Karen

Monday, January 16, 2012

Adrian and I have been lucky enough to score two photography gigs so far this year and both have specifically requested some kind of photo booth setup. We decided to take on the challenge and invested in some gear to get us started!

After unpacking everything, we took a break for lunch. Before we left, Adrian surprised me with an early anni present!

Adrian bought me the Fujifilm Instax Mini 25! I freakin' love it!

For lunch, we checked out the new Yo Sushi location that opened in Martinez. The place is SUPER tiny compared to their location in Fairfield. The menu is quite similar with differences in some rolls being named after nearby street names and what not. The food was just as delicious!

My first of many Instax photos!

2 item bento box with complimentary miso soup! Nomnomnom!

Fantasy and Travis rolls. Fantasy roll is definitely one of my favorites!

We then went to Home Depot and Lowe's to find clamps to buy for our backdrop stand. Once we bought our clamps, we were ready to go!

 
These are some of our favorite photos from testing our lighting setup. We just need more practice now to master everything.

Friday, January 27, 2012

After work, I headed to Davis to spend some time with Teresa for her 21st birthday. The drive from Elk Grove to Davis took over an hour, which was quite ridiculous. Usually, the drive takes 40 minutes tops, so I was stuck in some serious traffic. However, it ended up being a successful trip because I got to see a lot of my favorite people!

For dinner, Teresa and I went to eat at Sophia's. It was my first time there and it was pretty decent. I was surprised when I found out most of the seating was outdoors with all areas were heated. In the beginning, Teresa and I had a heat lamp burning down on us, but luckily we had the option to ask for it to be turned off.

Yee!

After we ate, we decided to head to the arcade. We bumped into my sponsor as he was leaving and he kindly gave us some tokens to play with! We ended up not going to the arcade and went to meet up with Kristi at Grilling instead. I guess Kristi told Alex about our plans to go to the arcade because he was being a rebel and turned on his phone to call me to tell me I couldn't go to the arcade without him. So silly!

After briefly seeing Alex, Kristi, Teresa and I went to Meo's apartment to meet up with the people who were taking Teresa bar hopping for her birthday. Kristi and I still needed some way to surprise Teresa with her presents. Kristi and I managed to get Teresa out of the car to work on some finishing touches. After we found out that Meo was still waiting on a few people, we went to McDonald's to get Kristi food. Right before Teresa and I dropped Kristi off at her apartment, we surprised Teresa with her birthday gifts. The surprise was a success!

I then took Teresa to meet up with her other friends at Sophia's. I got to witness Teresa's friends calling dibs on getting her drink after drink. It was quite amusing!

I had plans to go spend the night at Adrian's, so I could not stay late. I left Teresa and her friends to meet up with Henry and Vinie at Ohana's. I dropped off some paint for Henry and stuck around a little bit to chat. After about 20 minutes, I was going to leave Davis, but made a last minute decision to finally meet Derek. I stopped by the Safeway where he was with Alan and Xander standing in the frozen food aisle. So random.

I ended up getting to Adrian's around 0130AM or so. It was nice being able to spend the night with him again.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

I stayed up crazy late waiting to hear whether or not Alex crossed. Cynthia texted me after everything was over and told me he did!

We did not get out of the house until late afternoon and decided to eat at Denny's.

The photos we took while waiting for our food!

Once we got home, we setup our photo booth to practice shooting. Our first gig was a week away, so we really needed to finalize details and make sure everything worked.

With this, I knew the photostrips would turn out fine. I just had to make it pretty!

After packing everything up, I had Adrian go with me to get gas so I wouldn't have to go alone. We grabbed dinner from Jack in the Box, then went back to his house to eat while watching an episode of Chuck. I never watched Chuck before, but I knew my big bro was a huge fan. The first episode definitely won me over. I wish I could start the series, but I have way too many TV shows to keep up with these days. :X

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Met up with Teresa and Kristi at Arden mall. I lost in Nose Goes so I had to choose where to eat. I decided to take them to Costco since it was nearby and is super cheap!

After some time, we headed back to Arden. The reason why Teresa and Kristi were in Sac in the first place was so Teresa could finally get her second lobe piercing. Teresa had talked about it for months now and finally decided to go for it. Kristi and I were there to document everything!

Teresa happily signing her life away.

It looks so painful!

Teresa all pretty with her new piercings!

Afterwards, we roamed the mall looking for a card wallet for Kristi to buy. After we went to multiple stores, we ended up at Icing again as our last stop. After Kristi bought her new card wallet, I dropped them off at the bus stop in Downtown Sac just in time for them to catch the bus back to Davis.

At home, Cathy wanted to try out the photo booth setup herself, so I set it up to test again. This time, I added a table to the mix since I imagined bringing it anyways.

