Good morning Christmas. I don’t know if it’s because we’re in California or because it’s Jesus’s birthday but it is a gorgeous morning. I woke up early and finished my book. I’ve been obsessed with reading lately.

We started our Christmas morning off with a family hike.

How pretty is it here!

It was a perfect 3 mile hike around the lake.

My dad was explaining to me that he loves mountains and lakes.

And then my mom chimes in and says she loves cars and money. She’s such a comedian.

We had to stop at least once for a group photo.

And of course I had to get one with my baby.

After our hike we were all so ready for some dim sum.

And tea.

After dim sum we made our way to Ranch 99. Oh how I wish Austin had a Ranch 99.

And then back home we go. I love this photo of my dad that I took.

I also love this photo of my mom checking out my dad be a photo-whore.

Selena and my dad goofing off after dinner.

Lana and Kevin are such a cute couple and this photo describes their relationship perfectly.

So the next morning Ray and I felt guilty for not working out the whole time while we’ve been here so we went out for a morning ride. It was ca-ca-ca-cold.

And when we got back we all went to Star Bucks.

I love my dad.

Afterwords we went out in search of some Uggs for my mom because tonight we are throwing my mom a surprise birthday party. Her American birthday is December 29 and since they are driving back tomorrow we decided to celebrate it tonight. We also got her a couple of Star Bucks gift cards and made the boys make a secret stop by The Cheesecake Factory to get her a cake.

All that shopping built us up an appetite. Pizza is the next stop and Lana knows the perfect place.

Hi dad.

So since we are celebrating my mom’s birthday tonight we decided to do up a special dinner for her, hot pot style. I miss hot pot meals. We use to do them all the time but I don’t ever remember having this grill in the middle of the hot pot. How cool is this.

A total Asian meal. I love love love it.

A special dinner for my beautiful mother.

Ray is tweeting about his first hot pot experience.

Hot pot dinners are fun, interactive, and healthy.

My favorite part of this photo is Kevin’s chopsticks skills in the background.

After dinner we sang happy birthday to my mom.

I haven’t seen her this happy in a long time.

Make a wish.

Look at that, she got Star Bucks gift cards.

And Uggs. Even though she knew we got her Uggs I still wrapped them up because there’s just something magical about unwrapping a gift.

Her hard working hands are filled with blood, sweat and too many tears. I wish I could give my mom more happy days like today.

My mom and dad are leaving today. Boo.

I’m not going to lie, I got my photo-whore gene from my dad.

One more meal before they leave.

My dad stuffed a bunch of quail eggs in his mouth and got scolded my Lana. She’s like, “dad, you better not put those back in the bowl. Now you have to eat them all.”

After lunch my parents and Selena packed up the car and headed south back home and since it was our last night we headed for the city. Ray was determined to get a burger from In and Out but never got a chance since we were so busy all week. Lana heard he wanted a burger so she drove us to Mels Diner for a “real” burger. Ray being too nice didn’t want to say anything and I just thought it was funny.

After Mels we got some drinks.

And after drinks we got some donuts.

And the next day Ray and I packed our bags and headed to the airport. Wow, what a fun and busy week. I miss my family already.

