Sound Advice

I’m usually the advice giver, that’s the way it’s always been. But sometimes we’re handed advice we don’t, didn’t ask for, or didn’t expect. Today I got my advice from my chocolate. I think I’ll listen to the chocolate.

Thailand and Back

It’s been ages.  The last blog was from June, and since then we’ve been to Thailand and we’re back.  Our trip to Thailand was an amazing experience.  Chris and I went with a group of people from school and took the opportunity to celebrate our 6 year anniversary there.  We were there for 2 weeks, we could have used another 2 weeks there.  The sights were amazing, yet we didn’t get to see them all.  We promised ourselves that we would do it all the next time we took a trip to Thailand, and I’m determined, there will be a next time. 

Here’s a sneak peek of some of our photos from our trip.

 

Next up: More pictures from Thailand and a Cambodian Wedding we shot last month.

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Danny and Laura’s 10th Anniversary

10 years ago, I was a junior in high school and I still had never fallen in love.

10 years ago, Chris was fresh out of high school and also had never fallen in love.

10 years ago, Danny and Laura were freshman in high school, lab partners, and starting their love story.

I was honored to be able to photograph this session with Danny and Laura to celebrate 10 years of their love story.  They compliment each other so well like peanut butter and jelly.  She’s the sweet jelly and he’s the nutty  peanut butter.   Yes, I just made that reference, but it’s so true.  My heart melted every time I caught Danny looking at Laura like she was the most amazing person in the world (which she is, by the way).  Laura’s laughter through out our session was a testament at how much Danny makes her happy.  Trying to get Laura not to smile when she’s around Danny is impossible, but that’s okay because she’s got a beautiful smile.

So Laura and Danny here’s to 10 wonderful years, and many more!

We had some under the pier fun!

I just love the way they look at each other.

So Amazing

Did you know Danny was an undercover model?

❤

Here’s the slideshow!
Music: Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars

I’m not going to lie, watching the slideshow made me a little emotional.

P.S.  Sorry Danny and Laura, I couldn’t bear to put your slideshow together with Push It by Salt N Peppa, just didn’t do you guys justice, but I still think it’s a great choice.

Heather + Brandon

When Brandon looks at Heather you can see a sparkle in his eye and you can see the smile grow on her face.  Just watching them together, you know how in love they are.  Heather said she knew instantly that he was special, he was the one.  So it’s no surprise that when Brandon curled up the couch with Heather one afternoon. told her how much he loved her, and asked her to spend the rest of her life with him she said yes.

Heather was amazing and planned her wedding in less than a year.  Brandon and Heather Lee got married on August 29 in Lake Tahoe, CA.

Congratulations to both of you, and we wish you tons of joy and happiness together.

Here are some pictures of their amazing engagement party in Los Feliz.

Heather knows how to rock it out.

Brandon says he’s not comfortable in front of the camera, but I think he looks great.

I love that they bring out the best in each other.

I fell in love with Heather’s Grandfather’s backyard.  It had a gorgeous view.

Heather and her beautiful sister Annie, who just happens to be one of my besties.

5 years

You never know why certain people are brought into your life.  Are they here to bring you happiness, break your heart, hurt you, to teach you something, or just to be there for you?  There are people who just come at the right time in your life.  Five years ago today, someone walked into my life just at the right time.  There was an empty void, something missing, I could feel this hole, and almost instantly he gave me something, he was open and honest and he became my friend.

I never could believe that he would be my best friend, my heart.

5 years ago I was 20, confused where my future was going to lead, with a ton of friends, and I was lonely.

Today I am 25, still confused on where my future is going to lead, but I know more and I  know who I want to be there with me in my future, I have but a few real friends, and I’m not lonely.

Christopher,

You are my best friend, my confidant, my heart.  You’ve shown me what love is.  I’m not going to lie, you’ve broken my heart, but only to show me more love than you have before.  You have held me up through the hardest parts of my life and carried me past it.  You have added joy in my life especially when no joy could be found.  You’ve taught me to stand up for myself, to allow myself to feel, to express what’s in my heart.  I always knew you came into my life at the right time, and I thank God every day that you are still here.  I promise to give you all that you have given me and more.  I want to help you realize your dreams and be with you every step of the way.  I believe in you even when you don’t believe in yourself.  I love you so much.

Kimberz

Ooh Me Me!!

