Fashion. Music. Family. Life.
It’s that time of year where my family travels to Las Vegas to spend Thanksgiving with our in-laws. We will be en route as this posts, so here are a few pictures from when the boys and I attended the tree lighting at Fashion Valley last Saturday to kick off this holiday season.
Wishing you all a happy and safe Thanksgiving, cheers!
Dominic digging his holiday hat!
Just a quick little post to wish everyone a Happy Halloween. This year, my son decided he wanted to be Iron Man, so included is a picture of Dominic and my niece Mei-Lin as Wonder Woman, right before they attended a birthday party last weekend. My sister took the picture and I love how the flash reflected off of Dominic’s chest, giving the effect of the Arc Reactor lighting up! The second picture is a throwback picture of me in the very early 90’s at the tender age of 21 or 22, when I was Left Eye of TLC. Have a wonderful and safe night!
As mentioned in my post about Richard Blade last week, we ventured to Anaheim to take Dominic to the Disneyland Resort, which was a present from his grandmother. We did go to Disneyland, but I think we will have to go back when we can spend one entire day at each park, rather than trying to split the time between the two. When Dominic was two, we took him to The Cars 2 Experience (post here), so it was fitting that he wanted to stay in “Radiator Springs” (Cars Land) at California Adventure the entire time. Additionally, it was over 100 degrees the weekend we went, which really made us feel like we wanted to restrict our movement. I don’t think I’ve ever been to Disneyland in that kind of heat ever in my life, even when I went to Disney World back in 2003 during Spring Break when it was humid. One good thing about going when we did was there was never a queue time longer than 30 minutes on anything. To give you an idea of just how easy the crowds were, we were able to get on Pirates of The Caribbean in less than 15 minutes. Not once in my history of going to Disneyland have I queued less than two hours for that ride!
Despite the heat, we had a wonderful time, especially in Cars Land. It was just like walking into the movie, and I fell in love with that place the more we walked around. At dusk, we hurried back to there because a co-worker had informed me that they bring up the neon lights, just like they do in the movie Cars. Like clockwork, right when the sun started to set, Sh-Boom by The Chords came on loudly on the streets of Radiator Springs, and all of the neon lights come on exactly like the movie. Dominic literally jumped out of his own skin when he heard the song, and rushed toward the middle of the street to see all of the lights come on. Cars Land is a must if you are visiting the Disneyland Resort. Seeing Dominic’s reaction, I will have to follow my parents lead and take him there as often as they took me and my sister. Hope you had a great weekend!
I absolutely adored the Cozy Cone. All of the food and drinks came in something cone-shaped!
We met Lightning McQueen, then Mater!
The best ride in Cars Land is Radiator Springs Racers. Scenes from the movie were placed directly into this ride. It was simply amazing!
We ate lunch at Flo’s, which had a wonderful view of the Radiator Springs Racers. We will have to go back and have their “Ugly Crust” pies.
I have been going to Disneyland since before I was born (I’ll have to find the pictures of my pregnant mother at a 1970’s Disneyland). Now, here I am with my own family!
I have always loved Mr. Toad’s Wild ride because there are cars with my name on them!
When we returned to California Adventure, Deon and I rode California Screamin’, then we all rode Toy Story Midway Mania. It was the closest thing to being in a video game!
These last two pictures are of Cars Land at dusk. The video below is from YouTube, showing the neon lights as they come on, with Sh-Boom in the background. Incredibly cool!
Check out my niece, Mei-Lin…how absolutely cool is she? She’s always wearing my shoes and we love to do our nails together. Yes it’s true, she has watched me take many an outfit picture, so I know many of these poses are compliments of moi. But really, she is just a natural. This is the outfit she wore on the first day of school this week (2nd grade), and she is on point with being “Rocker Chic”. Mei-Lin is as smart as she is beautiful, and saying I’m a proud aunt is an understatement.
