The Life of RC Cola, now family of 5.: Lauren Lu Photography

Monday, December 23, 2013

Lauren Lu Photography

My little sister Lauren does photography. She brought some of her lighting and backdrops to Utah so we did a little photo shoot of our sweet little Sutton button.

Isn't she a beauty!

1 comment:

Alecia said...: She is adorable!; January 8, 2014 at 9:49 PM

My Restaurant Reviews and Recommendations

* = Not very good, don't recommend

**= OK/Good

***= Great/Excellent Highly recommended

San Francisco

New Delhi Restaurant (***) newdelhirestaurant.com - This is one of Rick's favorite Indian restaurant in the city. It is a nice Indian restaurant, not a hole in the wall. It is a little pricer than most Indian restaurants. Recommendations: Chicken Tikka Masala, Pulloa Raja, Balti Style Mango Prawns with Nimbu Pani (lemonade).

Memphis Minnie's (**) memphisminnies.com This restaurant in the Haight has great meat. It is very tender and flavorful. However, their BBQ sauce wasn't the greatest. The meat was better plain than with the sauce. I would recommend buying the meat and taking it home and adding your own BBQ sauce.

Mamacita (***) mamacitas.com This restaurant in the Marina has a fun atmosphere. It was the only restaurant on Chestnut street that was completely packed and a line out the door. It is a tapas restaurant that is a little pricey for the amount of food you get, but the food is good. Recommendations: Chilaquiles Casi Listos and Carne Asada.

Dragon Fly Restaurant (***) dragonfly420.com We loved this restaurant in the sunset. It was quiet and had a nice ambiance. Recommendations: Flaming Beet, Tom Bo Lua Hong, and pineapple fried rice. The pineapple fried rice was served in half a pineapple, nice presentation.

Kokkari (***) kokkari.com This restaurant has a nice rustic atmosphere with a wood burning fire aroma to it. This is one of Rick's favorite restaurants in the city (financial district). The Mediterranian food is good.

Slanted Door (***) slanteddoor.comThis restaurant in the ferry building is good, even the plain vegetables are flavorful.

Chaya Brasserie (***) thechaya.com This great restaurant on the Embarcadero is great - a french japanese restaurant with a sushi bar and traditional french meals. Recommendations: Tuna tartare.

Roy's Hawaiian Restaurant (***) royrestaurant.com This restaurant south of market has great meat, nice and tender. It has a nice atmosphere.

Houston's (**) Houston's which you can find in the city and other places has the best Thai Beef Salad with mangoes and avocados. It is a huge and filling salad with lots of flavor. It can be a loud restaurant.

Butterfly (**) butterflysf.com This restaurant along the water on the Embarcadero has a fun funky feel. The edamame that they have in place of bread when you are seated is great. The food is ok but not great.

Piperade - (**) piderade.com This restaurant on Battery Street is ok. It is a nice looking restaurant and very small. The food is ok, not a huge variety.

Osha Thai (***) oshathai.com This restaurant in the Embarcadero center has great thai food and a fun ambiance. Recomendations: Pineapple fried rice and pumpkin curry.

Sukhotahi (**) sukhothaica.com This restaurant in the sunset has good food at very reasonable prices. It is a typical thai looking restaurant. Recomendations: Yellow curry chicken.

Lime Tree (**) limetreesf.com This bright green hole in the wall restaurant in the sunset is a nice hole in the wall and is reasonably priced. Recommendations: Corn & prawn fritters (so good) and Roti with curry sauce.

Cafe Gratitude (*) cafegratitude.com This restaurant in the sunset is a raw, vegan/vegetarian restaurant. It is definately something different and something you should try once if you like vegetarian food. They make their own everything but it is a little strange tasting.

One Market (***) onemarket.com This restaurant on Market and Embarcadero is a nice restaurant with great flavorful food.

Naan-N-Curry (***) naanncurry.com This hole in the wall Indian restaurant can be found in several spots in the city and is one of my favorite Indian restaurants. Recommendations: Chicken Tikka Masala and Naan.

Asia de Cuba (***) chinagrillmanagement.com This restaurant has a great ambiance with a very cool bar area and funky tables. This restaurant can be loud but fun with great food.

Big 4 Restaurant (**) huntingtonhotel.com This restaurant is ok, but nothing to talk about. It is a nice looking restaurant but wasn't amazing.

Le Colonial (*) lecolonialsf.com This restaurant is a vietnamese restaurant and doesn't have the best selection or the greatest food. Wasn't anything to remember.

Il Forniao - (*) ilforniao.com This restaurant definately is not a favorite. The food is not worth the high prices they charge for it. The food isn't that flavorful.

Fog City Dinner (*) fogcitydiner.com This famous restaurant on the Embarcadero by Pier 39 is not worth the over priced food on the menu.

The House (**) thehse.com This is a pretty good vietnamese restaurant in the north beach area. It's small but has a fun funky setting.

