Two years

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.