A great night for a walk in San Francisco

We’re not really sure why, but the weather here in San Francisco was BE-A-UTIFUL tonight. So nice, in fact, that Stephanie and I decided that it would be a waste if we didn’t take advantage of it by taking a nice, long walk. Pulling ourselves away from the TV/laptop for the night gave us a great chance to catch up with each other after being gone from each other the past couple of weeks (I was in Austin, TX for South by Southwest Interactive and Stephanie was in Hawaii visiting her friends).

We took off not knowing where we were going to go and ended up walking nearly 3 miles and talking about all kinds of different stuff along the way. After getting back we both agreed that we should definitely do something like this much more often.

Check out where we walked in the map below.

March 18, 2010 | Filed Under relationship stuff, san francisco

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Figuring out that ‘finding myself’ isn’t the point

Unfortunately I never ended up writing up last week’s post, but with the message that we heard this morning at church this week should more than make up for it. This week’s message was all about how Jesus died to make us righteous, which is actually a subject that Stephanie and I just talked about last night while having dinner at one of our favorite places in San Francisco, Miss Saigon (tasty Vietnamese deliciousness).

The conversation that we had and that I actually started was all about how in just the past couple of years I have had a strong sense of finding who I really am as I have made what I would consider to be several major life changes. Just to give you an example of these life changes, here are just a few things that I have personally experienced in just the past 24 months:

  1. Met Stephanie and she became my first official girlfriend since my junior year of high school
  2. Moved to California with Stephanie, which was also the first time that I have ever lived with a significant other (yeah, that’s quite a change)
  3. Changed jobs once I moved out to California
  4. Was saved and became a true follower of Jesus Christ in December of 2008 (a whole other story altogether)
  5. Became engaged to Stephanie on Christmas of 2008 (awesome)
  6. Moved from Palo Alto to San Francisco in April of 2009
  7. Had my first major surgery in May of 2008
  8. Got my first dog in June of 2009 (Frank is the best dog, ever)
  9. Got married in August of 2009 (should we now change it to HupandHup.com?)

So, as you can see, there have been some major things going in both mine and Stephanie’s lives and I think once all of the these things happened I started to wonder what God had in store for me and what I should be doing with my life. This is naturally something that many of us think about (especially once we turn 30 years old), but today’s message reminded me that I need to not worry so much about what I’m supposed to be doing or who I’m supposed to be, but instead trust that God will continue to point me in the right direction and enjoy the ride.

I say all of this because today’s message focused around how Jesus died to make us righteous and only through this gift can I truly become what God has intended me to be. I know that this sounds a little heavy and hard to understand, but that’s where having faith comes in. The idea of receiving the gift that God gave us with the death of His son isn’t something that just clicks and makes sense in an instant. It’s something that is a life long journey of learning and actively living out what God has built us to do — serve, love and spread the word about how Jesus gave up his life so that our sins could be forgiven.

I hope that all makes sense, but for some of you it’s probably sounds like I’m speaking another language. For those of you I encourage you to reach out to Stephanie and I through the comments below or our email/Facebook links to the right. We’d both love to chat with you all about it.

February 7, 2010 | Filed Under random thoughts, relationship stuff, you gotta have faith

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Getting back into running is HARD (and so is everything else that you don’t pay attention to)

Stephanie and I just got back from a Sunday morning 3-miler and I think that we both realized something about half-way through the ’supposed to be really easy’ a.m. skedaddle (is that even a word?). The thing that we both realized was that getting back into running is hard and getting back into the groove of running is even harder.

At this point you might be thinking to yourself:

and…

Well, the truth of the matter is — yes, unfortunately we are still talking about the same Hup and Steph that should be running a 3-miler in their sleep (yeah, that’s us — in the third person). The truth is, even though we should be able to run 15,840 feet literally without breaking a sweat, the fact of the matter is:

Everything that you forget about or become complacent with will eventually be harder than it should be.

I don’t care if it’s running, a relationship with your girlfriend/wife/best friend or the position that you are paid to do at work. If you let yourself become too comfortable in any type of situation and stop pushing yourself in (or even stop paying attention to) whatever you’re involved in, it’s only going to make it harder in the end.

