For my birthday this year we played it low key. For lunch we had sushi at Maru in Austin.

So far it’s the best sushi I’ve had in Austin.

After lunch we lallygagged around, shopped at the mall and when dinner time came around we went to the Melting Pot.

Heard a lot of hype throughout the years about this place and after today I can say with 100% certainty that it’s overrated and over priced at that.

But at least now I know. If I ever come back here I’m definitely coming having dessert first.

Well happy fucking birthday to me. I promise next year I’ll have a more exciting story for you.

Recently I’ve been feeling unsatisfied with life, with me, with just a lot of things. I’ve decided that 2010 is the year that I start to invest in myself. I have so many passions and hobbies that I’ve always planned on being skilled in but things haven’t worked out according to plan for me. I’m ready to make things happen. Of course I would love to knock out everything that I ever dreamed of doing, but lets face it, I have freaking expensive passions, not to mention I don’t have enough time in my week to take it all on even if I wanted to so I’m taking baby steps and the first one is Beginning Sewing Class at Austin Community College. I’ve always wanted to learn how to sew, not because I want to be a fashion designer or anything, but really just for me. I can’t tell you how many jeans I have in my closet just begging to be hemmed.
On the first day of school I took a picture of my teacher’s sewing machine. Can you believe how old it looks? Crazy! Well as soon as I learn how to whip my sewing machine into submission I’m going to sew me one of these fancy aprons.

Seriously how darling are these! I can just see me slaving in the kitchen now. Can you say domesticated diva!

What can I say, I like to get my way.

Tonight is the National Championship game. I don’t know what that means but I do know that Andrea is having some people over for a pot luck to watch it. Luckily, for me, Ray briefed my on football the other day. I’ll get it down one of these days, or maybe I won’t. It’s hard to try to learn something you really don’t give a damn about. The only reason I give two shits is because my husband wants me to learn so I can watch the game with him and I like making my hubby happy. I’m really looking forward to going to Andrea’s not because of football, obviously, and not even for the food, I just miss her. We use to work out together at Catz, but we both stop going so then we got together once a week to go jogging but for some reason we stop doing that as well, I think it got too cold. Who knows. Anyhow, it was great to catch up with her tonight and we even made plans to do a spinning class together next week. Last time I did a spinning class with her my crotch hurt for like 3 days. Oh boy.

And to think his whole time I’ve been using it out of context. Jesus Christ! Only in Texas. But seriously, this kind of shit is so fucking irritating. I’m not saying that I don’t believe in God but my God is probably very different from your God and you don’t see me throwing her in your face. I just think it’s sad, and annoying when I see people eat, live and shit God. I’m not saying that their God doesn’t exist, I’m just saying that if he did I’m pretty sure he would want you to get a life and not be so consumed with him. Besides if he did, how vain would he be?

Got this book at the airport coming home from California after Christmas so I would have so reading material for the flight. After the holidays I needed a little extra encouragement to start eating better.

Today we have a rather large wedding in Port Arthur, 500 people. It may be the largest wedding yet. When Ray told me this was going to be an Asian wedding I knew we had to get the booth ready to take some major photos. Asians don’t fuck around when it comes to taking pictures.

We got there earlier to set the booth up.

We definitely kept the kids busy tonight.

Yep, these Asians definitely gave us a run for our money. The booth was busy the whole night.

It was another successful event.

I can’t believe another year has come and gone. It seems as though it was just last year I was living in Hawaii. It’s so true, the older you get the faster time just passes you by. When I was little girl a year would seem like a decade to me. Well this year I must be getting older because I really just wanted to take it easy. To tell you the truth staying home didn’t seem so bad. It’s just that it is new year’s eve which means I don’t want to be the loser starting off the new year staying home while everyone is out. I mean what if I curse myself for 2010.

Our first stop was dinners at Dondra’s.

My baby looks so sexy tonight. After Dondra’s we made our way to Katie’s.

And After Katies we headed to Amanda’s.

Where we finished off her jello shots and played beer pong.

Ray’s getting good.

My pre-new years kiss.

Winners and Losers.

Ray shot it in our mouths.

And then I gave it to Dondra.

And then I gave it to Lauren.

And that’s basically how I started off 2010, getting it in my face and putting it in others. Happy New Year!

Sometimes I feel like I need a good cry.  Like how some people need the city every once in while, I sometimes need to cry. Crying reminds me that the compassionate part of my soul, well she’s still in tact.  I cry when I see other people happy and I cry when I see other people suffer. When I cry I feel beautiful and that makes me proud of who I am and reminds me that I deserve all the life has to offer.

Luckily when we got back our friend Shane was still in town. You remember Shane, our roommate in Hawaii. We tried to get in as much Shane time as we could before he headed out to Dallas.

Later that night we decided to go watch Ninja Assassins but before we did Shane and I had a bet. I bet him that Brad Pitt was in this one movie and he said he wasn’t. Well, turns out I was wrong. Seriously, I don’t what I was even thinking betting Shane on a movie fact. He’s like a walking movie encyclopedia. Anyhow, since I lost I had to dress up like a ninja to watch Ninja Assassins. The thing is I kinda secretly wanted to dress like a ninja anyways so really I won.

Shaners is too excited to watch Ninja Assassins.

Ninja Assassins is a documentary about my family.

So we walk up to the window and it’s not playing here anymore. WTF! Ray check the movie times and it said it was playing at Tinseltown but it’s the Tinseltown in Austin not Round Rock. I swear these guys are probably thinking what kind of uber ninja nerd are you? At least come when the moving is still playing.

Well since we missed the movie we decided the next plan of action would be to go back to our house. Chris was lame and decided to go back home while Shaners spent the night at our house. He fell in love with my snuggie.

So the next day we take Shane to Firehouse Subs before he heads out to Dallas. Firehouse subs is Ray’s favorite sub shop and he has hyped it up so much. Shane admitted that he wasn’t all that excited about having a sandwich for lunch but after having a sub from Firehouse Subs he has crossed over to the other side. It was delicious.

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.

This year for Christmas we are heading west to my state California. I have a T-shirt that reads, “I left my heart in California and that couldn’t be more truel. The rest of my family resides in California and they are definitely a part of my heart. Ray and I flew out on the 21st and we’re coming home on the 28th. That’s a full week with my family. I’m so excited!

We’re staying with my older sister and her husband in Walnut Creek, about 20 minutes from San Francisco. I love Walnut Creek. Did a lot of partying there in my younger days and every time I come back it seems like the town just gets better and better. The first night we went out for some Vietnamese and then headed to a dive for for drinks.

Ray and I have this favorite sushi restaurant called Nara. Every time were back in the bay area we always meet up with a bunch of our friends for sushi there. It’s nothing fancy, just really good and affordable. Also, I have fond memories of that place because when Ray and I first started dating we use to go there often. Tonight Lana and Kevin came out with us and the funniest thing happened. Lana was talking to me in Chinese, thinking that no one could understand her but hello, we’re in San Fransisco, where the Chinese dominate.  and Soo Hoo is sitting right across from her who happens to speak fluent Chinese. It was awesome. After sushi we headed to a nearby bar.

Ray and his best friend Chris. I know Ray misses him. Oh, and tonight we got the news that Marci, Chris’s wife is preggo. I couldn’t be more excited and jealous.

These are the guys that Ray use to work with when we lived here. I totally wishes I would have called my friends to come out to play tonight too but I figured there would be plenty of time, us being here a whole week and all, and let Ray have tonight for his buds, but there wasn’t enough time and now I’m regretting it.

One last photo before we say good-bye.

My parents will be in town later tonight so in order to mentally and physically prepare for them we went out and got massages. I already made it tradition to get massages with my parents every time we visit them in Southern California but I think after today I’m going to extend this traditions to all the Chung’s.

After massages we got pedis.

And then we stopped by the building. I wonder how Mel is doing?

We retired back home where we awaited for my parents and Selena’s arrival. Kola can’t wait to see them too.

My mom and her daughters minus my oldest sister Lien, she was in Vegas with her family.

Dinner time.

My dad brought us back these sexy pj’s from China.

My dad literally flew in from China yesterday and the next day they drove up to Walnut Creek to see us. Talk about jet lag. I was so so excited to see him.

This is my mother. My heart misses her everyday.

We definitely drank a lot of wine on this trip.

Well that concludes the first half of our trip. It was an amazing Christmas Eve. Hope you all are having as much fun as I am.

