Back from a break

I've been on a bit of a hiatus over the past month... So much has happened!! Here's the run-down:

(1) I finished Hackbright!!!

Our program ended about a month ago, though it still feels really fresh. I miss being with all the brilliant HB ladies & instructors every day, but carry the experience with me and am constantly using the lessons I learned there, programming and otherwise. Check out this short video of our career day -- the culmination of the program!

 

My project is still in "stealth" mode, so you won't find it on the web. Ha! Not really stealth, but I'm implementing unit testing and some APIs before deploying. It's a barter web app for businesses, and will be a valuable tool for us, friends who run their own bizs, and others, so it's gotta be solid when I launch. Wish me luck!


(2) I got married (again)!!!

What happens when you don't want a big, intense, emotionally-/financially-/life-draining "wedding"? You end up with 3 (or more) little ones! Whoops :)

Wedding #1 - June 9, 2013

A friend recently said, "It seems like you guys have gradually gotten more & more married over the past year." She's right! We had a religious ceremony + party last June for my husband's family, and a civil marriage ceremony in Oakland last December. Then this past month, my parents hosted a celebration for us back in NJ... Whew!

It still feels surreal to have had so many "weddings", since one of the reasons we hadn't wanted to do a whole big shebang was that we didn't want people making a huge fuss over us -- fusses tend to lead to stress, fights, meltdowns and such. But it turns out the people who love you most actually *want* to make a big fuss over you when you decide to spend your life together & sign a form about it. And because we had no major expectations, we left the planning to our families both times, which kept relations pretty chill. Luckily we both have awesome families, so have now had 2 awesome wedding parties; one on each coast!

Officially "married," at
Lake Merritt in Oakland
Dec 20, 2012

The most recent of the parties was on June 1st, also my dad's birthday! It ended up being a family reunion of sorts, with cousins, aunts, uncles & friends flying in from Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, Seattle, Las Vegas & even Peru!! We felt so lucky, so blessed, so grateful... and we still do. We have so much love around us!

#3 - Dad's toast with the fam! June 1, 2013

There was barbecue & bluegrass, cupcakes galore, cousins & their adorable offspring, so much hugging & laughing. It took us a couple weeks just to come down from the euphoria of the weekend.

So finally I'm back in the swing of things. We've been smoking fish on our new stovetop smoker which is fantastic. I'm working on some code challenges and tutorials, going back in to Hackbright a few times a week, generally appreciating what life has to offer right now, and of course - always learning!