pinku

It's your birthday Papa Dawg!

Happy birthday Daz!! I have to admit your jokes are pretty funny and you are good at making up new words. You are doing a fantastic job of being a SAHD and I really think that not many men could handle it. You are one of a kind! Jake and I love you SO much! We are very lucky to have you.

photo by martine cotton

photo by martine cotton

Dude, I'm back at work

and that ain't no April Fool's joke.....

It's actually my third day back and it's not that bad. Darin has now become Mr Mum (or Mom as you Americans like to say) and we are all doing ok. I only cried once when leaving the house and have only choked up a few times after seeing other mums around town with their babies, Maclarens and o-balls. In preparation for his stay at home dad role, Darin wanted to rent the movie Mr Mom. I'm pretty sure that it wouldn't be of much practical help, but hey it'd probably be funny.

This is the face I had to leave at home Tuesday morning......it was hard.

Work seems unnaturally normal to me...um, except that my brain is in a constant fog from the lack of sleep. It's weird. I also just took a work phone call and they wanted to have a meeting now but I gotta run and pump. I was also simultaneously trying to purchase six bags of disposable nappies at the same time too. I told them I was free in half an hour. Weird. It's like I'm leading a secret life.

Luckily my work is pretty flexible and they have allowed me to work four days a week for the first few months and my hours have been reduced to 10 to 4:30 and with an hour lunch and two 20 to 30 minute pumping sessions, I really only work four and a half hours a day - the days are flying by so far. Darin also brings Jake to work during lunch once a week so I get a quickie cuddle. That baby smell is quite addictive.

I wasn't sure how my work would deal with the fact that I needed to pump at work. I had recently received a memo before coming back to work that encouraged mothers coming back to work to continue breastfeeding....BUT only during the night and they encourage using formula during the day. Anyway, considering that in a building of 3000 or more people I am the ONLY one pumping, they have generously offered the use of an unused meeting room for me to pump. It has two sofas (not that comfy), a great view (although I close the blinds), a cupboard to store my pump and running water to wash the parts afterwards, oh and of course let's not forget a very handy lock on the door to prevent any shocking incidents! Yay!

Hopefully I'll be able to blog a little more often (thanks work!) now. Ok gotta get back to work. I have Jake's five month update coming soon but it'll probably be next week before I get around to it!

Weekly wrap-up

Ok, so in less than 24 hours I'll be on a bus to Narita Airport. Exciting!

Tonight I have to squeeze in some last minute shopping and then Claire and I are going to watch the FINAL episode EVER of GG - we are preparing tissues, chilli cheese fries, and delivery pizza (that's what GG would do).

Today I also managed to do some more last minute shopping at Muji and Cibone during my lunch break. At Cibone I spotted this overpriced crochet table. I think it was selling for over $1300 - whaaaat? Maybe that should be my next project - a crochet table!!! Way to make some cash.

See you in a week!!!

An afternoon in Harajuku and Omotesando

If I was a good blogger there would be some relevant photos to accompany this post but there aren't (well not many). Although I haven't been blogging I have been enjoying myself. I do have some photographic evidence.

Awesome photo care of Martine Cotton (aka Frangipani) - hope you don't mind that I borrowed it!!!

I think we were singing the Greatest Love of All by Whitney H. You can see all of Martine's great photos from Andrew's Sayonara party on FLICKR. Lucky that some of my friends take photos even though I don't. Sorry.

It was a great night but we are all really sad to see Andrew go. We'll miss you.

On Sunday Darin and I had the pleasure of showing Myra, T and Buddy  around Omotesando and Harajuku. We had brunch at Le Bretagne and luckily we got there at 11:30 because the place was packed by 12. If you go on a Sunday you might want to make a reservation. It was Easter Sunday and since Easter is not celebrated in Japan, we don't really celebrate it either, BUT we were super lucky because Myra gifted us with our own little easter egg packages and we got to watch Buddy do his easter egg hunt in Yoyogi park. So cute! Thanks guys we had a great time. Again I took no photos. Sorry.

We had a hanami party a week earlier too and our photos didn't turn out too great. I did manage to get up at 6am to snag the perfect spot at the park. Luckily we only live a two minute walk from the park so I went in my pajamas, took a pillow and a blanket and slept there. The weather was awesome so it was *kinda* like impromptu camping.

here's our spot

I excelled and also made baba ghanoush, guacamole and cupcakes!!!

the sakura were pretty and we had a nice view all around us. best of all it was 24 degrees that day. bring on the 20s I say.

BTW, I really loved all of the comments I got on my last post. It totally felt like I was having a virtual slumber party - remember those (well the non-virtual type)??!! Wouldn't it be awesome if we could all gather in the same place at the same time and have a massive slumber party.

Hello Happy Spring!

Ok to be honest it's freezing in Tokyo. We had a glimpse of spring a couple of weeks back but since then it's just gotten plain cold. I figure this is winter's last hurrah, so there is hope on the horizon. Just look at the happy new spring banner that Darin designed for me - it makes me smile every time I look at it.

I haven't been posting lately because to be honest...I haven't been knitting. I did knit a pair of socks and two pairs of slippers for my host family in Aomori (didn't take photos - silly me) and I knit the upside down daisy hat from Itty Bitty Hats for one of my students who gave birth to her baby girl last Thursday. Didn't take a photo of that either. Bad blogger I am.

There is hope on the horizon though like I said because I will eventually finish that silly pentagon shrug from Vogue Knitting and the cherry blossoms are due to bloom soon adding a lot of pink happiness to our lives. To be honest I actually prefer when the petals fall off the trees and the whole park turns green actually!!!

Here's some recent photos:

C&J at the Bar Jap show with strange man in background

Yuko from Jap Kobo performing a song. The hair was amazing. Her voice was Kate Bush-esque. And if you take a quick look at the guitar player sitting next to her he is also amazing.

The Ume (plum blossoms) have ended now, but here were some pretty ones in our park

And here's the mini Days Burger from Pancake Days in Kichijoji. It's so tiny and cute. You must try it some time. Yes, it's a hamburger with pancakes for bread.

How's spring in your part of the world? No need to answer if you are from the southern hemisphere. I don't want to hear about sunshine or warm weather. Just yet.

Something for the ladies...and guys?

I've been meaning to post this photo for a while and considering it's a Friday you all deserve a treat!!

Family version of a photo of Darin and Tyler at the men's rotenburo at Maguse Onsen in Nagano. You actually couldn't really see anything except for a bit of flank. You might be able to see something if you look really closely at the guy actually in the hot springs!!

An amazing view that's for sure. Darin tells me that his view in this photo was even more amazing. Please note an old Japanese guy offered to take this photo of Darin and Tyler and he was also naked and kinda squatting when taking the photo. TMI?

