I'm not a Trekkie, but if it's got Benedict Cumberbatch on it, of course I'm interested.

Last Saturday David and I went on a date to the Mitsui Outlet Park! It's a massive outlet mall just outside of Sendai. It was a lot of fun! We took the Senseki line to get there and as we were walking from the station to the mall, we passed a very unusually named restaurant.

Um... yeah. Hahahaha. Right across from the station! It was pretty funny! We got the outlet mall and kinda walked about for a bit. I was looking for some red and white clothing for Canada Day, but for the first little while we just sauntered about. There's a LOT of stores in there! They even had an Axes Femme outlet! Scooore!

After a while, we decided to go on the ferris wheel. Now, last time we did that we were in Taipei and it was super big, with a glass bottom, so we were freaking terrified. (It didn't help that David was spouting horror stories about the damn thing.) This time, we agreed not to talk about horror stories and just enjoy it. It was rather nice! The day was kinda dull, but the view would be nice in the spring time or on a bright sunny day!

After that, we grabbed some soft serve ice cream and chilled for a bit. David had bought some Lego blind bag, so he opened them. He didn't get the one he wanted, though~ Awww, muffin! The ice cream was good, though! Yum yum~~

We wandered around for a while after that. There's an import store in the mall. They had some really nice cookies and whatnots. While we were examining the Disney Danish cookies, we ran into one of my students! Ichirou came over and said 'Hello! How are you?' which was sweet. He's a nice kid~ I ended up picking up some cookies as a gift for work and some Peter Rabbit chocolates for us. And then, I saw them. JONES SODA CANDY. I have been jonesing for a Jones for aaaaages! And considering Canada Day was the Monday following, of course I had to buy a pack! Yay!

So, after all that we took off home. I had found a shirt at the Nike store for Canada Day and we popped into Book Off on the way home to look for a pair of shorts. I found a pair and they are super comfy. Will probably use them again. Awesome~ We grabbed a can each of A&W from Jupiter as a treat before hopping on the train back home. It was a pretty awesome day.

So, on Monday it was CANADA DAY~~~ Yay! And we celebrated at school! Chiga had asked me to wear red and white, so I came in all decked out, then Ai-sensei popped a Canada sticker on my cheek. They had strung up Canada flags all over the place, and it made me sooooo happy. Our craft for the day was making Canada headbands, so I wore mine all day. Hahaha. It was a reeeeally good day. I felt so Canadian and happy and I was humming Oh Canada all day. Awesome!

The rest of the week went ok. On Wednesday I went out for my traditional Starbucks breakfast before work. There's a really nice Bux near where I work and the baristas there are really sweet. I tend to get the same thing, so they almost always know what I want. I reeeally like the ham and cheese sammich they have. Yum yum~

After class, I ended up helping to wrap boxes for summer school. We were wrapping up milk cartons in white paper for the kids to decorate. They're gonna look like jet packs or something. Anywho, I'm a horrible wrapper. Like, truly bad. People can always tell which Christmas presents are from me, because they're sooo bad. Hahaha. But, I actually did a really nice job! I thought of my friend Rob the entire time, because he always has such beautifully wrapped gifts at the holidays and I wanted to make him proud.

I had forgotten my lunch that day, so I had to conbini it up. Hahaha. I ended up with a massive spaghetti lunch and then I noticed the Star Wars snacks! Glico is doing a Star Wars promo right now, so a bunch of their products have Star Wars packaging. Coool~ Also, I was given a bottle of Sparkling Peach as a gift from a new student. I thought that was rather sweet.

On my way home from work on Thursday, I stayed at Aeon to wait for David. As I was walking to the food court, I stumbled upon another Star Trek advertisment. I'm not a Trekkie, but if it's got Benedict Cumberbatch on it, of course I'm interested. Hahaha. I picked it up and popped into Axes Femme. They were having a MASSIVE sale. 50%-70% off almost everything, so I picked up a few new things. I got a super deal on it all, too. Woo!

