How Japanese Play Cooking

What you are about to see in this clip just about encompasses all that makes Japanese electronic demonstrations great:
1. Music that sounds like it belongs in a Wii video game
2. Silent-movie style slides between segments
3. Ridiculous gadgets no one really needs but people will want them anyway

Papa-Goto from jarashi on Vimeo.

Photo of the Day (7.28.11)

Today's photo: Maidenhair fern growing from a log in the middle of the Big Sur River.

Photo of the Day (7.27.11)

Today's photo: Redwood sorrel with the Big Sur River in the background.  I always have a really hard time getting good pictures of redwood sorrel because it's so dark under the redwoods, but I think this picture turned out pretty cool.

Wedding Wednesday: Portraits

I'm running out of really exciting things to post about our own wedding, so soon I'm going to have to write posts about wedding inspiration I find around the web.  Today, I have some portraits taken of Graham and me throughout our wedding day.  So nothing too exciting to write about, but you can enjoy the pretty pictures taken by Allyson Magda.

All photos by Allyson Magda

Photo of the Day (7.26.11)

Today's photo: Moss growing on a tree stump in Big Sur.  I really love moss.

Photo of the Day (7.25.11)

Today's photo: My feet on the "buggy bench" in the campground at Big Sur.  We've always called this the buggy bench, and it's been here since I was a little kid.  It's a big log with a quarter cut out in a way to sort of resemble a baby buggy.  There are even pictures of my brother and me sitting on it from various trips.

 I also just like taking pictures of my feet in all different places.

Photo of the Day (7.22.11)

Today's photo: A shot of the Big Sur River using the miniature mode on my camera, which is an effect that creates the look of a tilt-shift lens.  It's a pretty fun mode to play around with.  I want to take some pictures with lots of people or cars to really get a good miniature effect.

We're headed to some garage sales in the morning, so we're hoping for some good stuff.  Happy weekend!

Photo of the Day (7.21.11)

Today's photo: Little Dark-eyed Junco on our hike up to Buzzard's Roost in Big Sur last week.  It was an exhausting hike, so breaks to take pictures of birds were necessary.

Wedding Wednesday: Viewmasters

Something really fun we did my brother did for our wedding was to make viewmasters of some pictures of Graham and I for guests to look at during the reception.

 If you don't remember what viewmasters are, they are those little plastic viewers that show a reel of 3-D pictures and you might have had one as a kid.  My brother has a camera that can take the 3-D pictures.  So he took some fun pictures of us around different locations and then he made them into the viewmaster reels.

Each table at the reception had a viewmaster with a different reel of pictures.  It was a super fun way to keep people entertained and share some pictures.

All photos by Allyson Magda

Photo of the Day (7.20.11)

Today's photo: My parents' little teardrop trailer getting ready to pull away, headed to Big Sur last week.  There is more work to be done on it, but it made it through its second camping trip.

Photo of the Day (7.19.11)

Today's photo: Steller's Jay in our campsite at Big Sur.  There sure are lots of them up in Big Sur and I love their little hairdos.

Photo of the Day (7.18.11)

Today's photo: Campfire sign at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.  We just got back yesterday from our annual week-long camping trip to Big Sur.  We had lots of fun, mostly spent relaxing in the hammock.  I will have more pictures to share from our vacation.

Photo of the Day (7.8.11)

Today's photo: Mojave Yucca at the Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area.

Map of the United States of America

On our way to Vegas, we stopped at the Barstow Station for dinner.  It is this crazy mall/food court sort of thing made partially out of train cars.  Graham spotted this crazy map of the United States just outside of the bathroom.  The West coast seems pretty normal (ignoring the locations of Alaska and Hawaii), but then you head east, and things get pretty interesting.

Who knew that Washington D.C. was actually shaped like the capitol building and is floating in the Atlantic?

Hopefully no one tries to actually use this map for... anything.

Photo of the Day (7.7.11)

Today's photo: Red Rock Canyon National Conservation area just outside of Las Vegas.  It was a really pretty place to see and take some pictures.  Some of it had a very Dr. Suessian feel to it.  We visited the area around sunset and drove along the 13 mile scenic drive with the windows down.  It felt nice with temperatures in the 80's and a breeze blowing, a welcome change from the 110 degree weather during the day in Vegas.

Photo of the Day (7.6.11)

Today's photo: Jack rabbit butt out in the Mojave Desert at the Harper Dry Lake Watchable Wildlife Area.  We decided we had to stop on the way home from Vegas and see the "watchable" wildlife.  We drove on a crazy dirt road to the middle of nowhere.  But they were right, so we saw jack rabbits, funny little squirrels and some avocets and other birds.  It may have been 110 degrees, but we still had fun watching some desert wildlife.

Wedding Wednesday: The Dress

How have not written a post about my dress?!  It's one of the things that make you really feel like a bride on your wedding day.  It's one of the things people ask you about when you're planning your wedding.  Wedding dresses take up at least half of bridal magazines with just the ads alone.  So it's definitely a top priority for most brides.  I looked through all of those bridal magazines and looked online.  I was drawn to all of the seriously expensive gowns.  I never really imagined myself walking down the aisle with a crazy train on the back of my dress.  I wanted something fun and cute (just like me ;) ).  My mom and I went to our first bridal salon and I tried dresses on, but nothing wowed me.  We then went to Down the Aisle in Arroyo Grande and it felt better the moment we walked in the door.  It just felt super nice and special.  We looked at all of the dresses.  I tried on many dresses and decided I liked the look of cap sleeves.  I also asked if they had any short dresses, and they had one.  My mom said when I tried that one on, she saw my toes curl up and a smile spread across my face.  That was the one.

And guess what, this one had optional cap sleeves - perfect!  It was Essense of Australia D594.  I don't think it's available anymore, I saved this picture from the website when it was.  But now there are a lot more short dresses to choose from, so you don't have to worry about having a crazy train if you don't want one.

And now some gratuitous pictures of me in my dress:

I loved my dress, and I can't imagine having had any other one for our wedding day.  

Photo of the Day (7.5.11)

Today's photo:  Graham and I from our trip out to Vegas last week.  Graham was going for business and I was just going for fun.  We stayed in North Las Vegas, and we never once went to the strip.  We are very low-key Vegas kind of people.

Well, hello!

Graham and I headed off to Vegas the end of last week and then we had the 4th of July and I didn't post on the blog, but it was a nice little break.  And now I'll have some new pictures to share once I upload them to the computer.

The previous weekend my mom and I had gone antiquing with a family friend who was in town from San Diego.  I saw so much Pyrex, I could have bought a collection to fill a whole room in my house.  But part of the fun of collecting something is the physical act of doing it.  So I still like hunting for it at thrift stores, and buying a few pieces at antique stores when they are good deals.  Like these:

I love the pine cones!

Orangey/yellow butterprint.

More spring blossoms.