Chopsticks

I posted awhile back that we bought our own chopsticks but then didn't supply pictures because of my crappy camera. My camera is still a piece of poop but I figured out how to make it work a little bit better. How, you ask? I read the manual. I couldn't be bothered with it when I first got my camera from Dustin for my 21st birthday almost 2 years ago. I just didn't have the time or focus to sit down with it. I wish I did though.

First up, these are MY chopsticks. When I saw them I just knew we would have a beautiful future together. Because of course I needed chopsticks that looked like candy! They came in pretty much every colour combination you could think of but I needed pink.

Sometimes I think about bringing them everywhere with me so I can use them at restuarants instead of the disposable ones. But if I put them into my purse I'll probably never see them again and then I would be beyond depressed.

These are Dustin's chopsticks. Deffinetly not as cool as mine but decent. His came in many different colours too. The design that is. He doesn't use them as often because he doesn't eat as much sushi or noodles as me. Surprisingly, I'm braver as far as trying strange new foods. Most Okinawan foods Dustin won't even touch if he doesn't know what it is. And if it smells even the teeniest bit fishy, fugetaboutit.

For some reason Dustin was also allowed to get a cute little chopstick rest. Maybe I didn't want one. I really don't remember. But he hasn't used his at all so I don't think he really deserves it.

I'm weird when it comes to chopsticks. I know how to use them correctly but some days my fingers just don't wanna do it that way. They want to try a way that they think will be more comfortable but then causes me to drop everything and for my arthritis to act up. But only on some days. It's weird. I think it's because I also don't hold a fork the way everyone in the world does. I use far too many fingers because god forbid I drop the fork and my apple crumble doesn't make it to my mouth. I would die from shock, I think.

Rambles and such

So, I haven't posted in over a week. I've been anxious about leaving for New York in 4 days and it makes me super exhausted. I got on the computer numerous times to write but then would throw a mini temper tantrum and say to myself, "But I don't WANNA!" And then I would just walk away and sit in front of the T.V. for hours trying not to eat everything in my kitchen.

I feel much better now even though the anxiousness is getting worse the closer it gets to Friday. Dustin and I haven't spent a night apart since I got back from England almost 2 1/2 years ago. Even when we had our Bachelor/Bachelorette parties, we still went home together. We actually left the parties before anyone else but that's a whole other story that I don't like to re-tell or even think about.

But anywho, here's an update on things in our lives:

-Apollo is shedding more than ever and it's driving me crazy. I don't know where all this hair is coming from. How is he not bald yet?! I can't wait until the spring is over and he goes back to normal shedding and I can go back to sweeping the floor every other day instead of twice a day.

-Dustin and I have discovered Fuze drinks and now are super obsessed with them (mainly me)

-Dustin wore sweat pants in public yesterday much to my horror

-I apparently really like working out. I know...it's basically against everything I stand (or sit) for. I usually don't even like moving but will spend an hour on a treadmill happily and then be ready for more. Dustin's been my trainer the last few days which means he tells me what to do at the gym (because those machines are completely alien to me) and how long to do it. And then he laughs at me straining and wondering why my forehead is wet.

-My abs are burning from my workouts so I'm trying not to laugh as much but it's proving to be very difficult

-I explained what things need to be cleaned in the house to Dustin while I'm gone. He just looked at me. Somehow I think nothing will get done.

-Anoop Desai got booted from American Idol and we were sad but knew that it was his time

-I'm on this new diet where I try not to eat desserts for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Hide your sugar from me when you see me!

That's about it. We lead fairly boring lives. I will post about this weekend later on today. How have you guys been doing?

You've all awaken the Groomzilla!

It's come to our attention that pretty much NO ONE noticed the little note in their invitation envelope that gave info on our gift registry. I'm sure if you guys look now, you'll see it in there. This is what it says if you can't find it:

"Due to the fact that we now live in Japan, we will not be accepting gifts at the wedding. We are registered at Target.com, so if you would like to have something sent to our address from there you can do that. Or, you may also donate to Tara & Dustin's Honeymoon/New Sofa fund."

Raise your hand if you didn't see this note. I knew it. I knew we should've made them bigger. And now grandmas are trying to get us comforter sets and crock pots. I'm sorry but if anyone brings a gift to the wedding we can't take it. We just won't have the room.If you go to Target.com and click on Club Wedd and then search for either Tara or Dustin Santillan, you will find our registry and it will send all the gifts to our house. That way Dustin will be less angry and frustrated. He's having a total groomzilla moment with this whole thing. Maybe because he's the one that had to print and cut about 100 of these little cards.

Pay closer attention to things people!

