VISITING WEST L.A. - PART 1

I had anxiety about leaving Logan in order to go on this trip. She is still nursing, she's younger than when I first left Sloane, and this would be for several nights instead of just one - but the anxiety still caught me by surprise. I love any chance to travel so this nervousness felt uncharacteristic and I worried that I wouldn't be able to fully enjoy the trip. 

The best way I can describe the anxiety is to say that it is akin to being told that your left arm will stay behind at home while you travel and don't worry it will be totally fine, just enjoy yourself. That's how much your baby feels like a part of your physical being ! It's crazy. But I'm happy to report that my fears turned out to be totally unfounded, I had an amazing time, it turned out that Logan didn't get depressed and sad about me being away - Ken and Ken's mom (and Sloane!) did a great job taking care of her - and the reunion afterwards was incredibly sweet. 

The week before I left was madness. I worked 10 hour days, prepped all of Logan's food, left detailed instructions, packed and tried to wrap my mind around pumping all weekend while on the go (with a hand pump for the first time!). But as soon as I got to the airport, a calm settled over me. It was like slipping into a familiar old coat that brings with it a rush of smells and memories; I remembered I really love traveling.

I love how travel takes you out of the norm, how it alters your brain, heightens your senses and tinges everything with anticipation. There was an extra layer of newness because it was the first in a long while that I had traveled alone. There was no distractions, no babies to worry about, no worrying about everyone else. It was just me. 

And I felt creative. I tried to figure out why - was it the absence of children? Surely not, because they often fuel my creativity. I soon realized it's the lack of interruption. I was able to have several whole thoughts flesh out and I marveled at the space to stretch out all of my mind's limbs. Apparently my mind has limbs!



Am I going to be able to record everything here? Probably not. But I'll try my best, because I consider my travel complete once I've documented it. The reflection is part of the joy of it, just as the planning is. 

I specify here "west L.A." because Los Angeles is huge! My list of things I wanted to explore there was very long, so for the sake of time and sanity, and in order to maximize my enjoyment of what I could see, I decided to stay local to my Airbnb, which was in Westwood and roam around Santa Monica and Venice to the best of my abilities. Luckily, my very dear high school friend lived nearby and I got my wish of hanging out with her as much as possible. 

Here are a collection of the photos I took - both with my DSLR and iPhone. These photos are mostly all from Saturday, the second day I was there, and I'll do another post about Sunday's highlights. 

The photos above are from the Airbnb we stayed at - which was spectacular. The location was good, the space was wonderful and tasteful and best of all, the host was incredibly sweet. She was an older French woman who made me feel welcomed and comfortable, and instantly gave me a great impression of L.A. I took full advantage of her outdoor space and expresso machine, and I also took too many photos of all the plants in and outside of her building.

Let me just say a quick word about the flora here - it is incredible. I was mouth agape at two things during my visit: the weather and the glorious plants and flowers everywhere. They were so beautifully unique and plentiful. 

I mean, look at the front of my friends' building! That's what it looks like everywhere! 

Also, look at my friends! They make me so happy. That is my bosom friend Hilary and her beau, Alex, and they helped me love L.A. even more. 



Santa Monica is so fresh and clean. It's modern and soft and sunny and breezy. Is that a good enough way to describe it? While comparing it to NYC, my friend Hilary described Santa Monica as the West village and Venice Beach as the East village and that seems pretty spot on. 







We walked over to the farmer's market and all I have are these photos of oranges but it seems appropriate because I spent a lot of time at this stand, taste testing all 10 different kinds of citrus that they had out. I ended up getting oranges, peaches, lemon cucumbers and tomatoes at the market and it was all delicious. 



After the market, we went over to Pono Burger, ate in a fancy tin hut and I gobbled up a scrumptious wasabi inspired burger. 





This is my friend Janie who stayed at the Airbnb with me and became my travel buddy for the weekend. I haven't seen her in about 10 years and we got on as if no time had passed. She flew in all the way from Seoul and I am so glad she was able to be there.

We went to a collection of galleries after lunch called Bergamot Station, which is at a site that used to be a railroad station from 1875-1953. There was a great variety of art and we pranced about, just as happy to be there together as we were about seeing the art. We ended the afternoon with crazy good ice cream! As all summer afternoons should. 



