日本の新婚旅行 (Japan Honeymoon)

Hello Everyone!

Sorry we have been away for so long. Between moving, trips and of course the Hurricane, certain things got set back and it's finally great to get back up to speed.

So... JAPAN!

I was eagerly looking forward to this trip. David and I met there 8 years ago on a student exchange sponsored by the Rotary club, so winning this trip in a raffle months before our wedding was something that I felt was "meant to be". <3 I mean, what are the odds right?

Unfortunately due to certain things we did not foresee, our trip wasn't as great as we hoped. Firstly I had caught an Internal Infection topped with having Hyponatremia, also known as water intoxication, which I wasn't treated for until after I returned to the States. (I didn't that was what was going on with my body, I thought perhaps it had something to do with the weather or food.) So it's safe to say that I wasn't feeling too well. Haha.


Even with my fatigued condition I was still determined to make it a great trip. (I mean when was the next time I'll return to Nippon?) However we had outside forces that kept influencing our time and taking us away from what we wanted to do. We tried our hardest to be friendly and appease them, but in the end we didn't wind up having any fun. Much to be learned in being assertive. It's nice to consider others, but if you are sick, have a limited time span and it happens to be your HONEYMOON just go and do what you like because instead of having the time of your lives trying new foods and seeing cool sites you are going to remember taking multiple (and expensive!!) trains, buses and subways in order to sit around as they try to show you Yankee game re-runs and talk about Jazz (because that is totally what I came to Japan to see.)

Well that is enough of my rant.  We did get to see a few fun things. Most of whatever time we spent in Tokyo was wasted. (Which originally was my main highlight of the trip, as we completely by-passed Tokyo in our last time around. It's like going to the East Coast America and never seeing NYC, haha.) I got an awesome impression of it though. I love how neat and orderly the Japanese are. Anything that we consider "Western" in the US, the Japanese have already taken it and made it 10x better. One cute thing that we got to do was visit a "Cat Cafe". Maybe as you could tell from my earlier blogs I adore cats. :3 So this was fun for me. Basically it's a place that people who can't have pets (namely cats) can go and hang out with a whole assortment of breeds. They can play with them, feed them, read books and sip a cup of coffee in the company of cats. I didn't want to leave, haha. (They had a MUNCHKIN there... and an AMERICAN CURL.. ffffffffff...) Unfortunately I had to say goodbye to the kitties eventually. I'll always remember you POKO!! You didn't love me only for my food. T^T

We got a chance to visit Akihabara as well. Japanese games and arcades are just so amazing... and winnable. That's important. David got me some awesome prizes, I felt so spoiled. I need to post a picture of my stash. Haha. I think our two favorite arcade games were the Mario Party one and the Galaxy ball Bingo. Oh... and some fighting game where I totally kicked my husband butt at. Haha. (Thought to be fair he did win the first round.) ALSO!! There was this cool light game... it's sort of like DDR for your hands... that was very entertaining. They have multiple ones of those. I really wish they would license some of these things to America. I bet they would be popular.






Later we spent a few days in Kyoto which was the old capitol. I think it was here where we enjoyed the trip the most. Unlike the previous nights in Tokyo, here we stayed at a traditional Ryokan. It was small but quaint. It felt very nostalgic to my first trip were we stayed in a Japanese style room. I think that it was much more comfortable than the Western styled rooms of Tokyo, I guess there really is something to sleeping on the floor.  Haha!!







<--- Enjoying our Bento on the Shinkansen ride!

In Kyoto we went to the Toei Studio park. We had a blast there!! They had all sorts of Ninja related things, such as a house that was like a maze you had to get out of. They also had a haunted house which was fun! :) While we visited Kyoto we also went to see Nara and the little deer that inhabit the area. During the fall they cut their antlers off (So it's not sharp to visitors) really different from the summer where their horns are fuzzy. It's interesting to see just how "trained" they are to the sound of crumpling bags. I got bombarded by elementary school children as we went to see the shrine. They would have class projects where they had to talk to tourists in English and of course David doesn't look American at all. Haha. One of the questions they asked me was "what is your favorite Japanese word?" I said "Shika" (the word for deer. I felt it was appropriate in Nara. They all laughed and got a kick out of it.) As one of our souveniers we also got a lovely pair of engraved chopsticks with our names in a mix of Katakana and Kanji (yes, having a last name in Chinese Characters makes it that much cooler.)

One of the last things we were able to do was visit the Monogatari Onsen. It was so nice!! Especially the outdoor part. David really enjoyed "Doctor Fish", the little therapy fish that cleaned the dead skin off your feet. They really liked to nibble at him!! He kept wondering what it would be like if he just dipped his whole body in. Haha!! I wish I could spend more time there as well. The waters were just so relaxing and the weather was perfect. Not to hot and not to cool.



 Overall it was a fun trip. I got to practice my Japanese there. By the last day I started feeling more confident and "in my element" of course that is when you have to leave right? I really hope to return some day and that time be more free and hopefully explore some more. :)


<--- Breakfast in Japan, dosen't that look delicious?

Hello anyone who may be reading this.

Hello anyone who may be reading this.  I apologize for not writing in this for some time. Anna and I went to Japan and with the storm and getting set up with the apartment we got too caught up to update here. I still want to keep this going and the next thing we will document is our honeymoons.

Stay tuned for pictures and maybe even some video.

-David

When I started this blog I originally intended to update this frequently.  This would be something for those interested in Anna and me as well as being a sort of journal for ourselves to chronicle our new life together.   A lot has happened and because of it I haven't had the time to write this or reflect on where we are.

For starters both Anna and I moved into our new apartment.  This step has been both daunting and exciting for us.  When we first moved in and saw the empty rooms, I found it hard to imagine this as my new home.  Fortunately as time has gone by and Anna and I have moved our stuff in, its beginning to feel a lot more like home.

Our first step was furnishing it with the basics in order to make it at a least bearable to stay in during the course of a day, so bathroom necessities were a must.  We then slowly started bringing our things over but the real big change was when we bought our furniture. We decided to make the long term investment and get a full set of furniture all at once.  The steep bill should be justified as we furnished ourselves with a nice set.

To make things easy (and since we are still waiting on getting some bedroom supplies from storage) we decided to use the pull out mattress from the couch.  At the moment our apartment layout is more like a studio with huge walk in closets.

Every day we are making tiny steps towards moving in.  Soon enough we will make our own memories so that we may forever think of this as our first home together,

Back from the Bahamas!

Wow am I tanned!



















David and I just returned from our Honeymoon (Part 1!! Still a part 2 left to come!)

We traveled on the Carnival Miracle and we had a complete blast!!

 8 days of sun, seas, great food....
We went snorkeling; which was breathtaking. Seeing all the colors and hues of the fish under the transparent waves was just amazing. I was even able to dive down about 12 feet at one point and pet some Nurse Sharks. I'm so glad that we brought an underwater camera; I simply can't wait to get the photos developed!!

We visited Grand Turk, HalfMoon Cay (pronounced "Key" and is one of Carnival's private Islands) and finally Nassau. Though we went on different excursions; from para-sailing to kayaking, our favorite place was HalfMoon cay by far. The sand there is just a gorgeous silky white, and feels like you are walking on flour. The water there is almost too good to be true. The color is just spectacular and ...ugh, just wow. It's almost sad to go back to the old grind but we have a new adventure coming up... moving into our first apartment! So stick around.

Steakumms & a Cruise!

Hello, Anna here again! (seems to be just me lately, haha). Decided that the blog needed a little update. Tonight is the last night that we have Koda. He is truly an awesome pup and it was great having him around.  Tonight David has  made me dinner, lovely Philly cheesesteaks! So delicious. Haha, my man can cook if he wants to. :).


















However the real reason I wanted to update the blog was because my husband and I are heading out to our honeymoon cruise and will be away for the next 9 days due to lack of Internet. Take care everyone!

Puppy Dog Tails

So as I mentioned in my previous post; David and I have been dog-sitting!!






It's my friend's 9 month old Corgi, Koda and so far he's been such a pleasure to have. <3 









































He's very well behaved for his age and is so far getting along very well with all the family members. I absolutely love to take him outside and go for long walks/runs with him. Getting a pup all tuckered out makes for a happy dog indeed! Today I'm going to bring him to Denville. My family has a big property over there and he'll have plenty of space to run around. He'll also get a chance to meet some of my siblings/family and hang out with them as well. I'm sure that both sides will have a lot of fun!

Enjoy the silly Corgi video.

旭 寿司 (Asahi Sushi)

こんばんは! (Konbanwa!)

It's Anna here again. This evening David and I decided to use the lovely gift card given to us by our friend Jack; to get dinner at Asahi Sushi in Morristown. Driving by, we almost initially passed it, as it isn't as gaudy as some of the other restaurants in the area; however it was incredibly cute looking and I practically squealed before going inside.











Using Jacks generous card, we decided to go all out
and treat ourselves to some fatty yellow-tail and white tuna. This little plate was almost $20!! But it was so worth it. The texture of that yellow-tail was so incredible and meaty; it almost felt like I was biting into a glazed ham that melted into my mouth. Delicious!!





Apparently the soy-sauce here is homemade and as they say it is really light! I almost wanted to figure out the recipe. We then later rounded off the night with some Soft-shell crab, Tempura Udon, and a specialty roll called the "Marshall roll"; which was a combination of eel, tuna and salmon mixed with avocado and a spicy sauce. It was definitely best of both worlds as we are equally Tuna and Salmon lovers.  My husband and I had a wonderful time. We found it funny near the end how the owner asked if we were old enough to drink and that we were so young to be married. (she was later shocked to find out we were actually both 24, I have a feeling she thought we were 19 or something.) Oh wells!! We'll be coming back here sometime soon for sure. I'll be signing off now with a full belly.

おやすみ Oyasumi!

FitBit

Hello there, haven't posted in a few days so let me catch up on what we've been up to. So a couple days ago David and I bought the Fitbit.

Essentially its a pedometer but it tracks a lot more things than just your steps and is far more accurate. With the fitbit you can set up a personal account online where you can input your height, weight and age and it will wirelessly update your status on there and track your information throughout the day. The fitbit will not only track the amount of calories that you've burned by physical activity, but it will also account for your metabolic rate as well. You can count the calories you've eaten with the food journal that's incorrporated and be able to come up with a plan that can track your weight goals. (It will also let you know how long it will take to get there!) Aside from that this device also calculates your sleep pattern and can help you get into a more regular schedule. I really love it so far! Yesterday I walked a little over 15,000 steps and burned 2,200 calories. Wow! Yay for a higher metabolism?

Thought that may seem a lot, I'm very grateful that David and I live so close to Brookdale park. Walking through it's terrain and trails make using the fitbit a pleasure and not a task. I'm glad to live in such a nice area!  

On another note, even though I haven't had much time for it, I've also been re-watching episodes of Clannad After-story. The series follows a young couple; Tomoya and Nagisa and it's a story about learning to love the simple things in life and to learn both the joys and hardships that it brings. Adapted from a visual novel made by KEY, it really is a gorgeous anime.



Not only the art and animation are top-notch but the story and the characters are what makes it so powerful. How many series do you know that can express such a strong bond and intense relationship between man and wife without ever having to show a single kiss? Being married and starting our lives now, I almost really feel that connection that Tomoya and Nagisa share.






In other news David and I are starting to pack for our honeymoon cruise this coming Monday. We are also going to be dog-sitting for a friend this weekend, so pictures and videos will commence!!

Family Game Night

Last night we had our first Friday Game Night.  We started it off with a newly acquired addition from Barnes & Noble, Tsuro.  The goal of the game is to place flight path tiles for your dragons to move and to be the last one standing by both avoiding collision with other dragons or flying off the board. It's really a good game if you want to sit down and play something quick (the game lasts only 15-20 min); and something that isn't too complicated to explain, as there are pretty much only 3 rules to follow. 

Today we decided to go visit Anna's family, (and Chimbs, her pet cat, who isn't allowed to stay with us just yet.) Before hand we decided to get ourselves a little something with some of the generosity that was bestowed to us by our guests. We stopped at the Apple store and picked up ourselves one of the "New" Ipads. Can't say that the graphics of any of their games are really good (I really want to get into making some Apps for the Ipad) but I've been fooling around with it and I just signed us up with Netflix and I can say that it runs pretty well.




We spent the evening cooking some good food and playing with cats, I originally wanted to bring Tsuro along to play with Anna's younger siblings and cousin but I wound up forgetting it at home.  Afterwards it was up for the long drive home.
Time to wind down and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

                                                           





                                                            Enjoy a Chimbs everyone.

Staying Fit and Active in a Marriage

Boy have I seen this image quiet a few times.


I can understand how easy it could be to start to fall into the habit of how "exercise can come later". With all the responsibilities of married life, jobs that would prefer for you to sit at a desk a larger portion of the day than move and of course that little nag in the back of your mind that "Well we're married, it's not like I have to impress my partner anymore." Luckily, throughout the almost decade David and I've been together, we always try to improve something of ourselves and always become better than we were yesterday. I'm so grateful to have a partner that see's things eye to eye. We want to be healthy; not only for physical reasons but for health issues. We love each other so deeply and want to spend as much of our lives possible with each other and we wouldn't' want to lose that just because we were a bit lazy.

David has a weakness with cardio, stamina and lower body. I have issues with strength, speed and upper body. This sort of works out, because whatever David lacks in, I make up for and can coach him through and vice-versa. The other day we went jogging and I was able to coax David along to go further than he found comfortable. It really felt great to do that as husband and wife.

I dance together with some friends once or twice a week and David has gotten into Sleeping Samurai (a sort of Boken training club). We also are going on our honeymoon soon were we'll go Snorkeling and Kayaking.

I hope to place our progress in the future.


Does anyone have any stories or tips about being fit as a couple?

K-Town and the Met!

So, yesterday was David's first day back in the office. He took me out to eat lunch in Korea Town, where his office is, to a place called "Mr. Fish" located inside the "International Food Emporium". Technically it a sort of a Korean and Japanese style food court but I suppose throwing a Red Mango in there completes the "International" look.




The thing about Mr. Fish is they make GOOD restaurant quality sushi but at the fast food speed. No hard rice or dried up salmon. Their menu isn't extensive; but the rolls that they do have are specialty and filling so just ordering one is a hefty meal! David and I both got a Mr. Simple and Mr. Fish roll, respectively. After lunch it was a quick kiss and back to the office!












    (A hot night roll from Mr. Fish)

You see, normally on Thursdays I head out to dance practice with my Sera Myu group, but since my cousin from Poland is in town, I headed towards uptown Manhattan to meet up with him and one of my sisters so we could visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This gallery is simply my favorite one in the world. I could probably live in the Egyptian wing if I had the funds and ability to do so.
I especially love this little guy. Out of all the falcon motifs, statues, necklaces etc. that I've seen in there this has to be the best one. It just has that perfect pupil to head ratio!! If the artist was still alive I'd certainly commission one from him. We spent about 5 hours at the place but time really flew by! Because the sheer volume and scope of all the art is truly amazing, we only got to hit a few exhibits including the Egyptian, Roman, Greek and American (we started wandering around the Asian but it was closing time.)

A bit of advice to anyone who wants to go here in the future; Never pay the full "suggested" admission price. They will stand behind their register's and tell you smugly "That'll be 75 dollars please!", do yourself a favor and take out a dollar. They'll let you in regardless.

Later we took the subway to meet up with David at Port Authority, where I actually ran into one of my Sera-Myu friends as she returned from practice. Talk about good timing!!


We wrapped the day up with a Chinese meal and some delicious desserts baked by David's mother. (seriously best chocolate chip cookies and Biscotti on the planet!!) I got a good 12 mile walk throughout the course of the day, enjoyed some great art and food with some awesome people; so far I can say married life is being good to me. <3

School Days... Part 2

Well we ended up watching the whole series and overall I felt it was pretty good.  Rather than just character arches where people go from one place and grow and develop the whole series and tone changes drastically here.  I would say the fact that I knew this was going to happen almost ruins the shock of the changes.  This could also be impacted because the version I ended up watching was a censored version which was made to be less gory and graphic.

Regardless I would recommend it but please watch the uncensored version.

School Days... Part 1

As part of our blog we are going to be reviewing our experiences that we share.  One thing Anna really wanted to show me is the anime, School Days.  From what I understand its a "slice of life" shows which goes insane at the end.  Apparently this show "shatters your mind".

Going to post again after watching a few episodes.

Back to work

First day back to my job right after my two day break after the wedding.  I will be taking off in two weeks but until then there is a lot of work that first must be done!

The one great thing though is that for my first day back I am working from home which gives me at least an hour of extra sleep and a little bit more time to be around my new wife.  The emails were fun to sort through, after just two days off I had about 200 emails to sift through, most of which were automated and fortunately easy to sort.

Anna already wrote out the post-wedding entry but I still wanted to reiterate how stunning my new bride looked on our wedding day.  She looked absolutely amazing and I can't wait to get (and share with all of you) the pictures from the photographers.

We tied the Knot!!

Hello Everyone! This is Anna speaking. So it is now Tuesday, two days after the wedding, and everything has been amazing! David and I are using these "buffer days" as we nicknamed it, for some well needed R&R. Between wedding planning, close family coming over, work, and other extra-curricular activities that we are involved in there was so much running around and stress, but I am SO GLAD that the wedding itself was stress-free. We couldn't have picked better vendors. They were all prompt and really professional and by that I mean they even did things that weren't in their job description. For example; one of our photographers helped to take care of my younger sister and the limo driver helped fix my dress and prep my father before I walked down the aisle.

I remember the doors opening as the Wedding March began to play; seeing rows of people with camera's as if some sort of celebrity had walked into the building (something I wasn't expecting!) and suddenly my heart stopped and I got nervous. That was the moment I saw my groom, stunning, smiling, and beaming with joy, seeing him there made everything just melt away and all I could focus on was him. He took me by the hand and whispered "You are absolutely beautiful", and I knew that I was going to be happy forever.

Everything was smooth sailing from then on. We took pictures at the Arboretum in Morristown before heading to our reception at the Meadow Wood Manor. Seeing everyone having a blast made us so happy.


In all seriousness, The Meadow Wood Manor was simply amazing. Not only was the decor fabulous (our florist really pulled through!) during out cocktail hour and Veinnese stations, people wouldn't stop raving about the
food (and we have
a number of relatives in the food industry that are rather picky so if they came out of their way, to come up to us just to say the food is amazing, they truly meant it ). Unfortunately with everything else going on that day, David and I didn't really get a chance to try any of it, but the fact that our guests were happy and smiling made us smile to; after all it was for them! The Lobster, Suckling pig, and Duck were especially good apparently and I really appreciate the time they took to make a special Polish-Asian stations just for us. I really hope to get some photos of all the stations because they were gorgeous! I also have to add that the staff there are completely professional and go out of their way to help and pamper you. They knew many of the guests names already, as well as catered to any allergic reactions they might have had (it really helps that they have a kitchen!) the bar was also wonderful. We had a premium open bar with excellent bartenders. I didn't have much to drink but their Pina-Colada's and Pineapple Upside down Cake were delicious! I also really wish I could have enjoyed our chocolate fountain some more, but I'm glad that we got it because our guests got a kick out of it! the DJ was also great. I'm so glad David and I opted to get color changing up-lighting in the room. It really made a great touch, as they changed not only the mood but the atmosphere throughout the night. Everyone loved them!!

 It was fun talking to people and mingling with guests, we danced the night away, and had many memorable moments, (such as the fire show they put on for us, my friend April singing "Love is in Bloom" as we danced, the Polish blessing, Singing Happy Birthday to my cousin Margaret, the touching speeches from the Maid of honor and Best Man... and of course the cake cutting) we really just wished it lasted longer. It really made it feel special that this wedding was truly about US. (strange to say that right?) but seriously, Everyone makes such a big deal about being a Bridezilla and getting it "your way", I found that throughout this process if you remain cool and collected, everyone is SO much more pleased to serve you. Everyone commented on what a happy, glowing couple we were (apparently they see many couples that are tired or stressed on their day off) and many vendors said that it was such a pleasure to not only serve a happy, friendly, but also beautiful bride. (might be a bit shallow, but it was both my florist and my seamstress that mentioned that they see hundreds of girls throughout the year and it gives them so much more pleasure to work with a bride that they know their efforts will be worth it.)  Afterwards when we went to our hotel (there was a furry convention going on there at the same time. Odd story.)

The furies there cheered and congratulated us, the bar tender gave us free drinks and we continued to mingle with the guests at the hotel. Overall an incredible night. I really wish I had some more pictures, unfortunately our professional photos won't be available till a few weeks, but I was able to snag a few from my friends.

The following day we just... RESTED. It was great to kick back and do.... NOTHING! We started the day with a brunch with some relatives, afterwards we went to Bed Bath and Beyond as well as Staples and Models to get David some swim trunks (he had forgotten to pack them), we then went swimming in the hotel pool which was wicked awesome! Pretty much a relaxing day. Today after we checked out of our hotel (which gave us a surprise free two night stay, just WOW) we were able to go through our wedding presents and they are fantastic gifts! Our guests were truly generous and really know our tastes (we didn't have a wedding registry). Right now are going to finish up the evening with a movie night using the SodaStream David's friend Gene got for us, and pretty much just wind down and have fun. It's so great to be finally married!!! Unfortunately back to the old grind tomorrow, but we have the honeymoon to look forward to in a little less than 2 weeks! The newly minted Mrs. Leung signing out!