(Some of) Today's Thoughts

I know I am overdue for a fashion post, and I promise it will be the next one.  

For now, I want to share some thoughts swimming around in my head today:

1.  Stand up for yourself.  If you are uncomfortable, speak up.  Standing up for yourself, saying what you mean and meaning what you say, not letting anyone make you do something you are uncomfortable with (workouts aside,) feels SO MUCH better than avoiding conflict

2.  It's no fun to feel taken advantage of

3.  It's ok if not everyone in the world likes you.  In fact, that's natural

4.  Invest in yourself.  You would never renege on a commitment to a friend, so why would you do that to yourself?  Whatever goals you have set, whatever you want to do, keep at it.  Don't fail yourself.  Show up for yourself.  I am doing that here, by writing, by sharing, by putting words on paper and making a commitment to myself to keep working towards my goals.

5.  Prioritize yourself, in every way

Inspirations

These women have my dream job:  marrying fashion and technology

Amber Venz Box

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/27/rewardstyle-liketoknow-it-sparks-1-billion-in-retail-sales.html

and Chloe Watts

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/dream-job-chloe-watts-fashion-technologist

My favorite quote is from Chloe- "If you dream job doesn't exist, create it"

Weekend at Dog Woof Resort

I am the world's biggest dog lover, or close to it.  Most people who know me say I spoil my dogs a little too much, and I don't disagree but I see it as extra loving and I think it's fun and it makes me feel good.  

Recently we went to the Mt. Fuji area for a long weekend.  One of the best parts was we took the punks with us!!!  We stayed at Dog Resort Woof in Yamanakako near Yamanakako lake, one of five lakes in the Mt. Fuji area.  I have mixed, and sometimes not so mixed feelings about this country, but my feelings about that area is as clear as the lake water- love it!!!  

First up, the grounds and facilities.  Nestled in the gorgeous trees on the east side of Mt. Fuji, there is one main building that houses most of the rooms, reception, cafe, restaurant, shop, pools, massage facilities, and exercise area.  Dogs are allowed everywhere.  Premium rooms (or cabins) are available, they come with a private fenced in area and meal delivery.  

There are half a dozen dog runs, all but one are outdoors (the indoor one is good sized and was probably a three court indoor tennis facility.)  There's plenty of room for dogs to run around and sniff butts and do their business.  Our punks didn't run as much as some of the other dogs, but they sure enjoyed being outdoors and off leash and meeting other dogs.  And coming from a ho hum industrial city, we reveled in the fresh air.  

Quite difficult to get all three to look in the same direction (especially without treats)

Playing freely in fresh air.  Imagine that

Gorgeous grounds

The "forest" run

One side of the resort faces Mt. Fuji, and we splurged and got a room facing the great mountain.  Worth every penny (or yen.)  This was our view at sunrise.  So beautiful to wake up to, after being awaken by the Redhead.

Not photoshopped and no filter

While this is a resort, our room was fairly spartan.  We had two single beds, a desk, vanity, dorm room size refrigerator (came in handy for drinks and dog food,) a coffee table, and a couch.  The beds were firm, which we like, but the pillows were too hard for my taste.  I probably ended up not using it.  There was also an AC that worked well. Note: dogs are not allowed on beds, they are to be in their crates when you are out of the room.  There's a 3000 yen fine for dogs on beds.  I am not sure how they would know if your dogs were on the beds or not, but you've been forewarned...

Although our room was rather plain, the toiletries smelled and felt fancy.  I am not familiar with these brands, but I used everything:  shampoo, conditioner, body wash, body oil, and body lotion.  They all had pleasant, not overpowering scents, and did their job rather well.  I will be looking for these in stores.

Food at the resort is available in the restaurant (two seatings a day, breakfast and dinner) and in the cafe.  There is no food vending available, so after 9 p.m. you will have to venture into town.  This being a dog resort, and a dog resort in Japan no less, you can take your dog to the restaurant and the cafe.  There are large hooks to latch your puppy's leash onto.  

Breakfast at the restaurant is a buffet with both Japanese and Western food. I love places that offer both.  Dinner is a salad, entree, and dessert, in addition to all you can eat soup, rice, bread, coffee, and tea.  Dinner is served like this:

Beef, lobster, and pineapple ice cream dessert

Not our dog, but so cute!!!

Aesthetically pleasing but our entrees either lacked taste or tasted weird.  You can order beer or wine.  By comparison, breakfast was much much better tasting.

We took our punks to breakfast.  It was their first time in a restaurant and although we did not order food for them (which you can do from a separate menu,) you bet they got some table scraps.  I'm sure they were overwhelmed.  I'm proud to say they behaved much better than some of the other dogs.

Daddy keeping an eye on them

Yes I need a haircut

We took advantage of the beautiful weather (much better than Nagoya, surprise) and walked around Lake Yamanakako and did some hiking.  There were signs warning of bears in the woods which made me nervous, but my better half said Japanese bears are small.  To me, a bear is a bear.  Honestly I was unable to fully relax.  I devised a plan in case we came upon one, but thankfully we didn't.  We did have a bunch of deer run across the woods, a little close to us, which got the dogs very excited.  I was nervous about that too, probably because I am a city girl.

We exited the woods into the Yamanakako Hanano Miyako Koen, which was just breathtaking and full of people.  All the flowers against Mt. Fuji was like being in a painting.

After recovering from our hike we took the punks back to our room for their nap.  Then we made our way to Lake Kawaguchi and Kachi Kachi Mountain.  En route we stopped for lunch and of course it had to be at a brewery.  We went to Fujiyama Brewery in a large rest stop which also houses Mont Bell, a general store, farmers market, kids' indoor playground, and is one of the popular starting points to trek up to the top of Mt. Fuji.  

Flight of the three beers offered (pilsner, dunkel, weizen)

Beautiful copper tanks

The menu is typical Japanese family restaurant, which is to say there was a smorgasbord of offerings from katsu to pasta to salads to burgers to pizza and so on.  The food (and beer) came out amazingly fast.  It will never cease to puzzle and amaze me how slow some things are in Japan, and how fast other things are.  I do wish for more in the latter category.

About 10-15 minutes down the road, we arrived in the town area of Lake Kawaguchi.  Its beauty is reminiscent of the southwest Bavaria area of Germany, especially where the "Cinderella" castle is located.  We took the tram up to the top of Mt. Kachi Kachi, which offered this view:

This being Japan, you can buy Japanese snacks (including soft serve) and trinkets where the tram drops you off.  The large deck provides 360 degree views of the surrounding area.  And if you are so inclined, you can hike down the other side of the mountain.
Mount Kachi Kachi is the home of the famous folklore "Kachi Kachi Yama," which I had heard of but did not know in detail.  Suffice it to say I was greatly disturbed by the violence of the story, and the statues portraying the rabbit and the tanuki (Japanese racoon dog.)  For a country obsessed with kawaii, I find it strange that cute animals were used in the story.  I think they should have used a wolverine (or other not so cute animal) instead of a rabbit, at a minimum.

You can read all about the story on these boards

Looks cute, but the rabbit is really torturing the racoon dog

Now, back to cuteness.  A few more pictures of my family at the resort:

One last thing...no dog would ever do this, so the resort should find a new sign:

Happy National Dog Day

The loves of my life...

Best Salads Ever

I love salads and unfortunately but not surprisingly, a good one is very hard to find in Nagoya (perhaps in Japan period.)  Japanese people do not seem to like raw vegetables (see the abundance of vegetable tempura) and sadly consider a mountain of shredded cabbage with mayonnaise on top a "salad."  No.  

We tried Salad Bowl today and are so glad we made the long trek to this place!!!  It is 9.6 miles away to be exact.  It takes about an hour by car or subway, but we drove because we are lazy and I am an L.A. girl.  You can take the girl out of L.A. but you can't take L.A. out of the girl.  So true.

The salads were delicious.  Perfect size to fill you up, good ratio of protein to fiber, fresh ingredients, friendly staff that speaks English, and the homemade lemonade on a hot day was just what we needed.  The lemonade was quite tart, we thought it would be too sweet since the Japanese love sweet foods.  Prices are more than reasonable for the quality.

I was able to get my dressing on the side.  All dressings are homemade.  Can't wait to try all of them 😋


I looked a lot happier after eating haha...

Simple But Effective

The tried and true formula of dress and heels never gets old for me.  I don't wear belts often, but this particular dress provides the perfect opportunity.  I should have cleaned the mirror first, ooooops.

Dress:  Amanda Uprichard
Shoes:  Amalfi
Belts:  Hermes Box Belt, B-Low Double Buckle Belt

New Shoes

Who doesn't love new shoes?  No one I know!  Anyone who claims so is lying, ha ha...

I have had these for a few months and haven't worn them out yet because I'm afraid of getting the beautiful sand suede dirty and because the weather is not so cooperative at the moment

The gladiator trend was a few seasons ago, but I love the versatility of these babies and the softness of the suede and the length of the ties.  The ties are not so short that they cut off my leg right above or at my ankles (not flattering on anyone) or so long that it takes forever to tie them.  Just perfect

Feels Good

What feels good?  Standing up for yourself feels good.  I am guilty of not doing it for most of my life.  For the usual reasons: fear of rocking the boat, fear of feeling guilty, fear of hurting someone's feelings (even though I don't feel that great,) fear of it being wrong, fear of alienating whoever...I still have some of those fears some times, but I have learned that the good feeling that I get from standing up for myself is way bigger, better, and brighter than those fears

The Makings of a Cozy Sunday Morning

Coffee, Chocolate, and Moleskin

Friday Lunch

Happy camper

A Symphony Afternoon

Hubby and I spent Saturday afternoon at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) concert in Toyota City.  Ironic my first time attending DSO is in another country.  