So, what I would suggest is that you take inventory of what you currently deem valuable or a priority in your life and ask yourself a few questions about them:

After you ask yourself these questions, it’s then time to take action on them and to make sure that you are constantly becoming a better, all around person at the things that you feel are the most important in your life. This goes way beyond running (especially for me) and includes things like work, faith and love among others.

I hope that this makes sense — I’m going to try to articulate and push out some of my more personal thoughts on here and this was my first shot. Don’t worry, they’ll only get better from here. :)

Thanks for listening and feel free to give me any feedback that you have. If you need me I’ll be prepping for the Turkey Trot 5-miler that’s coming up on Thanksgiving (wish us luck!).

November 22, 2009 | Filed Under relationship stuff, thoughts to chew on

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Is Frank, the ultimate cuddler? Hup and Steph both say yes.

frankcouchIn just the past couple of days it seems like both Stephanie and I have snapped some pretty priceless ‘cuddling’ pics with our adorable, little Frank. Honestly, we could have posted many, many more due to the fact that Frank is cuddle-master supreme, but I guess that we don’t want to pump our Facebook newsfeeds with any more Frank than we already do right now (which would probably be pretty hard to do). I mean, Frank doesn’t just like to cuddle, he LOVES to and when you’re on the other end of one of his cuddlefests it’s practically impossible to say no to the little guy.

Need to get to work? Yeah, it’s going to have to wait.

Have to go pick up something to make for dinner tonight? It can be put off for a few minutes longer.

Someone just stole your TV right out of your living room? That’s just too bad because Frank isn’t done snuggling up with you just yet (man, you really liked that TV, too).

All I’m trying to say here is that until you get a taste of the infamous Frank cuddle you can’t even come close to ever possibly saying that we have gone off the deep end when it comes to getting up close and snuggling personal with Frank. Basically, don’t knock it until you try it.

To properly close off this post the only way I know how, here are a few of the latest cuddling sessions that both Stephanie and I have had with Frank the past couple of days (don’t be jealous):


Me and Frank getting our cuddle on in the morning before we head into the office.


Stephanie and Frank catching up on some weekend snuggles on the couch.


Some good, old-fashioned Saturday-on-the-window-stoop snuggles.

September 19, 2009 | Filed Under 50 Goals For 2009, Frank, random thoughts, relationship stuff

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Yes, Stephanie and I are both Christians (now with proof!)

The past year or so I have really grown a lot spiritually while being with Stephanie and our faith has become the center and focus of our relationship with one another (which is probably why we’re so annoyingly in love). Well, as I was looking over this blog, I noticed that if you have never known anything about us and have never met us face-to-face, you would probably have no idea that we are dedicated Christians who both have put faith on the top of our priority lists. After noticing this I didn’t think that it was quite how either Stephanie or I should be representing ourselves to the public at large, so I made a few small (yet powerful) changes to our blog.

First I moved the About Us section to the top of the right side of our blog, so that it can be quickly read by anyone who visits our corner of the world wide web.

Next, I updated the About Us to let everyone know that we are in fact married and I made another addition that let’s everyone also know that we are both dedicated Christians. Like I said, not a huge change, but something that I felt was needed.

Oh, and don’t worry — we’re still going to be fun (yes, you can actually be fun and be a Christian).

September 14, 2009 | Filed Under 50 Goals For 2009, random thoughts, relationship stuff, you gotta have faith

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The RSVP’s

Look at us!  It’s officially the 2nd day of our wedding month, and we’ve posted two times, consecutively.  I think we’re on a roll!

Design courtesy of Holly Gauper www.gauperphoto.com
Design courtesy of Holly Gauper www.gauperphoto.com

Above is an image of our fabulous RSVP’s that my wonderful friend and wedding photographer, Holly Gauper designed.  We sent out the invitations just a week and a half ago, and already the responses are flooding in.  I think giving the guests the option of e-mailing us their RSVP was a great idea and can potentially save the guests some time and 43 cents ;)  As of today we have a total of 37 “Yes!” RSVP’s.   Not a bad start if you ask me.

