About 2 years ago: The beginning

We got married 2 years ago and we started our house renovation at the same year. That year, we started two things that need a lot of love and work. I'm pretty sure we're not the only couple living the first years of their marriage renovating their living place so wherever you are, cheers!

In summary, we started the project by lifting the house about 15 ft in the air to get out of the floodplain (I did my share of sandbagging along the shoreline) and add another story underneath it. Basically everything is like new again e.g., new flooring, new walls, and new kitchen (yes!). It's not done. I don't know if we will ever finish it (JIV said Of course! Little by little!) 

The pictures above show the back of the house while it was still in the air and after the first floor framing was done. My husband was standing in what would be the main door.

Off to start the morning.

THE PANDA AND THE HIPPO

The other day it crossed my mind that I might be one of those hyper parents. Then I thought, Am I a Tiger Mom? The answer is a NO. But I know it's something close but not as much.

So I decided that I am a Panda Mom. You know, Panda is associated with being from China/Asia and I am Chinese-Indonesian. Panda Mom still holds those Eastern values but more relaxed. Although, which Asian parents do not tell their kids to go to medical school? So yeah JV, I expect you to go to medical school** (I was about to insert :p to tone it down a little bit, but I decided against it because I am being serious and he needs to know that. So maybe an exclamation point?)

Then I asked J-IV (what I am going to refer the father and my husband from now on) if he could pick an animal to represent him from our collection of animal finger puppets.

> Uhmm...The Hippo..

< Uhmm...You mean you're big?

> Well, I was going to be the HIPpo parent, you know the cool dad, but I guess I have a big personality too

< oo...kaaayy....

Happy Friday! We might be boating this weekend! Yaaay!

** I will also probably die if he says I am not a math person.

An Open Note 2014

I was going to post pictures from our first Mother's Day happening. But stuffs got in the way and I thought it's too late now. So I'm just going to leave it with this two pictures. Anyway, I have decided that I am going to write JV a short note each year in this blog (hopefully it's still alive 10 years from now). I also have been writing him personal letter through email. So if any of you would like to write him something, you can do so to johnrobertreimer@gmail.com or jrreimer.v@gmail.com (I can't decide which one I like better hence 2 addresses). Although I am not sure yet when I am going to give him the password and yes, I login to his email accounts, so if there is a hateful email, I'll delete it.

p.s. Why does JV's hair look reddish here?

On His Profile Through My Eyes

One Saturday evening, a lady came to us and said, "You two make a cute couple." I laughed and said thank you, while he kept his cool and gave a cute crooked smile. Among many other things, his smile is one thing that will make my heart melt every time I see or think about. 

Since I don't want to take anything for granted, including that smile, I am writing a few things down about him 

♥ When he eats ice cream, he always wants a glass of milk to go with it. (I thought it's dairy overload)

♥ Every time we shake hands during Sign of Peace, he will try to tickle my palm with his index finger.
Every. Single. Time.

♥ He'll call me, Babydoll!! to let me know he's home after work everyday.

♥ Or just when he calls me Babydoll

♥ When he eats bigger portion of dinner, then I know that he likes the food I make (my Shepherd Pie does this)

♥ If we watch something really weird on TV, I'll look at him and he'll look at me with our eyebrows raised.
No words needed.

♥ When he can't ever seem to find his tools, I'll find it for him and ask rhetorically, What would you do without me.. He'll say, I don't know, baby...I don't know..

♥ He's into some TV shows that I think are crappy and strongly feels that they are good.

♥ Sometimes he'll say to Lucky (our yellow lab), Yeah, mommy loves you today. Well, it's actually annoying at the moment. What does he mean by today? I love her every day!

♥ When he snores at night.

♥ Okay, maybe scratch that last one.

♥ Just for being a really good husband. 

♥ But hey, ask me again 25 years from now, right?! ;)

Love,

Flashback: Like, had-no-morning-sickness-at-all good

Yes, yes, and yes! What's the point of having a blog if I don't write. But, to be honest, since April until June, my mother was here. It sucked all of my time creative juices and energy. I had ideas here and there what to write about, but then I got lazy.

