The journey begins

Well, my decluttering rampage over the weekend was somewhat successful. I still have a ways to go, but I think I made a dent! Better than nothing, right? :-)

I am now at Narita Airport. I was supposed to have left four hours ago to go home to the US, but my flight was cancelled because of bad weather on the west coast. After a run-around with the Northwest Airlines customer service number (who told me I had to contact my travel agent to find another flight) and a frustrating call to the travel agent (who told me only Northwest Airlines could help me!) I finally got excellent help from three wonderful Northwest coutner agents who took an hour and a half to try to find an alternate flight for me. I will definitely be sending NWA a customer comment card about how helpful those three were!

In the end I can leave today, but I have to spend 14 hours in Honolulu and then another 11 hours in Seattle! 14 hours in Honolulu normally wouldn't be bad at all, but considering that I am dressed for ultimate winter weather and wearing ankle boots, I wish it were under different circumstances! Oh well. I also called a friend in Seattle, and it sounds like she might be able to come meet me at the airport! So this little unexpected trip might not be so bad after all.

I have a long journey ahead of me, so I bought two extra shirts at the Uniqlo in Narita. Too bad i won't be able to shower for more than 48 hours!

Any tips for things I can do in Honolulu in 14 hours wearing ankle boots and a turtleneck while suffering from jet lag?????

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!!!

Decluttering madness!!!!

Our apartment is definitely not tidy. It isn't dirty, but it is very cluttered. Part of it is because it is too small (like 99% of the apartments in this country, so I can't use that as an excuse), and part of it is because we both have too much stuff.

With the new year coming up, I am going to try to do something about this! I won't get the whole apartment done today, but I am determined to make a dent. I found this great list at the flylady.net site:

Things to ask yourself as you get rid of your clutter:
- Do I love this item?
- Have I used it in the past year?
- Is it really garbage?
- Do I have another one that is better?
- Should I really keep two?
- Does it have sentimental value that causes me to love it?
- Or does it give me guilt and make me sad when I see this item?

Wish me luck!!!

Favorite websites

Hope everyone had a great Tuesday!

I was thinking last night about the websites I usually visit and how I tend to have a few that are my favorites. There is so much out on the internet that sometimes it can be overwhelming, but here are my favorite sites that I check regularly!

- http://www.flickr.com/
I am wayyyyyyyyy behind with uploading photos, but I love Flickr! It's so much fun to share photos with family and friends this way.

- http://www.amazon.co.jp/ and http://www.amazon.com/
I use Amazon.co.jp for books as much as possible to save on shipping costs, and I have been able to sell quite a few used books on there, too! For everything else, though, I look at Amazon.com. These two sites get way too much of my money...

- http://www.facebook.com/
I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook....there is so much cyberdrama that happens on there. But it is a great way to keep in touch.

- http://www.makeupalley.com/
I check this site before I buy any new makeup products to see what people are saying about them! I love the product reviews, and I have written quite a few myself. Great site!

- www.dogeared.com
I love to "window shop" (ha ha) at this site because their jewelry is so adorable! Very creative designs. My friend has the wishbone necklace and it is so sweet!!! Perfect place to daydream.

Hmmm...that is my list of the top of my head. What are your favorite sites?

The two posts below

The two posts below are two designs I made for a digital camcorder that I want. Which design do you like? The photo I took on the beach at Phuket or the photo of my favorite dog in the world (my mom's dog). You can click on the photos to see bigger sizes...though then you will also see the price, which is definitely not cheap...

Flip Mino Camcorder

Flip Mino Camcorder with Personalized Design - Available only at www.theflip.com. Check out this unique Flip Mino design. The Flip Mino camcorder combines remarkable video quality in a pocket-sized package. Now personalizable - create yours

View >>

Flip Mino Camcorder

Flip Mino Camcorder with Personalized Design - Available only at www.theflip.com. Check out this unique Flip Mino design. The Flip Mino camcorder combines remarkable video quality in a pocket-sized package. Now personalizable - create yours

View >>

The experiment has already failed

So far my experiment has already failed seeing as I didn't write a post yesterday - oops! But I have an excuse...I was at the office until 8pm and I had an awful migraine, so I just came home and crashed.

And tonight it is unfortunately already past my bedtime so I think it is time for me to turn off the computer.

