Nine Nineteen Oh-Nine

Hi Everybody!

A quick update from me :) Things are been mostly settling in since our many trips in June.. the last two months were spent getting used to the new apartment (all set up now and ready for any guests that might come our way), the new job (going pretty well over all but still got lots to learn about the Kaiser system), seeing old friends again (very good) and, of course, living much much closer to Amy (yay!) The wedding planning is coming along and, really, it's only a month away now.. we've gotten most of our RSVP's and have actually exceeded our previously expected guest count (oy) but it's all good because it'll be an awesome reunion of friends and family :) See below for a few pics of the apartment, recent going outs in San Jose and our friendly neighborhood chinchillas...

We live at the Villa Reggio Apartments.. Pretty simple, it's just two large apartment buildings and we have a small pool (which we really like).. and the managers and maintainance people are very good..


We also get a pretty good sunset from our small patio.. We live right next to the library as well which is great and the post office, which is not so great because they make a surprising amount of noise at times.. We got tiki torches (though we aren't supposed to have open flames..)


This is our living room.. Amy got me to frame my paintings and they turned out pretty nice..


Amy sitting on our nice hand me down couches.. Thanks, Jeff!


Our office / Guest room.. We've already had several guests.. both of us are really glad we went for the two bedroom apartment instead of the studio..


The bedroom is pretty bare right now.. but we're working on some wall art :)



Amy and her brother Matt helped put together this piece of furniture from Ikea..


Our little kitchen..


And a small table where we usually eat..


Amy's trying to cook more now that we have our own space.. We made spaghetti sauce from scratch using a Cook's Illustrated recipe (thanks, Dave).. it was really good!


We also made garlic bread and country corn chowder one day..


I'm still cooking up Thai dishes when I can.. This is me making the tomato based sauce for Nam Pik Ong..


Here's Skinnay.. that guys always trying to escape the little enclosure we built for them.. he's figured out recently that he can jump over the fence.. a regular Houdini that one..


Here's Chubbs -- a much more content chin.. he's happy munching on his cheerios..


A few RSVP's from the wedding... we love the creativity and fun that went into these.. those of you who sent blank ones back, I'm going to have to give you a good fist shaking!


We registered for Snuggies (it's a blanket with sleeves) and immediately got them from Amy's friend, Suzanne. Amy loves it and it also can be used as camoflauge with our couch..


Amy's work friends took us out to Santana Row for as a wedding present..


And lastly for now, this is a shot of some of the old internship gang.. we've gotten together many times since I moved back up here and it's really nice to see everyone again :) This is a dinner we had at Jang Su Jang, Korean BBQ.

Hope everyone is well.. Looking forward to seeing many of you at our wedding! Amy says we'll have to change to blog to nikamy.blogspot.com.. maybe after the wedding :) Drop me a line if you have time! -Nik and Amy