On a completely unrelated topic, there is a yarn sale on at Mitsubaya in Tokyo for all you local knitters. It's basically 20% off all yarn including some Rowan. The sale is on until the end of February. I picked up some tweed regia to make a pair of socks for my host mum in Aomori. I'll be there next weekend. Snow here I come.

Have a great weekend!!

Target + Stella McCartney

Wow Stella McCartney has designed a 42 piece collection for Target Australia.

It goes on sale March 12. And the whole collection will be able to be viewed online from March 5 on the Designers for Target website.

I think a trip to Australia is in order.....to visit family of course. I mean I totally wouldn't fly thousands of miles to go to Target.

Or would I?

I might have to put in an order to my BBE.

I wondered whether Australian Target had embraced the designer line approach and it seems they have. Erin told me that the stuff sells out really quickly and then horrible people try to sell it on ebay for lots more money.

In other news, I've been trying to think up five weird things about me. I've been tagged by Helen and the DivaKnitter, but I wasn't going to do it because I've kinda done it before so that'll be a total of 10 weird things about me. That'll make me weirder than most people.

1. As a kid I was never really an animal person (I know, I know), but now with my two sweet pigs I find myself chatting to them and cuddling them all the time. Daz and I couldn't imagine what our lives would be like without them. Is that weird...or normal?

2. Not so much now, but I'm unusually into sports. It was a bonding thing with my father. I really get into the excitement of the moment. I've been to numerous State of Origin games. I saw the Harlem Globetrotters live. I was obsessed with Italian league soccer, 500cc motorbike racing and F1 racing in my last two years of high school. I would stay up until all hours watching those cars race around the track. It might have had something to do with No. 5 in my previous list.

3. I hate wasabi. This is probably not that weird. I got burned when I was a high school exchange student in Japan and my first host mother made a sandwich for my lunch everyday and she'd secretly smothered that horrible green stuff on to the ham. I would either give those sandwiches away or thrown them in the bin. Sorry, host mother number one.

4. I have a mild online shopping addiction. I've been really good this month. I don't think I would buy as much if I lived in the western world....or would I? I even told Darin last night that one of the pros of possibly moving to the US in the future is that I would be able to buy whatever I wanted online (no more international shipping!!) One can dream.

5. I'm 32 and don't have my driver's license.

Wow, that was actually easier than I thought it would be. Please don't tag me with this one anymore because then everyone'll know just how weird I really am??!!!!

OH and for you knitters out there - you can now preview Rowan mag 41 for Spring and Summer - from first glances there isn't a love that I MUST have (this is good news - save more money).

Also check out the Rowan Bamboo Tape Collection

The Rowan Kasbah Collection

The Little Angels Collection from Kim Hargreaves

But even cuter is the book And so to Bed by Lucinda Guy - CUTE!!

Aha!

I've worked out why winter and I don't mix. Having never grown up with winter, I now know that I'm not very good at coordinating winter fashion because I'm so worried about being warm. Any tips are welcome?

There are also just too many accessories (to lose that is) and extra wearable items. It's all so bulky and heavy.

Last week I lost my most ever favourite cashmere shawl that I take with me on every plane trip. It was a casualty of its own existence. It exists because of the cold and was lost because of the cold. Go outside with said shawl and my neck is oh so toasty, decide to go inside cute store, store heating too hot, take off said scarf, stuff it in too small bag, try on something, leave shop flustered because can't choose what to buy, still hot from store, get on train, get off train, start to walk home and realize it's a little chilly, reach for said scarf, scarf is no longer. feel sad.

This scenario has also happened with other winter accessories namely hats and gloves and ear muffs (which I forgot this morning because I didn't put them back in my bag after getting home last night). There is just too much room to forget stuff in the winter time.

Things I do like about winter are:

• colourful tights and leggings - shop of choice Tutuanna (yes, enjoy the socks style. Lovely day. Lovely socks.)
• cuddling for two reasons - fun and necessity
• rotenburo
• cockroaches go into hiding
• cuddling with our pigs

Other things I'm loving right now:

• Tsutaya Discas - Japan's version of Netflix. A few months ago when our tv died, we got rid of our satellite tv and just watched stuff on my computer. Now that we have a new tv (thanks suzy), we decided to try out Tsutaya Discas - we can rent 8 movies a month for 1974 yen. It's been fun so far. There are other options though. I might try out Posren, which is a similar service, but you can rent as many titles as you want each month for 2079 yen - they are also said to have the largest range of dvds in the business. You can try out Tsutaya Discas for a month for free and Posren for two weeks (but you can't rent new releases during either of the trials).
• Mag-Mart - this is an online magazine store in Japan that carries lots of foreign magazines at more reasonable prices than most bookstores (except maybe Tower Records). Their general range is OK (only two Australian mags and not the New Weekly which is what I would most want), but the BEST thing is that they carry some knitting mags not available at any bookstores in Japan: Interweave Knits (1365 yen), Rebecca (1900 yen) and Phildar in addition to Vogue Knitting (1281 yen) and Knit 1 (1120 yen). SWEEET! Shipping is 210 yen regardless of how many magazines you order. They just sent out my copy of the new Vogue Knitting. I am SO going to try my hand at modular knitting and knit the sweater on the front (shown below). Am thinking I'll have to add some length as I'm not sure how it'll work with a larger chest area than the model on the front. Oh and Daz, they don't have Thrasher or Slap, I already checked.
• The revamped menu at Village Vanguard Diner in Kichijoji.
• The organic food buffet at Warabe in Kichijoji.
• Jindaiji (as always) - a little piece of Kyoto right here in Tokyo.
• Hong Kong Yatai Shijo restaurant in Jindaiji - cheap, great atmosphere, open 24 hours, great food

Szechuan green bean dish - 500 yen

the interior

Sweet and sour pork

Nora Gaughan sweater I'm going to try my hand at.

My very own starving artist

If you pick up the latest issue of Japanzine you'll be able to read an interview with Darin. You can also read it online at the Japanzine website HERE. Darin has also redesigned his blog so check it out.

It was for their starving artist series which is slightly a fallacy because no-one was starving in our house last night. I whipped up some decadent Mac 'n Cheese (known as Mac 'n Mad Cheddar) using this recipe from Jennifer, who originally found it in Readymade magazine. This is the second time I have made it and I felt just as guilty/happy eating it this time around. I have never made anything that requires SO much cheese. At least I used the low-fat cheddar and skim milk - gah, who am I kidding. But seriously I would recommend this recipe if you like cheesy, tomato-y, basil-y pasta dishes - it's also vegetarian friendly. No need for meat here.

Are you famous?

