"Are you Tara??"

That's what my co-worker, Ken Miyagi, asked me when I walked into work with my new hair. I finally sucked it up and got it done at a salon on base. Luckily the girl that did it spoke English. It's a lot darker then I was planning. I was actually gunna go lighter! But I found a picture that I liked, brought it in and then looked through their samples to find one that matched.

I really like it though. I wasn't sure at first since I haven't gone dark since I was about 17. I used to dye my hair this blue black color that came in a box. It was awesome cause it just looked black but when the sun hit it just right, I had a blue tinted halo around my head. This new color does the same thing but with a purple-ly reddish color. It's pretty cool.

And with new hair comes new eyeshadow colors that just stand out more. I see a lot more pinks and purples in my future.

As you can see here...my makeup looks amazing because I'm just that good these days. You can also see from the picture that Dustin never leaves me alone. My hair is still wet in this shot but when it dries my curls are all sorts of shiny and bouncy. I had about 4-5 inches cut off so my hair is really thanking me for that. It's a lot healthier and my curls are curlier since they're not being weighed down as much. I can honestly say now that I've learned to embrace and even love my curly hair.

This has nothing to do with my hair and everything to do with my makeup. I should've had Dustin take a closeup shot of me with my eyes closed. There's some blue, pink and about 3 different shades of purple in there. Someone please get me Urban Decay eyeshadow (and Primer Potion) for Christmas!! Sephora.com doesn't ship here!

That is all.

Raise your hand if you like the weekends!

I've gotten a little behind on my posts and it makes me sad. My job has been working me like crazy, I tell you! I'm one of two cashiers right now because LaNishia is going to Hawaii for awhile. We do have two new girls but we just started training them yesterday so they can't be alone for probably another two weeks. So yea...lots of work. And I don't think I'm even ready to train anyone! And I'm training both of them!

Anywho, two weekends ago we finally had a Santillan adventure! It was a Saturday but I only had to work until 8:30. So we will begin at my lovely job.

Dustin showed up with the camera...much to my dismay.

I'm actually being productive here! Can you believe it??

Everyone will think this shot is sexy. Who doesn't love a wrinkly double chin??

Off to American Village for dinner! Hello Ferris wheel of love!

He's excited to be alive.

This is one of our favourite restaurants. We have no idea what it's called cause it's in Japanese. We call it Ninja Kitty though. Can you see why?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm???

They gots good water here.

The best sushi ever! Don't mind the baggies under my eyes. It was a long day at work.

I cannot even tell you how good this is. The fish is beyond fresh and it's made by real Japanese hands. And it's only about 6 bucks.

Sweet Jesus.

And because I needed more raw fish in my dinner, I got a raw tuna and avocado salad. It was super yummy.

Dustin's amazing fried rice.

Next up, a walk around American Village.

Prettiful ferris wheel.

We stopped in at Yogurtland and boy, was it crowded. It was Saturday after all. Yogurtland is from California but just opened up here. It has many super amazing flavors and a crazy amount of toppings. And the best part is, it's all self serve!

Mostly Americans here like always.

Us idiots need directions.

Mine's on the right! I have cookies and cream, pomegranate & raspberry tart, and peanut butter. I have no idea what toppings are on there. I grabbed almost everything. It cost over $8 just for my cup! But totally worth it. I heart frozen yogurt.

Dustin's concentrating hard on stirring his concoction.

Oh yum! And yes, those are figs in there.

Oh, this is cool. In the bathroom stalls they have baby seats. For your baby. Or your purse.

Don't powder your nose, flick water off your finger, or be an old lady with a bad back.

This was the most exciting part of the night for me. We finally decided to ride the ferris wheel! You buy your ticket (500 yen) in this vending machine.

Damn, was I excited. I'd been wanting to ride the ferris wheel since we first moved here. And it wasn't too hot (finally!) to ride it.

It's huge! I mean, it's no London Eye but it's bigger than theme park and carnival ferris wheels.

"Getting on the wind, I would like to travel as I wish" Words to live by bitches!

On the ferris wheel Dustin made me hate his face.

Then I made everyone hate mine.

They had little fans in every little...car. Are they cars? Compartments? I don't know. All I know is that they were right to give us the Mickey and Minnie one.

Looking down at different parts of American Village.

Kinda blurry but that big black space in the East China Sea.

Movie theater that we saw Harry Potter in.

Ewwwwwwwww! This was my idea. And for that, I apologize.

I see you Ninja Kitty!

Hello Kitty! One of the first things we noticed when we got off the ferris wheel.

It was a ride thingy of course. And of course Dustin had to go and try fit into it. Actually...I told him to do it.

