Hana the fetus is growing

She is now 4 lb. 1 oz.
I have stuffy nose, short of breath, bloating and need to go to pee three times at night. She kicks my bloated stomach and bladder. I'm sure she is having fun by annoying me.
Well, she is my baby, after all.

McDonald's Apple Pie

My new food craving....apple pies. I baked some last weekend, but now they are gone. And this afternoon, after the flu shot (my ob doctor recommended it. I had a mercury-free one, just in case), I suddenly wanted to eat McDonald's deep fried apple pies. I ran to the nearest McDonald's and found out that their apple pies were now....baked.

I googled, and it seems that McDonald's has replaced their deep fried apple pies with baked ones since 1992. I also googled in Japanese, and found out that they are still selling deep-fried version in Japan (at least until last year). Hmmm...interesting. Well, baked one wasn't bad. 2 for $1! Of course I ate both.

FYI, according to the StephenKing.com, Checker's sells deep fried apple pies.

Another hair cut in two days

After all, I didn't like the cut I had at a Japanese hair salon in Georgetown. The stylist cut the end of my hair straight and didn't make layers. As a result, it looked very heavy and old-fashioned. The last time I had a hair cut there, the younger stylist did my hair and I really liked it. But this time only the older one was available. And she didn't seem to be giving lots of efforts to make a good cut...she wanted to go home soon or something. She wasn't even there to greet me when I left.


So, I went to a Taiwanese hair salon "Beautiful Life Hair Salon" in Rockville for a quick fix. I could have asked the Japanese salon to fix it, but it was not open today and I couldn't wait. I think my hair looks much much better now. The young Taiwanese stylist, Wei Wei, did a quick and great job. And it cost only a half of the price I paid for the Japanese salon! I'm sooo going back there.

Hair cut

I wanted to perm my hair. I have naturally frizzy rebellious uncontrollable hair, and I'm sure I won't have enough time to style my hair when Hana is here. My previous hair style, which was wavy, was very easy to manage. Basically I didn't have to do anything. So I went to a Japanese hair salon. Unfortunately I was told that since I had Japanese straight perm before, perming may not work. So I just had a hair cut.

I may make it shorter sometime....maybe very-short like Posh. But I didn't have courage to do it today. What do ya think?

Baby Shower! Very belated posting...

First of all, this is THE cake!

Isn't it amazing? Mike is genius. Plus, it was delicious!

Baby shower was on November 15th. I am still working on Thank-you notes...I know I'm bad.

The shower was lots of fun. Thank you, Steven and Mike!


When we cut the cake, everyone screamed "Ahhhhhhhhhh!"















































Gifts opening....













Food was delicous, too...Steven prepared chilled berry soup...yum. Mike made quiche, lazagna and hash brown casserole. Everyone enjoyed Mimosas while I was sipping orange juice. Um, yes, I had just a sip of Mimosa. I'm sure it made Hana the fetus genius.




It was great to see some old friends.....Jeremy and Nida. Nida came down from NYC!

Contrex

It seems that all Japanese pregnant women are drinking this French water "Contrex." It has 11% Calcium and is said to ease constipation. I read recommendations on Japanese magazines and books and one comment actually said it's "must have" for a pregnant woman. I tried to find it like at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's but they don't have it. Maybe this water works only for French and Japanese pregnant women. I checked Contrex website and found out it was available at Wegmans in Virginia. Maybe this water works only for French, Japanese and Virginian pregnant women. Last Friday, I was going to pick up VUBOQ's friend from NYC at Dulles Airport (I had no idea why he picked Dulles to fly in to DC...he said just because the ticket came up first on the discount ticket website) so I decided to drop by one of the Wegmans near the airport. Of course I got lost (I don't go to Virginia, you know) and it took an hour and half to find the store. I bought 6 bottles of Contrex. Yay.


I can see this gorgeous golden tree from my sofa...the photo does not catch the whole beauty of the tree....

Hana the fetus with ADD

Yes, I had too much beer.
Hana the fetus is kicking me around from inside and turning around. I'm afraid she has ADD.

The other day in the metro, a young woman was sitting at the window side and had her messenger bag (with "Obama 08" badge") on the seat next to her. All other seats were occupied. I was standing in front of her. She glanced at my big belly and my face, and kept reading. Of course I could ask her to move her messenger bag, but..... I mean, even if I don't see anyone pregnant or elderly, when the train is crowded, I do move my bag on my lap. This is not the change we need, Obama girl!

I will be traveling to Reno, NV next week for a report on battleground states. Hana the fetus has already traveled to Denver and St. Paul. She is a jet-setter.

It's not from B-rated horror movie

It's my baby in 3D sonogram!

....and this is something I hate about pregnancy.

Weekend in Pembroke Retreat in Virginia

Since I canceled my trip to Argentina in August due to the first trimester worries, I decided to take a mini-vacation. I had been interested in this place, Pembroke Retreat, which has Japanese style hot tub (ofuro). A couple runs the B&B, the wife is a Japanese and husband is an American. It was great. You can choose Japanese or American breakfast. I ordered Japanese one, which included rice, grilled fish, vegetables, raw eggs (they are from the owner's chicken pen, so fresh you can eat raw. We eat them mixed in rice with a little soy sauce in Japan) and miso soup. My husband ordered American breakfast, which includes homemade banana bread, waffles, whole wheat bread, honey (the owner has just started bee-keeping as well) , berry jelly made from berries the wife picked in the nearby mountain and fresh fruits including figs the wife just picked from a tree near B&B.

