Cherry Blossom Adventures

I was following link after link today on some of the blogs I read and came across this site which links to some of the top Aussie female bloggers!

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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...)

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post (and the posts before that in the `Encyclopedia of me`)

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F is for future…If you had asked me ten years ago or even five years ago if I thought the life I am living now is what I would of being living I probably would of laughed and said no way! But life takes you in strange directions, some stranger than others (like half way around the world)…

I handed in my notice at work today…I will finish up on April 11th. By then I will have worked at my current preschool for almost 18 months….I love the kids, I really do, but several months ago I mentioned how lately my job had been making me feel like I would be a terrible mother. And with all the stuff going on back home I didn`t need the added stress of that, and under-staffing issues that my job has being causing me lately. After speaking with the owner, and after having finalized my decision with Shumpei and my family I feel as if a weight has been lifted off my shoulders..

I am ready for the next step of my life. Which will be me returning to Australia in May spending time with my family, helping Shumpei learn English when he arrives in July (and also teaching him more about my `Australian life`)and taking a year to do some temp work, see if I find a job or industry I like….Also,  planning a wedding and saving money to move back to Tokyo as a married couple….

I am hoping that somewhere in all this I will be able to cross a few things off my life list…..Something I plan to focus on a lot more over the next year.

Sometimes future is a scary word….mainly because people rarely have any idea what is going to happen….I have a little bit of and idea what the next six months will entail at least, and for after that we will have to see!!! While future is a scary work, it is also a word that brings to mind new experiences, closure and excitement…all things I am ready for!

Here is to my future(our future!)…and to yours!

ps: I love ps`s…sorry this is not a very long post for the enc of me, but I am lacking blogging inspiration today!

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Today is Australia day (January 26th)…and I am listening to the Triple J hottest 100 as I write this because I know that this is what most of my friends back in Australia are doing right now! Although they are probably also drinking copious amounts of beer, wine and spirits and swimming…..while I am still in my pajamas!

Recently I joined the
Aussie Bloggers Forum
which started at the end of last year and already has over 250 members (In less than a month!) but it would be great to see more bloggers joining up because already I have found it to be a very welcoming and helpful community!

It has even inspired me to move my blog over to wordpress since so many people rave about it and updating my blog was on my life list which means I will finally be making a start on it! So I am in the process of switching it over now (Well Snoskred is doing most of the work!!! Thanks!) and it should be up sometime in February!

Earlier this week they launched the Aussie Bloggers Blog which I advice everyone, not just Australians, to check out because it is set to be filled with lots of great information for anyone blogging!

I started blogging to keep in contact with people back home, but most people that read my blog now were strangers until I started. But this blog, even though it doesn`t create much traffic, nor do I have many readers, has helped me make friends all over! I have blogging friends I always catch up with in Australia, I have other foreign friends who blog here in Japan and I even had one friend who blogs out of Canberra come visit me here in Tokyo while she was traveling around Japan (Hi Enny!!!!). I am sure this year will bring many more meetings between blogging friends!

I hope everyone, where ever they are are having a good weekend! Even if you are not out there celebrating Australia day!!!!

Happy Australia Day 2008!

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Happy New Year to everyone!

2007 was a good year but I am really looking forward to 2008. I have decided not to have resolutions this year as such….I will be focusing on my life list instead which I will be putting up here soon!

I spent the new year with a couple of friends at a small house party….There was wine, music and even some fireworks (Despite the crazy weather in Brisbane they did let off some fireworks) I saw in the New year but was asleep by 1:30am! It was low-key but exactly what I wanted. I spoke to Shun at my midnight and again at his midnight….I think 2008 is going to be a big year for us. We have plans to get engaged and we will also be moving to Australia in July for a little while if all goes according to plan!

I wish everyone the best for 2008, I hope that everything you want, you get.

