Frances and Mark

Hong Kong Photo Journal - Part 9

2009-05-25T20:26:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a little while since we had a post. Mark has been busy scanning files of the trip so that he can post them -- apologies for the wait! These next few posts will wrap up Mark's Hong Kong trip.

So, let's get started. One of Mark and Frances' favorite places to eat brunch is the China Club. The food is amazing (especially from the Kung Fu noodle-maker guy). The club itself is a few floors, full of artwork, a library, a bar, and the main dining room. Here are some pictures!

Hong Kong Photo Journal - Part 8

2009-04-16T10:15:00.001-07:00

While Frances's parents spent the Easter weekend in Tokyo, Frances and mark hung out with Frances's sister Carol, Carol's fiance Colm, and Grandma Irene!

Yummy lunch at Cépage on Star Street (the "Soho" area of Hong Kong)!

http://www.starstreet.com.hk/eat-drink-be/detail/?id=801

With the use of the "HODOS" name on the reservation, we were automatically given a private room (Hodos rules)!

The two couples...

Carol and Colm!

Frances and Mark!

Frances's HOT Fiance!

A little stroll after lunch...

Easter Sunday lunch with Grandma at Agnes B's La Loggia at the IFC. The gentlemen treated the ladies, and grandma was very impressed !

http://www.agnesb-lepaingrille.com/la_loggia.html

After lunch ...

Grandma having a taste of Ben & Jerry's...

Colm's Chocolate and Brownie cone fix before heading back to Beijing...

Hong Kong Photo Journal - Part 7

2009-04-16T09:49:00.000-07:00

Location: Causeway Bay area
Activity: Balenciaga / Chanel bag hunting

(Frances dragged Mark through all the consignment stores in the area: France Station, VIP Station, Milan Station, Station Paris, Italy station!!!!!)

The famous Times Square area...

Taking a brief break for dried pork snack...

Believe it or not, they use bamboo scaffolding to build all the skyscrapers in Hong Kong!

Bought a toy for Mango at the pet store... look at these toffee colored babies!!!

The busiest and the widest pedestrian crossing in Hong Kong!

Ahhhh... finally some Japanese tea and yummy dinner!

On the way home - Porsche Hong Kong showroom - just for Mark's dad!!!

Hong Kong Photo Journal - Part 6

2009-04-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

Some shots from home...

obviously NOT taking a break from eBay (notice 2 computers at once) !

Looking down from the 22nd floor!

A view from our ceiling-to-floor windows in the living room...
(see the former British Governor's House surrounded by trees)

the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens
(where Frances sketched animals, played, and blew bubbles at when shes was little)

Find Frances!

Ready to get out of the house!

Hong Kong Photo Journal - Part 5

2009-04-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

What does Frances do once her jet lag is over???

.... shop!

Waiting for mom trying on clothes...

They have London Soles (Frances fave ballet flats brand) at Joyce!

Explaining to mom why Balenciaga's are the best!

Caused a ruckus at Chanel!

Found shoes to wear at Carol's wedding!

Hong Kong Photo Journal - Part 4

2009-04-16T08:55:00.001-07:00

Our journey to the Peak (via the tram)...

... begins at Kennedy Road...

... onto following the McDonald's delivery guy!

... pass the US Consulate

... long line for the tram ....

meanwhile Mark takes another photo of a building...

Finally through the tram museum.

More waiting ...

In the tram! Look, that's Frances's building!

Look at how steep the tram grade is!

Mark being an American tourist...

A view from the Peak!

Hong Kong Photo Journal - Part 3

2009-04-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

Location: The terrace of Sevva (best place for high tea and happy hour!)

http://www.sevvahk.com/ (click on Lounge, and Terrace!)

We can almost touch the HSBC and the Charter Bank buildings!

Central, Hong Kong

Looking out at the Victoria Harbour and Kowloon side

Frances and her mom...

Mark and his future mother-in-law...

PS. Mark needs to announce that this is Fuji Reala film, which is awesome!

Hong Kong Photo Journal - Part 2

2009-04-16T08:39:00.001-07:00

Very jet lagged ...

Mango: "don't sleep yet!"

Hong Kong Photo Journal - Part 1

2009-04-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

We will let these photos speak for themselves..... from the beginning of the trip until now....

Flying over the North pole! notice the giant cracks!

All the TV monitors froze and had a huge rebooting session (this was when we flew over the North Pole!)

First photo of Hong Kong - Mongkok!

Hungry - waiting for my japanese ramen!

Another shot of the bustling Mongkok after dinner

First day of work for Mark! Notice the building is still half built!?!?!

Waiting for the car at the W hotel right next to Mark's office building (the ICC).

A Barnyard Wedding ... At Stone Barns?

2009-04-15T00:31:00.001-07:00

This mood board really got us going... Mark and I really love an outdoor wedding surrounded with beautiful foliage and flowers. A barnyard wedding would be perfect. After checking out venue information of a few places in and around NYC, Blue Hill at Stone Barnes seems perfect..

How perfect?

- just 40 minutes outside of NYC, far enough to be a little away from the city and close enough for everyone to get there

- a wedding ceremony in the garden

- a cocktail and hors d'oeuvre hour outdoors

- reception and dancing in the newly finished Hay Loft (houses 150-250 guests)

- and on to enjoying an Indian summer night ....

- lastly.... how about FRIGGING AMAZING FOOD?

