Bounty

Today is Thanksgiving here in Japan. Tomorrow for my friends and family back home. It is a time that I cherish and love. I love feeding homesick Americans here in Tokyo. I love my husbands unquenchable hunger for Turkey- he eats it the whole week long during this special time. And I love reading all the thankful thoughts around the world via facebook, twitter, emails etc.

I also love the time and inspiration to be grateful for all the bounty in my life.

This year I am thankful for...
the support of so many friends and family, emotional, financial, and physical
my health and the health of my loved ones
my little puppy Archie who has made this year so much more fun
the fact that my company and my restaurant are still hanging in there in the continued worst economy in my lifetime
for friends near and far
for the chance to exercise my right to vote, to dissent, to speak freely and to work for causes I believe in
for the Hackerspace and the new things I am learning there
for inspiration
for creativity
for knowledge and the chance to have more of it
for great wine and food
and dreams of future travels

and for all of you.

Happy Thanksgiving

Looking up

Well, things are still a bit of a roller coaster, with small biz ownership- money thin on the ground and lots of work to do that just seems to keep piling up on my desk and in my brain. BUT- I feel like things are looking up. I am trying to take time out to plan for the horizon and figure out ways to become sustainable (personally and professionally) I am in a group coaching class with fab coach Anna called Clean Sweep- and it is helping. Just maybe need more time to implement. This week is closets! lord knows I need help there!

the weather and Archie walks have been gorgeous and yesterday he discovered Soccer balls! Oh My! he is actually a pretty cute little soccer dog. too funny.

This weekend has whirlwind written all over it! Should be exciting.
-Few Craft Sale
-Live Music at kimono w/ Coyote
-Brunch yummy as always!

and a lot of work to plan and set up for Hackers on a Plane! 
back at it.  But Looking Up For sure!

Ready for Something To Happen

painting by my friend Andy Boeger who is showing right now at Roti Roppongi

These days it seems like many things are coming to a head. Many issues are becoming urgent and many outstanding things need to be resolved. I alternate between hopeful and energized and overwhelmed and under resourced. Not sure how all the many fronts will resolve themselves. There has been some good news but much more bad news and I really need to recharge and find some extra something somewhere.

I feel like I am peeping out into a fairly hostile world right now and trying to figure out if I am strong enough and resilient enough to make it through the very certain trials ahead.

My novel is in fits and starts.
My little company needs some new directions and help.
A few of my partnernships are in real crisis.

and the way forward is not clear.

on the good side- Some coaching and support groups have shown up just when I needed them most. And My friends and family are still amazing and give me hope and will power to get through all this.
So I continue on, and let's see what is around the next corner, behind the next curtain, through the next door?

Struggles

Friends, Not-so friendly folks, Goals, Successes, Failures, Resolutions, Business Plans... It can all be a big wrestling match.

There is a lot of struggle in running your own business. A lot of wondering if what you think you should do is really what you should do and then thinking about what you should do do when you should really do something else... confused?

Me too.

Anyway each day is kind of a struggle. Setting out what needs to be done and wrestling my schedule into submission so that things actually get to where they need to be is the biggest struggle. Some days I come out on top. Some days I don't and frankly SOME days it is a draw.

Yesterday was one of those draw kind of days. Stressful stuff and then ended on an awesome night with my Small Biz Women's Group- some up some down some in between. Finding a balance and then getting up and starting over the next day is a huge part of the requirement in doing this. Trying to keep up my energy is a big part of the challenge.

The good news is win, loose or draw, I learn something new about myself and life every day.

Teaching Again

I am a teacher, probably genetically considering my parents' history. I taught for years in both Pennsylvania and then Japan (three years in a rural high school in Japan.) I left teaching for another passion, wine and food and service.

I found out quickly that the food and beverage industry includes a lot of teaching so my skills served me well. Teaching and training staff, educating guests on new items and interesting ingredients. Lots of opportunity to be a teacher, though not in the normal sense.

I still missed the chance to share and learn together with students and so I had a lot of fun starting my writers group 3 + years ago. But even that was quite informal. So I am quite excited to be hosting my first real "Class" in 10 years. I am teaching a creative writing 5 week workshop in Oct. and Nov. The topic is writing using all 5 senses. I think I will have between 5-7 students (a perfect number) and I am looking forward to reaching back into my teacher tool bag and building a great class for them and for me! You can read about it. If you are on facebook you can read the details here. 

All this is going on while my own writing project proceeds word by word- oh so slowly. But I am hoping to get more inspired from sharing with students in the coming weeks.

Looking at things differently

 

It is important from time to time to look at things differently. I am always interested in techniques to change your perspective, think in new ways, and see what comes up from that kind of experimentation. One of my favorite things in my writer's group is the exercises that really push writers in new directions. 

