1 year old

my little sunshine turned 1 year old on July 10th.

she is bright. cute little baby.

she brought us happiness.

on that day. the sun has risen in my life.

all the sudden. life has changed.

so happy. so much fun.

donno how much i love this little one.

donno how much i care.

donno how much i miss her being a little baby.

she is not a baby anymore! she is 1. who can walk. who can tell what she wants to do.

my gosh. she has grown up.

so much.

miss her being a tiny little baby.

but i am so excited about how she is going to grow up.

TIME FLIES --- March 3rd, hina doll festival

we have celebrated girls' day on March 3rd.

hina doll festival, wishing for girls' good health.

all her great grandpas and grandma, great pa and great ma, aunt gathered and had lunch together. special sushi, called chirashi zushi.

oto-chan and oka-chan thought about you so much

to choose one pair of dolls.

they will take care of you. so we wanted to choose one that we both love.

thinking about you tons. every year, we will celebrate with the dolls.

we will see the dolls once a year.

we need to take care of the dolls as you grow up.

she started crowling on April 1st. and she enjoys it so much.

trying to touch and discover everything in our apartment.

she is 9 months old and summer is coming back soon.

so many things happened since july 10th.

it's not so long ago. but not too far that she is going to turn 1.
cannot believe it.

slowly, she got used to living our lives in japan. just three of us. feels so good. and so sweet.

she smiles and talks a lot recently.

she cannot speak but can understand the word, clap, yum yum and bye bye. she understands baby sign of milk. she can drink tea through a straw now. she tried peeka boo hiding behind a door with silent. that was sweet.

she loves her dad. so much. and get so excited when he comes home from work.

hoping she has more time with her oto-chan(dad).

hoping kp has more time with asahi.

hoping she has more time with her great grandpa.

life is short. now never comes back. time flies. so fast.

so i would love to enjoy every minute we have.

we think lots about what we have and how thankful

that is since the huge earthqueak and tsunami.

so many people lost their families, houses, memory photoes... everything.

not much that i can do to help them.

just donating or sending goods that are needed.

but feels that is not enough.

i wish i could go and help people clean up their homes.
i wish i could go and just listen to what they would like to talk about.

i wish i could go and find thier families and pets.

oh, i wish i had a power to stop the aftershock at least...

and i wish the world asahi and all children are going to live is a peaceful one.

July 10th

july 10th became my special day.

we welcomed our little angel on that day.

it took 13 hours. but finally, we could meet her. yes, it's a baby girl!

3350g. 51cm. she is big for a girl in japan.

i was almost gave up. no, i didn't want to. but i felt that i may not be able to finish delivering... now i see the world differently. brighter. happier. sweeter.

finally found time to write my blog:)

and finally i feel that i have become a real family with Kp.

thank you thank you thank you A-chan, my little akachan (baby).

spring!! getting ready to become a mom

yes, spring is the sweetest season in japan. these are shidare ume, a kind of plum tree. which i love. i love shidare zakura, a kind of cherry blossoms, too. these two are the most favorite flowers during this season. shidare... you can tell the branches are down towards the land, right? this is shidare.

these flowers are mostly finished around my town. a bit sad but now i see lots of new light green leaves coming out from brunches. and they make the view brighter and fresh. May is coming soon. which means my birthday is coming really soon. wow. a year past so fast!

our baby has been grown up. my body has been changed little by little. and i am enjoying my maternity life. much miracle. i read lots of books about baby. and i love studying about how they get ready to come to our world. now i feel baby moving. weired but wonderful.

it's amazing to see baby's heart beating and listining to the sound of it everytime i go to see my doctor. it was so amazing to see baby moving arms inside of me. the first time i sew my baby was 1.5cm. so tiny. and now my baby is over 1000g. our doctor told us that our baby could be a girl. not sure yet because she is hiding and cannot see well. but 80%. a baby girl.

it's time to think about names. we have kanji, the chinese letters, which each letters have its meaning. so it is going to be tough. we gotta pick sound and also kanji. we will think about the balance with kanji of our first name, too.

how do everyone deside their babies' names???? i ask my baby to give me a hint for what name she would like to be named. i hope we will be able to pick one name. it is our first gift to our baby and we know it is going to be difficult to decide. but it is also fun to imagine our baby and think about her name. oh dear, i still cannot imagine holding my own baby in my arms in July...

this is the recent picture. she is looking at the left. she is big now. just her face is on this pic. to me, she looks like Kp. her nose, her mouth and the atmosphere she creates. when i told Kp about that, he was hiding but i could tell that he was smiling. trying to hide that he is so happy. hehehe. whenever i look at these ultrasound pictures, i cannot stop smiling. i put my favorite one in a photo flame and put it right next to the television in our living room.

on April 12th, we had a special anniversary dinner at our wedding hall. every year they send us a card for the anniversary. next year we may not be able to go. so, we enjoyed lovely night there. we got to see our wedding planner and cook there and they have noticed my big belly. it was a fun night. soon our new family member is coming. and our family will be 3. not just two of us. we are happy to welcome her soon. but now we shall enjoy 'just two of us time' until then.

sweetest christmas present

oh, it's been a while since the last post. i have been feeling sick again. but this time it was different. i had the same kind of sickness when i was stressed out or really nervous. so, i thought it's strange. because i couldn't think of anything that makes me feel like that. my friend adviced me. and i found out.... that i am pregnant. first time in my life. Kp and i have waited for almost a year. my doctor had told me that i am not producing ova probably. so i was worried. so worried for months. thought about sterility. but on Dec 2nd, i went to see my doctor and was told that i am 8 weeks pregnant. Kp and i could see our baby's heartbeat. amazing. he/she was only 15mm. from head to bottom. i was wondered how big his/her heart is... amazing. amazing that we could see. Kp was looking at me with a smile after we got out from the room. and asked me if i have noticed something by looking at the picture we just got from our doctor. i had no idea. Our little one looks like a cute tiny worm or something in the picture. and cannot tell much. hmmm... then, Kp told me. that the time when we were looking at our first baby as our first time was at 9:27 am. which is Kp's birthday, 9 th month(September) 27th. hehehe. Kp knew at the time moment when we were looking at the monitor. this made me happy even more.

i still have morning sickness but i will live. i know our baby is telling me he/she is there. sweet sweet present i have received this year. thank you so much, Mr. Santa Claus. thank you! and Merry Christmas, everyone!! have a wonderful christmas.

glass work and nabe party

on Nov 8th, i went to make a glass vase with my friend. my hometown is famous for pottry(China) and glass. it was an interesting and fun experience. i will go and get the vase next week, so i am looking forward to see how it turned out. and then, in the afternoon, i invited some of my friends to my apartment. one girl friend we ran accross in our hometown couple of weeks ago. 3 of my girl friends came. and one friend is a mother now and she brought two of her daughters. it was a fun night. the little girls were so curious at my apartment and Kp was worried about that he was going to be the only guy. but the two little girls loved Kp. and they were around him all the time. usually girls come to me, so it was surprising thing for Kp, too. he was all busy! hehehe. we had curry nabe. nabe is common food for winter. we boil many different vegetables in a big pot. we put tofu in and some pork or chicken if we like. we just boil them and have them with rice. healthy and makes our body warm, so it is great for winter. after we are done with vegetables, we put more rice in it and boiled for a few minutes with cheese. and we made risotto. it was great. there are many different taste nabe soup here in japan. one of my favorite easy winter food:) we enjoyed chatting and had a great time.

the picture above is also a glass work. but a bit different. it is my aunt-in-law's work. she is an artist. i didn't know until a month ago. can you tell how small they are????

here's another picture. can you tell?

amazing work she does. so cute. they are for doll house. she makes them mostly with glass. she was introduced on TV once, too. it looks so real... i don't know how she does that. i am going to put them in my shop to introduce her work in the near future.

good to be back

good to be back. great to be back. i was going to write a new blog and attach this pic with it 3 months ago. M-chan was waiting and everyone was waiting for me. thank you thank you thank you so much. for all. who've been thinking about me. i want to think and talk about happy good things on my blog, so please excuse me about not writing anything about the three months. i am feeling much much better and great to be back. tons of books helped me. i read and read and read. everyday. do you like reading?



typhoon came couple of weeks ago. a huge one. trains stopped and some people were injured. i was okay. stayed at home. but i heard the sound of a paper carrier that morning. it was so windy and rainig so hard. paper carriers deliver newspapers every day, i know that but i wasn't aware that they deliver in any weather. 4 in the morning. super early. no matter what happends to the weather. they try to deliver.to all the houses.



oh, i went to see a popular fortune teller with my girl friend on the other day. long line up. waited for hours. kind of crazy. but we both had great time. we chatted for hours on the way there and the way home. we were surprised how well the teller read about us. i don't believe strongly but i felt like going there once in my life to see how it's like to be read by a teller. have you ever done that? is it japanese thing? i wonder.



it's funny that girls talks about blood type or constellation a lot. and when i was in canada studying abroad, my friends told me they don't know what their blood types are... and i was so surprised to hear that. fortunetelling is also a big topic here. every morning, at the end of a news show, they always introduce today's fortunetelling by blood type, the month of birthday or constellation. they are on magazines, too. have you ever surprised to see or hear about anything in other coutries?? what about japan? i am curious.


my mother is having a cold. hoping it's not influenza. it is a big issue over here. workers at the post offices are wearing masks. and alcoholsntiseptic solution is everywhere at shops. wash hands and gargle, that i do whenever i get home. i hope none of you are suffering from flu.

from a hospital

in a hospital for a week now. not fun at all but good time to think. feeling a bit better today. and i had a chance to use the internet so i am writing here. i don't have much time. and so sorry that i cannot write back the comments i get for now. but i am thinking about you all. i announced in my shop but didn't have time to write on my blog until now. thinking about lots of things in bed. hopefully i can get out here soon and have a normal life again. it seems things are all white or black. day time i see white and at night i see black. hope to see colors again. soon. soon. will see you soon.

in the evening

in the evening. i went for a walk with M-chan. i went back to my parents house. and went for a walk. it is rainy season here in japan. but today was sunny and hot. it was about 6pm. it is still bright. M-chan loves her red dice toy. she has to take it with her whenever she goes for a walk. she wants to play with it. play catch with me. that is why she went to look for her dice when i called her to come with me for a walk. when she found it, she ran towards me. letting me know she is ready to go for a walk now.


the first picture is my elementary school. its ground is smaller now. because of the new houses area. no long slide which i played with a lot. no swings. no pond. no hill. so sad. but i still i like looking at my school. thinking about the time back then. ages from 6 to 12. i thini it was the best years. made seacret house with my friends. chat with girl friends about who likes who. school brings me such good memories. i wish i could go back then for a little while...

weekend 07 :: colors of this season (+ shop news)

it's tsuyu season in japan. lots of rain. more and more. personally i don't like it. but one thing i like about tsuyu. which is ajisai. these flowers. snails are playing hide and seek. lots and lots of small flowers makes one big ajisai flower. pink, purple, blue, white.... it depends on which kind and colors are depending on the land. or i should say sand.

T-chan took me to a temple today. it took an hour and a half. such cute little flowers. took many pictures. there were so many different kinds of them. they are like bouquet. so many bouquet with beacutiful green leaves. relaxing and refleshing.




it didn't rain when we were at the temple. so that is good. it started raining in the evening today. it was raining on wednesday and thursday. it will be raining tomorrow. it's tsuyu. so much rain. i like sunny days. i cannot put futon out to sterilize and make it soft by the sunshine. that is the most stressful thing. we hang our laundry out but we cannot do that often. but i shall find something fun and good to do during this rainy season.

this morning, lovely petit rose is opened. she has two little sisters. they are about to bloom.

when i bought this rose, lighter pink roses were out. so i was surprised to see this dark pink color today. and she made me smile.

