Crazy November

What a busy month! Holiday portrait sessions and different celebrations made November go lightning fast for me. That's why this post never got published until today and it was secretly sitting as a draft for weeks. But here's what I had been up to the past couple of weeks.

I turned 28 (Ugh! why do we get old so fast?) I wish I took more pictures but as I'm getting older I'm becoming more camera-shy :P, so I just took (or had Brandon take) one of me...

...and one of my food. Hehe!

Thanksgiving

Black Friday. I was in Tampa that day because...

...I had to renew my passport there the day after. This is me at the place where I renewed my passport. Brandon doesn't like taking pictures when other people are watching (actually he doesn't like taking pictures at all, I just force him everytime) so we went to the back of the building just for this one.

4 years and counting

For this month's entry, here are some photos from our 4th wedding anniversary on 8.15.11

We went on a dinner cruise which was lovely except for the ticket price and the "baby servings" of food, which was disappointing because the food was delish, and we wanted at least 5 more servings of each.


Brandon, eating as always. :D


He took this one. :)


Two things that take my breath away: my husband and sunset.


To add humor, here's a picture that John Freida could use as an ad for their anti-frizz (more like anti-crazy hair) products. Where was my ponytail when I needed it most? To the stranger who was sweet enough to offer to take this picture of us, if Google happened to send you to my blog and you're reading this post, THANK YOU for the favor...


...and to the waitress who took a few seconds of her busy working hours to take this shot.


And lastly, thank you sunset for making the night more romantic than it already was. We felt like Jack and Rose while standing on the deck and watching you fade away. Ha!

Visiting the Sunshine State Part 4: Into Parenthood

This is the last part.

Click here for Part 1
Click here for Part 2
Click here for Part 3

Brandon and I don't really have a timeline on when to have our first baby. It's not that we don't want one, we just don't feel ready. Well, actually Brandon is ok about having one soon but it's me who always say no. Before I got married, I used to think of bearing a child immediately after the wedding, like within a year. Maybe because I grew up in a country where babies come either before marriage or shortly after. Living in the USA and seeing the Americans' way of life definitely gave me a better understanding on a lot of things, parenthood being one of them. I feel like I woke up to the reality that being a mom is a lifetime responsibility, and without a doubt the biggest responsibility a woman can place on her hands. And I don't want to be faced with that responsibility financially, emotionally, mentally, and physically unprepared.

Like I mentioned in part 2, Brandon's younger sister has a baby boy. He is sooo adorable that I couldn't get enough of him. Here are few pictures of me taking care of Parker while his mom was at work. I was his nanny for the whole day that day. I fed him, changed his diapers, played with him, hushed him when he cried, and put him to sleep...in other words, I practiced mothering with him that day. Honestly, it was more fun than stressful.





These 2 were taken after doing the family pictures (see part 2). Don't we look cute as a family? :D



One day, you'll see me and Brandon on this blog holding our own baby/ies. I promise! :P

Visiting the Sunshine State Part 3: Beauty and the Beach

Part 1 is here.
Part 2 is here.

I couldn't think of any other title so if you wanna laugh at the "beauty" part, go ahead! :D

It was either gloomy or rainy during the first 4 days since we got to Gulf Breeze so we mostly stayed at home. I thought it would stay like that for the rest of our vacation days and I was starting to get frustrated. Fortunately, the sun came out on the 5th day so we did the family pictures in the afternoon (see part 2), and the next day Brandon and I went to Pensacola Beach resort. We heard rumors that the beach would be closed for the summer due to the oil spill problem in the gulf coast. That would suck for beach goers and more for the businesses on the resort.



We wanted to go swimming but the water was a little too chilly since it had been raining the past days. The waves were big that the beach warned the non-swimmers to stay on the shore. I know how to swim, I just can't survive swimming too far and I haven't gone deep either, so I guess that makes me a non-swimmer, haha. Brandon wouldn't let me swim even a few feet away because according to him several tourists already died on this beach for not following the beach warnings. Sure daddy, if you say so, :D.



