sam adams brewery

We had such a great time at the Samuel Adams Brewery. The tour was croisin and filled with tons of great beer. The tour guide Nick was funny and at the end of the tour, the gorilla pod came out and grabbed people's attention. We got some great group shots with it!

It was quite a road to the brewery, and here I am, following the map!

we love the gorilla pod!

vintage chairs in the brewery

eating barley

testing beer for clarity...whatever. It tasted good.

Nick, the tour guide

fall colors

Boston is absolutely lovely. I am so happy to see the last of the fall leaves falling. Living in Southern California, we get one season: spring year around at a perfect 70 degrees. Although I'm not complaining by any means, I love watching the changing of the colors ... and my favorite season is Autumn. The yellows, oranges, and browns are so amazing and comforting. I'm always reminded of gingerbread and cinnamon and apple cider when I think of Autumn. I've decided my wedding will be in this color scheme.

Boston wasn't as chilly as I thought. I wore my thick jacket the first day and sweated my way through the Freedom Trail. The next day, I wore the thinner Benetton trench, and that was perfect with my banana fall scarf.

Here are some of my favorites of the autumn colors. Mon chou took these of me when he saw me prancing around, picking up leaves wherever I went. To him, it just means that he has to rake them up because he sees it everyday, but to me, they are just the best thing to prance and take pictures in!

i found this maple leaf outside Sam Adam Brewery
sunset was right behind me, and we took advantage of the light

We went to Bunker Hill to see the monument and obelisk. On our way out, the neighborhood yard had tons of raked leaves. Since they were dry and packed, i laid down and mon chou took these from above.

This series below is in Harvard yard. We walked around the yard, and saw this side walkway that no one was in. I happily took the photo op.

so happy

gathering leaves

he's making fun of me ^_^

this grave is from 1795. isn't that amazing..

packing for boston

I have been working frantically to get things done so that I can leave for Boston tomorrow with less stress. I'm representing Whittier Law School's Vietnamese American Student Bar Association, I'm so excited to go! Although the conference is 5 days long, I'm hoping to get in as much touristy activities as possible and eat tons of seafood!

I'm doing all the packing tonight, but so far, I've just thrown all the stuff I want to take into the suitcase pile, and I'll figure it out when I put them into space bags [when obsessive compulsive disorder takes over]. I also have to fit a suit into my suitcase as well for the conference, which I'm not looking forward to wearing in this cold.

The weather is supposed to range from 49-52 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill. bah. I picked up a Dereon parka from Burlington this week to accommodate that, but I don't like wearing parkas, even in snow. I'm also bringing an orange knit hat from Urban Outfitters with fur lining that I got for my birthday. Hopefully these will be enough to keep me warm on top of the layers I brought, and not make me look like an Asian balloon on the Freedom Trail.

i am 27

i am 27 years old now.

To celebrate this day, my cousins, brothers, and friends all came out for 2 days this past weekend. I had the best time, and I am still reeling from the weekend. We went K1 Racing in Irvine, and then had a huge dinner at Habana in Costa Mesa, and then danced the last bit of the night away at iLounge in Irvine. The next day, we had brunch at Break of Dawn, shopped, and then finished the night at Cafe Artist for some good ole' Viet food.

Here are some of the group pics of the weekend, and some of my favorites...

prom style posing

my amazing girls

me and tien at habana

after dinner madness

grope the birthday girl pose

still can't believe they picked me up. but i'm very glad they did not hold me sideways

hehehehehhehe that's right

@ break of dawn for breakfast!

with deedo too. he didn't get the memo for white

sibling rivalry

yay to everyone that made it to race!!! it was a very painful experience but so incredibly fun

we make you laugh

every time i show this picture, someone snorts in laughter

dia de los muertos with yelp

The Yelp masquerade was held at MoLAA [Museum of Latin American Art] this time, and it was a fab experience. All of these pictures were taken by Sargeant Photography. We had a blast trying different types of tequila and saw a fire dancing show with Sirena Serpentina. The pictures of the fire show are shown in this post with my G10.

left: leanne of sargeant photography. right: michelle

Michelle with the mariachi band

rhett with the pork sandwiches

my yelp balloons

i wonder if he ever would

He gave me a look that I would never forget. Nobody ever looked at me that way. With such desire. Such admiration. Such regret. I wish I could have seen me through his eyes.

I had just returned from seeing him a few days ago. It wasn’t the same. It had become real for me. I realized he knew me. All aspects of me. The good, the bad and the ugly. And he was still sitting there next to me. He was a genuinely good, simple, tender hearted man with flaws and faults I was clearly aware off. And I was still by his side. I wanted him, with his shortcomings and imperfection. All of him. I had never felt my heart to be so fragile and delicate. There was nothing more in this world that I wanted than for him to ask me to stay. To come back. To runaway with him. To be more than a seasonal fling. To be more than just a summer romance. To be his. A real opportunity to give what we have a chance. But he didn’t. And I wonder if he ever would.

Le Love

halloween halloween halloweenie!!

Change of costume for Leanne's party at the Linden House! The theme was darkness, so I had to wear something DARK. I've never been a witch before, and I couldn't resist this hat for $10.

my leanna as absinthe girl

I love this hat, but I can't see from under it!

These guys are the best! The small guy scared the bejeeegies of out me, but he was actually quite nice.

oh absinthe, how we like to taste you


chris is the host of the party...like mickey is the mascot of disneyland
oh wait, he is mickey..


van gogh, twiggy, absinthe, witch

sirena serpentina

The Yelp event at the Museum of Latin American Art [MoLAA] was fantastic. They showcased these belly dancing fire dancers known as Sirena Serpentina and I went into a photographic frenzy. Leanne and Paul of Sargeant Photography were also there taking pictures, but I couldn't help taking so many of my own. Mine are taken on a Canon G10 on ISO of 800 and 1600, and I switched off between AV and P settings. We were all over the floor in the front row, snapping away at the amazing images that these girls made with the fire and their bodies. Here are a few of my favorites...

rockabilly / sailor / skipper / andre agassi

This is actually the first changing for Halloween. We also attended a masquearde ball for Yelp before this, but those pictures are to come when Sargeant Photography posts them. We changed into sailor/rockabilly/skipper/andre agassi wear for the second house party.

I love this image!
Thank god I turned on the flash because the girl taking this picture was quite intoxicated.

Zach and Michelle as the skipper and his first mate! How unbelievably cute did these costumes turn out?!
I'm loving the pipe Zach's sporting, and Michelle's anchor necklace is the perfect finish.

Rhett and and Morgan as Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf. OK, so the timing is off by 10 years, but who's counting? Rhett is tennis player Andre Agassi in the 80s with the spandex shorts and long hair. The hair creeped me out big time, but it was the funniest costume ever. When he bounced out of the bathroom in full gear, I think we all peed our pants laughing. I just realized that we did not take a group shot of all our costumes together ..so I'm sorry to say that you will miss out on seeing Rhett's pink spandex shorts that we were all so privileged to see.

We went to In-n-Out after the masquerade since the food was not so filling there. After stuffing our faces silly with animal style fries, cheeseburgers, and jalapenos, we headed off to the next party! These are some extra shots of Zach and Michelle when we were waiting for our food. I'm running in the background.