Finally! An Update!

{In which I catch up on on five-and-a-half months of not blogging}

April Fools! There's actually no update.

Just kidding. (Though I'm sure you wouldn't have been surprised if that were the case.)

So... I have kind of been failing at this blogging thing. I'm always super conflicted when it comes to my blog because I have TONS of gorgeous photos to share, but then because there are so many I get overwhelmed and I fall behind and the guilt is too much and then I go LA LA LA I'M IGNORING MY BLOG.

But here I am attempting to give you a peek of what I've been doing when I haven't been blogging. It almost killed me to choose just ONE photo per month, but I knew I'd never get anything posted otherwise. In the future, I'd like to share more photos if possible, but considering my record... yeah. Don't hold your breath.

Christine

{In which I make you all insanely jealous because my friend is THAT gorgeous}

So, way back in May (yes I know how behind I am with photos), Christine came to Taiwan for a family friend's wedding. And I was SOOOO EXCITED to get to see her! :D We bought a ton of Taiwanese snacks at 7-11 and had a fabulous sleepover filled with lots and lots of girl talk. And then the next day we spent the morning primping and then had photo shoots around Taipei. :P This is one of my favorites:

I love having Christine around — not only is she fun and free-spirited and adorable and kind, she's also a wonderful friend and lovely model (her eyes are beautiful).

SYS Memorial with Victoria

{In which we have way too much fun with an umbrella}

So after brunch at Omelet to Go, Victoria bought an umbrella and we strolled through the grounds of Sun Yat-Sen Memorial to talk and take pictures.

Omelet to Go

{In which you get to see my Chinese handwriting, which looks worse than that of Taiwanese kindergartners)

Way back in April, my high school friend Victoria and I went to Omelet to Go for brunch (except we didn't get it to go, haha). It was a really cute place near my uncle's apartment and the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Dear Daddy,

Happy birthday! Wish I could be there to celebrate with you, but I'm sending lots of love from Taiwan.

Thanks for being so encouraging and for always believing in me. Your passion for violins inspires me to find my dream and make it a reality too. I know my dream might not match up with what you've envisioned for me, but I'm grateful that you support my pursuits nevertheless. Thank you for working so hard to provide for our family. Here's to many more years of health and happiness.

Hope you have a wonderful day today. You're a great dad and I love you!

(My dad and me June 2010)

(My dad as a stylish twenty-something :D)

with love,

linda

Wanhua and Monga

{In which I visit Wanhua District with John and Mavis}

After going to the Flora Expo with John, his friend Mavis arrived and took us to historical 萬華區 (Wanhua District), the oldest district in Taipei.

Taipei Flora Expo Part II

{In which John and I are interviewed by a Taiwanese reporter}

Continued from Taipei Flora Expo Part I.

The photos above are from the Korean pavilion. For some reason the Taiwanese seem to hold some prejudice against Koreans. While we were there, a reporter and cameraman from Taiwanese TV station 民視 approached us (well, John, actually). Probably because there was no one else in the area.

Taipei Flora Expo Part I

{In which John and I go to the Flora Expo, inadvertently annoy a volunteer, and learn to pose like Taiwanese students}

So like, I was actually not planning on going to the Taipei International Flora Exposition.

I'd seen the ads everywhere since I arrived, but it didn't sound all that interesting to me. I don't like flowers enough to want to stand in lines to look at them (although I wouldn't mind if you want to buy me some! :P). My parents went to the Expo when they were in Taiwan over Thanksgiving break and weren't exactly impressed, so I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything. Plus, I already got a photo with the entrance sign — good enough for me!

Lunch with the Newlyweds

{In which Brandon and Phoebe wear super sweet matching shirts}

Since I didn't have work and Dawson wasn't schedule to fly out until that night, we had lunch with Brandon and Phoebe on 2/28. Due to some miscommunication, we ended up waiting at the original 鼎泰豐 (Din Tai Fung) for Brandon's parents when they'd gone to one of the other branches. While we waited, Phoebe looked through all the photos I took at the wedding, and then we took some more new ones.

Dawson in Taipei

{In which I explore Taipei with Dawson}

I woke up super late the day after the wedding, then went over to the hotel where everyone was staying and found Dawson. We ate lunch and then somehow stumbled into the 2/28 Memorial Peace garden (I thought CKS Memorial was one stop from Taipei Main, but it turned out to be two. Oops). But it was really pretty so we took a few photos before we left.

In Which I Give in to Vanity

That's me on the day of the wedding, which was held at Alethia University. Yes, you probably saw these on Facebook. Whatever, just humor me (and my vanity :P).

Since I shared my worries about what to wear to the wedding, I thought it only fair to show what I actually wore. (No tattooing was involved.) I bought this dress two days before the wedding at 五分埔 (Wufenpu). The initial quote was NT$880, but I charmed the salesman into selling it to me for NT$700. Not bad, huh? :D

Oh, and here's a gchat conversation I had with my friend about the first photo, which she saw on Picasa.

Annie: I like the picture where the bride's hair glistened in the sun. Or not the bride.

Me: LOL that's not the bride.

Annie: The girl. Whatever.

Me: Um... that would be ME.

Annie: Wait, what?

Me: Yeah, I'm serious.

Annie: OMG THAT IS YOU AHAHAHAHAHAHAH I thought she looked familiar...

Yeah, don't know if that's a good thing or not. :P

A big thank-you to Dawson, who took the photos for me! :)

with love,

linda

My First Stint as an Amateur Wedding Photographer

{In which I think about how to improve as a photographer}

This post is an extremely long reflection and analysis of the process of getting those photos done — it's really a way for me organize my thoughts about what I did and how to improve next time, so feel free to skip if it doesn't interest you. And if you haven't already, feel free to check out the photos on Picasa or on Facebook!

Exquisite

{In which 偉哲 continues to be ridiculously photogenic}

After the Gauguin exhibit, I had dinner at 西門町 (Ximending) with 偉哲 at the Pasta Bar. It was a cute place — I adored the salt and pepper shakers! (Don't you love how the photos turned out?) The table is tiny, but it felt intimate rather than cramped. "It's small but — how do you say 精緻 in English? —- exquisite," 偉哲 commented. I was impressed; I would not have been able to translate the same word from English to Chinese so effortlessly.

Last Saturday was amazing, and I'm glad I have these photos to remember it by. Thank you, 偉哲, for an exquisite evening. :)

A Date with Gauguin

(In which 偉哲 and I have an awesome time at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum and 西門町}

{Preamble, feel free to skip}

Happy 元宵節 (Yuanxiao Jie, aka Lantern Festival)! It's the last day of the Chinese New Year holiday, and it is traditional to eat 湯圓 (tangyuan, glutinous rice balls) on this day. My coworkers invited me to eat some with them, and both the sweet ones and the savory ones were delicious!

Roaming Taipei with Jack and Patrick

{In which we take photos all over Taipei}

February is shaping up to be a super packed month for me, what with New Years festivities, NTHU friends on winter break, and Brandon and Phoebe's wedding in two weeks (!!). I have tons and tons of photos and am slowly sorting/processing them, and wow it's a lot more time-consuming than I expected. Most of my posts in the near future will be photo diaries. But yeah, lots of exciting adventures! :D

Last Monday was my last day of break before returning to work, so Patrick came up from Taichung and hung out with Jack and me for a whole day. Our first stop was Jack's house, where Jack taught Patrick to fly a plane with the flight simulator while I napped or photographed stuff in Jack's room. Afterward, we went to 碧潭 (Bitan) for a stroll and for lunch before going to 美麗華 (Miramar) to ride the ferris wheel. After that, we snapped some photos of the 花博 (Flora Expo) entrance on our way to 士林夜市 (Shilin Night Market) for dinner and shopping. (It was super crowded there.) It was an awesome day of hanging out and running all over Taipei! Thanks for being great company, Jack and Patrick. :)

(I'm playing around with post-processing so that's why some of the photos look funky... I'm just starting out so I'm not great at it but I have lots of fun experimenting!)

New Year's Eve Film Shoot

{In which I make a fool out of myself as an extra at a film shoot}

A few of us from Berkeley ICA decided to meet up over winter break in SoCal, so on New Year's Eve we had our mini-reunion lunch on Abbot Kinney in Venice Beach. Christine's friend had a beach house in the area and needed extras for the web movie they were filming there, and Christine invited us to join her as an extra. So Robert, Tarn (Christine's friend from Thailand), and I tagged along and got to be movie extras for the rest of the afternoon.