Lots of xanga drama about pregnant peoples and how you should treat them. Made me think of conversation I have with yobo all the time. Since the day I’ve chatted with him, he’s made it very clear that he wants lots of kids. And the thought of pregnancy is very exciting to him. With that said, he says, and I quote, “I already know it’s going to be 9 months of hell for me.”

For the most part I appear to be a very easy going person because I don’t want people to think I am picky and difficult. But around people who I care more about, I am actually extremely picky and difficult. Even without raging hormones I laugh and cry like a baby. Heck, my nick name was “crybaby.” And even though I only really work 2 days a week, I am always exhausted and have no energy for anything but shopping. I don’t eat a lot but I have strange cravings all the time (usually after a tv commercial). Also, I am HIGHLY sensitive to anything, like alcohol or caffeine or anything that will make someone throw up, like riding in the back seat of a car (I ALWAYS ride passenger, b****es) Hahahaha.

So I guess when you’re pregnant those things will be magnified by 1000x. I don’t know, that’s what I am just assuming from things I’ve heard. So people were bitching about how pregnant people were bitching about how non pregnant people need to treat pregnant people a certain way. I think I would like special treatment.

Like how in cosmetology school, everyone had to stand for 8 hours but the pregnant girls could sit while they worked. I think on the bus people give up their seat to pregnant people, I wouldn’t really know as I’ve never taken the bus before. I think husbands can’t yell at their pregnant wife. And has to do EVERYTHING she askes otherwise I can tell everyone and everyone will think he’s a jerk.

Here is a list of things I absolutely dread about pregnancy
- Gaining the weight and never losing it, or more so, my body changing it’s shape. If you guys have ever met my mom she’s on the chubbier side now, even though she used to be smaller than me at my age. Is that what pregnancy do to you!?
- People thinking I am a teen mom because I have young looking genes. Don’t judge me!
- Giving birth. gaaaaaaaah. Can they just knock you out?! Wake up and it’s all done! Without the pain of post surgery?!
- Restrictions on what I can and can’t eat or do. All hokey pokey from cultural beliefs. Like you can’t eat or drink anything cooling (like desserts or cold water) because the wind will make you weak. You can’t wash your hair for like 3 months because… I forgot. You can’t step over any dividers, like the little bump between your house and the outside world because I don’t know. Anyhow, things like THIS will REALLY piss me off. But I don’t want to appear to be a beezey to my in-laws or my mom.

Other than that. I think I am ready for a baby. I look at little kids whenever I’m out and I think they’re so funny. But that’s not happening anytime soon because WON CHOE has to make like a million dollars before he can impregnate me.

Side story: One of my youngest bridal client (22 years old) told me she is rushing to get married this year so she can get pregnant and have a baby in the Dragon year next year cuz baby girls in Dragon year is really lucky! I’m a Dragon girl. I want to have a lucky baby next year too

You older more cynical people like to think I am some hopeful doe eyed little hunny bun who’s never had my heart broken so I am soooo optimistic and view love so highly.

Well, that last part is true. I am a strong supporter or falling in love! Does it rein in the wild girls and make them stay-at-homers? I’ll stay! Does it turn you mean guys into mushy gentlemens? Mush on!

Even when I’ve had my heart broken and all I saw were grey skies, I knew that SOMEDAY I would have love and be happy! Even when I knew my parents marriage was not based on love, I knew that there was love out there. I was 8 years old, mind you. It didn’t matter how many bad examples of “love” there were. I just knew. It may not have been the right time, or the right place, or with the right person but it doesn’t mean it will never happen! I know it can seem like an impossible task when you are trying to go find it. And an eternity when you are trying to patiently wait for it. But I believe it happens!!

So for all you guys who think it’s so much better being the big shot with all the naked girls around them rather than with that one girl at home… It’s going to change someday….   And for all you guys who sneer at all your guy friends who turned into cheeseballs for their girlfriends, you’re going to become one too   So why fight it? Just… let it happen and be happy it did. Gaaah Love is soooo wonderful <3 <3 <3 <3

MARRY MEEE!!