Getting Ready for Carol's Wedding

2009-04-14T23:50:00.000-07:00

My sister Carol's wedding dress code for bridesmaids -

pretty bridesmaids dress:

... and SILVER SHOES.

Who knew they would be so hard to find ? After 10 days of excruciating search in Hong Kong (aka shopping city), I finally found these gorgeous Blumarine heels! they are a with a moderate 3" heel with baby pink soles (!), plus they make my feet and legs look great! Another plus is that I can wear them again!

I would kill for these electric blue version (same shoe), but unfortunately they just don't fit the occasion :P

A note to my bridesmaids: it's never too early to look for shoes! (gold and comfy ones)...

Mango = McGuiness ??

2009-04-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

See for yourselves!!

View From the Top

2009-04-13T00:35:00.000-07:00

More pictures coming soon, but here's one of us at The Peak overlooking Hong Kong towards Victoria Harbour and Kowloon.

Tea Museum !

2009-04-12T23:37:00.002-07:00

My dad took Mark and me to the Tea Museum at the Hong Kong Park, which is about a 10 minute walk from my house. Since the men were already there drinking tea and i left the house about 30 minutes after them, i decided to take a taxi just so i could get there asap. As soon as I got on and told the driver where i wanted to go, he said, "why don't you lose some weight and walk?!?!" Not knowing that I had just returned from NYC and had dealt with Middle Eastern taxi drivers for the past 2 years, the driver got an earful. I arrived at the museum in 3 minutes flat.

Anyways, the teahouse at the museum was pretty cool. Mark and my dad liked the red tea, and we also had fancy Chinese tea with buds that flower immediately upon contact with boiling water. These are the exact ones that Marie Antoinette drank!

The life cycle of the "Jasmine Fairy Tea":

Me smelling my dad's tea...

Hong Kong, 2 Weeks in...

2009-04-12T23:22:00.001-07:00

Hi

Sorry for the long delay; we've been in Hong Kong for two weeks now and are thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

Mark feels like he's done about a million things, but some things stick out, like meeting Frances' grandparents and aunts and uncles, eating, the Peak Tram, the Tea Museum, eating, Mr Li's cooking, Mongkok, playing Man Hong's backwards Ps3 (the O and X buttons are reversed in Asia), eating, Perly's cooking, crazy UFC massages (totally "ground and pound"...), running with Carol and Colm (Carol and I ditched Frances and Colm so they went home and we spent an hour looking for them), ... what else? Frances and I have been hitting the Balenciaga scene here pretty hard and we think we've got the general lay of the land. I've seen so many rdciulously awesome sneakers, but they are all US size 10.5 at most (I'm a 12 or 13). Clothes also don't fit me either; so I haven't had any temptation really. Leica and Mamiya cameras/lenses are cheaper here, but of course with these brands, cheap is relative and still quite out of reach to buy new. Oh well, better to use what I have anyhow. Also, we've been getting crazy Kung Fu movies and watching them like 2 in a row. We still have to find a film development place that's open (it's a 4-day weekend here with Easter and all), but until we do, we can post some digital photos from Frances' camera.

-Mark And Frances

The other woman: Stella!

2009-03-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

When I first dated mark, I ran into stiff competition - Stella the siamese cat, with the prettiest sky blue eyes, no less! Tell me how I was able to compete with this ?!?!?!

Finally, after proving myself over and over again through many hissing incidents, rescuing her from multiple hairball attacks, and other freak accidents (accompanied by bloody scratches on my forearms), Stella has accepted me as a family member. We're totally cool now... see ? She kind of lets me lay down next to her!

Man Hong's Visit Thanksgiving 2008

2009-03-22T19:35:00.001-07:00

Mark was scanning some negatives he finally developed (in the bathroom) from last year, and we thought we'd post the result as it's pertinent..

Man Hong (future brother-in-law) came to visit us in New York for Thanksgiving weekend, and we went to the sushi bar at Whole Foods. Mark and Man Hong showed them a thing or two...

(Notice Man Hong didn't even stop eating for the picture. Do they have any food at Johns Hopkins!?)

The Engagement Brunch

2009-03-21T21:13:00.000-07:00

We would like to thank everyone for coming to our engagement brunch at Perry St. today! We had an amazing time with all of you, along with the company of rasberry lychee bellinis and runny eggs!

Click here for photos of the brunch...

below are a few photos of us (ring included) ... just for Mark's parents ;)

- Frances and Mark

The plan so far...

2009-03-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

Hi!

Welcome to our blog, where we are going to inspire and interest you deeply in our plans for getting married to each other -- which is very much better, from our respective perspectives, than getting married to someone else.

So, we thought we'd give an update of what is going on where, when.

The upshot right now is that fresh off of our engagement brunch today, we are preparing to head to Hong Kong to visit Frances' family for a month. Mark is going to work at Morgan Stanley HK offices for 3 weeks, then take a week off and enjoy Hong Kong.

After that, Mark is coming back to NYC. Frances will be back in NYC shortly after for our friends' wedding (Vanessa & Duncan) and to visit the cat. Mark will then travel back to HK again in July for Frances's sister Carol's wedding.

That's the next few months as we know them.

All we know is that we're pretty excited to be heading to Hong Kong in a few days, and Mark is looking forward to conducting a serious investigation into gourmet congee.

-Mark and Frances