Kon'nichiwa.

We're back from our whirlwind trip to Japan! The time went by so quickly and we were able to see so much in that time that I can't believe we have to go back to work tomorrow!

I am nervous about the jetlag -- I didn't get much sleep on the plane ride over and was absolutely konked out by the time we arrived in D.C. The 13-hour time difference meant that while we left 12 hours earlier in Japan...it was only one hour later in our new time zone. Jamie and I had planned on getting up at a normal hour so that we could get back on schedule as we could this morning. Instead, we somehow slept through the alarm and woke up at an embarrassingly late hour. As in the latest either of us have ever slept in our lives...by a few hours. When we finally woke up...it was almost 2...PM. Sure that would be 1am in Japan time...and I had only gotten about 1.5 hours of sleep the previous night...but still. Shameful.

As if to shame us more, of course, it was a beautiful day outside.

And of course, I have to get up for work in about five hours and I am not the least bit tired.

Since we were in Japan for such a short amount of time, our days were packed full of things to do and see. As such, by the time I got back to the hotels I just collapsed into bed. So...I didn't prepare any posts while I was gone. Still, since this blog has really become most valuable as a tool for me to look back and remember such times, I figured I should at least try and go through my week in Japan here. So I'll try...bear with me. And if you can't, just take a look at the pretty pictures and skip to the next post instead.

Jamie and I left D.C. on Saturday afternoon and arrived in Japan on Sunday morning. Combatting jetlag as best we could, we vowed not to nap and instead jump right into things. We navigated the Japanese subway system -- which is nuts -- and headed to Ueno Park to see the cherryblossoms. Granted, there were cherryblossoms everywhere in Japan, but not in the concentrations we saw at Ueno Park. It was wild.

We walked around the park and got to see some shrines and street vendors. One observation about Japan is that it is a very colorful place.

We hopped back on the subway and went to the opposite side of Tokyo to visit Shibuya (which is basically the nightlife center of Japan.)

And while there, we crossed the "busiest crosswalk in the world" according to something Jamie read.

Mind you, this is the crosswalk at a not-busy time (Monday evening).

Anyway, it is ridiculously late for me to be going to bed on a weeknight and tired or not, I need to give it a try. I'll update again soon with more pictures and with some of my favorite observations about Japan.

Set to Jet.

There are about a hundred different things I should be doing right now...none of which is "update my blog."  But update I will.  Maybe it's procrastination from packing.

That's right.  Packing.  Jamie and I are headed to JAPAN tomorrow afternoon!  My school is out for Spring Break and Congress is on recess...hurrah!  Of course, we get to travel with my parents which has many great benefits including having someone fluent in the language and the fact that if Jamie and I had to pool together our savings for this trip it would have been a much shorter voyage.  Maybe something along the lines as a trip to Alexandria or something.

It is pretty daunting to think of the fact that we will be traveling so far for so little time.  It gives me a headache to think of returning to work the day after returning.  But so worth it.  I will be sure to take lots and lots of pictures.  While, I will not be able to blog from Japan (without paying exorbitant quantities of yen), I will try to make a point of writing something down each day and do a series of back posts when I return to the U.S.

But now, for something completely different.

Jamie and I went to the National Opera to see Porgy and Bess yesterday.  It was wonderful.  While I was familiar with the storyline and the music, I had never seen the actual opera.  It's nice when the male lead is a Bass-Baritone like my man, and not one of those Tenors.

While the show was fantastic, there was one mishap.  Unfortunately, the mishap had to happen at the most cringe-inducing time too.  On the final note, of the final song for the female lead (Bess), with hands in the air and hitting that high note, one of the walls came crashing down.  The man in the song saw it coming down and immediately rushed to safety...not thinking to pull her out of the way.  The audience was gasping/screaming and Bess was too wrapped up in her song to realize until the last second that she was about to get a three-story piece of plywood falling upon her head.  She crashed right through it, leaving a Bess-shaped hole in it and the curtain came rushing down.  The show went on after a 30 second pause.