The Millionaire Next Door

Reading has always been one of my favorite pass-time activities. I don’t really have any favorites but the books that I usually gravitate towards are financial books. This is the book I am currently reading. The title basically explains it all, a book about a 20 year study about the typical millionaire. A lot of people you know could very well be a millionaire, just a modest one that lives below his means and most people that you think would easily be a millionaire aren’t. They’re what the book calls “big hat not cattle.” (I love that expression by the way). They’re pretentious people living in extravagant homes, driving flashy leased out cars and wearing fancy suits but when it comes down to it the bank owns them and they ain’t got shit. This book hasn’t really taught me jack. Growing up with a frugal ass mom has taught me a lot about the secret lives of millionaires and how they really operate. Just take a look at any Chinese person living in a high populated Chinese community, the more impecunious they seem the richer they are, I promise you. The only people I’ve ever known to pay for cars right off the lot in cash is Chinese. This was the way that I thought cars were suppose to be bought when I was a kid. You buy it when you have enough dough to claim it. Make sense right? Every single Chinese person I know that owns a car has bought it with cash, in two to three separate payments so they don’t get audited and it’s the only reason they make house payments but I don’t know a single Chinese that kept making a payment on a home longer than 5 to 10 years, 10 years is pushing it. If you do know a Chinese and none of this applies to them then I promise you they are Americanized. Am I right? It’s the American way to pay for things on credit. We’re trained to be “big hat no cattle.” Take a look at me. The longer I live in American the more Americanize I’ve become, especially living in communities where I am the minority. I’ve own 4 cars in my life. The first two was paid for the “Chinese way,” 3rd car had a large down payment and basically was the beginning of me letting the “American way” put her leash on me. The down payment on my fourth car, the one I currently drive, but share ownership with the bank with, was so shamefully Americanize that I dare not ever tell my mother the real figures. It’s been 3 years I’ve been making payments on this car and my mother still can’t believe that her daughter chooses to “throw money out of her pockets,” and she never fails to remind me every time we meet. The thing is the older I get and the more credit card debt I try to dig myself out of and the more payments I have on material items I share with the banks the more I come to realize that mom’s really are almost always right. So the moral of my long rant is, take a look at your neighbor, are they Chinese because if they are they just might be a millionaire and you should make proper arrangements to befriend them.

The Chinese Are Taking Over The World

My mother’s birthday past, December 29 and although I called and wished her happy birthday on her birthday I wanted to document it because she’s the bravest, strongest, most beautiful women I know. Not all my good qualities are from her, some of that is all me, but a lot of the good ones are. I am fearless, witty, funny, and cheap all because of you mom. I would be nothing without you, obviously. I love you so so so freaking much and I thought about you all day on December 29th, especially every time I ate. I wish I could of been with you. Your the best mom ever. Happy Birthday!

I love you.

So during my whole stay at the hospital I kept in contact with my family. They were so worried that they kept contemplating if they should drive down to see me or not. I really wanted them to but didn’t want to push it. I know driving from California is not easy and if your wondering why they just didn’t fly since that certainly is easier than driving, it’s because they they are fruggle, very much like me, or I’m like them. But in the end they ended up loading their car up and heading east bound to Austin Texas. Ahhhh, it certainly feels good to be loved.

My mother cooked for us everyday. I loved it.

I taught my dad how to navigate around on my laptop. He still struggles with it.

I didn’t take a lot of photos while they were down visiting, probably because I was being cared for most of the time. When I was feeling well Ray and I took my parents to Zilker Botanical Garden’s. How cute are my parents in this photo?

My adorable little sis.

Me and Kola. By the way, here’s a better photo of me and my new hairdo. I cut short ass bangs and about an inch off of the front of the sides so it was even with the rest of my hair instead of sloped. Did it all by myself one day to release some anger. It’s only hair, it’ll grow back if I don’t like it right, but right now I’m kinda digging it.

My dad got down on his knees to pose with the flowers.

Me, dad, and Kola stop at a bench for a photo shoot

Our little family.

My mom and Selena.

Taking a stroll.

Me and my sister, but the funny part is my dad in the back ground. He’s picking plants up off the ground and planning on planting them back home.

Now look at him, he’s posing with them. What a goof ball.

I don’t know why he even wants them, they look like tiny birds nest.

Looks like this photo is taken from up top but no, Ray’s just tall, especially compared to little Asian people. I love this photo because while I’m trying to secretly be in their photo my dad is still picking up plants off the floor that fell from the branches of trees.

Don’t know why there’s one dino in the front of the botanical garden, but there is and I kinda dig it.

Afterwards we all went to the mall. Hey Austin does have a mall. Ray and I have been trying to figure that out since we’ve moved here.

Coming here was risky because my dad loves to take photos inside the mall, especially during Christmas time. I think it’s all the decoration and lights that put him in the spirit.

