It's no wonder they call it a month of honey

Kimball and I have now been married for one month, and what a lovely month it has been. We cannot get over how great the timing of it all is: neither of us is in school, summer has begun, he can choose his hours (to an extent) at work, and I (unfortunately?) can't work due to being a Canadian citizen and waiting for paperwork clearance, etc. It's all a little bit too good to be true, so we're trying not to get too comfortable, because we're sure it won't last, but every day sort of feels like a holiday. 

Our wedding day turned out exactly as we had hoped. Once we get our pictures back from the photographer we'll be sure and post a whole bunch about that. We couldn't have been happier at the end of the day. Our honeymoon was, in our opinions, perfect. All three hotels were amazing (one night in Salt Lake, two nights in LA, and 6 nights in Waikiki), and each offered tremendous breakfasts. Our Hawaii hotel was such a perfect little hotel, and so I'm dedicating a significant portion of this post to it. Forgive if this sounds like an advertisement, but we were just blown away with how fantastic our experience was with this hotel.

What we loved about Hotel Renew:

- it's a nice, new, non-smoking building

- extremely clean 

- free wi-fi

- 20% off for honeymooners (which we didn't even need to use, because we found an even better deal online, and got 25% off our entire stay!), and a bottle of champagne, which they will gladly exchange for sparkling cider if you request it

- only 9 floors, not many guests (most guests seemed to be from france, which was kind of awesome, but made me feel frumpy...haha)

- located at the southern edge of Waikiki and thus, very quiet

- tons of beach equipment free for guest use (towels, mats, body boards, beach chairs)

- no pool (not the best) but, it's about a 40 second walk to the beach

- softest sheets I've ever slept on

- feather beds, down duvets, and many down pillows 

- modern and minimalist design, which we love! 

- a seriously good looking hotel

- really nice, clean, modern bathrooms

- nice lighting, and these amazing light switch control centers, where with the push of a button you can set the lighting to "night, bright, or just right"

- classy swedish soap, shampoo, and such that you actually want to keep

- amazing free breakfasts (granola, croissants with jam, pineapple juice, tea, fruit, yogurts, incredible muffins, toast, and the Wall Street Journal)

- super personable staff

- classy art on the walls, and art shows in the lobby, which were a little too hip for us, but fun 

- four-and-a-half stars out of about a thousand reviews on trip advisor

It's not an extremely kid-friendly place, but if we ever go back, just us two, we hope we can stay there again. 

Besides reminiscing about that little paradise, we've been busy looking for work (for Kimball), getting to know our new ward, which is a family ward full of young marrieds, like us (so fun!), writing thank you notes (but have yet to send any), assembling Ikea furniture, returning and exchanging duplicate wedding gifts, hanging out with couple friends and family, budgeting, planning for the future, getting used to sharing a bed, opening a joint account, buying health insurance, going on fun runs together, doing Insanity together, and just loving life. We've been busy, but it's all fun stuff. Things have calmed down this last week, and so I've been able to do more reading. I'm branching out and reading some new things that have come recommended by Kimball (Code, A Short History of Nearly Everything), some things that have been on the list for ages (The Complete C.S. Lewis), and The Count of Monte Christo, which I read ages ago, but I had forgotten much of. It's been wonderful reading in the little park next to our apartment building. 

Life, as Kimball and I reiterate on a more-than-daily basis, is so great.