On the way to my gym during my lunchbreak today I walked past a film crew obviously waiting to interview someone on the side of the road (near the back entrance to Uraku Aoyama - an exclusive members only club). There were also people crowding around on the other side of the street. I wondered who it could be, but kept walking. But then I saw a white stretch limo so I decided to stop and wait and see who would get out. When I first got a glimpse of the flowing blonde hair, I hoped, hoped, hoped that Sebastian Bach was getting out of the car, but it wasn't him and to tell you the truth I don't know who it was. Very disappointing. Do you know who this guy is? Are you famous, mystery man with long blonde flowing hair?

More camping photos

I was going to write about how Cameron Diaz is now part of Softbank's new mobile phone campaign in Japan after seeing her face plastered all over Shibuya this morning, but you can just watch the YouTube video of her new commercial if you want. I must say it's a smart move by Softbank as was the promotion where you get a free ipod nano with a new Softbank phone.

I would write about knitting, but you see I have NO time to knit. It's sad. I don't even have a project on my needles. This is vexing me (watched the BBC tv version of Jane Eyre this week) as I have plenty of people that I need to knit for. Chris I promise your scarf will be coming soon, which in knitting time is about a month?? I also need to seam up my Rebecca cardigan so I can wear it to the Knit Out tomorrow (i.e. if it looks good on of course). I have quite a dilemma on my hands though - I need an outfit tomorrow that is appropriate for both the Knit Out and Peaches since the show starts at 6pm and there'll be no time for a outfit change!!!!

I would write about how it was my blog's 3rd anniversary last Saturday, but it's sad that this is the first year I haven't celebrated with some kind of swap or event. Maybe I'll do a new year's swap - perfect timing to cheer everyone up (meaning mostly me)mid winter.

But then Tyler came to the rescue and provided me with some new pictures of our camping trip in Tochigi - perfect blog material. The following photos were all taken by him.

Ok I'm off to have some Friday night drinks with an old friend. Hope you have a great weekend and I'll see you next week!

Because I'm a sheep

1. FIRST NAME?
Kat, which is short for Katherine. Just don't call me Kathy. Pre-blog era I was known as Kath actually.

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Nah, I think my mum was on a roll after naming my sister Kristina and decided to stick with a K name.

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY?
Got teary last night watching the Project Runway finale....um because I cry during nearly all of the reality tv I watch, especially the Amazing Race and the Biggest Loser!!

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
Yes, it's fine but my dad thinks I hold my pencil incorrectly.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT?
Turkey! Turkey! Turkey!

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
As my husband would say, DUH!

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL?
Nothing but this blog.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
Yes, I think so.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Hmm, well I've parachuted from 14,000 feet before so hell yes, I'd bungee jump

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
This year was a turnaround and now I'm in love with traditional oatmeal with fruit. I never thought I'd like porridge. I thought it was completely gross as a kid.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
Depends on the shoe, and since you have to take your shoes off ALL the time in Japan, if you are smart your shoes won't have laces

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Hell yes

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
Not the biggest ice cream fan - yes it's true! But I'm gonna go with coconut because I love all things coconut.

14. SHOE SIZE?
US 9 or 9.5, European 40 or a Japanese 25.5 or 26cm.

15. RED OR PINK?
Um, pink.....although I actually wear red way more often.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
my laziness

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
Ann, Michael, Stephen, Kristina, Chris, Jack and Mia.....and the rest of my family.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?
Um, I didn't send this to anyone

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Denim pants, blue and white top and red shoes.

20. LAST THING YOU ATE?
Mmm, a focaccia with melted cheese all over the top

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
A coworker speaking Japanese and the sounds of fingers hitting the keyboard

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
pink

23. FAVORITE SMELL?
coconut sunscreen and the smell of the ocean

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
the travel agent

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO?
their witty sense of humour

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON you stole THIS from?
Mindy rules.

27. FAVORITE DRINK?
Hmm, I really like the mixed fruit juices you can buy on the platform of JR train stations.

28. FAVORITE SPORT?
Swimming

29. EYE COLOR?
Hazel

30. HAT SIZE?
Normal?

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
Used to but I abused wearing them so much that I haven't been able to wear them for four months. I bought some new glasses though and am loving them. Contacts are much more convenient though. Maybe one day I'll be able to wear them again.

32. FAVORITE FOOD?
Um, can't answer this question because I love nearly ALL food, ALL the time. Actually is 10:40am and I'm already thinking about what I want for lunch. If I HAD to choose, I have to say JAPANESE, JAPANESE, JAPANESE!!!

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy all the way.

35. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Winter hates me and I hate winter. Summer I love you.

36. HUGS OR KISSES?
Both

37. FAVORITE DESSERT?
Easy, that'd be hot home-made apple pie.

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING?
I'm revisiting 'Knitting in Plain English' by Maggie Righetti. It's funny reading. When she talks about buying enough yarn of the same dyelot for a project she says 'I hope that you care enough about yourself to make sure'. I care.

41. WHAT’S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
Fujitsu - The possibilities are endless.

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV?
Project Runway...I'm going to miss you. And Lost. And the Daily Show.

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS?
My piggies in the morning before they are going to get fed. It cheers me up no end.

44. ROLLING STONEs OR BEATLES?
Since the Japanese love the Beatles SO much I'm going with the Rolling Stones.

45. THE FURTHEST YOU’VE BEEN FROM HOME?
Beaver, Oklahoma

46. WHAT’S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT?
making up new words (wouldn't you agree, Darin?), and finding bargains.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
Stolen from Gidget.

Dolly and We're MARCH!

Recently I've been lusting after a vintage Dolly Parton tshirt - do you have one that you want to part with? Probably not. Why would you want to. Finally I found the most adorable tshirt transfer on ebay and WON the auction, but to my dismay the seller is not responding to my emails - why!!!! They also have no other auctions listed at the moment. I came so close to this but am still so far.

I haven't ripped my socks yet but I'm going to do it tonight. Here's the kit I bought from the Kim Hargreaves website. It's the Rebecca Cardigan made from Big Wool. I've never used Big Wool before and the name is apt because that stuff is 'big'. I've never knit with needles so big!! I guess it's a great yarn for beginners because it knits up so quick and also because you can see every mistake and the way your decreases and increases look very clearly - it's kind of scary actually. It's like looking at your knitting with a magnifying glass. I finished all of the knitting last night so I just need to seam the sleeves and set them in. It's bulky and that's got me worried, but it is oh so soft and cuddly. We're going camping on the weekend so maybe I'll take my new cardie for a spin in the hills of Tochigi (or not considering how much I paid for the whole darn kit).

UPDATED to include:

The KNITTY Calendar is up for sale in the KNITTY shop! Congrats to all the winners (that includes me, Jo and Jenn too - woohoo!)! Go buy one now! Our free copy of the calendar will be given to our wonderful, beautiful and generous photographer Martine!!

What a great cover - I agree with Amy that looking at it feels like a big warm hug!!! BTW, we're MARCH - a fine month heralding the end of winter - how perfect!

Art you in SF?

