los angeles x long weekend

To go along with this specific post, I highly recommend reading this, because I haven't read anything better that describes the struggles of living in both of these magnificent, beautiful and absolutely ridiculous cities (New York is a madhouse at the moment because yes, it snowed, and yes, it's now all melting and turning the city into the most disgusting, slushy dump).

Los Angeles was beautiful. I genuinely enjoyed it - I'm sure it's very different when you're visiting vs living (as it is for New York City), but the flawless weather really spoke to me. IT NOURISHED MY SOUL. I know that's really aggressive, but I'm not sure if I'd ever get tired of waking up to perfect weather almost everyday.

We ate a lot, went to the beach, had car problems, got stuck in traffic, took a lot of pictures, saw old friends, and barely slept. I lost my voice. It was so relaxing and exciting all at the same time.

And if you have 3-4 minutes to kill:

CA in CA 2016 from Ariel Min on Vimeo. List of stuff that unfortunately did not make it into the video:
- colleen and me hanging in the jacuzzi
- colleen and me getting lost in skid row
- a tiny bird pooping on me
- colleen's fabulous mother and the mimosas/cookies she made us (camera died and cut out the footage, boo)
- the rest of footage of colleen's dog :(
- our numerous lyft drivers
- the most amazing brunch ever
- most stuff we ate
- MINA and NICK
Music: The Chainsmokers - Roses (ft ROZES)

06// W U J U

Last weekend, I met my cousin's baby boy in Atlanta. My cousin, the father of the baby, is the oldest cousin of all, and is the first to get married and have a baby, so this is kind of a big deal (we have a huge family on my mom's side, of two uncles and four aunts, plus twelve of us children!).

And here he is, Wuju Ryan So! Isn't that such a pretty name? Wuju means space in Korean. He is tiny. He is so soft. He poops really well. He eats well too. He's pretty calm for a baby I think (like I know anything about babies). I think he liked me. He threw up on my shoulder at one point (no no go ahead, it's not like it was my favorite shirt or anything), and even though I basically had no idea how to hold him properly, I managed to make him fall asleep in my arms (the best feeling ever). At the end of the trip, I concluded that babies are pretty freaking heavy. Kudos to all the moms out there!

We went to a park near my cousin's apartment for an impromptu photoshoot for the baby and the family. I must admit, I fell in love with Atlanta a bit this past weekend - it's calm and green, with rolling hills and attractive houses. It reminded me of Texas, but better.

Miami daze

Miami. Who knew I'd be frolicking around in Miami for a hot weekend this summer? All thanks to Ann Choi, one of the funniest and dearest friends I've ever had, I found myself swimming at South Beach, petting the cutest chihuahua, hanging with some of the smartest and nicest people, dancing to queen BEY and watching Ann rub sunscreen all over the bare back of a complete stranger. So South Florida basically exceeded my expectations in every way possible. I went down there with my trusty Minolta and finally got the photos back today from Film Box Lab - aaaaaannnd I gotta say - I'm absolutely in LOVE.

We spent the weekend at Karen's in North Beach, which was absolutely lovely all around.

Then we took a stroll at PAMM, aka Pérez Art Museum Miami right by the water (I guess in Miami, everything's sort of by the water).

Then we went back to beach because WHY NOT

Oh, and Wynwood Art District was actually one of the loveliest art districts I've visited. We even stumbled into this random TWLOHA gallery party where I ended up bonding with this random girl from Australia over photography. Panther coffee also did not disappoint.

Meet Peanut. THE CUTEST CHIHUAHUA IN THE WORLD!

Oh Miami. Thank you for such a beautiful weekend. :)

All photos taken with Minolta X-700 + kodak 200 + beautifully processed/scanned by Film Box Lab