I seek the unusual

I don't tend to seek the path well traveled, so on my vacation last week I ended up at a most unusual place- King Spa and Sauna. Thanks Trip Advisor for the tip!

It's a Korean Spa and Bath House.

As soon as I walked in, I was overwhelmed by how *Asian* it is! It was like being transported back to Japan.

Everyone wears a uniform. Pink for ladies, black for men, yellow for kids. (Note- sorry for the low quality pics. All on my iPhone. Didn't want to be a creeper with my big ol' camera.)

This place was opulent. Really beautiful.


The dry saunas were amazing. There were 9 different ones. In the picture above, you can see 3 of them (the doors). Each had a different theme or special healing property. For example, above, the left one is a cold sauna. Something like 45 or so degrees in there. The middle one is a salt sauna. The right is a pyramid coated in a 23k gold layer.


Below is a picture of me after spending 15 minutes in a 160 degree room. It was sooooo hot. But it felt good. There is something so detoxifying feeling about sweating without exertion.

This is Caesar. So Asian. :)


There were so many geodes in the building. They were beautiful! My favorite sauna room had geodes and gems lining the entire room with an infrared light.


And this is an area full of giant leather recliners where you could just relax. They also had a separate movie theater where they constantly showed movies. Since you get an all day pass, there was plenty of time to lounge around and just chill. There was also a restaurant.

Of course there was also a separate area of public baths (separated by gender, of course). It was incredible. 5 different pools. 3 were different temperatures between 108 and 102, some with herbs and salts. 1 was a cold pool at about 70 degrees. Another was a chlorinated jacuzzi with strong jets. I loved going from the hot pools to the cold pool. It was intense!

Overall, what a great day. I stayed like, 7 hours and felt so relaxed and rejuvenated afterwards. I highly recommend it if you're in the DFW area!

My week

If you need me, I'll be in this position behind some wildflowers this week.

Japan Redux- the philosophy of flowers

Japan has obviously been on my mind a lot lately, as well as the collective psyche. I'm very thankful to say that I've now heard from all of my friends in Japan, and remarkably they are all ok. There are some places with severe structural damage, but they are ok. And of course now there is the issue of the nuclear reactors, which are located about a couple of hours from Hitachi.

Living in Japan deeply engrained in me the philosophy of living in season. This is the sakura- cherry blossom- time of year. Here in Oklahoma we don't have a lot of cherry blossoms, but we do have many plum, pear, and redbud trees.

In Japan, karaoke is big. One of my sweet, dear friends, Alina, would often sing a song called Sakura at karaoke. Lately I have missed her, my friends there, the memories, and the blossoms. This song says so much about Japanese philosophy and the truth about life and changing seasons.

Here's the thing about the season of blooms. It's beautiful, but fleeting. And it's only the beginning. The blooms are replaced by leaves, and that is when they come into their own.

Many people are difficult seasons right now. I hope we can all find hope through the world around us as it lives, changes, and shines beauty.

Sakura

Surely we're waiting, for the day we can see you again.
On the street lined with cherry blossom trees
We'll wave our hands and yell out.

Whenever we suffer or start to lose heart
We feel we can hang in there because you're smiling.
We can hear the song from back then from in those hazy scenes.

Cherry blossoms now in full bloom scattered fleetingly
I know it's fate, farewell my friend.
when it's time to leave on your journey,
with that unchanging feeling.

I wonder if now we can say those words without pretense.
Words from the heart, Words to hope for your bright future.
It's as if the bustling city is rushing us.

Cherry blossoms just floating to the ground believing one day they'll be reborn
Don't cry my friend, It's a shame but it's time to go
With that unadorned smile

Cherry blossoms now flying in the air
Eternally rustling awash in light
Farewell my friend let's meet again here.
On the street scattered with cherry blossoms.

March madness!

Spring has made me hyper-active and uber-domestic! I've gotten a lot done lately.

I put a desk together. If I had known how hard it was going to be, I don't think I would have done it. But for $25 at Goodwill, it was a great deal! But seriously, never again.


The handsome desk deserved cool decor. Candle holders + touch LED lights.


Then I felt it appropriate to re-cover the chair I was going to put with it. Huzzah!


I saw a blog that inspired me to try to make a new wall decoration on the cheap. Doilies, $4 at an estate sale. Window, $10 at Habitat for Humanity.


And of course the great outdoors! I love watching how plants change day to day in the spring.



