Good luck with your resolutions – and yes, I would suggest you stop buying! If you need any incentive, think of me trying to shove random “cant get this in Japan” stuff into my suitcase at 5am on Sunday morning. NOT a pretty sight!

P.S. we think K is a darling too, but we are oya-baka so it doesnt count. This morning she was watching J wash his hands and strung three words together to say “Daddy wash hands” I cant believe how much her language has come along the month we were home too!

You deserved the sunnies!!! I am sure! I am hoping to get better at saving, it is definitely something I am working on. 2009 will be the year to save, hopefully!

Girl Japan- I am also lacking in patience a lot but teaching kids did help me get past it a little. Working at a university would be cool too though! Let me know if you hear of any part-time jobs in Chiba or in East Tokyo!

Do you have resolutions this year? If so, good luck with them!!!!

Wedding is getting closer and closer. Definitely getting exciting!

Enny- I saw those invitations! In Red right? Mariko was the brides name I think- They were great!!! I really liked the design! Our design for ours follows on with the save the date theme….I will send through a proof to you once I get one!

Dad went today, without too much issue thankfully.

The money talk is a good idea, very sensible.

I’m sorry to hear about your dad, I hope he went today and everything went smoothly. It must be so stressful, you are doing a remarkable job keeping everything together and going.

You follow Wedding Bee, don’t you? I saw some beautiful cherry blossom invites on there the other day, but don’t remember if I starred them in my reader or not…

I pretty much followed all the New Years resolutions from last year except ONE! I get thrown classes here and there, and although I LOVE to teach at the University, and adore children I have not been able to find the PLEASURE in teaching them and it literally drives me NUTS! I was attempted to take a few but blew it off and just took the contracts for other schools and universities… it was something I wanted to understand about myself so that is one I did not keep which is “getting past” my lack of patience in that area.. but you can’t win them all I guess…

While I’ve always been good with saving, I only started an online savings account 3mths ago where every pay day I deposit more than half of what I earn. This is my nerdy thing, but I’m really enjoying watching my money grow! and calculating how long it will take me to reach various savings goals. You are really lucky that you can talk about money openly with Shun like that, that’s a good sign that you have a strong relationship. Sometimes I wish I had someone to talk about financial stuff with, it’s hard doing it alone. I splurged on some very nice, but expensive sunglasses today, but I’m telling myself that I deserve them as a reward for the rest of the time when I’m so frugal. I guess I’ve gotten into the habit of paying attention to what I spend every time my hand goes into my wallet. I could still do better, I’m a bit slack when it comes to making lunch to take to work! All the best for 2009, Lulu! Look forward to hearing more about your plans! Really great to hear things are coming along well for the wedding!