Props make everything more interesting!

Monday, January 30, 2012

I got my new baby! This one is extra special because it is one of the bigger gifts to myself since I started working. YEE!

On to more stories later!

To be continued.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Nearly every day after work, I see gorgeous sunsets as I drive home. I finally decided to bring my camera with me and park in a neighborhood that was within walking distance of this view. I could just feel people watching me, this strange girl crossing the street to this sidewalk that lead to nowhere. (Or I could just be paranoid!) I was thinking of doing this every day for the week to document the beauty, but I got a bit lazy.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

I wanted to go pick up my diploma so I made plans with some of my favorite people and arrived in Davis at 1000AM. Once I got to Davis, I picked up sleepyhead Kristi and we went to meet up with Sponsoree Alex at Jamba Juice. So sweet of the both of them to meet with me even though I was only going to be in Davis for like 1.5 hours. First, Kristi is not usually awake so early (nor am I), so it was great that she was willing to! Second, Alex was actually meeting me during his 30 minute break, which really meant being able to hang out for like 20 minutes including travel time. D'awww!

She woke up minutes before I arrived.

Sponsoree trying to hide from me. PSSH!

Alex had to leave for class, so Kristi and I went to meet up with Teresa on campus. Kristi and Teresa went with me to Mrak hall to pick up my diploma. So happy to finally have my diploma in my hands! No idea why it takes four months after graduation to print it though...

YAY TO OFFICIALNESS!

We went back to Teresa's apartment where we just hung out for several more minutes. I ended up leaving Davis about half an hour later than I planned since I made some time to see Teresa too. It was totally worth it though!

Teresa with the puppy shaped pencil pouch Kristi gave me. Hahah! <3

The three of us!

Once I got back to Elk Grove, I spent some time in Starbucks before work. I was chatting with my Sponsoree and I had another d'aww moment.

Alex 12:37 pm
wait are u at home now?

Karen 12:39 pm
no
im at starbucks
omg

Alex 12:39 pm
WTF

Karen 12:39 pm
im not that dumb
stop it
LOL

Alex 12:39 pm
y didnt u tell me!
wowww

Karen 12:40 pm
NOO im at starbucks in elk grove

Alex 12:40 pm
OHHH LMAo
hahahha i would've killed u if u were at the silo one

It definitely started as a good day.

This was the sunset that night.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

I had a group interview with BEST Consulting and I was pretty much a nervous wreck. It was my second time interviewing for a behavior therapist position and I ended up not getting the job. Not a total loss since it was a learning experience for me. I got to witness a girl who was very well prepped and very well composed answer questions at the interview. I was impressed! Also, I am taking the rejection as a sign to maybe go towards a different direction. I know I want to work with children as a career, but I need to gain some experience first. Where to start? I really have no idea. One of my goals this year is to land a job where I am working with children. I hope I am able to achieve it!

After work, I picked Cathy up and we headed to my grandma's house because my cousin Ellen asked us to swing by to pick up our Christmas presents. It has been a long time since I ate dinner at my grandma's house and my aunt requested for Cathy and I to stay and eat. We stayed of course.

Macaroons and little treats my cousin Ellen handmade from clay!

Cousin Ellen made macaroon rings for the girl cousins in the family. So cute! She also gave Cathy and I each a pair of gloves. Cousin Ellen said she gave me glittens so I could still have my fingers to take pictures. Ha!

When I was younger, my extended family used to have dinners often. Before we would eat, the kids would all quickly blurt out "[long list of elders' names] eat dinner" (direct Canto translation). The list was very short tonight and it probably is this way most nights. It is sad to see how much my grandparents have aged. I definitely do not see them as often as I used to and have only heard about how they have been. Things have changed so much.

Aside from dinner, it was nice catching up with my cousins and seeing where they all are in life. It is a shame that I do not talk to them often because they are so fun to talk to! I had no idea my cousin was engaged for years now. Looks like I have a wedding to look forward to sometime this year!

Friday, January 13, 2012

My internet had been causing me frustrations all week. Luckily, my friend Jeff was kindly willing to help me each time I complained. (Which was nearly every day! :X) Eventually, I figured it was best to let Jeff see the computer in person. (He remotely connected to my computer to help me the previous times.) Turns out, my adapter and router started hating on each other. I have no idea why it suddenly happened since they got along fine before! Anyways, Jeff was kind enough to give me a spare router he had bought during a cheap deal. Jeff is like the king of Slickdeals to me since he always find such good deals before they get too much attention. I love the people in my life!

Sunday, January 15, 2012

I planned another sleepover for the three day weekend, so Cathy and I went to Davis to hang out for a couple of hours. We first stopped by Alex's apartment since I was not sure if I knocked on the ride door to Teresa's apartment. Once Alex had to leave for his line lunch, Cathy and I met up with Teresa and we all walked over to Kristi's apartment. (How nice that they live within walking distance of each other!)

Teresa and kissy lips?!

Cathy and I took photos on Kristi's laptop.

And now Kristi and kissy lips!?

After Kristi and Teresa finished packing for the sleepover, we went out for lunch. After driving around Davis to different locations, we finally settled on Ali Baba.

My sister is so attractive! ;P

I did not make them sad, I swear!

Teresa being cute.

We grabbed our food to go. I went to Tim's apartment to pick up my TIZ shirts. Afterwards, I drove Cathy, Kristi, Teresa and I to Manor Park (aka Slide Hill Park).

Swings! <3

The main` reason why I wanted to go to this park. Such a HUGE slide! There were a lot of cardboard pieces lying around from people sliding down I am assuming.

Cathy and I shared the chicken apple panini from Ali Baba. It is the only thing I have ordered from the menu myself and I love it so much!

It was getting pretty cold and it was nearly time for us to meet up with Alex and Sophia, so we left the park. On our way back to Alex's apartment, we were stopped by a group of turkeys crossing the road.

That is definitely not something you see everyday!

Picked up Alex and Sophia then headed to Wingstop in West Sac to pick up a phone order that Alex helped place. It was Alex's first time eating Wingstop. Ridiculous!

I do not even know!

The claimed twins.

The plan was to take them to the drive-in movies. It was actually the whole car's first time going. It was my first time going in such a large group, so I had no idea how we would all watch. I figured chairs and the back of my trunk would be the best way to go.

We chose to watch The Adventures of Tintin and Hugo. I had a hard time concentrating during the first movie because it became increasingly cold. There was a group of children just sitting on the ground near us while the adults stayed in the car. I have no idea how the kids were able to handle the cold! The movie was fairly action packed from what I do remember though. For Hugo, we decided to all stay in the car, so I turned the car around. It kind of worked out, but Alex and Sophia had the last row of seats and could not see the heads to the actors/actresses. Hugo was a very slow movie, but it had a very nice story to it. Hopefully the group of them enjoyed their first drive-in experience!

After the movies ended, we went to Yummy Guide Cafe. It was pretty much the only place I could think of that was open late. We each ordered a different dessert. Mine turned out a lot colder than it looked.

I had no idea what sago was, so I ordered one of the items on the menu that had it. Now I know!

And after all that, I drove everyone back to my house. We got Alex's micro spy remote to work, so that was awesome! We watched a few TV shows before going to sleep. We could not stay up watching movies this time since Alex and Sophia had service at 0800AM, which meant we had to leave the house by 0730AM. It was a fun day.

To be continued.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Adrian and I finally got to spend some quality time together. He drove to Elk Grove to visit me and I took him to Wiener Works for lunch. It was both our first times there and we were blown away by the portions given to us.

The walls inside the restaurant were filled with tons of random photos and signs.

We ordered the 14 inch chili cheese and onion wonder dog with the small portion of chili cheese fries to share. A bit expensive (~$20 total for this order), but crazy filling! 

After we finished eating, we utilized my GPS to take us to a nearby park. 

[Side story: My dad thinks the GPS makes people dumb because he thinks that once people start becoming dependent, they would not know how to read maps. I actually just bought my first (and family's first) GPS a couple months ago and it is definitely a luxury for us. I would agree that a dependency is not a good thing, but I also like how it makes me feel safe. I feel like I can safely venture out into unknown territory and know that in the end, I would be able to find my way home.]

We ended up at a nature trail and decided to shoot around for a bit. While we were there, Adrian said to me, "I like how we have a hobby we can share together."

 


Adrian makes such a good model!

I thought all the bokeh made it look super magical!

As the sun was starting to set, we tried looking for a place to take more photos. After being incredibly indecisive, we ended up in a field across from Roseville Galleria.

The sunset looked stunning and the clouds definitely added a nice twist to the image.

Love, love, LOVE the colors in the background!

Once it got dark, we decided to go to Dave & Buster's since the field we stumbled upon happened to be within walking distance of the place. I only heard of Dave & Buster's to be an adult version of Chuck E Cheese and it definitely looked that way!

I was so in love with the place! The only downfall was how pricey the games were. It was odd but nice seeing adults out of their normal environment and playing games.

I was supposed to go home by 0700PM, but since my family started eating dinner earlier than expected, I chose to stay out with Adrian later. Before we called it a night, Adrian and I ended up swinging by McDonald's for a McFlurry, sweet tea and 20 McNuggets.

Yay to more photos together!

It was seriously an amazing day together. Even though the day started later than we wanted, we got a lot done. Loved it all!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

After work, I went to California Pizza Kitchen for Jeff's belated birthday dinner with Evely, Ly and Philip. It was actually Jeff's first time at CPK! Evely, Jeff and I each ordered a pizza and we ended up swapping pizza slices.

I ordered the Thai chicken pizza.  It was kind of like a spring roll flavored pizza. The bean sprouts were not that odd in my opinion.

Afterwards, we walked around Arden mall.

Philip, Ly and Jeff plus Abercrombie worker who turned around when I took the photo!

Ly had a craving for egg puffs, so we ended up going to Quickly's. There is always room for boba, you know? We were reminiscing about last Spring break and how we had one day where we ate Korean food, carne asada fries and had boba one after another. I really do not know how we had the stomach for all of it honestly.

Cutie Evely who was not in the previous picture because we were actually waiting for her.

Egg puffs, fried calamari and popcorn chicken! SO good!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Philip invited me to Bull Wings Bar & Grill with him and Stephen. GPS failed on me and the address did not show up. Philip gave me directions but I ended up getting super lost. I pretty much drove around in circles in Elk Grove. Ha! (Now that I think about it, I should have texted Google for directions. D'oh!)

It was basically my first time at the bars. I had no intentions to drink and only went because Philip said I could eat wings there. He even offered to pay for them, so it was hard to say no.

When I got there, Amee, Christine and Fong were also there. I was definitely caught off guard. I have a tendency to avoid going to events if I feel like it would be awkward. This probably would have been that kind of situation since I never really talked to them before, but it turned out to be okay.

Wings were good and the people were entertaining. It definitely was not a total waste of time. Would I go again? Maybe. If wings were involved.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Quinn (the photographer who slapped a burger on my shoulder) asked me to help her with her photoshoot. She insisted that I be at her house by 0700AM, so I woke up at 0545AM to start getting ready. I got there several minutes late, but Quinn was still working on Katherine's makeup. We ended up leaving Quinn's house at 0900AM. I could have woke up at least an hour later if I knew I was just going to sit in her cold garage and wait, but I guess it was better to be safe than sorry. =/

The reason why we were meeting early was because Quinn envisioned her shoot with a lot of fog in a cemetery. It was still slightly foggy when we left her house, but by the time we were halfway to the cemetery site, the fog disappeared. That did not stop us though! The vision just had to be tweaked a little.

One of Quinn's sneak peeks from the shoot!

Me and Quinn's younger sister were the assistants for the shoot and we mainly helped with lighting and tossing props. I learned a bit about lighting and wireless flash triggers, which I can't wait to try out! 

To be continued.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Weeks ahead, I knew I had this day off work, so I made plans to visit SF. I took my sister with me and we drove to Adrian's house to meet up with him. From there, Adrian drove the both of us to SF where we dropped off his car at LB Henry's house. Sponsoree Alex also met up with us there.

Before we left to pick Calvin up, I gave Henry and Alex their Christmas gifts.

I got Henry a Nikon lens mug for Christmas. For Alex's Christmas/belated birthday gift, I got him a 9-in-1 multi-tool keychain and micro spy remote.

Alex surprised Henry and I with a small gift as well!

Henry and I both received a Jamba Juice gift card and 20 pieces of mint truffles. Nomnom!

Henry kindly drove all of us for the day. We picked up Calvin and we tried to quickly head over to Sushirrito before it closed. We were stuck in major traffic driving through downtown and did not know if we would make it or not. At one point, Alex decided to get out of the car and just walk there! We (the car) actually made it to Sushirrito around the same exact time Alex did. Unfortunately, we also found out the place was closed, so we had to think up a new plan.

We ended up going to Katana-Ya for a late lunch instead.

The place was pretty tiny and there was a waiting list to be seated. The table the six of us sat at felt extremely cramped. The food, however, was quite delicious!

Me, Adrian and Cathy's orders. Major food coma status!

After we ate, we decided to check out Cupid's Span. It was getting fairly dark, so we were hoping the structure was lit up. It sadly was not, but we had an amazing view of the Bay Bridge! Alex, Cathy, Henry and I just messed around while Adrian and Calvin took pictures of the bridge.

Adrian's shot of the bridge. Gorgeous, gorgeous!

We went to Purple Kow afterwards for some boba. I ordered the Purple Kow iced milk drink with pudding and boba due to Alex's recommendation. As a Winter Break special, all regular sized drinks were super sized.

The cups are not as normal as they seem! The portions were HUGE!

Our last stop for the night was Twin Peaks. I have always wanted to go there for the city view and was glad the weather permitted us to go. (Last time I tried going, it was super foggy!)

Photo taken by Cathy with help from Adrian.

The view definitely did not disappoint. The lack of a functional bathroom was not cool though! We had to leave before we could take a group photo because I felt like my bladder was going to burst from drinking Purple Kow beforehand. (TMI? Hahah!) Luckily, Henry's uncle restaurant was semi nearby, so we swung by there for a bathroom break.

Overall, it was a good day. I wish we could have done more though!

Too cute!

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

After work, I drove to Vallejo for HR's Winter Ball/Christmas party hosted at Roxell's house. There was a formal attire dress code, so everyone (including the kids!) was looking good.

It was a potluck and we had tons of good food to eat. We played Catchphrase, HR exchanged their Secret Santa gifts, then we played White Elephant.

Girls versus boys for Catchphrase teams! ("Meeko! You're not a girl!" )

The kids were full of energy.

The White Elephant gifts. I love this perspective!

White Elephant actually did not last very long because not much stealing was done, but it was still cool. One of the most memorable gifts would probably be a hermit crab that Cat gave away.

Adrian and I shared a White Elephant gift and we won this in return. Cool speakers, a flash drive in the shape of a robot and a giant robot eraser.


Adrian and I!

Saturday, December 31, 2011 - Sunday, January 1, 2012

I spent the last day of 2011 at home. I had a strange urge to change things up in my room, so I decided to finally make a move on tearing down old posters and putting up picture frames. I actually also spent the first day of 2012 doing the same thing.

I love this corner of my room because of how simple and clean it looks.



My clutters of memories. Finally took my Dunny figures out of my packed boxes and posted all my Polaroid photos on my wall. It is nice to have my walls filled up again.


Another simple and clean wall. I am hoping to get shelves so I can display my little camera collection on the left of the frames. Not sure when that will happen though.

---

A new year means a new planner to fill up with more adventures.

Here is to hoping 2012 will be even better!

To be continued.

It has been four years since we met up in SF.
One, two, three, four.
It only made sense for us to return to SF around this time of the year.

Happy four years, Lo Gong Jai!
Thank you for always sticking with me even when times get tough.
ILYSM.

To be continued.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

After work, I met up with Evely and Ly at Cafe Rolle for dinner. This was supposed to be me and Evely's birthday dinner that never happened. Better late than never right?

The inside of Cafe Rolle was quite small. Another customer who was sitting alone at a table for four was kindly asked to move so the three of us could sit down. Luckily, it seemed like the customer did not mind too much since he just had dessert left to order.

I ordered the poached salmon sandwich and I loved it! It came with a salad with some type of mustard dressing that took a while for me to get used to. Overall, delicious and incredibly filling. I was the only one out of the three of us who managed to finish whatever we ordered. Fatty status much?

After dinner, we walked over to HeavenLy's Yogurt. Evely got some froyo while Ly and I just got samples. We walked over to Starbucks afterwards where I finally got to try their caramel brulee latte. I am not a huge fan of coffee and I have a major sweet tooth. This drink was perfect because I could taste the sweetness over the coffee! I have definitely been missing out!

Evely and I also exchanged our Christmas gifts for each other.

Such pretty wrapping paper!

Evely got me a pair of dressy flats, an infinity scarf and a ruffle scarf. Love, love, LOVE everything! This inifinity scarf basically completes my collection since I have all the basic colors I want now.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

I was the driver for this year's annual driving-around-town-to-look-at-Christmas-lights event. This year, it was just me, Jessica and Tung. Sadly, Kim could not join us.

We swung by some of our usual favorites. This year, these laser lights were quite popular. We were so mesmerized by how the lights hit everything. Jessica and Tung dubbed this house the kryptonite house. It had an Avatar feel to it, but in green.

We also decided to venture out to different neighborhoods this year. We found a house to check out on a website called Lights of the Valley. It is a website dedicated to showcasing different houses with Christmas lights from around California.

This house had a huge front yard. The lights were synced to music!

This house was right around the corner from the house above. It had a long pathway that was decorated with lights on both sides and it looked incredibly inviting. We were not sure if we were allowed to go in despite there being welcome signs posted, but we decided to park on the side of the road and walk in anyways. Another car decided to follow suit. Once we started walking in, about three cars actually turned into the driveway. Guess we were allowed to go in after all!

One of my absolute favorites. I took Alex, Henry, Kristi and Sophia here when they visited, but it never gets old! The lights are so well synced to the epic music that is played. Check out the excited group of children! I guess the buckets were placed there for viewing pleasure. Never saw that before.

This is only a portion of the house as you can see. Being the creeper that I am, I wanted to capture the excitement of the children.

Picture stolen from Jessica. A freakin' fiber optic tree we found while aimlessly driving around neighborhoods! So dope!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Before heading to work for the day, I met up with Allison, David, Kara and Steve at Phuoc's house so we could go to Happy Garden for dim sum. My family and I used to go to Happy Garden all the time as I was growing up. Having not been there in a while, the little upgrades to the interior of the place was very pleasing to see.

Dim sum was yummy as always. We went around the table and the five us shared with each other what we have been up to since graduating and what not. After hearing about so many friends landing really good paying jobs after college, it was nice to find out I was not alone in working at a job totally not related to my major while trying to figure out my next move. During sharing time, Allison talked about her trip to Honduras and put into perspective how even though we think it is a low for us that we have not found a job after college, we are still living comfortably. It was definitely an interesting talk.

At work, my supervisor left me a little Christmas present, which I thought was pretty sweet.

It was a Jamba Juice gift card!

Work was incredibly busy with many people coming in to withdraw money for very last minute Christmas presents shopping. My supervisor and I was getting stressed because we had so much going on. We somehow managed to get everything done on time though, so that was nice.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

I initially thought I would have a quiet weekend for once, but the night before, Evely ended up asking me to go to Vacaville with her. I could not turn down an opportunity to go to Cotton On, so of course I said yes! I took Cathy with me and we picked up Evely along the way.

Parking was not as difficult as we had expected. No amazing sales, but I did end up leaving the store with a handful of things.

Each item was $5 and only one of my tops were $10. Sadly, there was no $2 dollar rack, but I am quite happy with my purchases.

This watch caught my attention as I was paying for the items above. After walking out of the store, I ended up walking back in to get it. I initially wanted black, but both Cathy and Evely thought the white was nicer. Evely ended up getting the same watch without hesitation. I love the simplicity of it!

For lunch, we decided to try out Panera Bread. It was our first times there and I thought the atmosphere was quite nice. It was kind of like a fancy cafeteria where you place an order at the counter, they bring the food to you and you clean up after yourself. I think it would be a nice study place since they provide access to free wifi.

Evely was carefully studying the menu.

I went with the "You Pick Two" combo deal and ordered the Napa almond chicken salad sandwich with a cup of steak chili. It also came with the choice of an apple, bread or chips. I went with apple thinking it was apple slices or something, but nope! It was a whole apple.


Cathy got the smoked turkey breast sandwich with a cup of Sonoma chicken stew. The stew kind of looked like the insides of a pot pie!

Overall, not bad. A lot of reviews say the place is kind of expensive, but I thought it was pretty decent since you get a sandwich plus soup that is pretty filling.

After we ate, I dropped Evely back at home. Once Cathy and I got home, we saw a toy helicopter my dad bought from Fry's.

It was pretty fun to play with! I think my dad actually wanted one for a while and decided to hop on this deal because it was $10 after rebate. It was nice seeing my dad being so happy. 

To be continued.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

A classmate I met in my Digital Photography class asked me and another classmate to be her models for a conceptual shoot she had in mind. Quinn (the photographer of the day) had a little studio set up in her garage. We ended up spending about 5 hours in there!

The set of photos are titled Beauty vs Food. Some parts of the shoot was definitely more messy than others. I ended up leaving with ketchup and mustard all over my clothes.

Here are some behind-the-scenes photos I snapped while waiting for my turn to attempt to not be so awkward in front of the camera (it was difficult!):

Quinn in her studio with Sam!

It was a fun shoot as you can tell.

A glimpse of what came out of the long day of shooting:

More photos along with Quinn's other work may be found on her Facebook. She does not mind other people adding her apparently, so feel free to connect!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

LB Henry kindly drove Sponsoree Alex, Kristi and Sophia to Elk Grove for a visit. Henry suggested going to Scandia and it ended up being a fantastic plan! (Not-so-fast) go-karts, mini golf and arcade games kept us entertained for a good 2 hours.

Photos taken by Cathy.

I did not know it then, but I ended up losing my phone here during our first round at go-karts. After much sadness and ending our mini golf session to find it, one of the workers approached us saying that they found it. Turns out the go-kart attendant found it and handed it to the security guard before he went home for the day. I was ecstatic!

Mini golf! It was actually Alex's and Kristi's first time.

Hella cute!

After I unintentionally ended our mini golfing session, we chilled at the arcade and spent the 8 tokens we each got with our super-saver wristband.

We love the arcade!

Good times!

After Scandia, we went to The Cheese Steak Shop for dinner. Kristi and I found this place on Yelp while we were searching up places known with good fries at three in the morning.

The Hoagie.


The Western.


The Phrench Dip.

Cathy and I shared the Hoagie and it was delicious! The puddle of grease leftover was not very nice to look at though. >.>

Once dinner was over, I drove the group around different neighborhoods to check out Christmas lights. I loved seeing and hearing their excitement! We basically went up to all the houses and took photos.

Cutie Kristi always ready for a photo!

Photos taken while we were in the rich neighborhood!

Cathy in front of Sassman Memory Farm.

Twins!

We're matching!

We stepped into the roped off area (with permission!) for a photo. Felt like a rebel. ;D

LB Henry and Sponsoree Alex being uhh... I don't know. 

Sponsor sandwich! Didn't notice until Sponsoree pointed it out, but it looks like he's wearing a Santa hat!

Sophia and Kristi shared an infinity scarf.

"I am going to stand like you." - Cathy

Cute, cute minus Cathy looking the other way!

The four of them actually ended up sleeping over for the night. We all slept in the family room and had a movie night. We watched Drag Me to Hell (Sponsoree bugged me about watching this for a while now!) and Grown Ups. Sponsoree insisted Drag Me to Hell was a funny movie, but it wasn't! >:[

I really like how this one turned out! The little monster came with a Perpetual Kid order.


I have post-its on my desk with little reminders for myself. Sponsoree decided to add some for me...

The next morning, Cathy and I made breakfast for everyone before they had to leave. I thought it was super sweet of Cathy to do so. It was such a fun weekend!

To be continued.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

I picked up Kristi from the Amtrak station around 1115AM and we ventured into downtown to try out La Bonne Soupe Cafe.

Kristi and I shared 2 sandwiches and a soup. The total came out to be around $20. We felt the portions were a bit small for the price, but at the same time, it was incredibly filling!

French onion soup. So yummy!

The Dan Deal. Kristi and I were not sure what goat cheese tasted like and after this, we definitely knew what goat cheese tasted like. The sandwich was full of strong flavors.

The Mad Italian. We ordered this sandwich because the decisive customer in front of us ordered it. The flavors were not as strong as the Dan Deal, but was equally delicious!

Afterwards, I had work, so poor Kristi had to chill at Starbucks to wait for me. I spent most of my day at work going through a training program, which made me a incredibly sleepy. Once 0515PM rolled around, I quickly swung by to grab Kristi then we headed out to Old Sacramento.

It was a pretty busy night in Old Sac. Once we found parking, we realized people were waiting around to watch Raley's Theatre of Lights. Kristi and I got there just in time to catch about half the show.

We wandered around Stage Nine and Evangeline's. We spent the most time in Evangeline's looking at all the random items they carried.

Requested by Kristi.

Cute Kristi with a massive bow.

The typical mirror shot.

Around 0745PM, the second showing for the Theatre of Lights started playing so we caught the beginning of the show. We learned some history about Old Sacramento then saw Santa Claus!

The pretty Christmas tree located in Old Sac.

Another photo of Kristi and I.

I think this was supposed to be Mark Twain.

Santa!

We left the show midway through since we watched half of it earlier. We headed to Elk Grove Tofu House and got there thirty minutes before they closed. Kristi and I shared the BBQ ribs combo with seafood soon tofu stew and bibimbap.

Nomnomnom!

It was still fairly early after we finished dinner, so I took Kristi to see some of my favorite Christmas decorated houses.

This was only a portion of the house! You can see Kristi all in love with everything.

We ended the night after visiting about 4 heavily decorated houses. Kristi was sleeping over, so we tried downloading some movies to watch. We ended up watching Prom and the both of us were falling asleep during the movie. Not sure if it was just because we were super tired. *shrugs*

Friday, December 16, 2011

I had work once again so I dropped Kristi off at Walgreens to wait for her little bro Michael. Around 0500PM, my parents dropped Cathy off since I was taking her to Berkeley with me. Kristi and Michael were supposed to meet me once I got off work so I could take Kristi back home to Davis, but they were no where to be found at 0520PM. Apparently, they were going to try to surprise me at my car, but my parents swapped cars with me so their plan failed.

I dropped Kristi off in Davis around 0600PM. Luckily, we only hit minor traffic along the way. Cathy and I got to Adrian's house around 0700PM. We swung by Jack in the Box for some food then headed out to Berkeley.

Adrian, Cathy and I were going to a show called Go!Ohana that was supposed to start at 0730PM. We were meeting up with Teresa there and she found out doors were opening at 0800PM, so we actually got there just in time.

Lou-Antony Limone, Ukulenny, and David Vincent Kelly-Agngarayngay of the Blue Moon All Stars opened up the show.

Our host: Ryan Takemiya.

Ryan and his co-host for the night, Terry Park (aka Mr. Hyphen 2011). They were quite entertaining together.

Cynthia Lin. She had an awesome voice!

The Blue Moon All Stars. The band that played with Cynthia.

Sam Kang. Loved listening to him!

