Kintai Castle

This weekend Izac and decided to explore a little closer to home. We went to Kintai castle. We had FANTASTIC weather and up on the mountain a nice breeze. All in all it was fun exploring. Our view was this

And This

And this

WOW

Where's the cat?

"Where's the cat?" An innocent enough question with a normal cat. With ours we run to find him. I looked in all his normal hiding places (behind the TV, in the closet, in the office) I then proceeded to get his favorite toy (the irresistible one)and tried to get him to come out. Nothing....at this point I was freaking out. I finally asked Izac to look out on the balcony and low and behold there is the cat. Izac had checked on a weird noise we heard about an hour and a half earlier. Darn cat got out and was stuck 6 floors up and nowhere to go. "Where's the cat?" Safe inside.

2nd class Citizen

As a military spouse you make many sacrifices that a lot of people neither know nor care about. Most spouses have some idea about what it will be like but every now and then you are smacked in the head and told to wake up. This week I got a reminder about our lack of status (spouses). A friend of mine had a death in her family. This is considered a family emergency. When a family emergency occurs we are allowed to get a letter that explains the situation and gives us status to fly Space Available (Space A) home. The categories are scaled 1-6. If my friend's husband went with her then their category was level 2. If she went alone her category level is a 4. With the Active duty member you jump two categories. I was very upset for my friend as she was traveling for such a sad event and I told my husband how I was feeling. His response was that it is a privilege for our sponsors (the active duty member) to have us live with them. To that he got a snort. I understand that to the military I am just a growth on my husband's side (one that cannot make decisions nor do anything on this base without my sponsor) but I say right here right now... I AM NOT LESS THAN MY HUSBAND. I may not be active duty but I serve right alongside my husband, sacrificing and bending... Semper Gumbi and all that....I am NOT a second class citizen.

Kyoto: a blend of old and modern

I have found a new favorite city. Kyoto. Many people know about Kyoto from the movies, particularly Memoirs of a Geisha. I got to go to so many wonderful places. We first went to the Sanmon of Nanzen- ji. It is this LARGE gate that symbolizes the three roads to Buddhist liberation. Although a bit humid it was so beautiful we payed 500 yen and climbed steep steps to the top of the Sanmon. Up top we had an amazing view and a wonderful breeze. After that we took a cab to the Kiyomizu Temple. Kiyomizu means clear water (sometime translated pure water). This is a unique temple because it had both a Buddhist temple and a Shinto Shrine in the same location. Here I was able to learn about both types of shrines from our taxi driver guide.

I stood on the balcony that a bunch of people jumped off and about 83% survived and the popular expression "to jump off the stage at Kiyomizu" was born. This is like the english phrase "to take the plunge". I thought it sounded more like taking a leap of faith. I was able to taste the water of Kiyomizu known for bringing wisdom, health, and longevity. From there I was able to go to the portion of the temple that was the Shinto portion. I was able to learn how to pray for/request assistance from the gods. I Even got to rub the head of a statue that will make me smarter.

After Kiyomizu we went to the Sanjusangen-do. An AMAZING place where we saw 1,001 buddah statues. They were all made of Japanese cypress. 124 were made in the 12th century. The remaining were made in the 13th century when the temple was renovated after a fire.

The third portion of our journey took us to the Fushimi Inari Taisha. It is a shrine with 10,000 tori gates. It was AMAZING to see these. We were only able to take the 5 minute tour but WOW. I cannot wait to go back and see all of them. The long walk to see everything is a 4 k hike.

Following that we saw drove to two other shrines unfortunately the first one was closing and the while at the second one it started storming.

We then drove through Gion in hopes of catching a glimpse of a Geisha or Maiko. NO such luck. Izac and I had to get back to the train after that so we were unable to do anymore.

Our next trip I would like to spend some more time at the Fushimi Inari Shrine, see a bit more of Gion, go to the Golden Pavilion and the castle, and see the Japanese cultural show.

I look forward to my next visit to this Wonderful city

78 degrees or melt

Where we live our heating and cooling is controlled by the military. When we arrived we were told that it would be 5 days at 70 degrees or June 1st when the AC would be turned on. NOW we have been told it must be 3 days of 78 degrees (no or). So someone up on high changes a number and we spend two weeks (so far) sweating ourselves to dehydration day and night and having to decide between cool air with the addition of bug bites or no bug bites and suffering from heat exhaustion. I miss having control over my Publish Postair.

3 years

So my hubby and I made it. 3 years. Now, to many that may not sound like a lot, but in a world of staggering statistics where 51% of couples that get married will get a divorce I am EXTREMELY thankful for my 3 years. I look forward to the many more we can have.

On June 2, 2007 I married my best friend, the love of my life, and one of the best people I know. Now, 3 years later I look forward to the future.

Appropriate Gym Attire

Just a quick note on appropriate gym attire. I will not harp (too long) on this topic but somethings MUST be said. In all cases these faux pas occurred during various aerobic/yoga classes on numerous occasions. 1. A thong while appropriate in many situations is NOT something I want to see, particularly when said underwear is two or three inches above the waist band of the pants being worn. 2. Tennis scorts in white that are too short may be fine on the court but do not lend themselves to peaceful yoga at least for those around you (unless those around you are singles you want to attract). 3. booty shorts with words on the butt. Putting writing on your butt when you are in public is a lot like having a sign posted on your back. Seriously do you REALLY want people reading your butt and then comparing you to whatever it says?

OK, My rant is done. Just please leave the thongs, booty shorts, and micro scorts at home when working out.