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• Arrived in Australia ok….first time in awhile that I haven`t had trouble at least one of the airports on my trip. My ticket was fine, my luggage arrived, nothing was delayed. Didn`t sleep because I can never sleep on planes…I think it is because I am afraid I will fall into a deep sleep and accidentally fall onto the person beside me or something. At least the trip back is a day flight! My parents were at the airport to meet me…
• Christmas went well. Hope everyone else had a lovely Christmas. We had dinner out on Christmas eve to celebrate my return and well, Christmas eve! I am a huge fan of seafood and it is hard to get the kind of seafood I like in Japan so it was great to eat out. I definitely over indulged but isn`t that what you are meant to do on holiday. Christmas day was a little disjointed but still fine. This is the first Christmas I have been back for in Australia since my parents separated… so it was kind of weird to not spend all the time with both of them. But we were all at my mums place for breakfast and present opening in the morning ( I got thoroughly spoiled…apart from the new Olympus camera that I have been using for the past month already I got a dress, two pairs of jeans/pants, shoes, a wallet, a certificate to get my hair done and for some products, a book,underwear and lip glosses…..among other things.) After breakfast and getting ready I went with my Dad to my cousins place for Christmas lunch. Was good to see some people I haven`t seen for a few years…like my second cousins who I used to baby-sit for when they were aged 5, 6 and 7 and now they are 14, 15 and 16….How did 10 years go by so fast??? Have I mentioned how much I love Christmas food, in particular Christmas ham!??! After lunch my dad had plans, my brother was with his gf and my mum was with friends so I went to my Friend Clarie`s house and hung out there….the fact that I am not technically her family doesn`t bother her family in the slightest and I am always welcomed with open arms! We hung out, drank wine, played trivia pursuit and watched The Sandalot Kids! Overall a lovely Christmas day.
• I have already started on the shopping….went to DFO on boxing day with Gem, my brothers gf. And today I went to Carindale the check out the Myer sale with Gem and my brother….I am already running out of money….But I have loads of cool stuff including several dresses, tops and a couple of pairs of shoes!!! I am addicted to tights so most of the dresses are summery and made to go over tights.
• Caught up with my friend Dani for tea tonight and it was the first time in 6 months where I have had a proper steak…She is always a laugh and we had an even bigger laugh watching the people doing karaoke at the pub!! Will definitely be seeing her again before I go.
• Tomorrow morning I am having breakfast with the girls….Jen, Deb, Jac and Kristy and I are meeting up at southbank for breakfast….I haven`t seen them in six months but I can tell already it is going to be a breakfast filled with non-stop talking and coffee drinking!!!
• I miss Shun, I wish he could have come with me to Australia this time too. But he will be here in July when we come back so I suppose I can`t complain. Especially since we have still spoken on the phone every day since I arrived…
• Heading up the North Coast with my dad this weekend for Saturday night…hopefully it will be good weather and I will be able to fit a swim in! I am not a huge beach person but I am so excited that I can barely wait…I guess the longer you are away from it the more you miss it!
• I can`t believe New Years is almost here….I will definitely have to type up my life list soon as I will not be having resolutions as such this year…It is pretty long so expect a long post that you can probably skip over the next week!!!
• I don`t have definite New Years plans yet…in fact I am not a fan of New Years at all…but I figure since I am here that I should make an effort and do something….I feel however that NYE always tends to be a major let down. What have you got planned for NYE? Anything exciting?!?!?

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I am going back to Australia today! I am all packed and ready to go and Shun and I will have some lunch out before he sees me off at Shinjuku station! I am so excited. I haven`t had Christmas at home it what seems like SOOOOO long!

I will miss Shun though…last Christmas was our first Christmas together in the same country and it was lovely too. We made our own Christmas traditions….I wish he was coming with me to Australia today but at least he will be in Australia next year for Christmas!

Anyway blogging might be light while I away! Merry Christmas to everyone that still comes here to read my drivel! Hope you all have a lovely time!

ps: I am just watching the news now and they say it might snow in Tokyo/Chiba area today?!? It doesn`t seem quite cold enough for snow but hey the news said it might happen…And I will miss it too….damn!

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Yes, I am home. Back in Tokyo! I arrived back on Saturday but am just getting around to posting again now. Shun`s computer had some weird kind of virus thing happening but now that that is all cleared up I am free to blog!!! I think dot points are in order though….

