This insane stretch of packed deadlines and celebrations right between my flight from Tokyo and soon, to Boston and New York City makes me wonder how I’m alive. Wednesday was our Arquitectonica holiday party at the Perch in downtown LA, and Thursday was our Popcultivate dinner: “A splash of Christmas,” that featured Foodnetwork chef: Cheftofer… After 6 hours of baking matcha whoopie pies with another architect: Gabby Gertel, I’m working on publishing the recipe, while I’m shipping out some of these Christmas goods to SF and Tokyo and prepping for my team’s presentation on window wall sections. But heck, I’m hustlin’ through this holiday season because I know I can peacefully rest during my flight to Boston and train ride to New York City.
For the Splash of Christmas dinner, I tested my mini photo set up (a 16″x16″x16″ lightbox) for the first time! Hell, food photography and the entertainment industry is a deceivingly, dirty, chaotic job with tons of feisty tasks and people to work with. Firstly, I had to lay on the floor to take these shots next to the kitchen because of the outlets and dinner setup. Secondly, once filmographers and guests saw my setup and photos, a few followed me in to try to steal my angles and setups. (please everyone, get your own setup rather than steal art/work from others!) Lastly, more oil stains and wrinkles started to appear on my white backdrop, but I think the photos still turned out pretty legit! That’s straight up product / food photography in downtown LA for you ladies and fellas. Other than all these various struggles I’m getting used to, I’m really loving food photography, especially with all the perks of receiving the prettiest samples, props, ingredients, and meals. Who doesn’t love receiving seconds, thirds, from servers and Foodnetwork chefs?
And we finished the meal off with this gorgeous apple rose pastry with eggnog and raspberry syrup. I’m still dreaming of another bite of this. Thank you especially, server Nicole and co-host Patrick for being so prompt, attentive, and helpful to me with all the ingredients and meals. 
Back to back was Arquitectonica’s holiday party at the Perch. A stunning private happy hour from 3-5 with my kickass architect partner, and a few favorite women: Christine, my college roommate, and Megan, my favorite personal on-site stylist/makeup artist. From 5-7 was our private dinner, and until midnight we mingled back on the rooftop. How does time fly this fast?
