My name is Yaling Hou. I’m a textile and graphic designer. I run a design studio called “Flowie“. I was born and raised in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, by my very funny, loud but loving (+ controlling), big family. In 2005, I married to my then boyfriend-of-five-years, Masa, THREE times in one year. He was born and raised in Japan. We have a Maltese dog, named “gucci” (yes, he is named after the brand. And, there is a story behind his name, which he will tell you here). We currently live in our first house in Redwood City, California.

Observation Diary is the journal of our life in the US. We both came to the US to pursue our master’s degrees in San Francisco, and then settled down in the beautiful Bay Area. In 2008, we bought our first house. It is a fixer-upper and we are still fixing it!

Home, sweet home! – updates on our house renovation and decoration projects
All about Taiwan – introduction to my beautiful home country Taiwan
My life as a dog – our dog gucci’s monologue (please bear with my obsession over our dog:-)
Cooking at home (eat & drink) – our food diary
Travel – places we visited
Notes – my random thoughts