Apparently I come from a LONG line of dog bite healers. I found this out today when we reminiscing abut how my dad has what we call a “fate” for children and animals. Like, little kids and animals are drawn to him, even the really difficult ones. I have a “fate” for children and animals too. All the really bitchy chihuahuas are really nice to me. And little kids tend to follow me around and make friends easily with me. We think it’s because the aura around my dad and I is very calm and welcoming and kind. Har har.

Anyhow, my mom says when she lived in North Vietnam as a child, all the relatives in her village were skilled dog bite healers. And even when she grew up in South Vietnam anytime someone was biten by a dog, they would come to her or her siblings or her dad to get their bite marks healed. And everyone who was healed by my mom’s family would NOT get rabies (which is pretty common in a 3rd world) and their scars would heal up nicely and any infection they had would just disappear without any medicine.

So I ask my mum how they did it. And she said they would draw a picture around the bite mark, like a star or something and chant some dog bite healing saying while doing so. In Vietnamese it’s called “KHOAN.” I don’t know the translation for it.

And so this power can ONLY be transferred and taught within the family, outsiders can’t learn it and do it.

So that’s my story. I am from a line of legendary dog bite healers.

I am going to add this to my list of services.. hahaha: Makeup, Hair, Eyelash Extensions, Dog Bite Healing.

My brothers are super into camping, which I think is really weird because one of them is super gangsta and one of them is super geek. The last two people I’d expect to run into in the forest on weekends, but that’s their new thing. They even do like camping trips together. And I am starting to see it catch on as a lot of my own friends are posting pictures on facebook of their camping trips.

Once in a while they’ll throw me a bone in the email, “on the off chance that Van wants to go, I am including her in this email.” Pity invite since ALL the siblings and their wive’s siblings are going. I appreciate being included, I REALLY do.

But how do I say this… when I look at those pictures or hear stories all I can think about it WHY DO YOU VOLUNTARILY PUT YOURSELF THROUGH THE MISERY!?

Its really rare seeing pictures of Happy Campers. No, usually it’s pictures of them half asleep in some rickety old chair in pj pants and puff jacket. Everyone looks dark and dirty. And I can only imagine the bugs stories I hear. Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Where is the fun in that?

I remember once I went camping and I COULD NOT freaking sleep because of all the bugs in the net layer of the tent. It was like I was suffocating in a bug chamber. Scary movie idea. Ughhh. I mean, what do  people even do on camping trips? Drink beer. Get cold. Eat instant meals. Suffer while you try to do ANYTHING because its 1000x harder, including brushing teeth or even going to the bathroom. Toss and turn. Wake up. Walk around until you blister. Drink beer. Repeat. Ughhhh.

I will be the first to admit I am not at all adventurous. Even if someone were to offer me an ALL EXPENSE PAID TRIP (but not luxurious) to some foreign country by myself. I’ll say “no” faster than they can finish the offer.

I like doing the cheesey touristy thing. You know, the  experience that cost 10000x more than doing it byo yourself the natural way? I like tour guides. I like photo ops. I like everything being set up and predictable. I like schedules and maps.

That’s not to say I don’t like the outdoors because I do. I mean, to some degree. Sure, I’ll hike and chop trees and swim in the river. I love doing those things and can really get into it. But at the end of the day, I would need a real bed and a real shower. How else are you supposed to recover from an exhausting day?

I refuse to go camping. Ever!

I think the title is pretty self explanatory. I must say, for a tourist attraction, the Cham people didn’t seem to happy with us. Makes me wonder if its meant to be a tourist attraction at all! Maybe we’re just stepping all over their ruins and messing up their prayers!

I missed the wear white memo -___- 


When I had asked her to take a photo she ignored me, my cousin had to ask for me in a formal greeting. Even then she doesn’t look up or smile. So I squashed the idea of taking photos with the traditional clothes models or the musicians. But here is she making their wraps by hand.