E&O Trading Company (***) eotrading.com This restaurant by Union Square has a fun atmosphere and some times has live music. The food is good and unique.

Ana Mandara (***) anamandara.com This is a great restaurant down by Ghiradelhi Square. It is a nice vietnamese restaurant and has great flavorful beef.

Farallon (**) farallonrestaurant.com This restaurant by Union Square has a very cool look and feel but the food wasn't super great. It was just good. The restaurant decor is the best thing about it.

Boulevard (**) boulevardrestaurant.com I think this restaurant is over rated. It is suppose to be a great restaurant and known for its desserts. The food was good and flavorful but not excellent. The desserts were not very impressive. However, the interior is cool and unique - mosaics everywhere.

Frascati (***) frascatisf.com This restaurant is a great Italian restaurant in a great location. Recommendations: Sweet pea risotto and bread pudding.

Mama's (***) mamas-sf.com This restaurant in Washington Square is the best breakfast in the city. It has people lined up around the block all morning long. They have great breakfast, both sweet and savory. Recommendations: banana bread french toast.

Buca Di Beppo (**) bucadibeppo.com This is a family style Italian restaurant that has good food. They serve everything family style and you can find the restaurant in SF and PA.

Magic Flute Garden (**) magicfluteristorante.com This Italian restaurant is way out there in the middle of no where. The food is ok and the restaurant is quaint.

Buckhorn's (***) buckhornsteakhouse.com This is a great place for lunch. They have a large variety of salads and meat sandwiches. Recommendations: Bacon Cheddar Ranch Sandwhich (with steak).

Marnee Thai (**) marneethaisf.com This thai restaurant in the sunset has good food. It is a small restaurant that has lines of people to get in. Recommendations: Curry crab and the Pad Thai is to dye for, very sweet and not too vinegary.

Mijita (**) mijitasf.com This restaurant in the ferry building doesn't have many options on the menu but it does have good food. Recommendations: the steak.

Harris (***) harrisrestaurant.com This restaurant has great meat! They have all cuts and have live music playing.

House of Nanking (*) This restaurant is really popular and suppose to be good. However, I didn't like it at all. The food was horrible and it was a hole in the wall.

Plouf (**) ploufsf.com This restaurant down a little alley in the financial district was good but not excellent. It is a small restaurant and not super fancy inside. Recommendations: creme brulee.

Plumpjack Cafe (**) plumpjackcafe.com This restaurant wasn't the coolest looking place and the food was ok. The wild mushroom rissotto was pretty good.

R&G Lounge (**) This restaurant in China town has pretty good chinese food. It has two stories and can accommodate large parties.

Pasha Restaurant (*) pasharestaurant.com This restaurant has belly dancers and moroccan food. The belly dancers are fun and the restaurant is definately and experience but the food wasn't that good and the prices were high for the amount of food you get.

Pane E Vino (**) paneevinotrattoria.com This Italian restaurant is known for its wood fire thin crusted Italian pizza. The pizzas are good if you like the thin kind.

Perry's (**) This place is ok. It has a lot of appetizer type items on their menu. It can seem like you are ordering from a familiar menu, one you would find at a family chain restaurant only the restaurant looks a little nicer inside.

New Eritrea Restaurant (*) This ethiopian restaurant was unique in the way that they served everything family style and you eat with your hands or a sour spongy type bread. However, the food wasn't really that good.

Mitchell's Ice Cream (***) mitchellsicecream.com This ice cream shop in the mission has a million ice cream flavors. There is always a long line but the ice cream is worth it. Recommendations: Buco (pilipino young coconut ice cream).

Mona Lisa Restaurant (**) This restaurant in North Beach is ok. It is a very small restaurant.

Steps of Rome (*) This restaurant in north beach is always busy and very loud. It can be a fun atmosphere but the food isn't that flavorful. I had alfredo pasta and I had to use a lot of salt and pepper to get it to taste ok.

Sam's Grill & Seafood (**) This restaurant in the financial district was not necessarily good or bad, just a restaurant.

Moose's (**) mooses.com This restaurant in Washington Square is good and more of a quiet reserved restaurant.

Silk's (**) mandarinorietnal.com This restaurant in the Mandarin Hotel looks like a nice fancy place, a very adult or mature looking place. The food was ok, not great and expensive.

Taylor's Automatic Refresher (**) taylorsrefresher.com This restaurant in the ferry building has good looking hamburgers (however I haven't tried them, I don't eat hamburgers). They are famous for their sweet potato fries, but I like their chili cheese fries.

XYZ (*) xyz-sf.com This restaurant in the W Hotel has a cool funky feel but we didn't finish any of our courses. The food wasn't good enough to finish each course.

Cafe Delucchi (***) caffedelucchi.com This restaurant in north beach is small but good. Recommendations: Saltimbocca

Antica Trattoria (**) anticasf.com This restaurant is in a sketchy neighborhood in the city but has good food. A nice menu of options.

University Club (***) This was my favorite place to eat in the city. It is a private club for members only but I knew the Chef (no longer there). The building is an old building from the early 1900 and is very beautiful and amazing inside. There are balconies and game rooms every where. The food was amazing, no cutting corners anywhere. The lamb, duck, fresh hearts of palm and all the fresh homemade desserts were great. You won't find the same thing on the menu more than once.

Pier 23 (*) pier23.com This restaurant along the water on the Embarcadero isn't that good. It is a restaurant you would find plastic table clothes and laminated menus. There may be a lot of options on the menu but it is difficult to find something that sounds good to you. I always struggle to find something I like when I go there for a free work lunch.

Around the Bay

Burma Superstar(**) burmasuperstar.com This restaurant is in Alameda and SF. The food is good. Recommendations: Burmese Style Curry Lamb and Nan Byi Dok (chicken curry noodles).

Pasta Moon (***) pastamoon.com This restaurant in Half Moon Bay is delicious. It is a nice restaurant and has a large private room in the back. Recommendations: Risotto Pan Seared Day Boat Sea Scallops.

Del Navio (***) delnavio.com This restaurant hidden away by the Oakland temple is great. This is where we had our wedding luncheon. It is a small nice restaurant with great food. Recommendations: Shrimp scampi and spanish rice.

A Cote (***) acoterestaurant.com This tapas restaurant on College Avenue in Oakland is great. It is a small dark restaurant with unique items on the menu. They also have a variety of unique drinks. The food is good but you don't leave full.

The House of Chicken & Waffles (*) hcwchikenandwaffles.com This restaurant in Jack London Square, Oakland was not as good as I was hoping. The waffles and the chicken weren't the greatest. I was hoping for better.

Fat Slice (***) fatslicepizza.com This hole in the wall pizza restaurant on Telegraph st. in Berkley has the best pizza in the world. It has thick bread like crust with good sauce and lots of cheese. You can get a big slice and a drink for very cheap. Love It!

Cafe Brazil (***) cafebrasil.us This restaurant in Santa Cruz is great. It is only open until 3:00pm and you often have to wait in a long line to get a seat. It has real authentic Brazilian food. Recommendations: Acai it is the Best!

Celia's Mexican Restaurant (***) celiasrestaurant.com This mexican restaurant can be found all around and it is great. It has real authentic dishes and has great prices. Recommendations: Chicken & Cheese enchiladas.

Janta (***) jantaindianrestaurant.com This Indian restaurant in Palo Alto is my favorite Indian restaurant around. It is a small restaurant and a nice one for an Indian restaurant. It is a little on the pricey side about $20 for tikka masala, rice and naan. Recommendations: Chicken Tikka Masala. It is pretty spicy but so flavorful.

Napa Valley Wine Train (*) winetrain.com This restaurant is actually on a moving train through the Napa Valley. It is a beautiful ride through the vineyards and makes for a fun day. However, the food isn't that good. You are definaitely paying for the experience.

Stacks (**) stackspancakes.com This breakfast restaurant chain can be found in several places including Palo Alto. Recommendations: Banana pancakes with coconut and macadamia nuts.

The Caprice (**) thecaprice.com This restaurant sits on the waters edge in Tiburon. During the day and the evening you can watch the yatch club sail their boats right in front of the window. It is a nice restaurant with a great location. A very romantic restaurant. The food is good. Recommendations: Deviled eggs with chives and caviar.

Evvia Estiatorio(**) evvia.net This restaurant is owned by the same people as Kokkari in the city but it is located in Palo Alto. It has a fancy modern like feel to it. The food is good.

Outback Steak House (**) outbacksteakhouse.com This restaurant chain can be found almost anywhere. It is a good place for steak and potatoes. Recommendations: Cheese Fries. They have the best cheese fries in the world. Lots of cheese and bacon with a spicy ranch sauce - yum. I go to this restaurant just for their cheese fries!

Dish Dash (**) dishdash.net This restaurant in Sunnyvale is good. This is where Rick and I had our first date. We had some delicious salmon there and I can't even remember what else. I just remember it was a great experience.

Su Hongs (***) suhong.com This Chinese restaurant in Menlo Park has the best Chinese around. Recommendations: Mushu Chicken and chicken fried rice. Their orange peel beef is excellent most of the time (sometimes it can be a little dry).

Pizza My Heart (**) pizzamyheart.com This pizza place can be found around the bay area (Santa Cruz, Los Gatos, and Palo Alto) and has pizza by the slice. It isn't anything fancy just a local surfer type pizza place. Recommendation: The slice with chicken, bacon and white sauce - delicious.

Olive Garden (**) olivegarden.com This place can obviously be found just about anywhere and I know a lot of people don't like it but I do. They have a great alfredo sauce. Recommendations: Get the appetizer pizza with chicken, garlic, green onions and alfredo sauce as your main course. It is to die for. I go there specifically for this dish.

