On May 16, I held my first ever Casino Party.  The place of venue was the newly established Casino Dealer's School (CDS) located in Osaka.  Unlike my other parties, this one was limited to 50 people because of the space requirements at CDS.   The great thing about this party was that it provided a chance for the guests to refine their gaming skills and also pick up new ones as the dealers' instructed everyone on how to play each game including table manners.

This is definitely a party that I will want to organize again.  But for the time being, I need to focus on my wine party set for next month.

On the May 9-10 weekend, I headed off to Ishikawa Prefecture, which is located about 5 hours by car from Osaka with 5 of my friends to have a nice relaxing weekend away from the hustle and bustle of the city.  I must say that going in a group to a Japanese style hotel in the countryside to get some R&R is definitely a great experience!  Great food, great people, and of course great hot springs!  This time especially, we were blessed with some excellent weather, which really capped off an enjoyable weekend. 

As this was the first time for me to visit Ishikawa Prefecture, I was excited more than usual to be embarking on this weekend journey.  Our first destination was to our hotel at Wakura Hot Springs.  After taking in some of the sights (not much I must say), we had a very delicious dinner before heading off to the hot spring bath.  After becoming refreshed, we relaxed in our room for the remainder of the night.  The next morning, I got up early to go back into the hot spring bath as an awakener.  Following my soak, we had breakfast and prepared our things to check out and head off to the city of Kanazawa to do some "real" sightseeing.

Once at Kanazawa, which is located about an hour by car from Wakura Hot Springs, we visited Kenroku Park and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art before packing it up and heading back on the somewhat long journey to Osaka.

All in all, it was nice weekend getaway.  I must do more this in the months to come!