March Madness, the Big Dance, starts this week and even though my beloved Iowa State Cyclones aren't in it (instead Northern Iowa will be representing corn fields), I still plan to watch as many games as possible. I completed my bracket and can't wait to see the first upset. I'm one of those people who does less work during the month of March due to my love of the game. In fact, last year I didn't complain about middle of the nights feeding with Olivia because of the NCAA Tournament. Basketball is LIFE.
But it's not only basketball. I'm a football fan and watch college football on Sunday mornings here in Okinawa and Monday Night Football (NFL) on Tuesday mornings at work (in the background). I participate in a Fantasy Football league (last year I got second place). I adore the bowl season. Football is LIFE.
Last month, I watched only a few hours of the Olympics. A darn shame, if you ask me. I was nearly tempted to send a strongly worded complaint letter to AFN for showing all the coverage during the day when I was at work and couldn't waste hours trying to figure out the object of curling. But I did schedule my lunch hour around the men's and women's figure skating finals. I just HAD to. I had to watch. The Olympics are LIFE.
Baseball spring training is back and I was happy to catch a game on AFN. Once I missed work, so I could attend Opening Day at Dodger Stadium. I HAD to do it. Baseball is LIFE.
Sports are the reason that I don't get all the blogging done that I want to do. If I didn't like sports, I would probably have already knitted hats for my family, finished 100 Years of Solitude for next week's book club meeting and be able to complete a master's degree online. Instead I choose sports, a sedentary activity that sucks my free time. Maybe I should just walk away from sports. Forget live television for a while. Focus on work and my 10-year goals.
And I will. Just one more March Madness. After all I already finished my brackets. Go Syracuse!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Olivia's birthday weekend
My baby is a year old. Where did the time go? Oh, that's right, my time has been taken by my baby. The one whose diaper I'm always changing, whose bottles I'm always washing and don't even get me started on the feeding. When can we wean her of bottles?
But this posting isn't about me, it's about Olivia AKA O and her wonderful first birthday. After much deliberation, the V-Team decided to play this birthday low key. There is plenty of time for birthday bashes in the future ... like when she turns 2. And since her birthday was on a Monday and Olivia is usually dead tired when she gets home from daycare, we decided to celebrate over the weekend. We split up the fun over Saturday and Sunday.
But first we had the Seabee Ball on Friday night. After some frantic preparations while Olivia bounced up and down in her Johnny Jump Up, we drove to our friend, Diana's house. Diana, who is one of the nicest people I've ever met, volunteered to watch O while we went to the Ball. Diana's husband is a Seabee and currently deployed, so she understand the importance of the Seabee Birthday.
So while we were dancing at the Seabee Ball
Olivia was up late, playing with 2 boys who are Diana's neighbors.
Olivia didn't go to bed until 9:30 p.m. She partied hard and was completely asleep when we picked her up at midnight. She didn't wake up when we transferred her from her pack and play to her car seat and from her car seat to her bed. One tired baby.
On Saturday morning, we moved all of Olivia's birthday gifts into the living room and let her pull and open what she wanted when she wanted. At first she was excited about the wrapping paper and the boxes.
And she LOVED the toys from Patti and Bob and didn't find the need to open any other gifts. She just kept playing with her new toys and ignored the other presents, including the shopping cart that Benny and I got for her.
Allowing Olivia open the presents at her own pace meant she wasn't done opening presents until 4 p.m. on Sunday, when I forced her to finish and it wasn't fun for her anymore.
After Alligator Steps and a 2 hour nap, Olivia was taken to Studio Mario, a photo studio specializing in children's pictures for her one year portrait. More about that later. The photo shoot was followed by a stop by the library and a drive to Awase to eat dinner at an Okinawa landmark.
Yes, the waitresses do wear sailor outfits at Sam's, just like they do in the advertisments. It's a Hawaiian, nautical theme that cracks me up. And the food is served on fire.
Olivia felt right at home.
And I toasted Olivia's birthday by drinking a fruity beverage with an umbrella.
On Sunday, Benny ran a 10K as part of the Okinawa Marathon and Olivia and I went to the Air Base to cheer on the runners.
Then I went and bought a cake for her birthday. There was a translation mix up (isn't there always) and the cake said "Happy 7th Birthday Olivia." Good thing I checked it before walking out of the bakery.
After a dinner of green beans, wheat bread and shredded cheese, we sang Happy Birthday to our O monster. She looked at us like we were crazy.
She was given a slice of cake.
She liked the icing. And sucked it off almost every piece, before tossing the sponge cake on the floor.
After cake, Olivia went to bed, an hour earlier than normal. We were exhausted.
