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Jefferson School of Pharmacy class of 2012

May 15, 2012

It’s been a while since their white coat ceremony. Almost four years, to be exact.

Almost four years ago, Chris and I moved across the country so he could start his journey to becoming a pharmacist. We put up with foil on the windows, weather extremes, late nights studying, crazy work & school schedules, and everything in between.

All this led up to yesterday: graduation. Our families came from California, Japan, and Virginia to celebrate (and boy did we celebrate!). Words can’t express how incredibly proud I was to see my husband walk across the stage and have his hood placed on him.

One of 64 Doctors of Pharmacy from the inaugural class at Thomas Jefferson University:

At one point, the dean asked the graduates to turn around to their families and applaud them for their sacrifices of getting them to this day. Chris looked right at me– he said later on that he knew exactly where to look :)

This group. One of the most awesome set of friends we could have. They studied, commiserated, pushed, and encouraged each other all the way to the very end. They entered the program as acquaintances and came out as friends for life, comrades in health care. (They were also willing guinea pigs for my various baking experiments, haha)

Jefferson School of Pharmacy class of 2012, congratulations!

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New York wedding photographer: Pansy and Tim

May 9, 2012

Posted in wedding

The first time we met Pansy & Tim was a month before their wedding– they have such busy schedules that there was no time for an engagement session (Pansy is a medical resident, and Tim is in a PhD program for astrophysics– my name was not lost on their guests, hehe). We went over their timeline and expectations for the day, and at the end of our meeting, Pansy said, “I just want to get married already!” As she said this, she had a huge smile on her face and squeezed Tim in a bear hug.

Fast forward to their big day…it was one of the most beautiful, fun weddings we’ve ever photographed. I’m not a crier, but the love during the ceremony definitely made me sniffle! They were surrounded by their parents, families, and close friends, and even the weather cooperated. :) The Queens Botanical Gardens is a great place for a sunny spring wedding…totally worth getting covered in pollen, haha!

Pansy & Tim, words can’t express how grateful we are that you trusted us to capture your special day. We hope you enjoyed your honeymoon in Puerto Rico!

We started the day off at the Lexington Marco Hotel…

Pansy’s sisters and mom helped her into her dress.

Beautiful!

The bouquets were handmade by the bride, wedding party, and close friends, with peonies are from Pansy’s mom’s garden!

Meanwhile, Chris was with the guys getting ready. Here’s our happy and excited groom:

Three guys who weren’t quite sure how to put on a boutonniere, haha!

Got it!

Ceremony time! Look how happy Tim looks so see his bride walking down the aisle :)

So, these two had a surprise exit…to the STAR WARS THEME. It was awesome, and I love how happy they are!

Since Pansy and Tim opted not to do a first look, we shuttled them away for 10 minutes immediately after the ceremony (more on this a future post), where they really got to bask in the glow of “just married.”

A benefit of two photographers is having different angles of the same moment. Here’s my angle:

Chris’ angle:

LOVE.

We moved to another spot in the garden for some more photos…

…and then this happened! Haha! Yes, Tim started doing curls.

Back to the main garden for family formals…I have to give a shout out to everyone who was there, because family formals took us literally 25 minutes. No one, I mean, NO ONE, got in our way. All the guests stood behind us, taking their own photos. Thank you, considerate guests, from the bottom of our hearts! :)

One good looking bridal party:

I also have to give a huge THANKS to these girls here, Pansy’s high school classmates, and they are the ones who referred Pansy to us. Thank you so much, ladies!

Don’t mess with our brides ;)

The reception was a 9-course (!) Chinese banquet held at the Golden Unicorn Restaurant in Manhattan. The cake, from Momofuku Milk Bar, was amaaaazing!

A tea ceremony to honor their elder:

Traditionally, drinking tea symbolized acceptance into the family, in effect joining the two families together. In addition to red envelopes, the bride and groom were given gold jewelry. Jewelry is usually given to only the bride, so there was heartfelt applause and cheering when Pansy’s dad turned to Tim to put a gold necklace on him. :)

Also per tradition, the bride & groom, with each set of parents, goes around to each table for a toast. The energy in the room is conveyed so well in these photos!