When we were on our way home, we passed through the bakery and picked up some Tanabata themed baked goods. They were star shaped and tasted like banana. They actually weren't very good, but oh well. Now we know! I ended up snacking on my Alice tea cookies instead. Yum~

So, yesterday was AWESOME. I went to a Tanabata party. Mike, my co-worker, invited me to go so I could meet some new people. I dithered about it all week. I wanted to go, but I was worried it would be everyone hanging in their cliques and me just kinda standing alone in the corner. Man, am I ever glad I went! I met some really cool people! It was a yukata party~ So, everyone was encouraged to wear yukata or jinbei to the party. There were some really goofy games that were played and it was basically a big mingle party. I stood awkwardly by myself for a little while, until I started to feel a bit more comfortable and started to chat with people. I made some really nice new friends~ Even met someone who also lives where I do! She's a few streets over, I think, but man! It's crazy to know another foreigner lives in this small little town! She introduced me to her friend who's a big Doctor Who fangirl, which is awesome! And she likes cosplay and lolita. WHY didn't I meet these girls sooner?!

I got a lot of compliments on my yukata and I impressed a few people by telling them that I had dressed myself! Halfway though the night my obi untied itself, so I had to rush into the bathroom. One of the Japanese ladies who was manning the entrance table came in and asked if I needed help, but I was already halfway through retying. I thanked her and told her I was ok, and then she watched as I retied my obi and she said she was impressed. Woo! A bunch of random passersby complimented me as well. I felt so elegant~~~

After the party, the girls and I decided to go do some purikura. It was hilarious trying to get all 8 of us to fit in the booth! At one point I was squished out, so all I could do was through my hand into the shot. Hence, the goofy peace sign in one. Hahaha.

It was an AWESOME night! And after that, I ended up toddling home. My feet were really sore from wearing the wooden geta all evening. The girls were talking about karaoke, but I just wanted to duck home. I grabbed a snack at the station and decided that a certain bottled water brand has some really good advertising. It certainly worked on me!

David came and met me at our home station, since it was after 10pm. As we hobbled home we decided that karaoke was a good idea~ So, I ducked home to change shoes, then off we went. We ended up singing mostly Disney songs. Hahaha. It was great!

I put it up on my fridge. :D

So, on Monday it was my birthday! I'm now 27~ What joy is mine. But, I actually had a really nice day! I had to work and David had the day off. I usually get to work for about 9:35am that was I have a bit of time to do the morning setup before preschool starts. When I got there on Monday, I called out my usual 'good morning' to everyone and they all replied with a really sneaky sounding 'good morning' back. Then I heard the Birthday song we play for the kids playing and they all sang happy birthday to me! It was so sweet! And then, to top it all off, they brought out a cake for me! I was so touched~! And I think if I smiled anymore my face would have split in half. Hahaha. It was so, so sweet!

We ate it between classes. And Ai-sensei told the kids it was my birthday, so they all said 'Happy Birthday!' to me, as well! Awwww~ :D

David and I had made plans to meet up in Sendai after I was finished work. For dinner I wanted to go to Sweets Paradise. It's a really popular cake buffet! They have some pastas and soup, but it's mainly a cake heaven. Sooo much cake! And it's pretty reasonable~ 1,480yen for 80mins. We had a nice time. When we got there it was pretty empty, but about half an hour later it was starting to get quite busy. At that point we were both pretty full~ I was nursing a cocoa and David was just sipping some water, so we decided to vacate so it would free up a table for those waiting.

During dinner, David brought out a card that arrived in the mail. I got my card from Gramma and Papa exactly on my birthday! Good timing, Gramma! :D It had one of the new fangled $20 bills in it. They feel sooo weird! It was kinda neat! And then David handed me his gift: A Starbucks card. Ahhh~ The gift that keeps on giving! Thanks sweetie!