Yeah, I was that kid in class that would always volunteer to pass out papers or stay in during recess to help the teacher in some kind of capacity.  That was me!  The teachers always seemed to appreciate it and I guess that made me feel good.  Well ever since then I have been a “helper.”  I spend all my life helping people, and I love it.  Chris and I are “helpers” and we’re always the first one to volunteer to help someone.  Oh you need an event planner?  Well hey, I know someone and I’ll make a call.  Oh you need invitations?  Hey I know someone who does that, I’ll give them a call too.  Your car broke down?  Okay, I’ll drop everything I’m doing and I’ll be right over to get you and I know someone that can help fix it!  You don’t have money to buy groceries for the week?  Well I can buy you a few things.

That’s us, we like to help people, mostly because we know what it’s like to be in tough spots and we’d just like to be able to help.  Apparently there’s such a thing as being too helpful.  Despite our good intentions of helping out friends, it recently blew up in our face and for once in my life I’ve wondered if I should stop helping people.  It’s a strange feeling to think that I shouldn’t help people because it’s in my nature to do what I can to help others, I get it from my mom.

It’s been an extremely stressful week, my blood pressure is high, we’re aggravated, everything seems to be going wrong, and we’ve realized, it’s okay to help others, but for once we have to help ourselves.  So I’m not giving up helping people, but right now we need to take care of us too.  We’re going to concentrate on us as a couple and us as a business.

❤ Kimberly

Bieber fever

So I’m sitting here looking up YouTube videos and I remember the first time I saw Justin Bieber on TV, they mentioned he was discovered on YouTube and then I thought nothing of it.  Then a few months later this kid is everywhere, I mean he’s so big that he’s got mega haters out there.  Everyone wants to make fun of this kid, from his hair to his songs to his voice.  I’m not going to hate on Justin Bieber for a few reasons.

1.  He is in fact, just a kid, and a successful one at that.  So I’m not going to hate on him because he’s young and rich and famous.

2.  I know when I was 13/14/15 I thought I was in love with whoever I happened to have a crush on, so no it’s not weird that this kid sings about being in love.  Isn’t that a big part of being a teenager was about, figuring out what love was and falling in and out of love?  So why is it weird for this teenage boy to sing about love?  And if anyone liked J’Son’s “I’ll Never Stop Loving You”, you can’t hate because that was a cheesy mushy song about being in love and he was a teenager too.

3.  Michael Jackson didn’t have a masculine voice…EVER, but he was still amazing.  Let’s also link point number 2 to Michael Jackson, he was just a child singing about girls and love…again..still amazing.

4.His hair, we all have had bad hair.

5.  He’s talented, plain and simple.

So hate on this kid for silly reasons, but he’s got talent like it or not.  Here’s a video of Justin Bieber before all the Bieber Fever.

A Little Help

One of my biggest faults is asking for help.  I don’t like to ask for help, I rarely ask for help, and I cringe at the thought of asking for help.  I know, I know, that’s absolutely ridiculous, there’s nothing wrong with asking for help.  Even when I was younger, if I needed help, I rarely asked for it.  In school, if there was something I couldn’t understand, I didn’t ask for help, I usually figured it out.  Well as I am growing, learning, changing, I know I need to learn to ask for help.

I have always been super independent, I prided myself on being able to do things by myself, even small things that most people don’t really have the courage to do alone.  I have no problem going out and eating lunch by myself or watching a movie all by myself, and no it’s not sad, it’s a preference.  Granted, since I’ve met Chris I haven’t gone out on my own much, but I am still capable.

I love being independent and doing things for myself, but I know that asking for help is something I need to do.  Chris and I have really tried to work on Night Spot Photography without asking for much help, but we know that we cannot succeed without help.  We’ve been trying and trying, asking people for help, but to no avail.  So we’re going to try again.

Friends, family, strangers, we’re asking for your help.  We would like to borrow you and your friends, family, pets, anything.  We would like to take pictures of you!  So if you can spare a couple of hours for FREE pictures, we’d love to capture some great moments.

E-mail us at photos@nightspotphoto.com

I would like to thank those friends who have already helped us by volunteering their faces and their time.

Thanks Kim and Serenity for hamming it up with us.  It’s time to update those pictures!

So Grateful to Celebrate Father’s Day

2008 was probably the toughest year of my life.  Looking back  two years later the year is still painful.  Losing three family members and a good friend and his wife all within a span of four months was all that my heart could take.

