The new year came while I was fast asleep! Can’t remember the last time I missed a countdown. And now that I’m typing this, it’s already the end of January…

I was in Florida for a whole month spanning Dec – Jan, and that time just zoomed by.💀 Didn’t have the greatest travel experience, both coming and going. My flight from Dallas to Florida got canceled, so I had to stay overnight at some far away motel. Going back to Osaka, I was surprised to see I had an extra transfer added to my trip… But thankfully all the flights coming back were on time. There’ve been so many nightmare stories recently where it’s either the weather or archaic systems shutting air travel down.🆖

Looking more on the positive side of traveling, my family got me back into Pikmin Bloom and I go an airport Pikmin. And on one of the long flights back, I finally watched the first season of Better Call Saul.

Honestly, there’s something fun about being in the US. For all it’s extremely disturbing qualities there are some things that are just nice…

Having been away for so long, you know I’ve got to bring up the reverse “culture shock.” There were the little things like a small coffee being in fact very big, shelves of just coffee creamers at supermarkets, strangers striking up conversations anywhere and everywhere. No negatives there! But then there were the big things, like Florida drivers… In two days we drove by three separate car accidents, saw 8 cop cars chasing someone, gun shop next to a pet daycare, lots of pawn shops, cash advance stores, an alarming amount of injury law firm billboards, and tons of self-storage places. What are people storing in those? Why are there so many now?🤨

Shopping wise, I got everything on my list only available in the US. Portland Leather doesn’t do international shipping, so I’m really glad to have bought this super cute little brown toaster bag in time. And makeup wise, I was most excited for Phytosurgence.

Most of what needed to get done got done. The garage wasn’t completely cleared out, but it’s…on its way. We got rid of lots of big pieces and furniture and donated tons of items. It was hard getting my family (Mom) to throw things away. Basically, why have 30 spoons when you really only need 5… We also have wildly different tastes! One person’s trash is another’s treasure and whatnot.

A lot of work is getting done on the house besides just clearing stuff out. Tree trimming, fixing the pool screen, fixing dead lights, ripping out carpets to replace them with tiles, etc. etc… Hopefully all the repairs will be done by the end of February.

All of the animals are doing well. They’re cute but such a handful.

Three out of four of us also got sick a couple weeks ago with something which took us out for 3 or 4 days. It wasn’t covid and it wasn’t the flu. Apparently, it could have been an allergy attack from dust mites? But to me the timing and everything was really weird, so I’m thinking it could’ve just been a regular degular cold…

Anyway, it’s a super cold week here in Osaka, and I don’t plan on getting sick again. Still masking, as usual, and got my heavy coat out.🧣 No real goals for the year, just the same old same old taking things day by day. Next post is either going to be about makeup or more about the trip.😅