Blog Archives: Links

Apr

Apartment

It’s about time I gather some time to post! We’ve been moved into the new apartment for nearly 3 weeks now! I suppose, more than anything, we’ve been busier than ever getting things together and more settled. A little background on where we’re at and what’s going on :3

Our new home is located in the International District, in the heart of old Japan town. As I happily showed off before, Kobe Park is located in our backyard and the famous Maneki restaurant is right down the block. We’re atop a HUGE hill, just about the same length and steepness as the damn hill I use to climb to my dreaded dormitory in Kanagawa. In one way, I’m not a fan of the hill. In another, It’s my best friend. I’ve already lost 4 lbs climbing it the past couple of weeks so I suppose it’s a good thing.

Cute cakes in one of the many cute downtown bakeries <3

Our local market is now Uwajimaya instead of PCC (organic natural crap store), which also happens to be the home of Seattle’s Kinokuniya. My god… amazing upgrade.
The cabinets are well stocked with Oi Ocha green tea, lots of curry and random little snacks. Our god send for stupid tiny necessities is DAISO, a Japanese dollar store, located just around the corner from Uwajimaya. The location in Harajuku was where Liz and I had originally picked up all the stupid random crap we needed for our dorms. In a way, it gives a warm familiar feeling of happy times.

First meal in our empty apartment <3

Instead of spending $20 a week on Starbucks the new guilty pleasure is bubble tea and cute little cakes from the many Chinese and Japanese bakeries around the neighborhood. I like to do more walking than ever trying to discover all the little shops and fun things there are in the neighborhood. Our latest goal is to find a good bar in the area. We suspect there’s a traditional bar on the second floor of an electronics shop, soon we hope to visit. We’ve found two Karaoke places that offer private Karaoke rooms. Now I simply need to get Kai into the idea of singing like an idiot with me.

Really, I suppose if I couldn’t have stayed in Japan and we certainly don’t have enough money to live there, this is probably the next best thing for us. It feels like a place where we fit in a lot more, we can explore around us and find new and interesting things. Fremont was nice for a while but, in the end, I’m not a hippie and that just wasn’t going to work for me.

No more hair dye, not much make up. I think I can like me again :3

Out of everything that has changed I’m the most excited about the changes I’m seeing in myself. I really didn’t think simply getting our own apartment was going to make a huge difference in my struggle with depression. I figured even after moving I’d still have a lot of healing to do. But, no, it is not so. Every day I’ve been more full of energy, in fantastic moods, enjoying life again and feeling very hopeful. I want to be out. I want to be alive. I want to get dressed up every day and feel good about myself. Yes, I’m still a gloomy little girl. I’m still a pessimist. I still wear shades of black and gray, keep my hair in my face and avoid the sun. I’m glad to see that’s just part of who I am and not what I’ve become.

So, it’s late now. And I feel relieved to get everything out and have fun talking about so many new things. If everything goes well I should hopefully be updating more in the future. Photo dump: