12 of 12: 28th Birthday Edition

January is the only month I always remember to do my 12 of 12...January 12 is my birthday, and there's no way I'm going to forget about that, but most of the other months, the 12th just kind of passes by without much fanfare and very few pictures. I really am going to try to do better this year.
I have a lot of pictures to choose from (usually, I just have 12, even in January, so I think I'm off to a promising start for the year!) I took my camera out running with me and took...FIFTY-EIGHT pictures. Running here is really pretty and I'm going to miss it.

9:45ish/Mihama Sunset Beach. My favorite caution sign, ever. Some things need no translation.

9:50ish/Seawall walking path. A birthday greeting just for me on the seawall! (Well, it's actually not for me, since it's been there since 2001, but it made me smile!)


10:15ish/Araha Beach Park. Okay, so this is actually 2 pictures, which will bring my total to 13 instead of 12, but I think this park is the coolest thing! Had to turn around shortly after the pirate ship and head home because I knew David would be waiting for me for lunch.

11:30ish/Ono Kau Kau. For my birthday lunch, I choose a yummy Hawaiian restaurant. I had Kalua Pork & Garlic Chicken and it was SO good. I'd been looking forward to going back to this restaurant for the yummy food, but also for the grape soda...but I had to settle for orange. :(

1730ish/Rte 85. Thirsty? There are vending machines everywhere on Okinawa, which makes planning for long runs super-easy, just throw a couple hundred yen in your pocket and you're ready! This is a really terrible picture, but the vending machines are something I will never forget about this place...and they're always drink machines, never food.

1745ish/Marino's Gushikawa. These are our drinks at Marino's... looks like milk & beer, but it's really ginger ale (for David) and "White Water" for me...it's this super-tasty soda that has this yummy flavor that I can't quite put my finger on. I get it whenever we're somewhere that serves it.

1800ish/Marino's. Our delicious food at Marino's. When you order the "Parmenara" (isn't that clever?) for 2, they bring it out and dump the noodles in that big round of cheese then cook it up with an egg in this pot. David commented on the super-huge pepper mill and we decided that it would be perfect for my Aunt Nim, who doesn't so much like pepper with her food but rather food with her pepper!

1830ish/Marino's. Besides the pasta, you get Cesar salad, pizza and THREE desserts. I was a little bummed that they didn't have the fruit tarts tonight, but enjoyed the desserts I chose: cream puff, yogurt with berries & what tasted like berry jello that just wasn't all the way set, and a green tea cake. I was surprised that the cake was filled with some kind of strawberry whipped cream...and even more surprised when I saw chocolate filling inside the strawberry filling...and even more even more surprised when I took a bite of the chocolate filling and found that it was actually beans.

1840ish/Marino's. On our way out, I wanted a picture of the guy who made our yummy prosciutto pizza. I think he doesn't like pictures...the first one that I took, he ducked down and disappeared right as the picture was taken. This one, he was looking right at us until the picture and then he looked down!

1945ish/Military Family Housing-Kadena AB. David always decorates me a cake on my birthday! He's so great...and his cake decorating skills have really come a long way (but I don't think he made the flowers!). I really thought he wouldn't have a cake for me, since we're moving and we're trying to empty the fridge and not make messes in the kitchen and David is extremely stressed out right now. Usually I am the stressed one and he's the laid back one, but he likes to have all of his ducks in a row and they're just not lining up yet. Anyway, he went to his office to check on the ducks and when he came back, he said he had a surprise for me. I got all excited...and he pulled out a bottle of water from his pocket for me. I was thirsty, so I wasn't too disappointed. I went into the living room to get ready to watch Rock of Love 3 and David wasn't in there. I thought he was in the bathroom, but then he came in the door with this beautiful cake all lit up!

1946ish/Living Room. Wow...I have that crazy cake look in my eye, huh? It's strange because I don't really even care that much for cake. I guess I just love my birthday.

1950ish/Living Room. I wasn't supposed to see when David came in, but I am the queen of finding out surprises before they happen, so I saw this present underneath the cake. I love that it's wrapped with the ribbon that they use to "flag bombs" or something and affixed with duct tape because that's all David had handy. And of course I love that it's How I Met Your Mother...seasons 2 and 3! We plan to not pack them in our household goods shipment and instead carry them in our suitcases so we can watch them once we get out of housing and into billeting. If we can wait that long!