Yesterday was Diana’s Birthday so I took the day off so we could celebrate.  I believed we were truly blessed because Monday Diana did not feel well at all but in the morning she felt okay for us to try and go out.  Also after we went out I started to feel terrible as well.  But we were lucky enough to have the better part of the day where we both felt okay so we could get out and have a bit of an adventure.  So we dropped off our daughter at Grandma’s and headed out.  Believe it or not that was our first outing together without our daughter since she was born!

As you can see we went to the Chihuly exhibit at the De Young.  It was funny because a few weeks ago Diana was mentioning about how she loved it when we went to Murano, Italy.  She was commenting on how she loved all the glass and art there.  So going to the Chihuly exhibit seemed to be just the ticket.  We both loved it and thought that the glass work was just amazing.  You can see for youself!

If you are in SF and get a chance, check it out.  The exhibit is not that long but admission also includes the rest of the museum as well so you can wander about and make a day of it.  Well I hope it was a Happy Birthday Diana.  Luckily she feels better today but now I am still recovering.  Uhhhhggg..

This past weekend was another busy one.  On Friday I worked with Kristian of KI Photography.  It was my first time shooting with him and I have to say he is a pretty cool guy.  Not that it has anything to do with photography but I feel like we connected in one way because he has a little girl who is just about a month older than my daughter.  So I guess we can commiserate together.  Actually, I think we both feel quite blessed.

Well we were shooting the wedding of Courtney & Kevin up at the Lodge of Sonoma.  Courtney & Kevin are from Texas where they do everything BIG, right?  Well actually they did it right in a big way in that they picked a great destination, nice sized party, and lots of fun guests.  Well I of course still have a bunch of shots to go through but here are a few to wet your whistle.  Congratulations Courtney & Kevin! 

To wrap up a very busy weekend we attended Diana’s friends Serena & Ernest’s son’s Birthday Party in San Mateo.  It was a great time, as it was a nice gathering of friends and their families in a relaxed setting with nice weather.  Even more so it was nice for me since I was not working as was the case the previous couple of days.  But even at that I could not help but snap off a few shots.  Happy Birthday Matthew! 

The Birthday Boy with Mom

My daughter completely facinated with a gatorade.  Who knew it was so interesting.

Auntie Michelle

Yum…Cake!

This past weekend I was off work for 3 days but really was running nonstop.  Friday I second shot Katie and Matt’s Wedding with Brian of Photograph(ng).  It was a beautiful wedding up at Wente Vineyards with some very fun loving relatives and friends (more on that later).

Saturday was my friends Lynn and Gordon’s little girl Macie’s 1st Birthday Party. Boy do they know how to throw a birthday party.  There was a ton of great food…yum!  That made it hard to keep shooting since I was distracted and wanted to eat all the time, but they actually hired me to record this very joyous event so I had to stay focused on what I was doing.  Ha ha…they probably knew if I was not working I would be just sitting there stuffing my face.  Thanks Lynn & Gordon for saving my waistline.  =)

Sunday was Diana’s friend’s little boy Matthew’s Birthday.  That was more relaxing for me as I could just sit and not have to think about shooting.  Although, I could not help myself and had to snap of a few shots.  I’ll post those separately. 

Well good thing I am back at work so I can recover.  =P  Here are a couple quick shots from Katie & Matt’s Wedding and Macie’s B-day.  I will put up the full posts when I get them all done.  Whew…I am going to go rest now.  =)

Here’s the Birthday Girl!

Okay as if kids don’t already want to stick their hands in the cake, Dad had to help out! 

The other day our friend Art made dinner for our Home Group.  Each week we all rotate in providing dinner, it has been something we all really enjoy because first off we all LOVE good food but most importantly it allows us to gather and spend time around the table in fellowship.  Well this week Art worked his magic on the BBQ Grill and made some very good kalbi and grilled veggies.  Gotta love it!  Thanks Art.

As I mentioned in my preview, the week leading up to Rita and Andrew’s wedding was terrible for me.  I even missed out on one of my favorite activities which is playing golf.  So you can imagine my anxiety about not being able to make it to Rita & Andrew’s wedding or not being of any use while there.  But I have to say God is good and I actually felt pretty good. 

