Three generations of strength. It is moving to see women pass on values, habits, and traditions... to see women raise one another up, helping one another. Right now, mom and grandma are raising Ellie, but one day, I'm sure little Ellie will help mom and grandma in their journeys too.
Randy + Stephanie describe their wedding as an event with a modern bohemian tropical feel. "We found Ebell after looking into a sister venue in Los Angeles, and visited Ebell after learning that it had a larger guest capacity. When we got there, we fell in love with the greenery, the Spanish tile, the flow, and all of the natural light. There was a definite wow factor without being too formal, that made us feel like this was the place we should get married in."
Randy + Stephanie met online through Coffee Meets Bagel. (The same app my husband and I used to find each other!). On their second date, they went on a long hike to Muir Woods. Her friend warned her that it might not be the best idea since we don't know if this guy is a serial killer or not. :) But Stephanie came back from that hike with her face hurting from smiling so much. Far from a serial killer - this guy was more like an innocent teddy bear!
This couple is laid back, smart and so personable. They are loyal to their friends and family and there was nothing but love being poured out that day!
Dessert + Ice Cream Cart: Mr and Mrs Creamery
DJ; Sea Star Events; Diane Higgins
Event Planner: Vanessa Barriga
Hair + Make Up: Joy Megumi
Catering: Tres La
Pianist: Pianist on Call
Florist: Le Rosa Alba
Dress: Grace Loves Lace
Ties: Penguin (Groom), Tie Bar - Groomsmen (@tiebar)
Suits: Indochino
Bridesmaids Dress: Lulus
Milieu is a French word (pronounced mil-yOO) which means ‘atmosphere, surroundings or environment.’ It’s the name Hannah Koo took on for her flower business because she truly believes that flowers have the ability to shape and transform the atmosphere. Beautiful floral designs can evoke strong emotions and set the tone.
Speaking of “milieu,” (yes, please do say it with a French accent and a beret) Hannah grew up in a creative milieu. She paints and her educational background in college is in studio arts (UCI) and jewelry design (OTIS). Her mom did flower arrangements on the side and her dad was a landscape artist. “Maybe that’s why I was so drawn to being creative with natural things,” she said.
She started working in the floral business 15 years ago when she worked at a flower shop.
"When I first started working at a flower shop right after college, it was intended to be just a part time job to save up enough for travel & prepare for Grad School for the Arts. However, within the first week of working there I fell in love with the whole business aspect of it. The idea of owning your own shop, so I ended up staying there for 5 years, soaking up everything it took to run a business. For the first 2 years, I didn't do any design work but was assigned to just cleaning buckets, processing flowers & menial shop duties. I really worked my way from the ground up."
She is now in her 10th year as the owner and designer of Milieu Florals. Her floral designs have always had a very natural and organic feel to it, even before the “natural and organic” designs were popular. And maybe her background in painting contributes to her approach to her floral work.
"I work with the color palette rather than the variety of flowers, so I will sometimes use different textures that aren't necessarily flowers, like fruits, branches, and acorn to stay true to the color scheme & feel for the event."
What’s something you would do different in your journey as a florist?
I would probably pick a name that people can pronounce [laughs]. I would be more ok saying, “no” to work and be more selective with the amount of work I took on. It led to feeling burned out at times because I sometimes took on 60+ orders per year. Now, I feel like I’m finally at a place where I do have the freedom to be more selective in my work and give myself more time for myself and my family.
What do you LOVE about your work?
I love being able to make people happy and how flowers can change the ambiance of a space. I love the flexibility of my work. I like working Wednesday - Saturday, even though I sometimes work 15+ hour days. Before, I would try to take all the work that came in, but now I’m finally at a place where I have the option to say yes or no.
What aspects of floral design is least expected by a typical person who may not be familiar with what you do?
People think, “Oh, it must be so pretty and fun working with flowers.” But I don’t think people realize how much grunt work there is and how physically demanding it can be. It’s definitely not as glamorous as it looks and can involve some back-breaking, arthritis causing work.
Once you bring back the flowers from the flower market, you start processing it - chopping all the stems and preparing all the buckets of waters. That takes about 3-4 hours. A typical Wednesday morning starts at 4 or 4:30 AM and I get to the flower mart by 5. The early fish gets the goods! I’m at warehouse for about 3 hours, scanning the whole warehouse for the best quality, best color, and best price. I drive back home and start processing them. By 1 or 2 PM, the flowers are then ready to be designed. I spend the rest of the day and all day Thursday and Friday designing and arranging the flowers mostly for weddings and sometimes Dohls (First Birthdays).
Hannah's arrangements look natural. It looks like they were picked that way from the wild and just transplanted into a holding vessel. But this organic look doesn't happen haphazardly. It requires intentionally placing each stem by someone as meticulous and detailed as Hannah. It's like how master musicians, dancers, and craftsmen make things look so effortless. In this case, there were countless hours of back-breaking labor to create these works of beauty.
Meet Brian Peterson, a painter who started a passion project Faces of Santa Ana out of his encounter with the Screaming Homeless Man. Although Brian designs cars for Kia Motors for his day job, he finds a deep sense of purpose when painting.
I feel the most alive when I’m painting. By alive, I mean the whole time I’m painting, it’s a battle. It’s not like “Whooo this is so fun~ I’m an artist!" It’s challenges and mistakes. And you work with the mistakes. 50, 60 % of my paintings are mistakes. And you work with 'em. You leave them there. You don’t try to erase ‘em. There’s no eraser with oil painting.
And I think that’s like life. We can’t always tell if something is good or bad - we can’t discern everything. What do you with situations that life throws at you? And that’s kinda like how painting is. Oh that's not working, but let’s keep working. Let’s keep believing that the end goal is going to be amazing. And that goes with all of my paintings. It never looks good half way through to me.
For Brian his faith also plays a core role in his creative work and what propels him to paint.
Art is …
For me, art is two things. Art is worship because when I paint, I feel like I’m connecting with God.
Art is also love. When I was mixing my palette yesterday, I was squeezing out the colors and thinking, “Thank you God for making this blue that I can love someone with, this red that I can love someone with.”
So if art is a means of love, and love is the most powerful force in the world, then I think art has a lot of capability of changing hearts, lives, minds, governments, perspectives.... all that stuff. So I view art as love.
What kind of “love” is Brian speaking of?
Let’s get back to the Screaming Homeless Man.
There really was a homeless man who really screamed regularly in his neighborhood. In fact, it was a such a regular occurrence that Matt named him the Screaming Homeless Man. “Oh, there he goes again” was the common response to the sound.
But one night, Brian was reading Bob Goff’s Love Does on his couch. He heard the familiar screams of the Screaming Homeless Man, but that night, it was different.
I was reading about loving my neighbor and what it looks like to love like Jesus. And those screams pierced into my heart. I thought “Man, that’s my neighbor. I don’t even know his name.” I told my wife Vanessa that I had to go meet him.
Two days later I was on my way home from work on my bicycle. I saw him so I stopped and introduced myself to him. “Hey, my name is Brian. I’m your neighbor. I’m sorry for calling you the Screaming Homeless Man in my household. I’ve also driven by you a thousand times and I’ve never said ‘Hi.” So here’s that intro - ‘Hello.’ He told me his name was Matt. He moved here from Kentucky to be a musician and had been homeless for over ten years.
In the midst of that something bubbled up inside me. I had just painted the Elephant a week prior after not having painted for 8 years. It was just this moment where God was bringing the gift out of me. I just asked, “Hey Matt, can I paint your portrait?”
I had no intention of doing anything with it. I just wanted to paint...something...again. And I thought that his face and his story were really interesting. They inspired me. He said, “Yes.” I posted it online and people were asking if it was for sale.
Out of that one guy that God gave me eyes for, that’s how it came about.
Since then, Brian has painted numerous portraits. With the proceeds of the sale of the painting, he helps the subject of the painting with their specific needs.
While he has been painting for the past three years with a mission to give personal dignity and value to those who feel invisible, he is now discovering his own worth as a painter.
