Photo of the Day

I'm trying to practice manual mode more than just setting it on auto when I take pictures of my little one. Here he is at 12 weeks.

Picnic at the Park

Showa Kinen Park in Tachikawa is one of my favorite places to go because it's different experience every time I go there. There is so many different types of flowers and plants, so it looks different every season. I heard it was a great place to go and picnic underneath the cherry blossoms, so I did just that this past weekend.

Cherry Blossoms

I was battling a sore throat for a week before it turned into a cold, and I thought I was going through the different stages of it--that sore throat of doom, then the neverending runny nose, followed by the I-can't-breathe-where's-the-Vick's?, and finally, I'm able to release all this pent up green mucous inside me. Except after awhile, it was just the blocked nasal passages and clear mucous. I couldn't understand it. I was starting to feel better, but I still couldn't breathe and I lost my voice. Every time I would describe my symptoms to people, they would say I probably have allergies. Explaining that there's something about Japan where people who have never had allergies seem to get it bad here. Preposterous. I never had allergies before, so I couldn't have allergies, and I couldn't be like those other people. Perhaps I'm just coming down with another cold or just in the eye of this one. I even tested the allergy theory by walking underneath the cherry blossoms by the river, and I could breathe without any problems. Well, apparently I was wrong. I saw a doctor, and he confirmed that I had multi-symtoms of a cold and allergies. We just don't know what I'm allergic to. Now thinking back, I guess my body did start reacting once the cherry blossoms started coming in bloom two weeks ago, and now that they're beauty is fading away, I'm starting to feel better. I still don't think it's the cherry blossoms, though, and I don't have the time to walk up to every plant to figure it out.

With the on and off rain that's visited us and my sickness, I haven't been in the mood to take photos. However, my friends' beautiful photos of the cherry blossoms inspired me to go out there before it was too late (and I was able to test the allergy theory). How could I not? Especially since it's my first cherry blossom season in Japan.

I drove down to the Tama River in Fussa, and, luckily, found a trail lined with cherry blossoms.




I just can't believe that they only last a few weeks. I'm glad I got to take a few shots of them!

Pink & Chocolate Polka Dot Baby Shower

My good friend, Becky, is expecting a baby girl this upcoming May, so I decided to throw her a baby shower. Some people thought I was crazy to host a party since I already have my hands full taking care of two children (a newborn and pretoddler) while my hubby is deployed. Honestly, though, I found lots of enjoyment in planning the party for her. I'm not working right now, so perhaps it's because it makes me feel productive. Maybe because it's what I did in my past jobs (corporate events, though). Maybe it's because sometimes I want to be a special events planner. Mostly it's because it's my creative escape. My therapy.

After the initial excitement of hosting the upcoming party, I started wondering what I threw myself into. As I mentioned earlier, now that I'm a stay-at-home mom of two children, my budget is dramatically smaller than what it used to be. Sometimes I think when you don't have the money, that's when the creativity starts rolling out.

To cut costs, I decided to send an Evite to everyone instead of paper invitations. Despite my love for stationary, invitations usually either go into the recycling bin or filed away to be forgotten unless you're the honoree. This is why I always love Evite. It's fast, saves paper (and money!), and I can sweetly remind people to RSVP for the event. And, as a gift for Becky, I quickly designed her a paper invitation for her baby girl's scrapbook based on the Evite invitation.


Living in Japan is wonderful. Shopping in Japan is a bit tricky. Everything is practically double the price, if not more, than the United States. Not something that we were expecting to hit our wallet when we moved here. So I have four options: 1) Shop at the base exchange with a very limited party supplies section; 2) Find affordable stores to purchase items; 3) Shop online; and 4) Do-It-Myself. Well, I was able to do all four options to work with my budget.

Of course the base exchange doesn't have the kind of sign I was looking for--"It's A Girl." And I didn't want to purchase a sign online and pay shipping costs on top of that. So I just designed it and printed it for the party. Very simple! And at no cost! I clipped the letters onto a piece of yarn. This doubled for the first activity, "Who's That Baby?" where guests brought their baby pictures, and, you guessed it, guessed who's who.


I found these cute polka dot water pitchers at the Daiso (where mostly everything is 100 yen, which converts roughly to $1--well, a little bit more with the current currency rate). I bought two pink and one brown pitcher. I then bought a bouquet of these beautiful flowers and stuck them in the pitchers for table decoration. And, of course, everything needs a purpose, so they doubled as the prizes for the baby shower activities. The guests thought this was great! The other two games we played were "Guess the Mother's Measurements" and "Baby Shower Bingo." I've never seen people more excited to play Baby Shower Bingo in my life to win the flower pitcher/vase. It was lots of fun!


The room (free) that I reserved only had two tables to work with. I could have rented extra tables for food and gifts. We had a total of 12 guests, including the honoree and me, so I decided to keep us at one table--it's more intimate that way and then split up the other table with food and gifts. This decision helped me keep costs down.

My menu was simple: Mini Bacon & Cheese Quiche, Deviled Eggs, Fruit (Strawberries, Pineapple, Grapes, and Kiwi), Strawberry Cupcakes (another guest made these), a Giant Dark & White Chocolate Cookie Cake (I baked it!), Raspberry Lemonade, and Water. To be honest, the menu changed a few times. I originally wanted to make bacon & spinach quiche, but I forgot to add the quiche. And I wanted coffee cake (with coffee served as well), but when I forgot to buy the coffee cake, I forgone the coffee as well. It didn't seem to matter, though, the amount of food seemed perfect for everyone.




I love receiving diapers as gifts, and I always found diaper cakes so cute. So I made my first diaper cake as a gift for her. There weren't any cute receiving blankets at the base exchange, so I bought these Carters receiving blankets on Amazon. They matched very well with the theme!

I have a ton of foil wrappers at home, so I decided to design candy wrappers for Mr. Goodbar's as favors. And I found this cute round box at the Daiso for only 100 yen, so I knew it would be a great receptacle for them. And I'm glad that Becky liked it--she's going to use it to hold her little girl's hair bows. I think you're starting to get that I must always have a purpose when I buy something. I always think of Confessions of a Shopaholic when I shop. Not that I'm a shopaholic. Never.



Alright, hope you enjoyed the details of the baby shower as much as I enjoyed planning it!