So, to start things all over again, I'd like to just post this picture of what I had been doing all this time. I may or may not go through each picture one by one because to tell you the truth, I'd rather take a nap right now (for a reason that will be clear soon).

Starting from top center going CW

My brother's civil ceremony. We drove to Minneapolis (did not forget to stop by Norske Nook who had the best pie!) for a weekend. It was short and sweet. But the food was delicious! Now, if you think that that was it, you are certainly wrong. Next year, we are going to party it up celebrate it again. September 2014, my husband, my good friend, and I are planning to go back home (Indonesia, fyi) because they are going to have the church ceremony and reception in Jakarta as well as in Medan (Sophie's hometwon) a week before. Now, that's what I call wedding celebration.

I took -"Tootsie" the hyena- sign in Weyauwega (I still don' know how to pronounce it) Zoo. I visited my good friend (the same good friend from story above) annual camping trip in Fremont, WI (We stayed in a cabin. I would no more stay in a tent. The quick back story: Went to FL with an ex. Stayed in a tent on a beach camping ground. I had never camped before. I did not know what to bring. I brought none of the necessary sleeping-in-a-tent stuffs. Had a fight with the ex. Ended up sleeping on a blanket with a jacket all night long, he slept in a sleeping bag on a mattress. Call me high maintenance, whatever). 

The cake! Oh the cake from Craig's Cake Shop! It was our 1st wedding anniversary on June 16th. One year! It was the same day as Father's Day 2013, so we kind of stole a little moment during our family gathering. We then eat a slice from our top wedding cake that we froze from last year. (We wrapped the cake in aluminium foil, put it in a gallon-size ziploc bag, tried to make it as tight as possible, put it back in the box, then wrapped the box in a plastic bag). It was vanilla cake with raspberry mousse. Delicious! But not the optimum flavor or texture, obviously. I'd rather eat it last year. But not bad, it still tasted pretty good. Cheers to another year, babe!

Oh! Just a picture of my husband looking handsome, with Lucky, our dog, who looked somewhat irritated. It might have been a hot day and she would not have it when anyone tried to cuddle her. Attitude, attitude, attitude...

The next two photos are of Fourth of July weekend. Boating and s'morsing. And a little bit more s'morsing. We had fire going, trying to burn some of woods leftover from our house reno. Actually, my Fourth of July weekend was filled with working around the house, which leads me to the next picture.

Ta-da! We finished our railing job! We really did pour sweat and blood into this deck. We finished the framing job maybe a month before. We primed those babies and we primed some more. Then we finished it with semi-gloss white paint (probably he put 3 coats of it). We continued on by drilling 11 holes on each post and then put the cable railing in! It sounds easy, but noooo, it was not. (I guess maybe because we re somewhat perfectionist in doing this house). The bistro chair set is courtesy of my parents-in-law. A heart balloon was tied to the chair, a gift for our wedding anniversary......Sit outside all day and enjoy the lake?

Or maybe not yet. Because I tend to prefer sleeping than any other thing. The center photo is my our baby's ultrasound from the trimester screen in June. We found out we were pregnant in early May, I think. We were happy! (So yeah, it turned out to be I was pregnant when I went to my brother's commencement). I am currently almost 4.5 month along. But no baby bump yet (Argh!). This photo always makes me smile. Look at those cute legs. I will write another post about this pregnancy. Like a pregnancy diary without the 'dear diary' thing. But so far so good. Like, had-no-morning-sickness-at-all good. :)

Till then,

On being 25: Princess cake, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Lost&Found

February 19th. I used to hate my birthday date. 02/19. Number 19 is just not proportional to number 2, I thought. But I have learned not to care about that, but to care about the meaning. Yesterday, I put on The Beatles - 1 CD. It reminded me of my 17th birthday, it was a gift from my mom.

Back story: Growing up, I got birthday gifts until I was 6 or so. Mostly toys. But, the tradition changed. My parents would give me money in the red envelope (Chinese's red envelope). They said, This is for you, but let's save it for your college fund. I am grateful for that. So, presents on birthday are not a big deal for me. But when I was 17, it was different. I saw something wrapped for me from my mom. The Beatles - 1 CD. Ah, she knows I like The Beatles. This would be the last year before I went to the US for college. The last year I celebrated birthday in a warm weather. Since then, it's been 8 birthdays I celebrated without them.

From Monday until today, it was reaffirmed what I looked for on a birthday. Monday was my dear husband's birthday. One day before me. I made him a strawberry cake. I tried to re-create our wedding cake, but it did not come close. Cake was OK, but the frosting was surprisingly delish! It felt warm and fuzzy as we watched The Bachelorette (Ha!). The following day was my birthday. He got back from work and I asked for my birthday dance :) Some spins and dips later, I was smiling from ear to ear. We went to Buffalo Wild Wings! Tuesday's Wings Night! I could not wait for my ice cream cake! At home, he brought it up and there it was! My Disney Princess Birthday Cake. I laughed, as I though he did a good joke! No, I'm not a fan of Disney Princess, but I'm a fan of Hello Kitty. But he genuinely thought I was a fan of the princesses, so I laughed even harder. How I love my husband. He put 2 candles on left side and 5 candles on the right, dimmed the light, and sang happy birthday to me. Too cute.

What I did for the first time after a long time today was to re-connect with my friend by actually using facebook properly. I replied each message one by one and asked about them too. Some have been replying back and it's wonderful. This is a true meaning of birthday, for me at least. So thank you dear family and friends.

And you know what the best part is - I share the same birthday as Nicolaus Copernicus. 'Nuff said!

Lost&Found - St. Anthony of Padua
I have been a fan of St. Anthony of Padua. If someone asks me who my favorite saint is, it would be him!  (Second will be St. Christopher - for another time) Fransiscans are my fav. too.

Back story: I have been praying to him since 3rd grade. I lost my Winnie The Pooh wallet. Somebody stole it! (Not sure though). My mom told me that I should pray to him, He's the patron saint of lost stuffs. I still did not find my Pooh wallet until this day. But, it does not deter my beliefs. Anyway, in high school, I expanded my prayers to St. Anthony not only for lost things, but also for everything else. I mean, each year my parents and I attended the big St. Anthony of Padua's novena in July-August for 9 Tuesdays in a row. Each time after school, still wearing my uniform. Each time, we got there 30 min earlier. Each time, it was crazily packed. Each time, it was super hot. Each time, I fell asleep. The people's intention part last about 30 min itself. It's like 2 pages long, single-spaced intentions. For example (not in order), 350 prayers for world peace, Lord hear our prayer. 589 prayers for reaching our dreams, Lord hear our prayer, 234 prayers to be able to travel out of the country, Lord hear...wait what? I do no remember if any of my prayers came true, but I remember my devotions (while falling asleep) and others' as well.

So, it was only natural that I prayed to him when my dear husband lost his wedding ring. It was December, when we were moving stuffs from the storage back to the house. Where's my ring?! We looked for it in the house, in his Jeep, and outside. We went back to the storage with flashlight. Nothing. St. Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of lost thing, please help us find the wedding ring.....................Please, please, please, please, please. (I definitely need to learn how to pray). But, again we did not find it. We gave up....

Until.......about 2 weeks ago. Someone knocked on the door. The mailman. He had his palm out. Is this yours? There it was! The lost wedding ring, which was now found (Amazing Grace is playing in the background...I once was lost but now am found......oh! and Hallelujah too) I was screaming OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! How did you find this?! Well, he said that he was feeling lucky that week, he found his lost car key in the middle of the road and now he found this ring too. The ring has an engraving 'AAG' inside. So he tried to figure out who had that initial. Bingo! It was followed by me saying Thank you for 1000x Thanks, Mr. Mailman. I should have invited you for a hot cocoa inside and tried to convince you to go to Vegas that week.

I decided not to inform my husband about this great afternoon (I informed my mother-in-law, who was also surprised) I waited for his birthday and have it as his gift (Smart cookie!) On Monday, he just could not believe it when he opened it. It was awesome. But of course, it was followed by It's been run by cars, I think stuff (Mr. critique).

