Happy Monday!

If this doesn't make you smile than I don't know what will....

It was Sophie's first time in a swing, and she LOVED it!  And don't worry, there's more of her cute smiles coming!

Congratulations EQ & Jason!

Elizabeth and Jason (Engagement Post 1 and Post 2) got married yesterday at the beautiful Lake Eden in Black Mountain, NC.  Congratulations!  It was a beautiful day in the NC mountains for a wedding!  Elizabeth planned every detail, and I can't wait to share her wedding photos with all of you.  For now I will share the oh-so-fun bridal shoot. 

Elizabeth and Jason met at Wofford.  She surprised everyone with her bridal portraits by having them done at Wofford.  I know I'm biased in knowing that Wofford is the best college, but biased or not, you can't deny that Wofford truly is a beautiful campus!  I love taking pictures here!  And if you have any connection to Wofford, then a picture in front of Old Main carries so much meaning and memories.  Old Main to me brings back memories of my first class as a freshman at 8:30am, sorority bid days, enjoying beautiful fall and spring days on the steps of Old Main, graduation, and my engagement (it's where Sam proposed).  Elizabeth even had a picture of us from our freshman or sophomore year on the steps of Old Main in her Rehearsal Dinner slideshow :)  I know Elizabeth and Jason have their own special memories of Old Main as well, and now they have one more memory to add to their list.  

So here is the portrait she chose to have printed, framed and displayed at the Reception:

Elizabeth wore her mother's wedding dress!  The top was re-worked to be more modern.  The gown was originally sewn by her mom's aunt or sister-in-law (I can't remember the exact person, but it was a family member).  The top part of the dress when her mom wore it included lace sleeves and a lace turtleneck.  

The broche was her grandmother's.  She wore it on her dress during the ceremony, and then it became a hair-piece for the reception.  

For my Wofford peeps, this is the walkway to Olin.  

Inside Old Main

This bench sits in front of the library and was donated to Wofford by some acquaintances of Elizabeth's parents.  These were some of my favorite images of our session.  

Old Main for those of you not familiar with Wofford's campus.

Once inside Old Main, we re-created her mom's bridal portrait.  It was a simple stance of shoulders angled, face towards the camera, and the train wrapped around.  My mom has a very similar bridal portrait (and I would be willing to bet anyone married in the 70's would have something very similar as well).  I'm so glad wedding photography has evolved, and there are so many different styles that brides can choose from now.

Congratulations Elizabeth and Jason!  I know this was an exciting part of your lives, and I had so much fun being a part of your special day.  You were surrounded by friends and family that loved you, and it was a BEAUTIFUL day!

My Mom Agrees...

Here's a little humor for your Monday : )

Sam and I arrived home last night from 2 weeks of vacation which included traveling to Hong Kong for fun and then onto Martha's Vineyard for Joe and Sara's wedding also for fun (Sam was a groomsman). 

First, here is a picture of the The Arch SkyTower in Kowloon, Hong Kong.  This building is next to the International Commerce Center, the tallest building in Hong Kong and the 4th tallest building in the world.

Now, here is a picture of the North Beach Plantation in North Myrtle Beach, SC (image from Google image search).

And my mom agrees with this statement : ) :

So you don't have to travel far to get a taste of Hong Kong!  

Goodbye from Hong Kong!

I wish I could blog on our 15 - 16 hour plane ride...too bad!  I'll leave you with a few more images of Hong Kong.

Yummy Dim Sum!!!!!  

Portugese Egg Tart, another YUMMY treat!

My new tennis shoes, notice the chinese writing on them?

Tuesday night, our last night : (

Sun Tung Lok

It seems y'all are most interested in the food we are consuming here, so here's another food post for you.  Sam and I ate at a Michelin 3 star restaurant last night!  Sun Tung Lok is 1 of 2 Chinese restaurants to have this recognition.  This restaurant serves dim sum, which I compare to tapas style portions.   It was a great dinner, but Sam and I just needed a bigger appetite. So onto pictures....Sam took these on his iPhone. It was a really nice restaurant and I didn't feel comfortable whipping out the big camera. We already had people staring at us.

This was the roasted suckling pig. It was good, and yes that skin was extra crunchy. I only ate a tiny bit of skin...it seemed weird to me to eat skin. See that glass of ice water in the back right- that was quite a difficult order to get right. I asked for cold water and they first brought me a coke. I was so thirsty and craving some water!  I had hot tea and coke neither of which quenches my thirst. You have to ask for cold water otherwise they bring hot water that they keep handy for refilling the teapots on everyone's table.

This is a conch shell stuffed with I don't know what.  I know it wasn't anything bizzarre, but I can't remember all of the details.  I know it had seafood in it.  Sam and I both ordered one of these, but when arrived at our table we couldn't remember what was in it, but it was delicious.  It was one of my favorite dishes of the evening.  

This was scallops stuffed with shrimp.  It was delicious as well.

