Ms. PiggyBoo

Well, it has been 2 years since last time I went back home in Japan. Wow! I am excited to visit my family and friends. This is more excited because my love, Mark, is going to go with me! Yay!! This is going to be his first trip to Japan. We are going to travel around Japan within 2 weeks. Phew!! We’ve make a hotel reservation for all cities we are going to visit. It was a long and slow process but we did it!

I am looking forward to seeing my family & friends, eating a lot of good food (oh yeah!) and travling differnt cities.

Japan!! Here we come

When we strolled down the streets in the Mission district one weekend, I saw and liked one of bag designs on the cover of Simplicity package. Well, after weeks or months later, I finally decided to make that bag with the cloth I bought a long time ago for a different purpose. (Minor correction here: it is more like someone has kept asking me if I was ever going to make a bag. That is why I finally decided. After all, his suggestion & persistence led to produce a great thing.)

I started my project around 4 pm on Sunday afternoon. It took 8 hours to complete to make this beautiful bag. Phew… it took me such a long time but it was worthwhile. After I finished this project, I felt very proud of myself.

Left: Bag front, Right: Bag back

If you see closely two pictures above, the front and back are slightly different. Can you tell a tiny difference? If you notice, this is my bag-making 101. Stay tuned for more bags to see from my sweat shop

Wishing you all a happy new year in 2009. I’ve kept hearing that this year’s economy will be worse than previous years. Let’s hope that nothing really bad will happen to me and everyone I know.

It took 2 days to finish moving stuff from Sunnyvale to new city, San Francisco. It was very challenging to carry all boxes (some of them were heavy) and furniture to the 3rd floor without elevator. Thanks to my lovely & strong boyfriend, Mark, to carry all heavy boxes to the upstairs. He is the best

After we spent the Christmas in Texas, we started unpacking boxes and assembled furniture. We’ve mostly finished decorating or arranging stuff in the living room and kitchen. We have more boxes to unpack in the bedroom.

I am looking forward to living in the city

I’ve been spending two extra days off to finish packing my stuff. I lost count my boxes for the move. I threw away a lot of old and unnecessary stuff. I should have cleaned out my closet and cabinet more often. Despite throwing away a bunch of stuff, I still feel like I own a lot. I don’t know how I can reduce my belongings by 1/2!! My bed sold quickly after posting it on the Craigslist and I donated my couch to the Salvation Army today. This 12 years old furniture is gone for good

San Francisco, here I come

I cannot believe that I am going to move out from here next Saturday (12/20)! I am living in this place for 6 years. I found a lot of old stuffs which I apparently forgot to throw away a long time ago. I recently found exp 2006 spaghetti sauce in the kitchen cabinet. Yikes! A lot of old medicine bottles were in the bathroom drawer. I wonder why I’ve kept them such a long time. Well, I’ve never done a spring cleaning since I moved here. I threw away or donated my old clothes because my closet got full and no space to hang any new clothes. That is an obvious reason.

Since I decided not to hire a mover this time, I have to pack everything by myself. I try to do little by little every night after I get home from work. I’ve partially done packing items from laundry room, 1/2 kitchen cabinets, kitchen counter and bathroom. I used total 9 (small to medium) boxes so far. I’ve not even touched my bedroom yet. Phew…. I hope taking two days off next week prior to the move will help me finish on time.

Oh… I heard on the radio tonight that next weekend weather may not be great one. Sigh. I just cross my fingers to be sunny or cloudy, but please NO RAIN!!

After this year’s spring mini-garden at my balcony, I saved three okura plants. They’ve been growing slowly but nicely inside of my apartment with indirect light. After 3 months, I finally see three okura (yay! )

p.s. My camera has been acting weird so flash doesn’t seem working properly. Is it time for me to buy a new one (over 5 years old)?

Here are some pictures from mini-garden clean up in August. Yes, most of cleaning was done by my lovely boyfriend He is the BEST!!

Bye-bye tomatoes & sweeping

Remaining plants (including 3 okura)

World economy and stock price have been slumped. Housing sales have been down as well. But there is no affordable price to purchase in the city. We have been searching/surfing houses in the city (oh.. we are not that serious) and dropped by Sunday (2-4 pm) open house several times in past months. Believe it or not, I don’t believe that price of housing has been down in the city. Good neighborhood, number of bed/bath room and price are not really added nicely. Today, our last stop was 2 bed with loft and 1 1/2 bath condominium in SOMA. (Price range was out of our budget but we gave us a shot!) We were surprised by what we saw because we wouldn’t expect how interior and layout were designed.

I’ve been saving my $$$ for past years to purchase my home. My saving habit was not as difficult as being on diet or going to gym 3 time a week. Although I have been discipline about my spending and a stable job for 6 years, I don’t think this housing price slump won’t help me to buy my “dream home”. Well, I am not depressed by not owning a house at all. I hope I can find a house I can call “sweet home” someday near future .

A couple of days ago, I noticed that one of small jalapeno sprouts was getting darker. I thought this sprout would die . Guess what? When I came home today, I saw a very small red jalapeno is growing. Wow I thought jalapeno was supposed to be green. Oh, well it was kind of good surprise.

After I protected from insects and rats (who are still running around at balcony time to time), I was finally able to pick up more tomatoes. They are fully & wonderfully red. Although all tomatoes were survived from these attackers, they were beautifully grown. I tasted one of smallest tomatoes. Oh… it was very very sweet and delicious . They are yummy!!

I still have more than ten tomatoes that are still growing. I hope they are as delicious as I’ve already picked up so far.