Crisp white walls, a ton of natural light and rattan everything... these are a few of my current favorite things. With the challenge of making a new space feel like home in a completely foreign country looming, I've been pinning inspiring rooms like crazy lately. While I know we'll be dealing with a few interior limitations (namely white concrete walls, government issue wooden furniture and rattan pieces), I'm really looking forward to the challenge. In an effort to fully embrace the island lifestyle I'm leaning into beachy furnishings, a lot of tropical plant life and simple set-ups. Of course, we're toting along a few of our favorite pieces like the textiles that we brought back from Morocco, small pieces of accent furniture (like a few mid-century tables and our bar cart) and a green velvet sofa. I'm banking on these things giving character to our otherwise standard space.

A few more things I'd love to bring along:

urban outfitters patterned daybed cushion, marte storage cabinet, ikea rattan chair with cushion, seagrass basket, jenni kayne diagonal bath mat, target throw pillow, amara karui tray, leif cotton & jute runner, urban outfitters woven windsor sofa, leif throw pillows 1, 2, 3

photo via nyc bambi

New month, new me. Not to be a total cliche but I do feel like there's a bit of truth here. Every time I flip the pages on my calendar to a new month I feel a pull somewhere deep in my gut to renew everything. It's almost as if the first of each month is an alarm; a reminder to step back and reevaluate how things are working and what I can do to make it all a little better. There's a lot of change happening for us right now and everything feels so new and exciting.

There are good and bad feelings that come with so much upheaval but I cling to newness the most. With newness I can implement different systems and start everything over. My daily routine can change (I'll keep what works and add in new little rituals), my outlook can be different, my attitude can align a bit better with the direction I hope to go.

Goal setting is something that I've wavered back and forth with for years. Sometimes I'm steadfast in my list making and diligent with progress. Other times I'm listlessly floating through the year without aim. This month I thought I'd sit down, gather my thoughts and lay out my intentions for the next thirty days.

1. become our family's record keeper - I've touched on it briefly in recent posts but since my mom passed away in February I've felt a need to keep records. I'm determined to gather our family memories in a more tangible way. To take more pictures (I'm even considering taking on a 'portrait of my family every week in 2017' type challenge), record more videos, save more ticket stubs, etc. With our big move and a Hawaiian vacation coming up this month there will be lots of opportunities to make and document lasting memories.
2. live in the moment - On the flip side of life behind the camera, I'm also on a quest to soak up each moment as it passes. One of my biggest goals this month is to slow down the planning a bit (I've been glued to my bullet journal recently) and take each moment as it comes. This is totally hard for a serial type-A planner but I'm working on it!
3. make new friends - No woman is an island... even while living on one. I blogged about the importance of female friendships a while back (read that post here) and I'm no less determined to seek out a girl gang in our new home. Making an effort to make connections with our new neighbors is at the top of my to-do list for June. I feel a lot of backyard BBQs, weekend projector movie nights and play dates coming on.
4. settle in - This move is a little different from the others we've braved in the past. During the next two hectic weeks we'll pack up everything in our house and what doesn't fit in the allotted two suitcases per person will come to us by barge across the Pacific Ocean. While we won't receive our shipment of household goods for a couple of months, I still want to settle into our new home quickly. We'll be living in government housing and won't be able to do things like paint or renovate. Most of our furniture will come from an on-island warehouse (we're storing ours stateside for the duration of our time there) and everything is one big mystery. I'm choosing to look at this as a challenge instead of a hardship... I'm on a mission to make it feel like home and fast!

Whew! This month will be a doozy but that keeps things interesting. What are your goals for June?

Oh hey June, fancy seeing you here! It's officially Summer and the June Gloom has set in. Things are hot and sticky (something we should really get used to since our new island home is 87 degrees and 80% humidity every single day), we saw the first fireflies of the season in our yard last night and schools out for Summer. The beach is calling me and I've already started collecting easy reads perfect for laying out all day.

This week was a big one as far as to-do lists are concerned. We made arrangements to give the keys to our rental house back to the owner, bought our plane tickets for Hawaii and finally received an official moving date... in two weeks. We'll be in Honolulu from the 15th to the 19th and then we're crossing the international date line for good on the 20th. I can hardly believe that we'll be making our way home to another country in just two short weeks. June is going to be a big exciting month! Now to get everything in order and kick most of our belongings to the curb...

A few things I'm currently inspired by:

tropical settings
minimal summer wardrobe staples perfect for our endless summer
kids at play
relaxing beach scenes
the same old neutral color palette with a little burnt orange and golden yellow thrown in (I'm branching out, look at me!)
researching things to get up to on the island of Oahu (any suggestions?)

Taking a cue from one of my all-time favorite reads (if you don't follow her Insta stories you're NUTS... go do it and thank me later!) Bev Cooks, I'm delving back into monthly playlists on Spotify. Recently I've been building giant master playlists but I think it'll be so nice to set the scene for each month with some tunes. Head over and give June a listen, won't you?!

*p.s. Lo lost her front tooth today! How crazy is it that I have an almost six year old with a lisp and major tooth gap? I'm loosing my shit over here!