Daniel

Megumi & Daniel’s Wedding Weekend

June 3, 2015 By Misono in Family and Friends, Videos Tags: Ali, All of Me, bridal party, bridesmaid, ceremony, dan, Daniel, flower girl, Glendale, Granville, John Legend, kimono, LA, Los Angeles, Megumi, Mio, Mirei, reception, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, Sam, Southern California, Vertigo, video, wedding

After spending a week in Northern California, we drove down on Friday, May 22nd for the much-anticipated wedding of our dear friends Megumi & Daniel! The rehearsal dinner was on Friday evening, and the wedding was on Sunday, and we were honored that Megumi and Daniel had asked Mio and I to part of their bridal party — I was so touched that Megumi had asked me to a bridesmaid, and Mio a flower girl in what was to us the wedding of the year! We wereÂ all so excited to see them and our mutual friends again since it’s been so long since we were last together, but it was truly extra special to be there by their side as they tied the knot.

We drove down on Friday and got to Glendale in the afternoon, in time for the rehearsal at Vertigo, where the ceremony and reception would be on Sunday. The rehearsal went well, full of heartwarming moments and hugs with friends we had missed so much!

Megumi & Daniel's ceremony rehearsal — After the wedding rehearsal on Friday

After the ceremony rehearsal, everyone was invited to Daniel’s parents’ beautiful home in Alhambra, where a taco truck catered a delicious rehearsal dinner, along with lots of amazing sides and desserts cooked up by Megumi and her family and friends.

Mirei and Kanoa at the rehearsal dinner — We got to meet Ali and Tim’s adorable son Kanoa for the first time! He’s only a few months older than Mirei, so it was cute watching them play together.

Leila taking selfies on my phone — I loved meeting Megumi’s adorable niece and nephew! Here’s sweet Leila-chan.

Kaminaga kids' selfies — The Kaminaga kids! Leila and Julian. 🙂

They loved taking selfies with my camera, so I took a bunch of videos of the adorable kiddos.

On Saturday evening, we had dinner at Granville in downtown Glendale with some of the other bridesmaids and friends from San Francisco/Nakayoshi who were in town for the wedding. So glad we got to spend some extra time with them. 🙂

"Mama, take a picture of panda!" — “Mama, take a picture of panda!” Mio feeding a sprig of rosemary to the panda doll that accompanied our travels.

Sunday started bright & early for the bridesmaids, as we got breakfast together at the hotel and gathered in Megumi’s suite for makeup and hair.

Getting my hair done as a bridesmaid on the wedding day.

Sam enjoying some In-N-Out during bridal party prep! — Sam enjoying some In-N-Out during prep! The bridal party’s got to eat, and these were some pretty satisfying provisions! 😀

Gorgeous bride in her wedding dress — The gorgeous bride in her wedding dress.

The stunning bride! — Isn’t she just breathtaking? *sigh* Megumi was truly stunning!

Selfie with the bride! I don’t recognize myself with all the heavy makeup. lol

With lovely MOH Sam! — With the lovely Maid of Honor, Sam!

Room for the ceremony. Those hanging white flowers were made out of coffee filters and pipe cleaners, and many hours of hard work by the bride and the other bridesmaids (I only helped a little at the end when I came into town). They turned out gorgeous!

Even the bathrooms were gorgeous! — The venue Megumi & Daniel chose was so glamorous. Even the bathrooms were gorgeous, with these huge, ceiling-high leaning mirrors!

Daniel & Megumi's first look — First look between the bride and groom. â™¥

Of course, I had to get it on video, too.

Love my flower girl! — Mio getting ready as the flower girl!

Can't believe Megumi sewed the flower girl dresses! — Can’t believe Megumi sewed the flower girl dresses! The inspiration was Carrie Bradshaw.

Mio with MOH Sam — Shy Mio with beautiful Sam.

The happy couple with the kids in the bridal party. The cutest flower girls and ringbearers 🙂

pre-wedding libations — The bride & groom enjoying some pre-ceremony libations

Lovely wedding cake! — The wedding cake was gorgeous, with gold ombre and beautiful details. Everything was perfection — not a surprise, considering that it was Megumi’s wedding!

Mio being silly with the photobooth props

Mirei with Daddy — Dan arriving with Mirei. He was on babysitting duty during the ceremony, since Mio and I were in the bridal party.

Because I was in the ceremony, and Dan was busy wrangling a cranky Mirei, we unfortunately don’t have any photos from the actual ceremony, but it was beautiful and tearjerking, and so fitting for Megumi & Daniel!

Afterwards, we had fun mingling with friends, and Mio had a ball playing with the photobooth props.

Megumi changed into a gorgeous purple kimono for the reception. It went perfectly with her wedding color scheme, and she looked absolutely beautiful in it!

Daniel & Megumi in kimono — The bride & groom looking amazing in their kimonos

The bride with her proud parents — Megumi surprised her parents with the kimono! So sweet â™¥

Mr. & Mrs. Xavier making their way to the reception — The kimono was gorgeous, even from the back. Look at that obi!

