My first photo shoot by myself!  Many thanks to my beautiful friend Annie and my wonderful hubby Hun for the constant support. 

I remember a scene in “Ray” that stood out to me. When Ray started losing his vision as a young boy, he tripped and fell. He just sat there helpless on the ground and cried out to his mother for help. His mother just watched him from a distance. At first I thought that was messed up, but then realized why she was doing that. You could see the pain and tears in her eyes as she withheld from running to him. She was doing it for his own good, so he could stand up on his two feet on his own. Because he was losing his vision, he needed to be able to help himself instead of always relying on her to help him. Ray realized that no one was going to help him so he stopped crying and worked to get himself up.

Just like Ray’s mother, I know that God sees us go through hard times – He feels pain to let us even go through them. He doesn’t pull us out of those hard times immediately sometimes so that we can learn and grow from them just like how Ray learned to pick himself up. People might think that God’s not helping them during tough times, but it’s the very opposite. God is always there for us when we seek Him.

It’s been great managing the business, but most recently hubby has been training me to shoot as well.  BTW, I have to add that Hun is one of the all-time greatest teachers – he has so many avenues of talent, and he shares with so many others [past, present, future].  It’s a complicated skill to develop – so many things to remember, but I’m chugging along.  I photographed alongside him during a couple shoots and here are my startups . . .

We just got back from a great trip to DC and NYC!  The highlights of the trip consisted of shooting an engagement session, sightseeing, and LOTS of eating w/friends [see Hun’s site for images].

There was a moment in my life when I was thinking of living in the East Coast [probably NY], but every time I visit [3 times now] I appreciate Seattle more and more.  For those who currently reside in the East Coast, PLEASE don’t take any offense – I’m just stating MY personal preference and experience.  I’ve also lived in 4 different states, so I’m not being partial only to Seattle.  There are definitely great things about the East Coast, but here are my top 10 reasons for why I love Seattle [in no particular order]:

1.  Our parents live here.

2.  Even though it rains, the weather here provides more comfortableness to play sports.

3.  General cost of living is reasonable.

4.  Customer service isn’t the best, but compared to the East Coast, it’s spectacular.  Just one of the many examples – I went to order a drink at a café, but they gave me the run around b/c they didn’t want to make any drinks [they straight up told me that they didn't feel like making drinks].  What in the world?

5.  Cleaner air, cleaner water.

6.  Honking is not one of the constant noises you hear everywhere [unless you drive really bad].

7.  No humidity.  The first time I visited NYC was in the summer, and when we started off the day and stepped out of our hotel, we literally felt like we needed to take another shower.

8.  Traffic isn’t the best, but it doesn’t take almost half the day to get to one place.

9.  Beautiful scenery almost anywhere you look.

10. No Starbucks can make as great a cup as in Seattle.

I think I’m going to make an ‘I heart Seattle’ shirt since there are enough ‘I heart NY’ shirts out there.    Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy visiting.