Winter Vacation in Hokkaido...

冬の休暇で北海道に来ています。小樽の運河の写真です。－１度でした。

Cute JJ roll cakes

Sweets from JJ Bakery on Crenshaw, Torrance. They are not so sweet so you don't feel guilty :

トーランスのCrenshawにあるJJ Bakeryのロールケーキです。見かけがかわいい！そんなに甘くはないので、重たくなく食べやすいです。

***Happy Holidays***

A tall and beautiful Christmas tree at Americana in Glendale...

グランデールにあるAmericanaというショッピングモールに飾られた周りの建物よりも背の高い美しいクリスマスツリーです。

Delicious Christmas Gift / Shortbread

My cooking teacher Ako gave me a christmas gift. Thank you very much, Ako. Her shortbread was light and soft compared to the shortbread by Walker. It was so delicious that I ate them all instantly＾＾； I like the accessory she attached to the wrapping.

お料理の先生Akoさんから、クリスマスギフトを頂きました。Akoさん、ありがとうございます。Walkerのショートブレッドよりもあっさり＆しっとりしていて、おいしくて、あっという間に食べてしまいました＾＾； ラッピングのアクセサリーも素敵です。

Fall Photo Session

My co-worker and I went outside for photo shooting during lunch time! Colored leaves are so beautiful....!!

ランチタイムに仲良しの同僚さんと一緒に外へ紅葉の写真を撮りに出ました。本当にごく一部分の紅葉セクションなんだけど、毎朝そこを通る度に心が洗われます。落ち葉もしっかりひろって、押し花中です。落ち葉の絨毯も本当にきれいなんです。ロサンゼルスでも四季をしっかり感じています。

Cooking Class!

Last Saturday, I participated in Ako’s cooking class. http://akobishoku.exblog.jp/

Ako used to be a professional chef who has experiences working at restaurants in Detroit area. Currently she mainly teaches at home and sometime she visits houses to hold private cooking lessons. My last participation of the class was over 18 months ago so I was very excited to be a part of the class. Also she had just returned from her business trip from Fiji so I was looking forward to her stories from her trip.

Saturday’s menu items were chicken pot pie, wedge salad, gravy sauce, mashed potatoes, and dessert was mini-sized chocolate banana pies. There are some dishes that are traditionally famous for being high calorie dishes but Ako took the time to replace high calorie items with healthier items to lower the overall calories without degrading the tastes.

She does not only teach us how to cook the dish but also teach us about ingredients and cooking tools which helps me to appreciate more about the process of cooking.

There were three people I met for the first time in the class. Time flew very quickly by having fun conversation with them. At the end of the class, we decorated our plates after Ako’s example and enjoyed the dishes. Recipes from this class seem to be easier than the first class (hot chocolate cake & truffles) so I am going to practice so that I can become good at making them : ) Thank you Ako san, I was very inspired by your creativity and skills : )

この前の土曜は、Akoさんのお料理教室に参加してきました。http://akobishoku.exblog.jp/

Akoさんは元々料理のプロとして、レストランで働いていた経験をもたれる方で、現在ははお料理教室をお家で開かれたり、出張クラスもされています。私が最後に参加したのは１年半以上前でしたし、Akoさんは先月数週間フィジーへ出張で行かれていたので、そのお話を聞く事がとても楽しみでした。Akoさんはとてもセンスがいい方で、その様子は、彼女のブログからいつも楽しませていただいています。今回のメニューはチキンポットパイ、ウエッジサラダ、グレイビーソース、マッシュポテト、そしてデザートはミニチョコバナナパイでした。重くなりがちなアイテムをいかに違う食材を用いてヘルシーにするかというAkoさんの配慮があるレシピを習うことができ、またまた勉強になりました。単に料理の作り方だけではなく、食材についてやキッチン用品についてのお話をしていただけることもとてもためになります。今回は初めてお会いする３名の方とAkoさんと楽しくお話しながらの時間はあっという間に過ぎました。最後はおしゃれかつおいしいご飯をみんなで楽しく頂きました。今回のレシピは家でも簡単にチャレンジできそうな感じで、見た目もAkoさんのおかげでおしゃれに仕上げられるコツを習ったので、これから練習を重ねてしっかりマスターしたいと思います。Akoさんありがとうございました～☆

Airport

What an amazing place with full of complex coordination...

