Final piece

The final piece of our living room is back. Here is the finished product!

Once again...before 

After...sorry its dark

One room down, 2 to go!

Reliving the past

Welcome to my first "Mama Kat" inspiraton post:

"If you could relive any moment in your life, what moment would you choose? Write about it."

Without even having to think about this question, I would say the day I met my husband. The story of how we met is more funny than romantic, but I love to tell it.

Once upon a time there was a neighborhood in Athens, Georgia where I met Melanie. No..Melanie is not my husband. Anyway, Melanie worked at a bar, and at that bar she tended bar with a boy named CJ. They had worked together for a few months and then they parted ways. She stopped working at the bar and he didn't. Thankfully, my friend likes to drink...so they didn't lose touch. Anyway, long story short (too late for that?) it became clear that he had a thing for her. Trouble was that she didn't want to get into a relationship or a one night stand because she was in the process of transferring to a college in North Carolina. There was no point in entering into a relationship that would become long distance in a little more than a month. So, my clever friend decided that the answer to this dilemma was to pawn him off on someone else...namely me. Wouldn't it be easier to just explain the situation to him and remain friends you ask...my thoughts exactly. Never the less, I never turn down the opportunity to go spend time by the pool, so when he invited her, she invited me. Her plan was that this time at the pool would be the beginnings of CJ liking me instead of her...except for the little bit about him really liking HER and her being 5 feet tall, 100 pounds with D cups in her swim top. Yes you guessed it...I am no match for her in a bathing suit. Making the comparison makes me a little sad. So as the day progressed, and he kept talking to me about Melanie and does she like me...etc etc, it became clear we were headed nowhere. Lucky for me he had brought along two of his classmates and his older brother. For the rest of the day, we hung out as a group. We played pool beer pong, drank beer and ate Fritos. As we devoured the bag of Fritos, I shared a pool chair with his brother. We chatted and flirted a little and then Melanie and I went home. We met up later at a bar, but due to room mate drama had to leave shortly thereafter. The next day I went to a movie with CJ, his brother and 8 of his closest friends. We saw “Drag me to Hell” which I thought I would hate but ended up liking. The next weekend I had my first real date with the brother and a year later we were married. Now we have been married for a year and I have never been happier. I wish I could go back to that day and really talk to hubs and remember what my first impressions were. Anyway, regardless of the less than romantic meeting, we all had a great day and that day will forever be important to me.

Wedding Photo

1 Year Anniversary Photo

Just in case you were curious:

CJ and Mel dated casually for a few weeks but it was mostly double dating with us.

Beijing Lifestyle Listography

     Something that won't surprise most expats but that I find funny are the things you get used to in your new country/ state/ city/ wherever. I started thinking about this last week while I was waiting for hubs at the subway station. I looked around and saw all of the things that were mystifying to me at first that are now normal, but still funny. I really like the “Listography” that I see on others blogs, so here is my list for the week.

Things that don't surprise me anymore in Beijing:

1. The Chinese are masters at filling their respective modes of transportation to capacity. I thought I knew what that meant in the States, but since moving here I realized that I really had no idea what the word “capacity” really meant. I've seen four people on a scooter, 8 people in a 4 person car and every day I see buses fit 10 more people on when anywhere else in the world they would have taken 10 people off. I wish I had a good picture, but as of now I don't...that will be on my list of things to capture on film.
   
   
2. Shameless picking and scratching. I am used to “catching” people do this...picking your nose in the corner as if you really just wanted to get a close look at the wall, the glance around before the butt scratch etc. Not in China my friends. If you have business that needs taking care of, do it anywhere and do not be ashamed. If your talking to your best friend, feel free to pick your nose and then inspect the findings. If you are on the packed escalator and your butt itches, feel free to shove your hand down your pants and scratch that itch...don't worry about the poor American guy behind you whose face it right there (hubs)...hilarious incident.
   
   
3. On a similar note, in the subway station this week I saw a man drop his drawers...down to his ankles, so that he could properly tuck his shirt in. No shame, just dropped em right there with hundred of people around.
   
   
4. Totally pant-less children walking around. In the winter it was the split pants and those are still more common than all out nudity, but it no longer surprises me when kid's parents just decide that a shirt will do for today.
   
   
5. Not seeing any blue in the sky. This one makes me sad but it is a fact of life in Beijing, especially in the summer. I wake up some days and I can barely see across the street.

     Other expats, I would love to hear the top 5 things that don't surprise you anymore about your host country. If your not an expat, no problem, tweak the list into the top five things about xyz that no longer surprise you.

