"Lo-vul" Kentucky

love this beautiful home with the red door

Oh Kentucky, you've stolen my heart. <3

We set off to visit our friends in Louisville (the locals call it "lo-vul" which took me a day to understand) last week to celebrate their love and witness their special wedding day. We didn't get a chance to really explore the city because of wedding preparations, but Brandon, Bruce, and I went on daily morning walks around our friends' neighborhood.

I. Fell. In. Love!

I've only visited a few other states on that side of the country but I fall for everything every time I go. The architectures, the greenery, the details in everything are amazing and it's something you don't see often here in the OC. It did remind us a little of Novato but bigger and greener.

Here are a few photos from our walks:

the scalloped door - too cute!

the metal columns (is that the correct term?)

reminded me of lace

a derby jockey greeting us

nearly all the neighbors had beautiful front yards

amazing white bench and loving the door details

and who would've thought i'd see blue & white striped walls

Does it make you want to visit yet? ;) Let me share a few more pictures from my Instagram:

the details on the street signs

beautiful roses in nearly every yard

tall trees and clear blue skies

oh, i wish i could remember what mandy called this

when the trees make an arch... loved it!

And here are a few places we ate at:

verbena cafe - loved the verbena hash

can't remember this cuban restaurant's name

but their mojitos and food was amazing

the captian's quarters

Can't wait to go back during durby someday and explore some more! :) Have you been to "lo-vul"?

Lots of Smiles,

Akiyo

Bruce's First Airplane Ride

goodbye kentucky

Last week, we took a 5 day trip to Kentucky for a close friend's wedding. This was Bruce's first flight and to be honest, I was dreading every second of it. I didn't want to be that parent with the screaming child throughout the entire flight. Brandon, on the other hand, wasn't worried at all. I've actually never had an experience with a loud child on a flight before so I was only expecting the worst after hearing and reading lots of stories.

Luckily, I found some resources and tips online and from a couple friends who had also just taken their baby / toddler on their first plane ride. Here's what worked for us:

lots of snacks

( you can ask a flight attendant for some water before take-off )

wearing layers since some flights were colder than others

letting him walk around and play during layovers

coloring books and crayons

The flights to Kentucky were a lot easier since they were morning and daytime flights. He slept through from SNA to ORD and was occupied with snacks, coloring books, and the ipad from ORD to SDF. The flights back were a little more challenging due to an unexpected engine maintenance on our plane when leaving Chicago. :( We were stuck in the plane for more than an hour before take-off and since it was an evening flight, the lights were turned off half the time. Some people were sleeping while Bruce was having trouble getting comfortable on our laps. He screamed and cried once in a while so we got a few unfriendly stares. :/ I was so thankful when we landed since it could've been a lot worse. All in all, Bruce's first flight was a success. I think I'd like to wait until he can talk and understand what "quiet" means when we take our next trip. ;)

we tried to teach him how to say "plane" but 

bruce kept pointing to every plane and kept yelling "car!"

I also got to cross off #11 and #67 on our 101 in 1001 list! :) Can you believe it's almost been 2.5 years since I started that project? I still have lots to do and can't wait to cross more things off once our kitchen renovation is finished!

Have you traveled with a toddler? How was your experience? I'd love to know! :D

Lots of Smiles,
Akiyo

Carlsbad Flower Fields

mother's day 2012 at carlsbad flower fields

Hello darling friends! :) Hope you had a lovely weekend!

I know I'm a week late sharing Mother's Day photos but we were away last week so I didn't have a chance until now. It was such a perfect weekend, I'm so thankful to have all my family nearby. My sister, Kaori, and her boyfriend came up on Saturday night and cooked us dinner with my other sister, Shizuka. Kaori also baked us a beautiful cake with pink roses. She was a little sad that it had cracked on the way up from San Diego but it was delicious even with the cracks. ;)

The next morning, I woke up and saw two sparkly diamond earrings on my nightstand from my sweet husband! We had agreed we didn't need to get each other anything for occasions like these this year since our kitchen and bathroom remodel was our biggest gift to ourselves. On top of that, he never buys jewelry since we both enjoy experience gifts and practical gifts more so than material gifts. (Does that even make sense? "Experience gifts"? I mean like enjoying a picnic versus a diamond ring.) So I was completely surprised and thought I was dreaming!

We then got ready and headed to Carlsbad to visit the Flower Fields with my entire family, something we've been doing for Mother's Day for my mom since my sisters and I were in grade school. It was unreal to look back and think Bruce was just a chubby baby last year when we visited. Now, he's old enough to walk around on his own and smell the colorful flowers! Oh my, does time fly! :)

bruce and the mini white picket fence

Have you been to the Carlsbad Flower Fields? If not, I totally recommend it!

Have a wonderful Monday!

Lots of Smiles,

Akiyo

Happy Friday

crafting a mother's day gift for nana this morning

Have a lovely weekend full of smiles! :)

And a BIG Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!

Lots of Smiles,

Akiyo

Pink Eiffel Tower

paris by anti-pati-ya printed and framed

I found this Eiffel Tower image via Rocio's pinterest board and I knew I wanted a printed poster. I searched left and right and finally found the artist, anti-pati-ya, but couldn't purchase a print nor could I get in contact. So, because I'm just using it for personal purposes and not selling it, I printed it myself and framed the beautiful work. I painted a piece of watercolor paper with the same pink wall color as a border and voila, my pretty in pink art! :)

I've started organizing my craft supplies today. I still have lots of boxes to go through (like the one hiding under my craft table above), but once I have everything organized, I think I'll be able to start crafting again. Woot! :)

Lots of Smiles,
Akiyo