Our two-year wedding anniversary came and went and I didn't get a chance to blog some of my thoughts. It was on a Tuesday this year and since I have a Tuesday night class, it was hard to be able to go out and celebrate. We did manage to have a nice brunch though and celebrate in our own small ways, and are planning to take a short camping trip once the semester ends- but it was nothing like the somewhat extravagant trip (for us) to Palm Springs that we made for our one-year, complete with multiple spa treatments and mineral water soaks.
I suppose that right now we are in the middle of a challenging season. Paul has been out of work for about a month now, and me being a student have no real form of income besides the one little teaching job that I have. Money is tight and hearing about the economic crisis, along with the coming holiday season which is supposed to tank for retailers, it seems that a lot of people we know are generally in a money-saving mode. When we found out that Paul was losing his job, it came as a big jolt when we realized that the steady income would be pulled out from under us. This resulted in me freaking out for about a day, then brainstorming our options on how to stretch a dollar.
One of the first things we did was go to trim the ways that we spend money on food. Basically this means not splurging on a Friday night meal out, staying in and cooking more, stretching one meal into two, and learning to trim the grocery list of things that are not necessary. This has resulted in a big lifestyle shift since we love eating out...but, it has also really opened the doors to lots of yummy homemade meals made with TLC by my very own house husband! We don't spend a lot of money on ingredients, but so far everything has been delicious. I never thought I'd see the day where Paul would make kim-chi jigae for me (he's more of a beef and grill or pizza sort of guy, and Korean men traditionally don't cook much), but hey, spam is cheap. I've also tried hard to surpress my monthly shopping urges, we don't drive if its not absolutely necessary, we only watch movies at home, and we're trying to persuade Aiko to get a job.
Many people say that money issues are the number one source of grief within marriages. Knowing that, we entered this season of unemployment hoping that we could actually remember it as one of our sweetest. And I can't say that that hasn't been the case. We often cuddle up on the couch with a fuzzy blanket and snuggly dog in our little apartment and feel that we couldn't ask for anything more in life. I'm learning that there are very few things that money can buy that can make the joy of our little family any sweeter.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
New candidate for the White House
The search is on by the Obama family for the new First Puppy.
The press is abuzz with speculation. What kind of dog will they get? The American Kennel Club is hoping they'll get a rescue dog, and has even offered to pick one out for them. There are lots of factors at play here which will be scrutinized like any other political decision. Pure-bred dogs are equated with elitism. Rescue dogs are usually mutts. And, Melia is allergic to dogs, so a dog that is part poodle is high in the running since it would be hypo-allergenic. Rumor has it that the Obamas are considering the goldendoodle, which is like a retriever with bad hair, or a cockapoo, a classic fru-fru sort of dog. Have I got the perfect candidate for the White House.
Being part poodle, she's hypo-allergenic. She's good with kids and loves to snuggle. Her father was a rescue dog. As the only black puppy in her litter, she's dealt with the struggles of her color. All her other white brothers and sisters used to push her out of the feeding zone, but she persevered. She's a mutt, just like Barack called himself at yesterday's press conference. She's overcome barriers and brings people together- dog haters, cat lovers, scared parents. Even Paul's grandma likes her. We think Sasha and Melia would love her.
The only problem is that we would never give her up. But Aiko dreams of one day getting to Washington. The warm weather out here gets monotonous.
The press is abuzz with speculation. What kind of dog will they get? The American Kennel Club is hoping they'll get a rescue dog, and has even offered to pick one out for them. There are lots of factors at play here which will be scrutinized like any other political decision. Pure-bred dogs are equated with elitism. Rescue dogs are usually mutts. And, Melia is allergic to dogs, so a dog that is part poodle is high in the running since it would be hypo-allergenic. Rumor has it that the Obamas are considering the goldendoodle, which is like a retriever with bad hair, or a cockapoo, a classic fru-fru sort of dog. Have I got the perfect candidate for the White House.
