Today's anecdote on floor exercises, Bon Jovi, and Doggy-Doo

Before I finish up the posts on my Japan trip I had to slip in a little anecdote of a few things here. 

First of all....one of the dogs I'm watching had diarrhea all night (He got into the wet cat food.) So that's been fun to clean up. Pinesol works great for the patio and baking soda works well for the carpets. Oh and Pepto is safe for dogs (not cats) in about 1 tsp per 5lbs. Now if I can just get the little guy to eat it that would be great. Maybe with some yogurt? I've been wanting to get a steam cleaner for a while now and I think I may be needing to get one sooner than planned! 

(Dog walking business is booming. I'm swamped with clients...both through the company and privately. But its not always the cleanest job!)

But! The best part of today is that I found out that my one true dearest love....Bon Jovi....has released a new album.

It's pretty good- he never fails to disappoint! But it sucks that him and Richie are still on the outs. It's definitely a softer rock album, but A Teardrop to the Ocean I and We don't run are my favorite songs on here. He's touring around in Asia right now (Singapore one the 20th. That would be a fun trip!) So hopefully he comes to the states soon.

Second of all....never underestimate the power of floor/pilate exercises. My mom got me this great book: (the author has a number of them)

Since I've been out of the gym for about a month and I'm getting range of motion back in my arm I thought it would be a good segway back. It's kicking my ass! I've been so focused on lifting and cardio that I haven't spent any time using my own body weight or small static movements. With enough reps they are a killer. I highly recommend it!

To Japan and Back Part 2: Ueno Park

So we got brave and finally figured out the train system...so we ventured on up to Tokyo on an impromptu adventure. We ended up staying the night at a crazy expensive Hyatt (but it was very luxurious. A hundred thousand times better than our place in Yokosuka! Plus we missed our anniversary so we considered it a post celebration)

Anyway, the first night we wandered around and discovered the Roppongi mall. (Roppongi itself was a bit sketchy. There were a bunch of Nigerian men selling girls and their services. They chased down my husband and said "Heyyyy leave your wife and we will show you a good time!"
Had I been drunk I would have punched that guy in the face.)

But the mall was pretty cool. Everything was very expensive and designer wear. My favorite store was a pet boutique in which everything was way over done. Little dog and cat outfits, jewelry, accessories, spa, etc. and there were those little cats with the bent ears and huge eyes in the window. Adorable.

 The view on top of the mall. Absolutely beautiful at night!











This little blue cat character (Doramon?) was all over the place and very popular. He had about a thousand little statues in the courtyard that people were taking pictures with.










And this was just awful. A huge spider sculpture. I got the creeps just walking by it.








The next day we ventured to Ueno Park, which is huge. There are ton of cool things to see. We had a long walk on the way there (and stopped at a Denny's. Which btw is way different over there because breakfast food doesn't exist.)

The shrine at Ueno Park was beautiful. We didn't have time to actually go inside but there were a lot of really neat things on the outside. This is Kaneji Temple which was founded in 1625 (unbelievable to be around something that old!)

 This is where you cleanse by rinsing one hand, then the other, then rinsing the mouth and spitting the water out. These are at each shrine they we visited.

 Prayers are all written on these. Very neat to see so many different languages come together <3








































Our goal for the day was to get to Ueno Zoo, which is Japan's oldest zoo (built in 1882). I was of course most excited to see the giant Pandas. The breeding efforts for keeping them alive is not very progressive but people are working at it nonetheless! Ueno zoo, Hong Kong, and San Diego zoo are all participating in the efforts of preserving the Panda (which is pretty great because Tony and I visited the San Diego zoo on our way to Hawaii)

Of course the zoo was filled with typical zoo- like animals, but it was really interesting to see a much bigger variety of animals. For instance, the bear here is a Malayan Brown Bear. There were a lot of animals specific to Asia that you wouldn't be likely to see anywhere else!

A beautiful view of the park! This place was huge. We had a fantastic day at the zoo and only got to experience a little bit of Ueno Park. We made perfect timing back to the train station because the sky opened up and began to pour!

To Japan and Back Part 1: Yokosuka

Alright so it's been a while again since my last post...the blog kind of got pushed to the bottom of the priority list. August was an absolutely insane month! I finally had my mid deployment break down...I was so stressed out about everything going on in life that it was just ridiculous.

The biggest lesson I am continuously confronted with is that nothing is ever in our control. Just gotta sit back and let things happen right? Everything has a way of working itself out. We are now in the homestretch of deployment and I couldn't be more excited. The port call we visited was stressful to get to (the dates changed 3 or 4 times....) so three canceled flights, rebooked hotel rooms, refunds and insurance claims (thank god for travel insurance!) and one last minute ticket purchase later.....we made it to Japan. 

And it was so worth it. I hadn't seen my husband in 102 days and hadn't had any form of contact with him in 67. (But whose counting?) It's safe to say I cried like a ridiculous person when I saw him- absolute relief is the only way I can describe it. He really is my sanity.

After much needed time together and a ton of conversation (we can talk for hours on end) we did get to do some exploring of Yokosuka and ventured up to Tokyo. There is so much to see in Japan and I know we barely scratched the surface, but it was a wonderful cultural experience, and I have never felt so "american" and out of place in my life!

It was fantastic.


These are just a few sights around Yokosuka. The Daiei was across the street from the hotel which is where I spent a good amount of time wandering around.

This was a really beautiful park that was along the pier. It had a bunch of benches and a fountain and overlooked the water. A very serene place to be! 















I'm not sure what this is...but I pointed at the menu and ordered it. (I really need to learn another language.) It was some sort of egg and cabbage mix with a sauce, and then very thinly sliced meat of some sort on top. It was pretty good, but a little disconcerting when the meat started moving.

Not sure how or why that happened....

But this made up for it after. Boba tea (took a minute to acquire a taste to the tapioca balls, but these drinks are everywhere in Hawaii too. Seriously everything Japanese is squishy in texture...) Basically was like a delicious watery chocolate milk shake. Much more my style!



















And this is the view from the best Starbucks ever (Our first sunny day! It was very rainy when we visited.) But seriously this Starbucks was beautiful. Two levels of comfort overlooking the water.




Which reminds me....McDonald's is an extremely nice place in Tokyo (at least the one we visited was. Yes....we went to McD's.) I was very impressed with how nice it was! Very upscale.

The one word I know =) Which is very ironic considering we always make fun that when the Japanese visit here the one word they know is "thank youuuuu". Turns out I'm the same way!

"Arigatoooo."