A Shower Of Love

The end of December is kind of a shaky time to throw an outdoors party. You gotta worry about the weather, for one thing.

But sunshine was on our side on December 31st where Helen and Alex’s wedding party came together and tossed out one big festivity for the lovely bride and groom-to-be’s.

Now, we have a ton of really really crafty and creative people in our wedding party so I wasn’t worried that things weren’t going to turn out fabulous.

Who knew cereals in paper bags would look so gorgeous?

A pancake station!

Despite it being one of the busiest days of the year, many loved ones came to celebrate with Helen and Alex. Thank you all for coming!

The wedding party, led by the ever-theatrical Julian, held a skit for the man and woman of the hour. As you can see, it was very well-received.

Less than 40 days left before my dear Helena gets married! Still have to:
1) Get my dress hemmed
2) Buy heels
3) Throw a bachelorette party
4) Plan 10 minutes of sumthin’ sumthin’ for the wedding reception
5) Cling onto Helen at her last days of singledom! Gahh!! (Jk, jk, I’m so not the clingy type…)

posted by Janice | Comments: 3 | Friendlies, Los Angeles, Love

2012 Miss LA Chinatown Pageant

There’s nothing that will make you feel more old than attending a pageant you participated in two years ago, a pageant filled with pretty young thangs strutting their stuff on the stage.

Nonetheless, I covered up my wrinkles and sucked in my belly and attended the 2012 Miss LA Chinatown pageant.

‘Twas lovely to catch up with my adorable court (including Jani who emceed the event and missing dear Dow-Ning and Chantel)

Lucky(?) for the 2012 pageant contestants, I was itching to make more use of my monopod so I documented their entire q&a section and posted it on Youtube. I think this will be helpful for all future pageant contestants interested in seeing different ways of answering the q&a’s. I consider them educational videos. You’re welcome, future Miss America.

Enjoy!

posted by Janice | Comments: 1 | Chinatown, Los Angeles, Pageant, Public Appearances

Flying High | Photoshoot With Paul

Paul and I had been meaning to get together to shoot some photos for some time now. After nearly 6 months, we finally got it together and met up.

…only to be confronted with the heaviest rainfall of the year in Southern California.

That didn’t stop us from shooting though.

Don’t ever let anything stop you from soaring.

Sometimes you don’t even need the aide of an umbrella.

Learning my love for vintage things, Paul loaned me his old camera to use as a prop. I turned the cameras (literally) on him!

So the rain mucked up my boots and drooped down my eyelashes and flattened my hair and gave me the shivers. Still a fun shoot!

Thanks Paul!

posted by Janice | Comments: 3 | Los Angeles

My Short Arboretum Trip

One of the best parts of the holidays (and there are so many, aren’t there) is the time I get to spend with my family.

On a regular basis, I generally already spend a fair amount of time with my folks but it’s usually hanging around the house or trips to the mall or getting groceries or something. It’s not…quality time, I should say. But it is something I’m working on.

I was determined to get my parents and grandma out of that lovely round kitchen table they usually sit at for most of the day and into the sunlight to soak up some Vitamin D so I made plans to take them to the arboretum.

My family, in our usual fashion, lagged and hemmed and hawed and stalled and reconsidered but I was adamant to get them out of the house this particular afternoon.

I daresay our trip to the Fullerton arboretum was a success and that they even enjoyed themselves (a little sunlight can do that to ya). But why don’t you decide for yourself in the video below? Check it:

posted by Janice | Comments: 1 | Los Angeles, Love, Personal

Thank Goodness It’s Thanksgiving!

My most memorable Thanksgiving took place two years ago, in a hospital, with a beautiful baby.

It was my first year out of college and my FUNemployment adventures led me to taking care of this adorable tot who taught me how short life is and how blessed I am.

Two years later, I look at my surroundings and I think about how even more blessed (if that’s possible) I am. I’m working as the assistant editor for Audrey Magazine — a job I’ve dreamt about since I was 12 – and I get the opportunity to shape Asian American lifestyle and culture.