Being part poodle, she's hypo-allergenic. She's good with kids and loves to snuggle. Her father was a rescue dog. As the only black puppy in her litter, she's dealt with the struggles of her color. All her other white brothers and sisters used to push her out of the feeding zone, but she persevered. She's a mutt, just like Barack called himself at yesterday's press conference. She's overcome barriers and brings people together- dog haters, cat lovers, scared parents. Even Paul's grandma likes her. We think Sasha and Melia would love her.
The only problem is that we would never give her up. But Aiko dreams of one day getting to Washington. The warm weather out here gets monotonous.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
America!
I have always had a deep love for the story that is American history.
I anticipated that this could happen, hoped and prayed that it would, and yet when I heard the projection on NPR while driving home from school tonight, I couldn't help but feel a huge wave of emotion come over me. Relief, disbelief, pride, humility, joy, and anxiety. Tears streaming down my face, I drove through the streets of downtown LA marveling at the stories and journeys that have made our country what it is and the President that will represent them beginning in 2009.
For the last 8 years, I have not felt pride for the only country I have ever called home. I haven't felt that our government was functioning wisely or honestly. Every trip I've taken abroad, I've had conversations about the incredulity that others have felt toward our policies. A distancing from politics in my own life occurred, a cynicism developed, an excuse formed in my mind that it doesn't matter much anyway. A long journey from the younger version of me that once considered a career in government service, spent a summer registering new citizens to vote, and organizing election monitoring.
And now I feel as though I've reawakened. An amazing thing has happened in our country today that proves that America is never static. We can judge a candidate fairly, we can think for ourselves about what is best for our nation, and we are still the land of the free and the home of the brave. Free because we spoke today for a candidate that we believe represents our story, and brave because we stood up for him despite the opposition's attempt to otherize and distort him.
Barack Obama is a brilliant, eloquent, amazingly gifted man, but he is not our savior. He will not make all our problems go away. But he has fought to achieve an extraordinary moment in extraordinary times, and the pride I feel to be a part of this moment has overwhelmed me in a way that I did not expect. That my own father, a 1st generation Taiwanese immigrant, saw in this African-American candidate a man worth casting his vote for after years of telling me that votes cast in California don't matter, so much so that he would bring his ballot with him on a business trip to China and mail it from distant shores so that his vote would be counted- that tells me that something amazing has occurred. We are still a country that is righting the wrongs of our past and making the world stop and wonder at the endless possibilities that could occur on our shores.
God, bless America.
I anticipated that this could happen, hoped and prayed that it would, and yet when I heard the projection on NPR while driving home from school tonight, I couldn't help but feel a huge wave of emotion come over me. Relief, disbelief, pride, humility, joy, and anxiety. Tears streaming down my face, I drove through the streets of downtown LA marveling at the stories and journeys that have made our country what it is and the President that will represent them beginning in 2009.
For the last 8 years, I have not felt pride for the only country I have ever called home. I haven't felt that our government was functioning wisely or honestly. Every trip I've taken abroad, I've had conversations about the incredulity that others have felt toward our policies. A distancing from politics in my own life occurred, a cynicism developed, an excuse formed in my mind that it doesn't matter much anyway. A long journey from the younger version of me that once considered a career in government service, spent a summer registering new citizens to vote, and organizing election monitoring.
And now I feel as though I've reawakened. An amazing thing has happened in our country today that proves that America is never static. We can judge a candidate fairly, we can think for ourselves about what is best for our nation, and we are still the land of the free and the home of the brave. Free because we spoke today for a candidate that we believe represents our story, and brave because we stood up for him despite the opposition's attempt to otherize and distort him.
Barack Obama is a brilliant, eloquent, amazingly gifted man, but he is not our savior. He will not make all our problems go away. But he has fought to achieve an extraordinary moment in extraordinary times, and the pride I feel to be a part of this moment has overwhelmed me in a way that I did not expect. That my own father, a 1st generation Taiwanese immigrant, saw in this African-American candidate a man worth casting his vote for after years of telling me that votes cast in California don't matter, so much so that he would bring his ballot with him on a business trip to China and mail it from distant shores so that his vote would be counted- that tells me that something amazing has occurred. We are still a country that is righting the wrongs of our past and making the world stop and wonder at the endless possibilities that could occur on our shores.
God, bless America.
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