Haruyonakano

How lovely are these images? I've been following Haruyonakano on instagram for sometime now and thought I'd share them with you. You can check out the website here, just don't visit it if you're hungry!

Advice on the work life trappings

Here

And it wouldn't be Christmas without...

... a ridiculous Christmas jumper, a fluffy cat, and a big ol' Christmas tree. I know it's late but I hope yours was a festive one.

Hello stranger (s)

A cute wee father daughter moment I saw on the street.

Happy 2012! I'm back, after a rather long blogging break. I took off to Europe and saw London, Lisbon, Paris and Amsterdam. It was amazing, I ate my weight in croissants, snapped pictures, petted cats, fell off bicycles repeatedly, shopped at markets and wandered down many a cobblestoned street. I have lots of film to develop! One of the best things was arriving back in Japan. I realised I really missed it, and was so happy to be back. It feels like home. I hope you had an amazing start to the year! I can't wait to share inspiring things with you in 2012, and see all that inspires you. x

Miffy

I bought a bunch of Japanese Miffy books this weekend to try so I can try and get faster at reading kana. The illustrations in them are so cute. Especially the turtle riding!

Simple life

How lovely are these photos? What a fun family, and the dogs are hilarious. You can see more photos here.

One of the most rewarding things that has come from living in Japan has been befriending families and seeing the differences (and similarities) in how we live.  

Also, the exam is done and dusted. Eek, It was hard. I need to get faster at reading kana. Thanks for your well wishes!

Happiness (to me)

I found this list that I wrote way back when. 

My Dad said to me once, out of the blue, "you have to enjoy it, all the time, because it goes so fast and we can take that for granted." It was advice that struck me as both simultaneously inspiring and terrifying but it pushed me to try and cultivate a sense of appreciation.  In dire moments I hang on to Dad's words because when it comes down to it, we are incredibly lucky people.

What are the little things that make you happy?