Design and Room Touch Ups
The extended June gloom in LA has long been gone and we are in the midst of blissful summer. In the morning, the beam of light comes through the east facing window in our bedroom. The little humidity in the air reminds me of the summer in Japan, where the unbearable heat takes over and the noisy ensemble of cicadas heightens the full seasonal experience. To my surprise, cicadas also exist in LA and especially around where we live. I pay attention to their sound in the morning walk with Uni so that I can feel the faraway homeland.
We did some design touch up in our bedroom sometime early this year. The wooden strips you see are in fact sold as accoustuc panels. The light above is my favorite Arne Jacobean's wall lamp, which I got as my Christmas gift. We have one on each side of the bed. The bedroom looks cozier and more complete now.
I crash in this bed with my toddler around 9:30 pm and wake up to the morning breeze and sunrise at 6:00 am. I browse for a little bit and get myself out of the bed to make a bento box for Koa at 6:30 am. Turning on my computer to attend a meeting with the offshore teams, my morning starts quite chaotic, juggling multiple things at the same time. At the end of the morning routine, which is driving back from the daycare and settling down at my work desk with a cup of coffee, I'm already exhausted at this point but my full time work starts here, 8 hours straight with no break until one of us picks up Koa at 5:00 pm. At the end of the day, I praise my self for being a super mom so I can keep on going without going insane.
Ever since my trip to Hawaii, I have been hooked to drinking drip coffee. I felt the paper filter was wasteful but found a beautifully designed coffee maker that uses stainless steel. It's from one of my favorite Japanese lifestyle brands called Kinto. The glass container has an organic shape and it comes with a little cup that can measure and hold the filter after brewing is done. The end to end experience of this product is so zen and beautiful. My weekdays are insanely busy but a good design, good coffee make my day a little bit more uplifting.
Kid's Space
Ever expanding Koa's space was lit up better by the Tolomeo wall lamp, a miniaturized version of the other lamp we have in the living space. It's one of the iconic Italian modern designs that we love using at our home. We kept the furniture here mainly with two tones, wood and white since Koa's toys are so colorful. The truck bookshelf from Crate&Kids had a clumsy installation process but ended up being the focal point of the kid's space. The cute little table set is from Stokke. Koa has this wonderful dedicated play area we set up for him but always ends up invading our living space with his massive amount of toys. It's quite typical that our entire living room has turned into his room. Once in a while I jamm all his toys and belongings in this little corner and feel accomplished for a brief moment. When Koa gets home from the daycare it will all be back to the messy normal.
In our deck space, Nicolai made a sandbox for Koa's second birthday so he can fully utilize his constructions trucks and cars in the sand. He can easily spend an hour here and burn his energy, which is actually our primary goal and it has worked out quite perfectly so far.
Summer is my second favorite season. The heat doesn't bother me at all. I like seeing the sunrise in the morning while everyone is still asleep. I like going for an evening walk with my little family after the long day of work. (On a special day, we treat ourselves with ice cream.) We cook dinner at home while it's still bright outside. Some days, the air feels like a warm blanket. We sit at our outdoor table with our meals and enjoy the pink and purple-ish sky created by the sunset.
Life can get very tough sometimes and it is emotionally draining when challenging things happen consecutively. It's so easy to be carried away and forget that you have these little happy moments in your life, too. I like to write and put things in words, especially when things are going difficult. All in all, our life is still good and the LA summer will continue to bring us positivity.
(Sharing a shot of the glamping site we stayed in early this summer)
Greetings in Japanese
血行の悪い私にとって、夏との相性はとても良く、体の調子も絶好調で活発に過ごしたい季節です。数年前、このロサンゼルスの家に引越した当時、初めて蝉の鳴き声を耳にし感動したのを覚えています。なぜか夏になると空気感が少し日本らしくなるのです。今では暑すぎて帰る時期の候補になかなかあがらない日本の夏ですが、大好きな我が家で蝉の音を聴けるなんてなんて贅沢なんだと、幼少期の夏の思い出を胸に毎日耳を傾け聴き入っています。
年々June gloomが長くなり、7月の初めまで肌寒いことが多いこの頃です。そして急に訪れる30何度以上の常夏。我が家から見える朝日はとても綺麗で、歳のせいか年々早起きになり、朝6時頃自然に目覚め、外の景色を眺めることが楽しみな日課のひとつとなっています。
家の中も徐々にアップグレードされ、ベッドルームと子供スペースの完成度も高くなってきました。こあくんもすっかり魔の2歳児に突入し、毎日がノーノーの繰り返し。未だに川の字になって寝ているのですが、そろそろ彼だけの部屋も作らないとと、家のエクステンションのプランを少しずつ考え始めています。昔、両親が自分の部屋の壁をベイビーブルーに塗ってくれて、すごいワクワクしたのを覚えてます。ワクワク感満載の部屋を今は妄想中です。