Day 6 - To Hakone! Onsen Land!

To see related photos, please go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/dreamsenshi/sets/72157619803282297/

Sunday, June 21^st, 2009.

Today, we decided to take it easy. Tourism can be very demanding, and in our excitement we probably pushed ourselves too hard the first several days. Hence the leg injury, right? :}

Even though it is a fasting day for us, I couldn't pass up another delicious breakfast at the Green Age Inn. I was sad to go and leave the bed and breakfast style location behind, but it was now raining heavily in Nikko, the first real rain we've seen since our arrival (lucky, since it's rainy season here), so even if we hadn't seen a ton of it already, touring it in the rain would be unpleasant.

So, after a relaxed breakfast, we caught the bus to the JR station and spent most of the day on the rail heading to Odawara. I don't think I mentioned it before, but riding the JR train makes me realize several things. The first is that cutesy music in Japanese video games and shows must be normal here; at every JR stop and some other stops, a tinkly tune that reminds me of a magical candy land plays. In America, it would be cheesy, but here it seems very common-place. The second is that men here have less to fear in the ways of possibly appearing homosexual. Whereas in America, girls would be the only people you would catch with a fan, I've mostly seen men carrying them here, fanning themselves when coming on the train from a humid stop. I've also noticed ever since we got on the airplane to come to Japan that the way that people dress in movies and in cartoons is not that far off from real life. In fact, I can hardly see a lapse at all most of the time. I am impressed that the information we have on Japanese culture seems to be so accurate. Then again, perhaps I would change my mind if I understood more.

Today was interesting, as if we leveled up. Gradually, I've been remembering more and more Japanese from our studies, and I think we'd have to be pretty ignorant to not pick up a few things, especially travel lingo. If buses weren't so noisy most of the time with other tourists, we could probably find our stops by ear now! Sugoi! Also, even though I've worried that the next inn in line would be disappointing compared to the ones before it, the Green Age Inn was definitely great!

And now, we've reached our next destination in Hakone! We are staying at the Ichinoyu Houkan, which is our very first ryokan! After accidentally getting off at the stop before it (some stops have similar names, add or remove a word), we passed some beautiful scenery and arrived at the hotel, which looked exactly like its picture. As I walked in, I admit I felt momentarily intimidated. This is clearly an upper-class location, and I have a feeling that we didn't look like the type of clientel they're used to getting, especially hauling our luggage in. We switched into slippers and locked up our shoes in wooden lockers, and were led to our amazing “room”. I say room in quotes because it's really several, incredible rooms!

First, you enter a hall where I've read you take off your slippers before entering the main room, which we did, locking the outside door behind us. The next room is empty with a tatami floor and sliding doors on all sides. One is a closet which has our traditional, real yukata (the last two inns had bathrobes like modern yukata, but weren't the real thing like here!), towels, and toothbrushes all on a tray. On the opposite wall is where the futons (not like American futons, which are crap; these are traditional, old-style futons which are for sleeping on the tatami on in the next room).

Finally, opening the sliding doors across from the hall that was left behind (which is sealed off by its own sliding doors), you enter a dining area. Strange, because there's a restaurant to eat at, until you realize they've set us up with a great variety of tea and a few sweets on the table, and traditional floor chairs. There will be pictures on Flickr, but once again I am without an internet connection to work with. :/ In fact, I'm going to have to unplug something in here just to be able to charge this poor thing! Anyway, the room is beautiful. When we sleep, we move the bed aside. It should be noted that there are no “regular” chairs in this room, just the ones on the floor with the low table. There is a TV, a safe, and a few other discreet odds and ends including a water heating thingy.

Then, another sliding door! This leads into a patio-like room with a window to our PRIVATE HOT SPRING BATH! :O SUGOI DESU!! There are wicker chairs here (the regular, American kind) and a small table so you could take your tea or whatever else you have and eat while gazing out to the pretty area. Even though it's an outdoor, private bath, you can see trees, a spring, etc. This is just like the onsen, but a hot spring instead. Additionally, there is a refrigerator in the room for storing food and drinks (the hotel has its own store of sweets and treats, so I'm sure this will come in useful. :)

The next room is the shower. There is no American-style bath as there has been in the last places we stayed, so it's purely for showering. Soap, shampoo, and conditioner are provided. It's a traditional, old-style Japanese shower, so there is a little wood thing to sit on and a bucket for pouring water over yourself. It's very pretty, and I can't WAIT to use it. Adjacent to it is the exit to the outdoor bath. In the opposite direction is a bathroom, not to be confused with the Japanese “furoba,” but specifically a tiny room with its own slippers for going pee. Heated toilet again. Sweet! It really does make a difference in comfort. :}

That's it! It's the biggest, coolest space we've had so far. I can't imagine feeling more spoiled than we do now.

Since we only have a few hours before dinner, we're going to go walk around the area and see what there is to see. :) Talk later! 3:38pm Japan Time.

6:36pm Japan Time

Terinati and I headed out and started walking, but then decided to hop on the bus and see where it takes us because Hakone is lacking in sidewalks. As we rode the bus, Terinati read in our tour guide and we realized the bus would take us to the Venetian Glass Museum, which I thought looked gorgeous and wanted to see. So, we rode the bus, heard the stop for it (which isn't the stop they tell you to use in the tour guide, but is right at it! We're proud of ourselves!), and it was worth the money to get in and see it all. Gorgeous, romantic . . . I highly recommend it to any couple looking for a romantic place and to girls seeking a princess-y destination. Trees that glimmer with glass willow leaves, a bridge shimmering with colors of the rainbow as the sun sets against it, and a lovely garden . . . But, there was more than that! The museum itself is a must-see, and were we not traveling so far, the souvenirs to be purchased would have been highly desirable. Even the foods looked really tasty, but are mostly things we can find in the states (though, these may have been better quality; not sure).

I hadn't realized that something missing from this trip thus far was me feeling feminine again. I really felt like a lady or a princess exploring a beautiful castle. There's also a restaurant there, but we did not partake.

There was quite a bit of traffic on the way back, which we suspect is because it is Sunday evening and most people are probably ending their trips in Hakone. I tried to access the internet by paying 100 yen for ten minutes of service, but the connection was very slow compared to connecting at Toyoko Asakusa Inn, I had to use their computer which forbade cookies (and, consequently, my ability to accept comments on my blog). I managed to briefly check my e-mail though, and more importantly, accept my classes! Yay! But, blogging will have to wait until we leave Hakone, it appears. :(

For now, I sit and type with a beautiful cup of tea (it is white with little pink flowers) and Terinati in view, enjoying the bath (he said it was extremely hot, so he had to use the focet for cold water to be able to even get into it). In a short while, we will go to dinner and then have a massage that we paid for in the room. I'm a little nervous (strange people touching my body in a foreign place! AHHH!), but it is our honeymoon and I'm looking forward to this. :)

P.S. - The machine next to the refrigerator looks like a dehumidifier for the bath. To anyone else who is staying here, don't be like Terinati and turn it off! :}

Talk later! 6:46pm Japan Time

Monday, June 22^nd, 2009. 6:52pm Japan Time.

Well, the perfection couldn't continue forever yesterday. :} We went to dinner, and . . . well, it was kind of disgusting. Not in a, “Ew, how can you run an establishment like this?” sort of way, but in a, “I'm sorry, but no matter how open-minded I am . . . this tastes like crap.” Perhaps I was spoiled by the Green Age Inn, but the dinner was trouble in many ways. First, it was a fasting day, so I wasn't even hungry. I only went because it's included in our payment for this hotel, which I could tell was expensive. So, I wasn't in the mood for eating but was hoping to be pleasantly surprised as I was at the Green Age Inn. Second, the food needed instructions for us to know what it was and how to eat it. We've had sushi before, and other Japanese dishes, but these things were as foreign as you could get. I imagine that there are people in Japan who don't know how to eat this stuff because it came from so long ago. Third, as mentioned before, it didn't taste good and there were truck-loads of it. So, in addition to feeling guilty and ashamed for not knowing how to eat whatever it was, there was tons of it surrounding me and it was too disgusting to make it disappear. :/ Fourth and finally, you could serve yourself drinks (weird, because the place is so fancy that this part seems absolutely bizarre and non-sensical to me; if you're getting served food, you should get served your drinks as well), but you're only options is what they have available for you. If you bring in your own drink to enjoy, it costs $10 a drink! :O WHAT?!

So, I didn't enjoy it, and feeling embarrassed for not enjoying it (they worked so hard!) made me feel queasy. I thought that a dip in a private, awesome, outdoor onsen would make me feel better before getting the massages we reserved, however I was in for another surprise.

As I went in to the sink room and saw Terinati's towel from his earlier dip askew and lying in a fashion that would make it hard to dry, I adjusted it. I had just set down my yukata and towel in a little basket so that I could have them when I was done and was about to head in the shower. However, as I moved the towel a cockroach (no, not those little roaches like what I've seen all over Maryland, which are the length of a pinky tip; this was the REAL thing, nearly the size of a mouse) had climbed into the basket and was about to get into my clothes! AHHHHH!! =^><^= Like the girl that I am, I screamed. After all, my trusty Stardust wasn't here to eat it, and I rely on my cats for protection from icky things like this. Terinati was not helpful. “It's just a cockroach,” he said. “They don't bite.” :} Entirely not the point!

I escaped the sink room with my things unscathed, and Terinati chased it back to “its hole” and thoughts reeled through my head such as the notion that where there is one roach, there are bound to be more, and they make their home in the walls of buildings, so this thing could pop out anywhere there was a space just big enough for it to emerge . . . possibly even into the area where we would be sleeping on the floor. Thoroughly creeped out by the idea of thousands of roaches crawling over me as I slept and into my mouth (yes, I know it's ridiculous, but I have a very vivid imagination), I begged Terinati to let someone know the situation.

Poor Terinati. They don't call them roaches here, and we're not sure what the word is. In the end, after much gesturing and trying to explain, he brought the man to show him. The gross part? As soon as he pointed to the tiny sliver of a hole in the wall that it disappeared to, the guy knew exactly what he was talking about and came back with roach spray. :| He sprayed the area thoroughly for us and left the spray for us to use. That's not what bothers me; I'm bothered by the fact that he knew there were roaches.

I pondered this for a while. How does an establishment close down to deal with that sort of problem? Is it worth dealing with since the rooms are right next to the outdoors? Then again, aren't all houses next to the outdoors for lack of anywhere else to be? In the end, I got up the courage to shower and use the onsen, though I did it with quite paranoia and did not relax as much as I would have liked.

The night redeemed itself with the massages. OMG, they were the best thing EVAR! If you come to this hotel, you MUST get their massages. The price is absolutely worth it. I drooled, I fell asleep, and I felt AWESOME.

Anyway, after pondering it for a long time, I think between the not-tasty food (at least, in my opinion; someone else may enjoy it) and the roaches, I wouldn't want to come back here again. There are too many other ryokan and hotels in Hakone for me to believe that I couldn't do a little better. Still, the experience was exciting and enlightening. :) Now I know there are roaches in Japan! :}

Time for another dinner now, so I'll be writing about today after that in a separate blog. Ja mata!

Day 5 - Hike of Doom / Kegon Falls

To see related photos, please go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/dreamsenshi/sets/72157619803282297/

Saturday, June 20^th, 2009. 5:23pm Japan Time.

This morning I woke up early to my surprise. My entire body was telling me what it thought of all the walking I had been doing, but my leg didn't hurt . . . yet? I did stretches, happy to have more space to do them, and showered because the Onsen made a mess of my hair! Perhaps I will use that shower cap tonight. :}

After a delightful breakfast that mirrored the dinner from the night before (SO GOOD! Eggs any way you requested, ham, a pineapple shaped like a fish, and so on!), we went out and caught the bus to Akechidaira, where we got off. Unfortunately, even though we rode up the gondola to see the sights, there was too much mist. And, even though my leg was on the mend and I knew I should rest it, we read in our book that there was only a 60 minute hike, so I said I could handle that. I should have listened when the woman told us it was 3 hours.

The hike is a big mistake. Unless you really love hiking, don't do it. :} There were a few pretty views, but DANG, I don't remember ever in my life using a hiking trail that dangerous. It was narrow with lots of slippery edges, and you have to use a lot of roots to climb up, which is confusing because there are many dead roots on the trail that will fall out if you climb on them. :o It is incredibly steep, and even where there are stairs on the way down, the steps are HUGE and broken. If you're horrified of spiders, you definitely can't go here. They're everywhere. All of that being said, if I had not already been sore and my leg already injured, I may have enjoyed it more. The scariest part wasn't really all of that (even though I'm a very clumsy person and had some serious close calls many times along the way; no longer surprised we didn't see anyone else eager to take it!). The scary part was when we got lost. All of the signs are in Japanese only, and there are several places where the trail branches off into other trails that had nothing to do with our end destination. Worst of all, the path that we're told to take on our map is now roped off, hence the short trip turning into a 3-hour long one. :( If my leg hadn't been specifically getting worse going down stairs and downhill, this would have been fine, though, because where we had to get ourselves back on track was a better stretch of trail. The first 1.5km were HORRIBLE, but everything else was perfectly reasonable, by my standards. We ended up probably going 5 or 6km total by the time we reached a cemetery at the end of the trail. I jokingly said to Terinati that those were the people who hadn't survived the nasty journey. ;}

All in all, other than wasting more time than intended on the trail (we missed a boat ride at the end of the day :( ), I was proud of us for surviving it. My leg is not as bad as it was the previous days, but I wish I hadn't pushed it so hard. Hopefully the trip to our next destination tomorrow will give it time to heal. After sitting for a while around Lake Chuzenji, my leg did feel better (so its recovering faster than it was! Yay!), and we walked around the shops on the way to view Keigon Falls and found a cheap place that was virtually empty right across from the viewing area! Don't be deterred by reasonable prices! The soba and mushroom noodle dish I had there was very filling and delicious, and the nice woman gave us a sweet treat to eat for dessert. I also found some gifts to take come to a few of my co-workers once I return also. :) So, it was definitely a good find. I wish I could tell you the place's name, but we didn't even get a receipt from there so I have no idea what it was called. Just look for the woman who isn't dying to get you inside her shop!

The Keigon Falls were beautiful and made me feel better about the horrible hike. :} It is a fun place, especially since there were Japanese tourists all around, smiling and having a good time. I felt less out of place than I had in Tokyo, and we got a nice man to take our picture for us. :) It was tempting to get souvenirs, like a bell that sounded like the crying dragon we heard in the Toshogu temple yesterday, but we restrained ourselves. After all, I already have a tiny Nemuri Neko. :}

We had wanted to go for a boat tour of the lake and see another waterfall, but after having some fantastic ice cream up the street from there, we were too late and the last boat ride was just returning, so we headed home instead.

To our surprise, as we approached the hotel there were several cars now parked outside! :o Since the only other person staying in the hotel with us had left this morning, we were hoping to have it to ourselves so that we could secure the Onsen after dinner, but we'll see what happens. :} However, dinner will be more interesting with other people filling up the other tables for which places have not yet been set since we arrived, and I'm also glad because I think the inn definitely deserves the busienss.

Speaking of dinner, there's about fifteen minutes until it starts. I think I'm going to pack up a few things for tomorrow and get ready to head down. Talk another day! :)

Day 4 - Nikko

To see related photos, please go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/dreamsenshi/sets/72157619803282297/

Friday, June 19^th, 2009.

This morning, Terinati and I woke up later than usual. It didn't seem like a big deal until I asked, “Hey, how and where do we need to be to get to Nikko today?” Soon after, we discovered that we had less than an hour to pack up and leave to get to our train! Yikes!

I didn't have time for a final shower, so I just did my hair and washed up and packed our things. It was a little sad to me to say good-bye to our very first hotel in Japan. As I slipped off the slippers and put on my sandals and went to take the key and its stick out of the wall slot, I bowed and wished the room good-bye. I'm pretty sure we had the best room at Toyoko Asakusa Inn, and will miss it there. We made it to the station (with some friendly Japanese help!) just in time to catch the train prior to its departure. On the way, I read about Nikko, because I had trouble finding information about it online previously.

Once on the train, we worried about what to do with our luggage. I determined that since there are luggage services to send your luggage ahead of time, surely the inns would be able to hold the luggage for us while we toured around until it was check-in time. I was fortunate enough to be correct! Huzzah! So, screw paying approximately $20 to ship luggage ahead of us. It proved to be unnecessary.

Nikko was described as a place with temples so gaudy that it would cause artistic stomachache. Apparently, I have a stomach of steel because it seems beautiful here to me! Trees everywhere, it is very different than Tokyo. Tokyo wasn't like New York or Los Angeles or anything, but it did have a sort of city feel. Although I feel like I had gotten into the rhythm of Tokyo very well, it is refreshing to feel like the area is less busy around us. When we return to America, it's probably going to be like information overload for a while. :/

While we were waiting for check-in time at 3pm, we managed to use up four hours touring all of the temples and shrines in the surrounding area. They were beautiful, and I picked up a Nemuri Neko (sleeping cat) charm in the process. Unfortunately, my knee is still giving me trouble, so the going was slow and rough. We're stretching more and trying to take things easy so that we don't cause more damage. It is improved from yesterday, so there is hope!

We have checked in to our inn, the Green Age Inn, and it does not appear to have internet of any kind. The entire place is pretty rustic, so this blog will have to be posted the next time I have access to the internet. That's somewhat scary because I need to get online at some point to accept my courses that I'm taking when I get back. EEK. :} Perhaps I will find internet in a cafe somewhere or something. I want to go on a hunt for apples since we haven't had much by way of fruit since we got here and I think both of our stomachs are starting to notice. There's food everywhere, but I haven't seen a grocery store once yet! Perhaps I am looking for the wrong thing.

Anyway, since I didn't get to shower yet and we want to use the Onsen downstairs later, I'm going to clean up (I know you can do it in the showers before the bath itself, but my hair... well, it's a lot of trouble if not properly maintained and put up, so I'd like to wash it up here first), and Terinati will either continue his nap on his new bed or perhaps he will go out apple hunting for me. :}

A note on the room we have: it's big, getting close to the regular size of an American hotel room, but still closer quarters than normal (the furniture is closer together with small pathways). Even though this hotel has an English feel to it (Terinati and I both think it's princess-y with it's flower patterns and chandelier right in the little dining area of the room), there are still slippers and the little step up to the bathroom where you take off the slippers again. I'm very much used to these customs after only a few days and know it's going to feel strange to not have to follow them when we return home.

I also miss our cats. :( I want to hug them both, but especially Stardust. I don't feel homesick, but I miss them and our other loved ones very much.

More to come later! 4:12pm Japan Time!

Saturday, June 20^th, 2009.

The afternoon yesterday was pretty delightful! On our way back to the hotel from visiting the temples, we saw a bus full of school children. Several of the boys shouted hello to us in English as we passed by and waved, and we smiled and waved back, saying, “Hello!”

Terinati went in search of fruit while I took my shower. The sink and shower use the same pipe, so there's a little knob to switch the valves. There were two bottles of “Refresht” products, and after I was in the shower I figured out that the Engrish on the side indicated that one was a body wash and the other was a shampoo/conditioner combo. As in Toyoko Asakusa Inn, we were provided with toothbrushes and toothpaste to use in the bathroom, along with a shower cap which I may need to use in the Onsen.

Dinner was the next event, and it was fantastic. At first, I wasn't sure about the Green Age Inn when I saw it. The building is a little run down, and even though the bedroom makes me feel like a princess, it also comes along with the creepy feeling I have in any place that is clearly old and not necessarily as well kept up as a modern hotel. This is a kind of atmosphere I generally enjoy because it instills visions of adventure and romantic fantasy, but the bathroom water pressure and fixtures left something to be desired, so it needed a little bit more to make it worth being here versus somewhere else in Nikko. Dinner went above and beyond what was needed. Screw fancy hotels and their perfect features when you have the hostess serving you dinner at a fancy dining room.

As a preface, Terinati and I generally came to Japan with the notion of wanting to try as much authentic local food as possible. However, an English meal at the Green Age Inn is a must. When you sit down, you have the most proper table settings with gorgeous plates with etched rims and real silver silverware. And no, not just the spoon, fork, and knife, but the whole shabang as they say. There were more forks and knives than I could name, and a wine list if you choose to pay extra for the extravagance. Considering that the dinner is included with the stay, it blew my mind that we were served so many courses. I honestly lost count. We had tea, water, freshly made bread, fish, squash soup, orange duck (I think; it was some kind of poultry), salad, and some other thing that I know came from the sea but am not sure what it was. I was so full, but then there was a dessert of flan and frozen yogurt as well! Even though it was a fasting day, I was glad that I had not missed that.

During dinner, we discovered there was only one other guest at the hotel. It was creepy knowing we had so much space to ourselves. After dinner, Terinati and I decided to use the private Onsen which is also included with the hotel stay. Fancy, ne?! For those who don't know, Onsen is a bath that is part of a Japanese bathing ritual. In this Onsen, you enter a room and lock the door. In this room is only a mirror and a sink, and then baskets on the opposite wall. We assumed that you use the baskets to put your clothes in. Leaving all clothing behind here, you go into the next room which includes the Onsen bath, a separate entrance into a restroom if you need it, and two showers on the ground. The Onsen is always full of steamy, hot water in a large, wooden bath, so the next part is important. Everyone who comes in must wash themselves thoroughly in the shower. After that, you can enter the Onsen and relax. It was fantastic, and I could tell that it helped my knee. It was so refreshing, and I'm glad that we tried it. This Onsen is cool because it locks, so it's not like public Onsen, which we haven't tried yet. I'm shy! * hides *

After that, we went to bed, and I had the best sleep I've had for a long time with romantic dreams.