Apparently you aren’t allowed to turn your backs to the temples so the Cham people would have to climb up and down the steps facing one way. So the steps you (can barely) see in the middle are made SUPER SUPER SUPER steep so people can climb down backwards.

Getting ready to enter the templ!


Inside one of the smaller temples. The decorations was soooo pretty. Supposedly if you rub this icon, you will get pregnant with a son! I only touched it to pose, I didn’t rub it! Inside the temple was VERY small, only about 5 people could fit in at a time. And you had to go down a long narrow tunnel just to get to the inside. We had to take off our shoes. What was weird was our tour guide just took us inside and we talked and stood and posed. All the while the native Cham people were literally on their knees and silently praying and knee-towing with their heads to the ground as we’re just standing there.

 
Beautiful (but dirty) view of Nha Trang from the temple courtyard.


So this is the bottom of the temple. We had to climb to the very tip top part of the temple above the trees! Now the steps are modern and its made for tourism but back them the Cham people REALLY HAD TO CLIMB! Yikes!


Us being silly outside a famous mud bath house in Nha Trang, Vietnam. Too bad no one wanted to mud bath. I regret not trying it!

Okay. Until next time! I’ll try to update more about Vietnam. I’ve only done about 1/3 of the whole trip

Whooo! An amusement park that takes up a whole island!! You have to take a box car on a cable just to get on the island. Coool!

I love this place. It’s a 3 in 1 type of amusement park with land rides like roller coasters, a 2 story arcade buffet (all you can play for free), and a water park in tact with water slides and pools. Oh yes, and the amusement park is on an island so there is a GORGEOUS beach you can play on. The food was sooo good. And the night time light& music show was definitely worth the wait. Love! <3

As cute as the animal circus was… I couldn’t help but cry watching it. Seems borderline animal abuse. The animals didn’t look so happy nor did their bored trainer. But.. they were soo cute and very good at what they do.

At the end of the night, my trouble making Vietnamese cousin got into a conversation with a white man. When I was called over to translate for them, turned out he was Russian and didn’t speak any English. What followed between them was an intense conversation with LOTS of hand gestures. It ended in a good hearted am wrestle where my cousin and my 4 arms lost to his ONE arm! gaaah! He insisted on taking photos with a Vietnamese (my cousin) and an American (myself). Lol.

Fun fact: Because my cousins are farmers by nature, everywhere we went they would climb trees and steal fruit for me. And by everywhere I mean EVERYWHERE, including where the trees are supposed to be just for decoration!

From what I hear there are like 4 other island by Nha Trang to explore. We only went on ONE of them and I loved it! Must come back for the others

It’s true. Only single peoples write in xanga. Once people go into relationships, they disappear, then when they break up, they reappear. My relationship is hardly over but he’s away on vacation so I turn to trusty all there for me.. xanga.

Our 2nd week spent in Vietnam was taking my cousins on Vacation! We went with a tour guide company that included private transportation, hotel, 3 meals a day, all amusement tickets, for a whole week for 15 people for $1,000. That’s Vietnam for you!

We toured Nha Trang, beach city, first!

First stop: Some small village of what we consider the Vietnamese “Native Americans,” aka the Cham people. Everyone in this village makes pottery for a living, all by hand! Instead of having a pottery wheel, they run around the pot in circle to smooth it out.

She doesn’t look so happy… But look at how intricate that pot is!

What all the pots are made of.. and little Cham boy playing king of the mountain!

Second stop: Vietnam’s grape winery

It’s no V. Sattui in Napa but I was definitely suckered into buying some wine and grape syrup as gifts. Har har. Anyone want to try some grape syrup? Still sitting in my fridge!

Finally arrived in Nha Trang, beach city!

