celebrations | kimberly ah

Mar 06 2013

celebrations, crafty adventures, holidays, snail mail

A Little (Christmas) Day Trip

This little gift is going to make its way out into the world tomorrow when I go to the little post office in the little town where I grew up. It’s heading out to a friend, but there will be other gifts in the back seat, too. Tomorrow Naoto & I are making the two hour drive down to see my parents and celebrate Christmas. Yes, Christmas…it’s downright embarrassing that we haven’t seen each other since Thanksgiving–December, January and February are somewhat of a blur.

It will be nice to see them.

It will be nicer to get these stale Christmas presents out of my house.

(Just kidding, Mom!)

Feb 14 2013

9 Comments

celebrations, crafty adventures, snail mail

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I know some of my Valentine’s are still en route, being lovingly handled by the post offices in a few countries, but I wanted to share them before red and pink become as stale as Christmas cookies in February.

I had the little gold foil heart cards in my stash from last year. They are from the Paper Source (and are apparently out of stock). I also bought these postcards from Rifle Paper Company. I am pretty much in love with anything Rifle and once I saw the little flying cupid postman and the postage stamp edging, I knew I wanted these in my stationery stash.

Last week I pulled out my washi tape stash and some twine and started making some simple washi tape buntings. I got kind of addicted to playing with different colors and patterns and ended up with more than a dozen of them so I tucked the tiny buntings into little glassine envelopes and sent them off with some of my cards.

I miss the Valentine’s of my school days when my classmates used to add little stickers or candy hearts in the tiny, thin white paper envelopes of their store-bought Valentines, so this seemed like a good way to bring that back.

I hope you have a super Valentine’s Day! Whether you are spending it with your significant other, your family (both human & furry!), I hope your day is full of love and good mail!

Tagged celebrations, crafts, holidays, mail art, rubber stamp, snail mail, washi tape

Feb 11 2013

5 Comments

adventures, celebrations, Week of Indulgence, what's for dinner

#WeekofIndulgence

Next Tuesday Naoto is having a little surgery to repair the cause of his chronic acid reflux. I’ll spare you the details, because acid reflux is not romantic (it is Valentine week, after all!)

After the surgery, Naoto will be on a strict diet for the next two months, slowly adding foods back into his diet as he heals. For the first two weeks, he can only eat broth, strained soups, pudding, milk, gelatin, yogurt, cottage cheese and well-cooked & pureed vegetables. Weeks 3-7 get a little bit better because we can add in tofu, white rice, eggs, fish and some other solid, substantial foods. But the real kicker is that it isn’t until Week 8 that he can have fresh fruits & vegetables, citrus, bread, meats, alcohol and caffeine. So basically, since eating and drinking are Naoto’s favorite hobbies, it’s going to be a rough two months. I’ve made my share of jokes about this change in lifestyle (my favorite: BYOB—Bring Your Own Broth) but in all seriousness, I feel really bad for him, and neither of us are looking forward to what this is going to mean for our social lives for the next two months.

So, in an effort to prepare for the upcoming diet, I’ve deemed this week The Week of Indulgence: a week of excessive eating and drinking adventures. We are going to pack in all of the foodie fun we can before Monday night when Naoto turns into a sad pumpkin who can’t eat anything at all before the surgery. We kicked things off this weekend with lunch at Sankyu (Naoto’s bento box is pictured above) and we are planning a few more food adventures, including two city spots we’ve been meaning to try. And, we are planning a little “Welcome Back to the Eating” party for when Naoto returns to a “normal” diet…so much to look forward to!

I’ve started using #weekofindulgence on Twitter and Instagram to track our food adventures…so be prepared for more food & drink posts than normal over there.

Tagged adventures, coffee, food

Feb 04 2013

3 Comments

celebrations, snail mail

Pink & Red Cheer

I love Valentine’s Day…not in the Naoto-buy-me-flowers-and-jewelry sort of way (Oh how I dread the flower and jewelry commercials that will be playing over the next week around here!) No, I like it because it’s a tiny celebration in the middle of the gloomiest days of winter. I like it because it gives me another excuse to mail out some pink and red cheer to friends and family. I like it because all of the good Valentines have a pun. I like it because Dove dark chocolates taste a little bit better in heart shapes.

This year I bought some sweet Valentines, and a couple of supplies to make my own. I wanted to buy a box of classroom Valentines at the drugstore to tuck in with my letters this month, but I couldn’t find anything that didn’t have a licensed character on it. I wish they still made Valentines with generic cute people and quirky animals and silly puns (oh, the PUNS!), like my vintage selection above.