More to come in another blog!

Day 3 - Kitty Island

To see all the pictures from the honeymoon as I upload them (the ones in my blog only skim the surface), check out: http://www.flickr.com/dreamsenshi

Today started very rough, as you could probably tell from my hectic post for Day 2 earlier. Walking all day yesterday had repercussions, even with working hard to stay hydrated and stretching. I was incredibly sore when I got up, as was Terinati, and as of now my right knee seems to have some problem. It hurts the most when I go downstairs, but in general it doesn't feel good; I'm trying my best to be careful with it.

After showering, I did feel a lot better, though my leg only got worse throughout the day. Since it was an eating day, I ate breakfast in the lobby for the first time, and it was great! There was bread, scrambled eggs, sausages, some kind of spiced rice triangle (delicious!), a potato salad with apples in it, and some kind of corn soup. It was all fantastic, and the morning was fun because it was crowded and a nice woman with two boys asked to sit next to us and complimented Terinati on his chop stick skills. :)

Our plan for today after that has been in the works for two years. Shortly after getting engaged and discussing the possibility of being able to save up enough money for Japan for our honeymoon, we did a search online for romantic locations. Enoshima came up in a few other blogs, and we immediately fell in love. Not only is it the island of the goddess Benten, who grants artistic ability as well as war ability and is prayed to specifically for love (they have Valentine's festivals there every year, with fireworks and everything!), but the island was described as being inhabited entirely with cats. We had a hard time finding a picture online without a kitty in it! Thus, we were inspired to name our website that we created a short while later "Kitty Island" after this cool place.

When we spoke to Inside Japan Tours, we insisted that this is one place we had to go, so today was the day! After three train trips to get there, we walked down Benten Bashi (Benten Bridge) toward Enoshima...


We had been planning to take the ferry to the island, but the ferry was not running today. :} Our poor feet had no idea what they were in for.

At the end of the bridge, it's just like any famous beach property; food, surfers, and a big crowd of people shopping. I'm glad we didn't opt to go swimming ourselves because there was some really gross garbage in the water, and I bet it was pretty cold despite it being summer.

A short while in, I inquired to Terinati about this elevator we could take to the top, but we discovered it cost money so we weren't going to take it. :( Sorry, knee! POORness. :/ So, we started the walk here and went all the way around the island to see everything. It took all day!


This was only the first of many stairs around the island. :} I had no idea how much there was to see!

While this statue was impressive, with Benten and the Dragon god of prosperity, most people just walked right by it because it's nothing compared to everything else you would see. I still like it quite a bit, though!



Just to the right of that is this washing basin. We were fortunate enough to see a Japanese couple come up and use it before we did so ourselves. Although we can't read to know for sure, we suepct that a person must be purified before approaching the shrines.


While there, we wrote our own prayer to Benten. I remembered how to write our names in Katakana! Go me! It was sweet to glance at the other cards (I was trying hard not to read them because those thoughts are personal and special, ne?), especially when we saw some with only one name and a question mark for their potential partner. Dreams of love are something magical, and I think people have to be special to believe in them, especially enough to write them down!


Next stop was to see the prosperity dragon god. Isn't he cool?



All around the dragon is this pool of water. I saw some men and women wash their money, even paper cash money, by placing it into a small bowl basket, like Terinati is doing in the above picture, and then getting it wet in the waters. I suspect this has to do with the dragon's water multiplying the amount that you wash.


In the same area, we also discovered the triforce. :} What does it mean?! Why is it associated with safe driving? This blows my mind, in a Benten shrine.


We also saw this bell, which is the Bell of Dragon's Love. I don't know the whole legend, but supposedly many people come to ring this bell and pray for their eternal love. Instead of using paper, most people brought locks to add to the rows you can see here. So, if you want to do something really different for your loved one and are going to be near enough Enoshima, I recommend taking your sweetie here.


There were also historical caves which we were sent to explore using a birthday candle in little homemade sort of tray. The cave was really awesome! I'd have had no complaints, had I not been getting so sore that it was impossible not to wince when I walked downhill anymore.

Quite possibly one of the most enchanting moments that I just had to record a snippet of was this monk singing in the Enoshima Daishi. I wanted to buy a CD of it, but they seemed to have already sold out. :(

Time was certainly flying, especially after we got top of the lighthouse and took some pictures of the view. There was so much to see. It literally took us all day to get there, explore, and come back. But, was it worth it? Yes! I recommend the trip, but keep in mind, be prepared to pay if you can't handle the walk.



But wait! That's not all, right?! So, how many kitties did I see on Kitty Island? From the very moment I walked on it, I saw a cat (that one ran away from being photographed, though). In my photos, I counted 28 of them! I'll post a few of my favorites here:


This kitty found a nice place to gather some sun in the garden.



There were three kitties we found on motorcycles!


This kitty was grumpy about getting its picture taken at first, until Terinati started giving it scritches!


This kitty waltzed right into a restaurant where it was instantly greeted with affection and pets! I imagine that in America, this would not happen. Any cat wandering into a restaurant would be gotten rid of as soon as possible, because of possible germs and such. I'm fond of the fact that cats are treated so well in Japan. :)




Two little kitties sleeping inside one of the buildings. Truly everywhere!

The way back was eventful, too. Terinati managed to get his photo taken with a Japanese police officer:


And, when we got back to the station, I noticed that someone had dressed the stone birds at the boundary of the station:


And, as a last good-bye to Benten, while riding the Japan Rail, we took a photo of a statue of her head that we could see through the window of the train.


Upon the return to the hotel, we started a search for good food. We found an AWESOME place for relatively cheap (850 yen) on Edo Dori, with a green sign across the street from the McDonald's. I don't know the name of it, but you go inside and there is a machine with pictures of all of the meals you can have. You pay the machine, press the button for the meal, and get a ticket. You sit down and hand the ticket off to a helper, and in a moment you are brought raw food to cook yourself right in front of you! In my case, I didn't know how the food would end up, so I needed a little help preparing it. The woman working there was very eager to make sure the meal was a success! And, the best part? Once you're done you don't have to wait for the check! Since you paid already (oh, and not only do you get the food of your choice, but also a miso soup, salad, and water with a pitcher right next to you to refill), you just get up and walk out! I loved it. :) The food was delicious! The only problem was that my food, fried rice mixed with Korean rice, was so much that it really was too big of a serving for one person.

On the same street, we discovered something amusing:


I have to wonder how Japanese folks choose their works. :} Is it magical coffee? Is it fake coffee? Why a charade? Ah well!

