Happy Birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday dear Liz,
happy birthday to you!

"then he got down on one knee and said.."

Congrats on your engagment Carla and Mike!!!

Yes, that's right....on Thursday Mike got down on one knee and proposed to my sister.

Thursday was Mikes birthday and Carla had planned a romantic dinner out to their favourite local Italian restaurant. Little did Carla know that Mike had planned a romantic surprise of his own. He made arrangements with the owner of the restaurant beforehand and had a bouquet of flowers and champagne waiting for when he asked her for her hand in marriage. Following that special moment my Mom and Dave, Dad and Loraine, Mike's parents and other important family and friends arrived to celebrate the momentous occassion.

I am soo excited for them! I can't wait to see the ring!!

Love you Car and Mike!!

Happy Birthday!

Happy 26th Birthday Mike!!

Dancing Robots

Technology has come a long way! This is a fanatastic demonstration!

Dancing robots

Asian Backstreet Boys

Haha this cracks me up. Some people have way too much time on their hands.

Enjoy!



(thanks for the link Logan!)

My favourite things

It is that time of year again in Iwaki when the sun goes down around 4:30 and our old, heatless apartments become cold air traps. But..It is because of the lack of central heating that Japan has come up with some great 'heat supplying' appliances.

So along with "bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens" these are a few of my favourite things.


The heated toilet seat: Whoever invented this was a genius who obviously lived an apartment as cold as our dear old Yamazaki Mansion. I turned it on this past weekend and I'm already hooked! If you don't see me for a few days...check my bathroom!

The kotatsu A kotatsu is a table that stands under two feet off the floor. Underneath this short unassuming table is a heater. So in the winter, you put a blanket between the heater and the table top to trap in the heat and sit on the floor with your legs under the table and the blanket over your lap. Last year I started using my kotatsu in December and each day from the moment I got home from work until I went to bed that's where I stayed.

The electric blanket I must admit I get awfully hot and sweaty when I use a full electric blanket so that's not my fav. But, I have this one blanket that is a third of the size of a regular blanket that is perfect for warming up the bottom end of my futon before I go to bed at night. I just have to plug it in about 30 min before bed time and when I jump into my futon my feet stay all nice and toasty. It eases the transition between my kotatsu and my bed.

Well that about covers my favourite winter things. I know us Canadians are supposed to be used to freezing temperatures and snow but I'd rather not get used to it and continue to use my 'heat providing' pieces of joy! Seriously...I don't know what I'd do without them.

Halloween Take Two

This past weekend a group of us packed into John's little silver k-car, Bob, and headed to Koriyama to celebrate Halloween for a second time. The party was held at Sharp 9- a little club near the station. It was packed with Japanese people and foreigners alike all belatedly celebrating All Hallows Eve in fantastic costumes. Us Iwaki folk , who had our own party in Iwaki the week prior (see Halloween Take One), relished the opportunity to wear our costumes twice and showed up in full gear. We had s & M 'debaucherers' (Shawn and Harry), Obi-WAN-kenobi (emphasis on WAN since that's the Japanese word describing the sound a dog makes so the costume was a dog jedi...sooo smart), a fallen angel (Kristin) and a heavenly angel (me). I was really impressed with the great costumes, music and crowd. For a while now I have been saying that I don't like Halloween but I think it's slowly growing on me.

Good times! (pictures will be up soon)

A special shout out goes to BOB..the little engine that could! Thanks Bob!

6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Switch!

Aside from the title this post has nothing to do with Sharon, Louis and Bram or any other music from my childhood but read on and enjoy!

This is just an interesting Japanese tradition that I wanted to share. As I've shared before Japan loves uniforms! Everyone wears one...the taxi drivers, students, parking attendants, office workers...everyone! With regards to uniforms, Japan has a tradition called koromogae (i think this is how you spell it) where on a predetermined specific day they switch from the last seasons uniform to new seasons clothes. This day happens two times a year on October 1 and May 1. So last month on Oct 1 it was officially 'long sleeve' season. So now when i'm sitting in the office at school in just a T-shirt the teachers are constitantly concerned about me being chilly hehe. Just one more neat thing about Japan!

Happy Birthday Julie!!

Have a super day!