Other than cards and some lighthearted decorating (pun intended), we really don’t celebrate Valentines Day around here. The first year I knew Naoto, he tucked a tiny box of chocolates in my apartment screen door. I ended up tripping on it and smashing it a bit, but it is still one of my favorite Valentine gestures. We were just friends back then, so it was an unexpected treat.

Are you making or sending Valentines this year? Or do you consider Valentine’s Day to be a “Hallmark holiday” and completely ignore it? What’s the best Valentine pun you’ve seen?

Tagged celebrations, holidays, snail mail, Valentine's Day, vintage

Jan 07 2013

5 Comments

celebrations

The Naoto birthday recap

Naoto’s birthday was full of friends, food and fun (and cocktails…)

We had a huge dinner at Izakaya Sankyu (Naoto & I are pictured above in a very un-flattering Instagram filter). I discovered my new favorite sushi roll, Tekka…which is sliced tuna with wasabi. It’s like a nose-clearing surprise in every bite. Just when I didn’t think I could love Sankyu more!

After dinner, we all came back to our place and had cocktails, Japanese beer and Portillo’s chocolate cake. Portillo’s is a Chicago chain of hot dog/Italian beef restaurants. If you are ever in Chicago (or the suburbs–they are all over) you should eat at Portillo’s…you really can’t go wrong: get a Chicago-style hot dog, an Italian beef (my dad never visits without getting one…or two), cheese fries, a milkshake…but definitely get the chocolate cake. You can buy it by the slice, or the whole cake (get the whole cake).

The birthday guy approves!

And we all enjoyed the Adami-Hasegawa signature cocktail, the CAP cocktail. I will be sharing the recipe later in the week…two and a half batches were mixed up on Saturday night (that’s about twenty cocktails), so there’s no denying that the CAP is a hit among our friends. I think this night was a perfect start to Naoto’s year!

Tagged celebrations, cocktails, food

Jan 05 2013

2 Comments

celebrations

Happy, Happy Birthday Naoto!

Happy Birthday to my dear Naoto! May the last year of your thirties be one of your best!

xoxo

*This picture was taken a few weeks ago at Sankyu, our favorite Japanese restaurant, where we will also be celebrating tonight.

Tagged celebrations

Jan 01 2013

1 Comment

celebrations, Merry & Bright

Happy New Year!

We ended 2012 with a delicious meal at the Golden Steer under their “festive” red bar lights. We enjoyed yummy onion soup and salad and steak and baked potatoes and wine, along with plenty of sesame sticks and garlic toasts from the cracker basket. The Steer had a special New Year’s Eve menu (pictured above) that made me wish we had a couple of party hats to wear. We rang in 2013 all cozy on the couch watching/laughing at the ridiculous coverage from Times Square and then the local Chicago countdown stuff. Naoto barely made it to midnight…partly because he was tired, but also because he doesn’t have the same patience that I do for absurd television.

Today Naoto worked and I made some 2013 plans, worked on my 2013 planner, watched the fiscal cliff coverage (ugh.) and thought about taking down the tree…in fact, I’m still thinking about taking down the tree…it’s time.

Tagged celebrations, holidays, home

Dec 31 2012

5 Comments

celebrations, holidays, Merry & Bright

Goodbye 2012

I’m a little sad to see 2012 go…not just because it was a super-fabulous year (as all years are, in my book) but because I have to say goodbye to my lovely Rifle calendar and Mister Donut/Snoopy planner.

I’m usually not a fan of art calendars. I prefer the little practical boxes for writing in birthdays and events. But last year I couldn’t pass up this pretty botanical number…and now I’m trying to dream up ways to help it live on into the new year (cutting it into envelopes perhaps?)

And my Mister Donut (Misdo) planner was a gift from my sister-in-law in Japan…she knows me too well (I ate donuts at Misdo every day during our trip to Japan in 2011. And I’m probably the first person to go to Japan and gain weight!) and I looooved that every time I consulted my planner, I was met with Snoopy and Woodstock munching on cute donuts. Sigh…I’m going to miss those guys. (But maybe I will be less hungry for donuts in 2013? Probably not.)

In addition to working on my 2013 calendars, I’m trying to get the ol’ apartment (somewhat) organized today so Naoto & I can enjoy a cozy New Year’s Eve at home. We are going to an early dinner at our favorite old-school steakhouse (Golden Steer, for you locals…for me it’s all about the cracker basket, the baked potato and the french onion soup!!) and then we are coming home to enjoy a bottle of Adami prosecco in our new glasses.

Simple, quiet, easy…just the way I like it.

Happy New Year, Friends! Thanks for coming along with me in 2012 & many wishes for peace and happiness in 2013!

