Weekend Recap

Hello Friends!  

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

My weekend in pictures:

A new top for my upcoming travels!

Miss Lucy soaking up some sun

Bellinis with friends

Hanging out with our houseguest (Dually)

Salted Caramel Bars (recipe to come)

The month of June = OVER.  

One step closer to J. and the end of this deployment!

Happy Monday!

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday!

I hope you all had a wonderful, busy, productive weekend and that it was just what you needed!  Mine was!  This was the first weekend this month that I had absolutely no plans for Saturday or Sunday and I was SO excited.  And it went by WAY too quickly, as usual. 

Friday, one of my favorite students decided to bring his "pet" to class:

I was not a fan!

Friday night, we had our Officer's Spouses Club monthly meeting at the lovely V.'s house (hi V.!).  We talked some business, but we mostly just ate, drank wine and margaritas, and hung out.  

I had some major goals for Saturday and, I am happy to report, that I accomplished all of them!  But not without a lot of help!  I ran some errands around base, vacuumed out the car and then came home to do some major damage to our yard.  We have a small side yard for Lucy and it's really just a pain in the you know what.  We are expected to take care of the lawn - but we left all of our yard tools in the U.S. It was my plan to find a high school kid to mow it every week, but you would not believe how hard it has been to find a reliable person!  There are kids that knock on the door some Saturdays but they don't come every Saturday, so I can't rely on them.  So, I decided the easiest thing to do would be to do it myself.  I'd just like to throw in a disclaimer that I will be 28 in two weeks and until this weekend I had never touched a weed whacker or a lawn mower.  So, I called in some reinforcements, borrowed a lawn mower and a weed whacker, and we set to work!

I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

The giant pile of weeds that we pulled 

(we have more grass than weeds in the yard)

Mrs. A. hard at work

Weed whacking the perimeter

We also sprayed the entire yard for bugs but I didn't take a picture of that step!

The finished product

(looking MUCH better thanks to Mrs. A. and Mrs. D.!)

We worked up quite the appetite doing all that yard work, so we decided to make a Mexican feast for dinner.  Mrs. D. boiled chicken breasts in chicken broth with a packet of fajita seasoning and we made chicken tacos!  Mrs. A. made guacamole - no mexican fiesta is complete without guacamole!

Delicious chicken tacos 

And then we took Miss Lucy for a walk - it was a very productive day and I felt very accomplished by the end of it!  I should also point out, that before they came over to help me with the yard, Mrs. A. and Mrs. D. moved a queen sized bed from base to Mrs. D.'s house out in town.  Who needs men when you've got friends?!

I ended the night with a glass of wine on the couch - watching Big Miracle and painting my nails.  It was the perfect, lazy Saturday night!

I had more big goals for Sunday and I am pleased to report that I accomplished all of them as well!  It's amazing what you can get done when you actually have a free weekend.  I ended the weekend with a movie at the base theater - Think Like A Man.

It's my last full week in Atsugi before Mrs. S. arrives ... this month has flown by!

Have a good week!

Weekend Recap

Hello Friends!

I hope you had a good weekend.  Mine was BUSY but lots of fun and we are still recovering this morning.  Friday night our squadron had dinner with some of the lovely ladies in another squadron here on base.  We took the train to Yokohama and had dinner at Bashamichi Taproom.  American BBQ?  Yes, please!

Saturday, Mrs. A., Mrs. D., Mrs. K13 and I took an MWR tour to the Yunessun Hot Springs in Hakone.  It was a long day and pretty crowded, but we had a good time relaxing in their different hot springs.  They have several different types of springs to soak in - we tried the charcoal bath, the red wine bath, the coffee bath and the traditional Japanese bath.  Mrs. D. and I also tried the "Doctor Fish" spa - you sit with your feet in a pool and small fish eat the dead skin off your feet.  It's very popular in Japan and we'd been told to try it.  I think that is probably the only time I will try it!  It was so weird and tickled.  I don't think the fish were able to eat any of my dead skin because every time one touched me, I instinctively kicked my foot.  Whoops.  

Saturday night, Fooz cooked for us at our XO's house.  She really knows how to cook and each meal she makes is such a masterpiece.  She started with mini caprese salad bites - she took half a cherry tomato and topped that with half a ball of fresh mozzarella, a small basil leaf, and a drizzle of balsamic.  YUM.  We also had roasted eggplant and french bread.  Our first course was rigatoni with homemade spicy tomato sauce and mini meatballs.  She makes her tomato sauce completely from scratch - as in, she started with a couple of tomatoes and ended up with tomato sauce!  I've made tomato sauce from scratch using canned tomatoes, but never started with fresh tomatoes.  I am inspired to try now!  She also boiled the rigatoni in the same pan that she started the sauce in and did not rinse it out.  It gives the rigatoni a bit of a tomato flavor.  Delicious.  The second course was farfalle with a creamy mushroom sauce.  I sadly did not watch her make this course, so no comments on how it was made!  But I think it was even more delicious than the first course.  We finished off our evening with green tea mochi.  Only in Japan would you top off a delicious Italian meal with Japanese ice cream :)

Sunday, I started my long list of chores in the morning but had to take a break in the afternoon to help one of the kids in our squadron celebrate his 9th birthday!  He had his birthday at the bowling alley on base and we had a pretty good showing!  I even bowled for the first time in YEARS with three of the ladies from my squadron.  And please, just look at the sweet bowling shoes that I was given:

I cannot believe I am posting this picture on the internet, but just check those shoes out.  Anyone up for a trip to the skate park after bowling?

I came home and did more chores, before heading over to Fooz's house for another delicious home cooked meal.  We had some delicious fajitas, guacamole and margaritas.  It was the perfect way to end our weekend!

Weekend Recap

Between English classes, workouts and social plans, my calendar has been jam packed lately.  It's been great, but exhausting and I was *so* happy to have a free day this past Saturday.  

Friday night, Mrs. K13 had a bunch of us over for a potluck.  We've been trying to do one dinner together a week and it's going very well so far!  I personally hate cooking for myself, so it's nice to cook for more than one person and eat a real meal.  We had a great time and a lot of great food.  

Saturday, I had my free day!  I slept in, but then spent the day running errands, cleaning and doing laundry.  I met Mrs. D. and Mrs. A. at the base movie theater to see Snow White and the Huntsman.  It was my first time going to the base theater and I was pleasantly surprised by the how cheap the movie tickets were ($3.00) and how big the theater was.  Snow White was not the best movie I have ever seen, but it was nice to do something different and budget friendly!  

Mrs. D. and Mrs. A stayed the night afterwards so we could get up at the crack of dawn to go on an MWR tour.  We ventured to the Oze National Park for a day of hiking.  J. must be rubbing off on me - I've been here for less than three months and I've already visited a national park!  Sadly, we had a pretty miserable day.  We boarded the bus at 4:30 a.m.  We arrived at Oze a short six hours later.  I slept most of the way, but had a few glimpses of the view here and there - it was beautiful!  We were accompanied on the tour by our favorite tour guide, Nobue.  Her name is pronounced "no boy" and she tells you it is easy to remember because "she is a girl, no boy!"  Along the way, she decided to give us some information on the hike.  Here's what I learned - someone was struck by lightning on this hike last month; there was a chance we might encounter a bear; the trail is good in good weather, but slippery and treacherous in bad weather (you guess what the weather was like) and part of the trail was still covered in snow.  The description in the MWR brochure failed to mention any of this - in fact, the brochure describes the tour as:

"Oze boasts one of the most scenic views in Japan (umm, not in the rain and fog).  The most popular time to visit Oze is in June when the marsh is crowded with the unmistakable white flowers of the mizubasho (Japanese skunk cabbage).  Bring a jacket and extra yen for souvenirs."  

We did receive a phone call Saturday night at 5:00 p.m. from an MWR representative telling us to wear hiking shoes if we had them.  Ok, thank you for that recommendation but what good is informing people that they need hiking shoes less than 12 hours before the tour leaves and one hour before the Navy Exchange closes?  The MWR definitely dropped the ball on this one.

Anyways, we arrived at Oze and took the shuttle to the trailhead - along with crowds of Japanese properly outfitted from head to toe in rain gear, serious hiking boots and hiking sticks.  We were dressed in yoga capris, t-shirts, light hoodies and had thankfully brought our rain jackets.  We started the hike through the woods in a light drizzle.  The beginning of our hike was just fine - the trail wasn't too bad, the snow cover was pretty minimal and we didn't see any lightning or bears.  About one mile in, we emerged out of the woods into the open marshland.  And that's when the downpour started.  We trekked the next mile and a half in the pouring rain.  It was pretty darn miserable, not to mention there was pretty much no view and very few mizubasho.  Within ten minutes my pants were soaking wet, as were my shoes and socks.  I was freezing and not having very much fun.  We finally arrived at the Oze Visitors Center where Mrs. D., Mrs. A. and I decided to remain.  The original goal was to complete the entire hike - roughly 8.5 miles - however spending the next 4 hours in the rain did not sound appealing.  The rest of our group trekked on with Nobue, who was the only person properly outfitted for the day's excursion.  Mrs. D., Mrs. A. and I ate our lunches and tried to dry out while waiting for a break in the rain so we could start the hike back.  It finally let up and we made a run for it.  When the rest of our group returned that afternoon, they told us that we'd made the right decision by staying in the Visitor's Center.  I'm sure the hike would be gorgeous on a nice day, but why you would send a group full of improperly outfitted Americans six hours away to hike in the rain, I don't know.  The more I use the MWR, the less impressed I am with the organization.

Luckily, we fill out comment cards at the end of every tour and we are also able to submit comments online that the base Commanding Officer reads.  I will definitely be submitting a comment.  To sum up my day, I spent $45 to ride a bus for six hours, hike for two hours in the rain, sit for an hour in the Visitor's Center, sit for an hour on the bus and then ride the bus home for 6 hours while damp and cold.  Not exactly my idea of a good time.

And to really rub salt in our wounds ... it was 80 degrees and sunny at Atsugi.

I will leave you with the few pictures I took:

The view from the trail

Mrs. A. on the trail - it was a pretty nice trail!

Lots of people

The mizubasho - not exactly the "marsh crowded with the unmistakable white flower of the mizubasho" that was promised in the MWR description.

The scenic view

Close-up of the mizubasho

The marsh

The long line of properly outfitted Japanese - I loved their colorful rain gear!

The snow covered trail - slightly dangerous if you ask me.

Mrs. A. got several looks from the Japanese ... 

no, she is not preggo, she's just trying to keep her bag dry!

I hope you all had a better Sunday than we did!

Weekend Recap

Happy Memorial Day!

I'd love to report that we had a lovely holiday weekend, but alas we live in Japan where there are (a) no lakes that I know of, (b) no runnings of the Indianapolis 500 and (c) J. left on his latest deployment which made it hard to do much.  

I've known for months now (like since before we moved here) that J. would be deploying again in May, but it somehow has a way of sneaking up on you.  I mean, how is it May already?  Didn't he just return home from deployment?  Geez.  Anyways, we were lucky because the deployment was delayed by about a week which we found out about in March or April and then it was delayed again just last week by a few days.  But alas, the time has come and not only is the boat gone, but the jets have all flown out to meet it as well.  And I only find it *slightly* ironic, that my sailor is going out to sea on Memorial Day Weekend.

Good-bye J.

Anyways, we made the most of our last few days together!  On Friday night, J. surprised me with an early birthday celebration because he won't be here to celebrate with me on my actual birthday.  I was *very* impressed that he thought this out so far in advance :)

My early birthday present and the cupcakes J. made

Close up ... they were as good as they looked!

And ... J. surprised me with the new iPad!  I've been coveting an iPad since they came out in 2010 ... so apparently good things DO come to those who wait!  Haha.  I haven't done much with it yet, but I did discover that I downloaded three books on my Kindle that I completely forgot about!  Whoops.  Looking forward to reading those and taking my iPad with me next time I travel :)

Saturday night, we went out to dinner at Yakitori Cocco with our neighbors.  It was such a fun experience!  It was all you can eat, all you can drink for 4,000 yen/person, which is a really great deal (at least around these parts).  We were there for around three hours and Omasu prepared a feast for us.  We sat at the bar, so we were able to watch him manning the grill.

