happenings

//  ojai cactii 
//  the 400 year old Oak tree in Westlake that was cut down ~ R.I.P.  
//  roasting eggplants for a curry

have a great weekend !

i n s t a g r a m

bought my first iphone and am becoming quite active on instagram !  my name is starisa.

a few things:

  //  I missed  //  

1 warm, golden sun that only exists in CA.  2 in n out.  3 our kitty.  

4 frozen yogurt.  5 (not japanese) pears.  6 driving through the canyon.

 

 

 

a hairless home

I'm so happy Manju made it safely back to CA with my mom ! I was like a nervous parent seeing him off at the airport and every time he looked at me from his cage I wanted to cry. Thinking he'd be in the cargo area first for a 2 hour flight to tokyo, and then a 3 hour wait in tokyo before his 10 hour flight to LAX scared me more than I can say. He was a trooper though, and made it out just fine and is settling in well at my parent's house in Westlake. I'm getting more and more excited every day to move back!

these were the last film shots of him before his travels. Every day our house seems to have less and less fur flying around and stuck to furniture/clothes. soon it'll be all gone.

manju loves sakura too.

. . . and by that, I mean he loves EATING them. HA !

I'll follow the Sun

 this photo captures how I have been feeling in 

the   *a m a z i n g*  springy weather we've been having. 

I think manju has spring fever too !

flowers on film

I'm happy to have some color in my life, thanks to little signs of spring.  *good riddance winter!* 

The green character is someone we see every day without fail;  on posters and ads . . . he's all over kagoshima city ~ it's ぐりぶ.  He's green (gurin) and he's a pig (buta,) so put those together and it's "Guribuu." He's the mascot for the 2011 flower fair in our city.  What would our city be without a cute mascot!?

さくら さくら

Last week we had a couple of mild~ish days that we took advantage of by strolling along the river... the ume and sakura have some pretty blossoms, and the camelia are still going strong (and they're so pretty even fallen, which I've noticed is happening more and more as it warms up.)

Over the weekend, I had a chat with our landlady from our balcony, so she promptly brought over the little sakura cake that manju is eyeing in the second shot.  yummy!

Can you tell I cut my hair?  I was getting really bored with it, so I cut about 6 inches off and have bangs again :D  . . . Also I wanted to show off my Goldpfeil bag from the 80's that I found for 500yen!

winter アイス

our winter hibernation is nearing it's end (thank God,) but we sure have enjoyed some quiet weeknights in, eating sweet treats on our electric rug, watching Californication.  Here is a delicious treat we ate recently - - little mochi covered ice creams~  Manju really wanted in on the action; he really does act like a dog sometimes the way he begs for people food!  

メリークリスマス and あけましておめでとう ! またね。。。

cute banner via etsy

I'm going to take a little break from the blog while I'm on vacation in california until the end of the year.  Happy holidays to you and your families !

See you in 2011 ~ 

happy December 12月

I can't believe it's December ~  Let the holidays begin ! !

we'll be in sunny California from December 19 to January 3rd.  Can't wait!

ねこ (= ^ . ^ =)

mini halloween pumpkin muffin topper, new muji 2011 calendar, and manju's new nap spot. 

happy ハロウィーン weekend !

ピンク cosmo, きいろ mum

it's friday, and I can't believe another three day weekend is upon us.  monday is 'health & sports day' here!  I hope the weather's nice so we can get out and do something fun for the next 3 days.  It's officially fall and has cooled off to pretty much perfect weather.  this morning I dug out all of our cold weather clothing to get it ready to wear next month... that I'm not looking forward to much.

Here are a few shots from this past week.  I especially like the ones where I was teasing Manju making him pose with a flower~  you can really see how annoyed he was.  He's much happier sitting outside amongst the plants.

have a happy weekend :D

inside a pretty little pink box

Got a little surprise from a special someone earlier this week : D  I had been using the same old wallet for many years, and was browsing for a new one... and somebody was paying attention!  I am a lucky girl!
here's manju enjoying enjoying the ribbon from the box...

m e o w !

meowmania:  click here

via gatorpoder

12 月 2009 年

just snapped this tonight because Manju was posing so nicely...
we ate at our fave "special occasion" Italian place on Sunday
... and this came out and surprised me! baked apple, mango sorbet, and hazelnut gelato!

last night, we went out to Kiire to visit our old friends Kuni and Mitsuko.

Nabe party! here are our veggies, pre-Nabe pot...
Kuni slaving away making Tempura
mmmmmm

Loading up the Nabe pot