Random Thoughts of the Day

1. Wow, my knee really hurts today from bumping it on the damn shower door! Every time I went up and down stairs... ow, ow, ow, ow.
2. Did you know that on the back of the dollar bill, above our country seal, that the thirteen colonies are shaped like the Star of David to represent Hayim Solomon, a wealthy Jew who made vast contributions to save the US Army back in the day? Sadly, his noble sacrifices drove him into poverty and he died a pauper. (; . ;)
3. Did a little bridesmaid dress browsing for Lauren today... I love these two styles (though she wants something more chiffony so these probably aren't options)! Also, decided what my wedding color theme is going to be... Waaayyy down the road from now... :)


4. WHY HELLO Chanel 2010 Spring Couture!!! Silvers and pastels. <3it. Lagerfield is genius.








My favorite.

5. I used my stove today for the first time tonight!!!

6. I made Konaya curry udon with aburaage and moyashi! Oishikatta! See picture below of udon+kiddy blue spoon (hello kitty chopsticks not pictured!) (^.^)

7. Already can't wait for the weekend!!! So excited!

Random Thoughts of the Day

1. Love Raphael Saadiq. Truly great happy R&B music.
2. I hit my knee against my shower door! Owww. Bump ninatta. Probably gonna bruise. (; . ;)
3. I also broke one of my favorite necklaces today!!! I forgot it was on my turtleneck and the gold chain ripped. Ugh. This weekend I'll go chain hunting...
4. Cleaned my apartment a bit tonight! I don't get why it gets so dusty so fast... Maybe cause I usually don't clean? And I'm figuring these things out for myself now?
5. Also played accountant for a bit... Another stumper: Why do they pay you all at once for the month... Makes it SO much harder to manage your money! Probably will be eating cup noodles and soda crackers near Feb 20... Haha. Kidding... kinda.
6. Fuji apples and swiss cheese!!!
7. Hooray for phone dates with Mom (^.~)...
8. Why was it so damn cold today?
9. Now that I consider myself truly a working woman... Haha. I love skirts and pumps!!! Loving the new spring Louboutin line! Especially... These and these (leopard's hot!) and these :) After I'm settled (house-wise) I'm going shoe shopping online!!!
10. I got a great mantra chain email from Em today... And I actually do a lot of those things! Especially the "smile when you answer the phone one!" (^.^) In fact, one of my friends here laughs every time we talk on the phone because when I answer I'm like "HI! or HELLO!" Maybe a bit too chipper!
11. Must learn how to make オムライス (omuraisu=omelette with ketchup rice and sauce). Pictured below!

What a Bizarre Day...

So the day started off fine... Great actually! It was pretty warm, sunny and I got off of work early today because I had to pick up my alien registration card from the Minato ward and they closed at 5... So my boss let me go at 4! Lucky me!

After work, I wanted to go to Donkey which is an EVERYTHING store... Kinda like Wal-Mart on steroids. I love that store they have so many cool things! But since I got out of the wrong Roppongi exit (which connected to Tokyo Midtown - a gorgeous new mall complex - also where the Ritz Carlton is located) I walked around there for a bit! I had never been to the food court located on B1 before... Wow it's just amazing and there's a mini cookie donut store/kaiten sushi restaurant that I really want to try! Note to self- Need to go back soon! I also stumbled upon a Muji! If you like the site, they have a Muji in NYC in the MoMa store. Muji was Kara's favorite place to go to when we studied abroad together and I must admit, it's awesome. Ended up buying a few things for my house while I was there.

So... Cutting to the chase of why the day was odd...

Bizarre & SCARY Story #1 @ approximately 19:30
After spending what seemed like hours in Donkey (it's five floors) I started my walk home from Roppongi to Azabujuban... Muji bag in one hand, Donkey bag in the other, LV "never-full" slung over my shoulder. Got home, settled in... 15 minutes later... DING DONG. This means someone is downstairs (cause it's a secure building and you need a key to get into the lobby). My apartment has video surveillance (see previous posts for deets) so I can see who it is: Some man with glasses! And he wasn't wearing a delivery uniform or anything (and I'm not expecting anything)... So I freaked out. Plus he was staring right into the video so it seemed as if he was looking right at meee!!! EEEEEEK. I ran away from the screen, made sure my doors were locked and turned off my hallway light in case he somehow made it up. Talk about the ebbie jeebies. I opened my laptop as fast as I could hoping I'd find a friend on gchat to talk to so I didn't feel alone. Luckily I had a friend online and while we chatted I put on the happiest, bubble gum pop-iest songs I could find on my iTunes!!! Phew! Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some sort of delivery slip in my mailbox or I will hope hope hope he had the wrong address??? Anyway, I'm getting scared again (yes, I'm a big baby...thank goodness for double locks and my secure building) so let's move on to stories #2 & #3.