Finally, to end the day before coming home, I decided to pick up some McDonald's to go. Why, when I can have that any time in America? Because I just needed to know if it was different or not. For the most part, it ended up being the same. I think it may have been slightly different. The fries were the same, but they tasted like they were either cooked in less oil (which can be a store-to-store thing in America), or a different oil altogether. Hard to tell, so probably just less oil in that batch. The burger definitely was better only because I forgot to ask for no onions (I love onions, but McDonald's onions are disgusting), but ate it anyway and it tasted delicious! Yay! However, there were some cute differences on the menu, such as offering a Smile for 0 yen, and the items in the below picture:


I've never heard of Shaka Shaka Chicken before, have you?

Anyway, I'm falling asleep at the computer as I type now, and Terinati and I are both starting to feel a little under the weather. I'm going to take a bath and head to bed! Oyasumi nasai!

Day 2 - 47 Ronin, Imperial Palace, & Tokyo Disneyland

Catching Up with Photos

Alright! So, we got a cable and here are photos that were from yesterday!


Here is the picture of the seat in front of us on the train toward Ueno. . .


A picture of me in our digs!

Aforementioned slippers...


Ever wonder about what books are in Japanese hotels? They have the Bible, like American hotels, and some Buddhist books as well. :)


The bathroom...


Fancy toilet and its many buttons (sorry, they're upside down, meant to be read while you're sitting)...


The shower dispenser; I can now add that this does fabulous things for my hair. It has never been so manageable or soft in my entire life!


Shape Up Gel was in the Engrishy gifts that came with the hotel room. Apparently it's to shape the body... =^o0^=


The cute little chef in the lobby of our hotel...

And now we're pretty much caught up! I can't upload all of our photos as it will take too long to blog and we want to enjoy Japan. :} But, if you look up Dreamsenshi on Twitter and add me as a friend, you may be able to view them all there. :)

47 Ronin Story

One of the places Terinati really wanted to go was to the Sengakuji Temple, the burial place of the 47 Ronin. If you don't know who they are, they were part of a real life legend where their master, Lord Asano, was slain by a main named Kira, and they went after him and brought back his head for their dead master. The book is easy to find in America, and we noticed while at the temple that the same edition was available there.


Terinati was forunate enough to be able to purchase insense to burn there for 100 yen, and gave burning sticks to the graves of all who were buried there, including Lady Asano. It was incredible to be there, with the tree on which some of Lord Asano's blood has spilled, and other amazing artifacts from the true story. There was also the preserved well where they washed Kira's head before presenting it to their master's grave.

We noticed that with the tombstones, there are little slots where water fills up to put flowers in, so bringing flowers is appropriate too. I'm glad we were able to show reverence ourselves.

We paid for entry to the museums (to get into the temple is free) and we also got to see a real life monk! It was kind of surreal, and I feel a little silly for getting so excited, especially in such a solemn place. It was well worth it when we saw an ancient scroll that was marked as the "receipt" for Kira's head. It made us both giggle. :}

The Imperial Palace

After that, we went to the Imperial Palace to see the gardens. On the way, we passed some kind of music place with what we thought were amusing posters...


LOL. Fiddler on the Roof with a full Japanese cast looks so different!

While we were searching for the Imperial Palace, we found a map and noticed this sign, which tickled our fancy:


"Shelter for People Who Cannot Go Back Home." We did not find this shelter, but hope that there aren't many people in it!


We walked and walked and reached the palace. I didn't see the palace (or at least, I don't think the building we did see was it), but we did see the gate with some very formal-looking guards:



We continued on to the east gardens, which are open to everyone, and found some Imperial Koi in the moat along the way, opening their mouths at us for food. We didn't have any, though:


The gardens were large and beautiful, including bansho (ancient guard posts that are no longer in use), bamboo and other types of plantlife mostly unique to Japan, a tower, and so much more (all pictures are in my Flickr, which I've set to public; look for Dreamsenshi and my Japanese Honeymoon set at http://www.flickr.com ).


A nice man took our photo for us in front of the Iris Garden, which is my favorite part since it's near a pretty waterfall.

Tokyo Disneyland

After that, I convinced Terinati to go to Disneyland. He's never been before, even in America, so I had things I wanted to show him.

As we got out of the station to catch a bus to it, I realized I needed to use the restroom. I headed to the one near the exit and was startled to find my very first traditional Japanese toilet, the kind that are on the floors. =^oo^= I have to admit, it made me a little nervous because I was worried about making a mess or missing, but it was just fine! :) That is, until I went to wash my hands and found only the sink and no soap dispensers and no means to dry my hands, even though I got them wet. I'm not sure why there was no way to wash your hands; perhaps they expect that with that style toilet there is no way to get dirty, which is a fair enough assessment, I suppose.

When I came back out, Terinati had discovered a candy box called "Crunky Kids" and bought it. I've since tried a piece and have to say... it tastes just like it sounds. :} So, perhaps the Engrish is not a mistake. It truly has a Crunky flavor. :}


We arrived and the place was full of music, a parade, and I ran about showing him as much as I could. We started with the Jungle Cruise, which was interesting in Japanese, and hit the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Carrabean, etc. I regret that we missed Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, and Space Mountain (the last one was closed for repairs), but we got to see the most sentimental things for me, like Star Tours, and I purchased a cute pastry box shaped like Jack Skelington from the Nightmare Before Christmas. The rain had held off until we were done! Yay! But, we needed to get home...

We weren't sure which bus to take back, and although we've been saving up for two years for this trip, we didn't have much money, so taking a taxi back to the hotel would cost way too much. I remembered we had JR Rail passes for two weeks, so we went to redeem them only to find that we couldn't redeem them until we were back at the Tokyo station! =^><^= d'oh! If we'd remembered to redeem them back at the Ueno station on the first day of our trip, we would have been set. So, we paid our way to get to Tokyo instead, got our rail passes there, exchanged some money we got from our wedding dollar dance for yen, and then decided to explore the mall we were in.

It ended up being lucky that it wasn't a smooth plan because the mall had the cable that we needed to upload the pictures from the camera and was quite large and interesting to look at.


For example, one of the restaurants featured this delicious-looking pizza with mushrooms, sausage, bacon, and an egg on top. I'm totally going to try and make this when I get home!

After that, we were exhausted from walking around all day. The city was getting busy at night with people eager to go home, and I was starting to feel creeped out by how no one smiles at one another if they don't know the other person and how quiet everything is (although, that mall was REALLY noisy). We came back to the hotel and practically collapsed into bed, happy to have successfully filled up our day.

Anyway, sorry that I'm probably forgetting some details here in there. We must be off for today! Take care!! :)

Wedding and Day 1 in Japan :)

The Wedding

Hi, Everyone!

So much for blogging more often. :} It was a very busy week, so I'm glad that I took time off! At first, I think Terinati and I were just worried about getting things done, but when Thursday rolled around, I was so excited to see my friends RainShine and Pandamo come in that almost all of my worries were melted away. We stayed up too late catching up, ran around like crazy, and the wedding was beautiful, silly, and happy. It was so much fun to see all of our family and friends together, and I feel extremely lucky to have such wonderful people in my life.

While I intend to send out formal thank yous, I still think that blogging my gratitude now is important. Terinati and I were blown away by the support and generosity of everyone. We are going to have a great start, taking out debt and moving forward. In addition, I want to thank everyone who helped pull the wedding together with us. There are too many people to list, but in particular I want to give Anna special kudos for going above and beyond the call of duty; she didn't have to do all that she did, and she did it all voluntarily and without once complaining, and it made such a difference in how smoothly everything went that I know that the wedding wouldn't have been the same without her. :) Of course, this is not to overshadow all of the other hard work that went into the wedding from so many people. You totally blew us away! Thank you so much!

