xoelle » geographically

summer rewind, volume II

admin — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 08:44:46 +0000

This portion of our summer was entitled, “a vacation within a vacation”. Garth and I left our children in the hands of their many aunts, uncles and granparents and took off on a plane for the windy city to showcase xoelle bow ties at Indie Wed’s Summer Soiree. It was amazing. I’d never been to Chicago. I gushed about it here already.

I would love love love to go back. Someday. =)
happy tuesday folks!

elle

it’s my kind of town, chicago

admin — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 06:03:06 +0000

and it is L.O.V.E.L.Y. It’s been a while since I’ve been to a new-to-me city and I’d forgotten the absolute thrill it is to walk out into an entire city of possibilities with that vacation frame-of-mind. The buildings people- the buildings. They are so tall that they block out the sunlight and the cool & quiet gotham-esque streets made me feel like we were in a superhero movie. Dark, but not creepy. Gigantic and Industrial but welcoming. Love you, Chicago, you certainly are my kind of town.

totally amazing. more to come. flying home in a few hours.

xo,
elle

aloha hello, aloha goodbye.

admin — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:53:51 +0000

My sister and her husband came to visit and they were here for 10 wonderful days! They stayed in our guest room and we tagged along with them on their Hawaiian adventures when it was early enough in the day and easy enough on the kids. It was awesome to have them. You know how you just feel more like you when you are around people that have known you your whole life? I only have one sweet sister and I certainly do cherish her- even if I don’t tell her that often (i love you Julia!). I have to apologize to her too- I fear that I spent at least half of our time together talking/complaining/illustrating how hard/time-consuming/tedious it is to be a mom. It is challenging for me but I know that it’s worthwhile and exactly what I am supposed to be doing (the hardest things in our lives are the most rewarding, right?!). I hope that she still wants to have kids after lugging mine around the island wiping their faces, feeding them bottles, packing and unpacking the stroller and carseats (and sippies and diapers and pacifiers and…..) and any manner of other mom-like tasks that I needed help with. And I hope that her husband Cody still wants to have children too after the never-eat-a-meal-in-one-sitting and never-sleep-a-night-straight-through lifestyle two young kiddos allows. I at least had time to show him how to make bow ties! Photos of a few of our adventures are below- the Polynesian Cultural Center, the Hale Koa luau, the north shore, and the Dole Plantation to name a few.

We miss you already Julia & Cody. We’ll keep a room available to you anytime.

current digs

admin — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:01:22 +0000

howdy friends.

We have been in Hawaii for almost 3 months now and our situation is still very temporary. Same four outfits (except for the kiddos, thanks grandparents and aunts/uncles!), borrowed microwave, no can opener/sauce pan/bread pan, and an air mattress where a bed should be. All of our household items were crated up earlier this year and sent by boat. They are here now, safely tucked in a corner and the shipping depot, waiting for our new empty house to be ours. In the meantime this little month-to-month rental has been pretty fun (minus the icky carpet). So here it is, our current chateau.

the kitchen. Oh the red and yellow! It’s really charming for a short stay. My “office” rests on a set of cabinets and my ever growing collection of thrift store finds is perched right above it.

the living room. This is the room where we spend most of our waking hours. It also happens to be Ginger’s bedroom, my sewing room, Garth’s computer room, and Jack’s play room. We eat our meals in here on the floor and watch movies on the computer. It really never looks like this- here it is 10 minutes after I took these photos. In fact, the house never looks this tidy. I had to clean and photograph one room at a time because there was no way all four rooms would be clean at the same time.

our bedroom. You can’t get much more basic than this- air mattress and package of diapers. I slept on an air mattress for the entire year that I lived in San Diego so it’s comfortable for me- and Garth could sleep all night on a wooden floor and wake refreshed- so this air mattress is just perfect. Between our bedroom and bedroom #2 is the world’s skinniest bathroom.

the guest room/bedroom #2. Up until two weeks ago the sole purpose of this room was to house items that we didn’t want Jack or Ginger to touch. I cleaned it out and dressed it up for my sister and her husband who just left after an awesome visit (more on that later). I am currently sitting on this bed, late at night, with the lovely lights above me and a cool hawaiian breeze blowing through the window. A change of bedrooms may be in order.

So that’s it- our temporary bungelow in Honolulu, cleaner than it ever is in real life. I cannot wait to share our house with you, when we get a house.

xo
elle

hello hawaii

admin — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 08:00:20 +0000

We are still unsettled, living out of a month-to-month unfurnished apartment with only the stuff we brought over on the plane in two sea bags. There has been lots and lots of this:

Lots of hanging out in hotel rooms and long car drives looking at houses and late night tantrums since we’re not at home with familiar things on a regular schedule (yes, it was 1am when Jack went to bed last night). We’re not doing much of the touristy fun stuff (but enough to suffice for now- I keep reminding myself that we will be here for three years and will have opportunity aplenty to beach/sun/museum/bike-ride/shave-ice it up.).

Us doing super cool things:

Highlights: spending all our our days and nights together, house hunting, Waikiki Beach, the sunsets, breezy warm weather, a lovely church building, flip-flops, Goodwill Surplus Center, and staying a night at The Royal Hawaiian Hotel (I’ll probably have a post just to gush about how much I loved it).

Lowlights: spending all of our days and nights together, house hunting, hotel living, wearing the same four outfits over and over, sleeping on an air mattress, expensive thrift stores (expensive everything).

The house hunting is coming to a close very very soon.

Happy lovey dovey day everyone- hope you got lots o’ chocolate, just like me (right honey?)

elle

Jack, the traveler

admin — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 07:56:21 +0000

I’m pretty sure this kid could have gotten from Pensacola to Honolulu all by himself. He is savvy.

Nicomi & Manny

admin — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:34:26 +0000

Oh love. It brings out the best in us. It is just about everything.
How sweet it was to spend an evening with precious people in a perfect place on a delicious evening.

We love you Nicomi & Manny!

San Diego, my sweet.

admin — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 04:31:04 +0000

We spent four days in the city where we fell in love. We went to a few (not nearly enough of) our old haunts (which were much harder to navigate with one wiggly squirmy toddler and one newborn). We spent much of out time hanging out with our dear friends and walking through Balboa Park in our new shoes. Balboa Park is out favorite picture spot, maybe in the whole world, so we took a kajillion photos (until our camera battery died). This is us.

Dear Balboa Park,

admin — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:25:26 +0000

I miss you. I had planned to live within walking distance of your tall trees and lovely architecture for years to come, but that dream lasted only a year. How magical it was. I loved walking my darling Bruno through your lushness on lazy Saturdays. I loved jogging through La Prado, hip-hop in my headphones, in the golden light from the setting sun.

You were my favorite place to be in San Diego. And then remember when I met Garth? He and I picnicked on your lawn before prom, took in the summer organ concerts, dined at The Prado with my parents when they came to visit, and took our engagement photos on your lovely palm-tree-lined boulevard. And then, on a lovely clear night we celebrated our brand-new marriage with our friends and family in one of your spectacular courtyards.

It is in this same courtyard that Garth and I will be dancing and celebrating with friends this weekend as the lovely Nicomi gets married. We are both excited to see you and have planned on spending some serious time with you. We have two children now and while one will be content to witness you from her stroller, the other will be running up and down your enchanting streets and discovering your charms. Garth and I will be walking hand in hand, soaking in the sun and feeling at home.

We’ll see you soon,

elle

laissez les bon temps rouler!

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:00:37 +0000

Happy Mardi Gras ya’ll! Today was very un-fat for us here. Garth returned to work after a four day weekend, Jack cried his way through 6 hours of daycare, and I made 16 bow ties and caught up on some e-mail. We’re living a short card-ride away from the big easy so it’s always tempting this time of year to drop in on the festivities. Three things kept us from nola this year: it’s freaking cold, Jack needs a stroller and stroller + mardi gras crowd= ahhh!, and baby number 2 doesn’t like it when I stand for more than 26 seconds, or go more than 2 hours without a meal. So the short of it is- we’re domesticated- we’re grown up- we’re a small family trying to keep the laundry and dishes done. Life has changed.

We couldn’t just let our responsabilities limit our carnival fun though, so we went to Mobile on Monday. We found a sunny spot on the street and watched an afternoon parade- we caught moon pies and beads and Jack caught a little purple bat. We meandered down Dauphin street, stopping at Bienville books to peruse (amazing collection of used books!) and purchase a bag-full for journal-making. We ate lunch at Spot of Tea where I had a sandwich called “english cucumber”. It was a toasted croissant with cream cheese, cucumbers, toasted pecans, and a green leaf. Surprisingly delicious.

We also visited the USS Alabama and USS Drum on the way home- two WWII Navy vessels preserved and available to tour- it was awesome! I couldn’t believe how much of the ship was open for us to wander. Garth loved walking through the USS Drum- a sub- and commenting on how things had changed/were the same. And Jack, well, he was so excited that he peed through all of his layers of clothing and had the opportunity to be naked on the USS Alabama. I guess that’s not a big deal- thousands of sailors can say that very same thing.

We’re only planning on living on the gulf coast until the end of this year and there are still so many places that I’d like to go! Birmingham, Atlanta, the Louisiana swamps, Savannah (again- when I’m not so sick), Memphis, Charleston, Orlando (for the third time….), and on and on. Guess I’d better start planning those weekend trips!

hope all ya’ll are living it up.
elle