A super fun post! A little more about me. Growing up in the 80’s in America...

I think this is going to be a really fun post for you guys! And it will give you guys a bit more idea of me and who I am.  Being a girl in the 80's in the USA. Denver, Colorado to be exact. Growing up and all the fun things, I personally was into. And all the fun things I personally did and stuff. These are uniquely American things. I don't think many other countries sold Big Wheels or Avon lip balms like we did in the USA. So, again, these are my experiences of being an all-American girl growing up in the 80's. Pictured here are the lip balms sold from Avon. For those of you not American, we used to have an Avon lady. She would leave short little booklets with picture of items, like an ordering catalog. My mom used to order bubble bath from our Avon lady all the time and I would always have my mom order me some lip balms. Avon had the best lip balms. The lip balms of that time, in those days, looked like these. If you are an American girl, back when I was, you are probably smiling looking at these pictures. I had the Crunch bar lip balm, the Crayola crayon lip balms, the cheeseburger, Sunny side up egg and chocolate chip cookie. American girls where I lived in my state, we all collected these. And we used these. I remember fondly looking forward to the Avon lady bringing us our goodies and couldn't wait to open up a new fun looking cool new lip balm. : )

Yep, this was called the "Funburger" Hahaha. I remember this and gee, this was such a good one. but not my favorite one. My single most favorite one was the Crunch bar. 

This was my hands down... most favorite one. I carried this all over. In my little girl purse. LOL. : )

Yep, I remember that Crayola trio and the chocolate one smelled so heavenly! You know...seriously speaking. I think these products from back in the day. Is why so many American adult women today...love Too Faced cosmetics. They make adult cosmetics in fun packaging like this. I own the chocolate bar eye shadow palette, from Too Faced. And they just came out with a PB and J palette in the shape of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Ha! I think many of us girls who grew up in the 80's who are now adults, are the ones buying the products from Too Faced. : ) 

Yes, I drive a Nissan Leaf 100% electric car right now. However back in the day, these were my wheels! : ) This was called a "Big Wheel" Every kid in America owned a Big Wheel and many boys owned the "Green Machine" I would cruise up and down my block in my Big Wheel. This was true fun! I may love my car right now, but gee, I sure did have the best of times with my big wheel. 

I owned this rainbow shirt and it was my most favorite shirt! This shirt was *so* popular for American girls growing up in the 80's! Man, I so totally rocked this shirt! : )

Don't ask me why everyone in the USA, back in the 80's loved rainbow clothes. Maybe it was just a more innocent and simpler time, or I don't know. But, I do know everyone owned a pair of flip flops like these! I owned this red pair. And yes, I wore these with my rainbow shirt. Weren't these flip flops the best? If you were a child in the 80's, you are probably smiling and totally shaking your head up and down agreeing with me. But if you were born in say the year 2000, perhaps you are thinking...what in the heck? And not liking these flips flops. However...no worries. Because those of you who know...know how cool these were back in the day. : ) 

And yes, I had this key chain too. My parents bought me every rainbow thing a girl from the 80's could ever want or need. I was very lucky. : ) 

Scratch and sniff stickers were *the* item to have. And I actually collected them, I had a ton of scratch and sniff stickers. Like seriously...tons! Now days kids are glued to electronics. But back in my day...we kept things simple, we cruised Big Wheels and wore rainbow flippies and shirts and collected scratch and sniff stickers. : ) My sons asked me once, "mom do you ever wish you had been born in this time and were a kid our age?" I looked at them and smiled and said..."absolutely not!!!" I added, kids from my days...we knew how to really have fun! I'm glad the era I was born in and I'm glad the era when I was a kid and really coming into my own. : ) Granted the kids of today are cool and alright, but the kids from my day were super cool too! : ) 

Oh yes. The Trapper Keeper! If you are American, and are near my age or from my era. You know doubt, got a brand new Trapper Keeper every year, just like I did! Ahhh, those were the days! 

These were the toys from our days. It's called The Waterful Ring Toss. And what did we learn from playing this fun game? Patience! Unless you were at your last straw and tilted it to cheat those last few rings! Hahaha! Remember? I do! What innocence we had back in the day. These were the fun times! 

Simon anyone? I think we all owned this back in the day in America! It was such fun. And it helped us have such great memories. Right?! Gosh this was fun!

And we all owned Speak & Spell's! I loved mine. I remember when we would go for drives in the mountains and stuff, I would play this in the car the whole way. Speak and Spell was bomb dot com! 

My friends and I collected all the American soda flavors of Bonne Bell lip balms. And remember the super sized lip balms too? Ha! : ) 

Forget Rollerblades! We roller skated! Going to the roller rink, every Saturday me and my 2 best girlfriends. My mom would drop us off. And we'd skate the 12-2pm skate. She would drive us to the door and pick us up at the door. We felt so "adult" being able to go skating for 2 hours unattended. hahaha. We'd be roller skating to all the good songs. We'd backwards skate. We'd do the limbo. And we all brought lunch money and sometimes we'd get a hot dog combo with chips and a drink or a pretzel and soda. I absolutely *loved* my childhood. And I think about that skating rink every once in a while. Oh and this is funny. Last time we were in Colorado 3 years ago, we drove passed and my old skate rink was still there. I pointed and nearly screamed...happy eek type scream... to the kids in the car....pointing..."That's where mommy used to go roller skating with her 2 best friends!!!" I said their names. But...the kids were like...really? And I said yep! : ) 

I had this same exact, Easy Bake Oven. Every little girl in America had one. This was such fun! 

Anyone remember the Tootsie Roll commercials in America? How many licks does it take? The boy takes it to the wise old owl. And the owl licks it 3 times and then bites it. And he then says..."3, it takes 3 licks!" to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. : ) 

I owned this Snoopy Snow Cone maker. And the shovel scooped out the ice. This was bomb! So much fun!

Anyone remember getting book order forms at school? For us in America we would get book forms that looked like this. And of course, everyone orders something. I would order a few books and maybe a poster. And then on the day the orders arrives and the teacher passes out the stuff everyone ordered. She would usually pass out our stuff on a Friday. Seriously...it was so exciting receiving your books and stuff ordered at school. That was the best! Don't ask me why, but I clearly remember ordering a poster with a kitty on it. @_@ Hahaha. Don't judge! I was just a kid. So ordering a poster with a kitty on it...totally A-okay and acceptable. : ) 

Yes I had this same very E.T. doll. And yes now I think...why did I want that doll? I don't know...but back then. I had to have it. Everyone had this doll. : ) 

Yes, I wanted to have Punky Power. Didn't you? : )

Remember when everyone who was anyone rolled their jeans? Yes, that was the cool thing to do. So roll my jeans, I did. : )

Remember how the side pony tail was EVERYTHING back in the day! And yes that is DJ from from Full House. That show was so good back then. And yep, I know they have a reboot on Netflix.

Remember how Mork & Mindy was the show to watch? Did any of you own Mork & Mindy suspenders? I did. Should I admit that? @_@ I did. I loved this show because it took place in Boulder, Colorado. And Colorado people have lots of Colorado pride. So every beginning of the show. We would go..."look there's Boulder!" Hahaha. : ) 

Phoebe Cates was everything, if you were a brunette girl growing up in the 80's! Sorry blonds have more fun girls... but we needed our role models too, you know! : ) And by the way...didn't Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) have the most insanely cool style on the Cosby Show. 

Fact of Life was life, if you were an American girl growing up when I did. And, yes I remember when Molly Ringwald was in the old episodes of Fact of Life, before she became a brat packer. Loved Alf too. And also loved Small Wonder with Vicky the robot girl. And the Wonder years. And the TV show Perfect Strangers, with cousin Balki. Remember..."Don't be ridiculous!" LOL. And of course, Who's the Boss. Charles in Charge.  

Remember making mix tapes? I do! : ) 

The original Strawberry Shortcake dolls. I owned all of them. And I swear I sniffed them a billion times because they smelled so fantastic. : )

I remember having this cereal too. 

Now, I'm starting to get a little bit older now...and this was my first most favorite perfume. This smelled so good. Electric Youth by Debbie Gibson. 

Remember, when Swatch Watches were THE thing to have. By now I'm a tween or teen. And my mom asked me, what I'd like for one of my Christmas gifts. And I was like...I really don't have like a huge long list or anything. But, the only thing I really really want is the black Swatch with the big black X on it. And I pointed it out to her while at the mall, back in November, back in the day. And so Christmas rolls around and I unwrapped all my presents, they were all great and then she saved it to the last present and she said...oops you forgot to unwrap one more Gina. And so, I looked and I was like ...looking and it looked to be around the same size of a box for a watch. And I ripped open the package and there it sat. I was so thrilled. She remembered to get me the very single watch, I superly wanted. I wore this watch everywhere. I loved this watch so much!

I had a Johnny Depp poster on my wall. in my tween-dom. 

I loved and watched all the John Hughes movies. John Hughes had such a good understanding of American youth. 

Sorry Johnny Depp, but my first crush went to Jake Ryan. From 16 Candles. Boy was he dreamy. I had a poster of him too. *swoon* : ) One of Jake Ryan and one of Johnny Depp. 

Madonna was the shiz. Everyone loved Madonna. 

Madonna's style was second to none. Her songs were so good. She was so cool. 

And then we all got older and I went to high school. In high school. I was in student council. I was a cheerleader. I loved all the school dances, homecoming, prom. I loved it all. : ) I had my own car. High school was amazing and such a fun time for me. I did have a boyfriend in high school. We dated for a long time. And then we broke up. On good terms. And then I went to uni. I decided, I didn't want to date or meet anyone in uni (meaning not looking for a serious relationship), although yes I did enjoy uni and had fun in uni. I wanted to just buckle down and just get my teaching degree, enjoy my youth and hang out with my friends in my spare time. And as for future goals, buy myself a nice house. And if love happens it happens, I'm sure it would... but, I wasn't actively looking either though. And in uni, during one of my classes, in walked Noboru. I kept with my studies and completed mine, he kept with his and completed his. We dated all throughout college. It's kind of amazing that this little American girl who grew up, collecting Avon and Bonne Bell lip balms. Who wore a rainbow shirt and rainbow flip flops and used to cruise a Big Wheel. And wear a side pony tail. Go roller skating. Wanted Punky Power. And used to go around saying..."don't be ridiculous" just like cousin Balki did from Perfect Strangers. Who played Simon and had a Speak and Spell and played the Water Ring Toss, is now living in rural Japan! Kinda funny how things work out in the end, right? And I wouldn't have it any other way! : )  

Throwback Thursday! Family board game night fun...

Good morning, happy Thursday everyone! Today's TBT takes us back to just 3 years ago. February 2013! And the boys and I were spending an evening playing some family board games! Sorry! Is a family favorite around here! Both Branny and Noah in their PJs. Clearly this is after supper, and showers. And we're just relaxing and enjoying a fun night here at home! Even now, the kids will never pass up a game of Sorry! : ) 

Maybe we should break out our Sorry game this weekend and play a couple of rounds! : )

His first week and my first week. What we both did. Walmart (Pop Tarts, etc) Target (Easter goodies), Sephora and Ulta. Plus a few interesting stories here and there for good measure...

We are now officially on week #2. How did we all do for week 1, last week? We all did pretty good. Let's catch up real quick. I wash Bran and also Noah's bedding weekly at home, in our washer and dryer at home. However, our bedding for our bed, is too big to fit. A few years ago, different comforter, I tried and my washer actually tore a small hole in our comforter. So ever since then, better to be safe than sorry. I just take our bedding for our bed, to the 1 and only laundry mat in town. It's always dead on non rainy days and full as heck of rainy days. So, I just go on non rainy days to wash our bedding. Bye bedding! Get nice and clean! I meanwhile went and sat in my car and read online news while they washed. 

Then I threw them in the dryer. Popped in 2 one hundred yen coins and went back to my car and sat some more. When the time was up, I ran inside the building, and brought the clean and fresh hot blankets into the trunk of my car and went home and made the bed. Yep, that's one of the things I did last week. I do keep super busy around here and get things done!

Once a month in winter. And once every 2 weeks in Summer, I will disinfect our trash cans. The spray bottle is bleach. It's spray bleach for like 98 yen. Super cheap and I love bleach, it kills so many bad things. On trash day after the kiddos dumped the trash. And after I drove them to school. I came home and I first bleached the daylights out of my trash cans. Then I... Mr. Cleaned the daylights out of my trash cans. Then I wiped the lids with those Kirkland antibacterial wipes. And put the 3 cans, on the back patio to dry. Since it's winter time around here. Almost spring yes... but it still feels wintry. It took ages for my trash cans to dry. But after a whole day sitting outside they were finally dry. And I brought them into the house. All nice and clean. 

Take THAT trash cans! Hahaha. : ) My neighbors already know...I am always doing something. Wiping the windows. Bleaching my trash cans. They can surely hear my vacuum. Or see me, zipping here and there. : ) So, these are some of the things I did last week. 

I also baked a homemade lasagna, last week. We had salad and garlic bread. This was so filling, we had this for 2 nights. The kids loved it! Me too. : ) 

A pic of the turkey sammys. Fresh roasted turkey sandwiches, with bakery bread and lettuce, tomato and provolone or swiss. So good! 

Noah mentioned, "mama, I'm almost going to need new pencils" I told him, not to worry, I would go and get him some, while he is at school. and sure enough, the next day, during my errands, I ran into the local drugstore and picked Noah 5 pencils. Qoo is a popular orange drink here. Koala's March (love these chocolate filled cookies). Those 5 or 10 yen snacks. And another pencil is of... like a chicken ramen type thing and a Gari Gari-kun corn potage pencil. : ) I name sticker-ed every pencil and a thin piece of tape around each name sticker. That way Noah's pencils, stay Noah's pencils and no mix ups happen.

I also baked the boys some homemade chocolate chip pecan cookies. They loved these! : ) 

Noah and I gather all the trash from various little trash cans, in the bathrooms, living room etc. I also, gather any trash from the fridge anything needing to be trashed and Bran runs it out. Every Tuesday and Friday. Branden is such a good helpful boy. Noah is such a good helpful boy too. Bran is wearing his school uniform minus the blazer in this pic 

The new school year starts in April. And so this weekend, I went and bought the boys each a new pencil case. It's interesting that, they both picked the same exact one. Even though there were many different sports brands, character brands, etc etc. They both seemed to zero in on the same exact pencil case, at the exact same time. Neither of them copied the other...they both just literally grabbed for the same pencil case at the same exact time. How interesting. No worries though because there were plenty. So, they both picked the same one. I went and paid. And on the way home, I picked up some McD's for the boys for lunch. We eat at home every single day. Not because we have to, but we just do. Bran asked...and Noah chimed in and said...yes please. So, I said why not. 

Two very cute pencil cases. So, as you can see, my week was pretty basic and normal. Monday -Thursday, I cleaned house like a crazy person. Cooked, cleaned, did laundry. Took the boys to and from school. Friday was my movie date with friends. It was supposed to be 3 of us. But one of my friends daughter had a fever. And I totally "get that" If your kid is sick. It's a no-go, for sure. No questions asked. We're all mama's, so we totally understand. So, us 2 went to see the Martian and then we went and had lunch afterwards. I was really happy to have an afternoon to catch up with my good friend. I missed my other friend. But, hey...a sick kid is priority #1, end of story. : ) And I get that and hope her daughter is back to feeling better. : ) So that was my last week in a nutshell. Now here's Noboru's week in a nutshell below...

They went and had Thai. That blue plate (fish shape) is amazing, a gorgeous dish! There seems to be every seafood known to man on this plate. So, I know this is my husbands meal! He's an extreme seafood lover to the 100th power. As for me, I hate seafood. No fish. No squid or anything. No dashi. However, I do like lobster and shrimp, go figure. Yes, I'm weird, I know. : )

Chili's Spring menu 2016...

Wendy's. 

You know your husband is Japanese...when. Fill in the blank. Hahaha. You know your husband is Japanese, when he goes to Joe's Crab Shack and he whips out, some crab sauce and ponzu, he literally brought it from Japan, so he could eat his all you can eat crab, "Japanese style." Was he even a dot embarrassed? Absolutely not! Hahaha. : ) 

Yep forget dipping it into melted butter and sprinkling with salt and pepper, you know...the way Americans would do. He's team ponzu and crab sauce all the way! Hahaha. Oh and I think the waitresses write their name down on all tables so they know who is looking after which table. 

He also brought some disposable chopsticks. Because he swears the American way of cracking your crab takes way too much time. However he says...doing it the Japanese way....shoving your chopstick through the shell pushes the meat out in 1 fell swoop. Again, was he even the slightest bit embarrassed? Again, nope...not by a long shot! : ) Are you dying of laughter? I hope so. When he told me, I laughed so hard too! : ) Oh and...they first bring everyone a pound and a half of crab and each time you ask, they bring you a half pound more. He said, he and his friends/coworkers ate...5lbs worth easy, each of them! @_@ Hahaha. 

Panda Express. 

Caesar salad, his favorite salad in the world. Noboru loves caesar salads. Followed by ribs. 

Burp. Is he having himself a blast over there or what? Hahaha. : ) 

So, he said one day for lunch he was really missing Japanese food. Really badly. And so he went to a food court and had picked up some sushi. And then...an older white gentleman, late 50's maybe early 60's. With his daughter, Noboru said the daughter was 30-ish and with her husband. So 3 of them eating at another table but right across from Noboru's table. Noboru was eating alone that particular day. Anyway, the older gentleman was staring at Noboru's sushi. And then he shook his head side to side, like no....and like...yuck! And Noboru said, he knew what that older man thought. He knew that older man thought it was gross. Noboru knew that. And...the 30-ish daughter turned around and said..."forgive my father. I love sushi but my father and my husband hate it." Noboru chuckled and said. That's okay. : ) Noboru called me that night on... Line (Line is sorta like Skype but better). And he said. "That man thought my sushi was gross honey!" Hahaha. Noboru thought it was funny and wasn't offended at all. I just chimed in and said. That there are some very adventurous Americans who like eating Japanese foods. However though...there are also Americans who just have very American tastebuds (like me) and they can't really help it. But, I did add..he shouldn't have gave...Noboru's sushi...a stink face though. That was a tad rude. But...yeah interesting, thing to have happen, that would NEVER happen in Honolulu by the way. 

Noboru's lunch, Arby's. Beef and cheddar sandwich. Jalapeno poppers, mozzarella cheese sticks and curly fries. Clearly he's not on a diet. Hahaha. He said it was too much food though and he threw half his jalapeno poppers and mozzarella cheese sticks and half his curly fries in the trash. @_@ Geeze Louise. He is clearly indulging in anything and every food items, his little heart desires. Hahaha. : ) Again though...good for him. : ) And yes, I do have his permission to use his pictures, I asked him and he said...not a problem, he doesn't mind. He did ask me though to not give his location, until after he is gone and I have honored that. 

Color/shade 140=Y305 (the Y means yellow toned), shade 20 and the color/shade Fiji.

Make Up For Ever Ultra HD. It used to be just regular HD, but this was reformulated last year and now it's Ultra HD. Make Up For Ever Face and Body, in the shade 20. And Nars Sheer Glow in the color Fiji. I'm Mac NC20-25. In the studio fix powder foundation, I'm in the shade NC25.

What a wonderful husband. He snapped this pic while at Sephora last week. These 3 foundations will be part of my birthday gift from Noboru. 

Pop Tart section inside Walmart. 

Brownie and cake aisle. Baking aisle.

Between Line and Skype and emails. He tells me each week. If you need anything from Walmart. Target. Tell me by Tuesday for example. Because like in this picture he had planned to go and buy water for his hotel room. And so he said, if you need something tell me by such and such day. He bought, 32 Chocolate Chip cookie dough Pop Tarts for the kids. Chocolate Fudge Pop Tarts but, Walmart brand ones, these have really high reviews on Walmart online. Pop-Secret Homestyle popcorn, pack of 10. And 2 boxes of brownies. 

One of my favorite people I watch on YouTube, EmilyNoel83. Uses the Equate brand of daily face cloths to wash her face. They're the kind you add water and they're like disposable wash cloths. She swears by these. And the reviews for these was really high. So, I wanted to try a box. Miracle Whip for sandwiches, since the kids take a packed lunch daily. Again not tons, but it will be nice for us to get these goodies when he gets back. : )

And then last Wednesday, Noboru emailed me and said, he was going to go to Target with his friend/coworker on Friday and if we needed anything to email pics of what was needed before Friday. Easter is coming up. And those Strawberry Shortcake M&M's are a Target exclusive. Boy oh boy are Branny McB and Noah going to enjoy when Easter rolls around. : ) And yes we have only 2 boys and yet you are seeing 3 Reester Bunnies. That 3rd one is for me. : )

Noah messaged daddy (Noboru) and asked..."can you bring me back some Tic Tacs." Why Tic Tacs? You sure got me. But, one morning Noah woke up and this picture was sent to me and said...please show this to Noah. Needless to say, he is thrilled. : ) 

I double cleanse, my face. I have for eons. A mild first cleanser to get rid of my makeup. And a 2nd cleanse to wash my face. I first started with cleansing oils and this past year, I switched to cleansing balms. I was happily surprised when I heard that... Yes To Coconut came out with a melting cleanser. It says on the tube, melts away makeup. Usually, I use Korean brand cleansing balms or Japanese brand cleaning oils. I'm currently using Clean It Zero by Banila Co. And Shu Uemura brightening cleansing oil in the purplish/lavender bottle, (that smells so good) The chance to try an American make up remover/oil based cleanser. Sure, I'm willing to give it a shot. EmilyNoel reviewed it on YouTube and loved this as a first cleanser. Hot and Flashy has already mentioned this too. This is an Ulta exclusive. Meaning you can't buy this at Target, even though Yes to Carrots and Coconuts etc are available there. You can't buy this anywhere but Ulta. And given Noboru is in the mainland USA. And he was going to be right in the same shopping complex as Ulta anyways. I think he said it took him a grand total of 5-7 minutes to get the items and check out and leave. The other 2 things are brow mascaras. Both in medium brown. Ulta brand and Rimmel. So again...nice knowing these are sitting with Noboru and waiting to go back to Japan with him. : ) I'm most excited to try out the Ulta exclusive coconut melting cleanser. And I'm a brow mascara type a girl and I am excited to try these 2, because I have never tried either of these before.

Anyway, that's enough for now. We are now starting week 2. The kids are at school. And I cubed up my beef stew meat and skillet fried it at 10am this morning. And had it boiling away on the stove since 10:30am, this morning. It's fall apart tender right now and as soon as I post this, I will run in the kitchen and chop up the onion, add the mushrooms, potatoes etc. And also make the rice and set the timer for the rice. It will be a nice hearty and healthy beef stew tonight for the kids and I. Noboru is doing good over there. And we're doing good over here. How's the weather for us here? It's cold today, windy and the sky is a very light gray, almost white. It was raining this morning. But it isn't anymore. Bran wanted to ride his bike this morning. I didn't want him to because being a mom, I worry about him riding in the rain. But, he wants to ride with his bunch of friends on Mondays, so I let him. Noah got a ride. Noah gets out of school at 3:45pm today. And Bran gets off at 3pm today. Alrighty ya'll, I better get! I have some veggies to chop chop. : )