"It's a B-side Baby" Reminisce Challenge

I did this layout for the "It's a B-side baby" challenge on the Reminisce blog. I use the B side of the Funky Monkey, and My Jungle Safari papers.

Jorge's Shisa

WOW! I was going to be so good when I started this blog about posting often. Well, doesn't look like I did such a good job! Well, my last post was showing some Shisa that I made in pottery class. For those of you who don't know, Shisa or Shishi lions are found on the rooftops or entryway to most houses here in Okinawa. They are not religious symbols, just a superstition. They usually are faced looking at the pathway to the house. The male, his mouth open growling and scaring away the bad spirits, the female, mouth closed, smiling holding in the good spirits. Anyway, we commissioned my pottery Sensei, Master Potter Jorge Itokazu to make us a pair for the entrance to our new home. We are leaving Okinawa in less than two weeks for a new adventure, a new phase of our lives without the military. We showed him a photo of a pair we had found that we liked......told him to make them that kind of shape, but with Jorge's style. Here is what we he came up with. These haven't been fired yet, but I am soooooo excited!! I love them and keep looking at the photos. I can't wait until I can look at them every day! I love how the butt is higher than most, and the tail is over his butt facing forward. I'm also posting a photo of me and Jorge.

My Shisa!!!

I have been taking some pottery classes here in Okinawa. I just made these Shisa and am so excited about how they turned out. All made by hand the traditional way. The two pieces of clay are what I started out with.

Newest Connor Photo!!!

Yep, here it is!!! He is growing so fast and I am missing it!!! Just look at those gorgeous eyes!!!!

Blog Challenge

Lucy over at Dixie Pieces issued a Blog challenge today to post 6 random facts about ourselves on our blog. So here's mine! (And if you haven't checked out Dixie Pieces Scrapbooking kits, you should do so.........they are awesome!!)

1. I have lived in Okinawa, Japan for six years and truly love everything Okinawan...especially the people. I feel a special connection with them and am Okinawan at heart.

2. I can't resist good dollar store (100 Yen here)

3. I have recently started gardening and planting everything from flowers to fruits and veggies to trees. I am addicted!

4. I am a Breast Cancer survivor (Get your mammograms!!)

5. I love fruits of any kind.

6. I am 3 years older than my husband of 24 years.

Connor

Ok Denise, this is for you!! These photos were taken only a few days ago. It's killing me to be here and not watch him grow up! Angie is good about keeping me updated with photos though.

Pizza & Sky

This past weekend we took some of the people John works with on a tour of the Northern end of Okinawa. The northern end is not as inhabited as the southern, and there is much jungle and great views. We went to a place called Pizza and Sky for lunch. It is a small pizza place up in the mountains on a cliff overlooking the ocean. It is very unique and a great place to visit. Most of the tables are picnic tables outside and if it is windy it can get very chilly. So there are baskets of blankets for you to use to keep warm. There is only one kind of pizza. It has sausage, garlic, peppers, and corn. And LOTS of cheese! They serve fresh juices and tea in unique glasses on cloth napkins and plates. Each drink has its own type of glass. The pizza is awesome and the view spectacular. A place that you would not want to miss when visiting Okinawa. You can see more photos of the drinks as they were served and the restaurant and view on my photobucket here:
http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd126/okidoki2181/Pizza/

Blue Angels

I made this scrapbook page for the we kit u not monthly challenge. I used the Dixie Pieces December and June kits.

Proud Grandma!!

So...here's my new favorite photo of my grandson Connor. Yep, Proud Grandma!!

Obon and Eisa

I promised in late August photos and descriptions of Obon and the Eisa Festival on Okinawa. Life has taken over a bit and I got distracted. Here's the photos and hopefully I'll get a description of the Obon celebration soon!!! It's my favorite festival and tradition on Okinawa.

Hahri (Dragonboat) Races

We have been to the Dragonboat races in the capital city of Naha before, but I kept reading about the celebrations in the smaller fishing villages, the ones not so advertised and commercialized and had been wanting to go to one of those. The Naha ones are fun, and the military branches each have teams that compete, but I wanted to see a more traditional celebration. Then I saw this article in a newspaper called "Japan Update" It talked about this village called Tomigusuku and how they were trying to recreate a Hahri festival in the life of a King who ruled over 600 years ago. The King, King Wanouso got his title and crown from the Chinese emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He loved wearing costumes and playing with Hahri boats. Tomigusuku City had costumes made in China and sent over that were the same sort of costumes that were worn in Wanouso's day. The festival began with a traditional launching ceremony which was really cool, I just wish I understood Japanese better so I could have followed along more. I am working on my Japanese though!! The Hahri boats were so different than the ones used in Naha, and were more traditional. They were smaller, and much more elaborately decorated heads and tails. Tomigusuku is on the southern end of the Island of Okinawa, and most of the military bases are in Central Okinawa so we only actually saw one other American at the festival. The kids there weren't as used to seeing Americans as those in Central Okinawa and kept coming up to us and saying "Hello" to practice their English. Some used other phrases such as "How are you" and "What is your name." Then they would get embarrased and run off. We were welcomed by the Okinawan Men and Women as well, and as we hadn't brought umbrella's and it was raining off and on, several of them shared their umbrella's with us. We were soaked to the bone when we finally left, but had a great day!! I picked out a few pictures to share with you.

