Saw this on a friend’s blog and had to share it… haha.

When the Transformers movie came out I watched it twice in the theaters, which isn’t very many times but I RARELY do that. I’m too cheap to pay to see the same movie twice. That movie was worth it though… it was hands down my favorite summer blockbuster hit in 2007. (It’s tied with Enchanted for best 2007 movie, in my opinion.)

I had dinner with my friend Grace last night. We don’t see each other too often but I did make an effort to visit her whenever I was in LA (she just graduated from UCLA; we met sophomore year in high school). I told her I wasn’t sure I would be much fun to be around, given my present, uh, temperament… but she told me I needed to be around people and I gave in. Plus we decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory, and I love getting cheesecake for dessert.

It was so much fun. Before that I had spent the entire day in my room, which isn’t necessarily a horrible thing because I’ve been wanting that for a while. To unpack my suitcase and not have to repack another one. I edited photos – ready to see Disney World through my eyes? – and tidied up my room. It was productive. But then again I also listened to sad songs the entire time and couldn’t help but feel down about my current situation. Grace really cheered me up though. I’m glad I got out of the house and saw her.

I woke up at 4 am this morning, had a tough time falling back asleep, then got up again at 6:45 am. Time to get ready for work. I’m on my way to becoming an Optimist Prime.

I finally got around to editing more photos from Hawaii! At this rate it’s going to be weeks before I share any photos of Disney World… -____-

I went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation with the families of the bride and groom. It was fun! We rode the cute train around the plantation, learned a lot about pineapples, and had their famous “Dole Whip” – which was pineapple flavored soft serve ice cream, not whipped cream like I had imagined lol.

Hooray! It’s the Pineapple Express!

A closer look at the sign.

Choo chooooooo!

Just in case you forgot what it was called… hahaha.

The cardboard cut out man says hi.

Awesome red dirt.

Find the pineapple!

There were lots of different types of pineapples.

I had a blast taking macro shots of these hehe.

Favorite shot!

If I was 10 years old I would trade all my beanie babies for a sparkly necklace like this.

I can’t believe it’s already 2 am. Didn’t mean to stay up this late… but I’m very happy that I was able to edit photos tonight. Maybe tomorrow I can share some Disney magic with you. Good night Xanga!

1. How tall do you think I am? (Don’t answer if you already know)

2. Would you call this outfit “skimpy”?

Sorry I haven’t been writing much, we spend all day at the amusement parks and then I come back and veg out for the rest of the evening haha. Besides, I wanted to post about my adventures with photos. I wore that dress on our first day to Disney World. As we were heading out to the car, my dad said that my dress was skimpy.

Dad: Mine and Ning’s strategy against the heat: wear white. Fern’s strategy: wear nothing.
Me: THAT IS NOT TRUE!!!!!!!!

And then we went to Disney World and saw all these females with their boobs hanging out everywhere.

Me: HA! See?? Look at the ladies in front and behind us in line. THAT’S skimpy.
Mom: That’s only because they have boobs and you don’t.

-________-

p.s. One last thing – the quality of the photos might not be great because I stole them from facebook. The original files are on an external hard drive at home.

I am one of those photographers who would be perfectly happy spending my time alone, behind the scenes, in charge of photographing all the pretty little details.

These are from the Hawaii wedding (taken on Monday, August 30th):

 
The wedding favors – glass jars filled with pink M&Ms, topped with silk flowers. The tags say “Merci.”

I have so many photos of this gorgeous tower. The bride did a wonderful job making it herself!

Okay in retrospect I should have moved the extra objects out of the way for a cleaner shot. Macaroons are pretty but I don’t think they taste very good… lol.

The bride wrapped each Reeses peanut butter cup in pink tissue paper and glued the rhinestones on top. Hardcore DIY! Hahaha.

Each chair had a cute hand stamped name tag attached.

There was a unique vintage napkin on every place setting.

Rings from Tiffany & Co.

I looooove those glitzy pink heels… <33333

The bridesmaids had matching Disney princess bracelets!!

Alright I lied, I brought my laptop with me to Florida. My brother wanted internet access so I made him carry it in his backpack. Win-win situation! The condo we’re staying in is huge, clean, decorated… and CHEAP. Three bedrooms two bathrooms for $130 a night.

