I absolutely love that I can spend chunks of my trips photographing my earrings and that my friends don’t get sick of it! How wonderful to have architects/artists/designers/creatives in your social circle.

On this trip we went for a hike, drank some wine, spent the day in the city, ate delicious chinese food, saw old friends, and then ended the trip with an afternoon of wine tasting… oh, wine country!

Here are some shots of our fun:

since i was all dressed up we couldn’t pass up a great photo op!

i had to.

totes adorbs.

fun new earring colors!

i’m watching you.

Besides the fact that it was great to spend time with the ‘bestie’, I was astounded by the amazing views. Check these out:

And of course… I love my sparkle ( must be the Japanese in me):

I was so stunned by how gorgeous everything there was. Definitely different from any climate or elevation that I’m accustomed to, but totally worth the trip. I’m hoping to head back out there when there’s still some snow on the ground and get a very different feel of the place

We wandered through some national parks and got amazing macro photos:

That’s not a macro photo of earrings but in Japanese we’d call that ‘otaku’.. it was too funny so I had to put it up

I pretend hiked a little bit… it looks like I’m on a super intense mountain but I wasn’t so much. Look at the colors though!

I got some snuggle time with Max – pretty much the coolest cat out there. Hands down.

Last but of course not least, lots of time with my buddy.

Great weather, great company, great experience.

visited my dad and some friends in Hawai;i,

visited my mom, sister, cousins, and aunts & uncles in Japan,

visited my good friend in Seattle (I know, not that crazy – but hey, it counts!),

and last but not least, visited my best friend in Vernal, Utah (just wait til you hear all about it!).

So, needless to say, I’m a smidge overdue on updates

Let’s start with Hawai’i: I got to hang out with my dad, which was rad, plus I got to work on a bunch of LeeMo stuff while I was there and go nuts with the tropical color inspirations for my new line!

I got to arrange some flowers for a wedding – yeah, that’s considered R&R for me

My dad and his friend are in the midst of a new project and I got to check that out and give my design input, which is always fun. Saw some old friends from highschool – boy how we all change, huh?

Japan: super last minute trip – planned it 5 days before I left, actually, ha! It was AMAZING. I always love spending time with my family there – such fun personalities Pretty much did the standard – ate some sushi,

laughed at some translations,

spent some time telling my cousin about the states (she wants to be a cabin attendant – and be trilingual! She’s trying to one-up me

ate some okonomiyaki (SO GOOD),

found out that my grandpa made katana guards as a hobby?! hmmm apparently my mad skills with detail-oriented stuff is genetic?

and drank some green tea cola

you know, the typical Japan stuff?

Seattle was great but I unfortunately do not have any pictures! El, what happened to taking pictures??

I’m going to summarize my Utah trip as well as give you a little insight into what I’ve been doing to keep myself busy…. in another post at a later date

Suffice to say, all of the galavanting has opened my eyes to a lot of fun new things and my interests are ever changing and growing… which is what we’re supposed to do constantly, right?

As Ava, from ‘Up All Night’ would say: “keep watching and growing!”

Tuna & Cucumber Salad:

2 persian cucumbers (or one medium sized japanese cucumber)

a can of japanese tuna (or tuna in oil, not water)

a dash of soy sauce

a dash of sesame oil

salt & pepper to taste

just toss all ingredients together and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

I have a metaphor that I always use to explain my theory on life to people: life is a buffet, and your life is the plate that you have as you go down the line. You’re allowed just that one plate, and you can load it up as you see fit for the phase that you’re going through at that moment in your life.  Some people are great at rationing and manage to have a little of everything.  More often that not, though, you end up with giant portions of your favorites getting further and further down the line and wondering how you’ll have room for it all on your plate.  That’s me. I get way too excited about one thing and take just a little more than I should. I haven’t quite perfected which cuisine symbolizes each portion of my life just yet, but what I do is get halfway down the buffet line, realize that my plate is already full and that I have no room for anything else. There are portions of my life that are so over developed and figured out that I shouldn’t really be spending anymore time on them (the first few dishes at the buffet line), and there are areas of my life that I have never even explored and should be spending time on (the last few dishes in the buffet line). The moment that I realized that this metaphor related to my life, I knew (well, I always kind of knew) that food was very important to me. Food has never been a crutch to me, just something that I use to express who I am and what I like.

Tonight, for example, I made a pasta salad. Cherry tomatoes, basil, half a red onion, kalamata olives, gouda, and fusilli tossed in a little balsamic and olive oil. I’d had a pretty intense day at work, and I wanted to make something that was tasty, easy, and refreshing. Cooking the dinner helped me process the day, but I realized afterwards that all I was looking for from my food was something light that wouldn’t weigh me down physically or emotionally. I always think of fun summer picnics and bbq’s when I make pasta salad. The taste of pasta salad is a perfect summer day – where you have nothing else to worry about except the moment that you’re in. That’s what i needed at the end of the day today.

The more I correlate my moods and life to food, the more that it makes sense. This is the first of many posts about how my meals are helping me figure myself out on this journey of life.  Each meal and post will have a little life lesson attached to it. This time in my life is all about learning  about myself and being comfortable with who I’m supposed to be in the long run.  Everyone says it, but it’s about the journey, not the destination.  Who says we can’t eat delicious things while we’re traveling through life? ☺

Refreshing Pasta Salad

A bag of fusilli pasta

A quarter of a red onion

5-10 sliced kalamata olives

Half a wedge of gouda

A carton of cherry tomatoes

Fresh basil

Olive oil, salt, lemon pepper, and balsamic to taste

Boil the pasta (10-12 mins)

Chop and prepare the ingredients in a bowl with the balsamic, lemon pepper, and salt

After the pasta is cooked, combine with previous ingredients and stir together and add olive oil

Enjoy!

this is LeeMo’s very first necklace and it means something really special to me.

Although my family in Japan is not affected by the tragedy occurring, it has been very hard to see all of the damage done to the country.  My first thought was to drop everything here and go help in any way that I could – but after taking a moment, realized that was not plausible. I have designed this necklace to be a symbol to remember that through this tragedy, by working together, we can help Japan.

The cherry blossom was designed as a Kamon, or emblem – so we can remember what happened and keep it near our hearts. The cherry blossom symbolizes new growth – it is very important to stay positive and keep moving forward so that Japan can begin to put itself back together after the series of tragedies.

All profits from the Kasei Necklaces will be donated to the Japanese Red Cross.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/72295150/kasei

Thanks for supporting LeeMo & Japan!

keep your eyes peeled for some fun new earring designs (holiday gifts, perhaps?

for now, take a look at the website and the new photos!

www.leelamorimoto.com

For those of you who don’t know, I have job at an amazing design studio in Portland, OR.  I was an intern for Engrave / Grove from february to june, and then they decided to hire me on full time! (www.engraveyourbook.com, www.grovemade.com) It’s a great company, amazing people, and the perfect design philosophy and beliefs! We recently launched bamboo iphone4 cases, and things have been insane – if you haven’t seen me or heard from me in a while, this is why

Needless to say, I’ve neglected LeeMo Designs quite a bit.  I’ve been throwing some new ideas around, and have made a few new pairs of earrings - http://www.flickr.com/photos/lkmoto/ – and I’ll be posting them on etsy to sell shortly.

Here are a few images to wet your whistle