What I don’t get is how the hell did she knew there was a secret compartment up there in the first place. Totally gave me goose bumps. Weird and so creepy.

The holidays have arrived and now it seems as though every time I turn my head there’s a new event to go to and I’m absolutely loving it. No need to make excuses to be drink and be merry anymore.

Here’s a video of my friend Pepe singing in Spanish. I don’t know why but I thought it was hilarious. I think because at the time I thought he totally just winged it without knowing the words, which is something I could totally see him doing but turns out that it’s actually one of his favorite Spanish songs. Well regardless, kudos to him.

And this is his girlfriend, Michelle, singing Black Velvet. She’s got an amazing voice and together they make the cutest couple, well, almost the cutest couple. Ray and I are pretty fucking adorable. We’ve been known to make people throw up.

And this is my buddy Kippers. He’s a cool ass dude. He’s like a boy version of me, only with a smaller dick. Not that I’ve seen his dick, but I’m pretty sure if I were a dude I would have a kick stand for a dick.

Lauren and I got to talking the other day and comes to find out that she loves the Kardashians too. The season premiere is coming up so we decided to start it off right by getting everyone together and watching it over a few martinis.

Thing is, Lauren and I are the only die hard fans and I’m pretty sure no one else has even heard of them besides Ray since I make him watch it with me. They’re probably thinking we strategically put on this event as another reason to drink, which wouldn’t be completely false, but still we love the Kardashian’s

Dondra brought a friend. He was nice dude.

And guess what else, I finally got that damn ornament that Lauren bought me when we went to the Caswell House a while back. So cute.

Dondra brought some delicious bread that her mom made. Thanks Miss. Wilson again for being the fantastic baker that you are. Yeah, I’ll have to say it was another fabulous night. Oh, but I think we all could agree the worst part of our night was watching Jersey Shore. Serious? Lauren, stop watching that garbage.

Tonight Lauren and I are representing Big Day Events at the Allen House for their open house event. Word on the street is that there should be around 150 brides here tonight. We got there early and scored a sweet spot right next to the food catered by Renee’s Catering. Delicious!

It was an eventful night.

Again we have waited till the last minute to get things done. Today Ray and I spent all day looking for an ugly sweater for Lauren’s event tonight. Having to purchase an ugly sweater and all I really didn’t want to spend all that much. My friend Cory spent way too much on one the other day and if that wasn’t enough he went and spent 8 hours sewing lights on the damn thing. No thanks. I don’t have that much time on my hands and even if I did I not using it up on something that’s meant to be ugly. Found our sweaters at a local thrift store for somewhere around $3 and if you ask me we overpaid but that’s the price we had to pay for waiting till the last minute to make things happen.

Well, there were definitely some ugly sweaters out tonight. Ray’s sweater ended up being too small so he cut it in half and it fit like a glove.

Matt rocked out on the karaoke machine to Michael Jackson’s, Beat It.

And Cory rocked out as well.

This is my friend Cory that spent hours sewing lights onto his sweater. You can’t tell but he did a fucking fantastic job. I couldn’t  believe the attention to detail.

Of course there was beer pong. Even after college it doesn’t get old.

Lauren and Scot took off their ugly sweaters so Scot just looked like a dude with a turtle neck on.

It was a fantastic evening. When I returned home I hung up my ugly sweater because I know there will be another on of these next year and I’ll be damn if I have to pay for something that ugly again.

Guess what, I’m going on my first ever Santa Crawl. How fun. Ray and I went out in search for Santa suits but when word of a Santa Crawl got around there was no suits to be found. I guess that’s what we get for waiting till the last minute. In despair I called Lauren and she came to our rescue and went out and purchased a couple suits for us, one size fits all my ass. We all met up at Laurens and from there we headed out to our first bar to meet up with the rest of the Santas.

We were seriously like one of the first to get there but soon more and more Santas trickled in and before long there were a shit ton of Santas drinking and being merry, the way Santas should be. I even found a couple of Santas with their dick in a box.

Seriously, look at all the Santas, it was so crowded and I was getting antsy. I wanted to get the party started and parade down to the next bar but who ever put this event on obviously wasn’t an event planner. We spent half the night at the first bar and none of the bars were informed of our Santa Crawl. So rude. Talk about a surefire way to get pissed off bartenders. So finally we were tired of still being at the first place so we decided to head out ourselves and sure enough more Santas slowly followed our lead.

Now get this the second bar we went to shooed us away. Missed out on a lot of money. Good thing too because it was a super small, swanky restaurant type bar. 150 Santas would have been so out of place and all of us just wouldn’t have fit. Again, bad planning. So we hiked our happy asses to the 3rd bar. When we walked in the one and only bartender goes, “I think I’m about to get my ass handed to me.” Why yes you are.

And slowly but surely the Santas stumbled in.

So finally we all left the 3rd place and headed to the 4th bar, which also happen to be a really nice, restaurant/bar, too small to fit 150 Santas. Seriously, who planned this event? It wasn’t long before we quit that place and decided to take a detour next door for a quick bite to eat. Apparently we we’re the only ones who had this bright idea because a few Santas had already beat us there and then soon more and more Santas deserted the last place for this place and before we knew it the place was packed with Santas.

And looks who decides to show up, Matthew Mellinger.

The group.

And soon all the Santas telepathically knew to just meet up at the first bar. That was really the best bar for all of us to be at.

And there Eric met an icky girl.

And that was enough for all of us to call it a night.

I feel like I work so much these days that I really try to make the most of my days off. Today Ray and I drove into Austin and took a walk through a park we’ve never been before. I thought about going to Lady Bird Lake but we’ve been there so many times that I’m starting to feel guilty for not taking advantage of all that Austin has to offer me.

This park was so pretty. I can’t believe I’ve never been here before. We followed the trail till we reached the end then we realize that we have in fact been here before. This was the park that Ray and I first played kick ball at with some friends Ray had met through one of the geeky conventions. Wonder what happened to those nerds. Well Ray had to use the restroom and I decided to make use of my time by taking photos of random things. This is a photo of the facet in the ladies room.

I didn’t put this photo in black and white, it was just a black and white day. Ugly day but good for photos.

Check out this house we found while cruising back home. Another house to be jealous over.

Because of the Seinfeld we have so many fun terms and labels like Soup Nazi and Festivus Party. I almost feel bad that I wasn’t a Seinfeld fan. I could have learned so much. I mean, before today I would have never known what a Festivist Party was, hell I thought I was going to a sushi rolling party; I could have sworn that’s what Lauren said it was. I even got on FaceBook and boasted the news to everyone, “delicious, fun and entertaining,” I said.

Nope, not a sushi rolling party. Awe well, not the biggest fan of working for my food. But there was a lot of delicious food, even sushi. And I even got to roll my one, my first one ever.

And I finally got to meet Chris, Amy’s man. Yes, he exists. The whole time I thought he was just a figment of her imagination.

Me and the girls.

And yes there was even a pole, but instead of passing it around to bitch and gripe to our hearts content we put it to better use and used it as a stripper pole, so much more productive.

What a great night. Happy Festivus to you.

It’s that time of year again where it’s become traditionally okay to shovel ungodly amounts of food into our faces all day long. I have mixed feelings about Thanksgiving. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the ridiculous amounts of food but the holidays for me really are more about family than it is about food, foot ball, movies and amazing sales the next day. This year is Ray’s year, meaning that his family gets us for Thanksgiving, lucky them. Our first stop, Uncle David and Aunt Barbara’s. Dad came prepared and wore his loose pants and everything.

Aunt Barbara made boat loads of food and they had already dug in earlier so we helped our selves to a plate. Aunt Barbara and Uncle David stayed in the living room while we sat in the dining room and ate. While consuming my first Thanksgiving meal of the day I couldn’t help but to feel like somewhat of a freeloader. I mean, it’s Thanksgiving day and I hardly see these people and here  we are coming over to eat their food that they slaved countless hours over in their dining room while they watched television in the next room. This is the part of Thanksgiving that always makes me feel so weird and I hate that it’s become the norm, to just go from family to family just to stuff our faces with food. Whatever happened to everyone sitting around the dining room, watching the turkey get it’s first slice and just enjoying every ones company. Ray and I always talk about the younger days, before we were pubescent teens and we were innocent carefree kids, the holidays were so much nicer then. We have such fond memories of everyone getting together under one roof and even though Thanksgiving dinner wasn’t spent under a candle lit dinning table it was spent with everyone. We miss those holidays and the older we get the more we’ve come to realize that if we want traditions like these to live on we need to start them back up again starting with a family of our own.

