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My dear John is on a 6-day off-the-trail backpacking hiking/camping trip in Yosemite National Park right now. He’s there with his colleagues to collect water plus other samples from some remote lakes for research purposes. These lakes don’t even show up on maps! His colleagues go there several times a year, but this is the first time John is on such a mission. It isn’t his research project, but he volunteered to go, and is getting paid to go, for the adventure.

Six-days of off-the-trial hiking and camping in remote parts of Yosemite National Park, how cool is that?

But look at the arial map from above (click on image for a bigger resolution). The yellow spots with white labels are the lakes they need to get to. Just look at how far those sites are from the nearest roads, how far the lakes are from each other, and look at the steep climb too!!! All lakes are at over elevation 10,000 ft, and they are mountains in between the lakes!!!

They need to pack eveything with them, including tent, sleeping bag, dry food, clothes, flash light, walking sticks, first-aid kit, sun block, filter for water… plus others things I am sure. They each must pack light, but still that results in about 30 pounds of things to carry while climbing off-the-trail uphill to get to those remote lakes.

Heroic, isin’t it? I can’t wait to hear all about it after he returns!

I am so happy that he will have such an unique experience. I really wish to have some experience like that too, but on the other hand, I know if I were to go on such a quest, I would probably return in a stretcher. Nevertheless, hearing John talk about the trip makes me want to go camping and hiking somewhere too. Anywhere would be fine really! I just want to be out there in nature, alone with John, in front of camp fire, listening to crickets, and talk out night away under the stars.

It has been a week since John and I had our fabulous wedding/engagement photo shoot, but I waited so long to write about it because … there were so much excitement that I don’t know where to start! 

For a non-Taiwanese, or non-Asian in general, it’s probably a little difficult to grasp the idea of wedding photo shoot months prior to the actual wedding. But as I mentioned in my previous post, wedding photo shoot is a big deal in the contemporary Taiwanese wedding culture (since 1980s), and since, as Taiwanese-Americans, we have the privilege to pick and choose from wedding cultures of Taiwan and U.S., we decided that we’ll do a glamorous wedding photo shoot because it’s memorable experience, plus a great deal of fun! Plus, I am engaged to a super handsome guy, so why shy away from documenting our good looks with some professional photos? Haha.

There are numerous wedding photo studios out there providing same kind of uncreative service. They use same kind of photo taking techniques, same kind of backgrounds, same kind of lighting, and ask their customers to pose the same way. The only difference in works coming out of these studios is that … the models are different, the rest stay the same. That ISN’T the kind of album I want. I want ours to be unique, personalized, and I want it to tell our story. Therefore, I was really happy when John agrees that hiring Julia and Tony for the job. They own a very small business (website written in Mandarin as they are based in Taiwan), but their product is always very impressive. I noticed them online years ago and have always liked their work. But, to get an unique photo album, we needed to do extra work so everything’s personalized. We had to pick out locations for the shoot, plan out an itinerary for both days of the shoot, obtained photo permits, visit the sites, and take time off work.

But it was all worth it! We had a fabulous experience over 2 full days of shoot! Our two-day photo shoot was filled with excitement in every turn, so much so that for days, I couldn’t decide how to write about it because there was simply too much to say. But after much consideration, I decided that such memorable experience much be written down in detail, so here it goes.

Warning: this is going to be long… Read the rest of this entry »

After our big engagement party production, John and I kept the momentum going by planning a grand, grand photo shoot full of unique ideas that I am absolutely proud of. So far, we are doing things half-half, half American and half Taiwanese. That’s how we are - Taiwanese Americans. Therefore for our engagement and wedding, we’ll pick and choose what elements of each wedding culture do we like to include, and what elements to exclude.

So far, we’ve done the engagement in Taiwanese/Christian style. Next, we’ll produce a grand wedding photo album which is a must-do in contemporary Taiwanese wedding culture, and then, we’ll go all western for our wedding. The wedding photo shoot is a huge deal in Taiwan that it is a blooming industry. It’s significance is just like engagement photos in the U.S., except people in Taiwan take the extravagant route by dressing up in fancy gowns, and wedding gowns, have their hair and make up all professionally done in a wedding photo studio, then have all photos bind in a nice album which is usually two inches thick at least. People also have their photos enlarged in poster sizes, or use the photos on wedding invitations… etc. Anything you could think of to go fancy with photo taking, it has been done by Taiwanese wedding photo companies. These wedding photos is also always taken months prior to the wedding, so they will be ready to display on the wedding day. Read the rest of this entry »

Happiness is…

Being a kid for a whole day in the happiest place on earth …

Taking our friends on rides and not caring about what others think…

Listening to uplifting music…

 Indulging in cotton candy…

 Enjoying the parade and firework…

 Riding carousel horses for the first time in decades…

ON A MONDAY!!!

