Hi Sue, Sorry I haven't gone here recently. I have been busy watching the convention, finding it very interesting, and time consuming. Problem here is everything is going on in the middle of the night, so here I am at 12:30 am at the computer, David is asleep, and Obama just was nominated unanimously by the convention - a very emotional time for the African-American community especially - and especially for the older ones who lived through the 60's. I'm undecided but will watch next week as well just to see which side will finally push me over the edge! The grocery store closest to us is Waitrose - a store that is considered a little more up market from Sainsbury. We like it, has most everything we need and want. I still haul back items from CA that I can't get here but for the most part it's very good. Their meats here are fantastic as well as their fish although it's harder to get wild salmon that I like a lot. Yikes! That's a high utility bill for 21 days! We hope to invest in solar panels if we figure we'll benefit from them financially - I think it takes 10 years before you see the pay off. So, we still need to evaluate that a little more. Yes, I will post eventually. We just finished the design of the house and so I'm starting to look at more of the details including exterior as well as the interior. Right now I'm working on the kitchen and trying to decide what kind of wood to use for the custom made cabinets. Our architiect/designer wants us to get vertical grain Douglas Fir because most of the house will be trimmed out in DFir - very popular in HI. I'm not so sure about this and go back and forth between a wood cab and a painted cab. Being in Hawaii sort of dictates what your style is going to be and a lot of the cabs I see in mags show more wood cabs than the painted ones. Any opinions you want to share? It drives me crazy really! That and trying to pick out a faucet. I think our cab hardware will be ORB therefore the faucet and air switch should be ORB right? I've seen a Grohe that is ORB and that is nice but not too much else. I'm frustrated, too, because being over here limits me as to what I can go and check out. Fittings are different for one plus our house will be more contemporary and a lot of people here like to decorate more traditional styles so I don't see a lot of modern styles. I use the Web constantly to look at things but there is nothing like the real thing. In January, I will do some heavy looking around both on Maui, Oahu, and the Bay Area. Hopefully, I will start to find things that I like. What is your style of decor back in IL? Well, as usual, it's late and I must get to bed so I can get up and watch more convention coverage! Take care, Mandy

Hey! Thanks everybody I appreciate the feedback and encouragement. After years in a 40's era walk-up (my unit is a walk down) with a coved ceiling and arched doorways the change to an 1986 high rise is a big one but I think I can infuse it with some charm. My design mind is quite slow (and stubborn I love all those tiny appliances) but I finally have an idea how I can make it work with the full(ish) size appliances provided so I can do the kitchen just the once and just replace the current appliances when they conk out. We have a DIY Cabinets (which is Kitchen Craft sold stock) so you can pop next store to KC if you need a semi-custom piece. Once I am actually in I will post some options. I'm using heritage Collection colours and going for a faux period feel (down the line when I can afford to change the floors and moldings). New downtown condo construction is still booming and I think in this type of unit you could never compete with them while the conversion of old apartment buildings to condo isn't permitted by the provincial government so if you don't like modern you may have to look for a while so that's the niche I'm looking at - I like it anyway and my penchant for modern furniture adds some tension. biochem101 Thanks so much it is exciting and very nerve racking in a good way. morton5 pretentious term (sorry!) for someone who works in the arts nalcar some great ideas - my process is usually horrible pencil sketches of the basic shapes until I get a shape I can live with then to the graph paper or a computer program southernsttitcher I was glad to see your kitchen is going ahead. It wasn't selfless as the practice will help with my own and believe me I am calling it in - I have already requested draperies for both windows charlikin I have been thinking about your kitchen as I have been doodling. I was also thinking I am as excited by the in suite laundry as you were by your dishwasher. Someone recently posted some more of those oak handled beauties and my first thought was poor soul - and what do I get? I should be more grateful I am sure they helped keep the unit in my price range. While I don't have much cupboard space in my current unit it is all built on site full height so I'm not taking anything away in the new place until I see what fits. Where the laundry is is just dead space on one side so it would make a good pantry. Off to the bank (again) and then more packing and cleaning - how did I accumulate so much crap?

In case you are interested in following along with this adventure... Three of the four realtors emailed me hours after receiving my message. yesterday. This morning I messaged all of them about potential viewings and heard back from all three by 6 a.m. Maui time. Two men plan to view the condo today while the cleaner is there for back-to-back bookings. We have another back-to-back Feb. 15; one man wants to show the condo to a buyer hen. (Yes, I know, the old song and dance about having a buyer waiting!) The third realtor plans to view the condo Feb. 15. The local management company we employ will provide them entry door lock codes. I'm laughing, remembering that when we wanted to buy in 2001 I had to resort to contacting owners of 1BR 2Bath Ocean View condos because no realtor would reply to our questions -- even knowing we were doing a 1031 and had to ID something fast! We got two 'just fishing' replies and bought from one of the two owners who really wanted to sell.

Elmer -- When we bought the condo in 2001 it was said to be about 50/50 short-term vacation rentals and owners who either lived there or rented their units long-term. Well...that turned out to be a dodge in some cases, where owners were illegally renting short-term. (I'm such an innocent. I did wonder about the large number of 'friends' and 'cousins' who used the unit across the hall from us!) Now Maui Kamaole is almost entirely *legal* short-term vacation rentals. nicole -- Wow! That's some tremendous response! We've met mostly lovely people during the years we've rented the condo, but there are always some real lemons! You and I could write a book together! We have to decide what to do with the Maui condo -- sell, rent long-term, or go back to vacation renting once Hawaii opens up again (whenever that is). If we sell and don't do a 1031 the tax hit is awesome (not in a good way). We could skip direct renting and contract with a Maui agency to handle it, but we have had a lot more damage from their bookings than our own in the past.