The next stop was Aunt Dora’s and Uncle Todds. Luckily Uncle Paul was already there with Aunt Minga and their kids so it saved us a stop. Now this is the part of Thanksgiving I could really do without but everyone seems to love, football so I just roll with it. We sat around for the next couple of hours watching football while stuffing our faces. The girls multitask and went through the sales catalogs while watching football. I had no choice but to join them, and holy crap are there some tempting sales going on tomorrow. Now I know why people wake up so early but still I’ve convinced myself that it’s just not worth all the fuss.

Later that night we made a stop over to Berna and Sams house. Berna really out did herself this year. Her green bean casserole was the best I had yet. Ray and Ben are gay iPhone slutts

Sam’s brother was there and he brought his kids.

And after all that we met up with Steven Ray and his lovely wife Nycole for some drinks. I love that Steven always looks so studious every time we see him.

While telling Nycole of all the ridiculous sales I ended up convincing myself that perhaps I should check out some of these sales for myself. So the next morning Ray and I headed to the mall, not as early as some of these other guys but we were there.

The next day we met up with Steven and Nycole again.

What a fun couple.

We got the call in the morning, Grandpa past away in his sleep last night. I’ve never known neither of my grandpas so Ray’s grandpa was the closest one I had to the real thing. I want to say it was unexpected but only because we expected grandma to go before him. I mean, not too long before they finally decided to put her in an old folks home because her condition had been so taxing on everyone. It was a hard decision but it had to be done. Grandpa past away not too long after she left the house and poor grandma is much too sick to understand so no one told her.

We started the morning off with breakfast with uncle Ray and later paid grandma a visit at the assisted living home she’s staying at. Since she’s been living here she’s shown lots of improvement. She’s a lot less hostel which is awesome because hostel grandmas are no fun.

Think she might have even remembered Ray Daniel, even if it was only for a brief second.

After grandmas visit everyone gathered back at aunt Dora’s.

The next day we met up with our good buddy Steven Ray and his girl Nycole. It’s always so nice to see them.

Check out the sweet tux Nemo got for the funeral.

The day before the funeral Uncle Ray had to be rushed to the hospital.

November 21, 2009 we buried grandpa. It was a really nice funeral. Poor Uncle Ray was still in the emergency room.

After the funeral we all gathered back at Aunt Dora’s. It’s not often we see everyone under the same roof so it was really nice. I think that’s the best part about funerals. Grandpa and grandma would be proud.

I don’t know how we all managed to fit but we did.

Ray and I had to head back home later that night but before we did we wanted to meet up with some of the cousins for a few drinks. Only Nick and Brandi could make it.

Tonight SocialFly will be working a wedding in Dallas. The more I’m in Dallas the more I grow to love her. A large part of me regrets picking Austin over Dallas. Sorry Austin. So like I said, it’s nice to be in Dallas tonight. It was a bit of a challenge trying to figure out exactly how to place the booth in the spot that they allocated for us, but we made it work and it looked fabulous.

Here’s a close up of my scrapbook table.

And this is our prop table. So much to choose from.

And you know during down time I had to go check out the cake. So pretty!

Check out the scrapbook page I made for the bride and groom. So cute.

It was yet another successful event.

Tonight we’re rocking at Hyatt Lost Pines for Directions, a Microsoft convention. This is our first event at Hyatt Lost Pines so we’re all super stoked. The place is gorgeous and really elegant. No wonder why Directions decided to host their convention out here.

They even had a live band rocking out on stage.

This is our set up, right smack between the food and the dinning tables. Can’t miss us.

As precautionary we like to test out our props before all the actions happens.

I like working with my hubby.

And just like that the line is out of control and remains that way for the rest of the night.

Absolutely loved working this event. The best part was the food. Man, they don’t mess around when it comes to dinning. They have their own caterers here and they were fantastic. The boys loved the BBQ and I loved all the vegan dishes. My favorite was the table full of vegan desserts. Loved it!

Pendley Party Productions is hosting the monthly community party and invited us to be a part of it. We couldn’t be more excited to be here tonight and get to know some of Waco’s business members.

We had a sweet spot inside.

They even had a flambe area. It was so good.

And a bunch of hot chicks working the place.

Lots of free drinks. God bless open bars.

The girls loved our booth.

Tonight Amy asked me to assist her with a wedding at Angel Springs. I love weddings, I love Amy and I love helping my friends so how can I say no.

Turns out tonight the bride and groom are both cops. Well at least we know this wedding wont get busted if it gets too rowdy, all the cops are here getting fucked up. They ended the ceremony with the song, “Bad Boys.” Love it.

Tonight we are headed to the Caswell House, not really sure why we’re going but Lauren invited me and I’m sorta under the impression that it’s work related besides as soon as I heard free drinks I stopped asking questions.

I can’t tell you how whimsical and jaw-dropping this place was decked out. Talk about getting into the Christmas spirit. Every ornament and decoration was on sale and for a good cause because part of the proceeds are going to something good, I forgot exactly what but like I said it was for a good cause. The tree Lauren is standing next to in the photo above is hanging upside down and they managed to still make it look good. Ridiculous!

There’s some really great deals tonight, like this $5.99 Ho. Man don’t you just love Christmas?

So as amazing as this place was I still walked out empty handed. I just didn’t want to purchase a bunch of holiday crap that didn’t have a place in our very simplistic home. These days I’m done with wasting money.

Lauren did end up buying me an ornament of my choice and I picked the only robot one they had. I don’t know what happened to it but it never went home with me. After shopping for um, work related things we met the boys at The Pour House and ended the night over a few pitchers of beer playing washers

SocialFly is working the Central Market, Deck the Halls with Delicious Event tonight. The event will be taking place upstairs and not in the exact grocery store. I’m excited because Central Market is centered around food which means there will be lots and lots of samples of scrumptious, decadent treats and an open bar too. Yay!

My girls finally arrived  which is good because now I can leave the boys to work while I roam around and explore.

As always the booth is jam packed.

But we still manage to make it in for a couple rounds of photos.

It was a good night.

Thanks Central Market for having us.

Every once in a while when Ray and I are strolling through a market and we spot something weird or interesting we like to give it a try, you know for experimental purposes. Today at Central Market we decided to give cucumber soda a whirl. And the verdict . . . yuck! It tastes exactly like carbonated cucumber water, go figure. We were expecting it to be sweet being soda and all but it wasn’t. I suggest this to anyone who likes to drink club soda or tonic water.

After our cucumber soda experiment we headed out for some food. Today Ray picked and he chose P. Terry’s Burgers. Yes folks, another burger joint. We’ve never been here before but we have been meaning to try it out. The good thing about going to all these burger joints is that we never have to go again because testing them out kills the curiosity. I was pleasantly pleased to find a vegan burger on the menu because I was only planning on just getting fries and a shake. The vegan burger was delightful. If I ever eat another vegan burger again I wouldn’t be disappointed if it tasted like this. The shake on the other hand was a bummer. I got strawberry flavor and it didn’t taste any better than a shake from McDonald’s or Burger King. It tasted like sugary sweet condensed strawberry syrup flavoring added to vanilla. I would have liked to have seen some real strawberries chunks or maybe made with strawberry ice cream. Also, not a fan of the fries either, flimsy and greasy.

Of course Ray got his burger and was said it was mediocre. No wow factor and kinda wimpy. I think we just held high expectations because every time we drive by a P. Terry’s there’s a ridiculous crowd outside. Well the prices we’re affordable and that’s a good thing in this economy.

Well there you have it. Try it for yourself and tell me what you think.

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Boy this year I might have bit off more than I can chew on Halloween. First, Cowboy Harley is hosting a fundraiser on Halloween called “Ride for the Girls.” All proceeds will go to breast cancer survivors and I couldn’t be more happy to lend in my hand. It’s been a while since I’ve done some volunteer work. I used to do it all the time and for some reason I don’t anymore. Shame on me.

Michelle Bromley worked the front desk, taking food orders, shouting them back to us and taking in the money. Amy, Dondra, and Julie worked on selling the raffle tickets.

And the rest of us worked the food line. That’s Lauren and her mom. They’re cute.

Scot stopped by to pick up a top hat he’s borrowing from SocialFly. He’s going to be Slash for Halloween.

Dondra stayed up the night before making a shit ton of cupcakes.

