MY CAMERA'S FIRST WORDS // A Sibling Bonding Trip in Seattle

So, nope, no camera still, but since my last post was about my camera's "last words" I thought I'd share some of the first pictures I took with my camera during a trip to Seattle that I made with my brothers 2 years ago. It's one of my favorite memories in life, and I'm so glad we did it. At first we almost didn't go because we weren't sure how financially practical it would be at that time, but we scoured the internet for cheap tickets and booked a really terrible hotel in an obscure city outside of Seattle to stay at for $30 a night and went for it. The hotel was pretty hilariously bad, but it's become one of those memories we just bust out in belly aching laughter whenever we refer to it.

When I was little, I always wished I had a sister, but my brothers were totally worth not having sisters. We were all born one year apart, and literally did everything together whether we liked it or not. Sure we had drama/fights/issues, but it also made us super close. There's nothing I'd ever want to change about it, and I'm so thankful for family.

Here are some places we visited. (We also visited a ton of other incredible places like the Space Needle, the Seattle Public Market, and even saw Jonathan Safran Foer give a lecture on his book Eating Animals. But this post is getting really long, so I think I'll save those for another day.)

OFF THE SIDE OF THE FREEWAY PICTURES





Our first tourist destination was actually the side of the highway. Just driving around in Seattle was so beautiful and we couldn't resist getting out of the car and looking around. I'm not sure if it's because I've gotten so used to the freeways in LA, but I was just so in awe of all the trees and nature everywhere. The sky and the clouds were so moody and beautiful. The colors are just different, and the air is so clean. And it's quiet- so quiet!


SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY







The Seattle Public Library! This was one of my favorite buildings when I was in college, and I could hardly believe I actually got to visit it in person. It was amazing, pictures cannot do it justice.  (If you are unfamiliar with the building, here is one of my favorite TED talks given by Joshua Prince Ramus about the project.)



SEATTLE ART MUSEUM







The Seattle Art Museum was another place we visited.  This is where I got inspiration for a"Clothespin Deer Head" project I did a few weeks ago.  There was this humongous giant man made out of mini coke bottles.  Unfortunately, I can't remember what it is called anymore, but it really stuck with me, because in college, my professors would always talk about the concept of "part to whole" which was hard for me to understand, but the sculpture really helped me visualize it better.


EMP MUSEUM - Sky Church






So, for some reason, none of us were initially all that excited to go to the EMP museum.  But there was a flea market that was on the way, and the building was designed by Frank Gehry, so we figured, ah, what the heck, let's just go.

Upon entering, we saw the Sky Church room, which has all these crazy colors and oversized ottomans for people to lay on and look up at these changing  umbrella thingies suspended from the ceiling while Jimmy Hendrix songs kept blasting on repeat.  To be honest, it looked really gimmicky, but it was hot outside, and we were tired, and we got sucked in and literally stayed there for an hour and a half just staring off into space.  It was so addicting! These pictures always make me laugh, because you can tell that we were totally out of it.

CAR KAROKE





And last but not least, the trip was filled with countless memories just laughing, singing along to the radio and being crazy in the car. The kind stuff you'd only do with family because they still have to love you no matter how embarrassing you are.

It's kind of funny- I'm the oldest, but we made my youngest brother Geoff drive the whole time, and I sat in the back relaxing while my middle brother josh sat shotgun and gave directions. This is where the whole not having sisters thing really comes in handy- you never have to share princess privileges with anyone else!

MOMS ARE THE BEST

This year, I made my mom a simple bouquet of flowers for Mother's day (who knew a girl as complicated as me came from a woman who has mastered the art of loving the simple and important things), and headed over to my aunt and uncle's house to have a get together with the rest of our family. 

As  I get older, my appreciation and sense of awe that I have for moms only grows.  Talking to friends who are new mothers  definitely opens my eyes to how much work and love it is to care for children!  I know I'll never fully grasp the countless sleepless nights, blood, sweat and tears my mom undoubtedly shed to raise me and my brothers.  As you can see from this picture, I totally thought I was a princess (it really is so weird, I totally posed like that in every picture at that age).  Let's just say, I wasn't the most compliant kid.  I was always super shy and quiet around other people, but at home, it was a completely different story.  (in other words, nothing's changed)

She was and still is superwoman, and is the glue that keeps our family together.   When we were growing up, she managed to juggle working as a pharmacist, raising three children (all born one year apart!), and bringing us up in a childhood full of possibilities, creativity and imagination.  English is my mother's second language, but she taught me and my brothers how to read before they taught us in school, and both my brothers are now writers.  If there were ever a woman who could make anything work, it is my mom! I am in constant amazement at how dynamic a person she is and how she is constantly evolving, constantly growing and adapting as life has thrown our family its share of curveballs.  She is pretty amazing!