oh dear, it is tsuyu. raining again now. and now it is oto-san's ( father's) day. Kp and i went to give presents last night to my father-in-low. it's a great time to give a petit thank you to all of you, too. i would like to give you 10% off of items from my shop, if you write the code : oto-san's day in the message to the box of Etsy. just for you who is reading my blog. i hope you enjoy your father's day. i will have the sale from now until tuesday 8:00 am in japan.

weekend 06

we went out for dinner. for ramen noodles. have you ever tried it? oh, it's one of my favorites. one of Kp's. and one of my dad's and my sister's. popular food over here. the restaurant was japanese style. i liked it. retro posters are on the walls. and japanese style slide doors. and the tables are hori gotatsu. my favorite. we took off our shoes at the entrance and sit down at the table. there are big hole under the table and you put your legs in it. the floor will be your chair. they put zabuton. and we sit on them. relaxing style for japanese. oh, i am onaka suita (hungry)!

and at night, we stopped by at my parents house. everyone was there and my mom asked us to go for a cup of coffee. my mom was so happy and excited to see us stop by like a surprise, i guess. we went to one of my family's favorite cafe. my mom, sister and i chatted as always. Kp enjoyed reading magazines there, too. my mom had a cold greentea. it was great. i wanted to take a good photo to introduce but i couldn't. too bad...

it is the father's day this weekend. Kp and i were talking about it since Sunday. haven't decided what to do yet. but today i heard one of the department store is having an interesting present for father's day. they will print top page of old newspapers. on the date of dad's birthday. whenever is okay that i heard. the real news will be on it. it will be interesting. to have all family members birthdays newspapers and maybe my dad and mom's wedding day. yes, it will be great! it was on news today. i will talk to Kp tonight. soon. he will be home. supper is ready. just waiting for him to ring the door bell. yes, i will say "okaeri".

shop news :: 400th item

this time, for the lucky customer who purchase 400th item from my shop, i would like to give away a piece of fabric as a suprise:) who is the lucky person!? could be you!?

my favorite time : with my best and oba-chan

on Monday, i went to see my best friend. she has a adorable daughter. i went there just for couple hours. to talk. and to chat. i was little tired, i guess. and i always get something from her way of thinking. naturally, my little stress will go out from my body. and chatting and hanging out with her is one of my favorite time.

and on Tuesday, i went to see my grandparents for couple hours. my mom's side of grandparents. they live 40 minutes away from my house. where the pottery is famous for. same city as i used to live and where my parents lives now. but different direction. more inaka (the country side). for my age, we didn't have much sewing classes when we were students.

my oba-chan(grandma) is my teacher of sewing. my new project is to make a dress, not a fancy one, for myself. she sews and knits all the time. and she graduated from a sewing school, so she can create patterns for herself and for anyone. amazing. i wish i could.

chatting with my grandma is one of my favorite time, too. she gives me an interesting ideas for living. and to be healthy and to thank for what we have are usually her main subjects:)

she does volunteer work at a day care senter for people who needs help for living. she've helped there for over 12 years. since she has retired. and she was on a local news paper. she is proud that she could keep doing it for that long and thanks for her guardian angel. cute little grandma.

also, because my grandpa's brother is a Buddhist priest, my grand parents are into Buddhism. not too too much but more than my family is. and really interesting for me. cultualy, i am, too but not so much. it is really interesting that most Japanese are cultualy Buddhist. but we don't have much knowledge about it or don't know much about it, i think.

so, it is always interesting for me. she sometimes transcribe a sutra and goes to her main temple to help clearn. and she goes to a study meeting once a week with my grandpa. she tells me that she writes sutra to calm herself and thank her ancestors. and thank what she has now.

she recommended me to try. she told me i don't have to do it for taking it to the temple to ask them read it for your ancestors because it will cost you everytime. but i can just try it to do it for ourselves. it's like writing Japanese calligraphy. actually, tracing. to relax, calm, breathe deep and concentrate on one thing is good for our mind and body that i hear. maybe i will. anyone can try. and it is interesting. and i will think about my dad's side of oba-chan(grandma) who have passed away when i was little. and thank what i have...

