Doan Chung-Hernandez

Been waiting for this day for a while now, Austin’s Air Cooler VW Car Show. Now that I have a VW I need to be more involved in, well, VW’s. The original plan was to have Dharma up and running by today so I can drive it here. Well Dharma was here alright. We had to drive down from Dallas, rent a U-Haul and with Kris’s help, pull her here on a trailer.  Nothing ever goes according to plan so I wasn’t surprised besides, it was shooting kinda high. My husband, he likes to shoot for the stars.

Driving up we past a row of buses. There not all in California, that’s right there’s others out here in Texas just like me.

Jason, the dude that has been working on Dharma that is now a good friend of ours and his girl Megan met us up here. Dharma has been staying with him and after the car show we will be towing her back home with us.

I wanted to save the best for last so we decided to look at the buses last.

My high quickly went south when my camera decided to run out of battery life. Nooooooo! The worst timing ever. Shit! Fuck! I was so looking forward to taking bad ass photos of buses for inspiration for Dharma and I didn’t even get one. Ah well, another one bites the dust.

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It was really a football/housewarming party, but in my head it was a house warming party since I don’t really care about football.

Ray set the date for the 12th of September, which gave us two weeks to settle in. That’s not a lot of time but it is a deadline and that means we’d better well be settle in by then. And “settle in” doesn’t just mean to be completely unpacked out of all those cardboard boxes but it also entails having the walls painted, furniture bought, curtains hung up, shelves put together, photos printed and framed etc. Yeah, we had a lot on our plate but I’m glad because it forced us to make our home our home.

We bought so much food, probably enough for each person to have three hot dogs and two burgers. Good thing Ray likes burgers because he’s gonna be eating it for a long time.

Met Ben and his girl for the first time tonight. They’re a cute couple.

And of course we gotta give it up to Kris for cooking all the food. Thanks bud. Your the best!

I’m gonna start calling Kimmy and Coop Brad-gelina because they are such an ugly couple.

Ray drank a lot tonight, compliments of his boy Amet. Amet remember, we work from home, your the one who’s gonna have to wake up and get your ass to work in the morning.

Too much Patron Amet!

Kimmy got me the best house warming present ever!

Amet, you gotta FIGHT for your RIGHT to . . . PARTY!

We all love us some Amet.

I changed my mind, Brandi gave us the best gift ever!

Time to put them to use.

With my girls.

Ray’s getting dirty.

Steven Ray and Nycole got us a pretty rad gift too.

Shots all around.

Amet’s  got tricks.

Getting gangsta up in here.

Seriously Ray, Amet doesn’t want your dirty dog.

Force feeding Amet is wrong.

The boys.

They’re cute.

It was a good night.

Buddha would be proud.

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It’s been about two long months since we brought Dharma home so I’m sure all of you are wondering what the status is. Well here’s a run down.

We found this guy named Jason on Craigs List to rebuild us an engine. Comes to find out that Jason is also friends with some of Ray’s old friends. Man it really is a small world isn’t it?

Since then the boys have been working on the bus together.

Jason’s been over the house a quite a bit these days.

I think Ray found a new BFF.

So far Dharma has received a brand new engine. We decided to leave her at Jason’s house in Austin so he could finish working her brakes, which he just did.

Here the boys are loading her up so we can transport her to Jason’s garage.

This Sunday we decided that we’re gonna head back to Austin to bring my baby home. Ray found a shop he wants to bring Dharma to so they can start working on her body and paint. Soon very soon my baby is gonna look pretty.

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This is how we move, 5 deep and we still have the Scion parked in the driveway filled with clothes neck high but we have to come back for that because we are short on wo/man power. Kris is driving the U-haul pulling the trailer, Ray will be behind the wheel of SUV pulling the boat and I will be driving the black truck, we call her Nequa for obvious reasons.

And this is our new home in Dallas. Just looking at the pile of boxes is giving me anxiety.

And now we’re back in Round Rock. We have to meet the maids today, lawn guy, and carpet cleaners, move Dharma, and finish moving. Boy, it’s gonna be a long day.

Ray’s taking Kris’s bike for a test drive to kill time. I don’t like seeing him on a bike. Don’t get use to this honey.

We are now officially out of Round Rock and starting a new chapter of our lives in the big D. Dallas what’s up! As much as I say I don’t like Texas, this move feels right, and I’m a definite believer of following your intuitions. Right now I’m up at the butt crack of dawn waiting on Kris to get here because we have to work an event today at Texas A&M. Wow, I don’t remember the last time I was up this early.

If you take your photo and show it to the cashier you get 20% off anything Adidas today.

Met Ray up at Chuy’s in Dallas for dinner. The Chuy’s in Round Rock is a million times better but I’m not complaining because everything was free, yep our whole check because I’m amazing.

