The Age Where Girls Still Eat Cake Icing

Icing goodness!
Mother's Day
May 2008

Playing around with Picasa

I was playing around with Picasa's collage option (when is it going to be compatible with Mac?? I hate switching laptops back and forth just to use picasa, hrmph) and instead of the usual square grid, I decided to try this multiexposure option. I kind of like it, except Jer's movements were too faded, so overall the picture didn't have a huge effect on the eyes. Oh well. Here is another picture of him eating sand.

Northrop Grumman vball tournament
Manhattan Beach courts
June 2008

Mom's Cooking

Chicken porridge and Vietnamese salad with nuoc mam dressing
June 2008

Ooh, how does this collage look? I love the new plates she got! She says that we should register for them. Ever since I taught her about registering for wedding, baby, or birthday gifts at places like Target or Crate & Barrel, she's been telling me to register for everything, haha. Anyhoo, I really like how this collage came out. I guess less "polaroids" look better.


Banh Xeo (Vietnamese crepes)
July 2008

This is my mom's specialty! Yum...it was tasty. Jer and I ate 5 of those. My mom likes him so much she shelled the shrimp for him!! Hrmph, I have to shell my own shrimp. I forgot to take a picture of the inside because my hands got messy while eating. For the filling my mom uses jicama, shrimp, and pork. She doesn't do mung bean or tofu or carrots or anything else. What do you like in your banh xeo?

Amazing Woman!

Cousin
Mother's Day
May 2008
What a happy smile! She is one of the most genuine people I know and always nurturing and caring. Her kids are pretty lucky to have her as their mom!

OC Fair

OC Fair
Costa Mesa
July 2008
All pics by me and Jer

Perched on the Wall

Overlooking the Green Line
Jer and Jeff
July 2008

After the awesome fireworks show by Wilson Park, we went home and tried to see if we could catch other shows. The cousins monkeyed up the wall, but I was too scaredy cat to do it. But that meant I was able to take this picture! I love the color of the sky, the lights of the city, and the two guys just perched on the wall.

Happy Birthday, Hyobin

Corean kimchi kutie refugee sista
Opus Restaurant
Corealand
June 2008

Too bad picasa collage doesn't let me form my own collages. I don't like the way these are staggered but oh well, you get the gist of her bday night. Opus is an insanely hard restaurant to take pictures in if you're like me and you don't like to use flash (with the exception of the posed pic). Of course we didn't have the tripod b/c our tripod is huge and not something you'd bring along to a bday party at a lounge. :) Here's how it looks inside. Jer had to rest the camera on the chair to prevent blur-age. The streaks on the chair/across the floor were created by the light that was coming in.

Happy Birthday, Rachel

Rachel
Bday cheesecake, making a wish
June 2008

Her bday was a while back but I've been lazy about post processing pics. This picture came out really grainy but I like it this way. It's very hard to take pictures in the dark w/o flash or a tripod, and with moving subjects! At least it's not that blurry. :) And you all know I detest using flash so grainy it is.

Surf and Turf

Ribeye and Shrimp
June 2008
Guest photoist: Jer

The shrimp was a bit over exposed but whatever the important thing is that it was tasty! Yum, I want more ribeye!!

Fireworks

Wilson Park fireworks show
Kings Hawaiian Front Lawn
Torrance
July 2008

We (me, Jer, and Jer's cousin Jeff) played it by ear on where to go see fireworks and we had some rules: 1. We didn't want to have to camp out all day for a spot to watch 2. We didn't want to drive far 3. There had to be a yummy restaurant close to the show, or any show. 4. We didn't want to wait too long for the show to start, i.e. get there at 7pm with nothing much to do until day time.

Well, I think it worked out perfectly! We left the house for King's Hawaiian on Sepulveda (btwn Hawthorne and Carson), got there, ordered and chowed down. We didn't even feel rushed. After we ate, we walked back to the truck to grab our camping chairs, found a place on the restaurant lawn, and saw some fireworks. As for the awesome pictures, we set up the tripod, set the camera on continuous shooting at roughly 20 sec intervals, sat back, and enjoyed the show. Jer had to fiddle around with the ISO and all that every so often, but we did manage to get some great shots w/o having to worry too much. Now, if only we had a remote...

edit: per Leo's request, below are some unsized hi-res pics. I have to collage most of my pics now b/c I'm running out of space to upload pics, haha. When I figure out how to upload pics, you can see more here at this forum.

Pink Eskimo

Mother's Day
Temple City
May 2008