On Sunday, my best friend Debbie organized a gathering with some of my dearest girlfriends to celebrate my 30th birthday at Zen Tara Tea in Bethesday. She reserved a private tea room for us and we had a lovely, intimate tea time together with just us girls! Dan watched Mio at home so that I could have a couple hours of relaxed fun with everyone. (Thanks hubby!) Debbie did such an amazing job selecting a lovely location and preparing lots of treats and goodies for us to take home, and had encouraged several of my friends to donate to my charity: water campaign — I was so moved by all the thought and effort she put into it, and it made for a 30th birthday celebration I’ll never forget!
The private room for our group at Zen Tara Tea
Lovely holiday decor ♥
The ladies ordering tea
The cutest manekineko mugs – I had to get one!
Debbie ordered me some cherry blossom white tea. 🙂
The bestest had also bought these macarons from Macaron Bee for us all to share!
Lots of laughters, smiles, and girl talk!
I always have so much fun with these girls. 🙂
Thank you to my wonderful girlfriends for making my 30th so memorable! ♥
Debbie even prepared these homemade cake pops (green tea and azuki-flavored) and Japanese snacks for everyone to take home! She was so generous and put so much thought into everything… 🙂
Thank you for planning such a lovely tea party, Debbie! ♥
Last Saturday, we went to a holiday potluck party with friends. Everyone brought such delicious food, and we also had a Secret Santa gift exchange. It was great seeing a lot of my high school girlfriends again, even some I hadn’t seen in years! Special thanks to Lucy for hosting the fun gathering at her lovely home.
My best friend Debbie and I in front of the Christmas tree. 🙂
Enjoying delicious food and chatting with friends
Mio was anxious and overwhelmed by all the people at first, and wanted to be held for the first half of the party.
Beginning the Secret Santa gift exchange! It was fun to find out who each person’s gifter was!
The girls opening presents. I was Yonmi’s Secret Santa!
My Secret Santa was Ploi, and she got me the Naked palette from Urban Decay! I was so surprised! I’ve heard so much about the Naked palette, and was so delighted to receive it. Thank you Ploi ♥
Revealing each other’s Secret Santas
Mio was really curious about my gift.
Already a fan of makeup, she grabbed the box and wouldn’t let it go.
…and then she tried to eat it.
Mio warmed up to everyone a lot more after a while, and started checking out the Christmas ornaments and running up to everyone.
I was so surprised when in the middle of the party, my friends turned off some of the lights and started singing “Happy Birthday,” bringing over a birthday pie lit with candles! I was so touched. :’)
A sweet surprise!
Thank you everyone! Special thanks to Debbie for buying the pie from Pie Sisters – it was so delicious!
There was so much good food at the holiday party!
I hadn’t seen Yonmi since college! We’re both moms now. 🙂
A family picture!
We had a wonderful time at the holiday party, and it didn’t go too late so we were able to get back in time for Mio’s bedtime!
My nightly routine of reading a few books to Mio before bedtime.
Reading together ♥ One of my favorite moments together.
The movers are coming today and packing up all of our belongings to ship to the East Coast, and will be shipping our car, too. We’ll be spending a day in San Jose before we flight out with our one-way tickets to DC on Thursday. It’s been a whirlwind three weeks preparing for the cross-country move and saying goodbye to the Bay Area. Thank you to all of our friends who have made time to say goodbye to us, and for all your well wishes, thoughtful gifts, and most of all your continued friendship! We promise to keep in touch and visit often! 🙂
Dinner in Berkeley with our Nakayoshi friends. Thank you for everything; we’ll miss you!!!
Mio with Auntie Estella!
Good luck in SoCal pursuing your dreams, Estella (and Brent)! We will miss you so much!
Lunch with Nicole, Erik, and beautiful Arina!
Had to throw this in. Mio making sure everyone who walked by the restaurant knew that they were OPEN!
Thank you Tarrin & Jason for being such awesome friends to us! We’ll miss you very much, but will definitely see you again!
Picnic at Lake Chabot
To Mio, Sofia will always be her California BFF! Thanks for all the great memories!
Playground hugs! Mio was a little too forcible. (><) But that is how much she loves Sof!
Gorgeous handmade doll and card from Sonya for Mio… so much thought and detail put into it!
Mio with her handmade doll from Sonya
Girls’ night out with Korean food and soju-tails with El Cerrito mama friends!
It was Labor Day weekend exactly five years ago in 2007 that I moved out to the Bay Area, and it’s right after Labor Day weekend that we will be moving back East. It has been such a wonderful five years full of rich memories and unforgettable experiences, and I’m so grateful for everyone we’ve met along the way.
Mio has made some more friends in the neighborhood lately, and they are so cute together! The moms are Japanese and talk to their kids in Japanese, so it’s great for Mio to get more exposure to the language, too.
Such adorable friends.
食ã„ã—ã‚“åŠã®ï¼“人。These three love to eat!
Picnic on the playground.
Storytime with Luca and Isla
She loves the felt easel + felt shapes. Thinking about making one at home.
These are from almost a month ago, but I thought I’d post them anyway because they are so cute…
Mio on a date with Luca. For some reason, they look alike. 美桜ã€ãƒ«ã‚«ãã‚“ã¨åˆãƒ‡ãƒ¼ãƒˆã€‚ã§ã‚‚é¡”ãŒä¼¼ã¦ã¦å…„弟ã£ã½ã„。(笑)
Last Thursday, Mio and I went over to Maryland to meet up with some of my fellow Mama friends in the area and their kids. Together, we went on an outing to Watkins Park there and had a picnic, played on the playground, and then strolled around the farm section. It was great catching up with them, and seeing how much their children have grown… we’ve all known each other since our pre-motherhood days, so it’s really amazing to see each other with our own families now! We were a group of seven parents (including myself) and ten kids, so it was quite rowdy and a whole lot of fun!
We hitched a ride to the park with Lan's kids DoJoon and Seiji
Hat, check. Sunscreen, check. It was such a hot, sunny day!
Seiji and Mio passed out on the ride to the park.
13 month old Mio and 18 month old Seiji playing together at the park.
Maya, Asher, and Aiden eating at the picnic. Many of our friends' kids are quarters, like Mio!
4 month old Aubriana -- so adorable.
Mio is very curious about Aubriana.
Mio playing with the big boys DoJoon, Zenshin, and Seiji... she looks so little compared to them!
Mio got a hug from Kosei... melt melt melt!
After lunch and some playtime on the playground, we trekked over to the farm area of the park.
Looking at the bunnies
So many kids!
Mio looking at the chickens
Mamas and their kids
Beautiful blue peacocks
All of the boys were very interested in the horses and cows.
Mio got right in there with the and even stuck her head into the fenced area...
Looking at the cow.
Distracted by a couple dogs that came by.
A horse came right up to Mio!
Mio was exhausted from all the excitement of playing with so many other kids and seeing all the animals that she napped almost the whole way home! I love that she has so many friends here that she can play with every time we are back in the area. Thank you Lan and Mie for organizing the fun outing! 😀
