Japan: Arrive at Haneda

Arrived in the Haneda airport around 11:00p. From there we tried to get to the Kita-Shinagawa station but kept passing it, even when riding the local train. Apparently, that station was closed. After several attempts, we gave up and stopped at the Shinagawa station and walked to the Guest House Shinagawa-shuku from there. The rooms were super clean and the shower was awesome! Felt bad for the super sleepy owner because it was almost 12:00p by the time we got there. The owner was super friendly and nice though. Pictures of the guest house below:

Fly, Fly, Fly

On the way to Japan. First flight was from Indianapolis to New York, arriving in New York at 2:55p. Had a few beers here and there along the way. Second flight was from New York to Tokyo, arriving in Tokyo at 10:15p. I was excited about my shrink wrapped pillow, blanket and headphones. Also pretty impressed with the meals on the plane. Had some wine, sat back and chilled out. My ankles got pretty swollen and I did not wear the right outfit for such a long flight. Oh well, lessons learned. Pictures below:

1st flight

2nd flight

My pillow and blanket

S. Korea Job

A little post before I leave for Japan. Pretty sure I just landed a job in S. Korea that starts in October. :) Stomach = Anxiety Ball

BOMB

Long-term Goal: Write blog every day. Nutrition. Fit. Live better. Be happy.

Longer short-term Goal: Must lose 10 lb. before Japan vacation.

Short-term Goal: Hot yoga. 

So... I haven't blogged in a week. My long-term goals are tough. I feel like the may getter tougher and tougher. This is the last time I will be blogging until I am back from Japan and then I'm sure I will have a ton of things to write about and pictures to share. God only knows what I've eaten and done over the past week. I don't remember myself being too bad.

This morning I had three eggo waffles by themselves, coffee and creamer. This afternoon I had two small pieces of pizza and a large salad. I guarantee there will be m&ms. I am going to yoga this evening and then I'm meeting Miss Van Horn for some sushi. Yummy yummy!

Other than that I am finishing up my packing and getting things together for the trip.

Over and out!

Bowling Night (aka Cousins Make it a Dance Club)

Went out for a cousin's night starting with sushi and ending with bowling. We had an absolute blast. Sushi was awesome. We went to Yokohama in Greenwood. The prices were a little high, but the food was really great and worth the money spent. After that we went to Southern Bowl and man, did we cause a ruckus. We turned that bowling alley into a dance club for real. We were having so much fun! I don't think I've laughed and played that hard in a really long time!

The cousins.

Kim gettin' her bowl on.

Kim's bowlin' pose.

Amber's bowlin' pose.

Katie's bowlin' pose.

Tracy and I. Serious look.

Derp.

Kim's photo bomb.

We. Rock.

Yeah. We broke it down.

Dinner with Phillip

Dinner and drinks with Phillip is always a good time. We decided to take many pictures of each other this night. Goofy. That's all I can say.

Catch Up

Long-term Goal: Write blog every day. Nutrition. Fit. Live better. Be happy.

Longer short-term Goal: Must lose 10 lb. before Japan vacation.

Short-term Goal: Hot yoga. Kohl's return. Storage unit.

Ok. So I haven't blogged in a few days. Sorry long-term goal! I was gonna fake it and then I decided not to. It was father's day weekend and I spent most of my time down in Martinsville. Here's the run-down on the days I missed.

Thursday: Went to the lady doctor and got the mustang serviced. That sounds hilarious. They were two separate appointments! LOL. Went to Kohl's in between the two appointments and spent way too much money!!! Ended up not going back into work and went down to Martinsville to hang out with my mom, sister, bro-in-law, and nephew. We all went out to dinner at El Rodeo (yummy) and had a relatively early evening.

Friday: I went to hot yoga and came home. Watched a little tv, but passed out super early. Not a very exciting evening.

Saturday: Cleaned my room finally and got rid of that danged full length mirror that I broke - about time! Did not do hot yoga as I planned and went down to Martinsville early afternoon. Went swimming for a while. Played with the nephew. Hung out with the family. Went to Chili's with sister, bro-in-law, and nephew. Came home, watched tv, slept.