And kudos to Dondra’s mom for making all these cakes.

Lauren and Amy are too cute.

I worked the line serving up the food, giving everyone big portions of everything because people like getting their money’s worth and I like making people happy.

And lots of costumes out today.

But this little dude won the prize when it came to the cutest costume. Seriously, there was a costume contest and he won.

But this lady here melted my heart. She’s a breast cancer survivor and ended up winning the raffle ticket money prize and gave it all back to the fundraiser. What a good soul.

It was a good day to come out. Rudy’s donated all the delicious food and Cowboy Harley even gave away a motorcycle today. I entered in the drawing and pleaded to the universe that I should win but in the end they never called my name. Oh well, guess it wasn’t meant to be. I mean I don’t even know how to ride a damn motorcycle.

After the fundraiser I had to rush off to Memory Lane because SocialFly Photobooth is booked for a wedding tonight. I get there right on time because the boys are just about done with setting up which means less work for me to do.

Here’s their wedding cake, a freaking Dr. Pepper and a flat one. I love this couple already for their spunkiness and Ray loves them because he loves Dr. Pepper.

I love coming back to Memory Lane because being here always reminds me of the day we got married, definitely one of the best days of my life.

It wasn’t as amazing as our wedding but it was definitely nice.

So I am officially the “Professional Scrapbooker.” Oh, it’s a real title and I take my job very seriously.

Alright, now that the weddings over we’re heading out to Amy’s party. This is when I start to get kinda bummed out. It’s not that I don’t want to go to Amy’s party, I definitely do. It’s just that the whole day has been work, work, work not that I didn’t enjoy it but it was still work and now that I finally get to let loose the night’s almost over and so is Amy’s party. It’s Halloween, one of my favorite holiday’s. I always look forward to this time of year because it’s the one time I could count on myself to be creative and make a mind blowing sexy outfit out of nothing and it’s also the one day out of the whole year where I don’t have to hear my husband cry for showing too much skin and this year I don’t even have an outfit. I suck.

Seeing Amy drink out of that big ass goblet definitely brightened my mood. And I love Lauren because she’s just always happy to see me.

Had to take a photo with the only other Asian here.

Scot took his wig and hat off but I’m sure his outfit rocked.

But the best costume tonight was the ferocious lion.

He was so effing cute I couldn’t leave him alone. I kept snuggling with him and making him strike poses with me.

And Ray got so jealous. He wanted to take some photos with the dog too. Look at him come in, “uh, excuse me, would you mind if we took a few photo together?”

Look the dog is so not feeling him at all. Maybe he only likes the ladies.

And I’m still mad at Dondra for taking off her green makeup. She makes the best Shrek’s wife.

Look he totally looks like a stuff animal. I can’t get over it.

Tonight SocialFly is working the Suncity Community Costume Event. Suncity Community predominately a community for older adults and this was probably one of the funnest events we worked yet.

It brought me so much joy to see all these older folks so full of vigor and zest, dressing up in some of the cutest costumes and dancing it up. You could tell they’ve been waiting and ready for this night. And we we’re so excited to make it that much better for them.

And seriously these people put us youngster to shame when it comes to partying and dancing. As soon as Johnny Dee and the Rockets hopped on stage and played the first song the dance floor went from empty to jammed packed. Man these guys are ready to party and they want to dance, dance , dance.

Now this is a bad photo but just look at the line for the photobooth. Seriously, the line was long and it was long all night long.

And Johnny Dee and the Rockets were bad ass. These guys played songs from the 50’s & 60’s all night and they we’re on key and really good. I was pleasantly shocked.

Thanks Suncity for having us be apart of this awesome night. We had a blast.

After the Haunted Mansion of Terror we met Lauren downtown at a Chinese restaurant, called Chinatown. Chinatown is starting this new thing where they’re doing karaoke every Thursday. Lauren happens to be good friends with the owner because she was the event planner for their grand opening so she wanted all of us come out to show our support.

Lauren’s crazy and ballsy. I don’t get embarrassed too often but for some reason when it comes to karaoke I just can’t bring myself to do it. Ray’s the same way but somehow Lauren managed to drag his ass out on the floor and they busted out Sir Mixalot, “I Like Big Butts.”

And then after that she ditched Ray and went solo with Bon Jovi, “Living On A Prayer.”

Oh and Chinatown was packed with cougars so we now called the place Cougartown. There’s definitely lots hungry cougars out tonight looking for some fresh meat. We left cougartown we met Matt, a friend of Laurens, at The Cats Meow, a small bar downtown for a couple of drinks.

Tonight I’m going out with a few friends. First we’re hitting Pluckers for drinks and some tapas.

And then afterward we went to the haunted mansion of terror. How ghastly!

Tonight my husband is playing kickball and I’m a little jealous. It’s a co-ed league and they don’t need anymore female players but dudes are welcomed. Ah well, and as usual, my sex kitten kicked ass.

Oh, and Lauren I would like to thank you again for putting my baby in a sexy, undersized yellow T-shirt.

Today I made my husband a sandwich made with lots and lots of love and he adored every bite. I love you sex kitten.

P.S.  buy me some new plates that are worthy of my food and photos shoots

I started interning as an event planner working under my good friend Lauren. Today we are working a wedding at this super cute venue out in Kyle.

What a stunning place to break me into the event industry. I tried to get in as many photos as I could but it wasn’t so easy, especially when I’m suppose to be doing things like directing the bride’s maids when to walk down the isle.

Hey has anyone seen Lauren? Lauren? Anyone? Oh, there she is on the floor bringing up the brides dress. Now that’s an event planner for ya.

After the wedding I snuck off a bit to document my first event.

I believe every wedding should have an open bar.

But most importantly, a sexy cake.

I don’t care what Lauren says, it was a great first event and I can’t wait to work the next one. Thanks Lauren for taking my under your wing. Your the best!

Barton Spring Mall is having a fashion show and they hired us to glitz up their event and bring in the crowd. I’m not sure if anyone even knew there was a fashion show going on once we opened up shop. By now we’re use to being the main attraction at every event. There was even free food, alcohol, massages and free giveaways. I won free queso for life at Abuelos. Sweet deal and I don’t even like queso! Soon after that I left the boys to do some shopping, I mean since we’re at the mall and all.

So today was another one of those driving around town because we’re bored days. Every time we drive through Austin it seems as though we find a new place to add to our mental list of places we need to check out one day. Sandy’s was among that list and, well what better day than today to check it off? Ray is a hamburger whore. I know sounds kinda gross and that because it is. Is it weird that never in my whole entire existence have I ever craved a burger and I end up marrying the whore of all burgers. And me, I’m known throughout the land as a sugar whore. All sugary goodness shall serve it’s purpose and be consumed in my kingdom and ice cream is a top priority on that list. So whenever there’s the word, “hamburger” in the title of a business, or “sandwich” for that matter Ray jots it down on that list and every time I see a cute little bakery or creamery it gets jot down on my list. Sandy’s Hamburger’s was actually among both our list because not only does it clearly state the word, “hamburger” in it’s name but it also has this huge soft serve figurine in the front to lure in innocent civilians such as myself.

As you can see today for lunch I had me a chocolate dipped vanilla soft serve and it was, um . . .  messy. Seconds after the lady behind the counter handed it to me it magically turned into a hot mess. Yes, the soft serve was a tasty treat but if your gonna have a giant soft serve statue figurine out front I’m gonna expect something to knock me off my feet and this unfortunately this did not do that for me. Also, the service sucks balls. The lady that took my order had just about as much emotion as a dead fish and spoke just about as much English. Ray ordered a burger, fries and drink, all ala carte and after we ordered did we realize that there was a big sign to our left that had everything he’d just ordered as a meal deal on special for something like $3.95. So instead of looking out by informing us of the meal deal the bitch at the counter would rather stick it to us. Yep, that’s a surefire way to ensure we patron this place again. Ah, who am I kidding, we’ll probably be back, bad service and all, we’re a bunch of suckers. Anyhow, fries were delightful but sparse and the burger patty was kinda skinny. When I use to eat burgers I would prefer my burger patty, thin so I probably would have enjoyed it. Ray says it was mediocre burger. Not a lot of great qualities but not a lot of bad ones too. I do want to add though that everything was hot and fresh, just the way every meal should come out, unless it’s ice cream of course.

