I have been getting on really well with hubby lately. I probably didn't think hard enough about how to express this to him. Instead, I said, "Honey, I feel really in harmony with you right now." Basic error, was that I forgot to translate this into Man and spoke Woman instead. He gave me a puzzled look, narrowed his eyes and said, "Do I have to do anything?" Sigh....

Okay, wierd title error and I don't feel like fixing it. Hubby came home today and brought me some high class chocolate. Two truffles and a tiny box of chocolate covered orange peel. The fact that I like chocolate covered orange peel means that I have officially moved into adulthood. I used to think it was totally disgusting. If I get the good stuff, it is, in the words of Eric Cartman, "KICK ASSss!" Small problem is that I had decided to start a diet today. Decided not to tell hub...

I swear to god, that the rise in terrorism in the world is giving people the excuse to do nothing that they have been looking for. Got a pesky problem you don't want to deal with anymore? Eradicate iyour problem by blaming terrorism. For example, there are no longer any garbage cans around the local train stations here. Why? Terrorism. Or so they say. Shinjuku station or Shibuya, I could buy that excuse. After all, more than a million people pass through those train stations every day...

If I'm going to be be on time for soccer, I should probably leave now. Thanks god for soccer socks which are long and that means that I don't have to worry about shaving my legs. Then again my team-mates couldn't care less I'm sure. I could whip through dishes and be out the door by 7:30. I feel sick though because the post-office called me and asked me questions about the money order I sent A WEEK after I sent it. I know I have the angry tone for speaking Japanese down to a T, but I hav...

I like incense. Maybe not the cloying stuff sold back home, and not the particulary the stuff burned at the shrines or in front of family shrines or in old ladies' houses. Usually, if I mention incense, one of my Japanese friends pulls a face and mentions that they don't really like it becaus it smells like an old lady's house.Yesterday friend introduced me to a great incense store in Omotesando. From the outside, it looks just like a hip, modern art gallery with funky, artistic lights ma...

My husband has always encouraged my writing and my drawing. This is nice as I love to do it. Unfortunately, it doesn't pay any bills. Again, after that infernal exam, I am going to start back at this idea I had-- designing cards. I think it might be fun to sit out on a street and see if anyone will buy what I sell. At the very worst, I should get a pretty decent day of people watching in. Hopefully, hubby or a friend will sit with me as I am sadly naive about any ettiquette for selling ...

Lately, I've been able to indulge myself in some pampering and some of my favorite things. Bubble baths with one foot high pile of bubbles Reading a book in my living room about 2 hours before sunset (I get the best light) Cup of hot chocolate at Maison du Chocolat in Ginza Reflexology foot massage Writing my book while burning jasmine incense Ginger scented shampoo from origins Traveling around Tokyo and taking photos The cityview from Mori Tower in Roppongi Hills Sitting in my ...

I went to the hot stone spa at my gym today. It's not one of those Spa Treatment experiences (I capitalize this because I have a friend who manages one of those kind of spas) where someone puts warm stones and essential oil or something on you for the jolly price of fifty dollars or more. The hot stone spa here is more like a sauna but instead of cedar benches there are long , heated stone beds that you lie on. Somewhere there is some kind of wood called Keyaki which gives the room a nice,...

MasonM wrote about his ghost experience and it reminded me of something that happened to me about 12 years ago. I used to help out a friend at the race track. I'm not a morning person and the very early starts (feeding began at 5 am) were rough on me. I met a guy who trained horses and we dated for a while. One day I was staying at his place. I was really tired and that may have been the cause of what happened. I was looking for my toothbrush and couldn't find it. I was kind of...

Just thought I'd do a quick blog while I'm waiting for a disk to burn so I can finish up this job and finally go to sleep. The cherry blossoms should be coming out with the next week and a half. I'm a little bummed that the trees on my street got chopped back quite a bit because of electrical powerlines. I'm hoping they'll still look good but I have little hope they will look as good as last year. Oh, the disk is done. Goody. Now I can get some sleep.

A couple of years ago I went to this pet store on the top floor of a local department store. Not your best bet to get a pet (ha ha nice channelling of Dr. Suess there) but I was kind of curious about if they just sold pet food or had actual animals. I got to the top floor which was actually the roof and walked across to the little shack-type room. As I walked up to the shanty-shop I was taken aback by the fact that they were tasteless enough to have a fur welcom mat. To me that's pretty...

I wasn't going to do it, but I can feel I am on the cusp of making them even if I don't directly acknowledge that's what I'm doing. Here goes: 1. Lose 6 g. That's probably realistic. At one point in my life I would have been a bit annoyed to weigh that but now I can't be bothered to make the effort to lose more than I really need to. And more importantly, I think those 6 kg are a sign of some lifestyle changes I need to make. I used to love working out and now it doesn't fill me ...

I wish I had a picture of this. I don't. Sunday was colder than it has been for a while. A warm jacket and a scarf made it okay. But my husband gave me a sip of the drink he'd bought from the vending machine on the Yamanote Line platform in Gotanda. Drinking the warm green tea changed the focus of the energy. From standing in the cold, waiting for a train, I suddenly began to enjoy the activity swirling around me on a rainy autumn day in Tokyo.

This was on my list from last year. *dacshunds running (have you ever seen the wiener dog races???? tooo hilarious. Popular breed here now. So jealous) *my chair in my study (I have a great little posture chair but I'm always in the slouchy comfy chair with laptop on lap) *view outside my study (recently there are butterflies living a life and death saga with all the birds) *hubby (he's just so cute when he's not pissing me off! ) *my photo *this chocolate almond croissant...

Of course, I heard all about the crazy frog ringtones when all the frenzy was going on. But crazyfrog never caught on in Japan and if it ever played on the radio here, I still would have never heard about it. Japanese radio drives me crazy because most stations play half a song and then the hosts talk most of the way through it. So okay. I heard about it and couldn't care less. Today I happened to read a book where everyone's cell-phone had the crazy frog ring tone. So now I'm curious...