Sayonara Japan

At the time of this posting, we're on a plane en route to America.  We've said all of our "see you later"s and checked everything off our Japan to do list.  All that's left to do is cherish the memories we made and embrace the adventure ahead of us.  We had a great last few days in Japan, just enjoying time with friend and visiting some of our favorite restaurants/bars one last time.

I have fallen in love with the sushi here and I know I'm going to miss it.  Some of it I can make at home myself but it just won't be the same, I'm certain.

We were exhausted from cleaning for 3 days straight but happy to be eating sushi!

 I received an award from Jason's battalion commander for my dedication to the unit.  It was the first time I've received an award like this so I was very appreciative.

We ate/drank at our favorite bar one last time.

When we told the owner (I never did learn his name) that we were leaving Japan in a couple days he ran off and came back with this bottle of sake for us.  I'm so badly going to miss that place!

We spent our last full day at the pool on post.  We've done everything we could possibly want to do here (and more) so we just wanted to relax and spend time with our friends.

For our last "non airport food meal", Jason chose ramen.  I was totally OK with that, although, it's so much better on cold winter days than it is on blazing hot summer days.

Jason is obsessed with their chahan (fried rice) and I must admit, it's pretty darn good.

They veggie gyoza and they're some of the best I've ever had!

I had to add another shirt because I cannot eat ramen without making a huge mess!

We are going to miss Japan more than I can express in words.  The past 3 years have been some of the best of my life.  I'm so happy Jason convinced me to accept this assignment.  The people I have met and the things I have experienced have made me a better person and will stay with me forever.

Just like I say with friends, it's not goodbye but see you later.  Japan, I will return.  One day, I will be back!

August 30x30: Days 1-6

I was much wiser when it came to choosing my 30 pieces of clothing this month. which has resulted in me enjoying this challenge this round more than I did last time...but it's only week one so we shall if it continues so smoothly.  Since all of our stuff was packed up last week, I don't have the mini fridge outside that I was using to prop my camera on last time, nor do I have a full length mirror in my house so my husband has had to take all my photos (I'm so lucky he tolerates me!) and I really don't know exactly what I look like until I see the photos.  I did realize on day 5 that the door to our back patio makes a decent substitute for a full length mirror.

don't mind my dirty windows

Day 1

I picked up this skirt at a boutique while I was in New Orleans volunteering a few years ago and I absolutely love it!  It's a tad shorter than I'm comfortable with but it's so beautiful that I deal with the length.

It's hard to see the detail above, here it is a bit closer.

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5 

Day 6

I almost made it an entire week wearing my hair down which is unheard of for me (especially in the summer) but I spent ALL of day 6 PCS cleaning so the hair went up.  I barely got dressed to go grab some dinner that night.  Overall I'm really happy with week 1.  I think day 5 is my favorite so far.

My husband turned 30!

First of all, I'm like 5 days late with this but between the move and my husband's birthday, I lost track of time.  I used random.org to select a winner for "The Pact" giveaway 

and that person was Kelly of Modern Camelot.  Congrats Kelly!

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This weekend my husband celebrated his dirty 30!  He's not one to want a big celebration but he'll never say no to karaoke so that's what I planned.  We spent the afternoon lounging at the pool with some friends then headed out for dinner and karaoke that evening.

We bought a waterproof camera for our vacation to Okinawa and decided to put it to good use at the pool.

After some fun in the sun we were off to an izakaya for dinner and some karaoke!

 I...I...I...I work out!

The girls doing our best Guns N Roses impression

I love these girls!  I'm so glad we had one last fun night out.

We earned hearts from the karaoke machine for our rendition of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot".

We have some great friends here!

The whole gang!

As we were leaving we ran into a large group of Japanese people who were all wearing Obama t-shirts so we stopped to get a photo with them.

Unfortunately we had to say a few farewells at the end of the night.

The 6 of us spent a lot of time together over the past year and the memories we've made will stay with us a lifetime!

We finished off the night with a stop at a darts bar.  I'll give you one guess who won!

It's So Hard....

...To Say Goodbye. Any Boys II Men fans? I've noticed I do this a lot with my posts, use song lyrics as titles...if you've ever met my husband, you'll understand where it comes from. If he hears anything that is some part of a song or similar to a song lyric he knows, he's going to sing it.  Doesn't matter the setting, he's singing.  Sometimes it's cute and other times it annoys the crap out of me, either way it's rubbed off on me!  I digress.

I've said a lot of goodbyes over the past few weeks.

Kumiko, my friend and student.

 Kyoko, my volunteer buddy.

Marissa, my favorite spin instructor.

Preston, my great friend and physics lab partner from college.

Our great friends, "the Robs" (Rob & Robert).

Misae, one of my lovely students.

Today was by far the hardest though.  Our best friends left the island today, 9 days before us.  I'm so grateful we are leaving soon because looking out our back window and seeing their empty house makes me incredibly sad.  One of our neighbors planned a surprise going away BBQ for them earlier this week and it was the perfect night.  Our closest friends all made it our for one last night together.

The guys.

The ladies + adorable baby Sawyer!

These children all adore my husband (the feeling is mutual) and we've had a great time getting to know them and watch them grow over the past few years.  (Only 2 of them belong to our friends who left today)

Kristin has been my rock, my confidant, my therapist, my role model and my best friend for the past 3 years.  I thank God everyday that he placed our families together here at the same time, in houses just across the lawn.  I know that we'll be life long friends.  Both of our families (and our husband's) are from the same general area so I know we'll see each other again over the years when we're in town visiting our families and I'm certain we'll plan trips to visit them at their new home and vice versa.

Kristin, I know you'll read this so I just want to say thank you for being my best friend.  I'll miss you every day until I see you (and your boys) again!

PS.  "Oh boy!"

August 30x30

Kelly is back at it with another 30x30 challenge and since I had so much fun with the ladies who did this challenge in May, I've decided to participate again.  It kind of just made sense since all of my belongings are packed up and on a boat somewhere in the Pacific, I only have what I can carry in a couple suitcases to choose from.  I didn't really plan this out, just sort of tossed some clothes that I like into a pile and that's what I have until I see our stuff on in San Diego.  Had I thought this through a little more, I would have made some different choices but I didn't so all of my pieces this month came from that pile.  Unfortunately I have quite a few duplicate pieces from the challenge in May but they're some of my favorite items of clothing.  Some of the ladies who are doing this challenge have chosen not to shop for the whole month but since I will have access to American shops for the first time in over a year, I will not be joining them in that part of the challenge!  I also chose not to include shoes or jackets in my 30 items.

6 shorts, 3 skirts, 2 jeans, 10 tops, 2 t-shirts, 5 dresses

If you do the math, that's 28, not 30.  I know I'm going to be doing some shopping once I return to the states so I left a little bit of room.  I realize I'm repeating the same mistake I made last time and including quite a few dresses but a majority of the pile I had to choose from was dresses.  I'm working on compiling all the possible outfits from this collection so it will hopefully be easier to get dressed each morning, especially while we're on the road.

Woohoo!  Here we go ladies!