So, Ryan and I thought we’d take some time to give you an update of what planning a wedding is really like.  The nitty gritty, if you will of the entire process can sometimes prove to be quite a challenge.  Despite the stress that a situation like this can put on a couple, I think we’re both handling it just fine, don’t you?  You can watch the video below or over here on YouTube

August 2, 2009 | Filed Under great friends, relationship stuff, video, wedding stuff

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A Jam-Packed Saturday… just the way we like it.

logo_bed_bath_and_beyondTypically Ryan and I end up feeling more tired after a weekend is over than when we go into it.  We don’t like to keep things normal by utilizing the extra weekend time to catch up on some much needed rest and relaxation.  Instead I think we  see the extra two days off from work as a challenge to see how many activities we can pack into 48 hours.  We usually do a pretty good job.  Today can easily serve as example of how we like to spend our weekends.

This morning we woke up and ran 15 miles.  That’s right, 15 miles.  I don’t like to brag or anything but this time I think I will.  That’s a pretty long run and in fact, it’s the longest that Ryan and I have ever run in our entire life!  If you remember, I’m training for the San Francisco Marathon in July.  I’m following a special 18 week training program that, so far I highly recommend.  We’ll see after the race if I still recommend it, haha.  I just finished up week ten, so as you can see the weekend mileage continues to increase as the training goes on.  Ryan was supposed to run the marathon with me, but unfortunately due to his shoulder situation, he won’t be able to run :(  So far, he has been able to do most of the training with me, but that will all end on Wednesday after he has his surgery.  It’s going to be painfully hard to train on my own, so I might have to start looking for some new running partners in the city.  Out here I’m sure that wont be too hard considering the amount of runners that I’ve seen in San Francisco.  Below is a map of our run this morning, note that we basically ran all the way up to the Golden Gate Bridge. Talk about an amazing view!

15miler1

Following our crazy long run and a major chow down fest at one of our favorite, nearby restaurants The Brickhouse, Ryan and I headed over to Bed Bath and Beyond to register for all of the super awesome wedding gifts that we hope to receive.   We had an amazing consultant lead us around the store and give us the low-down on every single item that he thought we would need after we’re married.  From pots and pans to toaster ovens and bedspreads we had a fabulous time zappin every item that we just had to have!  If you’d like to go ahead and buy us a gift ( come on, you know you’re just dying to) you can click right here and type in Stephanie Marnitz or Ryan Hupfer and our registery will pop up.  We selected a few items so take your pick… we’ll be happy with any of it!  Yay… bring on the presents, haha.

May 23, 2009 | Filed Under 50 Goals For 2009, Wedding Shtuff, marathon chronicles, relationship stuff, san francisco

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Being responsible or just being lame? You decide. A tough GumBall 3000 decision.

gumball_logoMy life has truly been blessed with some of the most random and amazing opportunities. I’ve traveled to Europe with friends of friends, I’ve taken a 50-foot tour bus filled with 6 of my friends and 2 bus drivers across the entire country in 2 weeks, I’ve had the chance to be on live TV with Indianapolis’ most watched station, I’ve written a book that’s available around the world, I moved to California with the love of my life and many, many other things that I could go on and on about if I had more time before I had to go into the office.

I’m not trying to brag here, but the point I’m trying to get across is that I have somehow been able to do some truly awesome and amazing things that just seem to happen because I either meet the right people or I’m simply at the right places at the right times. These experiences have all helped me become the person that I am today and if I hadn’t been open to giving them a shot (by not freaking out), I probably wouldn’t be where I am and who I am today. They’ve somehow, someway helped shaped my personality and my outlook on life each and every time I’ve been able to do them.

With all of this in mind I wanted to ask you a question about something that happened yesterday while I was in the office. Around 11:30am or so an instant message popped up from my friend Alex, whom I have seen and chatted with here and there since I’ve lived out here on the West Coast. Alex is a tech-geek just like me and he’s an excitement junky just like me as well. He loves car racing and once I started chatting with him I realized just how much he actually did like the life of the fast and furious.

