tacky christmas.

And so it begins.....

I missed putting up ornaments with my family this year. This happens to be my FAVORITE ritual. SO, I decided to bring Christmas to my little Japanese home. This year's theme is Tacky Christmas....the shinier, the better!

charlie brown christmas, shiny style!

What a peaceful way to spend my evening... hot coco, christmas candles, a twinkling tree, and The Holiday. I love the Christmas Season!

domestic failure.

Tonight I had a visit from my local Japanese security company.... unplanned. The night's events unfolding:

5:30 Start making dinner.

5:40 Burn bread. (Not great cook.) Smoke detector starts going off. 

5:41 Flailing a towel around at detector.

5:42 Smoke detector still going off. Push button to silence detector.

5:43 Japanese alarm starts making noise and speaking to me. Realize detector hit was gas detector, not smoke.

5:44 Hit buttons to make it silence. Smoke detector still wailing.

5:45 Turn off smoke detector. Call housing agent for help. Enlist help of Japanese neighbor. Neighbor can't fix it.

5:55 Security shows up. Laughs at me. Tells me not to hit detector again.... via translation of housing agent on phone.

Successful night for the blonde Japanese wannabe.

noodle beings.

The is an ENTIRE museum dedicated to CUPNOODLES here. It is pretty awesome. Who knew noodles could be so inspirational??

The birth of ramen!

that's A LOT of noodles!!

The place of invention... who'd have thought noodles would be so revolutionary?

"enriching the world's eating habits..." really??

amazingly enough, america doesn't consume the most.

NOODLE Reflections:

zooRasia.

I spent my Black Friday venturing out to the zoo. It was a great day off from work and proved to be very educational.

Finding the zoo seemed complicated at first, but they made it fool-proof... follow the lion!

 After finally arriving at the zoo, we found lots of crazy animals and lots of "Engrish" entertainment!

Lessons from a Japanese zoo:

• zoo has an "r"
• chimpanzees catch and eat their own poo
• penguins swim on the surface like ducks/fish
• layla is pregnant for the 3rd time
• the first okapi in 5 years will soon be born
• okapi is a real animal (see above.)
• minmin is an ass (wild mongolian that is)
• cranes are very different from storks
• kangaroos don't jump in the upright position
• Japanese bears sing love songs
• red-faced monkeys mount each other to show rank
• zoo animals speak japanese
• polar bears have tourettes

I loved the animals and loved reading all the placards with awkward random information!

war eagle.

roar!!

best entertainer!

swimming seals.

tiny penguins!

can you say scary?

stork, not crane.

say hello to Layla!

super cute until i saw him eat poo.

life.

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.”
― Neale Donald Walsch

Life lesson picked up during a great New Port adventure :)

germs.

Say hello to my FAVORITE nearly one-year-old. I got to hang out with this little guy and his Mommy this weekend. Besides the deathly bug I contracted from this small person, I could not have enjoyed it more.

love you guys.

fam time.

SO EXCITED to be headed home... home, home to TX.

O how I have missed this crazy group. I love them so.

friend time.

This weekend I spent an AMAZING weekend in Boston with my friend Cait. We did  brunch, shopping, nails, drinks, and football.... could not have asked for a better weekend! It was some much-needed girl time.

Love my friends so much.

travel.

The most treacherous travel experience I have ever had...

1. Almost late for shuttle to Tokyo due to late packing.

2. Inside seat on 12+ hour flight, inside of non-English speaking couple who do not get up. AT ALL.

3. Blizzard causes next flight to be delayed.

4. Blizzard causes next flight to be canceled.

5. Spend the night in D.C. without my luggage (i.e. clothes).

6. Next morning flight diverted due to medical emergency. (I do hope she was ok.)

7. Sit on runway for 1.5 hours awaiting permission to fly last 15 minutes.

8. Get rental car, get lost, find way again.

9. Arrive at school, minus lunch, one half-day late.

10. Jet lag sets in.

Wow. I just hope the return flight is smoother.