2020: A do-over is in order

I thought 2020 was going to be a fresh start for me. The start of a new decade. No more college tuition. Plans to buy my dream car and maybe a trip to Japan. But no such luck. Coronovirus, or officially COVID-19, decided the world needed a kick in the ass.

Our federal government failed to recognize the swift cruelty of this virus and now its knee-jerk reaction to the pandemic is woefully lacking with thousands of Americans dying daily. Even here, in our beautiful Hawaii, the virus has quickly taken root in paradise. Our local government has put our island state under a “stay at home, work at home” order. It’s been two weeks now and while there are a few “covidiots” out there, Hawaii peeps seem to be listening.

I’ve been working remotely now for nearly a month. I was really happy to be working from home but I’m starting to miss a lot of things. Like seeing my colleagues and working from a real desk. And while I enjoy not having to wear makeup or flat iron my hair, I’m starting to feel like a slob. I kind of miss dressing up and wearing heels!

That said, I am grateful for so many things in my life. I still have a job. My family is healthy. We have food in the house and the basics to sustain us at least through the end of April. I’m taking evening strolls with my husband and learning to love leftovers. I even sewed face masks this past weekend. We may be stuck at home, but we have everything we need.

I’m not going to lie. I have cabin fever. Big time. This virus is no joke and I’m pretty sure this is the universe’s way of telling us to get our sh*$ together so we better listen. Be well, everyone.

Bring it, 2016!

It’s hard to believe that it’s the last day of 2015. It seems that time goes by very quickly these days. Remember as kids a year seemed like an eternity? Now the year is done in a blink of an eye.

This past year was a year of milestones and some pretty big changes.

• In December 2014, Matthew graduated from UH Manoa with a degree in Kinesiology. He currently works as a server/bartender at Gyu-Kaku in Windward Mall and waiting to hear if he’ll get accepted to the HFD academy.
• Micah graduated from Kaiser High School in May and is currently attending Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon. It’s great having him home for the holidays, even if we don’t see him much.
• Barry retired from Hawaiian Electric in October and started a new job in November, heading up Covanta Energy, the company that operates the H-Power plant on Oahu.
• I also changed jobs, returning to the University of Hawaii at Manoa as senior director of communications and marketing.

It’s been a good year and I don’t have any complaints. We’re all in good health, we’re together for the holidays and no major appliances or cars have failed (of course, now that I’ve made that statement, something will break).

I’m not one to make resolutions because I can never stay on track. Instead I’ll focus on being happy and appreciating all of the blessings in my life. While it seems the world is on a path of self-destruction, there’s still a lot of good out there that can and should be celebrated.

So to all of my 16 or so readers, get going on that bucket list! Travel, spend time with family, seek out old friends, go back to graduate school, whatever. Life is unpredictable and if you wait too long, you might not get to your list at all!

I wish all of you a happy new year and hope that 2016 is filled with good health, happiness and love.

Hau’oli Makahiki Hou from the Nakamotos!

He did it! One down, one more to go.

Kaiser High School Class of 2015

Micah posing with the Pacific University Boxer (yeah, he’s not supposed to ride the statue).

Our “digital” holiday card this year.

Ready to welcome 2016!

 

 

 

Letting go again – part 2

Well, we cut the apron strings tonight with Micah. Amazingly enough, I did not cry but I feel the tears welling up as I write. Perhaps this glass of Merlot will help me.

Micah seems to have adjusted well to campus life. He made friends quickly and is getting along with his roommate. I think he realized that he’s not that far away from home when he found poke bowls and Hawaiian Sun juice at Uwajimaya (it’s like Marukai) and POG juice at Fred Meyer! And let’s not forget that he has family about 20 minutes away from campus. 

I’m amazed at how many students he already knows, but that’s to be expected when 25% of the school’s population is from Hawaii. The class of 2019 has 117 freshmen from Hawaii, a record for Pacific University. 

Getting on the plane tomorrow without Micah is going to feel so weird. I already started missing him a few days ago when I realized he was going to be fine on his own. 

I am so proud of him. He’s worked hard to get to this point and it makes me happy to see him embracing this new chapter of his life. Like any mom, I worry about a lot of things – like will he manage to get up for his 8 am class or change his sheets frequently. Or will he fall in with the party crowd (I hope not)? 

But I have to believe that he will make good decisions about his future. I think Pacific is a good fit for him and will allow him to grow and succeed. He’s leaning toward a degree in elementary education but who knows? It might be something else next month. 

It’s going to be a long plane ride home tomorrow without my “baby.” Time for another glass of wine! 

   

A Chinese mythological creature: part dragon, part dog.

  

Incoming freshmen sign the enrollment book and ring the old bell.

 

Letting go again

In approximately 20 minutes, I’ll be leaving for the airport to board a flight to Oregon. We’re taking our youngest son Micah to college this week. You’d think this would be a walk in the park for me since I’ve already sent one son to college, but it’s not. In fact, I think it will be harder this time around.

Micah is six years younger than his brother Matt so he was basically raised as an only child for much of his life. He’s not one of those kids who shudders at the thought of hanging out with his parents. He happily goes to dinner with us, shopping with me (he has an Imelda problem) and generally likes to hang out at home.

To say I was surprised he wanted to leave the nest is putting it mildly. There was a point in his first year of high school when he wasn’t considering higher education. Thankfully, the “light” turned on for him and he graduated this past May and was accepted to many great universities. Of course, he chose Pacific University, the most expensive school with the smallest financial aid offer. But according to Micah, he didn’t go to private school like his brother so he saved us a lot of money over the years. Okay, point taken.

Unlike my husband who is thrilled to have a partially empty nest, I am not so happy. I’m really going to miss Micah. In many ways, he’s like me. You know, neat, germaphobe, particular about clothes, classic  Type A with OCD tendencies. I’m really quite sad. Mainly because the other two adults in my house are the exact opposite! 

I’m sure I’ll keep it together this week but the real challenge will be when we get home. I might have to find a hobby or get my husband to take me on more trips. Yeah, that might be the cure. More traveling sans children!

Photos coming soon! 

  

Hello 2015!

In the days leading up to the new year, I’ve heard many people say that 2014 was less than stellar. Initially I felt the same way but after some reflection, it wasn’t as bad as I thought.

We started 2014 with a 12-day cruise to Australia and New Zealand, two countries that were on my bucket list. Barry and I had such a great time “cruising” and we laughed at the fact that we were probably some of the youngest people on the ship!

I left my job soon after and started my own PR company, SUN Communications. It was great being on my own and working with a variety of clients. The flexibility also allowed me to be at home to oversee our house renovation (did I mention I LOVE my new kitchen)?

I also went back to graduate school in August. Going back to school at my age is quite an experience. Love the learning, hate the homework and I’m completely annoyed that most of people in my cohort are young enough to be my children!

In November, we took an impromptu trip to Japan as I was about to start a new job in December with the Board of Water Supply. While in Japan, we got together with long-time family friends and of course, @Melisssa808, who always manages to be in the same vacation spot as me!

Just a few weeks ago, our firstborn graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a B.S. in Kinesiology. We are so proud of his accomplishments and are hopeful he’ll find a job soon (or accepted to graduate school). Our second son is frantically working on his college apps and hopes to be somewhere on the West Coast next year.

Was 2014 a perfect year? Absolutely not. There were many “first world” problems that I didn’t anticipate but the year ended on a positive note. So bring it on, 2015. I’m ready!

Sydney, Australia

Whoo hoo! New kitchen!

Hakone, Japan

He did it!

2014 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 710 times in 2014. If it were a cable car, it would take about 12 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Kitchen Renovation: It’s done!

After 24 days of chaos, our kitchen renovation is finally done! While three weeks doesn’t seem long to be without a working kitchen, it was an eternity in my mind. In retrospect, the whole process was relatively smooth. No major catastrophes or delays to cause a setback. Probably the hardest thing for me was trying to work while listening to construction noise all day. And the dust. We’re still cleaning that fine, white powder that seems to be everywhere in the house.

So what did I learn from the renovation? First of all, you can have a nice kitchen on a budget and you can design it yourself. You just have to do a lot of research, watch a lot of HGTV and go to open houses in your neighborhood to get ideas. I was fortunate to have worked with Geri from Geri’s Kitchen and she helped me pick out our custom cabinets and developed the overall layout.

I did the rest of the design on my own. Over a period of two months in preparation for the renovation, I selected the granite, the backsplash, lights, sink and appliances. That’s the fun part but also overwhelming. I had a color palate in mind but you never really know if it will tie in together nicely until you see the finished kitchen. I drove around to a lot of places with a sample cabinet door and a plank of flooring in hand to help me pick out the granite and backsplash tiles. Picking lights was more difficult than I expected. I knew I wanted recessed lighting, and lots of it. I ended up selecting LED lights because they are energy-efficient and don’t generate heat. More expensive upfront but worth the savings in the long run. The pendant lighting gave me the most heartburn. Because I couldn’t afford to blow up the dropped ceiling, that limited my choices for pendants. In the end, I found onyx lights that work perfectly over the new island.