Baby Scrappy Pages!

Yeah!! Baby Scrappy pages are soooo fun!!! Especially when you are the Grandma and have time to do them and not spending all of your time feeding, burping, and being up in the night. Here are a couple recent ones. The first one was made with the awesome Dixie Pieces May Dixie Designs kit, with the exception of the flowers and buttons. You should check them out, the link is on the side of this page.



I had a few requests from people to explain how I did the paper for this one. So I updated to add these instructions. I started with some Bazzill Bling cardstock and stamped it with Inque Boutique's #50355 Dotted Flowers and Flourishes using just a regular Stampin up Stamp pad. Then I used Making Memories Specialty Glaze-Glitter. I painted it over the whole page with a sponge brush so that it smears the ink a little giving it the sort of water color look.

Kodomo no hi

May 5th is children"s day, or Kodomo no hi, in Japan. It was originally known as boy's day, and is a day to honor Sons. Families with boys display colorful carp streamers outside their homes. These are called Koinobori. The carp symbolizes courage and strength, qualities that parents wish their boys to have. Warrior dolls are also displayed in the home. Children's day is a day when parents pray for their children to grow up healthy.

Visit to Ie Island Lily Festival

Sunday John and I took a ferry ride to Ie Island to the Lily Festival. It was about a 30 minute ferry ride. After departing the ferry, we looked aroud the shops a little, then headed off walking towards Mt. Gusuku, where we climbed to the top. There were stairs most of the way.........but LOTS of them!!

After we got finished at Mt. Gusuku, we headed off in the direction we assumed was the Lily Festival. We walked along some main roads, and some dirt roads through farmland. We had to backtrack a bit, but finally made it to the festival site where we looked at the Lilies, the beautiful ocean, and ate some Okinawan "festival food." The food was a bit different than the standard festival fare on mainland Okinawa, always an interesting and tasty experience. We picked a few things that looked good. One dish in particular looked really good-----John started eating it and told me I had to try it before he told me what i was. NOPE-------I didn't fall for that!! I thought it looked like beef chunks with veggies in a brown sauce. Well, that's not exactly what it was! It was Tripe(Yes,stomach) .......ewwwwwwwwww........he said it was really pretty good but I couldn't take a bite!! We listened to some local entertainment and music for a while, walked among the lilies, and then caught the bus back to the port for our return ferry to Okinawa. It was a beautiful day, perfect weather for such an outing.

Pics are as follows: 1. Ie Island view from the ferry, Mt. Gusuku
2. Steps up the mountain
3. John and I at the top of Mt. Gusuku
4. Tree on the trail up the mountain
5. Gwen at the Lily Fields.

Check out my Slide Show!

New Scrappy Pages

I have been trying to scrap a few pics of Stephi and I's trip to Tokyo. It seems the only ones I have completed have pics of Stephanie in them. She has always hated to have her picture taken and refuses to pose for pics. She was leaving to go to Florida the week after we got home, so I wanted some nice pics of her before she left. It's amazing what a teenage girl will do when she wants a $60+ pair of shoes!! Made her a deal after a few days in Tokyo that if she posed for pics (with smiles) the rest of the trip, I would buy her the pair of shoes! Of course, she went back to the shop in Tokyo where the shoes were and they didn't have a pair big enough to fit her big American feet----but she came home with a $60 skirt she said I bought her instead!!! Anyway, I am loving having pics of Steph to scrapbook!! So here are a couple. These were both made with supplies from the Dixie Pieces Dixie Design kits. The link for Dixie Pieces is on my blog. They have amazing kits, you should check them out.

Finally, some Tokyo pics--Asakusa

Yes, finally getting some time to post some pics and write about my Tokyo trip! These pics are from a small town called Asakusa. It was a very charming little town, complete with a beautiful temple, and some bazaar style shopping. DD and I took a rickshaw ride here. It was soooo much fun. This is one of the areas I enjoyed most from our trip.

Yep, I'm a Grandma!!

Connor Grayson Rich was born on 29th March 2008 to James Rich, and my dd Angela Anderson. He weighed 7 lbs 11 oz. Here are a few photos. I included one of my daughters and the baby. The one holding the baby is not the Mother.

Japanese fun facts of the day

Did you know that some of the garbage trucks in Japan play music like Ice Cream Trucks? That you can buy soup in vending machines in a soda can? That bathrooms have buttons on the toilet or on the wall and when you push it, it makes flushy noises to cover up the other noises you may be making so noone can hear you?

Finished Quilt

So, here's the finished Quilt. All done and shipped to DD for the new baby. I'm pleased with the way it turned out!!