Fortunately, Bess was okay and only looked embarrassed by it when it came time for the curtain call.  I was mad at that guy for not pulling her out of the way in a great show of heroism.  But, I'm sure it all happened so fast that he couldn't do much...

Jamie, bless his heart, turned to me immediately after the wall came down and said: "...um.  I don't think that was supposed to happen."

Okay.  So I now I should pack.  Prepare yourself for some pictures of authentic, Japanese Cherryblossoms when I get back.  I love getting a double dose of them in Japan and in D.C.

Oh Dubya.

While I love my dad and think he is the cat's pajamas we do not generally see eye to eye when it comes to great American leaders.`

Remember when W wiped his glasses on some random lady's shirt and then laughed about it on camera? No? Thank goodness for YouTube.

This is like that, except now he's a former President...wiping off a HANDSHAKE...on another former President...Bill Clinton.

Head-Exploding Cuteness.

Such a proud auntie. I literally got this video a minute ago and I cannot wait one more second to share it with the adoring masses.

Just One of Dem Days.

It's been one of those days where everyone (well, not everyone, but definitely more people than I could count on one hand) asks me "if everything is alright?" While I know I feel dead-tired...apparently, I look dead-tired too.

Must be time for some acapella simulator. You know you want to try it. It's way cool.

Go Time.

This has been all over the interwebs lately, but I figured I shouldn't let that stop me from posting it here. After all, I've made something of a habit posting Ok Go! videos here...(in case you are feeling nostalgic, they are here and here.)

This latest one features one crazy, CRAZY Rube Goldberg machine. And this time, we are given some hint as to how many countless attempts and do-overs they must have done to get it just right. Bless their hearts and paint-covered faces...

Coming Out of My Posting Snoma.

It's been a hot minute since I've posted. Snowpocalypse/Snoverkill ended up creating a Snowcation that lasted an entire week. That's right...schools were closed for the ENTIRE WEEK. That snow dance was potent stuff.

Despite having that time off of work, things were busy around here -- the impending return to work kept me on my toes...bracing myself for the backlog of paperwork that would follow. Things are still crazy at work, but I thought I would check back briefly.

Despite the fact that the snow is melting away nicely (although we are supposed to get a little more tonight), I am going to write about the biggest drawback to snow in D.C. That is the parking situation. Normally, I never have any problem parking in front of my house...it's perfect really. However, when you dump 30" of snow on a city that normally gets a quarter of that in a winter people and snow plows don't know what to do with themselves. Cars and streets can be shoveled out, but at the expense of any other car-less spot. The result is HUGE piles of snow on the side of a street where a car would normally park. Those huge piles then ice over and become solid blocks of ice. Since we only had four cars parked on our side of the street the night of the storms...there were only four parkable spots on our street. SAD TIMES.

Needless to say, I saw many scenes out of Lord of the Flies play out on our block. People putting trash cans in the spaces they meticulously carved out for their cars while they went to get groceries, only to fight with someone when they came back and found their cans tossed onto a pile and another car in that space. I even got yelled at for putting my trash cans out to be collected because someone assumed I was trying to save a spot. It was not pretty for a while. Fortunately for me, I had a nice stockpile of parking karma and always managed to find a space when I needed one. But...umm...I haven't been to the "real" grocery store since before the storm. Thank goodness for our produce delivery! And the convenience store on our corner!

Fascinating, I know.

Anyway, something that is fascinating (to me at least) is this! It's Jamie! Looking kind of bored! On TV!

Okay, so it's C-SPAN which probably doesn't count...but it's fun anyway. He has been working hard on the Toyota recall stuff and has been educating me on all the precautions I should take for my Prius. The good news is that most of it doesn't apply to me since I have an "older" model.

I'll be honest...after watching the first few minutes of that...I'm happy with my job that is chock full of surprises and adventure.

SNOverkill.

