One Year in Okinawa

What a year...

 It's hard to believe we have already been here a year. On this day last year we were landing, having no idea what awaited us.

For Victor, it has been a year of A LOT of work, including a two month stint in South Korea. His goals for this upcoming year is to see more of this beautiful island (to catch up to me). He wants to go scuba diving more, and we want to put his Naval Academy education to good use and go sailing.

I want to participate in more cultural events, and have many more beach days :).

Our year in Oki has included a lot of traveling, which I really hope continues. We love it here, but I think the key to loving it so much is to leave ha ha. But really. Island fever can be real, and being able to leave helps me to see how special of a place Okinawa is.

We love it here. The people. The food. The incredible scenery. And so much more.

Happy one year! Here's to two more that we hope to make the most of.

Books Read the Second Half of 2013

I am ashamed to post this, but I must be held accountable. I did terrible in how many books I read these last five months. It's shameful!! That being said, I really plan on doing better this year. Consider it one of my New Year's Resolutions.

Murder on the Orient Express: it was ok.

I read Persuasion in exchange for a friend of mine to read Wuthering Heights, which I love. This book was good. Not my favorite Jane Austen of course, but the new BBC production of it was great.

MWF Seeking BFF was a book club book and I loved it. I loved and could totally relate to her points about the dynamics of making new friends as adults. I highly recommend it.

The Aviator's Wife was also a book club book, and it was ok, but if anything it got me interested to read the actual writings of Ann Lindberg. She's on the top of my list for 2014.

Man's Search for Meaning was wonderful. I said this on Goodreads about it: Viktor Frankl is an amazing man, and an incredible psychologist. This may be my new favorite book about the Holocaust because of Frankl's structure of exploring what the human spirit can endure even under the most horrific circumstances. It's not just a play by play of Frankl's experience in a concentration camp: it's discussing what he learned and what he observed in the behavior of others. I look forward to reading more of Frankl's works.

SO, I have a lot of reading goals. I plan on participating in this blogger's book club because her selection of books for this year already includes many books I want to read. I also still have my book club here in Okinawa to look forward to.

What were your favorite books you read this year?? Share, please!

Merry Christmas and Alooooha!

Warning: picture overload.

A year ago when we moved to Okinawa, we said to my family that we ought to try and meet "half-way" for Christmas. Half-way just happened to be Hawaii. Such a rough place to have to meet ;). We are so happy and blessed to say that it completely worked out. Victor and I were able to take a government flight there a few days before my family joined us, and we got on a flight the morning after my parents flew out. 

We had such a wonderful time doing all the typical Oahu activities: Pearl Harbor, Waikiki, North Shore, Polynesian Cultural Center, Laie Temple, and Waimea Falls. Before my fam got there, I had a grand old time doing "American" activities I hadn't done in a year such as Target (!), and eating at fine establishments like Wendy's, Arby's, Outback Steakhouse, etc. If only Hawaii would get a Chipotle and HomeGoods. 

I was also so happy to see my niece! She is at such a fun age and man, I can't tell you how much I miss her already. She also loved seeing her Tio Victor (last year she was still in the stranger danger phase and didn't warm up to Victor very fast) and it was the sweetest thing. I'm just so grateful for family. This trip was a little hard to come home from after being able to spend a glorious week with family. I didn't want to say goodbye. 

And now for the photo dump!

 ^^^these guys went skydiving! still the funnest thing I've ever done^^^

We missed my sister Camille, who is serving her mission in Guatemala, but we got to Skype with her on Christmas day, and it was great. Luckily she wasn't upset at us for living it up in Hawaii without her.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Love you all. 

I still hate the elf on a shelf...

But...

This one cracked me up. My favorite 16 year old (that is in Young Womens with me) set their family's elf up like this:

Wrecking Ball Elf.

Made me chuckle.

Merry Christmas! We are {hopefully} starting our Christmas travels tomorrow. Let the government flight adventures begin!

Tis the Season...For a Holiday Rant

So, I hate the "elf on a shelf." HATE it. It's mostly the whole concept of "I'm going to post a picture EVERY day on facebook so everyone can see what my elf is doing" that I can't stand. I DON'T CARE! (Even the lady on the radio tonight was talking all about where they found her elf and I wanted to throw up). There seriously can be a semester long course of social media common sense. No one wants to see the stupid elf on a shelf clogging up their newsfeed every day! Why, people?? This sounds dramatic, considering the only reason I have unfollowed people from social media is too much political posting, but I truly am removing people from my newsfeed this Christmas season who fall into this trap. I'll have to make reminders to bring them back after Christmas. I have already unfollowed several pinterest boards, because I personally can't stand it. I don't get why it's so ridiculously popular. Man, it feels good to get that off my chest.

While we're on the Christmas theme, can I share some holiday songs that need to just go away? Let's see:
The number one answer to this, without a doubt is "Christmas Shoes," but that's a given, obviously.
"Little Drummer Boy": what does that even have to do with Christmas??
"Santa Baby": slutty and annoying.
"I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas": Stupid stupid stupid.

There is one song that should be on this list, but I can't bring myself to do it, because it's a guilty pleasure of mine, and the music video?? Priceless. Oh, George Michael.


Are there any other annoying songs I'm forgetting?
Anyway, Happy December! I sure do love Christmas time.

Arashiyama and the Monkeys

Arashiyama is the neighborhood on the outskirts of Kyoto and it is so beautiful and charming. And man, those fall colors! So, we climbed to the top of a mountain to mix and mingle with some of Japan's native monkeys. That was such a fun, random experience. Those monkeys are drama. They pick fights constantly with each other when you are trying to feed them, and if you look them in the eye, they freak! One caught me looking at it and got very upset ha ha. 

 I posted the above picture because the sweetest old man who owned this little drink stand really wanted to take our picture. The people in Kyoto were just so nice. The people here are definitely a reason we love Japan so much.

Fall Beauty in Kyoto

While everyone was raving about fall temperatures and colors back at the end of September, I was still beaching it up everyday in Okinawa. Finally, I get my turn to rave about the beautiful fall colors this year. Kyoto, Japan is absolutely gorgeous, especially in the fall with all those vivid red Japanese maples. We had such a great time with our friends Shannon and Scott (besides it being much colder than what we were used to ha ha).

The first day we rented bikes from our hotel and stopped at various temples and shrines throughout the city: Kyoto has hundreds of them: it was the one city spared from WW2 bombing because of all its historic buildings. At the end of each night, I relaxed in the Japanese onsen (public baths) in our hotel. Victor wasn't much of a fan, but I loved it so much.

 ^^Our trusty bikes^^

What a beautiful place. If you only go one place in Japan, it needs to be Kyoto. It's everything you imagine when you think of Japan.