a few things i'm feeling thankful for today:
air conditioning and ceiling fans. it was only a few years ago that i was living in chicago in a building with no a/c on the hottest summer on record there in awhile. misery.
great friends. ben and amanda have made the last few weeks delightful. i'm going to miss them dreadfully when they move, but getting to spend time with them is something i'm immensely grateful for. as are the wineries of the world: just put two empty bottles in our recycling bin on the back porch. :)
local farmers. henry and i went down to pepper place last weekend armed with a $20 bill, and we promptly spent it all. we came home with two baskets of blackberries, peaches, zucchini, green beans, green onions, and a box of granola. we've eaten everything but 2 of the peaches and the zucchini (it's on the menu for tonight) -- and we're sold. we'll be back for sure.
discoveries. i've been cleaning out some things in our study, and today i randomly found an old pete yorn cd that i was actually looking to buy. he opened for coldplay on their viva la vida tour this summer, and it reminded me how much i liked his old stuff. and now i get to rediscover him without spending a dime.
henry. always. it's funny how many of his habits i've picked up since we've been married -- and, surprisingly, how thankful i am for that. although we've had lots of bills, car stuff, etc. to deal with recently, henry has approached it all patiently and with the expertise of a seasoned pro. i can only hope i pick up more from him.
family. this weekend, we're going to visit my sister and brother-in-law in louisville, ky. today is their 3rd anniversary! my younger sister is coming too, and it should be a good time all around. henry and i keep dreaming about being able to live closer to our siblings... we're excited that this weekend will be another taste of that.
24 June 2009
22 June 2009
falling off the wagon
as i previously mentioned, i have a problem. guess what? i fell off the wagon.
i rearranged our entire bedroom. we ended up having to replace our ceiling fan last week because it broke, so even that's new. it's really cozy... i really like the bench at the foot of the bed.
until next time...
i rearranged our entire bedroom. we ended up having to replace our ceiling fan last week because it broke, so even that's new. it's really cozy... i really like the bench at the foot of the bed.
until next time...
18 June 2009
past, present, future
although i've been a bit dramatic about my poor cabrio (i was more attached than i realized), i was able to bring some closure to its untimely death when we went to see it on friday before they took it to the junkyard. i yanked off the VW symbols from the front and back of the car -- and they are now hanging on my wall as a bit of a memorial. it was a great car and i'll miss it, but i think i am able to move on now.
and -- i really like my new car. we picked it up on monday, and i've begun getting used to it. it's not my old car - but it really is a lot nicer in many ways. it has 4 doors and a hatchback, so it's a lot more functional. there's even an auxillary input so i can plug in my ipod. hot. i really feel so lucky to have been able to find an awesome replacement car so quickly and for such a reasonable price. here's to years of fun in the new car!
so it's already june 18. time has flown the last few weeks! i don't mind being so far along in my "scholarly activity" block -- as i'm sure others doing theirs can attest to -- but i do still actually have to DO IT. i'm currently frequenting lister hill library, desperately channeling my stats knowledge from undergrad in order to run some analyses and make sense of them. henry and i will be gone from july 9-16, so i really have only the next three weeks to finish the project! i'm actually ECSTATIC about this... but also needing to, as i've said, DO IT.
then, on the delightful day of july 27, i start my neurology clerkship to be quickly proceeded by internal medicine and surgery. i know that sometime over the next few months when i'm about to drift off to sleep in the call room bunkbed and am abruptly woken up to do some menial task, i will probably look back to this time of research and curse myself for not basking in its glory. but nevermind that. i'm readyreadyready to take care of patients. i'm ready to do what i went to med school to do. let me do it already! :) ...ok i'll finish this project first, dangit.
and -- i really like my new car. we picked it up on monday, and i've begun getting used to it. it's not my old car - but it really is a lot nicer in many ways. it has 4 doors and a hatchback, so it's a lot more functional. there's even an auxillary input so i can plug in my ipod. hot. i really feel so lucky to have been able to find an awesome replacement car so quickly and for such a reasonable price. here's to years of fun in the new car!
so it's already june 18. time has flown the last few weeks! i don't mind being so far along in my "scholarly activity" block -- as i'm sure others doing theirs can attest to -- but i do still actually have to DO IT. i'm currently frequenting lister hill library, desperately channeling my stats knowledge from undergrad in order to run some analyses and make sense of them. henry and i will be gone from july 9-16, so i really have only the next three weeks to finish the project! i'm actually ECSTATIC about this... but also needing to, as i've said, DO IT.
then, on the delightful day of july 27, i start my neurology clerkship to be quickly proceeded by internal medicine and surgery. i know that sometime over the next few months when i'm about to drift off to sleep in the call room bunkbed and am abruptly woken up to do some menial task, i will probably look back to this time of research and curse myself for not basking in its glory. but nevermind that. i'm readyreadyready to take care of patients. i'm ready to do what i went to med school to do. let me do it already! :) ...ok i'll finish this project first, dangit.