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

Thought I'd share a picture of my lovely grandmother on this day to celebrate women. When my brothers and I were little, we'd go to her house everyday after school, and she'd prepare us Chinese treats and make sure we finished our homework before watching TV.  As my brothers and I got older, we gradually learned more and more about her life, and how complex and courageous it was. 

I thought of her and the many women who pioneered a better life for our generation as I was listening to this interview about the Miss Representation documentary that premiered at last year's Sundance Film Festival. I don't really identity myself as a feminist, or at least not in the strictest sense (as defined by Betty Friedan in her book the Feminine Mystique).  However, it doesn't really take a feminist to acknowledge the negative affect that the over-sexualization of  women in media has on our dignity and self respect as human beings; and it does make me wonder what sort of legacy we will leave behind for our children.

Caroline Heldman talks about how our system has been set up so that women compete against other women in order to gain male attention. In the interview, she states that the amount of time women spend on thinking about their bodies and habitual body monitoring over a lifetime is the same amount of time it would take to pursue 3 PhDs. That's not to say that all of us without 3 PhDs under our belt should feel bad about ourselves either- a woman's worth is no more defined by her academic achievement than her physical appearance; but it should be alarming that the amount of time we spend looking in the mirror and hating ourselves is not only an incredible amount of time wasted but is also actually causing us to backtrack.

As we allow ourselves to determine our worth (or the worth of our moms, grandmas, teachers, friends coworkers, strangers we see on the street) by our physical appeal to men much set by unrealistic portrayals of women on covers of magazines- we should be none too surprised to live in a society that  has erased and degraded our middle aged and older women, women who are often the people who can have the most profound affect on our lives and society. 

I definitely know that I am not immune to this in the way I value myself and others, and it's sobering to think what a shame that is.  I'm not saying that I'm going to burn all my magazines tonight and throw all my make up down the drain, but it does remind me that I don't need to let these things have power over me, and reminds me to stop and open my eyes to images of real women with true worth.  Women like my grandmother, or aunts and mom and teachers who have poured our their lives and sacrificed their time and energy to love me. 

WE ARE SO CHINESE// I hope you like the color red

My parents decided to host a Chinese banquet the next day for their friends. I was totally exhausted by this point (when I went to get my make up done, I literally fell asleep repeatedly in my chair), but some of my favorite memories of our wedding weekend were at that banquet. Any time my entire family is together is a good time.

First the night started off with some impromtu speeches.
I think this is is probably of of my most favorite pictures of my parents. It was really nice to see them in their element, even if they were speaking in Chinese and I couldn't understand anything, except for the English word "Tay-lah" interjected in their speeches here and there. Turns out my dad and Taylor use the same speaking pose. Already like father like son in law.








**Images from my parents' friends and personal pictures

1148 SENECA PLACE// Roses from my mother's garden

I went home last weekend to share one last dinner with my family before my brother Geoff set off to move to New York City.  This past year, my brothers and I returned from different parts of California, as semi-aduts having graduated college set in our opinionated ways and theories on how things should now be done.  It had the potential to be one of the worst ideas our family ever came up with, but it ended up being one of the richest summers of my life. We unpacked our bags and slept in our old bedrooms and twin sized beds, amidst posters and CD's containing dust containing particles dating back to the 1990's. We ate dinners together around our ancient circular breakfast table, and stayed up late talking about books and podcasts and gossiping about what the other sibling said to our neighbor, or who came home suspiciously late the other night. 

I took some photos of my mom's roses because they reminded me of the magnificent garden we used to have in our childhood home (which is now living its second life as a lively Indian bed and breakfast of all things!).  My mom would plant these amazing flowers everywhere along this winding path that circled from the water fountain at side of our house out to the backyard where my dad built us a tree house and a play pin for our dog Penny.  I used to think this was perfectly normal, but I'm realizing more and more each day how much love my parents poured out on us, and how they totally created this magical creative environment for us to play and grow up in.  I definitely have a lot to live up to if I ever have kids. 

Sometimes I wish life would just pause so that everything could just stay the same. But of course that never happens and life moves on.  I am excited for what is to come, but I also thank God for the grace he's showered on my life and my loved ones.

SAIL BOATS//an outing with the parents

This past Thursday, my parents took my brother Josh (Geoff romping around Europe at the moment) and I on a dinner cruise in Long Beach. As my brothers and I got older, we started to develop our own interests and eccentricities (a nicer way of saying that we've just gotten pickier with where we want to go); but whenever some sort of buffet is involved, my parents always know the three of us will be down to go. In the middle of the cruise, all these sailboats started to appear, and it was one of the prettiest things i've seen. I think they were preparing for some sort of race the next day. It was pretty cool to see, the sails were just shooting out and floating where the wind took them, big ones and small ones swaying together as if they were part of one big symphony.... it was one of those things that you really had to experience in person to feel it- these pictures definitely don't do them justice!








by the end of the night, most of the boats headed home except for this one long boat floating out to shore.

Thanks so much again to my parents for a beautiful trip and a wonderful dinner! :)