In the mere 1+ year I’ve been working here, I’ve gotten the opportunity to meet and converse with many public figures I’ve admired. Not naming names but Mindy Kaling, JustJared‘s Jared Eng, Lisa Ling, and Kal Penn among the many.

Like this picture below. For years I would obsessively listen to the voice of Dia Frampton from the indie pop-rock band Meg & Dia. I still have their CDs in my car. And look, here I am being all buddy buddy with her at her most recent KoreAm Journal cover shoot!

When we’re not out on the field, I get to goof off work with some of the most interesting people on this planet: my co-workers. Some hi jinks include pampering my co-worker Peter’s skin and BBQ-ing in the rain.

When we’re not in the office, we STILL enjoy eachother’s company and often hold Happy Hours together. Here, some fine ladies and gents strike a pose with my Hello Kitty glasses.

Can I say I’m always 100% happy with where my career is headed? No. I’m a spoiled brat who suffers from the what if’s. “What if I made more money?” “What if I interviewed more relevant subjects?” “What if I had a job where I drove less?”

As our society gets more and more progressive, I’ve noticed — at least around many of my peers — that what we’re seeking are the jobs with the fattest paychecks, the positions that will enable us to climb the corporate ladder, the occupations that will make us seem the most stable, the most normal.

As important as all those things may be, I know that I will never be able to work in a place that I lack passion for. Never be able to handle a position where I feel the need to complain all the time. So I’m so thankful I’ve always been able to know when my time is up and I’ve had understanding employers that I can leave on good terms with.

And I’m super grateful with my position here and for these hooligans who are passionate about their jobs and what they put out into the world.

In addition to Audrey Magazine, other things I’m thankful for (in no particular order besides the fact that they came out of my head this way):

• *My family including my mother who stews delicious hot soup for me, my father who fixes broken car door handles for me, my abu who remind me everyday how lucky I am, my sister who worships the ground I walk on (keke) and every other kin in between for being so beautiful inside and out.
• *Jason for introducing me to Sovereign Grace where I get my brain kicked every week over how great Jesus’ love is and how deeply I sin.
• *My insatiable drive and my stubborn optimism. It makes me miserable a lot of the times but I know this is what’s going to take me to my destiny.
• *My awesome friends who are so frickin’ busy and so frickin’ artsy and so frickin’ loving to me, tolerating my ditziness/flakiness/big-mouthedness.
• *And of course, I’m thankful for youuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!! <3

posted by Janice | Comments: 4 | Blog, Friendlies, Inspirations, Job, Los Angeles, Magazine, Personal, Writing

Red Carpet Etiquette

Red carpets are a beast to work.

Filled with frantic PR people, confused celebs who are constantly being harassed and herded to this reporter or that photographer, it can be a crazy place.

I’ve done a fair share of red carpet work. Sometimes on camera, sometimes for print. A majority with Asian American events and one thing that I’ve taken away from it is seriously:

HAVE RED CARPET ETIQUETTE

This applies to every and all people on the red carpet — journalists, photographers, PR folks, celebs, the people walking the celebs down the red carpet, me.

I understand that the red carpet can be like a bustling marketplace, where all these players have all these different agendas but seriously, people can be so rude sometimes.

On the red carpet, most people seem to follow a “do whatever it takes to get what you want” strategy, whether that entails embarrassing other people or coming off like a jack*ss or a b*tch.

Recently I was on the red carpet and it started to get really crowded behind the ropes. Some of the other reporters started crossing the line to interview while ON the red carpet. Seemed like a good idea so I did just that as well. All was going well when this PR lady, out of nowhere and for NO REASON AT ALL– while I’m in the middle of interviewing her client — tells me, “you better get over to behind the lines. You better get behind there. Get there. Get there.” Then she raised the ropes and forced me to crawl UNDER it even though all the other reporters still stayed on the red carpet.

That was not cool, lady.

And then there are celebs who are super “over it” when they answer questions. They roll their eyes, make weird faces and generally act like unpleasant people who are asking in their heads, “are you seriously asking me this?”

At the end of the day, I just hope that all red carpet attendees remember one thing: you chose to be here. Whether as a writer, a cameraman, a PR rep, a movie star, you chose your profession. If you don’t enjoy the process, don’t do it.