Bizarre Stories #2 & #3
As I'm g-chatting away, trying to ignore the vivid imagery of "scary man" I start to slowly unpack my Muji and Donkey stuff. New hairdryer, scale, etc. When suddenly I notice, something that I didn't buy... A package of decorative nail decals... And they are SO FOB!!! I look at the price and they're about JPY2500 ($25~!) so I double check my receipt... No charge for any decorative nails. A part of me is like woohoo free nails! But please see pictures below... They are sooo bling! For me to say something is bling is also a huge deal (I love bling bling) but these are really too much! If I wear them one day I promise to post a picture... It will also be my official coming out of the FOB closet day.


What they would look like on me... Haha so ridiculous.


As I continue to gchat and simultaneously look at my new goodies/weigh myself on a kiloscale for the first time... I notice something else in the package that I didn't buy (story #3)... A small red box. What's this??? The front has a little comic strip on it and at the bottom the words "No Touch Smart Play." Hmmm... Well I flip the box around and whaddaya know... A box of Japanese condoms.

And I just start to laugh. Check my receipt again... Nothing. I must be like VIP Donkey shopper of the day. Now I'm a bit confused about the No Touch name and out of intrigue, investigate. Ladies and gents... These are no ordinary protectors! Apparently you don't have to touch these guys to get them on. There are two strings or something attached. I called my friend to inquire and he told me to open to box to find out how many were inside...10. The box also came with detailed, illustrated instructions (this is how I learned about the strings). FYI think I'll be giving the entire box to my friend... He sounded a bit excited, hence the anonymity. And maybe for shits and giggles to remember this nuts day, I shall keep one to make for an excellently interesting story.

Let's hope Tuesday is a lot more mellow...

Look how talented my friend is!

She's so awesome at knitting! Can you believe it was her first time?! Way to go Pru! Make me a scarffff (^.^)

Oh Sunday, what a fun day!

Today I started off the morning with a bowl of cereal and soy milk! I was so happy! Guess it doesn't take much to amuse me, but I hadn't ate cereal for about three months... And I missed it (; . ;)
It was such a beautiful day in Tokyo! So warm! I walked from my house to Hiro since it was so sunny and cool out... Hiro is actually quite close to Azabujuban, only a 15 minute walk! Once there, I met some friends (old and new!) and we walked to the old French embassy to look at an art exhibit called "No Man's Land". The whole embassy was turned into a Japanese/French themed museum... We're talking painted offices, huge murals in the hallways and in the courtyards, water falls at the top of the building, it was crazy. I believe that they are tearing it down soon so it's essentially the last time for the public to see it.

And our three-hour journey begins...

Lea was smacking Sumo's bum, and I was trying to kiss him... Lucky guy.

The Red Shoes



This was probably my favorite piece at the exhibit: Unno Ryota's Great Wall Bar. It basically was a huge mural of Japanese/French cultural activities (French on the left/west-->shifting to Japanese on the right/east)

The Hot Pink Room!

Weird girl Harumi.

I also liked this artist! But I forgot his name... I'm pretty sure he painted the other two below, too. All of these paintings were huge canvases on both sides of the hallway.
Check out Dragonball with an onsen in his head!

Love this!

This too. Land of the rising sun... In the city on steroids.

Now this is beautifully disturbing... Do you see what I see?

Ooolala how romantic. I can't believe this was an exhibit! Looks like fun to roll around in all that cotton haha.

The guy is wearing PLAY by Comme des Garcon!

Fun!! The papers were images of basketballs!

Artist at work.

The Girls! (Minus Mai & Greg)

After a lot of walking, we were beat. Nothing better than burgers, onion rings and fries! Homeworks Burgers in Hiro. (I realized in the midst of scarfing down my food to take a picture)

After being uncomfortably stuffed, I walked around my second home, Roppongi Hills! Zara was having an amazing sale so I picked up a few things (couldn't resist)- Black skirt for work, black tunic, black top, black belt. I just love BLACK.
On my stroll home, they were having some sort of MJ event- I need to research this more but I think they have a big MJ museum in Tokyo somewhere. I sat and listened to an old interview they had of him... He really sounds like such a sweet man, and it makes me sad that he was depicted as such a whacko by the media!

