Spring into the Spring Season

So I haven't been updating, because I've been pretty busy with school, work, and working out at the gym. I'm pretty much always in one of those three places. Usually no where else, occasionally Starbucks, out to eat, and maybe shopping. But the past week, I've had the chance to rest and think about myself and my body. Sometimes the real world tires you out and you just want to go run or take a yoga class to forget everything stressful.
The start of my break, I got to go see a studio space for my friend's photography studio that she is planning to open soon. I was so honored of the fact that she wanted my opinion, even though she knows I'm a science person and not so much of an art person. But probably within the year, I'll be helping her expand her business and maybe she'll let me take a few pictures along the way. The rest of the week was dedicate to going to the gym twice a day and resting and spending time with friends and family. I also squeezed a few doctor's appointments in there to make sure my dieting wasn't affecting my internal body. Towards the end of the week, I got to do something super exciting.
Yesterday I had the honor to take some pictures with my dad for a friend's wedding thats coming up in a couple weeks. This weekend was the casual shoot and next weekend is the formal shoot. I had to wake up at 5 a.m. and drive three hours to the location of the shoot. I had loads of fun styling, posing, and directing the shoot. I also got some pictures in as well, but maybe only a few turned out well. It was stepping outside my comfort zone of science and animals to do something creative. After four hours of shooting it was time to head back home and sleep. I was so exhausted, but I did have fun, so it was worth getting up in the morning. Thankfully next weekend is a sunset shoot, so I can wake up and do some stuff before we go.

I'll post some pictures once I'm done. I officially got my dad to hand over the EOS to the uploading dock for the pictures. I usually had to bug him to borrow the camera and wait until he uploaded them onto picasa, but now I'm in charge!

kogi bbq excursion

wednesday night, 6:30 p.m. after checking twitter all day to see if the kogi bbq truck was coming to my neck of the woods, it said its going to be late, eta 7 pm. i leave the house to drive 1.5 miles to the location where the kogi truck was going to be. but i first had to take a pit stop at the market to pick up some diet coke. so i get to the "maybe" location where this truck was going to make its stop and i get there at 6:45 and there is a line, 50 people deep. and i think to myself, how do these people know of this!? they have no store, no advertising, (only reason why i knew of the kogi truck was because it was on an episode of the best thing i ever ate) but other than that, it was the old school way of getting business, it was the good ol word of mouth. so 7 p.m. rolls around, the kogi truck makes a nice u-turn and makes its way to the parking lot. after an hour of waiting in the freezing cold (because for some reason, here is so cal, its been cold) and figuring out what i wanted to get, i finally order: 4 short rib tacos, 2 spicy pork tacos, 1 calamari taco, 1 short rib torta, and finally 1 short rib burrito (btw i was picking up food for my entire family, we were freaking exciting about the kogi truck coming to our neck of the woods). i rushed home to ensure that was food was still piping hot, and we all take a bite out of the short rib taco, we all look at each other and say "is that it? are you serious?" tell you the truth, its whatevers. my entire family thinks the same. but you are talking to a family that goes to mexico pretty much every year and we go to the mom and pop taco places, so for us, definitely not worth the hype. but we all agreed that at least we can say that we tried it. we probably won't go back, but it was definitely fusion food. so i would recommend on trying it once, if you are willing to wait.

pro:
homemade tortilla
reasonable prices
fun experience
con:
have to wait at least 30 mins or more
the meat is dry and low quality
doesn't live up to the hype
small portions (i wish i took a picture, the taco was the size of the bottom of a standard mug)
no salsa :(

Alice in Wonderland

Last thursday night, I was taken down the rabbit hole via the SMS Drama Department. My day started as a usual thursday, which includes work and class. Then I rushed home to start doing my brother's makeup. He is the all important (well in my eyes) Mad Hatter. We opted to do the Johnny Depp inspired look. Prior to that thursday night, which was the dress rehearsal, I had been doing hours of research to make sure I had all my bunnies in a row. I chatted with MAC artists, went to a dozen YouTube videos, and went through trial and error about five times. I even went as far as doing a face chart for the look. As you may know or not know, special effects makeup/stage makeup takes hours! My brother pretty much sat in our makeshift makeup chair for close to two hours. While the rest of his cast members show up at a 5 p.m. call time which includes doing makeup, my brother and I start doing makeup around 2 p.m. so we have plenty enough time to finish up and allow some time in case I mess up. Sadly friday nights I don't get the chance to do my brother's makeup because I'm at work, but my assistant does it for me.
For the sake of my brother's method acting, we collectively decided not to watch the movie until the closing night of his show. He wanted to ensure that he stayed true to himself and his own interpretation of the Mad Hatter. But I was so proud of him and how long he has come since his first production two years ago.
Come friday night, the opening night of the musical, my parents and I got our flowers, yelling voices ready and skipped over to Wonderland. The fun part was, we had told my brother that we were not coming, but we wanted to share with him the experience of the last opening night of his middle school career. He was pretty excited and surprised to see him and while he went out with cast mates for an after party at applebee's, we sat in the living room remembering about how much he has grown as a person and especially as an actor.
A little preview at the pictures. Being a photographer is super hard. I just have changed lenses five or six times, tripod or not to tripod, it was so confusing.

i heart mickey mouse

It's been quite a while since I've posted, because honestly, I didn't know what to write about. But on friday you will get a pretty nice post (hopefully pictures included) of Jennifer's Adventures in Wonderland! It will be Alice in Wonderland weekend! Along with the midnight showing of the IMAX 3D movie with my friend (yay!!!) and the opening night of my brother's school production of Alice in Wonderland, plus the Downtown Disney special shopping event. Hopefully there will be tons of pictures!
As most of my friend know, I'm a HUGE Disney fan! Like HUGE! I have a Disneyland license plate holder, a Minnie hanging from the windshield, and all sorts of Disney mech all over my room. But I was having a pretty difficult day today, and I was going through my iTunes and stumbled across my Disney music. (Refer back to the previous post about my thoughts about how music seem to know your every emotion) Every single time I listen to Disney music it transports me back to my childhood, and to this day, I know pretty much every single word to every popular song. I'm also super excited that Disney's California Adventure will get a face lift in the next few years. Along with the new night time spectacle World of Color I'm so excited to see this, because I love things at night, just the blank canvas of the night sky, and sitting on the floor and feeling the warmth of the concrete below your shorts on a clear summer night, its pure bliss. So take a look at the rest of the Disney blog, they have so many exciting things happening there. Plus, it might just bring a smile to your face to look back at your childhood memories. So put on those Mickey ears and get into the Disney spirit and listen to some Disney music to brighten your day!

Extra bonus! Dug this one out from the archives! My besties!