And now I’m back at home on the bed in our room.

It’s too late and I’m too tired to even think about unpacking so I’m gonna unwind by reading this book my big sis sent to me in the mail last week. It’s actually a really good read with an interesting perspective, through the eyes of the dog.

Good night guys.

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Our good friend, business partner and current roommate, Kris is graduating today. Unfortunately Ray and I got there late because we wanted to make sure he had some good graduation photos, like all the ones you see here, so we had to turn around and get the camera situation all figured out and then head back.

Proud parents.

Kris is now ready to tackle the world.

Kris, striking poses while his kids play in the fountain.

Just think, no more essays!

His parents are adorable.

We all went out to eat afterward. Had a nice restaurant in mind but they were closed so we settled for the Old Spaghetti Warehouse instead.

On the way back to the cars

we saw this sweet truck drive by.

And then I decided to pretend that is was me that was graduating.

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Our cousin Misty is coming down from Dallas today and with her she bares friends, a man friend, Matt and his friend who is also a man but I forgot his name. Yah, names have never been my strong suit but having fun definitely is and this weekend  is gonna be one big explosion of fun right after the other.

This is Matt and behind him lies Misty. She’s changing because she accidentally sat on a cherry and now there’s sweet cherry juice all over her bum only it doesn’t look like sweet cherry juice but more like fresh menstrual juice. Luckily, Misty is one prepared chica and brought along an extra suit and a suit case full of hair products. You want it, she has it tucked away in that bag of hers. I promise you she does.

This is Matt’s friend, whom I will refer to as Minnesota, because that’s where he’s from. He’s loving life right now, as he should be.

Seriously, my arms are buffer just from drinking from this big ass cup all weekend long. Misty and I found them at the the speedy stop and had to have them. You only need to worry about one fill with this bad boy; that’s the beauty of it. Yes it’s a beautiful thing. Also if you bring it back to any speedy shop you can fill it up for only a buck.

Misty messing with Matt and Matt double fistting.

Who knew riding a noodle could be this much fun?

Life is good right about now. I love taking our boat out!

This is my favorite time of day, when the sun is just about to set and everything looks so real.

Not the prettiest sunset but the lake and alcohol definitely tells us differently.

The sun is bidding us farewell and I guess that’s our cue to get the fuck outta here before we have to find our way back in the dark.

Besides, we gotta save some energy for the river tomorrow. Can’t go there wait go there hung over or wasted. I mean, it’s not like we had mimosas on the way up or anything.  All I’m saying is Misty has traditions and traditions are traditions.

Today is my first time floating the river and I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time now. It just that every time I’ve been invited for some reason or another I’m not able to make it. Floating the river also happens to be on my Austin Bucket List so today I can finally check this one off.

Man whoever is running the show has to be laughing all the way to the bank everyday. There were thousands of people out today, each one with a rented floating device that runs about $30 each, then there’s parking and I think if you bring your own floaty you have to pay admission, that’s what I heard anyway, don’t quote me on that.

Ray warned me to not bring my Canon G9. What kind of monster would wanna separate an Asian and her camera? Well my Sancho was right. I mean, I put the camera in a zip lock bag and that bag in another zip lock bag. It brings me great sadness and sorrow to let you know that these will be the last of the photos taken from my G9. May she RIP. I will always love you. I’m gonna take some time to pour some for my homey right now.

This photo I stole from some site. Hey just cause you write all over it doesn’t mean I won’t take it.

We went bar hopping out on 6th St. and around later that night because that is where you take people when they visit. Misty has some friends out here so we met up with them.

Oh yeah, Happy Anniversary babe. I love you.

Alright Misty is having too much fun and I’m upset because the shoes I wore are so not comfy and I was excited to wear them because I totally thought they were gonna be these comfy ass heels. Even walking in them was awkward for me. Stupid shoes.

What, no no Minnesota is totally fine. Carry on, carry on. Well that about ends our weekend. Told you it was a good one. The next day headed back to where they came from. Thanks guys. Well have to do it again.

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Alright, I have never been much of a doughnuts kind of gal. Yeah, I know weird coming from the queen of sweets. I do however commend whoever invented the doughnut because every time I was chastised for having cake in the morning my response was simply, “it’s no better than having doughnuts in the morning.”

My friend Chad told me about this place and I just had to see for myself what all the hype was about. Gourdough’s is a food trailer nestled on a lot on South Lamar. That’s one of the many things I love about Austin, all the fabulous trailer park eatery’s this town has to offer. I think Ray and I came on the hottest day ever; no one was here. I mean seriously who wants to eat a hot fried doughnut smothered in sugary goodness on a hot ass summer day anyway? We do, that’s who bitches. After scanning the menu I instantly got turned on. They had doughnuts with bacon and maple syrup icing and  Canadian bacon with cream cheese & jalapeno jelly. Not that I would ever order either one of these but I’m just saying we’re not in Kansas anymore Toto.