Finally, home sweet home! Eager to come home and blog after a great weekend... They go by too fast!!!

Friday & Saturday

Friday:
1. Went to a Spanish Tapa bar in Nishiazabu called Donguri! It was quite good! We had Iberico pork, carpaccio, salad, enpanada, octopus & eggplant in a spicy tomato saute, this bean spread on a pita-type bread (really good) and sangria to go with the Spanish theme! My favorite thing was dessert of course, the Crema Catalana (brown sugar brulee)... Yum.
2. Headed to 57 in Roppongi!
3. Made a new friend - Lucia ! Ironically, we have some a couple mutual friends. I'm telling you... The international crew in Tokyo... A lot like Hawaii... Small. World.

4. Went to Le Baron in Omotesando (they also have one in NYC)
5. Home and in bed before 5 am! My original goal was 3 but that's been the earliest in a while for me, so I was quite proud of myself! And I didn't have a gross early morning breakfast! Another plus!

Saturday:
1. My frig arrived!!! --> So naturally, I had to go grocery shopping!
2.Udon, kimchee, eggs, tofu, aburaage, aloe yogurt, soy yogurt, swiss cheese, a strawberry-kiwi chuhai, natto, soy milk, oolong tea, apples, tomatoes, asparagus, salad mix, kewpie mayo!!! (and some other things in my pantry)

3. For all you Konaya-lovers out there (curry udon) they sell the udon in markets!!! I was so excited! Will keep you posted on how this turns out when I attempt to use my stove for the first time...

4. Freezer: Kabocha and two-types of ice cream: Milk and ichigo-miruku pops!!! Stocking up on ice cream is a must!

5. Evening tea time with Pru @ HARBS in Roppong Hills

6. Oh I'm sorry... I forgot to mention it was more like CAKE TIME. Below please find 3800yen worth of DESSERT.

7. Strawberry shortcake!

8. Crepe creme cake filled with fresh strawberries, bananas, kiwis, cantaloupe and honeydew! This was my favorite cake.

9. Tiramisu

10. Done, done and done.

11. Post HARBS we managed to fill ourself with even more SUGAR (which in retrospect was probably an awful idea) and sipped some cosmos at Rigoletto (also in Ropp Hills)! 500yen cosmos and they are amazing! Not too sweet, frothy, perfect, lovely little place... I shall be back.
12. Home by midnight (^.^). Relaxed, admired my camp transforming into a home, zzzz.

Random Thoughts of the Day

1. I did a little grocery shopping today at Daimaru Peacock, it's a great market about 2 min from my house!!! I got the cutest little bananas! They are even smaller than apple bananas and taste just like them! I also bought some peanut butter! It's Snoopy peanut butter and it comes in like a bottle so I can squeeze it like ketchup on bread and what not! Why is Japanese peanut butter so damn good???
2. I got out of work on-time today. Finally :)
3. Sleepy!
4. Hurray tomorrow's Friday!
5. About. to. konk. out.

Random Thoughts of the Day

1. I still really want to go to:
Namja Town in Ikebukuro (They have Gyoza Land, Ice Cream City and a bunch of amusement type things)
Sanrio Land (It has already been established that I'm a little kid so no shame there!)
Ueno Zoo
A Dessert Buffet

2. I miss g-chatting. Tokyo's time is so incompatible with the States :(

3. I miss my tan...

4. I miss jog walking around Kapiolani Park and San Souci...

5. Okay but other than that brief spurt, I really love it here :)

In from the Fat Kid

One of the many great things about living in 麻布十番 (Azabujuban) is the bakery that is about a block from my house called Mont Thabor. Since everything is made fresh daily, after 9 all the breads are half-off! I'm a sucker for deals AND sweets, so you can imagine what sort of trouble I'm in. I had an excuse tonight though, I got off work pretty late and by the time I was walking up to head home it was almost 9! So on principal, I had to go!
Check out the goodies I got tonight (pictured below). All that for just under 500yen!


