Current Mood: CC is listening to: Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern via the Slingbox My original schedule to be in Manila was from April 13-25, and come back again the first week of May. But when I realized that schedule only gave me a week in Memphis before I needed to fly back, I just decided to stay that extra week in Manila and continue working from there. So I've been a little busier than usual (the pace is always busier at the Manila office) and haven't been able to blog so much.
But I have been able to do a few things that I enjoy: meet up with some friends, do some online shopping and play WoW ;-).
The first weekend I arrived, my college friends had a small dinner get together at Meyan and Joy's new home.
Robin made paella, Aldous brought a delicious chocolate cake, and I brought some flowers. It was a nice, relaxing dinner followed by some tv :-).
Another thing I was able to do was some online shopping while being here :-). I was doing an search for bedsheets for my parents. Search results included the usual comforter sets that are either printed or plain, and after looking at picture after picture they all start looking the same.
Then I found this in the clearance section at the Sears' website and just HAD to have it, it was so different:
Doesn't that just make you want to slide under the covers and take a nap :-)?
I ordered it online and Steve picked it up at the store the next day :-). I'm looking forward to trying it out when I get home :-).
It's the Noblegarden festival in WoW, which is the in-game equivalent of Easter :-). For a week you go hunting for eggs and turn them in to certain characters for in-game prizes :-). One of the prizes that I thought would be really cute to have would be the bunny ears. I collected enough eggs to get them for my death knight, and she just looks really cute with them:
Here's this death knight all decked out in armor, meant to spread fear and terror, and she's got bunny ears :-).
Current Mood: CC is listening to: Nothing right now Did anybody else catch Gilles and Cheryl's Argentine tango on Dancing with the Stars? It got the first perfect score of the season.
Steve and I were watching it and I said, "That's the hottest tango I've ever seen."
To Steve: Did you know there's a Memphis Argentine Tango Society, honey? And classes are only $10 a person.
{shrugs my shoulders as you give that look}...I'm just SAYIN' :-).
Current Mood: CC is listening to: Nothing right now Last week I was checking out events in the area when I saw that the Memphis Botanic Garden had a Cherry Blossom Viewing session. The description was:
Cherry Blossom Viewing Mar 29, 2009 (12:00 PM - 2:30 PM) Join the Japan Culture Club to view the Yoshino cherry trees in full bloom, prepare traditional unrolled sushi, and enjoy hands-on Japanese crafts and activities. $5 supply fee includes Garden admission. Contact: Sachiko Matsushita, Japan Outreach Initiative Coordinator
Well that sounded like fun, so Steve and I went to that :-).
When we paid our entrance fee there was a sign that said "Fish Food, $1." Having been to the Memphis Botanic Garden before, Steve and I knew that this was for feeding the koi at the Japanese Garden section. So I bought four bags :-).
Here are the pictures we took at the event.
Sachiko Matsushita welcoming the crowd. She explained that unfortunately, most of the cherry blossoms had dropped last week but they had preserved some cherry blossoms in a refrigerator so that they can show us what they look like (they're in that vase behind her). She also offered everyone to have something to eat--they ordered sushi from Sekisui, which is our favorite Japanese restaurant :-). So you bet we got some sushi :-).
The calligraphy table where you choose a character to write on your own fan :-)
Steve trying his hand at it. He's writing out "dream." He said it turned out more to be a nightmare :-).
The origami table
There was a big turnout :-). It got even more crowded about half an hour after I took this picture.
After having fun with all the arts and crafts, we figured we'd head on out to the Japanese Garden. Here are some outdoor shots:
It was a bright, cool day--perfect for going to the Botanic Garden :-).
The entrance to the Japanese Garden
Steve feeding the koi. Turns out buying four bags of fish food was just right--we were even able to share it with people that didn't buy any fish food but realized that it looked like fun :-).
They have some pretty big koi in that garden :-). Some ducks and a swan joined in the fun too :-).
Another shot of the Japanese Garden
Some of the cherry blossoms were still blooming :-).
It was a lot of fun, and we're glad we went :-). We also found out that the headquarters for the Japan-America Society of Tennessee, which sponsored the event, is in Nashville and they have even more events over there. So that's definitely another thing we're looking forward to when the time comes for us to move to Nashville (probably mid to late this year) :-).
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