Annuals

Anniversaries are funny things.  The majority of my students admit to having never celebrated a wedding anniversary as weddings tend to be tricky here in China.  Do they celebrate the day they signed their marriage contract, or the evening the couple hosted giant wedding reception/variety show in their honor?

Oddly enough, Jason and I had never celebrated an anniversary before.  We, like so many of our married Chinese counterparts, were a bit fuzzy on our details.  I mostly attribute this to a conversation that I love telling friends about.

On the afternoon of March 13, 2006...

G:  So I called my mom today to wish her a happy birthday.  She asked me about you.
J:  Mm-hmm...
G:  She asked about what's going on between you and me.
J:  Yeah?
G:  And I didn't know what to tell her.
J:  Well, I've been telling my friends you're my girlfriend for the past few weeks.
G:  ............

Yup, folks.  That's how a DTR happens.

Well, it's a good thing that wedding dates are a bit more definite.  And if this is where the bar is set for our very first anniversary celebration ever, then Jason has a lot to live up to for future anniversaries.

Here's how we celebrated our first year as a married couple:

We hopped onto our lovely e-scooter, Estelle, and made our way to the subway station.

En route to the restaurant...

...we saw dinosaurs in a shopping plaza!  Only in China...

We made it to our dinner spot and ordered up a Mediterranean feast that made us smile pitas.

We went for a stroll through brand new shopping malls with vacant store fronts.  Until I came to Beijing, I would never have expected to find a moment of peace away from crowds in a shopping mall.

We made our way to a Cantonese restaurant for a Chocolate Banana Ice Cream Parfait.  In the words of Donkey, "Everybody loves parfait!"  But Americans, take note.  Those are corn flakes on the bottom of the bowl.  This was one righteous parfait.

And here's the best part of our anniversary.  When we got married, Jason and I decided that we'd always give each other gifts made of the element that represents that anniversary.  Year one is represented by paper.  Jason commissioned a friend who is an art student to paint a watercolor of our first home as a married couple.

Everyone.  Welcome to our home.

Well, this is cool

Our wedding and day-after photo session were featured on Love and Lavender, an adorable wedding blog that features weddings, engagements, and little DIY ideas for fellow budget-conscious brides.

As much as I heard that it's "just one day," it is amazing how much joy our wedding continues to bring me as I look back at the photos and remember all the little moments and beautiful people that made our wedding day so special.

Of course, immense applause and all credit for photos by the illustrious Emily.

One Big Long Catch-Up

Today is my day off, and consequently the last day I have to pack and get ready to leave my most favorite place in the world (so far).

A lot's happened since my last post, when I was just getting re-accustomed to life in the Bay Area.  Among those things, the big ones would be...

I got married.

To this guy.

We had a beautiful...

and delicious...

and rockin' out with your hair let loose...

wedding.



We went to Cancun, Mexico on our honeymoon.

Where we ate some amazing food.

And enjoyed a body of water that wasn't the great Pacific Ocean.

And I had an amazing six-month run with some of the greatest people on earth.

Now, we're off to visit my folks in Oregon, then it's back to China.  Which leads to the obligatory tradition of collecting as much stuff as I can squeeze into my suitcase that I know I can't get in China.

I've been reading up on the "Six Items or Less" experiment online, in which people are challenged to go for an entire month wearing only six items of clothing.  It's an enticing prospect, simply because nice clothing that isn't covered in sequins, ruffles, or bad Engrish is certainly hard to come by in Beijing.  Perhaps this could become an experiment due to necessity.  Something to ponder... but it definitely means I'd have to choose my six items while stateside.

More updates when more interesting things pop up in the next few months.

For now, I bid the SF Bay Area a tearful farewell.  I love you.  I miss you already.  You are unlike any other place in the world... and I am forever grateful for your existence.

Jitters

Today, I checked me & J's wedding website.  On the homepage, there's a countdown to our wedding day.

Today, the clock informed me that we are at 165 days to go.  It seems like just a week ago when J and I set up the site and it began counting down from some ridiculous number like 407 and we kind of chuckled at how long our engagement will be.  Others assured us the time would fly.  I still disagree, but man... 165 days?  The time isn't exactly flying by, but it certainly is passing without me fully realizing it.

Jitters?  None yet.  But ask me in 164 days, and my answer might be a little different.

One of our engagement photos, taken October 2009 by my buddy Buzz.

The Father-Daughter Dance

The Father-Daughter Dance has been a topic of some debate between my Pops and me long before I was even engaged.  A few years back, my dad had this crazy kick where he was only listening to country music and insisted that he'd found the song we'd dance to at my wedding.  It was country.  The lyrics are very, very literal, and whomever wrote it penned it- I'm sure- with the intention of selling millions of singles to soft-hearted dads with daughters on their way to the altar.  And... it's COUNTRY!  The one form of music I can't stand listening to!

His gentle suggestion was met with some severe protests from me that were probably insensitive to my dad's vulnerability.  Even though my sister keeps insisting that I just "let him do what he wants," something still doesn't sit well with me with the idea of dancing with my father at my wedding to a song I can't stand.  Maybe it won't matter, but wouldn't it be so much better for us to have found a song together?  One that is significant to the both of us?

We still haven't settled on one.  The one I thought of was the song "One of These Days" by Neil Young, which my dad sent to me via email last year when I first came to China and my dad mused to me about how the song reminded him of me.  But today, I think I finally found it.

When I was a little girl, I watched The Sound of Music everyday for a year.  And when I say "everyday," I really mean it.  My aunt has told me about when she'd come to visit us and I'd be sitting there very faithfully in front of the television watching Julie Andrews rescue the Von Trapp family from eternal cold-heartedness, and then we'd re-enact the "I am sixteen going on seventeen" dance by jumping from sofa cushion to sofa cushion.  I'd totally forgotten that the first time Captain von Trapp melts his icy exterior was when he sings Edelweiss for the first time with... his eldest daughter, Liesel.

Courtesy of threshold.vox.com

I love this scene.  The children all look up at their father adoringly as he reconnects with a lost identity that was buried under years of grieving, politics, and one very glamorous woman.  I love the unspoken gesture he makes towards Liesel to duet with him, a hidden secret that only the two of them know about.  It's a lovely song, and a familiar one, too.

Courtesy of solarnavigator.net

Not to mention, the song isn't so stinking long.  There's nothing worse than hearing the chorus for the fourth time while the father and daughter are still up there swaying awkwardly.