Last weekend was Oakland’s Eat Real Festival, where 60 street food vendors, along with craft food market vendors, artisan producers, and culinary instructors rolled into Jack London Square to serve up delicious eats (all $5 or under!) and hold workshops and demonstrations. The festival ran from Friday through Sunday, but we spent our Saturday afternoon at the festival. It was our first time there, and we were a bit overwhelmed by how crazy the crowds were, how long some lines stretched, and how much time was spent waiting in them. (It probably didn’t help that we went at what was most likely the busiest time of the whole three days.) The whole experience probably would have been a little less stressful without having to maneuver the stroller through the gravel and throngs of foodies that descended upon the festival, but we still had a good time and got to indulge our palates!
There was a photo booth from Magnolia Photo Booth Co. at Jason & Tarrin’s wedding last Saturday, and we had a lot of fun with it! Such a great idea — a big thanks to the bride and groom for letting us indulge in it. Here are some of the memorable ones….
We were wondering what Mio would look like with a lot of hair. Now we know.
She’s doing the kissy-face, too!
Here I am as a jolly pirate (with a feather boa!) with my awesome coworker friends: Pharaoh Estella and adorable Sarah.
We decided we needed some more Allen family photos, so the three of us stepped into the photo booth once again… but Mio was sleeping. :(Â She retains the same face throughout with those bulldog cheeks, until the last one in which it crumbles from the frustration of disturbed sleep.
Estella, Mio, and I were lucky enough to get a photo opp with the lovely bride, Tarrin!
Our friends Jason and Tarrin tied the knot yesterday with a beautiful ceremony and reception at Mills College in Oakland. I’ve worked with Tarrin for the past four years and she is an awesome coworker as well as a wonderful friend. Tarrin and Jason are the type of couple everyone wants to be around — they are witty, fun, and oh-so-cute together. 🙂 We felt very lucky to be a part of their big day! (Even Mio was invited!)
Mio all dressed up for the wedding.
Thank you Megumi for the adorable dress! We love it!!!
Mio trying to eat her dress.
I love the embroidery!
Dan and Mio in the chapel, before the ceremony.
The ceiling of the chapel at Mills College. Beautiful!
Tarrin and Jason at the reception. I loved her dress!
Mio and I at the reception.
An apprehensive Mio.
With her big floppy hat.
My boss Emily holding Mio. For some reason, the way Mio has her hands clasped amuses me....
There was a photobooth at the reception, and we had way too much fun with it.
Max and I.
Dan holding Mio.
Us with the lovely bride and groom. Congratulations!
Estella and I with the gorgeous bride, Tarrin! 🙂
Brent trying to surprise Mio... lol.
The Waxcreative team (and babies) together.
Congratulations, Jason and Tarrin! We had a delightful time at the wedding, and look forward to many more years of continued friendship and memories with you two! Cheers to your happily ever after! ♥
Dan and I felt like the luckiest couple in the world yesterday, having the pleasure of several of our friends in the Bay Area come together to celebrate the upcoming arrival of our baby girl. A huge thank you to Megumi and Sam who hosted and organized such a wonderful West Coast baby shower, along with other friends who helped them decorate, cook, and put together what was one of the most beautiful showers I’ve ever attended. ♥
The theme was cherry blossoms and Classic Pooh!
Guess the Baby's Arrival
Real cherry blossoms decorated the tables - this one featured sugar cookies and espresso brownies!
Megumi's signature sugar cookies! They each had our names iced on them with bears and cherry blossoms.
The hors d'oeuvres were amazing!
Shot glasses of tomato soup, topped with grilled cheese sandwiches
Sam's orzo salad... so good!
Spam musubi... gotta love the stuff!
Tarrin's awesome hot crab dip!
Graig couldn't make it, but he sent his awesome somen salad.
Bruschetta!
Sliders... so cute!
water and strawberry lemonade
Cutely wrapped utensils!
Everything was almost too pretty to eat... but at the same time, I couldn't wait to dig in!
But wait... there's more! Can't forget the dessert table.
Layered gelatin!
Megumi's hummingbird cake... yum!
Matcha cupcakes from Aileen
Melon balls!
Amazing strawberry cupcakes, also made by Aileen!
It was so nice seeing Yumi & Mark, since we hadn't seen them since their wedding in Hawaii!
Thanks for coming, Yumi!
With my boss and some of my coworkers - who also happen to be amazing friends!
Let the baby shower games begin - we started off with guessing the baby's arrival.
Guessing the belly measurements!
Everyone overshot... do I look that big? lol
An entertaining game of drinking from baby bottles.
Ready, set, go!
Sucking down the juice.
Apparently, it's a lot harder than it looks! Kudos to those babies for their suction power.
Comparing how much everyone was able to drink in one minute.
The baby bottle contenders. It was a close race...
...but it was Tea who came out on top as the winner! 🙂
Poor Jason spilled the juice all over himself...
Guessing which candy bars are in the diapers.
Everyone writing down their guesses.
Pin the Baby on the Belly!
Dan blindfolding and spinning Matt.
"Where's the wall?"
Go Sam!
The hubby's turn.
The results!
Good job everyone!
Thank you everyone for the generous, thoughtful gifts!
Megumi HANDMADE this quilt for the baby. We still can't get over how beautiful it is, and the fact that Megumi made it herself amazes me! (It's folded up here, but I'll have to post a photo later of it in its full magnificent glory some other time.) I don't think I've ever received anything that had so much time and effort put into it...
Thanks Aileen & Haruka for coming - we always love seeing you guys!
With our favorite Oaklanders - Brent and Estella!
With lovely Katie!
Jason pretending he's pregnant too.
And finally... thank you ever so much to Megumi and Sam, who really went above and beyond, and worked so hard to put everything together for us. (Megumi planned it all the way from LA!)
Gift basket favors for the guests, containing strawberries and cherry blossom-shaped cookies!
Such beautifully assembled favors!
...complete with lovely tags to remember the event.
We were so humbled and moved by everyone’s thoughtfulness and generosity, and for the time and effort invested by our friends in putting such a lovely baby shower together for us. We’ll remember it for the rest of our lives, and we can’t wait to show these pictures to our daughter in the future, to show her how much she is loved. 🙂
Last Tuesday, on September 28th, I had the pleasure of seeing X Japan in concert at the Fox Theater in Oakland. I actually did not start listening to X Japan’s music until after they had disbanded back in 1997, but I’ve always liked their music, especially their powerful ballads, and have respected them as one of the most revolutionary rock bands in Japan. They reunited in 2007, albeit without their guitarist hide who passed away in 1998, and when I heard they were doing a North American tour this fall and that their second stop was Oakland, I had to go! X Japan is a legend in Japan, and their popularity is so huge that it would be impossible to see them in such an intimate venue back in their home country, where they constantly sell out their stadium tours — many of their Japanese fans have flown across the Pacific just so they can see them up close during their tour here in North America.
The concert was opened by a thrash band called Vampires Everywhere whom I neither knew about nor cared about, and X Japan didn’t take the stage until well into an hour after the concert had started, but they put on a performance that was worth the wait!
A huge thank you to Mariko, who got the tickets — we had pretty good seats: front row of the loge area, so we had a great view of the stage from above, so we could still sit and enjoy the concert without getting pushed and shoved by the hardcore fans.
Yoshiki takes the stage.X Japan's first performance was "Jade."Yoshiki on drums with vocalist Toshi.Yoshiki's piano performanceYoshiki on piano and Sugizo (formerly of Luna Sea) on violin.X Japan at the end of the concert - Pata, Heath, Yoshiki, Toshi, Sugizo. Yoshiki said that hide was performing with them that night, too.End to an awesome concert.
The set list was mostly made up of their harder, metal rock songs, punctuated by piano and violin solo interludes by Yoshiki and Sugizo. I was impressed that even though it’s been over a decade since their prime in the ’90s and all the band members are now significantly older, Toshi’s voice was still the same, and the band as a whole put on solid performances. Since I’m partial to their softer ballads, the highlight of the show (for me personally) was towards the end of the concert, when they performed “Endless Rain,” and stopped playing/singing repeatedly to let the audience sing back to them. It was really beautiful.
Here is a personal video I took of the end of the concert, when X Japan was taking photos against the crowd, and then exited the stage (throwing multiple water bottles into the audience in the process). I was a little disappointed that they didn’t actually sing “Forever Love,” and only ran the recording of it at the end, but it was still a great concert!
