tropical storm and me

First of all, I'd really like to thank GaijinWife for recently sending us some goodies in the mail from back home! :) Everything has already been dug in to believe me, because it's all delicious. Hehe. And I finally got the two green ceramic bowls I'd been wanting from her. They've already been used for things that aren't tea. Lol. Perhaps their tea-holding days will come soon.
ありがとうございます！

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So anyway, it's just me and the dark, rainy weather today. I was hoping Takeshi's restaurant would close today or something. Though I'm sure I'll have fun driving in this same weather, to get him tonight! Waah. ;__;

Oh! - I know what will pass the time!



Thank you Katy!! Oh Chocochip what can't you make better? <3


This morning on the way back from dropping him off, the rain hadn't started just yet, just ominous clouds. Just as I got home it started and won't stop until tomorrow afternoon-ish they say? Just hoping the power doesn't go out today or tomorrow. The lights have been flickering a little! I was being lazy today and hadn't taken a shower yet, and thought I'd just wait. But then I decided to take it a few minutes ago, because they keep saying things on the news like, "Well if you're water goes out blah blah."

This is me in the shower:

(taking shower at normal leisurely pace) scrub....scrub....scrub

(big light flicker)

............SCRUB.SCRUB.SCRUB >____>;;;

Now I'm all squeaky clean. Yay! And the lights are still on for now.

A few days ago when Takeshi was still taking off from work, we decided wake up a little early and to go to the farmer's market in Dupont Circle in DC. Takeshi says that it's one of the largest farmer's markets in the area? Something like that. It was humid and hot outside that morning which was gross, but the market itself didn't disappoint. It was very large compared to the ones we've been to the in the past, and in the end we bought a lot of good produce. I decided to buy a small canary melon, which I had never tried before. It's pretty good, I like it. A very light, sweet melon. We didn't buy anything really perishable like dairy or meat, because we had to ride the metro home after that.




patterns/textures of the marketplace

our haul :)


And now for some miscellaneous pics and a vid. :)
Have a good weekend everyone.



the hub at Starbucks

GaijinWife squid! with a drinkie :) once the hub opened the squid, it didn't last the night.



Ralph doing his 'dead poodle' trick!

wordless wednesday

This past weekend we had a visitor! :) A client needed me to dog-sit their Beagle-mix, May.









My recent attempt to make tatsukuri! I think I succeeded on the taste of it, but the "mixture" ended being a little too stiff. Next time I'll cook the liquid combination for a little less (soy, mirin, sugar).







a good bounty from the local HMart :)

some days

For a while now I've seen this "exercise" done on other people's blogs. Thought I'd take a stab at it.

- Some days I'm tired of hearing other wives or girlfriends moan about how their husband or boyfriend doesn't get home until 8pm or something like that, when I WANT to sneer at them and tell them to stop bitching about it. Because my husband doesn't ever get home before 11pm on weekdays and never before 1am on weekends. And that the only CONSTANT day off he has is Sunday, but his other day off always changes, so it makes it near impossible to plan anything to do on his days off. But most days, I remember that I knew the kind of hours he'd be working in the food industry when we were dating, and that I could never ask him to do anything different, because it's what he loves.

- Some days I actually take naps that are only about an hour and a half. But most days I end up taking 3-hour naps, even when I set the alarm on my phone. Because I like naps, and I like sleeping, even though I usually feel really groggy after a nap!

- Some days I really start to resent the choice I made to be a Graphic Design major, because I haven't been able to find a full-time design job in over a year now. Some days I feel like Takeshi resents me being the weak link in the marriage. I feel like I'm stuck somewhere between a student and a professional, still. But most days, he tells me that he supports me and has faith in me. I remember that I can't see myself doing anything else as a career and be happy. I want to work hard for our future, because I know he works hard for it.

weird list

Hiya everyone (all three? of you. haha...) Just working on the freelance project I was hired for, surprisingly by the natural history museum I interned at in PA for college. Nice people, close-nit. Just doing their seasonal newsletter. Mostly just plugging in articles, info, and pictures.

I've made a list of recent weird and/or not so great events that happened to me. Thought some of them were funny. Maybe you can relate!

-- It's morning and I'm on my way to drop off hub at work, as we do everyday. We're on the main road, and we're in the center lane. Suddenly out of the corner of my eye to the right, I see something ricochet off of the windshield of the car next to me. It flies over to land right in front of OUR car, and I roll over it.....and see a ploof of feathers fly up. Oh jeez. That's the first time I've ever hit something while driving (though I hope the poor guy was dead before I rolled over it...).

-- It's morning again on another day. I'm making breakfast, and am about to slice a bagel down the center. We don't have room for a bagel slicer, and we don't really eat that many bagels, so I am using a bread knife. And I proceed to miss the bagel all together and slice my finger. Nice way to start the morning. x__x It wasn't deep by any means, but it HURT. Ugh. This is why my chef husband watches me when I use things in the kitchen!