Tagged celebrations, cocktails, forest park, holidays

Dec 27 2012

2 Comments

celebrations, Christmas, holidays

Post Christmas Quiet

How was your Christmas? Ours was -sigh- calm and quiet. I was still recovering, so we slept in and opened gifts and played with Presley and drank coffee and talked on the phone to my parents… and then we drove to Mitsuwa and Naoto shopped for groceries ’til his heart was content while I restrained myself in the book store (I only bought three little things for my 2013 calendar!) and the snack food aisle. Then we had a quick somen supper (I need to share our somen recipe here…simple, quick and delicious!) and our neighbor friends came down for a bit to share some Christmas cheer.

Naoto & Presley are awesome Christmas shoppers…Naoto knows I have a “the internet makes me want-y” Pinterest Board and he uses it. But he also throws in a few surprises–especially in my stocking! This year’s stocking was packed with lots of treats: my favorite tea, a gift card, a phone cover & car charger (much needed!) and (as pictured above) a bottle of my favorite new ink in silver, a new zine from Marissa and a place card rubber stamp from Yellow Owl Workshop. (Friends, you’ve been warned–no matter how small the dinner party, there will be place cards!) Naoto completely surprised me with this stamp–not only was it not on my wishlist, but I’d never even seen it before!

And the “big gifts” (pictured at the top) – which were hilariously wrapped in wads of kraft paper (and labeled by Presley apparently) – were the best gifts ever! The mailbox has been on my wishlist ever since Kathy & Donovan started bringing their shiny red one to letter writing socials. I’m very excited to make room for it on my desk and using it to store stationery and stamps. And the pillow flew onto my wishlist as soon as I saw it in the Winter Cabin Collection. It was hand-lettered, hand-screenprinted, and hand-made…worth every penny. And, it perfectly describes me in the winter–hibernation is what I do best! It was packaged so sweetly and I can’t wait to put it on our bed!

I gave a stack of SPAM gifts (a calendar, socks and a new t-shirt) to Naoto and he’s picking out a fancy new rice cooker for Christmas, too. And Presley was spoiled this year–tasty new treats, some catnip goldfish and a potent new catnip stick (which she pulled out of the stocking herself!) The Adami-Hasegawa home is a grateful one.

I have a nice stretch of days off before the new year, so I’m hoping to take advantage of the time to get ready for a fresh start. I’m also kind of itching to take the tree down, but I think part of that is just an avoidance tactic so I can pretend I don’t have other (more pressing) things to do…typical me.

So…anyone out there get anything crazy-good for Christmas? Do you have any end-of-year rituals to share? I’m sure I won’t be the only one setting up my 2013 calendar, clearing out my files and cleaning out a closet or two, right?

Tagged celebrations, Christmas, holidays, snail mail

Dec 19 2012

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celebrations, Christmas, holidays, Merry & Bright, Peggy's Parties, Tea

Christmas Tea

Christmas is catching up with me…I have cards to finish, all of the wrapping to do, some last minute gifts to get and I was reeeally hoping to hand-make a gift or two. But work, the bathroom and other obligations keep taking over…and there has been some fun mixed in there, too…and clementines…about 500 clementines.

One of the fun things was book club on Saturday. We read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Have you ever read it? I hadn’t. Of course, I was familiar with the story. I think I’ve seen every version made and I am slightly ashamed to admit I’ve seen quite a few made-for-TV re-makes (Susan Lucci as Scrooge, anyone?) But reading the book was a new experience because of Dickens’ writing…it brought a more colorful picture of Scrooge’s overnight transformation to my mind than anything I’ve ever seen on TV or in the theater. And I have to admit, in such a busy month it was a pleasure to read something so short…especially considering next month we are reading The Count of Monte Cristo (which is more than 1000 pages!)

After book group Peggy had a few of us over for a Christmas tea. I wish I had taken more pictures (this phrase will be written on my grave!) but the photo above shows the festive table.

For the tea, Peggy served chicken salad and homemade egg salad sandwiches, homemade scones with homemade clotted cream, homemade lemon curd, homemade ricotta, homemade tomato jam and for dessert, homemade almond shortbread. She went overboard, in the best of ways…every bite was amazing and I drank so much delicious tea that I thought I would float away. After we ate we sat in the sitting room and enjoyed the twilight as the day faded into darkness. Peggy’s home is covered in Christmas cheer. She has a gorgeous assortment of Christmas dishes, ornaments, wreaths and lights–hundreds of twinkle lights! Being in her home put me in the mood for Christmas. Not in a let’s-go-shopping kind of way, but in a let’s-curl-up-on-the-couch-with-a-cocktail-and-enjoy-the-lights-of-the-tree-and-think-about-how-good-life-is kind of way…which is exactly what Naoto & I did when he got home from work on Saturday night.

Tagged Christmas, food, holidays