Would you like some catch-up with that??

We have been experiencing some difficulty with Blogger for the last couple of evenings...it wouldn't let me download any pictures!! And me...with my "oh, screw it, I'm going to bed" attitude that I have had for the same amount of time...yeah, no posts.
It's amazing how many blogs get piled up in my Google Reader if even one day goes by that I don't read!!! There are some serious bloggers out there!!! You'd think that would be incentive, wouldn't you?!?!?! hahahahaha!!! In Japan, the phrase "my pace" is used quite often to describe that kind of behavior.....yeah...uh-huh...that would be me!!!

So anyway....Sunday was my birthday....my 46th one. And from now on, I have decided that I will no longer be celebrating birthdays. Oh...don't get me wrong...there will be celebrating going on...but instead.....

the 10th Anniversary of my 36th Birthday sounds really good doesn't it?!?! So, I'll be celebrating anniversaries.....not the birthdays!!!

In the comments of the post where I was whining about lamenting the passing years...KarenMEG posted something that I'm going to keep as my mantra...she said,

"The number is one thing... how you live it, is another."

Thanks Karen for reminding me of that...and thanks to everyone else for the comments!!

On Sunday...I had decided that I did want to do something to commemorate the event, so I sent a message to 3 friends and told them that I would be in my garden about 2:00, drinking a margarita and if they wanted to join me, they could and their presence would be appreciated. No big preparations....nothing fancy to eat...just some good quality time...outside in the lovely weather with my laundry drying around us.

The night before, I had mixed up a big-ass bucket of margarita mix....with a spigot, no doubt!! Believe me...I may try and use this puppy again!!!
I'm sure they would have been better had they been frozen...but...the bucket wouldn't fit in my freezer!!! (Freezers are not what they are in the States!! *sigh*) But...that's okay...I got my plastic cactus glasses....some ice..I couldn't find my really cool margarita salt-thingy (the top is yellow and shaped like a sombrero...you put water in there to dip the rim of the glass then into the salt...it's very cool...but for the life of me I canNOT find it!!!), so I had to improvise.

Oh...by the way...in the picture...in the Tupperware bowl...the white stuff is Ranch Dip....only the best for my friends!!

Me and ko' u hoaloha

In the side garden...My friends and me.....Jan (in the hat) and Melodie, me (in white with some "WHOA"-kind of hair...crap!!!) and then Karen, in the blue chair. We are an "international group" of sorts...American (Jan and I), British (Karen) and Canadian (Mel). We are all married to Japanese men and even though our situations are slightly different, it's nice to have not only a good friendship, but also really strong support whenever it's needed.

Mom and her boys...and the cake that got "beat up" in the box on the way home on the back of Dad's scooter!!! (It was still pretty gosh darn good!!) Notice the glass margarita glass in the bottom right corner...."plastic outside, glass inside"!!! Always a good rule to follow!!

Some of the bounty of the evening.....2 new "buttons" for my Crocs....the hibiscus and honu ("turtle") were from the boys!!!
It was a Hawaiian kind of night from my ohana ("family")!!
Though I lurrrvvee all my presents, there are two that are extra special. The first being the flowers....from Issei. He had spent the afternoon with friends at a shopping center not so far from the house....he bought them then. When he gave them to me, I hugged him and said that I "loved the flowers"...he then proceeded to tell me that he got them for 150 yen (about $1.50). Gosh, the young man knows a) to buy Mommy flowers on her birthday without being told and b) that the not so pretty flowers or the older ones are going to be cheaper...go for the bargain!! (He used his own money, so I can appreciate the frugalness...it's the thought!!!) The second extra special gift is the Hawaiian/English Dictionary. In hula class, the sensei (teacher) will explain the songs...in Japanese!! Sometimes I really don't understand the meaning...and if I don't understand the meaning, then...the hand movements are just that much more difficult! We always get a print with the Japanese and the Hawaiian words.....NOW....I can use my dictionary and figure out, at least, the gist of the song!!!

So....my la hanau was kupaianaha thanks to my ohana and ko'u hoaloha!!!

birthday / wonderful / family / my friends