Outfit – All H&M
Photos by Rholnna Jiao
A few weekends ago, my mom, hubby and I all made the trek to Laguna Beach to witness the nuptials of my cousin Paul to his beautiful bride, Carol. Other than my own wedding, this was one of the most beautiful and fun weddings I have ever been to. It started off quite simple with drinks in the lobby of Seven-Degrees (an “idea lab”) leading to a beautiful ceremony. Once we finished hors d’oeuvre during the cocktail hour, we began dinner with a viewing of their rock-star-like wedding video (edited that day) and ended the night with a sparkler send off and the happy couple racing away in one of their two Lotuses. It was quite the magical evening, by any degree. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well!
Our lovely place cards.
Carol with her father, in a gorgeous gown.
My mom, me and Deon with newlyweds.
Carol and Paul with his parents, grandmother and brother, Patrick.
Us girls and our boys.
Aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, and grandparents.
I loved the lighting, flowers and table settings.
In addition to the TVs throughout the reception, there were these little ornaments with tiny cameras in them, showcasing a slide show of the couple’s engagement photos.
With my hubby.
Fun photos with my cousins.
The couple was given cakes modeled after their cars by their friends, but they also had their traditional wedding cake.
A sparkler send-off, as they drive away in Carol’s white Lotus (the last three photos were taken by my cousin Imelda and her husband Robert).
A very happy anniversary to my loving husband! We have been married 6 years today. Have a great weekend everyone!
(Photo taken at the Alicia Keys concert earlier this year. Post title is from Anniversary by Tony! Toni! Tone!)
This past weekend, Deon, Dominic and I all went to Las Vegas to spend the 4th of July. We try to make to Vegas for the 4th every July, but we missed last year there because it was on a Wednesday and I was watching my days off for my London/Paris trip. This year with plenty of vacation time and a new job, we spent most of last week with the in-laws. I will have a flurry of posts about our stay because we visited a few new places (well, new to me) that were definitely post-worthy. In the meantime, here are a few random pictures and a video of the “Lucky Leprechaun Fountain” firework, lit just for Dominic because his favorite color is green. Hope you had a wonderful 4th of July!
Photo 1: Finally settling in after arriving in Vegas. Photo 2: Gretel in a dress. Not sure how she felt about it…
Happy Fourth of July everyone! Right now, I’m Las Vegas visiting our in-laws, but this is part two of our visit to the 2013 San Diego County Fair, which is all about the food. But I must make special mention of the photo above of Dominic in all of his green glory. He picked his outfit that day, and what you can’t see are his sandals, which also have a touch of neon green (yes, green is his favorite color).
On our first visit, we made a stop at one of our favorite spots, Chicken Charlie’s. They always have some kind of wonderful and interesting deep-fried fare, and this year was no exception. Despite the mixed reviews of the Krispy Kreme Sloppy Joe, I actually liked it. I’m a sucker for savory and sweet, and it delivered. The deep-fried cookie dough was ooey-gooey good, but I could only eat one. I took notes from my sister and her friends, and brought Zip-Lock baggies to take home what we couldn’t finish at the Fair. I then had one of my new fair favorites: fried cheese curds. I know they’re probably best in Wisconsin, but I think the ones I had at the Fair were pretty darned good. Deon and Dominic took it easy with corn dogs and roasted corn. The biggest disappointment was the bacon cotton candy. I was expecting it to be maple flavored, sprinkled with bacon bits. But it was pre-packaged and tasted nothing like bacon. Save your $5 for something better and get a dish with real bacon at Bacon A-Fair. I can’t believe another year of the Fair has come and gone! Thank you for another fun one, San Diego County Fair. We look forward to more fantastic fair goodies next year!
“Aerial” shot of Chicken Charlie’s, my deep-fried goodness destination.
Photo 1: Deep-fried cookie dough; Photo 3: Krispy Kreme Sloppy Joe. Yup, I had them.
Ah cheese curds, how I love thee!
Deon, Dominic and roasted corn, both days!
On the Sky Ride. Our awesome “aerial” shots came as a result of this ride.
