Thursday, August 28, 2008

Happy new things! :D

Wow, so much to write about!!! So sorry for not keeping this blog updated regularly, but I have been extremely busy as of late. Anyway, the purpose of this post is to share a couple of awesome things with everyone! Awesome, happy new things!


First happy new thing is that I have been accepted to have my work featured on WOWIO.com! So far, track 01 of "The Way to Your Heart" is up and the other six completed tracks will follow eventually. I will receive royalties and small payments every time it is previewed and downloaded, so I encourage everyone to please check it out!


The second happy thing to report is that I've created an online shop at cafepress.com called "Emi's Eye Candy." While it's still a work in progress, there are some cool things there now and there will be lots more designs to come! I will officially announce the opening of the shop on my website once I get a few more things in order.


Exciting stuff! I'm also currently working on a very special treat for my fans and regular visitors to my website... they'll be so wonderfully surprised, I can't wait! ^_~

Well, that's about it for now. Tsukasa has the day off today, so we'll probably play Samurai Warriors (MY NEW GAMING OBSESSION!!!!!!!!!!!) and go biking and stuff. Toodles~!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Finally, about our honeymoon!

Hiya, Emi here! :D So after a really busy month, I'm finally getting around to writing about our honeymoon. I'll include a lot of pictures, they'll be able to describe the locations much better than my words. Enjoy!

Tsukasa and I left for our "official" honeymoon on tuesday July 8. Before we set out, we stopped by Uwajimaya in Seattle to get some snacks and things to take with us, and then we were on our way to Leavenworth. The drive was beautiful through Snoqualmie Pass, and the scenery through the Cascades is truly inspiring! It takes about 2½ hours to get there, and at 3:30ish we arrived at our bed & breakfast, Liberty Way Inn. It's located just outside of Leavenworth in a remote and gorgeous spot nestled in a little mountain canyon. We were met and greeted by our host who showed us the room, which was absolutely wonderful!

We definitely will be going back, maybe at Christmas. As it turns out, the owners of the bed & breakfast are LDS too and temple workers! :D We were thrilled to discover that, she was so happy to actually have some LDS clients. And the food was absolutely delicious ^_______^ Next time we go, I want to take my parents along so that they can have the same wonderful experience!


We were excited to go on down the road just a few more miles to Leavenworth! For those unfamiliar with the great state of Washington, Leavenworth is a quaint little Bavarian town along the Cascade mountains and Wenatchee river. These days, it's a HUGE draw for tourism as there are many unique shops and events (German inspired-wahoo!) and outdoor recreational activities. Here's what downtown Leavenworth looks like! Oh yeah, and there was some road construction going on... try and ignore it. :p






The scenery surrounding Leavenworth is spectacular. This is one of my favorite shots.

We stayed on our honeymoon from Tuesday until Saturday, which meant that we had plenty of time to explore some of the other places around Leavenworth. One of the other places we went to was Cashmere, a historic and picturesque little town best remembered by me for Liberty Orchards, which creates the Aplets & Cotlets candies. So, we went to the factory for a tour and free samples! While also in Cashmere, we went to the museum which had displays of the Native American tribes in Washington, artifacts, natural diaramas of wildlife native to the state, and a pioneer town complete with a train station and train, school, jail, store, print shop, blacksmith, and homesteads. Just a couple of pictures of Tsukasa and me, if you've ever been to a "pioneer town" then you know what they look like.

Another place we explored was the city of Wenatchee. While there, we visited the Ohme Gardens and the Rocky Reach Dam. Ohme Gardens is a beautiful alpine garden oasis that was created on the top of one of the barren mountains just outside of Wenatchee. I think it was about 90 acres with several rocky paths winding all throughout its trees, meadows, ponds, and flowers. It was breathtaking and reminded me a lot of the alpine beauty of Rock Mountain National Park in Colorado, where I used to live.

After the Ohme Gardens, we went to Rocky Reach Dam, but Tsukasa has pictures of it in his camera, and I don't know where his camera is... Oh well! After visiting the dam, we went into Wenatchee to explore the city and found some really cool antique shops, where we bought some fabulous silver pieces and clocks to decorate our home with. I was also finally able to get a cameo brooch necklace after lusting for one for far too long. ^^ Antiques are awesome!

The night before coming home, we watched a performance of the Sound of Music at the Leavenworth Summer Outdoor Theater and it was incredibly well done! SoM is probably my favorite musical ever (though Fiddler on the Roof is quite close...) so I thoroughly enjoyed to see a live performance of it under the pristine night sky.

All too soon, Saturday came and it was time to go home. Before leaving, we decided to have an "authentic Bavarian experience" by trying some of the food... I'm sorry, but I just have to state my strong opinion here. Some German food is probably based on a dare. ^^; Not a fan.

That basically sums it up! It was so much fun and we'll always treasure the memories of our honeymoon. If anyone ever has a chance to, definitely check out Leavenworth. You'll fall in love with it!