31 December 2011

looking back at 2011

Well it's about 8 hours until the new year rings in.

This past year has been chock full of the good, the bad, and the horribly ugly. I'm just going to list as many major things that I can remember, about this past year, negative or positive. No chronological order to it.


• I graduated college in May, finally receiving my B.F.A., although my parents were not able to attend my graduation - but my uncle and aunt did

• We moved from Lancaster, PA to Alexandria, VA in the hopes of starting my career in the design industry

• I gained a lot of experience in interviewing for positions...

• My grandfather died at the age of 95, on July 11th, 2011

• I worked for 1 year plus some, as a dog walker, and loved the opportunity to be around dogs again, every day

• The relationship between my younger brother and the rest of us, his immediate family, has seemed to deteriorate even more

• Takeshi and I went to the Spy Museum in D.C. for the first time. Still no where NEAR my favorite museum in D.C.

• I got to reconnect with my older cousin Matt, and his wife Kathy

• I got to reconnect with a friend, Ashley, from college who lives in VA - to realize I had made a real friend and someone I really do love to visit - and to see her as a mum, now! ;)

• Takeshi and I celebrating our 3rd marriage anniversary, which included going to Florida. There were a lot of firsts for me there - being in Florida for the first time, being to Disneyland for the first time (as an adult, haha...), swimming in the ocean together for the first time

• Hoping for the best, and trying to plan out things for my career/our financial savings to begin, etc. and having everything fall through

• Wanting 2011 to have been our year where we finally were on an up-curve. To be able to have moved for the last time. To settle down somewhere, and find jobs that support us and that we actually like - and not getting any of it, in the end

• Seeing mum and dad again in the summertime


Hub and I have many hopes for 2012. Maybe this next year will OUR year. The one we're not in a hurry to get through. Oh, but it goes by so fast, no matter what.

But what is even better than us hoping for better - is us planning and working towards better. Because in the end, that's what will get us there. I have a feeling that in a year's time, there's a good chance we won't be Frederick, because like I said, this area is pretty much a dead-end for us (= hub's career). But who really knows? At the start of 2011 we never thought we'd be here, even!

I hope everyone has a safe New Year's Eve. I hope you're able to be with friends or family. I hope that if this past year hasn't been all you've wanted it to be, then you look towards 2012 with renewed motivation for your goals, continued passion for what you love to do, and an never-ending eagerness for a better future.

27 December 2011

xmas day & new year's plans

Heyla everyone. Another belated post!

Forgive me if this post is short and sweet (although I may ramble). I'm having a bit of a nightcap before bed. I wake up for work at 10am tomorrow.

Christmas Day was really great! Takeshi and I drove to Forest Hill, MD to spend some time at my uncle's (my mum's oldest brother) and aunt's house. There ended up being a lot of people there! Most of the people I knew, some I had met a LONG time ago and had since forgotten. It was good to see everyone again and touch base. Good food was eaten, good drinks were drunk, good conversation was had. My uncle and aunt have 2 airedale dogs, my other uncle has a German sheperd, and my cousin and his wife brought their pug - so it was great to have so many puppies around to hug and pick up (mostly the pug!). Being away from dogs constantly, with the dog-walking business in Alexandria, made me really pine for some dog-attention. Darn, we've got to get our own doggy sometime soon in the future! ;) I was a little nervous about Takeshi trying to mingle with my relatives again, since he's a bit shy when it comes to people he's only known for a little bit, nevermind all of the people he didn't know at all, who were there. But he seemed to rub along with everyone, and that made me happy. It's what I yearn for these days - the coming-together of my family no matter what side of the 'family' they're on. And to have it go well! ;)

Our plans for New Year's Eve are to once again have my best friend from high school come over! It's really becoming a tradition I think! I have my fingers crossed that the hub will come home that night before 1am, and to not be too toasted. I know how the restaurant crowd can get together for drinks after dinner service, on holidays (and any other excuse they can pull out of their ass).

We're planning to have ODEN! Oh - my god - so delicious! It's been so long since we've had it. We already bought 2 packs of ready-made tofu delectables/fish cake items at the local asian mart. That stuff isn't cheap either! $10 a pop. Jeeeeez.

I also bought some konnyaku (I'm more of fan of it, than TK) and some napa. Hub has already prepared the broth for it. It just sucks that we don't have the traditional "ceramic oden pot" for it. I looked for it in the couple of asian marts we frequent, but they were either too expensive for me, or, they were "cheap Korean/Chinese knock-offs" as hub put it. Ahem. >__>;;

So we should have a good night. It stinks that I'm due in New Year's day to work at around 5pm-ish I believe. But I can't really turn it down. I needs' the money and all...

