2 Falls

I am so lucky to be getting 2 Fall seasons this year. I was able to see Utah in the fall and the leaves are just starting to change here in Japan now (Well at least in the Tokyo area)

Here are a few pictures of the Wasatch the day after the wedding. Can you tell I am learning how to use a polarizing lens?









Here are a couple after the snow 4 days later...it gave the colors such a muted look...these aren't edited to look like watercolors but they do!

Married Life

Kevin and I have been married 1 month today.

So far married life is going really well. That is to say things are going exactly. the. same. as before we were married. Oh, except that I put sprigs of parsley on the plate now when I cook dinner. I am a clever bride now damn it.

Anyway, We have decided to go to New Zealand on our honeymoon in February and can't wait!

The wedding was so so so fun for us. Really just an amazing weekend with lots of laughing, mountains and love.

I have pimped these pictures from too many people to name...who have either sent me pics or they are on FB...I can't put the professional pics on here right now because I won't get a disc till we are home for x mas...

Hiking Cecret Lake on Friday

Taking the tram up to get pics at the top of Hidden Peak:





The Ceremony:



The reception:




Our Mountain Climber cake topper was my favorite

Tarantella line dance to the cookie cake
If I am correct, and I think I am, they played 1 slow song other than our First dance, Dad's dance, Mom's dance and the last song. Lets just call the music a healthy mix of 80's hairband, James Brown, and a few like Apple Bottom Jeans type numbers to keep everybody honest.
And the life changing moment of the night (other than the life changing moment of getting married) was...wait for it... wait for it....

Mutti and Kevin dueling air guitars to Sweet Child O Mine!

Kevin triple fisting beers. We never had that, "We should watch what we drink tonight" talk.
It was a happy night. Although I said I am not feeling a whole lot different right now I can say it's pretty awesome to get to marry your best friend. I'm a lucky girl and will never take it for granted.

Here was one of my favorite things read during the ceremony. The Prophet is one of my all time favorite books:

On Marriage

BY: Kahlil Gibran

You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.


Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.


Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.


PS: If you are reading this and have pictures can you please burn me a cd? I would love them.

Meanwhile in Japan...

I will do a post on the wedding and Taylor and Holly's visit, but these images just appeared on my camera and I just have to immediately post them...

On the subway:
It says, "I and My Bite because I like it"
Everyone on the phone. And girl wearing fur...Because it's time for fur damnit. It doesn't matter that it's 70 degrees out. The fashion season can't wait for the weather.

more fur
Do they have these at McDonalds in the US?

Sticker shock over punkins. This is $41 USD

"sample ladies"
Hello Kitty goes emo?
No not really, I spotted this tour bus. These are the moments that stop me dead in my tracks. Sure it happens every day, but it's still great.
toilet at airport
Equipment for girls here that want a double eyelid...this is glue. Very common.



Place wear lolita girls shop
place wear salary men eat

Catching up -Summer in Utah

I was home in Utah for all of August and September. I took 16 gig of pictures, so I am just putting some favorites.Kevin and I went back for the beautiful wedding of his brother, (and my new Bro and Sis-in Law) Alan and Stephanie. I wish I had some pictures from that night at Tuscany restaurant. It was so much fun! They make a great couple. Our moments at Tokyo Disneyland cemented my thoughts on that :)

After that, it made no sense for me to come all the way back to Tokyo just to turn around and fly back for our own wedding, so I stayed in Utah. Before going back to Tokyo, Kevin and I went to Grand Mesa to the Moss Cabin with his parents and Brian. It was good fun. As always I tend to catch lots of fish and lose every time at the nightly game of Russian Rummy. I LOVE it up there- so beautiful.









chasing cows on our hike.


A week after that, I visited Ben in Santa Barbara where we immediately set off for Big Sur straight from the airport. It was so amazingly beautiful on that drive. I couldn't believe that there wasn't too much car traffic. It really was an open road...often times with ocean on one side and what looks like Montana on the other. Crazy!







The rest of the weekend we hung out in Santa Barbara, which I don't really have pics of but is a great city! We also went to wine country nearby and randomly drove right by Neverland Ranch.

