Author: Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout's mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)

The only time I don’t care about seeing Christmas in October: makeup advent calendars. *swoon*

October 14, 2014

So it’s taking me all my willpower not to buy this advent calendar today, but I haven’t cleaned out my makeup drawer that I promised I would clean out before I bought any more makeup and I know my hubby would die if this giant box of new makeup shows up before I’m done. So […]

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A heart too full to shop on a monday even though the house is empty

October 13, 2014

Well it’s not entirely empty.  Some mornings start well into the night when a little one gets a fever and all of a sudden you get reduced back to the new-parent cycle of comfort/worry/wait/stayupallnight/willtheyeverbeokayagain and instead of sending two kids off to school you only send one.  (He is doing much better now by the […]

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A cabin-building update as we race to beat the snow

October 9, 2014

If you’ve been following our cabin-building project it’s been quite a fun project and our whole family has been enjoying the process so far. It’s neat learning about how a home is made, choosing how we’re going to utilize our space and imagining how we’re going to live in this place in years to come. […]

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solar flowers at Seattle Center

Because a yellow crayon went through the dryer and I have to buy new clothes on a Monday

October 6, 2014

Oh Monday.  You roll around so quickly after a weekend full of spectacular sun and lovely adventures.  When have we ever worn shorts in OCTOBER in Seattle? My bestie came for a visit and we had fun exploring Seattle and eating yummy food these past few days.  We sipped coffee and matcha lattes at the […]

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A loaf of bread I often think about from Iceland (Bergsson Mathis, Reykjavik, Iceland)

October 3, 2014

The other day I bought a loaf of my favorite Seattle bread, a dense and delicious potato loaf at Dahlia Bakery. “Best bread in Seattle,” I espoused to the lady at the store helping me. “Totally.” She replied. And these weren’t just pleasantries. This bread needs to be admired. (So do the pastries. Oh the […]

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building a cabin in the woods near Snoqualmie Pass Washington

A super dark tunnel and a cabin building update

October 1, 2014

Living with boys is not as horrible as I might have imagined if you told me as a high schooler this is how my life would turn out.  It’s actually mostly lovely and I’m getting used to being outdoors more and embracing all that is frogs, dirt and bugs. But sometimes I do feel like […]

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My five favorite coffee shops if I were sipping coffee not shopping on a Monday

September 29, 2014

Happy National Coffee Day.  I still may sneak out and try a new coffee shop in honor of the day, and there are lots I need to explore thanks to Seattle Weekly who recently put out a list of the top 15 inventive indie coffee shops in Seattle. We’ve been to many of them because […]

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Getting away from it all with our family on the Olympic Peninsula (Kalaloch Lodge, Washington)

September 26, 2014

Every September, the whirlwind of real life catches us up to us after dreamy, long summer days playing at the beach. We get trapped in a spiral of school and sports, lessons and work and I start to feel spectacularly stuck. And this year with the cabin-building project and the kids starting kindergarten, we have […]

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Sometimes we celebrate

September 25, 2014

Making cake is just an excuse for us to eat sugar soccer balls for breakfast. Because the best thing after birthdays is leftover cake and birthdays are meant to be celebrated for a while.  And even more than cake or making cake or having birthdays, knowing that we get a chance to say thank you […]

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Sweater shopping for a sweeter Monday

September 22, 2014

Apparently it’s sweet week in Seattle which isn’t the worst news in the world.  Oh dear.  Do we HAVE to eat more sweets this week?  I love so many of the participating vendors and for 5 bucks a treat, it’s a great excuse to indulge. And it’s crazy how every week it seems like we’re […]

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The Britannia mine museum and a bakery that is worth a long drive

September 17, 2014

I can’t deny that most trips we go on as a family are triggered by a bakery, store or a coffee shop; it’s always some delightful little place I’ve seen and have to visit because time as I know it has threatened to stop until I figure out how to get myself there as soon […]

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wheelhouse coffee in seattle

Eyes to the sun shopping for snow on a Monday

September 16, 2014

Was there sun in your eyes this Monday? It seriously still feels like summer here in Seattle and after a weekend of play it is so hard to get up.  The kids and I lounged a little too long and we barely had time to brush our teeth, change and run out the door in […]

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Island living and our best summer memories (Valdes Island, British Columbia)

September 12, 2014

Do you ever wonder how your life would be completely different if you didn’t meet certain people? I know without my brother-in-law we would definitely have had a void-he’s always teaching us new things about the outdoors and exploring. And he’s always trying to get me to push my nature boundaries to help me be […]

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Today’s almost late Wednesday is brought to you by this pie.

September 10, 2014

We are 5 days in and we’re getting used to the school routine, but sometimes I forget we don’t have a lot of time to get out in the morning and today, this cheesecake pie took a little too long.  So you can find the recipe here (I half it to put it in a […]

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Solo coffee Monday shopping sans enfants and dreaming of Vancouver

September 8, 2014

Oh wow, it happened again.  I got to drop the kids off at school and then they just waved, went inside and that is our morning until I pick them up this afternoon.  How weird and wonderful and somewhat lonely-making is school?  So today I have the task of cleaning out my ‘attic’ according to […]

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whistler with kids in the summer riding the Peak 2 Peak Gondola and canoeing the River of Golden Dreams

Getting stuck in a Whistler Gondola and Finding my youth on the River of Golden Dreams

September 7, 2014

Oh Whistler.  You are always a bundle of fun every time we visit, but I think this summer was the best visit yet.  (We’ve been a bunch of times now and even forgot that we visited when the guys were one.  That’s what happens when you have twins.  The first two years are definitely a […]

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First day of….

September 4, 2014

the gateway to the rest of their life and beyond and the culmination of babyhood FOREVER!!!! At least that’s how the first day of kindergarten feels with all the pre-kindergarten activities we’ve had.  Popsicle playdates.  Meetings.  Go-see-the-classrooms.  Jumpstarts.  All before the real first day ever seemed like it was on the horizon. And then too […]

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Oh you can’t go to the Oregon Coast without stopping at the Tillamook Cheese Factory

September 3, 2014

You just can’t. Years ago I remember telling my husband we needed to stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory when we went to the Oregon Coast for our honeymoon, because they have delicious cheese samples and we had a really fun visit sampling cheese, watching the factory go about its business and eating ice cream.  […]

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Cabin shopping on a Monday when I should be buying for back to school

September 1, 2014

I guess it’s the 11th hour and I haven’t bought the perfect lunchbag or my guys’ first day of school outfit, but my inbox is full of a couple winter sales and I can’t help but look forward to this winter because I’m so excited about our cabin project.  (And I’m trying to avoid thinking […]

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Northwest Summer Love

August 31, 2014

Why have I ever wasted a drop of summer traveling away from the northwest? It is so gorgeous here and we found this out with this year’s summer staycation. From Oregon beaches, To local Seattle sights, Vancouver sunrises and sunsets, and bakeries sprinkled gloriously in between. Dare I say we start school next week? How […]

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