Hallway Project Part 1

I had to go back to work today... I've been on summer break since June 4th- just enough time to get used to sleeping in and doing nothing all day really comfortable. Actually, I had a pretty productive summer. I was able to clean/reorganize the house, do some crafty things, go to the gym pretty frequently, go camping... oh, yeah, get married and go on a honeymoon. :)


But going back to work means no more of this...

More importantly, no more of this...

Not getting to hang out with that face all day is probably the worst part. But although 2 months is a very nice break, and I totally could see myself being at home every day, eventually I would run out of things to paint and I suppose I would get bored. So back to work I go!


This whole week is meetings, so no new and fun stories about the kids yet. Too bad, because meetings are B-O-R-I-N-G. I hate them.

I made sure I brought a pad of paper with me and I was pretty much making lists of things I need to do the entire time. Well, switching off between that and playing solitaire on my phone. Don't worry, I was listening too!


Today's meeting was for the coaches and it was all pretty much common sense stuff. There were some inspirational quotes that I liked that you may see popping up here soon. And we watched this video (which made us all laugh out loud because it's so true)...

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But enough of the work stuff and back to the fun stuff... as you can see in my chicken scratch drawing above, I have plans for the hallway going upstairs and I started this project yesterday. It's already an improvement from this...

It was funny how the project came about though...


It started off with this 16x20 canvas that our photographer gave to us a wedding present.

Look familiar??

It's one of my favorite pictures of us- we both have our eyes open, I'm hiding my muffin top behind him, you know, important stuff like that. Really though, we both look happy and playful, and that kind of sums up who we are. Oh, and I really like the colors. Yellow is one of my favs. But nothing around the house is yellow. And I don't want to scare people with a gigantic picture of us greeting them every time they come over.


So I was looking at this canvas and trying to figure out where the heck to put it. I was lost. So I put that down and decided to work on a project that I liked from The Chronicles of Ruthie Hart where she made a silhouette of her dog. Using her basic instructions, I created this little guy...

Before I put a back to it and framed it, a thought occurred to me- I could make a collage with the canvas and some frames I already had. I grabbed some green scrapbook paper and this frame, and put this Kevin silhouette together. Love! Then, I painted another frame with with a yellowish green accent (grellow, for those of you YHL followers) and searched for a picture to put in it. I knew I didn't want a picture of the dog right next to his silhouette and I knew I didn't want a picture of us since I had our gigantic 16x20 grills paired up with this frame.


After looking through so many wedding photos on websites and in magazines these last months, I've learned that a lot lies in the details. So with that in mind, I looked through our honeymoon pictures for two things- greenery (in Hawaii, that's easy to find) and details that would bring back memories. The winner was a picture we had taken while we were on a hike on the Road to Hana. We were overlooking a HUGE canyon and I wanted a ring shot. And if you know anything about out honeymoon, this was after The Incident, so our pictures were important and few and far between.

I played around with it on Picnik a little bit to make the colors a little more artsy and matchy-matchy.


I was just going to hang up these 3 pictures, but I thought that would be boring. Then I remembered some black shelves I had from Target that I haven't used yet. I though it might be fun to rest the canvas on a shelf and hang the other frames.


Then while in the garage putting laundry in the dryer, I looked up at a frame that the previous owners had left almost 4 years ago and I had never touched.  

Epiphany!!! What if I used the frame to enclose my little picture collage? Done. So I brought it in, dusted it off, slapped some black paint on it, and less than a half hour later, I had this:

 I had originally wanted the bottom frames to be lined up with each other and contrary to my Sorry Dad posts, I had actually measured these goofy little frames. But this turned out to be a happy little accident. Forced to find something to fill that empty space on the bottom left, I spotted my collection of starfish. I nabbed one that fit the area, painted it white, and done!

It makes me happy. And this is the beginning. I have more plans for the rest of the hallway going up the stairs!


What projects do you guys have going on right now?

Do you have any art or pictures that you love, but just don't go with the rest of your house?

Honeymoon Part 6: Final Days in Hawaii

Brian and I had a snorkeling trip already lined up for Saturday morning, so it was another early morning wake up call! We met at the dock at 7:00 and began to board our boat at 7:30. We were heading off to the island of Lanai...

  That shadow in the background is Maui. Our first stop on our snorkeling tour was at this little bay that was closer to facing Maui, but the water was a bit choppy. We stayed there for maybe a half hour and then headed back to the boat where they had fruit and some delicious Hawaiian baked goods for us. We headed past the 80 foot high Sweetheart Rock and heard the legend...

A ravishing young princess from Maui, was captured by a young warrior from Lanai. He took her as his wife and brought her back to his home island. He was so stricken with her beauty that he was afraid to let other men see her, and thus he confined the princess to a sea cave near the rock.

One day, as the warrior was away, the weather suddenly changed drastically, and the raging surf began to pound this side of the island. The warrior rushed back to the cave, but it was too late: His beloved Puu Pehe had drowned. Heartbroken, he retrieved her body and, with the help of the gods, climbed the steep rock island, where he buried her in a tomb. Overcome with grief, the warrior then leapt off the rock to his death.

 Sounds pretty morbid. At least it was just our wallets and phones that were stolen...