• Had a wonderful week back home in Brisbane. Saw family and friends. Ate great food and shopped! I shopped a lot! I also met some brissie bloggers which was great. We had a lovely dinner near the valley and then the next day a couple of us headed to the coast….thanks so much to D`Jen for organizing the get together and for offering to drive us down the coast. I was so happy to be apart of the first brissie bloggers road trip!!! Read about it here, here and here!! There are photos too!!! It seems like so long ago now that I was in Brisbane. I went back to work yesterday and it has been non-stop since then! Had a great time though!!!!!! Will be back next year! ( Ps: I had every intention of writing a proper post about my holiday, but it really does seem like so long ago….So it probably won`t happen!)
• One of my favourite students who left the kindy at end of March to attend a kindy closer to her house has come back. Turns out it wasn`t for her…and we are so glad. She is so adorable! It is lovely to have her back!!!
• Dammit, there was just an earthquake. Small one, I thought the desk was shaking…but I often think that (I am always imagining earthquakes when I am on the computer…I think it is cos the computer is on a really wobbly crappy desk!) and then when no notice came up on the TV i thought I must have been dreaming. But nope, the notice just popped up on the TV!
• On Saturday I met another blogger, Enny, who just happened to be in Japan for the last week. I met her and her partner, the hun, and we went to Harajuku to see the harajuku girls. Problem was, it was raining, and not very many of them came out to play unfortunately! Such a shame! It was still a lovely day though!!!! Despite the rain (and wet shoes and socks hey enny?!), we managed to do a bit of walking around and went to see Meiji Shrine, Takeshita street, see Nicole Richie and her bf from Good Charlotte (No joke…they just walked past us when we were on the street!) and then we headed to Roppongi Hills and ended up looking through the art gallery there to get out of the rain!!! Enny will be almost home now, if not home already! Hope you made it back safe!
• It is getting hot already here…It is also getting humid. I hate humidity with a passion. I love Tokyo, but I really could do without the humidity!!!
• Congratulations to my mate James who has just scored himself a new job!!! Yay!
• Sorry I haven`t been visiting blogs lately. I hope to get back into reading and commenting on everyone`s later this week!!!
• I have nothing else to say!

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Well, ok, my next post wasn’t from the land down under because i am not back in Japan, and shock horror, i have not posted for 10 days. (In my defence i only had access to the internet for half an hour in that whole time because Telstra is screwing my mum over with Internet at her new place)

Anyway, had a great time, caught up with some friends and family, made Indian curry for dad, saw my mums new house which has views of the water (well shocked!), ate Indian with Dani whom i hadn’t seen in what seems like forever, went around to Duckie’s and did what we always do (sit around and did nothing!), saw uni friend Stace ( and forgot to take a photo of her!), Bar/Club hopped in Brisbane city with Mandy & Duck, caught up with Mum’s famous (loud) friends, had lunch with Clarie from Highschool and gossiped about everyone and talked about how Wynnum Manly will never change, drank many homemade mai-tai’s and shopped til my heart was content (Including six new pairs of shoes!). Needless to say, my bag(s) were a lot heavier on the way back!!!

Some shots from the recent adventure…

There are a couple more on Flickr, but i didn’t take very many! It was fantastic to see everyone again! Will be back in Australia at the end of April through early May. Shumpei will be with me and we are thinking we might stop in Cairns for a couple of days but we will see what happens!

I want to point out the second photo…of Clarie holding what appears to be meat. Well it is meat, but not just any meat, but kangaroo meet. All i spoke to claim it has always been in supermarkets but i swear i have never seen it. I couldn’t beleive it…they were also selling crocodile!

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My bus leaves in two hours for the airport, i am packed up (usually when i pack to go somewhere i always have so much. The good thing about going back to Australia is anything i want or need apart from meiji chocolate is so easy to buy! My bag is so light!) and my next post will be from the land down under…

I will be away from the net for about 24 hours…will i cope? Time will tell..

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I am sick of using oil, even if it is olive oil from Italy, in all cooking. Why the hell doesn’t Japan have oil in a spray can like back home?

I wonder if i could sneak some onto the plane home?? Or is there anywhere in Tokyo you can get it?

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