Kaoru Marie

Hello, hello, Happy Monday ;) How was your weekend? I meant to do a lot of cleaning since we have a friend arriving this coming Friday, but of course that didn't happen. Instead I did a lot of fun me-stuff. The highlight of my weekend was that I had my first volunteer shift with Found Animals,  at one of their adoption/retail locations. My first shift was a training session with their on-site kitten foster program. Apparently it's "kitten season" right now so there are tons of kittens that need taking care of so they can eventually get up to "adoption-ready" status. And then I got home and couldn't believe how enormous my own cat is! I decided to do a mid-year check-in of the goals I set for myself this year. I enjoy doing a mid-year check-in so I can remember what I've done so far and what I need to "work" (or rather, focus) on. If you recall my 2015 Goals, (I sure don't so I doubt you do; here's the link to that blog post ),...

One of the things I obsessed over while planning my trip to Tokyo was train travel. I knew we could sight-see all over Tokyo by just using the train, but how exactly would we do it? What tickets did we need? How much were the fares? What lines to take? I consulted with my brother (who lived there for a couple years in the 2000s, my mom (who was born and raised in Japan and lived there till her mid-20s and has gone back every now and then over the years), and friends. I also read a lot of blogs and websites scouring for info. If you're traveling to Tokyo and only staying in Tokyo, which is what we did, then here are some train travel tips to save you some headaches. Do note that I'm notoriously frugal, but in some cases I'm not always suggesting the cheapest option. Sometimes, it's worth paying a few extra yen to save time and travel easier. 1. Choose a Hotel Near the JR Yamanote Line My #1 suggestion for visiting Tokyo, is book a hotel near one of the stations al...

When I finally decided to start planning my trip to Hong Kong there was no way in hell I was going to fly all the way over there and not stop in Tokyo. Even though I've already been to Japan, I was a mere 9 years old. I remember loving it and I've always wanted to go back as an adult; I'm surprised it's taken me this long. While I would have loved to have traveled to other cities in Japan, we just didn't have that much time (as we also had New Orleans to get to at the tail end of our trip). I knew there was so much to see in Tokyo that I didn't mind at all not being able to ride the Shinkansen or visit Kyoto or see Mt. Fuji. Tokyo is like Paris. You can stay there for weeks, have your days filled with sightseeing and eating, and still not see everything. Just like with my recap of our visit to Hong Kong, here's a quick recap of what we did in Tokyo. Day 1 - Sunday Living Shibuya  - mainly to see the crossing (see above photo) since I wasn'...

My husband and I recently went on a 2 week vacation and ermagherd it was amazing. I used to work with someone who, every year, would save all of his vacation days during the year and then go on an epic 3-4 week vacation traveling to several countries. We were all envious, wishing we could do the same. Well, we could have done the same, but we chose not to do it because it wasn't a priority for any of us. Now that I'm back from one of the longest vacations I've ever been on in my adult life, I want to do it again. I want to make traveling outside the States a priority. One perk at my job is that I get approximately 20 vacation days/year. However, I accrue them every paycheck, so right now I'm hovering around 0 hours. So many paydays to go... We were in Hong Kong for 5 days and 4 nights, although only 3 full days as the other 2 were mostly occupied with traveling. We took a flight from LAX, connected in San Francisco, and then embarked on a 14 hour flight. It'...

This week has been all sorts of busy. I traveled to Flip-Flip- Flipadelphia for a work training session and was there for less than 48 hours. I can't complain too much because I really wanted to attend this training program and I am very glad that I was allowed to go. I was worried it was going to be super cold, but the weather wasn't too bad at all. I took some piss poor photos, but at least I'll be able to remember this week as the " it's tired in here " week. Day 28: January 28, 2013 I'm terrible about figuring out what to eat when I travel. Do I want to overpay for a sad, limp sandwich before I board a plane or during the flight? I was *this* close to getting the cheese and cracker snack on the plane, but really, $9 for some measly pieces of cheese? Instead I bought a couple granola bars in the terminal and then toughed it out. Not gonna lie, that was not the best decision I made that day. All throughout the flight I couldn't wait till I got to th...