525,600 x 2
… 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.
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Another Year Older, But Not Wiser
Whoa, has it been over a month since I last posted? EEP. Where has the time gone? I don’t know, because I feel like I haven’t completed much in the last month! Our house is still a complete mess. Boxes everywhere, shoes everywhere, clothes everywhere. It’s a shame that such a nice condo is now such a huge mess.
I have, however, accomplished the following over the last 30 days:
- Moved! What a hassle. I hope we don’t move for another 10 years. I seriously dislike moving with a passion.
- Designed little bro’s wedding invitations and helped him print them on the Gocco machine he bought me. Unfortunately, there were spelling mistakes and he had to reprint some. Did I mention there were five+ spelling mistakes and he had to reprint the ards more than once? Whoops. Auto spell check at work has sucked the intelligence outta me.
- Photographed two weddings. Learned a lot while doing so. Like, how I need a good wide angle, a nice zoom lens, and some serious lighting gear. And how my favorite hobby is going to make me broke, unless I get seriously good enough to make some money from it. Photography, why must you be so expensive?
- Turned another year older. Today, actually. Yikes! Thought I’d be a little more settled at this age. Perhaps a little wiser and more mature. Apparently not!
Birthdays are wretched things, aren’t they? I think they should be banned after age 29. Turning thirty is traumatizing. And 31, well, let’s just pretend that didn’t happen, shall we?
Lately, I’ve been madly obsessed with paint colors. I’m painting our new place this weekend–hooray! Our stark white walls need some life. Who knew that the seemingly simple task of picking paint colors would be such a headache? Did you know there are about a billion shades of gray and they all look completely different? There are , blue grays, warm pink grays, and everything in between. For my living room, I’ve been looking for a very pale true gray with maybe just a tiny touch of blue. Not too much. I don’t want my walls to slant blue in the light. I’m having the darnedest time choosing a color. Hubs has ordered me to stop buying test cans, but I can’t stop. I took a picture of some of the sample swatches I’ve painted over the last few weeks. These were painted on poster board because I didn’t have the guts to slap the paint on my walls yet.
Below (from left to right, all Benjamin Moore colors): Stonington Gray (too drab), Ice Cubed Silver (too light), Bunny Gray (too blue), Iceberg (too blue), Silvery Blue (too muddy), Pale Oak (our pick for the bathroom), Summer Shower (our pick for the bedroom and craft room), and Sterling (too dark). And I’ve got about a dozen more swatches not pictured. 
Those two little squares of fabric are some samples that I got for our curtains.
Anyway, it’s off to bed I go. I will make it my birthday resolution to blog more often than once a month. Now that Hubs officially started his MBA program, I’ll have much more time.
The Sunset House Relocates
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!
Poa Poa
Yesterday, I learned the sad news that my Poa Poa (grandmother on my mom’s side) unexpectedly passed away. Although there was a huge communication barrier between us (she spoke a dialect of Chinese that I didn’t really understand), I always knew that she was proud of her grandchildren. After all, she was the first to bring her family–my mom, my uncles, and aunts–to America to seek a better life. And a better life she gave them. Our family is a true life rags-to-riches story. One day I hope I get a chance to document my family history. It’s amazing and much more interesting than my own life.
I’ll always remember how Poa Poa would grab my arm affectionately during family dinners and tell me in Chinese that I was too skinny. “Eat more,” she’d say, “eat more.” That was one of the few phrases I understood in Tai San, her native dialect. Then, she would point me in the direction of a huge spread of roasted duck, chow mein, and pork buns. Poa Poa would spend hours in her kitchen wrapping sticky rice dumplings filled with pork for all of us. She’d make piles and piles of them–so much we could never eat them all. But, making food was her way of contributing to her family. And when my cousin would bring his two adorable daughters to our family parties, Poa Poa would point in their direction and tell me that I needed to hurry and have some kids too. I always laughed her comments off, but now I wish she could’ve seen her future great grand babies.
Poa Poa, I hope that you know I love you and you will be dearly missed.
Simple Joys
Hello, hello!
These last few days have been beautiful, and hot, hot, HOT. 85 degrees in SF is as common as snow in July, especially in the Sunset district where Hubs and I live. Last night, we opted not to eat in and instead took a long walk to a delicious Chinese hole in the wall restaurant about a mile from our house. I love walking with the Hubs. It’s true quality time for us because we have no TVs, computers, or video games to distract us. It’s just us and our shoes as they hit the warm pavement.