Kiddieland
Dear bacon cotton candy: I wanted to love you so much, but I’m sorry it was not to be…
Like our “Freeze Frame” shot, courtesy of Sparkling Ice? We had free tasters, and my favorite was the Black Raspberry and the Pina Colada (click on the picture for their Facebook page).
From Dominic’s point-of-view. It’s his first ever picture, taken all by himself!
Good-bye San Diego County Fair…until next year!
It’s that time again for the San Diego County Fair. I can’t believe it’s already been a year! Because this is the Fourth of July weekend and my family will be travelling to Las Vegas this week, I thought I’d dedicate this week to the Fair, and break our visit into two parts: this post will be about the sights & sounds. We bought the “Unlimited Admission” pass again, but we were able to get it at a group rate. That price brought it down to the regular price for a single day ticket, which paid for itself after our first weekend at the Fair (we went two weekends in a row). The theme this year was “Game On!”, so there were plenty of game related sights all around. The next post will be about, what else, the food! Hope you had a great weekend!
Dominic actually won a coupon for 2 pieces of fruit from 7-11!
Photos 1 & 2: A gigantic rabbit! Photos 3 & 4: Dominic getting to know a few animals.
We have entered “The Fun Zone”
Dominic’s favorite ride was from Michael Jackson’s “Neverland Ranch”, and he was just tall enough to take his first “big boy” ride! In fact, he loved it so much, he insisted to go back on during our second visit.
(This photo is from our second visit.)
“Twist to the left, back to the right. Twist and turn, til you’ve got it right…” Part of the Get The Balance Right video by Depeche Mode is at an amusement park, riding bumper cars (during that very part of the song). On this one, Dominic nearly lost his beloved Rickie Fowler Puma hat!
More photos from day 2: Deon has a love/hate relationship with the “Shooting Star” gallery game. Just a few more shots, and he would have had it!
Whew, thank goodness I wore comfy shoes (thank you Dansko)!
One last photo at the end of our first day at the fair. Part two later this week!
Bonus video: Last year, I wasn’t able to get video coverage of our zip line adventures. This year, I was able to catch Deon doing it, and pulling a “Spider-Man”!
A few weekends ago, the company I work for had a very lovely Family Day for their employees and loved ones, which included a lunch and tickets to four museums of our choice at Balboa Park. I brought my boys with me, and we started the day very early to ensure we could take in as much as we could before Dominic needed a nap. Our day started off at the San Diego Air & Space Museum with a breakfast snack and a tour of the museum before a fabulous lunch (which also included a complimentary space picture, seen above). There was a special exhibition by Ripley’s Believe or Not before we made our way through the rest of the museum. We then headed to the San Diego Automotive Museum and ended our day at The Ruben H. Fleet Science Center, where my mom and dad used to take me and my sister nearly every month when we were kids. My husband and I both brought our cameras, so it took me a bit of time to go through all of the pictures we had for this post. We had such a wonderful time, and I would like to thank my company for a fantastic soiree. Hope you had a great weekend!
The San Diego Air & Space Museum
Just a sampling of the fantastic food at the breakfast and luncheon.
The Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Exhibition. Can you believe those are Jelly Belly jelly beans?!
Very “True Blood”, no?
Impressive to be so close to a piece of history: The Berlin Wall.
Of course, Dominic finds Angry Birds!
The tallest man in the world. We are not even close!
The Air & Space Museum displays. Did you know Duran Duran’s first choice of band name was RAF, which stood for the Royal Air Force?
Check out Dominic with Snoopy and his Sopwith Camel, saving the day against the Red Baron!
When he saw the face painter, Dominic had to get his staple, Spiderman! Then he did what any superhero would do: Jumped on the moon and flew a plane. All in a day’s work!
At The San Diego Automotive Museum. Dominic’s version of what he would fill his garage with.
*sigh* My dream Vespa…
Have DeLorean, will travel…back to the future!
I think the description says it all. Check out the hooka in the front of the car!
The Ruben H. Fleet Science Center. We definitely took in more activities than pictures! The ones included are from my iPhone, except for Dominic in the fire truck at Kid City.