Korean

Mimi & Alden’s Wedding

We got to be a part of our dear friends Mimi and Alden’s wedding celebration when they tied the knot on September 28th! The wedding was held at Early Mountain Vineyards near Charlottesville, and it was a gorgeous place for a beautiful ceremony and reception to celebrate the couple. We had a lovely time — Congratulations, Mimi and Alden!

Mimi looking stunning coming down the aisle.

Beautiful ceremony at Early Mountain Vineyards

A video of their bridal party’s grand entrance at the reception:

…and their sweet first dance!

A toast by Alden's father. — A toast by Alden’s father.

…recreating delicious dishes in the comfort of your own home.

Homemade haemul pajeon (Korean seafood pancake) for an afternoon snack. :) — Homemade haemul pajeon (Korean seafood pancake) for an afternoon snack. The one thing that's lacking in the Bay Area is good Korean food... I grew up near Annandale, which has the best Korean food, so I'm constantly craving the delicious eats from back home.

… surprise packages in the mail from friends.

Mio gets so spoiled by her fashionista aunties! Thank you Jina for the gorgeous dress! :) — A lovely dress for Mio, from Jina! She remembered that dusty rose was one of my favorite colors. Love blush tones!

… including homemade goodies from the bestest!

Amazing homemade jam from the bestest! After tasting this, I can't go back to store-bought... — These homemade jams that my best friend Debbie made are amazing. Both are delicious, but the blueberry champagne in particular is heavenly!

… picking up an old favorite hobby.

flora & fauna... Revisiting my hobby of creating floral accessories! :) — I've started creating floral accessories again. I hadn't made any after Mio was born, but I'm excited to have some more time to craft some fashioned florals!

Dan and I were both in Southern California this weekend, although we arrived separately and were in different parts of SoCal and didn’t see each other for much of the time. Dan and his film buddies were in Pasadena to shoot a short, and they drove down on Friday night, whereas I flew down on Friday morning and stayed in Irvine and Torrance to spend time with my friends from college — our plans just happened to fall on the same weekend, so we ended up both being down there but ironically separated until it came time for us to drive back up to the Bay Area.

Dan may blog about his shoot a little later, but this post will be all about my adventures this past weekend. 😛

My good friend Mariko lives in Irvine, and I hadn’t seen her since last June, so I was really happy to have a chance to go spend some time with her this time. Our friend Shun from Virginia Tech is moving back to Japan, and he was stopping by SoCal for the weekend before flying to the other side of the world, so it was a good chance to see him as well, before he left the U.S.

We spent most of Friday in the Los Angeles area and Saturday in San Diego. Here are some photos from Day One in Manhattan Beach and Irvine….

prosciutto mozarella tartine — Prosciutto & Mozzarella di Bufala tartine with sun-dried tomatoes & basil pesto from Le Pain Quotidien at Manhattan Beach. Delicieux!

lunch with Mariko at Le Pain Quotidien — Mari had a warm organic turkey and cheddar tartine. Also very yum.

after lunch in Manhattan Beach — Outside Le Pain Quotidien. We were pretty stuffed at this point. Thank you for the lunch, Mari!

me at Manhattan Beach — We decided to walk it off with a stroll along Manhattan Beach.

Mariko on the beach — Mariko being her usual adorable self.

Mariko and Misono — Mari and Misono on Manhattan Beach!

goofing off — It was such a gorgeous day to be at the beach!

Mariko in the distance — Amazing sky, sand, and sea... stretching far into the distance.

me in the distance — We started getting a little giddy with the gorgeous beach and the lovely weather and started taking some silly photos.

my turn to take a photo with tiny Mariko — What are we doing? I'm not quite sure myself... but they are amusing, no?

the promised land! — We hit up Pinkberry, the original tart frozen yogurt.

Mariko and I at Pinkberry — I love froyo, and it was my first time having Pinkberry. I liked it! 🙂

original froyo with mango and mochi toppings — Original tart with mango and mochi toppings.

Mariko and Shun — After we picked up Shun from the LAX, we drove to Irvine to have some late dinner at BCD Tofu House.

dinner at BCD Tofu House in Irvine — Quite a feast!

bulgogi! — I don't like tofu, so instead of soon dubu, I had some of this bulgogi goodness. I hadn't had bulgogi in a few years! I used to have it all the time when I lived in NoVa.

Shun having his first taste of froyo — Shun-chan eating froyo for the first time! Must capture moment...

At Yogurtland, having our 2nd froyo of the day! — Mari and I at Yogurtland, having froyo for the second time in six hours...

Looking at the photos, it looks like all we did was eat, scamper around the beach, and go eat some more… and more… and more…. which I suppose is essentially the gist of what happened. There’s just so much good food in the area, I end up wanting to eat everything I see. It was really nice to spend time with college friends and reminisce on our days back at Tech — sometimes I wish I could just go back and experience it all over again. (I believe I suffer from a bit of Peter Pan Complex.) But it’s comforting to see that your close friends from those days have never really changed that much, and that you can always pick up right where you left off with them. It really makes me grateful for the friendships I made and have been able to carry with me.

Stay tuned for Part II, in which we encounter giant sea creatures and scale treacherous rock cliffs. (Sounds so epic!)

Mimi & Alden’s Wedding

Happiness is…

Weekend in SoCal (Part I)