A sunset in April in Tokyo, Yoyogi park
Only on my fifth week of this and already finding it hard to decide what to put up. Photos of me and my friends don`t seem appropriate but they seem to be all I have! Need to get out more and take my camera and go shooting! Maybe tomorrow along the small river that runs by Shumpei`s parents place!
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This is my first update since starting 101 things in 1001 days! You can see my list here….I was going to have photos for everything I did but it didn`t really work out that way so you are just going to have to trust me (or ask Shun)
7. Visit at least five areas I have never been before in Tokyo or surrounding areas (5/5)
Well I actually managed to visit five different places including Akasaka to have lunch with my friend Jen (Her, her husband and her beautiful baby boy live there!), Disney Sea (Photos of Disney Sea are here), Machida (Shumpei played soccer there yesterday actually…..It was like a Shibuya in the middle of Yokohama?!?), Iidabashi (For dinner with friends….Yummy Spanish food. Iidabashi was nothing like I thought it would be!) and Akabane (I am unsure if Akabane is still in tokyo-to or not it might be in Saitama) because Catherine moved there a couple of weeks ago and I have already visited her a couple of times. I would love to explore Akasaka and Machida a little bit more sometime!
11. Buy and keep a wedding notebook to keep track of stuff
Done! I bought a cute little book at Disney Sea and have glued in some stuff already! Number 12 on the list is choose a theme of colour scheme and I have basically done that also but am not going to cross it off yet til it is 100% sure!
35. Do EFT everyday for two weeks (In Progress)
Started on Thursday the 24th of April! Haven`t really seen any changes yet but will keep at it for the two weeks!
37. Learn 10 new recipes (3/10)
I learnt three new recipies! Two are really really simple Japanese dishes which I should of already known but didn`t! I learnt to make miso soup (Yes I did not know how!) and also kinpira gouba which I love and always buy at the supermarket but didn`t know how to make! It is made from carrot and burdock and it is delicious! The other recipe I learnt was Beef and red wine casserole found over at Guera`s cooking site! and this was a huge hit also! Shumpei loved it and I am definitely going to have to make it again in Australia when I can get my hands on some cheaper beef!!!
38. Give up coffee for a month (In progress)
Had my last cup of coffee on Saturday 26th of April….I have had headaches since which shows how much I drink coffee. Giving up coffee is a lot harder for me than giving up alcohol….I gave up alcohol the same day and have had two social outings since where others were drinking and I haven`t had any cravings for wine! I think this is a good thing…..but I am already dying for a cup of coffee!
43. Get back into a proper skin care routine including sunscreen everyday- Keep it up for at least 3 months (1/3)
I bought some new stuff at the end of March and have been trying it out! I am usually pretty good at the sunscreen everyday but stopped a little while I was teaching because I wasn`t wearing make-up but am back into the habit now of doing it everyday. As well as cleansing, moisterising etc etc
74. Add a new section to my blog
Done! I added the new part about my 101 things in 1001 days. I hope to add a new section soon of all the books I read because I love checking out what people are reading as I think it shows a little more about who they are! Plus if anyone close by (Either in Japan while I am still here) or in Brisbane once I am back there wants to read any of the books I have read and I still have them I could always send them on!!!
78. Do a monthly update for each month that I do 101 things in 1001 days on my blog. (1/33)
Doing it now!
79. Keep track of my blog stats and referrers by checking at least once a week (In progress)
This is in progress but I have been checking each week, sometimes a couple of times a week. Before switching to wordpress I had never ever checked my blog stats….. I had no idea what they were. It is kind of interesting to look at which sites refer the most traffic my way (At the moment it is entrecard and once a week it is the wordlesswednesday site) plus interesting to see what searches take people to my site. Mainly stuff for cherry blossoms or finding a Japanese man! hehe!
90. Read the last Harry Potter Book
Done I read i finished reading it a couple of days ago! It seems weird that the series is now over! It didn`t take me that long to read…maybe about five days! Recently I haven`t been reading much at home…..just when I am out at coffee shops by myself or on the train. Back in Australia I hope to get back into reading more just for the hell of it (maybe try to cut down on my internet time which is absurd!)
98. Clean out my closet and donate or throw away all clothes that no longer fit me or are ratty and old!
I did this when we moved. I threw out four big garbage bags of stuff and gave a whole backpack worth of clothes to Catherine. She thought it was great!!!! It is weird to see her in clothes that belonged to me once. They suit her better (Cos she is so damn skinny!)
There are a couple of other things in progress like reading 100 books in a year and keeping a journal for a year but I will add them next time when I count up how many months I have to go and how many books I have read so far this year (I think it is about 35?)
So this is my progress so far. I didn`t do as much as I would of liked but it will have to do for now! There are quite a few things I look forward to getting stuck into over the next couple of months in Australia. I do think though that May might be a little slow for things to cross off but I am hoping June will be a killer month!!!! I have only crossed off five things completely so far but I am happy with that especially since I have quite a few others in progress!
For anyone thinking about joining in on the challenge I totally recommend it. While I have a life list the 101 things in 1001 days has a time limit and it a little bit easier to keep motivated I think!
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Before (Jan 2006)
Now (Mar 2008)
I am overweight…I never used to be but it has crept up on me since I have been back in Japan the last 2.5 years. I am not going to state my weight but my BMI is 28.8 (Some of you smarties might be able to figure out my weight from that if you also know my height) and apparently anything over 26 is considered overweight….
I stated on my 101 things in 1001 days that I wanted to lose five kilos then another five but the reality is to go back to the weight I was when I left Australia in January 2006 I would have to lose about 18 kilos. Yep…you heard (read?) right 18 kilos in less than 2.5 years. You can`t really see much in the first photo (Europe Jan 2006…One of the few photos where I am not wearing a big bulky coat) but even in my face and arms you can see that I weighed a fair bit less.
I put on 10 kilos when I was 19 and in Japan on exchange and when I went back to Australia I lost 8 of them in the first 2 months from not really doing anything. I am hoping the same thing will happen when I go back to Australia this time but I don`t like my chances….but I am determined to lose weight.
So in preperation for returning to Australia and starting a weight loss program ( I will be joining weight watchers with my mum) I have decided to give up COFFEE and ALCOHOL for the month of May (There is one exception, I wasn`t going to have an exception but upon mentioning my decision to my closest friends here in Tokyo they all said I was crazy because my going away party in on May 10th and will be the last time for more than a year that I can go out with my Tokyo friends and let loose….so the 10th is the exception on the alcohol ban…but I am going to make an effort to drink water between each drink and stick to wine and stop before midnight even if we end up at karaoke!).
I would like to do a mini detox at some time during May also but might have to wait til I am back in Australia because for the next two weeks Shumpei`s mum will be cooking for us and I don`t want to say no meat to her because I would hate to be an inconvenience (and while I am in her house she won`t let me prepare my own food)
The other thing I am going to try (From May 1st if not before) will be crossing off EFT every day for two weeks off my 101 list. I think it will be a good opportunity to get my mind ready and intune with my body for the weight loss I want to achieve!
While be in Chiba from Sunday and also hope to try and get a little exercise everyday….even just 20 minutes! I spend way to much time on the computer watching TV when even while doing that I could be doing some stretches or some kind of exercise! I think I will have to have a mini checklist of all my goals for each day. No coffee, no Alcohol, 20 mins exersise, EFT! hehe!
I feel that by putting this on my blog that maybe it will keep me more motivated and more honest. A lot of blogger friends are starting there own weight loss plans recently and I think reading their progress will also help to keep me motivated. Wish me luck (or give me hints!)
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Can`t find my USB camera cord in the mess in our apartment at the moment….It is probably in a box somewhere?!
So here are three photos from my flickr account that people have favourited the most….all from the same day, same camera, taken in Harajuku! They are not the best photos I have ever taken or anything but for some reason `Harajuku girls` are popular I guess!!! They were all taken two years ago!!
