switch

it's hard to remember to blog when i'm hardly ever on my desktop computer anymore. k-dogg and i accidentally switched pillows friday night and my shoulder and neck are killing me now. we switched back this morning and my nap was much better. when he thinks his pillow is going flat, i buy him a new one and i take his. it works out quite well for me, but i think he really could sleep on anything! the knot in my shoulder could also be from stress, since the two aleve i have taken today haven't done anything. the idea that how well a bunch of 9-10 year olds do on a writing test has a direct connection to people's jobs can tend to cause a little stress. i still love my job, but i really wish taks had never been invented!

in other news...we got a new quilt for our bed right after Christmas. i like it much better than the covers we bought last year and whenever i get around to it, i'll post a picture of our actual room, but for now, this picture from pottery barn's website will have to work...

down on the corner

ok, the end of tokyo...

i said on facebook that shibuya crossing is the busiest crosswalk in the world. just in case you didn't really believe me...here's a picture of ONE corner of the crosswalk! and on a thursday evening is not really the busiest time!
crossing shibuya crossing
shibuya 109...the craziest mall i have ever been too...about 9 stories high...4-6 stores on each floor...wall to wall people...only, there aren't really any walls...the stores wrap around the escalator that runs through the middle
this isn't the busiest we saw krispy kreme...a few times the wait time was at least an hour...that's like waiting to ride a good ride at six flags!
the front desk of our hotel
this was our hotel room from the doorway. you can see one side of the bed. it's a full size bed and it's against the wall on the other side! that table goes all the way across the room and there's a tv on the other end with a small refrigerator and hot tea maker underneath. i had to take my backpack off before i walked in the room or it would scrape against both walls at once!


this is the bathroom. you're not missing anything! the toilet was right up against the wall. when k-dogg stayed here this summer, he was in a single room so there was a window over his bed that looked into the bathroom and the door to the bathroom was see-thru!
you hear about celebrities making commercials and ads in japan for things they'd never do here (ever seen lost in translation or the episode of friends with joey's commercial for men's lipstick?) that's a billboard with tommy lee jones for a beverage company. we also saw beyonce on a bottled water ad and sarah jessica parker on something...i don't remember what it was

on the way to the airport
the Christmas tree at Narita Airport. our flight was at around 1 on friday afternoon. we flew about 11 hours, kyle drove us home from dfw...and when we got to our house it was around 1 on friday afternoon! i saw the sun set and rise within less than 8 hours. got to see it rise over the rocky mountains! and still went shopping on black friday that afternoon!

one

yea, first post of the new year! i decided i better finish up my tokyo pictures before i go back to work tomorrow. (ugh) i wish we were off tomorrow so i could have gone on the girls' winter retreat in dallas. staying in a hotel and shopping at the galleria sounds much better than going to work on a cold monday morning! obviously, i needed to stay home and rest anyway. i got home from church and lunch and took a 3 hour nap! it messes me up when i sleep so long and then wake up and don't know if it's 4:15 am or pm! i finally decided that it was too light outside to be am...so i figured i better get up. k-dogg is watching the cowboys game (ie...snoozing in his chair) so i came in my computer room. my team is out of the playoffs, so they aren't showing that game.
Merry Christmas from Louis Vuitton!
we had 3 starbucks within about 2 blocks of our hotel. kinda weird, the only real difference was the menu and all the japanese customers. otherwise, i could have been in any starbucks in the states.
tokyo from the 47th floor of the municipal government building. when it isn't cloudy, you can see mt fuji. i think it's almost always cloudy though.
subway map...simple enough, right??
Christmas lights

zest cantina...texmex in tokyo. we ate here one night and it was pretty good. the walls were covered with texas license plates, john wayne pictures, and a buffalo and jackalope. the waiters wear jeans, cowboy boots, and western shirts. they just need some help on their portion sizes. a plate of nachos had about 7 chips and you don't get chips and salsa before the meal. we had a good time laughing at the people we saw drinking a bud light that cost $8 a bottle! according to k-dogg, this is THE meeting place in shinjuku...or was it shibuya? i don't remember where we were!
it looks like all these people are out really late at night, but it was probably only 6 or 7pm. the sun set at 4!
yes, it's blurry, but that's how fast you have to walk so those nice polite people in tokyo don't run you over!