Kiwi & Bandung '55. He had amazing energy!

Derek Kan of Magnetic North & Taiyo Na. They were amazing! <3

After the event, we got to meet some of the performers!

w0ot w0ot! We got a picture with Derek Kan and Taiyo Na!

Adrian bought Magnetic North's CD for me and we got Derek and Taiyo to sign it for Cathy and I.


Cathy won this t-shirt that got tossed into the crowd.

And of course I had to get a photo with Teresa! <3

I went to the event knowing only of Magnetic North. I left with tons more talents to listen to.

We left the event and headed back to Adrian's around 1200AM. Adrian not only spotted one, but two shooting stars. Adrian bought me an energy drink for the drive back home then swung by Jack in the Box for more food. 

Cathy and I started driving home around 0100AM. Never again do I want to drive at that hour! The dark roads and fog made me a little tired, but we made it back home safely. Thank goodness Cathy stayed awake the entire ride home!

It was an incredibly long but eventful day. My winter break is definitely off to a good start.

To be continued.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

I arrived at Roxell's house around 1140AM where HR was finishing up their practice session. Before we headed out for the day, I helped them take some group photos that Adrian set up. Their HR fam is super cute!

This photo is full of random! I love it!

Afterwards, we headed out to Sunnyvale where HR was performing at Living Rock Christian Church's Christmas Faire.

Before the performance, Roxell's nephew was wandering around the church. He noticed my camera sitting on a tripod and got super curious.

Photo taken by Adrian. The kid was insanely adorable!

Once the performance was over, we just chilled in the parking lot.

Mysterious masked figures out to attack Adrian?

The handsome boyfriend! I love, love, LOVE the lighting in this photo! 

Adrian wanted to take advantage of the gorgeous lighting, so he used this flower that he pulled from someone's front yard as a subject.

Before we left the church, we took photos at the little photobooth setup. We had tons of props to play with and the photos turned out quite well in my opinion.

I want to learn how to do a photobooth setup too!

The group of us ate at Boiling Crab for dinner. (I feel like I have been there way too often now! :X) It was actually Cat, Erin, Mark, Priscilla and Roxell's first time eating there.

Photo taken by Erin.


Photo stolen from Adrian. Erin with her bib!

Another photo stolen from Adrian. Cat and Roxell with their bibs!

After dinner, we headed into San Jose for their annual Christmas in the Park event. It was crazy packed with people. I am not a huge fan of large crowds that require me to hold onto the person in front of me in order to not get lost, but I thought the event was still pretty decent. The decorated trees were nice to look at and the little bursts of excitement over the "snow" machines were quite entertaining.  There were also a few carnival rides and food stands that reminded me of the state fair.

Tons of decorations everywhere!

Christmas themed shops!

Lots and lots of decorated Christmas trees!

"Snow"!

There were also photo ops available. Here is HR minus Adrian (who took the photo) being silly.

Another shot of Adrian and I thanks to Roxell.

Overall, it was pretty fun day. It is nice that HR invites me to their little outings with them.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Ly and I decided to meet up today for our Target trip. Jeff was our mystery guest for the night. I wanted to get all three flavors of Tim Tams, but the Target we went to only had two flavors. At least Ly got her cookies and Andes chocolate!

We went to Lollicup afterwards for some boba and popcorn chicken. I tried almond milk tea for the first time since it is one of Sponsoree Alex's favorites and thought it was delicious! It kind of reminded me of pistachio ice cream. Yummy!

I like simple hangouts like these. These little routines of seeing the same familiar faces. I definitely had a lot of those while in Davis. It is a nice comfortable feeling and I am glad that Ly and I have started doing this.

To be contninued.

Ly and I went to Tapioca & Tea (previously known as Tapioca Express) for our date today. I thought there was a bogo happy hour deal going on, but it turns out it only happens on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. A Street Fighter tournament was happening at the same time and we ended up bumping into our old high school friend Romeo. I ordered a chrysanthemum milk tea, which was not on the menu. I tried it ages ago in Australia and have been trying to find a place that made it. The drink was not the same, but it was cool that the owner was willing to make it for me.

Ly brought her laptop and we had fun taking ridiculous webcam photos.

We went to Target after getting drinks, snacking on calamari, and camera whoring. Ly ended up buying a new coat and I ended up buying Tim Tams! Tim Tams are Australian cookies that are only available between October and March according to Wiki. Interesting!

My belated birthday present from Ly! It is SO soft! <3

Tim Tams!

Next week, Ly and I are planning to go to the other Target. We originally went to Target because Ly wanted to buy Pepperidge Farm Gingerman cookies, but the last bag we found was crushed. So sad! Hopefully the other Target will have them in stock. *crosses fingers*

To be continued.