this afternoon

i bought the magazine and read it through. i've been thinking about getting one for myself. the magazine had a nice one made with lether. i decided to make one for myself with linen fabric. i didn't use the pattern and i changed it a little. i stamped my handmade stamp on it. i finished it really easy way. i know it is not a well done finished one but i like it rough and natural.

then i finished sewing our new futon cover today. heew. i've never sew something as big as futon cover. so i am happy that i am done with it and we can sleep tight:)

then, i had yuzu tea to relax for an hour. i love it so much. citron(yuzu) with honey. not like an english tea. it's different kind of tea. and i love it.

i love drinking with this cup. it's one of my favorite. love how it makes the shape of a heart. i am from a city where is famous for pottery/china. and i have a small collection of cups and plates. i bought them when the city had a once-a-year matsuri (festival). many shops and artists get together on the street and open their shops. it's like a big market. i will go to the matsuri, too. hopefully, it will be sunny and i will be able to take some pictures to introduce to you.

japanese custom/culture :: tadaima

i heard a little neighbor girl says "tadaima" in the afternoon. and i realized how good feeling i get by hearing the word and her mom answers to her daughter "okaeri". it is one of my favorite words.

when Kp comes home, the first word i say is "okaeri" always. and he replies "tadaima". yes, we are saying "i'm home." and "welcome home". or it's kind of same as saying "how was your day?"??

also, in the morning or whenever someone leaves houses? Kp(who is leaving) says "ittekimasu" when he leaves for work or wherever. and i (who is staying home) say "itterasshai". i find these words sweet, too. love saying them. so much. feels good and naturally they make me smile. my favorite words. kind of saying, "i'm gonna go now" "have a good day".

and when we got married, i didn't feel i was his family at first. but by having these convasations made me realized little by little that i am his family. i made the name plate for house with cray. it reminded me that i am takemura now. everytime i sew it for a year. now, i finally feels natural to be called takemura-san at hospitals or anywhere. finally:)

speaking of smile, these little smiling dolls are from our entrance of our apartment. we got them from Okinawa(an island at the very south of japan) where the beautiful beaches are. they are called "shi-sa-" and they protect houses from evils. and brings smile. real ones looks more like a lion or a dog. more scarly tough looking. these are cute little ones which a young artist made. they welcome us whenever we come home:) now the shi-sa- and i wait for Kp to open the door and say "tadaima".

japanese culture :: obentou

everymorning, i make obentou for Kp. this one was this morning's. to take it with him to work. to take healthy food for lunch. and to save our money. if he buys something or eat out, it will cost lots. at least 500 yen for obentou from convenience store. we don't know the vegetables are none agricultural chemical or not. and meat or fish are safe or not. we heard that there were something bad for health found from those ready made food on TV. there are frozen food to put in obento. easy and fast. but they are also not so safe neither. should be okay and i do use them when i need to save time. but try not to use them as much as i can. and i love seeing men eating their wives obentou with suit and tie during lunch break. makes me smile and happy. feel a bit of love there. and hopefully, Kp is eating by now with thinking... yummy!

i found this cute obento box at a zakka shop near my house. such cute one. yes, i love zakka. just window shopping there is fun, too. some cute stuff at zakka shops. different kinds of boxes there and i bought this one for my friend. for her son. and when we buy obentou boxes, we need to buy something else together. do you know what it is??? something to eat with... yes, chopsticks and a case. there are chopsticks to take with obentou. or for little people, there are spoon, fork and chopsticks set, too. so cute. love them.

by the way, bento is more casual way of saying obentou. but in japanese, we put o in front of words and make it polite way or girls' way of saying the word. if you would like to buy and looking for one, i might be able to find one for you...!? i just love cute little obentou boxes. there are boxes for sandwiches, too! you can take it for hiking or picnic, too. oh, it's such beautiful weather today! wanna go out and eat outside... i should make one for my self, too!