Unfortunately, we haven't received any wedding photos yet. In fact, right now I am typing on my laptop on the plane to Tokyo, without access to the internet, so if anyone has e-mailed photos, I will have to post them on Flickr later and provide a link. (as an update, we forgot our cord to plug in the photos, so we're going to have to try to find one while we're here)

Also, I want to say how much I miss everyone already! Not only were we able to reunite with so many, but I got to know many people a lot better. :) I want to work hard to keep in touch when we get back, even though I know I will be very busy with my two classes. :/ With some determination, we can make it happen!

Day 1 - Tokyo, Japan

So, to the honeymoon! Our journey actually started immediately after the wedding. As I planned, we stayed up until ungodly hours (I was up 24 hours on accident :} ) to get onto Japan time. I was worried that the anti-jet lag plan wasn't going to work, especially when around 3:30am on Monday morning Terinati and I started feeling queasy from lack of sleep! But, we took a nap, and now I am on Japan time, and I'm not even there yet! I'm happy, because we want to make the most of this trip.

The first plane we rode on was a Jazz Air Canada plane, and it was super cute! A lot of the people riding it were complaining about how small it was, but Terinati and I found it to be unique and cute. But then again, I'm always excited about new and different experiences. Everyone was friendly, and we managed to get through the next airport without too much trouble.

The plane we are currently on is very big, but super comfortable! I can honestly say I've never had such great service, food, and space on an airplane. It's not as comfortable as having a bed, but Terinati and I managed to get our sleep and relax. So, hooray! I am looking forward to the next meal, though. Part of me feels guilty because I haven't had a chance to work out, but I'm sure we'll make up for it with all our touring around once we're on the ground . . . which is only 7 hours away now!

Anyway, there's nothing else to say for now. I wish I was near enough to a window that I could look out, but then again . . . every time I've tried, I've been entirely blinded. :} That wing is awfully SHINY! Okay, more to come later! 8:35am Japan Time!

--6:15am Japan Time, Wednesday, June 17th

12 hours is a long time to wait eagerly to see a sign of Japan, but the flight was great and as we came in, we saw Narita and some of the surrounding area through a haze of cloud. I was very anxious as we stepped into the airport. I kept feeling relieved that we'd made it that far okay, but also heavily aware that we are on our own in a foreign country, and I've never had an experience like this. I also had thoughts such as wondering if Japan would be how we'd imagined, how we heard.

And then, we noticed our first major difference between America and Japan. The escalator in the airport was so silent! I didn't say anything at first, and then Terinati couldn't help but mention something to me. All of the escalators, elevators, car engines . . . every machine we've encountered so far, even the train, was absolutely silent. And the people have been too! I feel as though my mind is free to think, clear of the noise-clutter we normally have everywhere where I live at home. It's very peaceful. It's also strange to be in such a big city and walk down the street and have thunder be the only major noise.

We took the train down to Ueno station; the gentleman from Inside Japan Tours was very polite and made sure we got on in a timely fashion. We saw beautiful rice fields, houses, interesting hotels and apartment buildings . . . parking lots full of bicycles and verticle parking lots . . . We also couldn't help seeing some places from home, like Denny's, T.G.I. Fridays (really didn't expect to see that one!), McDonald's, Starbucks, and a few other familiar figures with different names.

After reaching Ueno, we needed a taxi to the hotel. It was a little disorienting being on the other side of the street, especially when with several cars it was still impossibly quiet. Every time Terinati and I spoke, I felt like we were interrupting a prayer moment in church or something. :} The taxi driver was very polite, and the taxi was amazingly clean inside and out. In fact, the whole area is very clean.

When we got to the hotel (I'll tell you where later when we aren't here anymore, for our own safety), we were greeted with gifts from Inside Japan Tours (a sakura tea set! I'm looking forward to having tea this morning, since it is a fasting day for us), a complimentary gift from the hotel (I chose a "happiness" pack which included bath aroma and some kind of "spicy" . . . hair gel? It's very Engrishy, so once we have figured out the picture situation, I'll show you more!), and then we got to pick out MORE complimentary gifts. I was feeling very spoiled, but fortunately one option was light-colored socks, which I needed because I foolishly only packed my black socks. Oops.

We came up to the hotel room and it's just very cool! While much smaller than American hotel rooms, it is extraordinarily practical. When we came inside, there is a spot to insert the stick attached to the key into the wall, which turns on the electricity in the room. So, when someone leaves, nothing can be left on, which I bet saves the hotel lots of money!

Immediately inside are slippers (too small for Terinati's feet! heehee) so that you can take off your outdoor shoes and switch into them. My feet are nicely snuggled into them right now... SO COMFY! Everywhere, there are instructions in Japanese and English, which is very helpful. The bed takes up most of the space, next to a couch which I suspect also can act as a futon of sorts.

I am sitting right now at a desk in the room next to a TV and a very convenient little hole in the wall through which the internet cable comes through. Above me is an air conditioning unit that adjusts the temperatue to the exact setting you desire very quickly by remote control (in C, not F), and on the ceiling is a radio speaker! It took us a while to explore and figure out that the controls are at the head of the bed for the lights and radio, which is very convenient; no stumbling to bed in the dark for us! We also have a mini-refrigerator, which I think is cool because we can go to a nearby store, pick up drinks, and stash them here for later. :)

But, none of these are the coolest things in the apartment. The bathroom takes the cake! Inside they provide toothbrushes with toothpaste capsules to use and razors. This is a big deal to me because anywhere I have traveled in the U.S., I've never had that; we packed our own toothbrushes and such. The toilet is very cool, with a heated seat if you choose to turn it on, and washing implements. =^oo^= It got better! The bath tub was a jacuzzi! We haven't gotten the jacuzzi function to work, but it doesn't matter! Terinati was just excited to see a bath that fit him, and after such a long trip, we knew we were going to need to relax our muscles before bed. The bath and shower water is just like the air conditioning unit in that you can set the exact temperature that you want it to be! It's amazing, and much easier than our fickle shower at home where the temperature fluctuates all of the time. Not only that, but there are dispensers in the shower for shampoo, conditioner, and face/body wash. :) I didn't need to bring anything but clothes!

We took pictures, but will have to show you later. I really hope we find a device quickly, or we will run out of space on our camera. :( d'oh.

After getting settled in, we decided to go out and get dinner. Inside Japan Tours recommended a sushi place just up the street . . . but there were tons of sushi places, and we couldn't read their signs to tell which one it was. :} lol. So, we decided to be adventurous and go a little farther, and outside of Tsukiji Sushi Sen, a nice girl beckoned for us to come inside. Since she was the first, we decided it must be fate and went inside. :) It was a very welcoming place, with a warm atmosphere. Everyone there seemed to know each other, or at least talked to one another as if they did, and we sat down and were only a little out of place. :} With the little Japanese I know, we managed to order water and pointed out some sushi we wanted to try, along with some tempura. It was delicious! There was one piece of sushi that looked like brains (it was something that was cooked with a blow torch, probably some kind of squid), and I affectionately called it "zombie sushi." heehee. It was delicious; it could eat it all the time. The sushi was so impressively fresh, and we immediately realized why. There were tanks of fish right behind the counter, which the chef was working with. Amazing! It cost about $40.00 after a blueberry dessert, and we felt it was well worth it. If there weren't so many new things to try, I'd hope to go back there.