I love love the Hokkaido milk bread, it's my favorite. The mochimochi apple muffin is also very good and tastes pretty healthy! As for the two partially nibbled chocolate pastries, 初めて食べた (first time I ate it). The one on the left was called "Chocolate Fondue." It's basically chocolate bread with a chocolate center. It was OKAY. I'm not a big chocolate fan (as some of you may know) but it's starting to grow on me with age, I think. The pastry on the right, however was delicious! It was called "Chocolate Macaroon" and it did sorta taste like a soft macaroon!

Ok whoa... Just found out the Chocolate Macaroon also has a chocolate center! Sugoi!

Mont Thabor
Azabujuban
2 min from Azabujuban Station Exit 4!

Random Thoughts of the Day

1. I love my scented reeds! My house smells so cozy and clean after a long day of work.
2. J'adore my Dallin Chase leather motorcycle jacket.
3. "I don't usually find Asian men attractive, but you are an exception." Apparently the word usually is key so not to be a backhanded compliment.
4. I am getting better at writing emails in Japanese! 良かったです！
5. Everyday I get tons of mail re: take-out/delivery menus, promotional coupons for nail salons, dry cleaning, etc. in my neighborhood. I will make it a point to order from at least one menu by the end of February.
6. Sadly, disabled people are looked down upon here in Japan (or ignored) which just makes me really sad. I saw a blind man for the first time at the train station today with his adorable Golden Retriever seeing eye dog. I can't wait to get a dog.
7. 今晩の食事は抹茶パフェだった。Tonight I ate a Matcha (Green Tea) Parfait from Koot's Cafe! Sooo good. Yup, I had ice cream for dinner! You know me, little kid at heart. (~.^)
8. みかん大好き！Mikan (Japanese tangerines) are so good!I ate two for breakfast today...They are really sweet and don't have any seeds! One big bag for less than JPY300 (USD3).
9. Doing laundry is not so bad now that I figured out my washer/dryer!
10. I feel so grown up paying my own bills... Rent, utilities, cell phone... SCARY.

Matcha Parfait from Koots Cafe Azabujuban!


My bag of mikan!***Note: There were a few more in the bag, now in my tummy.

DKs, Building Party and TGFSunday

Friday: My first DK ever @ HUBS... OMG. You don't want to know what's in this... Let's just say it's good to take in cold weather? It makes you feel real warm and fuzzy inside and your mind a bit hazy 15 min later...

After HUBS... Feria in Ropps! Where else???
Whoops! We not ready!!!

Sexy, sexy Pru!

The night/morning - however you'd like to perceive it - ended eating steak (Pepper Steak) for breakfast! Sounds gross now but boy was it good then! (^.^)

Saturday: Ikea Building Party! Two dressers and a coffee table. My little place is slowly but surely turning into a home! And I love it!

Sunday: Relaxing day in Azabujuban and took a stroll up to Roppongi Hills! I also cleaned up my room a bit!

This is the phone to buzz in visitors... You can see them on the little screen! I also hang my necklaces and work IC card on the little jewel knobs I found at my favorite home store... Franc Franc!

Can you believe I've been living without a full length mirror this entire time?!?! I can't! 鏡はとても大事だよ！

Dresser #1 (My TV will go on here when I get one)


But for now, since I don't have a TV... My jewelry will sit there (and my perfume) (^.^)... It took me a long time to lay it out like that... Kinda looks like a cute boutique, I think!

My coffee/dining room table... Plus some of my bibles...

Dresser #2 and my bed! Oh and also my little aroma reeds that I love! Got those today in Ropp Hills.

View #2


1. I ate Mexican food (Frijoles in Azabujuban=Like Chipotle) two days in a row. Burrito and tacos. Yikes. Part Cali girl at heart I guess... Can't help it, it's in my genes...
2. Really want to go ice skating in Tokyo Midtown!!!
3. I <3 m-flo and Girl Talk!
4. Found a cute boutique in Roppongi Hills called Double Standard. I may or may not have purchased something(s) from there.
5. Had the weirdest dinner tonight but it was yummy! Curry nan and aloe yogurt.
6. Why are Japanese so high-strung?!
7. Real good ramen restaurant by my house! I think it's called 力 (chikara=strength)
8. Really... How did I live this long without a mirror? Now that is campy.
9. Excited for pay day next week!
10. Loving mellow Sunday...
11. The goal is to be in bed by 12:30 tonight...