunately a driver would be waiting to take us back to Marrakech at 11am. Before we left, I knew I wanted to wander through Essaouira’s port and see the beach once more before starting the journey back to grey Michigan. It was totally a coincidence that we walked through the Medina once…

I’ve gotta say…it was SO nice to not have to pack up and head to a new city this morning. We still got up fairly early to walk into town for the first of 3 ATM stops (spent way more money in Essaouira than anywhere else…) before Joe and I went our separate ways for the afternoon! Joe went for an hour of quad-biking on the beach, and I went for a 3 hour horseback ride. With Atlas, the most ornery…