California Rant/Recap

Japan did not greet me warmly. Instead, its "welcome back" was slushy, snowy rain, thick fog and cold. It was not California weather. The trains were packed with people going home from work. My Pasmo had 500yen on it. I had been too efficient in eating everything that could spoil before I left and so for dinner ended up having a salad. Or rather, a "salad." It was old romaine hearts and sesame salad dressing.

Now that I've unpacked and started settling back in from my almost three-week trip to California, here are the things I miss: shopping, eating, driving, communicating.

Here are the things I missed about Japan: trains (so no one has to rock, paper, scissors for DD), green tea (I tried many times to order a plain green tea and every single one had some kind of gross addition), and the ability to easily tune out other people's conversations because, well, they're in Japanese.

I have nothing to show you from my trip to California because I didn't take any pictures. I was in serious vacation-mode. Not just a location vacation, but a vacation where I forgot about filing taxes, paying bills, taking pictures for the blog and scrapbook, blogging and scrapbooking itself, and pretty much everything else that didn't involve Blake, eating or serious, serious shopping. Oh, the shopping. The clothes! The kitchen gadgets! The malls!

We did see many beautiful places though, including the Museum of Man, the Zoo, the Balboa Park nature trail, Phil's BBQ, Fashion Valley Mall, and Extraordinary Desserts. Hey, I didn't say they were all beautiful in the traditional sense.

It was so nice to be back in America for a bit, and so awesome being able to be with Blake without the threat of him being shipped off tomorrow, that I stayed an extra few days. We got to be together on Valentine's Day. I've never been too big on the holiday and Blake, being a man, has known from birth what a tremendous rip-off it is. This year, however, was really special.

It was very romantic.That morning, Blake had gotten up early to do a little work thing and came back around 8. I had been having trouble getting to sleep at night, and Blake, knowing this, quietly crept back into the room and laid next to me. He wrapped his arm around me, laid his face close to mine, and proceeded with a chorus of very loud and very cheery, "Happy Valentine's Day! Happy Valentine's Day, Honey." When my anti-enthusiasm was clear, he decided to force the issue by shaking me awake in time to his holiday greetings. Happy Valentine's Day indeed.

We visited Old Town, which is a state park with rebuilt historic buildings and lots and lots and lots of shopping. We got root beer floats because they were bogo, then took them outside into the cold and shivered while eating them. Blake bought a Mexican blanket that goes with nothing in our house, and then we split up so I could shop and Blake cold talk on the phone.

We went back to the room. We both started packing for our trips (mine back to Japan, Blake for his two weeks out on San Clemente Island for further training). Then, things got really intimate. I discovered the wireless usb adapter we'd bought wasn't compatible with the device we'd bought it for so we had to drive all the way back out to Best Buy where Greenpeace volunteers were really getting in people's faces about donating. Be still my heart.

Then I was starving, but Blake wasn't hungry so we did the proper Valentine's Day thing and decided to wait until we got closer to the base to eat, but ended up getting stuck in traffic for an hour because of some dumbhead's fender bender. oooh la la.

My hands were shaking as we pulled into the parking lot of the BOQ. The day was so overwhelmingly love-filled... or probably it was low blood sugar.

We ate pizza and wings and watched Harry Potter movies. We were cranky because we had to get up the next day at 5 to get me to the airport and knowing you have to say goodbye really puts a sad blanket over everything. We consoled ourselves with more food and soda and went to sleep.

And as much as all of that may look like nothing but a sarcastic rant, I must say that I enjoyed the whole day. We were together. And any day together is better than any day spent apart.

I bought Blake a Belgian waffle maker for Valentine's Day. He's long desired crispy, fluffy, delicious gorgeousness at our fingertips on the weekends, but there isn't really room in our kitchen for something that just makes waffles and bacon (Alton Brown is a genius). But I was in vacation-mode. And it was on sale. And it was there. And they are delicious.

I look forward to Blake bringing it (and himself) home in a couple of weeks. He is loathe to leave California weather behind, but not me. I am well aware people think I am crazy for not wanting to live in sunshine every day of the year, but trust me, there are many better reasons to think I'm crazy.

Although I did tweet that it was freeze-your-ass-off cold here when I got back, it wasn't a complaint. I liked yesterday's gray and snowy day just as much as I liked today's sunny one. So the cold and the fog weren't all that bad to come home to. I enjoyed the crowded train. The three little girls across the street waved big, huge waves when I left the house this morning. Although now that I think about it, I don't know if they were being really friendly, or shooing me away, hoping I'd left for good. I couldn't tell by their faces because they had all gotten colds and were wearing white surgical masks that covered half their faces. It is good to be home.