Everyone has that one thing that they just can’t live without and ice cream is indubitably among my list, that and my wonderful husband. Today Ray and I took a stroll through Sprouts because well, it just opened and I love grocery shopping. Ray hates grocery shopping but he loves me and loves making me happy. A year ago today we were in New York and that is when I decided to stop eating meat. I would love to go completely vegan but the thought of not being able to have ice cream sends tremors up my spine. In my head I know it contradicts my morals and ethics but this is how I justify it, eating meat is murder but eating ice cream is rape. I could live with rape. Yes, it’s still wrong, but I could still look at myself in the mirror and go to bed at night. Anyhow, A gripe I’ve always had was that grocery stores never have enough vegan ice cream but today while scoping out the scene at Sprouts I uncovered a whole plethora of vegan ice cream. It was so hard to decide but in the end I picked Coconut Bliss Cherry Amaretto and Ray got Tempt Mint Chip made from hemp milk.

I hate writing this but Coconut Bliss wasn’t all that blissful and Tempt wasn’t all that tempting. I really wanted to love it, I really did. I’m not saying I hated it but had I loved it it wouldn’t have lasted 1 night in my home. I’m pretty sure both lasted about 5 days. Coconut milk is just so strong and rich that it just over powered the ice cream with it’s heavy, creamy, richness and the hemp milk gave the mint chip a floral, slight bitter flavor. Nonetheless we finished them both but in the end I couldn’t help but wonder, maybe this is what they mean by, “pleasure spiked with pain,” I’m sorry poor little cows, I’m sorry we have to rape your sore boobies for milk, but I promise, it’s for a good cause.

So as you probably already know I love to eat, and blog about what I’ve been shoveling into my face. I know I’ve written about Freddy’s Frozen Custard before. I’m a sucker for sweet treats and they had me at custard. Not that I’m a huge fan of custard, but hey, they definitely have my attention. Ray’s a burger whore and last time he didn’t get to test out Freddy’s burgers and since I don’t feel like cooking we decided to give it a shot today.

The fries we nicely fried, golden, crisp, and hot but for me they we’re too skinny. I said it before and I’ll say it again, I like me some meaty fries. Ray wasn’t too crazy about the burger. He said the meat was flat, like someone had stomped it flat before throwing it on the grill. However, the custard soft serve is definitely growing on me. If we happen to make it back to Freddy’s it will more likely be for the custard and not the burger and fries.

Tonight we cashed in Ray’s free burger from TGIF. TGIF was doing this thing where if you request some guy as a friend on FaceBook and if he gets more than a million friends, then all the friends would get a free burger. Well they had Ray at burger. Yes, my husband  will be your friend if you give him a free burger.

Tonight Ray and I are going to a Pink Party. I think all proceeds go towards breast cancer survivors. I’m not sure but it’s for a good cause. They had pretty pink drinks that were delicious. Our friend Scott, whom I met that night, gave us his raffle tickets because he had to go and we ended up winning. Sweet. It was a good night.

We are once again on our way up to Dallas. Dallas just can’t let go. Ray’s high school reunion is here and it’s at a bar. This should be interesting. First we need to fill our empty bellies at Outback Steak House, dad’s pick of course.

Ray and I had a blast at his reunion. I was so surprised at how much fun I actually had.

The next morning we went out for breakfast with the TalPlacidos at The Original Pancake House.

I think Guav loves his little dude.

Later that day Lyric lost a tooth. Wonder how much he’ll get from the tooth fairy, probably not very much. We are in a recession. She’s probably not doing too hot herself.

On the way home our car hit the 100,000. Yay! Of course we had to stop to celebrate.

I’m going to see my bud Andrea sing at Gumbos tonight. I haven’t seen her in a while and I’m starting to miss her. Andrea, we need to start jogging again!

And we should start tomorrow because I need to burn off these calories!

So ACL (Austin City Limits) is in town. One of the things that had enticed us to move to Austin was ACL and I’m so mad that it’s here now and we’re not going. Uggghhh! We at least did a drive by.

Boy do we have our hands full this week in Dallas. Infocus Dentistry booked us for the Uptown Dallas Festival, the Dallas Fair is in full effect, Ben’s kids are having their birthday party and he wants me to be in charge of the games, and as an added bonus Bea and even Mable are in town. Wow! First we celebrate the twin’s birthday by going out to eat with the family.

The next day we hit the Texas fair. Now I’ve never been to the Dallas fair before but I’ve been under the impression that it could well possibly be the grandest fair of them all. I mean, have you heard of all the fried crap they come up with. Now I’m not the biggest fan of fried shit, but when you have things like fried snickers, twinkies, and even fried coke, you definitely have my attention.

Gotta take a photo with the iconic Big Tex. Now is it me or does he look like he’d just had a breast enhancement procedure? He’s all square and boxy up there like they were freshly done yesterday. Hey, to each his own Big Tex, to each his own.

Me and my fried snickers.

This year the big hype was fried peaches and cream. That sounds pretty safe and boring compared to some of their past concoctions.  And the verdict . . . well fried, nice crispness yet a bit greasy, cream was too runny and bland, serving size was too small and like everything else, way overpriced. Hello people, we’re in a recession here!

Unfortunately we didn’t ride any rides this year. I’ve never been a huge fan of fair rides, just not my thing ya know.

And we ended it with a BMX show.

I don’t want to say I was disappointed but I’m not gonna be rushing to next years fair.

Oh yeah, and everyone had a photobooth this year, but they were all ghetto rigged.

Oh and I also forgot to mention, Bea brought Brixton. He’s so effing cute and I can’t stop plotting new ways to kidnap him.

The next day was the Dallas Uptown festival. Infocus Dentistry had hired us to lure innocent pedestrians to their booth and you know what, it worked like a charm. Seriously, who comes to a festival to see a dentist? But you throw in a photobooth and everyone is instantly interested. Ingenious!

Now while that was going on I headed off to Cloe and Lyric’s birthday party because I was told last minute that I was to be in charge of the games. Alright Ben next time some notice would be nice, you know so I could do some planning, get some props, but hey I’m amazing and I’ll make due and make it happen because I love you brother.

We had a sack race where the girls totally opened a can of whoop ass on the boys.

We also did a few games of tug-a-war.

Where the girls reign total domination.

Oh and then Cloe decided to rub some salt on Lyrics wound by kicking his ass in front of his friends. Bad Cloe!

There wasn’t enough props to play all the games I had in mind but it was quite all right because all the adults had had enough. We handed out prizes, kids got their face painted and now it’s time for cake.

Cake, sometimes it’s better than love.

And of course I got my face painted too, old school like Jem and the Holograms.

After the birthday I headed back to the festival and guess what, Dallas Morning News came by and took a photo of me which later that week ended up online.

Awesome! Here’s a link if you want to check it out. It’s on page 10.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/pt/slideshows/2009/09/nq_1001_uptownfest/

Went to the Hula Hut for lunch today. Ray enjoyed their shrimp enchiladas. I don’t remember what I ordered but I know it wasn’t dessert because I would of remembered that. Guess I should of ordered dessert.

Today we have an event in Galveston, TX located about 4 hours away from Austin. Yeah, I know that seems a bit far but we’re a couple of rookies when it comes to road trips.

Since it was a themed event we only used props that we’re appropriate for the event.

This is my scrapbook corner.

Their wedding was a 1950’s themed event hosted in an old Victorian style home. Everyone was dressed like they were straight out of an old classic movie. How fun. We were told that all the pictures were to be taken in black and white. Awesome, that’s my favorite photo setting.

Chris is working the booth.

This is usually how the booth looks during the ceremony, empty.  Since Galveston is located along the coast and we we’re located outside the mosquitoes had a field day with us. Never before had I felt more like a human buffet. Luckily someone let us borrow some bug repellent.

Me.

They had the most delicious popcorn out on display for all to snack on. Blueberry cheesecake, that was my fave.

The beautiful bride and her bridesmaids.

Some photos from the event.

Meagan and Adam, married 9-20-09

So things have been pretty hectic since I’ve been back from Mexico. I don’t think I mentioned it yet but Ray and I once again have jumped, head first, into a new business venture, called SocialFly, a photobooth rental company. It really is so random how it happened but it’s been surprisingly really successful. I do believe everything happens for a reason and I know something great will come of this. I’m not saying this was meant to be, but I’m not saying that it wasn’t either. It’s crazy but we’re just rolling with it. Why fight the current?

