Trip to Japan ~ Simply, Food

When people ask me what I miss the most about Japan, one of the first things that comes to mind is FOOD. Seriously, isn't that a basic need and desire of human nature? There are some Japanese foods that I could buy where I live, but not like actually living there.

When I had a family trip to California a couple years ago, I made sure that we would hit the Japanese grocery stores there. I was amazed with the selections... yeah... I was in heaven!

For the first time in 11 years, I was actually in Japan. Not in California, not in little Tokyo... real Japan! You might laugh at me, but I had a list of things I wanted to eat while I was there. I felt like if I miss this chance; who knows when my next chance will be?

My family and friends laughed at the list at first, but they were really helping me to cross the items off the list.

They took me to "kaiten-sushi". It is a sushi restaurant that you sit around and a conveyor belt brings the food and you grab a dish with sushi on it. They are so much cheaper than traditional sushi restaurants. Most of the dishes are 105 yen (which is about $1.35 right now). You may not believe me, but I can really pack them in when I am hungry. :)

I was so surprised to see the restaurant. There were few things that had changed since I left; the lay out of the seating arrangement was different, I mean instead of sitting around facing the conveyor belt;, there are booths around the belt, and you can order whatever you want from a touch screen at your booth. The dish stops at your booth and the light flashes to tell you that your sushi has arrived. Things change so much in 11 years! I had to take a pictures at this new found Japanese culture.

You just order what you want, and they will make one right there for you.

There were really good selections. Yeah, they are not same as you eat at real sushi restaurant, but they are pretty good. If you take someone like me, who was starving for Japanese food in general, I was like a kid in a candy shop.

Mmm... Am I done? Well, let me rest for a minute, I think I can go for some more.

When I had small class reunion, we met at an awesome restaurant, there I had bunch of yummy food (which I was able to cross some stuff off my list as well)...




When my mom and my sister took me out for shopping, we had lunch at the restaurant as well... Oh, they were so good...

Am I done yet? No, no way, I had to eat some Japanese junk food as well.

There were LOTS more other things that I ate, but forgot to take pictures because I was too excited about it. Such as ramen, Japanese style Chinese food (oh, they are soo good), very yummy cakes, and best of all, the home cooked food by my mom and my sisters. They are all excellent cooks, and I was so spoiled while I was there. Thank you everyone for feeding me!!

Has reading about all this food given you heartburn yet? There are a couple more pictures to share with you...

Tada! You know what, they are not real food. They are actually samples made out of wax to show what you can expect when you order that dish. I believe this was invented in Japan, and pretty much any restaurant you go to, you see samples like this in front of the place.

Japanese style kid’s meals... I was missing my family and wanted to show this to my kiddos.

I ate so much while I was there. I am paying the price for it right now, but it was totally worth it!

Revisited: Beadboard Garland for Fall

Here’s one of last fall’s projects—I thought I’d pull it out again for this year!

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I love the look of beadboard, and I’ve been using it for signs for months now (you can see some here), …but I also love the look of pennant banners, so I thought, “How about a beadboard pennant banner?”

Why not?

The first step is to draw out your pennants. There is no magic formula here, just do whatever looks good to you. My pennants are 7” long, and 5” wide at the top. I marked the top and bottom at 5” intervals, except I started the markings on the bottom after coming in 2.5” (because that’s half of 5). Then I just had to connect the dots!

Once my lines were all drawn, I used a table saw to cut along the lines. Note: You could also use a jigsaw if you don’t have a table saw!

Once you get the first piece off, you can use a fence to cut your parallelograms easily…


…but that’s not going to help when it’s time to cut the triangles off!

I ended up with ten little triangles. Rather than drill each triangle separately, I stacked them and clamped them together. Then I could drill five at once! This is a great time saver.

I base-coated all my triangles with Rustoleum Heirloom White spraypaint, but then I decided to get further color inspiration from candy corn! I used acrylic craft paint, and didn’t even worry about getting lines perfect or anything. Have you ever seen a perfect candy corn?? Another Note: OK, so now I know that candy corns are actually yellow-orange-white and not orange-yellow-white. Sorry! I don’t actually eat them! Bleah.

