Let's do this! Santa Monica Classic Run/Walk in September, 2018

After taking the much needed 3 weeks off after LA marathon in March, I'm up and running again. Right now running between 3-4 miles each time and the goal is to increase the mileage little by little to get to my baseline (about 15 miles/week) over the summer.

I will be training again for Pasadena 1/2 Marathon then LA marathon, 2019. But for now... I am enjoying how it feels to run just for the sake of running. The morning weather has been perfect for a quick jog and watching all the spring flowers burst out of the sidewalk and trail has been so rewarding.

Truly, I could not have finished the training and the half & the full marathon without support and encouragement from my friends and families. Especially the way Satchi and Coco have cheered me along my running journey this past year has been so incredible. So as a part of the Los Angeles race series, I will be signing up my family for Santa Monica 5k run/walk that will be happening on September 9th (Sunday)! Girls are super excited and started doing some morning run with me. I am also hoping that our BK team will run/walk along with us to share the joy. It's my turn to cheer the people around me to be a part of the journey.

So I wanted to extend the invitation to our Baum-kuchen community. If Running or walking 3 miles along the Pacific Ocean crossed your mind recently, join us and let me know that you registered! Seriously. It will be so much fun!!

You can start registering for the race after tomorrow via below link.
https://www.santamonicaclassic.com/

And if you are up for half marathon in January, here is the link to the one in Pasadena.
https://www.pasadenahalf.com/

I know that my life shifted a little in a good way since starting to train last year and I love that it can be contagious.

Let's do this:)

Adding colors with the Engineer Pouch with Pockets

With the spring season full in the air, it feels perfect to celebrate the arrival of the new Engineer Pouch with Pockets from The Superior Labor. These new colors bring so much life and vibrancy. I love them all!

I have been using my Natural canvas with red paint version for over a year now and I can't tell you how handy this pouch is. Having two internal pockets make such a difference in keeping small analogue artifacts and everyday essentials organized and easy to find. It's the pouch I keep all my "must have at all times" items and when I swap the bag from work to family bag, I just transfer the pouch and know that I have everything I need (like wallet, my Jibun Techo, favorite everyday pens, etc.)

Here are colors that are currently available. I can't wait to see which color will be your favorite!

Navy canvas with Light Blue paint
Khaki canvas with Orange paint
Olive canvas with Navy paint
Natural canvas with Blue Gray paint
Black canvas with Black paint
Natural canvas with Red paint (pre-order)

How childhood looks like at our home

If you ever run into my family in the neighborhood, my girls' pants will most likely have holes on their knees (and perhaps stitched by their little hands using hand sewing techniques). They love their worn-in pants with holes because these pants are comfortable for them. Their toes will surely have some dirt in them and bottom of their feet will easily give away how they run through dirt barefoot... every day.

If you have a conversation with them, they will probably know very little about popular songs or current TV shows (or Disney movies) but could probably tell you about their favorite plants and animals and why they love them so much. 

Our dinner chat is around places they want to visit soon and what they want to experience there (currently Arizona to see Saguaro Cactus). We also enjoy talking about favorite part of the day which they will gladly tell us some kind of made-up game they came up with. 

We love spending time together and reading books. We also love sharing life adventures together even though we occasionally get frustrated and cry because we are all humans. 

When we decided to start homeschooling, we made a commitment to their childhood. To offer as much unstructured open-ended time as well as time to learn from nature through play and promised that we would continue to have a lot of conversations about many different things in life. We talk a lot about design because that's who we are as a family. We also talk a lot about what's right and not right as humans because that's important. 

We can never compare one family to another because each family is unique... 

But.

I do believe each family should and can build a unique mission that is true to the family. 

And yes... why not add some dirt time to the mission even just a little bit:)
Because I swear... kids usually never fight when they are knee deep in the mud playing. 

Getting back to nature journal

Few stars are aligning to lead me back to nature journaling again and I am really excited. To be able to take some time here and there to jot down my observations and time spent with nature and kids.

(As you can imagine), I have gone back and forth between different notebook size and wondered what would work the best. I wanted something that had enough pages so I could have a documentation of seasons captured over time yet more pages meant heavier and bulkier notebooks. At the end, I settled with my Traveler's Notebook. I can easily grab it wherever I am and it's slim enough to fit in any bag I might be carrying at the time.

I will keep you posted how it goes!

Designed by People. Made for People.

We recently made a new BK sticker that says "Designed by People. Made for People." This is an important statement for me because it sums up "why" we do what we do behind Baum-kuchen. In the world where so much of focus is on profit, sales, and monetary success, I want to challenge the status quo at Baum-kuchen and have a laser sharp focus on making people around us happy. I want to speak with our action that people in and around Baum-kuchen matter more than anything in the world.

We are celebrating Baum-kuchen's 8th birthday. (Thank goodness it coincides with Satchi's birthday. I can always remember how old our Baum-kuchen is:)  It doesn't feel like I have been a part of Baum-kuchen for so many years... but I have vivid memories of many incredible milestones we have passed together.

As an eight-years-old business, I am grateful that we have a voice and we can continue to stand behind our word every day.

TSL Inspiration Lab prep

We are gearing up for our TSL Inspiration Lab in May that is about 1.5-month away. Since we are thriving to create an experience that is fun, inspiring, and organized, there are a lot of thoughts that are going into crafting all the details as well as designing the flow of the experience.   

Ame and Frido worked together in creating this adorable illustration featuring Hoover (a super cute dog that is a part of the TSL family in Japan) and Baum-kuchen cake playing together. I love the playfulness and the quote we chose to accompany, "Life is what happens after you make a plan." The quote is so in tune with how this very magical relationship came to become over six years. Just like anything in and around Baum-kuchen, our collaboration with TSL has been organic, people focused and intuitive. 

I am so thankful for so many design opportunities that are brought forth to make the event happen and how everyone is taking a unique role. I am sure Ame's sweet illustrations will brighten the day, Eunice's beautiful aesthetics will add exquisiteness to the many tactile details, and Frido's design sensitivity will make the process of customizing the leather cover inspiring! 

Baum-kuchen has always been "studio/shop" as a whole, and we are super excited that an event like this highlights the design studio aspect of who we are!

p.s. our Inspiration Lab is completely sold out, but we still have some spots left for TSL pop-up shop where guests can browse unique artifacts which TSL will be sharing!