O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

OK, so here is my most recent work of art ... My Christmas Tree!! (applause, applause)
This is how I spent the day after Thanksgiving ... no shopping, just decorating! I think it turned out pretty great!

When in Sushi-land...

During my two-month stay in Japan I was very cautious in my food selection. It's awfully hard when you can't read the menu and sometimes the pictures and plastic food don't quite illustrate EXACTLY what is in the dish. For example, Domino's pizza is often laced with fish flakes ... No thanks!!

So I enjoyed many meals of scrambled eggs, French toast or PB&J sandwiches. When going out to eat, I would stick with what I knew which usually meant McDonald's, KFC, Outback and TGI Friday's.

Wanting to FULLY experience Japan, I told my friends how I wanted to at least try sushi and sashimi. So Naoko, Yuko, Vivian and Arlette and I met up at a sushi bar in Roppongi Hills. The restaurant was so much fun! We sat at the bar where a conveyor belt paraded a variety of highly garnished, beautiful fresh seafood in front of us. Spot a dish that looked tempting, simply pull it off the conveyor belt and enjoy. Plate after plate, just stack them up in front you as you enjoy piece after piece of tuna, shrimp, mackerel, yellow tail and more.

The price of each dish is based on the color of the plate. When you've finished your meal, the waiter simply comes by with a hand-held scanner and scans your plates, creating a total. He then electronically transfers that information onto a piece of tile. Take that pice of tile to the cashier and pay your bill. The Japanese will never cease to amaze me when it comes to electronics.

OK, so back to my sushi dining experience ... I was pretty timid about grabbing dishes. I began with a few Nori rolls (rice and cucumber wrapped in seaweed) and then tried some baby shrimp. Then it was on to some actual raw fish ... Tuna.

So Japanese etiquette is that you put the entire piece of sushi into your mouth at once. Well ... that's a lot of foreign food in my mouth at one time! Sadly my gag reflex kicked in and it was not easy to get all that piece swallowed. But I did get it all down. As for that second piece ... well, Naoko helped me finish that one off. I am pretty certain it was more the amount of food in my mouth and the idea of it being raw fish that made it so difficult to swallow.

Deciding to go for something safe to settle the stomach, I grabbed a piece of cantaloupe. Then I discovered the grilled tuna and onion kebabs ... yummy. Amazing what a little flame will do.


Just before my first bite!


Second piece ... recreating first bit for the camera (thought we'd missed the first shot). I didn't end up eating this piece.

Christmastime in the desert

I've been driving around town trying really hard to get into the Christmas spirit! It's awfully hard, however, when you're listening to Kurt Bestor's Christmas with the A/C on and the windows rolled down!!

Ahh, I guess that is what Christmas in the desert of Palm Springs is going to be like this year!

So it's the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and my apartment is all Christmasy ... beautiful new pre-lit tree with stunning blue, silver and white decorations. The collection of Santas and Frosty's are scattered throughout my bookcases and I am now downloading all my Christmas CDs onto my iPod. I really do love this time of year. But right now I am sure missing the frosty windows, crisp air and even snowy streets! Hopefully I will get a chance to experience some of that this holiday season.

This year was also one of the first when I didn't actually pry myself out of bed in the pre-dawn hours to wait in line for coveted Christmas gifts at Wal-Mart or Target. Instead I decided to sleep in a bit and hit the stores and the mall around 8:30 a.m. Really there wasn't much that I just HAD to have. But I did manage to find a few things here and there in my shopping excursions ... I never seem to have any problems finding things to buy!

Making friends in Japan

So I pride myself on my ability to easily make friends. A trait that came in quite handy while I was 5,000 miles away from home ... so far away from all my wonderful friends!

Before I left the states for Japan, I contacted a missionary couple serving in the Tokyo area and got the name of some singles attending the ward I would become a temporary member of. My first week at church was pretty overwhelming ... completely new environment and I was feeling pretty homesick. But luckily it didn't take long for the ward singles group to adopt me into their circle!

