nano universe

today i went with Bee and Style to a nano universe sale.

i bought a pair of shoes that were 60% off.

even with the discount, they were just over $300.

i've most definitely gone crazy.

oh, but they ARE cute.

the 'burbs are movin' up

bed head hasn't gone as well as hoped. i go to bed with it wet and then just straight iron the monster in the morning.

a new shopping center opened up yesterday in the town where i work. it was a school holiday (school's "birthday") so i went to the opening day. there were hordes of people, babies, students from school, and after 3:30, students from nearby schools started piling in. i went with two other teachers and we had lunch then just wandered around.

the bookstore is really nice (very very minor english section, but what can i expect out in the 'burbs...) and there were a couple of my favorite kind of "stuff" stores. the kind of store that sells a little bit of everything. they also had a cool and cheap jewelry store. lots of funky gem stone pieces. i went for the "tanoshimi fukuro" which the japanese version of a "grab bag". it was 2,000yen ($20). i got a cool gem stone ball key chain, a simple plus sign necklace, a cell phone strap and two bracelets along with a bunch of other not mention-worthy things. decent deal i guess. i got a lot of stuff i wouldn't pick out myself, but if i have it, i might wear it. a little branching out never hurt.

after we browsed all the stores and took a break in starbucks, we said goodbye. i stayed and wandered around some more. i saw fun/funky pair of mary-jane-esque shoes that were vintage silver and they felt good on until i checked the price tag: about $350. um, no thank you. i treated myself to colored tights instead. teal and a muted maroon color. figured i should get one funky and one more conservative (if you can say that colored tights are even conservative!)

i came home and cleaned like a mad woman. i scrubbed the shower and bath, the toilet room, and did half the dishes. it doesn't sound like a lot, but my bath cover (totally a japanese item that i don't even know is worth describing) was gross so i took a little Mr. Clean to it and now it smells and looks great.

after that i went through my closest and tried on all kinds of outfits with my tights, my new boots, some skirts that i drug out from the bottom of the closest. we'll see if any of them make it out the door of my apartment. haha.

my friend Rosen is coming tomorrow morning. he lives in northern japan and is taking the night bus tonight and getting into tokyo station at 5:15am. i actually have to work tomorrow, even though it's a saturday, so hopefully he gets here before i have to leave. he wants to drop his stuff off and maybe take a nap but i'm not sure how having only one key will work.

and unfortunately i didn't get around to buying a guest futon yet. we'll see what happens. i might have to come home in the afternoon tomorrow to do some errands and such before going back to the parent/teacher gathering at 6.

booties

i went out yesterday with Bee and a mutual girl friend of ours, Gum. she's japanese but went to high school in the US and went to the same university as me, Bee and Style, here in japan. she works for an insurance company about 2 hours outside of tokyo and comes home most weekends to hang out with friends and get back to civilization.

i was already running late to meet them in harajuku at 1 and when i got to the train station, i realized i forgot my wallet. by the time i got back home, my feet hurt from my heeled boots. plus i remembered that Bee likes to wander the back streets of tokyo's trendy shopping districts, even if he doesn't buy anything, so i changed into my converse all stars. (in hindsight, a more than excellent move)

it was almost 2 by the time i met up with them at Fujimama's, a restaurant with what seemed to be an almost all foreign staff. we ordered in english. the food was alright. i just don't think i picked the right dishes.

after lunch we went to fendi to fix Gum's watch and folli follie to pick up a necklace that Bee's friend asked him to get for her. apparently the necklace is only sold in THAT particular harajuku follie follie store. it wasn't even that cute. but whatever floats your boat.

we eventually wound up in shibuya and took a break in mcdonald's for large drinks and oreo mcflurry's. yum.

Bee had a dinner meeting with an american guy from Nike so we saw him off and Gum and i made our way into 109. she wanted a cheap temporary replacement watch and i wanted to people watch. gyarus galore. i felt severely underdressed in my converse, jeans, a black ribbed turtleneck and beige puffy down vest. we just walked around, gawking at the clothes and the mere mass of people jammed onto each floor and in each shop.

we casually looked at bags and accessories. and shoes. the clothes are all "one size." that one size being "very small." so, i don't even bother looking. but bags and shoes and accessories, oh my!

in the end, i walked out with a cell phone sticker made of pearly beads in the shape of a j. (Bee calls it "bedazzling your cell phone.")

and two pairs of...booties. you know, the "must have" fall shoe?

yeah. uh...who am i again?

dry cleaning, take two

3 pairs of pants
2 sweaters
1 button down shirt

2200 yen

(in iriya)


well, you know what they say: tokyo's expensive.
i got twice as much for that price in the suburbs.
but then again, it was exactly that:

i lived in the suburbs.