With the bride in kimono! — With the stunning bride in her kimono.

Table numbers made by Dan — Dan made the table numbers for the wedding. The centerpieces came out gorgeous!

During the reception, Megumi surprised Daniel by serenading him with John Legend’s “All of Me” during the slideshow. It was so romantic, and Megumi has such a beautiful voice. 🙂

Megumi and Daniel cakecutting — Cakecutting time! Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Xavier!

Megumi's bouquet toss — Megumi’s bouquet toss!

Flower girl Mio — Mio caught a small part of the bouquet… a single rose head. 🙂

Alas, we couldn’t stay too late into the wedding, as we had to catch a plane very early Monday morning, so we had to say our goodbyes and return to our hotel to pack and get a couple hours of sleep before we had to depart the following morning.

Saying goodbye to Ali and Sam — Saying goodbye to aunties Ali and Sam

Polaroid with fellow bridesmaids Ali and Sam — One last photo with fellow bridesmaids Ali and Sam

Congratulations Daniel & Megumi! We were so happy we could be there for your big day. Thank you for letting us be a part of it! â™¥

Surprise Package from Megumi!

January 14, 2015 By Misono in Family and Friends Tags: bridesmaid, California, Daniel, flower girl, Los Angeles, mail, Megumi, Mio, misono, package, surprise, wedding

We got some beautiful surprise packages in the mail this week from our dear friend Megumi! There was one small package for Mio, and a larger one addressed to me. We were so excited to open them!

Beautiful surprise package from Megumi! — Mio’s package contained an adorable little purple penguin (handmade by My Dear Darling!) and a card with a question…

We loved all the amazing gifts in the package, and can’t wait until Megumi & Daniel’s big day! Looks like our family is definitely headed to Los Angeles in May for the wedding of the year! 🙂

Los Angeles 2013: Day 2 ~ Hinamatsuri

March 13, 2013 By Misono in Family and Friends, Foodie Love, Kitchen Concoctions, Seasonal Celebrations, Wanderlust Tags: Brent, chirashizushi, cupcakes, Daniel, Estella, Girls' Day, green tea, hinamatsuri, hishimochi, lunch, luncheon, matcha, Megumi, mochi, ohinasama, sakuramochi, shirozake, ushiojiru

Continuing from Day 1 in Los Angeles, we stayed in and relaxed for most of the day on Day 2. March 3 also happened to be Hinamatsuri, or Girls’ Day in Japan, and Megumi went all out to celebrate this special day!

Beautiful Hinamatsuri @mkaminaga put together for Mio for Girls' Day! So sweet and generous of her. â¤ — Beautiful Hinamatsuri gift basket Megumi put together for Mio for Girls’ Day! So sweet and generous of her. â¤

Amazing breakfast prepared by Megumi! — We woke up to an amazing breakfast prepared by Megumi.

Delicious breakfast potatoes! — Possibly the best breakfast potatoes I have ever had! It was surprisingly light but really satisfying.

Scones! — Homemade scones… I love Megumi’s baked creations!

Fruit salad :) — Refreshing fruit salad 🙂

Delicious breakfast prepared by @mkaminaga! With a tiny hand sneaking in to grab a bite... — My kind of breakfast! With a tiny hand sneaking in to grab a bite…

Loving her new cookie set â™¥ — Megumi also got Mio this sweet toy cookie set from Melissa & Doug! Mio immediately fell in love with it. It goes perfectly with her cupcake set back home!

Mio and I with Estella — Estella stopped by to say goodbye!

It was great hanging out, even for a short time! — It was great hanging out with Estella and Brent, even for a short time!

For lunch, Megumi was preparing a Hinamatsuri feast and invited a bunch of her Japanese American girlfriends, as Hinamatsuri is a celebration of girls everywhere! We were all floored by how much food she prepared, all according to the traditional dishes that are served for Hinamatsuri. Of course, she put a few of us to work to help with the food prep. 😉 I love helping Megumi cook/bake — it’s part of the fun, I learn new tips and techniques, and all the effort is rewarded with good eats!

Making ichigo daifuku with Emily and Stephanie. It was a sticky process!

Made by moi! — The finished result! Ichigo daifuku – mochi with strawberries and red bean filling on the inside. 🙂

My favorite type of mochi! Does anyone know if there’s a place you can buy sakuramochi in the DC area?

Matcha cupcakes — Matcha (green tea) cupcakes

Hinamatsuri desserts, including hishimochi (diamond-shaped colored rice cakes)

Delicious sushi and mochi — Nigiri, futomaki, and inarizushi

Clam soup! — Ushiojiru, which is soup with clams. Clam shells in food are deemed the symbol of a united and peaceful couple, because a pair of clam shells fits perfectly, and no pair but the original pair can do so.

The ladies at Hinamatsuri lunch. What a feast! Mio was napping for most of it, but there was still plenty of food for her when she woke up.

Cutiepies Mio and Hiroki. — Cutiepies Mio (23 months old) and Hiroki (16 months old).

Mio looking at me: "Do you see that cat?!" — Mio dressed in her jinbei for Hinamatsuri. Here she is upon discovering a cat (behind her) by Megumi’s apartment.

We had such a wonderful time in LA! Thank you to Megumi and Daniel for being such amazing hosts and making our stay so memorable and fun.

Our time in Southern California was short but so sweet! The LA portion of our trip was over, but we still had lots of fun times ahead of us up in Northern California. Stay tuned!

Los Angeles 2013: Day 1

March 12, 2013 By Misono in Family and Friends, Local Gems, Wanderlust Tags: Alhambra, beach, Brent, Daniel, Estella, Fluff Ice, Gardena, LA, Los Angeles, Manhattan Beach, Megumi, ramen, Shinsengumi, SoCal, Southern California, spam musubi

We spent the past week visiting our family and friends on the West Coast! We first arrived in Los Angeles the first weekend of March, before flying up to the Bay Area to spend the rest of the time with Dan’s parents before we flew back to Virginia this past weekend. We really wanted to make the stop in Los Angeles while we were in California, because some of our closest friends that we’d made in Bay Area had relocated to Southern California in recent years, and we couldn’t imagine making the trip out West without seeing them! Our dear friends Megumi and Daniel graciously opened up their beautiful home in Alhambra for us to stay in, and we have Estella and Brent to thank for picking us up at LAX and shuttling us around everywhere the first day in their spacious car. It’s not easy to host and take care of a family of three (especially when one is a jetlagged toddler), and we can’t express how grateful we were for all their thoughtful preparation and warm hospitality!

As usual, we took so many pictures throughout the trip, that I’m going to break our trip up into separate posts. Enjoy our snapshots from Day 1, below…

Taking the shuttle to our terminal. — At Dulles: waiting to take the shuttle to our terminal.

She only fell asleep for the last 5 minutes of the flight. Of course. — Mio only fell asleep for the last 5 minutes of the flight. Of course.

Eating lunch together at Shinsengumi — After getting picked up at LAX by Brent and Estella, we met up with Megumi and Daniel for lunch at Shinsengumi Hakata Ramen.

Shinsengumi! My favorite â¤ — My friend Mariko had first taken me to Shinsengumi a few years ago, and it’s since become one of my favorite ramen places in SoCal! So delicious. 🙂

spam musubi! — I got a side of spam musubi to go with my ramen. I was so full afterwards!

After lunch, we headed over to spend the afternoon at Manhattan Beach… while it had been 28 degrees when we left DC, it got up to 85 degrees in LA that day! Life is not fair… made us wonder why we didn’t just move down to SoCal instead of to Northern Virginia! 😛

Princess status. — Mio was asleep in the stroller, and we couldn’t take the stroller through the sand, so the guys carried her out onto the beach. Princess status!

Megumi at Manhattan Beach — Megumi is glowing! A true California girl â™¥

Mio sleeping on the beach. — Mio sleeping peacefully on the beach.

Mio is awake! — Mio woke up, but was not in the best mood… I think we discovered that she is not a fan of sand. She would cry every time her feet touched it!

Reunited and it feels so good! We missed them so much.

Mio looks cranky... — A family picture at Manhattan Beach â™¥

Everyone waving at Mio — Everyone trying to cheer Mio up. 🙂

For dinner, Estella and Brent took us to an awesome Taiwanese place called Kang Kang Food Court for dinner. They’d introduced us to delicious soup dumplings before up in NorCal, but this time they took us to eat crispy soup dumplings! So good!!!

Such delicious crispy soup dumplings! — Pan-fried soup dumplings!

The gang at dinner! — Dinner with our favorite people!

Our family at dinner — Our family of three at dinner!

After dinner, Megumi suggested we go get dessert at Fluff Ice, which serves fluffly Taiwanese style shaved ice! True to its name, it was so fluffy soft and light, and we loved it! 😀

Green tea flavored fluff ice with red bean and mochi — I got green tea flavored fluff ice with red bean and mochi!

Fluff Ice with Megumi — Special thanks to Megumi for the picture!

Mio was jetlagged and exhausted, but was such a trooper! — Mio was jetlagged and exhausted, but was such a trooper and in good spirits, staying up until about 9pm Pacific Time!

When we got back to Megumi & Daniel’s we put Mio to bed, and stayed up playing board games together while munching on delicious desserts that Megumi had prepared! You can see the rest of our stay in Los Angeles in Day 2, which happened to land on Hinamatsuri!

Visiting the Animal Rescue Foundation

July 6, 2012 By Misono in Family and Friends, Furry Friends Tags: Animal Rescue Foundation, Daniel, Jenn, Megumi, Mio, Tony La Russa

A couple snapshots from Thursday, when Mio and I got to spend the day with Megumi, Daniel, and Jenn. Mio especially loved visiting Tony La Russa’s Animal Rescue Foundation — she loved seeing all the kitties and dogs!