Sandwich of Epic Proportions

Bryan brought home a loaf of freshly baked Leoda's Rye bread last night, and I'm super in love (with it and with him).  We ate slices of it dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dinner last night.

When I got hungry for lunch today, I knew I was going to incorporate huge slabs of the Rye bread.

And that's just what I did.

I made a sandwich of epic proportions.  On one piece of bread I slathered a healthy dose of spinach-artichoke hummus and on the other piece, I spread some Tzatziki (Greek yogurt sauce).  Then I layered on slices of turkey, cucumber, tomatoes, and onion followed by sprouts and spinach.

Yum.

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Snip, Snip

Ever since chopping my hair off at the beginning of the summer, I've been craving an even shorter 'do.  I went back to hair stylist extraordinaire Kendell this morning to see what she could do.

We decided that an A-line cut would be super cute.

A little longer up front...

A little short and choppy in the back...

This cut can be worn smooth and sleek...

...or a little bit messy.

If you're on Maui and need your hair chopped, colored or styled, let me know!  I'll give you Kendell's digits.  She is amazing!

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Home Sweet Home

The house is still not exactly the way we want it...we are still looking for a couch and a bookshelf--dear lord, it is so hard to find a flippin' bookshelf.  I have taken this as cold, hard evidence that people no longer read.  

We may still be missing key pieces of furniture, and we may have filled the empty spaces with some rickety rattan pieces and piles of broken down cardboard boxes, but I am super in love with my new home.  

Bryan and I love the view and the breeze, and I'm super duper excited about our big kitchen.  I made a Chilaquiles Casserole for lunch today.  It was delicious.  I will probably eat more of it before heading to work in a bit.

Until then...a few photos of the house that I snapped especially for you.  There will hopefully be more as we continue to get settled.

{the front of the house}

You can see my green beast of a car hunkered down on the curb to the far right.  The whole house is broken down into four apartments.  The front of the house is a three bedroom apartment where a trio of girls live with a dog (hence the fenced in yard on the right).  There is a small studio space in the middle, Will and Ashley have a one bedroom towards the back of the house, and we have the one bedroom apartment on the second floor.

To get back to our place, you have to walk towards the garage area and down a walkway along the left side of the house (just past Will and Bad Ash's red truck).

{back of the house}

The lower section of the house belongs to Will and Ashley.  To get to our place you need to walk up the stairs.  Note the small potted plant at the bottom of the staircase--that's a Hawaiian chili plant.  Teeny, tiny but incredibly hot (pica!) peppers grow on that thing.

{T-Bone}

T is looking especially dejected because his people, Will and Ash, left for Europe this morning (I drove them to the airport!).  But don't worry, he is going to get loads of love and attention from all of us at the house.

{coming up our staircase}

The first sliding door opens up to our living room/kitchen area and the sliding doors further back lead into the bedroom.  Both are fitted with screens, so we can keep the doors open and enjoy the breeze.

{living room}

As you can see, the kitchen in the back opens up into the living room, so it's a great space to cook in.  Bryan brought up his huge coffee table (directly up front in this photo) and a small kitchen table with chairs (tucked to the far right under a window).

The boxes on the kitchen floor under the kitchen bar are filled with books.

{bedroom}

Please notice the two fans angled towards the bed.  This is the "fan zone."  Even though we get a nice breeze most of the day and night, we definitely need the fans going through the heat of the summer day unless we want to lose our sanity.  But once again, much, much cooler than either of our previous homes.

I have the classy dresser on the left there while Bryan has repurposed a wooden chair as his bedside table (after I suggested it).  I want to get him a little clip-on reading light that we can attach to the back of the chair.  How cute would that be?  I'm really digging his nontraditional bedside table.

Yup, you saw that right, that's Gingerbread on the bed.  He really has traveled the world with me.  I'm very glad that he got thrown in the washer and dryer before our move.  Now he's clean enough to hang out on the bed again.

I hope everyone enjoyed the house preview!

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Zing!

I had a girly-girl girls' day out.  Bad Ash and I got pedicures in the AM.  My toenails are so much more neon than the photograph shows.  I almost need to put my sunglasses on before looking down, they are so bright!  But I'm loving the change of pace.  I usually go for super dark, gothic polish on my piggies, so it's nice to brighten it up.

After pedicures, we popped into Walgreens so Ashley could stock up on little odds and ends for her Europe adventure (she leaves tomorrow!).  I ended up buying a red lipstick/balm thing.  I've got it on now.  Not sure what I think.  I'm not a lipstick gal, but it's fun to try new things.

After our errands, Bad Ash and I met up with our other girlfriends for lunch at Kimo's.  It served as our last little get-together before Bad Ash leaves for Europe and our friend Missy leaves for home.

I'm going to miss these girls!

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Under the Sea--with photos!!

Finally!  The photos that Drew and Kimo took of our scuba adventures are here for you all to enjoy!!

I really thought I was going to feel like a mermaid when I went scuba diving.  With all the gear and tubing and heavy weights, I kind of felt like an underwater version of Iron Man instead.

Even though I couldn't channel my inner Ariel, I couldn't be happier with the up-close and personal experiences I had with some of her friends.

I know it's hard to tell, but that's me!  If you zoom in on the photo, you can see that I still make squinty eyes in underwater pictures.  

Ashley, aka Bad Ash, aka awesome new neighbor

Will, aka WilSIN, aka awesome new neighbor

Can you spot the sea slug?

Honu hanging out

A Spanish Dancer: a very large and colorful sea slug (or nudibranch)

Will chilling out at the bottom of the sea

Lionfish!  He's clinging to the coral upside down

White Tip Reef Sharks at Mala

Swimming with turtles

okay, so it's actually the same turtle in every photo that follows...he was making the rounds

Bryan and Honu

Will and Honu

This big Honu was taking a nap

Paige--the scuba diver!

Ashley leading the pack

Group shot!!

(from left to right) Kimo, Will, Ashley, Bryan and Me

Couples!

Uf.  Our goggles were a tad foggy.

Ashley and Will--why are their goggles so clear?!

Drew.  Thanks to this guy, we all were able to try our hand at scuba diving.  He's leaving for Australia at the end of the fall.  We're going to miss him!

A big school of goatfish

Someone found this huge shell, so Drew orchestrated a little photo op:

Kimo

Will

Ashley

Bryan

Me

Will

A few atmospheric shots to show you our surroundings on our second dive at Mala.  We were swimming through and around and under the ruins of the Mala Pier.

The rubble underneath the pylons are huge concrete slabs from the pier.  Some of them have collapsed in such a fashion that they created dark recesses that the fish use to rest under--like the white tip reef sharks shown up top.

Mala was my favorite dive of the day.  Not just because I had become much more comfortable with the gear and the act of diving, but also because of how beautiful and otherworldly it was.

Take a look at the video that Drew shot of us doing a swim through during our dive at Mala.

Not too shabby for a whole bunch of first-timers, huh?

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Lunch at Leoda's

Bryan and I had to head back to Walmart this morning to make some returns as well as pick up a few things we hadn't realized we needed until we had gotten back home last night.

We didn't mind the drive to and from the other side because we made a stop at Leoda's on the way home for takeout.  I haven't had food from this place since my family was in town.  I'm happy to have remedied the situation this afternoon.

I got my usual: the avocado and cucumber veggie sandwich on homemade "Hapa" bread.  Bryan got the delicious Reuben (note to self: get this next time!).

I love the country style interior.

But nothing beats staring at the dessert case.

After drooling over all the desserts in the case, I couldn't resist and had to take home this Strawberry and Cream Tart.

And let me tell you, it was delicious!

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