Happy Wordless Wednesday everyone!!!
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I really really hate packing….I am over it already. It really sucks. That is all I have to say on the subject!
But last week I was looking at wedding dresses online and I found a couple I liked one of them is this one…(I wouldn`t mind her body also…then if I was to wear the dress it would actually work on me!)
Blogging might return to normal at the end of the week….If I finish packing and have something more interesting to write about instead of how much I hate packing!
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In an effort to improve on my writing I have decided to sign up for Encyclopedia of me which started over at Bella Dia (and which I found out about by reading Laura`s blog here...)
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N is for Nancy Drew…
As a child I could always be found with my nose in a book…Once I bought 200 books at a school fete for $10 because it was the spending money mum gave me but I was on crutches so couldn`t go on any of the rides or walk much.
I am not sure when I first read Nancy Drew…or who gave it to me but I would say I was about nine and I think it was my mum who maybe gave me a three in one book which I probably went through in like a day! It was easy to get a lot of other Nancy Drew books second hand or at the public library!
I loved those books!!! I wanted to be Nancy Drew! eighteen, a blue mustang and a gorgeous boyfriend named Ned not to mention who two best friends (George and Bess I think it was?!) I thought she had it all…Not only that but she had curly strawberry blond hair and was smart enough to solve any mystery! She was a bit like the Scooby Doo Gang, except so muc cooler!
It isn`t even that my favourite books from childhood and adolecence were Nancy Drew (My favourite were Anne of Green Gables, The Orphan Series by V.C Andrews, Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta, Alison by Margaret Watts and Dear Venny and Dear Saffron….oh and maybe chuck in some Judy Blume books also!) but they were easy and fun to read and I must have gone through hundreds of them.
I donated most of them to a hospital when I moved to Japan for the first time but once I have children old enough to read Nancy Drew I am going to go out and buy lots of them for them. I do hope my children are big readers like me!!!
Mandy was a sweet valley high junkie! Do you still have them babe? While I never really got into Sweet Valley I did read a lot of teen trashy romance novels from the 80`s (I picked them up at that fete!)….I don`t remember the name of them….sweet teens or something?? Oh and lets not forget the Baby Sitters Club….I think I read all of them also! Actually I read everything including some of my mums mills and boons I think!!
Did anyone else read Nancy Drew? Or did you have a different favourite series and hero/heroine that you read? I have many favourite books from childhood and would love it if you could share yours also!!!!
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Julia from Pink Moonz tagged me for the random facts meme….
Here are the rules:
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2. People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
3. At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment on their blog and tell them they’ve been tagged, and to come back and read your blog for the whole story.
I have actually done this meme before….which you can find here and also I have 100 facts about myself here but in the spirit of passing on a meme I will be happy to do it again.
Now onto the tagging….eight people huh?! Ok here goes!
I tag Mandy, Sara, Nay, Illahee (It can be in letter form Illahee!), Guera, Paul , Amy (When you get back from Italy!) and Jo! Have fun with it guys!
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Today on the train when I got on in Shinjuku I watched three friends (2 girls, 1 boy) from Keio Elementary school ( Hard to get into private school!) hop on and sit down although as one of the girls went to sit down her seat was taken by someone else so she was standing. Almost immediately the young boy stood up and offered his seat to his female friend.
These kids were about seven. I couldn`t believe that a boy of that age would know to offer his seat to a girl!
In the kindergarten we taught the boys in our class (after quite a few pushing and running in the hallway incidents!) that if they were big strong boys that they should let girls go first! It took them a little while to get the hang of it and sometimes they still needed to be reminded but they eventually got it! Some of the mothers even mentioned that they had started to be more cooperative at home and let their sisters do things first!
Whoever that little boys parents or teachers are they are doing a great job of raising such a charming, polite little boy!
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I am just an Aussie girl living in Tokyo (Now Brisbane until June 2009) with my Japanese fiance trying to make sense of the crazy but fun Japanese and Australian worlds I live in!
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