March's Illustrious Antics = MIA

It's been quite a while... March was a whirlwind month and I can't believe it's already April! Time is just flying by so quickly! I exchanged an elaborate bracket for my own March Madness... My life through pictures... And this is just the beginning!

Clubbing @ whaddaya know... FERIAAAAA

Greg and Maki's going away party... Really gonna miss them!

Me & Erika


The best damn yakiniku + one crab hat

KARAOKE!!!

Skankin' to some Bob...

One takoyaki hat, one crab hat and a whole lot of tequila on the right...

The Girls, Our Girly Drinks and Our Greg!

I don't really know wines... But I do know years... 1985...

24/24 (^.^)

My first homemadepasta in Tokyo!!! Fresh kinoko mushrooms, green onions... Yumyum on my new plate!

Snow in March!

It's March. It rained today. And then the rain turned into snow. Today I quite possibly saw the most snow I've seen since I've been here! On my way home I walked at an incredibly slow pace because not only had the snow started to stick to the ground, but the pavement was slushy and slippery from all rain (we all know how clumsy I am)! By the time I got home my flats were soaking wet and my feet were numb. It's supposed to snow again tomorrow... Supposedly by Thursday and Friday it will be warm again. Global warming at it's best, I guess.

1. Hot tea was amazing on a cold day like this. So was Korean tofu soup for lunch! Yuna Kim's (the ice skater) picture was hanging in the restaurant we ate at today- Apparently she also ate there when she was in Japan!

2. I seriously can't get enough of Gossip Girl! Tonight I managed to restrain thankfully and cleaned the apartment...

3. After Tokyo... I'm thinking... NYC :)

4. What would I do without my beloved Burberry umbrella?

5. I hope I get to wear rain boots to work tomorrow.

6. Tired.

7. Went karaoke for the first time this past weekend (since I've been here!)!!! SO FUN! I took a stab at two Japanese songs hahaha. I failed. I can't read Japanese that fast... But I can't wait to go again.

8. I think I'm going to hibernate away from society soon... Starting in... April.

9. I want a camel leather jacket.

10. Can't wait for Spring and Ohanami!!!

Sunday 2/28 in Yokohama

Kamameshi Rice

I love Yokohama. I went there this past Sunday to meet my friend Erika who I absolutely adore!

It's just so chill there... Still fun but not as intense as Tokyo. Not too far either... Only 30 minutes from Roppongi Station!

We shopped quite a lot actually which, of course, was fine with me! They were having a "Charming Sale" (still don't quite get what it is but it happens twice a year in Motomachi- a shopping district in Yokohama) so we walked around there and also browsed around at Sogo, an enormous department store near the Yokohama station. I got a couple skirts for work, some cute accessories and a coat!

For dinner, Erika took me to this great kamameshi place! It was so cute, homey and boy was it yummy! We also had some kushiyaki (meat/veggies grilled on skewers)... I tried joints for the first time! I actually liked it - had a crunchy interesting consistency.

Oh and also... I love sleeping on trains.

Yokohama Beer! Tasted like mugicha (barley tea) sorta... But it was good!

Wednesday - Happy Hump Day

Look! Flowers are blooming!!!

What a crazy work week it's been.

But a great thing happened today. Everyone at work is so sweet and friendly... Except my COO. She's not mean but she's not friendly... At least not to me. I'm quite intimidated and though I always try to smile at her, etc., she's just SCARY. Today for lunch, I picked up a bento and ate at my desk since we had a seminar and I wanted to be accessible to the rest of my team in case they needed any extra help. As I'm eating she walks by me and says "Oh Alanna do you know Claire (Director of BD/Marketing for the entire Asia Pacific region)?" And I respond, "Yes of course." I correspond occasionally with Claire when they ask for deal information and other requests. The COO continued, "Well at APM (Asia Pacific Meeting) I saw her and she specifically mentioned you to me." Yikes. Scary. Why?! "She said you're doing a great job, doing really well ." I WAS FLOORED. "Thank you, thank you so much, that means a lot," I said trying to maintain my cool though I was ecstatic. With that she just walked away. Damn, she's still scary. I immediately wrote a nice email to Claire who I can't wait to meet one day.