After we got through the normal hellos and what-not Alex wasted no time in getting to the point. I could tell that he was all excited and in a hurry about something. One of the first questions he asked me was “Hey man, you know about the GumBall 3000?“. To which I quickly answered “Of course!”. You see, the GumBall 3000 is one of the craziest, high-profile, out-of-control car rallys there is in the entire world. It’s basically a bunch of millionaires, entertainers and race car crazies who pay a ton of money to drive 3,000 miles in 8 days in their super-expensive Lamborghinis, Maseratis, Jags, Bentleys and just about any other type of 6-figured, exotic sports car that your pretty, little head can imagine. Here’s a quick video of the start of 2007s GumBall 3000 to help you get a feel for what I’m talking about:

Yeah, that’s the GumBall 3000. Pretty sweet, eh?

Well, Alex continued to chat with me about how we worked on the crew for one of the drivers last year and that he actually has a chance to get a seat in one of the cars this year for the rally of all rallys. I was pretty amazed at this point, as I have been watching the GumBall 3000 ever since I saw the Jackass crew take part in it a few years ago. He then continues to tell me how he can only ride for half of the rally due to some work stuff that he has to be back in town for and he wanted to know if I could hop in the care for the other half (and pay for half of the seat). Whoa.

Honestly, this was one of those times that I get the chills even at the thought of being part of something like the GumBall 3000, but the price was just enough to make me question whether or not this opportunity was worth jumping on. It wasn’t so much money that it would completely break the bank, but enough to probably put Stephanie and I in a situation where we’d really have to watch what we spend for the next several months. But, it is a once in a lifetime type of thing so I still considered it and I told a super-excited and somewhat desperate Alex that I would call Stephanie and ask her about it.

Well, I called Stephanie and she was all about me going and thought that it sounded like an amazing opportunity, so I officially had her stamp of approval (and you wonder why I love this woman?). After getting Stephanie’s OK I asked my boss about taking the crazy trip and he was totally cool with it, too (I just wouldn’t get paid for my time off work). At this point I called Alex and I told him that I was good to go and that I could do this thing. It was crazy and probably not the best decision, but hey — it was an amazing opportunity that I might never have the chance to do again. I was going to be riding in the GumBall 3000 and that was that.

After I called Alex (and made his year), I went and grabbed something to eat, which allowed me to gather some thoughts about the decision that I just made. As I ate my delicious Toaster Over sandwich a million different thoughts started running through my head about some of the possible issues that could arise now that I’ve said I would shell out the cash needed to snag a seat for half of the GumBall 3000. Thoughts such as: my shoulder needing surgery, Stephanie and I getting married this summer, living in one of the most expensive places in the world, the awesome weekends that Stephanie and I love to have, the dog (Frank) that we want to get, the new furniture that we would like to buy and other things that we would probably be all stressed about if I decided to make the somewhat expensive investment that I just agreed to go in on with Alex.

With all of this in mind I started feeling like I made the wrong decision and that I didn’t think the whole thing through, which could be best described as a really weird grinding feeling in the bottom of my guts each time I realized that I had probably made the wrong decision. It’s a feeling that we’ve all had before and every single time it doesn’t feel good.

After I finished up eating I had officially decided that I made the wrong decision and that I didn’t think the whole thing through (which I normally don’t do) and that I needed to call Alex back and turn my best news into my worst news by telling him that I changed my mind and that I can’t do the GumBall 3000 with him, even though I know that it’s going to be A-MA-ZING.

I made the tough call back, explained what I had decided and told him that I wasn’t going to be able to go on the trip of a lifetime. It wasn’t easy, but I felt like it was the right decision to make and I was completely honest with him when I told him why I had made the decision. Needless to say, he was a little upset, but he understood my situation and he appreciated that I called him back when I did and told him the truth.

It wasn’t easy to do, but I decided to ditch the potential trip of a lifetime. Now I’m wondering if this is just a sign of becoming more responsible or simply just a sign of becoming lame. What do you think? Did I make the right decision?

April 28, 2009 | Filed Under great friends, new/random experience, random thoughts, relationship stuff, video

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Hup and Steph might get married on the Today Show: What should we do for the 1-minute video?

One of my homies that I’ve met over the interwebs is a guy named Chris (twitter: @CarMaxChris) who runs all of the social media initiatives for CarMax. We met and started chatting over a year ago when he commented on one of our posts that talked about me trying to sell Stephanie’s car to CarMax once we realized we were headed out West to live the California life. Well, I didn’t end up selling her car to CarMax, but Chris and I never stopped chatting and keeping up with each other as time has gone on.

