These are all the images that Josh took of me on his different film cameras during spring. I have been incredibly busy with work that I don't remember how spring went by, but thanks to these images I can recall bits and pieces. For example, he found this beautiful floral bush in the neighborhood on his way home from work one day, he came home and asked me to wear something nice so he could shoot me in front of it. 

I think I wore this dress to a festival of some sort, I am thinking Pecan Festival, but to be honest I absolutely have no memory of anything else - My face tells it all on how tired I must have been, I must have been working night shifts during this time. 

This was on mother's day, my coworker invited us to hang out at the farmers market, sadly as soon as we arrived it started pouring rain. We probably stayed there about 5 to 6 minutes before we had to rush back to the car and leave, but it was enough time to buy some yummy tacos and bag of fresh peaches to take to my mom for lunch. 

This must have been in a coffeeshop working on million images that I am supposed to edit lol 

He shot these two in Los Angeles, we were on our way to his grandfather's 100th birthday party and we had a discussion about difference between digital and film photography. He wanted to test the light on film so that's why my eyes are barely open. 

I took these images for a skincare line that reached out to me via instagram. This probably the second time I collaborated with a company and it is always fun. However, this day the light was not cooperating and kept changing every 10 seconds and as a result some of the colors turned out over saturated. Truthfully if I could I wished to redo the shoot, but you know how life is. 

A photoshoot in a new city is probably one of my top favorite things to do while traveling. For that I am so grateful when I get the opportunity as it usually doesn't happen. Although we stayed a day and half in LA for a family gathering, and everything moved so fast in a blur, this 7:00am photoshoot is among one of my top favorites to date. Josh found this cute coffeeshop in Echo Park neighborhood that provided many backdrops in walking distant, Christina like always was absolutely incredible. I edited these images on the Lightroom application on my phone the same day!  I usually edit my own pictures on my iPhone on the go, but this is the first time I edited an actual photoshoot on my phone. I am going to re-edit the images per usual on my computer for comparison. I am excited to see how different they will turn out. 

Here is some behind the scene of the photoshoot and our trip to LA. 

If you have not noticed, I am actively trying to be more proactive with shooting more. On my way home from work I stopped by a park to test out some features I learned on my Canon 6D. I have been exclusively shooting on my 5D Mark II for the past couple years and neglected 6D and even attempted to sell it off. However, recently I've started to appreciate it more. 

This weekend we will be traveling to Lost Angeles for a family gathering. It's Josh's Grandfather's 100th birthday, how amazing is that? We squeezed a photoshoot with Christina on this trip which I am so excited about and will bring on my Canon 6D for the ride. 

I am not much for magazines, but somehow Bella Grace has harped melodies to my heart, it is a charming women magazine printed quarterly, which I find so inspiring with breath-taking photography and uplifting message of self-love and random act of kindness to yourself and others. Just by looking through its pages I can’t help but the desire to grab my camera and head out the door to capture the beauties this world has to offer. I bought the newest copy while I am planning my birthday weekend. This year for the first time in many years I am staying in town. I usually like to travel on my birthday and spend the day exploring new places, however this year is different, so I am using the magazine for ideas on spending my special day to the fullest here in town.

I bought new plants for the house! The story is more like last year I bought a rattan straw basket from Ikea but kept storing other things in it . . since I don’t have a green thumb I kept waiting and researching for the most easy and manageable plant I could find which it turned out to be Snake Plant! This past weekend we went to Ikea and sadly they didn’t have a Snake Plant but they had this cute Cascade Palm which I could not resist not to buy! So while at it I bought this white pot as well for it to place them both in the said rattan basket, just to find out the white pot was too small for the palm as it needed a much larger pot. So the next day I went to Home Depot and bought a larger pot for the palm and then also bought a snake plant for the white pot. My new plan was to put the white pot with the snake plant in the rattan basket! Well that didn’t work out, because turned out the snake plant is super tiny and won’t even show in the basket except for like half an inch of its top! Pretty much the way it goes I'll be building a forest in the house trying to find a plant that fits that rattan basket. So now I am planning to take the basket with me literally to Green house trying to find something that actually fits.

I made these Canelés for the first time following this recipe  and I have to say except for having to wait 24 hours for the batter to get ready, everything else in the process was pretty straight forward. I changed some of the ingredients and instructions so this is for me so next time I am making it I have a reference. 

INGREDIENTS

• 3 cups milk
• vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter 
• 1 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup flour
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 eggs
• 3 Tablespoons dark rum

INSTRUCTIONS

1. In a saucepan, mixed 3 cups of milk, vanilla extract until the milk reached the scalding point over medium high heat, then remove the pan from the heat and added the 3 /4 cup unsalted butter. Set aside to cool.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together 1 cup of sugar and 2/3 cup flour.
   
3. In a separate small bowl, whisk together 1 egg yolk, 2 whole eggs and 3 tablespoon dark rum.
   
4. Then whisk the egg mixture into the sugar and flour mixture, then whisk in the lukewarm milk mixture. Strain into a container; cover and refrigerate for at least 12 hours and up to 48 hours, the flavors will develop as the mixture sits.
5. The next day, remove the batter from the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before baking it.
6. Butter the molds, fill each mold almost to the top. Place the molds on the middle rack of your preheated oven.
7. Bake them for 15 minutes at 450F then lower the temperature to 375F and bake for an additional 45 minutes for copper molds or 40 minutes for silicone molds. 
8. Let cool slightly, to remove them from copper molds, turn each one over with a pair of tongs and tap until they falls out. If difficult to remove, use a pairing knife to help guide it out. Serve warm.

First off before I forget let me mention that I sewed that skirt all by myself!  In fact I made it for the trip to Paris, however with 30 degree weather it was absolutely no question as to why I never got to wear it once there. Josh took these pictures on his film camera on Memorial day which fell on a Monday. We were so busy with life that didn't even notice Monday was a holiday, so when it came around we had absolutely no plans for the long weekend. That morning when we woke up, we headed out to a new coffeeshop Josh wanted to show me. After we got the drinks, he opened the trunk and handed me my longboard (we always carry our skateboard in his car) and we got to test shots on his film camera. I have been long boarding for couple years now, but these are the first pictures I have taken with the long board so I cherish them very much. My longboard and I have been through so much together over the years and it has been a very faithful companion. 

Here is a vlog that I put together of some footages from the behind the scenes and how our day went that day

This was the second time I made a bridal bouquet, the first round I was very timid about the process so I ended up with a tiny little flower bouquet. Since then I kept wanting to make a large bouquet and when opportunity arose for a collaboration bridal shoot I went all for it. I picked up the flowers on my way to the salon from Trader Joes (costed about $40) and I created the bouquet right in the hair salon while the model was getting her hair done. Of course I took the flowers home after the photoshoot hoping I could do a second shoot with it, but life got in the way so they ended up saying their farewell spending their last days looking through the kitchen window. 

Making madeleines actually turned out one the easiest pastries I have baked so far. I found this simple recipe on a website called Epicurious, but to be honest if I were to make it again I will look for a more elaborative recipe that includes nuts, coconut flake of some sort etc since with every bite it left me desiring for something to chew on or another layer of something else to go along with it. Also my batch almost burnt which for all I know I cannot blame the recipe for, rather our out of wack oven with uneven temperature which is still on the to-do-list, but for now here is the recipe that I tried making these madeleines.