Heartbreaks, friendships, new beginnings, wild experiences.

I don't know how this is going to turn out, but in japan, it's the norm and it's one of the things I still don't think I could do back in the States, It spent 10 years in Japan, which means I had exactly 10 birthdays here.

I remember when I told myself I would only move here for a year, then go back home to finish my teaching certification and eventually get married and settle down in Michigan.

But that never happened.

10 years of overcoming challenges, learning more about myself.

Heartbreaks, friendships, new beginnings, wild experiences and so much more.

A lot of people move abroad to experience the culture and while that is important, living abroad teaches us way more than that.

There's a new chapter that awaits us and I'm so excited for it.

I'm the type that can't sit still too long trying new things, changing paths, doing things that make me uncomfortable for the sake of positive human growth is who I am, but for now I'm soaking up the simple everyday moments living here with the time we have, this is my breakfast this morning.

I don't know how professional this blog is going to be.

Um but I'm gonna do my best.

I have organic old fashioned grilled oats, their whole grain, This is kind of like my go to breakfast anyway, like I'll make some oatmeal with cinnamon and some organic vanilla extract, a little bit of salt and I use this almond milk, it's low sugar and yeah, I'm just cooking this up and I'm gonna top it off with some yogurt and berries and um bananas and all that good stuff.

So I got this new yogurt, it's called, gotta, I'm not sure what this one is about, I've had a little bit and it almost tastes like too milky.

The only thing that I eat dairy in it is um yogurt.

So I wanted to try this one, I guess it's a greek yogurt.

I might add a little bit to this and I don't know if this is going to taste good, but I added some pumpkin seeds in there.

Good morning everyone.

Okay, so I am ready to go.

I had a really hard time picking out the things that I wanted to wear today.

I feel like I struggle with that so much.

Oh, I gotta put my earrings and I struggle so much lately just being comfortable in my own skin because just finding something to wear that I feel confident in has been really hard.

So I've been wearing like literally the same stuff like over and over again.

I'm having a girls party today.

I wanted Alyssa to come but she is on her honeymoon.

So um that's exciting for her, but I am going to attempt to make a sort of bean guacamole dip.

I don't know how that's going to go.

I don't have that much time.

I need to be quick.

I love this new lens by the way, It's like a wide angle lens for my camera and it looks so great.

Anyway, I'm going to hurry and make this bean dip and pray for me because I don't know how it's going to turn out, but we're just going to order some pizza and play some games and just hang out.

It's just like five of us that are coming over.

This is the first time that I had a gathering At my place since what, like 2020, like the beginning of 2020 when we moved.

I think we moved 2,019 actually at the end and then I had like a housewarming party.

Let's make this bean dip and hope for the best.

Okay, this is what's going to go down this big organic bag of chips.

I did open them because I wanted to try one.

Um, but it's a lot of chips, like this is a lot of chips, but I don't think anyone's going to finish it.

I am going to heat up some refried beans and this is what they look like.

I don't know if you can see it.

These are the refried refried beans.

I can't say it that I'm using.

I have some salsa here.

I have a little bit of hot sauce that we can use.

Um, and some jalapeno.

It's gonna be a very simple dip, but I have uh, guacamole.

I have some avocado.

I have onion but I don't think I'm gonna use that either.

I have this tomato, we got this like a couple of days ago.

I don't know if it's like good anymore.

I don't know how this is gonna turn out, but let's do our best and see what happens.

Okay, I am so proud of myself.

I'm actually gonna put this in the fridge because they're not gonna be here for like another 45 ish minutes.

But if you can see like the 35 beans are at the bottom, the guacamole is at the top.

I added some salsa, some dip and it's funny because my friend is actually like, I was thinking the same thing, so she is bringing some more salsa and chips, but I have like the organic chips, so proud of myself, that looks so good.

Everyone looks so like large in this japanese apartment are really tall.

I'm just like super short.

So I feel like you gotta use the controller now.

Ready quick, quick sit down, go Throughout my years of living here, I had friends come and go some move back to their home countries, some got new jobs that were more demanding and some jetted away to travel the world the past couple of years I've learned one thing and one thing only when it comes to friendships and that's to find people who give off good energy.

Good vibes, have dreams, have goals, value self growth and rarely ever gossip.

Yes, thank you.

The people you surround yourself with affects your own energy.

And if you're surrounded by that feel good energy, then you attract more experiences and situations that give you more of that good energy.

And if you're wondering where my husband was this whole time, he was in Toyama, visiting family and climbing mountains, I decided to go on a little bit of a sort of date by myself to get some work done and to also get some coffee and just get out of the house.

It's a gloomy day, but it's nice out.

It's not like super hot, it's a little humid.

But um, yeah, so that's what I'm doing today.

I came across a Tiktok video of a girl going out to eat alone in America and saying it's not as scary as you think.

One thing I was blown away by here is how many people eat alone.

You even have restaurants made for people who are alone and man, has that been so freeing since living here, It made me feel comfortable eating out alone, shopping alone, going to the movies alone in Japan.

It's the norm and it's one of the things I still don't think I could do back in the States.