fun in the sun
January 19, 2011 Comments Off
The weather in Irvine has been crazy the last few days. It’s hotter than it was during most days last summer! In honor of our “summer in january” I’m sharing these photos from when it really was summer. I had read about the whole paddle boarding craze in the news and wanted to try it out so Drew and I went with Todd and Ruth to Newport Harbor where we rented a few huge ass boards and have an afternoon of fun. I loved it and can’t wait to do it again next summer!
Since I still had a few shots left on the camera after our adventure, I took along with us when we went to the beach. When I look at the pictures, they are just so quintessentially Southern California :)
A note about the photos: I took these pictures with a waterproof disposable camera (I wanted photos from our adventure but obviously didn’t want to risk my DSLR). Didn’t they turn out great? I love the vintagey kind of look. I had these developed by the people at Richard Photo Lab. They do a lot of professional stuff, but they’re also willing to work with random people with an interest in photography. They’re not cheap, but the quality is good. I only brightened the photos a bit in lightroom, otherwise they’re unchanged.
brunch at Eat Chow
January 16, 2011 Comments Off
It’s no secret that Drew and I love brunch. We have our favorite places, but we also like to try out new ones. This weekend, we decided to go to Eat Chow. We’ve had dinner here that we enjoyed and I wanted to try their brunch menu as well. I like the minimalist decor. The menu had so many tasty sounding dishes but I ended up picking a stand-by for me: eggs benedict. I can’t help it, I love it even though it’s probably the least healthy dish. Drew got the turkey sausage scramble and Kenny also got a benedict. Drew loved his scramble, “very fresh” is how he described it. I also liked my benedict, though I have to say the eggs were overcooked. The flavors were still good and if I wasn’t so super hungry I think I would have just had them cook some new eggs. Still, I feel like Eat Chow is a worthy brunch place, next time I will ask for a re-do if my eggs are overcooked again. Bonus: they serve Kean coffee.
an afternoon at the camp in costa mesa
January 15, 2011 Comments Off
I’ve lived in orange county for more than 3 years, but only recently did I begin to really explore the area. One of the places I’ve come to really enjoy is The Camp in Costa Mesa. I first saw this place a couple of years ago when I was looking for a bike and found a bike shop here, but I didn’t really bother to look around. Later, I found out about Old Vine Cafe, which I still haven’t had dinner at but did enjoy brunch there once. Now, there’s several restaurants include Valhalla Table and a new Italian place called Ecco I want to try. Milk + Honey is one of my new favorite places, the lavender tea latte is delicious and the setting is just so cute! 
Note: While I was walking around the camp, I was stopped by a lady from Greenpeace. I have nothing against greenpeace, although I think some of their methods are over the top, but I dislike being pressured into signing up for something I’m not sure if I even support. She kept trying to convince me to sign up and donate even after I said I was not interested and proceeded to try to guilt me into it by saying if I don’t act then many more whales will die today and how if I research about them online and end up donating online, then that money doesn’t get to go to the local offices.
The thing is, I don’t donate to the salvation army people at the grocery stores, I don’t give any money to the guy outside trader joes raising money for the homeless, and I’m not going to give my information to some random woman working/volunteering for greenpeace. It doesn’t mean I don’t support these groups or what they are advocating for, but I do my research and I will send my check the organizations that I think are doing some great work and deserves my support. I don’t mind the people at the grocery stores because they don’t ever bother me. At most it’s a “hi, have a good day”. This lady from Greenpeace, however, seemed personally insulted when I declined to sign up and tried to make me feel guilty about the whales the Japanese are killing. She should get some training on how not to turn off people who could possibly be supporters.
catching the sunset
January 15, 2011 Comments Off
I love being so close to the water. There’s few things that make me happier than catching the sunset over the ocean and tonight was a pretty one :)
As I was leaving, I saw these flowers and grabbed a few shots. I’m a sucker for those colors. 
happy new year!
January 1, 2011 Comments Off
2010 was an amazing year filled with so many wonderful memories, not the least of which was getting married :). I feel so very lucky to have a wonderful family who loves me and amazing friends. I can only hope 2011 will be as filled with joy and adventure as 2010. One of my goals is to improve my photography and to do so, I’m starting a new daily photo blog. Check it out and let me know what you think!
