December Randoms/ End of Year Wrap Up

2013 has been a wonderful year for me. I took so many incredible trips, like Tokyo, New York and Europe.  I got to spend a whole week at home. Flew to see some of my best friends in California. Not to mention, I got engaged in the City of Light to my best friend. It'll be hard to top this year, but who knows what will come in the future.

Here are some snapshots from this month as a wrap up for the last month of 2013.

Foggy night in Urbana

Sitara Indian restaurant in town

Mushroom and butternut squash risotto

Matching set: Red velvet cake and red velvet red wine

Making Christmas cookies

Taking a midnight Winter stroll

Make a wish

Frosty windshield 

New addition to our workout routine

Puppydog and his Christmas Seal

Christmas "elf" outfit

It's unfortunate that I'm writing this post on New Year's Eve at work. Winter storms are creeping into Chicago, making us work until the planes land. It's likely that I will be ringing in 2014 by the fluorescent lights of the airport. At least I have a job, right? Happy New Year!

-Akemi-chan

Wedding Planning: One Thousand Cranes

It's been a long standing tradition in Japanese culture to fold origami cranes in preparation for a long happy marriage. According to legend, the crane can live up to a thousand years and represents long life. In turn it is customary for the bride to fold 1000 cranes before her wedding day, one for each year a crane lives.

At first, I was under the impression that the act of folding all of these cranes was a practice in patience. I guess that was more wishful thinking than anything else. But I truly believe that it has something to do with it, because how could anyone make a thousand of anything and not gain some patience. Besides, I could use a little more patience in my life.

The last crane

I finally finished folding all the cranes. Now, I have no idea what to do with these things. I've been folding them while passively watching TV, during work breaks, on airplanes and during long layovers. Now, my hands feel idle. 

A lot of couples in Hawaii choose to have them creatively arranged and framed as a family keepsake. However, I don't know of anyone with that kind of experience in Illinois, nor to I possess the wall space for such a masterfully crafted piece of art. So back to square one. 

Example of arranged origami crane art

There are also beautiful centerpieces, escort cards and cake decoration to consider, but they all looked too ethnic. As much as I love my family traditions, I wanted our wedding to be more than just a Japanese/ Hawaii display of culture. 

The most beautiful decorations I've seen using the crane, is a curtain of cranes at the alter. Unfortunately, the venue we are using does not allow us to tape or tac down any decor. So that idea is out, despite its loveliness.

Origami curtain

Finally, I've settled on an idea that could be executed by a florist or a very creative guest. Bryan and I want to have a tree branch on either side of the altar and have hanging cranes draped over the branches. Hopefully we can pull it off and have a little extra sparkle at our ceremony.

-Akemi-chan

Wedding Planning: The Proposal

It just occurred to me that many of the people who read this blog are not aware of how Bryan and I got engaged... again. As cliche as it sounds, it seems like yesterday, yet so long ago. All the wedding planing has seeped into my mindset that I forget to stop and smell the roses. So here we go... the proposal.

In September, Bryan and I took nothing but two full carry on suitcases and heads full of dreams and flew across the Atlantic to explore several cities in Europe. The last stop on our tour was Paris, France. The city of lights was very good to us. People were polite, the views were breathtaking and the city gave us memories that would last a lifetime.

After we visited Notre Dame cathedral, we took a stroll down the Seine river to the Pont de Arts. This bridge has a chain link fence that is covered in thousands, maybe millions of locks. People believe that if you go to the bridge with a loved one, attach a lock to the bridge and toss the key into the river, you'll love each other forever.

I heard about the bridge from many forms of media and believed it to be romantic and hopeful, two things that I'm not usually very experienced in. When we arrived at the bridge, we found ourselves without a lock. A quick trip the a neighboring gift shop would solve that problem.

As we were picking out locks, Bryan asked why I wanted to visit the bridge in the first place. I explained to him that I found it wonderfully fascinating that the bridge symbolizes hope and a leap of faith. The sentiment of someone wishing for a long happy future with someone and tossing any doubt into the river with the key, tickled me and gave me a sense of optimism. Apparently this tugged on Bryan's heartstrings.