It has been a while since the last time my sister played the piano, but now, right at this minute, there’s sound of her beautiful music floating throughout the house.

I am SO GLAD to hear that!

She’s a natural pianist - someone I adore, and envied even because of how gifted she is at piano. Ever since she was little, the sound of music coming from her fingers is just different from any other kids. For years throughout my childhood and adolescent years, I tried everything to beat her in competitions, but could never do. While all our famous piano teachers deemed her Juilliard material as she won competition after competition, I was left being the forgotten one. It wasn’t until years afterwards that I realize there was nothing to be envied about. Piano is in her more than in me. It makes her happy more than it does to me. That’s all. Read the rest of this entry »

There we were, out on a summer day, enjoying ourselves with a glass of wine as sun descends beyond the glorious hills of Hollywood,

And our friends, Mr. Pooh and Ms. Ya Ya, smilling so contentedly in my workout bag, waiting for the concert to start…

Then there we were again - his hand holding mine as we whispered sporadic I love yous under gentle stars.

What a perfect mid summer night’s date it was!

We were at the Hollywood Bowl last Sunday for their annual opera concert. This year, they played Bizet’s famous opera - Carmen. I’ve been to the Bowl far too many times before, but it was my first time going there with John. We took the bus to get there and back, which was a great choice as the bus pick up spot was at a very convenient location, and the round-trip fair was only $5.00! The bus gets us there in half an hour. Not only did we avoided all the traffic, we could relax during the ride, we helped the environment, also we didn’t need to pay double digits for parking! For those of you southern Californians planning on going to the Hollywood Bowl, I highly recommend doing park and ride. It was so easy!

Music wise …. er…. it was only okay…

When an opera is removed from the theatrical environment for which it belongs, everything becomes much diluted. The notes might still all be there, but the drama’s gone, the stage set’s gone, and with amplified sound, the quality of singing voice and the depth of instrumental sound were also sacrificed. I don’t know if it was the caliber of the singers, or perhaps I’ve really raised my bar for musical appreciation, I wasn’t too thrilled by the singing. Besides soprano Jessica Rivera, who sang the role of Micaëla, I wasn’t too impressed by all other singers. But then again, it could be the amplified sound that was to be blamed. Everything just sounded flat, and somewhat lifeless. I, for one, much prefer natural sound over amplified sound.

But, Hollywood Bowl is a fun place for people of all ages to enjoy all sorts of music the fun way. While elements in an opera are diluted for a serious opera nut like me, the venue itself, with its relaxed atmosphere, and its departure from a traditional opera house, makes opera music more light-hearted, and thus easier for more people to enjoy.

Until opera houses returns from their summer recess in September, an opera concert at Hollywood Bowl will serve as a good dose of live opera music for now.

My friend Jenny is getting married in two weeks. After that, the newly-wed will move to Wyoming, where they both will start their new jobs.

We used to spend a lot of time together, but after her wedding, I obviously won’t be seeing her, unless during her future bi-yearly trips to California she happens to have time to catch up. But even that, I might be the busy one. Knowing how difficult it will be to spend time with her after her wedding, I made sure that I gave her a firm “YES” when she invited me to her bachelorette party. The bachelorette party was held over the 4th of July weekend, in Las Vegas. Read the rest of this entry »

Two weekends ago, a group of us, all core members of a non-profit volunteer organization, got together in Las Vegas for a retreat. By retreat we meant a whole day of meeting, and only head out for food and for some fun after all businesses are done. We stayed at John’s condo. It was so very nice of him to host the group.

It was quite a bittersweet weekend. As we talked about the future of the organization, and on our future involvement in it, we learned that …. none of us present core members can continue to stay involved. Everyone has a good reason — career, school, going back to school, business travel…etc.

On my end, although I enjoyed being involved very much and am passionate about the mission of the organization, I can’t commit to it beyond my present term because… well, I’ve got a wedding to plan. Along with the wedding are many, many significant, life-changing moves to make, and changes to adjust to.

Our term in the organization will end in September. After that, perhaps we won’t even be able to get the group together anymore as everyone will go on in their busy lives. All of a sudden, I realized how precious my remaining time in the organization is. Thinking about not seeing this group of fabulous people, and not working with them on events and projects anymore, makes me sad. The picture above might be our last group picture together. Who knows?

I guess at one point or another, we must all move on. As bittersweet as it is, we must all embark on our next journey.

I wish the best of luck to everyone.

While having lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant in Las Vegas with friends, I saw that the TV there was broadcasting some food channel, showcasing a restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan. There was this golden soup that looked very yummy. The TV was in mute mode, but from reading the subtitle, I knew that the ingredients were chicken, pumpkin, apple, and onion.

So I tried cooking the dish myself, based on the little information I have, and was so impressed with myself because the soup turned out soooooo well! I am soooooooo happy!

It’s very simple. Here’s what I did. Read the rest of this entry »