14 June 2009
12 June 2009
mourning
the car is totalled. it's gone. i wish i could have driven it one more time.
it seems so silly, i guess, to be so upset over a car. i wish i could explain how much was wrapped up in that car.
from the moment i started college-searching, my dad told me that he would buy me a car if i got a full ride. so i did. to samford. and i knew exactly what car i wanted: a volkswagen cabrio to ride around in with the wind in my hair.
the day my dad and i picked up the car from the owners was only a week after i had major knee surgery. i was all bandaged up, but i remember smiling so big my face hurt by the time we got home. i was so proud of that car - you would have thought i built the thing myself by hand.
i took my little sister to school in that car the last few weeks of my senior year in high school. henry and i started dating shortly after i got that car. i went off the samford in the fall in that car. it's a very distinctive car - it's bright red. everyone at samford knew it was me when i drove by. in fact, as irony would have it, our insurance agent is the father of two little boys who i babysat for beginning around that time - and they adored my car. their dad hasn't had the heart to tell them about it yet.
the car went to memphis with grace and lauren in tow, and to auburn to visit high school friends on late night trips, and to the beach with dear sweet hilary. its been to atlanta for shows, many times to jackson, tn to visit my older sister when she was in college, and many times to nashville to visit my younger sister. it took my mom and i on a very long journey to and from new orleans, and it took me by myself to visit louisville, ky and beth and drew. if i had a nickel for every trip it made down lakeshore, down university, into the med school parking lot...
here's wishing it could make just one more. it's really really hard for me, right now, to think about it in a junkyard. i have a shoebox full of the things i took out of it: bumper stickers, an air freshener, papers with directions on them... all meaningless, but so full of meaning. i feel so melodramatic, but i can't help it. it's been a pretty consistent and faithful pal through these formative years, and it will be missed dearly.
as if by fortune, coldplay's "fix you" came on toinght while i lay there unable to sleep. i'll be fine - i can be fixed - but i have definitely lost something i can't replace.
it seems so silly, i guess, to be so upset over a car. i wish i could explain how much was wrapped up in that car.
from the moment i started college-searching, my dad told me that he would buy me a car if i got a full ride. so i did. to samford. and i knew exactly what car i wanted: a volkswagen cabrio to ride around in with the wind in my hair.
the day my dad and i picked up the car from the owners was only a week after i had major knee surgery. i was all bandaged up, but i remember smiling so big my face hurt by the time we got home. i was so proud of that car - you would have thought i built the thing myself by hand.
i took my little sister to school in that car the last few weeks of my senior year in high school. henry and i started dating shortly after i got that car. i went off the samford in the fall in that car. it's a very distinctive car - it's bright red. everyone at samford knew it was me when i drove by. in fact, as irony would have it, our insurance agent is the father of two little boys who i babysat for beginning around that time - and they adored my car. their dad hasn't had the heart to tell them about it yet.
the car went to memphis with grace and lauren in tow, and to auburn to visit high school friends on late night trips, and to the beach with dear sweet hilary. its been to atlanta for shows, many times to jackson, tn to visit my older sister when she was in college, and many times to nashville to visit my younger sister. it took my mom and i on a very long journey to and from new orleans, and it took me by myself to visit louisville, ky and beth and drew. if i had a nickel for every trip it made down lakeshore, down university, into the med school parking lot...
here's wishing it could make just one more. it's really really hard for me, right now, to think about it in a junkyard. i have a shoebox full of the things i took out of it: bumper stickers, an air freshener, papers with directions on them... all meaningless, but so full of meaning. i feel so melodramatic, but i can't help it. it's been a pretty consistent and faithful pal through these formative years, and it will be missed dearly.
as if by fortune, coldplay's "fix you" came on toinght while i lay there unable to sleep. i'll be fine - i can be fixed - but i have definitely lost something i can't replace.
08 June 2009
bad day.
henry said it for me. there have been more than a few tears shed by me today. this was my first car - my gift from my parents for getting a full ride to undergrad - and it's been my pride and joy for 7 years. only time will tell its fate.
