do you like my mustache...?

it's my new mustache glass!

we just can't get enough...!

this just doesn't get old... this face morphing stuff? it's so great!!

bwahahaha!!!

GAAAAH!!!!

HAHAHA! omg erika looks hilarious!!!!!!

the holiday party...!

james' company holiday party this year was held at Showbox Sodo.

yea, the showbox! i had no idea you could rent out the space for private events!

it was pretty cool--the atmosphere was club-like.

dim red lights, loud music and open bar...o and they had game tables too.

poker, black jack, craps, etc.

they also had a hypnotist perform on volu

nteers and that was kind of cool.

i believe it BUT i kind of wish i knew someone who volunteered on stage so i could ask what it's like. i was afraid to go up myself, but now i kind of regret it. maybe i should've volunteered!

but i don't think i'm the "type" that can get hypnotized.

the hypnotist was saying that if you tell yourself "you DON'T want to be hypnotized" then it won't work. you have to be

willing... hmmm..

13 ppl volunteered and 5 ppl got sent back because they didn't get hypnotized.

i wonder if the others were really under his spell!! aaaa i'm fascinated!!

then towards the end of the night they had a live band performing while people mingled.

all in all, pretty cool! the venue was a cool choice.

FREE drinks all night!

hello red wine! o how i've missed you!

i felt buzzed all night and it felt

great! hehehe

but i missed Kai too much.... so we didn't stay too late.

what kind of coffee...?

interesting...but sounds kind of gross

absinthe flavored coffee? ick?! ლ(❛⌓❛ლ)

i heart morphs...!

*erika's peanut head*

since i got the new phone for my birthday i've been playing with the camera features...and of course they had my favorite 'face morph'!!! hahahaha!!! i love taking these pictures!

turkey day...!

happy turkey day at the parent's♫

cute rice crackers..!

my grandmother just returned from a month long trip to japan!

she brought back these cute rice crackers♥

hehe they're so yummy i ate a whole bag of them already...

my mellow birthday...!

yum!

delicious tiramisu from Hiroki's bakery in Wallingford :D

I totally recommend this place!

tee hee! i got an owl balloon! CUTE!

o alcohol i've missed you!

it's been close to a year since i've enjoyed one.

i didn't drink a whole lot since i'm still breast feeding but i got a light buzz pretty quick.

erika bought me sushi dinner--also been about a year since i've had sushi!

and birthday ice cream!

if you look closely, you can see my cheeks are red from the little bit of beer...

hahaha!

thanks erika for dinner!

29...!

today is my 29th birthday!

and as i do every year, here are some fun facts about 29!

29 is the number of days February has in a leap year

the human skull is made up of 29 bones

it takes Saturn 29 years to orbit the sun

and of course, this is my last year in my twenties! (i better make it good!)

don't have any crazy plans this year...

still can't have any alcoholic beverages since i'm still breastfeeding...

but my sister is taking me out to sushi tonight!

and james and i will have to do a date night when my parents can watch Kai for us...

i did however get some flowers and balloons AND....

a new cell phone! yay!

james got me the new samsung galaxy "sensation" phone and it's awesome!

i'll have to blog more about it later!

let's puzzle...!

so i've got some time to kill...

i'm just waiting for labor to kick in.

being heavily pregnant and exhausted, i can't really do much but hang around the apartment and do house chores :( but luckily i found my 1000 piece tiffany's puzzle!

yay! so today i'll start on this! i wonder if i'll finish it before the baby comes out :D

brave maintenance man....

i hear banging and scraping outside... what the?!?

omg! it's a maintenance man on a ladder 3 stories up!

that's my porch...and i'm scared just seeing this!

could that ladder really be stable? i see it wobbling....i couldn't do it!

brave maintenance man!

レモン・スカッシュ・・・！

懐かしい！！！
よく近所の７－１１に行ってレモン・スカッシュを買って食べてたな～！
あれから15年・・ウワジでまた発見！
思わず買っちゃいました＾＾
うん、当時と同じ味で懐かしい～！

pumped up kicks....!

amazing dubstep remix and dance of "pumped up kicks"

pretty cool! and the remix is "love"

東京・・・！

TOKYO SLO-MODE from alex lee on Vimeo.

