List of Loves (LoL)

• 30 Rock - I'm seriously in love with Tina Fey. Seriously. If I could craft such a ridiculously hilarious and random comedy, I'd die a happy woman.
  
• Netflix - Thank you for enabling my entertainment consumption for $8.99/month. I. Love. You. Always have, always will.
• Borrowing books - Once you're done, you can give them back where they came from without cluttering the limited bookshelf space. So, thanks for letting me borrow books, Cat. Next up: San Francisco Public Library. I plan on finally applying for a library card there (I already have library cards in 3 other cities).

Three Generations + Senior Portraits | San Francisco

It's her last year at home before she heads off to college. And since I've gone through it, I fully grasp just how momentous this year is.

So she and her dad got some portraits taken around their home, and even visited grandma to get some photos in. You'd be surprised how much can be photographed within an hour.

I absolutely loved getting to know everyone during our session. It's such an honor to be welcomed in to someone's home - and life - to document it as you see it. And what I see is happiness, joy, and a lot of love. And smiles. There are always smiles.

Check out more images on my Facebook.

Sister & Brother Portraits | San Francisco

She's turning 3, he's just 2 months-plus. The relationship is still developing and, soon enough, he'll be able to stand his own ground. Until then, he'll continue to look at her with a mixture of curiosity and, let's be honest, concern. And worry.

They totally remind me of my older brother's kids - same age difference and gender dynamics. Even the girls are rather similar: both very smart and independent girls. (Dude, my niece was able to say "cabernet sauvignon" at age 2! Which probably also says something about her parents' love of fermented grapes....)

I photographed these cuties on Saturday at their home, which was definitely a very comfortable, safe, and fun environment for them. I love these sessions because the locale really reflects the kids' relationships as well. Plus the weather outside can be chilly, so it's nice to stay indoors, right? (;

Check out a few more images on my Facebook.

Travels: Coffee & Colombia

I left SFO on Sunday, 9/27 to catch a red-eye to JFK (New York). From New York, I flew to Orlando, had a salad from Au Bon Pain, and caught my flight to Bogota, Colombia.

I was the first one on the plane. That warranted a celebratory photo! The flight itself was packed and it was noticeably Colombian, and not American. A few jetBlue flights before, there was a woman who was struggling to put her luggage away overhead of a gentleman who was already seated. Don't get me wrong - I'm an advocate of packing only what you can carry but, sometimes that doesn't always happen. I couldn't help her because, well, I've a huge height disadvantage. All the while I was just hoping that he would offer to help. FINALLY he did. On the flight from Orlando to Colombia, people were just all too eager to help one another. And they spoke to each other. It was a refreshing change.

I got in to Bogota late at night and had no real clue how to get to my hostel, nor where it was located in relation to the airport and the rest of the city. Yeah, great job of being prepared on my part. I ended up catching a cab instead of the bus as previously planned. (1) My Spanish is quite rusty. (2) Three different people told me that the area I was going was "muy malo" (very bad). Umm, OK.

Onward I went.

I settled into the hostel, which I really liked and highly recommend if you're in the area. The next day, I got to see the Candeleria, old-city part of Bogota.

The highlights for me: colonial architecture, amazing typeface (seriously - I'm a typeface whore), and graffiti (again, seriously). Check 'em out!

Current Crush List

1. Dr. Owen Hunt (played by Kevin McKidd), bad-ass trauma surgeon on Grey's Anatomy. So what if my friend Eva thinks that he is "uggs" (I can see how a lot of people can find him unattractive)? But he stapled his own wound together. Color me impressed!
   
2. Sergio Cilli from infoMania. Sample clips of him hatin' on "rock", R&B, hip-hop, and rap. Note: I know all of these songs and like quite a few of them, actually, but I also know they're quite objectively bad. Therefore I won't defend my music taste. It is what it is.
   
3. Michael Rady as uber-geek Max Tyler on the show Greek. Apparently he was also in both Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movies as the Greek boy. Super-adorable. Now he's on the new Melrose Place, but I just can't force myself to watch it (I tried).
4. + 5. Pam & Jim from The Office. I'll admit it - their wedding brought me to tears. In case you still haven't seen the episode, here's the last scene. It's kind of ridiculously sweet and reinforces my belief that it's less about how you get married and more about finding that person to spend the rest of your life with.

