I'm in love.

Back in December I had time to kill at Narita so I stopped in one of the duty-free shops. I saw the Shu Uemura counter when I walked in the store, so I decided to take a look around. I wound up buying a mini-size bottle of their cleansing oil since I had read so much about it in magazines, and I must say...it has made washing my face fun!

I have always had slightly oily skin so I have shied away from oil cleansers, but this is different. It makes my skin feel so smooth and soft after I use it, and it removes makeup easily and completely. And there's no need to cleanse again after using it! Perfect. I am in love.

The only problem is...*ahem*....the price. It's an expensive habit, so I had better not fall too far.

It's February

Given that it is now past midnight on Thursday, January 31st, it is now officially February!

This past month has been challenging, and all the stressful stuff that has been happening at work has given me a stomachache (literally, unfortunately...I hope this isn't the beginning of an ulcer).

But!! One must look on the bright side. I think R and I might go to Kyoto this weekend (haven't decided yet). We have an trip to an onsen with friends planned this month. And every day of February is another step closer to spring.

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Every year around Valentine's Day I suddenly panic. Why? Because, as those of you who live in Japan know, Valentine's Day is (mysteriously) a day when *women* give chocolate to *men*, including men they work with but have no romantic feelings for (which is called "giri-choco"). At my last two jobs all of the females in the office banded together and said we would not buy the giri-choco, which has eliminated much of the headache that Valentine's Day used to be for me. But one source of panic remains.....what to get for R?!

Although he is slowly developing an appreciation for sweets, for the most part R is not a huge fan of chocolate or candy (as I write this I have to wonder how we have stayed together, because I could LIVE on chocolate and candy and be perfectly happy). If I buy him chocolate on Valentine's Day he thanks me, but then it tends to just sit around with only a few pieces eaten (in symbolic thanks, no doubt). I then feel upset that the chocolate is being wasted and that I wind up eating the chocolate that I bought for him, and I always feel more upset that I can never think of something better to give him that he would like but that would still be Valentine' s Day-ish.

Hmmmm....any suggestions? A couple of weeks ago I made carrot cupcakes and he gulped those down like they were going out of style, so I could make those. Decorating them with hearts or something would be cute, but come to think of it, although he loved the cupcakes he didn't like the frosting I made because it was "too sweet." *Sigh* How did two people with such very different tastes get together????