A castle

So on Monday I went on a tour with my friend Lauren. I can't remember where all we went. We stopped at about 3-4 places. I called it the strawberry tour cause the last place we stopped was a strawberry farm and we could eat all we wanted for about 20 minutes! Yum! The whole thing was a lot of fun. The castles are cool. GREAT photo place on the outside. The inside is totally barren with wooden floors and we have to take our shoes off. But there is always a nice view from the top.

My favorite part of this tour was at one stop we had some soft serve ice cream... the BEST EVER! Soooo good. I had vanilla/strawberry mix and it was incredible. I have had soft serve plenty of times here before, but this place topped all... or maybe it was just the flavor. Either way, it was AWESOME :)

Don't Judge me

"Don't Judge Me!" These are the words I find most annoying in life. How stupid... don't judge me. First of all everyone judges everyone about everything. Right or wrong that is just how it goes. The way you dress, the way you talk, the way you walk, the way you smile, the choices you make, the places you go, the friends you have.... these are all things that people judge others about. I do it, you do it, we are all guilty. Honestly, I don't find too much harm in it. Of course it depends on how you express this opinion of yours. Usually it is best kept to yourself, but if you must speak it aloud so be it. 

I bring this up because I clearly offended this girl that I work with twice today and I thought she just might poop out her baby 5 months early. I just laughed inside cause what we were talking about was so meaningless and I was not passing judgment, I was merely stating the obvious that eating McDonalds all the time just might kill you. She freaked out. "I don't give two #$%^& and a $@%^! what I eat, I am fat and I am pregnant and I don't care..." First of all she is fat, not because she is pregnant, but more likely due to her eating habits and hatred for exercise. Who cares! I DON'T CARE! I was just jokingly stating my thoughts of surprise how they eat McDonalds so often. I wasn't even thinking about the fact that she was overweight. The other thing I offended her about was even more meaningless... I can't even waste my time writing about it.

The thing is, later at my lunch break my manager asked how I was getting along with everyone. I said fine, and then mentioned that I had clearly offended this girl earlier that day. He said she had already told him all about it! What! She told him I am "so judgmental".... what?! This girl is psycho, sensitive, and sassy (3 bad sssss), and she is not this way because she is pregnant. 

So my question is this. Am I judgmental? I know I always have an opinion. I am not sure that I would classify myself as opinionated, and I don't think I would call myself judgmental. I am critical and I like to set higher standards for people. Is that so bad?

Wild Snow Monkeys!!!

So here are the Wild Snow Monkeys of Japan! No the one with red hair is not a monkey (I know you were thinking that!) We went to see these monkeys on a tour through the military. It was really cool. We took a long buss ride and when we got there it was snowing and the monkeys are just there, roaming about. We were told not to look them in the eye so that we wouldn't get attacked. I did not look them in the eye, but I wonder about my friend Carol in the pic below.... she said she didn't look it in the eye, but it decided to jump on her back anyway. It was pretty funny. It stayed there for a bit and eventually got off when the Japanese man who works there yelled at it in Japanese and started to run over there.
Brian with a monkey behind him. There was an Onsen that was built specially for the monkeys to relax in. They like it, although I have no idea how they can go into a warm cozy onsen and then just jump out into the freezing snow with wet furry fur.
I know there is no onkey in this pic.... but Brian looks good doesn't he? :)
This monkey looked a little cold... I thought it was a funny shot.
And us with the monkeys, yay. Please keep in mind none of these pics have been color corrected and they clearly need it so sorry for the snappish looking pics from the nice camera...

Busy Bees...

So we have been pretty busy.... well, I guess I have been busy, Brian has been busy working ever since we got here :) I got a job working at the Outdoor Rec Center, Yay. So I am officially working about 40 hours a week with wonderful people... maybe not so wonderful. I think it is probably the same no matter where you are (military or not), but people just like to complain about life and it is freaking annoying. Not to mention the fact that all everyone talks about for the most part is going out drinking. I was thinking about it today, cause I know that it is not just the military. Most people no matter where you work do not like their jobs and they also love to complain about their personal lives too and people drink, they party, it's the "fun" thing to do. 

I guess I just realized today that I have had very few "normal" jobs. Growing up I worked at my dad's gas station and Dairy Queen. I think those could be considered "normal". But I was young, and didn't listen much when people complained and always did a great job of staying out of it. After those jobs the only other "normal" ones were working at a restaurant, but I think it is easier to avoid people's comments and complaints in those jobs cause we are busy, you have your own tables, and you are working your own section, no need to interact much with other workers.

