Unfortunately, yes.

Unfortunately, no.

I am really embarrassed that I am bad at painting. And that I hate it so much. I mean, I am an architecture major. Shouldn’t I be good at these “home improvement” sort of things?

I just like to think this means I am better at telling people where and how to paint, than actually doing it myself. Ha!

Okay, I’m not really good at that either. I am not an Interior Designer, after all.

I really love the way the paint is turning out. We painted our bedroom a dark greenish/brownish/gray – Valspar’s Seine. We have an accent wall behind the bed that is even darker – Valspar’s Italian Leather. That is the color we painted the bathroom today – the Italian Leather. I LOVE dark rooms, so I am super excited about this.

Seine and Italian Leather. They look nothing like this in real life.

But why no photos? Because the bathroom isn’t finished, and because we have no bed (just mattress and frame) and the ugliest bedroom furniture you have ever seen. So I estimate you’ll see a photo of the bedroom in about… 6 months, and a photo of the bathroom… maybe later this week.

On Friday we hung out and spent the night with my friend Alejandra and her husband Sony in Des Moines. She is the other bridesmaid of mine that I have not seen in over a year! AHH!

Anyway, we obviously had a great time and I really, really wish we could see them more. We both do. They are a unique couple – she’s from Puerto Rico, and he is Chinese, but from Venezuela… they are fun to be around. We have a lot in common, but they have a different perspective on some things.

Yes, this has a point. They moved into a new-to-them townhome in July and I could tell they put a lot of thought and hard work into decorating it and making it homey. They were talking about the last time they saw our place and that we didn’t even have a dining room table. Ha! Steven and I have done so much work together on our home since the wedding, it really feels homey, like it is “ours” now (instead of just his). It was fun to talk about all the work we have done with them because they could relate and… I could tell they were actually listening (another reason I like them!).

It’s amazing to see your home come together. Because, unless you are rich… you can’t really afford to get everything/do everything you want all at once. But maybe I wouldn’t even prefer it that way. I like that we have made it what it is. Even if I haven’t loved every minute of it!

We haven’t planned anything to celebrate, besides the tradition of eating the top of our wedding cake, which has been sitting in our freezer, in plain site for so long, I am surprised I have not devoured it already.

What I’m (we’re, really) wondering is, do people following the anniversary gift-giving traditions? For example, the “traditional” gift for one year of marriage is paper, and the modern gift is clocks. Does the wife actually give her husband something made out of paper – tickets, a painting, whatever – or a clock, watch, etc.? Yeah, it’s a silly question, but it must be tradition for some reason.

What did you do to celebrate? Or what would you do?