Wow...I made it! The end of the school year has come and gone and now I'm sitting in my dining room sipping tea with honey and lemon, typing with my right hand and throwing Huey's ball in my left. Life is wonderful...
Just thinking of the possibilities this summer makes me smile.
1. I get to go shopping tomorrow in Harajuku instead of waking up at 4:30 in the morning.
2. I can finally put away all the of the folded laundry that has made a resting place in the guest room (where my in-laws will soon be sleeping.)
3. I can actually have time to take care of myself--exercise, cut my hair, heck I can even paint my damn toenails!
4. I can look up interesting and fun recipes and actually have the time to make them instead of preparing the same simple staples that I make so often.
5. I am going to attempt to learn Japanese through Rosetta Stone. I got a subscription through our base library and I can do it from home so hopefully I will pick up a few niceties to communicate while out on the town.
6. I will be able to spend more time with Huey and I'm sure he'll love that.
7. I can spend more time fluffing our house and making it feel more like a home. I am seriously considering paint although Mike doesn't want me to. There's a possibility they can move us out of our house within the next two years and we'll need to paint the walls back before we can move out. But heck, if I just painted a couple accent walls, it shouldn't be that hard. The problem with paint here is that it is really expensive and they don't have a large array of colors for you to choose from. I think I'll start with these three walls and go from there.
8. Oh, where was I? Oh yes, I also hope to do more family activities like our "family bike ride" as we call it. And I know our family is small, but Huey definitely counts as a member so when we go, we ALL go.
Isn't my Japanese bike fantastic? What's even cooler is that I bought it from a recycle store where they totally refurbish furniture and other things. Every Saturday they put out "new" bikes for sale and I scored this one for $60. I LOVE this bike and I think I will grow old and gray and still have the same bike. It brings me back to our days in Holland and how cool the bikes were there. If you come visit, I will ride you on the back of it. Or in the basket if you're feeling adventurous! This basket is quite snug for Huey but we've since purchased a new basket that is more his size ; ) Here's Mike with his new bike. He didn't have the same amount of love for the Japanese style bikes like I did so he got a MANLY one. Oh and please excuse the helmets as we both know we look like total nerds but it's a requirement on base. Safety first people!
On a side note, after we went bike riding, Mike and I babysat our neighbor Mallory. She is just the cutest thing! I met her mommy Kim when she was pregnant so it's been really fun to see Mallory grow up. Anyway, Mike asked Mal's parents if he could introduce her to wrestling and Kim said it was alright as long as we took a few pictures since they like to document her firsts. I'll just include the last photo that we took (it's my favorite) but she's holding a WWE DVD and of course wrestling is on in the background. She sure enjoyed it!
9. Ok back to my list! I am so excited to actually make lunch plans with Mike and see him during the day if I need to. It's hard when we both work full time for me to see Mike, especially if he's flying at night, then I literally don't see him for a week. Anyway, it will be good to reconnect this summer.
10. Vacation, vacation, vacation! Family is coming and we'll be exploring all over Japan. And I hope to go back to the states at some point as well.
Below are pictures from our end of the school year party in downtown Tokyo. Lawry's is known for their seasonings and marinades in the U.S. and it's no different here...except for that they charge like $10 for one bottle of seasoning as opposed to $2.
Love the half wink Mike ; )
This is my friend and aide, Mrs. Jameson. I just LOVED working with her.
And look at the gift she made me! It says Bridget on one side and Mike on the other and Bond in the middle. I absolutely love it!
Here is a picture of our backyard. Give all the credit to Mike, he has worked so hard. But I'll take the credit for secretly having an awning built for his birthday.
And here are some beautiful hydrangeas from the house next door that no one lives in. I plan on taking some to put in a couple vases around the house.
Summer here I come!