うん、こういうビデオ見ると東京に行きたくなるよね。
音楽もThom Yorkeだし！
日本に帰ってからもう１０年以上するなんて、信じられないよ！
やっぱ一生　"マイ・ホーム"は日本だね。
育ったのも日本だし、たくさん遊んだし。。。
ただ大人としてはまだ日本の経験がないんだよね--仕事とか、家族とか。。。
まあ、こんどはベビー連れて行って、楽しい事いっぱいやろう！
ベビーに同じ経験をさせたい、日本とアメリカの両方のchildhoodあげたい。

waaaah! my last day 9.14.2011...!

so Wednesday was my final day @ work....
the really cool part?! NO MORE BUS RIDING! Woooo~~~!!!

my work was all handed over to the new people, so i really had nothing to do at work...
but a lunch outing was planned for the day :) and i did some final clean-up around my cubicle.

all day i was feeling sad knowing the day was coming to an end fast!
and yep...i thought i had it in control but i broke down...again!
what really did it was this!
Alon had made me a card and had everyone at work sign it....
i am gonna treasure this forever!

it's not often you find a job that you actually enjoy and love and CRY when you leave the place...
i was really lucky to work there and i'm definitely keeping in touch with the peeps♥
thank you AP !!!

shaving...!

hee hee hee haa haa haa!!!
i always liked to watch my dad shave when i was a kid...
and now i get to be annoying to James!
i like watching him shave...so i took some pictures this time!

*buzzzzzz*

for fun, i requested that he keep just a mustache!

eeew!!! hahahah!! it's like the 80's porn stache!
you can tell he didn't approve either...
it got shaved off right away!

*phew*

why so...sad..??

awww!! jamus!! why so sad?!? you look..really sad!!!


what? what's that??

waaaaah!! his crown came off after eating a sticky raisin!
yes, this is kind of gross...*warning* but those bits and pieces are raising bits.
hahahah!!!
luckily, his dentist reattached it with no problem :)
hmmm..i have a crown as well... i wonder if mine is due to fall out soon!

seattle aquarium debut...!

**lookie! i'm an octopus!**

SO i finally visited the seattle aquarium, after living here for 14 years!
it was pretty cool! but i'll be honest...it was smaller than i thought :(
and i wish they had more mystery creatures.
i guess i got used to the ginormous aquariums in japan! aquariums are pretty popular in japan and they have a lot of exhibits. i remember as a kid visiting an aquarium and spending the WHOLE DAY there because it was so huge.
the yokohama hakkeijima sea paradise comes to mind ♥
pretty huge aquarium with an amusement park attached... this place is really cool!
argh!! now that i think about it more, seattle doesn't really offer fun attractions...
i mean yea, there's the waterfront and pike place and duck tour but...not fun!!
we don't have an amusement park! a good one...
i know it rains a lot here so why can't they build an indoor fun park somewhere?!?

ok.. rant over...

i will say though, the sea and river otters were mighty cute!

fumie's (melting pot of) gold cake...!

so there's a pretty popular japanese cake shop in downtown bellevue called "Fumie's gold"♥
AND it's famous for being this super teeny tiny shop with very limited selection AND constantly selling out! well well, jamus and i finally decided to go one Sunday RIGHT when it opened!
it opened at 1pm...we got there probably around 1:40.
2 (annoying) japanese ladies were in front of us and seriously almost bought out the whole store!
i was so worried i wouldn't get any cake for myself!

but i did♥ i got a strawberry shortcake (mmm one of my faves!)
and a couple chocolate cakes!

o, did i mention it was 80+ degress on this day??? by the time we got home... my precious cakes melted!!
and it did not look pretty. i was pretty sad.. still tasted good but still sad... (￣^￣)ゞ
i'll have to go back for some revenge cake!

ryan gosling...♥

Dead Man's Bones - In The Room Where You Sleep (live video)