It definitely will be the first time in a while that hub will have off when I don't! Hehe. Have a good weekend everyone.

16 December 2011

brooding

I'm writing a quick post before I'm due at work at 5pm. I have about 1.5 hours till then.

Lately, life has been ok. With me, the internship is great. I'm getting some good chances to bulk up my portfolio, and the people I work with are probably the some of most easy going men on the planet. I just wish I was getting paid for something I actually like doing, instead of cashiering. The part time job is what it is. I just hope to get the most hours I can out of it, which = more money. For the time being, I'm going on a good track, until hopefully we're able to move AGAIN next year perhaps. I hate moving around. I wish we didn't have to. But Frederick does not offer much of anything to Takeshi's career. He's having a tough time with his current job right now. Which translates to frustration at home.

I want to help him. I always do. But this is something that I can't fix right now, it seems. This restaurant is the best he could find in the area, when we put ourselves into this mess of moving from VA, etc etc.

I can't MAKE him be happy about his situation, or demand that he deal with it better, though I wish he would just a little. He's not. Sometimes I don't even ask him how his day was. Good chance it was, "ok...I guess." Or he rants about stupid things that happened there that day. (And I listen because I know that if you don't do it, your brain would explode.) It's awkward. I don't want to remind him about his crappy feelings about this job. But for the time being, we have to be here, since the internship is the best thing that came out of the whole thing. It's not a paid design job, but it's the next best thing.

Ideally I'm sure we'd like to move to a bigger town/city. Where he can find a restaurant he wants to work at. Sometimes I think his standards are too high, for the right job that he wants (because of the type of dishes/food he likes to produce). Sometimes I think that he'll never be happy, EVER TRULY happy, no matter where he works - unless he works at the Alinea restaurant in Chicago, etc. But that's a hard place to get into, I believe. Insanely popular, fine dining sort of place.

I know, that for him, he's not pleased with his lot right now. But sometimes I just can't stand to see him glum and frustrated because that makes ME depressed. I still have a lot of hope for the future, especially with getting the internship. I can't be depressed every day about how all of our plans fell through, and we were pretty well forced to move here. It's not a shitty place. It's just not for us, in the long term.

I guess I just usually try to be mostly happy with what we have, wherever we are. Try to enjoy little things, like days off together. It just seems that he can never really do that; his job and surroundings are always bringing him down.

I just hope that the new year brings some POSITIVE changes for the both of us. I want to see him eager to go to work everyday, because I know, at the core, that the culinary field is where his heart is. I hope we're able to start saving financially. I hope that I keep moving upwards in my field as well. We'll just have to see!

To end, a random photo of the Frederick library we visited the other day! Have a good weekend everyone.




08 December 2011

turkey day photos

Photos of our quiet Thanksgiving. The chef outdid himself as usual. ;) I helped though! And made pumpkin pie.




We put up the tree a few days before


A present sent from the inlaws! Incredibly adorable!!


Wonderfully painted ornaments from Armenia, given to us by my parents


my pumpkin pie ;)


hub pickling some veggies


brussel sprouts, eventually was sautéed with onions and bacon


the chef at work


stuffing made with homemade turkey broth


Everything together! They made awesome leftovers.


02 December 2011

quick post

I'm planning to post about Thanksgiving for us, which will mostly be photos of the yummy food Takeshi cooked that day. (I helped!) Work has kept me busy mostly, and the internship as well. Working on Black Friday was crazy, though I didn't have to go in at midnight or whatnot. I came in at 8:30am and worked till 2pmish but it was still steadily busy all day. I cross my fingers that the hours I asked for, or that I'm available for, are given to me consistently. I know it won't be perfect, but I hope to earn at least enough each month to help us earn savings instead of just 'leveling off'.

I'm sitting at the desk now, still wearing PJs. I go in today 4pm til 9:30pm. Not too bad, but I could do more hours. Tomorrow was originally free on my schedule :( but a manager came up yesterday and asked if I could take on a shift - UH YES!! So tomorrow I work from 6pm til 10:30pm. Hurrah.

Today, the 2nd, is Takeshi's birthday!!!!!!!!!! He is 25 today. I'm gonna call him じじ "jiji" from now on. Hehe, just kiddin'! ;) Here's to 25 more years of celebrating his birthday. TK あいしてる。^3^)

More soon. Have a good Friday everyone!