If you are lucky enough to be in the Bay Area this weekend, then go and check out the opening of inhabitation modification Daz's exhibition with Alex Munn and Ian Cheng, at the Receiver Gallery in SF on Saturday night (9 Sept, 7 to 10). Unfortunately we can't attend due to being millions (ok thousands) of miles away here in Japan, but you can have our share of the refreshments! Darin did a great people watching video piece that really captures some of Kichijoji's most ordinary and captivating moments!!

We'd love to be there, but instead we'll be on a 'slow floating, pleasure boat' in Tokyo Bay. Poor us.

Happy Birthday Daz!

You rule!

Yesterday was Darin's birthday. I bought him a new ipod, which he has already named Roger. We celebrated all weekend with our friends at a picnic, at a drunken izakaya party, and in the park on the bridge. Thanks to all who came!! You'd think that some time during those festivities that we would have taken a photo, but we didn't. Here's one of darin skating at Nogawa Park (care of Andrew - thanks!).

Trying to Stay Positive

I always try and remain positive on my blog mainly because a very long time ago a friend said that email and the internet are not places to be mean or nasty and I agree. I save being mean and nasty for when I'm tired and cranky and riding the elevator and I get pushed into the corner by someone who has plenty of room in front of them but that's another story (deep breath).

I love handmade stuff and love to buy from people that are creative and talented. I have bought pieces from Antifactory (more than once, ahem), Pretty Raccoon, Supayana, Boygirlparty, Veritas El Pulchra, Frecklewonder, Spicy Toast, The Vintage Doctor, Heather Joy, and Dying Breed to name a few. I love supporting independent crafters. More than 90% of these independent business owners are helpful and have great customer service - sending emails to confirm items are sent/received, etc. I have only had a few problems and most of them are resolved quickly but recently I tried to buy a necklace online from a young independent crafter and it has been an ABSOLUTE nightmare.

I bought and paid for the necklace on March 23. The seller was great about emailing at this point and seemed very helpful. Four weeks later nothing had arrived so I sent two or three emails to the seller's business email address and got no response. I finally left a comment on her livejournal and she responded apologizing and said that the necklace had never been sent. She had asked her boyfriend to do it, but he didn't send it because he couldn't work out how to fill in the little customs form on the package. I was totally nice and understanding and she was repentant saying that she'd thrown in another necklace for free. Awesome. I was so happy to finally hear from her and get things resolved. Two weeks after that exchange - NOTHING. No necklaces in the mail, so I start sending emails again. No response. Left two comments on her livejournal. No response. She has been sick but has had time to update her livejournal, attend a craft fair, update her flickr account. I also emailed another email address that she recently asked customers who had not received their products to respond to. No response. I'm so sad.

I won't mention who it is coz that's not nice. I finally lodged a paypal complaint last week and sent her another two emails saying that if she'd just respond and tell me when she sent the necklaces or when she will send them, then I'd withdraw the complaint and that even if I got the money back then I would repay her. NO response. I'm so tired of this and know I should just let it all go for the sake of my sanity but it truly bugs me. I've even considered calling her residence in the US, but I probably won't.

I haven't lost faith though in all of you crafty girls out there. I just wish that this one would respond to my emails. I'm beginning to feel like a stalker.

Back from the dead

Gah - I have a blogging block!

Gosh since I last posted the sakura have bloomed and now the park is covered in a carpet of pale pink petals every morning - it's beautiful. To be honest I find this time the most exciting because everything is turning green - it makes me SO happy.

Darin got really sick with viral gastroenteritis which meant that he threw up three days straight and couldn't eat or drink anything even water - it was miserable but after a few hours on a IV drip all is better!! thank goodness.

our hanami spot

I took this funny photo of Darin. shadows are hilarious.

I'm nearly finished my sockapaloooza socks and the crochet skirt from the Happy Hooker. So no doubt there will be more regular posts and photos coming up.

Oh and here's a picture of Sugar just coz she's so cute. Man we have to try and take some video of her 'popcorning' at night. It's hilarious. She jumps around and gets really active at about 10pm every night - it's funny. So there's the purling puppies, so maybe I'll start a one woman blogring named Cast Off Cavies!!

Boats in the park (the little girl in the boat was taking pics of her dad - cute!)

petals in the pond

Anna R-D

Wow, I've been having a great day today. What a nice change! The beginning of this year (ever since we got back from Australia) has been a little lacklustre. I wasn't feeling it at all and being sick twice certainly didn't help. The spring weather has made me so much happier!

I got up early this morning so that I could work out at the gym longer than usual. Going in my lunch break means that I really only have 25 minutes which is just not enough. I started a new program and it was really challenging. It has made me feel good. Then Darin tells me my new bag which I ordered from Demano arrived at the house and that a torrent I have been wanting to download has finally succeeded. It was the finale of the Biggest Loser - S2. I am completely addicted to the Biggest Loser series and cry in nearly every episode. It is so encouraging and positive. The transformations are amazing. I love that a show promoting exercise and a reasonable diet is proving a big hit both in the US and Australia.

And now that I exercise in the morning, I can enjoy some SPECIAL time (as Darin calls it) during lunch. Today I had a lovely lunch with a work friend and then we wandered around the cherry blossoms at the Aoyama Cemetary which are in full bloom - right now. Here's a pic of the cherry blossoms in Inokashira Park - I took this photo with my camera on the way to work this morning.

It tops off a great week actually. On the weekend we went to Keirin with some buddies and that was an interesting experience. I'll post my photos in Flickr later, but in the meantime you can read Darin's post about the Keirin. My only advice is that I wouldn't really recommend  soing to Keirin for a date - it kind of smells of stale smoke and is FULL of old men. I ended up playing a game called 'Spot the Female' - it was hard. The only bonus was there was no line at the ladies toilets. We had one wager, guess what colour racer I bet on?

Here's a great polaroid shot of Darin taken at Keirin.

My favourite thing about Keirin was the old man food stall selling soba/udon/curry and onigiri - that's it. Oh and the free rokucha and water machine.

And on the way home, I spotted an awesome looking thrift store that is only open between 1:30pm and 5pm on Sundays - it was 4pm on Sunday. Guess what we found! Not one but TWO Print Goccos and a whole case of inks. They were originally priced at 250 yen and 300 yen respectively, but they were on sale for half price. Meaning that we walked out of there with all of that for much less than $10.

I also scored a cute vintage Japanese dress with the tags still on it for 200 yen, which I am now calling my wimbledon dress.

BUT I have been saving the best news for last. This happy spring post is dedicated to Anna Di-Iorio Reyes - the new, new daughter of our good friends, Angie and Sam. She was born on Sunday March 26th at 1:59am. Man, I am so happy for you guys and I want to come and meet Anna soon.

Random Thursday

I'm in no mood to make any sense today. I'm just gonna share a bunch of random stuff that is well......random.