But this posting isn't about me, it's about Olivia AKA O and her wonderful first birthday. After much deliberation, the V-Team decided to play this birthday low key. There is plenty of time for birthday bashes in the future ... like when she turns 2. And since her birthday was on a Monday and Olivia is usually dead tired when she gets home from daycare, we decided to celebrate over the weekend. We split up the fun over Saturday and Sunday.
But first we had the Seabee Ball on Friday night. After some frantic preparations while Olivia bounced up and down in her Johnny Jump Up, we drove to our friend, Diana's house. Diana, who is one of the nicest people I've ever met, volunteered to watch O while we went to the Ball. Diana's husband is a Seabee and currently deployed, so she understand the importance of the Seabee Birthday.
So while we were dancing at the Seabee Ball
Olivia was up late, playing with 2 boys who are Diana's neighbors.
Olivia didn't go to bed until 9:30 p.m. She partied hard and was completely asleep when we picked her up at midnight. She didn't wake up when we transferred her from her pack and play to her car seat and from her car seat to her bed. One tired baby.
On Saturday morning, we moved all of Olivia's birthday gifts into the living room and let her pull and open what she wanted when she wanted. At first she was excited about the wrapping paper and the boxes.
And she LOVED the toys from Patti and Bob and didn't find the need to open any other gifts. She just kept playing with her new toys and ignored the other presents, including the shopping cart that Benny and I got for her.
Allowing Olivia open the presents at her own pace meant she wasn't done opening presents until 4 p.m. on Sunday, when I forced her to finish and it wasn't fun for her anymore.
After Alligator Steps and a 2 hour nap, Olivia was taken to Studio Mario, a photo studio specializing in children's pictures for her one year portrait. More about that later. The photo shoot was followed by a stop by the library and a drive to Awase to eat dinner at an Okinawa landmark.
Yes, the waitresses do wear sailor outfits at Sam's, just like they do in the advertisments. It's a Hawaiian, nautical theme that cracks me up. And the food is served on fire.
Olivia felt right at home.
And I toasted Olivia's birthday by drinking a fruity beverage with an umbrella.
On Sunday, Benny ran a 10K as part of the Okinawa Marathon and Olivia and I went to the Air Base to cheer on the runners.
Then I went and bought a cake for her birthday. There was a translation mix up (isn't there always) and the cake said "Happy 7th Birthday Olivia." Good thing I checked it before walking out of the bakery.
After a dinner of green beans, wheat bread and shredded cheese, we sang Happy Birthday to our O monster. She looked at us like we were crazy.
She was given a slice of cake.
She liked the icing. And sucked it off almost every piece, before tossing the sponge cake on the floor.
After cake, Olivia went to bed, an hour earlier than normal. We were exhausted.
Thanks dad
Thanks Dad for installing this safety gate.
It's prefect for pulling myself up, standing and waving to Mom.
It's prefect for pulling myself up, standing and waving to Mom.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
What's shaking?
"What's shaking?" was the question we heard from Tammy when we answered our phone Saturday morning. It was over an hour since the earthquake, but yet, my heart was still beating pretty fast.
Last weekend AKA natural disaster drill weekend, we woke up at 5:30 a.m. to an earthquake. A strong one. Benny yelled "doorway" as he went into Olivia's room to stand there with her. I stook in the doorway of our bedroom and because of the way the doors open we couldn't see each other. All we could do was wait for the shaking to stop. Eventually it did.
No damage to report. Olivia slept through the entire thing. We had two framed pictures fall from the shelves. That's it.
A few minutes later I climbed into bed, hoping to sleep in, when Benny's work phone rang. He received a mass notification call from the emergency response people. A tsunami warning for Okinawa was issued. Now I had trouble falling back asleep, even though we live/eat/work/sleep on the third story of a building that is already built up on top of a wall to protect the land from the ocean. Minutes later it was the phone again, but this time it was our Vonage line. Benny's sister, Patti, was calling to check on us.
Huh, that's strange. The earthquake is being reported in the States. We've had plenty of earthquakes here before, but never have the quakes been covered in Okinawan news yet alone American news.
That's when I got up and checked my Facebook. There was multiple messages asking if we were OK. We are.
Less than 2 hours later, the tsunami warning was cancelled. The threat was over.
The next day we went to church as usual. That's where we heard about the earthquake in Chile and the tsunami warning issued for Okinawa. The tsunami was scheduled to hit at 3:10 p.m. on the west side of the island, but emergency officials were telling us to plan for the whole island to be affected. This time Benny went into work.
Even though we would most likely be OK, I decided to take Olivia and head for higher ground AKA the Air Force base. I drove around for 20 minutes, enough time for the car's motion to soothe her to sleep, before I parked in a shaded parking lot, turned on the radio and opened my photography magazine. I listened as 3:10 p.m. came and went and Olivia slept in the backseat. All is well in Okinawa.
