TRAVEL necessities

SO I've been pretty overwhelmed with this Christmas season.  Everyday since last Saturday we have had some Christmas event to go to!  Seriously, Christmas season is always nuts.  I don't know how you feel this season but to be honest I would rather just stay home, turn on the fire place, brew some muskat oolong tea (its amazing if you haven't had it) and catch up on some of my tv shows haha.  Well, with this season comes with giving gifts and buying presents for your loved ones.  So, naturally i feel completely broke during the Christmas season.  

As some of you know, my husband and I went to Okinawa, a year and a half ago to visit our friends. It was probably the best trip I have ever gone on.  I love this place and the people. Okinawa truly has a place in my heart. Well, I have been dying to go back so obviously I have been looking at flights pretty much everyday.  Yesterday at midnight the flights dropped to an insane price that I couldn't resist but to snag them!  YES ITS OFFICIAL WE ARE GOING BACK TO OKINAWA in May for 10 days.  I was pretty excited but what truly topped it off was today I received a Christmas gift that payed for most of our trip.  It was a huge blessing and I am ever so thankful for that.  It was really cool to see how the Lord provided abundantly.  SO THANKFUL my heart has so much joy right now.  

Now that my flights are booked, I have been thinking about my STAPLE TRAVEL NECESSITIES that I wanted to share with you.

1.ESV JOURNALING BIBLE-  I love this journaling bible, it has a journaling section on every page for notes and i am all about my notes.  

2. FUJI FILM INSTAX CAMERA- This is a classic must.  I have taken this puppy on every trip I have and collect all the photos and place them in frames for my house.  It captures so many great memories.

3.  SHISEIDO SUNSCREEN STICK- I use this foundation stick every time I surf or I'm in the water, its awesome!  Keeps my skin protected from the sun and it even looks great on because it is a foundation.

4. SWELL BOTTLE- IM IN LOVE WITH THIS!  I bought mine a couple of months ago and i have been using it every day since.  It's classy and keeps your water cold for 24 hours plus warm for 12!  I highly recomend this!  

5. RAY BAN SUNGLASSES-  enough said.

6. MADEWELL TOTE- This bag is perfect to fit everything you need on a flight.  Its soft and has that classic look.  

-enjoy

GOOD DAY

Today was a GOOD DAY. Actually, today was a really really good day.  Mondays are my favorite day.  Might sound selfish but Mondays are a "me day".  You always need a good pamper day.  Let me tell you about mine.  

8 AM- YOGA CLASS- I really love going to yoga in the morning, its refreshing and starts my day off right.  

9:30 AM- MORNING SURF- Monday mornings at sano are the best because everyone is in school and the weekend crowd is off to work. Today felt like the perfect fall day.  Barely anyone in the sano parking lot, brisky water (I got to wear my new nineplus spring suit), glassy, 1-3 fun little waves.  I was psyched.  

12:30 PM- MEET WITH A FRIEND- I typically try to meet with a friend and catch up today we went to Gen Kai (one of my favorite sushi restraunts with a great happy hour, i can always go for good sashimi).  

2 PM- TRADER JOES- I find grocery shopping theraputic.  I actually really enjoy picking out all the food for the week.  Mike and I have finally gotten down the foods and meals that we like so now its like a piece of cake.  I'm a huge fan of trader joes.  It's a perfect place to shop for making meals for two people.  Most of the meat portions are for 2.  It's great and reasonably priced.

2:30 PM- SPRUCE UP THE HOUSE-  i tend to spread out my cleaning duties into daily ones so on mondays i vaccum and spruce up the house.

3 PM- READ-  I like to go to my pool and read.  I used to go to JC BEAN and do this and i want to try to get into the habit of doing it again because i get more reading done.  For the summer time, the pool is just fine.  

3:30 PM- SHOWER AND RELAX- enough said.

That was my Monday morning- afternoon for ya.  

-enjoy

DIY TABLE

If you haven't been to my house, one of the things im all about it DIY. If you are a lady, most likely you will have a pinterest.   With Pinterest being so popular, DIY has become a huge thing throughout the past couple of years.  Naturally, I have become a huge fan of DIY... why?