An Artist’s Worth
I think I’m just discovering my worth as an artist. I could never price my art to sell. How much do you charge for a piece of your art? FOSA (Faces of Santa Ana) has helped me break this barrier because I’m charging money to help someone. So it makes it easier. Previous to doing this project, I would’ve never been able to list a painting of mine for $2500. Impossible. But because I’m helping other people, it’s justified in my heart.
But recently, my wife’s been trying to help me understand my worth as an artist. I’ve had these walls put up where I don’t believe that my work should be worth as much as she thinks it is (and others).
I’m learning that God is showing me who I am to him. He has given me this gift and so I’m learning how to step into this role to see myself as God sees me. There are a lot of paintings I’m doing on the side that aren’t FOSA and I’ve been slowly seeing my value.
Describe something you LOVE about what you do.
I love that my art influences people. I love that it’s not just a pretty picture hanging on a wall that’s technically sound and perfectly painted. I love that when people look at anything, whether it’s lines on the faces or strokes - people see stuff in it. Because I’m creating art with the Spirit, I believe that there are supernatural things that He does with other people viewing it. And that’s the favorite thing - waiting for those texts or Facebook messages from someone who came to a gallery or something. I love seeing how it is changing and impacting people.
During my visit, Brian was working on his latest painting of a couple. But for the first time, this portrait is going to be a joint effort from Brian and his wife Vanessa painting an interracial couple like themselves. Brian is painting the man and Vanessa is painting the woman. Brian uses a "one and done" technique where he creates a stroke with his brush and leaves it. Vanessa uses a different technique where she blends the colors together. "And that's ok," says Brian.
Back when she started calligraphy as hobby at the age of 12, there weren’t any online classes, calligraphy communities, Etsy, or Instagram. You certainly would not think that you could make a living doing calligraphy. Nobody ever said, “I want to be a calligrapher when I grow up!”
She started her business, Angelique Ink, in late 2009, when her husband introduced her to Etsy. Now she teaches calligraphy workshops; creates custom invitations, stationary, wall murals, logos; and sells a line of products online that all incorporate hand-written calligraphy. Here is Angi.
Creative Process
My creative process varies depending on the type of project. Most of the time, it starts with gathering the information from the client. Then, I sit on it for a while in my head and let it marinate. Then at some point, I think “Oh my deadline is coming up” [laughs] and I’ll just start writing. I have some kind of a blank canvas in front of me and lots pencils and pens and I’ll just start writing. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. I’ll often write the word or phrase. I jot down things that come to mind and it looks like a bunch of junk on paper. But that’s what gets the wheels turning. And then I usually put that down for a while and then I come back to it in a couple days and I’ll refine the work from there - looking for things that match or go together, looking for spaces and letters that read back into each other.
Embracing Imperfections
I like traditional styles, but find that too many rules impede my creativity which I like about my work and gives me a distinctive style. So I stay away from being too tied to traditional forms of calligraphy in order to have the freedom to be creative.
Breaking away from traditional scripts can sometimes look ugly or careless, so my goal is to makes these deviances look beautiful and intentional. You embrace the imperfections. The lines move in a free and unique way like a song and dance. Even though it’s not perfect in typical calligraphy standards, for me, there’s more room to connect emotionally with something that is relatable, emotional, free and unique.
I think that people can have emotional reactions to any art work. In calligraphy, it can be through the way the lines look or the flow is happening or the placement of a word or line.
Poetic Flow
I think my work has a certain poetic flow to it. [Yes! Her lines and strokes make the words come to life!] I do get a lot of inspiration from poetry and thinking through the emotion behind words and how that’s expressed.
I recover from creative block by going to the garage and just working with my hands in a different way than calligraphy. So shaping a piece of wood or building something, and seeing how much detail and intricacies are in a small piece of wood - even the grain in wood - can be inspirational to me.
[Angi takes me to her garage where she does her wood work. She drills holes in pieces of wood that become inkwell holders for herself and her workshops.]
Comparisons + Social Media
One of the challenges for creatives is the comparison game. Everyone struggles with wanting to be better or wanting to be like someone else. And it's hard when you personally want to grow in your craft and are not feeling like you’re making progress. For me, when I start feeling inadequate, I don’t spend a lot of time on social media for my personal sanity. I sit down and do the work that’s in front of me and not worry about what other people are doing.
