A Much Overdue Rant
So, it would seem I have a lot of go over and quite a few pictures to share and not quite enough brainpower to put it into writing. There might be paragraphs, there might be random words…hopefully all coherent.
So where do I beginnnnn???! Let’s try the month of July. It’s been busy. It’s been hectic and stressful. But full of fun! My cousin A & Grandpa arrived from California July 3rd. Immediately, we jumped into the partying. July 4th this year was held at my uncle’s close friend’s home, they live roughly minutes from each other. There was tons of people, tons of food, tons of up-close fireworks (not to mention almost dangerous backyard explosives), lots of laughs, volleyball, waterslide, moonbounce and etc. There were armies of kids at war with each other, the adults playing the neutral country and mediate/dictating the rules of combat. There was excessive amounts of eating and drinking and repeat. Overall, it was one of the best July 4th parties I have ever attended! *The purin (Royal Pudding) above was fresh milk pudding from Paris Baguette, a local Korean bakery. TOTALLY reminded us of [My Boss, My Hero]
I went up to トマト’s cousin’s wedding with his family the weekend before Otakon. Lovely wedding but it rained heavily unexpectedly. So what was supposed to be a fabulous outdoor wedding on the river, turned out just fine indoors. My cousin & Grandpa spent a week at my uncle’s house hanging out.
Here’re the photos of the stuff I got from Otakon. I actually forgot to include the リラックマ inkstamp set, BeKyoot apron & totebag. All three are at random locations in my room? LUFF my MuuMuu (Squishables Cow), he’s so SOFT and squishy… 
In the second photo: Black Hayate from Fullmetal Alchemist (which looks eerily like まゆ?!), my badge (featuring East of Eden? Eden of the East?), various リラックマ fruit-themed ねつけ, a ton of flyers/postcards/business cards for artists and vendors, Black Hayate is sitting on this crazy tiny-print schedule sheet and there’s the logo on the bag everyone got when they registered/picked up badges 
It was FUN TIMES. We got a great deal on our room. Roomed with cool people, hung out with some friends & had to hunt down my other cousin.
The breakdown: Arrived Thursday, found room/parking, picked up badges, walked around a little bit & got ourselves settled in for the weekend. Friday: Went to random panels, saw the Yoshida Brothers concert/bought their CDs/got them signed/got photo of them, walked around lost, wandered around, stopped by the Dealer’s Room for a little bit, ate lunch/dinner somewhere in there, got in a little late and passed out. Saturday: Attended a Yoshida Brothers’ Q&A, Hetalia: Axis Powers US premier, went to the Hetalia: Axis Powers voice actor panel/Q&A, went to get their autographs, wandered around a bit aimlessly, hung out with friends, had some food??, spent way too much time and money in the Dealer’s Room, took プリクラ everyday (booth located in the Dealer’s Room), got some late night boba, perused the Artists’ Alley briefly, a bunch of stuff I am forgetting. Sunday: Not much, got our stuff packed up and loaded into the car, went back to the convention center and made our last rounds, stopped by the Dealer’s Room & Artist Alley (straying in the latter for quite a while) one last time(s). Bought stuff, had lunch and shipped out.
We got back to Philly, we unpacked and went out to have bulgogi (Korean BBQ) at SeoRaBul with Ceci, her BF, トマト and us. Lots of raunchy conversation about inappropriate topics and ate until we wanted to burst. It was fun :angry
My cousin & Grandpa actually had to leave August 4th so we didn’t really have time to do much between then and Otakon ending.
And thus August appeared. I’ve been trying to get back on my schedule and it’s there NOW. I’ve been trying to work on the shop but I get so easily distracted (at home or at the shop). Slowly but surely, it’s coming. Mid-August, we (トマト & I) went over to to central Pennsylvania to visit his mom and her family for his aunt’s birthday. It was a fun weekend full of food and chatter. We took まゆ with us so that was an interesting experience. She was good. Especially at licking the food off the floor 
This post is so long already I’m going to have to do another for this past weekend (Labor Day holiday). Later later!
And so I sneak off hehehe…
Before Mayu came along and destroyed all my free time, we bought tickets for a show in NYC: Chatmonchy 
Wow. I mean where do I even start?
We left Mayu with my parents for the day, lucky for us, they adore naughty lil fluffbutt. Heading out to NYC about 11? 12? Don’t remember but we did make it there in record time (roughly 1.5 hours + about 45mins waiting to get into the damn Holland Tunnel). Parked the car, walked around East Village a little, grabbed some snacks from Panya & headed back downtown to the venue. We got there roughly around 5-ish? and where literally 4th & 5th in line. WHUT? Totally thought there would be a huge line but there was NOTHING?? Literally 20 minutes passed before anyone else joined us in line!