エアポートのシステムに脱帽。うまくできているなぁ。

Happy Halloween...

There is going to be a Halloween event at work. We will have a costume contest and a jack-o-lantern contest. My group is participating in the jack-o-lantern contest. We got a pumpkin and curved it this afternoon. Our pumpkin was small and the design was simple so we completed the work in one hour. It was really fun and on the way home, I was already thinking of getting another pumpkin and curve another one at home. For this pumpkin, I decided to do a design of a witchy cat with sparkling stars...meow...

Welina Candle

I finally finished designing a logo and a business card for Welina. "ECO + LOVE + PEACE" is their brand message and they promise their customers to deliver products that are made with good intention for people, environment, and society. Welina's first product is a line of handmade soy candles (seven colors and scents available). I am using the candles at home and depending on my mood, I choose different scents to enjoy. They all smell very pleaseant but so far "Slice of Fruit" is my favorite. The candles are currently available only through Welina. Contact: sales@welinaoc.com

***** Wedding Dolls *****

I made it in time! After researching about polymer clay and polymer clay dolls online, I was able to put together these two dolls. Big thanks to those polymer clay artists! I baked the dolls for about 10 minutes after the shaping was done. Then I did the decorations using a pre-packaged wedding theme stickers. I followed the advices by those artists to use aluminum foil to form most of the core body parts to save clays so I still have lots of left over clays to make more dolls : ) Hope my cousin and her husband will like the dolls on their special day.

I got hooked on Photobooth at Unique OC

Unique OC was inspiring!

The size was smaller than the one in last December but it seems like I was spending more time looking at high quality products. I was able to attend on both days since I was in the area on the weekend. It' s cool that they allow you to come in for both days with one admission ticket from Saturday. There are lots of well-designed&crafted products there. I wish there was a village where I could go anytime I want to to buy products made in local by people from here in LA or OC. I have been working on some designs of my friend's products for a year now and I am suggesting her to debut her products at Unique LA event. It would be nice to meet other creators at the event as well. I can't wait for the day to come!!

Oh, there is one thing I got hooked on at the event. It was a photo booth by photoboothlove.com.

They had a photo booth setup and you can bring any props you want to take pictures. It's unexpectedly fun! This photo taking experience was very popular and I saw many people lined up and kept on taking pictures. They can come to your house or any place you request to setup the booth. Here are some pictures I took with my lovely friend...

UNIQUE LA at LAB in Costa Mesa on Aug14th&15th, 2010

If you are into design & craft, you should visit the Lab in Costa Mesa this weekend. They are having an event called UNIQUE LA / Independent Design & Gift show.

I have been working on a craft project with my friends and we would like to have a booth for our products at this event soon. I have been to their December show before and it was inspiring. All the things are made locally by local artists. I am going to update more images from the event*

Polymer Clay Wedding Dolls

My little cuisine is getting married this September. Unfortunately I am not able to attend the wedding but I really want to do something nice for her wedding to show my love to her and her husband. She asked me if I can make a "Welcome Board" for their reception party and my answer was "Of course!". She said that her older brother didn't want to do it although he is pretty good at drawing (he is a graphic designer and he designed and made a scull motif motorcycle for his graduation exhibition!)

I don't have two kids like him so decided to make dolls of bride and groom as well as the welcome board. Here is a picture of the progress. You may notice how tanned the groom looks. It is requested by the groom. He said "Please make it Ganguro (Ganguro means tanned face in Japanese.)" He also wants me to make the sideburns 2mm longer : ) What a fun guy he is. I don't have enough experience with the polymer clay so it is taking sometime for me to handle it right but so far so good it seems!? I will post the progress as I move forward.

Packaging Design of W Coffee by Itoen

Packaging Design of W Coffee by Itoen

Itoen is a well-known beverage company in Japan whose famous drink is called "Ooi Ocha (hey, Tea in Japanese...)" When I try drinks from vending machines in Japan, I often find myself choosing drinks from the vending machines by Itoen. It's a coincident but they sure make good drinks that catch my eyes. During my recent trip to Japan, I found cool packaging designs for coffee by Itoen.

Here is a photo of the coffee I tried on the train to Sapporo from Asahikawa.

I also like their another beverage series called TEA'S TEA. It attracts me with its woven textile like patterns with gradient colors. I am looking fotward to seeing more designs from Itoen.