Went grocery shopping today... I really think I could stay in drug stores and markets for hours. I guess I just really do like to shop. Chopped up carrots, cucumbers, apples and broccoli. Decided to make a little lifestyle change and eat healthier (I'm always eating out). I miss veggies. Produce is sooo great here!

Uploaded a bunch of pictures to Facebook. Looking back on them I am a full-fledged party girl. Oh my. Maybe another lifestyle change needs to made soon in regards to that as well!

Tuesday - A Miserably Cold Day

Today is March 2.

(Real sakura and yellow blossoms I brought home from work!)

Spring is just around the corner with Vernal Equinox Day on March 22.

By the way, I only know this because we have a holiday in observance of this. Only in Japan... But hey a holiday is a holiday, which is awesome by all means!

But today...Brrr... Was it cold.

So cold in fact, that when I was done with work, I RAN in my heels to the restaurant I was meeting everyone at for dinner just to stay warm!!!

Work was crazy busy and my current To-Do List has like 25 things. Yikes. Had a great meeting today with our Dispute Resolution Head who talked to me about the FedEx Narita plane crash last year in 2009. We're representing FedEx. I found out that it's quite a landmark case since it was the first plane crash at Narita Airport and the first time to have a fatality! So basically, there's precedence to be set regarding this litigation investigation which makes it a great opportunity for exposure for B&M. Also found out some real interesting juicy news about a potential client that I hope we get!!! But I have to stay mum till things are finalized...

Well enough about work.

I'll have to write about my crazy jam packed weekend maybe tomorrow.

For now I'll continue with my mobile uploads...

I got a surprise delivery in my mailbox today!!!
I LOVE GETTING MAIL! What an adorable Valentine card from SHY! She is the best at making cards! There are pink, red and white M&Ms inside the heart! How cute is that?! Thank you Shy, love you very much!


Tonight we had dinner at this curry place in Akasaka... It's great.
It's called "Curry Club" and they have celebs who endorse the restaurant and are pictured with their favorite curries.


Azabujuban is seriously dangerous. Of course I pick the place to live in with a ridiculous amount of amazing sweets.
Castella cake with whipped cream and caramel. AMAZING. The cake is only cooked about half-way so the inside is a bit gooey and creamy.


I really am my daddy's daughter. I love my plants! Got these cute little guys from this old man selling plants on the street!

Pictures from my Keitai!

I acknowledge I've got a lot of catching up to do! But in a way I'm happy I took a blogger sabbatical because it made me see that people actually read this thing hehe. So let's cut to the chase with a bunch of pictures from my keitai (cell phone)

I WENT TO THE ROOTS CONCERT LAST WEEK!
It was sooooo fun. They are amazing live. Just great.
The concert was at the Billboard Live in Tokyo Midtown (Roppongi)
You weren't supposed to take pictures or video but you know, I'm such a rebel like that hehe.
Although I did get busted towards the tail end of the night ;)
If I can find a way to upload the videos I'll do that too!
Highlights of the night: The Roots' remix rendition of Guns n Roses "Sweet Child of Mine", "You Got Me" and the encore performance of "The Seed"!!!

Pre-concert view with my bubbly!

THE ROOTSSSSS

Other big news!
I went to Rina and John's house the other week to visit Kira-chan their new beautiful baby!!! I bought Kira these cute little Juicy Couture diaper covers... No clue what to get a baby but I thought they were adorable and each cover was rolled up like a flower and in a little rubber plant pot!

Baby Kira-chan... OMG she is SO small! I have never seen anything so small before... When I held her I was seriously freaking out and really scared... I just liked to stare at her tiny hands and itty bitty body from here...

