Enter 2009

Every New Year's, Paul and I take a little day retreat to recount everything that happened in the closing year and set a list of prayer requests/resolutions for the coming year. This year we decided to check out the Griffith Observatory and take a little hike in the surrounding hills in the balmy and perfect 70 degree weather.

Aiko dreams of being a movie star as she overlooks the smoggy view of the Hollywood sign.

We found a bench and sat down to have some water and apples after our not-very-strenuous hike. Here we took out my journal and jotted down all the things that happened this year. Some highlights:

• Fasting meat for 40 days and subsequently having to go on a diet
• Gaining a job extension, losing a job
• Saying our goodbyes to San Diego after a short year in paradise
  
• Starting my DMA
• Settling into a new church
• Seeing Paul's dad again after two years
• Releasing my first CD
• Paul joining/managing an adult baseball league
• Moving two times in one year
• Going to France at the last minute with my sister
  
• Waiting and waiting and waiting on God
• Enjoying whirlwind trips to New York
• Discovering that we like LA- who would have thought?
  

It's been a year full of changes and looking back now, full of blessing. We took a minute to watch the sunset over the hills and said goodbye to 2008.

Looking forward, I have a few hopes for 2009.

Practicing every day this year. Yep, that's right. 365 days of guitar. No two week breaks after a concert. No taking holidays off. Making it a part of the rhythm of my lifestyle. Seeing if it can become as second nature as eating or brushing my teeth and discovering what comes out of that. Which makes me think that I need one of these babies:

It's a travel guitar that my former teacher endorses called the SoloEtte. The wire edges come apart and they zip up into a portable bag. It has the feel of a normal guitar so you can keep your hand muscles in shape even while you're on vacation. It even has a headphone jack so you can hear yourself practice on the thing while you're traveling. I have never cared enough about playing that I thought I would need one of these. But I think its time to up the anti. Alas, this baby retails for a whopping $850 and I don't have any vacations planned right now. Oh well.

Taking better care of my body. I don't know why I've been feeling the signs of aging lately (being tired without fail at 11pm, seeing a few wrinkles around the eyes, feeling like its harder than ever to get back into shape), but I've been reminded of how much I should cherish my health and take care of my body- not only because these are the last few years of my 20's, but also because if we have kids in a few years, I know that my body will never be the same again. So I'm going to try to do more jogging, yoga at home, and get back into lap swimming, something I did briefly in college and learned to love at one point. USC has a gorgeous heated pool and a jacuzzi that I should take advantage of while I can. This also includes taking better care of my skin and cutting back on things like beer and fried food for sure. (Not so easy considering who I'm married to.)

Learning to live with little and seeing how God multiplies it. Right now we are doing our best to live more frugally. We've thought about some ways to save money during this season of unemployment, and have wondered why we can't make that a normal part of our lifestyle even after a job comes a long. God is really showing us that He can make so much out of so little. And life is all the richer for it.

Case in point: Korean BBQ at home! When you have all-you-can-eat BBQ in K-town here, it's about $17 per person, which is pretty cheap for the amount of food you get, but still runs a little over $40 after tax and tip. So instead, for our first dinner of the year we grabbed some thinly sliced sirloin from the Korean market (disturbingly cheap at about $2.50 a package) and all the coordinating veggies (green leaf lettuce, sesame leaves, thinly sliced scallions with red pepper flakes, and a Korean herb called ssuk) and whipped out the tabletop grill we got as a wedding present. So instead of $40, we managed to spent less than $10 with the stellar prices at the Korean market. Add an $11 bottle of champagne from Costco, and we were pretty happy.

The new year brings many unresolved challenges, but much excitement for what God has in store. As I've learned to say in Korean, seh-heh bock man-ee bahd-euh-seh-yo! Happy New Year!