Sunday: Father's day. Grandpa and Grandma came to have dinner with us. Mark and Angie stopped by for a while. I feel like I snacked most of the day. Played a lot with the nephew though. Good day.

Monday: Back to work unfortunately. Had quite a bit to do. Did not go to yoga after work because I was feeling very lethargic. Went home and took a little nap and started to think about what to pack for the Japan trip. Did a little bit of a trial run. The duffel I got at Kohl's was way too big so I'm going to have to return that this evening/afternoon.

Alright, so back to today.

Got up late - around 7:30. I have been super tired the last few days, but I'm blaming it on going down to Mom and Dad's house. It seems to me that I always eat more when I'm down there. I graze. Did my usual routine getting up. Had coffee and creamer, and two berry eggo waffles for breakfast, nothing on them. Weighed myself and it looks like I've lost about 3 lbs. It's about time because I'm leaving for Japan in less than 2 weeks. I need to really push myself these next few days to do a lot of yoga and working out.

Got to work and had quite a bit to do today as well. So far I've been keeping up but Randy just keeps sending me email after email. Really unusual. I think he's pushing everything through because he knows I'm going on vacation soon. Ugh. Eating my lunch here soon and then I think I'm going to run to the storage unit and Kohl's and get those two short-term goals out of the way!

Southwestern salad, green pepper and cream cheese.

Reviews and Wei

Long-term Goal: Write blog every day. P90X. Nutrition. Fit. Live better. Be happy.

Longer short-term Goal: Must lose 10 lb. before Japan vacation.

Short-term Goal: Hot yoga. Clean up my room tonight. Throw away the mirror.

I did not want to wake up this morning, but after I did I felt really good and energized. Finished cleaning up the dishes this morning and put the laundry away. Coffee and creamer and cinnamon Life for breakfast. I find that I am drinking less and less coffee in the mornings. I get to work and then forget about it.

Did my review with Dave this morning. I feel like I've done a lot of reviews lately. Found out that my bonus is yearly. That's pretty cool. Definitely not going to complain about that! :) Did a few forms this morning and talked to Yo about the trip to Japan. We are both super excited! I need to do a trial run on packing this weekend and make sure that I can fit everything in my carry-on. It'd be really nice if I didn't have to check a bag on the way there. I might have to though. I need to make a list of all the clothes and things that I need to take. I like to plan ahead! 

I also did not take my things to storage or cancel my gym membership yesterday. I need to do that today. I might take a little 'lunch break' and do those things as well as take my car into the wash. It is dirty from the trip last weekend. Stacy and I are supposed to go to hot yoga this evening and I've brought the tennis racquets so we can play afterwards. Looking forward to it, though I don't think it could possibly be as hilarious as that first night! 

Here's my list of things to do:

Clean room.

Dispose of broken mirror.

Storage unit drop-off.

Cancel gym membership.

That's not too bad. I feel like I have more / should have more to do than that!

Lunch time: ham sandwich with pepper jack cheese, red pepper and carrots with dip, and blackberries and grapes.


Just started watching Rooftop House Prince. Good Lord. Not another one! Korean dramas are killin' me!

Did an hour of hot yoga and then met up with Stacy to go running. Which we did not do. Per the usual, we ended up drinking instead of working out. And with that, she chose to be my 'sugar mama' for the night and I had countless cocktails. Had some goat cheese mac&cheese at some point in the evening, but I pretty much drank my dinner. Ended up seeing/meeting this cute Taiwanese guy, Wei, and slipped him my number on my business card like a complete yeast bag. Dang it. Of course, he won't call. That sucks. He was cute too.

Ended up getting home around 1:30 and passing out, leaving a large mess in my wake.

I Did Something

Long-term Goal: Write blog every day. P90X. Nutrition. Fit. Live better. Be happy.

Longer short-term Goal: Must lose 10 lb. before Japan vacation.

Short-term Goal: Hot yoga. Clean up my room tonight. Throw away the mirror.

Got up almost on time this morning... Did my usual morning routine and then I cleaned then I cleaned the kitchen up a bit and did the dishes. They really needed to be done. I swept up last night but I've got quite a bit of cleaning to do this evening. My room especially needs to be cleaned up. I think I'll feel a lot better once I've gotten that broken mirror down off my wall.