Cafe Borrone (***) cafeborrone.com This cafe in Palo Alto/Menlo Park area has outdoor seating and is perfect for a summer evening with friends. It is always crowded. It might take awhile to find a seat but it is worth it. It is a little on the pricey side. Recommendations: Hot pastrami sandwich and ginger snap cookies.

Darbar Restaurant (**) darbarcuisine.com This Indian restaurant in Palo Alto is good but not excellent. It is a nicer Indian restaurant than usual with higher prices. My recommendations at an Indian restaurant is always the chicken tikka masala and naan.

Plutos (***) plutosfreshfood.com This restaurant can be found in Palo Alto and San Francisco. It has a homestyle casual feel to it and serves home cooked meals and has a large salad bar. I don't like the home cooked meals (very sourthern comfort food feel) but I love their salad bar. You can get a huge salad with 7 toppings of your choice and a meat of your choice with some delicious rosemary foccacia for a very reasonable price. Recommendation: Farmer Greens salad with steak, tomatoes, corn, broccoli, beans, croutons, cheese, mushrooms and cesear dressing.

Applewood Pizza (***) applewoodpizza.com This family style pizzeria in Menlo Park has fabulous pizza. It is a little pricier than a pizza chain but has a large vareity of unique pizzas. Recommendation: Sausage and Avocado pizza. It is to die for. It sounds strange but it is wonderful.

Chez Panisse Cafe (*) chezpanisse.com This restaurant in Berkley is suppose to be great. They make everything homemade and it has a good reputation. When I ate there I didn't even finish my plate, it wasn't worth getting full over. I had homemade mushroom ravioli and the homemade pasta was hard, thick and chewy. It wasn't flavorful at all. I wouldn't waste my money to go back.

Pasta Pomodoro (**) pastapomodoro.com This Italian restaurant chain can be found all over the place and actually has good food. I usually get their cream sauces and they are good.

Our Wedding Weekend!

Our wedding weekend was perfect. Rick and I really wanted it to be a fun weekend for all those coming into town. Usually when you fly into town for someone’s wedding you see them for about 5 minutes at the temple or at the reception and don’t really get to spend any time with them. We really wanted to be able to spend time with our out of town friends and family. This was very important to us.

Our wedding weekend started Wednesday night when we got off work and picked up his parents from the airport. Thursday morning Rick and I ran last minute errands and worked on preparing food for our family dinner. We picked Toni up from the airport. She flew in early to help us with our dinner party and last minute prep. We ran to the grocery store several times that day.

Thursday

Thursday night was the family dinner at our new place. We wanted our family to be able to spend some time getting to know each other and to see our new place. Since Rick and I both like cooking we decided this would be a great opportunity to say Thank You to our families for all the love and support they gave us in our wedding plans.

It took us a while to come up with a menu that we both liked. Rick really wanted to create a new dish that was our very own, but was easy enough to cook for 30 people. This was our menu:

Course 1

Appetizer: Individual Cheese Plates with Camembert, Smoked Gouda and Jarlsberg with slices of fresh apples, dried apricots and cranberries, baguette and water crackers. They were served on little white square plates (they turned out very cute).

Course 2

Salad: Spinach salad with slices of avocado and oranges with Vinaigrette dressing.

Course 3

Palate Cleanser: Raspberry or Lemon Sorbet with mint leaves, served on even smaller white square plates.

Course 4

Main course: Red and White Manicotti (this was our own invention) served with garlic bread. We made a thick and chunky homemade red sauce with sausage, hamburger, and vegetables (zucchini, mushrooms, olives and onions) similar to my homemade lasagna sauce. We then made a ricotta cheese mixture. We then stuffed the manicotti shells with layers of chunky red sauce, ricotta cheese mixture and then chunky red sauce. This way every bite was a little different. One bite you got lasagna and the other you got manicotti. We then topped the manicotti shells with my homemade specialty cream sauce to add the richness to the dish. It was very inventive.

Course 5

Dessert: White cupcakes with Coconut, mint leaves and raspberries.

The tables were set up in a big U shape so everyone could see everyone and have a chance to talk. The napkin rings were little tiny picture frames that I found at Villeroy & Boch. Each seat had a picture of the person that was suppose to sit there. Everyone was suppose to find their seat and get to know the people around them. This would have worked out a little better if everyone was actually there. We had a little trouble getting everyone there. Some were coming from Utah and were stuck in snow storms, others lost and some sick. Although it didn’t turn out exactly how it was planned it was still a successful and enjoyable night.

Friday

Friday morning the girls and I woke up and headed over to the reception hall to set up for the wedding. My family and friends were there as well as the caterer. It went smoothly and quickly with all the help. It turned out beautiful, just the way I had envisioned it.

I figured this would be a perfect opportunity for the Groom to spend some time with his family and friends and more enjoyable than helping set up (basically, I figured my decorating may not be as efficient and effective if he was with me).

