New Blog

The time has come for me to say goodbye to ol' Blogger and move to a new place. Come read my ramblings at www.miltonyangphotography.com!

Same photographers, similar ramblings, different URL.

Thanks to everyone who has followed this blog and provided comments. Don't be afraid of change, I promise the new blog will be your friend too.

Valentine's Day - This Dude Can Cook!

Call me Nova, short for...Casanova.

So this year for Valentine's Day, I decided to avoid the restaurants since I knew they'd be a mad house and brought the fine dining experience home.  How, you might ask? Simple. I moved a table into our gallery and set it up so it was like a private table. Now a nice table would be useless if  the food weren't good.  Don't worry, I had that covered.  I devised a 5 course meal.  That's right, FIVE COURSES. If that's not love, I don't know what is.

To complete the gourmet dining experience, I created a menu and printed it on the finest resume paper I could find (in our basement).  I had to get Linda out of the house to surprise her so I had her get dressed up so that we could head out of the house by 5:45 pm.  We drove for about 2 blocks before we arrived at the...masseuse.  SURPRISE!!! Yep, Linda got to enjoy an hour long full body massage by a woman named Heidi (Btw, I believe there should be no such thing as male masseuses. No man in their right mind would let another man massage their wife and that same man should have even less desire to be massaged by a man).  Linda's addiction to sugar is only surpassed by her addiction to massages.  To quote Linda, "I lub muh sah hays." (Muh sah hays are how little Peruvian women say "massage" when they accost you in Cusco. Peruvian massages cost the exorbitant price of...wait for it...FIFTEEN BUX for an hour.)

So while Linda was gone, I got busy creating her a nice 5 course dinner.  Here's what was in the feast.

Starter

Avocado & Beet Salad

Orange Vinaigrette

Appetizer

Homemade Pumpkin Ravioli

Served with a Sage Brown Butter Sauce

Main

Cast-Iron Pan Seared Ribeye

Yukon Gold Potato Puree w/ Basil & Chili infused Green Peas

Pre-Dessert

Lemon Ricotta Granita

Lemon granita topped with Ricotta Cheese

Dessert

Caramel Croissant Pudding

Using Croissants I bought On Friday When I pretended I had a Craving for Croissants

Let's just say Linda was relaxed and extremely full after all was said and done.  Even though Linda received the massage and  5 course meal, I may have been the ultimate winner because she got me some tasty macarons and some triple cream brie (my favorite cheese b/c it tastes pretty much like heavy cream but with a cheese taste-my descriptive writing abilities are unparalleled if you haven't noticed by now).

Because we're not gluttons (ok it was because we were stuffed to the gills from the amazing dinner) we only ate two macarons that night. We ate a raspberry w/ dark chocolate ganache macaron and a vanilla version. Talk about the perfect way to end this year's Valentine's dinner!

The Lord Answers Prayers

Dre and Camille Wright are two of the most giving people we have at church. They have chosen to serve the Lord by giving their time and lives to supporting the teens in our church.  It would be an understatement to say that their house is always filled with visitors.

Dre and Camille have been praying for quite some time for God to bless them with a child. I remember how happy our church was when we found out God had blessed them with a child.  God could not have blessed a more deserving couple with a beautiful baby girl. I feel extremely privileged to do the newborn photos of Nyla Wright.

Please feel free to leave a comment to congratulate Dre and Camille on the wonderful addition to their family!

What Sound Does a Bear Make? BEAR!

Photographing Saad and Krystal's family reminded me of why I want twin boys (their sons aren't twins but are very close in age).  AJ and Isaiah were an absolute riot to photograph.  At first they were afraid of our quacking duck but then they decided the duck wouldn't be scary if they were the ones making it quack.  The quacking duck spurred the best quote of 2010.

AJ: "Quack, quack, quack"
Stuffed duck: "quack quack quackquackquack"
Saad: "Yes, that's the sound a duck makes."
AJ: "Quack, quack, quack"
Stuffed duck: "quack quack quackquackquack"
Saad: "What sound does a dog make?"
AJ: "Woof woof!"
Stuffed duck: "quack quack quackquackquack"
Saad:"What sound does a bear make?"
AJ: "BEAR!!!"
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Stuffed duck: "quack quack quackquackquack"

I think that "BEAR!!!" response had everyone rolling for about 10 minutes.  That laughter was definitely a sign of things to come.  After that, Rock was not to be outdone so he ran outside when we started group shots and decided to do a pull up on the tree in the backyard before he did his crazy man run around the yard.  It was easy to see the joy and happiness these two little boys brought to the whole family.  Saad and Krystal have really worked hard to raise the boys the right way and it shows.

Semper Fi

Is there a better way to kick off a new year than by getting married? Is there an easier way to remember your anniversary than by getting married on New Year's day?  The answer to both of those questions my friends is an emphatic "No"! (Well I guess if you get married on your birthday it's pretty easy to remember as well but then you might miss out on some birthday gifts...)

Paul's a Marine (hence the title of this blog post) and Christina's a small business owner (UN-shameless plug - if you ever need some cooking advice or cooking tools/gadgets, Christina's your gal!) from FBT that are madly in love with each other. They were constantly chatting and laughing during both our engagement and wedding shots (some of the laughing perhaps buoyed by Paul's whispering sweet nothings into Christina's ear. I'm not at liberty to divulge what was said but perhaps Paul or Christina will tell you if you ask nicely.  Don't worry, it's nothing you couldn't find in the Bible.)

I never posted Christina and Paul's engagement session because I thought it would be cool to show the different uniforms Paul would be wearing. We did their engagement session at the Lincoln Memorial and had some really cool shots with the Washington Memorial as well.  We even had a chance to have fun with the Navy guys doing some PT early in the morning.  The Navy guys sure couldn't resist giving Paul a hard time for being a Marine.  However, Paul was confident in his Marinehood and just kept a gentlemanly smile despite the ribbing.

The wedding was a lot of fun too which is to be expected with Paul's Marine buddies both being part of the wedding party and a couple extra guys there for the sword ceremony as well.  Tears of joy and sadness were shed that day as Paul and Christina chose to honor Christina's brother James D. Boelk, who gave his life to our country. James was one of the honorary groomsman during the ceremony and a Fallen Comrades table was set aside as well during the reception. The joy of the families being united did help lift everyone spirits and the beautiful wedding ended with some fun shots outdoors where the weather was unseasonably warm for January.  There was a little bit of a challenge trying to avoid stepping on goose poop as we walked to the field but Marines didn't have too much trouble with it.  The girls with the open toed shoes on the other hand...I'll just leave it at that.  At the end of the reception, Paul and Christina were sent off with a sword ceremony.  As they got to the end of the row of Marines, Christina's brother in law sent them off with a nice little going away present which involved a complex maneuver with his sword. I made sure to capture the beauty of his swordsmanship in the last photo.  Please feel free to congratulate Christina and Paul by leaving a comment!