Coffee and creamer and honey nut cheerios for breakfast.

Got into work at 8am and had a little bit left to do. I've been trying to get all this 'security training' finished this morning. It is boring as all get out! And it keeps messing up on me. Ugh. I just love compliance. Completely finished my Japan book this morning. I am so ready to go. All the hotels are book and checked. Directions written. Activities planned. We are set.

Finally finished all my required RICOH training. I feel compliant. Also, applied for one teaching job this afternoon and took a new resume picture. Hopefully, I will actually hear something back this time. Sitting down to eat my lunch and watch the last episode of Spy Myung Wol. Ham sandwich, grapes, blackberries and the salt and pepper mini rice cakes. Might try to apply for one or two more jobs this afternoon. Need to clean out my car, cancel my gym membership, and put a few things in storage. I might wait to put the things in storage tomorrow so that I can clean out the tent and wash my sleeping bag. I'm pretty sure I will use them again soon and it would be nice if they were clean for the next trip.

Went and did my hour of hot yoga after work. Tried my best to remember the routine with a new instructor, but ended up doing my own thing because I didn't remember. Oh well. Next time. Got home and had a caesar salad and some wheat thins for dinner. Later on I snacked on some strawberries and sugar and had a small handful of Life cereal. I also had a beer - Stella. Not too bad. Could have probably done without the snacking later on, but I was real hungry.

Did not completely accomplish my goals. I did not clean up the mirror or my room. I did do a load of laundry and cleaned up the kitchen. I was really tired yesterday after the yoga class and got lazy on the couch... At least I made it to yoga! That's something!

Went to bed by about 9:30pm. I said I was tired! :)

We Rocked Mt. Mitchell... Almost.

Long-term Goal: Write blog every day. P90X. Nutrition. Fit. Live better. Be happy.

Longer short-term Goal: Must lose 10 lb. before Japan vacation.

Short-term Goal: Hot yoga.

Got back last night around 9:30 and was SO happy to take a shower finally. Feel like I accomplished something this weekend though. 

Weekend synopsis:

On Friday night, we got to the campsite super late. It was about 3am once we finally arrived. It felt like we drove forever. We got a little lost on the way, several times, and everyone was a little frustrated by the end of the drive. It ended up taking us about 10 hours to get there. Two more than anticipated. Had some poppycock and two McDonalds cheeseburgers on the way. And some hot tamales. Ended up having about three beers on the way too. At one point I stopped the car and had the boys get us each a beer out of the trunk. It was just taking too dang long. The campsite was closed, so we 'jumped' the fence and carried everything in on foot. We set up the tents and everyone went to bed immediately. 

Me and Jacob at the trail head.

Jacob and Monty at the trail head.

One of the many streams on the hike up.

Got a little bit of a late start, but we finally got to the trail head at about 10am. Had some instant coffee and creamer, some grapes and a granola bar for breakfast. We took the Mt. Mitchell trail, including the longer loop, which in total was 5.8 miles and an elevation increase of 3689 feet. We got to the top of Mt. Mitchell at 1:45, making our hike time 3h45m. Pretty damn good in my opinion! For the last hour of the hike I seriously thought I was going to die. The boys seemed to be doing much better than me! Jerks. Hahaha. Just kidding. Stopped about halfway for a little snack. Had a banana and a handful of trail mix. Needless to say, when we got to the top we were done for. Had some hot apple cider once we got to the top and the grapes and pb&j that I packed. The temperature change from the bottom to the top was quite large, at least 20-25 degrees. It was cold up there! Especially since we were all sweaty and then the temperature drop on top of it. I caught a ride with Vince, one of the Park Rangers, and then drove back up to get Jake and Monty. We got back to the campsite and had some hot dogs and camper potatoes and passed out around 7pm. I couldn't even finish the beer I tried to drink! Slept soundly throughout the night.

A great little camping spot about half way up the mountain (if  you take the long loop).

A little pool on the way up with a small waterfall and plenty of dams.

An overlook about 3/4 of the way. Breathtaking.