This was right outside our hotel. You can definitely tell if a certain place in Vivetnam is touristy if they have these Cyclos! Only tourists would pay to ride in one for the quote, unquote authentic feel of Vietnam. Me? I was just posing for a picture with my cousin. No real ride here!

Sooo much food at every meal. My favorite thing to eat was hot pot, aka Lau because you can see the food is fresh before you cook it and you watch it cook yourself! Less chance of getting sick. Funny story. We kept getting bananas as desert, which is standard for all tourist except we are bananas farmers! They probably got their bananas from our farms! Lol! Not impressed!

This is the night market in Nha Trang. Much like the World Market in Oahu, except not so worldly. It was so nice just to take a nice stroll through the market and enjoy yummy smoothies. My favorite was a Dragon Fruit smoothie! I gotta learn how to make that here.

My favorite part of the nights we spent in Nha Trang was walking back to our hotel along the spotless beach! If we rubbed the sand with our feet, it would glow in the dark, making neat designs. Kinda scary. Radioactive much? But very pretty to look at and fun to play with. I loved the warm beach water..

We catch little white crabs! Cute!! Hehe!

Anyone who goes to Vietnam should make a trip out to Nha Trang! Definitely a great tourist trap to be in!

 
6 hours flight to JFK traveling back in time. So I was doing my makeup at 6AM during my lay over. Then one more hour into Rochester! Such cute snacks! Strangely I could not for the life of me sleep one single wink and my knee was aching bad. I am usually really good about sleeping on planes! Must be the no-leg-room thing!

First thing I did when I got there was hug someone, ate something, then jumped into bed! Woke up for girls day!

We did the whole nail salon thing, which turned out to be a disaster. And this is another perfect example of why you pay the big bucks for wedding day related things. You’re paying for seasoned vendors who specialize in weddings and will do everything to make sure you day runs smoothly and you are as relaxed as possible. Not some down the street place that is fine for your regular manis & pedis. What ended up happening was we all went home and my aunt, mom, and I did everyone’s nails.

Spent the night before the wedding at a huge backyard BBQ. King crab, clams, blue crab, steak buffet! Heaven!! Living in San Francisco, I am AMAZED by backyard and front lawns. Seriously! It’s like I walked into Disney land!

My NY cousins are all huge golfers. Look how young they start. Hehe so cute!

I learned how to play Bacchi. Basically you throw a small white ball and you take turns throwing your team’s colored ball as close to the white ball as possible. Whoever is closest wins. First and last sport I played in like the last 10 years. Funnily enough, I pretty much won half of the games! Maybe I should give this being-a-guy-thing a try.

I also learned to smoke a cigar, or just pose with one.

I also learned how to pose with a bottle of beer.

Official Wedding Day:


I love this photo of all the siblings. They are such a great group! Literally as soon as the photographer finished snapping this, they all snapped back to normal like nothing happened. I didn’t believe I saw them doing this until after I saw the photo proof. har har.

Lunch break at Bill Grays. Supposedly the Best Cheese Burger In the World. Eh, I don’t know about that. I think I prefer In-N-Out. Har har.
 


Wedding Reception Fun:

My awesome driver. We were known as the Power Team because we literally saved the wedding. We drove like an extra 3 hour that day for everyone. We ran into the reception an hour late and into the arms of everyone because they couldn’t start without us and what we had to go get for them. Long story short. We saved the say!

Because I was with mum, I decided to wear a tank top under my dress. Har har. Mom altered the bottom for me and made it too short, so I had to sew the bottom back on -___-  Lol!

Super cute table center pieces. I love how personal it is!

Tooo much partying! Lol.

Canada Day:

The next day all the non New Yorkers were headed for Niagra Falls & Toronto. I couldn’t wake up. AND they wanted to wake up an extra 2 hours earlier than planned to go to church. I DEFINITELY didn’t wake up for that. So I stayed behind and hung out with the New York crew instead.

We all went out for ice cream and a walk on the shores of Ontario Lake. I love how they are all soooo down with family time. So sweet!