Recently Jo posted about spotting some dogs in Japan wearing plaid skirts. More evidence that Japanese people take their pet love to a whole new level. When we went to pick up sugar the other day, we met her previous carer in a small animals specialty pet store for the hand over. They sell rabbits, ferrets, and guinea pigs etc. I mean dog clothes are pretty common even in western countries now, but how about ferret clothes??

You could even buy your ferret a skajan (or a special embroidered Japanese jacket) at the pet store

And then I came across EVEN MORE extreme pet love evidence in our park on Tuesday (a public holiday here in Japan). The weather was great and there were tons of little flea market stalls in the park. One such stall owner brought her pet on a leash and wearing a dress .

Yes a pig! This was a first. Here's another shot from further away. Her pig was charming all the little kids.

On another pet related note, we've started thinking about a new habitat for Sugar. The word 'cage' is not mentioned in our house. I like this one. However anyone who has ever been to our apartment may realize that we won't have anywhere to sleep if we make it this big.

And last but not least, go and check out my husband's new blog -Road to Robocco - it's a beer-related blog which will track our path towards winning Robocco. Darin also discusses a new campaign by a society representing people with Down Syndrome in Japan. I wasn't sure how to react at first, but Darin sums it up nicely.

We love Sugar!

For valentine's day this year, my plan was to get a guinea pig for Darin (and me). We've been talking about getting a pet for a while but can't have a cat or a dog according to our rental contract. First we thought about turtles, but nothing ever came of that even though we bought a turtle care book in preparation. So I started looking around at pet stores but none of the ones in Kichijoji sell guinea pigs - only super expensive pure bred puppies, kittens, hamsters and some rabbits.

Somehow I stumbled across a great internet bulletin board in Japanese where people list guinea pigs pets that they can no longer care for. One of the most recent postings was from a lady whose guinea pig had just given birth to four babies. A few emails, photos and a visit later, we decided to take home Sugar. We picked her up yesterday and bought her lots of good guinea pig food. She's still pretty small as she's only four weeks old and she's still pretty shy but she has already won our hearts. She makes the cutest little sounds when you pet her and even watching her devour a piece of apple is cute. I could barely sleep last night I was so worried about her and how she was settling in and even my dream was all about guinea pigs....

sugar on daddy's tummy eating apple

this morning huddled under a piece of towel...she's still a little scared of us.

Weekend (Feb 25-26)

Five things I did on the weekend (via Red Current)

So I have been really busy lately, but feel very guilty about not posting. So here's a list of what I did on the weekend:

1. Had C&J over for dinner. Since it was a special 'long time no see, catch-up dinner', Darin pulled out all the stops and served up classy frito pies for everyone. That was a first for everyone. I even got a frozen sara lee cheesecake (a difficult find in Japan)

frito pie

the aftermath (btw, we have switched from kirin to asahi gold so Darin can win this robot - as the website says, 'it talks, it keeps your beer cold, it opens your beers AND it pours your beers'. So as you can see the beer drinking was for a worthy cause)

2. I had a business meeting with my partners, Pinn and Taeko. I might have mentioned my idea to some of you, but it looks like it really is going to happen. I'm not going to give out any details yet - don't want to jinx it, but I'm very excited. Keep watching this space for news....

3. Went to the latest clothes swap with Pinn, Jo, Jenn, Martine and about 50 other women. Got rid of a lot of clothes and picked up some really great pieces!!

4. Cried while watching the women's figure skating finals. I hadn't watched any of the Olympics, but this was great. Every time they had a 'special background story' on a skater, I'd cry. So much hardship, so much glory. I felt like a proud mum. Glad that Japan picked up at least one medal and it was a pretty gold one too. Have any of you girls living in Tokyo ever seen an ice skating rink?

5. Daz and I found a butterfly in our apartment. At first we thought it had flown in from outside but we soon realized that it was trying to fly but couldn't . Soon the realization hit us that this butterfly's metamorphis more than likely occured somewhere in our house. It was kind of gross and cool all at the same time. The butterfly started flying all of a sudden yesterday so we released him into the wild, wild wilderness of Tokyo to begin a beautiful new butterfly life cycle.

Bonus list

One thing I did at lunch:

1. Listened to Craftypod while knitting my SockapalOOOza sock. Am down to the toe decreases so I might have an exciting sock photo for  you soon.

Four things

Part of my Valentine's Day present - I love me some berries!

spring in winter in the park - I love me some row boat action (Valentine's Day 2006)

Tagged by Lucy

Four jobs I've had:

Making sandwiches and hamburgers at a local takeaway
Call-centre operator
Translator
The 7-11 (this was my favourite by far - unlimited magazine reading time, free slurpies, time to do uni work and I really loved it when people asked what time we closed)

Four Movies I can watch over and over:

Dirty Dancing - I know all the songs off by heart....it's true
Valley Girl - I love Nicholas Cage
Raiders of the Lost Ark - I love Harrison Ford
Pretty Woman - I do NOT love Richard Gere but this movie.....a classic

Special mention: Little Lord Fauntleroy (newer version with Ricky Shroder) - used to watch this all the time with my mum

Four Places I've Lived:

Brisbane, Australia
Hirosaki, Japan
Kyoto, Japan
Oakland, USA

TV shows I love:

Veronica Mars
Project Runway/Catwalk
The Daily Show
The Sopranos - can't wait for the new season in March!

Four places I've vacationed:

China (this was a super poor student vacation when I was 20 - one of the most interesting months of my life)
Sarawak and Sabah, Malaysia (probably climbed the only mountain I will EVER climb - Mt Kinabalu)
Thailand - got married!
India - got Delhi belly!

Four of my favorite dishes:

Crepes with lemon and sugar (I will eat these until I die)
Any Japanese food (esp. miso soup, sushi, oyakodon, any nabe and Japanese-style mabo dofu)
Anything from the King Chow (my dad's restaurant) but especially the bbq pork after it comes out the oven, King Chow special chow mein, steak and black bean, peking beef, mongolian lamb and the new Malaysian curries are out of this world
Spagbog - there's nothing like a bowl of spagbog - the ultimate comfort food.

Special mention: my mum's meatloaf - thank goodness I have mastered this recipe...

Four sites I visit daily:

Bloglines
Sydney Morning Herald
Yahoo Japan Weather
My credit card website.....

Four places I would rather be right now:

Swimming outside anywhere warm
At home, knitting in bed
Travelling in South East Asia
Getting a massage/pedicure/manicure

dough-knit

I feel like a completely random post today. The weather is miserable - overcast, cold and rainy.

