Well - today was my birthday. Not sure if I would say it was a happy one, but I'm officially 23 now. It'll make it all that much worse when people in airports ask me how old I am and if this is my first time flying alone... Must control fist of death. I spent a good portion of the day in classes, and the rest of the day feeling overheated because it was such a warm day. I didn't really go do anything or see anyone, although that wasn't unexpected. Still - Philip did call me early this morning so he could make sure to be the first person to wish me a happy birthday. That was really sweet, although I ended up going back to bed about an hour later because I just felt bleh. Didn't get quite enough sleep I guess. I felt much better after my nap. Philip also left a cute little message on my answering machine so it would be there waiting for me when I got back from classes.

And although I didn't get any presents today, I did get a package! (To be fair - my birthday celebration actually took place on the weekend and that is when I got cool presents. And last night Shannon took me out to a Japanese steak house!) The package contained my uchikake and my tsuke obi, both of which are very awesome! So it's all good. You know me and packages.

But so... the obi was a lot bigger then I was expecting. I guess the photographs of it were a little deceiving just because there was nothing for size comparison. Let me tell you - that's a big bow! It's really cool what the place I bought it from does. They take old, used obi that maybe have some stains here and there, but that are still quite lovely. They then give the obi a new life by cutting it up and using one section to make the bow, making sure all of the stains are hidden, and then basically doing the same thing to the part that you wrap around your middle. The only thing I don't like about my obi is that it smells of moth balls. I've put some incense in the box with it and then one of these days I'll have to see if I can't air it out some.

The business I ordered from have got to be the coolest people ever. So if you're ever looking for a kimono or anything related, I can highly recommend Ichiroya. They've got great prices too. Besides being incrediably helpful, they are just so friendly and accomodating! I had been asking them about what sort of designs were common for the all-white variety of uchikake, because I really didn't want any sort of birds on mine. I had mentioned that I quite liked cherry blossoms in particular. Although my uchikake didn't end up having that particular motif, they included a postcard with a photograph of cherry blossoms in my package! Apparently it was just cherry blossom season in the past week or two. They also included a thin cotton hand towel (tenugui?) that had a cherry blossom symbol on it. How awesome is that? I don't think I could compliment them enough. It was just a really great transaction.