San Francisco Trip

I got a chance to visit San Francisco end of the last month to attend a visual design training

at Cooper. During my stay, I explored the town. The look of the buildings in SF are very different from LA and I enjoyed observing and taking pictures of the cityscape.

babycakes NYC in LA

Last month, on the way to Little Tokyo, I saw a sign "babycakes." (http://www.babycakesnyc.com/) I know what it is immediately because I have had their cupcakes in NY before. Parking in la downtown is impossible so I didn't stop for a bite last time. Another chance came unexpectedly last weekend and I was landed at their shop successfully. Here is a perfect shot of a vanilla cupcake with a purple icing on a turquoise green antique plate. They know how to please me ; )

Business Card Arrived!

New business card arrived last week...in the shot above, it is rested on a iPhone stand made by my friend from to.mo.ni (http://www.to-mo-ni.jp/).

Anyone wants to make own business cards?

I am happy to help creating your self-promotional materials.

Continue on the mobile project...

My heart had told me that it was about the time for picking up on my crane mobile project this weekend. Due to the shortage in red origami paper, shiny silver origami paper joined to support this project. Here is a picture of the mobile taken by my iPhone. Something about the look of cranes and threads is appealing to me. I feel like making more cranes on threads.

Red Crane Origami Mobile

Last Sunday was such a nice spring day and I was visiting Glendale where I had lived for 4 years. I kind of miss certain things about the area such as unique local stores and coffee shops. One of the stops I made was at a boutique called The Lake in Silverlake. I didn't buy anything (I couldn't buy anything) but I enjoyed the selection of their products. One thing that caught my eyes at the boutique was a product that was not for sale. It was a mobile with red cranes attached to a string hanging from a ceiling. It was so graceful. Ever since I saw the mobile, I kept on thinking about the beauty of the red cranes and thought of making one for my home. Instead of plain red origami paper, I found a sheet of red gift wrap paper that has white polka dots on it so used it to create 5 cranes (1 big crane, 4 baby cranes.) Awww, I love the color and the structure of the origami crane...next step is to hang them from the ceiling. Maybe next weekend.

Spring Gift from Friend in Japan

Two good friends from Japan visited a few weeks ago. When we got together, every night we were not able to go to sleep but to talk until 5 in the morning. Good girl friends are the friends who you never run out of things to talk to, aren't they? During their stay, I showed my curiosity to the things that they were wearing. They looked very fashionable. One of them promised me to send me some popular fashion items from Japan. And today I received a package from her. Inside the package, there are 2 hair accessories, a thank you card, and 2 leggings...one of the leggings has an unique design. It goes below ankle and goes under your feet so your legs will look longer. I need these! Thank you for the spring gift : )

Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom

It's been a very nice warm week in Los Angeles. There are flowers blooming along the streets to let me know that it's time to go seeing Cherry Blossoms at Lake Balboa Park. So I visited the park today and the Cherry Blossoms are in full bloom. Spring has come. Hello Spring!

Animal Motif Logo

I saw a couple of flying seagulls this afternoon when I was in a parking lot of some shopping plaza. They were flying by palm trees and all of the sudden one image appeared in my head. It was a logo of a clothing brand, HOLLISTER. mmm....what other companies are using animals/birds as their logo motifs to represent their corporate brand identities? Here they are. I found a bunch. Most of them I could think of were clothing companies. These logo uses simplified shapes of animals/birds that could be identified what they are even the size become half an inch.

*From left to right, (row 1) A&F, Mobil, WWF, California, KIRIN, Paul Frank, (row 2) EVERNOTE, Tiger Balm, Penguin, PLAYBOY, Bull Dog, MGM GRAND, (row 3) PAPYRUS, LACOSTE, HOLLISTER, Nestle, Puma, NBC.

Donut + Chocolate + Lots of Colors = American Cultural Icon

The color combination of the donut stood up from the rest of the plain donuts in a box in our company lunch room on Friday morning. My initial reaction was to grab it and to take a picture of the American cultural icon. Though It's a little bit too colorful and the colors appear a bit unsafe to eat, I wanted to eat it and I ate it. Yes, it was a delicious donut...yum yum...

This donut is very pop and very American in my opinion.