Rick, his friends and his family headed down to Santa Cruz to spend some quality time together in the ocean surfing. Everyone was pretty excited about this event including Rick. However, there was a slight problem that cut the trip a little shorter than expected. After everyone rented their boards and wetsuits and actually got into the freezing cold winter ocean water, Rick ran into a little trouble. During a wipe out, his board managed to hit him in the face giving him a big bloody lip. Of course his first thought was; Corene is going to kill me if I have a big swollen bloody lip on our wedding day, so he immediately put some ice on it and rushed to the emergency room for some stitches. The ice seemed to have worked because that night I had no clue it happened.

Friday night we had a roller skating party with friends, family and all the kids. It was great fun. I had my purple leg warmers on and a side pony. Rick had a great polyester outfit as well as a super cool wig on. Some guests dressed up and some did not. Rick and I also performed a “Roller Routine” that we had been practicing. It was great. We even did the peacock move from Blades of Glory.

A few hours into the roller skating party the Bride and her best friends headed home for a Bachelorette Slumber Party. I had been planning my B Slumber Party for the last 10 years, and it turned out just the way I wanted it to be. Toni and my sisters put it together for me and planned it just as I had dreamed. There was tons of great food, lots of good advice and useful gifts, as well as things that might make you blush. The best part was, all my life long friends there together talking and making memories. I think I was the most educated bride by the next morning.

Saturday

Saturday morning – The Wedding Day! We woke up and had some croissants, fresh fruit, breakfast quiche etc for breakfast and then headed over to the Salon for manicures and pedicures. We then came home to get ready for the great day. We all did our hair and make-up together in my mom’s room and bathroom. It was like a beauty salon in there. It was a great morning. We had plenty of time to sleep in and get ready and make it to Oakland for the luncheon.

We all made it on time to the luncheon at Del Navio. The luncheon was great because we had all our friends and family from close by and far away with us. You can’t get better than that - so many of the people you love, all in one room celebrating with you.

This was our menu:

Course 1 Salad with vinaigrette

Course 2 Chicken breast wrapped in procuitto and cheese with a side of fettuccini alfredo and vegetables, or Shrimp scampi with Spanish rice and a side of vegetables.

Course 3 Crème Brulee

My Groom was on time to the luncheon, thanks to Blake who kept him moving along that morning. We all ate and talked and people shared stories about Ricky and I. Of course it all made me cry. It meant the world to me to have so many people there that I love. While we were eating, Rick whispered in my ear that he had gotten stitches yesterday in Santa Cruz but didn’t tell me sooner because he didn’t want to worry me. Luckily for us, the stitches were inside his mouth and you couldn’t even tell. However, I did feel bad that his day with his family and friends was cut short.

Rick and I left the luncheon a little earlier than our guest since we had to be across the street at the temple before them. I was the only Bride that day getting married which was nice. We had some time together in the temple before we headed into the Sealing Room. Our sealing was great, Jesse, Rick’s sister said our kiss was a little riskae. We enjoyed it.

Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention, it was a rainy day. I knew it could be a possibility so I wasn’t going to let it spoil my day. When we all came out of the temple it was pouring down rain. Of course our pictures were scheduled to take place outside in front of the temple. We all grabbed umbrellas from the temple and headed out to the front in the rain. It was pretty funny. For a split second I just laughed and thought this is the greatest moment ever. We are all out in the rain getting drenched together, how much better can this get. Then this moment quickly left and I hurried the photographer along and ended the photo shoot. For this reason our wedding pictures didn’t turn out so good.

The wedding party headed straight down to Menlo Park for the reception. The room looked wonderful. The room was lit with white paper lanterns, white lights and a fire in the fireplace. The food table and cake table looked wonderful and tasted great. Our flowers (white Casablanca lilies) hadn’t completely bloomed yet but nothing to complain about. We spent about a half an hour in a line saying hi to our friends and family members. We then walked around and mingled with everyone. We actually added time to eat in our wedding schedule so we walked through the food line and sat down at a table and ate our reception food. It was gooood! We then danced to our song “Better Together” by Jack Johnson. Ricky really wanted to dance. We tried to play a few other songs but it didn’t really work, which was fine.

It was then time to cut the cake. Rick was so good to me. I was crossing my fingers for a very long time that he would not smash cake in my face. This was something that we had talked about several times while dating for two years. After he proposed to me I said – you have to promise me one thing, that you will not smash cake in my face on our wedding day. He never made that promise, which is why I was crossing my fingers, but the good man that he is, let me enjoy our reception with a clean and happy face (I told him he could smash cake in my face on our one year anniversary all he wanted.)

After the cake we moved on to the bouquet toss. I stood up on the stage and tossed it out. My good friend Alyson Day got it. I hope she is next! It was Rick’s turn to toss the garter. To his surprise my garter was black which matched the sash on my dress. No one was around to catch it so he shot it over to my little brother. I hope he isn’t the next, he is way too young.

