The year is halfway gone and this is only 1 of 2 posts I have shared over six months. I’d like to give you reasons for my “busy” schedule, but really I should remember what all of this was about when it started. I wanted a way to chronicle my work, life, and thoughts. Over the years I went through periods where what I posted didn’t matter, the depth of the writing was not important, and all I really wanted to do was show something.

For the next half of the year I’d like to make a promise to myself to frequent this space more. Posts don’t have to happen daily, they should happen regularly. I experienced a lot of firsts in 2017, traveled to new places and continue to learn about myself and challenge myself in my work. You’ll see some of them here. No captions, no locations but just enough to know a little more about this story.

I drink a lot of drinks. Not alcoholic ones–the occasional cocktail or glass of wine doesn’t hurt–but caffeinated ones. I picked up the tea habit in NYC pulling long days and even longer nights. I started drinking everything UN-sweetened, which was unheard of for me in college. I also learned  “getting coffee” or “meeting up in the afternoon” with clients or friends usually meant it was happening over a beverage and a cute overpriced croissant or baked good. Well duh, you don’t plan to “get coffee” with someone and get something to drink. So drinking drinks also became a social thing. I would once complain about it being SO overpriced and overrated and something I could make at home, but here I am today, enjoying non-alcoholic drinks with friends just because. 

On a recent friend meet-up in North Park, we did just that. Meeting up for coffee, just because. Except coffee is still not an option for me (never will be) and I’m all about iced tea or chai tea lattes. We got these tall and short drinks at Coffee & Tea Collective, a place that is nothing short of “hip.” From the white painted brick wall, wood counter tops, stools, rebar and Edison bulbs, it’s hip on point. Seen a lot of these from New York to North Park and I think they are here to stay, for a while. Get familiar.

As all tourist would (even though we’re not), we sought out the picture perfect postcard down the street. This photo of me looks pretty ridiculous (I have a number of friend who would agree), but hey, it’s very fitting for this time in my life. I’m back to a place where I lived the first time I left home. While I take a lot of pictures, there are some times I wish I got a picture of me at certain place. After all, “pic or it didn’t happen.”

Before my day was over, I had two more drinks. I forgot to take a picture of one, but this tea from Lofty Coffee was delish. That’s right, if you clicked the link you know Lofty is in Solana Beach, so I traveled far for this one. With a new sidekick, this lavender infused black tea really hit the spot. It’s supposed to be fall but SoCal doesn’t quite do it like the east coast does and it was pretty warm.

My last tea of the day, Thai Tea, was paired with pad see ew, from Bahn Thai in University Heights. I don’t really know how I ended up there with yet another friend, but we did. Friends and food go hand-in-and and this particular day was full of chatting, eating and drinking–tea. Sometimes it’s not about how good the coffee/tea/food is (although that’s the goal), but it’s about the company and throughout this day I totally scored.

My last trip to SF happened because of some real cheap flights to Oakland. This route was the best way for me to get myself down to SD and lucky for me I have friends in a few places. I was able to turn this 36 hour layover into one filled with the the typical and atypical tourist activities. The day started gloomy, of course so to brighten it up we got latte’s from the cutest corner cafe, Angelina’s in the Richmond district. The next stop was Golden Gate Park to walk through the Academy of Sciences. We went across the way to Sausalito and back again to lunch in the Marina. Then finally making it to Alamo Square to get the perfect pic at the “Painted Ladies” after all these years and trips to the Bay. Dinner and drinks in the Mission closed the night and the next day was spent in Oakland. This was a quick trip filled with going to common spots and hidden treasures, seeing the bay and bridges at all angles, and most of all, reconnecting with friends. Making the most of what I got because when I look at what I have, it’s definitely a lot.

My friends and I are all in the same spot. We are entering our mid-to-late twenties and trying to make sense of everything we *think* we know about life. I’m learning that I don’t have to have everything planned out just yet. There’s some time and we are still pretty young (for now).  (more…)

This month started at The Covell in Hollywood. Here we found flowers, friends, water, wine, lace and love. Lots of love to my dear friend Allie and her new husband. Another start of something new. New is trending hard this month. Watch out, it might get to you too!

SD, that’s why.

From PV to Silver Lake and the IKEA Carson, last weekend Matt and I played in LA. We went to tea in Beverly Hills and ate ice cream as we walked through shops on Abbot Kinney. We spent hours in cars driving in and around LA and even found ourself in Silver Lake at sunset. We did not get any parking tickets or buy unnecessary things. Everything is always necessary. The weather was hot AF, but we managed. For a minute we thought we were in college again, just doing whatever, whenever because we could! We even went to Ralph’s in Marina Del Rey and ate KC’s Crepes. I didn’t even go to school at LMU, but somehow, all of my friendships made there and in LA, make it feel like home too. Forever grateful.

There are more pictures from this adventure, but for now, just ridiculous photos of us and people vacationing.

Before New York, there was San Diego. My first “home” away from home that I struggled to come to terms with as a place I lived.  Graduating from high school I knew I wanted to go away for college. After watching my sister fight to stay, but then leave anyway, my fate was already decided and I was going. I was lucky to move to a new city where my family, my sister, already lived for five years. My sister even went to the same college and I followed in her footsteps and even studied the same major. Since I watched her struggle, I knew I might struggle too.

My first year of college was difficult. In the first semester, nothing major went wrong, but I was learning about what it was like to live alone away from my family. All my friends were learning. That plus focusing on school (remember, that’s what I was there for) but also making new friends and enjoying a new city. That Fall semester was a rush and a whirlwind. Returning back for my second semester in the Spring things were different. I started to miss home. Finally people were finding their place in school and social groups and I was starting to really see how different life on “the mainland” was from Hawaii. School was more difficult and I put in many more hours of studio time, often not making enough friend time.

Towards the end of that Spring semester I felt very distant from my school and community. Always being from a place where everyone knew each other, I was surrounded by strangers daily. USD was not even that big of a school, yet I felt so small.  I took advice of my advisors and friends and started looking for more things to get involved in. After all, I came from such a busy and scheduled life in high school (school, tennis, clubs, art), it was time for me to make one in my new home.

This struggle and overcoming my first face-to-face match up with “the real world” influenced my art practice for my remaining years at USD.  During my second year, I was more involved in school activities, was able to create the art I wanted to create and of course, got to know San Diego a little better too. A pattern emerged and when it became time of my senior thesis I explored how my present life  brought meaning towards my past and as a senior, my thesis, Please Remove Your Shoes, was born.

For the first time everything started to make sense. I understand that I would not have made it to where I stood as a graduating senior if I didn’t struggle and fight as a freshman four years before. As I continued through my art major, I also kept looking back to my Japanese heritage and Hawaii upbringing as inspiration for my work. That seemed like the most natural thing to do because I knew it best.

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Eight months have passed since the last time I re-commited myself to this blog. Now that we are into the last month of 2014, before the end of the year officially comes and goes, I wanted to re-commit  to this again. I would hate to say I have a problem with commitment (because I don’t think I do). Rather than typing my thoughts, I’ve been taking pen to paper and writing them. Sketching. Scratching out. Re-writing, but never really re-reading. What is done is done. I experienced firsts and lasts and learned to embrace all of it.

There has been a lot of change that has happened in 2014. Things are evolving into something I am not sure what will be, yet. Matsumoto Studio is growing and as I celebrated another year of living (quarter century, woo!), life is changing too. There are new responsibilities, new efforts being made, and new challenges to overcome. For what’s left of 2014, I will try my best to recap and reflect for the only way to go from here is forward. Shakas up.