From Suitcase to Closet

Our House :)

The transition from Hotel to House has been great. I must admit there were some frustrating moments that we had to tackle but we overcame them and are now comfortably at home. There are so many people that I am thankful for helping us along the way! Unfortunately the place that loans out furniture for people moving into their new houses could not deliver the furniture till the day after we moved in. After thinking we were in for a night on the floor a wonderful lady I have met here named Karen loaned us her air mattress. Already I am adjusting & loving it in our house more than the hotel room! It is a lovely little home and the perks are amazing. Free lawn care & maintenance of our home! So if a light goes out or the toilet is clogged they come in and fix it for us! Doing laundry for free and whenever I please is a plus. Our house is two stories, two bedrooms, and two and a half baths. I already have so many plans for it! So far we have bought a dining room table & matching bakers rack, a couch & love seat set, and some items for the upstairs bathroom. Our actual stuff will not arrive until April 9th and then I can start decorating our house and make it a home for us. Once our stuff arrives and I get going with everything I will start posting more of the house! Make sure to stay posted to my blog for some good news ahead!

Hi-HoHi-Ho Off to Hike I Go

View from the start of the Hike

I had the opprotunity to go hiking yesterday and I must say when the invatation opened up to me I wasn't eager to jump in and take my spot on this adventure. I am not the athletic type and have not kept a regular workout routine since high school! I was worried I would fall flat on my face and embarass myself in front of everyone. I thought about it over the weekend and even though my feelings were still ambivalent about the hike I agreed to tag along. The Trail is called "Manana Trail" and when our group saw the sign one person said "Manana? Doesn't that mean tomorrow?" and I replied "I guess that means we gotta come back tomorrow guys!" Guess that was my joke quota of the day, because let me tell you the joke was on me for the duriation of our hike! I slipped and fell on my butt at least 6 times in the mud and almost fell off a cliff or two. I was a muddy mess when we got done! Our hike started at the top of a mountain and you follow your way down the mountain climbing over roots, under trees, repelling down ropes, crossing water, and anything else you can imgaine. Although the hike was brutal to my legs the view was beautiful. I felt like I was in a jungle sometimes! Our halfway marker was a beautiful 50 foot waterfall in which we paused to eat lunch over. The hike overall was tough for me but I made it. That leaves me with a great feeling and I cannot wait to start getting back into shape so I can take more hikes while I live on this beautiful island!

Our Group

Me Repelling Down Part of Moutain

Some Roots We had to Climb Down & Up

Im Done!



Suite Life of the Russells

We have a little under two weeks till we move into our house and time is taking it's sweet time to pass. I honestly did not think I would hate living in a hotel. Maids making your bed and changing your sheets daily & never having to clean??  How could it ever be bad? It has been absolutely TERRIBLE!! A couple nights ago a man three doors down fell asleep in his bathtub high as a kite and ended up falling asleep. The bathtub overflowed and flooded not only his room but two rooms down and across the hall.  Luckily, the flooding stopped right before our room, BUT, it smells of mildew and mold and anything else you can imgaine. Just when I thought things could not get any worse our toliet stopped working and we had to be moved to another room which took forever to move all of our stuff! On the bright side of things my car arrived a week early and I could not have been more excited to see it in my entire life! We had to go through the whole process of getting the car registered in Hawaii. Registering a car in Hawaii costs about $200-300 but they give the military a break since we aren't "here by choice" and we ony have to pay about $20. So my cute little focus now has rainbow Hawaiian plates!

Colton putting on our Hawaiian Plates.

We went around to furniture stores looking for furniture since we really dont have very much being newlyweds. Colton & I picked out most the furniture we are going to buy and are very excited about it! (Of course, I am more then him) We've picked out a 7 piece bedroom set, a couch & love seat set, 4 piece entertainment center, 6 piece dining room set, and a rug for all under $3,500. I may not be an expert in buying brand new furniture but i believed it to be a good deal! We have already purchased the dining room set and we will most likely buy the couch & love seat set and hold off on buying any more furniture. One of our biggest priorities that we really need to focus on is getting Colton a form of transportation, because, It will be hard for both of us to have a job and have me going to school on top of it all. We found a car that is very promising so we have our fingers crossed that we get it!

Couch & Love Seat Set. (Super Comfy!!)

4 Piece Entertainment Center.

7 Piece Bedroom Set

Everything Coming Together

   We have been living in Hawaii for one week & one day now. Crazy how time flies even though it feels like we have been here for months! We got to visit the beach a couple days ago! It was cloudy and had a 70% chance of rain but it was still amazing to feel the sand between our toes and play in the water. Colton got to chase after a couple crabs and we found ourselves a seashell…that still had something alive in it.   
   We also received some exciting news when we got offered a cute little house! It was around a year wait to get into Air Force Housing so we turned to Navy Housing and they offered us a house on the spot! It is a little duplex, two story, two bedroom, 1 & ½ bath. It comes with a garage, washer & dryer, refridgeator, dishwasher, and stove. Its not perfect but it’s a house and better than we can afford :-) We move in on March 28, 2012! We also found out that our household goods will be arriving on April 9, 2012 so we shouldn’t be tooo long without our stuff! Until OUR stuff arrives there is a place we can borrow furniture, pots & pans, and towels and such so we can live in our new place! It is all coming together so well! See you next time!

3033 Moore Drive, Honolulu, HI 96818