I also got to see Monty!!! Hisashiburi!!! I missed him... Brought him lots of snacks and played fetch with him like old times...

My friends and I love to do hump day dinners...

Makes the week go by a bit quicker!

AW Kitchen in Azabujuban!

Reservation for 6 under "Alanna-sama!"

Bania Calda... My new food obsession

Dinner @ Oak Door in Roppongi Hills!

Quite good!... Tuna tartar, lamb, kobe steak, spinach, brocolli, garlic mashed potatoes... YUM!

But of course, I only got a shot of the dessert:

Rocky road sundae and banana choco pie

Love this little izakaya in Azabujuban!

Wanted to try the natto omuraisu so badly but they were sold out!

Will have to go back to try that and the tonkotsu dumpling nabe...

Below is tomato nabe- Apparently a trendy thing in Japan right now...

They also had a wall of Kona Brewery... Major points!

Made me feel at home!!! :)

Always gotta have dessert!

Surprisingly quite heavy but really healthy pumpkin pie from Eat More Greens Cafe.

I want to take ikebana classes..

My beautiful tulips and the new vase I bought!!!

A blistering cold weekend.

1. Friday I had dinner at a great kurobuta restaurant in Ebisu called "Kurobutaya" - Literal translation - Black Pig Restaurant. And there were pigs everywhere! Pigs soap dispensers in the bathroom, pig stuffed animals in the restaurant, pig trash cans, pig everything! It was so funny! The meal was quite good though - Pork stir fry, pork shumai, pork dumplings in tonkotsu broth, pork croquette.... Uhh yeah, lots of pork haha.

2. Also must mention I continued to detox throughout dinner! No liquor, just oolong tea and water.

3. After dinner, everyone wanted to go to a wine bar... So I caved. Broke the exactly one week of no liquor streak. Not drinking wine at a wine bar... Blasphemy right? We went to this great place in Hiroo called Kissako. It was quite small, tucked away on the second floor of a building. The interior was quite zen, I loved it! On the way to the restroom the decor is like a small rock garden and you step from large stone to stone (so refrain from using the restroom if you are drunk or clumsy). Had one glass of wine with some house chocolates, caramels and ice cream. Delicious!

4. Saturday - ICE SKATING at Midtown!!!! I had been anticipating this for so long... But it was freezing freezing cold... So we did a little happy hour first at Union Square Tokyo. 500 yen for premium cocktails and 700 for sparkling wine! Again, I had a couple glasses but how can you not? The important thing is I stayed sober the entire weekend and was home before 3! :) And wine=grapes! Love the vodka but it's pure poisonnnnn. It can't be good for you. The bartender was quite nice (maybe a little too nice) and filled our flutes the very top! And then afterwards he poured out the rest of the bottle in my half full glass... We got a little warm and bubbly and off we went to to go skate!

5. Got the cutest cream VW mittens when we got there because VW is one of the sponsors of Midtown rink! Skating was sooooo fun. I want to go again! Haha.

6. Dinner in Tokyo Midtown food court (which is awesome by the way) with Sharilyn! First time I saw my cousin and I've been here since November! Crazy isn't it?

7. Pitstopped at Rigoleto and some other Midtown bar and called it a night... Went back to home sweet home.

8. Sunday was a day of catching up with Desperate Housewives and doing a little Jersey Shore marathon. Love it.

9. Sunday night we went to have dinner at Gonpachi in Nishiazabu where the Prime Minister took President Bush a few years back. Gonpachi is also the setting for one of the famous scenes from Kill Bill - which I have never seen by the way so I can't tell you exactly which one. I loveee the yakitamago and desserts there...

Waiting for Ayano... Happy Hour! Sparkling wine @Union Square Tokyo!

Before we got on the rink...

The Rink!

Candid! Hi!!!

VW bear and cute little kid in the background

Tokyo Tower in the background!

SNOW!

Skates

Standing on top a pile of snow...

Cousin Sharilyn and our strawberry shortcake :)