I'm even trying some strawberries... we'll see how that goes.


Hooray spring! What have you gotten done?

My heart is in Japan

It would be wrong to say nothing about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan on my blog. This blog was birthed out of my year in Japan. If you look back through August 2004- July 2005, you can see many of my great adventures. I'm so thankful I have them chronicled here to remember.

This morning, like most of Americans who go to bed before 11pm, I heard about the earthquake in Japan. It took me a while to realize that it was actually somewhat near where I lived, Hitachi, and that the resulting tsunami had to have hit my beautiful port city.

My heart has been heavy all day. I have heard from many friends in Japan confirming they are ok, but there are others who still haven't been able to make contact. I shudder at the thought that my school that I loved and where I taught was less than a quarter mile from the ocean. The only report I've heard about Hitachi is that they were hit with a 30 foot wave. It happened at about 3pm Japan time, so you can put together why this makes me so sick.

But I hope as daylight has arrived in Japan and news becomes more readily available, I'll receive continued confirmation that the people and places I love are safe and stable.

The Japanese are nothing if not resilient. I hope you'll join me in continued prayer for the nation.

New Green

It's amazing how quickly things can change. This has been driven home recently by three separate families at my work being stricken with sudden loss.

But at the same time, things can change quickly for the good. I swear that last week at this time the branches were still bare, but now blooms and leaves are poking their way through to face the last weeks of winter and usher us into spring.

Nature can be cruel, but we can take hope in that its always being reborn.







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Also, Ms. Annaleise tagged me for a 4X4 survey!

1. Four places I go

*Lake Hefner
*Will Rogers Gardens
*Target
*OC

2. Four favorite smells

*Coffee in the morning
*Moonlight Path by Bath and Body Works
*Wisteria
*Soil

3. Four favorite movies/TV shows

*30 Rock
*House
*Big Bang Theory
*Pawn Stars

4. Four Recommendations

*Get out in the sun! It makes everything better.
*Floss daily.
*Give blood!
*Find a job you love. You spend most of your life there, after all.

Stache-tacular!

The things we do for friends. :)

A mustache themed surprise party! It was a blast. Everyone got really into it and we had a great time. I highly recommend it as a theme if you are looking for your party.

The Stink Eye- Zoological Edition

I went to the Oklahoma City Zoo yesterday to take some pictures. When I got home, I noticed there was a theme. Many of the animals were giving me the stink eye!

I noticed it first with the owl.



Then it became a trend!








Ah well- I'll just take it to mean that they were trying to pose for me.

In other creepy news, these two shots make me literally both gag and get the chills while I edited them.

My Everest- My Driveway

I may have mentioned before that I'm a bit obsessed with Mt. Everest. I absolutely don't want to climb it and think those who do are crazy, but I do love watching documentaries about it.

So, what better time to live my crazy Mt. Everest dreams than during Snowpocalypse 2011? [Un]luckily for me, my driveway is my Everest.

I've talked about my driveway before. This weekend I measured. It's approx 130 feet. 9 feet wide. It is sloped and bordered by a fence. This makes it a nightmare for drifting snow.

But yesterday- day 3 of Snowpocalypse- I was determined to try to get out! My car was in my garage and blocked in. And all that stood between me was that driveway. And the snow. And the lack of a snow shovel. But I did have a large rake and a regular shovel.

So anyway, I set out in 15 degreeish weather. I suited up.


This is what it looked like to start:


Then it looked like this.


Three hours later, it looked like this:


And that's when I wanted to collapse. Suddenly I felt very cold. :) I measured- I got about 50 feet done. I think it was the hardest 50 feet, but still, 80 MORE FEET. Kill me. Not really.

When I stopped, I realized there was steam rising off of me. I tried to get a picture of it. This is the best I could do.


Okay, that's not me, but that's pretty much what I looked like. :)

Today I worked from home. I walked to the store. I'm still homebound and more snow came down today.

If my driveway is my Everest, then I was one of those climbers who decides it sounds so nice to take a nap in the snow. And then dies there. But really, but kind of. :)

Respect the mountain.

Failure, examined

Back on the optimistic day of July 2, 2007, I decided to make a 101 goals in 1001 days list. Turns out that ended last March! Ha! Who knew!?!

I accomplished some and not others, and decided to look at some of the ones that I did not accomplish.

Take dance lessons
No, but I did dance a lot!

Learn to juggle 4 balls
Nope. Other things to do. :)

Read something by Jane Austen
Life's too short to read books you don't like.

Print and bind my blog entries from Japan
I actually started this process. Turned out to be a lot more complicated than I anticipated. It'll still get done one day.

Stop drinking cokes
Oh well. They're good!

Go back to Brazil
Yeah, didn't happen. But I did go to Paris!

Reach conversational fluency in Spanish
Nope.

Begin studying a new language (German, Latin?)
Nope again! I think I'm out of my "foreign language phase."

See the Grand Canyon
Boo, no. :(

Go one month with no fast food
Nope.

Get to know a neighbor
No, but I do know them better than I did 3.5 years ago. :)

Write a poem
Waiting for my muse.

Go camping and sleep in a tent
Nope. I had the chance, but it was raining.

Take piano lessons
Still want to do this!

Go ice skating
I did go roller blading!

Buy the all seasons of The Office on DVD
I don't want to this anymore. I do have 3 seasons of 30 Rock. Much more important.

Re-read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit
I actually recently started reading The Hobbit.

Watch all AFI Top 100 movies
Nope, lots of other movies though!

Memorize “The Love Song of J. Alfred Pruffrock”
Still love the poem, still haven't memorized it.

Not shop at Wal-Mart for one month
I actually might have done this... on accident.

Go to a rodeo
NO! I WANT TO!

Perfect my brownie recipe
Forget that- I tried a lot, but the box is so much better and easier.

Play bingo in a real parlor
Why did I want to do that?

Compile a comprehensive friend birthday/anniversary/baby’s birthday calendar
Thanks, Facebook.

Read Brother Kazmarov
Again, other books have been read. Sorry Peter, I'll read it one day.

Blog every day for a month
Yeah, you know that didn't happen.

Invite someone over to my house weekly
I'm still a cave dweller.

Learn how to play chess
Why did I want to do that?

Make a pie from scratch
Still want to!

Learn the names of local wildflowers and trees
I'm a lot better than I used to be, so maybe I actually did this. Taking a crazy amount of pics of flowers will do that. :)

Become CPR certified
No. No heart attacks around me, please.

Grow my own tomato plant
Ha, no. I have bought tomatoes from a farmer's marker. That almost counts. :)

Train myself to make my numbers more legible
The keyboard makes this less important.

Throw myself a great birthday party
Nope. Someday maybe. Next year is the big 3-0!

Read John Steinbeck’s entire body of work
I have read several more now. Still not the whole thing.

Learn to recognize 3 constellations
No....

Take a class in some technical field I want to know more about (accounting, web design, medical terminology)
This is probably coming soon.

Become certified to teach Spanish
No way, Jose.

Visit 5 new states
No, but I visited 2! Holla Wisconsin and Missouri!

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I may not have accomplished all those goals, but I accomplished so much more that I didn't realize I wanted or was important to me. Especially the last year has been so full of good things and growing up. Can't wait to see what the next 1001 days hold!

Snowpocalypse ingredients

Things I got to prepare for Snowpocalypse 2011

1. A tank-full of gas
2. Brownie mix
3. Mt. Dew Code Red
4. Bread
5. Milk
6. Sweet potatoes
7. 4 seasons of How I Met Your Mother
8. Crafting supplies to decorate my bathroom

So far, so good!

12 inches of snow. I would love to be out taking pictures, but it is bitterly cold! 10 degrees and -10 wind chill. 40mph wind gusts. No thank you very much!

I made delicious chicken and rice. I also made a scrumptuous blueberry and strawberry cobbler with homemade whipped cream. Mmm! Who wants to come over to share? Haha, you'll have to fight the 3 foot snow drifts surrounding my house!

Urban Prairie

For a fleeting 48 hours in Oklahoma City, we had a preview of spring. Friday and Saturday were glorious! I hit the door running from work Friday because I wanted to take my camera out to enjoy the golden light of the evening and the 70 degree weather.

While I was out, I was accosted by a soggy Weimaraner with a tennis ball in his mouth, with his owner (an older gentleman) following behind. Sophie was intent on playing with me as I was trying to shoot, despite her master's attempts to distract her. At one point I heard him saying, "Sophie, she's out here trying to get some urban prairie photography, so leave her be!"

I thought that was a pretty good way to describe my photography style in general- urban prairie. And the light was glorious! So here are some pics from that day.


















Hope they keep you warm during our upcoming SNOWPOCALYPSE