We planned our wedding reception to only be 2 hours. We knew after that long weekend, we would be ready to get on with our married life. After the tossing of the garter it was almost time to head out. I went into the back room with my sisters to prep up for our departure. The departure was something I had been planning and waiting for, for a very long time. We rented a 1963 White Silver Cloud Royals Royce to drive us off to our hotel. Our friends and family gathered at the door on both sides with sparklers and as they played the song You Look Like Gold by Ben Harper we walked hand and hand through them, to our car. We paused for a quick second, kissed and stepped into the car and drove away. It was great. The pouring rain was a little bit of a bummer, but still a great memorable moment.

That’s the end. No more details.

Why is it that I love my Dinghy so much?

I have wanted a yellow rubber raft for many years. It was always a dream of mine to throw my back pack and my sleeping gear into the rubber raft and paddle out to a small island on Lake Powell for the weekend. The thought of camping, water and a yellow rubber raft was like a dream come true.

For my 30th birthday, part of my dream came true. My girls (all my cute single girlfriends) surprised me with a yellow rubber raft for my birthday. Check out the look on my face when I got it!

It took me about eight months before I had the chance to use it. It was in May of 2006 that Rick (my new boyfriend at the time) and I decided to take a road trip along the coast to Oregon for Memorial Day Weekend. Of course the Dinghy was coming with us.

The Dinghy has since been to many places around the world with us. It goes, where we go. That Dinghy sure was one of the best gifts I have ever received.

Oh The Places It Has Gone....

Mexico

We took a road trip down to Ensenada

Mexico

for Labor Day weekend and of course brought our Dinghy.

Hawaii
The Dinghy had a hard time getting on the plane to go to Hawaii. The security considered the oars and our snorkels to be weapons. I had to go through security 3 times and finally ended up having to check the Dinghy bag.

Russian River
Rick and I took a weekend trip to the Russian River. I was pretty excited about going because the Russian River was a place that my Grandpa and my dad grew up going to when they were little kids. We laid around in the very hot sun under the bridge and read magazines in the Dinghy. I loved spending time with Rick on this trip.

Jamaica

This was the first stop on our honeymoon. It was so relaxing. The water was beautiful the weather warm and we laid around in the Dinghy in the afternoon as the showers came down on us.

Grenadine Islands
The winds were pretty tough in the Grenadine Islands. We had to be careful were we took the Dinghy. We wanted to paddle out to white sand beach but the current was just too crazy.

Carriacou
We ended up taking the Dinghy to Tyrell Bay and just floated in the bay among all the big yachts from around the world. It was the only place that wasn't being attacked by the wind.

The Dinghy has been a wonderful gift in my life. Even Rick admits that he likes the Dinghy. We have had many wonderful memories with the Dinghy and hope to travel with it for many more years.

These are the places I Have Seen...

Mexico

- I took a 7 day cruise with my dad, twin sister and little sister right before I left for my mission. We went to Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta. It was a great trip - our first big trip out of the country. We went snorkeling at Lover's Beach in Cabo, Parasailing and sailing in Mazatlan and boating in Puerto Vallarta.

Philippines

- I served my mission in the Philippines Ilagan Mission in 1996-1998. It was obviously a great experience. I served in Ilagan, Alicia, Bayombong, and Appari.

Disney World - For my 26th birthday my roommate Becky and I went to Orland and Daytona Beach for a week. We went to Disney World and Epcot Center. I loved the Epcot Center but Disney World was a little boring for me. We also went to the Orlando Temple there. Dayton Beach was very lame. I didn't like it there one bit.

Carribbean -I went to the Carribbean with my family on a seven day cruise. We went to Nassau Bahamas, Costa Maya and Cozemel Mexico. We were suppose to go to Belize, Cozemel, Costa Maya and Grand Cayman but we were interupted by a large hurricane that took out Grand Cayman Island. They postponed our cruise by a few days so we were actually only on the ship for about 5 days. We spent the weekend in Tampa and Miami in the eye of the hurricane. Being from California, we were all pretty excited about the hurricane and wondered of the the waters edge for some excitedment. We came back to the marriott hotel soaking wet. We tried to go swimming because the waves in the pool were huge but they look at us Californians like we were insane. The whole city was pretty much such down so we spend Sunday afternoon (which was Jesse and Justin's 15th birthday) across the street at the only food place that was open - yes it was HOOTER'S. It was a great family meal. In Costa Maya we took a tour of the old Mayan Ruins. In Cozemel we all went scuba diving in the national reefs - very amazing and in Nassau we went shopping, snorkeling and jet skiing. It was a fun trip.

Alaska -I needed a vacation and didn't have anyone to go with. My parents at the time were thinking about going to Alaska so I decided to tag along. We went on a 7 day cruise, and grandma came along as well. We went to Ketchikan and Juneau. Although I am use to going on cruises that are hot, I really enjoyed this very cold cruise. It was so bueatiful. On a carribbean or mexican cruise, when you are out to sea you are out to sea - all you can see for days is the ocean. In Alsaka we saw the bueatiful scenery around us through the passage. We also saw a ton of glaciers. We went shopping in at the ports as well as took a helicopter up to Hubbery Glacier and hiked around on the glacier. It was fun and amazing.

