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In: Japan

We’ve lived in Japan for 8 years this August. During our time here, we’ve moved twice but this is the first time we have ever done the whole hikkoshi no aisatsu, also known as moving greetings. When you move in Japan, it’s usually polite (and an unspoken expectation) to greet your new neighbors and present them with a small gift. These gifts often come in the form of small hand towels, soba noodles, snacks from your hometown, etc. It’s the US equivalent to how one would go and meet and greet the new neighbors that just moved in by bringing a batch of homemade cookiesRead More →

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In: Parenthood, Photography

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014.” I was unpacking some stuff in the kitchen when I hear giggles coming from the living room. I peek over and I see these two monkeys playing with something in the corner by my computer. It was so sweet 🙂  At this point in time, I’m tired of unpacking. I have most of my kitchen unpacked and the laundry room is done too. I’m about ready to just throw in the towel and call it a day. (though I never do)Read More →

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In: Life

We’ve been living at our new apartment for a week already but I still feel like I’m drowning in this endless pile of boxes from our move. So last Monday, everything we owned was packed up. There were so many boxes, it spilled out into the elevator hallway of our floor. I’m sure our neighbors were thrilled to come home to see this wall of boxes. Our old apartment was too small to hold all the boxes which worried me a little since I wasn’t sure if our new one would be able to hold all of these boxes either. Luckily, our new place isRead More →

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In: Photography

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014.” We’ve finally moved into our new apartment and are working on unpacking and getting life back on track. As you can see, my kids have been on the iPad mini a lot mostly because having them both home all the time is starting to drive me crazy and the only way I can get anything done is if I give them the iPad to distract them. Hopefully, once I’m a little more organized with things at home, we can do more activities away from the screen.  Seriously, the iPad is a sanity saverRead More →

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In: Reflections, Updates

We finally have internet up and running and I’ve managed to find a spot for my computer. We still have a majority of things in boxes in our apartment but I’m slowly working my way through them. I definitely have a lot of things that need a new home or at least need to go to recycling or the garbage. I’m enjoying all the extra room we have at the new place even though it’s already littered with toys everywhere. We just need some new furniture so I can put more stuff away since the new place doesn’t have nearly as much storage space asRead More →

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In: Life, Reflections

Tonight is our last night in our current apartment. We spent the day cleaning and throwing stuff out while the movers packed everything we owned into cardboard boxes. Tomorrow morning, they will finish up with the packing and move everything to the new apartment. It’s been a very tiring day because we have so much stuff to pack and clean. There’s mostly furniture and a few boxes of stuff left now. The movers have loaded up the majority of our boxes into the moving truck. It’s really weird seeing how bare our apartment is. The last time it was this empty was when we firstRead More →

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In: Life, Reflections

…trying not to go crazy from all the non-packing going on. We hired movers to help us pack everything and they’re coming the day before the move to do all that. …trying to throw away things we don’t need so that we don’t have to bring it with us to the new apartment. …enjoying the last “normal” day in our apartment. Movers are coming tomorrow afternoon to pack everything up. …appreciating how much light we get from our window in the living room. I’ve always thought that we didn’t get enough light but lately, I’ve been enjoying how much indirect sunlight we get all day.Read More →

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In: Parenthood, Photography

“A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2014.” I’ve taken a lot of photos of these two monkeys this past week but this one is still my favorite one. They’re actually getting along and not yelling, screaming, crying, or fighting with each other. I’m going to miss seeing them hide under Jason’s desk to read, play, and/or watch the iPad after we move. This week was the first full week of summer break for E, which meant that it’s been a very tiring week having both girls home with me most of the time. K still went to daycare on MondayRead More →