And just like that they’re heading back but before they do they make a stop at H.E.B. for some water. I begged and pleaded for them not to go but in the end I got tired of begging. My mother had things to do back home. It’s not often I get to see them. I love them so much for coming all this way to see me and I love that my mom is such a mom and cooks, cleans, and takes care of me. It was nice.

In case your wondering, I’m not in the photo it’s because I was taking the photo. Story of my life. For Thanksgiving this year Ray and I flew to California to be with the Chungs. Flying was an absolute disaster going both ways. Do yourself a favor and don’t ever fly United. Our flight was canceled without any notice. However we were able to catch flight 88 which actually got us there 15 minutes earlier. Kinda weird because 88 is our number and for some reason it always finds it’s way into our lives.

My mother lives in the kitchen.

My dad got Ray some T-shirts from China. All of which are too small.

Lana and Kevin couldn’t make it for Thanksgiving because they were flying to Arizona so we celebrated Thanksgiving with them a few days before.

Chilling on the couch with full bellies.

In his spare time my dad likes to pretend like he’s 14 years old and listen to music on his on his headphone while watching the video on his little television alone in his room.

My mornings are spent with my dad. One morning him and I went jogging. I didn’t bring any jogging shoes so I went in my boots. True story. On this particular morning my dad and I went on a very long bike ride. It had to be something like 45 miles. All I know is we were far, far from home.

My dad led the way. He took me down dangerous roads that most dads would think twice about taking their child, like the freeway. But the danger was well worth it because soon we came upon a small hidden bike path that went for miles and miles and miles along a canal.

My dad is adorable.

Like I said, my dad led the way so taking a photo of his backside was my only option.

We took a couple of breaks along the way.

Alright, so after like 20 miles or so we reach the end of the path and all that is in front of us is a tall dam across the street. So this is the end of the road, that is until my dad spots people hiking up the dam, and then he takes a closer look and yes, there’s people up there, walking and jogging. My dad being the curious monkey that he is wants to check it out but he needs the green light from me. “I really want to go up there, but we’re already so far from home, no we shouldn’t go up there huh?” he says to me. Honestly, I didn’t really want to go up there. I was tired, hungry, far from home, I knew my mom and Selena was probably at home thinking we’d be home any minute now, and we still had at least 20 miles to ride back home. But my dad has never been this close to the dam so if my dad wants to go up that freaking dam then we’re gonna go up that freaking dam. I grab my bike and say, “come on lets go,” and ride across the street toward the dam. “Huh, we’re gonna go,” my dad was so excited. We took a photo when we reached the top of the dam.

I know it doesn’t look like it but we were pretty high up.

We road for miles and miles on that freaking dam.

And then my dad notices a lake and a park to the left and of course he wants to go check it out. “Wow, it looks really pretty over there. I want to go see it. Do you want to go see it?” No I don’t want to go see it, but I say, “yeah, dad lets go check it out.”

My dad is the biggest photo whore ever. He wants me to take photos of him every time we reach a new destination so he can remember all the places that he’s been. My dad’s been to a lot of places. I think he’s on his 3rd or 4th passport. His last trip to China got prolong because he had to order more pages for his passport.

He’s a poser too.

We take more photos.

My dad is the swan whisperer.

We take our bikes down further and come upon a beach, man made obviously, but there was sand and everything.

We stop to take photos and then to sit on the beach and talk about life.

My dad tells me that today he’s really happy and if it weren’t for me he wouldn’t have came this far. I’m sure he would of eventually found it but it was nice to hear.

And then we head back home.

We stop for one drink break and this is where I make the mistake of telling my dad that I like to ride fast. I told him that because I wanted to get home as soon as possible. He rides fast the whole way down the bike path, so fast that he’s literally like 500 yards in front of me. Hello, my dad is 64 years old. What the fuck!

Later that day we head to my oldest sister’s home so we can spend time with her and my niece, Sianna. Sianna made a turkey out of food. She’s a creative kid.

The next day Jeff, my sister’s husband comes over with their daughter Sianna for Thanksgiving.

Lots of Chinese food this year.

I love my family and miss them everyday.

I love tofu too.