That’s it, Gourdough’s is officially added to my Austin Bucket List. Anyone that comes to Austin needs to try this place for themselves.

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So I come home from work one day and Ray comes up to me and says, “Babe your gonna have to make a decision.” Well to keep me from turning a very short story into a long story as I often do I’m just gonna get to it. Turns out Ray spent the day on Craig’s List looking for my dream car, a vintage VW Bus and came across a good handful of them for me to choose from. Yeah, it’s kinda nice having a husband that actively tries to make all my dreams come true, but at the same time if you know me you’d know that making large purchases like this stresses me the fuck out. We went through the photos and at first I was hesitant but I gotta tell ya, the more I looked at all the buses the more I wanted  one. I couldn’t help but to envision myself being the envy of everyone while driving down the road. Ugh, why does he do this to me. I finally gave in and decided to go with the most expensive one. Well it was the most expensive one for a reason. She was in great condition, with no rust; just a blank canvas ready for me to make her look pretty and it had to be fate because she lives right next to the town I grew up in in California. That’s right, California here I come, right back where I started from. In less than a week Ray and I headed west to the best state ever, you got it, California.

We met up with some of our friends of Wild Line in the city for lunch.

I finally got to see my girlfriend Mandy. I really miss this girl. Wish I could put her in my pocket and take her back to Texas with me. The soccer tournament was going on so we paid more attention to the television screen than we did to each other.

Look Dee even came out to play today.

The boys of Wild Line.

After lunch we had lunch again with our favorite Australian, Beau.

Later that night Lana host a dinner party for me, the guest of honor, definitely don’t get to say that often, which is why I said it. My old childhood BFF and her sister who also happens to be my sister, Lana’s childhood BFF.

In my head Karen will always be my best friend. She’s the only person in the world, besides my little sister, Selena who truly knows my childhood.

The boys all got along great too.

Every time I look at this photo it brings a smile to my face. I’m so glad to see we’re all still such great friends after all these years.

The next day I went to see Dharma for the very first time. It was love at first sight. She loves me and I her.

Seriously, just look at how clean she is.

I just wanted to be inside her, so we could be as one the way love was meant to be.

And then we couldn’t help but to role play. What? It was her idea.

Unicorn straight ahead!

Who’s a sexy bitch?

Just take a look at that hot ass.

It’s like a blank canvas inside ready for me to give her a new face.

Our visit was much too short. I really didn’t want to leave my baby girl here but we made arrangements with Atlas Auto Transport to ship her to Texas for me. Good-bye Dharma. Don’t you worry your pretty little head, we’ll be together soon enough.

When we got back Lana and I went out for a short hike.

Oh and I forgot to mention, I met Otto, my sister’s new dog, for the first time on this trip. He’s definitely a solid 2nd for cutest dog, Kola being the first of course.

After our hike we went back home and decided the cousins needed to have a photo shoot.

The next day we went back to Dharma. Dealing with Atlas car rental was a lot of drama. You can read the review I gave them here to get a gist of what we had to deal with. As the old adage goes, if you want something done right you have to do it yourself, so we did. Up yours Atlas, we’re going to U-Haul. We had to wait a bit for Jay to get off work so he and his friends could help us load her up.

Thanks Jay, for making Dharma so pretty. Your one talented dude.

Filling up on gas before we head out. I can’t get this smile off my face.

My Dharma during sunset.

On route 66. It was long.

We stopped for breakfast.

And then headed back on the road.

Saw a sign for the Grand Canyon so we decided to take a detour.

Had to wake Kola up just to get out which is why he looks so sleepy.

Me and my Kola.

Kola, seriously wake up. Your embarrassing me!

Here’s a new one, Dharma and Grand Canyon.

Man it’s humid out here and we’re stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. Apparently there was a fatal accident up the road and some girl died. RIP.

A couple of bugs decided to stop on our windshield and do the dirty.

Had to stop to water the rocks. The sky is so pretty right now.

Walked up to the drive through, yes I said, “walked,” for some dinner. Kinda excited right now because I always wanted to do this.

And denied! Kinda reminds me of the time that Ray ordered food in the drive through with a Mexican wrestler mask on and got denied because the lady was scared shitless that we were going to rob them.

The next morning we finally made it to Hack Shack. Now make my Dharma pretty.

And denied again. Turns out they can’t do anything until she has an engine so I had to tow her back home. Don’t worry your pretty little face Dharma, we’ll get you an engine soon enough.

Well that was one long spontaneous trip but well worth it.

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