Circa 2012

I thought of entitling this entry something like, "Willow's Crib"--but I'm not nearly ghetto enough, and the joke might get lost on the fact that this is literally Willow's crib.

I'm going to be posting pictures of our home as it is set up currently. I haven't done that in a while, and it's always nice to have a mental picture of what a place looks like (since most of you have never been to our home). I am not posting this because I am particularly proud of our apartment, although I do have a special place for it in my heart. This is our first home as a married couple, and it is Willow's first home too.

We did not pick out the apartment. We didn't even know what it would look like until the moment we walked inside. Our boss picked us up from the airport three years ago and dropped us off at this place. It was furnished, but overly so. There was a ton of furniture in the living room. There were beds, but they were rock hard. There wasn't any bedding. It was hot (extremely hot and humid) and we had no air conditioning (wimps!) or FANS. We slept on the wood floor because cool air is closer to the ground. We were that pathetic. In the first few weeks of living in China, we began to amass our household: bedding, linens, kitchen tools, drying racks, appliances, and a fan. We also had maintenance workers help us out (our toilet, stove, washing machine...basically everything was out of order). So, some of the stuff we bought at the outset, I wish we hadn't. I wish we had held out for some nicer things.

We didn't choose our furniture either. It is what was provided by our company or by the landlord. This is a blessing, but it also means that preferences must be sacrificed. The one exception is Willow's room. When we first got here, this is what it looked like. Horror of all horrors! We didn't use that room for almost an entire year. Then it was a mini living room. Hence the couch. Now I regret the couch. I'm thinking of replacing it with an arm chair, but I still like the idea of being able to lay down in Willow's room. Maybe when she's done with this whole-getting-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-several-times thing.

Please excuse the crazy color scheme. It happened haphazardly, because we didn't know for sure if we were having a boy or a girl. But that's ok, this room isn't 'forever'. I'm sure it will continue to morph with time.

Hello, China! The view outside Willow's window. Those buildings across the street have been under construction since we arrived here. There are over thirty high rises they have been constructing--at a crazy fast rate.


Willow was helping me take pictures of her room. She is fun to hang out with.
~julie