“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Sunday, 29 April 2012

Knackered!

My goodness me - I'm absolutely knackered!!!!

FINALLY made it to the gym for a step aerobics class!!

I don't know how many months it has been since I last did aerobics in the studio and I'm definitely feeling it now!!

The routine wasn't even that hard, but months out of practice, my feet just weren't behaving themselves. Although I managed to pick it up in the end...unlike so many other people in the class.

A trip to the supermarket and a 20 minute walk home with heavy bags completed the workout.

As soon as I got home, it was straight to the kitchen to make dinner. I realised that I had too many veg - I'm going away on Tuesday so I'm thinking about making a whole load of stuff over the next couple of days and then just bunging it in the freezer. It's better than trying to eat the whole lot before I go or letting it go bad. 

So, so tired now. I'm really gonna be feeling this tomorrow.

Early night for me, I think!

xoxo

Saturday, 28 April 2012

A Chilled Saturday Night

So in a bid to save a bit of cash, I stayed in tonight.

I'm still waiting for my tax rebate (seriously gonna have to give them a call next week to get their arse into gear!!!) and also waiting for money for rent and bills from my flatmate. Until then, I need to be seriously careful with what I spend.

I actually managed to get through a day at work without any kind of energy drink - that's definitely rare! I was struggling from the boredom this afternoon, but the minute my last lesson had finished I was out of the door. Not just because I was dying to leave, but also because I had pretty badly violated the dress code and wanted to make it out the door without getting noticed!! HAHAHA!

Mission accomplished...I think!

So I've just been chilling at home in front of the TV, thinking about my holiday and getting jealous of people already on theirs. I'm so impatient - I think I'm just dying for a break from work. Whatever the reason, it's knackering me out just thinking about it! It's barely past nine and I already feel that I could pass out. 

Feels quite nice actually - I realised that over the last 2 months, this is only my second Saturday night in.

Chilling like no one's business!!!!

Think I'm gonna paint my nails!

xoxo
 

Friday, 27 April 2012

Jealous

Ufffff.....

I know I'm going to Nagoya next week and I know it's gonna be great.

But I still can't help feeling gutted that I'm not going abroad for GW. 

I'm so used to taking a minimum of a 10 day holiday at this time of year, and to be honest, I'm dying to get back in the sun and on the beach.

NO!!! Thailand doesn't count!!! That was study, study, study. I was barely outside except for going in and out of buildings and train stations and there wasn't a beach or a hint of sunbathing involved so don't even go there!!!!

HAHA!!

I guess I only have to wait a month until I hit up Guam but right now, that just seems ages away!!!

And people at work are being ****** too, so that's not helping my mood.

LOL - just the thought if Guam has put the smile back on my face!!

I'm also really bleurgh because I'm absolutely broke!!! I've spent my Friday night doing laundry and cooking up a storm. Which isn't necessarily bad but...I dunno.

*sigh*

xoxo

Thursday, 26 April 2012

Nyyyyaaaaaa!!!!!!

=))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

I've just got back from the travel agent.

You KNOW nothing puts a bigger smile on my face than the smile I have after booking a trip.

And this time it's....

Guam!!!!!!!

YAY!!!!!!

Gonna be celebrating my birthday in style this year - I mean, it is the last year of my 20s after all and it's the perfect way to spend it. Not only is it Guam and my birthday but it's also gonna be a very special trip because it's my last trip in Asia with my amazing and very special travel buddy who will returning to the UK this year! =(

These 3 reasons are why this particular trip is gonna be an absolute BLINDER! We only have 3 full days which are gonna be beached and partied out to the max and I am so excited it's not even fun! Just over a month to wait.

And if THAT wasn't good enough, I paid for my ticket to Nagoya today, so I'll be off next Wednesday to see my girl.

It makes work so much easier when you have a trip to look forward to!

So excited I can't keep the smile off my face!

xoxo

Wednesday, 25 April 2012

GW

This is my fifth year in Japan and I have never spent Golden Week here.

Put off by the crowds and the hiked up prices, I've always travelled South East Asia at this time of year. First it was the Philippines, then Bali, Malaysia and Singapore and then Bali again.

But because I was in Thailand for the whole of February, I can't afford to go away this year.

Super sad.

HOWEVER, I got a fantabulous surprise when I went to Thailand. I met some amazing people including a fantabulous woman who just so happens to have moved to Japan this month!

YAY!!

She reminds me so much of me, it's not even funny, and our ability to gossip for hours comes second to none.

So this year, I will be heading over to Nagoya to see her. I've been saying for years that I really need to see more of Japan, so why not start now?! Super pumped - I'm taking the long, awful bus trip over there, but it's so cheap and given the finanical state that I'm in right now, I can't be throwing away 10,000 yen one way on the shinkansen.

I only got paid today and 95% of it has gone already. I had to send a mammoth portion home to pay my mum back for my flight to the UK, then there's rent, health insurance, pension, bills, food shopping.....and I'm left with bugger all. DYING for my tax rebate - I wish these people would hurry up!!!! There were some issues with the account I wanted to get it paid into so I'm still waiting to receive it. Grrrrr....

On a fabulous note today, my ex-roommate's wife came to visit. And she brought me some mini Flakes as a pressie!!!!! I used to LOVE Flakes, even though they make a complete mess when you eat them. Thing is I've scoffed 8 of them already and the chocolate isn't as good as in the UK, so I'm feeling really, really sick now! HAHA!

