Tag: birthdays

Dad’s 70th Birthday!

January 1 of 2009 not only represented a new year, but also Dad’s 70th birthday! We were able to have many of dad’s closest relatives for a great lunch at Peking Gourmet in Garden Grove.

Danny, Janet, and the boys arrived in style – check out Jeffrey and Luke’s snazzy outfits!

Shannon and Mani arrived the day before from their new home in San Rafael, up in Marin County. We’ll have to visit them soon!

Larry and Mary Anne made it too!

Here is part of me and Carrie’s birthday present, a hardbound book that’s a celebration of his long, illustrious, and still-thriving architectural career (he’s currently working on a project in Mongolia!). We are also developing a website for his business which is the other part of our gift to him.

Larry and Mary Anne’s card compiled all of the significant world events from 1939. History buffs will note that MANY important things happened that year, including the start of World War II, Gone with the Wind and the Wizard of Oz hit the silver screens, and most important of all, Paul Ikpoong Kim was born in Korea.

Here’s Shannon saying a few closing remarks about everything that Dad means to us.

And here’s me, Carrie, and dad!

It was a fun day with too much food. Check this picture out … these are the LEFTOVERS!

Happy Birthday Dad, and here’s to a very fresh and prosperous 2009! Click below to see the whole album.

Dad's 70th Birthday

San Diego Stylin’

To celebrate Ed’s big 35th birthday, we have headed down to San Diego for the weekend. We had an ulterior motive – we’ve long awaited a reason to stay at the Keating Hotel, located downtown in the Gaslamp, and finally, we have arrived! This place is fantastic – it’s designed by the famous italian design house, Pininfarina (who is best known for their Ferrari designs, but has now expanded on to even more exciting things, like architectural and industrial design). It is absolutely amazing, true italian modern at it’s best. And, with a connection to car design, and a color scheme that’s all red & white (Carrie’s fave colors), it couldn’t be better suited for the two of us!


This is what the lobby looks like!

We got an even better surprise when we arrived this afternoon – we were told at check-in that we were given a free upgrade X2, to the “Stanza Chic” – a junior suite! What could possibly be better! This is what our suite looks like:

This room is amazing. We have our own espresso machine, Bang & Olufsen electronics and a shower the size of our bathroom at home! Here are a few more photos we stole from the web, we’ll post our own later.


These are our his & her sinks in the room – this is some serious italian design! We LOVE it!


Our shower! Check out the size of that shower head on the ceiling!

We’re still a little awe-struck, so check back later for more pics and details of our trip …

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Yesterday we had a very special luncheon to celebrate Mom’s Birthday (which is on March 3rd). We wanted to make it as special as she is, so we went to a beautiful restaurant in Topanga Canyon called Inn of the Seventh Ray. The restaurant is gorgeous, all outside, next to a creek. It was the perfect place for her. Our pictures of the place couldn’t do it justice, so we grabbed a few from the web:



The food was delicious too – and afterwards, we had to celebrate with a little birthday cake. You’re never too old to blow out the candles and make a wish!

Our gift this year was to make a book for her. Our goal was to compile as many pictures of significant moments in her life as possible. We found quotes appropriate for each decade and wrote a forward to the book. It was a wonderful experience for us both going through the photos and learning so much about her life – and we were so happy that she loved the book too.


Overall, it was a wonderful day spent with our family! Happy, Happy Birthday to you, Mom!

The birthday keeps rollin’ on!

Now that we’re back from our Palm Springs weekend, we had one more round of birthday celebrations for Carrie to go. For the final bash, we had to get the parents involved, so we all met up at PF Chang’s for a massive and delish meal.

Before the meal came presents! From Carrie’s parents came this great card showing everything that had happened in 1976 and the most awesome polka dot purse.

Ed’s mom got Carrie this really cool Luvcat wallet:

Ed’s dad knows that a Target gift card is a surefire hit with Carrie!

Everyone had a great time and came away with really full stomachs, as you can see…


As they say in all of Asia during birthdays, long noodles for long life!

And how do you finish off a Palm Springs weekend?


At The Parker, of course! So this day was Carrie’s actual birthday, and we’d been wanting to visit for a long time. The Parker was once owned by Gene Autry, and was reopened a couple years back under the creative and stylistic guidance of Jonathan Adler, one of our favorite designers. It had been redone in a very groovy late sixties/early seventies style – not so much Modernist, but a bit of regency, and a huge helping of whimsical grooviness. It got some publicity as of late thanks to being the subject of the TV show Welcome to the Parker on Bravo.



We met up with Lewis and Mary, along with Mick and Andy and Mick’s parents for an amazing brunch. Alfresco dining with incredible (but down to earth) food, and the incredible surroundings that were both “shagadelic” and dreamy all at once.


Afterwards, we walked about the grounds, and came across Samir, the manager who is one of the stars of the TV show!! He was more than happy to indulge us with a photo. Samir’s the tall, imposing man in the back.

We can’t describe just how amazing the place looks. It reminded Ed of his childhood in many ways, with very familiar early 70s materials, furnishings, textures, and colors. We have to stay here soon! Here are some more pics:


The amazing fireplace lounge…


Some competitive Ed vs. Mary ping pong…


Colored vases…



Mister Parker’s, the onsite restaurant. It’s so swingin’ London.


How do you like that bar!



The happy couple!

Pics don’t do the place justice. It’s mindblowing and just plain fun all at once.

So that’s it – that was our Palm Springs weekend #3, and a fine way to celebrate Carrie’s birthday and Valentine’s Day! I’m pretty certain you’ll see another set of blogs about this time next year….if we’re lucky, maybe we’ll be staying at the Parker!