And finally, the reason for my trip!! That afternoon, Janie and I drove out Studio 1342 to celebrate our friend Soonie getting married.  I have known Soonie and Janie since we were about 12 years old, when I moved to Korea from New Jersey and was just about to encounter a severe case of culture shock. We had all come from abroad - Janie from Australia and Soonie and I from the United States - and so our parents put us in a summer program that helped kids in our exact situation to adjust to the different culture and schools (good Lord, the schools). We bonded over being in a new country together, homesickness, as well as preteen angst/joy, and kept in touch over the years. It was awesome to be able to gather together for a wedding party. 

The ceremony was utterly unique. Both sides of the family stood in front of everyone and there were words shared about the bride and groom, blessings for their future, and then the bride and groom spoke to each other about their love for each other and hopes for their marriage. It was genuine and beautiful. 

I was honored to be at their wedding. They are wonderful, these two. They are smart and easy going, adventurous and funny - amazing combinations in an individual and in a marriage. 

A brief word about the food. They had these two amazing food trucks there - Kogi and a chicken and waffle truck (I can't remember the name!) and I stuffed myself silly. I was particularly impressed by the chicken and waffle sandwich - it may have been the best I have ever had!



The wedding venue was dreamy, the food and alcohol were aplenty and I loved being able to be there for a really special time for my friend.  

Congratulations Chris and Soonie!! Thank you for hosting a marvelous party and giving me such a wonderful reason to visit.

PYNE & SMITH

I'm back from my trip to Los Angeles and I feel relaxed, inspired and happy to be back with my family. I'm planning on doing a two part document of the trip, but in the meanwhile I'm going to share this clothier called Pyne & Smith that I came across on Instagram the other day. They hand make linen pieces that would be great for summer. They are "dresses with pockets, made in California" and they are right up my alley with their comfort, simplicity and versatility.

FATHER'S DAY WEEKEND

I have really high standards for what a dad should be like...because I have THE BEST DAD. Yep. In the world.  He is wonderful. So it is with great surprise that I find myself being impressed with this guy that I married who is turning into a pretty spectacular dad himself, year after year.  I like that I got to know him as a friend, and then as a boyfriend and husband, and then now as a father. The layers make the croissant more tasty!

I thought about this long and hard, and you know what makes Ken such a great dad? I came to the conclusion that he is a great dad because HE WANTS TO BE A DAD.  It's so simple, but if you know Ken, you know that if he wants something, he goes after it. Like really hard and all in. So since he wanted to be a dad, he does it 100% and I love having front row seats to it all.

This is Sloane working hard on drawing a photo of our family on brown paper, which we used as wrapping paper for Ken's father's day gift.  Hearing her describe why Ken's hair had to be spikey like that, as opposed to what she did to the girls' hairs is my little treasure of the week. 

This was us Sunday morning before we went out for donuts!! Ken wanted donuts for breakfast on Father's Day, and so donuts we went to get. 

I took some photos of them together right before we left. 

Sloane and I are both wearing rompers here and I think it is extremely important to note that Ken picked out both of them! 

These donuts from Papa In's donuts were REALLY good. I could use another Boston creme right about now...its soft and slightly chewy in the way you know you probably shouldn't eat too much, but you can't help it and it's gonna happen anyways...

Later that day, friends came through town and we grilled some food, ate butter on top of a bunch of it,  and washed it down with some rose. This is how I like to do my meals in the summer, on the porch. 

I should have recorded this phenomenon of these little babies going at the plate of watermelon I put down. They went at it and chomped into all of them before any of the adults got to have any.

This face! 

JUST ONE MORE. i can't help it. 

For dinner (I know, I know, so much food!) Ken wanted to make a seafood bake, which is one of my most favorite foods ever, so I was more than okay with that, PLUS Ken made it, and it was delicious.

I snapped about the whole cooking process on snapchat (yep!) and there was just as much dancing involved as cooking. 

Happy Father's Day Ken! we adore you.

THESE DAYS

Sometimes Monday nights dinner look like this. Leftover beer, hummus, a vegetable tray, grapes, a can of salmon and rice, seaweed. Sloane and I ate this a couple of Mondays ago and we thought it was delicious.

It's summer! So I'm a happy person. Unfortunately, it's also been crazy at work, so I've also been a very ovewhelmed person. During the weekdays I feel frazzled and overwhelmed, and during the weekends I've been attempting total relax mode. 

