My Life, As Told Between (Baby Cakes') Naps

This last year has been incredible. There was our wedding, of course, but also so many little moments filled with joy, like getting our dog, swimming with turtles in Hawaii, evening walks together, going sledding on a snow covered hill in Tahoe, visiting Yosemite, treking across LA to take engagement pictures, lugging a posterboard everywhere for our table signs, celebrating our friends’ engagements, having both of our families together for Thanksgiving, Saturdays spent reading on the couch or biking along the ocean, decorating our condo, homemade dinners, dancing around our living room, and opening gifts for Christmas.

I hope your year has brought you just as much love and laughter and that you have a happy, and safe, new year!

The holidays are just flying by! Here’s a quick catch-up post:

On Thursday, Thanksgiving day, we drove up to my parent’s house in San Jose. T’s mom and brother joined us for a fun, family-filled, and dog filled (in addition to Alfie, whom we brought with us, my parents have 2 pomeranians and T’s mom brought Buddy Lee), dinner. My mom, sister, and her boyfriend (a professional chef) went all out with the food. We had two turkeys for the 11 of us, as well as a pork dish, two types of shrimp dishes, broccoli casserole, pasta salad, cranberries, and mashed potatoes and gravy. For dessert we had pumpkin pie, cookies, and a jello cream cheese layered dish I love. Afterwards, T and I joined my friend C and her boyfriend and family for more dessert!

On Friday, we went up to San Francisco for dinner with my Quad friends at a yummy Thai place, and then to a party afterwards to celebrate J turning 30. I had so much fun. Almost enough fun not to regretted it the next morning when I felt on the verge of death.

On Saturday, we saw Bolt. Super cute. And we ate lots and lots of crab. My mom makes the best crab.

On Sunday, we drove to Fresno to put up T’s mom’s Christmas lights and Christmas tree. After fighting traffic for five hours we made it back safe and sound to LA late Sunday night.

Last weekend we had guests over. While the boys watched football the girls scrapbooked (my newest hobby). I’m 2/3rds of the way done with my wedding scrapbook. We also bought some Christmas lights and decorated our place a bit. We decided to skip the tree since it was too much work and we won’t even be at our place to enjoy it on Christmas day, but maybe next year!

As for the next few weeks, we’ve got work and friends’ holiday parties and then are heading back to Fresno for Christmas. My parents and sisters have indicated they might come to T’s mom’s house to visit over the holidays. I hope they do as I’d love to have the entire family together again!

So there you have it. If you don’t hear from me for awhile – Happy Holidays!

After a several weeks of eating badly and not exercising, I finally worked up the courage to waddle up to the scale this morning. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I’d lost 0.5 lbs since the last time I’d stepped on the scale (shortly after getting back from our honeymoon).  I made the mistake of calling T (who was already at work).

Me: Hon, I didn’t gain as much weight as I had feared. In fact, it looks like I lost .5 lbs!

T: Oh, that’s probably because you’ve lost muscle.

Me: ——

Five Good Election Cries.

The second one made me teary.

So cute! Via this site.

This article is so spot on.

I try to be a good person. Really, I do. I try to keep in mind how lucky and privileged I am and empathize with those who aren’t. I try hard not to judge (too much). I try to remind myself that I could be one of those who’ll need help one day so I shouldn’t begrudge the help offered to others, even if its at my expense. I pay my taxes and don’t complain about them being too high because I reap a lot of benefits from the system. And really, I don’t want people to lose their homes and I see the need for this in the bigger picture. But yeah, a part of me can’t help but agree with this quote from a recent NYT article on the homeowners’ bailout plan: “If all of our neighbors are getting bailed out despite their own bad decisions, arrogance or ignorance, and we’re asked to keep playing by the rules for the sake of the greater good, I don’t want to participate.”

We finally bought a rug for our living room last week. It came rolled up in a long cardboard tube. The tube sat around our living room for a couple of days before I finally put it next to the doorway, where we generally store all the stuff that needs to be recycled but that won’t fit in our recycling can.

Yesterday, I noticed it was back in the living room so I asked T if he had moved it.

Me: Hey Hon, did you move this tube? I put it next to the door so we’d remember to take it down to the recycling bin.

T: (*looking very abashed*) Yeah.