I know I said it would be the end of the snow-related puns...but I liked the name for the new storm that's currently hitting us. Gah! Another snow day tomorrow...which brings our total up to four snow days so far. Wow.

Here's a fun video I found that shows the snow accumulating during Snowmageddon...

I had a 3 and half hour conference call for work this morning and that tired me out. I have got to get back into the groove!

SNOtorious B.I.G.

...and end of snow-themed puns. Because Snowmageddon (it's official name) is over. Jamie and I survived with nary a scratch and thankfully, we never lost power. As an added bonus, the storm kept our friend, Jason, stranded in D.C. and stretched his original two day visit into a more acceptable four day visit. Hooray! Granted, we couldn't really do much to entertain since we were stuck indoors for the duration of the storm...but I can safely say that many games of all varieties were played.

I was beginning to get worried on Friday morning when 10am rolled around and there wasn't any snow. I felt guilty for my glee at the Snow Day without the snow. Jamie even got off of work early that day because people were trying to get home and the facilities were closing early. To celebrate our unexpected vacations, Jamie and I took a glorious nap. When we woke up (an embarrassingly long time later) we checked the windows and began brainstorming snow-related puns for "disappointment" or "flop".

Then...it began to SNOW. Really, really SNOW. Ever heard of "thundersnow"? It actually thundersnowed and the National Weather Service extended it's blizzard warning to include the metro area. I was glued to the window. In the end, we had a record-breaking snowfall -- the 4th largest in D.C.'s history. 27.5" of snowfall with 18.2" of new accumulation (at Reagan National Airport). This is what it looks like when we have that much snowfall (although, you may note that the storm is still not over in these pictures)...

Our gate before the first round of shoveling (about 1/2 of the way through the storm).

Sharing the road. Our street is actually really well-plowed compared to most others, so it was pretty well-used by pedestrians, cars, and skiers.

Okay, so this isn't "my" Prius (it's my neighbor's), but the important thing is that you wouldn't even know that there is not a red car under there.

X-country skiing in front of the Capitol Building.

JLo and J-Bomb in front of The Supreme Court.

SNOW much fun! (...so maybe that was the last pun.)

Snomageddon was sufficiently large enough to shutdown the Hill tomorrow because the roads are still really bad. I also am getting another Snow Day tomorrow...so I'm beginning to cross over from feeling so excited about the day off, to panicked about the workload when we return. I spent a good five or six hours tonight working in the hopes of combatting some of that.

In addition, I am supposed to take a work-related trip to Williamsburg, VA on Tuesday. I have taken this trip every year ever since starting at Prep, and every year it is accompanied by some weather-related event. So, when I woke up this morning and saw that there was ANOTHER snow storm approaching and expected to hit D.C. on Tuesday, I vowed to worm my way out of it if weather looked bad on Tuesday morning.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times...well, that would make me an idiot.

Silenced.

Quite literally the second I published that last post, my phone buzzed with the sweet answer to my prayers...

SNOW DAY!

I [heart] my beautiful public charter school that no longer follows DCPS inclement weather policy. And now...a laughing baby: (my personal favorite moment is at 35 seconds when he totally has that "aw man you fooled me again" toss of his head and laugh)

Snowmageddon.

Okay. I won't spend too much more heartache on this, but after celebrating the fact that our school finally decide to depart from DCPS (which never closes)...DCPS does the unthinkable and decides to close early tomorrow. DCPS! Early dismissal!!

Of course now that we are not tied to DCPS and their inclement weather closing policy we will be open for regular school hours tomorrow. Dagnabbit!

snOMG!

Remember that little pseudo-blizzard we had on Jamie's birthday? Apparently, it's twin storm is hitting DC tomorrow. The weather service is predicted 18 to 24 inches of snow! IN D.C.!!! Of course, we couldn't have a storm disrupt the regular school day, so it's predicted to hit at the most annoying time of the day: late enough that they wouldn't close schools, but early enough to make it really difficult to leave. Well, shoot.