After that, we decided to explore in the rain and saw a few interesting things, such as a cute pottery store with maneki nekos (one of them was posed just like our Tatsu, stretched out and arms out to the side), and then we saw portable shrines, and the Kaminarimon Gate before the rain started to get too cold and heavy, so we headed back.

So, that was our first day in Japan! I feel less anxious about getting lost or in trouble today, but it's only the morning! However, I do miss Stardust a great deal. I woke up, and my vision is pretty bad. I looked over at the couch and saw something dark on it, and for a moment I thought it was her, but quickly remembered that she wasn't here and that it was just the laptop case. :(

Anyway, we need to get going, so I'd better shower and we will be on our way! Talk later!

The Wedding Journey Up To Today

The Journey - Why Do People Work So Hard for "Just One Day"?

Two and a half years ago, Terinati proposed to me and a whole series of events were put into motion when I said yes. We'd been together for over a decade, so the reaction of most people was, "It's about time." But, considering how young we are, the timing just felt right to us.

When we started looking at planning a wedding, we realized two things right away; if we tried to have it in the normal scope of time that most people do, we wouldn't have enough money to pull it off, no matter how many corners we cut, unless we just went to a courthouse. The other part was that we live in a big city with tons of people and few places that are affordable and likable for having a wedding, so we actually needed to book places right away. Two years early, and we actually had to argue to claim our ceremony and reception site and time. Can you believe it?! When we told our friends this, most of them live in a much calmer, much simpler climate, and they just didn't understand. I know they thought we were exaggerating, and it's frustrating that people don't realize that within the United States there are so many varied sub-cultures that things really are that different from place to place. Just trying to get the wedding started, I lost two people who I thought were my friends. It was kind of a shock, but in the end I realized from going over our conversations in my head that it would have happened anyway, no matter what I did. So, I'm glad it happened then, even though it hurt a lot.

Terinati and I struggled tons to get things together. We had no idea what we were doing, our families both live very far away (adding to the guilt of trying to plan a wedding where nearly everyone has to fly to us!) so that we didn't have them available to be there through things, and throughout the beginning there was a lot of me doing research and then horrifying Terinati with the gloomy prospects of the lowest amount an event would cost us. It was extremely stressful getting the ball rolling.

Why am I bringing all this up? I'm nearing the end of my journey with Terinati now! Today is my last day that I go in to work before I start my vacation, and I'm looking back at our past selves and smiling because this whole experience has completely changed us. On Sunday while we were out on a most amazing all-day errand-date, we were marveling at how much more in love and happy we are with each other every single day. At one point while we had stopped to eat, Terinati said to me, "It's insane how hard we've worked just to put together one day." And then it hit me, and this is the revelation I shared with him that I want to share in my blog now. I said, "I don't think it was really all about the wedding day itself. I think all of this has brought us all closer together."

Friends that I didn't talk to regularly I am now more in touch with than ever before. Same with family! It just got us talking more after years of being separated. You have to communicate when you're planning a wedding, and now I feel like my real friends are here supporting me and every moment we've talked about all of this together I've learned about their dreams, their wedding experiences, their lives, and they've all learned new things about me too. That alone is beautiful! For me, it's really important to have close relationships. I don't want to be that person that only talks to you once a year at Christmas, or the person you avoid because you're scared I won't understand what you're going through. This has already been one of the greatest gifts.

I've learned how to be more of the person I want to be. When I got engaged, it hit me. I wasn't the girl I dreamt of being on my wedding day. I started eating better, working out more, and I lost 30 pounds from the time we got engaged. Terinati has lost even more than that! We have a new lifestyle, and I can honestly say I've never been healthier or happier in my whole life. I also started going back to school, and it has given me back so much confidence! At times I was like, "I must be crazy, planning a wedding, working full time, and going to school too!" but if I hadn't, I wouldn't be as happy with myself as I am today. I feel really proud of my accomplishments and the hard work that went into them. Finally, Illuminique has practically provided me with a new wardrobe, Anna has shown me where to go to be feminine and chill out, and finding the Princess Portal / The Lost Princess was a magical part of the process that linked me back into a deeper, more beautiful part of myself. Oh, and I can't leave out Kyriel, allowing my younger past self to come out again. And Athena, reminding me of music! Amanda and her exciting family!! Temple taking me to New York and getting me studio time!! Did I mention how much I love my friends? I'm sorry if I left someone out! You're all great, I promise! :) Even my co-workers have really brightened up my life and been really supportive with the wedding. =^--^=

Going through all of the planning, figuring ourselves out, and the financial planning and coordination . . . it's all brought us closer together and forced us to grow. The wedding isn't just one day; it's a journey, and I'm glad that I didn't miss it! I think if it were any other way, it'd be really depressing. :} I mean, it's going to be great to dress up with my girlfriends and be reunited with so many people I care about, but for me this definitely goes beyond the day. These are treasures I will have for my whole life, and I know that even after we get back from Japan, the adventure that Terinati and I are sharing right now is going to continue on in a new form. * smile * It's been a huge trust-building experience, probably the first one that Terinati and I went through as a couple as most of our personal goals have been separate in the past.

My advice to anyone else who is getting married soon: Don't miss the journey! Stop, even if just for a moment, and think about all of the things going through the process does for you. I know everyone's wedding is unique (humans are too complex for them not to be!), but I think it's impossible to not sit back and evaluate where you are in life and where you are going when such an event is approaching.

And, on that note, I must hurry off and get ready for work. =^--^= I think I'll be blogging more regularly now as the day approaches, though the blogs will probably be shorter than this one. I just woke up feeling like I had to say this all today. :)

Alright! Off I go!

May Princess Challenge

Another delayed blog! As the wedding gets closer, even without classes, there has been tons to do. I'm studying for two classes that will start upon our return to the United States from Japan on June 30th, because otherwise I know I'll fall behind and do poorly. I've also been working my heart out on putting together my song, which is now "One" instead of "We Are One," and recorded it on Thursday. I may go back to the studio one more time to do some touch-ups, but overall it's not horrible! I think that, as with anything, there will always be room for improvement. This whole experience has left me wondering if professional musicians are ever truly satisfied with their work, or if it's just me. Terinati and the mixer both thought that the song sounded "good," unflinchingly, but I think that unlike all of my experiences leading up that moment they were just giving me too much freedom to do what I needed to do and I should have been more picky. Either way, I have the song recorded and am going back to get the whole original mix put onto a DVD so that I have it, and perhaps I will do some changes when I go back in, but otherwise... it's done. Strangely, the world has not changed significantly and I am still the same person. :} I'm not sure what I was expecting, really, but it's weird. I guess it hasn't really sunk in yet.

