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.