We just laid on the sand for a little more than an hour tanning and enjoying the breeze.


Then we built sand castle.

I couldn't get my empire to look like Brandon's :P

We fixed the fences like 4 times because the waves kept washing them out.

We didn't have a beach umbrella and we felt like fishes being dried on the shore. Brandon didn't bring sunglasses either, and at 12 p.m., the sun was blinding. So we had to go home early.

I loved seeing my skin uniformly dark again (except for the tan lines from the bikini) after the long winter in Utah. Brandon never gets dark unlike his siblings. If he lays out in the sun for hours, he'll just get burned but his color will look almost exactly the same.

We went to a sushi bar slash Chinese buffet restaurant for dinner. The place just recently opened and I loved how clean it was inside. The foods were delish too. We didn't order sushi. Brandon never eats sea foods and I haven't tried sushi before and I don't think I ever will. I'm just not very experimental when it comes to food.

round 1

round 2

I usually eat a lot more than this at a buffet. I just wasn't hungry because we ate some chips at the beach.

And speaking of Chinese restaurant, my cookie fortunes are piling up. I've lost some of them but I have the rest, I just need to find where they are, haha. I'll post 'em all here later.

Click here to read Part 4, the last part.

Visiting the Sunshine State Part 2: Meet the Crew

To read Part 1, click here.

This is my U.S. family. Brandon has 2 sisters and a brother. Each member has a very strong relationship with one another, and they're all very sweet and loving people. I am one of those immigrants who are in good hands and very thankful for that.

A little information about the Carree's. Brandon's dad works for B.P. America and his mom is a SAHM. Brittany, the younger sister (curly red hair, red shirt) is studying cosmetology and has a stinkin' cute boy, Parker. She used to do modelling before she had a baby. Brianne, the youngest girl (long blonde hair, blue shirt) is a junior in high school. Bryce, the youngest kid in the family is 9. He's the dad's buddy. Brandon and Bryce have almost the same personality. They're both quiet and video game addicts. At 9, Bryce already has his own PS3!

This greeted us at the doorstep when we got to my in-laws house in Gulf Breeze.



the dudes

the chickas


Some pictures of just me and B


My mother-in-law was taking pictures of Brit and Parker at the same time that I took this one, that's why they're not looking at my camera.

Bryce, being an uncle :)


These 2 always remind me of my own sisters. It's fun having other girls in the family! :)

After the family pictures, we ate dinner at a sea food restaurant on Pensacola Beach. I think this photo looks funny. I was taking a picture of the lemonade. Brandon's mom noticed it and tried to pose.

I'm addicted to lemonades. Raspberry or plain, pour some for me please!

Caught in the act: Husband stealing a sip of his wife's drink!...then pretends like he did nothing. Haha! Brandon and I often act like little kids around each other such as I don't let him eat my food or drink my beverage, then he steals and eats/drinks it whenever he gets the chance to, just to tease me.

Pirates :)


Here are 2 more members of the family that I want you to meet too.

This is Sammy. She's the oldest cat I've ever met. Sammy has been with the family since my husband was little and he told me that she's about 16 years old.

And this is Micha (pron: Mai-kah), a male Persian. I'm actually sad while writing this part. Micha is a very sweet cat. I fell in love with him quickly. In fact, I like him better than my own cat, Wyatt. He's only 2 years old. The day that we left Gulf Breeze, I noticed that Micha's breathing was fast. He also seemed to be weak. He was lying on the floor most of the time and only got up when I hinted him to, but would lie back down right away. So I told Brandon about my observation with Micha and he relayed it to his mom. We were on the plane on our way back to SLC when we got a text from Brandon's mom informing us that they took Micha to the vet. At first the vet thought the cat had asthma so they gave him oxygen. But the vet later found a worse diagnosis, Micha had a heart failure and required surgery. This meant costing my parents-in-law thousands of dollars. So they just resorted to the option of putting him to sleep. Micha died the night that we got home. This news made me cry. I just didn't want him to die that early. This is the reason why sometimes I'm hesitant of owning another pet. I fear of losing them one day.