I really admired how Kal Penn handled the red carpet at a Harold & Kumar screening recently. Unlike some of his shall-not-be-named cohorts, he was gracious and kind the entire evening, speaking to all the publications, answering questions with genuine care and thoughtfulness. I know this because even though he wasn’t the last celeb to arrive, he was the last to finish the red carpet because he would take his time with the press. I was set to interview him last and when one of the PR reps told me I could only ask him one question (say what? We hosted the event!), his reps personally reassured me it would be more than that. Then when Kal and I met face to face, he told me,

“Would it be ok if we talked while walking into the screening? I want to make sure you guys get enough time especially because you’ve always been so supportive of us.”

So sweet, right?! And he gives an awesome video intro.

Thanks Kal for being such a model celeb on red carpet etiquette.

posted by Janice | Comments: 2 | Interviews, Job, Los Angeles, TV, Writing

Things I’ve Encountered That I Like

{ Picture thanks to Diana King }

Recently helped coordinate a shoot and interview for Mindy Kaling for Audrey Magazine’s Winter cover. My girl crush on Mindy grew as I learned more about this accomplished writer-performer who became a theater wunderkind at only 24 and an executive-producer on the hit NBC comedy at only 32.

She’s also a blogger (I know, as if girl didn’t have enough on her plate) and shares hilarious musings of things she likes on this blog.

In honor of Mindy, I’m sharing some of the stuff I like.

Cool art. It’s Van Gogh’s Starry Night all done with different-colored brushes.

Thanks to one of my Chinatown gals, I got to enjoy the uber-exclusive Club 33. Rubbed shoulders with Mickey and Pluto too.

Just a reminder that the (lovably) idiotic Janice is still here! I accidentally took one of those restaurant beepers home. It wouldn’t stop beeping.

Doesn’t this just bring a smile to your face?

Be sure to purchase your copy of Mindy’s winter issue here.

posted by Janice | Comments: 3 | Inspirations, Los Angeles, Love, Writing

Buffing It Out At The Wi Spa

“I’m a dirty, dirty girl.”

I thought this to myself as I watched flecks of my own skin roll off my arms and legs.

I’m at Wi Spa, getting the ultimate Korean Spa treatment. Have you heard of it? Are you ready to hear about it?

‘Cause it can sound like a porno film.

{ Chicken pic thanks to http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/dakjuk }

Or a cooking show on how to boil a chicken (I’ll explain later).

posted by Janice | Comments: 3 | Job, Los Angeles, Personal, Uncategorized, Writing

Anatomy of an Outfit

I was never a girl that made too big a deal out of dressing up. For prom, I think I just went into my mom’s closet and dug out a dress she bought but never wore. For weddings, the same deal. For clubbing, I often wear sundresses.

So I was lucky enough this year to have my entire look come together the way it did. My friend Joyce did my hair and makeup. A PR company was kind enough to loan me the dress and jewels, and I just threw on my most fashionable pair of heels.

2011 Audrey’s Night Out | Exchange LA
Dress | Dalia Macphee
Hair & Makeup | Joyce Luck
Heels | My own. Forgot name.
Jewels | Thanks to RedLightPR

posted by Janice | Comments: 9 | Look, Los Angeles, Magazine, Writing

I’m Not A Really Good Actor…

But oh man, did I have to do some serious acting in this one commercial gig that I booked recently.

I got called in for an infomercial for a particular teeth whitening company. Based all over malls in the US, the teeth whitening system takes 20 minutes to do and you also get a free massage in the process.

When I got to the shoot, I find I’d be working with three other actors, two girls around my age and an older man. The older man had done a previous infomercial for the same company and told us the product was really good and swell.

So we shoot some scenes involving us faking getting the procedure done. Everyone’s smiley and acting naturally, etc.

Then the company offered us free trials so that we’ll actually know how it feels to get this particular type of teeth whitening done.

First, the whitening assistant stuck the CONTRAPTION pictured below into my teeny mouth.

posted by Janice | Comments: 5 | Job, Los Angeles