Here's to another 6 years of wedded bliss and new adventures

Sunday, the 21st was our 6 year wedding anniversary.

Six years ago on the 21st of September, we walked down the aisle at the Church in the Forest in Pebble Beach, California. And afterwards, we had a wonderful reception at the Quail Lodge in nearby Carmel-by-the-Sea with over 160 of our closest friends and family members. It was a blissful, unforgettable day. And it was exactly the wedding I had dreamed of having as a little girl, complete with the perfect wedding dress, a handsome groom, a classy, idyllic destination setting and all.

At the time, Dave was a job-searching, laid-off software sales guy and I was working in a stressful, sweatshop job in a big-and-corporate-consumer-software company in the Valley product managing small business software. We were renting our dinky little 2-bedroom, $1900 a-month (no joke!) apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area and contemplating leaving the rat race of Silicon Valley for greener and beachier pastures down in San Diego, where Dave grew up.

Six years ago, we felt like we were running on a treadmill with no set mileage goal and we were scared of what would happen if we tried to get off and stop.  And we were wondering, dreaming of the day that we could actually, finally afford our own home and start raising a family.  At the time, it seemed like a far-and-away prospect since the home prices in the Bay Area were (at least where we were in the Peninsula, just north of the Valley where we were thinking of buying) at the cheapest were about $700-$800K a pop.  Yes.  For a 1960's or 1970's-era "starter" home with probably no more than 1500 square feet of house.  And this was back in 2002 when we were a newly married couple, practically broke by today's standards.

So, we decided to up and move down south to San Diego in 2003 to create a new life that we felt we could not have had we stayed up north. And now, 6 years later, we are blessed with 2 amazing, healthy children, a warm, supportive family on both sides, a wonderful home in a caring, eco-friendly community, a comfortable lifestyle that allows us to travel and see the world, forward-moving careers and a blissful lifestyle in one of the best cities in the world. (Really, I'm not bragging; I'm just reminiscing and counting our many blessings :)

And my, how far we have come since then. And in a strange way, this -- our current existence -- is always how I planned it in my head.  I just didn't know how we would get here.

Sunday night, we went out on date night in La Jolla to celebrate year #6 and enjoyed a swanky sushi meal at Zenbu where the fancy rolls were little art creations unto themselves. And by the time we left, we were heavier on the tummies and lighter on the wallets. It felt so indulgent, especially with all of the economic hardship out in the country right now but it was our time to celebrate, so we did.

Here's the one of the off-the-menu sushi creations we enjoyed from the chef last night...called Sid Fishous - haha. (Notice the "anarchy" symbol made out of hotsauce...Dave was thoroughly amused being a skater punk kid of the 80's and all) Sid Fishous cost $20 so you can bet we enjoyed every bit of that roll, right down to the last grain of rice which probably cost at least $.05 cents. Despite my fetish for things designer/pricey (like jeans, sunglasses and purses), I am cheap with other things, like food and treating ourselves to a nice dinner, so not surprisingly I think that way.

Nonetheless, six years is a feat. It hasn't always been easy, and there are times when I'm sure we both at some point were contemplating our choice, but we've both managed to grow and learn and continue to make each other better through it all. We are committed to one another and we're in love, 6 years later.

And Sunday night, we drank Sapporos and Mai Tais, enjoyed fancy sushi and celebrated the life we've created together and the adventures that are yet to come.