This is the second weekend in a row that we have had significant snow on the weekend. The dinky little snow event that we had on Tuesday night didn't cut it. I excused Snowpocalypse '09 because I figured it was some freak event -- it was officially the 7th biggest snow storm DC has ever had (it hasn't been added to the list yet, but it was officially counted as 16.4") since those little American meteorologists began recording such things -- and it was so beautiful that I couldn't get mad at it for missing the school week by a few hours. But for it to happen twice in two months? That's just Mother Nature being spiteful.

I WANT MY SNOW DAY! It's time for the annual (or maybe biannual) snow dance...

Puppies!

I meant to share this before but look, the new puppies!

Free video chat by Ustream

Here We Go Again.

So people had been asking me how we ended up doing with our first week of produce delivery. I think we ended up doing pretty well. At the end of the day, all we have left is half of an avocado and some celery (which is good for lunch so it's not gonna last.) In the end we made a really yummy spinach and yam gratin, you saw what we did with the bok choy, some arugula pesto with homemade pasta, some really yummy salads with the lettuce, arugula, and apples (among some other things.) The fruit was eaten as some pretty tasty desserts/snacks.

Pretty good for being away for a bunch of days in there. Feeling good about all the cooking. Of course, we got another box today...

• Cabbage
• Russet Potatoes
• Avocado
• Broccoli
• Grapefruit
• D'Anjou Pears
• Bananas
• Apples
• Tangerines
• Carrots
• Spinach
• Boston Lettuce

Yowza. Here is the game plan for the upcoming meals:

1) A cabbage salad with apples and walnuts (with lemon vinaigrette)

2) Another salad with the lettuce (and I think we may still have a little arugula left) and some sweet and spicy pecans

3) We're having some friends over for dinner on Saturday so I'm gonna attempt homemade gnocchi (with the potatoes) with broccoli, lemon, and some parmesan. I'm a little frightened of the gnocchi, but I feel like it would be rewarding to do...kinda like making your own bread.

I don't know why I'm sharing this -- I doubt anyone but me finds it interesting (or maybe Jess who is attempting the local, organic vegetable thing too). Still, I feel by typing it out for all to see, I'm holding myself to actually making these things and not letting everything wilt away in the produce drawer of my fridge. Time will tell...

I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday.

For Your Viewing Satisfaction...

...my gorgeous nieces. This is a little something I put together on the flight home from visiting family. Thank goodness for power outlets on planes.

(In case you were wondering, "ojitos" means little eyes.)

It is incredible to consider how much they have grown since the last video I made a little over a year ago. They are a lot more exciting now...

Quick Fix.

Jamie and I will be traveling home tomorrow (hopefully, there is a wind advisory so cross your fingers that our plane makes it out of here). I will be trying to put together a video from this weekend, but in the meantime, I hope a couple of pictures will help tide you over until then...

Sitting in a Chair. In the Sky. Blogging.

Guys, I'm blogging from 30,000 feet up in the air over Kansas City! (At least that's what the little monitor in the back of the seat in front of me says). Apparently, today is the last day of the free in-flight Wi-Fi on Virgin America so blog I must. Never mind that we had to get up at 3:15am this morning to get to the airport. Sleep? BAH!

Anyway, Jamie and I are on our way to see the Zaki clan in San Francisco. My nieces are now bipedally mobile! Hopefully they will remember enough of me from Thanksgiving not to run away from me. If not, dagnabbit, I will do all I can to make them LOVE me in the few short days I have with them. Oh, and I'll see the rest of my family too. Look it's a NIECE!

More posts soon...(when I'm on solid ground).

Chicken of the Sea.

Jamie and I made a rare Friday night trip to the supermarket this evening. We hadn't been to the supermarket since we got back from the Bahamas, and there are only so many nights of soup that one can stand...even when sick with the flu.