I used black acrylic paint to stencil on letters…

…and the next day I distressed and glazed all my little pennants.

I tied the pieces together with twine, and anxiously hung my banner on my buffet so I could admire my handiwork!

Whoops!

***blush***

Oh, that’s much better!

I like the little-bit-faded look the pennants have.

No tricks for me….just treats, please!

Want some other ideas for an Autumn banner? Well, how about a banner that just says “autumn”? The one below was actually the first one I made. For this one, I use vinyl as a “reverse stencil,” and sprayed the pennants with Rustoleum Summer Squash paint. You may notice that these triangles are all equilateral, so you can make any size/shape triangles you like!

This particular banner now lives on my sister’s buffet!
I like this little “fall” banner with the different fonts for each letter.

The possibilities are endless! What would you put on a banner?

(and if you don’t want to make your own…contact me through my Etsy shop and I’ll make one for you!)

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This project has been featured at Elizabeth & Co.

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
	The CSI Project
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Stone Gable
Beyond the Picket Fence	Someday Crafts
Knick of Time Mod Vintage Life	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party A Little Knick Knack
Cowgirl Up! The Graphics Fairy	{aka} design Coastal Charm

Link Love No.83!

So, I have been sharing the stories of my trip to Japan, and there are many more to tell. Also, every year I have been doing a Tea Rose Home blogaversary giveaway in September, but I haven't done that because I have been away... I am going to do that with some goodies I brought from Japan soon! So stay tuned. :)

Are you ready for the link love for this month?

I have seen so many bookends before, but this one is such a cutie! Annemarie's Haakblog shared these crochet bookends. Things like this put a smile on my face.


Have you already decorated your house for the upcoming season? Cherished Bliss used orange and aqua to decorate her home for the fall and shared the pictures on her blog. You should visit there to see them, because they are stunning!


If you are a biker or not, you will love this picture drawn by Grow Creative. I love the use of colors, they are simply adorable.


Blue Bird Sews shared this great tutorial for stretching wonky stars to make a baby quilt. I LOVE the fabric she used for this project, and the quilt design goes so well with it.


I love projects that use something worthless or ordinary and come up with jaw dropping creations. Carolyn’s Homework has done just that... She used brown paper bags from the grocery stores and created this amazing faux bay leaf wreath! I would love to give it a try.


Thank you everyone for sharing your talents!

I will be back with more stories from trip to Japan this week, see you at the next post. :)

What Do the Yankees See In Andruw Jones?

            There is no measurable statistic that supports Andruw Jones’ spot on the 2012 New York Yankees roster. None.  There has to be something that I am missing so if somebody can explain it to me, I am all ears. More importantly though, someone needs to tell it to Girardi.  Don’t get me wrong, he was fantastic last year in his role. Against southpaws, Jones put up an OPS of .923 as well as an OBP of .384 in 126 at-bats.

             

            It is now September (almost October) 2012, and for the life of me, I cannot wrap my head around the reasoning behind him getting playing time. He should have been shown the door a long time ago but if he is still here on September 29^th, I do not expect him to be cut with only one series left in the regular season. What the Yankees can do though is not put Jones on the postseason roster. It won’t excuse the ridiculous amount of leeway that he has received from the organization, but at least he won’t be able to hurt them when it matters most.

           

            Against lefty pitching, Jones is sporting an OPS of .713 to go along with an OBP of .297. Since the All-Star Break, those numbers turn into .524 and .262. Just for kicks, check out his numbers in September. If you don’t feel like it, .593 and .259. He has walked more than he has struck out but when you are putting up numbers like that, there is not even a way someone can say “Well at least, he has drawn a couple walks.” The more you break him down, the worse he looks, and that is not even taking his lack of hustle when he does play. On the rare occasion when he has to hustle, we’ve seen him strolling down to first seemingly without a care in the world. I know that is just pseudo-psychology on my part, but I am just sick to death of watching this guy play.

