from way back when - hina matsuri and whatnot

So, I'll be the first to admit it, I've been lazy. Here are some details from my life lately and the accompanying pics. I'll try to keep this brief.

Hina Matsuri - On March 3rd we celebrated Girls' Day, or Doll Festival in Japan. For Hina Matsuri all families with daughters set up a display (usually a gift from the maternal grandparents) with many many traditional japanese dolls. There are the 'king and queen' dolls, so to speak, the old-women-serving-sake dolls, the musician-dolls, the old sage-esque men dolls, and more. Plus a carriage, minaiturized dishes and even miniture fake food. They usually also give an offering of real food. My favorite part of the festival is that, while it is supposedly a celebration of girls, the only thing (besides the fact that girls are supposed to like dolls) that actually has anything to do with the daughters is the fable that if you don't put the display away the day after the Hina Matsuri the daughter(s) will not get married. Honestly.

These pics are from the doll display at my friend Keiko's house. They had me over for dinner the friday before the festival and served seasonal specialties (basically anything peach or strawberry flavored) as well as sakura mochi - rice cakes that are sweetened and flavored with cherry blossoms and wrapped in cherry blossom leaves.

We also made special food for the Hina Matsuri the Thursday before hand at the j-gparents. We had omlette chicken rice (basically fried rice with some scrambled eggs) which we shaped into dolls and decorated. It was fabulous. Thats right, i'm 22 and i love any excuse to play with my food.

what else has been going on? Not alot. Some hanging, some chilling, a few trips to the gym, a couple of movies, a haircut and lots of driving places in Shannon's car. Here's a pic of me enjoying a cone of blueberry-gingerbread ice cream before seeing Dreamgirls with Shannon. Oh, and my new haircut. The ice cream - total heaven. The movie - maybe not quite there.

and for absolutely no reason whatsover, other than to increase the randomness of this post, here is a pic of Keiko and I doing purikura ages ago. Now, in case i haven't filled you all in on the wonder that is purikura, its basically a photo booth where for the low cost of $4 you can print out about 30 self-decorated pictures. Woohoo. I'm becomming a pro.