My boss shared this with us this week and I was so struck by both the message and the visual beauty of the typography that I had to share it myself…
Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.
My boss shared this with us this week and I was so struck by both the message and the visual beauty of the typography that I had to share it myself…
Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.
This past weekend, I flew down to Los Angeles to spend the weekend with a couple of my close college friends! Ryosuke had been in SoCal for a week for a business trip, and Mariko was very gracious to host us again and drive us around everywhere. We had a memorable, fun-filled weekend together!
I flew down to LAX on Friday morning, and after Mari picked me up at the airport, we went to Il Chianti, an Italian restaurant in Lomita. But this is not just any Italian food — it’s Italian food that is tailored to Japanese tastes, so it was very light yet flavorful, and it doesn’t leave you with the heavy feeling that a lot of other traditional Italian restaurants leave you with.
Afterwards, we went shopping to get a joint birthday present for Ryosuke, and waited for him to get out of work….
Ryosuke finally got off of work, so we picked him up at his hotel in Hawthorne and after wandering around Book Off and Marukai in Gardena, we headed over to dinner in Koreatown, at Honey Pig. My coworker Estella repeatedly recommended it, saying it was some of the best Korean BBQ in LA, so I’d been really wanting to try it!
The service was great, and our waitress was very friendly and knew some Japanese. She showed us how to eat everything since it was our first time at Honey Pig. They even gave us some complimentary octopus to grill along with the amazing galbi and samgyeopsal that we’d ordered.
After stuffing ourselves to satisfaction at Honey Pig, we drove to Max Karaoke to spend a couple hours singing our hearts out! When the three of us would hang out back in Northern Virginia, we always went karaoke, so we decided to stay true to tradition! 🙂
Ryosuke sang an impressive rendition of Jason DeRulo’s “Whatcha Say” at my request. (I have been loving all the covers of that song on YouTube — they’re even better than the original!) He should be one of those YouTube celebrities that do cover songs! 😛
The next day, we headed over to Orange County and stopped at Mitsuwa’s food court for lunch.
After finishing our lunch and hanging around Mitsuwa for a while, we drove to the OC Fair in Orange County!
We left the fair in the late afternoon to catch a showing of Inception. It was my second time seeing it, but it was still really enjoyable to watch and I was able to pick up on more of the details of the film. Definitely got me thinking all over again. What a great movie! I don’t think I will ever get sick of it! We enjoyed a late Japanese dinner at Sanuki no Sato back in Gardena. They are known for their udon and soba noodles, as well as their great izakaya food.
The next day, after we dropped Ryosuke off at LAX for him to catch his morning flight back to Tennessee, I went to church with Mariko. Her father is a pastor and gave a very intriguing and inspiring message. 🙂 It’s interesting to attend a service in Japanese, because it’s so foreign to me since I never had the experience growing up — any and all services I’ve gone to were always in English. Afterwards, we had some delicious cake at Patisserie Chantilly before heading over to the airport for me to catch my flight.
It was really nice to kick back and relax with old college friends again, since the opportunity is so rare these days, living all the way on the other side of the country from most of them. A huge thanks to Mariko for being such a gracious hostess as usual, driving us all over the megalopolis that is LA… and to Ryosuke for extending his stay in California so we could all hang out for a couple days! 😀 Looking forward to another reunion, hopefully in the near future!
Last night, Dan and I went to the much-anticipated Muse concert in Oracle Arena in Oakland. Muse is one of Dan’s favorite bands, and so when I heard that they were coming back in December, I immediately picked up a pair of tickets as a birthday gift for Dan. I’d also grown to become a fan, from listening to Dan’s music library, so I was pretty psyched to see them live too.
The stadium was packed and Muse put on an awesome show that did not disappoint! They sang all of their much-loved classics, such as Uprising, Resistance, Supermassive Black Hole, Unnatural Selection, and my personal favorite, Starlight. Their set was incredible, too! They had these massive skyscraper-like structures onstage that opened up to reveal them inside each at the start of the show, and they kept being lowered and lifted and spun atop them while all sorts of motion graphics and effects played on the sides of them. It was visually stunning; I’d never seen anything like it before.
Here’s a video of Muse performing Starlight last night. Amazing!
It was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to, and I came out even more a fan than I was before! Definitely looking forward to seeing them live again sometime. 🙂
Dan turned 27 this past weekend! The hubby’s birthday was on Sunday (December 13), but we celebrated early on Friday night with friends at our apartment. Thank you to everyone who came out to the party and crammed into our little Berkeley apartment to revel with us!
On Sunday,Dan’s family invited us over for lunch to have a joint celebration of Dan’s birthday and my birthday (which is on Christmas Day, later this month). Dan’s mother whipped up a feast of sashimi, galbi, and homemade chocolate cake topped with buttercream and cherries. It was the proverbial “cherry on top” for a memorable birthday weekend for Dan. 🙂
On June 2nd, 2009 our beloved chinchilla passed away. Indy was a spunky and playful chinchilla that was initially a great burden to us. The first night he screamed and squeaked, keeping us both up until it was reunited with his newfound friend, Diesel. He was the happiest chinchilla when alongside the grouch Diesel. We slowly started to love him for his rowdy and adventurous personality which far differed from his slow and lazy companion.
Rest in peace Indy, I only regret not letting you run freely in the backyard grass; and possibly testing fate by taunting nearby cats. You will be missed…
Please watch this video/slideshow with all of Indy’s moments. Please share your thoughts.