Social media can be a great tool. I do use it. It's helped my business a lot, but it’s a black hole so I set up strict boundaries for myself so I don’t get caught up in it. It’s a great way to connect with people. It can be a very affirming environment, but you get addicted to the affirmation. And regardless of how social media makes you feel, you just need to keep working and creating.
She is constantly writing phrases and words. So she’s come across countless wise and profound sayings. But on her own body, she’s chosen to ink, “We’re better for all that we let in.” Thank you for sharing your open spirit that embraces people and opportunities!
Josh Martin hand-shapes surfboards from polyurethane foam, EPS foam [the foam you see in TV packaging], balsa wood, and giant sequoia wood that fell in storms and has been legally harvested. Hobbyist surfers and professional competitors, such as Rachael Tilly, order custom-made boards from Josh's shop - Martin Shapes.
Shaping runs in his family. His father, Terry Martin, is a legend in the surfing world. He hand-shaped roughly 80,000 boards in his lifetime and made a living just from shaping boards. When his father started shaping, they used drawknives to rough shape the board. These days, Josh says that about 95% of the boards sold today are mass produced from CNC machines and computers. Here is his story.
The Human Machine
I don’t use CNC equipment or a computer. Everything is handheld. I do use power tools but I use it with my hands. The guys who used drawknives would say using a planer is cheating, but in today’s standards it would be considered a hand-shaped surfboard.
I started shaping boards in 1986. In 1988, I got an order from JC Penny to build these display board. It was less than half of what I would normally get paid at that time to build a board. I was really hesitant about taking the job, but when I asked my dad what he thought about it, he said that I should take the job. “You have to make 650 of these and they all have to be the same. You’ll develop and a system and an approach to replicating a surfboard. The shaping tool will be an extension of your arm. You’ll basically learn how to be a human machine and just replicate stuff."
I took the job and was grumpy about it, but I completed the order. I was 19 years old. Now, when I come down here, it’s just really fun [huge grin on his face]. The planer is a part of me. Am I systematic? Am I artistic? This is an example of being really artistic [as he points to an atypical board called a "hot curl"]. There is no other surfboard like that. I made that yesterday. I wouldn’t be able to do this efficiently if I didn’t have those good systems and habits in place. It allows me to have the freedom to be artistic in my approach. So the two come together.
Connection Point
This board doesn’t have a motor. The surf is the motor. Once you buy the surfboard, it’s free. The ocean’s free. The waves are free. You get to go out participate in nature, with the energy and the ocean. The wind and the water traveled from the other side of the world. You see the wave being pushed toward you, and you turn around, propel yourself and catch and participate with this energy… and it’s all free. When you make a good shape, that has a lot of shape, they fit down in the wave and you can really feel it catch the wave root of energy. It’s just a really fun way to experience... God’s creation.
It’s not so much about the product and shape. It’s about the person. I get all these different people and they have all these different experiences. Like there's Rachael Tilly who loves to compete. There are doctors who like to surf. And other people just like to be free from responsibilities and just travel. You get all these walks of life.
To me shaping is just a connection point for the people.
I’ve had people ask me, “What about Costco? They sell those Wavestorm boards for really cheap, $100. Isn’t that competition? Isn’t that gonna put you out of business?” I go, “Nahhhh.” They might sell a hundred of those boards down there and two or three of those people fall in love with surfing and eventually, they come to me. [laughs] To me, they’re just advertising, really. And again, it comes back to the people.
What do you think it takes to be a surfboard shaper?
I think you have to be the kind of a person that likes to create. There are people that take their car into the mechanic to be fixed. Then there are people who like fix it themselves. I’m the type of person who’d fix their own car. I’m interested in how it works, why it works the way it does. But then, I also see other people with a different personality type and it works for them. For me, I like to build stuff. I build shift knobs and jewelry with any leftover resin I have laying around. I made chopsticks out of the sequoia after hollowing out a board. I don’t like to waste anything.