There was a night this past week where I made it through the day, dinner, and putting both girls down and I was so exhausted that I couldn't keep my eyes open but I also really wanted some chocolate chip cookies, so I ate three in a row, chugged a glass of milk and went straight to bed. It's been that kind of a week.

And! I have all these photos on my phone that I want to share, so here they are - daily weekday life, weddings, slow weekend afternoons in the pool, toddling babes and donuts. You guys, I already have anxiety about summer ending...anyone else?

LOGAN AT 11 MONTHS

This is my favorite month! 

I think that's how I should start all my baby update posts. It feels utterly true each time. 

I love love love this stage. 

I love the weight and ease of her, slung around my hip with one of her arms holding on to my shoulder. 

I love how she looks at me with pure delight and such interest; how she smiles wide at me. 

I love watching her play. 

I love watching her eat and hold things. 

I love how she gives me hugs, burying her face into me.  

I love how we have quiet moments of snuggling where she puts her head down on my shoulder or arm to look up at me, and we just happily gaze at each other. 

I love making her laugh. It's the closest I can get to creating a perfect moment. 

At 11 months, she took her first few steps. One would think, that having done this all before with my first child would make this second time go-around feel a little less exciting, but that is not the case at all. If anything, it is even more thrilling because you understand the significance of every tiny thing and know where it will lead. Every time Logan does something new, it blows my mind! 

She's not walking as much as Sloane did at the same age, but she is saying more. Ken's theory is that Logan is heavier (and definitely bottom heavy) which makes it harder for her to walk that weight around.  She sure is determined though and if she wants to get somewhere, she will get there. She has this insanely funny way of half crawling half walking, where she is on her feet walking, but she is also using her hands on the floor.  My theory is that she has an older sister talking to her all the time, so Logan's eager to join on in. She is constantly trying to "talk" and apparently the other day at daycare, she said "star" and "moon" while pointing at pictures of each respective thing. I haven't seen it yet so it doesn't count! 

She will eat anything, and has recently been demanding that she gets to eat what we do. The other day, I was eating a spring roll at a restaurant and before I knew it, she had grabbed it out of my hand and taken a huge bite of it, with great satisfaction. The one thing she isn't enthusiastic about so far is sweet potatoes, which is strange because I ate so much of it when I was pregnant. Maybe she's telling me she needs a break. 

Anytime music comes on, she likes to dance along. She has this one move that is my favorite where she waves her arms around in a slashing motion back and forth while twisting her upper body along with the arms. It makes me laugh so hard.  Since Sloane loves singing along to songs, I can often hear Logan trying to "sing" along with her sister. 

She claps, hip hip hoorays, waves, and points. She sleeps through the night, mostly. Some days are better than others. 

Even when she has a hard time falling asleep in the middle of the night, in the mornings, she has been waking up quietly. By the time I go get her, she is already awake (so many times I don't know how long it's been) and she is sitting up, playing in there by herself.  When I walk in, she turns to greet me with the best smile ever. 

I am really enjoying nursing lately. Pumping is still annoying, but less so, and it is worth it to be able to have sweet moments of nursing time with her. I often dissolve into a puddle of contentment during these times. 

The other day, I was sitting with her in the armchair next to the window and she held the window pull, studied it, and then pointed at me and then pointed at the pull, as if to say, "you pull it".  It was as clear as day, and it stunned me. It's the same phenomenon that I describe in my post about Sloane's 11 months, where I realize how cognizant this baby is becoming, and get the sense of "wow, she is watching us!" 

One of my favorite things she does is this outstretched hand gesture with her palms up. She will do it to any of us when we come into a room, in a greeting, in a request to be picked up, in a moment of joy, and towards Rusty. It is indicative of her personality I think - outstretched and upturned hands.

When Rusty came back from his long stay at my MIL's, Logan was extremely dubious of him, but now she is obsessed. She makes these squealing noises whenever she sees him, wants to give him pats and hugs, tries to throw some of her food down to him when he comes begging, and makes these noises and hand gestures at him (like the photo above) where its apparent she is telling him commands, like she sees us do. 

dfd

SUUMMMMEER

Summer is here!! We hung out with some of our closest friends this past weekend to kick off the summer and it was wonderful.