My second week at church I was invited, first, a convert baptism ... really a great experience no matter what country you are in, but even more exciting being in Japan. After the baptism all the singles headed over to the one of the bishopric members' homes for a Family Home Evening BBQ.

First off, I was so impressed at the beautiful, spacious home. I felt so comfortable there and thought I could actually make a life in Japan if I could live in such a nice home ... such a stark contrast to my temporary, compact and cozy home. I think I was most impressed with the kitchen ... a kitchen I would kill for here in the states! And, of course, very state-of-the-art, too.

So my second impression was how diverse the group of men and women were. Not only were there a couple Americans and quite a few English-speaking Japanese, but there a few people from New Zealand, an Aussie, a Canadian, and even a gal from the Dominican Republic. What an impressive bunch of people!

Over the next few weeks I had a great time hanging out with some of those singles. Yuko and Naoko were great about planning things for us to do. One night a bunch of people came over to my house and we munched on snacks and played games. Then Yuko, Naoko and another gal named Shannon and I all went to Fujiku Highlands ... an incredible, albeit seriously crowded, amusement park (more on that to come). Lunch dates, dinners at Outback, an evening of sushi and shopping along the way were just some of the fun things I was able to enjoy with my new friends.




Just some of my friends... Arlette (New Zealander), Naoko, Yuko, me and Vivian (Canadian). This was in Roppongi Hills on one of my last nights in Japan. We went to a great Sushi Bar, wandered around the posh shopping/dining area and then headed to ColdStone Ice Cream where we waited in line for more than an hour for ice cream! The ColdStone had just opened and everyone had realized just how amazing ColdStone is! Yummy ice cream!!

I'm a slacker!

OK, I admit it! I am such a blogging slacker. It was so great when I had oodles of time while I was in Japan to post on a regular basis. But now that I actually have a job ... well, I'm back in slacker mode. And, well, there really isn't anything all that exciting going on in my life.

I have been in Palm Springs for just more than a month now and I am really enjoying my job. The people I work with are great. I have two stellar reporters who make my job incredibly easy and a third reporter starts this week!

I'm learning all I can about my new community -- La Quinta -- and I actually have a column chronicling my adventures that runs each week in La Quinta Sun. It's called JK in LQ. So now the people of La Quinta will see just how amazingly witty I am! haha.

Last weekend I took a quick road trip to meet up with my mom and a bus full of crazy women on their Shop 'til you Drop trip. Each fall these women (usually myself included) board a bus in St. George at midnight and drive all night to the Los Angeles Fashion District where there are purse, sunglasses and clothing knock-offs aplenty. It's a full day of shopping fun ... Gucci, Prada, Coach, Rolex and more can all be found in The Ally. Just watch how they spell Gucci!!

After a day of shopping we then head to the hotel and crash. Some people go to Disneyland while others enjoy dinner and try and catch up on sleep they lost on the noisy bus the night before.

The next morning the bus is off to the Orange County Swap Meet -- a wonderful shopping experience with a little bit of everything. Fresh fruit, flowers, purses, the latest in kitchen gadgets, perfumes, home decor, artwork, even luxury cars, are all found in hundreds of booths. This is where I met up with my mom last Saturday. She also managed to transport some boxes of my kitchen stuff that didn't make it into the moving van last month.

We had a good time winding our way through the vendors and found a few small treasures. Since it was a simple 2-hour drive and right off the freeway, I'll have to head back there on those slow weekends when I really don't want to do laundry.

I'm officially a member of the Bermuda Dunes Ward now. Records are in and now I just await a calling ... haha! Actually I really would like to be back in Primary again. I really miss those adorable kids from the Snow Canyon 8th Ward in St. George. And ... I LOVE singing all those great Primary songs! I'm pretty sure I was the loudest "kid" belting out the songs during singing time ... especially when we sang "Scripture Power" or "Follow the Prophets."

Great! Now those songs are stuck my head!!!