Hawaii - Part 2

as promised...i am back with more goodies from our amazing summer vacation with the flood's and boyle's!

the guys rented mopeds during the day & the girls hung by the pool & did some shopping. i don't have a single picture of either on our cameras but i know some were captured.

FINALLY a group shot! i know we have more...just not on our camera!

we had a tasty dinner at duke's & the service was KILLER!

walking back from duke's justin showed us his strength! twice!

we went to pearl harbor & took in some history!
i seriously can't imagine how scary that day was!

the boat ride out to the memorial

a view of the memorial from the boat

danny enjoying his auto tour!

a yummy sushi dinner. a big thanks to david for taking us there!

yay! a picture of us girls!

Still more to come...stay tuned!

*NYC update: our stuff arrived in new york today & will be delivered to our apartment on tuesday. we fly out a week from today! CRAZY!!

Hawaii - Part 1

i honestly cannot believe that is has already been a month since we left for a hawaii. well...a couple days shy of a month. uhhhhh (sigh of irritation) does life have to fly by so fast?!?

it was a bitter sweet vacation for a couple of reasons...#1 we are moving & don't know the next time we will be able to vacation with our AMAZING friends and #2 a piece of our friend puzzle was missing!

now, let's be honest. we were not the best picturing taking bunch in the beginning of the week. so, with that said there will be holes in this trip.

everyone getting ready to fly -

lindsey, laney, justin, kristen & danny
we took up an entire row - window to window!

laney did such a good job on the airplane!

during take off!

hands up!! Weeeee!!!

so excited!

our first day there we hung at the beach & soaked in some hawaiian sun.

on the way back laney asked "mom, i wanna a snack!"
i just couldn't resist this adorable picture of her devouring her hot dog full of mustard!

so i dragged the group to this restaurant that i have had an INCREDIBLE artichoke at...i mean if you like artichokes there is NOTHING. i mean NOTHING like it.

we sit down, waiter comes over & i said "we will start with two artichokes!"
waiter - "i'm sorry we are out of artichokes this evening!"
SERIOUSLY?!?

we rented a car on a couple days so we could see more of the island!
poor linds & justin were sandwiched in the way back between lane's carseat!

lindsey's client told her about this "famous" shrimp stand on the side of the road. the lady said "it's an old van, all marked up with writing!"
Linds spotted the van. we turned around to try the shrimp...

us waiting to try the shrimp.

then we hit the road again & quickly saw about 10-15 more tagged up shrimp vans!
whatever we ate was good...so we will just say it's the one her client recommended!

justin taking a refreshing dip!

ah shaved ice time! yummy!

i so didn't get one of justin eating his! hopefully on kristen or lindsey's camera! :)

anxious for more? i will do my best to get some more up tomorrow!

Home Sweet Home

sigh. an enormous sigh of relief is in order today. why? simple. we found our apartment in new york. we have a home, we know where our heads will rest at night in a few short weeks. seriously, a gigantic weight has been lifted from our shoulders.

let's briefly discuss the rental process in NY. i am sure at some point all of you have heard what a nightmare it is. well, the stories are not a joke (and this is a downturn in NYC, it's not even competitive right now). honestly, it is easier to buy a house in california than it is to rent an apartment in NY. they look through every aspect of your financial profile to make sure you are a fit tenant. my stomach was in knots yesterday because i was so nervous we wouldn't get the place we wanted. but...after our interview and a nice extra deposit amount...we scored the place we wanted. phew!

here are some details about our new digs!

located on the upper east side

doorman & elevator
our apartment is on the 4th floor - two bedrooms & two full baths
around 1,200 sq ft
wood floors, open kitchen with dining nook & working fireplace!

placed two blocks from the subway

three blocks from the east river & five blocks from central park

now a small photo tour!
the outside of our building

the entry hallway

the wood burning fireplace

the living room facing the dining nook & kitchen

the kitchen

i think we will be super happy here. great location & a beautiful apartment to come home too!
do these photos make anyone want to come visit??
i hope. i hope. fingers crossed. holding my breath!

LA to Hawaii to New York...OH MY!

exhaustion doesn't even begin to describe what we are feeling right now. how sad, considering we just spent an amazing week soaking up the hawaiian sunlight with friends.

the reason for the dark circles & pouty face, an extremely LONG weekend of packing up an entire house to MOVE! now, none of this has been easy...for more reasons than i can count. here are some of the BIG ones...

we don't know where we will be living in NYC yet (which means we don't know how much we can take, they consider an 1,000 sq ft apartment BIG...eek!)

we are now living with my parents (that's not the bad part) which means everything of ours except about two weeks worth of clothes is in a POD storage unit (that's the bad part) everything and i mean EVERYTHING has to be packed in boxes (seriously!!)

and did i mention we still are working and don't have a final, final move date (just a very rough end date)

so, on a positive note, our first home that we shared together is all packed up & stored away. always sad to leave an empty house...feels like you are leaving something, forgetting something (perfectly said Linds).

This weekend (tomorrow) we will be flying back to New York to hunt down a dog friendly, two bedroom place, near central park. wish us luck!

i feel so behind on life...we have had some fun little nights here & there that i need to blog. two galaxy games & a trip to hawaii.

And because post are way more fun with pictures...

here is a pic from every city we have been in, in the last two short weeks!

Happy long weekend...can you believe summer is OVER?!?