A little plain near the top. We thought we were finished, but it was still another hour and a half to the top.

Eerie scene near the top. Apparently close to what the nature looks like in SW Canada.

View from the top. You can see the parking lot below.

View from the top. Amazing!

Jacob and I on the second hike. Sunday.

On Sunday we didn't look at the clock until later on. Woke up feeling good and not a bit sore amazingly enough! Apparently we got up super early because when we did look at the clock it was barely 10:30am and we had already made a fire for coffee, had breakfast, packed up the campsite, changed and finished another hike! We're awesome! Had instant coffee and creamer and a granola bar and a few grapes for breakfast. This hike was the River Loop trail and though it is labeled moderate, it seemed really easy in comparison to Saturday's big hike. This one was 3.1 miles but had an elevation gain of just over 200 feet. Really pretty and we found our next campsite along the way.




The Black Mntn. Campground was awesome though and I would suggest it to anyone who is interested in hiking/camping in this area. The South Toe River supposedly has good trout fishing and we saw quite a few that the children in the campsite were feeding bread. The hiking is obviously amazing. The campground is maintained well, it's really clean, and all of the campsites are pretty and unique. It's a beautiful place to stay in and the staff is super friendly and pleasant. We left and ate at a little mexican restaurant just outside of Asheville, NC. Probably not the best meal for us but it was good. I had Arroz con Pollo, or something like that. Basically it was chicken strips over rice covered in that awesome cheese sauce. Add in a lot of chips and a large Dos Equis. Had some snacks on the way home too. It didn't take us nearly as long to get home. I'd say we were under 8 hours. Dropped Monty off at home and Jake off at the office and then I stopped at the Taco Bell for two bean burritos and some nachos. Got home, ate, showered and passed out!

Back to today:

Got up and was into work by 8am. Definitely need to clean the house when I get home tonight! Especially clean out the refrigerator. There are some funky science projects going on in there. Had my REAL coffee and creamer (yum) and some honey nut cheerios for breakfast. Still hungry and had some sweet tarts and pb crackers for a snack. Did quite a bit of work this morning and now it has slowed down a bit. Ordered a sandwich from Jimmy Johns for lunch. Finishing up my latest K-Drama this afternoon and trying to get things organized. Scheduled my car for maintenance, balanced my checkbook, etc. Looking forward to getting back to hot yoga this evening. I'm a little stiff so I think it will be good to get in there and stretch everything out!

Went to hot yoga and did one hour of Ashtanga! Mission of the day accomplished. And I signed up for studio on a monthly basis so I can go whenever I want. I'm hoping that the idea of paying them every month will motivate me to go every time that I can. :) After yoga I went grocery shopping. With coupons and my discount card I saved 31% of my bill. Free money is great. I think that's the most I've ever saved in one shopping trip though. Feel pretty good about it.

Got home and had a southwestern salad and some icecream. Had a beer later on too. Was a little worn out so I didn't get much housework done like I had planned to do. Watched some K-Drama and was in bed by 10:30.

On My Way to Mt. Mitchell

Long-term Goal: Write blog every day. P90X. Nutrition. Fit. Live better. Be happy.

Longer short-term Goal: Must lose 10 lb. before Japan vacation.

Short-term Goal: Don't get eaten by wild bears.

Woke up and had to get stuff packed and things done. Super busy morning. Coffee and creamer. Nutri-grain bar and a banana.

Had a lot of new forms today when I got into work. Saving a few for Monday because it was crazy today. I also had to use my lunch break to head to the storage unit and pick up my tent and a few things. I also JUST HAD to go shopping for a Maxi dress at JC Penney. And of course I found two. :) Yay for shopping and bonuses!

Went to Jimmy Johns for lunch and got a diet coke and a blt on wheat bread.

I will probably not do a blog on Saturday or Sunday, or for the rest of tonight. I will update on Monday as to the going-ons. We will be out in NC hiking Mt. Mitchell and getting our fitness on. Apparently Jake decided to come to. He's so last minute, but a welcome addition to the party!

Looks like Jake is waiting for me in parking lot. Signing out until Monday. Here's hoping I don't get eaten by a wild bear!