People have been asking me what are my favorite aspects of the new kitchen. I love all of it but if I had to pick a few highlights, they would be:

• French-door refrigerator
• Island that features a special cabinet just for my Kitchen Aid mixer (and there’s an outlet in the cabinet)
• Pull out shelves in all the cabinets
• Built-in trash and recycle bins

If I can offer one nugget of advice: be prepared for serious sticker shock when it comes to appliances. I had an inkling that the appliances were going to be costly but nowhere near what I had expected. It’s alarming to know that the average stainless steel refrigerator starts at about $2000 and that’s for a basic side-by-side model. I also had no idea that a slide-in range (versus a freestanding range) was so expensive! And don’t even get me started on the wine refrigerator. That appliance is hard to come by in Hawaii unless you’re willing to pay big bucks for a high-end version. I ended up ordering one online via Best Buy and they shipped it to the Iwilei store for free.

I still can’t believe I have such a beautiful kitchen. It seemed like the impossible dream for so many years (12 to be exact). Now my husband said we should sell. I told him the only way he’s getting me to leave this house is if the next one is renovation-free and has a kitchen that is as perfect as mine. I think we’ll be staying of awhile!

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D-day!

Tuesday was demolition day at the Nakamoto hale. After a hellish weekend of purging and packing, I was ready for the sledgehammers. Okay, I exaggerate. It was really three guys with power tools removing every cabinet door, then prying off the Formica countertops and scraping the linoleum off the floor. So not the stress-relieving, testosterone-induced demolition that you see on HGTV. I was a tad disappointed. In fact, I was hoping they would let me rip the first cabinet door off its hinges!

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Today, the real renovation started as the cabinets arrived. They are beautiful! One wall of cabinets has already been installed (minus the doors) and it’s beginning to look like a kitchen again. I’m drooling over the cabinets that have pull out shelves and can’t wait to organize them. Since I tossed or donated a lot of kitchen stuff, I’m making a list of things I need to buy (yay, more shopping).

The house is still a freaking mess and there’s a hole in the kitchen ceiling that makes me wonder if there are critters in the crawl space. But there is light at the end of the tunnel. Another benefit of being kitchen-less?  We have very little food in the house so we may lose a few pounds!

Stay tuned for renovation updates.

 

Home Improvement: The never ending story

In 2002, we purchased a 70’s era home in Hawaii Kai. At that time, it was definitely a buyer’s market and we got the house for a steal. To be honest, I didn’t want this house because wallpaper was used extensively in every room, the washer and dryer were located in the garage that was only accessible by a narrow staircase and the kitchen was butt ugly. Even though we got a great deal on the house, the only remodeling we were able to do was remove the wallpaper and upgrade the bathrooms.

Fast forward twelve years and the deferred maintenance has finally caught up with us. Our home improvement journey actually started at the end of 2012 when we had to replace the master bathroom “tub of death” (a Jacuzzi style monstrosity) and put in a walk-in shower. Then we asked our contractor to replace the front deck and porch railings. After that, we had the house painted and suddenly we were no longer the ugly house on the street anymore! As we admired our newly painted home, we realized that the windows needed to be replaced. And when you put in new windows, you need new window treatments so plantation shutters are now on order.

So now that the exterior of our house looks wonderful and our master bathroom is finally complete, we have one last project — the kitchen. My kitchen has been a source of embarrassment for me from day one. I enjoy cooking and baking and my kitchen is not conducive to those activities. I firmly believe it was designed by a man who never cooked a day in his life. It has laminate countertops and particle board cabinets (you know, that lovely faux wood). The floor is linoleum and the lighting is horrible. It’s ugly, outdated and most importantly, it’s not functional.

I’m excited to finally have the chance to design a new kitchen. I’m going to blog about this process because as fun as it is to shop for appliances and finishes, it’s completely overwhelming (especially if you’re on a budget). I’ve included some photos of our current kitchen so all 16 of my readers can feel my pain.

 

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In late January, my husband and I took a 12-day cruise to Australia and New Zealand. It was the trip of a lifetime and we had a wonderful time.

Some observations from our two-week adventure:

• We survived each other 24/7 for two entire weeks! I think we’ll be okay during our retirement years.
• Dining in Australia and New Zealand is very expensive. More than what you would spend in Hawaii. For example, a simple breakfast at a cafe in Sydney cost us $35, not including gratuity.
• The sun down under is really hot. We had the worst sunburn of our lives while we were tooling around Sydney.
• New Zealand is absolutely beautiful. It’s what Hawaii probably looked like before development. Most of the ports we visited reminded us of Waimea on the Big Island. Pristine coastlines and cute little towns.
• There are lots of Chinese people living in Australia. And by the way, Chinese tourists are the rudest people on the planet. I’m not kidding. No respect for personal space. Pushing and shoving their way in a crowd is their normal. China is so not on our bucket list.

Here’s a link to our photo album. Enjoy!

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