“Puzzle Time” Torrance, 2016
Wordless Wednesday
“Puzzle Time” Torrance, 2016
“Puzzle Time” Torrance, 2016
At Home
“The Old Kitchen” Torrance, 2016
こんばんは！How’s it going
Today’s photo is of the kitchen area of my parents’ house. It’s looked pretty much the same since I was a kid which I am happy for. Sure, there have been changes throughout the years such as a new stove, painted walls, and most recently a new floor, but it still has the original feeling. I was thinking how sad it would be if the kitchen got a total remodel… so much would be lost and swept into family history. Makes me sad to think of it!
For now, I’m happy to be able to come back to my childhood home, with the original charm still intact.
I hope you had a great day!
おやすみなさい！
– B 
Vacation
“Evening Sky” Over Texas, 2016
こんばんは！How’s it going?
Today we traveled from coooold Texas to a slightly warmer Southern California to spend the holidays at my folks’ house. The flight was delayed by about a half an hour, but other than that went smoothly. If you travel between Austin and Los Angeles, I highly recommend flying JetBlue from Long Beach. You can avoid the madhouse that is LAX, and if you are on the south side of town, you can avoid a bit of traffic too! Plus JetBlue is a great airline, with lots of freebies such as free movies, free WiFi, snacks, and soft drinks.
When we spend Christmas in Los Angeles, we ship most of our gifts directly to my parents’ house so we have a pile of boxes waiting for us. Today we’ll go through them, wrap them up, and then have some free time. In fact, we don’t have much on the schedule this time. It’s nice to just play it by ear!
Hope you had a great day!
おやすみなさい！
– B
Busy Anniversary
“Anniversary Card” Cedar Park
こんばんは！How’s it going?
Today is Mariko and my 20th Anniversary! I cannot believe that the time has gone by so quickly. It’s funny, but we don’t really celebrate our anniversaries so much, in fact one year we kind of forgot about it. Also, we’ve never really been 100% certain when we should celebrate it! What I mean is that we were officially married on December 16th (at the city hall in Osaka) but we had our ceremony on the 18th in Guam. We sort of eloped…
But yeah, I guess we’ve settled on the 18th since it gives us a couple more days to figure out where we want to go out to eat. 😜
Speaking of anniversary dinner, tomorrow we are flying to SoCal to spend the holidays at my parents’ house and we are going to have a nice anniversary dinner at a restaurant nearby. I can’t wait!
So, besides our anniversary, today was kind of busy taking care of things, like dropping off our dog at the sitter’s house, picking up Koa after he returned from Chicago, calling AAA to give me a jumpstart, doing laundry, packing, etc etc ettttcccc…. I guess we’re all ready for vacation. Maybe?
Have a good evening!
おやすみなさい！
– B
Cold Day
“Hot Pho” Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！How’s it going?
Today was one of those crazy weather days we have once or twice a year here in Texas, where the temperature swings drastically. During the day, we enjoyed a nice 75° F breeze but around 5 PM, the wind 🌬 picked up and the cold front came down from the north. Mariko went out for dinner and when we entered the restaurant, it was about 65° F, but when we left the restaurant 45 minutes later, it was about 50°! Then later, in the evening we went to see a late movie at 10 PM and it was already at the 32° F freezing point! ❄️
I mentioned we went out for dinner, and as you can see from the photo above, we enjoyed Vietnamese food at Pho Thanh Nhi. Mariko got a big bowl of pho, and I had a bowl of egg noodle soup, which was delicious! 🍜 As the wind howled outside the restaurant windows, it was perfect to enjoy a nice hot bowl of Vietnamese noodle soup!!
I hope you had a nice Saturday. Stay warm!
おやすみなさい！
– B
Kindle
“Kindle PaperWhite” Cedar Park, 2016
For my birthday this year, my parents bought me a new Kindle Paperwhite. It is awesome! I’ve had an older Kindle “Keyboard” version for a while now (I blogged about it here) but have wanted a new Paperwhite version because of the upgrades.
Here is a list of advantages of new Kindle PaperWhite (which I named “Echo”):
- Backlight: Not only can I read at night without the light on (which bothered Mariko), but the backlight adds some contrast for increased readability in daylight
- Higher resolution: The text looks sharper and the display is more like a printed page
- Smaller: Although the screen size is the same as my old Kindle, the bezel is smaller and I can “palm” it with one hand
- X-Ray: I can find out more about the characters in the story by tapping on a name
- Goodreads: I can update my reading status on Goodreads directly from the Kindle Paperwhite
Although the new Kindle is superior to my old Kindle (which I named “Persephone”), the old one is still useful and works great. And it has a couple of advantages over the Paperwhite:
- Lock screen art: I hacked the OS so that I could load custom lock screen images
- Audio: I have loaded some nice classical guitar mp3s onto the Kindle, which I can play via the built-in speakers or the headphone jack
Having two Kindles is nice. I keep Echo (the new one) by my bed, and Persephone is in my messenger bag. Do you own a Kindle? I have to say, my Kindles are possibly my favorite technology gadgets. ❤
Close to the End
“Don’t Bother Me” Cedar Park, 2016
こんばんは！How’s it going?
Well, the work week is over, and we’re close to the end of 2016! But it’s not yet over… still have a big vacation and seeing my family in California to look forward to. It’s going to be fun and I can’t wait to see everyone. And I am looking forward to playing some Mahjong!
But for tonight, I’m ready to curl up just like my cat in the photo above. Where’s my Kindle?! 📖
I hope you had a nice Friday!
おやすみなさい！
– B