We walked around the Parco building since we were already there and popped into a few stores before we decided to head home. Sweets Paradise is on the 8th floor, so I snapped a couple pics of the view.

I put the card to good use and grabbed a drink from our local Bux on the way home. The barista who took my order was the one who sold David the card, so she wished me a happy birthday, too. Heehee~ I felt so damn special on Monday.

So, on Tuesday David and I were reeeeally craving pizza. We ended up going to the pizza and pasta place we like in Aeon for dinner. They make really good pizza and the pasta is really nice, too. So nice that I never remember to take photos. Oops. The pizza was mushroom, bacon and veg. It looked shiny, but it wasn't greasy. I think the mushrooms were a little damp when they were added, so that might explain it.

We popped into the grocery store on the way home and I stumbled upon the Pocky flavours for the season. Tropical and Coconut Pocky~ I think I'll pass, thanks. They also had Rare Cheesecake Pocky, but I passed on that, too.

When we got home there was a package waiting in our little mail slot. My package from Mum! Only a day late~ Not too shabby for Canada Post! There was a really sweet card and letter inside. Mum opted to buy me some necessities (i.e. underwear), hence the lack of photos of the actual gift. But still, thanks mum!

Wednesdays I do Mommy and Me classes, so I get to sleep in a bit before going to work. However, on this past Wednesday I didn't get a chance to sleep because I had to dash to the post office before work. I bought tickets to see Wicked in August and they had been mailed. However, since no one was home to actually receive them they held them at the post office. I got there bright and early, thinking it might be a bit busy. Nope. Dead. So, I was in and out in less than 5 minutes. I ended up going to Starbucks for breakfast. I started the Lord of the Rings recently, so I ate breakfast and read until it was time to catch my train.

After class we had a meeting for our summer school event. Ai-sensei came in and she brought her daughter, Yuka, with her. Yuka is soooo freaking cute! She only comes to school 1 day a week, but I adore her. She's such a good girl and she speaks English very well for her age. And when they came in, Yuka gave me a hug then handed me a bag and said 'Happy Birthday!' to me! Ai-sensei and Yuka made me a card and gave me some candy! Awww!

The cover was drawn by Ai-sensei and Yuka drew the inside. It's supposed to be me, apparently. I think it's freaking adorable. I put it up on my fridge. :D

And then on Thursday, Haruki gave me a card he made for me! Haruki is so cute~ He really seems to like me! Everyone jokes that I'm his Ashley. When he comes in they'll say, 'Look Haruki~ Your Ashley is here!' and he'll get all giggly and shy. It's so cute. Hahaha. He was so pleased when he handed my his card. And it has a cute ribbon on it, too. So, I wore it as a necklace until class started, then I put it on the whiteboard for the rest of class. And now it too is adorning my fridge. :'D

Yesterday I had a half day and David got out of work early. We decided to go on a date, since we haven't gone on a 'real' date in aaages. And by 'real' I mean dinner, some form of entertainment and purikura. So, we went and got curry from CoCo Ichiban for dinner. I ended up getting the Sasami chicken curry. I guess Sasami chicken is really good quality. And it tasted that way. It was freaking delicioius!

After dinner we popped over to the local karaoke place. We'd never gone in before, because we assumed it'd be really expensive. It really wasn't! We got an hour of time and drink bar for 500yen each. That, my friends, is CHEEEEEAP!! It was really fun, too. David is hilarious at karaoke. We sang Make a Man Out of You from Mulan to start, then we just went crazy. It was a lot of fun!

David even serenaded me~

I also found Synchronicity~ Part 2 and sang my part while muddling through Angel's. I love singing it, but it's not as fun without her.

After our hour was finished, we sauntered over to Sega World. There weren't really any prizes we wanted. The only one I was considering was the Evangelion frying pan, but the game looked too hard, so I passed.

We did do purikura~ And it was fun like always. David really good at the decorating part and he's such a dweeb when we do the poses. Hahaha. It was a fun date!