The Sunset House – Papercrafts, Photography, and Recipes for Life

… Minutes, that is, since we’ve been married.What’s changed in the last two years? Regular readers probably know this stuff, but to recap:

1. We bought our first home! Thanks to Obama and Schwarzenegger, we were able to take advantage of some first time home buyer tax credits to purchase a 2BR/2BA condo in downtown SF. Never mind that we are too broke to furnish it. Ignore our ghetto “drapes,” a.k.a. the faded bed sheet we attached to our window with painters’ tape. We have double sinks! Know what that means? I can ignore the nasty, hairy shaver “sand” around Hubs’ sink! And I’m finally near public transportation so I have an excuse to leave work early; “Sorry guys, gotta go catch my ferry!”

Hubs looks terrified during a walk through of our condo. His expression is likely due to discovering my wish list of new furniture.

2. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Hubs decided to pursue higher education. So, along with a full time job, he is going to school part time at night. The transition has been both difficult and easy. Difficult because we don’t spend quality time together anymore, our budget is extra tight (tuition is expensive!), and worst of all, Hubs transformed my craft room into his man-study, complete with a talking Transformers figure. The horror! On the flip side, we appreciate every last minute we are together. Oh, and I now only have to cook two nights a week!

3. I’ve discovered a passion. Thanks to wedding planning, I’ve become enamored with gorgeous photos and I’ve taken up photography as a serious hobby/potential future business endeavor. Hubs bought me my first DSLR for my birthday last year, and it’s been attached to me ever since. After shooting my first wedding in May, I’ve learned that it’s tough work! But, I adore it. Although I’m not quitting my day job, I’m concentrating on becoming the best photographer I can be, without the pressure of building a business.

And after two years, some things never change:

1. We still bicker about money and chores. I spend too much money, he does too little chores (I have a feeling this argument is here to stay).

2. We’re still a good team. We went through a lot during our second year of marriage: family illnesses, family deaths, house buying, moving… but we did it as a team. Sure, I lifted more heavy boxes than Hubs. He read more contracts than me. We aren’t perfect, but somehow, we fill in each others’ gaps and make it work.

3. Marriage is still 149,265,109,298 times better than the wedding. The wedding was fabu, but being married is indescribable. There’s something life changing when another person thinks you’re beautiful on your bad days, when you’re five pounds bloated with no make-up and haven’t shaved/showered in a week. I the daily ups and down of marriage. I love how real the moments are; like when Hubs always makes me laugh the very instant I’m trying to be pissed at him. I love that we can fight for hours–days, even–yet I ultimately know that we will make up and our differences can never outweigh our affection. Weddings are fabulous, but marriage is incredible.

Happy anniversary, honey! Here’s to the memories and many more to come.

Wedding photos by the awesome Apertura Photography.

Exciting news in the Sunset House… We are moving! Yup, two weeks ago, we (finally) closed on our first home, a spiffy SF condo. The unit is brand new and since we will be living downtown, my commute will be shorter by almost an hour a day. Hooray! More time for crafting.Our condo is super modern with sleek lines, granite countertops, and floor to ceiling windows—totally Hubs’ style and not really my taste, since I prefer old Victorian flats with crown molding and chair rails. But of course, I still love it and am beyond excited. The escrow process was definitely trying on our patience and nerves, especially with the recent stricter lending guidelines. I must document the experience soon because it is something that I always want to remember… and never want to experience again.

Along with buying a new house, Hubs’ Yeh Yeh (grandfather on his father’s side) passed away last week on Thursday. He was extremely ill with cancer so we all knew this day was coming. But the expectation did not ease the pain any. Yeh Yeh’s funeral will be our third funeral that we will be attending during the last two-month period, the other two being my Poa Poa (grandmother) and my very close uncle. These past two months have taught me more about loss and family than the last thirty years of my life.

2009 has turned out to be quite a roller coaster. This year, I: attended four weddings as a guest, photographed my first wedding, signed up to shoot two more weddings, attended two funerals, will attend another one this weekend, closed escrow on our first house, supported Hubs as he applied for and got accepted into an awesome MBA program, got promoted, and took my first photography class… gosh, this year has been more eventful than our wedding year. And it hasn’t even ended yet!

Anyway, now that I’ve explained my absence and lack of posts, I’ll share some photos of our new place. The pictures with furniture are of model unit, which has exactly the same finishes and layout as our unit, but much nicer furniture than we will ever own.

The living room has HUGE floor to ceiling windows, which I love. It stays bright into the evening.

The only difference between the model and our unit is the kitchen counter. Our unit is one complete slab of granite (no white) and we have dark zebra wood instead of light.

The bathrooms come standard with these European sinks. Hubs and I each get our own sink! You can’t imagine how exciting this is, since we’re constantly pushing each other out of the way in the mornings.

Another view of the living room model. Not our hippos.

That’s my pops. He really liked the unit when he first saw it, so I’m happy that it got his stamp of approval. BTW, anyone know what kind of window coverings would work best on that corner window?

View into the hallway.

And finally, a photo of our actual unit. I cannot wait to get my hands on that Viking cook top. I’ve been dying to cook with a wok but haven’t had a stove with a hot enough flame. And that French door, bottom mount fridge? I never knew I could love an appliance so much.

The Sunset House will always have a special place in my heart as our first home. Lots of happy memories happened inside those four walls. I know some say that the first years of marriage are the most difficult. Hubs and I have been blessed because our first years have been pretty blissful, outside of the occasional blow up, typically instigated monthly by my hormonal cycle or any discussion that involves the word “budget.” I like to think that we earned our peaceful household since we had a rough engagement period where we worked out many of our kinks (a.k.a. argued constantly, mostly about money). Moving out of the sunset district will be both bittersweet and exciting. Even though the Hubs and I are moving, this blog will always and forever remain The Sunset House. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Now, I’m off to chip away at the never ending packing we have to do. See you all soon!