I'm incredibly excited to report that real progress is being made on the tiki-bar front (photos here). The floor tile is in and grouted, and our contractor started building the bar today. We were a little concerned when the grout color we'd picked for the tile came out much lighter than the samples, but we've since decided it's going to look fine once the bamboo and molding goes up on the walls.

My contractor came up with the brilliant idea of making the top of the bar a decoupage; I'll cover it with Hawaiian and Asian ephemera (postcards, drink coasters, old photographs, etc.), and he'll pour a layer of clear epoxy over it to seal everything in.

To celebrate the grand opening, I'm going to crack open another bottle of the 15-year Rhum Barbancourt from Haiti that I picked up last month in California. This stuff is even better than Havana Club, and damn, is it smoooooth!