Tomorrow my girlfriends and I are heading on our anual road trip to LA!!! As always, I'm in charge of planning it. As always, I have NOTHING planned. I did, however, send out a mass text saying.

Uniform: Something sexy, something classy, and something cute!

That should be enough for us to take down the town right? Anyone have any suggestions for where to go?! Any MUST-DOs?

Can't wait!!

Who's heard of Skagit Valley, Washington? Yea. NO ONE. So every year they put together the month long Tulip Festival to bring in tourists. And the cold weather in Washington is perfect for thriving tulips!

The morning after my fabulous birthday (see previous entry) we went to eat Dim Sum in Seattle's Chinatown, which was oddly quiet compared to San Francisco's Chinatown. Then we headed for the hour long drive to Skagit Valley for the Tulip Festival. Yoebo slept the whole way while I drove and even woke up grumypy and started a fight with me when I got lost. Hmph!!!

The Tulip Festival has events all over Skagit Valley, which is basically a ghost town with scattered fields. Except we had gone on a rainy Tuesday so none of the big events were going on. We just visited the two biggest tulip fields, Tulip Town and RoozenGarde.

The field was muddy and slippery from the rain. Good thing I brought my rain boots! But look at the gorgeous colours of the tulip field!

I loved the deep red ones.

But my favorite were the yellow ones.

Of course we have to take pictures with the pink ones!

Yoebo chose the purple ones because he said it matched my dress. 0.o
At least he's trying right ladies?

Manly man likes flowers too. Hehe. We ended up buying some organic sugar free jams and cut tulip bunches for both our mommies. For yoebo we bought fudge, popcorn, and funnel cake! I got nothing 

This is the other garden we visited. It was a little later in the day and much colder so I stole yoebo's jacket too!

I liked the spikey tulips.

Yoebo wished they were "cool" flowers lke the Venus Fly Trap. Then stuck his finger in it. He was sad when it didn't bite him.

Just kidding! I'm still enjoying my birthday vacation. I'm in Seattle right now. Had the BEST day yesterday and am getting up to prepare for another day with my yoboe. He is taking me to the Tulip Festival because he knows how much I love flowers!

Yesterday I flew in and orignally yoboe couldn't pick me up from the airport because he had all these other appointments. I thought it would be the perfect time to catch up with Jenny!! So we made plans for a girls lunch and shopping day. Super exciting!  Except when I called Jenny to confirm she didn't sound too happy about it. And when I landed and called her to ask where she was, she was really vague and even hung up on me! Weird... But it turned out yoboe cancelled all his appointments and secretly planned with Jenny to surprise me at the airport with flowers instead! Hahahaha. Omg. Too funny!!

At yoebo took me to SkyCity at the Seattle Space Needle, a spinning spaceship looking restaurant that sits 60something floors up from the ground on a needle looking structure. I remember as a child I had heard of the Space Needle and the thought of going there was a long and far away wishful dream! Who knew that I would be going there for my 22nd birthday! Too perfect!

Yoebo made special arrangements so I could have balloons at our table. Cute!

Choosing from our yummy menu!

Patiently waiting for our food.

Awww! I like this picture! I actually got a little naseous since the restaurant was rotating backwards so I made yoebo switch sides with me 

Yummy strawberry daquiri.

My favorite! Shrimp cocktail appetizer in cocktail sauce!

Yummmy! Everyone says the place is overrated but I have to say the food was REALLY good and the prices were the same as any steak house. I got lamb, filet mignon, AND king crab leg! Yummm!

Yoebo was bad so all he was allowed to eat was bread. Muahaha!

The BEST part of dinner. A long time ago I told yoebo that one time I went to Joe Dimaggio in SF and the guy in the table next to me got a smoking shrimp cocktail. I was super jealous since it was soooo pretty! Yoebo remembered and made special arrangements to have my birthday ice cream dessert come in smoke! It was sooo pretty! And I am sure everyone in the restaurant was super jealous  

Our picture together with the beautiful smoking ice cream! Yoebo is the best!!

After dinner we went to the top of the Space Needle to take in the view of Seattle.

Poor yoebo... The lady taking our picture said his eyes were closed so she had to take it again. Haha. I love his chinky eyes!!

 
Us playing at the Needle!

 
My favorite! Diamonds are a girl's best friend!

Okay! I gtg now!! Yoebo has been patiently waiting for me! Take care all!!

My birthday weekend kicked off at school where my friends threw me a surprise lunch party. They organized it so everyone brought something for me: pasta, salad, juice, cake, card, balloons, the works! Except I ditched school during lunch hour to go squeeze in some last minute work appointments. Hahaha. They had to have a lunch party without me : (... Lol, they gave me a lot of shit for it! But I came back to school and my friends did my hair to help me get ready for my party. Isn't cosmetology school just so perfect for me? Haha!!

Getting ready!! The theme was DRESS TO IMPRESS. MORE BLING. MORE BETTER! Tee hee!

