I Challenge YOU!

Today I posted this as my FaceBook status: 

I would like to issue a challenge. A challenge to EVERYONE on the west coast who participated in the ‪#‎iceBucketChallenge‬: don't wash your car for 6 months. When it's dusty, tag it with ‪#‎SaveOurWater‬. Don't live on the west coast and want to participate? Don't buy bottled water from companies who use our dwindling resources to ship out of our drought stricken states. ‪#‎SaveCalifornia‬ ‪#‎conserveourwater‬ we have about 1.5 years left of water and then I have no clue where we'll be getting water from. Can't live without a clean car? Cut down to watering your lawn to 3x a week instead of every day. There are so many ways to conserve! Let's help our coast out! West coast is best coast! I know you can do it!

California is facing a severe drought and I'd like to do my part into conserving as much as I can and help raise awareness so that others can conserve as well.  The little things do count!  Any way you can help with this drought, comment below!  Let's work together and SAVE CALIFORNIA! 

I've lived in California for 27 years and this is my home.  I love my home, so I will do what I can to #SaveCA Let's be a #DroughtHero together!

10.05.13

Goodness, I got married a little over 3 months ago, and it's crazy to think that time has flown by so fast!
That day flew by with a blink of an eye, and makes me really wish I had Evie's powers from Out of This World, just so I could stop time and take it all in and not have it so rushed!

The day was perfect.  I was marrying my best friend, it could have been a torrential rain storm or a tornado happening... It still would have been perfect because I knew that that day, I was marrying my other half.  It started off being really windy, which my bridesmaid / hairdresser made sure to SUPER hairspray all of us so that it would last through the wind. However, when I stepped outside in my dress to do my first look, the wind completely died down, and there was not a cloud in the sky.  Thank you universe for having my back!

During the ceremony, I was a complete mess.  I cried I think at every moment.  When I got up to the alter, when we did a special moment of looking at the guests to thank them for being there and sharing this day with us, reading our vows... Oh bother.  Thank goodness for that primer, and makeup spray we lathered our faces with.

Anyhow, the thing people have been waiting for: Pictures.  I've FINALLY gotten around to going through the lot of pictures and compiling them all to one place.

Hope you enjoy, we sure did. =)

Our Wedding Day

Dress: Custom designed by myself and Seo at Shin bu Bridal

Ring: Custom designed by Ricky Zhang

Shoes: Jimmy Choo

Hair: Kristina Amano

Makeup: Samantha Salk

Venue: Calamigos Ranch - The Ranch House

Flowers / Centerpieces: Sweet Emilia Jane

Photographer: Taek Photo

Videographer: Studio205Film

Invitations / Save The Dates / Menus / Programs: Jonathan Brown
Officiant: Kevin Koch
Day of Coordinators: Jeneille Hubert and Jimmy Ancheta

Japan

Back in May, I was fortunate enough to cross off one more country off my bucket list: Japan.  I went with my Fiancé and 2 of my very good friends: Kris and Trang.  

We were only going to be there for a week and we needed to cram as much as possible in that 1 week.  

We met once or twice before our trip and would FaceTime each other and made a Google docs to help us plan our trip.  All in all, it was a jam-packed week.  Below is where we actually went, day by day, and you'll see HOW MUCH of Japan we got to see.  

BTW, if you ever plan a trip to Japan, a must on the list is the Japan Rail Pass.  Totally worth the $347 it costs.  

Kamakura, Tokyo (ALL OVER: Shibuya, Harajuku, Shinigawa, Shinjuku, Ginza, etc), Nagano, Yudanaka (to see the Hot Spring Macaques!), Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe, and back to Tokyo.  I feel like I'm missing a lot of places.  Anyhow.  That's the gist of it!  

My good friend, Kristoffer Clark, is an amazing and talented videographer, and he captured our trip and made a music video.  Click HERE to check it out.  It was an amazing experience.  The Japanese sure know how to treats tourists.  They were so friendly and helpful and humble.  And, have also ruined food experience for me.  I can no longer eat anything without comparing it to Japan.  They take so much care and pride to what they feed you.  

(pictures top to bottom: Osaka (after eating Blow Fish), Osaka castle, and Kyoto to see the Thousand Shrines - which I matched too...)

KITTIES!!!

Two weeks ago today, I was making dinner, and kept hearing this squeaking sound.  I couldn't find the source of it.  I kept thinking it was Ricky's movie he was watching... but he assured me it wasn't.  So I thought nothing of it and kept going about my business on dinner.  But that sound drove me nuts!!! I had to find where it was coming from.  I go outside, and listened for it, and thought it came from over the fence, but couldn't pinpoint the sound.  I then REALLY listened for it, and noticed it wasn't coming from over the fence, but down a ways at the side of our house.  I step closer and closer, and the squeaking sound was getting louder by the step.  I look and see 2 little baby kittens on the ground wailing!  
I immediately ran back inside the house, grabbed a flashlight / lantern, screamed at Ricky to come help me, and grabbed 2 little towels.  He has no idea what was going on, he just saw me panicked like the end of the world was coming, and he's frantically trying to put a t-shirt on and his shoes.  We go outside, and I flash the light towards the kittens, they looked like newborns that were crawling around.  I didn't see any momma cat around, I peered down closer, and noticed why the one kitty was screaming her head off: ants.  The kittens were dumped near a line of ants, and were crawling all over the tinier one.  The other tabby cat looking one was just kinda feeling around, but not really making a sound. 
I scooped them up in the towel, and noticed they still had part of their umbilical cord attached, which means they are less than 4 days old. 

I placed the babies in the bathtub with some warm blankets.  One was still crying, so I ran to the emergency vet hospital to pick up some Kitten Milk Replacement and a bottle.  I came back to feed them and noticed they had fleas all over them as well. I picked off all the fleas, warmed the babies, and then started feeding them.  The runt couldn't stop eating, but the bigger of the 2 wouldn't eat at all.  After giving them some milk, I wrapped the blankets all around them, put them in a box, stuck them outside with a plate of tuna for the mom so she could come back and claim her kitties, but she never did.  =(  So now I've been taking care of them.

Friday came, and sadly, the tabby cat one (the larger one) passed away.  The runt one, we call her Thalia, is thriving.  She still had her umbilical cord, part of the placenta on her (we washed that off), missing still some of her fur, and eyes closed shut w/ her ears tucked down. We took her to the vet and he said she was fine and healthy and about a week old on Wednesday the week after we found her, so I'm guessing she was dumped at about 1 - 2 days old.  She seems like the preemie though, she's about a week behind on everything I've looked at.  Her umbilical cord fell off at about 1.5 weeks (it should be 4 days after birth), and she's 2 weeks now, and her eyes are barely opening now.  Hopefully by this weekend, she should have it somewhat opened.  


I've been feeding her every 2 hours (nights too!) and stimulating her to go poop and pee before, during and after meals.  Then after she eats, I burp her, and then cradle her to sleep before putting her in her nest.  She is seriously spoiled.  Before she eats, we exercise her little legs by letting her crawl around.  She is seriously the cutest little thing.  

So, baby Thalia, please be healthy and strive =)  Momma needs you to be strong!

Scavenger Hunt 4-28-12

Today was an interesting day.  Ricky had reminded me that I needed to get my haircut before we leave for Japan in 2 weeks.  I quickly got ready and headed over to my usual salon and remembered that I didn't make an appointment and was crossing my fingers that they'd have an opening.  Alas, no, there was no opening and she didn't have one the following week either.  Sooo, being the brave soul I am, I decided to just drive around and find a place that accepted walk-ins.  Completely forgot my phone too, so I couldn't even Yelp a place. Dangit! Anyhow, I found a place and got my cut [ which I'm super happy about :) ]

I came home, and noticed a note on the door.  I had to blur out the text, it has email addresses on there I didn't want public! 

Close-up of the Clue #1: 

I go inside, and look for an Apple =)

Ricky decided to plop down a large sum of money on a new 55" 3D internet TV...  so I KNEW the next clue had to be on that thing!  Lo and behold, clue #3 placed on the back =)

We were invited to The Nerdist launch party, and in their swag bag was a box for each of us, Otter Pops!  I so hoped that was the answer, and I was right!