To read Part 3, click here.

Visiting the Sunshine State Part 1: The Trip

Ok, I'm back.

Brandon and I went on a 7-day vacation to Florida and had a great time, which is the reason why I haven't posted anything here or on my photography blog in a while. Brandon is originally from FL and I lived there for about a year. We left Florida in August 2008, so it's been almost 2 years. It was nice to see Pensacola Beach again and all those lovely palm trees, and of course it was also great to see and spend time with my in-laws. I couldn't help but notice how different Utah is from Florida and vice versa. Florida is flat, Utah is mountainous. Florida is green, Utah is...should I say brown? Florida is humid, Utah is dry. Florida has beautiful beaches while Utah has breath-takingly gorgeous giant rocky mountains. Utah has that outdoorsy, country feel while Florida is laid-back. I don't know how else to explain my comparison but I'm lucky for having had the opportunity to live in these lovely states.

As you can read in the title, this is the first part of the whole Florida vacation. I took too many pictures that if I put all of them together in one post, it'd look like an album. So I have to blog about 'em separately.

Part 1 is all about our flight. We flew with Delta from Salt Lake to Denver, Denver to Memphis, then Memphis to Pensacola. Speaking of flying, this trip helped me overcome my fear of height. Thirty (30) feet above the ground or higher gives me that crazy feeling in my stomach. I remember when Brandon and I flew from Tampa to Pensacola, the 45-minute ride seemed like forever to me, the thought of crashing lurked in my head throughout the whole flight, and I was holding on to my husband's arm like a little kid with my eyes closed until we landed on the Pensacola airport. Whenever we'd go somewhere that's 7-8 hours away, I had always preferred driving over flying. As we boarded on the plane at the Salt Lake City airport on Thursday, I reminded myself that this was the right time to overcome my fear or I might not survive the trip. I was constantly telling myself that it was all in my mind, and surprisingly, it worked, although the bumpy flight from Denver to Memphis almost made me cry. Sitting on the window seat helped a lot. It made it easier for me to ignore the fear and focus my mind on the beauty that I rarely get to see. I couldn't help but appreciate how beautiful it is up there. Flying above the clouds and seeing the sun rise felt very heavenly. It gave me the feeling of freedom and peace. I also became more appreciative of the human intelligence for making it possible for us to soar above the sky, and amazed at how a plane can fly hundreds of miles an hour, and how strong it is enough to withstand an ugly weather and several turbulences and remain stable. I can say that I enjoyed all 6 flights of our trip, something that never happened before and I thought would be impossible.

Ok, so much for the talking. Here are the pictures from our flights. Enjoy!

Our flight from SLC to Denver was at 6 a.m. and we would have to leave the house at 4 a.m. so we just stayed awake all night. Poor B, he worked 8 hours that day, came home at 6 p.m. very tired, then didn't get to sleep.

Salt Lake City

Utah mountains

On the first plane we boarded, I was lucky to have a good view of the wing and watch the sun rise.


Just arrived in Denver airport. Take note of the long hair.




snowed Colorado mountains

I don't know what these are but they looked cool. Brandon said they might be farms. This was between Colorado and Tennessee.

Delta was very cheap with their snacks, didn't even give us the whole can of soda.

new bling

Memphis

Pensacola


Stop-over in Memphis. Going home after 7 days. B got a haircut!



My husband looks sooo much better than me in the morning. Haha! I don't like putting make up on before 12 pm. It feels heavy on my face, it feels itchy, and it makes me cranky, lol. Besides, I'm a wash-and-wear kind of girl, make-up is a necessity only when I'm attending a party or going to Church on Sunday. I also want to feel very comfortable when travelling, and dressing up very casual and looking like I'm just chillin' at home helps me achieve that. So I don't care if the flight attendant thought I was a bum.



To read Part 2, click here.