The photobooth is 100% ours and when I say ours I mean, as in we’re not part of a franchise or have to pay anyone monthly fees to use it. As a matter fact it was our good friend, Kris that sparked the idea one day and Ray and his entrepreneurial mindset that brought it to life. The next thing you know we have a real working photobooth that looks better and works better than any other photobooth I’ve seen. Throw in some props and a scrapbook and we’ve got ourselves a lucrative business.

Basically it goes like this, you and most likely your friends will put on whatever props you’d like, hop in the booth where you guys will choose the lay out of your choice, 3, 4, or 6 photo layout and then choose to have your photo taken in black and white, sepia, or color. It takes only 12 seconds for your photo to print out, that’s 12 seconds, most booths take about a minute to print. You then can either keep the photo or put it in the scrapbook for the guest of honor, and in most cases, the bride and groom. It’s like a modern twist on the traditional guestbook but instead of a boring name you have a photo and a special greeting from your guests. By the end of the night you have a finished scrapbook that was totally work-free made by those you love the most on the best day of your life, such a cool idea! There’s no limit on how many photos you can take and we also host all the photos online on our website, SocialFly.com. We also send the guest of honor a DVD of all the photos that were taken in the booth.

I’m what we call a “scrapbook professional.” In essence I help clueless guest with the scrapbook. It’s really not hard, you just cut, glue and paste. Hell you don’t even have to cut, just glue and paste but for some reason people get all flustered and need direction when it comes to this sort of stuff so I am there to guide them through it.

That’s Ray and our good friend and business partner, Kris during down town. Down time is usually when the bride and groom are actually getting married because that’s the only time the booth is empty. Seriously, we’re always the main attraction, with a ridiculously long line from people just waiting to get in the booth.

And the best part of my job, unlimited amounts of decadent cake. Man I love this job!

Dan Frommer and his new wife. Married on September 19, 2009. Congrats guys it was a beautiful wedding. Thanks for letting us be part of your special day!

The dreaded last day of Virgo Bash has fallen upon us and now it’s time to go out and get people back home some lame O souvenirs so they feel as though we were actually thinking about them this week. I really wanted to bring Ray back something totally awesome but lets face it, we’re in Mexico, infamous for  useless chotskies made especially for wandering tourists. I know Ray likes T-shirts so I played it safe and got him a couple of funny T-shirts but in the back of my mind I knew they would wind up in the back of his closet never to be used but I really didn’t want to come home empty handed. “Hey babe, I had a blast drinking and partying it up with the girls on vacation while you stayed home and worked your ass off, sorry I didn’t bring you back anything,” Seems so douchie, right? And I don’t want to be a douche so I got him the stupid T-shirts along with a few other random useless things. Sheesh, I hate wasting money. On the way back we once again walked along the beach, for old times sake and saw this dude just loving life. I want his life. As soon as we arrived to the resort a volleyball game was taking place and it just so happens that they needed more players, or at least sexy female players with big bouncy titties. I probably would have joined the rest of the girls if I had not played the day before. Oh, I forgot to mention that Michelle and I  played volleyball the day before and I was basically sexy dead weight. Maybe next time I’ll play sober and see how it works out for me but today I didn’t want to chance it. It was our last day and who wants to leave Mexico a loser, not this gal. I’ll be the amazing photographer instead.

These guys were on a bachelor party and I’m sure they secretly wanted to do us. Don’t ask me why everyone looks so happy to take a damn photo, I guess I’m just an amazing photographer, going above and beyond to get the shot. By the way, Fuck you Jack, and you too Elicia.

You want to know why Jack loves it here so much, because they let you drink and smoke to your hearts desire in the pool. Hell I bet they wouldn’t stop you if you were fucking in the pool.

Hey Jackie met some new friends and she’s determined to bring back the high five. Just for the record, it was my idea to bring back the high five.

Michelle and I were bored with these guys and their lame ass bacherlor party. We weren’t drunk enough to not notice their douchiness which only made us miss our amazing husbands that were awaiting us back home. So we wandered off to a restaurant and enjoyed each other’s company for a while. I gotta say I’m really a fan of Michelle. I wish we lived closer so we could be BFF’s all the time.

When we got back Jack and Elicia had done some major damage. Michelle I knew we should of never left these girls alone.

Just check out this video of Jack swimming up to the bar for more drinks and randomly high-fiving a bunch of strangers. Priceless.

Alright, enough is enough. We’re going back to the room and we’re not leaving anyone of us behind. We’ll carry you if we have to and we basically had to.

Jackie passes out on the bed and while the rest of us got ready to go out to dinner without her. Serves her right. Next time pace yourself Jack. We had dinner with one of the non-douchy guys on the bachelor party who also happens to be a doctor. Perfect, here’s my chance to ask for a prescription for Restasis without having to pay for the doctors fee, which I did and he swore he’d give me one but I never got it. Lame. After dinner we came back for Jack. What kind of friends would we be if we let our best bud spend her last night in Playa Del Carmen comatose in bed. We slap some sense into her and just like that she snapped back into it. Oh Jack, you never cease to amaze me.

Our doctor friend joined us and together we all gallivanted back into town for one more wreck-less night and what better place to start than the first club we started out at on our first night here. How fitting!

I’m pretty sure we got overcharged for our drinks but who cares when your having fun. We left this club and after gallivanting around town a bit we soon enough wandered into this awesome night club. Oh my god, the inside was popping, loud and packed.

They even had arcrobats flipping around on stage

And confetti going off everywhere.

Elicia and I danced our hearts out and then we climbed onto the stage and danced some more. And that was enough to seal the deal on an unbelievable vacation. We walked out of the club like a bunch of 21 year old girls that just finished their first night in Vegas. Awesome! The next day we all went out to breakfast for the last time together in Playa Del Carmen. It was the perfect time to surprise everyone with the rings I purchased while we went shopping. Jackie got everyone golden rings, Michelle brought back rings for everyone while she was in Europe so I’d figure I’d end the trip and get everyone rings too.

Good-bye Playa Del Carmen and thank-you for hosting the best Virgo Bash ever! After breakfast we headed back to our rooms and finish packing our bags, headed back into town, took the bus to Cancun where we boarded planes back home. I went back to my husband in Texas, Jackie flew home to a very jealous Dirk in Florida, Michelle went home to Claudio in Indiana and Elicia went home to her fiance in California. Love you girls. See you next year for Virgo Bash 2010. It’s gonna be hard to top this one.

Good morning day 6 of Virgo Bash. Michelle and I woke up early today and scored 4 sweet spots right above the swim bar. How perfect. We throw some random items on the other two chairs in an effort to save them for Jack and Elicia. Michelle and I are the only two that brought books along with us and what splendid time to get to reading especially while being nestled in this view.

And I can’t help to keep turning back at this view.

When Jack and Elicia wake up we throw more random shit on our lounge chairs and head out for some morning time breakfast.

And then we go back to claim our VIP spots and stay awhile.

This dude here, along with a few other dudes are in charge of making sure everyone at the resort is having a great time. Pretty cool job if you ask me. Not only did he come by trying to get us to play volley ball with him but he also wanted us to assist him in gathering more people to play. Sorry dude, I’m on vacation. I take a quick photo shoot with him before I shoo him off so he doesn’t feel like such a loser. I’m pretty sure I’m buffer than he is though.

My friends and their pasty asses can’t handle the suns beat down so they leave me to cool off  in the pool.

But they come back, they always do.

The girls start to get antsy so once again we desert our things on the lounge chairs and trust that it will be enough to save our spots.

It’s not hard for Michelle and I to make friends here.

We decide to give the beach yet another try and what great timing because I spot a another pair of titties. Score! My Asian instincts kick in and I reach for my camera but a little too late because all I got was a bony ass. Oh well.

Awe, look it’s our old resort.

It seems as though every time we walk this beach someone is coming out of the ocean with some fresh fish. I bet the sushi here is awesome.

After our stroll we head back to claim our reserved spots but this time we move to the covered beds behind us.

It seems as though the sun has opened a can of whoop ass on some of us.

Which means it’s time to head back to the room and freshen up. While hanging out back in the lanai we meet this random chick who happens to be on a different Virgo Bash a few doors down from us, how crazy is that! Normally I would be the first to be all over her, thinking we we’re all meant to be BFF’s or something since I don’t believe in coincidences, but my instincts tell me this chick’s a phony and I’m totally not feeling her.  She’s trying to bum a cigarette and Jackie is a little buzzed so she’s feeling all lovey dovey and gives her a whole packet of smokes, invites her over and even gives her one of our Virgo Bash tank tops. Seriously Jack I think you got some of that chicks corn Julio stuck in your teeth. Whatever, Jack is drunk and she’s just extra friendly when she’s drunk. I on the other hand am not. She wants us to all get together for some drinks and hang out later tonight. Whatever broad, get the fuck out of here. After she leaves, I voice my opinion about her and the girls agree this chick is wackadoo.

Here’s a video of me yelling at Jack because she’s using up all the battery in the camera, the girls talking shit about how weird this broad is, and bringing back the high five.

Michelle threw in the towel early tonight but that’s okay because there’s still fight left in the three of us.

All I can say is that it was a good night.

So good I once again don’t remember a thing and luckily I have no photos to remind me.

One of the first things I did today was throw my shell I got while snorkeling back into the ocean, but before I did I wrote Virgo Bash 09 on it. I had intended on bringing it back as a souvenir but little did I know when I captured it I also captured a little hermit crab that took up residence in it. I was hoping by day five the little guy would of detached itself and wondered off but it hadn’t and now I’m actually starting to feel bad. This little dude was a fighter and I’m feeling like a douche for taking him out of his habitat so I threw him back in the ocean where he belongs. It’s not near his home but it’s close enough. Be free little man, be free.

Bad news, Kimmy is leaving us today. After a lite breakfast we head into town so she can catch the bus to the airport. It’s starting to hit all of us, our vacation has past its half way mark. There’s still so much we want to do and definitely not enough time to do it. We make a stop at the local travel agent and for some reason none of us can make a decision.

Do we do another excursion or just spend the next couple of days enjoying margaritas by the pool side? No one cares, we just need someone to decide and no one wants to step up and make that decision for fear being the one who makes the wrong choice and blows the rest of our time here. Instead of making a hasty decision we decide to ponder on it over a couple of beers on the beach but before that we must bid Kimmy fair well. Oh Kimmy your family will always be there, vacations like this don’t come around too often, next time I want to see you stay till the end. Got me. See you back in Texas and congrats on that new pea in the pod.

Alright it’s time to do some pondering over Coronas.

After a bucket of Coronas we decided that since we can’t decide we shouldn’t go because it obviously doesn’t feel right so instead we follow our gut and go back to the resort to upgrade our room.

The lady wearing the white shirt in the photo above was a massage pimp. No seriously, she was out trying to pimp out massages for certain massage therapists. I’m not kidding. Home girl would not leave us alone until we got a massage so to sweeten her deal she offered us five minutes for free, you know like a test drive.

So we took her up on her offer and got five minutes of bliss for free. While heading back to the resort I spotted a pair of titties out in the open for all to see.  So I did what any respectable tourist in Mexico would do, I took a picture.

And then when I got closer I took another photo because photos last longer than memory.

We’re tired of walking on this damn beach. It’s not the beach that’s getting to us it’s all the Mexicans that keep hounding us for drinks, massages, food, excursions and whatever else they can sell to make a buck. I’m so over it. Get me back to the resort, I need a drink, a free all inclusive drink.

That’s our resort right there in front of us and you know what, we’re tired of it. We want something bigger, better and more glamorous so we decided that when we get back we’re packing our bags and finding just that. The first person we saw when we arrived back was this douche bag a few of the girls saw the night before while out. He’s the guy in the speedo rubbing oil on his wife or some hussy he just met, who knows. Thing is he offered to, “make sex on the beach” with Michelle and Elicia. Wonder if his wife knows he’s a dirty dog. I bet you she does because she’s probably a dirty whore herself.

It definitely sucks that Kimmy’s gone but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to take full advantage of the situation. Now that she’s gone we can get a much better deal on a room because we could all stay together in one room instead of being forced to book out two since the limit is 4 persons per room. It’s not so much of having to book 2 rooms it’s more that we all really just wanted to stay together and have lots of girl time. We hiked across the street where the sister hotel was everything we had hoped for and more.

We did what we set out to do, upgrade our resort and with that our rooms. There was even a spa in our resort and a comfy hammock in the back.

But the best part was the resort itself. We all just fell in love with the place. It was like we we’re on vacation all over again, oh but wait, we are. Happy happy joy joy!

Time to hit the bar for some cocktails. Being at this pretty resort brought out the photo-whore in all of us all over again.

Time to check out the beach.

I don’t know what had gotten into all of us but we we’re so giddy over this place. I can’t believe how happy we were.

Alright time to get back to the resort and hop in the pool. I want to chicken fight with the girls but no one wants to take me on. Smart girls.

Throughout this vacation we’ve been bringing back the high five, especially Jack. We’ve been high-fiving each other, the help and everyone else that wants to connect their hand with ours. Smashing!  So it only seemed fitting that we video ourselves reenacting how we would go about high-fiving each other if we had ran into each other in the pool, but for some reason we decide to do this slow motion.

First take didn’t work out so well so we tried again.

And again.

Oh Jack.

We love this place.

Jack and I take a moment to thank the Gods above.

After we’re done goofing off we head back to our room, get ready, for what we don’t know but we want to be out and we’re ready to have some serious fun.

Seriously, the only good that came out of Kimmy leaving us was this place.

We make our way to a cute little restaurant and take up shop there.

After food we make like a baby and head out. It’s so time for some drinks.

We call our men first before we’re totally obliterated. Brownie points for us.

I’m so happy and taking a moment to take it all in.

Yes this place is breathtaking . . .

But what I love even more is being here with my girlfriends, especially Jack, she’s a real character that Yackie.

Well I don’t remember much after this place. I know we drank, had Chinese for dinner and I past out on the dinner table and somehow I woke up safe in bed next to Michelle the next morning with no hangover. Oh no, it’s not time to throw in the hat, not just yet. We still have another day..

It’s half time peoples. We gotta get into serious vacation mode. Last night we booked 4 action packed adventures at one awesome place called XPLOR. This place is no joke, as soon as we get here we’re given hard hats. It’s time to get our game face on girls!

This place is Awesome! Everywhere we went we had to stop to snap a photo. I’ve never been to any place like this before. We’re in this amazing cave with millions of staglikes hanging over us. Michelle knew everything about this place because she’s a freaking scientist. Everywhere we went she was just filling us with her knowledge like she was reciting the encyclopedia.

We had to drop off all of our personal items at the lockers provided because our excursions were so action packed that there was no way we could bring all of our girly things with us. I even had to leave my camera behind. It’s not natural for an Asian to be without her camera.

We decided to do the easiest excursion first which was floating through a fresh water underground cave.

One word, breathtaking. Since I had no camera I couldn’t take any photos. This broke my heart. However at the end I did manage to take photos of the photos they had on display. This is basically what we saw during our floating trip.

These pointy things are the staglikes I was talking about.

We did buy one of those waterproof disposable cameras. It didn’t take very good photos but I guess it’s better than nothing.

These pictures don’t do this place any justice.

After floating the underworld we decided the next plan of action would be to go four wheeling. I totally could of brought my camera on this adventure but I didn’t because I was told not to. I guess that’s what I get for following the rules. This was Jacks favorite but we all loved it. Jack and I rode together and you know she wanted to drive. I’m not gonna argue with that, like I always say, “I’m just here for the ride.” It’s no surprise that we got in trouble several times.

We had a blast going through caves, water falls and narrow bridges and the best part was that we didn’t have to follow a tour guide or be in a group. They just trust that you will adhere to the rules. Big mistake.When they saw how fast Jack and I were going they had to chase us down to tell us to slow the fuck down.

After 4-wheeling we were now ready to tackle the zip line, which was what enticed us to book this excursion package in the first place. This is like no zip line I’ve ever seen. There were 8 different towers that we had to zip to. As soon as we zipped line to one we had to hike up the tower and zip line to another. No doubt they were all high, but some were ridiculously high.

I’m afraid of heights and I knew if I waited to go last I would of turned around and gone back down to the underworld to hide my head in shame because no one would be there to stop me and that is why I volunteered to be one of the first to go.

Again, these photos were taken with the disposable camera. Two shockers on this trip, 1,  Michelle is a dare devil, surprise, surprise. This scientist gots balls, big ones at that. And shocker number 2, Jack knows fear. It’s true. By the time we got to our 3rd tower woman was ready to bail out. Of course we forced her to go through with it. On the 2nd to last tower Kimmy got stuck and Jackie almost rammed right into her. Scary.

How cute are we?

The last tower was the best though. They have you zip line right into a pool of water. You can see some guy zipping in behind us.

