Happy moments

Lately, I've been trying to squeeze those quiet happy moments that come by my way to their fullest and deepest potential. Ross and I were surprised by a very generous gift of a dining table set from his uncle and his cousins for our one year anniversary. We got to pick out the table set that we liked and they got it for us!!! Now, if you aren't familiar with shopping on the Big Island, it can get a bit difficult to find variety in anything that you're in the market for... variety can be really limited here (in my opinion). Kona, which is an hour away from where we live has a Target, a K-mart, a Walmart, and Macys, and a Pier 1 Imports to name a few of the stores - and then Hilo, which is on the other side, has a couple of stores like the ones listed, but that is pretty much it (other than the local business stores). Sometimes it is difficult to find things in stock, or find something that suits our taste... but this table here was perfect! We found it at K-mart. The wood is super sturdy and the design of the chairs are so comfortable. The kitchen table was already my favorite place in the house to be, but now it is my utmost favorite place on the island to be!

To celebrate the table, I've been doing a bit of cooking and baking. =) The peanut butter cookies were actually baked as a thank you gift for his uncle and auntie who came to the house yesterday to assemble the chairs and table for us.... we were very humbled by the fact that they sacrificed so much time after work to help us with the assembly...

While the cookies were baking I was working on another potholder for the kitchen... after using them a couple of times I am converted to these little crochet potholders (secretly I thought that they wouldn't work correctly and that my hands would get burned). They're so very easy, function amazingly and most importantly, are very budget friendly! =)

Also while assembly was going on I was working on dinner and a bit of baking for tomorrow's  (which is today) breakfast. I made chicken tortilla soup (which was a hit cause Ross really liked it!) and baked cinnamon bread to use for french toast for breakfast. The bread was soft and dense and tasted like a cinnamon roll minus the frosting... will definitely be making this again!

::thoughtful sigh:: now it's in that hour right after work is done at the school and I get to breathe a bit before Ross comes home from work (it's hard to be still around him because all I want to do is follow him around like a puppy and hear about his day and tell him about mine), before I have to start a load of laundry, before my Tuesday piano student comes for his lesson, and before we have to get ready to head down to Tuesday night bible study... ::smile:: this is the precious before time.

During this time I get to sit at our wonderfully new and spacious table to write this post with a peanut butter cookie and a tall glass of ice water and can honestly and truthfully proclaim this to be a very very very happy moment indeed.