Animal Party at City Hall

Some interesting creatures have emerged in front of San Francisco City Hall, bringing bold colors and playfulness to the plaza. These vibrant large-scale animal sculptures are created by Taiwanese artist, Hung Yi (洪易). The art installation is entitled “Fancy Animal Carnival” featuring 19 baked enamel on steel plate sculptures, which includes the Sharing Elephant, Auspicious Triple Sheep, and Money Frog.

Yip, mom, and I had a fun excursion viewing the artwork. It appeared others did as well as they posed and took pictures with the animal sculptures. Afterwards, we walked along Hayes Valley to my favorite sweet shop to enjoy the beautiful day.

The art installation is free and open to public at San Francisco’s Civic Center Plaza from April 19 to May 7, 2015.

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Spring Time Hike — North Table Mountain Ecological Reserve

Spring is around the corner! Last year during April, we went on an awesome hike in Oroville. Yip knows how I love fields of wildflowers (my fantasy of twirling like the Sound of Music). He found an amazing spot for us to explore called North Table Mountain. On the other side of Lake Oroville, the snow had not yet melted. But on the North Table Mountain, it was sure spring time and even felt like summer! A nice drive led up to the top of the plateau filled with many different wildflowers, cattle grazing, little critters, plus waterfalls! What appeared to be flat terrain, actually had rolling hills, volcanic rocks, and small canyons. Being out in the wide open field with no shades in hot weather did not make this an easy hike. However, the sight of waterfall next to wildflowers and sea of yellow and green was just so pretty. Peak wildflower blooming season is March and April.

Spring in Napa

Happy Spring! During the weekend, we spent a day in Napa photographing a sweet couple for their engagement session. It was a bit chilly, but a beautiful day! At this time in Napa Valley, there are fields filled with yellow mustard flowers! Just lovely! This is a sneak peak for our couple, check out more of our recent work on our facebook page: IpomoeaFilms

At the same time, March 20th is Macaron Day! Lucky enough, while we were in Napa, we stopped by Bouchon Bakery in Yountville for some wonderful macarons!

Our favorite, oddly, was the banana flavor. It has a slice of caramelized banana inside the filling. Surprise:)

Blossoming Almond Trees

During March, the almonds trees come to blossom and they make a lovely scene of soft white petals. California grows so much almonds. You’re able to see rows of blossom trees driving on I-80 around Dixon and Woodland. I am lucky enough to live close to them and eat fresh almonds all year long. They might be my favorite nut! As you may know, I blog a lot about orchards and farms…well I love it out there! Yip and I stopped by one of the orchard and it was a dream come true to run around ’til sunset in such a beautiful sea of flowering trees. Blossoms are sweet like snow flakes, without the cold and wet. Definitely a romantic place to be. Perfect for an engagement session! Just let us know if you like a photo shoot!

Also I just found out this Sunday, March 11 is the Capay Valley Almond Festival. I have never attended and unfortunately I made plans this year too. It’s an event that seem interesting to me, so if you’re there, let me know how it goes.

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy the sight of my kitties and the blossom tree outside my window:)

Short Sweet Break

It’s been a bit busy lately, seems like every time spring time comes along, there are just an endless list of activities. We love to be productive and it’s all so fun! Currently, we are finishing editing several projects.  Meanwhile this past weekend, we photographed a wonderful wedding …so even more editing to come! Plus graduation and another wedding coming in 2 weeks! But before that, we decided to take a short break and drive on the country road to our new favorite spot 30 minutes away from home to a fruit and vegetable stand.

T & Y Strawberry Patch in Woodland has the sweetest, juiciest strawberries, picked fresh from their strawberry field. Tastes like candy! We also love getting the fresh green veggies. For $1, we got a huge bundle of spinach! They are amazingly fresh and yummy. Mustard green, beets, and oranges are all very good.

Of course, I like to take a camera whenever I’m out and about. This was a birthday gift from my sweetie Yip:) a Poloroid One Step Land camera. I discovered an expired pack of film from my mom. Here are pictures from our day.

    

This was a simple, sweet break to reward our hard work and now back to editing.

Easter Egg Hunt

Happy Easter! Yesterday, we went to my friend, Wendy’s birthday/Easter party. We had an Easter Egg hunt for adults. The little girls from across the street helped to hide the eggs, while us older people searched. To make the hunting more difficult, some eggs were spray painted brown and they camouflaged really well in the garden. It was not easy to find. I don’t know how Bodie, Wendy’s dog found 2 eggs even before the game started. After the egg hunt, we sure worked up an appetite.

Delicious dinner with ham, butternut squash, potato salad, grilled veggies, potsticker, and green jello. My favorite part, dessert! Rocky road chocolate cake, Blackberry polenta cake, Strawberry & rhubarb pie 😛

Bodie, the 11 years old Anatolian dog with bunny ears and happy smiles.

Someone left their Easter egg treats and I got stuck taking home the candies:) Well, I ended up getting a few extra chickies for my cat to play with.

Davis Farmer’s Market – Pig Day Out

Recently, I have an obsession with pigs due to my local farmer’s market celebration of National Pig Day. Every year in March, Davis Farmer’s Market throws a pig theme party. There are pig shaped bake goods such as sweet bread and cookies. Also plenty of pig relates food for sale like bbq ribs, pigs in a blanket, pulled-pork sandwiches, and mmm mmm BACON. For children, there are craft tables where they can make themselves pink pig noses and girls can get their hair braided in cute pigtails. Oh and I can’t forget, the little piggy petting zoo:) It’s a fun activity for family and friends to meet up for a picnic in the park.

Taking a pig balloon back home to enjoy. Stay tuned for my recipe for sweet pig shaped buns.