About 3:30 p.m. Olivia woke up, so we headed to the store to measure her feet. Yes, the O monster has been barefoot and proud her whole life, but since she will be turning 1 next week I thought it was time we got her some shoes. We went to the shoe department. I measured her foot and put some keds on her feet. She happily kicked and looked at her feet. When I stood her on the ground, she refused to take a step. It was as though she had no idea how to use her feet anymore. After some coaxing, I gave up and went to look at baby clothes while Olivia nibbled on that shoe.
At 5 p.m. the "all clear" announcement was made and Olivia started screaming (no one told me that 11 months, 25 day olds have tantrums), so we left her shoes behind and left the store.
Later I read an article online about the earthquake. Turns out it was a big one. Luckily it wasn't THE Big One.
Last weekend AKA natural disaster drill weekend, we woke up at 5:30 a.m. to an earthquake. A strong one. Benny yelled "doorway" as he went into Olivia's room to stand there with her. I stook in the doorway of our bedroom and because of the way the doors open we couldn't see each other. All we could do was wait for the shaking to stop. Eventually it did.
No damage to report. Olivia slept through the entire thing. We had two framed pictures fall from the shelves. That's it.
A few minutes later I climbed into bed, hoping to sleep in, when Benny's work phone rang. He received a mass notification call from the emergency response people. A tsunami warning for Okinawa was issued. Now I had trouble falling back asleep, even though we live/eat/work/sleep on the third story of a building that is already built up on top of a wall to protect the land from the ocean. Minutes later it was the phone again, but this time it was our Vonage line. Benny's sister, Patti, was calling to check on us.
Huh, that's strange. The earthquake is being reported in the States. We've had plenty of earthquakes here before, but never have the quakes been covered in Okinawan news yet alone American news.
That's when I got up and checked my Facebook. There was multiple messages asking if we were OK. We are.
Less than 2 hours later, the tsunami warning was cancelled. The threat was over.
The next day we went to church as usual. That's where we heard about the earthquake in Chile and the tsunami warning issued for Okinawa. The tsunami was scheduled to hit at 3:10 p.m. on the west side of the island, but emergency officials were telling us to plan for the whole island to be affected. This time Benny went into work.
Even though we would most likely be OK, I decided to take Olivia and head for higher ground AKA the Air Force base. I drove around for 20 minutes, enough time for the car's motion to soothe her to sleep, before I parked in a shaded parking lot, turned on the radio and opened my photography magazine. I listened as 3:10 p.m. came and went and Olivia slept in the backseat. All is well in Okinawa.
About 3:30 p.m. Olivia woke up, so we headed to the store to measure her feet. Yes, the O monster has been barefoot and proud her whole life, but since she will be turning 1 next week I thought it was time we got her some shoes. We went to the shoe department. I measured her foot and put some keds on her feet. She happily kicked and looked at her feet. When I stood her on the ground, she refused to take a step. It was as though she had no idea how to use her feet anymore. After some coaxing, I gave up and went to look at baby clothes while Olivia nibbled on that shoe.
At 5 p.m. the "all clear" announcement was made and Olivia started screaming (no one told me that 11 months, 25 day olds have tantrums), so we left her shoes behind and left the store.
Later I read an article online about the earthquake. Turns out it was a big one. Luckily it wasn't THE Big One.
Monday, March 1, 2010
On the hunt for a tiger hat
After the Buddha experience, we headed to Victoria Park and followed the signs to a New Year's Eve Fair and Flower Market.
The book I read recommended the Flower Market. It's only once a year and only for the Chinese New Year. Since it was New Year's Eve (Feb. 13), this was THE day to buy flowers for loved ones. And with the double whammy holiday of Valentine's Day (yes the Chinese were celebrating this saint with chocolates and roses, too) falling on the Chinese New year, Chinese florists were very happy businessmen.
Just as we reached the edge of the park, the rain started. It rained practically all weekend. It wasn't a downpour that would force you inside. It was a soft, constant sprinkle that made my hair look ridiculous, kept everything constantly damp, and made an umbrella a necessary item.
Walking from the subway station, I first spotted the tiger hat.
I turned to Benny. I MUST have that for the Chinese New Year ... the Year of the Tiger. Plus it was cold and this hat would keep my ears warm and cover my frizzy hair.
We fought through the crowd and spotted more tiger hats. And more hats.
Until finally I saw a booth where I could buy one.
And for 100 Hong Kong dollars (conversion approximately $10) the hat was mine. I'm a big fan of the hat.
Olivia not so much.
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