I'm spreading the good news of St. Anthony of Padua. My favorite saint. Like probably would have fallen in love with him if I had lived 800 years ago......

What a loooooong post!

On our Minneapolis trip

This past weekend, we (with Lucky!) went to Minneapolis for a friend's wedding. We arrived at about 10:00pm. Lucky was looking super cute checking out this big reception hall at Hyatt Regency (thanks to Priceline). You know like a amazed and all. Wait, who in the world complimenting their own dog? It's like I'm saying to people: "My (future) daughter looks beautiful." It sounds wrong. Also, I want to comment on the hotel. I felt like it was a very pretentious hotel. This "fancy" hotel will charge for internet. I mean, nowadays they have free wi-fi in every other 3-star hotel you know.

Anyway, every time I go to a city, there will be a buffering time. It's like my brain forgets that I grew up in a city. (World ranking for Jakarta: 13th by population, 6th by population density, and 2nd by population with the official metropolitan area, according to Wikipedia - please don't judge my source). So naturally, I should not be wowed by tall buildings or should not feel uneasy about seeing more cars and more people. But I was......not for long, though......

On Saturday, we decided to take a walk around Lake Harriet. I'm gonna say upfront that I don't like walking that much. I'd prefer biking. But for that, we needed to rent it. So yeah, we made lots of  a couple stops as I needed to rest my legs (By the end of the walk, I had cramps). We took pictures along the way too and my fav. one was the shadow pictures. From left to right: Lucky, Mr. and me. Or as I said to Mr.: "Yeah this picture from left to right represents who likes to pass gas the most and whose gas is the stinkiest. I'm just kidding.......NOT!" I'm not kidding, Lucky's fart is toxic.

We then had lunch with my brother and his girlfriend at French Meadow. It was delish! I ordered grass-fed beef burger (I have always thought that it's obvious for a cow to eat grass????) Then time to get ready.

The wedding was awesome, we (my brother and I) danced and caught up with old friends. The next morning we had dim sum at Pagoda restaurant. Mr. did not eat, I'm sure because he never had one before and he found it weird. But I have not had dim sum in a while (spare ribs and chicken feet!). I still like Phoenix in Chicago better.

Anyway, we had fun, but it's just too little amount of time and a bit harder to bring Lucky.

On the bright side ...

On the bright side...my brother received Microscopy Society of America Presidential Student Award for 2012. So proud of his past, present, and future achievements!

We may somewhat still live out of our suitcases. But, on the bright side ... Lucky seems to be settling in just fine. Note: do you notice that she puts her paws underneath her head when sleeping?

We may have very warm weather this summer and our plants are not as fruitful, but on the bright side... we are able to work our magic and make our homemade salsa. Ingredients include varieties of peppers, tomatoes, red onion, lemon juice, and cilantro. That's it. Oh! and lots of love ;)

Life can be full of surprises. But at the end of the day, I know he (and my family too) will be there for me. I don't want to dwell in the hardships, but I want to look at the bright side...

the bright back side of our new tree fort 

Much much love goes to Rebecca G. who is currently in Uganda. If you read this, I'd like to tell you that I keep my calendar open, just in case...You know what I mean ;p

On harvesting the pepa!

Every summer, we grow peppers and tomatoes. This summer, the tomatoes are not doing good due to the excessive heat that we've been experiencing. But, the peppers are doing ok. We grow them 2 ways; in a hanging planter (L) and in the ground (R). We are testing which way grows more peppers. So far, we have concluded that growing them in the ground will produce more peppers. I don't know if this is the case for everybody, but we plan on growing them just in the ground next summer.

We grow more varieties this year and we have picked some of them. From left to right: Garden Salsa, Sweet Banana, Giant Marconi, Hot Banana, and UFO (Unidentified Familiar Object - We know it's pepper (and hence 'Familiar') but the name tag was missing, so we could not tell what it was (and hence 'Unidentified').  We haven't picked the jalapeño, habanero, and fajita bells yet.

