Honolulu- Here we come!

Hanauma Bay - snorkel paradise

first encounter with Hawaiian Green Turtle, swimming only a foot away from us!

I've visited Honolulu a few times but found it most appealing this time around in a number of aspects from its nice warm weather, laid-back lifestyle, abundance of authentic Japanese food to of course picture-perfect beaches and intimate encounter with marine creatures.

These are what Hawaii has always been known for and I didn't find myself longing for these qualities until this point of my life.....or I was too burnt out from the hectic remodeling construction. This serves as a perfect break.

trying to make Maori warrior move @ Kahui beach, learned from Polynesian center

first attempt with body board @ Waimea beach

@picture perfect Kailua beach


admire the simple but elegant beauty of Arizona Memorial

Door from or to the Chaos?

Since we're only remodeling the bedroom wing this time around, we had contractor build the temporary wall to shield us from all the construction dust, noise and chaos. But is it really a door away from the chaos or leading us to it???

It has been two weeks since the kick-off date. Half of the space has been gutted, partial framing has been done and they're now working on plumbing and electrical. We had numerous meetings with the contractor on all the details such as angle of the skylight, position of the fixtures, dimensions of everything down to inches...I start to wonder whether it's worth the efforts to fight for every details and how to jiggle between maintaining integrity of the original design and compromising on practicality.

This is only the beginning of the construction; all of a sudden, I feel four month is going to be a long way.