Me: Why?

T: It makes an awesome sword.

We received so much wonderful cookware and so many great baking tools and accessories for our wedding that we’ve actually been inspired to cook. Plus, T and I are trying to save money and eat healthier by eating out less, so we renewed our vow to each make at least one home-cooked meal a week when we got back from our honeymoon. Our first few meals required buying a lot of stock ingredients, but now that we’ve made several different dishes, we’re starting to accumulate the basics. It’s refreshing to actually have things (like sugar and seasame oil!) on hand so we don’t have to buy everything and start from scratch for every dish. It’s even better to have all the pots, pans, utensils, mixers, etc. we’d need to cook.  We were making do with two dinged up pans and a beat up pot for a long time!  =)

T’s friend S got us this fantastic cookbook full of easy, simple dishes which we’ve been trying out. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve made spicy cashew chicken, salmon, and beef bulgogi. We’ve also tested out our ice cream maker and blender and made tin roof ice cream, crepes, and oreo cookie cake. I can’t wait to try some of the other ice cream recipes in this book and am hoping T will be up for some of the more exotic ice cream flavors!

Stay tuned: Next week, we’re planning on using our mixer to make bread!

Alfie was recently invited to a costume birthday party, so last night T and I were brainstorming costume ideas for him. It occurred to us that since he already looks somewhat like a bear, we could capitalize on that and dress him up as Winnie the Pooh. It would be simple, cute, and, most importantly, inexpensive since all it would entail was getting him a red shirt. We greatly underestimated how difficult this would turn out to be.

After failing to find any Winnie the Pooh pet costumes online, or appropriate red pet shirts, we decided to see if one of T’s old, red t-shirt would work. It didn’t.

Alfie was not a happy camper. He was unhappy about being forced into a shirt and extra unhappy about the fact that he kept tripping over the thing since it was too long and too big for him. In fact, although he had it on for less than 30 seconds and we immediately tried to get it off of him, he started panicking and making whimpering noises and generally acting as if we were viciously abusing him instead of putting a shirt on him for 30 seconds. So, yeah, it was a no go. Plus, honestly, Alfie didn’t look like Winnie the Pooh. He just looked like a poor miserable dog in an old t-shirt.

Every night, either I, T, or both of us take Alfie for a short walk around our street before bed. T’s more adventurous than I am and will let him off leash for the short jaunt. Alfie usually stays pretty close, even off leash, but once, when T was walking him alone, Alfie walked ahead farther than usual to explore something laying on the curb around the corner from our condo.  He happily bounded back carrying a big slice of pizza in his mouth.  (How the pizza got there remains a mystery to this day.)

T tells me he tried the “Leave It” command, which works when we’re training Alfie not to eat the kibble in front of him in exchange for even more kibble, but turned out to be less than effective when trying to talk him out of a big slice of pizza in exchange for nothing. However, after a brief wrestling match, T won and managed to extract the pizza from Alfie’s mouth.

The next night, T and I took Alfie out for his nightly walk together. When we neared the corner that served as the scene of the pizza incident the night before, T noted, “I bet Alfie’s thinking ‘I know a good pizza place around the corner.'”

As told to me by T.

We’ve been very diligent about keeping Alfie off the furniture and have been mostly successful so far, helped largely by the fact that Alfie is not actually interested in getting on any of the furniture. Except for a little white armchair in the living room that happens to be in front of a window overlooking the street. He LOVES sitting on that chair and watching for cars and strangers. He also loves that we leave that window open to cool down the living room. So, in order to let him enjoy his favorite seat and still uphold our position as pack leaders, we’ve worked out a compromise. He doesn’t sit on that chair when we’re around and we ignore all the paw prints on the chair.

This delicate balance was threatened earlier this week. You see, lately, T’s been leaving for work around 4:30 am, which means that Alfie is usually still asleep when T gets up. More often than not, Alfie sleeps upstairs, but occasionally, he’ll pass out downstairs (in fact, the only place he doesn’t sleep is in his doggie bed). This particular morning, Alfie was curled up and fast asleep on his chair when T came downstairs. T didn’t know if Alfie fell asleep while watching for cars or deliberately set out to sleep there (unlikely since its necessary for him to curl up into a tiny little ball to fit in the chair), but he did know that for our charade to keep on working, he needed to either pretend not to see Alfie or get mad at him for sleeping on the chair. Thankfully, Alfie solved the problem.