Incentive

Long-term Goal: Write blog every day. P90X. Nutrition. Fit. Live better. Be happy.

Longer short-term Goal: Must lose 10 lb. before Japan vacation.

Short-term Goal: Get some trail runners.

Had a really hard time waking up this morning. So sleepy! Surprisingly not as sore as what I thought I would be though. My glutes and quads hurt and that's about it. A little too much impact on my knees too, but I think they'll be ok.

Coffee and creamer. Bagel and cream cheese.

Mont and I are going to meet up for lunch today so that he can put all his gear in my car. That way will be ready to head out on Friday afternoon for Mt. Mitchell. Yeah for hiking! I still need to get some trail runners. Hopefully will have some time to go get them this afternoon.

I'm supposed to go down to Martinsville tonight for dinner with my sis, bro-in-law and nephew, so I'm debating whether or not I should go to hot yoga. I really want to go, but it will put me down there a little later than what they want. There's just not enough time in a day! I would probably be fine taking a break today since I'll be doing so much hiking on Saturday and Sunday, but I also won't be doing anything on Friday except driving. Oh, it's a tough decision. I guess I'll wait and see how I feel throughout the day.

Just a small update on my long-term goal: I unfortunately have not done anything with the P90X videos. I'm being pretty lame about it. I'm enjoying going to yoga though and that seems to be challenging me quite a bit. I don't think I could do both, at least not at this point. Plus, it's summer and I do want to keep some social time free to hang out with my family and friends. I'm going to keep it as my long-term goal though because I hope to eventually start it and I think it will help me when I get to a plateau point in my current fitness approach. But, I'm not starting it quite yet. On my longer short-term goal: I really think I can lose the 10 lb. before Japan. I have 22 days left to accomplish this goal. I think if I keep up with the yoga every day and running a couple times a week then I will be good to go. The hard part is changing my diet. It's a struggle.


Ha Ha Yoga is funny:

Just got some good news at work! Apparently, I will now be receiving incentive bonuses. Thanks RICOH! I am actually amazed. I guess they've been trying to decide whether my job position should receive these bonuses or not and it was just decided in the last month that, due to the coding, my job WILL be getting bonuses. Based on a number of things I could receive up to 8% of my salary. The bonus I got pretty much covers my ticket to Japan. So stoked. Here I've been trying to pinch my pennies. This couldn't have come at a better time! YAY! Although, it is definitely making my decision to move to Japan/Korea for a teaching position a lot harder. I've gotten two raises within the last 12 months and now a bonus?!?! Can't say how awesome it is. :) I'm thinking I might stick with this job for another year before moving overseas so I can get some more bills paid off and have less to worry about when I leave... Decisions!

Went out to lunch with Monty. Had a salad,  2.5 breadsticks with cheese, and a diet coke. Not too bad! I feel good about it. We went right afterwards to the shoe store and found some really good Nike trail runners on sale. So I bought 'em! Ready for the hike this weekend! Not going to do the yoga today. It's decided. I'm still a little sore and I want some fresh legs for Saturday's hike. Plus, I want to get down to Martinsville in time to hang out with my awesome nephew! :)

Got to Martinsville and had so much fun with my buddy! He is super awesome. We all had dinner: Chicken, peppers, onion, and mushrooms shish-ka-bobs (sp?) and corn on the cob. Yummy summer dinner. Then hung out a little more and cracked up watching my little nephew go. He is all over the place! Awesomeness.

Drove home and then went to the grocery to get supplies for the weekend. Got my laundry done and everything packed and ready to go. Had to clean up the house a little bit too. Crazy busy evening. I was certainly ready to go to bed by the end of the night!

Sad I didn't get any new pictures of my nephew but we were just way too busy playing! Next time.

Benson and Running

Long-term Goal: Write blog every day. P90X. Nutrition. Fit. Live better. Be happy.

Longer short-term Goal: Must lose 10 lb. before Japan vacation.

Short-term Goal: Go to Hot Yoga today. Run with Bryan/by myself.

Last night I woke up a lot with cramps and this morning I woke up early with a lot of pain. I won't go into details, but it was not fun! I was able to fall back asleep and slept until almost 7:30am. I got up immediately and took a shower before doing the rest of my routine. Coffee and creamer. Honey nut cheerios and a banana.