1.  It saves you bucks
2.  It becomes such an original piece
3.  Its a great feeling of success

One of the big things that I have wanted lately is a new kitchen table. When you first get married, you are just trying to save money and kind of just put together random pieces of furniture. We were given a table from our pastor and his wife (which we are incredibly thankful for) when we first moved into our home.  After a continual process of decorating our home, I have been on a hunt for a kitchen table.  Tables are expensive!  You would have never known but it just seemed like all the tables that I wanted were from West Elm or one i found from world market which we could have paid for but it's hard to spend that kind of money when it wasn't something I was in love with.  This past week, one of my friends was moving which i am extremely bummed about but she had this rad architect table in her garage she was getting rid of.  Mike (husband) used to be a carpenter and had this great idea of turning the architect table into a new wood pallet dining table.  Some items that we used was

1. Architect table Base
2. Wood Pallets
3. Wood Stain
4. Wood Finish
5. drill
6. hammer
7. saw

STEPS
1st- Mike sawed different shaped wood pieces into the same shape for a table.  
2nd- He hammered the wood pallets onto the old architect table.  
3rd-  Stained the wood with a sponge, I LOVED how it turned out
4th- let it dry for a day
5th- flattened the nails on the bottom of the table
6th- spray wood finish to make it water proof
FINISH

I was pretty psyched how it turned out!  It was my dream table finally.  BEST PART IS it didnt cost me $700 :)

-enjoy

OKINAWA SECRETS

It was almost about a year ago we went to Okinawa, i miss it and everyone there.  I finally got around to editing some footage we had from surfing this deserted wave, secrets.  Such a memorable day

-enjoy


Okinawa Secrets from LAUREN MORRISON on Vimeo.

DIY SCARF

When I was young my grandma taught me how to sew on this baby singer.  It was considered a kid toy sewing machine but it totally works!  Last month, my grandparents had a flood and they were trying to get rid of some of their stuff and luckily, I inherited this amazing vintage baby singer sewing machine.  This machine is so tiny but it works like a charm and I have done several projects with it from sewing pillow cases to making your own scarf.  This morning I cleaned out my closet and found these two tops i don't wear often and decided to make them into scarfs.  

ITEMS YOU WILL NEED

• old top
• scissors
• sewing machine

DIRECTIONS

Basically I cut the top of the shirt to make the shape below. The only thing I had left to do was hem the edge where I cut.  Pretty simple and a great repurpose to your clothes.  

-enjoy

SEAKER "SEA" MONOGRAMED ADJUSTABLE ALUMINUM RING

I have been working on summer ring for my jewelry line, seaker and I wanted to give you a sneak peak!  I'm pretty stoked on how it turned out!  

DETAILS

• Custom Monogramed
• Aluminum 12 gage
• DOES NOT RUST
• Adjustable

-enjoy

TOP 5 THINGS TO DO IN MAUI

Our 2014 vacation was Maui this year!  Im a huge advocate of traveling somewhere on a plane once a year if you can.  I traveled a lot during my single time and now starting out our marriage with continuing the traveling tradition.  When you are a single traveler, you depend on yourself to get to places, make the flight, plan out your days and you're good to go.  Traveling with another person, let alone your spouse is a whole different ball game.  Being newly married you learn a lot about each other, traveling together you are learning how the other person fells relaxed, I mean that is the point of vacation.  Traveling with your spouse is a great experience not only to enjoy a new place together but to learn about each other and grow together.  

Our hawaiian vacation was wayyyyy better than our Honeymoon to Kaui.  First off, going in May is the best time.  The flights are cheaper, the weather is great and you miss the crowd because everyone wants to go on family vacay once the kids are out of school and they don't get out until june.  Although there weren't much waves because of the time of the year we went, here are some things to enjoy on your trip to Maui.  

THE TOP 5 THINGS TO DO IN MAUI

1. Napilli Cove-  If we were to do Maui again, I would definitely stay here and never leave.  This beach is amazing.  It's on the perfect side of the island where the sun is always out and the beach is just so beautiful.  If you walk to the left side it takes you to a different cove where there are ton of sea turtles you can snorkel with.  It was a great highlight of the trip.  

2.  Heart Rock-  This was SO HARD TO FIND!  But this was really cool to see.  Just know if you pass where this is the road is the scariest road ever!

3.POKE-  EAT LOTS AND LOTS OF POKE ITS SO CHEAP AND SO GOOD.  If you go to the safeway, you can find all kinds of poke for like 6 bucks!

4. Hula Grill-  This place was the bomb!  They had the best mahi mahi fish n chips.  Loved the view!  Not a fan of their dessert, you're better off getting a shaved ice.  But this place is a must!

  

5. Blowhole-  This blowhole was pretty sweet!  Its a little hike down right next to the heart rock!

Maui it was real. 

-Enjoy