After reading Blue Lotus's post the other day about Doughnut Plant, I thought I'd check them out even though I have never been a doughnut fan except for those hot cinnamon sugar doughnuts that come straight out of the hot oil and into my mouth at Doughnut King at Stafford City (ok local hometown reference - sorry). Anyways, I found that the newly-opened Dean and Deluca Cafe near my work sells the glazed ones, so I went there in my lunchbreak yesterday on a doughnut mission. Ok - normally I wouldn't pay 320 yen for a doughnut, but after travelling in Australia which was surprisingly expensive, all of a sudden 320 yen seemed reasonable for a rare treat anyway. I'm not a doughnut connoiseur, but it was pretty good although I am sure it would have been better fresh as is the case with all deep-fried food. I chose the pistachio-flavoured one and the only thing I didn't like was the amaretto flavour. So today I went back and bought a vanilla bean flavoured one instead.....it was good too. Not oily, but the glaze is really sticky so now there is doughnut glaze all over my mouse. And man are those doughnuts big. The man at Dean and Deluca was insistent about wrapping my one doughnut in wax paper, then putting it in a paper bag and then putting that bag in another plastic carry bag. When I told him I didn't want a plastic bag he told me in a whispered voice that the doughnut oil would stain the bag. Shock, horror! Little did he know that it wouldn't be in the bag long enough to stain it. I have banned myself from going back now at least until next month...

FYI - you can also buy them on the Internet here in Japan.

the vanilla bean one with my hand included for scale

Continuing on in random fashion, I'm really glad that I never listed myself as a knitting blog...You know why - coz I would so get my butt kicked out of the webring for hardly ever posting stuff about knitting. However here's a knitting picture for you. It's a new ad for Kanebo that I spied (=couldn't miss) in the subway station today. Um, they are some hot knitted hotpants if you know what I mean. That can be my pink fix for January...even though it's February.

And to finish up, I started watching Project Catwalk - the UK version of Project Runway. It's pretty much exactly the same except everyone's got British accents, they've got Liz Hurley instead of Heidi Klum and they focus quite a bit on who's getting pissed and who's sleeping with who....my vision of perfect reality tv entertainment. The garments also seem a lot more experimental than the ones produced by the designers in the US version - that's just an observation.

Oh wait - I have a Tokyo craft community announcement!! AVRIL is having a week sale from tomorrow until next Wednesday. You can also buy a box of yarn for either 5000 or 10,000 yen on the Internet - I think you can choose between small or large gauge yarn.

Aus-tray-lee-a

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand
though Earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

Today is Australia Day and I'm feeling a little nostalgic - it always happens when I am far from home. I selected two verses from the famous poem, My Country, by Aussie poet Dorothea Mackellar to share with you. I usually don't celebrate Australia Day as such but it's great to have a day to reflect on where you are from and how it has influenced who you are today. We are having a little impromptu partay at our house tonight where we'll be drinking Coopers and eating sausages. So indulge me and let me share a few more of my favourite pics from our recent trip back to the homeland.

Please disregard the fact that I am drinking a Corona in this photo.....

DazKat make it one year today!

Today is our first year wedding anniversary! Woohoo! How quickly did that year go by??! It's even kind of hard to reflect on a year that seriously went by so quickly. Big kisses to the best husband ever!!!

To celebrate, as I mentioned here earlier, we had our portrait painted by our artist friend, Tomoki. We are really happy with the way it turned out except Darin is planning to add some stubble to his face later this week! People have commented that we look slightly Japanese including the artist himself. I think it's perfect really capturing our first year as a married couple in Japan. We are looking into having it mounted onto a Japanese scroll which will probably cost one million dollars, but it's worth a try.

Here's the artist and the portrait:

And us with our portrait

And as an extra special anniversary surprise I bought tickets to this show and kept it a secret from Darin right until we reached the train station near the venue. I just told him we were going on a secret trip. He thought we were going to Disneyland, Costco or an onsen.

This is just how surprised he was:

Um and now looking at that photo, I think it might be a good idea to add some stubble to the portrait.

It was the Pixies last night in Japan, and we loved the show. This also happens to be the same venue (Studio Coast/Ageha) where Madonna played her secret invitation-only show in Tokyo last Wednesday night. I would have given my right arm (well at least a finger) to be there even though she only sang five songs. And to finish off here's a pic of the Pixies live on stage. The security was pretty lax - no bag search and there were quite a few people taking photos. Frank Black made his guitar look so tiny and Kim Deal was really smiley the whole time and even managed to smoke and drink through the whole show - impressive!

You can read about our legal marriage in Japan last year - HERE!!!

give a little love

Um, yeah so I still haven't been able to round up all of my photo contest judges in one place, so no results yet.

Sorry, but it will happen in the next couple of weeks because two weeks from today Darin and I are escaping the winter winds of Japan and are flying to sunny Queensland in the southern hemisphere to enjoy three hot balmy weeks with family, friends, and the Great Barrier Reef. Darin and I are doing the Reefsleep and we are so psyched - it'll be my first time scuba diving and I can't wait!!!

This will be a well-earned three-week vacation.

So what's been going on at Casa Bendalok - we've been spending time with our buddies Steph and Keith who are visiting from New York. We took them to Yukari onsen in Jindaiji for their first outdoor hot spring experience and to top it all off we showed them the real Tokyo last night by taking them to karaoke in Shinjuku!!! Sadly they leave today, but no doubt we'll see you guys again soon. It was a blast......so much so that I forgot to take any photos.

Also if you are looking for a super original Christmas present for yourself or a loved one, Darin is giving away one of his paintings to the first person who donates $100 to the charity of their choice. Details here!!!

Oh yeah and last Friday night our friend Tomoki came over to our house and painted our 1st wedding anniversary portrait. I was so nervous posing and all which is silly, but it ended up being a really fun and special experience. You only have to wait 11 more days to see the painting as I will be posting it on pinku on the day of our legal marriage anniversary - Dec 12!!

Friday fun!

Wow, can you believe it's Friday again! I mean it makes me happy, but the end of the year always goes so fast. I have been meaning to update ALL week. There were a number of things that I was going to blog about:

1. The dullness of Princess Nori's ( or now plain ol' Sayako Kuroda) wedding dress or should I say 'satin sack' (see pic 5). Even Darin commented on its um.....lack of spark. She looked way more amazing in her junihitoe (12-layered kimono).

2. These hot new banana hammocks found by Darin (via boing boing). I personally wish Darin would wear this one.

3. Marianne Isager (a well-known Danish knitwear designer) came to our S+B on Tuesday (hi Marianne if you are reading this!!) She'll be back in Tokyo in February when she is going to bring some examples of Scandanavian knitting!!! Sometimes it really pays to live in Tokyo. Darin also made it to his first S+B, which was fun. We had another three newspaper reporters this week, and some representatives from the Puppy Yarn company and Nihon Vogue. If only we could work out a way to make money out of this - wouldn't that be great!

