the holidays are right around the corner & i wanted to offer an awesome special again since last year’s mini sessions were such a big hit! This will be perfect for families and couples to use as your holiday photos & cards!

i have two exclusive weekend dates for this special:

sunday, october 23rd, 2011
sunday, november 13th, 2011

For more info and to reserve your spot, email me at mimi [at] miminguyen [dot] com with the subject “holiday mini session”.

leah is seriously the cutest thing ever! i love love love her! but that’s probably because i’m her “asian mama”. =) she has the quirkiest lil’ personality and her own language. her mama, my good friend, chantelle, likes to call it leah-nese. leah calls the bf “weeechurd” aka richard since she can’t pronounce her “r” words quite yet. everyone who meets her, immediately falls in love with her. how can you not?

here are some of my favorite photos taken at the santiago creek nature preserve for her 3rd birthday…happy birthday, leah! <3

Fashion has been a big part of my life…even though I may have been on the “Top 10 Worst Dressed” list back in my adolescent days. (I blame it on my lovely mom. She bought me a pair of tie-dyed overalls, but having no fashion sense in elementary school, I wore it proudly. =P) These days, a t-shirt & a pair of jeans will do.

My friend/model, Tricia and I got together and collaborated with the lovely and awesome makeup artist & hairstylist, lulu nguyen, on an idea I had for an updated 40′s era look. I think it turned out super duper awesome!

Am I allowed to play favorites? Because my cousin doan is one of my absolute fave people in this world. I love her! She is a filmmaker extraordinaire, the mastermind behind oh, saigon, an amazing documentary that will be playing again on local PBS stations. Click here to check out your local listings.

doan and I have grown closer through the years, and when we get together, we share our thoughts freely. I can listen to her stories hours on end. Luckily, Doan travels frequently so I get to see her pretty often when she visits SoCal. During her last trip, we decided to explore San Clemente and snap some portraits. Doan is so beautiful in every way. She also teaches yoga during her spare time & I was able to get a private one on one session this time around. Can you say, AWESOME?! One of our favorite things to do when she’s in town is get an hour reflexology massage for $15! Again, can you say, AWESOME?!

If you haven’t already, check out oh, saigon. It is definitely worth your time! It is showing on Tuesday, April 27 evening in most areas – please check out your local pbs listings for dates/times.

film synopsis:

“If I could put my finger on the moment my family fell apart, it would be April 30, 1975 — the end of the Vietnam War.”
– Filmmaker Doan Hoang

oh, saigon. Airlifted out of Vietnam on April 30, 1975, Doan Hoang’s family was on the last civilian helicopter out of the country at the end of the war. Twenty-five years later, she sets out to uncover their story. The film follows her family as they return to Vietnam after decades of exile, where her father, a former South Vietnamese major, meets his brothers again to confront their political differences: one was a Communist, the other a pacifist. Meanwhile, Hoang tries to reconcile her own difficult past with her half sister, who was mistakenly separated from the family during the escape.

here are some of my favorites from our quick session: