wait. it's july?

life, lately...feels like work. training. work. work. workworkwork. i know it is all because it is the beginning; the beginning of this job, the beginning of this whole place that i work for (since it is a brand spankin' new store; the first on the big island). i reluctantly and tentatively agreed to a new schedule that was somewhat...uh...sprung upon me, and i will be working nights. 10pm til 8am, four 10-hour nights. the night schedule starts next week which should prove to be interesting as i have never worked a night shift before. we'll see.
the above is the beginning stages of our wedding invite. i did this a few weeks ago, but really need to get myself in the mood to FINISH it. photos have not been color corrected and the plant needs a better photoshop clip job, but i wanted to show the bf my starting point. altho one comment has been "you look like you are cupping his boob," i really like this photo of us, taken on kaua'i on our vacation last year. we'll be going back on our honeymoon and i cannot wait. and that is a "i cannot wait" for the ceremony AND the honeymoon. i will be a very happy man with a ring on his finger.
i have not touched the bedroom, paint-wise or floor-wise. whenever i get a day off, the last thing i want to do is work around the house. it will have to get done, and before our ceremony as we have some of the bf's family and friends staying at the house.
and speaking of the bf, he is on his way to vancouver and then atlanta on a vacation he quickly threw together in just a few weeks. i wish i could have gone, but the new job is cramping that style. oh well. i am sure he will have a blast visiting with friends. so jeep and i are on our own for about a week and i will be starting nights. at least i will get home in time to take him on his normal morning walks. i don't think he will feel the crunch as he normally just sleeps during the time i will now be at work. and once the bf comes back, jeep will have a daddy around all the time, which is sure to make him doggy happy.
happy fourth of july.

vases

shot at my freelance client. i liked it; it made me feel...peaceful.

i not only love bossy's blog...

...but i love her recaps of "barefoot contessa", featuring one of *her* favorite gays, T.R. (who i think comes across like a pretentious player, but that's just MY opinion, for what it is worth).

check it out here.

and be forewarned: you might spit your ice tea on your computer screen. i'm jus' sayin'.

sunset

wait, it's FRIDAY now?

geez. the days are flyin' by.

on my day off, i volunteered to show our beautiful island to three of the people who were training me; support staff from stores in oregon and washington. we started at 9am and hit the northwest beaches, rounded the top of the island thru hawi town, watched a rainstorm move thru pololu valley/lookout, tooled thru kohala and waimea, hung out at laupahoehoe point, then akaka falls and even ventured down to hilo town and caught some of the lei ceremonies at the kamehameha statue for kamehameha day. we ended up back into town at 10pm (after swinging by tex drive-in for food AND malasadas!) and all had to be at work, bright and early the next day. but the trip was well worth it, in hearing them talk to other visitors and coworkers about how they "saw the whole island from a local".

the next few weeks are going to be more training, more setup...more, more, more. i am a different kind of tired then when i was putting down flooring and painting. and at least with that, i could wear my ipod shuffle and tune out.

i still need to make time for my freelance work...and laundry, weeding and finally picking up the paintbrush for the front bedroom and finishing the bamboo floors in there so i can call the inside of the house "done" and move on. i did get some motivation to make chicken piccata last night which also proved to be leftovers for lunch at work today.

oh yea. we also have a wedding to plan. ahem.

wait, it's SUNDAY?

i am losing track of days with my new job. we had orientation last week, then officially started on thursday this past week. and with only working thursday, friday, saturday and today, sunday...i am BEAT. (and that *is* with a capital B, E, A and T).

one of those stores that has two red circles as their logo is finally opening here and i got a job there. right now, they flew in people from all over the place to help build the place from the ground up. stuff begins to arrive this wednesday, so we are frantically trying to get all those fixtures and stuff assembled, in time. and let me say, with that many people working in the building (300+), it is getting done, and mighty fast. in somewhat related news, we got our shirts (uniform) which are cool red aloha shirt, kind of store-themed. maybe i'll try to take a picture so it makes sense.

my first day off is wednesday and i cannot describe how much i am looking forward to it. at this point, i cannot decide between sleeping in late, paddling canoe, painting the bedroom or working on my freelance job (that i still have). and no, i have not even begun to lift the paintbrush in that last bedroom, although i did actually buy the paint to do it. yea, so much for getting THAT party started.