London

England

- My first European trip was to London

England

with two of my best friends - Becky and Laura Kate. It was great. We threw our back packs on and showed up in London with no accommodations or plans in place. We traveled to all the touristy sites of course, saw Phantom of the Opera, went dancing at a night club and traveled to Bath for a few days. It was the Easter weekend so everything was booked in Bath, we ended up staying at a hostel for the first time. We were the only ones in the hostel. It was pretty fun and not so bad.

Costa Rico - At this point Becky had become my new travel partner. We decided to plan a trip to Costa Rico. At the last minute we decided to invite a few others. This was our first girl trip. It was so fun. My sister Lauren came as well as our other friends Molly and Aly. We rented a car and drove all around the country. We went river rafting on the Caribbean side on the Paquare River. We then headed over to the Pacific side where we spent most of our time. We went on a zip line tour where we climbed in the rain forest, repelled, zip lined and played in the river. We got dressed up, went to some great restaurants and then to a latin club for dancing. We ended up dancing to Brittany Spears rather than some good latin music. We had massages on the beach as the sun was coming down, we did some shopping and lots of eating. We played around on some deserted beach and Aly kissed a boy who wanted to marry her. We had a great cd mix that was made especially for the trip. Those songs still remind me of our fun girl trip to Costa Rico.

Hawaii - We decided to take another girl trip, this time to Hawaii. Our friend Caisa is from there so we stayed at her house. It was a great girl trip. There were 9 of us girls. Our tickets were pretty cheap and we didn't have to pay for a place to stay, plus we got tons of stuff for free. That's pretty easy when you have 9 cute girls with you. We got free surfing lessons from Joy who is a professional long boarder. We surfed at Waikiki Beach. We also got a free sailing trip on an 80 foot yacht, one of the largest private yachts in the area. We also go to go to the Polyenissian Cultural Center for dinner and the show for free. We all piled into the cars and headed to the North Shore for some time in the water and some snow cones. We listened to Black Eyed Peas all the way there. It was a great girl trip - loved it!

Paris

France

- It was time for our yearly vacation so Becky and I found a deal to Paris. Again we just showed up with no reservations or plans in mind. We stayed by the Louvre for most of the time and then moved on to a hostel for the last few nights (we ran out of money). We did all the touristy things; the Louvre, Musseum D'Orsay, Rodin Musseum, Versallies, the Eiffel Tower etc. We also went to a French Ballet (which wasn't that good, in fact we left in the middle) and the Mon Marte to buy paintings. We went to the flea markets and ate crepes every night on the side of the road. We ate tons of create food, crepes, creme brulee, camembert and baguettes, french onion soup and croissants.

Germany

- My mom had never been to Europe so I decided to plan a mom/daughter trip to Europe before I got married. We flew into Frankfurt and went straight to the temple. I forgot my skirt so I wrapped my pashmina scarf around me and walked right in. Again, we had no plans and no accommodations. We traveled down south and went to Baden Baden, Triberg, Villingin Shwinigen (or how ever you spell it), Fussen, Omeromergau, and Garmich Partinkirchen. We saw all the famous castles, bought a cuckoo clock and ate black forest cake. We were there during Carnival, so we were able to enjoy their culture, costumes, parades and food. We stayed in hostels where ever we went. We had our own private hostels with our own bathroom for pretty cheap. We played five crowns in our room each night. I loved this trip with my mom. It was great fun. That was pretty much my last trip that I went on as a single girl with out Rick.

Places Rick and I have Seen Together...

Puerto Rico
This was our first big trip together on the airplane. We went there for a long Labor Day Weekend. We went to Old San Juan and stayed there for a night. I discovered that I absolutely love the rice in PR. To this day it is some of my favorite rice. We left the rental car on the side of the road and took a ferry ride over to Vieques Island. There we hitch hiked to a beach where we could camp. We hitch hiked late at night to Mosquito Bay where we went snorkeling in the bioluminescent bay. It was amazing. I have never seen anything like it. I highly recommend this place. We slept on the under neath a fruit tree in a pile of red ants. We were attached all night long with bugs, fruit and loud drunk Puerto Ricans who were playing dominos. After that night, I told Rick that we could camp as long as we bought a tent to keep us away from all the bugs. Sure enough we went to Walmart and bought a red tent. We still use that tent today. We then went back to the main Island and traveled around the whole island. We played with the Dinghy, snorkeled, shopped, and ate tons of good food. We met a beach comber named Charlie who took us to the best place to snorkel. We hung out with him and his American girlfriend and had virgin pina coladas at the bar on the beach with them. It was a great trip.