Dead Man's Bones | Myspace Music Videos

oooo i don't know what it is about him but lately i've been falling in love with ryan gosling♥
i always thought he was cute and dreamy...maybe it really kicked off when i saw him again in the movie "crazy stupid love". THAT was a great movie♥
then i learned that it was ryan gosling who played "the believer", one of james' favorite movie, so ryan gosling has james' approval!
THEN i found out he has this indie band he makes music with...so i clicked on it.
it's so odd and weird that it made me like him even more...!!

super duper long hair!!

woa!!!
look what erika found!
it's an old pic of me and my super duper long hair!
i'm guessing this was back in 2008~2009!
i'm impressed...i didn't know my hair was this long!
i miss it now....

outdoor movie night...!

outdoor movie night at the Redhook brewery in Woodinville♫
i guess they have weekly movie screenings on Thursdays...but you can also do a private movie night! this was james' company mini-party. i guess to celebrate the summer...but as you can see in this picture, it was pretty cold...so we had to wear jackets. not so summery :(
i've also never been to this brewery before...but my god! it's huge!!

finished the beeru already? jamus going for seconds!

they showed "the dark knight"--a movie i love and can watch over and over again♥
but we left halfway through the movie...
first, the movie is way too long. 3 hours... and besides i've seen it a million times.
second, MOSQUITOES!! mosquitoes love my blood...ever since i was a kid, i was the only one in the family to get bit all over. happened this night again...
i came home with 4 itchy bites :( BOO!!!!

i'm a rilakkuma...!

RAWR!!!!

flower season...!

i don't have a lot of plants in my apartment...and i wish i had a mini garden outside, but instead i have a concrete patio :'(
my mom LOVES plants! her house is filled with them! and she used to be a florist.
picked up a couple of mini flowers and planted them in a pot♥ yay! now i have plants to take care of! and actually..can you believe it? i almost killed one on the second day...it was already shriveled up :( so i gave him more water and the next day it perked up again!
wow...i didn't know flowers were so demanding!
maybe i should've bought a cactus? (O_o)

rainbow in my mouth...!

yumm!!
alon brought in a surprise rainbow jello to work!
i haven't had jello in so long...it was delish♥
now i think i want to make some...
i especially like the sparkling jello, the carbonated kind ^_^

oregon stuff...!

look what i got!! gifts from alon!
she was on a 1 week vacay cruising down the coast of oregon and north cali
i got stickers, sippy cup for baby AND no..that's not a bag of weed.
it's preggie tea! and it smells so good~ mmmm
thanks alon! ♥

happy july 4th..!

otochan loves to bbq

ribs!

*holy cow...james is so much taller than my family!*

wow! it was a super sunny day this july 4th!
i can't remember the last time it was sunny on this holiday!
outdoor bbq commence!
we had meat, seafood, veggies, potato salad, watermelon...YUM!
good food good weather♥

brewery..!

ooo so guess what jamus started on this weekend?!?
homebrew beer!
i've heard that you can brew beer on your own...same with wine.
so jamus went and got a brewing kit over the weekend.
(he's actually cooking it while i'm blogging right now)
i'm not a big fan of beer...but it's smelling kinda good right now!
i hope it turns out good for him!
my dad is looking forward to it too
tsk tsk, them beer fanatics!

ring pop no more...!

my solitaire engagement ring came in!

FINALLY!
now i can eat my ring pop and put on the real ring♥
i loves it! i haven't taken it off!
tho much thparkle!
now we're just waiting for my wedding band and we're all set (。^_^。)

jamus bday...!

ooo! june 10th was jamus' birthday! 28♥
now we're both 28!
hehehe...i embarrassed him by getting him some balloons, bwahahah!
see! i even made him pose for a photo.

Ivee..?!

stopped by starbucks for a morning DECAF latte ♥
barista asks my name and i said Ivy.
this is what i get...
and what's with the "I"? it looks like a #1..
one-vee?
oy...ppl! ivy is not a hard name to spell!

animal crossing...!

hehe!!
alon got me started on 'Animal Crossing: City Fold', Wii version.
the game actually came out back in 2008, so i'm kinda late....
but it's so cute and fun! and it's all real time udpates!
i'm still building my town and trying to make it prettiful....
i got to visit alon's town and wow! i'm jealous! she's got so much going on!
hehe..anyways.. i'm kinda hooked...