in other news:

jeep's other daddy bought him some sort of massage brush and he is lovin' it.

that's it; that's all the other news. i have not taken a photo or bought any new plants recently. work. workworkwork.

i am hoping things cool down to a slow simmer, but with an opening day in late july, i am not really foreseeing it.

hope all is well with everyone in blogland.

saturday finds

we found the drum (center of left photo) at two different places on saturday. the first time we saw it, the bf commented on what a great deal it was. then while browsing thru another store nearby, we saw the same drum...HALF PRICE.
and on the subject of half price, i was eyeballing the bamboo windchimes this past week at a touristy shop near where we picked up some lunch. figured i would go back and get it sometime. we came upon it in the same store as the drum, and whaddaya know? HALF PRICE.
i still have my eye on the bamboo fountain at this store; i just need to figure out where to put it and how. it is kind of big and...different. many different water areas going on in it.
we joked about the creepy bug that hangs from the ceiling with silk wings. and i mean, this is one creepy, HUGE bug. who in their right mind would want to hang that thing in their house? nightmares, i'm tellin' ya.
i took him to also look at the teak bench for the diningroom set. it is not quite the right color, but with a quick sand and stain, it would match perfect. that would free up two more chairs. as it was, when we had people over recently, i had to hunt down extra (slightly shorter) chairs for he and i to sit on at the table.
today's mission is to finally start painting the front bedroom. i keep putting it off, dreading the cutting in/edging. we'll see.

daily dose

what's new, chicken stew?

made some chicken stew last night. i am telling you, these tyson frozen chicken breasts from costco are amazing. no matter what you cook them in, they come out perfect.

i always *mean* to take pictures

brought the camera with me to the going away party at the beach for the bf's co-worker yesterday, but never even took it outta the truck. imagine lots of food and alcohol, someone playing ukulele and beautiful sunny skies.
brought jeep with us, but he was too busy eating all the food dropped on the ground and having some little girl dump sand on his head, so i opted to take him home. i gave him a bath for the first time in i-don't-know-how-long out in the driveway with the hose and he was none too happy about that. (fyi: dalmatians usually do not require a lot of baths because they are pretty clean and doggy-smell-free for the most part.)
in any event, now he is shiny happy clean and his fur is SO darn soft and smooth.

finally some blue skies!

the day we shot sucked: so much vog, you could not even see the break in the horizon. some sun, but still...you want to see blue skies and ocean. we only had that one day window, otherwise, we would have had to wait six months (long story!). i shot the photos, knowing with some photoshop magic, i would get what i wanted.
fortunately, i got to go back to the million dollar house yesterday and shoot photos without any furniture in the room, facing the same direction, with blue skies and perfect sunshine.
the "after" shot is just rough for now, but i am much more pleased with this than the original. altho, if i was living in the house with that furniture...hell, i would not care if the sky was blue or not. who can argue with walking out the back gate and the beach is your backyard?

random

- the bf's bday was awesome. he got home from work early so i made him stay out in the ohana until i wrapped his gifts from me 'n jeep :) which, jeep got him this hanging plaque that says: "no outfit is complete without dog hair." would you believe you if i told you he put his paw on it at ross' and picked it out himself? ok, nice try.

- we went out to sing karaoke with his coworkers last night and they ROCKED da house! when this one woman, momi, sang "doncha" by pussycat dolls, i thought my head was gonna explode. richard is trying to get her to jam on uke at our wedding. we stayed out way too late for my standards (after midnight); i can remember when staying up until 1am was the norm, and now we are normally crashing at 9pm.

- i have some sort of cold where when i cough, i feel like my chest is going to start an earthquake by the rumbling. but i am still gonna paddle canoe tonight. aye. you cannot hold a good man down.

- bf works sat/sun/mon, so i will be working on the front bedroom.

- did i mention we saw both wolverine and star trek? both awesome. and trust me, coming from someone who has NEVER seen ANY star trek...television or movie...that's a high recommendation.

- happy aloha friday, everyone!

food porn

i am totally rethinking our wedding cake after i saw this. and i already know how it tastes because we had one a few weeks ago.

Hau'oli La Hanau!

actually, this should *also* be another "file under: so. damn. good."
happy birthday, babe. it may be time for you to get presents, but i got da best one of 'um all.
YOU.
xoxoxo