URL: El Capitan Canyon
ADDRESS: (MAP)
11560 Calle Real
Santa Barbara CA 93117
PHONE: 1-805-685-3887 | 1 866-352-2729 (reservations)

A happy new year to you all :)
May the year of 2008 be filled with happiness and prosperity.

For our 3rd year anniversary, Paul and I had a mini vacation in Santa Barbara and stayed at El Capitan Canyon. Our friend Judy and Fabian stayed there a few times, and I'd always heard that this place was amazing... :) And it sure was! I keep thinking about when we can go back there again.

We met up with our friend Chig, Chig's sister Sanae, and her friend in Asakusa. I love going to Asakusa and feel the air of SHITAMACHI which is Tokyo's traditional downtown. This town is kept pretty much retro and traditional unlike modern Tokyo in other areas.

URL: Tokyo Motor Show
One of our plans was to go to Tokyo Motor Show while we were in Japan this time. Paul wanted to go there twice if we could, but I think one day was plenty. One of the cars we were both interested in checking out was Suzuki X-head (pic middle) since it is like a small mini-truck Paul has been dreaming about. But, it was way too tiny in person. The truck only holds 2 passengers and 2 kid's size motor cycles.

URL: Living Desert

We went to Palm Desert for both Paul & Poppa's birthdays over the weekend. One of the things we decided to do was to go to the Living Desert. "The Living Desert is one of the most successful zoological parks in the country and offers visitors the most complete introduction to the natural desert."

URL: Portland Classical Chinese Garden
RELATED URL: Kodapup | Travel Oregon | UNSCENE2

I've been meaning to come back to write about this awesome Chinese Tea Garden we visited in Portland. When I was reading through one of the Portland magazines Karen sent over to us, one of the articles was talking about having tea at the Portland Classical Chinese Garden.

We had no idea what to expect, but the article had a very nice picture of the Chinese Tea Garden and mentioned about serving 35 imported loose-leaf varieties. That convinced me to want to go try.

URL: Kodapup | Travel Oregon | UNSCENE2

One of the adventures Paul & I wanted to do for sure in Portland was to go on a nature hike. Ever since we saw these stunning pictures on Karen's blog, that was it for us. We had to go visit Karen in Portland!

The place Karen took us was called "Forest Park" which is one of the biggest municipal parks in United States featuring nearly 70 miles of trails and covering over 5,000 acres.

URL: Kodapup | Travel Oregon | UNSCENE2

Visiting Portland was awesome!
Super green, fresh air, clean, peaceful, friendly people, excellent coffee, and very eclectic. Compare to LA, everything is close to each other, so it seemed much easier to get around. 10 minute from downtown, you could easily end up being in the forest and enjoy a long hike with fresh air! I'm already missing it...

We were only there for 2 and 1/2 days, and there was obviously not enough time to cover everything in Portland. But Thanks to our friend Karen and her husband Perry!! We were able to do wide variety of activities and visited many places :)

Paul & I will be flying out to Portland, OR to visit our friend Karen tomorrow :)
Since this is our first time traveling together to a place neither of us had gone to, we are excited! Karen has been sending us highlights of Portland, and it sounds like a beautiful place! We can't wait!! I'll be posting some updates later :)

URL: Redondo Beach Pier
RELATED LINKS: Yelp | Citysearch

The Arcade at Redondo Beach Pier is awesome (in a weird freaky way).
As soon as I walk in, I feel like I'm stepping into a different time zone. All the old vintage looking rides and games are just unbelievable to check out.

URL: Abandoned Railroads Of The U.S

The site isn't pretty... but all the information and pictures provided on this website is very fascinating to check out.

Since I'm from Japan, and I grew up riding trains all over... Living in LA, I always thought that it is very inconvenient to have to drive everywhere when we want to travel to places efficiently. And this is Los Angeles!

Rose Garden Tea Room
Overall Rating (+++++)
food (+++++) | ambiance (+++++) | service (+++++) | price ($$)

ADDRESS: (MAP)
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
PHONE: (626) 683-8131 (Tea Room Reservations)
URL: The Huntington Botanical Gardens
RELATED LINKS: Yelp (Tea Room) | Chowhound

We always have a wonderful time visiting the Huntington Garden. They have many, many different amazing gardens (Japanese, Rose, Australian, Jungle, Desert and more) here, and it is like coming to an amusement park of plants! Even if you think you are not interested in gardens and plants, this place will probably overwhelm or inspire you with everything that they have to offer at this place (especially their Cactus Garden).

At the Rose Garden, they have a small tea room where you can enjoy English tea with all kinds of different finger foods (buffet) for $19.95.

We had some time, so we decided to go out to Tokyo.
Our first stop was Nezu Jinja (Shrine). Ever since I've known Paul, he has always talked about this place since it was right by the very first place he had stayed in Japan back in 1997. It is a very small shrine compare to some other shrines in Japan, and it seems to blend right in with local's life style and history. It felt very cozy :)

After visiting the main Nezu shrine, we took a walk all around the park. And we met this cat "NEZU" strolling right along the side of this old man. NEZU was like a little dog, he listened and followed his master wherever he went. Very Cute!

URL: Healing Villa Inzai
Inzai, Chiba, Japan
10 am - 12 midnight
1,500 yen (About $13)
RELATED LINKS: Looking for heavenly Springs

A happy new year, 2007!
Paul + I just got back from Japan over the weekend :) It was definitely good to visit home, but we were all physically exhausted from helping my family move back into their renovated house.

So, we decided to go to this Onsen/Spa resort near our house to relax and treat ourselves. It was heavenly, and Paul even enjoyed Japanese Onsen this time too :D

URL: Flavorpill

Flavorpill has been around for a while now, but this is one the best websites/services for getting GOOD resources on what's happening in town for creative events (Art, Design, Music, Film, Fashion... etc). Once you sign up in their mailing list, you get weekly newsletter (pic right) updates in your email for cool events around town... and read more about them. They have services for New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, London, Miami. If you don't want to sign up to get mail magazine, you can just check online :) But, they send out very nice useful mail magazine (they do it right), so it's not annoying at all.

URL: Flicker (jam343)
RELATED LINKS: Flicker (Hozuki) | Hozuki Ichi

A beautiful photograph speaks it's own mind...
I've always liked Hozuki (aka: Chinese Lantern). It's my favorite plant for the fall. Hozuki plants are usually green before the summer starts, and they turn into a bright reddish orange by mid-July. At the end of their season, the outer shell (leaf) dries up, and creates almost a heart-like shape cocoon which protects a red cherry that beams through the dried shell waiting for next season. It's almost like a love story...