At the beautiful park where I was made fun of for looking like a “Cali girl” because I was walking the puppy in heels at the park. Lol. Dang suburban kids, don’t know how us city girls do it!

 
Lol at Baby Eli! Seconds after this he sat down in the water and rolled around in the sand.

The water was soooo warm. You could NEVER do that here at San Francisco beaches. For the last 10 years, I lived literally 5 minutes away from the beach and never once have I stood or played in the water.

 
Within 5 minutes, it was storming harder than I’ve ever seen rain in Cali! Bi-polar weather much? Thats my cousin’s boyfriend running with the dog to the car in the rain while we waited under a roof for the rain to lighten up a bit.

We came home and had some more BBQ! Then I watched them play poker for the rest of night.

Baby Eli and I hiding from the Poker marathon. He’s such a cutie and sooo smart.

I’m so glad I have awesome cousins on both side of the coast. My Cali cousins here are my best friends and the sisters I never had. They are also my business partners. We are all so similar here, known as the “Pham girls” when we go out for our outrageous dresses, and hairstyles.

On the other hand, my New York cousins are a mix of guys & girls who couldn’t be more different from me if they tried! But they are sooo down to earth and just really chill-with-all-day type of people.  I also love that they are sooo affectionate. I think this weekend I’ve hugged and kissed more family than I have my other side of my family my entire life. Can’t wait to hang out with everyone again in Australia at the end of the year! It will be my first time celebrating Thanksgiving with my New York cousins, and my first time NOT celebrating Thanksgiving with my Cali cousins.

P.s. I REALLY REALLY REALLY hate flying. My flight home was pure torture. Seriously, it took us 15 hours to get home. I am going to invent a teleport machine

P.s.s I am wearing the same dress in the last 3 entries. Must. buy. more. dresses.

Its past midnight and yobo is in freaking Vegas with his guys. Please send that NICEST DAMN GIRLFRIEND OF THE YEAR AWARD to me asap. I guess I couldn’t really complain because I left for New York. Ughhh. I hate equality!

Anyhow, I can’t sleep so here are pictures from my Tomales Bay Oyster Farm BBQ. I put this together because people from last year wanted to go but no one from last year went. Instead it was a mash up of my new friends plus my friend’s friends.

I think it’s funny that the sign is of a sexy oyster lady cuz there is nothing sexy about this place. Be careful driving here and back from San Francisco. The road is EXTREMELY wind-y. Every year someone throws up.

 
Happy as a clam. Here I was introduced to eating raw clams. So yum btw, I actually prefer it over the raw oysters. And in oyster world: the smaller the better!

For some reason this year I preferred by oysters BBQed rather than raw. And it wasn’t as good as I remembered it from last year’s BBQ. But hey, I’m down for oysters ANYTIME!

Fun fact (didn’t find out until AFTER the BBQ): Oysters don’t die when you shuck them or cut them up. The acid and temperature rise in your stomach is what kills them. I laughed when my friend asked if shucking them was torture. But I’m not laughing anymore. Poor oysters. Lesson learned: Don’t be so yummy!

So one of my friend’s friend was a PALM reader. Whooo! Remember how I wanted to get my palm read in Seattle? Well this was so much better! So fun! My palm basically reads I need to relax and not think about so much all the time because my health is getting affected. The good news is I am a balanced person in will power & execution meaning I will be good with business. Looks like I’ll be pretty successful and can hold onto money. 3-4 kids. Pretty honest. I just need to RELAX. *sigh* sooo hard to do!! Aghh!

The whole gang.

End of day rant: You know, even at a oyster farm 1.5 hours away, the price of oyster is still pretty expensive at almost $1 an oyster. Why is all seafood so expensive? And why is my favorite food fresh seafood? ughhh. Why couldn’t I have the taste buds for something cheap? Like pasta or cup of noodle?