We saw they were having a nice sale of sashimi-grade tuna and once we made sure it wasn't bluefin tuna (which I have learned is akin to eating a panda) or any other of those tuna types that are listed on the sad parts of our little seafood watch guide, we bought some nice filets!

If you came into our kitchen this evening, you would have seen Jamie and I coexisting in the kitchen pseudo-happily which is actually pretty rare. Since we are both alpha-"chefs" on opposite sides of the "clean-as-you-go" versus "pile-it-up" debate, it generally gets ugly in there when we are both cooking at the same time.

Fortunately, today's dinner was simple enough that we didn't get in each other's way and we produced a pretty tasty dinner at the end. Behold!

Seared Sesame Tuna with a side of Stir-Fry Garlic Baby Bok Choy

It was delectable!

Sunshine in My Mailbox.

Still sick -- but getting better. I feel like Death's less scary cousin, Myrtle. My head was in a fog all day at work, but when I came home I had a box sitting on my doorstep. It was a strange box...

...and I didn't remember ordering Peter nor his "Sword of Mercy". But when I opened it I was greeted by the most wonderful, earthy smell!



Our first shipment of organic fruits and vegetables came! Apparently, Washington's Green Grocers gets misprinted boxes that other companies want to dispose of and reuses them (we are to leave our box out for pickup on the next round) until they are no longer crisp and clean. They also, apparently don't use any packing material in their boxes. Not even using plastic bags unless they are loose items (i.e. beans) Hooray for less waste!


There was so much deliciousness inside! Look!

So, we ordered the smallest organic box which they advertised as good for a couple who likes to cook. Apparently, this equals...

• 1 pineapple
• 3 gorgeous yams
• 3 bunches of broccoli
• 5 Satsuma tangerines
• 1 big bunch of peppery arugula
• 1 head of Romaine lettuce
• 3 baby bok choy
• 3 Fuji apples
• 1 mango
• 3 bananas
• 2 avocados
• 1 bunch of celery

This is definitely upping our fruit and vegetable intake. We ate up the broccoli with some falafel tonight, and shared a tangerine and apple for dessert, and I'm coming up with a good plan for the rest of our treats!


Of course, it being January, a lot of the produce isn't locally-grown at this point in the year -- according to their website, almost everything in the box would be locally-grown between June and November. However, in this shipment I think maybe the yams, romaine, and celery were local -- our local green beans got shorted.

Hey, if that fair-trade mango from Ecuador tastes good, I'm fine. Also, they don't air freight anything, and nothing is sitting refrigerated on a shelf in some supermarket for a long time so I'll take it. Jamie is not as convinced. But I'm telling you that apple and tangerine (and broccoli) were just better-tasting than the organic stuff we buy from the supermarket...


I love the idea of having produce that tastes GOOD. California GOOD once again...

Sick Day.

It felt like I had been hit by a truck. I woke up yesterday morning with a mildly sore throat, and I downed an Airborne hoping that it would go away. By 11am I felt like death...after being hit by that truck. I had the works: chills, headache, so many aches, etc. While I have been sick many times before -- I work at an elementary school, after all -- I had no memory of anything hitting me so suddenly or intensely. I wanted to turn off my lights, crawl under my desk, and disappear.

By the time I got home I had a raging fever, crawled onto the couch and tossed and turned for a good long while before I got the not-so-bright idea to take a bath to warm up. I vaguely remember Jamie coming home and speaking a whole lot of words to me. I definitely remember waking up various times with all of the blankets in our house on top of me. That's pretty much it.

I woke up for good around 10am this morning -- I had emailed my request for sick leave around 5am -- and felt that my fever was starting to break. I'm back down to 99 and my body doesn't feel like it hates me anymore. When Jamie called to check in with me this morning, he told me that last night I was complaining about the "sandy pancakes" (what was actually chicken soup) that he was feeding me and that I thought I was on the beach. Just thinking about happier times, I guess...

Next time, I might request that Jamie videotape me when I go into my crazy, fever-induced ramblings. Or maybe not.