Back from Hawaii

Hey all! Having some posting issues, so things are a bit out of sequence. I've figured out the problem, and it shouldn't happen again ... fingers crossed! 

Aloha! We're back and wow - what an amazing vacation. I never thought that Hawaii would exceed my expectations, but did it ever. I've selected a few pictures I thought you'd enjoy, but I have to say they don't, and I'm not sure that any I have seen, do the island of Kauai justice.

We took a beautiful and very well organized catamaran cruise with Holo Holo Charters while we were there, touring the Na Pali coast and snorkeling with the sea turtles. We also saw some gorgeous humpback whales and dolphins, and caught a beautiful sunrise.

We also took a fixed wing airplane ride with Wings Over Kauai. Our pilot was experienced and knowledgeable and kept us well at ease while he showed us the 70% of the island that can not be seen on foot or by boat. I even got to play co-pilot!

We certainly didn't spend as much time there as we should have, let alone wanted to. There is so much more to see of Kauai, and we will definitely be back at some point. Til' then however, we have a vault overflowing with memories and photos, photos I am currently pulling the best of for a photo book.

There are a few things that really came in handy on our trip: 

Most all of the photos you see here were taken with my Canon PowerShot camera. I also took nearly all of my Peru photos with this little camera! It's a powerhouse - super easy to frame a great photo - and it's lightweight and easy to pack and carry. If you're looking for a small camera that's perfect for travel, look no further. I'm super happy with mine!

This all natural and reef/ocean friendly sunscreen was a life saver. I mean that quite literally. I come from a long-line of skin cancer survivors and sadly, lost my maternal grandfather to skin cancer that spread onward. Protect yourself daily with sunscreen even if you're not as fair as I am, I beg of you! 

I packed this gorgeous straw tote in my luggage to carry towels, sunscreen, my camera, and the various gifts and souvenirs we bought while we were there and on our planned excursions. It was perfect! Super stylish and there was plenty of room. 

Speaking of souvenirs, and things we brought back: we took a tour of the Kauai coffee plantation where they farm more coffee than any other state in the country. We tried a variety of delicious coffee and coffee products, including their coffee flavored ice cream (of course). If you're a coffee drinker, or know someone who is, I HIGHLY recommend their coffee, which you can buy from them directly via Amazon.

There were few things I've seen in my life as beautiful than the island of Kauai. But I will say that having spent time snorkeling and scuba diving in the oceans around Kauai and Oahu, I have a sincere appreciation for our oceans. I never make political statements here, nor do I offer up advice that I don't follow myself. I've never been the greatest about recycling (I mean, I do my best) or thinking about what my small, daily, seemingly minuscule habits are doing to the big global picture. We flew JetBlue on the way home from LAX, and they provide free WiFi powered by Amazon, where you earn JetBlue points when you buy things in flight. It was the perfect time for me to lock in some purchases that I hope will help me be better to the planet and our oceans:

I bought this water bottle. Single use plastics are something that we have to stop using, and I've been terrible about it. But I'm dedicating myself to this small daily change. Instead of cases of water in single use water bottles, I'm using a Brita Filter and this metal canteen.

Stainless steel straws with cleaners. Nearly every place we ate or drank in Hawaii used paper straws. In fact, the only place with a plastic straw was the Lihue airport. I use metal straws at home, but I bought some for the office, as well as gifts that I'll attach to the little gifts we brought back with post cards of the ocean. I'm gently asking all of my friends, including you, to make small changes. I'm telling you - if you ever get the chance to swim with a sea turtle, you'll quit plastic straws. 

There's so much more we can do, but one step at a time, right? I found this National Geographic article to be very informative, so if you have some time and interest - check that out! Now, I'm off to play catch up on all the things I missed while I was away (the pitfall of a vacation). I hope you enjoy the photos, and find some usefulness in the Amazon links. 

Aloha, and The Look For Less

Aloha, and hello from Hawaii!

I just wanted to remind everyone that you can follow along with all the things going on while we are on this trip by hopping over and following my instagram page. I can't wait to work with Artsy Couture again with a book like the one I made for my Peru trip when I get back! Right now they're offering 30% off of all of their books, so it's great timing!

I'm still using my trust Canon Powershot Camera while I'm here, along with my iPhone, so I'm getting plenty of pictures to share!

Once I get back, I'll put them all together in a much longer post all about my trip and what we were able to do here. So far, we've planned a 7-hour snorkel and sail cruise around the Niihau and Na Pali Coast tour and Scuba Scooters in Oahu, and a flight over the island of Kauai that I haven't gotten confirmation on yet, but looks gorgeous. 

Before I left, I got a request for a look for less post on a living room in the home of Bunny Williams and Jonn Roselli in another beautiful tropical locale, Punta Cana. 

Firstly, let me say that you can get a lot of sage wisdom from Bunny Williams in all of her books. If you love this house, you really need to pick up this one: 

A House by the Sea is a book dedicated to the house she shares with her husband John in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. In the book, she gives many ideas for how to create a laid back and comfortable island look. As with most Look For Less posts, I have to preface all of this by saying that this is a million dollar home, and likely a room that would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to replicate exactly. The pieces I link below are visually similar to pieces seen in the photos, but will likely be of less quality. 

Now, the good stuff! 

Building a collection of antique blue and white porcelain can be expensive, and frankly impossible. Thankfully there are some amazing and quality reproductions available that make it easy and affordable.

Most of us don't have the luxury of a huge space like this one. However, the rug linked here is a large rug for most living rooms, and comes in a variety of other sizes. It's also very similar to the one the Bunny used: cotton flat weave, and a cream and taupe stripe. Alternatively, you could layer a smaller rug like this one (less expensive) over an existing natural carpet, something in seagrass or jute, which can be far less expensive when searching for a rug to cover a larger area:

A big part of this space is the furniture, which Bunny had slipcovered and upholstered in robins egg blue cotton/linen blend. Because it's custom tailored, and a color that is taste specific, finding it for less is not easy. As always, I urge you to look at FabricGuru for inexpensive designer fabrics. Canvas and duckcloth can be purchased at a bulk discount through many online wholesale and retail outlets. I recommend Big Duck Canvas. 

For this look for less post, I'm going to focus on neutral fabrics and pieces that are easy to recover and slipcover on your own, like the French style bench above. You'll also see that I have chosen plenty of wicker, which I think would go well with this look. 

One of the things that you can do to your existing furniture, or to any of the pieces linked above to get more of the Bunny Williams look is to put beautiful textiles over the backs of your pieces. 

A few other pieces that you could pull together in a room like this for some additional beauty: 

And finally, a little drawing of what using some of these things might look like in a space: 

Not featured above but used in this sketch: 

Hope you enjoyed this installment of the Look for Less! And don't forget to follow along with me on the trip via instagram, here.