I tell you all of this because just yesterday Chris sent me over a Tweet that asked me if Stephanie and I were going to enter the contest to get married on the Today Show, which started accepting applictions on April 15th. After he sent it over I went over and took a look at the application process and after researching it a bit I might just have to say that Stephanie and I would be PERFECT for this contest and if we actually got on there we would take the top prize for sure!

Stephanie has talked about this contest before, but now that I’ve actually taken a look at it we’ve decided to give it our best shot and see what the Today Show thinks about your favorite soon-to-be-married couple (that’s us). The application is a little long, but it should be easy to fill out. However, there is one thing that we’ve been going back and forth on and that’s the 1-minute video that we could need to send in with our application. Here’s what they say we need to send in:

Read the application for full requirements and to find out if you’re eligible to be married on TODAY. Then fill out your application, print it, attach a couple photo, along with a one minute  (1:00) video of why you should be chosen and mail it to us. If you think you’re cut out to handle the competition, submit your application no later than May 15, 2009.

Not a whole lot of time to say something that will catch their attention, but we’re hoping to put together some ideas that will be a little, ummm different that will help us stand out from the rest of the couples. If you have any ideas of what we should include in the short 60 seconds that we’re alotted, please leave them in the comments below. We’ll keep you updated on our progress and get ready to vote for us soon — I know that we can win this thing!

April 24, 2009 | Filed Under Today Show Wedding, new/random experience, random thoughts, relationship stuff, travel, wedding stuff

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Love and relationships in the world of social media

picture-48The past couple of weeks have been a little out of control, which is nothing new for Stephanie and I and for some of these reasons we’ve been slacking a bit here in our digital home way from home. Some of the highlights have been moving into our new place here in San Francisco (and not having Internet connected until yesterday), me wrecking yet another bike and tearing up my shoulder (yes, I’m having surgery in May), exploring all kinds of new places here in the city, getting a new couch and getting a ton of bedroom furniture from our homie Ben, who is going to be traveling to Thailand and is chillin’ (working) there for the next couple months. People out here in SF do that type of stuff and it’s actually considered to be normal. For real.

So, yeah — there’s been a lot going on and although that’s not an excuse from me, it is an explanation. I have to keep my peeps in the loop, you know? I’m glad that you’re stopping back by and if you have any other news to tell us about, please do so in the comments below.

I’m going to shift gears here really quick and talk about the topic that I titled this blog post with — love and relationships in the world of social media. This is a very familiar topic to Stephanie and I as we’ve documented most of our relationship together over the past year or so (our first post) and have broadcast it out on the web for all (who care) to consume and view for themselves. We’ve kept up this blog for over a year, we’ve put together tons of videos and we’ve practically talked about all different aspects of our relationship together. I’m not really sure why we started doing this, but I’m really glad that we have as it has helped us do things and meet people that we would have never been able to connect to if we hadn’t been so out there and findable.

Putting our relationship out there has been a great way to let friends, family and complete strangers know about who we both are, what we’re about, our beliefs, our faults, our ups & downs and all things in between. Oh, and we’ve had a TON of fun doing it.

I bring all of this up because as I logged into the blog a few minute ago for the first time in a week or so, I saw that a blog post was linking back to us. The blog post was written by a woman her in SF named Stephanie Gerson (her Facebook) and it’s titled Love and relationships in the era of social media and as I read through it I saw that she referenced our Hup and Steph blog towards the end. The blog post is interesting and it talks about a relationship that she had with a guy that lives across the US, whom she kept in touch with via Skype and then blogged (most of) the details for the world to see. The blog is still live on the web — it’s aptly titled this might be a love story and as you start scrolling and clicking it becomes awful addicting.

As word of her long-distance social media relationship got around the web, CurrentTV showed some interest in producing a piece called Video Chat Love Story on Stephanie’s story and the video below is what they ended up with. Hopefully I can get to know Stephanie a little better now that I’ve learned a little bit more about her. I can’t wait to talk more all about this stuff. I think it’s all so interesting, especially since Stephanie and I are right in the middle of it.

April 20, 2009 | Filed Under blog inspired, relationship stuff, san francisco, video

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