Gayle & Rich, who are from Portland, were recently vacationing on Maui. This extremely cool couple just got engaged! After staying at the Sea Breeze Villa (what a beautiful place to celebrate!), they decided to change their wedding to a Maui destination wedding (and who can blame them?). I couldn’t personally think of a better place to get married, although I am biased, since my husband and I tied the knot here. But I am a firm believer that Hawaii is a little slice of heaven, with its exotic volcanic rocks, blue turquoise waters and warm soft sand.

Rich has a great sense of humor, he’s always making Gayle smile & laugh. And Gayle has an infectious smile that could light up any room. Their tropical wedding is next February, at the luxurious Sea Breeze Villa. Here are some photographs of their engagement session.

Coco the macaw made an appearance during the photo shoot. I’m not sure if it was the similarly colored dress, but he kept following Gayle.

We’ll close with a photo of them, hand in hand on the beach, under the moon…it doesn’t get much more romantic than this!

Here are the images from the Southern California photo shoot! Jodi and Matt were great to work with. Jodi is an aspiring model who is a natural in front of the camera. These two were fun & flirtatious which made photographing them a breeze.

Models: Jodi & Matt Newton
The gown: Joan Shum
Make up: Vivian Tran
Flowers: The Treasured Petal
Jewelry: Noaki Jewelry

A big thanks to Jasmine* and JD for making this all happen.

I came across some rather good-looking pups while I was in California a few weeks ago. And of course, I couldn’t resist photographing them (and let’s face it, they didn’t seem to mind hamming it up in exchange for a belly rub or two.)

Meet Rana & Brandon’s pup: Davey

Sporting black & white nails

This photo just makes me smile!

Meet the handsome dog Bruno. He doesn’t mind the occasional embarrassing jowl tug from Stevie. And it’s nothing a kiss can’t make up for.

Doesn’t this look like a baby Bruno? I met this little one in front of a bagel shop.

A feisty puppy tugging at a leash and being playful.

This poodle was dressed up for the Pasadena dog show. He was strutting his new hot pinkish purple hairdo.

And to top it off, he’s smiling.

Nothing like being able to spend time with family in paradise. Ken’s family and his sister Karen’s family were in Maui celebrating their parents’ wedding anniversary. They were visiting from Washington, which was having surprisingly good weather that week. (But hey, it’s still no tropical island even when the weather is good!) The family went snorkeling, whale watching and spent some time relaxing on the beach.

A heartfelt thank you to the Mattson’s and Trotto’s for letting me document their Maui vacation!

Every year, Hui No’eau Visual Arts Center throws an amazing gala & benefit auction. Last year’s event was Bollywood-themed and this year’s theme was “Bourbon Street.” It was exciting to see everyone dressed up and taking part in such a great cause. All the proceeds from Art Affair benefits The Hui’s youth programs, which gives children access to high quality arts education (classes, workshops, lectures, exhibitions) and also provides scholarship programs for families unable to afford tuition.

There was both a live and silent auction of fine art and service packages (the live one led by auctioneer Kip Toner) and mouth watering Southern food (gumbo shooters, oysters rockefella, seafood & sausage jambalaya, and pecan crusted catfish) created by Bev Gannon. Guests danced to the music of Raw Silk (featuring Kelly Covington and Fulton Tashombe). And to top it off, there was an entertaining tap dance performance by Maui Academy of Performing Arts!

From this year’s event, the Hui managed to raise well over $100,000. Everyone was very generous in their donations and it was a huge success!

Maui’s very first Whole Foods opened today. When we were living in Pasadena, Elan and I would make our daily pilgrimages to Whole Foods, always leaving with bags full of groceries. After moving to the island we discovered Mana Foods — which has been such a gem for Maui, with locally grown organic produce and one of the best deli sections around at (fairly) reasonable prices. And now, Whole Foods is back, with a vengeance. I was so giddy that it was opening, especially with rumors of Whole Foods having tried to get out of their lease just months before it opened.

The lines were horrendous in the morning, so we waited until the evening to explore every single aisle. Talk about nostalgia. We are in love, again, with Whole Foods. The brightly colored produce section could make you feel like you’ve died and gone to food heaven. The cheese department is insane, with dozens of different cheeses from around the world. And the meat and fish department has fresh local Maui beef and fresh Ahi caught earlier the same morning. The deli section is huge, with a wide selection of everything from fresh sushi to Kalua pork burritos. We left with big smiles on our face and bags full of goodies.

Couldn’t taking a picture of this girl and her basket. Plus, her bangs are looking much better than mine.

CHEESE!

Each department has a different cap. I’m digging this one with Kahului on the bill.

Elan performing the olive oil opacity test.

Local Maui Beef

We like Matt.

Time flies, it’s inevitable. Rana has been my best friend since 3rd grade. I grew up with this girl all the way through college at the University of Minnesota. We have been through it all — birthdays, graduations, a telemarketing job (never again), our first experience with tequila (which I still have an aversion to), pulling all-nighters cramming for exams and meeting our first loves. Fast forward 10 years, and she’s living in San Diego, happily married to a great guy and pregnant with their first child. Rana has always loved kids. I honestly thought she would have had 5 kids by now and then adopted another 5 on top of that. She’s just that type of woman — a nurturer, incredibly kind, gentle, and full of love.

I haven’t seen her in quite some time, sadly, yet it’s great that we didn’t skip a beat during my visit. Seeing Rana all grown up and being able to take some photos of this special time in her life was really touching for me. I will always have a special place in my heart for Rana; because of her, my childhood was full of laughter and so many great memories.

Congratulations, Rana & Brandon!

While I was in Los Angeles, I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing Charie and Matt. These two lovebirds are engaged, and are getting married this September on Maui. They met back in high school and have been inseparable ever since. They are both are so natural in front of the camera, which made this engagement session a blast. Since they are from Glendale, we decided to do the engagement shoot in Old Town Pasadena. Old Town has a lot of old brick buildings and the architecture has a lot of character. (I actually lived there for a couple of years too!)

I hope you enjoy the images as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Dancing in Pasadena’s City Hall

And one of my favorite images from the day….

One of the highlights of my LA trip was visiting the Shootsac HQ. I drove around in circles because Google maps actually told me to drive in circles. Luckily, I found it through MapQuest (so old-school!). I spent a good hour perusing through the different bag covers, and chatting with Ally, Matt and Keats. I’m looking forward to their new product that’s going to be released, and I hope it’s chiropractic-approved! Here are some photos from my visit.

This is Ally. I would not have been able to narrow down a cover without her. But now I must save up for the newest cover being released, it’s cute!

Matt, hard at work. Although, if I had taken this picture a split second earlier you would have seen a more candid version of him working

The Shootsac guard dog. Ferocious, I know.

Keats – she’s super friendly!  I feel so lucky to have chatted with her. Thanks to Gita for taking this photo. It was her first time using a DSLR — she did pretty good, huh?

My newest shootsac cover. I love it! Barkley even vouches for it.