merry christmas!

we hope that everyone had a wonderful time during this holiday season. we had a lovely long weekend. we spent christmas eve at dp's boss's home, christmas day we had our friends over with their kiddo and new puppy, and we spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and completing some small home repairs. i painted our front door (finally- 5 months later!) and some trims. i was quite happy with my work. we also put up some curtains for our patio door, which we're undecided about whether we like them or not. it was a quiet christmas and we sure did miss family. hopefully 2012 will bring us together with them all for certain.

built a house in mexico

this past sat dp and i joined a group of people from our church to build a home for a deserving family in tijuana. this was dp and i's first big volunteer roles together. it was a wonderful experience overall. we nearly missed the trip though when we woke up at 4:40am and was supposed to be at the meeting place at 4:45am! hehe. anyways, the pictures below share the experience more than we can. we learned a lot and it was a humbling experience given the life they lead compared to our cozy lives here.

us at the start of the trip. behind us is the family's original home.

the cement slab that the house will be built on.

the first wall being put up.

dp striking a pose.

rp using the drop saw (for the first time!)

... and a sledge hammer :)

towards completion!

the lovely family.

home project complete!

their new home!

love this song

You Love Me Anyways

what really matters

aside from God and family and friends, what really matters (atleast to me) is thoughtfulness. when people take time to think of others and with joy do something for someone else. amidst the stressors of life, i'd like to take a moment to share the act of kindness that happened to me today... last week, when meeting with a client to deliver a workshop, as we were walking to the classroom, i mentioned something i was going through. we never got to finish our convo because of course the day took over. today's a week later, and i remembered that i had shared that convo with her, but thought she for sure forgot about it. what meaning does it really have for her to remember? she is so busy to even act on it. to my surprise, when i came back today for day 2 of the training, the students had written us a huge thank you card, and the best part (in response to my disclosure last week), she gave me a book and some sage to burn at home. it was so thoughtful and really filled my heart with happiness. it's moments like this that reminds me that the other not so good moments with others and the stressors in life do not matter. there is good out there and i am thankful to be a recipient of an act of kindness today.

one of my best friends

back in august kim visited me! it was nice to have her visit; we did some sight-seeing, but mostly just hung out. it's always so nice to be in the company of a friend who just lets you be and you both just are... if that even makes sense. thanks for making time :)

dp is a car bodywork man

several months ago as i was driving on the highway, i ran over a tire piece and this is what happened to our silvia.

luckily dp furnished his hidden car bodywork skills and repaired it! we ordered the piece online, he spray painted it, and installed it. kudos to dp!

rain water (and everything else water) collectors

yes, dp and i collect as much water as possible from (the small amt of) rain that we have here and recycle it. here is his diy rain water collector system. go dp! so proud of him. we also collect water from our shower and washer too, and recycle it. yes, we are cool (and green).

housewarmings

dp and i believe (or at least i truly do) strongly that we should always open our house to our friends and strangers. now that we have more space inside and outside, we have had the true joy of inviting others over. thus far we've already hosted 2 housewarmings, which by the way exhaust us, so that'll be it. in addition, it's just nice to have our friends over for dinner and hanging out. here are some pics of our first housewarming since they've been sitting on our computer.

nice getaway

dp and i had a lovely thanksgiving which started on wed with a day off. thursday we went to visit friends who are expecting (yay!) and then to another friends' place for dinner with their kiddos. it was all very lovely. then fri-sun we went off to palm springs for a short but nice getaway from our routine here and our love of fixing our home. we weren't sure what exactly to expect from our trip since all we knew of palm springs was relaxation, nice weather, pool, and beautiful scenary. we did get most of that (minus the pool, we went instead into the hot tub), but in addition, went hiking on san jacinto mountain and within coachella valley preserve. looking at these pics you'd never know that they were 20-30 minutes from each other...

hiking in coachella valley preserve

on top of a high point on the mountain... approx 7000-8000 feet above sea level

san jacinto mountain... where there was ice and 3" of snow!

our view outside our "resort" hotel

happy thanksgiving!

... we hope that you have a day filled with love and thanksgiving. life is so short and precious. we hope that you spend it with the ones that matter and do the things that create lasting memories. love from dp and rp!

professional photos

remember awhile back i was hoping that i'd gain dp's buy-in to get some professional photos? well... it turns out with the help of Groupon, Canvas on Demand, some Pottery Barns frames, Costco, two cuties, a photographer, AND of course my parents' generosity, we were able to schedule a professional photo session with Jaime Murray. the following picture is our favorite. we have it in a 16 x 20 canvas in our living room. looks like we're in hawaii or something, but really, we're in a park.

where has the time gone?

needless to say... time has flown by and i have not made it a priority to post. i wish i could say that it's all been dandy (which is my typical verbage), but that would be a lie. it has been quite hectic for us and although it's been mostly good and that we shall be thankful amidst it all, there have been several stressors. we are just pulled in many directions in terms of early/late work meetings and tasks to accomplish, church commitments, social gatherings, us time, self-care time, and of course, home improvements. please pray for us as we hope for our lives to settle a bit. my guess is it won't until the week of thanksgiving. i have been taking pictures of all of our home improvements, so i shall post them at some point. our house is definitely becoming a home. we had our 2nd house warming several weekends ago and we had many people show up to be a part of our new joy. it was nice.

