After the Rain

Tokyo had a minor typhoon last night which made it sound like our apartment was going through a washing machine and the sprinklers at the same time.  

By the time I woke up, the clouds which had swallowed up Tokyo for the past week had cleared and I was suddenly roasting in my bed (at 5AM!).  Tokyo truly is the "land of the sun" because it gets so bright so early!

Feeling Homey

Taken with iPhone and Photosynth. Edited with Procamera, Diptic, Photo Studio.

I didn't think it would make such a big difference moving into a new apartment, but it does!  We had a great place before, but this place is just so nice to actually live in with separate rooms to walk into and - wait for it - 

A walk-in closet. *squeal*

I know, I'm going on about a closet, but with my seemingly constant roaming about and inability to grow some roots the past several years, it's nice to have a place to store my material things in. 

By the way, I bought that little stand on the right for the Boy's very belated birthday gift. He always hangs his trousers on random boxes and furniture after work and I thought this would be perfect, especially since I can never find anything he would like within a reasonable budget.

Also, I hope this entices visitors:

A spare room with a balcony. And awesome view(s).

We didn't think we needed one in our last place but we were so wrong. Our poor guests who did visit had to deal with us waking up and getting ready for work while being in the foot traffic to midnight restroom treks. 

Hopefully we'll be able to keep this place looking clean with all the hidden storage places (since when did I ever think about that sort of thing?).  My co-worker warned me, "Be care of where you set things down the first time because once you place it, it's never moving!"  So true!

New Apartment

This weekend has been a long awaited day: Moving Day!

It may sound silly, but we actually moved just 5 minutes away...walking.

Just to say, we loved our previous apartment. It was a cool layout due to the fact that it was a converted photography studio.  I can completely see how that aspect and I loved it. The kitchen was amazing as was our huge bathroom.  The location was great; so close to both Azabu Juban and Roppongi Hills, which is perfect for our commutes to work.  Huge windows and lots of light, it was a pretty apartment.

There was one problem: it had huge windows.  Windows that weren't double glazed!  In the winter, it was freezing!  I wore a jacket and scarf to sleep and often had to huddle in bed most of the time because it was just too, too cold.  Also, ridiculously bright in the mornings you wanted to sleep in and no curtains.

We casually suggested to our awesome real estate agent (seriously, he's fantastic) that we were thinking of moving before the next winter but were perfectly happy for the summer and fall.  Then, he told us that the apartment from last year was vacant again.

"The" apartment from last year was this beautiful marble-floored thang with a induction stove kitchen, a spare room with connecting balconies and amazing city skyline views from every room.

It was also vastly out of our budget.  I guess it's amazing what 8 months did to the housing market.

Anyways, long story short, we jumped at the opportunity and moved in a month later.  Here's the setup the evening we moved in:

View from the spare room and lounge to towards the kitchen.  The bathroom and restroom are through the door next to the fridge and the entrance is on the right.

A view of Tokyo Tower and the city from the guest/spare room.  I think our guests will like their stay!

This is the view from our master room this morning.  Roppongi Hills (grey building on the left of center) was swallowed in a cloud and you can barely see Tokyo Tower on the right side.  Panoramic photo taken with Photosynth, it's an awesome app my sister told me about.

Anyways, I wanted to update, but I'm exhausted now.  I'll hopefully continue to unpack, decorate and be able to keep the apartment clean enough to photograph.

Eyelash Extensions

Can you tell?  I'm beautiful now!  

Just kidding, but I do feel like I've got an extra boost (especially for the mornings, yikes!)

I got eyelash extensions last week and so far I'm loving them.  They are much more maintenance with the whole being-careful-not-to-rub-too-hard-or-sleep-on-them and I feel a slight anxiety attack whenever I see one fall out (along with a sad little real one) but I'm hoping that they keep growing back...be persistent, my little ones!

I got them quite natural-looking since it was my first time and I work in a client-facing role.  I didn't want to start scaring off people; the office is just too well lit to get away with ridiculous eyelashes.  The whole process was actually over an hour long; they tape your eye lids still and apply each lash.  You decide on what thickness, length and amount of curl you want for each section of your eyelash (they break it up into three sections: inner, middle, outer)

For my lashes, I did:

Inner: slightly thicker, slightly more curl, natural length.

Middle: slightly thicker, slightly more curl, natural length.

Outer: Slightly thicker, natural curl, longer length.

Overall, I wanted my outer lashes to be longer and my middle lashes to be more curled.

I actually got them because I wanted to be able to up my maintenance like all these other dedicated Tokyo girls, but it turns out that eyelash extensions have made me even lazier with makeup: I don't apply any eyeliner, eyeshadow, mascara or curl my lashes anymore; I just rub on some foundation and fill in my eyebrows.  I consider this a win.

What's next?  I'm thinking I want to try some sort of hair removal gadget...epilator time?  Will report back if I do!

Hakuba = Tokyo's Mountain High x 50

I haven't had much time to rest much less blog!  

This past weekend, I went on a weekend trip with my colleagues to Hakuba, which is about a 3-hour journey from Tokyo.  I'd liken it to LA's Mountain High in that it gets that same sort of city-kids-in-the-snow kind of traffic, but that the snow is much better, more mountains, more runs, etc.  

This is a photo I painsakingly took from my loaned mobile phone (a slidey phone).  It was from the window of my lodging I was staying at over the weekend.  It had just snowed the night before and was a gorgeous morning. 

Since this is supposed to be a fashion blog, I should mention the awesome trends in snowboarding.  I wish I took photos as examples, but that would have been creepy.  

Basically, the louder and more funky your outfit is, the more awesome you better be.  If you're a girl and you're wearing a cute outfit, you probably suck just the same.  But if you're a guy in hot pink pants and a matching face mask, you're probably pretty wicked on a board (that example is actually one of my coworkers).  

I actually saw a skier dressed in a Pedobear onesie = amazing skier.  

So what was I wearing?

I look pretty cool in that picture, huh?  Just kidding, I borrowed all my clothes from a friend and rented a board there.  I'm standing with my beginners group; we all took a lesson together.

After all these years of thinking I was goofy-footed and constantly falling down, it turns out I'm regular and that I can now carve a bit!

I felt like Zoolander before, "I can't turn left!"

Came back a bit sore (and with a cold) but I'm saying that I'm so much more fit now.  Walking down stairs is pretty painful though...feel the burn!