A boat and a train ride! Two more fun adventures from my Bay Area Gems in June. We kick it off with a free harbor tour of the Port of Oakland. They offer these twice a month in the summer, but you have to jump right on the tickets when they go on sale the…
You might remember S & H from their elopement back in April. They weren’t originally planning to have a whole wedding reception, but with the encouragement of their families, they decided to throw a little shindig, complete with a bubbles show, taco truck, and sundae bar, all at their family brewery in Rancho Cordova. We…
June was filled with so many adventures that I’m splitting it up into a handful of posts. Today, I’m sharing three of the history-related sites I got to visit as part of my 100 Bay Area Gems: Mission San Jose, Bale Grist Mill, and History Park San Jose. Here are the paintings I painted of…
I have loved documenting Melanie’s beautiful floral designs at her weddings this season. We headed to Solage in Calistoga, where the centerpiece of the reception was this dramatic hanging installation over the dance floor. So cool! And all of the actual centerpieces were also so beautiful, with a gorgeous palette of purples and yellows. Beautiful colors…
This was such a fun little outing with my friend Tiffany. We heard about a lavender festival up in Dixon and decided to check it out together. This was the first year Araceli Farms has held the festival, so we tried to keep our expectations very low, but tickets were only $8 for the both…
Memorial Day Weekend was wonderfully spent celebrating my friend Paul’s birthday over at Lake Tahoe. But actually, I had to work both Saturday and Sunday morning, so I joined everyone else a day late and decided to solo staycation for an extra day afterwards too. Tahoe is really so lovely in the summer. See a…
Cindy and Jon technically met in the second grade, as classmates and loose family friends in Katy, Texas. But they weren’t all that close, and both their families eventually moved away from Texas. It wasn’t until college that they reconnected through a mutual friend. And then, though Jon was attending the University of Michigan and Cindy…
I spent most of August in Philadelphia, with watercolor sketches, lots of delicious eats, summer sun, and an eclipse! See below. Partial eclipse! With my cardboard viewer I rigged up that morning. A whole fish from somewhere in Chinatown; Luke’s Lobster; Que Chula Es Puebla; Kensington Quarters; Double Knot with Austin & Sheena; Spot Burger;…
I was thrilled to be able to attend my friend Mitha’s wedding in Chicago– as a guest! I met Mitha in college, and we shared a memorable class senior year called Arts and Human Rights, which was taught by a law professor who was blind, but only some of the time. I also went on a…
New York City for a weekend packed with shoots, friends, and good eats. See some snaps below. Chelsea Market and a cute little boutique nearby. I don’t know, wall. What are we going to do? Food + art with Dom and Charinee. Frank Lloyd Wright retrospective at MOMA. Credit to Justin for this one: Our…
I have a long-running relationship (ok, it’s an obsession) with Boba Guys. Thanks to my Taiwanese American connections, I met the owners Andrew and Bin back in their early days, and I’ve been a loyal patron of their pop-ups and stores in both SF and NYC ever since. Recently, we doubled up on the Taiwanese American foodie…
I’ve been lucky enough to make three trips to Chicago this summer: to photograph a wedding, for a bachelorette party, and to attend a wedding! Below are some little snippets from all three visits. Trip number one: for Angie & Randy’s wedding. Brunch with a bunch of TAF friends! Trip number two: Thank you to Angie…