After a satisfyingly salty bowl of beef noodles and black bean chicken, we stopped by a yogurt shop to reward ourselves for “working out.” As we slurped our melted treats on the stroll back to the Sunset House, I listened to Andrew as he chatted about his day. And, I couldn’t help by think, at that very moment, there was nowhere else I wanted to be or nothing else that would make me more content. Not a new condo, not a dream job, or even a winning lottery ticket. All of those would be meaningless without someone to share them with.
Life is truly about the simple joys of loving and being loved.
Recipe (all supplies SU unless noted): Cheers to You stamp set, kiwi kiss, whisper white, pacific point, summer sun cardstock, basic black ink, Sizzix tag die, oval punch, good morning sunshine designer paper, kiwi kiss ribbon, colored pencils
Trade Offs
The house/condo hunting journey that Hubs and I are on (that is also driving us nuts) is a true testament that life is about trade-offs. Buy a new property for prime $$? Or get a less expensive, older property that needs work? A large house with a yard in the burbs? Or tiny condo in the heart of the happenin’ city? Everything is a give-and-take.
Over the weekend, we found some super affordable, spankin’ new housing developments with hardwood floors, huge floorplans, large bedrooms, the works! The catch? They’re in a city that I don’t want to live in. I mean, I really, really don’t want to live in this city. I don’t like it at all. But, if we purchase one of these units, Hubs said that we could afford it on one income (his income) once he finishes grad school. That means I could devote myself to our future family and possible budding business enterprises, like photography, design, crafts… oh the imagination runs wild! I can’t imagine calling any city other than SF our home. However, the idea of not working a corporate job is almost irresistible… It’s most definitely a trade off.
What would you do?
I miss my craft time quite a bit. Yesterday, I got out the tools and whipped up a quick card. I love this stamp set (Trendy Trees). Sometimes I sell my used stamp sets after they’ve been retired, but I’m keeping this one for sure.
Recipe (all supplies SU unless noted): Trendy Trees and Absolutely Fabulous stamp sets, kraft, whisper white, bashful blue card, chocolate chip stock & ink, corner rounder punch, white gel pen, button bouquet, kiwi kiss ribbon, stampin’ dimensionals, white twine from Michaels
SMART Goals
Anyone that has worked in the corporate world has probably heard the cheesy term, SMART goals, overused and abused. SMART goals are all the rage at my workplace. The acronym stands for goals that are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant (some people use Realistic here), and Time bound. A SMART goal would be something like this: I will create and sell ten cards by March 31st. The goal is very specific and measurable (I can tell if I achieved it or not), attainable, relevant to my interest, and time bound (has a deadline).
Although I think SMART goals are as Office Space as it gets, I’m going to set some for myself in my pursuit of photography. You see, I’m not really a go-getter type of person. I’m a sit-on-the-sidelines type of gal. I like to take things easy. I’m very cautious and even insecure when it comes to my abilities. Unfortunately, sitting on the sidelines and bemoaning my insecurities will not help if I truly want to start a business. I need to stop letting my fears take the best of me and just go for it.
Easier said than done! One thing I’m so grateful for is the full, unwavering support from Hubs. He believes in me a thousand times more than I believe in myself. Just yesterday, he came home and found me sitting on our kitchen floor with a frown on my face; I was upset because my mind was racing through the list of all the things that could go wrong if I pursue photography and fall flat on my face. What if I invest thousands of dollars in equipment and fail? I have zero professional training, what gives me any idea I can pull this off?
Hubs smiled and picked me up, gave me a huge bear hug, and told me he believed in me and that he wouldn’t encourage me if he didn’t think I could be a photographer (and a good one too). Of course, I think he’s biased. He has to believe in me–he’s my husband! But, Hubs also reminded me that God is the one guiding me on this adventure. And, if He’s the one leading, I have nothing to worry about. He always provides. I don’t know how I would stay grounded without Hubs. Seriously. He is my rock.
So, I’m taking a practical first step in the direction of my dreams. My first SMART goal is to learn to shoot (and feel comfortable shooting) completely in manual mode with my camera by July 31st. I signed up for a photography class, but it doesn’t start until June. So, I’m not actually sure if this goal is attainable or not. At least it’s a start!
Project Recipe (all supplies SU unless noted): Owl Together Now stamp set, card stock in bashful blue, whisper white, pumkin pie, ink in kiwi kiss, chocolate chip, ruby red, designer paper in Good Morning Sunshine, On Board So Tweet (for the chip board owl cut out–in the current catty), stampin’ dimensionals
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