After all these shenanigans, we took a cab back to my job to actually party for once. It was fun but kinda weird. I know and am friendly with all the security guards and managers now so I didn't wanna drink too much and have them all see it. And then have to hear about it for days at work. But it was all good and it's pretty cool having a job that I can go and party at. I pretty much dig working there.

All in all, it was an extremely fun night. But that was only the beginning.

4th of July weekend

How was your 4th of July weekend?? Ours was incredibly fun but also rainy. It was actually almost cold over the weekend. It was weird to put on a hoodie outside after it being sooo ridiculously hot for so long. But it didn't last long. It's hot and humid once again and I hate it.

Unless I'm at the beach.

Anywho, Dustin has been wanting to go mini golfing at the craptacular course they have at the community center here on base. So I reluctantly went along with him. But to my surprise I actually liked it! It was mostly due to the fact that I'm naturally good at it and was able to beat Dustin every time.

This course was pretty tricky even if it was kinda small. I didn't notice too much because I'd never been mini golfing before this. Now I wish we had gone to the big one in Boise.

That building back there is the commissary. I hate the commissary. I cannot express to you how angry and frustrated I get every time I shop there. And I have to shop there because my options on grocery stores are limited and I'm a girl who likes to cook. But I really hate the commissary.

Balls. Mine was the pink one of course.

Dustin and the beaver skunk.

Keebler elves?? Give me cookies!

We didn't get to finish our game cause it started to rain. But don't worry, we went back a few days later and played. And then melted from the heat.

The next day (the 3rd) we went to America Fest which was a fairly big festival on the flight line with mucho food and some live performances. We were mainly going to see Melinda Doolittle from American Idol season 6. We dug her and Dustin even voted for her a few times during that season so we was excited.

Oh my goodness. It was literally pouring that day. I had so much water in my shoes I felt like crying. I hate soggy socks. But I didn't mind too much because Dustin has a plate of deep fried oreos right there. Lordy, were they delish. I wanna make some at home! We also had a giant turkey leg and a pulled pork sandwich but we ate them before I even thought of taking a picture.

Miss Doolittle was amazing like she always is. Her band couldn't set up because of all the rain so it was just her, her two backup singers, and a laptop. I felt bad for her because they was hardly anyone there because of the weather. But she still kicked ass.

Little kids kept running up to the stage and then parents would take pictures of them. Melinda would run up to them while singing and pose for pictures. All throughout the song. It was super cute.

Me clearly enjoying the rain.

Oh, and then she had all the kids come up on the stage and dance with her. It was pretty entertaining. At the end of her performance she told everyone to come around to the side of the stage so we could all meet her and get autographs. We did just that and somehow ended up being the first people on line. And it wasn't like we rushed to do that. We calmly wandered over to the side of the stage and eventually everybody else followed.

I love this lady. She was super sweet and so nice. And way teeny tiny.

Dustin was a little excited as well. This is what happens when you get your boy into American Idol.

I guess they had the planes all out and displayed. Dustin likes to see them and tries to tell me all about them. My mind goes elsewhere when he starts that. Do you think this plane would be a Decepticon or an Autobot?? This is what I think about now every time I see any kind of vehicle.

Then we watched the Lt. Dan Band (Gary Sinise from Forest Gump and other such things) for awhile. They were pretty OK. They only do covers I guess and they have a lot of people in the band. And Gary Sinise doesn't even sing. But it was still fun.

Even Melinda Doolittle jammed in the audience which I thought was pretty cool. We ended up leaving a little early to go meet up with some PMEL guys. We then all headed out Gate 2 to see this metal band play at a bar. They were actually pretty good even though my ears still occasionally ring from it. We ended the night with Japanese Wendy's and a creepy little karaoke bar that had the most random song book I'd ever seen. They had Disney songs!

The next day we took the long ass drive up north to Okuma. It's basically a camping recreation area on the beach that's military owned. One day we plan on staying in one of their log cabins. There's a lot to do there as long as it doesn't rain. Then your screwed.

We mini golfed there which I rocked at of course. We also ate some pretty good military cuisine. It was good as far as military club food goes.

Live entertainment here also. Dustin looks so content and peaceful here.

It's because he's watching Japanese high schoolers break dance. I know when I think 4th of July celebration, this is what I see in my head.

I look...wrinkly here.

Oh how lovely it is to live here! The waves were a little crazier than usual but Dustin kept me from floating away. Thank goodness, cause I'm not a very good swimmer and I hate water in my face. But I still want to go diving.

That platform thingy was scary to walk/stand on. But there were these little girls running back and forth on it like it was nothing. They had balls of steel. Or maybe they were just idiot kids.

Our Independence day ended with fireworks on the beach and Sun Chips in our mouths. It was quite wonderful. It was actually the fifth 4th of July in a row that Dustin and I have spent together. Realizations like that make me feel old.