I made vegan lettuce wraps. Thanks for the recipe Bea. It was the only dish that was completely demolished.

My dad was happy Jeff came, even though Lien didn’t.

The girls after dinner.

Saying good-bye to Jeff.

And the next day we flew home. What a great trip. We have so much to be thankful for. Hope ya’ll had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Thalia, the Memory Lane chick, surprised me at 11:00 the next morning and said I had to be out of there by noon. I guess it’s a good thing I woke up early to clean. Thank God for my mom and sisters; they were amazing with all the help. We packed up the car and everyone parted ways. Later a bunch of us met back up in our itty bitty apartment. I’m certain that was the most people our apartment will ever hold at one time. My family soon took off to catch their flights back home and my friends and I just decided to play it by ear, considering the long weekend we just endured. We all walked over to Kona Grill, just down the street from where we live, to grab some food and drinks.

Although my family had already taken off I still didn’t know how the hell I would manage the sleeping arrangements. Finding a place for everyone to sleep in our tiny ass apartment was like watching 30 clowns step out of a smart car. Seriously, there was me, Ray, Jackie, Bea, Guav, Val, Becky, Monica, Heather, and Jen and our apartment is maybe 750 square foot. I’m the type to just say fuck it, we’ll make it happen because there’s no way Ray or myself would ever ask our friends to go get a place.

But luckily my friends decided to rent a hotel close to the airport so they could hop on the shuttle to catch their flight in the morning. After drinks and food, what else is there to do but to get tattoos.

We’re a couple of bad ass chicks, so we decided to get a tattoo to show how bad ass we really were.

Actually, we’re not really that bad ass. All of us but Jen, decided to get a tattoo, an eternity sign, to symbolize our friendship.  I think I was the only tattoo virgin and that is why I volunteered to go first. Seriously, who wants to be a virgin? Let me cleanse myself of that purity.

My new tattoo. I love it. Now normally I would be a little more weary of who tattoos me and what the tattoo is going to be, which is why this is my first tattoo. But I have always loved the eternity sign because it looks like a sideways 8 and the number 8 is my all time favorite number, hence 08.08.08. This tattoo has meaning to me because it represents the friendship between my friends and I and that bond that can never broken. Also, it’s pretty retard and fuck up free so it makes a perfect first tattoo to get on the spur of the moment.

Jen didn’t get anything because she’s in the process of finding salvation and Val got retarded stars. No joke, they were retarded stars.

The next day I picked Becky up and dropped her off at her friend, Autumn’s house since she wasn’t leaving for another week. Bea’s a crawdad freak, well not really but she certainly likes to eat em. So where else to go but the Boiling Pot.

Poor Guav is only able to eat corn and potatoes and then works diligently for Bea pealing the shell off each crawdad, like a kid in a sweat shop, only white, and grownup and working for an Asian, the way all sweat shops should be ran.

The next day we all drove up to Dallas to Ben’s humble abode. He has the cutest twins ever, a boy and a girl and they’re both hyper as fuck.

But, I guess so are the grown ups.

We also went shopping because Bea has the coolest job ever; she gets to shop for a living and no she’s not hiring.

Then we all went out to eat with Kuya Ben.

And of course his twins, Lyric . . .

And Cloe.

Val at our house.

Val Is Funny from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Well, not right after but eventually. We had to mingle first and get everyone liquored up enough.

Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez. I’m a Hernandez now, I have a hard core Mexican name. If my grandmother knew about this she would roll over in her grave, both of them; I’m sure.

Don’t let our innocent faces fool you. We have been known to be completely insane and reckless. Hahahah. I love these girls and I couldn’t tell you how rad it was to have all four of them here. It’s been a while ladies since we’ve all been in the same room at the same time, ages actually. And now were all here together at my wedding!!! Jen, Heather, Me, Monica, and Becky.

Taking some time out with my little niece.

Me and my big sis, Lana, aka Lulu.

The happy married couples. Tell me guys, is it true that after marriage you guys get no more blow jobs? Because I’m really looking forward to that.

That Toph is a weird one. I’m sure he was dropped on the head one too many times as a child.

Everyone should have a friend like Jack. But with that being said, it’s just not possible, she’s one of those souls that just can’t be duplicated. Which is why she’s my angle and I love her like a fat kid loves cake, but a lot more.

Smile Jen. No salvation for you tonight. Tonight we party.

Oh no, what is Kuya Ben doing.

Sure is a lot of big Mexicans in this photo. I’m feeling out numbered and a little borderline midget.

Broom and his lovely girlfriend Penny Kim.

My sister just recently got married to Kevin and I couldn’t tell you how happy I am to have him as a brother inlaw. They’re perfect for each other. Just look at his serious face.

Jackie I don’t know what Dirk’s been putting in your head but he’s got it all wrong. Golden Dragon for life! Fuck Wachoiva.

Kevin and my mom. Whatcha writing there mom, it better be good; it’s going in my scrap-book.

Oh Marci, if only we had stayed in San Francisco we would totally be BFF’s by now, having sleep overs, contemplating on ways to torture the boys, baking, cooking, having long, deep talks about money . . .

Val and Guav, Um, Lo Ciento, no habla Espanol. Perdon.

BFF’s. If you guys were here so I would hug you so hard it would turn your butt-hole inside out.

The Semmlers, Issac, Tiffany and Chris. These are our game night friends and apparently our only friends here in Austin so be extra nice to them people; we’d like to keep em around, at least long enough to find their replacements.

Kayla and Kimmy’s daughter, sorry, I forgot her name. Peace be with you too.

Beau and Jackie, here’s the keys to the back of my truck. I kid, I kid. But seriously, the car’s parked over there.

I love my sister’s, no matter how dysfunctional you guys turned out. I don’t know why I turned out normal any you two have slight down syndrome maybe God loves me more than you.

A few of my favorite people, yes that includes Kola.

After much mingling we had our first dance as husband and wife. The reason why we’re laughing here is because Jackie rushed up from her table to go find the camcorder and fell flat on her ass.

Ray had problems taking off my garter. Bite it like a little money baby.

Selena caught the bouquet and Beau caught the garter.

Chris gave a surprisingly nice speech. Awe thanks Chris. Honey, listen to your best friend, save the money and I’m always right.

Bea and Jack also gave a really nice speech/skit.

Lana gave a kung fu panda, I’ll kill your family speech.

Beau and Becky also gave a speech, but for some reason I’m not able to find any photos of that. After all the speeches it was cake time. Yes, that is a ninja and a Mexican wrestler, and yes those are our wedding cakes.

The ninja represents me and the Mexican wrestler is Ray. Oh, and this is our vegan cake. Not the prettiest but I definitely think it tasted the best.

We’re feeding each other with a knife, yeah, that’s real smart.

Just look at our anxious little audience. I feel like a celebrity.

We had originally wanted to smash cake in each others faces but I guess when it came time to do it, it just didn’t happen.

We even manage to get a little dancing in.

Here’s my sweet air guitar move

I don’t know how it all started but somehow we all manage to got almost everyone at the wedding to take not one shot but several shots.  Here we’re passing out shots.

A toast!

And soon after that it seemed as though we were all liquored up enough to go pool jumping.  I’m pretty sure it was me who screamed, “Lets go pool jumping!”  And like sheep they all followed me.

We even convinced Amet and Anthony to jump.

Sexy Ass

And played chicken.  I play for keeps.

And then we all just hung out in the hot tub.

Tell me this wasn’t the best wedding ever.

Alright, I’m just going to apologize now because I know by now ya’ll are totally over the wedding and thinking that maybe I should be too, since it’s been almost a month now and I’m still blogging about it. Here’s the thing, and I hate to admit it but I will just this one time so that everyone understands . . . I’m a bit O.C.D. as in obsessive, compulsive, disorder, when it comes to recording my life and photos. Guav, I know you’ll understand. I really thought that I would be done by now too and to tell you the truth, I want to be. I’m tired of blogging about my wedding. I want to move on to current events but I can’t, at least not until I finish blogging about the titanic events in my life in the order it happened. I’m sorry, but It’s a disorder.

After the wedding, family, brides maids and grooms people stayed behind for fun photo time.

The thing is, there were so many photographers that no body knew what camera to look at.

Ray and his boy

Selena and Sianna.

BFF’s

I’m loved

Me and Lulu

The Hernandez’s

Goofing around

Me and my moms

Me and my sisters.

Me with Lana and Kevin

I really like this photo because it looks eerie, like some weird telepathic shit is going on between the photographers.

He loves me.

We did it babe.

Ray and I had originally planned on getting marry at night. I mean we wanted to kiss under the moon light because, well it’s romantic and no one does that. But the more I planned the more I realize it wasn’t practical which is why no one does it. Everyone would starve because dinner wouldn’t be till like midnight and the staff and caterers would be working super late. So we pushed the wedding as late as we could, around 8 or so, and just decided to play on the 080808 theme and have me walk down the isle at 8:08. Anyhow, I know it’s almost a month later, but here’s a compilation of the photos that were taken during the ceremony.

Ray and our Reverend Jack

The flower girl was my niece Sianna. Hey, Amet just got here, glad you could make it.

Walking down the isle with my mother, it was so hard not to cry.

I think it was Ray’s dad that started the stream of tears, then Ray, then my sisters, then my mother then Jackie and then me. I didn’t look at the audience but I’m sure everyone was crying by now.

I knew I wasn’t going to be the only one crying so I had some tissue tucked between my titties ready for him

Selena and Kola, Lana’s always ready to take a picture.

My sisters look so tan.

It looks like we planned to get married at sunset.

I look so in love.

Our audience.

I Ray Hernandez of Mesquite Texas . . .

I was wearing some bright ass nail polish

You may now kiss the bride

We are the Champions

And that was our ceremony. Stay tuned for more photos to come.

One of the best things that I love about my wedding is that it was very small and very personal. Because of that almost everyone contributed a little of their love, a nice personal touch, and we all know a lot of a little adds up to a lot and in the end when I look back, my wedding was definitely one of the best days of my life. Right now I just want to take the time to thank everyone for coming and especially everyone who contributed. Jackie was a one army party at my bachelorette party in Florida. I was there for over a week so she seriously help me plan almost everything and helped me write out the whole ceremony. She also married us, was the videotographer, made her infamous jungle juice that fucked everyone up later that night and let me borrow her necklace the day of. Bea made our wedding bands by hand, I mean seriously slave over them by hand for weeks on end, sang us a song and also let me borrow her necklace the day of.

My sisters, Lana and Selena, and my mother did a fantastic job cooking the day of at the BBQ. Ray’s dad and Chris Semmler were in charge of the grill. Jackie and Bea, though not my brides maids, took on the role and was there by my side the whole time. My girls from Vacaville, Monica, Becky, Heather and Jen, went back into town to pick up the vegan cake I forgot about. Yes, I forgot about cake, something that never happens. Ben, Steven Ray and Guav were our photographers, being the amazing photographers that they are, it was a very suiting role.

Val was my helpful little runner while I was getting ready, at my beck and call, getting whatever I needed every time I called. My sisters, Lien, Lana, and Selena were my brides maid. Kola, our dog, even put on a tux and walked down the isle next to Selena. My niece was the last minute flower girl. Bea and Toph were the grooms people. Toph was also the best man, at Ray’s side the whole time. My new brother in law, Kevin, was the informer by being guided and informed on the proper usage of the facilities. Bea’s sister, Bernh, also did some video work and assisted me with my makeup.

Kaila, Ben’s daughter and Val also helped take some photos. Toph, Bea, Jackie, Lana, Becky and Beau gave a wonderful speech. Steven Ray’s girl, Nycole, whom I just met that day and absolutely love, took full charge and came up with the beautiful flower arrangements around the pagoda. Gauv along with the help of a few others draped the pagoda; he was deserted for a while so he gets most of the credit. Bea along with help from the rest of the girls did the boutiques, flower and candle arrangements.

I’m sure I’m leaving a few people out, but I just wanted to express my gratitude to everyone, even those that just showed up to witness our day. Because of all of you my wedding turned out better than I had envisioned. Kudos and much love.

What a great day. When I think about the day I got married I can’t help but to smile really big. It’s the way every wedding should be: stress free, surrounded people you love, lots of good food and alcohol always helps.

There was some last minute shopping I had to get done, like flowers. Bea, Jackie and I went out in search of fresh flowers. After hitting up a few places and 3 hundred dollars later we came back with butt loads of flowers and some other random items we had on our list.

To my delight I came back to see my sister’s and mother had been hard at work doing what they do best, cook.

Chris and Pops fired up the grill.

I got in my bikini and joined the party.

How adorable do my sisters, mom and I look here?

Good times in the pool.

Jackie made her infamous jungle juice.

With my girls.

Kuya Ben’s a perve.

Gay boys like to ride each other in the pool.

I love my little sis.

Group photo.

Synchronizing pools jumping should be an Olympic event.

Kola roamed around.

Is this the gayest photo or what? Guav is in a bikini and in the back it looks like Coop is giving Ray a flower. I hope this photo comes back to haunt them one day.

Mom, Robin, Pops, Beau

Steve and his awesome wife, Nycole.

Kimmy, baby, and husband, Coop.

Chris and Marci.

Stuffing our faces.

As you can tell, it was a pretty awesome day and it was only going to get better. I love weddings, especially mine.

Ray and I arrived on the 29th of April and stayed in Southern California for about 3 weeks. A lot has happened in these three long weeks and I feel like I need to give everyone an update. We’ve been Chung house hoping a lot. First it was Momma Chung’s house, then Lien Chung’s house, to Lana Chung’s house, back Lien Chung’s house and back to Lana Chung’s house. Did ya’ll get all that? Try saying that 10 times in a row. It took a while for our vehicle to arrive so for the first two weeks and we were either stranded or relying on someone to pick us up and drop us off. We went to a bunch of malls, Target, and got home cooked meals from Mama Chung. Lien had a house leaving party and invited all the Chungs to come, and when I say all the Chungs, I mean, my aunts uncles, and cousins so Ray got a chance to meet a lot of them for the first time.

We even got to see Sianna, my favorite and only niece, in action at her gymnastic class.

Sianna In Gymnastics II from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Sianna At Gymnastics from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

On the first day at Lana’s the whole family had a really nice stroll down the beach and later we all had dinner out on the patio.

During the next few days at Lana’s we rode bikes, had margaritias and lots of wine, went to their friend, Dave’s lake house and rode dirt bikes and wake board.

My sad attempted at wake boarding.

Doan’s Failed Attempted at Wake Boarding from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

If at first you don’t succeed try try try again.

Another Sad Attempted at Wake Boarding from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

A view of the bike killer bike track.

A Look At The Dirt Bike Track Behind The Lake House from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Ray road on the track this time.

Ray’s First Time On the Dirt Track from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

On Mother’s Day we all ordered way too much food and went back to Mama’s house. Ray and I went home with Lien that night.

The night before my parents and little sister’s vacation we all went out to a really nice Korean restaurant and I had the best beef I’ve ever had. Oh my God it was so good, like orgasmic good. The whole time I was like, “baby, this is so good, you gotta try this, oh, wait you don’t eat beef. Oh, my God baby, this is sooo good.”

Anyhow, the next day we finally picked up our car, which was a total bitch to get to because we got lost and were on foot. We seriously had to jump fences, cross several freeways, walk down railroad tracks and get pulled over by two cops only to find out when we got there that we should of just taken the Passport Bus because it takes us right to them for free.

The next day my parents and Selena went on vacation. Sianna had a school musical that we went to.

Sianna at Her School Musical from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Sianna’s School Musical from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

and later Bea and Guav fly in. After we pick them we’re heading back to Lana’s house. Anyhow, there you have it. I really tried to wrap it up in a nutshell but as you can see a lot has happened since we’ve been here. Oh, our crazy life. Oh, I forgot to add, Ray started eating beef again.

California

It’s true, we’re no longer Hawaii residents. Boo, but we did have a really nice going away party. I’ll post those photos as soon as I get them from Arvin. The day of our flight was pretty hectic. We didn’t even have time to go out for coffee with our friend Ona. Our friend Val got us these stand by tickets for $85.00 each, but they were standby and we were number 10 and 11 on a list of 13. Ray was like, “so we’re basically not going to make it.” And I was like, “don’t say that, we’re going to make it, we’re going to make it, we’re going to make it.” I even talked to the universe and envisioned us on the airplane, sitting next to each other. Never underestimate the, “Secret” hehe, or the law or attraction, because after they were finish loading up the plane they started calling out everyone on the standby list and most of them didn’t make it. Finally they got to us; we were the last two seats available and even got to sit next to each other. What are the odds of that? Man, I got some powers.

California

Of course one of the first things we did was go to Target. It’s kinda pointless to shop for anything now, so we just walked around. They got a lot of cool new T-shirts. I can’t wait to get to Austin so we can actually shop for things.

California

We also did a lot of walking around at the malls. I don’t know if it’s because Ray and I are from Hawaii but it seemed like Selena and my mom were power walking everywhere. It was kinda annoying because I really wanted to be able to spend some quality time with them, even if it was strolling through the mall, but she and my mom would walk like 20 feet in front of us everywhere. The annoying part was we had no where to be so why not just slow down a bit and just window shop with us?

California

And later Ray and Kola caught up on some much needed sleep. I don’t know about Ray, but jet lag didn’t really affect me, good thing.

California

Even through all the drama, I’m just really glad to be with my family now.

In the beginning of 2006 I took off to China with my parents and my little sister for a good month. I was super excited because China is where my roots deeply lie.

This is a video I took of my niece the night before we left.

Sianna Loves Auntie Doo Doo from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

For the first week we roamed around with a tour group. They brought us everywhere. It was overwhelming, tiring, and exciting all at the same time. The tour didn’t give skip a beat, just rush, rush, rush, eat, sleep, wake up at the butt crack of dawn, go here, get back on the bus to go there. There was no time to exhale you know. Towards the end of our time with the tour I got tired of them constantly taking us to places that wanted our money like the silk factory, jade factory, green tea factory, pearl factory, etc. Finally mom, dad, Selena and I ditched them and went off on our own. Fuck five star hotels we wanted to see the rural parts of China.

Mom, Selena and me.

At the Great Wall of China

Walking The Great Wall of China from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

These were the only other young ladies, besides Selena and I, that were on the tour. This was our last night in Shanghai. The next night we woke up early and the Chung family went off on our own.

We basically backed packed from town to town with our suitcases. The train ride was an unforgettable three nights. They packed us in like sardines, 6 bunkers for every crock pit, two rows, three bunkers high. I felt like I was getting taken away to the concentration camps. The restrooms were literally just holes in the floor, leaving a trail of shit between the railroad.

This is one of my favorite photos.

My mother and her older sister are adorable together. Selena and I finally got to meet our aunt for the first time. She’s cross eyed.

The restrooms were ridiculous.

Selena and I were walking to the next town to kill time and explore when this boy rides up to us, calling our names. Just so happens he ends up being our cousin, my mom’s sister that past away, son.

My aunts home and where we stayed while visiting her.

Living with My Aunt in China from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Me and ice cream go together.

Just grocery shopping.

On the night of my parents anniversary Selena and I went out and got them rings, beer, and some pastries.

Crossing the street was one of the scariest things because no one stops for you.

At Tiananmen Square.

This little girl was working on the side of the road making jewelry.

More grocery stores

I love this photo.

Just a few photos of my trip to China. It was heartening and inspiring. Selena and my parents are planning to do it all again, but this time to Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. I’m super jealous and disappointed that I can’t be there with Selena. Hopefully they’ll have so cool photos of their trip when they get back.

]]> http://doanchung.com/2008/04/09/my-china-vacation/feed/ 1