I feel fun and excited when I look at this donut...Did Andy Warhol make a print of Chocolate Sprinkle Donut?? I don't know why buy I am very attracted to the look of the donut : )

"My miniature toy collection"

I used to have a habit of buying a miniature toy every time I would go back to Japan for vacation.

There are many series of miniature toys and each toy sold in a little box and you will not know which toy you are going to get until you open the box.

So far I tried Airline Meal series, Japanese Tavern Food series, Asian Food series, Party Game series, and so many more that there is no more space in my display shelf. So I have stopped collecting them for now...

I am always impressed by the new ideas these toy makers can come up with for the fun series. And their craftsmanship and attention to details are just like the things you see in the real size objects. It made me giggle when I saw a miniature potato chip bag that actually contains mini chips : )

{ Looking Up }

Los Angeles has a lot of photogenic locations. I can be very happy just by walking around the town and
looking for things and places to photograph these days. My CASIO EXLIM compact digital camera had stopped working since last year so I bought a new SLR camera. But due to its preciousness, I only used it once. I cannot bring the camera everywhere I go so I usually end up using my iPhone a lot. I love the compactness and convenience of it. Almost everyday I take pictures of food, flowers, leaves, buildings, colors I see, etc...all of them using my iPhone.
Here are some photos from last outing. Today's blog title is called {Looking Up.}

Because I realized that all the shots were taken from low angle unlike my other photos taken with TiltShift Generator.

This time I used Hipstamatic app on iPhone to get the retro look and feel.

Also I photoshopped a little bit to give more dreamy look.

Girls Day { HINAMATSURI } Celebration

March 3rd is a special day for girls called Hinamatsuri in Japan.

It's the day to wish girls' good health and happiness by decorating a house

with a set of Japanese dolls. If I remember correctly, setting of the Hina dolls are for Ohina sama (the empress) and Odairi sama (the emperor)'s wedding celebration. So along with 15 dolls, a set of furniture is displayed as well as special food and drink such as three-tier mochi and sweet rice wine for the wedding.

As most grand parents in Japan, my grand parents also bought me a set of Hina dolls with a seven-tier stand to express their joy for the birth of a little girl. I used to help my parents with decorating the dolls. Those are good family memories.

Me and my friend at work felt that we shouldn't live this special day as just any other

day so we decided to set up a set of Hinamatsuri dolls on my desk.

We didn't realize until we actually made the dolls and stage how delightful it is to have these cute little dolls and share our childhood memories of Hinamatsuri. Our spirit were lifted.

Rainy Day Fun Craft Project { PIPEROID }

Publish Post
Saturday was a bit cold and raining in the morning. For some reason

I felt like being productive so decided to make a paper robot called PIPEROID.

All I needed to prepare was scissors, no glue required.

Just cut 6 pipes into pieces, assemble pipes by following the instruction on the back of the packaging.

I spent about 30-40 minutes cutting, folding, and assembling.

It was rather challenging but it was satisfying to look at the result.

PIPEROID
http://www.piperoid.com/

Like A Rock Star ☆

It is interesting to say that when I got home, it felt like as if I just came back from my favorite rock band's live concert : )

A day passed and I can still recall most of the stories that were told by Sean Adams and his wonderful team. The reason is because they are simply very good story tellers. Their stories felt genuine, touching, and insightful. Oh boy, they really know how to communicate themselves both visually and verbally. Amazing people...!

I have been using Sean's Logo Design Workbook as my design process bible for a while. It's such a great book that I always go back to and remind myself of what are the essentials for good visual communication. Last night was so unreal. I felt so privilege to be at the studio and experienced the live version of the book : ) Thank you AIGA! Thank you AdamsMorioka! You are my rock star.

Studio Tour at AdamsMorioka

I just came back from an AIGA event at AdamsMorioka studio. It turned out to be such an inspiring night. I will talk more about the event tomorrow. Good night!

Black Bird Fly, What a fun Camera!

Today I finally opened a box of a new camera Black Bird Fly(BBF.)

It was the first time to test it since I got it last year.

This camera has two lenses, one to look through to make a composition, one to capture the image. Image looks reversed through the view finder so it took some time for me to get used to it. It's tricky, but it's really fun getting to know about this camera. I can't wait to develop the first roll : )

Also I love the color combination of this camera(Orange x Black).
It looked really good when it was placed on a brown wooden table

with some green plants in the background.