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!
Man. This week was awful for using the Sendai Airport Access line. I was late for work on Tuesday and then on Thursday I was almost late again! No idea why, either. It was a little misty, so maybe they were afraid of running something over? Dunno. It was freaking annoying, though. I HAAATE being late and having to call work and announce my impending lateness makes me grate my teeth. GAH. I remembered to take a photo on Tuesday of the crowd that got out at Nagamachi station. It was intense! Everyone was advised to get off the Airport access train and use the city subway service instead. Hence, the mass exodus of the train flooding into the station. It was unreal.
On the bright side, on Tuesday Ai-sensei brought us in some coffee treats! She was off that day and her daughter, Yuka, comes to preschool on her off days. So, when she came to pick up Yuka she told me to 'Have a break!' and gave me a coffee jelly drink. Coffee jelly is kinda weird. It's jelly, suspended in a thick syrup with heavy cream. You shake the carton, and it breaks up the jelly and mixes it with the other stuff in there and drink. I don't think Angel would like it, but it's good. It was super sweet of her to bring it in, though!
On Wednesday I popped out to grab a snack during my 3 hour break. I keep looking for fancy KitKat bars, but I can never seem to find any of the interesting ones. However, I DID find one that day! Cookies and cream KitKat~ It was quite tasty. Add a caramel cafe au lait to it and it was a nice way to spend a break.
After work on Wednesday I popped to the Bux and waited for David. I found an intriguing movie advertisement on my way there! Why hello, Mr. Cumberbatch!
While I was waiting for David, Azusa came over and we had a nice chat. She was asking about my kobo and what books and tv shows I like. Turns out we both watch Big Bang Theory! We had a good laugh about Sheldon. He's her favourite character. I always like chatting with Azusa~ She's so sweet. :)
On my way home from work yesterday I popped into Mister Donut to grab one of their promo donuts. They're doing a collab with Calpis right now, so they have really cute treats. I got one of the soda star donuts. It looks adorable, but the taste wasn't for me. The filling was a bit too tangy for my tastes. Oh well~
Which brings us to today~ I went and got my hair did in Sendai today. I haven't had a proper cut in over a year and my hair was getting pretty bad. Last week Tam gave me a voucher for discounted services at Salon Progress, so I made an appointment for today. I got a cut and colour, which looks quite nice if I do say so myself. I was tempted to go super short and super blonde, but I opted to keep my hair shoulder length and layered and a nice mid brown. It's a little ash-y, but I guess since my name is Ashley, it's ok.
Can't lie, though. It was really funny when they were dying my hair. They did my roots first, since they were pretty bad. They did them, then they wrapped my head in saran wrap. True story. It was ridiculous.
While I was in Sendai I did a bit of shopping. I picked up some new earrings from the Disney Store and I also bought myself a new phone strap. I think the strap is quite cute~ It's a UniBEARsity charm from Disney.
There was an information fair at our Aeon today for the Disney Vacation Club, and it seemed like everyone was milling about. They didn't have any English info, so I just wandered through. The people seemed nice and there was a Mickey statue that everyone was getting pictures of or with.
Oh, I got tickets to see Wicked in Tokyo! Sooooo excited! They're in the mail right now, but that's fine. Super happy! I've always wanted to see this musical~ And even though it'll be all in Japanese, that's a-ok! Can't wait to see the costumes~ *________*
And on that note, gonna go back to my book. I bought a couple books at Maruzen recently. I love my kobo, but it IS nice to have a real book in my hands every once in a while. Anyway~ I figured that since I loved Wicked, I should read the next book. So, I bought Son of a Witch and I am finally reading the Hobbit. I'm just at the part where we meet Beorn right now. Awesome!
GAH. David got sick then I did. Most of last week was rather unpleasant due to constant sore throat and coughing, but I survived. I discovered that I really like the caramel macchiatto loaf at Starbucks. Yummm~ I got that and an iced caramel macchiatto recently and Azusa added some whipped cream just for fun. Yay~
Last Friday I ended up having a mini picnic in the park near work. It's a really nice park! We take the kids there everyday as long as it's not raining. I never really had the chance to explore it before then, so I walked around and took some pictures. There's a really nice waterfall/fountain/thing in the middle and I climbed up the stairs to the top to take a look around. It was quite pretty! And then the water flowed off into a mini ravine around one side of the park. I followed that to a cute sitting area set in the middle of a pond. It would be a pretty nice place to take cosplay photos, can't lie~ And then I settled myself down in the grass near the water fountain pond by the subway line. It's so peaceful there. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon!
On the way back home I made a pit stop in Sendai and I passed a cool sign outside of the conbini in the station! Gundam cup noodle! Or something like that~ Ahaha. I didn't buy any. XD
So, the supermarkets still have crazily expensive watermelons in stock and I've been debating the pros and cons of buying one. I just really wanted watermelon! Thankfully, they started selling watermelon cubes at a reasonable price, so I bought that instead. WATERMELONNNN~~~ I have missed youuuuu! It tasted amazing.
On Wednesday my throat hurt so much that I had to call in sick to work. It was awful! I tried to go to a clinic, but the one I normally use was closed! So, I just loaded myself up with vitamin water and throat medication and slept the day away. I felt much better after that. So, on Thursday when I was back at work, I made sure to have loooots of liquids with me. I made a trip to Family Mart on my break and ended up buying some of that green juice I like. I still say it tastes like it should be yellow. But, whatever~ And the bottle had Vocaloid art on it again! So, naturally, I picked up the one that sported Rin and Len on one side. Miku was on the other, but that's not as important. Hahaha.
David and I got curry for dinner recently and they have fans they put out for customers to use if they get to warm in there. David was feeling the heat and ended up using one, but I thought he looked cute, so I snapped a photo.
And yesterday I had a lunch date with Tamsyn~ It was nice! We'd both been so busy that we hadn't gotten together in aaaages! But, we had a nice lunch at Royal Host (kinda like Denny's) and we wandered a bit. Actually, she helped me setup a hair appointment at a salon with English speaking staff. She had been given refer a friend vouchers for this place, so I'm getting a steal. And the head colourist came down to say hello, since she and Tam are friends and she seems like a very nice lady. And she seemed really excited to do my hair. Hahaha. Hopefully the colour will stay better than the store bought stuff! After that, we wandered into Starbucks and just sat with out drinks. We talked about books for a bit and Tam recommended Terry Pratchett books to me. Gonna give them a look sometime in the near future~ We attempted to take a photo, but using an ipod to take a photo in a crowded cafe was a little too difficult. XD
So now, I just need to decide what I wanna do with my hair. Just a trim? Or bangs? Or short? Hmmm~ My appointment is for Saturday, so I guess it gives me time to think.