Thank you.

My pretty little boy

There's some things I'd like to tell you about Apollo. For one, he has the most lovely eyes I've ever seen on a dog. And two, he loves loves loves to be rubbed down with a towel and wrapped up in towels, blankets or even Dustin's bathrobe.

Everytime he comes back in the house from being in the rain we towel him off. And I've never seen a dog want something so bad that wasn't food. Sometimes Dustin teases him and just holds the towel over him or places it on top of him without actually rubbing him. Then Apollo will push his head and body into Dustin as if to say, " And now you do that part where I get rubbed all over. Come on."

He will stay completely still while your doing it too. Something Ariel would never do. She cannot keep still for crap and has total adhd. Sometimes I think Apollo is actually a cat.

I didn't know these two pictures where on my camera until I uploaded them onto my computer. I assume Dustin took them at some point. But I have no idea where I was when this went on.

Now, look at these lovely eyes. See what I mean? They're brownish-red and there's all different swirly colours in the middle. I love just grabbing his face and forcing him to look at me so I can study his eyes. These pictures were hard to take because as soon as he noticed I had a camera and was really close to his face, he wanted to sniff and lick the camera and me.

He's the prettiest, girliest looking boy doggy I know. Besides him not barking, his pretty face was what made me know I couldn't leave the kennel without him. He was also shaking so violently because he was terrified of everything going on around him. We totally rescued his ass. And I'm pretty sure he loves us for it.

A tropical Saturday

I don't know about you guys but I can't wait for the summer. Especially now since I live on a tropical island and there's about 5,000 (or 80) beaches on the island. It's pretty short drive to get to one which is very exciting for me and Dustin. Neither of us have ever lived by a beach before. Let alone 5,000(or 80) beaches!! You don't even have to really plan a day at the beach in advance here. So we didn't, and we somehow ended up on a cute part of Sunset Beach that we haven't been to before.

It was right behind this massive resort hotel. I wanna stay at every resort on the island at least once because they put alot of money into them and they are so gorgeous! Plus, it's right on the beach.

Here are some lovely flowers I had to stop and take a picture of on the sidewalk. Are they lilies?? I have no idea. I just thought they were pretty and I was really excited to be outta the house for once. I think I'm getting cabin fever. If I don't get off base at least once I week I start to freak out.

This is how you know you're about to get to the lovely beach.

This is Sunset Beach! They have a windmill here for some reason. We liked it.

If it were about 5 or 10 degrees warmer, it would've been warm enough for us to go into the water. These people are crazy and acting like the water was fine. It was cold people! But we put our feet in anyways. Then we just laid out on our towels for awhile.

And took pictures. I was very excited to be at the beach and to be wearing one of the 4 new swim suits I bought towards the end of last summer. They still had the tags on them. To the left of me you can see Dustin's white hairy belly.

Dustin forgot to bring his sunglasses so I put his shirt on his head to shield his eyes from the sun. I'm helpful like that. I think Dustin appreciated it too.

The hotel again. This beach had a really small sandy area and then alot of these cement(I think) steps where mom's held all their kids' beach supplies while they played in the water. There's also a little ice cream cabana up there somewhere. It was very cute.

I love living here. And I get very excited thinking that we'll be here for 3 more summers after this.

After about 30 minutes of laying on the sand I started to get restless and Dustin started to get sleepy so we decided to explore. The sun had gone behind the clouds and it started to get a little cooler than comfortable as well. That's when I found this poor, dead puffer fish. At first I thought it was fake because it kinda looks like it might start talking. But then I saw it's battle scars on the side of it's belly. It wasn't a peaceful end for this guy.

This picture was taken to show how clear the water is here.

We walked along the sea wall for awhile.

People are allowed to decorate the sea walls here which is pretty awesome because every asian person can draw amazingly well. It's just a fact. I liked this one the best.

I've noticed that they really like dolphin statues here. I have no idea what this is for.

Here's the windmill again. We walked right past it.

I made Dustin pose like this because I was trying to get a candid picture before and he turned around and ruined everything. He's pointing at nothing. Actually, I think he was telling me that this chart thingy told you how fast the windmill was moving or some crap like that. He can't read kanji so I think he was just bullshitting me. But he was probably right. Sometimes I pretend I know how to read Japanese too but I'm usually just guessing. Most of the time I'm wrong.

This is a pineapple! At least that's what I said as I was taking this picture. But I really have no idea. It could be anything. It is Japan, after all.

