Seasons Changing

Transitioning from Fall to Winter....

fallen leaves from our trees.

Processing Max Lamb's Process

I'd like to do go to the beach and do something fun like what Max Lamb did....making this pewter stool right on the beach!











This one makes me nervous just watching it...the gigantic blade cutting a piece of lime stone and them running around it...

We're Sailing Away...

I lived in Seattle for 11 years and Dylan has been here for 20 years... and for the first time in both our lives, we got to go sailing on lake union!

We got to go with Charlie and Andrew on their classy Wino Country Safari sailboat.

What a way to start the summer!

Love the classy interior of Wino Country Safari.

Gearing up for a little patriotism before the Fourth.

Looking at Gasworks park from the water.
Moments like this reminds me why Seattle is so amazing....

Then summer in Seattle ended after the clouds came back... :P
It was fun while it lasted!!

A little progress & serenity in our space...

As we mentioned few weeks before...we've been doing some re-hauling & re-organizing of our space for ourselves and for L&G studio...
Slowly but surely we're making some progress and have moved our bedroom into what was previously our office (or more like our storage)...
It's a smaller space, but I've been loving the idea to downsize our bedroom....keeping it minimal, airy, and peaceful....We painted our room with stock white paint...to replace the previously dingy dirty off white paint....and just changing that, the room felt instantly bigger, brighter and 100 times better!
We kept one side of the wall with the chalk wall from when we painted it for the office....since it'll still be useful for those occasional late night brainstorming sessions we do....plus I didn't' have the heart to erase the adorable messages & drawings by our friends' kids from Japan during the time they stayed with us!!
Then Dylan boxed in the window with soft toned pine boards with a added function as a shallow shelf....so we can incorporate some hanging plants & more plants!... LOVE!!
Then a little added color & pattern from a Ikea area rug for some warmth.Still got few more to add to the space...but overall we're gonna have it pretty paired down...with wood shelving made with cinder blocks and then have ropes & hanging rods to hang my accessories. I like the concept of "organized chaos" and love seeing selective pieces of clothes hung & displayed like that...it makes me appreciate what I have and gets me excited about wearing it...like the my new B&W sweater hanging on the mirror . A recent score at one of the vintage shops by Nationale & Stand Up Comedy in Portland.
This is a rare exception when I wished the whether is slightly colder so I can wear that more often! I've been practically living in it with it being so comfortable to wear!

still work in progress...can't wait to get it done!

Japan blips...

We're filling up our camera and memory banks of incredible experiences here in Japan! So much to blog, such limited internet access!

Just to assuage any readers' fears...we're safe and sound after experiencing the biggest earthquake in modern Japanese history. We were so lucky to be in Ichikawa at the Minatos' shop Depot/Lovelife. Just before the quake, we had just finished eating the most amazing Ramen ever and were in a ceramic workshop at Depot (more pics on that later). We felt the quake and our first instincts were to save all the poor beautiful shaking ceramics on the shelves, so we were frantically bracing everything. Maybe not the smartest tactical decision for our personal safety, but we can proudly say we're still alive along with all but one of the ceramic pieces in their shop! We've been saddened and shocked by all the devastation that took place just north of us and continue to hope for a quick, nuclear-meltdown-free recovery. We feel so lucky to be in a safe spot.

So, here are some visual "teasers" of some Japan posts to come! We are continuing our trip and will be heading south to Kyoto and Okayama tomorrow for the week. Hope to fill you all in soon.

Beautiful mossy wall in Tokyo

Stacked chairs at Aika and Yume Minato's school. We got to visit and had a wonderful Q&A sesh with 2nd and 4th graders.

A basket of wooden lids at a used restaurant supply store (SO COOL!)

Every wonder why you can't find Red Wings or other cool vintage brands in US thrift stores? They send them all here to this giant vintage reseller...aisles and aisles of classic American and Japanese brands for lower than new, but still high prices.

Sakura Mochi and tea...the first thing we had right after we landed...

"Stations are city gateways. Never an ashtray." and other subway warnings.

In case you were wondering where to stand at the intersection...it's right here.

Peace & Serenity 24/7

I would DREAM to have Mary Temple paint one of her beautiful nature shadow-like paintings in my house someday....
I like feeling like sun shining into our windows all year round even when it's actually miserablly rainy or cloudy out.So beautifully real...
via My Love For You

Spread Your Love with Moss!

I. Love. Moss.
Actually I'm too obsessed with moss that's beyond love at this point. Everything about moss makes me happy....They're fuzzy, soft, green, and cute...what's not to love?
I've been wanting to grow moss for so long!! I would literally steal moss from going on hikes...or even from my relatives' backyard to try to grow them at home inside and out but all failed miserably. Especially with our south facing house, there's just too much sunlight and heat all around to grow it successfully...But I shall not give up!!
Seeing these various moss graffiti artists like Edina Tokodi (aka. Mosstika) and Anna Garforth is totally inspiring. Imagine running into such pleasant surprises while walking around the streets of NY.
If anyone feels the need to spread their love for moss as well, here's a recipe to make your own version of moss graffiti! (from Environmental Graffiti)

You will need a blender to make the mixture and if you plan to grow your moss outdoors you will also need a seed tray filled with compost.

