Lazy Saturday

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Hi everyone!

How was your Saturday? Ours was relaxing once again. Today we took down and put away all of our Christmas decorations and also the tree. 🎄 We have an artificial tree which we keep in our garage. That thing is heavy as hell, but at least it separates into three parts so it isn’t too difficult to carry. This year the kids helped remove all the ornaments and lights so the job went much quicker. It was a huge help! 👍

Our holiday decorations are usually pretty limited… several years back we would put more effort into it, with decorations in the yard. But nowadays it’s only the indoors that gets decorated, and just the living room. We enjoy the celebrations, parties, and getting together with family, but we aren’t religious so the Christmas holiday doesn’t have that aspect to it. It’s fun to get into the giving spirit, though, and listening to all the Christmas music will always bring good memories and warm feelings. 😊🎵

"Small Plants" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/125 sec, ISO2500
 “Small Plants” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

Today’s photo is of a few of the small plants we have in our house. These particular ones live on the kitchen window sill.

I hope you all are enjoying your weekend! Stay warm if you live in a cold part of the world!

おやすみなさい！💤

-B

Daily Photos

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Hi! I hope you had a nice start to the new year! We had a very relaxing one, just eating osechi (Japanese new years food) and watching movies.

Lately I have been reading about photography projects, and the one that caught my attention is something like a “personal documentary”. I guess it is sort of like a recording of my own daily life… just normal things that we take for granted, but if we give them attention, they can become important things. Or another way to look at it is that in 50 years, these things might be of interest. I don’t know if this is true, but I really enjoy viewing these types of photos.

So, I think 2016 will be the start of mine. I am not sure if I will take a photo every day, but I’ll try. I’ve done 365 photo projects in the past so I am confident I can keep it going! I’ve started a new category in the blog named “Personal Documentary” if you’d like to sort by these photos.

This first photo is about as everyday as I can get… it’s the pen holder on my desk at home. I’ve actually had this beer can for over 20 years. I think I cut the top off of it when I was at university and have used it to hold pens ever since.

"On the Desk" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.5, 1/90 sec, ISO6400
 “On the Desk” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

This project seems like a New Year’s Resolution, doesn’t it? Well, I rarely make resolutions, so I don’t think I can call it that but it is something I’d like to make a habit.

I hope you all have a wonderful year and give it your all!

-B

Have a Song on Your Lips (くちびるに歌を)

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Have a Song on Your Lips (くちびるに歌を)
Have a Song on Your Lips (くちびるに歌を)

My first movie of the year to watch was 2015’s “Have a Song on Your Lips” (くちびるに歌を) starring Aragaki Yui, and based on a novel of the same name. I enjoyed it quite a bit, especially the setting of eastern Nagasaki. The ocean and islands are amazing – I wouldn’t mind living there!

The story is about an accomplished concert pianist (Aragaki) who returns to her hometown to substitute teach the middle school music class as a favor for her childhood friend (played by Kimura Fumino) who is going on maternity leave. For reasons that we are unaware of at the beginning of the story, she hasn’t played piano for a year. The main plot is about her and her students’ transformations as they prepare for the regional choir competition.

I’ve watched a couple movies starring Aragaki Yui in the past year and I have been impressed with her acting. It has greatly improved since I first saw her in a dorama a few years ago. I can’t wait to see her in more movies!

Have a Song on Your Lips (くちびるに歌を) is a beautiful movie, with plenty of contemplative moments and wonderful acting… I recommend it if you like slow-paced and heartwarming films!

Have a Song on Your Lips (くちびるに歌を)
Have a Song on Your Lips (くちびるに歌を)

Last day of 2015

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Good morning everyone! I hope you are keeping warm if your region has cold weather! It wouldn’t be fun to ring in the new year while being sick… 😬

Finally, the last day of 2015… It has been a great year for me! I am pretty sure this year has been the most I’ve ever traveled before in my life.

I can say without hesitation that all of these trips were fantastic and I enjoyed them so much! I used to get stressed about the logistics of traveling, but nowadays I just trust in myself and my family that everything will work out, and that if things don’t go as planned, it’s not the end of the world. Just adjust and enjoy! They say “adventure begins at the first wrong turn”. Something like that. I guess I have learned to embrace the possibilities, rather than stress on the unknown.

Besides all of the travel, a few notable things in the family… Firstly, Koa finished elementary school and began middle school. In his school district, middle school is grades 6-8. He’s loving it so far! Secondly, Bay became a high-schooler. It is still hard to believe that my baby boy has grown up so quickly! I am getting a little tear in my eye. 😂

I hope 2015 has been a great year for all of you. Let’s do our best in 2016!

-B

Back Home

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Hi all! How are you today/tonight?

Well, we are back home in Texas now. Today we flew on our normal route from Long Beach to Austin on JetBlue airlines. We really like flying out of Long Beach because it is a small airport and hardly any traffic or lines. Especially compared to the craziness that is LAX! But this morning’s flight was delayed by 2 hours, so we arrived in Austin at 5pm… not really too big of a deal, and waiting at the airport was ok since we had sandwiches that my mom had made for us. Also, I had time to finish The Martian! What a great book! 👍

USA. California. Long Beach. 2015.
USA. California. Long Beach. 2015.

The flight itself was pretty good, and I spent the time reading and also reviewing and deleting photos from my camera. I like to pare down the photos I keep. In the past, I would just keep every single photo, even if they were similar. I might have 8 photos that are almost exactly the same just because it didn’t cost me anything to keep more than one. But now, I really enjoy minimizing down to just the essentials. That means keeping only the best photo of a series. (I might cheat and keep two sometimes!) It’s so liberating to jettison all the extra photos right away after taking them. I feel like the longer you hold onto all those extra files, the longer they stay in your mind and clutter up your thoughts. Just choose one or two and be happy with those!

USA. 2015.
USA. 2015.

So, we made it home, but Austin is cold! Tonight will drop into the 30s again… ❄ Please take care to stay warm!

-B