We used the Sweet Banana and the UFO as topping on frozen pizza (sometimes too tired to cook and to eat outside). They were delicious. We can't wait to make salsa with this. I'm guessing we want to buy some tomatoes from Farmer's Market or somewhere since our home grown tomatoes are not growing.

Happy Harvest Day!

On our photobooth story

On being a mrs

On getting ready for pregnancy

Nope, we are not trying yet.

Mr. and I have not thought too much about it, although he's wondering why I have been looking up day cares around Madison area. I know, we still have a lot going on (i.e. house renovation soon, Mr. to finish his part-time PhD, me getting a job), but I like the idea of getting ready even before trying. I want to know what  to change or what to do to.

I checked out this website http://www.webmd.com/infertility-and-reproduction/features/protect-your-pregnancy-before-you-conceive and I break it down here:
a. Smoking - I don't smoke (check) But I do need to stop that a-glass-of wine-a-day thing.
b. Folic Acid - This is the part where I'm not sure what my daily intake is to begin with. But I remember that I bought one daily women's multivitamin. So, this entry is a reminder that I need to take this multivitamin that contains 400 mcg of folic acid from now :)
c. The two-week rule related to caffeine intake. I'm going to stop drinking soda. Before I got to the US, it's very rarely of me to drink pops. Caffeine intake from coffee? I'm trying to cut back, but I can't promise to stop drinking it, so I'll use the two week rule here.
d. Seafood - Geez. I love me some fish. But I know that the mercury is no good. I'll stop too (by this time, I can only imagine that soft shell crab taste in my mouth). Another thing that it mentions is fume from chemical (cleaning products). This is tricky. I'm the one usually cleaning up the house, so it's not really realistic to ask Mr., is it?
e. Pre-exam check - I am one of those women (if any) who actually have not checked anything related to my womanhood (I did check for STD and stuff, though). Should do it soon?

Now I think this is a weird post. But, good to know.

On being a mrs.

Mr. and Mrs.

Funny how those three words mean so much love.

I'm writing this so I won't forget. I'm falling in love with my husband all over again :)

On the 99 days left!

Well well! I missed the 100 days countdown yesterday. But, today marks the 99th day before our wedding day! In anyway, we like the number 9 better :)

I am going to make the most out of these 99 days. Stress-free and pretty much get everything else ready! Happy Wedding Prep!

On our little concert adventure

That's right. I may sound old now, but who cares. We are going to watch Elton John's concert. He is coming to Madison on March 22nd, 2012. I am sooo excited.

I know Elton John since I was growing up (he doesn't know me, though). My mother is a big fan. Although his music might not be my #1 back in the days (I grew up in the 90s and high school time was early 2000, it was just the mix of pop boybands or early hip-hop), I have always liked him (I have always loved The Beatles, no doubt). My friends from high school would call me weirdo. I mean, in Indonesia, high school time, nobody was a fan of The Beatles or Bee Gees. I'm not trying to judge, some of them might have as well.

So then, fast forward to junior and senior year of college, I was already living in Madison. Different setting, different environment. I got to know and listen to more and more classic rock or just oldies easy listening. My Indonesian friends still judged me (This was the time of hip-hop, etc etc, I still feel it is nowadays). But not my American friends. They appreciated it as well.

Now, I am a fan of Elton John, The Beatles, and every legendary classic rock  musical figures there are. Well, I am still a fan of Third Eye Blind and Blink-182. I have watched 3eb and B-182 in their concerts (I've seen 3eb 3x), but never went to classic rock/pop concert (Wait! I went to see Tom Petty in Summerfest!). So, I was very excited when I heard on the radio that he was coming and have then declared that no matter what, I had to go and see him.

Tickets were on sale last Friday at 10 am. I went to Ticketmaster at 1pm and the cheapest price that I could get was $40, but the seat was the obstructed views. Darn it! I should have known that it would take more effort. So I went to StubHub. Of course, more expensive, but can't do anything else. I was too lazy to look around and the urge was sooo bad. The second and first level was just not affordable anywhere. Eventually, I bought these 2 tickets for section 317 (aligned with the center of the stage, but of course far away). I was a happy puppy :)

Woo Hoo!
Many many kisses,