Tag: Kims

Happy Christmas!

I can’t think of anything but “happy” when I think of Christmas this year! I can honestly say I enjoyed every second of the holiday season – it seems like I got to do almost everything I wanted to do! I got to bake with my mom, decorate our house, make some handmade gifts and even drink loads of Starbucks holiday beverages. :) Plus, Ed and I also got to hit a few holiday parties, go to Charles Phoenix’s Retro Holiday Slideshow and check out a Cosmic Christmas at the Glendale Planetarium. But the high point was definitely our family combining efforts to adopt a family this Christmas! There was no stress, and at risk of sounding incredibly sappy – now that we’ve spent both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with both of our families, my heart is so full of love and blessings! It was truly a happy Christmas in every sense of the word.


As usual, we hosted Ed’s family at our house on Christmas Eve … and of course, we had an epic meal with Ed’s culinary masterpiece, the Chile-Brined Ham (make sure you check out the whole story on Day One and Day Two!)! Also on the menu was a balsamic roasted vegetable medley with zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, cauliflower & peppers along with wild rice. But this salad made by Ed’s mom was the tastiest salad I have ever eaten-and it was gorgeous, too!

I found a special bunch of flowers at Fresh & Easy (my favorite!) and I was inspired to clip a few to use for place cards at the table  …


Ed’s mom loved her placecard …

Uncle loved hanging out with Ricki …

and Ed served the jus accompanying his ham like a pro!

And then today, we were off to The Facey’s! So much of my love for Christmas comes from my parents, and their house is the best at the holidays!!! They liked the picture frame we got for them:

Then the kids arrived, and it was on! Santa brought them Beatles Rock Band this year, so they were representin’ in their Beatles T-shirts:

We are really excited about our gift to them this year – we’re taking them to the Walt Disney Concert Hall for one of the Toyota Symphonies for Youth. Its a really cool thing where the kids can do arts and crafts beforehand, and then they get to see a kid-friendly orchestral performance about Beethoven. Ed and I haven’t ever seen anything there at the concert hall either, so we are totally looking forward to it!

They were so sweet and each of them picked out their own gifts for both Ed & I this year. We loved each and every one. They are so big now!

All in all – it was a beautiful holiday! We love our family and friends dearly and wish you all a very, very Happy New Year!

Ed’s visit to Shannon and Mani in San Rafael

Thanks to Toyota, who flew me up to Napa to drive the 2010 Prius, I was able to spend the weekend visiting Shannon and Mani in nearby San Rafael in Marin County. This was the first time I’d seen the new place as they had moved there from Santa Cruz back in late November.

To make a long story short, we had a wonderful time. The new house is really adorable and Shannon has (as always) put her signature thumbprint on it. It’s located walking distance to downtown San Rafael, which is filled to the brim with amazing restaurants and pubs, and just a few minutes to nearby San Anselmo (which I fell in love with) and Fairfax (another neat little town with a somewhat younger vibe). All three cities are surrounded by greenery and all boast wonderful food and retail with a refreshing freedom from chains and franchises.

Here’s Spirit on one of our many walks to downtown. Since he has three legs and is getting older, bringing the wagon’s a necessity for when he gets tired. Honestly, he seems to love the wagon rides!

One of the culinary highlights was Sol Food, a Puerto Rican restaurant that is locally renowned and one of the most popular joints in town. It was amazing – and I’m sad to report I was so engrossed in the food I forgot to take pics. I’m sure the Puerto Rican community might take issue with this statement, but it seems to bear much similarity to Cuban food, which I love as well.

Here’s the new place! Cute, huh?

The best meal of the trip was the dinner Shannon cooked up last night: a noodle soup with wontons and a make-your-own spring roll bar! WOW. Bravo, Shannon!

See all the pics here!

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

Kim Family Christmas Eve

Tonight we hosted Christmas Eve for the Kims, and everything was just perfect! We enjoyed good food, great conversation, a lot of laughs and some pretty cool gifts!

To start things off, we had to get the ambiance right.  Here’s a few shots of our cozy Christmas setting:

I decided to make some little place cards for everybody with some peppermint sticks (because I’m nerdy like that):

And everybody really liked them!

The menu this evening was pretty simple – Ed’s mom, Kay, made a beautiful leafy greens salad with mango and raspberries (It was gorgeous!). We made the ham, my mom’s scalloped potatoes (Ed’s favorite), asparagus and wild rice. And for dessert, Ed’s aunt Grace brought a yummy cake from the Korean bakery! This cake is a big favorite of ours, it’s this very light cake with tons of fresh fruit on it … kiwis, pineapple, strawberries and oranges. Yum! Ed did most of the cooking this year, and it was delicious!

That’s a ham alright:

Preppin’ the asparagus:

Glazing the ham:

After dinner, we moved on to the gift exchange. I got a kick out of seeing Ed’s uncle, Luke, sitting on the floor, surrounded by tissue paper and presents. He looked just like a little kid!

The funniest gift of the evening went to Aunt Grace. Ed’s dad bought her a battery-operated megaphone! She’s quite the mover and shaker – she’s VERY active in many organizations and she heads up so many committees – so she needs her voice to be heard!

This year is a big year for Ed’s dad – he is turning 70 on January 1st. I thought that with the start of a new decade, he might enjoy a new “look” for his business. So I designed 3 different comps of a logo, business cards, letterhead and envelopes for him to choose from. I think it was a hit!

For some reason I didn’t catch Kay opening a gift, so here’s a shot of Ed & I with his mom:

All in all, it was wonderful evening. We thoroughly enjoy hosting Christmas Eve for The Kims! Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Eve 2008

A little bit of bragging … and a lot to be thankful for.

Because Ed is such a modest guy, I am taking the liberty of spilling the beans on a very exciting thing that happened two weeks ago. He was in Germany visiting some of his European clients … BMW, Audi, Porshe, and Volkswagon. During his meeting at Volkswagon, the one of the directors was so impressed with Ed and his extensive knowledge that he asked Ed to return to Germany this week to be a Keynote Speaker at the Global Volkswagon conference in Hamburg! It was a really big deal. Such a big deal in fact that we ALL (all = family & every friend who heard about this!) insisted that he return to Deutschland to make his presentation.

The downside? The conference was during Thanksgiving. So we made the best of it. We got together with all of our parents the weekend before an had a lovely dinner at the Facey Parents house. Afterall, there was no way my mom was going to let him go without her stuffing this year!


That’s Dad carving the duck my mom made.


Our awesome parents with Ed!

Thanksgiving Day was delicious as usual, but we definitely missed Ed. The happiest part of the day was when I got a call from Germany …

And of course … here is me with my family!

Each year, I feel like the holidays get better and better. I am so thanksful for my wonderful family & friends!

p.s. Ed’s presentation went great! He’s on his way back from Germany as I write this!