Catalina Island
Rick and I decided to take a kayaking trip to Catalina Island for the fourth of July weekend. We wented kayaks and paddled down the island to a beach campsite. Our campsite was about 8 miles from where we rented the kayak. It started out fine but then as the day went on and the wind picked up it was very difficult. At the time, I was on the rowing team and had very good strong arm mussels so paddling wasn't a problem for me, but that wind was so hard. I was paddling as hard as I could just to keep in the same place and not blow back. It took us many hours to get to our campsite. When we arrived, the other people there were amazed that we only had kayaks with us (they were all on yachts). We snorkeled around and kayaked through some caves. We had all our camping gear in dry bags in our kayak. We cooked some great meals. We shared with the people around us. They were shocked that we had such great food out there.

Hawaii
Rick and I flew to Hawaii for the weekend to meet up with our friend Ben. We stayed on the North Shore with our friends Blake and Leslie. It was a quick weekend but we still had tons of fun. We went snorkeling, surfing and we hiked Stair Way to Heaven in the middle of the night. We reached the top as the sun was coming up. We left in the middle of the night because it is illegal to hike it since it is so dangerous. Lucky for me it was the middle of the night and dark outside, because if I would have seen what I was hiking there is no way I would have done it. It was 3,000 feet straight up, and for someone who is affraid of heights it was scary.

Ensenada

Mexico

Rick and I took a road trip down to

Mexico

for Labor Day Weekend. We drove through a little town and stopped for lobster dinner by the beach. It was pretty good We then camped on the point - La Buffadora. It was a great place to camp, over looking the ocean and hearing the waves each night. We went horseback riding on the beach, shopping in town and went to the fresh fish market. We bought some fresh halibut and went back to our campsite and cooked up the best fish tacos you have ever had. There was a bunch of college kids next to us eating mac and cheese so we shared our fish tacos with all 6 of them. We then headed back into town and pitched our tent right on the beach. It was a great trip. On our way home we stopped in San Diego and snorkeled with the leapord sharks.

Jamaica
This was the first stop on our two week long honeymoon. We stayed in Negril at the Rockhouse. It was great. We had our own private bungalow on the cliffs over looking the water. Our room came with an outdoor shower, it was pretty fun. In Jamaica, we relaxed in the sun, snorkeled, ate jerk chicken on the side of the road, and went to Rick’s Café for dinner at sunset to watch the cliff jumpers – one of them being my Rick. We went sailing on a sunfish sailboat that was owned by Sandals Beach Resort – I think they thought we were staying there since they just handed us the boat no problem. And of course, we used our own Dinghy.

Grenada
We flew to Grenada from Jamaica. In Grenada we rented a car and drove all over the Island. It was the cleanest Island I have ever been to. It was green and very lush and their wasn’t a piece of litter to be found any where. We stayed at Belaire Plantation. Again we had our own private villa over looking the bay. It was a very nice two room suite with high ceilings, a kitchen, nice bathroom and balcony. We paddled out to deserted islands, went to many deserted beaches, climbed coconut tress for water nuts, ate a ton of great seafood, went kayaking in the ocean and crashed in the waves (I had sea urchins in my feet for a few months after the crash). We took a tour of the spice garden and the chocolate plantation. We hiked to a water fall, went to the local market for groceries and made ourselves some coconut chicken curry and fried bananas for dinner.

The Life of RC Cola, now family of 5.

Bingham

Monday, December 23, 2013

Lauren Lu Photography

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Project Bingham

Our Cute Family

Athen

Crew

Sutton

Our friends

Places we have been together

Places Corene has been to

Places Rick has been to

Costa Rica

Costa Rica

St. Lucia

Soufriere, St. Lucia

Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

Reduit Beach, St. Lucia

Mud Lake, Sierra Mountains

Dominican Republic

Playa Rincon, DR

Dominican Republic

Sites I like

Surfing in Hawaii

Climbing Stairway to Heaven

California Coast

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Agate Beach, Oregon

Oregon Coast

Moab

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Lost Coast

The Lost Coast

Rick building us a shelter in the drift wood

Tahoe

Westwood

Westwood Tree

Lake Almanor

Ricky and I rock climbing on the ship

Zip lining in Puerto Vallarta

My shawdow in Mexico

Ricky playing by the pool on the ship

My brothers, sisters, neices and nephews

Pictures from our Honeymoon

Kayaking in the West Indies

Snorkeling in Negril, Jamaica

Tyrell Bay

Grenada

La Sagase, Grenada

Market in St. George, Grenada

Grenadine Islands

Grenadine Islands

Carriacauo Island

St. George, Grenada

Jamaica

Blog Archive

Wedding Pictures More to Come...

Our Awesome Wedding Car

My Shelfari Bookshelf

My Restaurant Reviews and Recommendations

Our Wedding Weekend!

Why is it that I love my Dinghy so much?

Oh The Places It Has Gone....

These are the places I Have Seen...

Places Rick and I have Seen Together...