Last night we had a good session and I really enjoyed the work that was done. I wasn't as happy with some of my work last night, but I did end up with one character I am interested in using in the future. We created characters using a 20 questions kind of model delving down into the minutia of what makes someone uniquely themselves. Do they drink tea or coffee? morning person? night owl? favorite vegetables, hated foods? outgoing? introverted? hardheaded? flexible? Even if those things do not appear in your stories or writing it is important to really know your characters and what they are like. It is important to really know ourselves in those was too for that matter. 

I am taking a writing class now with my former teacher Angela Jeffs, we've had 3 classes so far though I had to miss the first one. These classes are always a big push for me in looking at things differently. And I am happy to be in the group though I don't have too much time to spend on the work in between classes. Still it is something, and this week I dug out the time-line and plot lines for my novel. Good to re-read and rethink. I hope this time I can push forward. I am again considering Nanowrimo for Nov?! crazy I know... but...

Home Sweet Home

Truly feels like autumn today. Archie did not have his tongue lolling for our whole walk and I needed a sweatshirt!

What a change from recent weeks.

I am from the north east in the USA. This means that autumn always makes me super homesick. The reason is simple. This is truly a gorgeous time of year back home. Perfect weather, amazing foods from harvest season, fun events and beautiful fall foliage. Most of the time I like living in japan but every autumn especially hard to be far from where I am from.


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Breaking Bread

Food is a great way to bring people together. A universal experience that binds us. An instant conversation starter. We all eat. Most of us know how to enjoy food and everyone has an opinion but not usually one so strong as to polarize us. It is the perfect middle ground, the perfect place for like and unlike minded people to get to know each other.

This is one of the appealing things about working in the food business. Planning great meals and events that bring different people together and when the food and wine are good, or even great- watching that help build a community, even for one night. Build memories, build relationships all over shared meals.

Many of my most vibrant and visceral memories are about events related to food. Worst meals, best meals, sublime chefs and flawless service. Breakfast sandwiches in the morning, wine over sunsets in the evening. The best of times always have a culinary overlay for me. If I am successful in my little corner of the food world I will be providing that kind of memory for others. 

September Blur

I feel a bit laid low. I was looking forward to september but it ended up kind of hitting me like a ton of bricks. It is the 17th already and this is the first time I have been to the blog. The reasons are varied. Busy, and stressed. Too much, too little, too difficult, too too too...

About a week ago calamity struck. Of my own doing sadly. For years I have had a bad habit of carrying around impt stuff in my hands and putting it down in bad places and forgetting it. You may see where this is going. Last wed. we had a big typhoon here in Tokyo and the rain was something to be seen! In the midst of the storm I was headed from the bank to my gig recording for the Tokyo Metpod. I hopped in a cab carrying a plastic zipper bag which held my bank books, ID, a credit card and my beloved iphone. I got out of the cab 6 blocks later and did not get a receipt (which is unlike me) leaving the bag of all my important stuff behind. There was also cash inside. So far one week later no good samaritan has turned it in and I spent a week scrambling to replace and cancel stuff and feeling dumb and depressed. BUT hopefully a lesson was learned. Cause if I do this again (sadly this is NOT the first time) then I just give up!

The company struggle goes on. On the upside, the food is good, the customers are happy and we are getting some new business. On the Down Side, we are not getting ENOUGH new business yet. And I am trying to focus on sales sales sales. Some good nibbles in the last week. Our biggest struggle is labor cost. When I set up salaries etc I based it on a sales projection that has not materialized in the sluggish economy. So we can't really afford to pay the amazing people we have. This is a major heartbreak for me. So I am focusing on trying to see if we can get viable by end of year- and at that point look at options in terms of restructuring and moving forward. This small biz owner stuff is hard.

So the first 17 days of Sept. have passed in a blur of thinking and planning and recovering.

The weather has finally gotten nice no longer scorchingly humidly disgustingly hot. And I am feeling positive inspite of the struggle. If you have a chance, send some good karmic thoughts our way. And hopefully I can get back to enjoying my blog again.

memories and snapshots

Years ago, before my adventure in Japan started I had another fantastic adventure. I was a part of a CISV camp in Norway. CISV or children's interenational summer villages, is a fantastic program promoting peace, cross cultural understanding and is just an all around fantastic group.

It was a life changing experience. One of the cool parts of being active on facebook is that many of the students and teachers from our camp are back  in touch 13 years later! pretty wild.

This is a a shot of me, back then, on a rocky shore of a lake in Norway.

