For those of you who follow us on twitter, you will be well aware of a lot of my core trauma. One aspect of this is trauma I suffered is around the celebration of my birthday. The trauma was so deep that I had banned birthday celebrations for myself. Not celebrating my birthday has...
So, I need to start off with a content warning. This post will talk about abuse, sexual assault, and slavery. If you find these topics to be upsetting, please do not read this blog post. I tell a few different stories about my name. One of them is that I am the last of...
On Tuesday, June 18th, I finally turned 50! I have been saying that I am nearly 50 for the past 5 years or 7 years if you let Chad tell it. I feel like I spent most of my 40s wanting to be 50. I like the gravitas of 50. In Japan, the 40s...
My diet has changed a lot since moving to Japan. Most notably, I don’t eat out as much. This is a good thing. I also cook very differently. This is in large part because I no longer entertain in the home. This means I don’t cook my party staples such as lasagna or homemade...
Finding work–life–school–creativity balance was no easy feat. I must be honest and share that it took time. The first five years of my therapy practice, everything went into to that. All of my passion, creativity, and time. Because I had the experience of opening my practice in the US, I thought I was prepared,...
I have an on-again / off-again relationship with the Japanese language. That is to say, I study in spurts. I try to study at least 5 minutes a day. I know this is shockingly low and still struggle to manage it. My Japanese was decent at one point, but then Chad went to a...
The biggest standout about going to the doctor in Japan is (far and away) the price. A doctor visit usually costs me around $5. There are other cultural differences. I am on my fifth doctor since moving to Japan. My first doctor moved to Tokyo. He was American, so no real change there. My...
Some things are just better in Japan, and buying a used car is one of them. It was a bit daunting at first because there is a warranty called the “shaken” that can be costly. Typically, the older the car, the more expensive the shaken. I was really relieved when the dealership was able...
As an American, I have a strong affinity for driving. In the U.S., we owned 3 cars for 2 drivers. In Japan, we do not own a car. In Japan, I ride my bike most places or take public transportation. In the U.S., the plan was that our son would take driver’s education and...
So I woke up feeling really inspired today and creative today. A big part of that inspired creativity was to get organized. I have several creative projects that I need to sort out and, for me, that means buying a new day planner. In the US, buying a new day planner is possible year-round....