This was another favorite of mine!  It was like a spring roll but it was stuffed with pork and a piece of pineapple and covered in a mango sweet and sour sauce.  This was very difficult to eat with chopsticks because it was so slippery with all of the sauce.  It was too big to eat as one bite, so you had to squeeze the food in between your chopsticks to take a bite, but it kept sliding out of my grip. Luckily the Chinese are sloppy eaters, they slurp and suck noodles, so it was okay to use my fingers here and there to aid in the eating process.

This was sweet and sour prawns sitting on an unknown food item that looked like onion rings.  It looked purple like an eggplant or an onion but Sam tasted it and it still remained unidentified.  The prawns were good though!  In case you're wondering we didn't finish all of this food!  It was too much, but we wanted to try several dishes.  

The MTR

Our subway stop is Tsim Sha Tsui. From listening to the subway announcements Sam and I are 90% sure that it's pronounced like Chim Sha Choy. Anyone out there know Cantonese and can confirm this?

A few facts about the MTR (Mass Transit System):
1. It's super clean
2. It's super organized
3. It's super clean
4. Exits are clearly marked and it makes figuring out your way around a lot easier (i.e it's super organized)
5. It's super clean
6. It's easy to use (i.e it's super organized)
7. All subway stations and trains are air-conditioned (i.e it's super clean)

Reasons why it's super clean:
1. No food or drink is allowed inside the paid areas
2. They post signs everywhere to cover your mouth if you cough or sneeze (sick people wear masks)
3. It's air conditioned (Paris Metro could benefit from this especially because they don't all wear deodorant over there)
4. There are signs posted on the moving sidewalks stating that the handrails are regularly cleaned and sanitized.

Hong Kong Diaries....

Get ready for a HUGE post.  I wasn't sure what to title this post because it has pictures from our past 3 days here.  First I never showed you the 16-piece sushi platter Sam ordered at the Japanese restaurant.  I'm not a sushi eater, so I really can't tell you everything on the plate (and there were a few unknown fish to Sam as well, but he ate it all and enjoyed 95% of it).

Onto Thursday's activities, we decided to head to Lantau Island (Hong Kong's biggest island that is host to Disneyland and the Tian Tan Buddha).  The airport also resides right next to Lantau Island.  The Hong Kong airport was built on a man-made island!  Sam and I have watched a Modern Marvels episode about this airport multiple times.  Back to Lantau Island, we took the subway (MTR - Mass Transit System) to Lantau, and got off at the last stop, and lo and behold there was an outlet shopping mall there as well!  We didn't really shop there but Sam did step inside the Nike outlet and bought himself 2 new t-shirts.  Sam can't do much clothes shopping here, the XL slim fit men's shirt could have fit me!  Then we got in line to take the cable car ride up to the big buddha (as I like to say, but officially it's the Tian Tan Buddha).  The best part about this entire experience was the cable car ride!  The Tian Tan Buddha was completed in 1993 and it's the world's largest seated, outdoor, bronze buddha statue.  Everything surrounding the buddha was manufactured tourism.  If we had been visiting an ancient statue or ruins it would have been more interesting/fascinating.  But the cable car ride was fascinating!

There was a mini-city at this subway exit where the outlet mall was and the entrance to the cable car ride.  Sam and I decided that the city of Asheville could live in all of those towers.

It was a really enjoyable ride.  It took about 25 minutes and is a total of 3.5 miles.  

Here's the big buddha from the cable car.

Woohoo, Wofford attire made it to China!

They had these really pretty evergreen/pine trees that lined the staircase.  Sam and I both liked the look of these trees.

That's the airport behind the cable car.

Here's another view of the airport.  We watched multiple planes take off and land during the ride down which was really cool to watch.

Now onto today's morning activity (today is Friday for us).  Sam and I ventured way out into the New Territories to the Tai Po district.  We were on a mission to find Yat Luk BBQ restaurant.  Tony Bourdain on No Reservations visits the restaurant and said the pork, duck, and goose were out of this world!  We were definitely the only white people in miles and miles of this restaurant, thankfully, one person in the restaurant spoke English (he looked to be the owner).  But we were prepared to do the "pointing" ordering system, which is where you to point to food at a table near you.  There was NO ENGLISH on this menu or anywhere in this restaurant.  It was quite an exciting experience.  Hong Kong's 2 official languages are Chinese and English.  all of the signs in Hong Kong are written in Chinese and English, and all of the restaurants we have been to have had English on the menu and/or pictures of food.  This menu was all Chinese (the pictures of the menu were taken on our iPhones, and I haven't uploaded those pics yet).

Here is Sam's goose.

Here is my pork.  It was AMAZING!  

The front of the restaurant was covered by bamboo scaffolding unfortunately.  On a side note, Sam and I were quite proud of ourselves for finding this place!  It was definitely off the beaten path.

Happy Sam, after lunch!

We spent about 45 minutes walking around the Tai Po Market area.

HUGE Carrots!

These were taken in and indoor market where the 1st floor was wet food (like raw meat and fish), 2nd floor dry food (like veggies), and 3rd floor was cooked food.

This is the 3rd floor, featuring cooked food.

Tai Po 

More of Tai Po