I know I’m supposed to take a break from photography but don’t you want to see more from the wedding??!?!?! That’s what I thought. Back to editing.

What is wrong with me? It’s 3:30 am and I have NO motivation to pack for my family vacation to Disney World.

I just want to stay home and edit photos…

I’m going to leave my laptop at home this time, even though I have a feeling I’ll miss it terribly while I’m there. My arms and shoulders are still sore from lugging around my camera bag and laptop around the airport when I came back from Hawaii on Friday night. This trip isn’t for work – it’s vacation. It would be so nice to free myself of the extra burden, mentally AND physically.

Not that work is a huge burden. You know I love what I do.

Okay but seriously, I’m not ready to get back on another plane…!!! Our flight leaves in 8 hours. Time to go take a nap. I’ll be in Orlando until the 16th… expect my updates to be sporadic. Don’t miss me too much.

p.s. wtf, the newspaper was just delivered to my house…. o_O

As if the cracked LCD screen on my $2600 camera wasn’t enough, I got pulled over TWICE last night on the way home from Monterey. TWICE!!!!! Both times for speeding. Oh, and I didn’t have my driver’s license either. Remember that hectic airport rush? I was holding my boarding pass and driver’s license and shoved them into my bag, and they magically disappeared.

Good thing this is my personal blog and not a public site for stalkers to read about me. That means I can be emo. I thought this was a phase that I was supposed to grow out of. Teenage angst is so… five years ago. Except it refuses to leave! I have been crying. A lot. I cried so many times at the wedding yesterday. I tried really, really hard to suck it up and hold back the tears, but it became unbearable. I had to leave the room to regain composure. It’s common sense to put your emotions aside while working, but man… I am just a very emotional girl who has dreamed of marrying this certain guy for years…

Anyway. I can’t decide what to share and what to keep to myself. I guess it’s fair enough to share that I cried twice today and like seven times yesterday lol. Oh and the reason why I even mentioned all this was because that’s why I wasn’t paying attention to my speed while driving.

Hug?

… Aside from the tears, the wedding was fantastic. I have much to say about that but I’ll keep this short and sweet. Here’s to a better day tomorrow – let’s strive for no speeding tickets and no more crying!

I’m staying in three hotels in the span of one week. o_O

Got back from Hawaii two nights ago at 10 pm. The hour before my flight left was the most hectic hour of the entire vacation. The car braked abruptly and the LCD screen on the back of my camera cracked. I got in line at the bag check in but had to get out of line to put my bag through the agricultural inspection first. Dropped my sunglasses and broke them, then dropped my phone which also fell apart. Returned to the line and waited for someone to help me check in my bag. The lady behind the desk said she would “be right back”… she walked away and never came back. Twenty minutes later, I was in panic mode. My flight was leaving in 30 minutes and I hadn’t checked in my bag OR gone through security. Finally a nice lady let me go in front of her and I got that taken care of. Ran over to the super long security line. Stopped to put my camera back in the bag… held up the line as I knelt on the ground and opened up my suitcase. My face felt so hot. I knew everyone was watching me. Made it through security, then realized my ticket didn’t give me a gate number. Gate XX???!?!?! Yeah. Very helpful. Went to a guy in uniform, who pointed me to information, which had nobody there, then I found a board with the flights and gate numbers. Gate 31. It was like half a mile away, two buildings over. Greeeeeeeeat.

Found the right building. There was a ridiculous line of people trying to get in. What the hell??! Turns out there was ANOTHER agricultural inspection – for your carry on luggage. If I waited in line I wouldn’t make my flight. I hurried to the front and told a flight attendant my situation, so she helped me get to the front of the line. Made it to the gate with six minutes to spare. They had to take my carry on bag away because there was no more room on the plane.

lol I don’t know if anyone bothered to read that whole thing but it was crazy!!! Oh, and it was humid. So I was like… out of breath and sweating. Yuck.

I happened to sit next to a very kind Hawaiian uncle (in the Chinese sense of the word uncle – an elder man). We had a five hour long conversation from take off to landing!!!! It was really amazing. I think it helped with my motion sickness too… it distracted me from the things that would make me nauseous.