What I wore:

Dress:  Lux areyouami (no longer on ayai website)

Top (over dress:)  Kasia areyouami

Bag:  Proenza Schouler PS11 mini (not a trendy in the moment bag but I still love it)

Shoes:  Manolo Blahnik round toe pumps (patent version and about 1" lower)

Tan Lines

A couple of self portraits in the stairwell and at my desk because the camera battery is charging and it's too toasty outside.

I'm wearing:

Isabel Marant Aba dress (on sale!!!)
Lipstick Queen Frog Prince lipstick and lip gloss

Lunch at Lancia

Earlier this week a friend and I went out for her belated birthday/post test lunch.  We chose this salad place close to her house.  The food was pretty good and the prices were decent (for Japan)  Unfortunately, for lunch, the options were limited and there were not many salads available.

I wore:

Dress:  dRa

Shoes:  Toms

Bag:  Longchamp

With the heat and humidity I have been putting up my hair a lot.  

Next up, more self portraits.  I am going to focus solely on fashion.  My husband does not like to take pictures, but that doesn't mean I can't do it myself.  No excuses.

Current Crushes

Kelli Lamb:

http://theeverygirl.com/how-kelli-lamb-went-a-year-without-shopping/

Not only do I love this article about quality over quantity (I am guilty of spending way too much time at Marshalls and the like...) and the ethics of consumption, my favorite part is when she talked about wanting to start a blog but having nothing to say about her boring life.  Honest.  Refreshing.  Humbling.  Rare.


Michelle Madsen:

I love her message:  Take Aim.  Take aim at what you want.  Take aim with her.  Go for it.  Why do so many of us hesitate to go after what we want?  I know I am not the only one

https://www.instagram.com/michelletakeaim/?hl=en

Random Thoughts

It's been over a week (eight days to be exact) since I last wrote.  I thought a lot about writing, I made a mental list of topics (most of which have left my mind)  But I didn't put them to paper or on screen.  I kept waiting for opportunity, kept trying to get all the ducks lined up. In the meantime, I think opportunity passes me by, time passes me by, when I should be creating opportunities.  And about those ducks, I don't even know exactly which ones I should be lining up.

Thoughts swirling around in my head:

• What if I want to do something creative?  Not get back into the corporate world.  How would that work?  How would I break into it?  Could I make enough?  What would my loved ones think?
• I hate Facebook.  I hate having to use Facebook because it's the only means to communicate about something, or the only way to communicate about something in English
• I worked from the time I got up at 4:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Pretty tired, and it's only mid-day
• My craving for sweets, especially chocolate, seems less strong.  Maybe my sweet tooth is finally subsiding!!!  I'm going to continue keeping desserts as a weekend treat
• I am tired of deciding what my next purse should be because I have limited myself to only brands that do not or only depreciate a little, and they are very expensive and not the most functional
• Back to bullet one...I am both excited by the idea that I can do something that interests me for a living and that maybe I have finally found something I want to do, but I have so many doubts.  Not the least of which is "what would people think?"  By people I mean certain people
• I'll end this post by promising to post again tomorrow, with whatever is in my head

Talent vs Interest

As I embark on my next career, I have been thinking a lot about talent and interest.  Do we do what we do because we are naturally good at it?  Because being good at something makes us feel good and do more of it?  Or do we do what we are interested in, and get better at it with practice?  I strongly believe you can master almost anything with practice.

I believe we all have natural talents, whether it's math, cooking, swimming, or any number of things.  Does this mean you should aim to be a mathematician, cook, or professional swimmer for your career?  Probably not.  Everyone of us likely has personal requirements and values that automatically filter out certain prospects, be they financial, geographical, or something else.

Then, should we choose careers based on our interest?  Yes, if you subscribe to the theory of "Do what you love, the money will follow"  I don't disagree with that idea but I don't think it's that simple.  For example, I am a good actor, but I won't be going to auditions or taking head shots or getting an agent any time soon.  Why?  Because it's a famously difficult profession to make money in, and I am rather risk averse.  Maybe I will feel differently at another point in my life, but right now I'm not looking for an SAG card.

The key, then, is to find things that you are naturally good at (your innate strengths) and love to do.  What are those things for me?

Stay tuned...

I Miss Wanting

I mean really wanting something.  Like getting into a certain college, landing a certain job, then a promotion, etc.  It's not that I don't want anything at all, but the energy is different.  Maybe it's because I have achieved or gotten some things, and they weren't all that they were cracked up to be.

Osaka Photo Diary