As I hung around the shop, waiting for Josh to finish planing the board, a customer came by. I said, "You can go ahead," as if I was letting him go ahead of me in line to see Josh. This older gentleman with a white curly beard (maybe he's a Santa Claus of surfing!) leaned over to me and said, "You don't disturb an artist at work." Ah, of course. We both waited until the planer was silenced to chat with Josh. While we were waiting, Santa told me all about the board he had ordered from Josh - the hot curl.
I sat down with watercolor artist and designer, Susan of rae + lily in her home studio. Here is her story.
I started art classes when I was only 5 years old, but my educational background and career is in design and architecture so I associate a lot of my identity with being an architect. But since starting rae + lily, I currently use watercolor and digital software as my medium to design and create things.
I like how using the combination of traditional paints and digital software gives me a lot of flexibility to play when designing.
Beginnings
I left my corporate job because of health reasons. I enjoyed being an architect, but believe it or not, my last job was pretty stressful. After leaving, for the first couple months of 2017 I was in and out of doctor visits. To keep myself busy with something to do and to find an identity again, I picked up watercolors and started sharing my work. Because I associated so much of who I was with what I did before, it was nice to have a sense of purpose and a community of people - even if I only knew them through the internet! I had a background in art from when I was very young through college so it wasn’t too hard to collect supplies I had leftover from college and start painting. I was actually really shy about sharing my work and decided to join this 100 day challenge. I challenged myself to work with watercolors because it was a medium I hadn’t worked with before. It was something I wanted to try and it was nice to have a daily routine around it. Somehow along the way during that challenge, a small business was born.
I always had an entrepreneurial spirit though. I had tried different things before, like starting a food blog, doing photography, but I realize now I think I was scared and always stopped myself because I didn’t really want to put my work out there. This time, I decided to really give it an earnest try and be braver about sharing my work and some amazing things happened as a result.
The first time someone wanted to buy an original painting, was a real breakthrough for me - and they were in Italy! I couldn’t believe that someone actually wanted to buy something I painted. That’s when I knew I could keep painting and maybe it could become something that I could call my own.
Inspirations
Finding inspiration and getting into a creative mindset is sometimes challenging. When you’re a creative running a business, you end up working on the business component 80% of the time. 20% is the actual fun, creating part of it. Often times, I let the 80% get in the way of the 20%. I actually don’t mind the business side of things - doing administrative tasks, corresponding with people, etc. But I need to remember to give priority to creating and really set aside time to do that. I have to remember to allow myself to have fun and be creative.
I definitely recommend joining a challenge or giving yourself structure by setting small goals to complete a little at a time when it comes to creating. It’s not so different than any other goal you want to accomplish as big things can be done by making a little progress everyday. The 100 day challenge is a great one and can feel overwhelming but if you approach it a day at a time, you’ll get to day 100 and wonder what to do after it’s over!
Another great byproduct of making time to create is actually generating work that you can use for your business or personal creative projects. Sometimes this can happen unintentionally and sometimes on purpose.
I also think taking online courses is a nice way to make time to create because they keep you accountable and you learn new things! I’m taking an online course for watercolor sketching right now and it’s been really fun.
Creative Process
For me, my creative process starts with cleaning. I need to clear my space so it’s ready to use. I also get a lot of inspiration from traveling and being outside. For example, the puffins piece that I’m currently working on making into a print was inspired from our trip to Iceland last year when we went looking for puffins but only saw two or three.
[Since our interview, Susan has written more about her creative process here!]
My favorite part about watercolors? The unknown. With watercolor, it’s unpredictable and unexpected - the way the water and colors move and mix together. Sometimes you think you’re going to hate it, but you could end up loving it after it’s settled and dried. You want control it, but it does the best things when you let it do its thing. Being pleasantly surprised by what you end up with makes it fun to work with.
What would I do differently in my journey?
I’d be braver earlier on.
Susan was extremely gracious and generous during my visit, which is evident in her business too. Her work is clean and simple, but at the same time, the details are not ignored. In fact, the details make you stop and say, "Woah~" while admiring the different gradients of color. All the best to Susan and rae + lily!
Here are some comments that Joshua's mother noted for her son's first birthday celebration!
