We leave tomorrow!

Japan, here I come!

Our flight leaves just after midnight tomorrow night. Three hours to Atlanta (I think) and a four hour layover. Then 12 hours to Tokyo. Yeah, I'll be in an airport or on an plane for about 20 hours, but I'm still excited.

I have a list of things to do before we leave the house tomorrow, but the big stuff is taken care of. I need to get drugs for the air sickness, snacks for the flight, a small umbrella, stuff like that. I was working until 8:30pm last night trying to finish up this evil report. But yay, I think I'll have it done today. I can work on finalizing and editing it tomorrow and be finished.

Stay tuned for blog updates, pictures and videos from Japan shortly!

Christmas comes early

Jon and I celebrated Christmas last night, eating a nice sushi dinner and exchanging gifts. That's our kind of holiday!

Jon is so very sweet, he got me pajamas and knitting organizer bags. I love them all, of course.

It's well below freezing and snowy today. I had to run to the mall this morning and hit up the grocery store, but I'm hunkered down and staying in the rest of the day. Sophie is curled up in the electric blanket and Tucker is snoring on the floor. If Sophie hadn't escaped out the back gate, causing me to chase her around the neighborhood and run in the freezy air, I might be less mad at her right now. And if Tucker hadn't stolen some of my lunch, I might be happier with him as well. Dogs are troublemakers, just remember that.

The dog part

Some days I don't loooove having a dog. Sofie found a pen, chewed the end off, and left a big ink stain on the carpet. We'll see how much of that I can out. Then Sofie goes crazy when I put my shoes on because she thinks she is going on a walk. Fine, walk time. She barks and runs around and bites Tucker's feet and barks some more until we are out of the house. She's INSANE when it's "w" time. Poor Tucker just wants to escape, following me around, jumping up on me to spare his feet another bite. Taking them for a walk is not relaxing...

I need to get Sofie a bit better trained on the leash. She simply cannot walk on a short leash. She pulls and tugs and goes crazy. Argh. It's not her fault, of course, it is mine. She is so little and cute that I let her get away with murder. She can pull on the leash all day long, but it's not like she can overpower me, so I let it slide. It's hard to go back and reteach a dog something, and an owner, but I think it is time.

And, in other news, I have such a crush on Justin Timberlake. :)

Finished skull hat

Two new projects I'm working on this week.

The first is for Jon. I'm doing it in a lime green and cream (he picked out the yarn) and adding earflaps. I think I'll try to line it in fleece to make it extra warm.

The second is for our friend who is going to feed Jon's fish while we're in Japan. It's a ski mask and I'm making it in black with white stitching.

Christmas is coming...

Japan is getting closer and closer. I can almost taste the conveyor-belt sushi. :) We have found a lot of good (and cheap) restaurants to seek out in Tokyo. Jon even found a tiki restaurant, of course. I got in touch with some Japan-based knitters and they gave me great resources for finding craft stores and yarn shops. We also want to buy some beautiful Japanese fabrics (or old kimonos at a flea market that we found) to make a quilt when we get home. We have figured out places we want to go on our "days at rest" in each city. We are almost ready.

Jon and I have been trying to make lists of things to do before we leave, things to buy, things to arrange, and the list just keeps getting looooonger. This weekend was a massive buying expedition, with only half the list getting checked off. We got the big stuff, now we just need smaller things.

This weekend's list (accomplished):

1. Confirm that Dura will feed the fish and bring in our mail.
2. Carry on luggage bag for Jon. (We are attempting to take only two carry on bags and two shoulder bags/day trip bags for the entire trip. I know I can cram all my stuff into one carry on--I did it for two weeks in Thailand--but I question Jon's capabilities. This man packs way too much. But we are forging ahead!) We found a very good sized duffel/backpack thing for Jon at REI.


3. New walking shoes with easy slip-off capability for me. While I fell in love with these shoes I ended up purchasing these much less expensive, but equally or more useful shoes. They are cuter on my feet than in the picture. And they are very comfortable and easy to get on and off. Perfect for a trip to Japan.
4. A day trip/shoulder bag for me. I could just take a purse, I realize, but when you go on a big trip you always end up carrying so much stuff. Your itinerary, your wallet, your passport, your camera, your maps, your phrasebook, a snack, a water bottle. It gets out of control. The day trip bag wasn't on my list, but we found something perfect. We can carry everything, maybe even our laptop, and not worry about snow or pickpockets.
5. First aid kit
6. Blister kit

This weekend's list (not accomplished):

1. Travel size toiletries, or small bottles to put our own toiletries in.
2. Travel hair dryer.
3. Tissues/handkerchiefs (a lot of public restrooms in Japan do not have hand towels)
4. Plastic zip-top bags in multiple sizes (for wet socks, carrying on liquids, trash, etc)
5. Really good map of Tokyo, Kyoto, Kobe, if we can find them here.
6. Folder or binder to organize all travel itineraries, schedules, maps, hotels, etc.

Jon and I decided to take his iBook with us to Japan so we can upload photos and videos as we go. We'll use this blog as our travel blog.