Surprise!

I'm a sneaky little sneak.

As I write this, I am in CA! I planned this covert little jaunt across the Pacific to make my sister's eyes bug out of her head in confusion and then to whisk her away for a surprise bachelorette weekend (as she is getting married in June). It was a highly successful plan, and we spent last weekend at an adorable rental house in Sonoma having a blast with a great group of girls.

In addition to drinking wine (so very much wine), the weekend consisted of limo winery tours, dance parties at the house, picnics, eating cupcakes and decadent meals, playing home-made male genetalia themed card games (classy), hot tubbing under the stars, and tons of bonding moments (awwww).

It was truly one of the funnest weekends I've ever had. For reals. I loved spending this time with my sis and my (old and new) friends, and will love the memories we made forever [and apparently will also enjoy the Celine Dion concert in Las Vegas we all (in our drunken states) made plans to go see...].

(Also, siiiiiince I just so happen to be back in the states and siiiiiince Corey is busy in Okinawa with work, I may have been indulging in a great many Eve6-related adventures. And I may have a great many still planned. I may be going a tad overboard. But that can be a post for another day.)

A Cruel Joke

Spring? What's spring? Misawa's April Fools' joke was to dump a bucketload of snow on top of us. Hilarious, Misawa, absolutely hilarious...

While I read Facebook statuses of my friends back in CA who are hanging out at home with the windows open, running along the beach in Santa Cruz, and "enjoying all the sunshine" (I hate you all, by the way), THIS was the activity Corey and I filled our time with yesterday:

We went to look at some snow! Always a favorite Tohoku pastime from the months of November- March April (apparently), looking at snow is a fantastic way to get out of the house and really see the world... well, ok so you can't really see the world, but you can imagine what it might look like. Sure, you might get a headache from the stark white glare if you look at it too much, but until that happens, you can enjoy all the colorless, textureless, lifeless views your eyes can take in. It's also a wonderful opportunity to hone your driving skills as your car's tires are put to the test on icy roads. Really, if you get bored of sitting inside during the long winter, a trip to look at snow (different snow, that is... you can imagine how tiring it gets to stare at the same snow out your window day in and day out) is the only best way to kill some time until spring arrives.

This particular location for looking at snow was along the 8km "Golden Line" of Rt. 103 on Mt. Hakkoda. This section of the road is closed during winter every year because, as you can see, it gets covered by approximately 20 feet of snow. It was plowed and opened to traffic on April 1st this year, so we joined lots of other starved-for-entertainment, look-at-snow excitement chasers to... look at this snow. 

In all seriousness, it was a cool sight to see. Plus, now I can say I've driven through an 8km-long, 20ft-high snow corridor, so... there's that? In the end, it was a morning I got to spend with my hubby and my camera, so who am I kidding- it was an awesome day!

I am ready for spring though. For reals.