I've also spent most of the day looking at trips to Guam too. I've decided to celebrate entering the last year of my 20s in style - and why the hell not?!

xoxo

Tuesday, 24 April 2012

YAY!

HOW gorgeous is Tokyo today?

22 degrees, blue skies, the sun's shining, I'm in love with what I'm wearing, I've got the music blaring and am poncing around all over the place!!!!

I honestly feel like I'm in holiday mode. I've got that feeling of excitement you get when you're about to go on holiday.

Crappy bit is, is that I'm not planning on going anywhere!!!

DOH!!

I've just come back home after my Japanese class and I just feel like grabbing a whole load of friends, loading up with food and booze and hitting up the beach. 

But all I've got to look forward to is an afternoon of housework and an evening of work.

Talk about putting a downer on my mood!!!!!

On a more positive note, the fruit and grain bars from Bagel&Bagel are absolutely AMAZING!!!!

Enjoy this beautiful weather lovelies!!

xoxo

Monday, 23 April 2012

I Did It!!!!

LOL - I'm pretty sure that this entry is gonna be too much information but I'm going for it anyway!!!

So you know that I took the leap into the world of laser hair removal last year.

OMG - it's amazing never having to shave my armpits....9 sessions and the hair has completely gone. I could have stopped at 7 to be honest, but I didn't wanna have to shave AT ALL - even if it was like once a month so I went the whole hog and got the lot permanently removed.

After a whole load of debating, I went back to start the removal on a new area....

DOWN THERE!!!!!

LMAO!!!!

I've been thinking about doing it for the best part of a year, but I have always been put off because, well, it's painful - I'm not gonna lie - and it was bad enough on my armpits....the thought of having that pain in an even more sensitive area was so damn scary, I just couldn't do it.

But then I was doing the math.

The amount of money that I have spent waxing over the last 11 years is SHOCKING!!! Even when I was doing it myself and not even going to the salon it was still costing a fair bit doing it every month. Even though laser is a whopping 15,000 yen a session, the results after about 6-8 sessions will be permanent. It is costly but it's defintiely worth it int he long run so I decided to just suck it up and go for it.

No joke - I was so nervous. I had a consultation before and even though I knew what to expect having had it done on a different area before, all I could think about while the woman was talking was how much it was gonna hurt. She did give me the option of going just for the bikini Y-line, but I wanted the same area removed as I normally have waxed...which was the Y, I and O lines!!! Sorry guys - if you can't work that out, I'm not gonna go into THAT much detail but girls who are no strangers to waxing know what I'm talking about!!!! HAHAHA!

So I'm lying there....got my goggles on....can't see a thing...and then my beautician just starts lathering this gel on. It was so cold and she didn't warn me what she was about to do (which is really rare - every other time I've been in, I've had a Japanese running commentary of everything that was going on), so the shock made me jump! And then she didn't warn me that she was about to start zapping so the first hit also made me jump!! I had to ask her to just tap the area that she was about to zap so that I didn't feel so shocked all the time!!

Did it hurt? Yeh it did!!! But it wasn't AS bad as I thought it was going to be. Of course, the I-line was the worst - had quite a few clenched teeth moments there but overall, I think maybe waxing hurts more...it takes longer that's for sure. Today I was in and out in like 20 minutes. It wasn't even that the procedure took that long - it was the applying gel time, scraping it off, washing the skin down thta padded it out a bit. The skin feels divinely soft and smooth now it's amazing. And that's after just one session.

Looking forward to seeing the final results at the end of the year!!

LOL - if it's tmi for some of you - sorrrrryyyyy!!!!

xoxo

Sunday, 22 April 2012

Gomen Gomen!!!!

OMG I feel soooo bad!!!

I totally made a client cry today.

And we're not talking about a little sniffle and eyes welling up here...

I'm talking, like, C-R-Y-I-N-G.

Whooooopppppppsssss!!!!

I've taught her before and I remember in the first lesson I saw her I did so much work with her on how to expand when she talks and the different techniques that she should adopt to help her. She's an intermediate client and I'm always much tougher coz they're at a level where they should be pushing themselves harder.

So I was catching up with her and she was bouncing back these one word answers, so when I was writing down something on the paper, I kinda just bombarded her with questions like "Who did you go with?", "What did you do?", "Why did you think that?" I don't know if it's coz I wasn't looking at her when I was saying them, or because I reeled them off so fast that made the approach seem much more aggressive than I intended it to be, but when I looked up, she had just started crying.

I was so shocked! She had taken my lesson before and it was exactly the same and coz we'd covered the whole expansion thing before I couldn't get what was wrong.

And then she asked me:

"Why are you angry at me?!"

I was like OMG nooooo!! The poor thing thought that coz I was asking her questions when I was writing something down and then went quiet (which was supposed to be her thinking time to answer them), she thought I was mad at her for not being able to answer the question.

Whoops!

OMG I felt so bad!!! I had to tell her about 4 or 5 times that I wasn't mad at her and kept apologizing over and over. Then the tears just suddenly stopped and she was smiling again.

HUH?

I flagged it with another member of staff coz I wanted to make sure that she was OK at the end of the lesson.

And then later I got told that she was super happy with the lesson and there was no problem.

HUH?

Hmmmmm......super suspicious of that.......with the evaluation system in place, I'm sure I'm gonna find out soon how she REALLY felt.

Still feel bad though. Gonna have to watch that I think!! To be honest though, I was actually surprised she even came back for another lesson with me coz after the first one, I honestly felt that my teaching style was stricter than she could handle, so it was a shock to see her again.

I guess we'll see!

xoxo