The day was a special one in many ways, of course mostly because I was allowed to share in this intimate and momentous event with Rita & Andrew, but also because I was again able to shoot second for my friend Scott Robert.  In addition, I met and was able to work with Jackie who was there helping and observing Scott. 

One of the things I love is when the couple begins to become more comfortable with you and forgets about you.  Those times are when you can begin to see into who they are and how they love one another.  One of my favorite moments was when we were waiting with Andrew.  Scott had finished taking his shots of him and he was waiting for the First Sight Meeting.  During that time Jackie and I tried to keep Andrew loose and in turn were blessed with him sharing how he and Rita met.  It was one of those cute and funny stories that I’m not sure even the movies could come up with. 

Well congratulations Rita & Andrew may your new life be filled with many joys and blessings.  Here are some of my shots.  Of course the set up group stuff was put together by Scott but as always I tried to catch the second angle or frame it differently.

As you can see Andrew was pretty relaxed as he told us his story of how he met Rita.

Andrew is a huge turtle fan so you can guess what one of the themes was. Here is one of the table cards.

Now I know we are parents of a young child.  Not that I did not know before but suddenly our weekends are filled with going to children’s birthday parties.  I guess it is just another stage of life.  Yesterday we attended the Birthday Celebration for EJ and Jadon.  It was at the Nut Tree.  The Nut Tree once was this famous eating/stopping spot between San Francisco and Sacramento.  I believe that in days gone by when travel was all part of the journey and experience, people would make it a point to stop at this establishment to eat, buy gifts, and purchase special treats.  Sadly we now are more interested in getting where we are going and don’t include places like this in our plans. 

Well a number of years ago the Nut Tree closed.  Recently they have built a shopping area and now the Nut Tree is a shopping village but still has a little theme park where their old little railroad still runs. 

The party was fun and there were a number of our friends there with their families.  Happy Birthday EJ and Jadon!  Here are a few shots that I managed to get.

Today I was off work since I work a 9/80 schedule. That means I work 9 hours a day so every other week I get an extra day off.  It is nice to have a weekday off since it seems much easier to go places and do things.  We went over to Cal to get a couple of birthday gifts.  After buying the gifts we went over to one of the grassy areas to let our daughter have some play time and look around.  She ended up having a ball watching people walking by and of course all the Wowo’s, which is Chinese baby talk for dog.  Here are a few shots of her most recent Cal adventure.

Someone is happy with her new friend!

This is over by Doe Library.  This area is so much nicer than when I was there.

Okay, I wasn’t going to put up more of Rita & Andrew’s wedding until I finished it all up but since I got comments from my two loyal readers to see more I will toss up a few more.  I will try and get the rest done so I can do a full post, but for now I hope this suffices.  Thanks for the comments and I would love to hear from any of you who happen by.  Maybe I will find out I actually have 3 or 4 readers.  =)

Last week was a long week for me.  Not because I did a lot of things but because I was ill for most of it.  I started off first feeling bad late Monday afternoon but seemed to get better the next couple of days which was a relief for me as the 4^th was coming up and I had some plans for the long weekend.  Unfortunately, Thursday evening I felt even worse.  I was so bad that I even could not make it out to play golf on Friday morning and had to bail on my friend.  Sorry Alvin!  You know I am sick if I pass on golf!!  What I was even more worried about though, was I was scheduled to shoot Rita and Andrew’s wedding with Scott Robert on Saturday.

So I was praying hard that I would recover so I could make it out and feel well enough to be effective.  I really wanted to make it since Scott is actually one of my good friends and we just have a good time when we are together, but also because as many of you might know he is an awesome photographer.  I learn something every time I go out with him.  Well my prayers were answered and I was feeling pretty decent on Saturday.  So I headed out with Scott and Jackie.  Rita and Andrew’s wedding was a great affair with beautiful venues but also sprinkled with things that just made it fun too! 

To the couple of you out there that actually read my blog, sorry for not posting anything last week, but I will try and get some stuff posted.  In the mean time here are a couple shots of Rita and Andrew.