FYI: Clue #4 says "I really wish my fruit didn't taste like battery acid"

When we originally moved to our house, we were SO EXCITED to have an orange tree in our backyard, until we tried the fruit and it was so bitter we spat it back out.  Unfortunately, we found out our tree is a Bitter Orange tree which is used to make marmalades and jam, so yeah, battery acid fruit. 

My dog, Bowie, has a fear of getting baths.  He constantly cleans himself every day so that he will never have to take baths.  It works most of the time, I only have to bathe him once every month or even longer, so I ran to our shower, and this is the clue I found next:

This is actually an inside joke that's not really appropriate to say on here! Hahaha! So I'm just going to post the next clue:

I SUCK AT VIDEO GAMES! My left & right hand can't coordinate w/one another, so I only like shooting games that are on rails so I don't have to move and I can sniper rifle them and shoot the head off, which had me running to the living room again and pull our PS move controller.  

Clue #8 had me go on a website and find it's "Case".  Which was this box in the closet, that had this note inside: 

When I turned around, Ricky was already on one knee with the ring open.  What a super cute and quirky way to propose.  =) I love you Ricky Zhang!  

Pony Project 2012

Pony Project 2012 - I'll be there, will you? 

Hasbro's MY LITTLE PONY Project returns in 2012 with a year-long global celebration of MY LITTLE PONY: Friendship Is Magic, a charitable art exhibition inspired by MY LITTLE PONY. 2012 marks the first world tour of the MY LITTLE PONY Project, engaging talents in Los Angeles, New York, and Tokyo, Japan.

This special exhibition launches in Los Angeles on May 5, 2012 at Toy Art Gallery and will showcase the MY LITTLE PONY Project charity ponies, 18" MY LITTLE PONY figures designed by international fine artists, and MY LITTLE PONY pop-up shop by WeLoveFine. Select shops from Toy Art Gallery to JapanLA, Joyrich, Munky King, and more will host secret pony items, turning Melrose Avenue into "MY LITTLE PONY Avenue". Please join us in celebrating the world of MY LITTLE PONY.

MY LITTLE PONY Project 2012 Los Angeles A charitable art exhibition inspired by MY LITTLE PONY. Exhibition runs: May 5 - May 26, 2012 Opening night: May 5th, 7pm - 11pm  @ Toy Art Gallery 7571 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90046 http://www.toyartgallery.com/ Participating shops: Munky King 7308 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90046 http://www.munkyking.com/ JapanLA 7320 1/2 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90046 http://www.japanla.com/ Joyrich 7700 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90046 http://www.joyrich.com/ De La Barracuda 7769 Melrose Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90046 http://barracudashop.com/ Curated by: Sweet Streets: http://www.sweetstreetsla.com/ Sponsored by: Hasbro http://www.hasbro.com/ MY LITTLE PONY http://www.mylittlepony.com/ Mighty Fine Clothing http://www.welovefine.com/ For all event updates: LIKE Mighty Fine on facebook to get event updates and related news first! http://www.facebook.com/welovefine MY LITTLE PONY and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro. ©2012 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.

Life in Plastic - is NOT fantastic.

So I was browsing around on Facebook, and saw a link a friend posted and HAD to read.  The title, "More Than Mere Magic Mushrooms". 

It talks about a group of Yale researchers who were on an expedition and discovered a fungi that could subsist on polyurethane (polyester: think plastic bottles!) in an airless environment (think landfill!!!).  That is completely amazing!  You know how many tons of plastic we produce a year that ends up in landfills? Plastic doesn't break down. In a thousand years, that loofah you bought to scrub your body will still be around, along with that toothbrush, plastic bottle you drank out of, ballpoint pen, etc.  And.... most of it will end up in our oceans, and I'm sorry, but Shamu and Flipper don't need your old loofah.  

Read the article, its an amazing read and can't believe that our earth is changing and evolving because of us.  However, just because we have a semi-solution to our polyurethane problem doesn't mean that we can continue making more and more because it'll be eaten or whatnot.  We as humans need to understand that we're destroying our home for us, our kids and our future generation by creating more waste to pollute our planet.  

REDUCE

REUSE 

RECYCLE

It's not said that way because it sounds cool and rolls off the ol' tongue, but because its in order:-

Reduce your consumption, Reuse what you can, and Recycle if there's no other option.  

Thanks for the listen! <3