He later told me later that he originally planned to propose on the top of the Arc de Triumph. As it turns out, my little speech inspired him to take his own leap a little sooner than planned. As we walked back to the bridge the afternoon sunlight began to sparkle over the Seine and to our surprise, an accordion player appeared on the bridge. Bryan asked me to pick a spot for our lock. I knelt down to find the perfect spot and Bryan knelt down with me. A few seconds later, Bryan pulled out the newly purchased lock with Carly & Bryan 2013 scribbled on the front. On the lock, was a ring... our ring.

I began to cry as he asked me to spend the rest of my life with him. I whispered yes, we kissed and held each other on that bridge for what seemed like forever. It was as if we were the only two people in the world. Just Bryan and I in our little corner of the lock bridge.

We spent the rest of the day giddily walking through Paris. We experienced the sunset overlooking the city, watching the crowds at the Eiffel Tower and sipping wine and champagne at little cafes and restaurants, all on cloud nine.

Now here we are, a few months later, planning the biggest day of our lives. By this time next year, I'll be a Mrs. How comforting and exciting.  

-Akemi-chan

Wedding Planning Kick Off: Venue

I want to preface this post with an apology. I'm trying not to be a bridezilla, but it's proving harder than I thought. I'm particular, I have high standards and I get easily frustrated. It's best to just stay out of my way.

Bryan and I have been going through all the wedding details and it's quite overwhelming. I find myself caring about things that I would normally think are silly. Who cares what color the napkins are and what flowers are in season? I sure don't. But when it's 10 million details all in one, it becomes something so much bigger. It can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Luckily, I have Bryan and he has been a big help in being my wedding planner/ liaison.

It's been difficult with my work schedule to plan a wedding less than a year away. We decided to have the wedding on a specific week in September 2014, mainly because it's my week of vacation and I wouldn't have to scramble to find someone to cover me on my wedding day. It's also been difficult because I have unusual work hours, so planning a wedding from afar when I work at night and on weekends has been rough.

In spite of the limitless location options, we decided to get married in Chicago. We could've gone with Honolulu, St. Louis, Napa or even something random like the Caribbean. But Illinois is home, for now, and Chicago is a great city. Besides, Chicago in September is usually quite nice.

So far we've gotten a few things checked off of our list. The venue, the date and time, which seem to be the biggest hurdle.

We were lucky enough to get my number one choice of venue: the Morton Arboretum in the western suburbs of Chicago. It's going to be beautiful. With all of the trees and plants, it will make a beautiful backdrop for our special day. Hopefully in late September, the leaves will begin to turn into an Autumnal hue. We visited the grounds in Winter and it was still breathtaking, so even if the leaves are still green, it will still be amazing.

Pretty bride at the Morton Arboretum via Pinterest

At first, I was disappointed that the arboretum was unavailable for the Saturday evening. Eventually I've come to find it's been a blessing in disguise.

This is the room we'll be married in. Gorgeous. Via Pinterest

I love brunch. I mean, who doesn't? The brunch option gives our guests the beautiful sunlight during the day to explore the arboretum and gives us the opportunity to indulge in french toast and mimosas. So, brunch it is!

We have so many more details to go through and hopefully we'll get out of this thing alive. But until then, it's wedding crunch time and all of my attention is going into planning. I'm sure my kitchen is growing lonely.

-Akemi-chan

November Randoms

It's been such a long time since I've posted anything, but I've been a little distracted. I'm happy to announce that Boyfriend and I are engaged! I guess I shouldn't refer to him as Boyfriend anymore. Anyway, Bryan and I have been working on planning our wedding. We're cutting down on our free time, turning up the workouts and researching vendors like crazy. Here are some pictures from November.

Sidewalk decoupage

Seared tuna with kale salad

Late night ice cream and cheese curds

Krab, edamame and green onion salad with sesame/soy dressing

Parsnip fries

My football hand-turkey. Happy Thanksgiving!

Breakfast of champions

Windy City

Michigan Avenue shopping

Pulled pork parfait with mashed potatoes and bbq sauce

Forgive me if I continue to be absent due to wedding planning obligations. Also, forgive me if I bring my wedding obsession to the blog. Please don't judge me.

Akemi-chan

An Autumn Afternoon Stroll

We get so few nice days in Illinois, that we try to take advantage of them. We're so lucky to have these days. So Boyfriend and I took and Autumn stroll with the puppydog and our friends and their little baby girl.

The beautiful Fall foliage is wonderful and the air is cold and crisp even when the sun in shining. Happy end of Fall everyone. Winter is coming...

-Akemi-chan