OMG, am currently looking for wedding entertainment and am having a giant freak out because I just realized that Shun and I will have to do a “first dance”. Crap.
I do not dance and come to think of it neither does he.
Do you think anyone will notice if we skip it?
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Well as most regular readers know we picked up our new puppy last Saturday so we have had her for a week now! I have finally updated some photos but it is very hard to take photos of a constantly moving bundle of energy!
She is adorable though and we all love her. A lot of people (in real life) have asked about what we will do with her when we go back to Japan next year but in fact she is actually a dog for my dad as he has always wanted another (we had one briefly when we were kids!) blue heeler cattle dog! He is very happy to finally have a puppy and loves to play with her when he is home- doing silly stuff. On the first night shumpei said to me ” This is what he is going to be like when we give him grandchildren, hey” and he is right….he loves to be silly and puppies and kids definitely bring the silliness out of him more!
Having a puppy is like having a baby though- although she can move a lot more than a new born! But she does poo everywhere and will pee wherever she is standing at the time. And lets not forget the biting- she is teething and tries to latch onto anything she can get her mouth around. We have tried chew toys, balls etc etc yet her favourite things to bite are my hair, shumpei`s toes and sandles and my dads pants!
She loves her food and has already mastered sitting and waiting when we get her food. Usually she sits when she sees us coming with her food because she knows now she will get it quicker then! She also loves her bed, and because she is an outside dog, she will always return to her bed when we go upstairs, jump up and (For the first couple of days we had a box next to her bed because she couldn`t jump in by herself and needed a bit of a lift!) snuggle down with her towel! Her bed is under the house in the garage so she can come and go outside as much as she pleases and lucky for her under the house is even warmer than upstairs!
She now recognizes my car too so will come to the fence when I come home even if Shun is playing with her in the yard at the time! She is a good puppy and if we can just get a handle on the biting/chewing she would be a very well behaved dog. She is starting to understand “no” and “dame” and will respond well to hand actions (like come here, palm down for sit etc)
She can`t really seem to bark yet- I have heard her kind of bark once. I didn`t realize that she wouldn`t be barking when she came home but I guess it takes a little longer yet! We will be taking her to the vet in a couple of weeks for her final shot and will ask the vet about it then but I think it is fairly normal!
She also pretty much refuses to go for walks- we have tried just to take her across the road the park (on the lead) but she isn`t interested. We know not to take her for big long walks but we thought she would want to get out a bit but no, she just lies down and refuses to move. Oh and of course she tries to chew on her lead. It is all a bit of a game for her!
Shumpei tries to speak to her in English- it is so cute! He says “Abbey- no!” and “Abbey- come here” or “good girl” but I know he also speaks to her in Japanese so we might have a billingual dog on our hands! haha!
And here you go- some photos!
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Spent the day at home today with Shun and Abbey (and dad for some parts- and even mum came around for a walk and a coffee!), lazing about and crossing off some stuff on my weekly resolutions list! So yay for me! So lets review- my list was as follows!
- hoop at least 10 minutes everyday - I hooped outside today for about 30 minutes while Abbey watched, most of the time sitting right at my feet as I hooped! In the end Shumpei had to call her over because I was so scared I would step on her….but she likes to sit in my shadow in the shade!
- track the food I eat in my little weight watchers book and do at least 4 walks! - I did this and I counted points plus I went for a half hour walk (But we were out for an hour because half of the hour was spent playing with Abbey in the park, running around, then Shumpei minded her while I went for a fast walk with mum and dad!)
- blog another 2 times- Well this is once and the next post will probably be all about our new little addition Abbey!
- Contact wedding celebrants (at least 2) and set up meetings for sometime in the next couple of weeks!- I am going to email two people I have found now and try and set up some meetings!
-Study Japanese for 3 hours! - I did this today!!! Kanji! I don`t think I remember any of it but I did at least do it! It has reminded me though how far I have to go because honestly my retention for kanji sucks and new words sucks (I am a lot better with grammar!)!!
- Plus one bonus that I was going to add today! I have decided it will be to start a new knitting project!
So I a putting it out there- I want a cool, easy pattern for a baby hat (or boots!)…preferrably with the name of wool I can get in Australia. I don`t even know where to buy wool in Brisbane though- Maybe Lincraft? Suzy if you are reading please pretty please send me the pattern for that umbilical cord hat we talked about! I am thinking that might be the one!!! But if anyone else has any ideas let me know (I will also search on ravelry!)