We just relaxed, relaxed....read, took bath, went for a walk....it was great.

I couldn't sleep well at the first night....because it was too quiet! I needed those noises of bus, people yelling, fire siren....

Thank you!

Thank you for sweet messages! I feel my shoe-loving baby girl is more blessed.
I'm in Denver with her now. She will travel to Minneapolis with me next week. I'm not sure if she knows what's going on.....I have not experienced any of her kicking or moving yet.
I can't stop eating french fries....weired. They are not even my favorite.

The world will have another shoe loving girl

I haven't updated this blog for a long time...because there has been a life changing event. Everyone, another shoe loving girl will be born into this world next February. Yup, she's been in my uterus for 16 weeks now. Yup, I have been totally sober for two months. I had my last martini on June 13th. I already asked VUBOQ to bring gin, dry vermouth and olive to the hospital where I deliver the baby so that I can have martini immediately after the labor.

I had amniocentesis last week, and got a result on Monday. My baby seems to be healthy, so now I can finally make it official here. My belly is getting bigger, so now I can wear only loose dress or tunics (I haven't told my boss or co-workers yet). I bought two kitten-heel Manolos, and they are beautiful. I had morning sickness in the first few weeks, and it was terrible. Imagine hangover without drinking. It totally sucks. But now I feel great. I don't dream about drinking gin tonic or red wine and wake up with guilty feeling anymore (yup, I did see such dreams several times in the first trimester).

This baby may make my life up side down, but I will try to be myself....well, I still can wear kitten-heels Manolos.

You need new manolos to forget bad experience

I went to NYC for a business trip. I stayed at infamous Hotel Pennsylvania. I chose this hotel because it was located just across the Penn Station and I was arriving there very late at night. In addition, it was one of the only hotels whose rate was accepted by my company's accountant. Still, it cost $200. I made a reservation for a non smoking room with a king size bed. But the hotel receptionist told me that only available non-smoking room was one with two twin beds. The room was very small and smelly. And here are some photos.



Super heavy door. It somehow reminded a submarine's door. I've never been in submarine, but....you know.



Bathroom. Water didn't go through the sink. TV was broken.













I felt miserable. You know, I was a backpacker. I am totally OK with shabby cheap hotels if they are $10 or $20. I just can't accept it when it cost $200.

So, I needed something to ease my crankiness. My evil co-worker in NYC whispered me about Manolo Blahnik semi-annual sale. Whenever I go to NYC on business, they happen to have sale.





I'm wearing them today. I'm happy. My credit card isn't. And now I'm on Manolo's NY store's mailing list. Ouch.

Our garden is full of life!

My shiso herb is growing! And Steven's wild flowers are blooming.

If you saw the movie....

On sale at Neiman Marcus. $945!!!!

Jimmy Choo for blue Thursday

The actual color is much brighter.

I made a mistake in my article. I need to write a letter of explanation to the editor in chief in Tokyo.

I thought I might be pregnant. I bought a pregnancy test. When I went to a bathroom to test, I found out I had a period. Hmmm....I'm partly disappointed but partly relieved. Because.....I just bought three pairs of shoes (all high heels) in NYC. And I don't know how to survive this hot steamy summer without margaritas!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Agh, whatever.
I have two deadlines today.....of course I went out last night.
There are five e-mails from my editors in Tokyo....
Panic!

Sorry, Sachiko, I wasted Pink Moet

tomokitoprebirthdaybash 065
Originally uploaded by enviroboi.

Yes, I will be #0 years old next year

tomokitoprebirthdaybash 053
Originally uploaded by enviroboi.

Me and my great friends

tomokitoprebirthdaybash 047
Originally uploaded by enviroboi.

I'm lucky to have a good (or bad) neighbor part 2

It's such a beautiful day. My neighbor VUBOQ called and we decided to have some drinks in our yard. Hmmmmmm.....coffee vodka drinks and brownies. I totally forgot about some articles I've been working on....the deadline is Wednesday. Agh. Well, whatever. I had a good time.

Shanghai Tang Now Open in NYC!

I love, love Shanghai Tang....finally the flagship store opens in NYC! I bought a dress from their main store in Hong Kong in 1997. VUBOQ, this may convince me to go to NYC!

I'm lucky to have great neighbors

Kristi brought Mango mimosa. It was beautiful Sunday afternoon.

Weekend with Booze

Friday Happy Hour at Nellie's






On the way home



Saturday Afternoon Margarita.

Sunday, mimosas with neighbors. Yay.

Rainbow Vintage shoes for....Thursday night at VUBOQ's

I joined VUBOQ to celebrate his end of Alcohol Free April last night.


And I enjoyed watching SATC on my couch. What a perfect Thursday night!

Stuart Weitzman for...actually Wednesday

Citizen Steve!

citizen st
Originally uploaded by tomoko528.

me

me
Originally uploaded by tomoko528.

me, emiliano, bobby, steve

me, emiliano, bobby, steve
Originally uploaded by tomoko528.