It’s very obvious Pansy & Tim have special relationships with their parents :) The father-daughter dance definitely made me tear up.

I love these two shots of Pansy– ready to get down!

I’ll end with one of my favorite photos from the reception– everyone surrounding the bride and groom on the dance floor!

Vendors:
Hair & makeup: Ai Sakai, Ai Love Hair
Ceremony: Queens Botanical Garden
Officiant: Avi Acharya
Reception: Golden Unicorn Restaurant
Cake: Momofuku Milk Bar
Dress: David’s Bridal

Tagged: Golden Unicorn Restaurant Manhattan, Queens Botanical Garden

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Baby Evelyn: sneak peek

May 7, 2012

Posted in families

Despite the thunderstorm that came out of nowhere on Friday night/Saturday morning, we were able to meet up with Lisa, Ryan, and baby Evelyn at Washington Square West. The skies were cloudy (my favorite!), providing some gorgeous light with soft shadows. Here’s a little preview of their session:

Happy Monday!

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Pansy & Tim: sneak peek

April 30, 2012

Posted in wedding

We left behind an awesome weekend, topped off with Pansy & Tim’s wedding at the Queens Botanical Garden in New York! It was an incredibly beautiful wedding, and the weather was perfect. Here’s a quick sneak peek while they enjoy their honeymoon.

The way they look at each other…gah! Makes my heart melt :)

Happy Monday!

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New England Encounter

April 27, 2012

Posted in personal,travel

Post by Chris…his first one :)

Turning off I-95, we ended up on a few windy back roads on our way to Newport, RI, this past weekend. After passing by trees, a nursery, trees, and more trees, we passed a small building on the side of the road with a simple sign out front advertising “BOOKS, old postcards.” Being a sucker for old books and an even bigger sucker for old postcards, I was tempted to pull right into its parking lot and have a look around. Not wanting to be late, we had to pass it by and continue on to Newport for our assignment that day.

On the way back home, a light rain started to fall when again we passed by unassuming building on the side of the road. We stepped in and were immediately hit with the smell of old books. Musty and earthy, the kind of smell that reminds you of elementary school, card catalogs, and learning about the Dewey Decimal System. Books were everywhere, even stacked up in places that seemed temporary at first but eventually became permanent.

The real find, however, was through a little doorway in the back. Behind the counter, we could see an older gentleman tapping away at his laptop with a small stack of postcards strewn about in front of him. We stepped through into a small curio shop with shelves lined with old Life magazines, model trains, postcards, and other bits of Americana. We pulled up to his counter like patrons at a local bar and he greeted us and asked us what we were interested in. Being the consummate Californian, I asked if he had any old postcards from the Golden State, and sure enough he had 3 binders full of them.

While flipping through the pages, we found out his name was Sandy and that he was a retired educator who found great satisfaction turning his hobby into a business. He also owned the building we were in and the bookstore was its other tenant. His expertise was Rhode Island, and mine California, so in spite of my short 28 years of life, I managed to tell stories about the postcards that came into his collection.

We ended up spending close to an hour looking through old postcards and talking shop. Turns out he was a NY Giants fan before they became my SF Giants, and he then happily sold me his copy of a 1958 Life magazine chronicling their move west. He rang us up for the magazine and a few choice postcards on an antique cash register and with a resounding ring, we reluctantly said our goodbyes and dashed back to the car, still very excited with our finds.

We got back on the road, and past the trees, fields, and nursery, found our way back to the interstate and headed home with our newfound little pieces of history tucked away safely.

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A weekend in Newport and meeting a little bird

April 23, 2012

Posted in families

This (cold, foggy, rainy) weekend, Chris and I made our way up to Newport, RI. We figured that since we went to college in the Newport Beach, CA, area, we should visit its east coast counterpart. Even with the crappy weather, it was a great place to visit.

One of the highlights of our visit, aside from staying at a great B&B, was meeting up with Kerri, her husband Chris, and THEEE cutest little birdy ever, BSparl. (Side note: because of Kerri and Chris’ prominence in their respective careers, they’ve decided to keep their daughter’s name off the interwebz. You can read more here.)

Poor kid was a little confused when we first met up, because there’s her daddy named Chris, and then there’s my Chris. Kerri was teaching her our names, so when she first saw us, she looked at [my] Chris and said, “Daddy!” LOL We dubbed him “Bonus Chris” for the rest of the afternoon, and she had quite the crush on him. :)

Kerri is a diabetes blogger, one of the first I found a few years ago. Since then, I’ve been able to meet her on a number of occasions, and Chris and I are lucky to call her a friend. Spending the afternoon with their family was so much fun, and we got some great photos of BSparl running around and having a blast! Here’s a little preview of their session. Isn’t she beautiful?!

I’m glad we were able to spend some down time this weekend– I start physical therapy this week for a suspected torn rotator cuff. Which, ironically, doesn’t hurt even when I’m taking photos. ;)

Happy Monday everyone!

Tagged: Newport RI family photographer

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Philadelphia family photographer: Baby Aria

April 11, 2012

Posted in families

Recently I found out that if you want to go into labor early, book a maternity session with me ;) I think I’m 3 for 3…I haven’t officially photographed a pregnant belly since late 2008.

Dana originally scheduled a maternity session for her and her husband Aaron, but Aria decided she wanted to be in the photos too. She was born three weeks early, stunning the world with her beautiful blue eyes (and making her daddy completely smitten with her). I spent a couple of hours with them and totally felt the love they have for their little girl.

The famous “heart butt” pants :)

The pic on the right: zzzzzz! I love it when babies fall asleep as they’re eating, haha.

The pic on the left cracks me up! (Btw, how gorgeous is Dana?!)

So. Much. LOVE.

Babies’ facial expressions = priceless.

Happy little family <3

So lemme tell you about Aria’s nursery…Dana and Aaron did an AMAZING job of decorating it! The theme was safari animals, with a special emphasis on giraffes. (Um, I’m not too old for a room like this, am I?!)

The well on the left side was handmade by Aaron’s parents. Originally it was filled with books, but it may be full of toys very soon :)

Dana and Aaron– thanks so much for having me in your home to capture a day in your life with your new bundle of joy! Aria is incredibly lucky to have such loving parents like you two!

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Random Facts, part 2

April 9, 2012

Posted in personal

Happy Easter Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend with family and friends. We’ve been watching Juno and Daisy for the past few days…what do you get when you dogsit a 1-year-old whippet and a 14.5-year-old one? Hilarity, that’s what! Daisy is a HUGE BUNDLE of energy, and Juno kind of just trots around trying to keep up. Juno is deaf so not much phases her, but Daisy is still in that skittish puppy stage, so anything loud makes me jump (like my sneeze…oops).

Anywho, it’s time for another round of random facts!

I can’t stand anything cherry or grape. Blame it on Cherry Grape Dimetapp– who decided that making a CHERRY GRAPE cough syrup was a good idea?!
Strawberry Starbursts are my least favorite, but I’m okay with the cherry ones. Go figure.
Excessive amounts of water on my face freaks me out. I wash my face in really quick spurts…and make sure I’m still breathing in between.
Herb-roasted chicken is one of my favorite weeknight dinners. It’s not quick (takes about an hour), but it’s definitely easy– perfect when I have stuff to do. Let me know if you want the recipe ;)
I studied abroad in Korea in 2005, during my junior year of college. BEST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE, hands down. We even got to take a tour of Panmunjom, which is on the border of North and South Korea. Technically, I was in North Korea for a few minutes. :P
My top three favorite cities are San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City, though I don’t think I could live in any of them. I’m much more comfortable in the ‘burbs.
Bunnies scare the bejeezus out of me…which means most things about Easter scare me.
I don’t like touching my food…and I can pick chicken and oxtails clean off the bone with a spoon and fork. (Evidence here)
Long car rides either a) make me carsick, or b) make me sleepy. Good thing Chris likes to drive!
I’m on the fence about Canon and Nikon (currently using both!).

Have a great Monday!

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