Hope everyone else had lovely lovely weekends- I know it is a long weekend in Japan too (for those lucky enough to be there) so I hope everyone is having fun!
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I am inspired to do more. I have so many things on my to do list and so many things I know I need to do yet I don`t really seem to be getting to any of them….I believe I am in what some call a “rut”! I have spent the last couple of hours surfing around on blogs I read and looking up stuff and I realized that I need to take action- I need to get motivated.
My friend Mandy wrote “Have thought that perhaps instead of making so many to-do lists and planning, I should actually just take action and practice what I preach.” and continued on to write things she was working on for her 101 things in 1001 days list and she has already marked ONE OFF in just a day and I realized I need to be more like that! Jen had a rough couple of days and had to make a couple of hard decisions but she has bounced back and written about what she is going to do with her life and her plans sound so amazing (and yes I am jealous!) and again it made me realize that I too can achieve what I want to do! Deanne at Suzhizume (who has moved to a new location-update your links and reader all!) is one of the people that inspired Jen and she is definitely worth a mention because she is such a fun loving, awesome, down to earth person (Who I have had the pleasure of meeting quite a few times- she is the one that inspired me to get some hula hoops!) who decided what she loved and is doing it and while I haven`t quite figured out what it is I love so much that I want to do I figure crossing some stuff off my to do list etc is going to help me head in the right direction!! She is such an inspiration! Another inspirational girl is Gala Darling, oh how I heart thee! This lady got up and went to New York and now has decided she wants to live there and is making her dream into a real possibility. If you have never read gala`s site then you simply must start now because it is fantastic stuff and I am so jealous (yet again!) of all the stuff she does- and she always does it so eloquently! She is a great writer, and I totally wish I could be more like her! And she used to do weekly resolutions which is what this post is actually all about!
I journal, and sometimes, after reading about them at Gala`s site ages ago, I write my own weekly resolutions in my journal and I realize that it is time to bring this back into my life- and sure it is another list but I do love lists and they do help keep me motivated! So here goes, here is my weekly resolutions for this week!
- hoop at least 10 minutes everyday
- track the food I eat in my little weight watchers book and do at least 4 walks!
- blog another 2 times
- Contact wedding celebrants (at least 2) and set up meetings for sometime in the next couple of weeks!
-Study Japanese for 3 hours!
- and since it is nearly midnight I am going to think about this last one and make a decision on it by Monday! Or perhaps one of you might have an idea of something you think I should try and acheive this week in my weekly resolutions!
Thank you to all my bloggy friends out there- some of you I have met in real life and others I have yet to have the pleasure but the joy I get from following your adventures and reading your comments, advice and inspirational writing makes my day! I only mentioned a couple of you who have inspired me in the post but trust me, it is not only those I mentioned! My goals for the week might not seem like much but to me they are important and I promise I will try really hard to acheive them all!
Hugs to all, xoxoxo
Ps: All is going well with Shun- he is also inspiring me of late because he is trying so hard with his English already and it makes me realize how slack I have been with my Japanese study hence the mention in my weekly resolutions! Oh and in other news we picked up Abbey today and she is just adorable- Shun and I played with her all afternoon and it was delightful!!! And while writing this blog post- it was interupted by a howling little dog….but I went down to see her and she is doing ok now- I think she just woke up and forgot where she was for a minute!
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Shumpei arrived safely on Saturday! And, when we got home he got down on one knee and said “marry me” and gave me the engagement ring featured in picture three!!! We choose it a couple of months ago but when I left Japan they were still making it- but now I can wear it everyday!!! You can`t see in the picture real well but it is a platinum ring with a white diamond and next to it is a small blue diamond. It is so pretty and I love it!
I promise a better update next time!!!
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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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P is for Possum Magic & Picture books…
Possum Magic, is a picture book for those who don`t know, and it is one of my favourite children`s books of all time. In fact I even bought it when I was in Australia last year for the kiddies at the preschool I worked at in Tokyo.
I love children`s books, and I got a great joy from reading with the kids at the preschool every day. I found some beauties! Books that I hadn`t read when I was younger, and that I hadn`t known existed. I have a list in my head of the books I know I must read to my kids one day and Possum Magic is at the top of the list. I think some people when they are pregnant get worried about the essentials like clothes and nappies-but I am going to be one of those mothers that has bought 100s of books for their child before they are even born! I Will try to remember to buy the necessities too of course!