Anyway, the second stop was absolutely beautiful... the clearest water I have ever seen anywhere.

I don't know if you can see all the different colors in the water behind us, but there were different colors of coral and algae and animals... it was pretty awesome.

Doesn't it look little pool water??

We were pretty happy. :D

By the time we got back to Maui, it was mid-afternoon and we were pretty wiped out. We spent the rest of the day hanging out and walking around Whaler's Village, which is basically an outdoor shopping mall.

 We picked up some Chinese food and tried to eat on the beach while we watched the sun set. But then some wind kicked up and sandy orange chicken is the anti-delicious, so we moved back into the tables at Whaler's Village. The sun hadn't really set yet when we finished, so we still had time to watch. And I had time to sneak in a couple more pictures...

Sunday was our last full day in Hawaii. Apparently, any Rodner trip to Hawaii cannot be complete without a trip to Duke's, so we went there for breakfast. And dinner. (What? We like it!)

It was Father's Day. I knew my did would appreciate it! :)

We spent the rest of the day walking the beaches and swimming. It was nice. I dared Brian to jump off of Black Rock, but he "didn't want to leave our stuff alone." So he was either really paranoid or really scared. I'm still not sure! ;-)

Photo Credit

And that was our last day there. Kind of bittersweet. We both loved the time we got to spend with each other and we did have a lot of fun. It just sucks that our trip was tainted by the robbery.

Come Monday morning, we were more than ready to see our dog and lay in our own bed. Our flight was at 1:05, so we still had the morning to lounge. We had to have the rental car back by 11, but we were dressed and ready to be out and about at 9, so on our way back to the airport, I suggested that we stop at a beach and just hang out for a bit. Along the highway, there are little pull outs were people basically drive right out onto the sand, park their car, and hang out in their own little beach cove.

I think those objects under the tree are cars... that's basically what I'm talking about...

So Brian and I find this perfect spot, right in between two other cars, just to sit and chill for a bit. We're not even pulled in as far as the other cars when Brian mutters something to the effect of, "Oh shit." And just like that, we were stuck in the sand. I got out and tried to push the car while Brian put it in gear. I moved it maybe an inch. So we switched. Same result. That car wasn't going anywhere.

So while Brian was cursing our luck and worrying about not making it to the airport, I was trying to locate an Auto Club contact on my freshly recovered (thank god) phone. Just as I found a number and started to dial, a man pulls up with a huge diesel truck. At first, he scared me. And given our past Maui track record, I don't feel bad about that. I was very apprehensive. But he approached Brian and said he noticed we were stuck and could he help... OF COURSE YOU CAN HELP!!!

As he and Brian tied the rental to his truck, his wife and baby popped out and that made me feel even better. I spoke to her for a moment and then once the man pulled the car free, the 4 of us chatted for a minute and we told them all that had happened and how we thought we would now miss the flight. They felt bad and the man said he hoped that we wouldn't think poorly of Maui because they're not all bad people there and that he also hoped our luck would turn around now.

I think it did!

We made it home safely and even a little bit early. Brian's parents picked us up, and then it was off to my parents' house to pick up our pooch! We missed him! This is like, the next day... Brian and Kevin both fell asleep on me on the couch! Silly boys! I love them!

 

Honeymoon Part 5: The Road to Hana

Friday morning we got off to a little bit of a late start because we had to make a pit stop at the police station to pick up our recovered items. But from there, it was on to the infamous Road to Hana and what ended up being one of my favorite days on the trip!

The Road to Hana is ca-razy. Really, you have to be insane to drive it. But t was honestly one of the main reasons I wanted us to rent the car in the first place- so we could take our take and explore. You're literally driving through a windy, twisting rain forest, and it's pretty scary awesome!

 The highway has 600 turns and 57 one lane bridges... one lane- so only one side of cars can go at a time... on blind curves... on a highway where crazy locals are trying to get to work on time...

But I say it's worth it.

In photos, the following is what our day looked like (btw, we now had my camera, Bri's camera, and my phone camera, so we fully took advantage and took a butt ton of pictures. You read correctly. A BUTT TON...

Right before we hiked to Twin Falls

Twin Falls

We made the trek through the stream to get closer...

Then we trekked further and got behind the falls...

We started a trend and more people followed... See them in the background behind Brian?

Rain forest hair is sexy

Hiking in mud while wearing a dress and flip flops is a whole new kind of adventure!

View from the trail

Can't help it- I was excited to be married!

Brian may or may have been rethinking the situation :)

Rainbow eucalyptus- they look like they've been painted with green and pink paint

Hermit snail?? One of the weirdest things I've ever seen...

Black sand beach!

Lava tube!

Sweet waterfall... turn your head to the right, I'm too tired to edit! :)

See how happy we look? It was a fun day of exploring and adventure. We even made it back before it got REAL scary at night, and just in time for dinner. We headed to Front Street to find a delicious restaurant and ended up at Captain Jack's Island Grill where we sat up on their rooftop dining and shard a Philly cheese steak and a chicken quesadilla. It hit the spot and was a good end to a great day. Oh, and I got some more coconut chapstick... mmmm, delightful!