As soon as Alfie woke up and saw that T was there, he quickly slunk out of the chair and stealthily settled onto the floor. Once there, he gave T a look as if to say, “What chair? I was never on any chair. Prove it. Those could be anyone’s paw prints.” T, in turn, gave Alfie a look which he hoped said, “I never saw you asleep on that chair. If I had, I would not tolerated it as I am the Alpha dog and you are not allowed on furniture.”

And with that silent exchange, balance was restored.  The end.

I can’t believe it’s been four years since I started this blog. Unfortunately, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’ve been running out of material so I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to keep this blog up. The only thing that keeps me posting semi-regularly anymore is the knowledge that at least some of my far-flung friends still rely on this blog to keep up to date on my life. Although, truth to tell, there’s not much to keep up to date on these days.

For example, T and I were in the grocery store this weekend when my phone rang. We both looked at each other and decided that since we’d both just talked to our families and we were both there, it must be a wrong number. When it turned out we were right, T noted, not unhappily, “We live very uneventful lives.”

It’s true. We live very uneventful lives. However, they’re uneventful lives filled with great friends, wonderful families, supportive coworkers, an adorable pet, and each other. I don’t think either one of us would change a thing (well, maybe kids one day, but that’s another story). I love my uneventful life and am thankful every day for it. The only down side is that it doesn’t make for a very good blog! So for those who continue to follow this blog, be forewarned that it will likely consist of posts like the following:

We had a productive weekend cleaning up our place and recovering from the wedding mania. Per my family’s request, we bought a new flat screen tv with the money they generously gave us as a wedding gift. Once we get the tv mounted, rearrange our furniture, and put up our pictures, hopefully our condo will look more homey and less barren!

We also hung out with our friends S and K. S used the electric mixer T’s mom had give us to make us a chocolate loaf. We can now officially say the mixer’s been used. The chocolate loaf was yummy and S showed us how easy using the mixer is. Hopefully, we will actually use it ourselves one day.

We did use a panini maker we’d received as part of an attempt to replicate the Sourdough Jack at home. It was only semi-successful. The hamburger patty was too thick to make the burger as squishy as we like. Back to the drawing board.

When not cleaning, entertaining, and trying to make Sourdough Jacks, we played Spore. Spore is this new computer game that lets you create your own characters and decide their traits and how they interact with the world around them as they evolve. It was surprisingly fun. T’s original character was warlike and died quickly, but thanks to my influence, our new character is cute, cuddly, and friendly and has thrived making allies! She belongs to a race we’re calling the Stubbians.

Speaking of dorky things, I read the Inheritance Cycle while in Maui. It was okay, but I’m incredibly frustrated that, although portrayed as a trilogy, it didn’t end with the third book. Instead, it’s being dragged on as a series. The books were decent beach reads, but not a series worth waiting a year (at least) to finish! Sadly, since I’m incapable of just letting things, I’m settling in for the long wait.

Back from our wonderful honeymoon in Maui! I’ll try to post some pretty pictures of Maui soon, but in the meanwhile, as promised, here are some pictures from the wedding. Most of you have probably already seen these since many of them are either up on the Flickr site I set up or on various Facebook pages!

The programs. Notice the scrapbooking paper I had my friends scour the earth for! I love the color combination on this paper, which is much richer in person.

Here’s our Treasure Chest Card Box – the pirate related project I had alluded to in an earlier post! My friend H and I stained it, painted the black stripes and attached the gold trim to it. I made the stacks of “gold” coins by gluing together bits of wood and painting them. I’m really glad we were able to get the box done. People left us really sweet messages and cards.

Our cartoon theme table assignments and escort cards. We assigned each table a cartoon name and each place card had a picture of a different character from that cartoon. We tried to attach some meaning to the various character assignments but lots of them were just random. The table cards themselves each had pictures of us carrying a white posterboard which I photoshopped the table names onto on the front and a picture of the cartoon cast on the back.

The dining room. You can see the centerpieces we were upsold on. I didn’t love our flowers (some looked a little wilted and there was more greenery than I would have liked), but the florist showed up on time and didn’t mess anything up so I don’t have much of a complaint, especially since flowers were never our top priority.

