These are a few of my favorite things!

Have you ever owned something that is super meaningless, objectively speaking, but you find so awesome that it brings insta-happiness and cheer? I have that feeling now! About my coffee cup. Yes, ridiculous I know but ~1 week after I bought my Yokohama Starbucks tumbler (get it, b/c I live in Yokohama?), a new one came out! And it's pretty and blue and has the Red Brick Warehouses on it, among other sites. I love my coffee breaks and sipping my coffee throughout my clinic morning.

So, I'm back at work on a duty weekend. I had to stay on the ship Friday since I was also the departmental duty officer, but the last two days I've been able to come and go since I'm "just" the on-call provider. I'm busy stocking up and organizing stuff as the Kitty Hawk is set to sail fairly soon. It's nice to make the ship a little more comfortable- and healthier, in the sense of bringing on whole grain snack bars, cereal, etc.

So, the rest of the trip with Laddie, Karen, Brady and Ed was pretty awesome. They had a great time in Kyoto and Nara. Brady and Ed even made it to Osaka and Kanazawa. Laddie and Karen came back Friday and we went to California Wine Bar, which is a very cool place in Motomachi. We drank a lot of different wines from Napa. It was pretty awesome, although Laddie observed that while stumbling out of, say, Irish pubs is ok, something seems slightly-less-than-classy about stumbling from a wine bar.

The next day, we headed out to Tokyo, where we stayed in a really nice hotel in Asakasa, near Roppongi. This was after Karen and I went to Kamakura for shopping and Laddie went to Asakusa for the same. Brady and Ed met up with us and we all went out to Shibuya and Roppongi. Shibuya is definitely the Tokyo I imagined in terms of lights, noise, and number of people. It was awesome!

The next day, everyone left after a slight debacle with the Narita Express, since the original train was cancelled due to winds. It seems like everyone made it home, although I was told the airport wasn't all smoothness either.

It was such an awesome time to have everyone here. I can't wait for more visitors. Like my Mom! In less than a week!