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Category Archives: Travel

Engaged!

After attending so many weddings as the photographer, I guess it’s my turn now to be the bride! So surreal and exciting at the same time.

A lot of people have been asking how it all went down, so I figured that if there was ever a personal thing to blog about, this is it!

Things to know about me:

  • I adore dogs. I mean, really really love dogs. Especially my dogs!
  • Lake Tahoe is one of my favorite places in the world. It’s just spectacularly beautiful there.
  • Apple cidar is my favorite drink eveeeer. Forget wine or beer or soda, bring me a bottle of apple cidar (I don’t even need a glass) and I’m good.
  • Tony and I met because of our mutual love of video games, but my primary objective when playing games is pretty much to FIND THE TREASURE. I love treasure. I want to become a treasure hunter one day.

How it Started
I had been away on a girl’s trip up to Mendocino from Sunday through Tuesday. And when I got home on Tuesday, I found my apartment filled with balloons. This led to a scavenger hunt that Tony had arranged. The scavanger hunt was in the form of puzzles, and after I finished the puzzle, I was given my prize: A trip to Lake Tahoe!

I was so giddy with excitement since Tony had been working so hard lately, and I’d been wishing he would take a sick day or something. So the fact that he took 3 whole days off work to surprise me with this trip blew me away.

In Tahoe
Tony treated me to some of my favorite things. An hour long couple’s massage, a massive lunch of TACOS (my favorite food!), and then finally took me up on a hike to this gorgeous view of the lake. He had brought up a bottle of apple cidar and it was amazing sitting on top of this mountain, overlooking the most gorgeous lake and having that spot all to ourselves.

The Proposal
He asked me if I wanted a present, which got me super alert (and a little tense) and then preceded to crack me up by reading a poem I had asked him to write weeks ago titled “The Hair on My Head”. I sometimes request random and silly poems for him to write, the other assignment I gave him recently was to write something called, “Where has all the Poop gone”. I was laughing, HARD. And I thought, “Huh, so he was just tricking me, I guess he’s not proposing!”

At which point he brought out a scrapbook called “The Adventures of Tony and Hannah” that he had been spending months putting together. It chronicles our whole journey from our very first date when we watched the worst movie in existence, The Legend of Zorro (the movie had a horse running on top of a moving train. I mean, really) and all the places we’d gone, the things we’ve done, the food we’ve eaten.

If you’d like to see a few pages from the book, you can do that here: Scrapbook

But it wasn’t until I got to the pages about our dogs that got me crying. My beautiful dogs, such a huge part of our lives and our familia. They couldn’t come with us to Tahoe, but I’m so glad they were in the book.

That’s when Tony brought out the treasure box. This adorable little thing that he had spent so long looking for because he knew it would be perfect for me. Waaay better than a regular box, a Tiffany’s box, any other box in the world. And inside was the most stunningly gorgeous ring.

Everything about the proposal was perfect and so in tune to who I am and who we are as a couple.

We were crying and laughing and I nodded my answer yes. I’m so grateful that we were able to have that amazing moment to ourselves. Almost as soon as we were done wiping away the tears, these two older ladies came hiking up the hill, saw us, and offered to take our photo. What great timing!

Still enjoying the post-engagement bliss and trying my hardest not to worry about all the stuff that’s going to come after (wedding planning, ahhhh!). I’ll be writing about all that stuff in the months to come. In the meantime, thank you all my dear friends, family, and my wonderful clients who have shown so much happiness and support for this new development in our lives. You’re all the best.

show hide 11 comments

August 30, 2011 - 2:46 PM

Tony - I love you babe! Now for the wedding!

August 30, 2011 - 3:07 PM

Min - What a sweet scrapbook and huge rock! So happy for you!

August 30, 2011 - 3:30 PM

Debbie - CRAZY excited for you, Hannah! See you in a few days :)

August 30, 2011 - 9:34 PM

Amanda M. - It’s like he Googled “awesome proposal ideas” and then combined ALL of them.

August 31, 2011 - 9:57 AM

Vicki T. - Hannah, what a beautifully sweet proposal!! I’m very happy for you two!! (:

September 1, 2011 - 8:54 AM

Joel - Congrats!!!

September 2, 2011 - 4:01 PM

Erich Chen - WOWW!!! I”M SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!!

September 8, 2011 - 12:21 PM

Lori Paladino - Such a beautiful story!!! Congratulations!!!

October 10, 2011 - 3:14 PM

ajira - Congratulations!! What a wonderful engagement! Just beautiful!!

October 11, 2011 - 8:58 AM

Barbara Yasuhara - OMG! This blog was soooooo fab! Many congrats to you both, you’re definitely no ordinary couple and trust me, your wedding won’t be either.

Thanks so much for sharing Hannah! Inspired again! ;)

November 9, 2011 - 7:36 PM

Rhiannon Nicole - I absolutely love this! What an adorable and clever proposal :) So happy for you, Hannah!

