A WEEKEND IN MINAKAMI
- The Striking Nature

Our dear friends Tina & Matt Lutter decided to celebrate their 10 years wedding anniversary in the mountains of Minakami in Japan.

They asked us 2 things:

• 1. To dress-up in black-tie for diner and
• 2. To all share rooms with multiple bunker-beds and one bathroom for the 40 of us (for both men and women, no kidding!)

It was totally like being in high-school all over again! Sharing hair-dryer and foundations inside the 3X2 m bathroom!

On Saturday, Tina & Matt’s friends arrived in the afternoon, some by train, some by car. (We drove and arrived the night before everyone on Friday eve, so that we could secure the best beds! Just kidding…!)

The day & night contrast of the venue was extraordinary! At 7:30 pm we all had to be downstairs in the cafeteria, which had been metamorphosed by Tina into a dazzling ballroom… seriously, she is incredible! She transformed the place from a modest-food-refectory / group-meeting-area with its wooden tables and disparate chairs and benches, into the Ritz Carlton itself!

see me helping here…. scoop!

Official cleaner!

(all photos below by Andrea McTamaney)

How she did it? Simple!! (well, if you are Tina…).

She bought “kilometers” of fabric (deep purple for the walls & gold for the tables) in TOA, a narrow shop in Shibuya close to Tokyu Hands that sells fabric at a very low price. Then from 5 pm, she decorated & redesigned part of the eating/meeting area with all the fabrics she bought. She changed the lightning from some ugly neon-fluorescent roof lights (I hate those!) to two huge warm-color spotlights that they had stored somewhere, from some parties that they hold from time to time.

The result? A fabulous Hollywood set in less than 2 hours!

Seriously, Tina IS the best event planner ever. Also you should book her if you are planning a wedding or an event within an unusual place…. she can do wonders. (tflutter@mac.com)

Tina wears a Roberto Cavalli dress, here with Matt, also her stylish Mother and her super-fun Sister

in black & white……. The Bergers (in Zegna & Cavalli) and the McTamaneys (OMG Andrea’s legs!)

Each couple had to have its photo taken before entering the diner room.

I could not resist to post this picture of Andrea and her husband Bobby. I took it just before going to the diner in front of the unique bathroom where we all got ready…. it was such a fun experience to be and feel in our early twenties again…. I told them: -”oh wait! I want to remember that moment forever”.

… and here they are, open-heart, young, beautiful, happy to-just-be and powerful-together. We treasure you guys.

Andrea & Tina are both Australian, from Melbourne, in the South. It is no secret that Australia is THE continent where women are not only stunningly beautiful, but they have also a natural and friendly personality that make them uniquely beautiful… They incarnate a masterpiece design of beauty from inside-out.

CHAMPAGNE! My best friend when I party…. (>>>)

Oh no i didn’t!

It is always very touching to celebrate love with our friends. To grow together as couples in life. We have known Matt & Tina since we moved to Japan from Hong Kong, thanks to Andrea who introduced us. Matt is a good Father of 3 boys, who takes them to do “boy-thing” on the weekends, just like my husband with my active boys (soccer, wrestling, basket ball, golfing).

Matt and Tina are simply beautiful together. Tina is a very active girl who runs around town, (and the world) like the Concorde. She is always moving and “on a mission”. She has an energy that shakes the planet like a longing earthquake. She deeply cares for her friends. She is the kind of person who gives more than she receives always, and that is beautiful. Her emotions are on the palms of her hands. She simply is a genuine person with a sparkling personality and a tremendous intelligence. She makes comments that are bold and sharp as a wolf’s teeth and that moves everyone into busting into a big laugh.

It is important for us to be surrounded by intelligent people, because it makes us grow internally and spiritually. Also being with our friends in general, teaches us plenty. With Ken my husband, we choose our friends because they are good people and they do good things for others in life. It is not important to us what “they do for a living” (work), but what “they do for those living“.

Tina and her best friends, each of them are powerful just like her.

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER!

So much fun on that night! A beautiful black-tie evening in the mountains of Minakami, in tuxedos and gowns!

And,,, the next day…. after sending a night in a bunk beds dormitory, 40 of us….

What do you do when you drank a lot of champagne the night before? you eliminate it by moving a lot….! I always have some razors inside the trunk of my car….( not because I drink al lot, I don’t! But because I always to be moving, doing something physical….. I have tons of energy and like to burn it off… )

Andrea thanks for the photos, they are funny *)! I wish you would have been shooting when I took off literally with a skateboard and ended up flat on my back like a cockroach!!!

A Japanese guy who was there drinking beer, almost chocked laughing at me. ah! It must have been hilarious…. (meme pas mal!)

Cassia and Noa razor-ing around

Looking around for colorful insects (in my colorful Free*Lance army boots).

My Mom always said that -Qui voit ses veines voit ses peines”…. -”Who sees its own vein, sees its own pain”.

I guess it is true for me because my life has not always been easy. I worked a lot with these hands, they have done a lot for me. Also I cherish imperfection they might have, because it reminds me how hard I worked to obtain what I have today. I take nothing for granted.

My orange gel-nails by Mars The Salon.

Have a nice national day in sunny Tokyo today!