Just My Scrap

My daughter is starting first grade next month and she couldn’t be more excited. We still have a few things to buy before the school starts but we have her school books at home waiting to be labeled and covered so at least that’s one thing off my list. I’m not sure what extra curricular activity she would get involved in but she is keen on learning how to play one of the Musical Instruments she found at school when we went for the orientation. I know school teaches music to students, one of my friend’s daughter is currently part of the brass band at their school and she is having fun. I know my husband wants her to learn how to play the piano but I will leave it to my little girl to decide what she wants to do.

A friend of mine will be getting married late next year and I’m so happy for her. She’s planning a small wedding in the Bahamas with just her family and she’s already asking me for tips to make her big day special and memorable. I say getting married by the beach is already going to be memorable, especially saying “I do” just as the sun sets (my goodnes how romantic!). She already found a stunning dress to wear, perfect for a beach wedding and it suits her body well. She plans to give nicaragua cigars to the groomsmen and pearl bracelets for the bridesmaids. I can’t wait to see pictures of her on her special day, I’m sure she will be one beautiful bride.

I knew I didn’t have a lot of time to finish Christmas shopping when we get back home from vacation so I got smart and went online for possible Christmas gifts for the big boys. I wanted to buy in bulk so I can save more and also cross names off my shopping list faster so I went with books mostly and then I found discount koozies available for purchase and fast shipping so I grabbed a few as well. I also got a few gift cards and shirts, now I just need to wrap most of these when we get back and I’ll be all set.

We live in a tropical country so when we decided to go to Australia last June I knew I had to shop for winter clothes for our family of four. I was on the look out for sales and promotions because winter clothes here are expensive and I’m not gonna pay a ton for something we will use only for vacation. I found a really nice patagonia downtown loft jacket for me that was on sale so I quickly got one and a few knit dresses for the girls. I also had to buy shoes and long sleeve tops. I didn’t go overboard and just bought a few pieces as I plan to shop when we get to Sydney, I know there will be more choices there when it comes to winter wear and it would be a lot cheaper. I also didn’t have to pack a lot going there so that was another bonus.

My husband’s company will be having their annual dinner and dance party a few days after we get home from vacation. He will be performing along with his other colleagues and I know they needed to practice when he gets back. I’m not sure if he will play the base guitar again or he would use something like one of those boomwhackers or an acoustic drum but I know he will do great whatever instrument it is he will use, he just have to practice before the big day. Good thing we already went shopping for clothes before we left at least that’s one item off his to do list.

We take the subway to go to places here in Japan, of course we are no strangers to the railway system because we take the train back home too but traveling by train here in very different. For one the scenery is very different, it is quite lovely actually and I enjoy the ride even more (well that’s if the train is not overcrowded with people and we can’t find seats). My daughter loves the view too, she sees all sorts of things on our train rides such as nice houses, band clamps from construction sites (don’t ask), beautiful parks with yellow trees and she doesn’t mind the travel time as well.

We are enjoying our vacation here in Japan, we’re having a great time actually. Last Friday the girls and I went to Sanrio Puroland and boy did we have so much fun there. We are big Hello Kitty fans here so going there was definitely on our list of “must do” while we are here. It is small and the rides are very limited but we didn’t mind at all because it was loaded with Hello Kitty and other cute Sanrio characters. We loved taking pictures everywhere, the girls had fun with the kiddie rides and watching the shows and we even had our pictures taken with Hello Kitty inside her house (how awesome is that). There’s also lots of garden benches concrete where we sat to rest our tired aching feet, that didn’t last very long though because the girls wanted to get back to exploring the place in no time. My daughter would say from time to time “this is the best vacation ever!” and I think I agree with her. There’s more to come!