This book is such a delight. I think that most Aussie`s reading this blog will know this book–> It was published in 1983, before I was even born and it is around in a lot of bookshops even now. I read, while looking for some pictures from the book, that it is one of the most sold picture books in Australia and still has hardcovers about despite being 25 years old.
It was written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Julie Vivas and it follows the adventures of 2 possums, Hush & Grandma Poss, who performs bush magic, turning Hush invisible then forgetting how to turn her back- although she does remember that it was some kind of Aussie food so they go off on adventure around to all the capital cities eating different Aussie foods in each (including lamination’s, pavlova, anzac biscuits, pumpkin scones and vegimite sandwiches) and Hush begins to be come visible again. But it is not just the story that is magical but also the beautiful illustrations done in water colour- these pictures really add to the book and also one of the reasons it remains a favourite of mine!!!
It is a beautiful book and if you have never read it then I highly recommend it! Now fess up, what are your favourite picture books?! What about your kids, what are their favourite books?
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I didn`t get the job I went for as a Student Coordinator at the hospital. I had the interview the week before last and found out last Friday when the HR manager rang me. I was really dissapointed because I had felt like they had led me to beleive I had it in the bag and then they took it away (At the last minute they received an application from somebody that had a lot of experience doing a very similar job-where as I only have experience doing it for the last 7 weeks). I was depressed about it over the weekend but now I am more like “It obviously wasn`t meant to be” and I probably didn`t get it because something better and more suited to me is going to come up! Yay for positive thinking!
So I finish up this temp assignment next week and then I will be looking for another temp assignment to keep me going. I am happy to temp for the year it is just a little bit unpredictable and there is a chance some weeks I won`t have work which could screw up trying to save a little bit. But I am trying not to think about the bad stuff that could happen if I can`t find work because in the past I have been really lucky and something has always come up!!!
Shumpei comes in just five sleeps! Saturday morning I will be going up to pick him up at the airport! He rang last night while he was at a goodbye party with Cat, James, Leader and our other friends (From when I was at uni in Japan) and I spoke to a couple of them. It was so good to hear Cat`s voice- I almost cried! I miss her and everyone so much…We have spoken a couple of times since I have been back in Australia but everytime I am just so happy to talk with her. Last night I also spoke with Leader and Junni- It was weird to be speaking Japanese again to someone other than Shun!
In other news if I lose .5kg on Thursday at weight watchers I will have lost 5 kilos since coming back to Australia!
Look out for P is for….. tomorrow!
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Update: Only a couple of people participated! And they all got the answers right-now I will fill in the ones that nobody got in green!
I am sure this has been done before somewhere but ages ago I did a movie quote meme and it was a lot of fun so I introduce Lulu`s music lyric meme! Rules are below.
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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...)…You probably all thought I had given up on this, but I will get to the end of it before the year is out (I hope!)*************************************************************************************
O if for Occupation…
I don`t really have an occupation, or a career…and that was never my plan. I always thought I would finish uni, travel a bit and then find a job, most likely in the PR industry and then work and be able to say “Hi I`m Lulu and I`m a ____” (Whatever I was) but it never really happened. Now that I am temping I say “Oh I`m a temp and at the moment I am a student coordinator for medical students at so and so hospital” But in three weeks that could change and I might be saying “Yeah I`m a temp working for the department of whatever working in admin” or as a personal assistant.
I do wonder if I`ll ever have a career yet I know the answer is probably not. In Japan I would say I was a preschool teacher but that never ever felt like me career since I never planned on being a teacher.
I went for an interview last week for the job I am currently doing as a temp and I was asked “Where do you see your career going” and I couldn`t very well say “No-where” now could I. I would be happy to get the job since it would mean a little bit of job security while I am here in Australia but I never thought I would get a permanent position anywhere since I am only here for the year but if I get it, then that would be a bonus. (I will find out by the end of the week)
Anyway, the question was asked and I stumbled and then said ” Well, once I return to Japan I would love to get into translation and proofreading work or doing some work writing” and hey while that isn`t completely untrue it was a bit random and out of context. It did make me wonder though….what will I do when I return. Sure I could teach again, but I don`t really want to do that full time. I could improve my Japanese and try and get into translating but I am not really sure I want to do that either (Or if my Japanese will ever be good enough). The truth is I really have no idea what I want to do- and sometimes that is more than a little worrying. It also makes me think of the fact that i might go through life and never truly have a career…and if I never do, am I missing out?
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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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