• Several clumps of moss
• 1 pot of natural yogurt or 12oz buttermilk (experiment to see which works best)
• 1/2 teaspoon of sugar
• Plastic pot (with a lid)
• Paint brush
• Spray-mister

Seemingly, getting the recipe to work can be quite difficult, the location and weather conditions need to be spot on. Moss thrives best in damp areas so if you have to grow it indoors make sure you spray it with water frequently. As soon as it starts to grow, transplant it in your chosen location and watch your graffiti art spread.

Clam Crazy!

Here some photos of our recent clamming trip to Birch Bay....about a month ago...maybe longer...can't keep track anymore! I can't believe it's already the end of June!! Sigh...Time is going by way to fast.!! I feel like the summer is gonna be over soon!! NOOOOO!
Anyways, we went with a group of friends who had timeshare (thanks Terri!) at Birch Bay and so we all went to do some clamming. It's been a long time since I've been clamming, and it was Dylan's first time. (and might be the last...you'll find out why)
The first day of digging was in the late afternoon soon after we arrived. We were all digging around finding a few here and there....and I was honestly getting a little discouraged since all I found were tiny clams or big shells with nothing inside. Talk about lame....no one likes stupid big empty clams!
But then after about an hour or so, Christine and Nick totally found the money spot where we were getting handful of clams at a time! Booh-Yah!
As we dug and dug, the tide was also coming in closer and faster! So 2 of us had to build a sand barrier to block as much water out while the others were literally on their hands and knees in the water frantically digging.
Check it out! Dylan actually captured this scene with his manual camera! It was totally exciting to have found the spot with so many clams. I can only imagine what it would be like if it was actually gold... All that excitement and adrenaline rush! Hmm...that doesn't say too much about my life, huh?
We cooked up a whole bowl of these babies and sauteed them in garlic, leek, and white wine, and it smelled amazing!! Finally at 10 pm, we made our dinner along with salads, and other side dishes. We were all looking forward to be rewarded with some fresh cooked clams that we all worked so hard for. We all went for the clams...tasted them...chew chew..CRUNCH!
There was still sand inside!! We try to rinse them out as much as we could, but some of the clams still had a lot of sand inside...really not the type of texture I was expecting.
They would of tasted amazing if they weren't so sandy!!....I suppose we should of soaked them longer. :(
But then on top of that, the very next day Dylan got some sort of flu or food poisoning...where he had horrible stomach pain and ended up staying inside for the majority of the day...puking up all the clams...and CLAM SAND!....sorry, TMI! But yeah...not super pleasant for him. So I think Dylan's gonna stay away from clams for awhile now...
On the last day, we got to check out Lummi Island on the way back to Seattle. It's a lovely little island that we took a tiny ferry to get to. We all got to just hang out by this beach and enjoy a lovely picnic.
It was a quiet and fairly secluded beach with beautiful shore line. The entire beach is covered in round pebbles and rocks of all colors and sizes and we spent hours searching and collecting a bunch of rocks.....weighing ourselves down more and more as we went. The shore line was so beautiful with dramatic rock formations and interesting sea life! I love seeing all the patterns, textures, and colors in nature....It's so surreal! Also took some polaroids!
We had a great time though (minus sandy clams and Dylan throwing up...). Thanks Terri and Chris, Christine and Nick for the great weekend!
Here's us trying to take a polaroid of ourselves...it's harder than it looks! You can just see the struggle on his face trying to take the photo and smile at the same time. Men...they just don't know how to multitask do they?
See rest of the photos, here.

I Pea-ed My Plants!

I have to credit Jared for this blog titled... This was a joke that Jared had made about my FIRST pea that I grew! That guy think he's a comedian or something....
But this is the first and ONLY one that grew since end of March when we started planting.
I like how you can see the inside! SO CUTE!
But the problem is that there's only ONE....and I worked too hard to want to eat it....quite a dilemma.Also, here's the recent update on the other plants....it's been almost 2 months since we started planting! The cheery and heirloom tomatoes are getting quite tall...at least 2ft tall now! We'll be transplanting them soon. Oh boy!! I just hope it'll yield more than one so I can at least keep one and eat the other!

We're Growing!

The dupe got bunch of vegetable seeds and we're growing them!! LOOK! Well...we actually started in end of March. So don't be surprised if you see the plants a foot taller in the next couple posts. :P
This is my first time growing vegetables, so this is totally exciting to see these cute little greens growing out of the soil and watch them get taller and taller each day! I know nothing about growing vegetables, so I've been getting lots of great tips from everyone. One great tip we got was putting the seeds in the fridge for couple days and then plant it. This way, it tricks them in thinking that it's warmer weather and then they'll wanna come out! Silly plants...they don't know any better.
Here's what we're growing! Egg plants, beets, cucumbers, peas, peppers, arugula, heirloom and cheery tomatoes, cilantro, dill, chives, basil...Eventually they'll all go to our dupe backyard! I just hope we can keep them alive and to produce some awesome vegetables...otherwise I'm gonna be really sad....and pissed. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...permanently. This will ensure all the plants to produce awesome vegetables.