South Korea // Part I

A couple months ago, I had the opportunity to go spend a week in South Korea. It was a wonderful spontaneous decision that happened within the span of a couple hours. We found an insanely great promo deal with Singapore airlines that was expiring THAT DAY, and the same day I got the call from my bestest Cousin Grace that she would be in Korea at the same time which sealed the deal. So we jumped at the chance and booked the tickets that afternoon.

Turns out, we couldn’t have picked a better time to visit. The colors! Reds and golds and greens. I was blown away by how beautiful the natural surroundings of Korea were, and I was like a kid in a candy shop oohing and ahhing and snapping photos left and right.

Yes, a mosquito stung me in the eye, yes we caught the swine flu, and yes my cousin forced me to eat raw crab meat, but my overwhelming memories of this trip remain firmly rooted in the intense beauty of this country. This is only my 2nd time visiting and it definitely won’t be my last.

Enjoy!
Korea Colors

Korea 02

Korea 03

Korea 05

Korea 08

Korea 04

Korea 16

Korea 06

Korea 12

Korea 13

Korea 07

Korea 14

Korea 09

Korea 15

More photos to come!

show hide 22 comments

March 3, 2010 - 7:32 AM

Jessica - Those are gorgeous. I had no idea the architecture in Korea was so incredible, I want to visit now!

March 3, 2010 - 12:07 PM

Guy Collier - Wow – those colours are fantastic. What a great time to visit.

March 3, 2010 - 8:13 PM

Michael - Gorgeous images, Hannah. I concentrate on weddings and portraits so much these days, I’ve forgotten how much fun it is to shoot other stuff. :)

March 5, 2010 - 10:36 PM

Paul Mozell - Looks like we New Englanders have some competition i the fall color category. Nice work!

March 6, 2010 - 1:01 PM

Bob D - Wow Keith! These are gorgeous. There is a Buddhist monastary a couple hours south of my home, near Boliva, NC. The architecture there is similar. Visiting it is like being on the other side of the world. But certainly not as cool as actually visiting Asia.

March 6, 2010 - 3:48 PM

Carrie McCluskey - Beautiful work Hannah!

March 9, 2010 - 2:39 AM

Willa - I just came across your site and absolutely LOVE your images! These photos above are so gorgeous and I’m feeling inspired and drawn into your magical imagery!

March 10, 2010 - 2:02 PM

Harry Who - What a beautiful collage of colours. Makes me happy. :)

March 16, 2010 - 8:49 AM

Renee - Wow! It’s the first time I’ve seen such gorgeous scenic photographs of S. Korea. It does make me want to visit.

March 17, 2010 - 4:12 AM

Kim Cavanagh - What a stunning place, such beautiful colours.

March 17, 2010 - 6:33 PM

Brandon - VERY nice colors. My roommate in college was from SKorea so I’ve always wanted to visit. Great work documenting your trip.

March 20, 2010 - 1:58 AM

Dorothy Snyder - Oh my. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such photos of Korea before – what a beautiful country! I can’t pick a favorite, I love them all. What an awesome trip!

March 20, 2010 - 10:42 PM

Audra Colpitts - Beautiful colours, Hannah. The image of the boat out in the water is probably my fave. Along with the rest of them. :)

March 21, 2010 - 4:29 PM

Mark - Beautiful photographs. I had no idea that Korea had that type of foliage change.

March 22, 2010 - 2:39 PM

Kim Noel - Beautiful images. I love the detail. Great job on capturing the intensity of the colors.

March 24, 2010 - 6:00 AM

Amy - The colors are amazing, what a beautiful place to shoot.

March 25, 2010 - 2:32 PM

Ian - wow! Gorgeous photography. Korea definitely looks like a wonderful place to visit. I look forward to seeing more work.

March 27, 2010 - 1:24 AM

Carl Simpson - Denver - These images are beautiful. I would love to to that part of the world and spend a few months. I hope someday I can.

April 2, 2010 - 12:56 AM

Mindy - Your photos are gorgeous!

April 2, 2010 - 2:50 PM

Melwin Silva - Excellent shots Hannah, great work as usual :)

April 5, 2010 - 11:50 AM

Ebphoto - Beautiful colors!! I have never been to Korea, but now I want to!! You have captured lovely details, and I love the sun haze in the trees…

January 24, 2012 - 6:21 AM

Martine Cotton - WOW! What a perfect time to visit! Look at all those incredible autumn colours. Gorgeous pics!

Barcelona

I went to sleep at 7PM and woke up at 4AM. How’s that for jetlag? I took about a billion photos while in Spain, and I have so many that I want to share. But here’s one for starters, Barcelona at sunset. Isn’t it lovely?

More to come soon!

show hide 1 comment

June 23, 2009 - 11:52 AM

katrina + andrew = sedona bride - i love barcelona so much! and it’s so different from the rest of spain.. what a beautiful city… can’t wait to see more pics… :) ~andrew~