A peaceful Sunday drive

This is beautiful countryside.
As we approached Neverland Ranch, neither of us knew what it was. I actually thought the groupp of people gathered ahead on the road and stopping was a garage sale. Why the hell would there be a garage sale in the middle of nowhere? When we realized what it was we turned around and got out. How can you not? So there was a group picnicing out front, a boy singing and several people crying, either at the singing boy or just in general. There was also a lady in stripper stilletos swaying to the sound of the singing.

Back from Cali, I was doing final wedding stuff and lots of hiking with Mutti. We hit Red Pine Lake, Lake Blanch and the Brighton Lakes.

In our groove rocks




Spotted 3 male moose up at Brighton Lakes with JP and Mutti. It was so hard to take pictures because they were in a shady spot. It was awesome to see them though. We are a family of moose lovers!





Also went wildflower watching earlier in August and was in Utah all the way through the first snow of the year!





I should clarify: We are a family of moose loving dorks with cameras.

with a dorky dog that loves dressing up. This year for Halloween he is going to be a lobster. He got his costume 2 months early so he can just wear it around.

Testing out the beer that JP and I home brewed last May...
Here is my maid of honor Megs and I at greek fest:

Here is Treena and I

And that was me after Treena forced an entire pastry in my mouth all at once. Lets be honest though, I didn't put up that much of a fight...

So the weekend before the big day JP, Jenny, a couple others and I went down to Escalante camping. We had the goal of going into the Slots down there. It was so freaking cool!

Here are Hand, Jenny and JP following the Cairns to the entrance of Spooky Slot canyon
Jenny standing at the entrance
View looking out the entrance from the inside

Then it starts to narrow....

a lot.





We also hiked to Calf Creek falls...beautiful as you can see...

Next post will be about the wedding and the fall leaves. Later!

Latest Favorite commercial in Japan

First, got to the link below. Once the page loads, click on the button that says "Merida PV" to see the commercial that just rocked my world.

Click Me

I would like to point out that they sell real diamonds. I am obviously going to this store right now and will report back.

Bite Me....or you

Now that I am 31 it's time to be a grown up, so I got a new shirt.

I don't think it needs much explanation, but I would like to dedicate this shirt to Playlist.com, who won't let me play my playlist in Japan anymore....beasts.

Dear James Brown, Axl Rose and Sebastian Bach:

Thank you for making sure that whenever I hear Hot Pants, Sweet Child O Mine and 18 and Life I will think of getting married. It was the best most beautiful day ever! And I will laugh out loud and have an ear to ear grin thinking about what a silly an fun night it was.

I would put those songs on my music player but apparently in the 6 weeks since I left Japan it became illegal for me to use playlist.com. I don't know if you can hear my playlist in the USA but there is nothing I can do to change it!

So I was gone for 6 weeks. I took a few trips and had such a nice time hanging out with my family. I went through a ton of pictures today and I hope to post some very very soon. I was killing time today going through 16 gigs of photos I took while a typhoon was supposedly blowing over.

That was the worst typhoon EVER, by the way. I thought there would be sideways rain, scary wind, a possible running scene similar to Godzilla. We got NOTHING. I think it hit somewhere else in Japan but the Tokyo segment was a total joke. To add insult to injury, as I am typing this I have CNN on, who is reporting that Tokyo is facing a ton of rain and that we are getting slammed. Ummm, yeeeeaaah. We are in Japan not another planet. (although it most definitely feels like another planet) You can't just straight up lie for news, can you? It is just super funny to be looking out my window at a cloudless blue sky and hear these news reports.

Glad to be blogging again. Stay tuned for pictures!

Japan's next first lady says she rode spaceship

Taken from MSNBC


Japan's 'Alien' official and abductee wife
Sept. 4: While the incoming Prime Minister of Japan is nicknamed "The Alien," for his eyes, it's his wife who claims her soul was abducted by aliens, and traveled to Venus. NBC's Dan Scheneman reports many Japanese consider the couple to be a "breath of fresh air".

Japan's 'Alien' official and abductee wife

"While my body was asleep, I think my soul rode on a triangular-shaped UFO and went to Venus," Miyuki Hatoyama, the wife of premier-in-waiting Yukio Hatoyama, wrote in a book published last year.

"It was a very beautiful place and it was really green."