we are okay!

yesterday around 3:40 pm, san diego and neighboring states experienced a black out. to read more, this is the article. i was at work, working on a document (that btw was new and hadn't saved), and thought, "oh, the power will just return, no biggie". long story short, it didn't return until around 1-2 am today! i must say that dp and i got off pretty lightly in terms of both getting home around 430/5pm, dp retrieving ice from the store (even though they weren't being that helpful), us enjoying each others' company, eating a candle light dinner, and just preparing in case it got worst. luckily we discovered we had a radio that operated on battery so we were able to remain updated about the news regarding the power outage. it's just moments like these that reminds dp and i... we have NO control over something like this, how can we help others, how can we prepare ourselves and work as a team, checking in with friends to make sure they're okay, and wow- how dependent we are on electricity!!!! and this was just a brief power outage. what would happen if we didn't have water?! what if there was a larger natural disaster? it just makes us wonder, and kicks us into gear to explore solar power and emergency preparation items. anyways, thanks for checking in on us. back to work we go today.

my job

in the spirit of the moment, i am overwhelmed with true happiness and gratitude that i have a job that i truly love and am growing professionally and personally in. my job provides me the opportunity to regularly meet people, but most importantly, provide anti-bias and diversity training resources to schools (and preschools) and their parents. as many of you know, promoting one's racial/ethnic identity development and also understanding our society at large through racial/cultural lenses are true passions of mine. i'm so thankful that my job ties in my passions, past research findings, AND i get to converse with people about this! even more bonus is when they're passionate too and we speak endlessly about it. yay for this blessing.

3 years of marriage

happy anniversary to dp and i!!!! we've been married for 3 years and growing stronger and happier (i think ;) thank you everyone for helping us along and supporting/believing in our being together.

the best weekend

i have to make it known to everyone that dp and i had such a nice weekend filled with wonderful conversation and company... and the nice part about it is that most of our original plans fell through! friday we visited our nearby town square and had yummy greek food. the atmosphere was casual and lively, which reminded of madrid. sat we got to spend time at the house accomplishing odds and ends, and i cleaned the whole house (geez!) that evening we went to stone brewing company, which btw for those that live here, it is a must go! we had patio seating, enjoyed meals that we typically don't make, and again, the atmosphere was lively, casual, and the scenery was beautiful. then yesterday- sunday- we went to church, had lunch and hung out with our friends for the whole day, then went to a dinner date with my friend and her husband. i know this may sound simple, and the norm, and for us, it usually is, but since we haven't had such a filled weekend like this with others and ourselves out and about in san diego, it was a joy to have it back since we've been on this busy house journey. thank you to the couples/families we spent time with! we had so much fun. it definitely helps me prepare for the next work week ahead.

how green can we go?

and the answer is: pretty far! dp is discovering many assets of himself... the latest being a "green"-driven guy. being "green" means doing things that will help the environment and be less wasteful. so, here is the growing list of dp's green endeavors aside from the general recycling:
- recycling gray water
- rain water collector bin
- compost bin
- lead-free hoses

6 years... wow

this past sat (8/6/11) was our 6 years since we met one another! yes, we celebrate such occasions. it was nice; dp and i made some kebobs (for the first time), just hung out, and star gazed in our back yard. that was so fun and humbling.

why hello new door(s)

when we first viewed this home, dp and i knew immediately that the security door and front door had to go. just by looking at the below pics you can tell why. notice the beautiful "no no no solicitors" sign! haha... the funny thing is that we rarely have solicitors!


look at the beautiful artwork



see the sign?!



black security door

 now check out our new doors. ideally dp and i wanted a dutch door so that we didn't have to get a security door, but the $ wasn't there, and we are content with the outcome.

you wouldn't believe it, but within 24 hours someone came by and picked up our old doors.

dp is a plumb-er

who would've known that owning a home brings out skills and abilities that you never knew you had... especially when repairs cost way too much. when we first moved in we realized that the bathtub had a major clog that a snake or Drano couldn't fix. so after 2 estimates from plumbers, dp decided to become a plumb-er himself and fix the problemo. after $45 spent at home depot for a new pipe set and odds and ends, and 2 days of working under the house (in the crawl space), we believe that the problem has been solved! go dp!!!! we have yet to regularly use the shower to see if it has successfully worked. these pictures are of the corroded pips that dp had to replace.

that's the crawl space!

my first diy project!

i had been planning for over 6 months to spray paint our wrought iron bistro set. we purchased this over a year ago when we lived in our apt for an amazingly low price (which btw was my first negotiation). anyways, so i bought the spray paint soon after and was waiting for the right time and space to do this diy project. so... a few saturdays ago, i devoted several hours, arm/finger muscles, and 1 trip to home depot for a second can of spray paint, to this wonderful outcome. go rp! that evening i must say that my arms throbbed of pain bc i had to hold down the spray function for hours.

