Out with the girls

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything. The past few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind and I am busy for the first time in a long time! As most of you know, my wonderful husband is back in the States for a few months, so if you're looking to see what he's up to, I probably can't help you out. I am sure when he's not torturing me by telling me of all the great restaurants he got to go to or his trip to Target (oh how I miss that place!), he's either sleeping or has his head buried in a book studying. So this blog is all about me and the girls! Luckily, I have a found a couple girls that have helped me keep my sanity while John is away. The past two weekends I've had the opportunity to go out with some of them and get in a little girl time.
The first weekend John was gone, we went out to farewell a friend who is on her way to England. the first stop was Kitakaisen, a sushi restaurant that has EVERYTHING! We have been there a few times before, but I am always overwhelmed by their menu. There's something for everyone, whether its sushi, pizza, or even horse meat sashimi...I'll skip that one.
Afterwards, we went bowling. That bowling alley on base was closed for maintenance so we went off base and were definitely the only Americans there! Language is always an issue, but luckily the employees knew what were there for.

I was hoping our names would be put on the screen in Japanese, but no such luck!


Getting shoes was an interesting experience; you puts coins into a vending machine-like thing and out came your shoes. The problem was all shoe sizes were in centimeters, so it was basically trial and error!

Here is a picture of Eve (the girl who is leaving), demonstrating how to use the machine!
We decided to go to the Officer's club after that to dance a little. Saturday nights are pretty dead there, so it was great having the dance floor to ourselves! Oh, I almost forgot, I got a raffle ticket when I walked in the door. I never think much of those because I never win anything, but my odds were pretty good since there was hardly anyone in there! I wound up winning a Coach purse! Cool huh?! I was pretty shocked! I think its a ploy to get more people in there on Saturday nights, hey it works for me!


So this weekend a few of the girls from our squadron went together to our monthly Marine Officer's Spouses Club event. The basis of MOSC is to raise money for women's charities in Okinawa and they generally raise ALOT of money! This month we celebrated St. Patrick's day with some great food, green beer, and an auction. We raised over $2000! Pretty darn good for one event!
Of course, it wasn't all business, we had fun too!


We especially had a good time with the decorations!


A little karaoke is always great! I can't believe they did "Bohemian Rapsody" so well!


My friend Rebecca and I must be long lost sisters. We somehow wind up with matching stuff without even trying. We have the same bedspread, entertainment center, and dozens of other things that were never planned but we laugh about when we find out yet one more thing the other has that we have. This time, we had to take a picture of our new coach purses our husbands bought for us for Valentine's Day (they had no idea either), along with our side ponytails! Ha ha!

I ended this weekend with a trip to the spa with my friend Laura. She had heard about this hot stone spa so we thought we would check it out.


Here is an excerpt of an article I read about this spa: "Ganbanyoku is a sauna-like bath, as it heats your body deeply inside and makes you drip with sweat. The Japanese word “Ganban” means “rock”. The Ganban used at stone-spa parlors contains a lot of minerals and emits far-infrared ray. At such places, the rock is heated up to about 40c (105F) and you spread a towel and lie on the rock for 15 minutes. After taking a break for 5 to 10 minutes, you will repeat the same set for 3~4 times."


So that's what we did. We got into some outfits they gave us and downed a ton of water before sweating our buns off!
It was actually really relaxing and pretty cheap. I'd probably do it again!
So I hope you enjoyed "Andrea's weekend adventures"! If I do anything else that is somewhat interesting, I will keep you all updated!
By the way, incase you didn't know, John and I just might be coming to a town near you in April and May, so watch out, you may have a visitor or two!