Yukio Hatoyama is due to be voted in as premier on Sept. 16 following his party's crushing election victory over the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party Sunday.

Miyuki, 66, described the extraterrestrial experience, which she said took place some 20 years ago, in a book entitled "Very Strange Things I've Encountered."

Been to Venus
When she awoke, Japan's next first lady wrote, she told her now ex-husband that she had just been to Venus. He advised her that it was probably just a dream.

"My current husband has a different way of thinking," she wrote. "He would surely say 'Oh, that's great'."

Yukio Hatoyama, 62, the rich grandson of a former prime minister, was once nicknamed "the alien" for his prominent eyes.

Miyuki, also known for her culinary skills, spent six years acting in the Takarazuka Revue, an all-female musical theater group. She met the U.S.-educated Yukio while living in America.

A strong believer in spiritualism, Hatoyama said in a TV appearance earlier this year she met U.S. actor Tom Cruise — in a previous life.

"I have a dream that I still believe will come true, which is to make a film in Hollywood," she told a TV talk show in May. "The lead actor is Tom Cruise, of course. Why? Because I know he was Japanese in a previous life.

Cruise encounter
"I was with him then. So he would recognize me when I see him and say 'long time, no see!'" she said, though cautioned the program's young interviewer not to take her seriously.

Cruise starred in the 2003 film "The Last Samurai," which was set in Japan.

"I also eat the sun," Hatoyama said on the program, looking up with her eyes closed, raising her arms high as if she was tearing pieces off an imaginary sun. "Like this, hum, hum, hum. It gives me enormous energy."

She also has had a "Miracle Interview" column in the monthly spiritual magazine "Mu." Her columns were published last year in a book called "Most Bizarre Things I've Encountered," a compilation of interviews with 26 prominent people, including writers, scholars and culinary experts revealing their strange or spiritual experiences.

Cold Feet?

Hardly. It is only a couple weeks now until Kevin and I tie the knot. I am really excited for the wedding and I am happy to be marrying Kevin. There is one thing I don't like. Actually there are a bunch of things I don't like but I will keep this to one thing.

The word.....Bride.

ugh....BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE.

Yuck. Who knows why I have never liked it before, but lately I hear it over and over and I hate it. "Wedding" and "Marry" sound fine because I think of joining two people. Plus I like saying I'm going to marry someone. "Kevin. I'm going to marry you" It almost sounds like a threat which I think is funny.

But bride is a singualr term, a title, an identity, something you will always be from now on that you can't escape that has certain expectations tied to it. Yikes. Bride. Mrs. ewe.

So to COMPLETELY CEMENT AND VALIDATE my fear of this word guess what I stumbled upon? A glorious book on our bookshelf downstairs that I never knew we had. It's weird. I know EVERY book on that bookshelf. And I have never seen this book. I really think this just appeared out of thin air like a big fat "Are you sure?" sign.

Happy Living- A Guidebook for Brides
published 1965

I bet you know what I am going to say next.


Holy Shit.



With chapters like "cooking breakfast" and "setting a pleasing table" etc, I am reading about what it was like to be a Bride in 1965.

Here are some quotes that stood out:

"Feeding a husband successfully starts with feeding him the things he likes to eat, and a clever bride cooks to please her man"

stop right there. Did that just say CLEVER BRIDE?

"The wise young homemaker will use a touch of color on the serving plate-a sprig of parsely or water cress, a dash of paprika, a lemon slice, or a radish rose to make the dish attractive"

"You and only you stand between you and your husbands starvation- you make up your mind to follow a rewarding path. You decide to learn to cook well"

"Make sure your coffee pot is sparkling clean. That means it should be thouroughly scrubbed after each use"

"if he likes cereal or cream of wheat every morning that is undoubtedly what you will give him. If he is a ham n' eggs man, that is what you will cook for him"

"List in separate columns the jobs you do daily weekly and occasionaly"

Don't get me wrong I LOOOOVE to cook. And I am not completely against cleaning the coffee pot every once in a while. It's the tone. The tone that once you are a Bride your entire purpose and sense of self changes into a servant.

And that is why I hate the word bride and will refuse to consider myself one. Thank goodness I didn't see this book any earlier. Lucky for Kevin - I am still sure I want to marry him. ;)

A really Great article

about Japan