I remember being so ready for the year to be over.  It was Christmas and we were in the home stretch.  It was the holidays, nothing else could possibly go wrong this year, but I was wrong.  It was two days after Christmas, I had just gotten inside the house when my brother pulled me aside.  “Dad had a massive heart attack, we need to go to the hospital.”  I felt my heart stop.  I could not, would not lose another person in my life.

My mind was going in a million directions and all I wanted was my dad to be okay.  When we got to the ER my dad was looking pale and hooked up to the machines, and I was just happy he was alive and conscious.  They admitted him into ICU and we had no choice but to go back home and attempt to sleep.

I spent my days and nights at the hospital, driving back and forth between home and there.   I spent time with my dad as we watched TV and talked about what was going on.  I was scared for him, as they had scheduled his quadruple bypass for January 1.  So on New Years Eve I gave my dad a hug and reassured him (and secretly myself too) that he was going to be fine and he’d get through the surgery and life would be great.

I didn’t wake up early enough to get to the hospital when they wheeled him in, but was there when they brought him out.  The surgery went brilliantly with no complications and that was a wonderful start to my 2009.

I am so thankful that my dad is alive and well.

Dad,  thanks for being the rock that I needed when life was so rough.  Thanks for crying with me when I didn’t want to leave home, but I had to go away.  Thanks for buying me silly gadgets like the Ninja and cleaning devices because you are convinced that I will use them.  Thanks for remembering to get me all my favorite snacks when you go to the Asian market.  Thanks for supporting my shortlived hobbies by buying me supplies like gardening tools even though I rarely use them.  Thanks for singing Elvis songs with  me around the house.  Thanks for loving me.

❤ Kimberly

Happy Father’s Day to all the Fathers who give all the love and support that their child needs.

Happy Father’s Day to my grandfathers.  We all miss you, and wish you were still here with us.

Why Glee Made Me Cry

I guess you can call me a Gleek.  Yes, I have the DVD and almost all the CDs (I just can’t seem to get myself to buy the Madonna episode CD) and well I DVR the episodes and love watching every Tuesday.  You either love or hate the show, and well I love it, because if we actually had a glee club or show choir in high school, I probably would have joined.  I was a theater person (yeah, yeah theater people are “weird”) and I love that Glee not only features pop music, but they have musical theater.  A lot of the cast and guest stars have spent their time  on the stage  (looooooove Idina Menzel and Kristin Chenoweth) and I feel like it gives theater a positive light.

I had a final on Tuesday so I didn’t get a chance to watch it until Wednesday, and I’m not going to lie.  I cried.  But why did I cry?  It took me a second to really tap into my feelings.

I miss Bill.  Bill Collier was my mentor, my teacher, my friend.  It’s almost been 2 years since I last saw him.  He was frail, in pain, but he kept on smiling for my sake.  Selfish me, for crying for him, because I was really crying for me.  I was crying because I knew I was losing something incredible, but for him he was going on a new adventure, getting the answers to what was beyond this life.  So when I got the call September 6, 2008 my knees buckled my heart broke, and I cried for months.

I was watching those Glee kids sing “To Sir, with Love,” and I instantly missed my teacher, my friend, who watched me grow up from a young girl to an adult.  I never got to say goodbye to him, and maybe that’s just the way he wanted it.  I remember my last lesson with him, I sang with all my heart, and he told me that he was proud of me.  I never knew that would be the last time I would sing for him, that would be the last lesson I would take, and I’m so glad that I was able to make him so proud one last time.

Cancer made him weak, put him in pain, but he never let it change his sunny disposition.   He was an incredible teacher, friend, and human being.  I wish everyone was able to meet him and learn the lessons he taught me over the years, and I find myself incredibly lucky to be able to spend 8 years with him.

After watching the episode, I told Chris that I miss Bill and he told me that he missed hearing me sing, which made me cry a little more because I haven’t really been able to sing since Bill died.  I miss singing, and I do every once in awhile, but not the way I used to it.  I know Bill would want me to still sing, so I promise myself that I will sing again.

Cancer has taken away many people in my life, and it affects everyone.  Please donate to ThinkCure for cancer research.  The ThinkCure Dodgers Telethon is going on right now, and their goal is $400,000.  Please help them reach their goal.  I donated to ThinkCure,  and just saw my name on TV! Visit the ThinkCure website or Text CURE to 50555 to donate $10 or  call 866-554-CURE.

He was definitely an entertainer.

My donation.