Kyoto!

I was about to finally upload some photos from my camera onto my computer so I could make a decent blog post. But I forgot my camera cord! It's still in Tokyo.... so you'll have to wait. I'll just paint a picture for you....

Mike is in bed reading about sushi knives and kinds of crab that Kyoto is famous for. I just took a detox bath, and was admiring the needles that the acupuncturist left in my back today. It was our first time getting acupuncture, but we went to a dear friend's trusted sensei. He was so amazing!!! He touched my wrists and hands, and could tell that I'd been coughing a lot (the air is so dry here right now!) and he also felt that I was very delicate and cared a lot about other people, to the point where I care too much*, which could lead to stress and tension. We walked through a place where they had shrines for all the different Chinese zodiacs, and then walked through a long food market (that we'll be revisiting again tomorrow). After a delicious dinner--comprised of BLOW FISH (!!!)--we walked through Gion and below all the Geisha houses.

It's been a pretty bad ass day for us: acupuncture AND blowfish!

Pictures soon to come... I have dreams in stilted Japanese now. I also speak in stilted English. Oyasuminasai! (goodnight!)

- p. ahn

* I think that's a nice Japanese way of saying I'm a control freak and I need to loosen up! ;)

Off To Japan

I just wanted to say a quick goodbye before I shut down my laptop and get a few hours of sleep before we jump on a plane to Japan. I'll be taking lots of pictures, and posting them here as I go....

Goodnight...

My Xmas Mix

I know there's not a lot of variety here...but this mix is intended for people I know who might not have a Sufjan Stevens record, or Vince Guaraldi Trio records--but love Charlie Brown...ya know? It's good tree decorating, gift wrapping, wine sipping, getting excited for the holidays music.

1. Holy, Holy, Holy -Sufjan Stevens
2. Holy Holy, etc. -Sufjan
3. O Tannenbaum -Vince Guaraldi Trio
4. My Little Drum -Vince "
5. Skating -"
6. Hark, The Herald Angels Sing -"
7. Christmas Is Coming -"
8. The Christmas Song -"
9. Christmas Time Is Here (Vocal) -"
10. Oh, Good Grief (Vocal) -"
11. Charlie Brown Theme -"
12. Angels We Have Heard On High -Sufjan Stevens
13. Sister Winter -"
14. Away In A Manger -"
15. Joy To The World -"
16. The Little Drummer Boy -"
17. Star Of Wonder -"
18. Once In Royal David's City -"
19. That Was The Worst Christmas Ever! -"

It's Because Of People Like You

Obi Best "It's Because Of People Like You" Official Video from Social Science Recordings on Vimeo.

I love this song, and this video is so silly and yet...cool.

Tis The Season To Shop!

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. I spent mine with Mike's family, eating delicious food and play Wii Golf all day with his little brothers--and then going to a friend's house for some Cuban rice and yucca around midnight, ahh. So much fun! Now Christmas is just around the corner (OMG!!!). We just got down all of our decorations*, and I'm preparing some space for a tree.

Mike went out to get coffees for us in the morning, and came back with a pumpkin latte for moi**, and the cutest card EVER as a reminder that he loves me***. Not only was it a reminder of his love, but it also reminded me of this amazing line of wooden cards and gifts for under $10 that are perfect stocking stuffers for friends!

I also marked a special date in my calendar for BUST magazine's Holiday Craftacular, where I hope to find many unique and hand-made gifts for all!:


Happy Shopping!
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* You have no idea how difficult this feat actually is. Our attic can only be entered thru a tiny cubby hole about 16' up the wall of our living room. Our ladder is about 2' too short for it to be considered "safe" for us to hop up into this cubby. You literally have to jump from the ladder to the hole, and pull yourself inside the attic, which means inevitably getting dusty woodchips and insulation fibers all over your stomach. Coming down though, is by far the scariest part, and we haven't really gotten that part quite figured out yet.

** Around November and December I can't help myself--if a pumpkin latte is available, I'm having it!

*** I know this sounds nauseatingly sweet, but it's been something I needed. Right now he's in a play where he has to kiss a girl a lot. When I've seen him kissing on screen, I've never really had trouble with it****, but seeing it live......well, let's just say it was a rough couple of days for me until I could get my head around it! So, that's why my sweetie was so thoughtful today to get me a card as a reminder of our love. <3
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**** Ok, this is an exaggeration...

Natalie Bookchin

I went to LACMA the other day, and was utterly stunned by this artist's piece. It was shown in a large, dark room with a ton of suspended surround sound speakers, and each "testament" was projected onto a blank wall. Beautiful and sad.

Watching it online doesn't do it justice, but just in case you'd like a taste, this one was my favorite.

Ok, I'm revealing one of my favorite blogs....

I'm doing this because I have to. This woman makes me smile every time I read her blogs, and see her amazing photos....this is something I can't keep selfishly for myself. :p

Garance, je t'aime!

___

*By the way, I was approving some comments to other blogs the other night, and I accidentally deleted some of them! And I had no idea how to get them back....So, if you saw your comment was not posted--my bad! I read it though, and probably loved it.... xo

Udon & Andrew

I finally bought Andrew Bird's "Noble Beast" album. It is incredibly beautiful...and creative...and cool. Ok, for real, I can't get over it!

So I made udon soup for one tonight, but I'd like to think that "Noble Beast" joined me and made everything ok.

I love Alexa Chung's style. I want this striped black and white dress. And the little bow in the hair? Come on! A-dor-a-ble. And my next shopping trip is to American Apparel for some black over-the-knee socks. I was a little wary of trying it in the past, but once I did, it was a lot of fun!

blogs:

I've become addicted to Google Reader. For those of you who don't know, it's a thing on google that organizes all the blogs you're subscribed to, and makes them all available on this neat little page, so you don't have go to like, 20 different blog sites to see if they (hopefully) added a new blog.

In the beginning, I was only subscribed to 2 blogs. I didn't even really get what blogs were until I one day was searching for photographers online, and I stumbled upon some really pretty fashion photos that were on this girl's blog. I became fascinated with all the things she posted because they were so beautiful! The other blog is my friend Wendy's. She's hilarious, and tells good stories filled with her awesome dry humor.

So, I started out with these 2, and then from them, I started checking out more blogs via links they would post. Now I'm subscribed to 10 blogs, and "following" 3 people. Every morning, I have a cup of coffee, and sit down at my computer, and before I even look at emails, I open up Google Reader, and look at all the new posts. It's like my own new edition of a magazine every day. I find them all really inspiring!* I'm subscribed to ones on art, Paris, flowers, Japan, street fashion, and some in between. One has inspired what I want my wedding to look like. Another gives me confidence in how I dress**. So now....I've been reading tons of blogs, and writing none.

Until now.

As I've typed this blog (made just for myspace and my website), I've just created my own Blog! So holy poop--here we go!

www.girlinatree.blogspot.com/

xo
p. ahn

*as I'm writing this, I'm wondering if this is boring people to tears. Are blogs so 3 years ago or something? I have no idea! I apologize if I'm behind the times and this is old news and/or you don't care about how much I'm into blogs these days. There always seems to be some lag time between popular things and me embracing them....I didn't start watching Sex & The City until last year!

**is it weird that I'm not telling you what blogs I belong to? the answer is probably "yes". I can't help it that I'm weirdly protective of them! :-o