It was hard not to be stressed out when I came home. I have a fat pile of things to do, things to worry about, things to deal with. But I’ll rise to the challenge… one step at a time.

My poor parents were sad to see me leave just 12 hours after coming home. I drove to Monterey yesterday… I love driving. So calming. The perfect stress reliever to make me feel better before facing a rehearsal dinner and a wedding!!!

Gotta go to the wedding in two hours. Wish me luck.

Me: YAYYY I love this picture of us!!!
Marisa: YAYYY!!!!
Me: Wait… oh no… your hair is messed up.
Marisa: That’s ok!

Hello friends!

My internet access has been scarce and my schedule has been pretty packed, otherwise I would be updating three times a day. The wedding was on Monday – and I think I forgot to mention that that’s why I’m in Hawaii right now. They flew me here to photograph their wedding!!!

I’ll just blog about what’s happening in the moment. I’m at a very cool old-fashioned desk in the lobby of the Ihilani Resort in Oahu. I am SURROUNDED by people sporting USC gear – the Trojan football team is HERE in the same hotel preparing for a game tomorrow!! Their fans followed them to this place. Seriously, every other person I see is wearing something with a USC logo. I could do a photo project documenting all the different USC t-shirt designs I’ve seen today.

And then there are the actual football players!!! Walking around shirtless by the pool and everything. Marisa asked me if I like that body type and I said no. I don’t need a man with huge muscles or a six pack. Besides, I could never date a football player… I have no interest in sports whatsoever. I attend football games to watch the marching band.

Marisa’s sleeping in our room and her brother is in the next room watching tv. Neither of them heard me knocking on the door so I’m locked out for now. Usually I would see this as a great opportunity to have some alone time, which I really do enjoy. However…

1) I left my camera in the room.
2) There is no free internet in the hotel.

Soooooo I paid $12.95 to get an internet passcode and here I am. OH wow there’s a bride right in front of me getting her portraits taken!!!

I paid for 24 hours of internet access so I’ll be checking in often to make the most of my money. Ha. Love you guys!

Marisa and I woke up at 6:30 am and gasped at the sight of the beach outside the window. Sunlight streamed into the house and made everything glow. First activity of the day? Play on the beach, of course.

This is where I am sitting RIGHT NOW!!! See my laptop?

The dining table… love the decor.

Marisa squealing with glee as we ran through the backyard towards the beach.

Good morning Oahu!!

I should back up and tell the story from the beginning… even though it’s mundane “what I did today” details, I want to keep a record!

The flight was miserable. We stayed up until 3 am and woke up at 7 am, then headed to the airport to get on the plane at 9:30. My plan was to sleep the entire way there… ever since my trip to Japan I’ve had motion sickness while flying, and sleeping helps. The five and a half hours seemed like FOREVER!!! I kept waking up and thinking “we must be almost there.. I just slept for hours.” But I guess I was taking very short naps.

By the time we landed, my stomach felt queasy. The smell of airplane food/drinks makes me want to gag, so I didn’t eat anything. The only thing I had for breakfast was a nectarine.

We traveled with Marisa’s aunt, the mother of the groom. When we got to the baggage claim we met up with everyone else – the groom, bride, bride’s parents, bride’s aunt, bride’s sister, and bride’s friend. lol talk about an entourage. It took a while to figure out how to split us up into two groups, then we headed to the car rental place…

I wanted to eat but I couldn’t be rude and demand for them to feed me. So I waited as they rented a car… then navigated to our beach house (1.5 hours away)… settled into the house.. we landed at 11:45 am but now it was 4 pm and I was going to pass out, I was so hungry.

(That’s why traveling in large groups SUCKS!)

Annnnd now I’m getting bored of typing this. lol. In the end we went to a nearby grill and got 10 plates of food to go – grilled fish, hamburgers, kalbi, coconut shrimp, etc. It was a grand feast.

The evening was wonderful… everyone was happy and full. Marisa and I went to the beach again. I don’t know how, but time passed and before you know it, it was midnight. We all sat around on the couches in the first picture and enjoyed each other’s company (we also played words with friends HEHE!).

I feel like I had more to say but I can’t really think of what’s worth reporting.