~ New Butterfly Earrings, New Props, New Adobe Lightroom ~

I am always on the look out for new props for my pictures for my Etsy jewelry shop, Happy Cloud Moments. One day I saw these decorative balls and thought they may be a good neutral color and they can add some depth into the pictures.

I like how I can put these new little earrings like these butterflies on the ball.  And then I put a bigger ball in the background for depth.

I tried putting the earrings between two balls.  I like having a fuzzy foreground. 

I started using Adobe Lightroom.  It has a setting called "Clarity" that really helps!  I love it.  It's hard to take clear pictures of my little earrings without a macro lens.  So, that clarity function really sharpens everything.

So, out of all the new colors for the butterfly studs, I like these the most.  These are Provence Lavender, which is the newest color from Swarovski.  Which one is your favorite?

By the way I tried taking pictures of earrings with hooks.  I like it!  I like the depth and the simplicity.  But, I feel that the background is too gray or something.  Maybe it needs another color?  Is everything too bland?

~ Delicious Lunch at Ippudo ~

Last month, I went up to NYC to run some errands.  Guess where I had lunch?

We had to wait for a few minutes so I played around with my camera by the bar.  Someone ordered these to go with the beer.  Wow.  They look scary!

Yummy edamame!  What a tease.  I was so hungry and I had to sit there and watch people eat!

I also got a chance to take pictures of the decor.  This is the huge globe above the bar.

This is part of the wall of bowls behind the bar.  Reminds me of a house I saw with all these cool plates on the wall as decoration.  Just looking at those bowls make me hungry!

Since we were so hungry, we got two appetizers.  One is this avocado with tofu.  The clear noodles on the bottom are so cool!  It's like soft and crunchy!  The sauces that came with it were also awesome.

This is spinach and back mushrooms.  It was served cold.  Also very good, but the tofu was better.  These are the healthy appetizers.  We wanted the pork bun, but those are too fatty for a pre-wedding meal. :)

I got the special last time so I decided to keep the tradition going with the Hakata Tantan Men Special Ramen.  It is "Schezwan style spicy tonkotsu ramen noodle soup with sesame peanut sauce, topped with pork belly chashu, kikurage, niku (minced pork) miso, red picked ginger and mitsuba".  It is just as good as it sounds. 

And yes, I had some pork belly which is not the leanest meat.  But I had healthy appetizers!  And it was only a few pieces of pork belly!

This is what my friend got.  She got the extra egg.  Check out that yolk!  It's what we call "sweet heart" yolk.  Perfectly done.

I think I should hang this on my wall!  I ate it all by myself!  Good thing we walked around the city afterwards :)

Just a fun shot I took on the street.  I like playing photographer, but it's hard for me to set up a shot.  I lack patience!  And steady hands.....

~ Should I Get an Amika Flat Iron? ~

I was at the mall yesterday and got pulled into one of those kiosks with the hair straighteners. My hair is already straight so the lady curled my hair instead. It didn't take long to do the whole head and it was really nicely curled! I forgot to take pictures of it yesterday, but today it's still curly!


Usually, when I curl my hair, it flattens in like 6 hours. It's been way over 24 hours and it's still very curly! It's so fun and bouncy. I think I like curly hair :)


Here's a quick look at the back.


Now I want one! But I tried to curl my hair at the kiosk and it's a little harder than it looks. The lady kept saying I just need to practice. But, I am afraid I'll buy it and never use it. I am just so lazy! Besides, it's $150! I am sure I can find it cheaper online, but the lady said if I buy it from the kiosk, I can go there to get my hair done anytime.

So, I searched around on Amazon. They have it! And for so much cheaper! There are a few colors of the 1 inch and 1.5 inch models for about $50 shipped!!  That's not bad right?  I am tempted!!  But, I have 2 flat irons already.  So, I am going to try to curl my hair sometime this week with the ones I have and see how it goes.

Since I had Photo Booth up, I tried out a few of the new effects.  I like these continuous shots!  Fun!


This is the glow effect.  Dreamy isn't it?


There are a few fun ones that do background detection!  It's pretty cool to see the fish swimming behind me.  Photo booth does video too I think.  Haven't tried it though.


Anyway, do you have an Amika hair straightener?  Let me know how you like it!

~ More Fun and Weird Japanese Products ~

I was reading The Beading Gem and just fell in love with these cute bejeweled chopsticks Pearl wrote about. They are retractable too!

These chopsticks are sold at Japan Trend Shop, which I wrote about previously. So, I looked around again and found some more cool and/or funny stuff! First, here's something for your cup-of-noodles, the cupman! Here's the description: "This is one of those fun, cool products that only Japan can make. From designer Akira Mabuchi, theCupmen fits snugly onto the lid of your pot of instant noodles. Not only does he keep the flap closed while the noodles are heating up, he also changes color to white as the temperature of the paper rises, letting you know three minutes have elapsed. Waiting for your noodles to be ready has never been so fun". I love it, but it's a $58 for 3 and it's $16 for shipping! If I have much money to buy stuff like this, I wouldn't be eating cup-of-noodles.

I also love this Zojirushi Zutto rice cooker! This will look awesome in any modern kitchen! It's cheaper on Amazon though.

This one is weird! From the website: "The Beauty Voice Trainer helps give you the dulcet voice you know you've always wanted, in just five minutes a day. The system works in three ways: without training, the human throat is restricted. The specially designed mouthpiece positions the tongue to open the voice passage, allowing a much stronger sound." Really???

This one is weird too.... a beauty bottom cushion: "Say “sayonara” to secretary spread, the Beauty Bottom Cushion from Cogit promises to maintain and encourage a shapely bum while you work. Sound too good to be true? This chair cushion works by guaranteeing correct posture, properly aligning your pelvis and spine, which in turn ensures that your bottom muscles become, and stay, taut enough to bounce a 100 yen coin off of. " I wouldn't mind trying it though.

This one is funny. A Tokyo hairstyle wig for men!

Of course, they have one for women too.

This one is pretty cool though. It's a paper cherry blossom tree! Add "magic water" and it'll bloom within a couple of hours and last for about a month!

Ok, I don't know who wants this. It doesn't sound appealing to me at all. It turns your bath water into "Honey": "Honey Bath Gel turns your bath water to a thick, sensual collagen-infused gel just minutes after adding it! With seven colors available, match the flavor to your mood and relax in the tub on your own, or (even better!) with someone special. " Weird!

Which one do you think is the weirdest?

~ Dim Sum at Asian Delight in Silver Spring ~

There aren't a lot of dim sum restaurants in the DC/VA/MD area. Some are pretty horrible, but there are a few that are good. One of my new favorite dim sum places is Asian Delight in Silver Spring. They just opened in April and the inside is so pretty! On the weekends, they even have the dim sum rolling around in carts like the traditional style!


Asian Delight has a big variety of dim sum to choose from. Steamed, pan fried, deep fried and lots of baked desserts too! Just check out these pictures and try not to drool on your keyboard! This is eggplant stuffed with fish and shrimp.


Here are some steamed dishes.



Chinese broccoli. Very healthy!


My mom loves dessert, so we got a lot! This was really good. There's like peanuts and other yummy sweetness inside this soft bun.


This is Tofu Flower. It's basically very soft and silky tofu in syrup. It's very good and even though it has syrup in it, it is healthy I think. The tofu balances it out.


I don't remember what this is called, but it's a lil bit sweet and it feels bouncy like tapioca balls.


More buns! These are the BBQ pork buns. Yum Yum!


I also love the rice noodles with the fried dough inside. But I forgot to take a picture. You need to specially order it. The wait staff is very nice. Their service is so much better than most Chinese restaurants. Let me know if you try this place and what your favorite dishes are!

~ Wedding Cupcakes from Cake Dreams ~

It was hard to decide between Georgetown Cupcakes and Cake Dreams for my wedding cupcakes. But, at the end, I picked Cake Dreams because it was just closer. The price was about the same. I got the cupcake tree on Save On Crafts.com. Here's my purple and yellow cupcake tree! I wish I have better pictures of the whole tree, but I don't know where I put them.


I spraypainted the cardboard tree with acrylic, non-toxic spray paint from Michaels. It took 2 bottles! Then, I used double sided tape to put ribbons around the circular disks. I didn't like the spray paint very much. It took a few coats and it was still uneven. I think putting wrapping paper on it would have had better results. By the way, if anyone wants this cupcake tree, let me know. It can be reused for sure.


I have a 8lb cake on top. I was going to put some organza flowers on top, but I forgot. There was space to put some around it though. One of the reasons I picked Cake Dreams was because they can make this cake for me to put on top. This way, we have a cake to cut. Though we actually didn't cut the cake. But that's another story. Can you tell there are 2 flavors?


This is lemon with regular yellow cake.


This is peanut butter with yellow cake. I love them both!


Everything was awesome! I had a lot left over though. I ate cupcakes every day for a week! That's right, the cupcakes still tasted awesome even after a week being in the fridge. So, if you want cupcakes for your special occasions, head over to Cake Dreams. The owner, Michele, is very nice. She sat down with me and found out exactly what I wanted. She even ordered special cupcake wrappers because I wanted yellow wrappers. I had to pay extra though. It was worth it. They look so cute! She's also very flexible. I had a last minute color and flavor change and she was very accommodating. She was also very clear with my order and provided a detailed invoice. Everything was great. Thanks Michele!

~ Back and Married! ~

Wow! It has been a month since I last blogged. Guess what I did!!


It's been a crazy month and there are a lot of food, and wedding stuff I would like to write about. But, first, a short post about the outfits I wore on my wedding day. First, my mom and my Auntie Tina said I have to wear a brand new red pajamas to bed the night before. Should I wear it every year for our anniversary?


Even though it was 90 degrees at 9:30am, I had to wear that red pj underneath this super traditional Chinese wedding dress. Good thing I only had to wear it for the Chinese tea ceremony! Also a Chinese tradition to walk underneath a red umbrella held by a woman with a good life (I think?). That was fun :)


Here's a sneak peak of some pictures the photographer took before we went to the church. The wedding dress was a rental, but it was brand new! I was the first to wear it so I felt special :)


This is a dress I changed into during the banquet. Another red Chinese dress. This one was custom made for me when I went to China a few months ago.


Last dress is just a lavender, sparkly, puffy evening gown for the cake, bouquet toss and saying thanks and good byes to the guests. Note how tired I looked. I had been up for 15 hours by then.


I have learned a lot from planning this wedding. I will be talking about the venues we chose, some DIY wedding projects this week. I know a few of you are planning weddings too! Let me just say that things go by quickly! First tip? Don't procrastinate! :)