on wednesday i decided that i wanted to really take more pictures than i had been... so i popped my camera in my purse before heading off to Aina Haina for drinks with Flo and bride-to-be Kim who is now in Canada feverishly preparing for the big day next Friday...
this is us.


i've taken lots of photos since but am only just posting them now, so bear with me and keep on scrollin down...

so i'd picked up a suitcase for Kim, she needed an extra one for the rocks she's bringing to Canada ;), and it matched my coat so well that it led to an impromptu photo shoot of me with the suitcase on the street outside!


... have suitcase, will travel...

which then led to me taking some photos on my way from the streetcar station to my house while riding my bike... only a 2 minute ride but i'm much too lazy to walk it! and yes, i do ride my bike in a dress, the shorter the better.
a big piss off to those of you who wish to comment, i *tri* in a bikini.

thursday was a busy one. it started off with my morning kindie class, i call them my valium kids due to the lack of any human response i get while teaching them... i've never met such youthful zombies (though i've come to expect it in many adults)... this half hour of kindie hell was followed by grocceries, lunch, an hour one on one class, a 30 minute break, another hour one on one class, a 2 hour break involving cleaning, cooking and more grocceries, then four classes in a row, broken up by one 15 minute break towards the end....

at the end of the day, i lay sprawled on the sofa, exhausted in my apron.

this morning (friday... i'm *still* in love) i was still in my snappy happy mood, here's my playboy breakfast of champions...
the fruit was sumptuous. juicy mouthfuls.
the coffee was divine. thick and black.

moo.

this afternoon i went to the pool to work on my tan with Anna, it was scorching... you know the kind of muggy heat that makes you feel so lazy that even a lazy river is too much effort? that hot.

then i biked home at top speed in the high heat... very sweaty.

tonight J ate a really big salad...
it's his A-race weekend, long distance tri in the mountains near the Japan sea...
lookin' forward to the onsens! ... http://www.traveldish.com/features/getgorgeous/deepwater.htm

and before bed i stroked my pretty pussy...

i also contemplated the meaning of the driving school symbol (behind my head)... "learn how to drive with us and we'll slow you down"? or "drive with us, you shall become the proverbial hare on the back of a tortoise"... hmmmm, does this explain the bad drivers in japan? while i was out cycling yesterday, i realized what i take into account on the road: there's the usual blind spot that i watch out for and also there's a special 'not paying attention spot' that i am very cautious of. i hate to say it but the women drivers in this country are much worse than the men. they are so indecisive. i've been stuck at a four way stop watching four women sit behind the wheels of their vehicles and bow to each other nervously, waiting for someone to go... *sigh* it can be frustrating.

i went grocery shopping the other day. i took the train. i also took a photo of the train. and a photo of my feet while i waited for the train. i bought lots of yummy stuff, including whole wheat flour for tasty breakfast pancakes and dried fruits for my (no-bake) oatmeal cookies! yum!

so matt and i have been following the tour de france pretty religiously this past week and a half.
we're big lance armstrong fans.
but i'm also hoping that ivan basso has a good race. i like him.
here they are chatting during the 6e stage...

and this is a red-faced, sweaty me and my team mate matt after the race. i'm feeling hot, proud and a little bit cheeky!

and, the moment worth sticking around for, we got our second place award amongst the men's relay teams (there weren't enough relay teams to make a mixed division so we had to suck up second place... first place didn't linger long enough to pick up their prizes!) ... so yes, this is a first for the nymphtress: winning second in a men's race!

this is us in the midst of our race... here's matt rounding the corner at the 500m point in his 1km swim, after which he passed the red wristband to me and i ran 8km... this is me at the end of my 8km, blocked by a pole...

the Sonic Smiths showing off
and us on race morning with Joy, who did the individual course whereas we did the relay.

So, this past weekend Matt & I went to an island in the Seto Sea to run a race... we were planning on camping but the campgrounds were closed cause they're reseeding the pine trees that got blown out in the typhoons last fall... so we stayed here in the community centre with a bunch of other people, all of us sleeping in our sleeping bags on the floor... There were a few snorers and it took me a while to fall asleep, I wrote a haiku:

a crescendo of
snores fall, LOUD, upon my ears
will i ever sleep?

freya and i: messin' around with the webcam last night over a bottle of wine :)

I went running yesterday with my friend Kaela. We ran a light 4 km and it was really cool to have someone to chat with for a change! I guess it was a long day, what with the 8km in the morning, my bike up the mountain in the rain to work in the afternoon (in the rain!) and the evening run with Kaela! We wore reflective clothing cause we ran along the break wall and it's not the best lit path in the neighbourhood... don't we look fly? haha! Afterwards we came inside for a post run banana and soymilk shake that was pretty yummy! Then I had a sweet dinner and passed out sooooo hard!
Anyone else want to run with me?

I feel normal again... that is, I feel like super woman! i went for an easy little 8k run this morning and it felt good to be alive. It felt even better when I came home to the man and some *YUM* blueberry pancakes!
My kat likes to lick the sweat off me when I get home from my asphalt forrays, that's what she was up to in this picture!

as i wrote the date today on my class registers, marking off absent students, i noticed it was july fourth. that's about as far as it went. some things just really pass you by depending on where you live and most of them, you don't miss hearing about.

i suffered horribly all weekend from intense coffee withdrawl. don't kick the caffeine habit cold turkey, it hurts. i spent a large part of the two ridiculously rainy days away from work with a massive headache and the rest of the time i spent sleeping. i think i slept more than i was awake... painful.