At Asia SF, the famous tranny restaurant in SF! Dinner and show, Coyote Ugly style. I have never laughed so hard!! The ladies are hilarious! And GORGEOUS!! I feel shameful that I call myself girly compared to them. Everyone has GOT TO check out this place. A guaranteed night of fun! And the food is delicious!

Yay!

Doing a little work before dinner starts. It really IS a CRACKberry!

Dinner guests arrive with presents!

And flowers!

And themselves of course! ;)

With the pretty hostess! *wink wink*

S/he's so pretty!! We even had the same shoes and they taught me how to make them more comfortable! Haha.

It's shooooow time! Super Sexxxxaaaay! One of the BESt shows I've ever seen! Haha too funny!

 
Dinner with the girls!

Food was sooo good and filling Emmers had to let her dress go a bit. haha too cute!

As the Ladies of AsiaSF say, "the more you drink, the better we look." Cheers to that!

Yummy dessert!

Uh oh!! Time for a birthday shot!!

You have GOT to watch this! You can hear my nervous laugh. And look at how they double team me!

All done!

With the ladies before we leave for the club!

 
Some of my high school big sisters joined us for drinks at Sens, a restaurant, before we went to Infusion nightclub.

At Infusion.. LMFAO (????) was performing that night. It was CRAZY crowded and QUITE the show. Definitely ranks up there amongst the FREAKS! Haha there were girls in bikini with sparklers running around the club chasing after these oopa loompa midgets! LMFAO included one black guy with an afro and then one mexican guy, and all he did was dance around the black guy like a monkey. He doesn't get a mic or anything! And crazy ass white girls got on stage and pulled their bras down and let guys suck on her boobs. ON STAGE!! And alcoholic drinks was spraying all over the stage. It was crazzzzzy!! Thank goodness we were tucked away at a VIP table, safe from the freaks. It was like anything and everything that made you go OMG! they did it! Hahaha.

The only other person in the world that I am taller than!

At the VIP corner in Infusion nightclub. Just getting started

One toast before my cousin throws up and gets kicked out. Haha!

More party guests join in on the fun! Cheers!

I get touchy touchy after a few drinks

Awww my dance partners!

Danced by myself on the VIP couch for most of the night. Mostly cuz I could do it barefoot! Haha my 6 inchers were killing mee!

The next day my butt went to work at a photo shoot & a pageant. One of the models were super sweet and got me some cupcakes & balloons. Super cute! And yummy!

Sunday I had dinner with my family at a lowe key but yummy restaurant. No one bought me a cake (since I usually take care of that kind of stuff) but luckily we had left over cake from what my friends made for me at school so we used that. Hahah. ghettttooo!

With mum.

My brother pretending those balloons were from him -___-  Hahahaha

Make a wish!!

All photo & video credits go to my friends Emmers, Christina, and Jenny. Thanks for taking them and uploading ladies!!

Hope everyone enjoyed my pictures. I'll take & post more when I visit Seattle this week! 22 feels like it will be a good year. It has to be, it got off on such a great start!

Yoebo: Yay! Babies!

Me: No babies. At least 7 years.

Yoebo: I promise we will have a baby before 7 years.

Me: You NEVER promise ANYTHING! Do you realize what you just did?

Yoebo: Yes, I know. I never promise anything I won't do. And when I promise, I WILL do it.

Me: Can you at least promise it won't be for 3 years. You know, for AFTER marriage?

Yoebo: I can't promise that.

Me: -___-  Stay away from me.

Yoebo:...............what?!

That's how much I've lost since Friday. Strangest 5 days ever. I've been sleeping through most of it. It hurts too much to look anywhere but straight and I have had the urge to throw up at the slightest smell of food. My 5 senses seems to be hurting me more than helping me these days. This is what it must feel like to be hung over or pregnant. I've either stayed home from school or was sent home. Who gets sent home from school in college? I do, apparently.

I haven't eaten any real food in the last 5 days. Mostly had the occasional salted chips or chex mix with a little bit of watered down fruit juice. Last night I sat through dinner, where both my brothers and their gfs came over. My mom cooked a huge dinner and everyone feasted. I sat quietly and had one clam and one piece of vegetable. I don't feel any pain today, just still a little tired. Still no appetite but we're going to try some bland soup with rice later today.

I was FINALLY able to get a doctor's appointment  after much help from yoebo with figuring out my new insurance. But it was super frustating and we got into a fight.  I haven't heard from him except an email with the information about who to call and what to say to get the appointment. My hero <3

I was going to take on a super easy job for this film the next two days. But I've been missing enough school as it is. I don't think I have the energy to push the rest of this week like that. Too bad. I totally could have used the extra money. 

After my brother's wedding my mom told me to marry yoebo. So we decided to get married that weekend at 3pm. Except 3 pm rolls around and I don't have my fairytale cascading pink and white orchid bride's bouquet because we forgot to get flowers! So I run to Pike's Place (the SF version) since they have lots of flowers and order one for $15 that my brother pays for. I tell her to hurry because it's already 3:45 and my wedding was supposed to start at 3pm!!! Then I realize I need two flower arrangement for chuch so I go to order that except it's too late and all the good flowers are gone and only the super ugly super expensive ones are left. And some young girls put togther my flower arrangement and made it soaking wet and dirty with mud! I have never felt so stressed out before! I was so worried yoebo and his parents would get mad at me for being late to my wedding! I forgot my phone too so I couldn't even call and ask if their flight got in okay and if they were waiting for me at the church. I was so worried yoebo would leave me at the altar.

I woke up and it was 5:30am. I called yoebo knowing full well he probably JUST got in bed after a night of drinking. I made him swear he will not leave me at the church even if I was late to the wedding. He agreed. Done and done. *whew!*

Lesson here: Don't plan your wedding in one week.

Since shool has started 3 months ago. I have been pulling 13 hour days on the weekdays everyday with school and errands. Then I work on the weekends with appointments and pageants and weddings. needless to say I have no trouble sleeping at night. This past week in particular I've been pushing myself and feeling extra exhausted. Today I left school early after my midterm then went straight home for a makeup appointment. I was already feeling unwell before my appointment but held myself up to get through the job with my client. I finished everything around noon.

And then I COMPLETELY CRASHED becuase I knew I could. I've spent all day sleeping on the couch and woke up with a terrible headache. I've finally got around to making an appointment with a new doctor. Yoebo stayed on the phone with me for over and hour until I felt mch better. I still feel woozy and nauseous so I skipped dinner. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel better. I have a busy weekend ahead of me! I'm doing Miss San Francisco this weekend and super stoked to step into the world of Miss America.

All my far away friends are getting off for Spring Break soon and coming home to San Francisco. I'm excited to see everyone

Yoebo and I are super different. He's built like a meat head, while I'm fragile and weak. He has a great discipline when it comes to academics and has plans to go to a great grad school while I could hardly graduate high school in one piece. He takes care of all his errands as soon as he has a free minute while I wait until the last minute. He has never accrued a single dollar in debts while I spend more than I make. When he gets mad he gets REALLY mad and makes sure everyones knows while I am always calm and hardly get offended. He is okay with anything while I pick at every single detail. He loves meat while I prefer the veggies. He is a social butterfly while I am an antisocial introvert.

But I think all the differences is what makes us complement so well. While I get tired so quick, he has no problem carrying me. While I dilly dally in the arts, he works hard at school and makes sure I at least pass my classes. He picks up the pieces I leave behind and helps me get my money and bills in order. When we fight there has to be one calm person to hang in there and work things out. And in situations when there needs to be fight, I can count on him to fight for me. He doesn't mind that I pick out every single detail of every aspect of our day, in fact I think he prefers it that way. I can finish the side dishes of his steak. And I like him to network while he likes to keep me to himself.

I can't imagine anyone else babying me as much as yoebo does. Nor can I imagine any girl fitting to yoebo's expectations as much as I can.

Personality contradictions that initially worried me about our relationship always turned out for the better. I'm excited to see what more we'll discover about each other in the future.

That, and yoebo didn't run away when I started planning the wedding 

So that gives me an excuse to go DRESS SHOPPING!!

So far, I have one Vietnamese cultural dress that is getting custom made for the tea & church ceremony. Out of everyone, I was the first to go pick out my fabric and send  it to the seamstress. Then I took everyone else including mom, bride, her mom, her sisters, etc... Turns out the bride picked the exact same fabric design as I did just in a different color. Good thing I ended up designing my dress a little different from the traditional dress. So hopefully we don't look the same. If we do, I'll just wear one of the 10 Vietnamese dresses I already have in my closet. And I'll save this one for another occasion. It's an addiction, seriously.

Then I went to the mall with the intention of buying a simple floor length evening gown for the reception. I ended up buying a sequinned tu tu dress that can only be described as "perfectly made for Van Pham." Those were my friends' exact words. I HAD TO buy it. I probably won't wear it for the wedding since it's too flashy (yoebo died laughing when I modeled it for him). For sure I'll wear it to my BIIRRRTTTHHHDAAAYYY celebration at the famed ASIASF this year

So that leaves me with one unsolved piece of the puzzle. A dress for the wedding reception. I actually found one and have my heart set on it. But it's a little out of my budget at the moment. So I will wait closer to the wedding and keep an eye out for sales or discounts. Anyone work at Downtown Macys in SF by any chance? And can hook me up??

The problem with such dynamite dresses is that you can only wear them once. Since they got so much attention the first time, it's just embarassing to wear it a second time around because EVERYONE and their mama will know. Which I wouldn't mind so much if their cost wasn't in the triple digits! I'm not made of money!!! (I like to look like I am though)

And don't even get me started on shoes and accessories. Being a girl is tooo much fun

I promise I will post pictures.