Yobo wanted to print a photo album of all our pictures in case the internet world ever crashes, we will have hard copies of our pictures. I decided to take it one step further and now we have what we call operation SCRAP BOOK of LOVE. Muahahahahahaha! So because of operation SCRAP BOOK of LOVE, we’ve actually been taking our camera, that Yobo bought for me, everywhere and taking pictures. So I finally have pictures to share

We had a lazy Sunday! Just hung out with yobo’s family
 

He introduced me to the Korean melon. Yummy! Surprisingly he is a master fruit peeler. Better than me I’ll say!

Speaking of food: I tried cooking pasta. Store bought pasta. Store bought sauce. How hard can it be right? Ask his mother’s pan that I freaking BURNED and RUINED. ughhhhh. We scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed but it did not work so I just bought her a new pan. Later when I asked if yobo’s mama wanted some help with making dinner, she laughed and said no because it’s not like I knew how to cook -____-. Burrrrn (pun intended).

I spent a lot of time cuddling with baby Pinky! so cute!

She has stalker tendencies…… just… like…. me.

Then night time we got dressed up for THEATRO ZINZANNI! 2 years ago on our first date, I casually mentioned (and continued to do so for the next 2 years) that I’ve always wanted to go to Theatro Zinzanni, dinner and circus show in one. He promised me 2 years ago that he would take me one day. And this was the day!
 
He came expecting it to be like any of the other cheesey musicals he takes me to. None of which he particularly enjoys but takes me because he knows I like them. But here at Theatro Zinzanni, I think he loved it more than I did! The circus was also a comedy act geared heavily towards sex. Of course yobo loved it. He couldn’t stop laughing. Then he got called up on stage because he was a”VIRILE MAN”  who was supposed to show off his strength and skills so he could “replace the great Ceasar!” Too bad the competition was a dance competition. My asian yobo FROZE. Lol. He lost the competition to a black guy (how typical, black man can dance. Hehe) but he won his 15 minute of fame. As soon as the show ended, people could not stop coming up to him and complimenting him and telling him he did a great job and how he should have won purely because he refused to dance. That, and because Ceasar kept talking about how buff he was while he was on stage. Hahahaha. I wish I have a video of yobo trying to dance like Ceasar!

Theatro Zinzanni is SUCH A great show! The show is set up around each course of your 5 course dinner. And it’s interactive with the audience, which makes its hilarious. Not to mention the circus acts in itself are really amazing to watch, not at all cheesey! It’s definitely worth it to spring extra for your own private table, right yobo?   I am going to be expecting that kind of treatment EVERYWHERE we go now! Mauhahaha! 

The rest of the weekend was spent working on our SCRAP BOOK of LOVE project. We had plans for the great outdoors but the late morning thunderstorms told us it was an INDOOR activity type of weekend. Perfect for SCRAP BOOK of LOVE time!! We had to go buy all the materials, print all our pictures, and even visit all our old date spots to gather business cards and brochures to decorate our page with. That took 2 days in itself. But so much fun!

So many places!

Our lengthy TO DO list for our scrap book!

Mail time! What a sexy guy ; ) Lol I was getting picture snappy happy.

Lunch break at Pike Place! We ate some famous clam chowder and tried to go have our tarot read by a psychic in the mysterious lower level of Pike’s Place. Too bad she wasn’t there and instead left us a note to facebook her and she’ll email us our astrology. LAME!

Typical scene during meal times  -____-   He is going to eat me straight into the poor house. I just know it!

Of course what’s a visit to Pike’s Place without shopping for huge bouquets of flowers for our mums?

This is us at night putting our SCRAP BOOK of LOVE together. So much fun!

I made him write passages about certain dates that we went on so we can look back at it 50 years from now and laugh at what he thought the highlights of the date were. Usually something perverted -___-

This is him threatening to cut me cuz I took too many photos of him being nakid.

And that pretty much sums up our weekend together. Hehe. What cheesey things did you trick your boyfriend into doing?