* Joshua wore the same hanbok that his dad wore at his dohl! My MIL carefully saved it in hopes that her grandson would be able to wear it. So sweet :)
* I was inspired to do a camping theme for Joshua because he is a typical boy in many ways - SO incredibly curious, adventurous, experiential, and active. From the moment he wakes up in the morning, he does not sit still. He always has a sense of wonder and is busy touching and experiencing the world around him. It's hard to keep up with him sometimes but I love this about him and want to nurture and grow his curiosity. It goes hand in hand with our hopes for Joshua - we hope he can grow up to be strong and courageous and full of joy as he lives the adventure of his life just like the Joshua of the Bible.
* As part of his dohljabi, two of the options were president and park ranger. When Mike was a kid he wanted to be a park ranger and I wanted to be president! :)
* We were so grateful for Mike's parents who flew in from Philadelphia just to be part of the dohl.
Hair & Makeup - Genie from E2Beauty
Desserts - Cindy from sweetleemade
Flowers - Monica from Twig and Vine Florals
Tassie Favors - Angela Jeng
Signage - Jenny Hwang
Event Coordinator - Eunice Yum from Sensationes (IG)
Venue - California Country Club
Beautiful and elegant fine jewelry by Easter Ahn Design
It is the perfect lunch spot. This casual, fast sandwich shop leaves you satisfied. The combination of their light, crispy and flakey flatbread with the insides that taste like a fresh picking out of an Italian herb garden. Even Noah liked it!
I had the privilege of photographing for Caring Magazine's issue themed, "Building Confidence." I spoke with different women about the idea of confidence in the context of beauty. How do we instill confidence in our children? What kinds of struggles have we had in dealing with confidence?
I met with Kristin at the Pasadena Public Library and we chatted about this topic. She said, On the surface, we can feel confident when we feel accomplished or if we feel like people like us because we look a certain way. It’s very circumstantial. People can be confident in public, but can be very self-loathing. True beauty draws a sense of identity and worth from deeper within. What sets you apart is knowing that you know the Holy Spirit within you. It makes you glow. You don’t have to strive to be like someone else, but it’s an assurance knowing that you are enough. When you interact with a beautiful person, it’s not about them. A truly beautiful person draws beauty out of others and is able to see beauty in places other people don’t see it."
I personally love this session. It must be one of my favorites of the year. Warm tones and muted colors that fills you with a sense of wonderment. Awe. Who wouldn't want to remember these moments reading books to their children! And especially as an educator, this environment suits Kristin and her daughter perfectly.
Spending some time with this woman makes me want to be her best friend. She is absolutely lovely and as she transitions into an actor and ukulele instructor, I hope she find fulfillment in her post-retirement season. She is committed to people and pours into her community. As we walked around Orange for this session, she said, "Hi" to strangers. I thought she knew them because she spoke so comfortably with everyone as if she's known them for years.
We worked on some headshots and also Artist Portraits with her ukulele. I hope we can work together again! All the best to you your new adventures!
"Have yourself a merry little Christmas!" That's what the cute, round, wooden sign with the cute calligraphy said as you walked into their home. Little Arthur was sick, but even with a runny nose, he managed to get through this in-home family holiday session like a champ. The modern home with neutral colors of grey was a beautiful canvas for a young family of 3, getting ready for Christmas. Even their maltese joined in on the family fun!
We started in the bedroom with a large window to their right. Then, we headed over to the kitchen to snack on some breakfast before ending up in the living room. They changed into their super cute Christmas PJs (from Old Navy!!) and had some family time by the Christmas tree!
One early Saturday morning, we met at the park and spent some time playing on the Jeffrey Trail in Irvine, Orange County. I can't complain, photographing a beautiful family out in nature.... they look like they're fairies in the woods!
After 46 hour of labor (oh my!) little Everett was born. I hope you know how much your mom went through to bring you into this world, little one! (And without any medication too!) He is the first child of proud parents, Tyler and Jessy who have been on countless adventures even until the moment the baby was born. While pregnant, both mom and dad finished their Tae Kwon Do track to receive their black belt and stayed active and culturally engaged. They've been on so many adventures, crossing off items on their bucket list, but I bet they would say without any hesitation that having Everett in their family is the great adventure they've been on!