4. We visited Mitake-san (nice little day trip from Tokyo) last weekend to see the autumn leaves - photos here!

5. I was going to blog about how super excited I am that myself and a few of the SNB ladies are going to learn how to use a drop spindle this weekend at Ananda!! Woohoo! It's been super crafty in Japan lately with knit-outs happening all over the place. Last weekend we went to the Rowan shop in Ebisu to pick up a free 100g skein of chunky tweed and this weekend there's a mini knit-out at the Puppy store in Shimokitazawa. I'm also going to Taeko's (if you visit her blog check out the amazing leafy parka that she crocheted and designed herself - amazing!!!!) Shibuya Shugeibu in Harajuku. Bring on the crafting!

6. And to finish off, I've received another seven entries to Pinku's 2nd birthday photo contest. A little pink to brighten your weekend. Remember the competition ends on Monday November 21st (COB Japan time). I will announce the winner by the end of next week - very exciting!

Andrea

Andrea

kinkers

kinkers

kinkers

kinkers

Have a great weekend!!!!

Pinku is 2 years old today!

Wow, two years really does fly by, doesn't it?!

Thanks to everyone for visiting pinku, leaving comments, sending me messages and parcels, participating in my swaps, visiting me in Japan, meeting me in other countries, educating me, encouraging me, inspiring me, cheering me up, making me laugh, and being the best blog friends a girl could ask for!!!

To celebrate pinku's 2nd birthday, we have a fun new banner designed by coach darin (daz now teaches basketball once a week and the kids call him coach darin - cute, huh!) AND I am going to hold a contest. The pink fix portion of this blog has been a little slow lately, so I am going to hold a 'pink fix' photo contest. Prize to be determined (depends if you are a knitter or a non-knitter).

The contest will be open for a month starting today meaning that last entries will be accepted until November 21st. Then my three highly prestigious judges, Darin Bendall, Claire McNeil, and Tyler Ensrude (haven't asked you yet Tyler, but you don't mind right??) will select the winner or possibly winners. Enter as many times as you want. By sending me your photos, you agree that they can be published on this website (of course you will be credited). Your photo should have a pink theme, be at least 500 pixels wide and of high quality.

Send your photo/s, name, URL (if you have one) to pinkurocks at gmail dot com!

My first perm!

So I am currently relaxing on the third day of a four-day weekend. It's so great NOT going to work. On my first day off I went and got a cut, colour and perm. This was my first ever perm and I was nervous. I also hadn't cut my hair in over six months - it was time. Everyone in my family has dead straight hair and after my sister's disastrous shaggy dog perm during the 80s I swore I would never make the same mistake. Luckily nowadays perms can be a lot less curly and they add more body and wave. Wanna see the photos, click below.

So here's the jailhouse 'before' shot (no smiling)

and here's the after shot (lots of happy smiling) It's a totally different light situation so it's kinda hard to distinguish the new colour but it is kind of a dark red. I feel so girly.

Five idiosyncracies

Decided to do this after reading about how Lucy sleeps with her teddy bear and is obsessed with Jessica Simpson. Don't worry Luce, I love Newlyweds too.

1. I have to eat curry or other rice+runny food dishes with a teaspoon. I mean I can eat it with a larger spoon but I just don't want to if I have a choice.

2. I am obsessed with dried salted plums. My family calls them salty lols. My dad used to keep a jar of them in his personal cabinet space next to his seat at the dining table. I was constantly accused (correctly...) of stealing them and eating too many. I was sometimes teased at school for eating them - kids would ask me why I'm eating dog food (kids are so sweet, huh), but all of my BEST friends and husband have loved salty lols from the first time they tasted them and most of them (my friends and husband) aren't even Asian. That is true love.

3. I have a clothes pile. Darin can attest to that. Actually so can my mum. It can accumulate for weeks and it's not all necessarily dirty clothes, it also includes clothes that I have tried on and then decided not to wear. Way too much trouble to fold them and put them away. But when I clean, I really, really clean. You know like the poem, 'Good little, Bad little girl' My mum used to read it to me and kind of said I was like that - when she was good, she was very, very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid!

4. I am a complete warm weather person. I think snow looks cool and all, but essentially we don't get on. I can't stand it when my extremities are cold. It renders me useless actually. I guess it's to be expected when you were brought up in the Sunshine State! Way spoilt.

5. I had two major celebrity crushes in high school - River Phoenix and Ayrton Senna (F1 driver). Both died young.

Sayonara Kanoodle

Thanks for all of your help! It definitely seems that everyone in Japan can't see the ads, which is dumb. So I scrapped the Kanoodle plan and have reverted to Google Adsense. All the better now that Google offers electronic transfer to Japanese accounts. Maybe I should buy some of the google shares going on offer???

So click away my friends out and help to keep pinku on the web. I am $22.67 off my next $100 cheque, so that'll cover this year's hosting fees - yay!

Am I crazy?

Recently I upgraded my typepad subscription because they offered text ads by Kanoodle. Currently I have a google adsense account which has been great, but they only offered payment by cheque to people living in Japan. This is a big pain because when you deposit a US cheque in your Japanese account they take nearly half of the value in fees. Luckily I took my first check to the US in June and begged a lovely Citibank manager to cash the cheque for me so I got the total amount unlike unfortunate others. Typepad have hooked up with Kanoodle to offer text ads for they pro users, the money made goes straight to paying my yearly typepad fees and any other money is paid via paypal - very convenient BUT.........................

I don't see any Kanoodle ads on my site. DO YOU?

I upgraded and put the Kanoodle ads at the top of the sidebar on the right just under the bloglines subscribe thingy BUT they aren't there. I have been conversing with typepad support people and they see the ads fine, which means there's something blocking the ads from showing up on my work computer and both of our home computers. If I can't work it out I am going to downgrade and stick with Google adsense as they JUST added the option of electronic transfer for bloggers who live in Japan - woohoo!

To spice up a completely boring post, I can tell you that I received my SAMPLER in the mail. It was so much fun sorting through everything. Details with photos tomorrow. Lucky I signed up for three months because the next round of Sampler subscriptions sold out in five minutes! crazy!

Great friends!

The last few weeks have been filled of reminders of what great friends I have. First Joy told me she was putting something in the mail for me, and I was so excited when it arrived. I had no idea what would be inside. I would have never guessed that it was my very own chewie!!! When I was in the US in June, we went to a bunch of Burger Kings looking for the elusive Chewie but there were none to be found. I love my Chewie! Thanks Joy - you are the best!

Then we had some great visitors from Singapore - my good friend Buu-Kim and her husband, Jason. They were the best guests ever and were eager to do anything and everything. It was so nice to have a friend visit from home.

Then our friends Claire and Jess brought us some goodies back from Hokkaido where they had been travelling for two weeks. Even though Claire couldn't bear (no pun intended) to part with one of their very cool bear magnets, we did score some bear ramen and check this out - choclate potato chips!!!!!!!!