The ringbearer pillow which I made following Martha Stewart’s instructions, with some slight modifications to account for inferior scallop shears. The flower is made out of left over fabric from my wedding dress after it was hemmed and the gray bead is from a neckalace I sacrificed for the cause. Sadly, the pillow was destroyed by our adorable ringbearer.

Speaking of which, here is our adorable ringbearer and flower girl. They’re both kids of T’s friends from his old neighborhood growing up.  The ringbearer took his job of holding her hand down the aisle very seriously and didn’t let go all night!

The props basket, used to take pictures in our Picture Corner. We (I) decided to do Picture Corner at the last minute and wasn’t sure if we could pull it off. Fortunately, it all came together relatively smoothly, thanks to our great photographers! I can’t wait to see all the silly pictures our guests took. We also made sure to pay homage to ITLAPD by including plenty of pirate gear.

Our table setting, including our favors (pear shaped salt & pepper shakers and pear jelly belly beans), menus, and cards asking our guests to upload their photos onto a shared Flickr site.

And lastly, here are the invitations to the bridal shower and the wedding. My sister B made the bridal shower invitations herself! We ordered the wedding invitations, but I lined the envelopes with the scrapbooking paper I loved and embossed them with green vines – both ideas inspired by B’s bridal shower invitations. I love how well the envelope liner complemented the invitations and how the entire ensemble fit the vibe we were going for of a casual, modern outdoor wedding.

The wedding was wonderful, although it flew by entirely too quickly. There were a few hiccups and quirky moments (apparently I was making funny faces up at the alter – I have a very expressive face) but overall I had a great time and am still overwhelmed at how lucky we are to have such a fantastic group of friends and a wonderful family (and extended family). The beach party the following day was also lots of fun and gave us a chance to unwind and spend some quality time with everyone.

Busy cleaning house right now and getting ready to leave for Hawaii, but I promise wedding recaps and pictures when I get back!  In the meanwhile, here’s one of me being walked down the aisle by my dad, who got too choked up to actually give me away.  He was rescued by my mom, who piped in “we do.”

I think I’m coming down with a cold.  F*ck.

Yay!! I’m getting married in a week! I’m so so excited about having our family and closest friends all together for the first time. I’m also excited to see how all of our ideas play out. We wrapped up the last of our planned projects last weekend, but new ideas keep popping up. I’m in the process of seeing if we can execute one of them now and am keeping my fingers crossed. If it works, I think it’ll make the wedding more fun. Hopefully everyone will love it as much as I do! If it doesn’t, well, I’ll tell you about it in another post. =)

See many of you next week! (And, if I don’t, I promise many pictures to come in the weeks following the wedding. Followed by a period of complete silence as I desparately think of what to write about next.)

P.S.  Completely off topic, but I’m reading The Road right now and while I realized it was dark, I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to get through.  It’s compellingly written, but leaves me feeling vaguely depressed every time I read it so I have to put it down periodically.  The only other book I’ve had this experience with was Blindness and in comparison, Blindness was not that bad.

T and I bought a scale last weekend.  We’d registered for one, but figured it was unlikely anyone would buy it for us since weight can be such a sensitive issue.  I made the mistake of testing it out tonight.  I think our scale is broken because I’m at least two pounds heavier than I thought I was.  Or maybe it was the brownie sundae I had for dinner.  After all, it was a pretty heavy brownie. . .

T and I had a marathon weekend of wedding projects.  We finished our place cards, favors, menus, programs, ring pillow (which I made from scratch – go me!), and various other wedding related projects no one will notice or care about except us (well, except me actually).  T anticipates that all our guests will take away from the evening is that our theme color was red.  I’ve already warned him that since I’m generally one to toot my own horn, I will make it a point to comment loudly and frequently about everything from the place cards to the ring pillow (that no one likely even saw).  =)

Or at least I will soon. With the wedding a month away, I’ve started making primping appointments – facials, manicures, hair cuts (well, trim at least), color, etc. I don’t remember the last time I was so concerned about my looks! It was probably around the time T and I started getting serious (I wouldn’t say I’ve let myself go completely . . . but, well, let’s just say I don’t spend nearly as much time in front of the mirror as I used to). =)