My heart lies in Kyoto

We are back in Tokyo from our three day two night trip to Kyoto. Both E and I fell in love. The little side streets full of food stalls and craft shops. The temples galore, oh the temples. The sweets, the smells, the electric poles that look like they haven't been updated in 50 years (seriously, they were scary!), the ryokan that we stayed in and loved, we miss it all.

In Kyoto we stated right in the heart of old downtown. We could walk to old Gion, the Nshiki Food Market, and our favorite temple so far, Kenninji Temple. Our ryokan (traditional Japanese hotel) was wonderful. We stayed in a big room with tatami mats, so no shoes allowed. When we arrived hot tea and sweets were waiting in our room. We fell in love with the small table and the pillows provided to sit on. We even explored the oforo bath, which is a comunial bath (full post to come!), and ate traditional dinners in our room served to us from the funniest Japanese woman, that would explain how to eat everything in full Japanese. E and I just nodded and looked at each other before trying something mysterious.

Here are a few guesses on what we ate:
Raw squid
Raw egg
Leaves
Pickled something (we had no idea what it was!)
Chicken liver (again, not sure what it was...)
Octopus (raw and cooked)
and many more.

Everything we ate, however the weird look, was really wonderful. We tried lots of new food and loved 90% of them. Even the Japanese breakfast was tasty, kinda.

More photos to come!

Japan is stunning

We are just getting ready for another day in Japan, today we are headed to Nikko. But before we leave, I'll post a few photos for you to enjoy!

Here is a $105 cantaloupe...
AMAZING tempura dinner.
Senso-ji Temple in Tokyo. In the top level of the pagoda is a bone relic of Buddha.
Prayer drawers at the temple.
Geisha.
Main hall of the temple. The steep roof is at least four stories tall.
Koishikawa Korakuen Garden. A must see, it is glorious.
Tsutenkyo bridge.
E with dinner last night. Shabu shabu, a hot broth where you cook meet, veggies and fish.

I think Japan ate my journal

Sorry to be such a downer on my first post of Japan (by the way, Japan is awesome! Tokyo is beautiful, big and crowded!), but last night after my first full day here I looked for my travel journal. I looked and looked and finally came to the realization that it is not here... not in our room at least.

The journal is very special to me, since my husband got it for my last year for my birthday (remember?). There was only one trip documented in it, Grand Cayman, and I am very sad to loose it.

We've called the airport, the airline and other places we think it might have gotten lost. We just hope it turns up.

Please send up your "finding journal" vibes. Thank you.

Ben is in town!

In addition to packing for Japan and everything else going on in my life, Ben came into town for the weekend! I was a little bummed that he chose the weekend E and I were leaving, but oh well. He said no other weekend would work for his schedule. Jo was unable to join him, so that is a bummer. We really miss her.

Ben is awesome to be around, he totally brings a smile to my face. And E laughs around Ben in a different way, somehow more carefree. I love it.

Yesterday I took a half day from work and met Ben, Logan, and E at our new favorite Thai restaurant. After a fantastic meal Ben and I headed to his first of many wedding meetings. The guys stayed back, but Ben asked only me if I could join him, since I had just planned my own wedding not long ago. It was fun listening to options and such, and trying to imagine what Jo will want. Today we might go to Red Butte Gardens and take some photos there, because that is the wedding location they are leaning towards (Ben and Jo's very first date was at Red Butte Gardens).

After getting home from our catering meeting, E and I hosted a party with all the guys. I was overwhelmed at how much I miss this. It has been forever since it was just the guys and myself (Becky was there, but we both feel like one of the guys.) We laughed, BBQed, told way to many dirty jokes, and played a very intense game of Pictonary. When Logan's turn came around to draw Bugs Bunny we all died laughing, this horrid bunny type thing looked scary. Ben guessed "Demented Easter Bunny" and again we rolled laughing until our stomachs hurt.

I miss my best friend too much when he is away.

E, Ben, Logan, Justin and Becky laugh at Logan's horrible dating story. I guess he and his date went to the DMV for some romance...

My sweet little girl is home in time for Japan

Violet has been traveling for about two months, and yesterday she arrived home! I am thrilled, because she is just in time for our trip to Japan.

She even has her own kimono!
Our Japan plans have firmed up in the last week. I have never been this so last minute about travel plans in my life, there are just a few other things on my plate (house, job, car, and about everything else major seems to be disrupted right now). Anyway, we finally have a hotel for all the nights that we will be in Japan, and we also were able to get a bullet train pass that is only available to non-Japanese citizens, so we had to get it Fed-Exed to our US address. I bought this at the last possible moment, not good planning on my part.

