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!

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!

I love this story and this video.  It makes me teary-eyed every time I see it!

Ack!!

How adorable!  (Apparently, I can’t resist any story that involves clothed penguins.)

T and I as South Park characters. (Courtesy of this site.)

Battlestar Galactica’s back tonight! Yay! Yay! Yay!!!!! After watching the entire series on DVD last year, the prolonged wait for the new season has been excruciating. I want to be sitting at home wallowing in the series and preparing for tonight’s episode. However, I’ve got this pesky work thing.

Plus, T’s got his first softball game tonight and then we’re trying to meet up with some friends visiting from out of town for drinks (unfortunately the only time that works for all of us), so we’ll have to catch it on Tivo later this weekend. I don’t know how I can possibly wait!

Hmmmm…it’s not like I HAVE to catch T’s first game of the season, right? And it’s not like I’ll NEVER see my out of town friends ever again, right? =)

Awwwww.

(I came across the article on this site.)

I stumbled across these beautifully designed, offbeat, funny (and occasionally mean) cards on another site.

These are a couple of my favorites:

If you haven’t read or heard Obama’s speech on race yet, you should check it out. It’s very good.

Just devoured the last two books of the Gemma Doyle trilogy this weekend. I’d recommend it to anyone who likes The Golden Compass/Harry Potter series, i.e., young-adult fantasy books, although this one had some very dark and scary scenes. I’ve been a little scared of the dark since I’ve started reading it. It doesn’t help that the last week has been cloudy and stormy with all sorts of noises in the middle of the night. Luckily for me, T’s still working days so he’s there to reassure me there are no monsters in the hall or hiding behind the closet door at night! =)

Aside from obsessively reading, I dragged T along with me to meet several florists this weekend. I don’t want to do it any more than he does and don’t see why I should be stuck with it simply because I’m the bride. Fortunately, he was a great sport about it (mostly) . . . although I think he’s developed a bit of a martyr complex after one of the florist accidently revealed that she doesn’t see many grooms at the initial consultation!  We also looked into hotels near our venue and will hopefully have a block of rooms reserved at a decent price for our guests soon.

Other highlights of the weekend include playing Trivia Pursuit ’80’s edition with T’s brother (T surprised us both by taking the lead before we all called it quits), finally putting up shades in the guest bedroom (T’s mom calls the guest room the Land of Eternal Sunshine because aside from the lack of shades, there’s also a light right outside the window), and watching The Bourne Ultimatium (which was a fun action movie).

Heading back to LA after a great ten day vacation, where we visited T’s family in Fresno and my family in San Jose. I’m five pounds heavier, but ten times happier having seen so many of our friends and loved ones!

Happy new year everyone! Wishing you all love, peace, health and happiness in the upcoming year!

(As told to me by T.)

T: Yes, my finance’s beautiful and in great shape [Note from Y: Not so sure I believe this part.] She loves to run and has run a few marathons.

Co-Worker: Really? Well, that’s all well and good now, but what happens when she blows out a knee and can’t run anymore?

T: Well, I guess she’ll just eat less. [Note from Y: I definitely believe this part.]

This may be the funniest/sadest thing I’ve ever seen…