The 85% Theory

I finished reading Ramit Sethi's I Will Teach You To Be Rich in Colombia (his blog | Amazon). I really recommend the book for its core demographics: the 20-somethings who aren't completely sure what they're doing with their money.

The thing I love most about Ramit's book is his 85% theory in that, he recommends doing something - anything in the right direction - is far better than to do nothing at all while you research things to its death. Basically, it's a solution for those who are often struck with analysis paralysis. His plans may not be perfect, but at least they'll motivate you to start saving and automating. 85% is a lot better than 0%. (;

Brilliance!

I saw Ashleigh Brilliant's Potshot cards today and thought they were pretty genius (fair warning: her site is old school, web 0.5; and I'm sorry for being a web-snob). Some of my favorites include:

• You were meant for me. Perhaps as a punishment.
• Isn't it a nice coincidence that you and I are both alive at the same time?
• One of my favorite places in the world is wherever you are.

Too cute. Check out some more random sample postcard lines!

Hello, Lucy!

Just wanted to share a picture of Miss Lucy, who is a maltese-poodle-yorkie mix (...I'm not sure if I've got the breeds right....!!! But yeah, she's a mutt.). She's quite intelligent. And those long legs enable her to stay down in the most adorable manner ever. I'll let you be the judge:

www.chungnguyen.com

Airport - Slash - Hotel

I'm sure there are a lot of road warriors who sleep at airports all the time. Despite my economical travel-methods, I've only slept at 3 airports overnight. Twice because my flight the next day is at an early hour and I (1) don't want to miss the flight and (2) don't want to spend that much on hotel just to leave at 4 AM and (3) don't want to pay super-high charges for taxi at off-hours to the airport.

It's economical to sleep at the airport.

It's also quite uncomfortable.

I've yet to master the art of sleeping at airports without waking up every 20 minutes and I'm convinced that airport designers make the chairs outside of the security areas extra hard as to discourage people from sleeping there. Plan - foiled!

Here they are, the list of the three slept-at airports:

• London Luton (June 2005) - I caught a Ryan Air flight from Venice and got in at around 2AM or so (I pretty much passed out on the plane and only woke briefly due to bounce-out-of-your-seat turbulence). A group of us ended up sleeping on the floor (yes, the floor) with our luggage. Thank goodness the floors were clean at least. The next morning, I had to haul-butt to catch a bus to Heathrow to catch my flight home.
• Singapore Changi (August 2009) - My flight to Hong Kong was at 7AM and, let's face it, I didn't want to risk not waking up at 4AM and missing my flight or having to catch a relatively pricey taxi to the airport when the train was so cheap and fast. The sad thing is, the accommodations on the other side of security was so awesome, plus, they had wifi. I managed to catch up on sleep on the flight, though. Not even sure if I was awake for any of it....
• Finally, El Dorado International in Bogota, Colombia (October 2009) - I killed many hours in the domestic terminal before they kicked me out. Then I tried at least 5 different chair/luggage combination - all to no avail. I did, however, catch Moulin Rouge in Spanish (it still sucks - sorry). The thing that really struck me about this airport was its insane (INSANE!) security measures once you try to board your plane. Security is fine enough. Customs was pretty chill. But then they rummage through all of your carry-on personal items and even smell it all. I'm hoping they're looking for cocaine, otherwise the sniff-test would just be weird, right? It's a pain for me because I checked no luggage. I only had a backpack with all my belongings and the thing had 6 zipper compartments. (Yes, I'm the one who held up the line. Sorry!) But I got through and on the plane. So horray for that!

I think after these experiences, I'll learn to book my flights at better, more considerate times so that I don't have to feel like sleeping at an airport is a viable option. Although, if I had to sleep at an airport in the near future, I'd definitely pick Terminal 5 at JFK. JetBlue for the win!

My Favorite Ramen Joint* - Ramen House Ryowa

*...in Mountain View, California, not ever.

Steamy!

Ex-work-hubby and I used to frequent this place a lot so it holds a lot of good, noodley memories. Plus, there's kimchi readily accessible. WHAT MORE CAN YOU ASK FOR!?! :-D

Lunch special consists of gyoza, a bowl of ramen, plus a small bowl of fried rice. All good on their own, but superb when together on one tray. Yum. Yum. Yum.

Check out the fat in that broth. Delish!