Shiiizzzaaammmm, two posts in one day! Looks like I'm making up for lost time!
A few weeks ago, me and LL decided to head into the city for dinner. On the train ride into the city we were thinking about places to go and eat, but nothing we came up with really tickled our fancy...and well we always just go to our same old favourite places.
Anyway, after an unsuccessful attempt to find somewhere while searching goolge on my iphone we went into the ticket office once we got to the station and grabbed an English map of fun things to do in the city -we really, really looked like tourists, I almost felt like Joey from friends when he "gets into" the map when they are in London...
So we have a quick skim over the little blurbs written about some of the restaurants they recommended, and decide to make our decision once on the tram. We decide on Jamaican. The restaurant was a little out of the way (but it really wasn't!) just not our usual neck of the woods, we get off the tram a stop too early, so we casually wander down the street (with my google maps open on my iphone as well as the actual map) and are pleasantly surprised at how many funky little cafes, wine bars and restaurants there are in this part of town (again not actually that far away from our usual). So we eventually find Jerk Kitchen.
obligatory posey shots!
then we got gangster on it...hot
had to get the jerk chicken and then the jerk pork
and gratin and shrimp fried rice
So overall it was really, really good! We'll be back. It's nice to have a new place to add to our list of favs. Oh the drinks were ah.may.zing too! I forgot to take a pic, but daymn they were delish! LL got a rum and coke and I got my standard Moscow Mule, pretty laid back but gosh darn he made them taste amazing - FO REAL!
My last post was a little deep, you feel? So I'm gonna keep it easy, breezy, beautiful cover girl.
Had a few hours up my black cardigan-ed sleeve this afternoon, so I got busy and got things done.
The weather is starting to get cooler, but when the sun is out it's delightful. Not too hot, not too cold. Perfect. So I came home, put on my bball shorts and a singlet and opened all the windows and doors and put on about a million loads of washing.
I have an obsession for linen spray right now (I saw a friend use it, and it reminded me that the last time I used it was pre-Japan) since I've been sick, it's nice to hop into bed and it smells like clean linen. I used to make my own with eucalyptus oil and water, but it's a little strong. So anyway I randomly found some at Muji (while shopping for curry & pretzel snacks) and boom whaddaya know...I'm obsessed.
So I changed all the linen on my bed, put blankets, duvets & pillows (ok so for a small Japanese bed I have A LOT of stuff on it!) outside in the sun to air (of course with a good spraying of my new linen spray), did 3 loads of washing - although I feel like I did like 10 on the weekend?! Did the dishes, vacuumed and mopped the floors, dinner is pretty much ready to throw together when I get home later from the gym tonight, I mended the wires from two bras (Japanese washing machines kill bras!) and now I think I feel like baking a cake.
I feel like such a domestic goddess right now, I just need to go and pick up with kids from where ever they would be if I had any, um let's say rugby (or basketball) practice and ballet? and NO I would not be driving a people mover or a mini van. And wait for my husband (again if I had one!) to come home so I could put dinner on the table. uuummm yeah ok....moving on!
Fresh fruit in Japan is crazy expensive so I found these bags of frozen mango bits and now it's safe to say I'm addicted! So now all my work is done, I'm chilling on the couch with some mango watching one of my new shows Nothing Trivial (an NZ show), waiting for my other shows to download (Happy Endings, New Girl, Glee, Modern Family, Community, The Big Bang Theory & Desperate Housewives) while surfing the interwebs (!) for new blogs to read, making a new running playlist and trying not to drink too much coke before I head to the gym!
Sugar, spice and all things nice.
ex.oh.ex.oh
poice
I've been a little M.I.A (you like what i did there?) lately, well actually a whole month plus some change...various reasons, some I may divulge some I may not..
So I've been meaning to write honestly I have, I have started about four different posts in my blog journal (yeah I write them by hand first...something about writing things by hand makes me happy) but I haven't been able to finish them - lack of words, me being a perfectionist and not being happy with the way I'm writing them, not knowing how to pull back and edit some of what I've written...but I'm committed to being a little more into it.
So like usual, I'll just ramble and pull bits and pieces from each of the posts that I have started and hopefully it will turn into a great big amazingly rambly piece of blogging gold.
It's always all gold!
Things that I heart...
i heart getting butterflies.
i heart not being able to hide my big smiles
i heart random thoughts that make me smile when jump into my head at random times when I'm least expecting it
i heart flowers and how they smell
i heart coffee
i heart holding hands
i heart kisses
i heart my new l'occitane shampoo and conditioner
i heart my new forever 21 skinny jeans i bought online (MAJAH WIN!!)
i heart ramen
i heart finding ah.may.zing songs and playing them over and over in my car
I'm learning how to be positive - I should say I'm learning how to be positive all the time, a lot of the time I let negativity creep in and fill my head with thoughts that are damaging to me, my self esteem and my confidence - it also doesn't make me an awesome person to be around sometimes. So I'm really making an effort to work on it.
My main focus right now is body positivity. So before the "Majah Camping Trip '11" I went on a 2 week salad and redbull only diet. Yes. there was a boy involved. For me when I am thinner I feel sexier and more in control. I am working on this - i.e. not needed to be thin to feel sexy and in control. turns out my little 2 week diet craze was not pointless (coz it worked) but the boy didn't care about how not thin I was, that I didn't have an amazingly sculpted body (like he does!), he saw "me". and he had been seeing "me" prior to the "Majah Camping Trip '11". So I'm learning to be confident in who I am now, and not waiting until I reach that "perfect" weight where I will be happy. I am also learning that I don't need to change who I am for someone else, because there are people who like me for who I am now. I can't pretend that the boys "I like you for you" attitude didn't boost my confidence, coz it did on a MAJAH level. And that was what I needed. It's been too long. It's always nice to get compliments full stop. But I need to remember that I am doing it for me.
That's enough of the deep stuff, I still have 3 more half written posts that I need do...
This is what I've been doing for the last month....
watching my kids at sports day..
3rd grade pyramids..
Soccer team (the boy in the yellow is my favourite student)
faces.
dancing students..
festa de rama reggae festival
MAJAH Camping Trip '11 sunrise
learning to braid...i totally will be able to braid my future caramel children's hair!
Getting busy on some jerk with lovely LL
Impromptu night out - best night in a loooong time!
Tonga won the rugby..the Tongan ninja celebrated in Nagarekawa..
Graffiti obsession
trying out a new one..
ohhh hhheeeyyy Tokyo sunshine
heading back to Tokyo...with my trusty starbucks for the shinkansen ride
Forever 21 shopping with Gerry Hillson!
Whanau haka time
Pukanas (i think) with Maui while looking for monkeys!
Beachy midweek lunch date
GO CARPS! My first baseball game!
Leaving no room for excuses...learning Japanese!
That's all for my life right now.
Trying to be more on top of this blogging business...it's my birthday and Halloween soon, so expect some outfits posts...about time i know!!
Actually, I just liked the way that song sounded in my head, the days and nights weren't actually wasted!.
A few random thoughts and happenings to go with a collection of pics from the summer that was..as is still to be.
Why isn't sleeping naked as comfortable as it should be, or as it's made out to be? I can never get comfy when i'm nakey. Seriously.
Is it me or does all perfume sample page things in magazines smell that same?
Getting up before 8am sucks. My short summer vacation has ruined me.What you mean I can't start at 10am and finish at lunch time?
The beach is good for the soul.
Dispite a potentially shitty week last week (all mindset yo!) feeling pretty good. Understanding that I can't control what others say, do, think, feel etc. but I can control how I feel, say, do, think and react. I am the master of my own happiness.
Some friendships are worth more then others. Some are worth fighting for and others not so much.
You can only give people so many chances before you cut your losses, and move the hell on.
Getting my heart ready to be open.
Thought coulds.
Moscow Mules
Saijo Station Toes
batchroom/laundry mornings
Maori Ninja
Vacation nails
Pixie Shrimp - WANT
Tan lines, green pare'u, muscle.
Inspiration book
this happens when i'm stuck in the house sick for a week
I've hit a road block I think? I've been meaning to write, post, share and all that jazz but haven't actually done it. I think I may be overwhelmed with so much info and pictures that I just have no idea of how to organise it and present it on the blog in a way that I would be happy with. That's my OCD side coming out, which doesn't happen too often. Don't believe me? Neither do I....
This is what's been happening in my life for the last month-ish...
Said goodbye to some friends who are off back to their respective home countries and said hello to all the new arrivals, fresh (well actually very sweaty) faced and eager to start their Japanese adventures.
Watched movies with friends while eating pizza, paella and other various treats and alcoholic beverages.
Watched fireworks with friends but not actually seeing much of the fireworks because we sat in the wrong place.
Kissing Shadows
Drank beer and umeshu with teachers at a beer garden and unexpectedly had a really, really good time.
Haven't been to the gym at all.
Performed for two days in Osaka and had the best fun with the whanau, especially with Master at the New Zealand bar.
Got sick with a fever and a summer cold upon arrival home from Osaka - a mixture of air con/no air con/air con/no air con, singing my heart out and all my recent travels catching up with me, and pretty much staying in bed and in my house for 1 week. Talk about cabin fever.
Beaching, swimming, tanning, drinking Hawaiian beer and eating locomoco, playing in the park after eating ice cream, going on a joy ride up a mountain only to turn around almost at the top because it was getting scary and we saw an inoshishi (wild boar) just hanging out in front of the car on the road and the clouds were rolling down the mountain. yeah.
Having a ladies night with some teachers drinking umeshu, eating shabushabu and talking about the single male teachers in our office...
Making tiramisu.
Playing Ninja Maori in Iwakuni and loving it.
Eating Mexican food, drinking a pitcher of margaritas and having my car locked in the parking area for the night, waiting for the bus that would never come only to be rescued (unexpectedly) by the the nosed crusader and his gangster banging sounds.
Got my hair did - new colour, dyed eyebrows and my bangs straight permed.
And in between all of that, kind of working (well sitting in the board of education doing nothing), taking 3 hour long lunch breaks - eating sushi, playing taiko, taking purikura pictures, hanging out in hip hop shops and playing hanging with friends on my iphone with Mr. New York come Australian.
So, where am I going with all of this? Not sure actually.
Well, I will be taking a big long break from my life. I really need to chill out, calm down, not feel like I need to be doing something, or seeing someone all the time and just enjoy spending time out at home by myself. If I do too much and don't give myself any downtime, or time to recover, rejuvenate and relax then I am just going to get sick again, and be stressed out. And who am I kidding, I'll get angry beaver. For reals.
Some things I want to try and do (more like I feel like I need to do them)..
- get off the technology buzz...put down my iphone and read a book. I've noticed of late that I can't just sit still and focus, I'm always on the computer or watching TV while playing around on my phone - even though there is really nothing to do on my phone. I haven't read a book in ages, and I LOVE reading. Something is clearly wrong with that picture. Remedy is for at home - only use my iphone for calls and texts (and photos) - no games or Internet.
- go to the gym at least three times per week. I haven't been because I have been sick, but now that I am better I will be going back!
- take a moment out of everyday to acknowledge one (or more) thing(s) that I am grateful for. Remember to appreciate everything in life, the small things and the big things and that all of these things add up to who I am or who I want to be.
- start on my inspiration book again. It feels like forever since I worked on it, and I love making it. So it makes me happy and it's letting my get in touch with my creative side so I'm doing it.
- make more of an effort with my fashion and attempt to post some outfits up on the blog!
- stop drinking (read relying on) redbull (to get me through) everyday.
Dayyyymmm that's quite a list. So much for a quick post. Little bit going on in the noggin, so all of this is better out then in, and it gives me a bit more space to breathe.
Oh yeah and I went on a mini online shopping spree while quietly freaking out about my wardrobe.
Quietly (actually not so quiet, pretty damned excited and loud - hysterical almost) excited about the 3rd.
Yes. another Tokyo weekend (well four days to be exact).
Performed at a Polynesian festival. The festival had such a great vibe and the atmosphere was awesome. Great day and weekend chilling out with the whanau, eating, eating and more eating with a bit of singing and shopping blended into the mix.
Te roopu kapa haka o nga hau e wha
hana hands & Maile leis
Hawaiian kisses
kakariki...midori...oma'oma'o
Learnings from the week/end...
eating curry while wearing a white top quadruples your chance of spilling said curry down the front of said white top.
believe in yourself, and remember this and remember to praise yourself when you feel you've done good.
that not trying so hard is usually what works.
don't be shy or afraid to speak up and say what you want or think. Opportunities come to those who knock, call out and then enter!
make time for yourself, even if it's only an hour or so. Enjoy that time - it's important for a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
don't be so hard on yourself...get over it...assess the situation, make a realistic action plan and stick to it.
that music and exercise are fuel for the soul.
I possess infinite possibilities and potential.
Things I am doing this week....
Making a finance action plan and sticking to it
Unpacking my bag from my weekend Tokyo trip
Cleaning my house (seriously how often is this on my list?!)
Cleaning my car - ok this has been on my list for some time now... I will do it this week
Turning off the computer earlier and going to bed at a semi reasonable hour to read (one of the million magazines i have) or write or sleep!
Detoxing! After a weekend of indulgence my body and mind need a detox...more details on that to follow!
Going to the gym at least 3 times this week...
A beautiful hula to a beautiful Maori song. Sums up my weekend perfectly.