Fuji TV came out to interview some queue members…and TOTALLY BYPASSED ME & TOMATO. WTH!!
WOW I look horrid in this photo…GYUH!
But some highlights: Cheap tickets @ $13/person, close to first in line, free merch, cheap merch, front row, Akiko-san recognition 
, autographs, T-shirt, super sweet Chatmonchy ladies, awesome bands, probably in some DVD footage, got ALL their albums for a super cheap price, a sweet sweet night (except all the damn tunnel traffic 
) 
Wish more of my favorite bands would come back to the US
[The prior half of this entry was from a few days/weeks ago. The concert was on March 21st]
Anyway, on the recent, what can I say. A puppy is nearly a full time job in herself. Keeping her teeth off everything that isn’t her food/toys, making sure she goes outside and not inside, so much! Shes sleeping now so I have a spare moment to write. Not much has been going on really. The in-laws came over last weekend for Tomato’s birthday on the 26th. My parents finally met his parents. ABOUT TIME, NE? Yeap, hung out in Philly for a little bit. Went out to dinner on Saturday night. Tomato had a stomachache and left early. We finished dinner and joined him about 30mins later.
Sunday, Tomato and his family went to church while his aunt hung out with me and the fluffers. Mayu started throwing up and diarrhea-ing out of the blue so we took her to the vet ER. We later find out that she found a CHILI on the floor somewhere and ingested it 
Everyone left and we had a quiet evening to ourselves. Such a busy weekend that the slow week was a welcome sight!
And now it’s the weekend again and the weather is absolutely GLORIOUS. SUNSHINE & WARM WEATHER. Sweet. Tonight, Mayu has a puppy class so we’re booked for the evening. Tomorrow, we might take her to the dog park to frolick 
The temps are supposed to get up to the 80s Friday & Saturday!!!!!!! AWESOME. Can’t wait to find something to doooooooo. Possibly get a haircut! Need to hack this stuff off! So shapeless and blaaaaaaaaaaaah. Can’t staaaaaaaaaaaaand eet 
This weekend also includes plans of going to my uncle’s for the first family BBQ of the season. It’ll be fun 
Momma also requires Mayu’s presence there as well so it’ll be amusing to say the least Hum, that’s pretty much all at the moment. I live a fairly boring life filled with the usual suspects and events. But I have everything I want: wonderful family, love of my life, a zoo of pets, great home, sunshine, gorgeous weather and a smile on my face (err kinda 
) What more can I ask for? Actually I have a lot to ask for…but I am perfectly content where I am and what I have
Have a lovely day everyone!
Again! Again!!
OMGGG. Yeah.
Been gone for a while. Part of it due to some server/miscommunication/domain renewal/etc. and part due to the fact that I NEVER have what I need to blog with me when I have TIME to do so.
Let’s see. I am at work ALL DAY and my photos are mostly on my camera. I don’t really want to flood the work computer with my files so I tend to upload my stuff from the computer at home. Gonna try and use Flickr again…let’s see how this works out.
SO, let’s see, where to begin? Random stuff has been happening between the bouts of nothing. The weekend was particularly eventful. Lots of running around, errands, almost-apartment-renting, Chinese New Year talent shows & feasts, Valentine’s Day dinner with friends, passing out, cleaning, etc. So like I said, busy weekend. Firstly, from the snow storm last week…
Fun times in the snow 
Kitties do NOT like snow. Pretty amusing. Tails were VERY FAT The snow was intense. It snowed for a day and a half! there’s still about 1-2 feet of snow on the ground and the mounds of snow that are pushed off the roads and onto sides of streets are getting mountain-like 
It’s hard to get into some driveways!
SUNDAY, the Tomato and I went out to Montgomery Community College for some Chinese New Year festivities by my little cousins’ Chinese school. There was a show, food and riddle contests.
Made some fresh chocolate sablés for Valentine’s Day. Packaged them into some cello bags with some kiddie valentines for my little cousins. They all enjoyed them 
It was fun making them. Gonna have to make more next year. Underestimated the yield from the original recipe.
We chatted, ate, hung out and chased little kids around before heading out to grab some milk before picking up Ceci & Dave for Valentine’s dinner at Ted’s Montana Grill.
DELICIOUS FOOD. The chili was pretty damn good. Prices were fair. Bison meat is pretty damn awesome. Kinda wish it was more accessible. Would definitely use it instead of regular beef 
The place is also super eco-friendly from their paper straws to the bathrooms and dining area. Pretty sweet.
Dinner was scarfed down, we chatted after emptying our plates. Chatted about such public-inappropriate things like bathroom adventures and whatnot AHAHAHAHAHA! Oh man, twas a fun “quiet” Valentine’s Day celebration. Tomato also bought me some roses & a balloon. Haven’t taken a picture of them yet. Gotta get a vase long enough
It was a good weekend 
