This year I had the honor to help out in the Purple Ark Ministries. I really can’t say that I was helpful at all, besides taking these photos, and bagging food for like, five minutes. For all other volunteers who went, it was a morning of giving and reaching out to the poor. For me, it seems like I received more than I gave out. Besides getting a free meal for Annabelle and myself, I got reminded that while I can eat until I puke during the thanksgiving holidays, some people simply can’t afford to have a nice meal. Or to buy new clothes for their kids.  Or to have a nice photo of themselves.

I tried to get close to the kids who were playing in the playground to photograph them. At first, I was afraid that they would not like me and my camera. To my surprise, they loved to be photographed and even posed for me, as opposed to my kids who would run away from my camera. Perhaps no ones ever takes photos for them. It makes me sad to know that some people can’t afford to have nice photos of their children. I am so thankful, for all the photos I have, even when they are out of focus. Um…no, not the later.

These were the food that we bagged up to give out…

Please meet Aban (not sure if this is how it’s spelled). He has such a friendly personality and was very interested in my camera, and these candies…

So a 20 pound turkey showed up in my freezer. 20 pounds!! With two exclamation marks. It was part of Ricky’s compensation package. I would highly recommend him to negotiate for a cooked one next year. Can you imagine me cooking a 20 pound turkey?! But I did. It was a once in a life time experience. So I thought I needed to document the process. And put it on my RESUME!

The battle began with moving it from the freezer to the fridge next door. Nice job, Christian…

Then I soaked the bird in salt water. This was supposed to help retain it’s moisture during baking by the osmosis action. Ah ha! What I learned in science class is finally making sense. This reminds me to take a salt bath more often. But before that, I had to buy a plastic storage bin to hold it. Then Mr. Turkey spent a freezy night in my backyard…

Next day, I marinated it. Don’t ask me what ingredients I used. I don’t know. Whatever was in my pantry except ketchup and chili sauce…

The Finale – baked at 350 degrees F for 5 hours. My house smelt good the whole afternoon. If I could photograph the smell, I would!

My beloved Mr. Turkey was gracious to me. He turned out to be a yummy and juicy thanksgiving meal. My family enjoyed it so much and thought that I was a super cook. I give all the credits to my turkey adviser Susanna. She is the best!

I hope your Thanksgiving Day was as wonderful as mine!

I’m a big fan of vinegar. When I see the soap scum that has been sticking around the faucet for months finally comes off effortlessly after spraying with vinegar, I just feel like jumping up and down and shouting out loud. Don’t ask me why. I just feel that way. It’s like winning the lottery. All about getting results without hard work. I clean almost everything with vinegar. Who needs Kaboom when you can get a gallon of vinegar for a few bucks? The best thing is, it’s all natural! The only trade off is, you need to get use to its strong sour smell. If you can, you are a lotto winner!

I was hiding in my home office working one afternoon. Christian came in and visited me since there was nothing else out there that could keep them entertained. So I snugged him into my arms, and then we just had a mother and son talk.

Me: Did you eat some noodles for lunch?
Christian: Yes.
Me: Did you eat some corn?
Christian: No.
Me: What else did you eat?
Christian: Corn.
Me: …I’m confused. Corn or no corn?
Christian (running away from me): Go!!!

Awwww…that means so much to me! We actually have a conversation for twelve long seconds! Thank you Christian for giving me a twelve second break.

Found his shadow and decided to give it a kiss…

Last weekend, I shot Teresa and Scott’s wedding with Richelle Dante at the Arboretum in Fullerton.  Richelle was so kind to hire me and trust me to be her second shooter.

Knowing that Scott is a photographer himself, the opportunity to shoot his wedding is an honor. It’s a nice change to be a second shooter except that I don’t get the privilege of Ricky carrying half the lenses for me. So the stress that usually lies on my back turned into 10 lbs of equipment that was hanging on my shoulder. You can imagine how much I missed Ricky!

I am sure Richelle will be posting her amazing shots on her blog. In the meantime, here are some that I captured…

The groomsmen found the perfect prop…

While I could not keep my eyes off these fabulous colorful shoes…

…Scott could not keep his eyes off her beautiful bride…

Scott really wanted a picture of the windmill, so here it is…

Snapping a few while Richelle was changing card…

Teresa is so lovely that the look on Scott’s face totally makes sense (making sure no one will take her away)…

The sun was setting behind the head table…

For the following two photos, I could not decide which one I like better…

When I was little, I resented hair cuts. I still remember sitting on the barber’s chair, looking at the hair that landed on the floor, sobbing to myself. My mom just would not let me grow my hair pass the jawline. Every time I looked at my classmates’ new pony and braid styles, I wondered when I could look pretty like them. My mom kept telling me that since I had fine and oily hair, I looked best when it was at short or medium length. I had no idea why she had to dictate my hair style. It was my own hair after all! Now that I have the freedom to grow it as long as I want, I’d rather keep it short. You know, there is always wisdom in what a mother says.

Anyway, all I wanted to say is, I got a hair cut. Nothing special. I figured since my hair style is sort of boring, I’d just spice it up. Don’t I look cool in self-portraits? Say yes.

My friends Grace and Parson just tied the knot today.  Since it goes by Hong Kong time, they should have been announced Mr. and Mrs. by now.

Grace and Parson, I hope you had the most wonderful wedding. Wishing you both all the simple joys that make spending a lifetime together simply beautiful!

Click here to see photos from their engagement session and the slide show.

If you know me, you know how I was once crazy with digital scrapbooking. I was a stubborn scrapbooker. I would not stop working on a page until it looks PERFECT to me. What that means is I often spent 8 hours, 12 hours, even a few days trying to scrap a perfect page with Photoshop. I just can’t explain the satisfaction I get out of it. Once I finish a page, I would be so happy and excited and not able to sleep that night. Yeah, I was that crazy!

I blame it on Two Peas In A Bucket. This website got me started as I looked with admiration at the pages that professional scrapbookers posted up there. I wanted to scrap like them! In two years, I scraped almost 60 pages to document Annabelle’s first two years and also a little bit of Christian’s life inside mommy’s womb. On the other hand, it was also Two Peas who led me onto the photography path. I learned so much about photography on its photo forum. There are many talented photographers there who are so willing to share their knowledge. That’s where I learned a lot of my photo skills.

Check out their site even if you are only slightly in love with scrapbooking or photography. They also give out free digital kits, and I’ll tell ‘ya, they are cute!

I have not scraped in two long years since Christian was born. I don’t know if it is a sad thing or a good thing. Time doesn’t allow me to do that anymore but I still miss it so much! Here is one of my favorites to share with you. This was my little Annabelle, who is not little anymore.

Journaling: Being able to work from home gives me the luxury of having you by my side most of the time. I can always be the first to know every new thing that you learn, words that you say, and every milestone that you achieve. I know that the time will quickly come when you will grow up, start school, make new friends, and we won’t be together as often. But for now, I treasure all the time we spend together, and I hope that no matter what, we will always be best buddies.

She is known as the Jump Jump Lady. I can be a witness that she well deserves this name because she can jump really high! But I like to call her the Triple “E” lady. For she is a person full of energy, enthusiasm and empathy. When she is on the stage, the whole room overflows with her passion for God and for kids. Then she comes off the stage showing a whole lot of empathy to everyone she meets.

It was Jana Alayra, a popular children musical artist, who came to our church to give a Halloween “alternative” concert for young children and their families. My little panda Christian wandered on the stage at one time, but shame on me who did not take a picture. I was too amazed at him, and at the same time, trying to be ready to rescue my little panda from stage freight. Annabelle can sing and do motions for Jana’s famous song Jump Into the Light, even when she’s asleep. I enjoyed her songs and motions so much that I couldn’t help singing and dancing along as I shot. So don’t be surprised to find my photos below a little shaky.

Be sure to check out Jana’s website too.

Jana and Ron, thank you for a night of serious fun! Way more fun that trick-or-treating!

Here is spiderman with a little attitude…

Yes Jana, you rock!!

The dads showing off their choreographic talents…

She touched my heart when I watched her warmly greet, chat and hug every big and small person who wanted to meet her: