2 years ago to the day

Some champagne?
Originally uploaded by sigsy.

Well, April 1st is the date but today we were in the park and thinking about our wonderful wedding day under the cherry blossoms.

When we got home we snuggled up in bed and reflected on the past two years. And it was lovely. And we said good things.

In the Flesh!

About bloody time!
Originally uploaded by sigsy.

For maybe 2 years, this lady from the Blog Sushizume and the online store Tokyomade have been commenting each other's Blogs and pictures. I don't remember how I got to her blog, perhaps through Pinku or Frangipani.
She is a very lovely and inspiring little lady and last week we met for the first time. We have so many friends in common, as is common in this city, yet our paths had never crossed before.
It had got to the point where it was becoming a bit embarrasing!
A shout out goes also to Leila, who I also met for the first time and is every bit the ball of energy I imagined!
A shout out also goes to Dagmar, my new buddy from Germany, who I met at the FEW career strategy day.
Still loving my new job and today our president is treating us to lunch at the New York Grill in the Park Hyatt, Shinjuku. After that, we are probably going to head out to hanami somewhere, with someone.
This time 2 years ago I was preparing to get married under the Yoyogi Park cherry blossoms and IT WAS AWESOME!

Tomorrow will be an event at Roppongi Hills that I am co-hosting with my friend and colleague Rona.
The Japanese public need to learn to sing 'Top if the World' and 'Here comes the Sun' in English. And we are just the people to help them!

Elle est un Blogstar

Lulu Sakura Lulu
Tu es un Blogstar

This song was on the first ever tape that I received from Father christmas. Chart Hits 81. I totally didn't get it then. It confused me. I totally get it now. Now all that keeps me up at night is worrying about zombies. Escaping them. What type they will be. Will they be the super fast ones of 28 Days/Weeks Later or Dawn of the Dead. will they be strong and intelligent. Will they be able to get in. Do we have enough food to get through the weeks we would have to barricade ourselves in. Could we escape to the office near our house. How does one barricade an automatic door in a convenie? Would we be better staying up at night. The undead are really occupying a lot of my wakiing hours a the moment.
It's quite fun. But at 2am this morning after hours of creating strategy, I did have to turn my thoughts to more pressing things like sleep.
And congratulating Lulu on her Blogstar status. Aim high baby aim high! Love your new look.

Ladies, Jobs, Surprises, Sayonaras, Wine and Trawling not doing.

While I was doing my nightly trawl of blogs, I found this artist on Decor8 blog and thought "I know that name". This is a name from my childhood. Then she resurfaced as she worked in a restaurant in Birmingham with my ex boyfriend and also because a friend of mine was friend with her! Now she lives in Tenerife and creates this beautiful work. AND I WANT TO BUY IT ALL!

I have a new job! Now I work full time at 7 Seas, the corporate training company that I was a part-timer with for the past 3 years. And opportunity arose, I grabbed it and now I have done my first 3 days. So far so good.

Benefits include

# Regular hours

#5 minute walk to the office

#Great team

#Challenging work

#Great boss (my lovely buddy)

#Great Colleagues

#Multiple development opportunities.

#Rather than being on a bus at 7, leaving my house after 9:30

#Having a good breakfast every morning

#Regular meals

#Making delish lunches every day

#More energy

Last week was a wonderful round of social events and networking events including:

#Meeting 3 ladies I haven't seen in over a year, former work colleagues at a gorgeous tofu restaurant between Shibuya and Ebisu near the traintracks. Ever been to Sora no Niwa?

#Sayonara from the school - nice evening in an izakaya in Kokubunji, fun drinks and presents. it has been a great 4 years and I am glad I have made the decision to move on.

#Hanging out with Rach for wine and drinks at home - our attempt at not spending thousands of yen every time we get together for dinner. It's working well!

Friday night I was so pooped I went home and watched 'Cold Feet' all evening.

Saturday I went to the FEW Career Strategies Seminar. It was great fun and quite inspiring. There were women from many different backgrounds and I came away feeling I could do anything. Then dinner with the lovely Rach, Julia and new friend Dagmar. Then we couldn't resist heading over to Araku for a few bevs and a catch up with Martine, Ms T, Ash and my hubby, who by this point had assumed I had left.

Did I mention I completed my tax return? ON TIME.

Spring is here! Yata.

Clothes Swap!

Quoting Clothes swap empress:

Women usually love what they buy, yet hate two-thirds of what is in their closets. It's time for a change! Clean out your closets, under your bed, in the spare room, dump out the handbags and start spring afresh with a new look.

Who: You, your friends, Your Clothes Friend, and a gaggle of fun girls whom you haven't met yet

What: A swap! Bring your clothes (maternity ware, handbags, ballgowns, fur coats - it's all welcome) You can gently place it on the piles and then tear into the fashion, taking as much as you like.

When: Sunday, April 27th from 2-5pm

Where: Pink Cow, Shibuya http://www.thepinkcow.com
It's in the basement

How much: 2500 yen, including one drink ticket

Why: The surplus money raised from the event goes to Habitat for Humanity, a charity that I'm actively involved with. http://www.habitat.org The remaining clothing is donated to the Salvation Army. To date, the swaps have generated over 400 bags of clothing in the 4 years that they have been running. You get to meet fun women, new clothes, cocktails, gossip and more!
A few points to remember: Please, no footwear - it has proved to be too difficult to swap. However, if you have a magazine addiction like myself, I am welcoming all magazines for swapping! No books, thank you, but any glossy mag is bound to find a new home.

Above all, remember: Never wear anything that panics the cat.

These events are always great fun, an excellent way to meet people and revamp your wardrobe. I already have a suitcase in my kitchen full of stuff I no longer wear. Cannot wait!

Real savage like...

Things I am loving at the moment include these fabuous items. The Mckibillo postcards from Tokyomade I picked up from the post office today and I love them. Thanks Tokyomade dudes!

Love love love em! I have them perched (see what I did there) on the window surround in my aparto. My fave 3 anyways. All red and orange and skully and 'nani?'.






Also in the post today, a package from my Mum. Full of lovely treats including a cash of bras for my mammouth mams, a folk CD from my Dad, a bracelet with a big green jewel on it, a load of beer mats that I intend to make my fortune with on Yahoo auctions with and the best of all, a photo album from our wedding with polaroids and messages from everyone and cards and pictures. I love packages. I love letters and postcards and soon, McKibillo will be weaving his way around the world delighting the postmen of the globe.


My lush buddy Chris came in on his way back to England from Australia. I ordered a stack of stuff from Amazon.co.uk and among those things was 'The Cheap Date Guide to Style'. It's a great read and is floating my boat big time at the moment. We also got a stck of DVDs (thanks Chris!) and watched Blade 2 tonight. What a great movie - love the Blade Trilogy.





Then there is my diary. It took me about a month to actually get a diary this year and I wanted something professional and something that I would love as I use it every day. I need a diary. I have a friend who can keep it all in her head, but I cannot do that. I need notebooks, diaries, post its, lists. I have to have a meticulous degree of organisation to have any actual effective organisation. Anyway, I thought I would go for plain black this year, but I fell in love with this Moleskin diary and by the time I came to purchase, black had sold out. So I bought red. And what a red. Vermillion of the most vibrant tori gate, the most wondrous shrine. Jinja red for a ginga head. I love it every time I lay my hands on it. I am a sucker for the romance of the Moleskin. That spiel about them being the notebook of choice for the greatest artists and thinkers in history. I love it. Like my mere buying the product might have me destined for greatness.

And finally my uta du jour. It is incredible. Layers of savage. Real savage like. The video is a bit weird, but the song is a feat of engineering.