I dunno, maybe I have had plenty of "normal" jobs, it's just that I have tried to give people the benefit of the doubt and also not let them get to me. AND I just thought of this! It's probably also the fact that then I had other things going on like school, horses, pets... now I have a limited number of people to hang out with and the only other thing I really do is workout. Obviously I do other things and I am doing plenty of sightseeing, it's just different somehow. I feel surrounded by these people who are annoying! 

Either way, things are going well, I just had to complain a bit.... see, they are already rubbing off on me! I am actually going to be switching jobs to work at the Teen Center in a month when my background check paperwork goes through, so that will be good. 

Brian left today. He is supposed to be gone for 4 weeks. I am counting on 6wks (no not hoping, just setting myself up to NOT be disappointed when their schedule changes cause it always does). The nice thing is I now have a job and will be quite busy with that, teaching English (and trying to get more students), and trying to find photography work. Brian and I had a really cool weekend this past weekend and I have pics I need to post, but no time to go through them right now, so maybe tomorrow :) Just thought I'd fill you all in since it has been a bit.

"The face"

So does anyone remember "the face"? When I was little I apparently made this "alien face" and everyone asked me to do it and when I did they would laugh. Anyway, this picture reminded me of it. I guess the face looked like an alien face, but I know that some friends from high school would call it a "seahorse" face... whatever that means. I know that only my siblings, maybe my parents and possibly the Rineers would remember this face. My memories of it are limited, but those are the only people I remember being around while doing it. So does anyone remember this? Or was it all a dream?

The Imperial Palace

So on January 2nd Brian and I went to Tokyo to the Imperial Palace to see the Emporer wave at us... sounds exciting, but in reality it was a little boring. Basically too many people crowding around you (I don't recommend being in such close quarters with complete strangers... a little awkward) and then we waited forever. Finally, they come out, but they are behind some bullet proof glass so it's difficult to see. Though I am short, I didn't feel bad for myself because right next to me in this ridiculous crowd is this little Japanese lady who stands about a foot shorter than me. I thought Brian should put her on his shoulders so she could see, but with the language barrier we figured it would be best not to try to offer such a thing :)

Lots of flags, lots of people, very little personal space equals claustrophobia/anxiety attack interesting, but not something I care to experience too often. So that's it our trip to Imperial Palace was not too exciting though we did see the Emporer and family waving at us. Woohoo :)

Ahh... 2008

Looking back last year was fast. Too fast. I feel like half of it was lost cause Brian was gone so much. So let's see... the year started with much anticipation.

-I was starting a new job at Bally Total fitness as a personal trainer (with no schooling or training... how did I even get the job).

-Brian joined the Navy in January, and was off to Great Lakes to start his Navy Seal training... finally.

-with Brian gone, I was living by myself for the first time ever. Boring at first, but after a few weeks I learned to enjoy it, and tried to make the most of our time apart.... a trip to Santa Barbara, riding, working, hanging out with friends, leaving water glasses anywhere I wanted to...



While brian was gone, I did get a little lonely. What's a girl to do when you go to a horse show and there is a really cute free puppy? We (I) got Shugo in May. Brian's first dog that is just his. I know he would have taken him home if he was there. I sent him pics and he named him, and fell in love right away.

July we had our 2nd anniversary. Brian wasn't able to make it home cause he was in BUD/s. So we celebrated on the 3rd. Went out to dinner and a movie... awesome!

Soon after that we were attacked by a bird sized moth. Absolutely ridiculous. I found him in the shed and next thing I knew he was in the house.
In July I got in my first accident. A fender bender gone bad. Stupid lady hit me so hard I hit the guy in front of me (and no I was not too close). Luckily the dogs were ok (they were in the back seat). The car was totalled so we got money for it and bought a new Toyota Tacoma.

Brian dropped out of BUD/s in July. Crazy, unexpected thing. But for the first time all year he was home every day (that was definitely an adjustment). We carved pumpkins for the last time in America well, not the last time, but you know what I mean.


Sexy Halloween costume huh? My job at the gym wasn't paying so well, so I started working at a restaurant.... Brian liked my apron :)

A last fling in San Diego.

A surprise visit to Kansas to see fam before I leave for a while...
Now in Japan! Traveling, speaking another language, getting lost, having culture shock (even when I am on base).
And of course the year went out with a bang! We celebrated by going bowling and out to dinner... lots of fun! I bowled the best I ever have! A score of 129!
Soooo 2008 was full of change and weirdness, fun and fast. I suspect more change and weirdness for 2009. Many great pictures, good stories and even more video!