see the rust... many areas of the set had this

after a coat of Rustoleum rust-free paint

our beautiful new looking bistro set

family is everything

dp and i would like to send a shout-out to our lovely families. we are so blessed to have loving parents (and supplemental parents), siblings, and in-laws who support us through our out-of-the-box life endeavors (like reuniting from long distance and moving to san diego, our unique wedding plans, etc.). as we journey through life, we are thankful for their presence and contributions (in all forms) to our lives.

hospitality

dp and i love to have our friends over; typically it is 1 couple and we like to cook for them although most of the time we are scrambling to finish cooking when they first get here. this past weekend we had guests come over fri and sat. it was so fun and a joy to finally be hospitable to our first guests and cook them dinner. dp and i love the fact that we have more room to share with others, but the funny thing is that regardless of the size of your house, the one dominant place that people crowd around is the kitchen and kitchen table! so... this helped me begin my case for a new, larger, (wood), dining table ;)

congrats to sj and nm!

it's congrats post time to all of our friends who are experiencing the upside of life at this moment... this past weekend was all about congratulating loved ones. following are sj and nm; we went to celebrate the pending arrival of their baby girl!

congrats to js and cs!

they just bought their first home! it was nice to go through this journey with friends who were experiencing a similar trajectory.

congrats to mg!

dp's mentee graduated a few weeks ago. congrats to mg- a young man who we admire immensely for his perserverence and drive to make things happen for himself vs play victim to life's road blocks.

bye bye wood panels and blue and tan paint!

dp and i worked hard this past sat to continue our painting endeavor. we finished painting some more of our dining room, and the other 2 bedrooms. the pics below depict the transformation in one of the bedrooms. this room was the least attractive with partial wood paneling, GLUE under it when dp pulled it off, and blue paint! dp and i are quite happy with the outcome. kudos to dp for his endless hours of scraping the glue off the wall by hand.

gifts

when you think of gifts, you can immediately think materialistic gifts. the truth is- we all have spiritual gifts that we are blessed with and are meant to utilize them to bless others and yourself. the more i truly embrace this belief, i have sought out people's gifts to help assist us with our home repairs and other misc. life dilemmas i have. and the cool part is- people are placed in your life strategically and purposefully to provide you their gifts. you just need to see it, be open to asking for it, and of course, being thankful for it. lastly, leveraging people's gifts makes them happy bc when you have a gift in something, it comes natural and therefore, blessing others with it is a joy.

our love (in photos??)

can you believe it? dp and i are nearing our 3 years anniversary this coming august 30th! where has the time gone? and further, we have been together nearly 6 years come august 6th! who would've imagined given dp's longest relationship before me was 6 months and who would've thought that we would still be in love with one another each morning (and most evenings ;) blessed are we. why i'm writing this? well, one- bc i am in amazement! and two- because for our anniversary gift, i'm hoping to win dp over to agree to having professional photos taken of us. i'd love to invest in something we've (well I) held off for a while (not like dp is thinking of this as much as i am...) so, we shall see if this will come true!

dp and his serving

this post is dedicated to my wonderful husband... who deserves an acknowledgment for his selfless serving and my admiration for his humble nature. last fri-mon dp went with the church's youth group to paint the youth and children's rooms in a village church in mexico and also by conducting a vacation bible study (vbs). i'm so proud of him and wanted to share this with you all because if you ever asked him what he's been up to, he wouldn't ever bring this up. yet, what a difference he is making in the lives of the youth, our church, and the church in mexicali.

post-paint job with paintings done by one of the kiddos

i love being home

we are so thankful for our new home. thank you to everyone who has helped us get to this point. dp and i sure do spend a lot of time working within our home (and there are many discussions about how much time and energy should go into it), but regardless, we are so happy! we're sitting here now as i type and he reads economist. we just did a few hours of house work. he is scraping glue off the walls in one of the bedrooms and i was pruning the rose bush, and cleaning up odds and ends. we also met another set of neighbors which was cool. everyone seems respectful of privacy yet very friendly and helpful. apparently our other neighbors had a block party in jan and are going to have another one this summer. i am excited for that and maybe will be a part of that coordination. today dp and i finally returned back to church... it had been several weeks. it was nice to be back. it's so wonderful to be a part of a community that notices when you've been absent for several weeks. anyways, life is dandy and we are just immensely thankful and happy. praise You Lord... for your blessings and faithfulness in providing us with what we need and want... but all for the purposes You have in store for us that we may never understand within our human mind.

love these songs...

whenever need be, i listen to these songs. i thought you may like them too.

blessings by laura story
grace by laura story
7 x 70 by chris august

hubbell home

today my dear friend ll invited me to join her to visit james hubbell and his wife's estate in santa ysabel, ca: hubbell home. it was such a nice day... to tour their estate filled with detailed and creative pieces of art big and small. it was a great inspiration for work i can do for our home. we shall see if i can pull off some mosaic work. ll thinks i can although i beg to differ that some people are just blessed with that gift.

the hubbells' sons quarters