           

           I just cannot understand what the Yankee brass sees in this guy. I would kind of understand if he was a lifetime guy like Jeter or Posada but if the Atlanta Braves can let him walk, I don’t see why the Yankees can’t. Let Melky Mesa get some at-bats, he is an upgrade over Jones. His base running blunder aside, he has excellent speed, can swipe a bag, and play great defense while showing some good power. I would be fine with Chris Dickerson playing, I don’t really care who it is. When you consistently do the same thing over and over again while expecting different results that is insanity.

             

           The New York Yankees need to keep him as far away from the postseason roster as possible but I doubt that will happen. For some reason, they think that being a veteran trumps inexperience even if that veteran is completely useless.

Teixeira Played in Simulated Game on Thursday

From George King:

Because running is considered the biggest test for a lcalf problem, the news was positive Thursday out of Tampa where Mark Teixeira participated in a simulated game.

“He looked good, he ran about 75 to 80 percent,” said minor league head Mark Newman, who watched the workout. “He swung the bat well, hit some line drives.’’

According to manager Joe Girardi, Teixeira played an inning at first base but running will dictate when he returns.

“To me, the biggest test is running the bases,’’ Girardi said before the Yankees' 6-0 loss to the Blue Jays. “I think he can protect it a little bit in the field if he has to. Sometimes you get in a situation like he was in Baltimore and your mind tells you, ‘I got to go.’ ”

...

Girardi said Teixeira would play in another simulated game but wasn’t sure if it would be Friday or Saturday. While it’s likely he could join the Yankees during the four-game series against the Blue Jays, it’s more likely he will be back with the club Monday when the Yankees open a three-game series with the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium.

”You would like to know that he is 100 percent,’’ Girardi said. “But I don’t think you are going to know until you get into an intense situation.’’

I wouldn't push things, especially with those games on the Tampa turf coming up. Save him for the Boston series and hope those three games are enough to get his timing back.

Fall Porch

I have a confession to make.

Other than setting out a few pumpkins, I have never really decorated my front porch.

That’s a terrible thing for a blogger to say, isn’t it?

Well, that all changed this year (sort of).

A group of ladies came to see my house on a mini-“Parade of Homes” tour this week, and of course that sent me into a decorating tizzy.

Let’s just say I spent way too much money on pumpkins (that wouldn’t have happened if all my pumpkin plants hadn’t up and died on me this year).

The good thing is that my orange front door is right for the season!

I bought some new flowers for the one lonely flower pot.  The ones I bought in the spring were all dead.  I guess that happens when no one remembers to water them… (Yes, that’s a bike helmet in the background.  My apologies.)

I made my own version of this now-famous sign from Ella Claire.  I used different words (dessert, anyone??) and different fonts, but the idea came from her!

I nestled my sign, some grass clippings from my yard (the decorative kind…I really don’t let the lawn get that tall), and some pumpkins and gourds (the butternut squash and the acorn squash DID survive, despite their lack of water) along with some faux leaves in a cool old wooden box that I never know what to do with (usually it sits in a corner of my bedroom).

See what I mean about spending too much money on pumpkins?

Come on over for a visit!  I might even make some donuts!

This project featured at From My Front Porch to Yours 

and the All-Star Block Party.

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
	The CSI Project
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Stone Gable
Beyond the Picket Fence	Someday Crafts
Knick of Time Mod Vintage Life	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party A Little Knick Knack
Cowgirl Up! The Graphics Fairy	{aka} design Coastal Charm

Nova May Have Pitched Himself Off The Postseason Roster

From Wallace Matthews:

Last October, when the New York Yankees needed one more win to extend their season another round, they asked Ivan Nova to get it.

This October, they may not even invite him along for the ride.

Thursday night, facing yet another golden opportunity to create some separation between themselves and the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees turned to Nova.

And as he had in the fifth game of the 2011 American League Division Series against the Detroit Tigers, Nova turned to stone.