05 June 2009
rearrangements
i have a confession. an admission, really. many of you know this already, but you may not have known the extent. i have a problem. hi, my name is sharon. "hi, sharon!" and i am ADDICTED to rearranging furniture.
it got really bad in college... especially when i had a big test coming up. productive procrastination i liked to call it - but my roommates just found it disorienting. i'd rearrange our common room. i'd rearrange the room i shared with my roommate. ...and now i'm married with an apartment full of furniture. and an enabling husband.
when we moved into this new place, i convinced myself there was only one way to arrange the furniture. i really had myself convinced... for about a week. since, i've rearranged our bedroom, sitting room, study, and dining room. i even switched physical places of the dining room and sitting room. i've replaced a shelf in the kitchen, rearranged which chairs are in which rooms, and completely changed the orientation of bookshelves in the study. you'd think i had a big test coming up... but i already took the biggest one of my life a few weeks ago! is this compensation? you be the judge.
some evidence:
the dining room is now situated near the front door. we bought a little bench (on the far right) for putting on / taking off shoes.
where the dining room was located before is now a cozy sitting room, complete with books... and cats. i also moved the comfy recliner my parents handed-down to us from the study out in the living room (where henry's sitting on the far right). we really like the extra seating it gives in the living room.
yup, i even rearranged everything in our bedroom. it gets really bright with all the windows, so i had the idea to hang the curtains we bought for the sliding glass doors at our old place... they look extra long and (according to henry) kind of posh.
that's it for now... until i fall off the wagon again.
it got really bad in college... especially when i had a big test coming up. productive procrastination i liked to call it - but my roommates just found it disorienting. i'd rearrange our common room. i'd rearrange the room i shared with my roommate. ...and now i'm married with an apartment full of furniture. and an enabling husband.
when we moved into this new place, i convinced myself there was only one way to arrange the furniture. i really had myself convinced... for about a week. since, i've rearranged our bedroom, sitting room, study, and dining room. i even switched physical places of the dining room and sitting room. i've replaced a shelf in the kitchen, rearranged which chairs are in which rooms, and completely changed the orientation of bookshelves in the study. you'd think i had a big test coming up... but i already took the biggest one of my life a few weeks ago! is this compensation? you be the judge.
some evidence:
the dining room is now situated near the front door. we bought a little bench (on the far right) for putting on / taking off shoes.
where the dining room was located before is now a cozy sitting room, complete with books... and cats. i also moved the comfy recliner my parents handed-down to us from the study out in the living room (where henry's sitting on the far right). we really like the extra seating it gives in the living room.
yup, i even rearranged everything in our bedroom. it gets really bright with all the windows, so i had the idea to hang the curtains we bought for the sliding glass doors at our old place... they look extra long and (according to henry) kind of posh.
that's it for now... until i fall off the wagon again.
03 June 2009
cheap cuts
a few months ago, henry had this idea to start a blog where we kept track of all the money we save on things. we are both coupon clippers and bargain shoppers... and we get really excited when we save money (i'm talking REALLY excited). although such a blog does not exist, i shall take a moment to document the savings of the tsay family with regard to haircuts.
picture this: you are a man. you like to keep your hair pretty short. your hair grows approximately 17.4 inches a month (ok, that might be a little exaggeration). so what do you do? well, if you are mr. henry tsay, you probably hit up your local headstart once a month, dropping $15 plus a tip. but alas! you have another option. enter your wife with a $15 hair buzzer from walmart. SHIZAM! your monthly haircut has paid for itself in one month. although it was good my first try didn't occur before some type of family portraits, i've gotten better. i even got mother-in-law approval last week. that's kind of a big deal.
so far, tsay family haircut monthly budget: $0.
although i wish the hair buzzer tactic would work on my flowing locks, face it ladies, we need a professional. or do we? i recently discovered the (incredible) value of hitting up a local cosmetology school for a haircut. although these students are not yet "professionals," they work harder than anyone i've ever had cut my hair. they know the techniques, and they are trying to do their best both for you and their instructors. although the entire experience is not one of a high-class salon, the results are perfectly acceptable - and oh so great for the budget. the damage? $7 for a shampoo and cut. i don't get my hair colored, but they will do it for around $30. STEALS! all steals.
so, total tsay family monthly haircut budget: $7 every other month or so. BAM.
picture this: you are a man. you like to keep your hair pretty short. your hair grows approximately 17.4 inches a month (ok, that might be a little exaggeration). so what do you do? well, if you are mr. henry tsay, you probably hit up your local headstart once a month, dropping $15 plus a tip. but alas! you have another option. enter your wife with a $15 hair buzzer from walmart. SHIZAM! your monthly haircut has paid for itself in one month. although it was good my first try didn't occur before some type of family portraits, i've gotten better. i even got mother-in-law approval last week. that's kind of a big deal.
so far, tsay family haircut monthly budget: $0.
although i wish the hair buzzer tactic would work on my flowing locks, face it ladies, we need a professional. or do we? i recently discovered the (incredible) value of hitting up a local cosmetology school for a haircut. although these students are not yet "professionals," they work harder than anyone i've ever had cut my hair. they know the techniques, and they are trying to do their best both for you and their instructors. although the entire experience is not one of a high-class salon, the results are perfectly acceptable - and oh so great for the budget. the damage? $7 for a shampoo and cut. i don't get my hair colored, but they will do it for around $30. STEALS! all steals.
so, total tsay family monthly haircut budget: $7 every other month or so. BAM.
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