Bonus pic of daz downing one of the chips!

Last but certainly not least, we spent last Saturday night celebrating our buddy, Simon's 30th bday. I had such a great time and it was the first time in a very LONG time since we walked home in the daylight. Unfortunately excessive singing at karaoke brought on a bout of TMJ disorder - damn it was painful! It was all worth it though. Happy Bday Simon! It was also our local buddy Josh's birthday a couple of day ago, so happy bday to him too! Also to my dad whose birthday was yesterday!!!

Thanks for all of your kind words about Bernie. He will surely be missed.

RIP Bernie

Bernie was our friend Jamie's dog. He was our local dog buddy. You see we can't have a dog in our apartment, so we would really enjoy it when Bernie would come and visit. Bernie went into hospital last Friday after having an ear infection and died yesterday from complications that were probably 'lost in translation'. The terrible thing is that Jamie left for Korea on Tuesday to get married, so he wasn't here to say goodbye. His roommate Tyler and their landlord have been an absolute troopers though, and dealt with the hospital etc. A strange turn though (maybe not strange in Japan) was that Tyler had to bring Bernie back to the house last night after he died. I couldn't believe that the hospital could not deal with this. Anyways, Bernie was laid on his bed, covered in ice and the air conditioning was turned on - you see it was 35 degrees here yesterday. The dog cremation people are picking up Bernie at 11am today and Jamie has to decide whether he wants to keep Bernie's bones.....

Bernie we'll miss you buddy. You were found abandoned on the street and then taken in and loved by Jamie. You were really good at the 'guess which hand the treat is in' game, and would never start eating your food until someone said 'yosh'. You were always the center of attention when we took you to the park, and everyone always wanted to stop and play with you. You made a lot of people happy.

Take care Bernie! R.I.P.

Happily Marriaged

I wrote this post a few weeks ago, but never got around to publishing it. I was gonna toss it to the wind, but after I read about Rachael's very happy engagement to Lala (congrats girls!), I was inspired to put it up on pinku.

I realized that as of today (July 12), Darin and I have been married 7 months. Not a year yet, but 7 months. We lived together for more than a year before we got married, so nothing has essentially changed. However I read a great post by James at Semaphoria about being married (esp. point 2)  and I agree that the change is 'indescribable, subtle and wonderful'. Some of the more practical benefits of being married have been:

1. health insurance for daz

2. being able to go to the US citizens line at immigration with daz upon landing at JFK

3. submitting one postcard for immigration in Japan

4. gross old men at work no longer hit on me

And even though I have not changed my name legally, I secretly (well not so secretly considering I am writing about it on the Internet) enjoy being a Bendall and seeing letters and packages with Mrs Bendall on them. It's fun! We also just extended the lease for our apartment for another two years so it looks like we'll be here for a little while yet, which is fine since we love where we live (our apartment and kichijoji). To celebrate we are going to buy year passes to our local zoo (more like a petting zoo....well, except for Hanako the elephant and some monkeys) - they cost 1600 yen (about $15) so it's a total bargain.

So congrats to all the great girls on the web who have been getting married recently (within the last year) or will soon be married!!

at the Coppola winery in Napa Valley

Weekly round-up

I usually go to the gym during my lunchbreak. It's all a bit rushed, but considering I sit in front of a computer all-day long, I really look forward to sweating and stretching in the middle of the day. During the summer months my gym opens at 8am instead of 10am, so a couple times a week, I have started going to the gym before work, so that I can work out/swim for longer. Another benefit of morning gym visits, is that I have reclaimed my 'lunch break'. This is what I did today:

Sorry about the crap keitai photo. What you see is a dee-licious salmon rice ball covered in toasted sesame seeds from ONY - an onigiri restaurant across the road from my work. There are two locations - one in Aoyama (near Gaienmae station) and another one in Ginza. It is highly recommended.  Already eaten was the tuna/leaf mustard combo - also amazingly delicious.

Also pictured is my first fair aisle....it is the back piece of Florence from Rowan 35. I am not quite sure why I started this project - it is quite intimidating. Fair aisle, lace, collar, button band, lots of seaming, and five pieces to knit....if I ever finish this - i'll be amazed.

And the last item in the photo is my brand new copy of Scarf Style that was delivered to work this morning. I bought this because I just signed up for the Stitch ya Neck Out swap being hosted by Jacqueline and Kris. I think I will opt for Ruffles or Backyard Leaves - both are really pretty but I'm gonna check out my stash later and see what yarn I have to make either of these projects work. There are still a couple of days left if you wanna sign up.

This week was also a sad week because Chris is leaving Japan, which means she can't come to the Tokyo SNB any longer. Tuesday was her last night. We'll miss her for sure. When Chris first started coming to the SNB about a year ago (is that right, Chris??), she was very new to knitting but before long she started cranking out these amazing creations. She also made a beautiful shawl for her wedding. On the brightside Chris has a blog, so we'll be able to keep up-to-date with her knitting/life adventures, and now the Tokyo SNB has a US connection!!! (wink, wink!) Good luck C&C!!

Here's a photo from our last SNB (Chris is next to me - don't mind my red face....I'd just finished my second glass of wine - on the left):

Have a great weekend, and see y'all next week!

Healthy eating

I try and eat healthy mostly. Except yesterday after yoga, I walked out carrying my mat, bought a soft-serve vanilla ice cream on the way home and then met Darin in the park for a beer. Hmm, personally I think that my actions are slightly contradictory. Darin believes that all of those things make you feel good, so why not? My dad always says everything in moderation is ok - that sounds good to me.

In general, eating healthy is pretty easy in Japan: portion sizes in restaurants are smaller, there is an abundance of fresh fruit and veges available in addition to fresh tofu, fish, etc. However wholegrains are hard to come by. Sure brown rice is becoming more popular, but it's almost impossible to find real wholewheat bread and pasta. I know I live in Asia, but bread and pasta are both popular in Japan, but I feel it is considered more of a treat rather than a staple like rice, which makes sense I guess. I can still be glum about it though.

I came across this website and it is very inspiring. The recipes look relatively simple and quick and the nutritional information is very detailed. I am glad that chickpeas (or garbanzo beans) are the food of the week coz I have a big bag (of chickpeas) and have just been waiting for a good recipe and also to buy a food processor so I can make some hummus.

For lunch today, I had two onigiri and a steamed chicken salad with wakame. I actually don't really like wakame unless it is in miso soup, so I left it in the container. I felt guilty because I know it is good for you. After reading a few websites about the benefits of seaweed, I went back and ate it. Feel so much better now.

I also came across this list of Top Ten Foods to keep you healthy.

And does this apple tart make your mouth water, because I'm drooling all over my keyboard here at work. Nah, only kidding - I'm not that gross!!

knitting news: Just about to finish the second sleeve of