In other news, has anyone read any good books lately? I read Then She Found Me by Elinor Lipman, and I really liked it. Apparently it is now a film with Helen Hunt and Better Midler...wonder when it will come out in Japan?!

December

Unfortunately this blog has become somewhat of a monthly update since I am so bad at updating! So I have a new strategy for today...I have lots of things to update on, but I am going to do only one at a time in the hopes that I will come back tomorrow and update again! We'll see if it works.

Guam

Guam in November was AWESOME! Really, truly great. I can't believe I didn't go sooner. American stores, American prices, and best of all, American sizes!! All just three and a half hours away. R and I had a great time shopping, snorkeling, and eating, and just enjoying the beautiful weather.

Thanks to Gina's blog, I had a list of places I wanted to go, and we were able to hit nearly all of them! Micronesia Mall was GREAT! Thank you, Gina!

Our hotel was the Guam Plaza, which was by no means luxurious. But we were barely at the hotel anyway, and it was in a fabulous location for first-timers to Guam. And because the hotel wasn't luxurious, we were able to score a really cheap package plan through HIS! So no complaints at all!

We will definitely go back. Even R, who claims to hate shopping, had a great time at the stores and of course on the beach. Can't wait to go again!

P.S. To any fellow Shu Uemura addicts out there....the price of Shu Uemura cleansing oil at the DFS Galleria in Guam is HALF the price you pay in Japan! Definitely cheaper than anywhere else.

Another wild Saturday night

It's 11:00pm on a Saturday night, and here I am the computer surfing the internet and watching DVDs in my pajamas while drinking a beer. R is in the next room trying to catch up on some zzz's because he hasn't been able to sleep well the past week and is exhausted.

Yes, it's another crazy Saturday night - ha.

Actually, I haven't had a beer at home by myself in a long time....a very long time! But I found out today that the sharp pain I am feeling in my neck when I turn it a certain way is actually a sprain, and the doctor told me I had to take it easy. "Your disks in your neck aren't in great condition anyway, and I'm guessing you got really tired this week and then this happened. You can't get yourself this tired....it's going to go straight to your neck every time," he told me. I have been seeing him for five years, so I trust his judgment.

So not being one to disobey doctor's orders, I "took it easy" tonight by having R meet me at the station after my doctor appointment and whisk me off (in his tiny little power blue car...I love that car - that's a topic for another post) to our favorite Indian restaurant. We stuffed ourselves with curry (which gets better every time we go there!) and samosas, and then once we got home I immediately plopped myself on the couch with DVDs.

Without going into too many details, last week at work was hellish, though miraculously I got a lot of work done so I have quite a bit to show for all of the overtime hours. Next week promises to be even MORE hellish (as if that were possible!) and I have meetings starting at 6pm or later every day except Friday. ARGH. Meetings starting at 6pm means that if I am *lucky* I get to leave the office at 8pm. ARGH.

There aren't enough hours in the day.

But Friday I really *must* leave early because....we are taking a spontaneous trip to Guam!!! Yay!

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

Where's the beef?

So I read an article about how Eva Longoria is apparently now "defending" her "new, rounder figure" (as if she is its lawyer or something....). The photo offered as proof of this was:

Hmmm...I see nothing here that needs defending. In fact, if she is getting crap for looking like this, I am surprised I haven't been arrested by now for disturbing the peace.

Sick, sick standards of beauty for women!

Another great video

Another too-funny TIna Fey video. I especially love the "lifelines" bit! :-)

Too funny

This video cracks me up!!! Tina Fey is hilarious.

Flowers

On my way home from work tonight I noticed an unexpected thing. In the middle of the packed train, I found myself admiring how pretty the lights on the buildings passed looked as they hit the surface of the river as the train passed.

This is unexpected because for most of the last four years I have been in hellish jobs, and my evening train rides home were most often spent trying to calm myself down from the stress and frustration of my day and push all those work-related thoughts out of my head so my evening could be as relaxing as possible. I almost never succeeded.

My current job is certainly not perfect, and there are some things about it that are highly stressful and frustrating. But for some reason I feel like I have more capacity to enjoy things now than I have had in a long time. Maybe it's not just the job...maybe it's just that the stars are aligned right...maybe it's just that I've gotten older and learned how to deal better. But despite all the work-related stress of my new job and all of the non-work-related stressful events that have happened over the last year and are still not over, I finally am able to stop and smell the flowers. It's as if my mind has room to breathe. I just have to learn to maintain this through whatever other stress that comes my way. I still have a lot of flowers to smell.

