letter + seed

Check out these little goodies we got from our friend Jessie. It's a straw full of seeds and the initial sketches she did when she created the little tiger for our little roo.

We received them in a super cute brown paper package a while ago. First and foremost, I still get really excited when we receive a letter by mail! Then opening the package to see what's inside... it's premium:)

Loving the {Spice Station}

I felt like I had just discovered a hidden treasure when I found this cute spice shop in Silver Lake. Spice Station is LITERALLY right next to my favorite restaurant Forage but tucked behind the building.

If you are into cooking, you will LOVE this place. All sorts of spices in a jar... and a little tea sampling room next door. I think I will go back just to immerse myself into the great aroma from all these spices...

1st art for little roo

We're so so excited to have this artwork displayed in little roo's room. It was custom-made by our friend Jessie... Little roo was born in the year of Tiger so Jessie used a tiger and our little roo as inspiration to create the piece. I love all the layered materials that are cut-out. It has a lot of depth and looks perfect in a shadow box.

These days... it's so hard to find an art work that is put together entirely in analogue format (instead of a printed digital illustration). I think it is such a precious piece. Looks great with decal stickers from IKEA, doesn't it? I love how it feels like the little tiger is floating with other animal friends with balloons in her hands.

Thank you so much Jessie!

p.s. Below is another pic of our little roo from last weekend. I can't get over how much facial expression she has these days. So grown up, isn't she?

Brunch in downtown {Bottega Louie}

These photos were almost buried underneath everything else on my laptop! I am so glad I found them again.

Few weeks ago I did a brunch with my girlfriend at Bottega Louie in downtown LA. I love love love their bright space filled with natural light (and this was a rainy day!!). It is in one of the older buildings in downtown so they kept ornate details on the ceilings but painted everything in white. In a very small scale, that is what we did with our house too... mixing old with new.

They had a nice list of brunch menu. When I was driving to the restaurant, I told myself that I would order something "healthy" but well... you see what I ended up with. I have to say that their lemon ricotta pancake was to die for:)

p.s. don't expect to leave the restaurant without carrying some desserts for "later" (aka. immediately after I get home).

family of three {mini Saturday adventure}

We are starting to have a nice rhythm for our weekend. Waking up and having a very laid back breakfast after all of us have slept through the night (hooray!) I take a walk with roo while hubby does some gardening... then we head out for a mini adventure!

Today we visited the weekly farmer's market in Silverlake. I am wondering how it's like to have a mini booth there for the baum-kuchen shop. I have no experience in doing this but I feel like so much of the story can be shared when customers are able to really feel the products inside and out... in person. I think that the crowd and vibe at this specific farmer's market is right for the shop... we will see. I am going to email the organizer to get additional info!

After doing some walking around and scoring freshly baked pastries and a few weekend dinner ingredients, we were off to good girl dinette in Highland Park where comfort Vietnamese food meets American diner! I love our humble culinary exploration in LA especially with little roo's company. She loved orange chopsticks and kept herself somewhat busy while we enjoyed our comfort food. The open floor with lofty high ceiling makes this restaurant a great hangout spot with lots of natural lighting! Their homemade-pop with freshly squeezed fruit was to die for too.

Weekend is definitely off to a good start!

soaking some sun

Hi friends,
How's your week so far? I hope you are all doing well.

I've been away from writing for a few days and I have missed this place. It has been a busy week with work (did I just work 10 hours straight for the first time after I had my little roo?)

I have a lot of inspiration to share with you... so I figured that I would start with these. Some snapshots I got from the Arboretum. It was such a peaceful place, especially on the weekday afternoon. So many little spots to picnic, kick some balls and just relax.

I loved bathing some sun between recent rainy days. (yes. we have rain in LA)

I hope to find sometime this weekend to do some shop updates. I have a lot of goodies sitting in our living room right now waiting to see some bright lights!

Inspiring space {the Lab}

It has been a roller-coaster kind of week... driving lots of miles, attending a grown-up meeting with little roo in my arm (I am thankful for sweet peers who did not mind little roo voicing her opinions here and there during the meeting), a project that felt little too heavy to lift (but I was able to finish it in one piece:)... and everything else in between... so I am excited that things are slowly calming down tonight.

My little sis and I were doing some secondhand shopping at the Buffalo Exchange in the Lab last weekend. I enjoy browsing the space at the Lab. It's called "anti-mall" and you can see why - open, fun and creative. The whole space feels like an installation art.

I think you would like visiting here if you are ever in Orange County.

flea market find {functional beauty}

Few more items we brought home from last Sunday's flea marketing!
1. Made in Germany ceramic hand mold used at glove manufactures
2. Japanese wood marker "celebration" in Chinese character (second pic).

Aren't they pretty? I love that they were both used as functional pieces in their past lives! We are thinking of creative ways to use these old but beautiful goodies at our house. The hand mold could be a nice place to display/organize jewelries and I am thinking of ways of incorporating the wood marker as a part of the packaging process for items we ship from baum-kuchen shop.

What do you guys think?

flea market find {vintage kids' chairs}

Hello everyone. I would like you to meet our newest family members in our household - a pair of vintage chairs (collapsible and kid's friendly) - found at the Rose Bowl flea market last Sunday.

Craftsmanship on these chairs are impeccable! There is no glue used since everything is fastened by hardware or wood joints. They collapse so smoothly like they never get old! You can see that "someone" actually built them unlike their IKEA counterparts. The vendor (who was a pretty big guy)... sat on one of the chairs to show us how sturdy they are... and they did not fall apart nor flattened... I think we were sold when we saw that.

Eventually we will get a tiny kid's table to go with these chairs and they can live happily ever after in the little roo's room. For now grown-ups are enjoying one of them as a bedside table and other one to admire and drool over in the living room.

Happy flea marketing!

another shop inspiration: Society of the Spectacle

I got a new pair of prescription glasses as a birthday/Christmas/New Year gift after spending last 15 years with my (not very savvy) glasses I have been wearing since I was in highschool. (gulp...) During my "next eye-wear hunt", a friend recommended me to visit this boutique shop, Society of the Spectacle.

If I have walked into the store without my prior knowledge,  I would have never guessed that they sold glasses. The store interior and its details were so untypical in a such an unexpected way!

Antique letterpress cabinet to store/display hand crafted frames from all over the world... typewriter displayed on the mirror table... They had so much to see (aside from their awesome eye-wears)!

Their service was amazing too. The person who helped me spent more than an hour helping me try all these glasses. She was so thorough with the search... I think I gave up on finding the perfect fit before she did. I ended up purchasing this beautiful glasses ... designed in Southern California and handcrafted in Japan. Yes. With a touch of pink in the inner frame.

I absolutely LOVE my new pair! You might even see me walking on the street with this hip glasses here and then!

cafe de leche

this was a lovely treat on thursday... a little family outing to Cafe de Leche, a local coffee shop we recently discovered.

i am always on the look out for neighborhood corners... imagining my future baum-kuchen shop being next to these eclectic shops.

I would love to be next to Cafe de Leche where they have yummy pastry, a friendly kid's corner and outside tables.

wouldn't you??

Packaging inspiration

Attention and care which goes into French packaging reminds me of the ones in Japan. You know... an individually wrapped banana at Japanese fruit stand?

I noticed when I buy my daily tart from the nearby pastry, they put my little tart in a triangle wrap made of a single paper... so that my dessert doesn't get all squashed.

... and of course I saw more inspiring paper packaging while we were window shopping.

Merci, Paris

Ever since I saw this shop online, I have been dying to visit!

MERCI in Paris.

They carry a mix of old/new in a perfectly curated manner. Three story space is full of beautiful products, theatrical displays and inspiring vibe (did you see the red car with Christmas trees in the courtyard? Oh my...). I also really appreciated their original collection. Attention to details and use of unexpected materials for packaging (check out the pic of light bulb packaging!)

I definitely got full dose of inspiration for baum-kuchen Brick and Mortar shop (in the future)