Our plan now is to spend a few days in Tokyo, we are going to visit a few temples, gardens and shrines. Possibly do some shopping, but E and I aren't much shoppers. Then we'll take the train to the Five Lakes District near Mt. Fuji. Here we'll stay in a traditional Japanese hotel where we'll eat and sleep on the floor. I'm so excited! Then, we'll get on the train again and head to Kyoto. In Kyoto we'll stay in another traditional hotel, this one even neater than the last (here is there website). We'll explore Kyoto as much as we can and try to visit a few of the 500 temples and shrines Kyoto has to offer. Then we'll hop back on the bullet train and return to Tokyo for one last day in the city before I leave.

I am quite excited.

The condo is done, at last!

E and I spent the entire weekend cleaning. We cleaned the condo from top to bottom, and at last it is ready to sell. What a big job, I'm glad it is behind us.

Now we are excited about the equity we'll get from the sale.

Bite me Edward

As of late I've been enjoying the vampire book fad, the Twilight series. These are really not the most intellectual books, but they hold my interest, and are quite addicting. Edward is a vampire, and an extremely sexy one. The strength and the danger and the muscles, god, I feel like such a teenage girl. The nature of him wanting to bite Bella is wonderfully sexy...

For anyone that has not picked up these books yet, and wants some brain candy, these deliver. I'm still undecided on weather I like Edward or Jacob better. Edward is pale, strong and cold (as in temperature, not demeanor, he is hot in demeanor!) while Jacob is dark (he is Native American), strong and hot in temperature. God, I love them both.

Right now I'm in the middle of the third book, of the four book series.

Yea for Allison and Kyle!

My lifelong friend Allison got engaged a few weeks ago to her wonderful boyfriend Kyle. Congrats! Allison has been my friend since our moms met in a mothering class when we were both less than a year old. We grew up together, sharing the love of dolls, dealing with high school stresses, and finding love. Allison joined me as a bridesmaid at my wedding two years ago, with Kyle in tow!

I wish this fantastic couple a long life of happiness, and a fantastic wedding day!

Photo caption: Kyle and Allison are both outdoor lovers, and avid hikers. The day after my wedding day the hiked Half Dome in Yosemite, and that is a serious hike. Anyway, a few weeks ago Kyle and Allison planned a big hike, to the peak of Mt. Belford, one of Colorado's 14k peaks. On the peak he knelt down and proposed to Allison, she of course said yes!

The house is almost complete

On Monday night to end the long holiday weekend, E and I decided to host a "Thank you for helping us move" party. We invited E's family, my Mom's family, and my Dad. We had a great time, and everyone loved the house.

Here are a few more photos of things coming together:
Our front room is full of natural light. Notice the hummingbird feeder out the front window, we have two hummingbirds visit throughout the day. We still need a rug for this room. The pillow in front of the window is a favorite kitty spot. Moose spends a lot of time there.
Our awesome kitchen. Again, lots of natural light!
Bedroom again, with some of our travel photos hanging up. We plan to print more of our travel photos and get them framed, and arrange them around the bedroom.
Our library is complete! There is another bookshelf to the left of me. When you sit on the couch, you look directly at the forth bookshelf. Also, doesn't the Hopper painting on the wall fit perfectly?
This is our TV room, well half of it. This room is HUGE! After moving the stereo case and TV down the stairs E said he was not, under any circumstance, moving a couch down those stairs. So we got LoveSacs instead. They are really cozy.
And our backyard!

Funny things I said as a kid

While setting up our library I flipped through some old photo albums my mom put together years ago. The year that I was three years old she kept a calendar and each day wrote either what we were doing or funny things I said. I love this idea, and want to do one myself when I have children. Anyway, reading it yesterday made me laugh out loud! I was such a funny kid.

Here are a few of the things I said:

• "Mommy, when we have the new baby (my brother Brandon) let's name him Santa Claus" only a three year old would think Santa Claus is a good name for a baby. My poor brother would kill me if we named him Santa.
• I said "I'm not a basket case!" I'm not sure where I heard the term 'basket case', or if it was in reference to me, but alas, "I'm not a basket case!
• I told my mom "I love her eleven bits". Boy good thing too, I don't know what would happen if I only loved her ten bits.
  
• I told my dad "not to slurp, it is bad manners." I still say this, mostly to my husband.
  
• "Daddy, it is hard being a big girl." Boy, I was so wise beyond my years. It is hard being a big girl.
  
• I called my grandma "the old lady." Well it's true, right? Especially compared to me, when I was only three. Everyone older than five was really old.
  