I learned so much from so many people during that summer. It was a special time. I am hoping in the years to come I can get involved in CISV again. I have written to the Japan chapters several times but never had a response :-( BUT I will keep trying.

taking time to smell the flowers

I am a go-er, a do-er and a running around-er. I find it really hard to slow down. So in many ways this week at Stanford has been a new experience for me.

I was here with no agenda.
No checklist
No time table.

It has been great. Reading, writing, thinking and soaking up sun without all the Tokyo humidity. It is certainly something worth repeating.

Though it wasn't easy.

Truth be told I did squeeze on a very full day of San Francisco exploration mid week. I am not sure I could have made it a whole week without some sort of frenetic activity.

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recharging

One of the big benefits of traveling is to recharge my batteries. Not just resting- which I am not actually all that good at... But recharging my imagination and perspective batteries. Great to look beyond the everyday, get out of the daily and weekly routines. Travel gives me a chance to explore internally and externally. Lots of thinking time. Filling up the idea and experience notebooks. This has been true ever since my first memories of going from ny to pa with my mom. It is now ingrained in me. A part of my psyche. I cannot fathom staying in one place for years on end without rambling at least 3-4 times a year. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

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Traveling Time

We are on a two week rather whirl wind trip to the USA. First stop San Francisco. Chris will be taking a one week class at Stanford on NetFPGA whatever the heck that is. This trip is only possible because of frequent flyer miles, nice friends who put us up, and chris' company. I am calling it the cheap and cheerful tour.

Despite his best efforts to stow away in my suitcase, Archie stayed in japan with friends in the mts of iwate.

We have a couple of days in San Francisco before the class starts. I had a fun touristy ramble that included a gallery, fisherman's warf, a street food festival at fort mason a hike up telegraph hill and a browse of the famous city lights bookstore. (with various coffee and cocktail breaks on the way). We also went to Noisebridge, the SF Hackerspace, and we spent a great night with Patrick and Yukari, and another night with Carol and Jack, all great friends and foodies.

I love travel time. It is good time to both think about stuff and NOT think about stuff. On my own time schedule. Also a good time to get some food inspiration. I got a couple of great brunch ideas and some drinks I want to try.  Nice start to the trip. More updates soon.

Biting Off More Than You Can Chew

Doing what you already know is comfortable. It is easy, And it makes us feel successful.

Attempting something big, something beyond our reach, something larger than life is out there. The exposure along can send me running for an afternoon nap under the quilt on the couch. But the things I have learned in life generally come from leaping in, trying, sometimes crashing and burning. But lifting the heavy stuff, not just the twigs. Not easy. Not safe. But for me it is what makes it worth while.

Somethings Bear Repeating

There are a few movies that I am sure I will watch every couple of years before I leave this planet. I watched one of them last night. "to Kill a Mockingbird" with Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. What an amazing movie. Everytime I watch this film I see and feel something different. I am always moved.

This movie is brilliant in every way. If you have not watched it yet, do so. (shame on you). The acting, the cinematography, the history are all pretty amazing. Filmed in 1962- it will remain timeless I believe. Though hopefully the racism that is depicted will require more and more explanation to future generations. The history lesson alone is a good reminder of where we came from and how far we still have to travel.

This viewing I was struck by the theme that people are not always what they seem and I don't mean the Boo Radley Character - I mean Atticus himself. That people can make choices, they can be good and many things but focus on the things that they are most proud of, and feel are best for their families,and their communities. I was also struck by how commanding a truly strong will and intellect can be, no matter the threat or the situation. The kids in this one are priceless, especially Scout. And I am so glad that the filmmakers kept so much of the feeling and language of the Harper Lee novel in the screen version.

Films like this are special, rare and important.

Little Things You Do Can Make a Difference

Sometimes the world of a new small business owner can be overwhelming and sometimes even the fast paced life in a big city can make me feel quite small. But I am beginning to appreciate more and more that each day is a sum of many small moments, small steps, small things that you can do to move forward, share love, make the world at least your small part of it, a bit better. Sometimes it is too hard to focus on fixing the big picture- but a small thing can make a difference.

There is this guy in my neighborhood. I am sure he has been here a long time but I never knew anything about him. I still no very little. But this guy, who I don't know has made our little part of tokyo better every day. He's about 60 something, retired I think, older Japanese guy, very healthy. Every morning from about 5 AM he is out in the world walking- this is how I finally found out about him, now that my puppy Archie drags me outside for a morning walk anytime from 4:45-5:30~! (tooo early!) But the thing is, when he walks in his exercise clothes and baseball hat, he does something else too. Instead of just focusing on himself, or thinking about his worries, or just enjoying his morning... he also makes our neighborhood better. It is just a small thing, but he walks with one hand in a working type garden glove and whenever he sees cans or bottles along his walk he picks them up and throws them away in the next recycle bin *there is one next to every vending machine and there are TONS of vending machines. So most people in our neighborhood are probably like me and have noted that we have very little trash compared to other spots in the city- and I always thought it was just good city services in my part of town- BUT it is also because of this guy. A little thing, a small step he takes every day to make where he lives better. Not for thanks or for show - since there are very few people out and about at that time of day... He does it just because.

Little things DO make a difference.

Sleepy Sundays

Sundays take a lot out of us! brunch service in the new restaurant and wine bar is FUN but busy busy busy. Plus for chris in the kitchen with our other chefs- it is toooo hot. We have an air con for the restaurant side, but the kitchen needs one and I don't yet have the 150,000 yen ($1,500.00) to pay to get one in. It has to be well over 100 degrees sometimes in the kitchen!  So after a busy brunch, we were full today, everyone is pretty worn out.

It has been over 90 degrees f. every day this week, but we have still had some full service times, last night we had a great busy Saturday. And as I said, today- BRUNCH was full! We were serving our homemade house cured bacon again. Very popular. And I was doing week 2 of the great smoothie launch. I made a ton of them today. Especially popular was the Tropical Truth- smoothie that has pineapple, banana, coconut milk and vanilla ice cream with a few other  ingredients.  The recipe is from my fantastic bartender, Peter. He works somewhere else on sundays but he helped me out by writing up some killer recipes.

This week I am going to start to research a few of my own to try as well.

Today is my hubby's birthday- and still he came in and cooked! Meant so much to me, not sure how we would have done it otherwise. And tomorrow starts another busy week on the treadmill. But for tonight we are chillin out- resting and recovering.


TROPICAL TRUTH KIMONO SMOOTHIE
2 rings of pineapple
1 banana
1 splash of honey water
1 splash of coconut milk
100 ml orange juice
100 ml mango juice
1 lg scoop of vanilla ice cream
crushed ice

Blend on high till creamy and smooth
pour in glass and garnish with fresh mint
serve with a straw and a spoon on the side!

inner child

Hands down, my favorite book when i was a child was this one, "The Tall Book of Make-Believe." This book was brilliant in every way and this copy has been well loved. The book is no longer in print but should be. I think this more than anything else fed my imagination and formed some of my long term day dreams.

It was not a story book but a collection of fantastic poems and short tales by famous and not as famous writers. Robert Louis Stevenson, Tennyson, Eugene Field, Carl Sandburg. Brilliant stuff, but what made the book magic was the illustrator! Garth Williams illustrated each and every entry and his work is magical in this book. You completely loose yourself in each drawing. Sugar plum trees, kids in mischief, A Knight fighting a giant Ant, Bears on scooters, Mr. Nobody. Each drawing expertly puts your heart and dream mind right in the brilliant poems or stories.

I want to do something with this book someday, find out if it could be reprinted, or maybe shared with new children in a new way. I think for now I will share some of the pages here in my blog.

My friend has a little girl, she is a star of her mom's blog and says the most wonderful, horrible, amazing, scary, gorgeous things. Lovely to think of her and children like her having a chance to enjoy this book.

Making Wishes Part 2

So I wrote that this week was tanabata (see below) it was a short post from my iphone but the longer version is this...

I am busy cleaning, organizing and throwing out stuff. Making space for my mind, my poor clutter belegured husband and my puppy. In the search through keepable and throwable stuff I found a notebook I started writing in 5 years ago! I had decided that this book would be a book of lists. Things I want to do, things I want to learn, you get the idea.

Well, the first entry was titled 25 things I wish for

It was fun to see what I was wishing for 5 years ago, happily some has come true, sadly many things have not yet materialized- But this is a call to action to start working on these wishes. Especially before I start my new 44 by 44 list. (more about that later)

Some wishes I have done well with

#4 I wish for a lifestyle that could include getting a puppy! *check*

#7 I wish for a new laptop *check*

#14 more bike riding *check*

#16 more time to cook and eat together *check*

#21 wish I could clean out my email inbox and keep in more under control. *in process*

5 wishes pretty well underway. Lots more wishes to come true. the nice thing in reviewing them is that I can do something about each and every one of them to make them more possible, more likely to become reality. WISHING WISHING WISHING.

So this summer season, I hope you can dust off your wishes too, check them, add to them, and make them real.

Making Wishes

Yesterday was Tanabata a special summer festival night in Japan. On this night people make a wish and write it on a piece of colorful paper. This all relates to a mythical fairy tale about star crossed lovers.

Mostly makes for colorful summer decorations!

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Location:Tokyo