On Saturday my parents threw me a nice party to celebrate the launch of my book The Right-Brain Business Plan and my 5th anniversary of leaving my corporate job to pursue my dreams. My brother, Gregg, even flew up from L.A. for the event (even though he had already visited the week before). That’s us above with my cousin Robert (in the black on the far left). My dad gave a very lovely and thoughtful toast. So nice to know how proud he is! And many thanks to my aunt and uncle who graciously hosted the party on their beautiful patio.
My dear friends Hannah and Kate were there to celebrate. We all met a few years back through Ladies Who Launch and I just adore these talented and creative lovelies. And of course, Kate is the one who did all of the fabulous illustrations in the book!
And here I am with my book club ladies Lily, Francisca, and Kristen (we missed you, Christina!). While we were eating at the party realized we’re going on year 10 of our book club this year and started plotting a milestone celebration.
My friend Linda from my Old Navy HR days joined us as well. Our cubes used to be right next to each other and we sure had fun together!
And here I am with my college roomie Julie and dear friend Julie. She’s the absolute best and has been super supportive all these years.
I’m so grateful to be surrounded by such loving and wonderful friends and family! Thanks everyone! Couldn’t have done it with out your support.
by jenn on September 8, 2010
in Family
Today my hubby and I are celebrating our 9th year anniversary (and we were together 7 years before that!). Here we are cracking up during my maid of honor and college roomie Julie’s toast. I love it when we laugh together. Here’s to many more years of love and laughter with my soul mate.
It’s been several weeks since returning from my family trip to the Bahamas and my tan faded long ago. But apparently I needed a vacation from my vacation because I caught a cold right after returning from my trip. I’m finally feeling much better and am getting caught up.
My parents took me and my husband, my brother, my sister-in-law, and my twin 12-year-old nephews on a Disney cruise. While I could’ve done without all the Disney characters and crazy crowds/kids (I’m not a cruise lover and yes, I suppose I rubbed elbows a bit with Grumpy dwarf), there were some nice highlights from the vacation. Some of my favorite memories included:
- Spending time with my whole family. Growing up, we hardly ever went on vacations with my parents, my brother, and me altogether (since I’m 9 1/2 years younger than my brother). So, it was nice to have a big trip with all of us.
- Hanging out with my twin nephews. They’re a hoot. They loved playing games on our iPad and iPhones and they were always cracking me up.
- Lounging around on floaties with my hubby in the beautiful Blue Lagoon. I could’ve stayed there all day!
- Escaping to Serenity Bay, the adult’s only area on Disney’s private island Castaway Cay. The rest of the island was an absolute madhouse, but this secluded section was pretty deserted and oh, so gorgeous with its clear turquoise waters.
- Seeing a screening of Toy Story 3 in 3D on-board the ship. The movie was so cute!
- Taking a “how to draw Goofy” class (that’s me above with one of my nephews and my sister-in-law sketching away)
- Dining at the Palo adults only restaurant on the last night. The food was absolutely amazing!! And there are my parents below enjoying a delicious dessert.
The trip came and went so quickly and I can’t believe it’s already July. It’d be fun to do another big family trip again. Maybe next time we’ll do it old school and rent a house in Mammoth during the summer.
Thanks mom and dad, for a great and memorable family vacation!
Hope you’re enjoying all the festivities of the season. For more merriment visit Emmett holiday cards of Christmas past. We’ve subjected our poor pooch to eight years of these silly photo shoots, so no wonder why it looks like he’s fed up with the yuletide cheer!
by jenn on August 9, 2009
in Family
Yesterday, I received an amazing e-mail from a complete stranger. A woman named Dee contacted me to let me know that she had a clipping of an LA Times article from April 2, 1967 that mentioned my grandpa, Ernest Fukuda. He’s the one wearing the bow-tie in the photo above. (He wore bow-ties a lot and always left the house with a hat. How dapper!)
Dee wrote that her mother had saved articles that she found interesting and that she recently discovered this clipping among her mother’s things. After reading this story about a ballot measure that my grandfather helped petition for, Dee was curious to learn of the outcome. She did a search and found my post about my grandpa about how he helped the amendment to pass so that Japanese-American Los Angeles DWP employees who were removed from their jobs during the WW2 internment would receive years of continuous service toward their retirement plan.
I’m very grateful that Dee was so kind to scan in the article and send it to me. Thank you, Dee for sharing this meaningful piece of history with my family. We will treasure it!