Osamu

Meatballs served with an egg yolk

We ate well.  I can't remember everything we had, and I didn't take many pictures because I left my phone at home, but we did not go home hungry!  I am happy to report that I tried everything that Osamu served and I think I liked everything.  I can't wait to go back and introduce my 141 ladies to Osamu and Yakitori Cocco!

**A note for those in Japan - Yakitori Cocco was located about a block away from the north exit of the Yamato train station.  I have Osamu's card and can give you directions if you're interested in going.  Osamu spoke very good English and we were able to make reservations.  The restaurant is small, so reservations are recommended.**

Sunday was spent saying good-bye and tackling my very long to-do list.  Sundays are my day to clean, do laundry and get organized for the coming week!

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

Weekend Recap!

Happy Monday Friends!

I hope that you all had a great weekend.  J. was in Iwo Jima last weekend and is getting ready to head off on another deployment (yes, again) so we tried to pack as much as we could into the end of last week and this past weekend!

Wednesday night we tried a French restaurant in Zama that had good reviews - La Brasserie chez-Ichisugi.  It was expensive, but definitely lived up to the hype.  J. and I shared a tomato and avocado salad, the pizza of the day and the gorgonzola pasta.  It was amazing and I can't wait to go back.

Afterwards, we had our first Mr. Donut experience.

Chocolate bear and chocolate donut.

So cute.

And then J.'s friends introduced us to a whiskey bar around the corner.  I don't drink whiskey, so I had a sparking wine:

I loved the atmosphere of this little bar.

And then we introduced them to Kamikaze's, home of the best white russian ever:

Thursday night we had a big group dinner at one of our favorite sushi restaurants, Takezushi.  Our neighbors introduced us to this hidden gem and we love it.  The owner & sushi chef lived in America for a few years when he was younger, so he speaks pretty good English and is easy to communicate with.  His wife does not speak much English, but she likes to hang around and listen to the English conversations.  They are both so nice and we love going over there!  

Our group eating yummy sushi!

Friday, J. did a lot of packing, organizing and buying last minute items for the deployment.  Friday night, we tried Mike's Tex Mex.  It is run by a retired Navy CPO, but we didn't see him there.  They had really good margaritas, so we tried a few flavors and indulged in some fried Mexican goodness.  We finished out the night at the O Club.

Saturday, J. finished packing and we headed down to Yokosuka to load his stuff onto the boat.  J. will be flying a jet on instead of walking onto the boat - meaning I get a few extra days with him :).  There isn't much room in the jet to bring stuff with you, so we had to take his stuff down and load it ourselves.  I was actually REALLY excited to go to Yokosuka, because it's a bigger base, it has a better Navy Exchange and there is a Chili's on the base.  We spent a few hours on the boat (I took lots of pictures but that's going to be a post of its own!) and then headed over to the Exchange.  I am SO jealous of the people who live in Yokosuka!  They have so many more American food options on their base (like Sbarro and a REAL STARBUCKS!), their Exchange was SO nice and they have the Chili's.  Not to mention that the entire base has a water view.  It was gorgeous.

The Exchange was having a 20% customer appreciation sale, so J. and I stocked up while we were down there.  That is the most shopping I've done since I arrived here and it felt good!  Haha.  I got some new running shoes, workout tops, Rainbow flip flops and Smashbox make-up.  I'd also like to point out that the Yokosuka Exchange had a Victoria's Secret in it, carried designer jeans, had an entire room devoted to shoes and a separate building with sporting goods equipment and workout apparel.  I foresee frequent trips to Yokosuka in my future :)

We had dinner at Chili's (of course) before heading back to Atsugi.

I finally got my cheeseburger :)

Sunday, I got up early so I could break in my new running shoes :) That afternoon, we headed over to Yokohama to catch the Yokohama Dena Baystars v. Chiba Lotte Marines baseball game!  This also is deserving of its own post, but I'll leave you with a picture:

I hope you enjoyed your weekends!

Seattle Send-Off, Part 1

Let's go back to March.  To the amazing six nights that we stayed at The Alexis Hotel in downtown Seattle while we waited for our flight to Yokota Air Force Base...  

Our last set of movers (remember, we had an express move, a household goods move AND a shipment for storage), came on Friday, March 10th.  On top of sending everything left in the house to storage, we had all our loose ends to tie up.  No matter how well you plan, there always seem to be a million things to do and get rid of that last day.  But we got everything done and made it to Seattle.  Our friends, the K13's had already checked in, the S.'s were there as well and we were waiting for Bag-O and Mrs. B. to arrive later that evening.  

Our first indication that this was going to be a great last week in Seattle?  Upon checking in, we received a complimentary upgrade to an Executive Suite!  If you ever have the chance to stay at a Kimpton Hotel, definitely take it!  The staff was so polite and remembered who we were, the hotels are pet-friendly and they put dog bowls and a dog bed in your room prior to arrival, there are dog bones in the lobby and they have a hosted wine hour every evening.  Not to mention the bar in The Alexis (Bookstore Bar) has an awesome happy hour.  I really can't say enough good things about The Alexis (and no, I am not getting paid to say it!)

Welcoming Lucy, Dually and Whidbey to The Alexis!

We didn't do much Friday night.  We all went up to the K13's room to have a few drinks and us girls went across the street to Boka Kitchen + Bar for a little late night happy hour.  I loved the atmosphere!  We tried the White Peach Cosmo, the mac and cheese and the truffle fries.  I want to say we tried a few other things, but can't find them on the current happy hour menu!  

Saturday, J. and I met up with the S.'s for brunch at Fonte (recommended by the front desk staff).  Yum.  I had the pancakes with blueberry compote and a mimosa (we were on vacation!).  I can't remember what J. had to eat, but he had the most amazing Sage Latte.  I was slightly disgusted when he ordered it ... a latte with sage, really?  But it was so good.  I wished I had my own.  

From there, we wandered through Pike Place Market where I picked up one last bouquet of flowers to brighten up our room and headed back to the hotel.  Once again, the Alexis staff went above and beyond and found me a vase for my flowers :)  We decided to wait for Bag-O and Mrs. B. in the Bookstore Bar and headed off to Smith Tower when they arrived.  Going to the top of Smith Tower has been on my Seattle Bucket List for ages so I was so excited to finally go up there!  And the view did not disappoint.  

The shipping yards

CenturyLink Field all decked out for the Sounders

I turned the corner and was surprised to see the Space Needle peeking between two buildings!

Close-up

Looking out towards Bainbridge Island

Looking over to downtown, Queen Anne and Magnolia

Mrs. S. sitting on her throne :)

Afterwards, we headed back to the Bookstore Bar for happy hour and pretty much sampled everything on the menu :)  G.S., his roommate and G-rant also met up with us for the evening!  It was so much fun to have everyone down in Seattle for the night!  

It was Mrs. S.'s birthday so we celebrated with a big dinner at Local 360.  I'd heard a lot about the restaurant, but I have to say that I was not impressed.  We did have a big party (18 people), but we had one server and our meal took over 3 hours.  I also made a last minute switch to my dinner order after hearing our waitress describe their fried chicken and was extremely disappointed to receive a dish that looked and tasted nothing like what she had described.  The slow pace of dinner made us all extremely tired but we ventured down the street to Belltown Pub for an after dinner drink.

And then, on our way home, we ran into Seattle's own superhero - Phoenix Jones himself!

J. and Phoenix Jones

(and his sidekick)

Tommy, Mr. K13, Phoenix, the sidekick and G-rant

And now I'm homesick for Seattle!  Check back tomorrow to hear about the rest of our weekend!

Weekend Recap - Yokohama, Yokota, & Kawasaki

Happy Monday!

I hope you all had a good weekend!  We finally got out and about and did some sight-seeing over the weekend!  We started our weekend with a trip to Yokohama on Friday night.  A group of us took the train to Yokohama for dinner at El Torito.  They have the same menu as in the States and it was a great meal after two weeks of Japanese food :) 

My strawberry margarita

To get to El Torito, we never even went outside.  We arrived in the station and took a myriad of tunnels over to the Yokohama Sky Tower (which may or may not be the tallest building in Japan, according to my online research).  El Torito was on the 28th floor of the building and had a great view of Yokohama. I wish I would have taken a picture!

There was a Louis Vuitton IN the train station ... that should tell you how big it was!

After dinner we walked around for a bit and then went to The Tavern, an English Pub, for some drinks before taking the train back to Ayase-shi.

The entrance to The Tavern

The main street in Yokohama

The front gate of the base is about a 20 minute walk from the train station, so we stopped off at a dive bar along the way.  I really wish I would have taken a picture of Bar Skunk, but I don't think it's going anywhere, so next time! 

Saturday, we got up and headed to Yokota Air Force Base.  Their Officers Spouses Club was hosting an Asian Bazaar and we wanted to check it out.  Yokota is the base that we arrived at when we got to Japan and it had taken us about two hours to get to Atsugi.  However, we were hoping that since it was the weekend traffic wouldn't be as bad.  Nope ... it still took us two hours to get there.  And the weather was terrible ... it was raining and very windy.  I thought that Suzy might actually blow over at one point.  Anyways, we arrived at the gate and were told we needed a one day pass to get our car on the base.  And in order to get that pass, we needed to have ALL of our car's information which we did not have.  Luckily, another couple from our squadron was headed up to the same bazaar and they drive a giant van.  So we went out to find some off base parking and await their arrival.  We crammed six adults and three children into their van and made it to the bazaar!  We found a few pieces of furniture that we liked, but it was our first bazaar so we weren't sure if we were getting a good deal.  We decided to wait on the furniture, but I got a set of three Santa Kokeshi dolls.

We then drove around the base and, let me tell you, Yokota is SO much nicer than our base.  Their commissary is huge, their exchange is more like a department store and they have a Chili's restaurant. I can't tell you the last time I ate at Chili's in the states, but it was oh so good!  We had a quick dinner and then did some shopping before heading back home for the evening.

Our amazing dessert at Chili's ... YUM!

Sunday we got up and headed to Kawasaki for their annual fertility festival.  Most of the cities around us have been having fertility festivals the past couple of weekends.  The festival we attended was called the Kanamara Matsuri and was held at the Kanayama shrine.  It is held the first Sunday in April each year.  The history behind this festival is very interesting - prostitutes used to come to this shrine to pray for protection from sexually transmitted diseases.  Now, people come to pray for business prosperity, easy deliveries, marriage and marriage harmony.  I prayed for marital harmony as I don't want any kids any time soon :)

The festival has turned into a tourist attraction and was pretty hilarious.  I will let my pictures speak for themselves: 

The festival celebrates the penis

The Kamayana Shrine

Bag-O and J. with some local girls enjoying their penis pops ...

Bag-O getting iced ...

The man on the far right was REALLY enjoying his penis pop ...

Part of the parade

The man in blue dragged M.A. out into the parade!

She was a good sport and helped carry the float

The giant pink penis

Now do you see why this festival was hilarious?

Creepy Batman wearing nothing but a thong ...

Once the parade was over we walked around the town and discovered this little hidden street: 

It was lined with people selling food and trinkets

We tried a bun with bean curd in the middle ... tasty.

And then bought a fun souvenir :)

Bag-O with his treats ...

Then we visited the Kawasaki Daishi Buddhist Temple.  Apparently this is one of the largest temples in the greater Tokyo area and is popular among the locals to pray at midnight on New Year's Eve.

The main temple

First you go up to this fire and cleanse yourself with smoke.  You waft the smoke towards whatever area of your body that you want cleansed or healed.

Then you go into the temple and pray and toss a coin into the offering plate (expect it's not a plate, it's a giant vat).

The five tiered pagoda at the temple grounds

They had lots of little street vendors selling food ... we tried some of these noodles!

After we all had some street food, we ventured back to the train station and began our journey home!  The train system hasn't been too hard to figure out yet and we've got a very handy app on our phones called "Hyperdia."  It has the train station in English and will also tell you what train lines to take to get somewhere!