His frustrating, mistake-riddled performance, in which he allowed four runs and failed to last five innings, not only sliced the Yankees' margin over the idle Orioles in the AL East back to a single game, it also raised doubts about the value, if any, of including Nova on their postseason roster, let alone in the starting rotation.

...

The manager may have bigger fish to fry but that doesn't stop us from questioning whether Nova finally succeeded in not only pitching himself out of the playoff rotation, but right off the postseason roster.

Despite his supportive words, Girardi clearly doesn't trust him anymore in a big game -- he pulled him with one out in the third five days ago against the Oakland Athletics, and yanked him Thursday with two out in the fourth -- and his facial expressions tell you something his statements try to cover up.

Nova's maddening inconsistency is driving him bananas.

"He was big for us at the beginning of the year," Girardi said. "He ended up going on the DL, and after he had that great start against Tampa, we were hoping he could get on a roll. He hasn't."

Now, he has one start left this season, Tuesday against the Boston Red Sox in a game that in a perfect world really should be meaningless to everyone but him. And yet, there is every indication that it will wind up being important, and no guarantee that Nova will get the ball again.

"We'll see. We'll see," a tight-lipped Girardi said. "That's five days away. I have to worry about tomorrow."

At this point there's really no reason to start him once October rolls around. He hasn't been the same pitcher he was last year and the only consistency we've seen from his is consistent disappointment. I'm pretty comfortable throwing out a 4-man playoff rotation of CC, Pettitte, Kuroda and Hughes, although Hughes does scare me. But with that said, I'd even put David Phelps higher up on the pecking order than Nova.

As far as his start in Boston goes, to me that all depends on how important that game becomes. If it's a make or break game for the division I don't see how you can hand Nova the ball.

Trip to Japan~Bite of Japanese Pop Culture "Purikura"

I shared about one of my sisters several times on my blog. I have another sister that is 20 years younger than I. Yup, you read it right, 20! I got married and moved away when she was 2, so I really wasn't there to see her grow up. Also it was hard to have a "sisterly bond" with her.

One of the things I wanted to do during the two week stay was to spend some time with her and get to know her more.

Many nights we stayed up late till 3, 4 in the morning and talked a lot. She cooked for me (she is an excellent cook!), we watched movies together, went shopping... and we did "purikura" together.

What's purikura? Basically, it is a very high tech photo booth. I found a link that explains it very well, so if you are interested you can read all about it. Purikura is VERY popular among teens, and there were lots of pictures in my sister’s room as well.

I watched a documentary about purikura once on TV, and they were saying that it is so advanced that it will automatically make your skin look prettier in the photo, allow you to play around with the photo before you print it out, and send the photo to your phone too.

So, I am a very curious being, I decided to investigate this very popular pop culture of Japan...

Well... there were lots of young girls taking pictures as they were talking and laughing in their high pitched voices... I was a little embarrassed to even be there but decided to have fun with my sister, and I did it!

These are the pictures...

There is a suggestion on the screen of what kind of pose you should do for each shot. I really didn't know what to do, I just followed the instructions.

After taking the photo, we can choose the background, add or write things on the photo.

We had so much fun doing this together, we were laughing throughout the whole thing.
I think this is actually our first photo together in so many years.

As I saw on TV, purikura took really good pictures of me with flawless skin. I think I look at least 5, 10 years younger. Though, I didn't miss my sister mumbling "fraud"! I showed the picture to several of my friends my age; they all wanted to go take pictures at the photo booth. :) Yup, I tested purikura and it was a lot of fun and a cheap way to buy "happy"(it was 400yen, which is about less than $5). I can put my seal of approval on it.

The Laundry Room

I have a mental block when it comes to showing any project that has to do with my own home.  Furniture, signs, impersonal things…those are great.  But when it comes to a whole ROOM??  Well, that’s another story.

But the time has come to bite the bullet and show one of my summer projects:  the laundry room.

When we moved into this house, I was THRILLED that it had a dedicated laundry room.  In our first house, the laundry facilities were in an unfinished room in the basement (which was also slated to be another bathroom someday—didn’t happen while we lived there). 

In our next house, a rental, we had a laundry “closet.”  You know, where the washer and dryer are hidden away behind louvered doors in a hallway.

So this seemed like a big improvement.

Well, after 9 years in this house…I wasn’t so enamored anymore.

This is my real-life laundry room, folks—and with 8 of us in the household, I spend a fair amount of time in there!  Sometimes it makes me want to weep.

The biggest problem, as I saw it, was really idiotic planning of the electrical/water hookups and the dryer exhaust.  As you can see from the next photo, they are on opposite walls.  That meant that, in order to make the connections, the dryer had to sit about 8 inches away from both walls.  Ugh!

The washer also sat on a drip pan, which further limited it’s placement.  When I took the washer out, this is what I saw:

OK, so how often do YOU clean under your washer??

The churning in my stomach helped me to decide that a drip pan was unnecessary (there is still a drain under the washer).

Our wonderful contractor friend (the same one responsible for the workshop project) created a new dryer exhaust for me, on the same wall as the electrical hookup. 

The exhaust actually goes into the garage, where it makes an elbow and then exits the house (see above left).  Honestly, I don’t care about that little piece of pipe in the corner of my garage.  It bothers me FAR less than the wasted space in the laundry room.  And now there are two holes on the outside of the house, but I don’t care about that either!

We replaced the shelf with stock cabinets from Lowe’s…

And then…I BUILT SOMETHING!!

I had an idea in my head after seeing various laundry “dressers” online.  I didn’t have room for a dresser, so I built a laundry “tower.”  It is made out of 1x2 pine, and I used the Kreg jig I bought for Christmas for the first time on this project (yes, it took me 6 months). 

Want to see how it all turned out?  Step into my laundry room…

I used a can of “oops” paint (which I doctored a bit) for the teal-y blue color.  I have very little blue in my house, so this was a fun place to step out of my comfort zone a little!

I painted the cabinets white, and got some fun knobs from Hobby Lobby.

Here’s my beautiful laundry tower!  It works!  With the extra few inches gained from moving the washer and dryer over, there was suddenly enough room for baskets in the corner.  The tower allows me to stack them, but still use them for sorting.

I used chalkboard paper to label each basket for “whites,” “light colors,” “dark colors,” and “jeans & towels.”  Every Monday morning, the kids sort their own laundry into the baskets.  Then when I’m ready to do a load, I just pull the basket off the tower and dump it in the washer!  It’s brilliant, if I do say so myself!

I love the fact that I have some floor space in front of the dryer now.  And I love that I finally found a place to hang my first ever “Sunshine” canvas that I made last year!  (You may have noticed that I painted the laundry tower yellow to “coordinate.”)

Opposite the dryer, I hung a piece of pegboard, which I trimmed with some simple corner molding.  Now there’s a place for mops, a duster, extension cords, and a few things like a spare tape measure and scissors. (All of which the children have been threatened NOT TO TOUCH!)

The last touch…a cute rug from Target.  And now my laundry room doesn’t bring me to tears each time I look at it!

This project has been featured at Better After, Elizabeth & Co., Someday Crafts, and

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Linking up here:

Domestically Speaking	Elizabeth & Co.
Primitive & Proper	Thrifty Décor Chick
Friday Remodelaholic	2805
My Simple Home Life’s Simple Creations Friday	Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday
Funky Junk’s Saturday Night Special	The DIY Show Off Stone Gable
Beyond the Picket Fence	Someday Crafts
Knick of Time Mod Vintage Life	My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Perfectly Imperfect	{Primp}
Common Ground	My Repurposed Life
From My Front Porch to Yours	All Star Block Party A Little Knick Knack
Cowgirl Up! The Graphics Fairy	{aka} design Coastal Charm

My entry into 2805's Potpourri Friday Party   
                   is sponsored by Appliances Online.