FTB

     Everyone goes through it sooner or later....that's right, I'm talking about FTB, failure to blog. I'm ashamed that its been so long. Personally I know that I get frustrated when I check people's blog and nothing has changed, and now I have done that to my...following (however small). I sincerely apologize to those of you who read my blog. I do have good (enough) reasons though.

My life in the last few weeks:

1. Going to work every day and really trying to get into it. Instead of constantly bitching about how its not my dream...aka being paid to sit on a beach.
   
   
2. Studying Chinese so that I can finally speak in sentences. I did a week and a half of Chinese class every night for 2 hours after work aka a week and a half of torture. Then I tried group classes, found out I still hate them and went back to just one night a week of class after work. Might up that to 2...we'll see.
   
   
3. My wedding anniversary was last weekend. It was wonderful and relaxing. My husband bought me the prettiest vase and traditional Chinese piece of newlywed artwork....I will give this topic it's own mini-post soon.
   
   
4. Hubs is going to Inner Mongolia for a week vacation next weekend...without me. This will be my first time alone in China.
   
   
5. Upcoming beach weekend with another couple. We will begin planning that when they get back from Russia.
   
   
6. New and improved furniture arrived at our casa marking the first time that this apartment has been ORANGE FREE. Thank the Lord!
   
   
7. More do it your projects to come: Making my own artwork: http://ideas.thenest.com/decor-tricks/home-painting-diy/slideshows/diy-wall-art.aspx?page=2

I am planning on doing a lot of writing this weekend, so there will be more to come!  

So what Tuesday...

     I've seen these on other blogs, a good one being Confessions of a Newlywed, so I thought I would give it a shot. A little background first...


     I started an intense Chinese class last Wednesday. So for a week and I half I go to work all day and then for two hours after work I study Mandarin. All so I can catch up with a group class that meets for three hours on Saturdays. So: Work + Mandarin + the head cold I developed this weekend...


So what if

• On a good day it already takes all my energy in the morning to get out of my comfy bed
• This happens to be the week the executives of my company are visiting Beijing
• I ate something with wheat in it and now I feel and LOOK like crap
• No cabs would pick me up after my class tonight
• The one cab that did when it was only slightly raining was off duty...thus wanted to charge me twice the regular fee
• That meant that he drove me farther away from the subway where I was headed
• I found a cab finally and I ripped my skirt trying to swing my legs over the median to chase him down
• When I arrived home it was pouring rain 
• I expected to eat leftovers from last night but it turns out my husband took them to work

c'est la vie  

7 dollar Longchamp

Yay for my new cute red Longchamp purse! $7.50 and it was mine...they tried to scam me and asked for $12 but I got them down with some tough bargaining! 

Updates

Before 

After Part 1 

     So, the picture at the top was our living room when we first moved in. Both the white love seat and the white chair had orange slip covers, which we were FINALLY able to dispose of. I detest the color orange and our whole living room was covered in it...plus those awful yellow curtains. Now we have a wonderfully covered chair and love seat and our big orange couch is off being covered in a lovely chocolate color. It's hard to tell in this picture because of the sun, but the colors in the love seat and curtains are exactly the same, the only difference being the pattern. While Brenda and her husband were over here delivering our furniture, we also made plans for kitchen, office and bedroom curtains as well as rugs for the living room and bedroom. Price checking is the only other step...I like Brenda because she speaks English and she can do everything, but she is expensive for China. 

     In non decorative news, we have a three day weekend this week! It's Sunday night and I have no work tomorrow! Praise the Lord! Friday was horrible, I was so bored. One cool thing that I did though, was had a trip to a little hair accessory store with two of my co-workers. If you buy 200 kuai ($30) worth of hair trinkets, you can go in there and have your hair done whenever you want. So I bought 4 little hair pins and they did my hair in this great braided up-do. The girl kept saying how pretty and soft my hair was... apparently she had never worked with blonde hair. 

     Yesterday was great. Fun and relaxing. We got our new furniture, Will worked me through a really hard workout at the gym and then we went to Sanlitun (pronounced Sanlituar in Beijing). We went to the bookstore, ate some Thai food and then went and hung out at a bar on the strip. We had wonderful people watching for hours while we enjoyed Tequila and Margaritas. Tons of drunk foreign co-eds mixed with young Chinese co-eds made for some interesting viewing. 

     Today I slept until noon and have been inside all day with the air on and the curtains drawn...guess I might have had way too much a little too much Tequila last night. Totally worth it though. Tomorrow I am going to try to see one of my sister's friends whose in town for the week and see some of the Dragon Boat Festival activities. 

Happy Weekend!