List of 10 ーYet Another New Year's Resolutions

1) Make a return to my blog. ...and here I am! Check!
2) Pay frequent enough visits to my blog. Say, once a month at least.
3) Start organizing the ridiculous amount of family photos.
4) Travel somewhere new.
5) Go on a dinner date with hubby, minus the daughter.
6) Go see a movie in a theater.
7) Renew a good portion of wardrobe content.
8) Take better care of self, in health and in beauty.
9) Have a great haircut that I can stick with for a long time.
10) Start doing nails again.

Happy new year to all my dear readers!

Until next time,

Sak

Tea Roses in Double Pink

Saw pink roses in the farmars market on Monday morning. One of those things that are just too hard to pass up, ain't it?

Until next time,

Sak

Many Many Happy Returns!

My little A turned one yesterday!
"I love you more than a word can say, little A. Happy first birthday!"

Until next time,

Sak

Purple-y Pleasure

Hydrangias are in season, blooming everywhere in town.

They don't live very long in vase, but I had to add the seasonal touch to our house entrance.

Until next time,

Sak

A Colorful Treat

Mom in law loves feeding us (which we have no complains about). She often gives us food to go home with, too, whenever we visit her, and this time she had bought my favorite.

A coffee break was something that was out of the window for the past 10 months, but A has grown enough to take a nap at a certain time of the day on a regular basis, I can look forward to a cup of java now. The macarons made it extra special today.

Thank you, mom!

Until next time,

Sak

One Little Baby Step

Little A is on her feet now. Still needs something to hang onto, mostly my fingers, for balance, but watch out, world! She is a-walkin'!!

Here is her first pair of shoes for training.

Couldn't resist but to put them next to my Converse.

My first shoe shopping that was more satisfying than the time I swiped my plastic for a pair of Manolos back in 2005.

Until next time,

Sak

Disney Victim

A has recently found her fondness in watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse every morning. See how her toys are pathetically and uselessly laying around her, waiting for their lady to play with them in vain? I suspect it's the colors that are so ridiculously defining and vivid that make everything look super fun for babies to stare at. Look how the picture looks stupidly clear even on a camera shot (doesn't work this way with Barney & Friends).

She loves the part where, in the beginning, Mickey forgets to say the magic words to make the clubhouse appear and tell the audience to say them with him. Damn you, Disney. Everything is made addictive to children! And did you know that babies are prone to notice round things over any other shapes? Duh.

Until next time,

Sak

Hello World!

Have just realized I haven't even been on line for three weeks, let alone updated a post on blog. I've come a long enough way keeping Diary of a Japanadian, I refuse to let this die.

While I was busy off line, I turned 33, too. Thank you for wishing me a happy birthday, those of you who did. I did, indeed, have a very nice, homey birthday where A was adorable and T was sweet (bought me roses in antique pink! my fave colour!). Couldn't have wished for more.

Until next time,

Sak

Girls' Day Extravaganza

It's this thing in Japan where, on March 3rd, family's new-born girl is to be celebrated for her being born a girl by getting, well, all that you see in the photo above. A was no exception.

Until next time,

Sak

List of 10 -New Year's Resolutions 2013

I can think of so many reasons why I shouldn't make resolutions this year, but I am making them anyway for two reasons. One: I like making lists. Two: I like checking lists that I made.

So here goes.

1) start jogging again
2) lose all "baby" fat
3) do not cause/get in  a traffic accident of any kind, deadly or otherwise
4) save a million yen
5) visit parents at least 5 times
6) take a great shot for my driver's liscence when it needs to be renewed this March
7) go on a date with hubby at least once
8) read a book a month
9) train A to say hello and thank you
10) go on a trip to a hot spring

With little A in our lives, 7) and 8) are harder to achieve than you might think.

For 1), T has already agreed that he would tag along on a bike on weekends.

Until next time,

Sak

Kate For Thoughts

Got delayed Christmas gifts from hubby.

The coin purse I had been using was pretty beat, so he replaced that. And he let me chose the earrings myself.

Thank you, T! I hope you love the latest (and the most pricy) Gundam plastic model that I bought against my will.

Until next time,

Sak

Merry Was Christmas

Had a very cozy dinner on Christmas eve, completed with a cake that looked very festive (and unreasonably expensive).

Merry Christmas to you all!

Until next time,

Sak

Weeeee!

It gets harder and harder, as the winter chill sets in, to go take a walk. Enjoy the ride while I still can, daughter.

Until next time,

Sak

Out, Way Out

Hubby says thinking outside the box is one way to become better at something. With which I agree very much. So here it is, my latest creation.

And with the remaining stalks, I made this for the living room...

...and an autumn center piece for the dining table.

Until next time,

Sak

Colorful Walk

Our daily walk through Akashi Park has come to be much delightful with all the colored leaves on the cherry trees. 

 

My only question is, where the heck are people? It's a perfectly sunny, rather-warm-for-an-autumn-day out. Three in the afternoon? In a park that's P-U-B-L-I-C? Hello, children and housewives and retired people!?

I'm telling you. The residents of this city have no idea what they're missing.

Until next time,

Sak

Red Is In!

Got a lovely bunch of red, pink and creamy white. Have been enjoying versions of them by using different vases.

1st day in. The petals are young and the fullness of the whole was much to be appreciated, so the arrangement looked something like this.

4th day. Since the white stocks have died, I decided to separate the rest and enjoy them in two ways.

I've been getting better at prolonging the lives of the flowers I buy, thanks to the vitalizer that's very user-friendly and cheap enough to arrange a 5-dollar bouquet.

Until next time,

Sak

Purple for Autumn

Flowers for the entrance at the moment. 

Don't know the names. I wish they had a name tag on the individual buckets they're put in at the store, so I can learn them.

Until next time,

Sak

Hubby Turns 30

Friday was T's birthday, and I got to celebrate it for the third time.

For dinner he requested a home meal of matsutake mushroom cooked with rice, and grilled ayu (or sweetfish), both of which are very much in season now (and pricey, thank you very much).

Your everyday struggle as a father is very much appreciated, and comfort and support for your wife is never forgotten. Happy birthday, T!

Until next time,

Sak

Red, Yellow and Blue

Had a reminding moment that one ought to be looking upward when she is outside taking a stroll. The sky was breath taking. Sparkling blue and so high and autumn-like, and the Ferris wheel made the blue even more blue in contrast. It was so pretty I had to take a shot of it.

By Akashi Park that I mentioned in the previous post.

I knew at that moment when I saw it, that in 18 years when A has all grown up and leaves home for college, I will come across the same sky against the wheel and have a moment of nostalgia, thinking about the time when I used to go for a walk in the late afternoon and A looked so small in the stroller. Tears.

Until next time,

Sak

Pre-Halloween Excitement

Found orange lilies at the store and thought they were perfect for the month of October, and tried to deck the entrance with Halloween spirit.

The orange paper bag that my mom-in-law's last year Christmas gift came in added a very nice trick-or-treat-bag effect, don't you think?

The problem is, the flowers won't last till Halloween. And neither will the candies.

Until next time,

Sak