Got to work around 9am and there was no work on my desk. Been watching Spy Myung Wol for the last several hours. It's pretty good! :) Also looking for jobs, although I haven't accomplished much there either. I need to get together a good cover letter I can use for anyone. Actually excited for hot yoga today and running with Benson tonight. I'm ready to move my body a little bit. I've been sitting way too long.

Banana, cherries, ham sandwich, carrots and dip. Bag of m&m's for a snack later.


I need to find a job.

Crap. I did have a bag of m&m's. I couldn't remember. I'm blaming all this chocolate on my cycle! On another note. I did do an hour of hot yoga. Then met up with Benson and did 4 miles on the monon. Only ran for about 1 of those miles and walked the rest, but it's a start. I was really sore by the end of it.

We went out for dinner after. I had a salmon spinach salad and 3 beers of course. That's okay though. I probably would have had those three beers regardless so at least I had them after working out for about 2 hours. That's something.

We hung out until about 10:30 and I was home and in bed by 11:00. Great night! Benson and I plan to meet up once a week to get our fitness on. I definitely slowed him down but he didn't seem to mind too much. :)

Did Not Get Up at 6AM

Long-term Goal: Write blog every day. P90X. Nutrition. Fit. Live better. Be happy.

Longer short-term Goal: Must lose 10 lb. before Japan vacation.

Short-term Goal: Go to Hot Yoga today.

Lots of strange dreaming last night. Morning yoga did not work out as planned. It might be unrealistic to think that I will make it to yoga at 6am in the morning. Got up around 7:00 and then laid on the couch until 7:30. Coffee and creamer. Honey nut cheerios and half a bagel with cream cheese.

Not much to do at work today. I keep getting caught with nothing to do. No good! Banana and cherries. I am touching up my Japan book a little and need to apply for some more jobs today. I think I need a more professional picture for my resume. Something with a nice background at least.

I need to go to hot yoga today after work. Must do it! Gotta lose this weight! Should probably stop eating the m&m's too. :( I like m&m's though.

Baked potato with sour cream and a spinach salad for lunch. 


Popcorn and a bag of peanut m&m's for a snack later on.

I did not go to hot yoga yesterday. I had the worst cramps I've ever had yesterday afternoon and into the evening. I laid on the couch quite a bit and watched TV and napped. It was nice. That's basically all I did though. I had a half bagel and cream cheese. Some salsa and beans and chips. And some cherries throughout the evening. Then I went to bed. Exciting stuff.

This is what I worked on yesterday afternoon:

Picking up the Fam

Long-term Goal: Write blog every day. P90X. Nutrition. Fit. Live better.

Longer short-term Goal: Must lose 10 lb. before Japan vacation.

Short-term Goal: 

I'm not setting a short-term goal for today. I'm picking up my sister, brother-in-law and nephew at the airport this evening so I'm not going to have a lot of time for myself today. So excited to see my little buddy! It's been a couple months and I bet he's huge! :) I'll take a picture tonight and upload it here.

Coffee and creamer. Honey nut cheerios and banana. Chex mix. Grapes.

Work and Monday. Ugh. Had a lot of work left today when I got in. Got through it though. 

Potatoes, gravy, eggs and spinach.

Well, I guess my short-term goal was to catch up on the last few blog entries and get everything in order. So, that goal is completed. It was such a busy weekend and I had guests so I didn't have the ability to blog every day like I should. This weekend will be busy too. Monty and I are headed out to NC to climb Mt. Mitchell. Looking forward to getting a little hiking and fitness in. :)

I had a bunch of carrots and dip. Then some peanut m&m's. Apparently I am addicted to them. I will probably have more. And then more. Dang.

Picked up my Kim, Luke, and Jacob from the airport. I LOVE my nephew. He is just the cutest thing ever. We got to play a little before he went to bed. He's such a sweet baby boy. Fun times! Can't wait to hang out again. Hopefully I will get to see them again soon. Maybe on Thursday. This week/weekend is busy!

Got home around 9:30 and in bed by 10:00!

This is an older picture of my nephew: