This is the first time I’ve ever gone home for such a short period of time (5 days there + ~2 days of travel) and it seriously drained me of every ounce of energy. But so worth it!
I flew in and out of Portland, which was weird. They don’t have the same fabulous duty-free shops as SFO but they did have a nice Mexican food which provided Noji and me with endless tortilla chips and refills until our flight home. “I have to stock up now, because there’s no Mexican food in Tokyo, really.” The look of pity on people’s faces! The flight from Portland to SFO was in a weird tiny plane with propellers.
Going through security, we opted-out of the backscanners and Noji got the longest pat-down in the history of the world. It easily took twice as long as mine, and they even went through all the point cards in his wallet. The whole thing is so stupid and it’s a shame that the protest against them has lost its momentum to the people who value convenience and the appearance of security above all.
Anyway, the reason we went back was to celebrate with family and friends being married ‘n all. Getting married is obviously a two-person affair, but weddings– weddings! are really about bringing people together, which is probably why people hate elopements so much. In this case, it was a small party but included a lot of family we hadn’t seen in a long time, notably my gramma on my mom’s side who came with my aunt a few days early to enjoy beautiful California. Noji’s parents even came and stayed in San Francisco, where they were remarkably self-sufficient despite the whole No English thing. My mom and I went to Cliff House with them and Noji on the first day and had a very San Francisco lunch, right on the water.
The party was a 3-hour lunch at a restaurant called El Paseo in Mill Valley, which my mom and my sister planned almost entirely. The only opinions I provided: Californian food, no tableclothes, no peonies. And it was a lovely party with great food and people, perfect in almost every way except it was scorching. It had been in the 60s and low 70s most of the week, then shot up to 78 on the day of the party with not a cloud in the sky. We sat in the beautiful space outside so the sun was a bit unrelenting but I think I was actually the only one who ended up sunburned and it gave everyone a conversation to fall back on. “It is so warm today.” “Where is the sunscreen?”
Uploading this picture I stole from Deirdre because Noji looks so nice! I always get nervous and look weird in posed pictures.
Afterwards the bulk of us headed to the Hyatt in San Francisco for a mini afterparty and a surprise cake that my sister’s friend baked for us.
(ﾉ・∀・)ﾉ ⌒ ┌iiiiii┐(Illustration of me & said cake.)
I was pretty jetlagged and not sleeping well (plus, you know, all the Lost marathon sessions) so maybe not the most charismatic bride? But my sense is that it was a fun and delicious day. Plus we got to stay a night at the Hyatt and had the most beautiful view of the sun coming up over the Bay Bridge the morning we left. Thank you mom & dad & Meagan! (And all of our guests!☆) I don’t think we would have wanted it any other way, other than adding a few more days of shopping and eating and chillin’ on either end.
Next up: thoughts on LOST, Clarisonics. Also, I had a great grilled cheese-bacon-and-avocado sandwich at Boudin, which I feel needs to be acknowledged somewhere.
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From L-R, Merino Cool, Cocktail Bling, Mini How High, Carousel Coral, E-nuf is E-nuf, Shine of the Times
Wearing Cocktail Bling now! Lovely grey-ish blue and easy formula.
tokyo and me 