These people were just sitting in this fountain/stream thingy by the resort. It was kinda weird and didn't seem like that was the sole purpose of the fountain. But I guess it's alright if they were doing it. I bet if I tried they'd totally kick me out. I'm not cool enough. :(

We were hungry after all the walking and decided to go to Ono Kau Kau and see what all the fuss was about. A lot of Americans come here to have some "Hawaiian" tasties. It was pretty ok. It was basically Japanese style Hawaiian so not totally what I was wanting. The Hawaiian place in Boise that catered Dave & Sammee's wedding was waaaaaaaaaaaay better. I really wanted some coconut rice but they only had plain rice.

Instead of napkins they had tissue boxes in the middle of every table. I'll tell you, tissues really don't work well in place of napkins.

We chose to eat outside since they didn't seem to have a/c inside. The place was kinda cute and they at least had Hawaiian music playing which made me feel like I was living on a tropical island.

Here I am deep in thought about food. I was looking at the picture menu when Dustin took this. He also took some other blurry pictures of my bottom half that I deleted when I found them later.

Here's another picture Dustin took. I'm not sure what he was aiming at, if anything. Maybe that ugly couple that was sitting back there. We're not very fond of the uglies. When we got our food we were so hungry that we forgot to take pictures. I was about halfway through my plate when Dustin suggested it. But it was just too late.

I only allow Dustin to take my picture so I can get away with making this face. How many pictures do I have of my face doing this? It's been going on for about 4 years. I will never get a different expression.

We ended the night attempting to get drunk. I had cran-raspberry mojitos to keep the whole tropical theme going. Dustin and I had about 2 drinks each over the course of about 5 hours. We're not very good at drinking. We don't particularly like shots and we hate getting full off of liquids. You know when you drink so much that when you move you can hear all the beverages sloshing around in your tummy? Yea, we hate that. I also like my drinks very very sweet so lately I've been getting a stomach ache from the sugar before I even get buzzed. We're total old people.

I will end this post with this kitty to show you all what an Okinawan kitty looks like. Notice the slanty eyes! This is the most Asian looking animal I've seen here.

Goodness, we love Totoro

Ever since I first saw it, years and years ago, I've been completely obsessed with My Neighbor Totoro. It's one of my all time favourite movies EVER. I love pretty much all of the Studio Ghibli movies but Totoro was the first one I'd ever seen and it was one the first movies made by Studio Ghibli over 20 years ago. I was happy to learn that the people of Japan and Okinawa are still beyond obsessed with Totoro today. They act as if it just came out yesterday. Everywhere I go there's something Totoro or any of the other characters from the movie. They find an excuse to put his face on almost everything. And every time I walk into a store that has Totoro things that I've never seen before, I have a complete heart attack.


All I had to do was type "Totoro" into google images and was amazed by how many Totoro things I found. I spent about 30 minutes looking at crazy pictures and choosing the craziest ones to put up here. Mostly Brittany and Kelly will appreciate this. Above me is a Cat bus car. I would happily get over my fear of driving just to have this car.

Totoro snowman. Of course.

Some artist that likes to draw anime characters all Simpson like did this. I think it's the single most amazing thing I've ever seen. But that's just me. I especially love Totoro and Mei's faces.

This made me laugh foreverrrrrrr. I love that they decided to dress up as a cat bus and just made it into a mask. It reminds me of something Kelly would do.

I've seen these toys and lots of other statues like it in alot of stores here. It's one of my favourite scenes from the movie.

This isn't my picture but I've actually seen this clock here! It was in this random old clock store that also had Disney clocks from the 80s. It was the most amazing store ever. And I never exaggerate.

Lego Totoro!

Even Hello Kitty sometimes gets beaten out by Totoro merchandise.

This is the Studio Ghibli symbol tattooed on the arm of someone way more obsessed than I am.

I don't even know what's going on here. All I know is that it's a big Totoro.

Bento box Totoro! If you don't know what bento boxes are and why they're so special here, then look it up. I'm too lazy to explain it right now.

I'm jealous. But I know a place not far away that would probably be able to do this to my nails. And the idea of that makes my little heart go pitter patter.

Hooray for Totoro cupcakes! If I attempted this I would surely fail miserably.

This is actually my picture. I took it at the store where I bought Britt's bday present not too long ago.

I took this yesterday at the Jusco bakery. I'm pretty sure they're supposed to be Totoro. What else could they be?? I didn't buy these because they looked kinda weird and I already had my tray full of lots of other tasties.

Now, when I say everyone is in love with the magic of Totoro here, I do mean EVERYONE. In January we went to the Nago Cherry Blossom Festival and a school marching band were playing the theme from the movie. You can watch it here:

And here we have a Japanese orchestra playing a medley of music from the movie:




And I'm convinced that every elementry school does this: