Hanami + Walmart + New Furniture

I finally got a Costco card!

So the plan for Wednesday was to go to Costco!!!! I really wanted to go to the Youtube Hanami Meet thing, but I really hate going to Tokyo by myself--the anxiety alone convinces me to not go. I hate travelling--period. Plus the three hours (due to being cheap and going on normal trains) on a train always kills my phone battery which is no fun and I can't ever manage to sleep on trains...yada yada yada I gave up on going.

So instead! I decided to put that money I would have used to something I've been wanting for along while now--A COSTCO CARD!

Ryosuke's mom used to have one, but realized they didn't go enough for the expenditure, and I would never ask her to ree-up on that when I could just get it as I was missing my home massive amounts of foods and THAT PIZZA THO.

Anyway, so thankfully Ryosuke's schedule was open on Wednesday, and thanks to my moms genius week plan (lazy monday, make a list tuesday, go to costco wednesday), we made the hour and a half trek to the Amerika-land! We are quite lucky in Gunma actually because there even IS a Costco within the prefecture. Nagano and Saitama people usually have to come here to get Amerika goods so in that aspect we're good. :D

Ryosuke is usually a very late starter in the mornings, were I am awake (for example, now at 7am on a day off) super early, and he likes to sleep...till midday.
(>_>)

So thankfully his switch for 'I MUST GET UP' was on and he got up early enough for us to leave a couple hours prior to Costco opening. Both of us had yet to eat breakfast, so obviously a quick conbi trip was needed so none other than--Family Mart! Fried Chicken and Monster for breakfast--greasy food and energy drinks, what more could this girl ask for. (^_^)

We started our journey with tummy's just full enough and trees dead like it was still Autumn. The weather was cloudy but enough sun to not kill my eyes which turned out to be better and better the closer we got to Maebashi! The closer we got the more we started seeing the cherry trees! 



The cherry blossoms were just starting to bloom and some trees were already crying petals. I, like everyone in the world, must take pictures of this once a year event. We passed a couple parks and I mumbled how nice it would be to take pictures--and finally we decided to just stop in the main, big park and walk around for a bit and take some pictures. Since it was mid-morning on a weekday, luckily there were very few people.

I've always wanted to see the cherry blossom festival in this park, but it get super crowded and my anxiety flares up a bit, so I enjoyed the time to ourselves. The sun even came out to say hello!!! I'm not sure how much time we spent there, but we took a whole bunch of photos, many of which look really similar to any other picture--so I'll post the nice ones and a little collage.

credit:Ryosuke

After I felt I had walked enough for the day, and didn't want to be too late to my Costco festivities--we headed back out and made it there shortly after they'd opened. One thing I must say for the Japanese that I could never say for Miami people is how early and on-time they are (for the most part). I always liked to go to the mall or a store early, early because virtually nobody was ever there. In Japan, there are ALWAYS people waiting for places to open and bum-rush the store!! We got there literally half an hour after it opened and there were already enough people to make Ryosuke's anxiety flare up. (I consider Cc I was used to that much.)

 I was so-so-so happy to find massive fruits in big bags/bunches and be finally reunited with my precious bagels. Those simple things we take advantage of in the states--I am drinking a smoothie full of my America fruits now and will be gorging on a bagel shortly. I spent the most money I have in a long time shopping for just food, but good lord did it feel good. I've only ever gone with my parents or friends who had a card, so for me to finally have one of my own--I felt so adult!

There are obviously two reasons to go to Costco, the food--to buy and the food--to eat. I love pizza, and although in Japan the selection is quite poor, (also living in the mountains, all we have is a damn Pizza-la..and it's not my favorite) so when I can have a normal sized, sauce-loaded, cheesey pizza--I realized later I SHOULD have bought the second slice for Thursday morning--but it's ok I had bagels. I am very used to the obscene size and taste, Ryosuke on the other-hand barely finished his slice, I would've tried to finish his--but thankfully I didn't.

I felt to happy to share this moment with him. I am sure we will do this many, many more times--and at the very least, once a month. :)

On our way home, I started to think--there's no way in hell my purchase will fit in my house. I barely have space to fit anything as it is (tiny LeoPalace), how the f___. So I did some quick thinking, I would need to but a shelf! Problem was that I didn't know the measurements and first I had to drop off my food because I had a massive bag of frozen strawberry's that needed to see my freezer ASAP. So we hit up a nicely sized Daiso (100yen store) and got  mini screwdriver set and a measuring tape thing and we were back on track to go home.

Long story short, I got a wooden shelf as opposed to a metal one due to price and the aesthetic being much nicer, and good thing I bought that screwdriver set because even though the box says it was included--it was not.

It really was a team effort, Ryosuke got it started half way and I helped with my little hands in my tight hallway space and quick thinking skills from watching my dad put stuff together all my life. We succeeded and my new shelf proudly houses my purchases beautifully.

As if a great day would just not want to end, as a bit of a break from the usual--Ryosuke and I decided to get a bit expensive on dinner and had yakiniku! We both love-love meat and eating out of something we do often, but eating on this side of the pricier end is not done much and we both decided we worked hard enough today that it was well deserved.

I swear that was such an amazing day, spent with the most amazing man, doing my favorite things!

Have a great rest of the week, thanks for reading!