Important things I'm learning about refinishing furniture:

- Sand, sand, SAND the heck out of the surface until it's smooth as a baby's butt.

- ALWAYS use primer before painting the surface with the main color.

Our engagement photos are up on our photographer's blog.

Home Depot is fast becoming my new favorite retailer. The customer service is excellent! I'm beginning to get into furniture refinishing, so I've been going there pretty often to pick up this and that. Currently, I'm working on a nightstand and a dresser.

And the last two days, the Dude and I have been collaborating with the Dude's uncle, who happens to be a woodworking wiz, to build a custom-designed ergonomic computer desk. It just has to be varnished, and I can't wait to see how the finished product looks.

Spring has not forgotten Vancouver. For a while, I was quite worried. I've been anxiously awaiting the cherry blossoms because I really wanted to take our engagement photos under their lovely shade. Last week the cherry blossoms trees were still starkly bare, but now they have miraculously bloomed just in time for our photo session tomorrow!

A loaf of beer bread is in the oven, filling the kitchen with that comforting aroma of yeast, sugar, and flour doing their magic. This time I used Granville Island Honey Lager. The first time I made beer bread I used Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which gave the bread a slight bitter taste.

This morning I went to the pool at the local uni to participate in their Aquasize class for the first time. I am so pooped. Most of the participants were elderly Chinese ladies. Although I felt out of place, I'm going to try to make it a regular thing. Maybe I'll try to get the Dude to come with me once in a while.

It looks like a veritable winter wonderland outside. It snowed again overnight. It's March...and it's snowing.

But the weather has been gorgeous, so I guess a little snow is tolerable.

Since I don't want anything to do with the snow outside, I'm going to stay inside and make some homemade yogurt again.

Over the weekend I attempted to make homemade yogurt, and it was a success! My first attempt at making yogurt was a failure. It happened to be soy yogurt, which is harder to get right than dairy yogurt. But dairy yogurt was a lot easier and forgiving. Our household consumes a lot of yogurt (I'm the only one who doesn't due to my lactose intolerance), and hopefully we can switch to homemade yogurt.

Also, I'm happy to report that the beer bread I baked was surprisingly good. I'm eager to try it with other beers.

It snowed again. I'm not very fond of snow, especially after the massive dumps we got in December.

I'm using the bread machine for the first time today. My foray into yeast breads continues...

I also recently discovered a recipe for beer bread, which I'm very eager to try.

Lent has begun. I've been eagerly awaiting Lent since last year, which was the first time I observed it and an amazing experience for me.

Today I went to the noon Ash Wednesday service at my church. My forehead was marked with an ashen cross, which was wiped away shortly thereafter by my acupuncturist who didn't realize what it signified. I found it quite comical.

My apologies for the long hiatus. Things have been hectic...

Since the last update, The Dude and I have gotten engaged. Being engaged pretty much is consumed by wedding planning, and since ours is going to be a DIY wedding, it's going to require a lot more energy and time.

Although I'm very happy to be engaged to a man I love very much, when I think about my gay friends in California who cannot get married I feel badly...and almost guilty. If I weren't legally able to marry The Dude, I'd be so devastated and pissed off as hell at the same time.

It's been about five months since I've been back in Vancouver, and I feel a lot more settled down. Living in a house I enjoy and one that actually feels like "home" definitely helps. I feel really lucky to have found my current place, and with such great housemates, too! The Dude and I agree upon communal living as a lifestyle choice, and I hope we can live this way for a long time.

Now that I have more free time, I can finally get to wedding planning and painting the walls. (And perhaps more blogging!)

In spite of being Korean, I only began to eat kimchi (the cabbage kind) on a semi-frequent basis about a year ago.

Recently I made kimchi chigae (soup) and kimchi fried rice for the first time. And now I have ambitions to make my own kimchi in the new year!