Hokkaido

It's been a busy couple of weeks! Lots of changes: R is changing jobs (more on that later), I am still getting used to my new job, etc., etc. So how best to deal with these changes? To take a super cheap trip to Hokkaido! :-)

R and I both lived in Hokkaido (that's where we met) and it is super relaxing for both of us to go there and hang out. This time we spent some time in Sapporo and some in Hidaka. Beautiful, amazing weather the whole time and fabulous food made for a great trip. We spent a night at an onsen (and a cheap one at that!), went horseback riding, went to a lake, and more. So much fun!

Blue, blue sky

Wide open spaces and flowers

Horses!!

P.S. The photos above were taken with our new camera!

Quick reminder

A quick reminder to all Americans living overseas to please register to vote! It is very easy to do from this website:
www.votefromabroad.org
Deadlines are coming up, so please act quickly!

Where did my three-day weekend go?!

Well, the three-day weekend is almost over. Hard to believe it went by so quickly!

R and I had a nice weekend. We ran errands, did some shopping, ate at a couple of our favorite restaurants, and cleaned up around the apartment a little.

I also (finally) finished embroidering a towel I had been working on for a while! I'm still a beginner embroiderer, so my work isn't very precise, but it was a lot of fun. The designs are from Sublime Stitching.

An apple jumping for joy. I don't know what she is so happy about, but I would rather have a happy apple than a sad one.

I am actually not a fan of onions, especially when raw, but I do think they make a rather yummy pair with carrots, especially in stews and soups.

These two citrus characters just brought to mind retirees in sunny Florida learning the cha cha and having fun in the sun.

I also embroidered a tomato, but it has a small stain next to it on the towel and the picture isn't very pretty.

So it is back to work tomorrow, but it's a short week! Yay! Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

P.S. My thoughts go out to everyone who works at Lehman Brothers. It's gotta suck to have your company file for bankruptcy and then be left in the lurch. I emailed a friend who works there and his response was, "It's a sad situation." I know Lehman has a lot of dedicated and talented employees, so it truly is a sad situation.

In a funk

I don't what it is, but lately I have really been in a funk. Is it because the past two months have been incredibly busy? Is it because I'm tired and I am trying to adjust to a new schedule getting up earlier for work? Is it some kind of post-job change stress catching up with me? Not sure, but I wish I could find a way to recharge myself. This weekend is a three-day weekend, though, and it might be just what I need!

In other news, H&M opened in Ginza today! I was actually in Ginza to meet some friends and was tempted to go, but I talked myself out of it. I knew it would be ultra-crowded and I wasn't in the mood to go be pushed around by strangers. But all the people in Ginza with H&M bags made me really, really want to go! I *really* hope they have a decent selection of sizes.

Today I met up with my former boss and two former coworkers. He has left the company and will be moving to northern Japan for another job. We dished about the rumors and gossip we have all heard about people in the company....so much has happened at that place! It's truly like a soap opera, and I am glad I got out. It was not a healthy place to be, despite all the amazing people who are there. I did make a lot of really great friends there, though, so I don't regret working there at all. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? :-)

What????

I'm watching the Prime Minister declare his intention to resign on TV right now, and I really don't get it. What happened? Just today he was in a light grey pantsuit promoting disaster awareness! Why doesn't he just dissolve the Cabinet if he's not happy with the LDP?

Another Prime Minister without a backbone??

I'm a horrible blogger.

Ugh. I am such a horrible blogger. So much has happened since my lazy days of summer in June making sun dried tomatoes, but instead of writing about that I will write about something totally mundane: broccoli.

This is a photo of broccoli out on the town. Back in May before I changed jobs, on my way to work I transferred to the Hibiya Line at Hibiya Station one rainy morning. As I walked down the crowded platform I thought I saw an empty seat on the bench, which I was determined to get because there are never any open seats at Hibiya Station in the mornings. But when I got closer I saw that it was just some broccoli hanging out. Broccoli at 8:30am in a station that has absolutely no supermarkets around it... I wish broccoli could talk so I could ask it how it got there.

Gyoza galore

Gyoza galore
Originally uploaded by deena_in_tokyo

R and I were on a short road trip this weekend and we drove through part of Tochigi last night. Tochigi is famous for gyoza so this was our dinner. Yum!