Meanwhile, my goals and the May Princess Challenge have been in the back of my mind. On International Princess Day, May 5th, I made time for Kyriel and we watched Gilmore Girls. That may not sound significant, except that I had been really overworking myself and I don't think I'd seen her for a month or two. The main part of the challenge issued by Princess Skye was to increase awareness. Appropriately, we were watching the episode where Rory goes to her Yale dorm for the very first time. The first time Rory goes through, Lorelei tells her how she missed the moment being stressed out and worrying about getting started at Yale, so she made Rory go back through the dorm room, aware and appreciative of the moment. It was kind of a smack in the face for me; I've been trying to be aware, but I have been really stressed out. My ultimate princess day is coming, my wedding day, and I haven't been enjoying much leading up to it. Everyone keeps asking, "Aren't you excited?" More and more, especially, now that it's two weeks away. However, up until that day with Kyriel, I hadn't been enjoying things. I hadn't been relaxing enough to! I had been limiting my awareness to getting things done in a very check-list fashion and missing all of the moments.

This probably contributed to me getting the flu for two weeks. :} I was so stressed out! Between that epiphany and the flu, I had to slow down. I worked from home a few days because I didn't have much sick time, and I rested a lot. In this time I've learned even more about myself and my complex nature, and what's really important to me. I even realized that there were a few things I'd given up on because I told myself that was what I was supposed to do, that I needed to move on . . . but I'm still not ready to give up on them, really. One of those was my music. That may sound strange because it was part of my goals, so it doesn't sound like I'd given up on it, but I had. I purposefully sabotage myself in many ways, trying to keep myself from feeling disappointed by my lack of success. It's a bad pattern of behavior.

So, while I was sick and still pondering International Princess Day, I decided that I really deserve to be happy. I don't expect perfection out of life, but I deserve to allow myself happiness and to be who I really am, even if other people can't accept it. Therefore, I'm allowing myself to feel like a princess for my special day instead of a person who is making a bunch of other people feel obligated to show up and shower her with attention. :} Everyone deserves this at least once, right? And, if you knew the background of my life and how other "special events" have gone for me... well, I really deserve this one day. :}

I didn't realize how hard it was for me to allow myself pleasure. In my own way, I've kept myself in my own prison, punishment for failing at so many dreams I've had in the past despite my efforts. In a way, I suppose, I blamed myself for an awful lot . . . when I really shouldn't have. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, bad things happen. It doesn't make it anyone's fault. But, I guess I take it all pretty seriously and felt that there must have been a wrong way, and I missed it. It's probably a good thing I don't have Hiro Nakamura's super powers to go through time and space, because I don't think I'd be able to give up trying to find the "right way." In reality, I can only control myself, so it's only natural that there are other things beyond my ability to "make right," whatever right is. And, every bad experience I've had has ultimately led to something good, despite the hurt involved.

In taking time to be aware, I saw that I have support from people who really matter, especially Kyriel, Terinati, Anna, Illuminique . . . the people who haven't criticized my failures and just been there to try and help me along in their own, different ways, and have been supportive and always show some kind of care about my happiness. * smile * It's nice to have people who, while struggling through their own lives, care about me too. If good people like them can see that much good in me, then I need to take time to believe again too. No more blaming myself for all of the sorrow. I don't blame anyone; now, I'm spending more time appreciating what I have and learning to have faith in that I do deserve to pursue my dreams again. I've been growing in confidence slowly over the past years leading up to the wedding. It's strange how getting engaged lead to so much change. I honestly didn't expect much of anything!

So, for me, the challenge continues. This has actually been harder for me than anything else, to allow myself to feel more again. To allow myself to want things sometimes, a little selfishly, and to allow myself to form opinions that others may disagree with. To allow myself to be who I am, and to have enough confidence to take myself to the next level instead of forcing myself to be satisfied with what is sometimes a boring life. Going to school and working hard is all well enough, but I've been denying myself the feeling that I could do so much more long enough. It's time to really wake up. This sleeping beauty isn't going to stay under the surface all this time just to wake up and do nothing at all. My adventure is just starting. I don't know how it will turn out, but not trying is just boring. * grin * And to start, I'm going to enjoy the beginning of our "happily ever after" more than anything else we've embarked on together thus far. I've actually been planning for it being horrible! Can you believe it? I just didn't want to get my hopes up, to get excited. No more of that. How can I not be excited when we're more united than we've ever been? It truly is one of my dreams come true already. <3 <3 <3 From here on out, there's no more holding myself back. Only I can allow myself to be the princess I dreamed of being. Everything starts with me.

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Now, to update my goal progress from the original January Princess Challenge I made.

2.) Finish composing “We Are One” for the wedding in June so that it can be recorded in the studio.

05/27/09 - recorded!! Two discs and one flash drive of both the version with voice and just instruments.

3.) Work toward recording my other songs (this will start with getting decent recording equipment in my home).

May - We purchased new software, new sound card, and I have a lot of exploring to do here.

21.) Change my look to something that I like all of the time. I don’t think I’ll ever change my hair (whenever I think about cutting or dying, I just can’t see that happening), but I want to stop feeling like I’m going outside wearing clothes that embarrasses me. I want to wear something that I think speaks for how I feel about myself and the world around me. More feminine, less uptight, and yet still respectable! Or silly. I think I need some of both. This ties into the goal of getting rid of clutter (#7).

05/17/09 - Cut my hair for the first time in a salon since I was 15 years old. With LAYERS!

29.) Learn to make more dishes! Perhaps one a week, because more than that is insane. It’s tedious trying out new dishes, but I’ve discovered many recipes this way.

05/30/09 - despite being very busy, I've managed to cook several dishes since last month. :) I'm learning a lot. My most recent accomplishments were Barley & Asparagus and Yellow Starlight Cake. =^--^=

33.) Stock makeup that I like and works for me.

May 2009 - found eyeshadows that I like at Whole Foods! They're light and don't bother my eyes. Also found custom sparkle temporary tattoo sticks from Europe. AWESOME!

41.) Get a working ATM card. My current card doesn’t have a working pin (it’s the company; recurring issue for over two years), and I’m getting sick of not having cash on me because the bank is too far away and then feeling like a bum when I’m in a cash-only place and have to mooch off of my friends. Yuck. :/

May 2009 - FINALLY DONE!! :D :D :D

47.) Believe in what I am, and what my accomplishments make me. Sometimes, I find it hard to think things like, “I’m a musician,” when I compose music and can play some pieces pretty well, all because I’m not as good as I’d like to be. But, that’s not fair to me and how hard I’ve worked for certain things. That would be like an Olympics medalist denying the title they’re given because they don’t think they deserve it. There is a time to be humble, certainly, but there is also a time for self-acknowledgement and rewarding the self for a job well done!

05/30/09 - The May Princess challenge was critical to this goal. I didn't really realize how bad it was.

78.) Make my work environment appear more respectful. There is too much stuff on my desk, and not enough organization.

05/30/09 - this past week, I ordered new supplies and did a complete do-over of my desk. It needs some dusting, but it is VERY organized now, and older files have been scanned in to the system and the paper shredded and recycled. It's incredible how much more space I have. Now I just need some pictures to make it feel like home. :) My maneki neko is lonely!

So, two more goals are complete. Now, I'm going to go and enjoy the weekend with my Sweetie-kins. :) I'll keep following my dreams, having faith in people who matter to me even if it has been five years and our lives are completely separate, and doing what I believe is right. I don't know how I could ever expect anything else than following my heart, after all.

Take care, everyone!