And just like that...

my mum has gone back home. I can't believe how fast the week flew by. It was such an incredible week, I can't even begin to write how wonderful it was to see my mum and introduce her to Chloe.

We spent our week together mostly puttering around my neighborhood as the weather was terrible! Hello rainy season! My mum also acted as guarantor for my passport renewal so we had to head down to the Canadian embassy to submit all the paperwork and I also picked up the paperwork for getting Chloe's proof of Canadian citizenship.
We also cooked a lot together, it has always been a favourite pastime of ours when we are with each other. We tried a new recipe she read about in a magazine on her flight over and it turned out really well! It was a salmon dish with syrup, butter and dijon mustard, sounds strange but was actually quite nice. On two of the less terrible weather days we went to visit my husband for lunch which I know he enjoyed. He was disappointed he couldn't take time off to spend with my mum.
She was amazing with helping me around the house, (I'm sure our apartment looked disgusting when she arrived as I have been quite lacking on the housework department for quite some time now) and with the baby, whenever Chloe fussed my mum was eager to pick her up and give her back rubs, walk around with her and just cuddle her. We discovered that little Chloe likes to go out... especially for lunches and dinners. Maybe she enjoys the scents in restaurants or something.
We also engaged in our all time favourite pastime of window shopping. We used to spend countless weekends strolling through the malls and streets of Vancouver, browsing all the lovely clothes and whatnot, rarely buying anything but having so much fun nonetheless. It was more about the company than the activity and hey, good exercise, no?
All in all, I'm quite sad to have to say good bye so soon to my dear mum and I really hope little Chloe has convinced her to come visit more often. Until then, we have Skype.

Mum Mum Mum Mum

My dear sweet mum is coming to visit tomorrow. I'm so excited for her to meet Chloe - her first grandchild. After becoming a mother myself, I see our relationship in a new way, probably more clearly than I used to. I cannot adequately sing praises for my mum. She is amazing. She always put us kids first. When I was younger she really wanted to be a real estate agent, studied hard and got her license. After a few years of pounding the pavement and doing her best, all the while us kids complaining because we didn't want to go to after school care, she gave it up to be at home with us. 

When I moved away to go to university, I started calling her every day and we would talk for hours. Mostly because I was lonely where I was living at first and started getting really anxious about leaving my apartment for anything and she would keep me company while I was out, it was then I realised she was (and still is) my best friend. When I moved back to Vancouver, we used to go out shopping almost every weekend or I would go back home and have dinner with my folks often. I know when I decided to move to Japan she was really sad I would be so far away but she always supported me and we still talk almost every day.  I hope someday I can see her everyday again. Now I'm tearing up thinking about her and how much I love her. 

Shady son of a bitch whatever - t-shirt on a guy

How agro!

Well... I havent been up to much, hence the lack of updating.
I've been missing my Mum terribly... and missing my Dad even more.
It's one of those things though... how do you get the best of both worlds? Until I have a Doko demo doa (go anywhere door) like Doraemon I'll just have to make do with what I have. Beautiful pictures! Enjoy! They are both of Kamakura where there is a large Buddha statue. It once was in a shrine but due to a large tsunami it is now outside. I went there with my Mum a few weeks ago.

Both the cooking and the life had better be pleasant - words on a sauce cup

The deepest apologies with a very deep bow. I know it's been ages since I last blogged. I have been very busy with my week off from work and my two weeks back to work.

What on Earth have I been up to?!
My lovely Mother came to Japan. I was very busy showing her the time of her life. We covered a huge amount of ground in the short time she was here (only nine days). I tried to show her as much of Tokyo as possible and some of the outside areas and then show her my favourite parts of Tokyo again. I also gave her a rudimentary education in the Tokyo train and subway system... I'm not too sure how much of that she grasped (no offense Mum!!)
In the short time she was here I:
- Took her shopping (duh!)
- Took her shopping
- Tried (and somewhat failed) to get her to try authentic Japanese cuisine... she ate (very reluctantly) sashimi and takoyaki, she loved ramen and shabu-shabu
- Took her to Mount Fuji
- Took her to an onsen
- Took her to some traditional Japanese places... shrines, Buddhas etc.
- Introduced her to some pop culture... karaoke, purikura, bonnenkai etc. She had a blast
- Introduced her to my family away from my real family
- Introduced her to Take (ahhh) :)
In the nine days we went to: Mt. Fuji, Kamakura, Shinjuku, Nishi-Shinjuku, Aoyama, Harajuku, Omotesando, Shibuya, Haijima, Asakusa, Ueno, Akihabara, Ikebukuro, Yoyogi and Hino. Phew.. we walked a lot.
So now my Mum is gone and I'm very sadly back to reality. Work is the same. Enough about work... there are some exciting things in store for 2011 (as I hope there are for you!). What you ask?
- I am starting to learn how to DJ so I can DJ for my friend's CD release party... who knew I was so cool?
---> Anyone have any song recommendations? :)
- I get to tattoo Take! Which means I have to learn how to draw... he said not to worry and to just free hand it but I dont think he knows how bad of an "artist" I am. In return... he gets to tattoo me... he threatens Hello Kitty... I dont think he'll do it though.
- I have plans to learn how to fish. Although the general consensus is fishing is moderately to extremely boring.
Well that's all I have in terms of an update! Promise to update sooner rather than later... possibly with pictures.