Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays! I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus lately, busy with work and the holidays (you know how it is!), but we (Mas included) have also been busy working on creatively putting the puzzle pieces together for issho-ni. What does this entail you ask? Well a completely new re-design of the blog (thanks Mas!), which will also carry over to my Etsy shop (Japanese Yen Bracelets coming soon!). Don’t worry, I’ll give you a bit of a sneak peak in the coming days. I will also need to brush up on my html/css so that I can implement the new design, truly a team effort…isshoni!

While we were down in LA this past weekend we visited a very unique, curated Asian art gallery + tea station with our friends Joey and Yumi called Royal/t. It wasn’t like any gallery / store that I’ve ever been to. The art was encased behind clear plastic walls and had everything from wall art to installation pieces. I’d have to say the porta potty with a disco ball inside was quite clever, if you don’t believe me check out the images on Yelp and their website!

The store section of Royal/t was so cute! They had a Christmas tree and the area was completely decked out for the holidays. I was introduced to Momiji dolls and the fact that they had Hello Kitty ones I was hypnotized and headed straight to the cashier. Momiji dolls are not only adorable figurine dolls, but they carry a special gift, that of a message, hope or dream created by you! There is a small piece of paper (much like a fortune cookie) at the base of the doll, take it out, unfold the paper and write your message, you then place it back in and work towards it for it to come true! The Momiji story is available on their website as well.