• Remember how I mentioned that I named all my dolls awesome names like Soft Baby and Big Baby. Well one day I told my mom "Soft Baby is being a pain in the ass." Poor Soft Baby, I'm sure she was a nice girl.
  
• "There's sperm in my juice." Wow, just wow. I sure hope I was wrong.
  
• One day in December we went to visit Santa. Afterwords I said "Santa didn't bite or lick me when I sat on his lap." That, I can say, is a very good thing.
  
• "Mom, if your underpants go any lower I'm going to see your butt hole." Haha!! What an awesome three year old I was.
• "Wouldn't it be nice if the lights on police cars were pink and purple?" I have to say, that would be kinda nice.
• "Mom, you look fat, and always will." How cruel a kid can be, but it is funny.
  

Labor day, and we are work'n!

Yesterday, the beginning of the holiday weekend, could have been so much better. On the way home from work, someone slammed on their brakes about four cars ahead of me... everyone followed and I rear-ended the person in front of me. Great beginning to the holiday weekend, right? Luckily no-one was hurt and both cars only had minor damage. I didn't receive a ticket, just a warning for following too close. Now I'm going to be in a rental car for the next week or so, because my car needs a new hood and front bumper. The car I hit will only need a new back bumper. Shit.

Anyway, after that stress had passed, E and I started to work! We actually haven't stopped working since we moved in, each and every night I just have one more thing to clean up before going to bed, so it ends up we stay up way way too late. E and I have also become Ikea pros, we can pretty much put together anything, without mistakes. This is not how it has always been, oh no. The first three or four pieces we put together we learned from our mistakes. So far this week we've put together our new kitchen table, two of the six chairs, a bathroom cabinet, a desk, a hutch (this was a three-night job), couches, and more. Plus we've unloaded a ton of boxes, and our house is really starting to come together.

As I mentioned in previous posts, we have three main floor bedrooms, the first is our master bedroom, and then we have my doll room, and last we have the library. Today we've spent the majority of the day in the library, and it is coming together so beautifully!

Here are some photos. The couch is new (Ikea!) as is the desk (that is actually where I am right now). There are four large bookshelves in the room, one near the door that I have yet to get a photo of, because there is a huge pile of tools in front of it. We plan to hang up a painting above the couch, and the half empty bookshelves are obviously not done, but it is a work in progress:

Mabel enjoys the new leather couch. We are going to hang a painting above the couch in a little bit.
Here is a photo of where I am sitting now. The window has a beautiful view of a maple, and the desk is newly set up. Sweet!
I've also been spending a great deal of time in the doll room. I've really wanted to get this de-cluttered and set up. Most things are done, but a few things are missing (mainly Kit's bedside table, damn it). Lei Mei's room still needs to be worked on, but everything else is done. (Sorry for the amount of photos, I always get excited about my doll room.)

Here is the view of the room right when you walk in. The pink shelves? Ikea of course!
Here is the other side of the room. I need to move the trunk in front of the closet to make the closet accessible. But isn't the pink wingback perfect!?
Here is a photo of Violet's room. Don't you love her floor lamp? Ikea!
And here is Kit's attic room, sans her bedside table.
Lei Mei's room is a work in progress, I can't seem to find her tablecloth.
And Violet's closet, neat huh?
Now the entire house is not complete, but something else we are extremely proud of is our new hutch. Assembling this beast was a three-night job, but it was worth it! This is in our kitchen right next to our table.
Everything doesn't look as clean as these few rooms, oh no. Here is what the hall looks like, after we unloaded our books for the library:
More photos to come!

A few house photos and a kitty update

Thank goodness, the kitties finally seem to be adjusting. After two full days hiding in the basement, I finally decided to force Moose upstairs. Now by force, I was not mean, I just picked him up and he looked around scared and curious. I brought him up, and into the bedroom. I placed him on the bed, which smells familiar, and began giving him lots of pets. He was very scared, but this was a baby step.

After two more times of this, Moose is finally feeling comfortable in our new house. Mabel and Rumpus are also adjusting well. Things are going splendidly!

The boxes are slowly getting unpacked and things are slowly being put away. Every night we assemble some Ikea furniture and tonight we are going to pick up some bookcases from my Mom's house.

So, here are a few photos, remember, this is a work in progress:

After we assemble our new table from Ikea Mabel makes herself right at home. Notice she doesn't seem worried about the new house, unlike the boys.
Finally after two days Rumpus (behind the coffee table) and Moose (on the floor near the couch) join us upstairs with Mabel (on the trunk). Also, the couches are new! They got delivered from Ikea yesterday. I think we'll need a rug soon.
Here is our bedroom. The walls are sage green. We want to decorate the walls with black and white photos from our travels.