I've always had an insatiable appetite for reading, but up until the third grade, I only read Japanese comic books outside of school assignments. Japanese was my first language, and I learned to read it when I was itty bitty thanks to my mom's ardent training. She made these crazy felt animal letter books and a giant phonetic sound board -- under my mother's tutelage, learning Japanese was a lot of fun. In fact, even though I was born in the heart of L.A., I had very little command of the ... Read more

Happy Friday! A week ago, M, K and I piled into our intrepid car and drove an hour and a half east to Central Washington. Destination: Roslyn, WA. A former coal mining town, it became a surprising tourist draw when the 90s hit show Northern Exposure was filmed there. They even have a Northern Exposure festival every year. This was a big deal for us because we really don't take very many vacations. We stayed in a most charming Bed and Breakfast called The Huckleberry House. M and I used ... Read more

Happy Friday! Over the last few months, I've received a handful of unexpected mail. It's all the more surprising and especially sweet to receive handwritten notes and packages in this digital age (I've been guilty of texting birthday messages to friends). You can see a sampling of cards above -- I'm smitten with the Coco Chanel quote card -- "A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous" -- from an insanely talented woman, a relatively new friendship that's one of those instantly ... Read more