A Quick Update on a Lazy Saturday

Today has been so nice and chilled and laidback and all those good things that I thought I would post an entry on this blog. Usually I go out during the weekend but today I thought I'd take it slow, not really do much and stay in my PJs for as long as possible.

Last week has been really stressful at work so I really needed a good amount of doing nothing in particular. I love Tokyo to bits, it is without doubt my favourite place I have lived in thus far, but sometimes the crowds of people everywhere can be a bit draining. I visited Meiji Shrine on January 3rd this year, 2 hours before the last admission and we barely made it in.. I still had a good time, but damn there were so many people!

I also went to a newly opened pancake restaurant (Japan is obsessed with pancakes!) about a week ago and we queued for over an hour to get into the place. Crazy! It was worth it as the food was really good, but still. I recommend checking out the backstreets of Omotesando/Ginza area if you are looking for a quick bite to eat around lunch time.

I had the mixed fruit pancakes and my friend the strawberry yoghurt version. The cafe was called Cafe Moena, btw.

Today I also went to check out one of the gyms near me and I was amazed at how new the equipment was. All the treadmills had TVs attached to them with headphones and the exercise bikes had cute little pointers as to how many calories you've already burnt (see below, it took me far too long to burn off that piece of candy; next was a latte, followed by a banana. Then I got off the bike!).

For the rest of the evening I don't have much planned except for playing some Pokemon or watching some movies. I rented Bridget Jones and Her earlier, both feel good movies for me. Her always reminds me of when I visited Shanghai 2 years ago. I hope I will be able to travel a bit during 2015 as well, but no doubt my first paid vacation will be used to go see my family at home. 

What has everyone else been up to and how are your NY's resolutions going? 

Let's Catch Up

Happy New Year, everyone! As always, it has been a while but I've been super busy during December. The good kind of busy, for sure, but it was nice to have a few chilled out days this week. I have been off week for most of this week because New Year's is a big deal here and pretty much the only time of the year when some shops and most businesses are closed.

The biggest news is probably that I have finally moved apartments and I love my new place! It is so much nicer, brighter, bigger and overall awesome than my last one. It is still not massive or anything but it is most definitely big enough for only me and it has been so much fun furnishing it! I got really lucky with most of my furniture and found a great deal online. I also went to Ikea this week to get some smaller things like plates, cutlery etc. Now that I have a kitchen again I have no excuse not to cook!

The other day I made nabe (Japanese hot pot) because one of my colleagues from work kindly gave me her old nabe pot and I was really feeling something warm, comforting and on top of that easy to make. I pretty much threw everything I had in my fridge in the pot and it turned out soooo good! The stock I used was kimchi based which made it even heartier and a bit spicy, and then I just added lots of greens (Chinese cabbage, mushrooms, onions etc) and some udon as well as small sausages hahaha. It was honestly awesome and lasted me 3 meals.

Other than this, I have been having lots of Korean food especially Korean BBQs. Shinokubo definitely is the place to go for those. Following is a random selection of food I have been having over the past week. The second one is my to-go-to when I miss my dad´s Schnitzel: roast katsu, or deepfried breaded pork with cabbage and rice. So damn good!

Speaking of home, it's also been my birthday (and of course, Christmas!) not too long ago and I have been really spoiled from friends and family at home. Thank you, thank you, thank you! ;-; It was hard being away from my family over the holidays but at the same time, it is so nice to know that there are so many people thinking about you even if they are thousands of miles away. I feel really lucky and blessed to have so many special people in my life.

I also sent out quite a lot of Christmas/NY's cards myself and it's definitely a habit I want to keep doing. Sending and receiving mail is so much fun and Japan has so many cute post cards, I imagine most of you will find some more mail by me in your letter boxes over the next year. :)

As for 2014 in general, it's been great. Honestly speaking, the past year has been really good for me- there were many highlights such as graduating from university and my family coming to Liverpool to visit, going through a crazy interview process to eventually get the job offer and then of course, moving to Tokyo. Of course it's been really stressful and challenging too; finishing off those final reports for university, waiting for feedback from my company, starting my first full-time job. It's not been easy. But, so far it has been worth it for me.

I have learnt so much, I have changed and grown as a person. I feel more certain about what is important to me in life, which things matter and which don't, who I want to surround myself with and who I can wish well and simply move on without. For 2015, I want to keep this pace up, do well at work, enjoy living here to the fullest, make many more friends and also not neglect my old hobbies! I really miss sitting down with a book, watching a film, or even play games. To be honest, I have already caught up on some movie releases this week as I finally own a TV again! It has been incredibly nice to just chill on the couch for an hour or two, as silly as it may sound.

I really sincerely hope 2015 will be a great year for everyone reading this as well and let me know if you have any resolutions <3

Visiting New Places

 

It's autumn in Japan, yesss! As per usual this weekend I made sure to get some fresh air and check out some more local parks in my area (Tokyo has so many nice green spots!) and thankfully the weather stayed nice and warm throughout the entire weekend. Friday was such a nice day with not a single cloud in the sky- we could even see Mt Fuji from our office- so I was a bit worried that that was going to be it and it would rain again in the weekend. But it didn't! All the pictures above are from yesterday and earlier today.

I checked out Bagel Standard, a cute shop selling New York Style bagels in Nakameguro which I can only recommend. They had so many different types of bagels and fillings it was hard to only pick one. In the end I went with a berry bagel filled with cream cheese, nuts and honey. I also got a green smoothie with no added sugar which I then went to enjoy near the riverside. Perfect day to have lunch outside! I was almost tempted to go back and get some more bagels for breakfast next week but instead ended up walking towards Ebisu from where I rode the train home.

Speaking of home, the most exciting thing I did this weekend was probably go to see two new apartments. I liked them both (they are both sooo much better than where I am currently living) and I will be signing the contract for one of them at the end of next week. I'll be moving a little further out of the city just because it is cheaper and my new apartment is literally going to be double the size of my current one. (Which still doesn't make it big by any means but still! I'm exciteddd.) This also means I will be all moved and settled in less than a month's time so I will be spending Christmas in my new place (and at work, haha). Yay!

I don't really have much more to say right now so I'll just leave you with another picture I took in Shinjuku the other night. I had a really good time in our Shinjuku office this past week! ^^