-- So about 2 weeks ago-ish, we're in the car together in Old Town, and we find ourselves with a sudden flat tire! Our front right wheel just deflates in a matter of seconds. It's a good thing it didn't happen with just me because, I have never had to change a flat tire. And I don't think I could EVER get those damned bolts off of the tire to take it off in the first place anyway, they're so damned tight. So Takeshi fixes us with the spare tire. I go to our local dealership the next day to have them repair my flat. They say it will take an hour - 2 HOURS later they're finally done. What the hell?...But I didn't have to pay so all I did was give up my time. Whatever. It repaired right? Not even. That NIGHT the air-pressure light comes back on. So, I go back to the same dealership a couple of days later, when they have a spot, and THIS time it's with Takeshi in the morning. We figure we can get him to work afterwards. They say again - it'll take an hour...An hour and a HALF later, hub is seething and for good reason. He goes out to talk to the idiot of a service-department guy we've been dealing with and complains. The guy acts all huffy and bothered - so sorry we're ruining your day. Takeshi comes back in and swears that WHEN he said that, he looked out there and saw our car just SITTING there! And a minuted later they drive it back to work on it. Oh shit....that's not even acceptable. But we wait for another 20 minutes until they drive it up for us. The guy's like, "Uh so we patched it, but no guarantees it's gonna hold...". So we just sat here for almost 2 hours again, for you to tell me that you couldn't really fix it, and that I might need a new tired anyway???? THANKS a ton. But at least, this time as well, we didn't have to pay. --- Switch to that night - guess what light comes on again? WHELP - new tire here I come! I call the local Firestone tire place and make an appointment. I go and they check out my tires. And they didn't have good news for me. The front tire with the slow leak in it? Actually had had a NAIL in the shoulder of the tire. No wonder it kept leaking...=__= Not ONLY that, but all four tires were officially balding and deemed unsafe for the state of Virginia. AND they were unbalanced to top it off. OK true, I needed to think about my tires more - but how, HOW could the other dealership NOT tell me these things? "Oh and uh yeah there's a NAIL in your tire." Unbelievable. So I have no choice - I need to get 4 new tires now. So a purchase of only around $70 turned into a purchase of $500. And I had to stick around for 3 and a half hours for them to install them and balance them. Sometimes I feel like I LIVE at these car places!

-- Have you ever had a cat jump on your back from behind you? Because I did, a few days ago and it's scary!! And painful. :( I had been doing some cat-sitting for work. The cat did not mean it in a mean way (he's really sweet), he mostly did it to get my attention. But GOD his claws are long and sharp! My back was all scratched up from me twisting around to rip him off of me. I look liked I had been attacked by some movie-poltergeist or something. xD

-- Have you ever been riding around at midnight on a major road and seen a fox standing on a street corner? Because I did, a few days ago. And it was weird. He was standing there looking around, probably wondering where the hell to go! I was hoping we wasn't going to get hit.

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So that's my list. :)

I'm currently looking to go shop for things to ship to GaijinWife and family. :D Exciting! I love receiving and sending parcels. And I get those green cereal-maybe-tea-ceremony bowls. Yay!

おやすみ, all.

moving on

So hub and I have been talking recently for the past month-ish about moving on.

Moving on from his current job, and moving to wherever the next job opportunity takes us. Or should I say HIS next job opportunity. Because I am still, as I always have been, the weakest link, the dead weight.

Oh yes! maybe I can move to another great big city and get hired by a bigger and better dog-walking business.....shoot me now. I know Takeshi has been saying to me that he wants both of us to move to any place based on the fact that we'll both get hired there. But sadly, it's still a matter of ONLY him, leading us, supporting us, having a guaranteed job. In over a year, I haven't had any luck in this area, and right now, for weeks, I've been applying to places all over the country, and yet again have not heard a word from anyone.

Somedays I really do start to resent my major in Graphic Design...Maybe if I had gone into another field, I wouldn't have all of this grief. It's true that many other industries are taking a dive in job openings right now, but still, maybe I would be better off financially if I had chosen another career path. But at the same time, no one really knew how bad the economy would be around this time, and how long it's still been declining for.

Hub told the head chef today about his plans to leave the restaurant around the end of this month, and had told the executive chef a few days before. And he's been met with well-wishes and support. People will miss him for sure. He's definitely a hard worker and gains respect wherever he works.

I got jealous of him, when he was telling me these things in the car last night.

I don't have a "team" at my job.

In this type of job I don't every talk to my "fellow employees". I work alone every day. I don't talk to anyone. Hell, I've never really met any of them in person. No one's going to miss me when I leave this job. Dogs may miss me for all of about 3 minutes. I'll probably miss them more, because then I won't even be able to spend time with other people's dogs when I'm still pining away for a dog of my own.

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Mum and Dad left a few days ago. They'll be back in January they say. They're usual month-ish long stay before they fly straight to their new country, Jorden for 3 years. Not really soothing my nerves at all, knowing what kind of area of the world they'll call home. Why couldn't they have had the option of going to the embassy in Barbados? ;-)

Since we're doing the whole moving scene again, there's a high chance we could be in another state when they come back! I wonder if they'll be able to even visit us then, since it would be out of their way. They usually have always stayed in the D.C. metro area, since it's what they know.



Mum and Dad with their old friend Darlene (far left in white), who we met at lunch one day

This is where I get my weirdness from :)

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Takeshi and I finally got to go eat at Restaurant Eve (where he works!) a few weeks ago. The day before that I actually ended up buying a a one-piece dress that I got to wear at dinner, since it is a fine-dining establishment. ;) I felt very feminine indeed, since it's the only dress I've ever owned, other than the godawful thing I wore for one night only, to high school prom. We arrived for our 7pm reservation, and stayed untilllllll abouuutt 11pm!!! We got a 9-course tasting menu, and then got a drink at their bar - so those types of things take a while. =__= All in all, a delicious meal at Eve.





Oh my such awesome deserts

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I apologize for having to look at that damned white line in all of my photos lately. I need to take in my iPhone to the Apple Store and have them fix it. I think it's a case of a dead pixel...