A lot has happened!

I don’t even know where to begin!

My coworker recently quit so although I haven’t been working more hours, I’ve been working during the day. It’s different turning into a morning person! Well, it is easier when the sun starts coming up at 3:30 AM. Surprisingly, it stays light out later too. I’ve been wanting to blog for a while, but whenever I had free time to myself I usually spent it doing homework or chores. I worked hard and got all my homework done a week early so my brain is enjoying the break!

I’m going to rewind all the way to the cherry blossom festival in Hirosaki that we went to. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and they were absolutely gorgeous! If I remember correctly, it was a three hour drive. We followed Satoko out there and when it was time to park we wished we could turn our car into a cube and take it to go. We spent a long time trying to find parking and when we finally did it was a good walk to the festival. Inside the festival were many, many trees and beautiful landscaping. There was also a food court area that was packed. It was like a sea of people. One stand sold these round balls that looked like corn fritters, but were filled with banana! They were delicious! We also got fresh corn on the cob that was delicious, but too juicy. We accidentally shot juice into people. It was much warmer than I expected and was miserable in my sweater so I was happy to find a vendor that sold souvenir t-shirts. I bought a brown one that had a mountain on the back with something written in Japanese. These cherry blossoms surrounded the Hirosaki castle. I had seen photos of it before and it looked giant and beautiful. Well, in person it was tiny! We couldn’t get over how small it was! Inside was a museum that had many artifacts and was 3 stories high. At the top we could look out the window and wave to the people who chose not to go. After we had checked out the castle we were all ready to go home. Now, not many of the cherry blossoms are bloomed. There were some late bloomers on base but by now they are about finished and full of green leaves.

Since my coworker quit, I was able to apply for the full time position here at work. I interviewed for the job over the phone with my supervisor in Tokyo and was offered the job. I’m excited to be the supervisor of the lab here and hope we get someone good to fill my part time position. People still have a week left to apply for the position and hopefully soon after that they will be conducting interviews.

As for other work related news, I became an advisor to Lia Sophia. I was interested when I went to my first Lia Sophia party that Kim hosted. The advisor at her party told us all about her business and I talked some more with her privately because I was so interested. I love the jewelry and it was expensive, so I thought this would be a great way to support my jewelry habit and earn some extra money on the side. I even hosted my own show at home and invited all my friends and their friends. I believe we had 13 people over our home for the show. My friend Krista helped me out big by making a lot of the food and I made civiche. It came out pretty good! Everyone liked it and it was gone by the end of the night. The party was a success and not only was I the hosted, but it was my starter show as an advisor. So, I even made my start show goal and was rewarded with a gift certificate. I also got huge discounts and free jewelry. I have a good size show collection to start with and my first show is in about two weeks. Laura and Heather booked shows with me so that they could benefit from the hostess benefits. Learning about the business and putting my own show that I hosted under wraps has also kept me pretty busy. This week I hope to be learning a lot about the business so I am well prepared for my first show. Today all the jewelry came in from my starter show and there are some really gorgeous pieces! There were two items of mine I didn’t care so much for so I am returning them for something else. It’s pretty exciting and also a good way to keep busy while the husband is away.

Riding has been going well too. The last time I rode Heidi she was great and I really enjoyed the ride. She trotted over a ground rail and small cross rail with such calm and ease that it was wonderful. I actually had the chance to work on my equitation with her behaving so well and was pleased with the video. But as soon as we tried to canter over the cross rail it was a different story. She gets too excited, takes the bit and runs over the cross rail. She doesn’t respond to my half-halts and the trainer doesn’t seem to have any great suggestions. Part of me wanted to make her stop in her tracks and back up and allow her to proceed over the cross rail only when she went calmly. The trainer wasn’t crazy about that idea though and so my next suggestions was just to incorporate ground rails into her flat work so that they aren’t such a big deal to her. I didn’t ride last weekend but I hope to this weekend. I need to get some new boots as the ones I have now are on their last leg. I would also like to get a new helmet. I didn’t realize how old my equipment is until I counted the years. Definitely time to get some new things. I also need to get in shape and strengthen my legs. I know this will help overall as well.

And to do that, I bought an elliptical! I couldn’t find one at any of the BX’s in Japan, so my Japanese friend helped me order one from Japan Amazon. The day my elliptical was delivered to the house, the BX got the one I originally wanted! So what did I do? I bought that one too. So, now I have two but one has been promised to a friend who wants to buy it in about two weeks. That will then pay for the one I bought at the BX. The first week I used it for usually an hour a day and lost 2 lbs. But then I got slammed with work and homework and haven’t been able to work out again. I hope to work out again tonight and continue on as much as I can. It is in my office and has really been a joy to use right at home.

Later I will blog about our trip to see the golden temple!