This place is so big that they suggest if you get lost you plan to meet back up at the heart. The coolest thing about this heart is that it really had a heart beat. You could heart it beating louder and louder the closer you got.

After zip lining we did the last excursion, log rafting. Although it was still fun this was my least favorite of them all. We had to sit on individual plastic logs and strap a paddle on to our hands and paddle through the underground fresh water caves. I had no coordination so I ended up holding everyone up. You could hear me from beginning to end because I was bumping and thumping all the way through. After logging it was time to get back to the resort. In our minds we were champions. Holy shit we still can’t believe we zipped line today. High fives all around. We deserve a nice dinner and lots of drinks.

Back at the resort I spotted this pretty little kitty pussy cat just lounging around. I’m pretty sure this was his home.

Before heading out Elicia sucked my big fat banana and loved it every minute of it.

Oh I forgot, it’s Kimmy’s last night. She’s leaving us early to so she can tend to her family. Tonight we’re going to dine at our favorite trattoria. I’m determined to send this girl home with a hangover. I could see the fear in her eyes already. Be scared, be very very scared.

We we’re definitely popular here.

So Kimmy has a little something to tell us and this is how she breaks the news. She has the waiter be her little messenger boy and deliver her message to Jackie on a cake. Wait. What? I don’t get it. That stupid waiter fucked up and wrote, “Congrats” instead of “Happy Birthday” and called Jackie an Aunt. I guess in Mexico they really do treat you like family. I’m totally clueless and remain that way until someone breaks the news to me 30 minutes later . . . Kimmy is freaking preggo. What the fuck!

Okay, I don’t know how the hell she was able to totally hide that info from us throughout the whole trip. There were several times where we all took shots at the table. She did have help, her partner in crime, none other than the evil scientist, Michelle. How did we not notice her NOT drinking? Could it be that we were too involved in our drinking to notice.  But now I feel like a total ass because I had made a comment, specifically to her, about being pregnant on vacation and it wasn’t a totally nice comment at that. How do I always manage to put my boot in my mouth? Well, I applaud you with a standing ovation and seriously we’re all totally happy for you. I’m totally jealous.

Sneaky sneaky.

This drunk is getting us dude.

That’s it, he’s totally doing the Charlies Angels pose.

It’s been a long day and what was suppose to be a wild and wreakless night turned out to be a quiet and chill evening after all and we are all totally okay with it. It’s been one long successful day.

It’s day 3 of Virgo Bash and boy did we take a shit ton of photos today. Seriously we are a bunch of photo taking whores. Everywhere we go we’re snap, snap, snapping away.

Today I woke up and I actually utilized the gym they had downstairs. Yes, even on vacation I work out, extra brownie points for me. For breakfast we stayed in and ordered room service. I can’t think of anything better than room service when your on vacation. It’s a day of relaxation, no plans, just a lot of beach time with a little bit of attitude.

We had to stop on the way for a quick photo shoot.

Doesn’t Jack look pretty?

Alright my turn, give that me that damn flower.

As soon as we make it to the beach we head straight to the bar . . . only to take more photos.

Uh, a little more attitude please.

Photo-whores I tell ya. We’re all just  a bunch of photo-whores.

And then I had to stop to take a photo of these guys. This lady is wearing her freaking bra and panties on the beach. Damn Europeans wear the craziest shit on the beach. Makes me wonder if I’m part European.

Michelle thinks she just came up with the best idea. “Lets all learn Spanish,” she says as she busts out her Spanish/English dictionary. Jackie learned how to say a few choice words like “Toca ella aqui,” which means, “touch her here.” She would say it to anyone who looked local and point to my boobies and every time they would laugh, which only encouraged her to say it throughout our vacation.

Michelle’s game got boring fast so we resorted to taking more photos. Charlies Angels style.

Jackie and Michelle partook in a volley ball game when we got back.

Kick ass!

If you haven’t noticed by now, I took on the roll of the photographer, as I always do, which explains why I’m not in a lot of the group photos.

Sexy legs.

Jackie wants in on the action.

This is our friend that we met at the resort. I forgot his name but he was a Virgo too and he absolutely loved us.

I got him to get a little dirty on camera and just like the girls on Girls Gone Wild, he kindly obliged.

Jackie got this crazy idea where we had to find a worker and have them pose with us. I found this lady named Margarita and had her do the Charlies Angels pose with me. She didn’t get the whole gun thing and ended up praying instead.

Michelle found this little dude.

It’s getting late and we’re all getting hungry. Jackie had bought everyone Virgo Bash tanks and what better night to wear them than tonight.

We’re so damn cute.

So before dinner we stopped at the travel center in the lobby to book another excursion for tomorrow. It took awhile for all five of our cards to process so Jack and Elicia made use of their time by having caractures of themselves drawn up. What a waste of money. No one could tell who was who.

Tonight we’re having Mexican.

We took a break to strike a pose with one of our waiters.

Went back to eating and then during half time took more photos.

Had dessert and then took more photos.

Oh gosh, Jack is drunk already.

Then this dude came by. He was on vacation with his family and tonight he wished he was on vacation with us. He obviously wanted to hang out. We bought him a free shot and sent him on his way.

Sorry dude, but tonight is girls night out and we’re loving every minute of it.

It’s day two of Virgo Bash but for us it seems more like day one because we woke up here instead of spending half the day getting here. We’re all super excited and just want to get out and explore Playa Del Carmen and we start with the breakfast buffet. Anyone who knows me well knows that I’m not a fan of buffets. When I dine out I like the idea of having my food cooked especially for me. Being in my joyous state of mind I didn’t mind the buffet today and it wasn’t even amazing. Good thing too because I want to keep my girly figure for the beach. You feel me?

After breakfast we head back to our rooms for last minute touch ups and if you’ve ever been on an all girls vacation then you’d know that last minute touch ups can last anywhere from 15 minutes to a couple of hours. I don’t know but that’s just the way it goes. We’re ready to explore the island so while out we book a few excursions with this dude. I love that Jack is always ready for the camera.

Playa Del Carmen is such a cute town. My sister said I would love it and that, “It’s very quaint and has a “village” feel.” Um, after last night I’m not so sure I agree with her. I don’t know which Playa Del Carmen she stayed at but it’s not the same one we’re in. I didn’t really get the same quaint village vibe that she did but it is a vibrant town where you can find streets lined with vendors trying to make a buck selling useless chotskisest. The night life was wild but I’m sure after a week of living here it’d get old real fast.

After booking our trip we made haste back to our rooms so we could get ready for our snorkeling excursion. When we got to our rooms we were greeted by a beautiful swan towel.  I don’t care who your are, animal towels will always put a smile on anyone’s face.

After that we had to take a half hour boat ride to get to the snorkeling site.

When we got to land we had some time to kill so we wandered about.

And went out in search of some authentic tacos from Mexico.

I tried a new drink and heads up, it sucks dirty donkey dick.

Here check out the girls reaction to it.

This Mexicano followed me around the corner trying to get me to buy corn. On the way back I insisted that he take a picture with me. You know you totally dig his silver front tooth too. Didn’t realize it then but guess it’s pretty dick of me for using him and his corn for a photo shoot and not buying any corn afterwards. Oh, and your welcome for the crotch shot.

Michelle’s sister was aimlessly wandering about. Mitchell, seriously tell her you want your boots back.

Our glass bottom  boat is here. The clear glass bottom is so cool for all of 20 minutes but once the boat takes off it’s the gorgeous scenery all around us steals the show.

Me and my best bud in the whole wide world.

When we get there Jack jumps right in cause she’s too cool to get schooled.

And everyone follows, but Elicia. She stays behind with her new Mexican boyfriend, Choot Cho.

We snorkel at 3 different locations. It was totally awesome! I think my favorite was the ginormous school of fish right below us. It was so real.

Sorry to disappoint but Mitchell was by far the most fearless.

And Elicia did finally get in.

As you can see we had a blast. By the time where done with our 3rd snorkeling adventure we were totally ready to get back to land, down a few beers and just relax. We had some time to kill before the other boat arrived to take us back to Play Del Carmen so we settled for beers here. Oh did I mention that it’s Jack’s birthday today. Happy Birthday bud. I love you.

We were having so much fun that we almost missed our ride. Whoa, close one girls, especially considering we had to dodge the policia on the way there

We we get back we all agree that we just want to be wined and dined tonight so we got all glammed up and went out for a nice dinner. Man we were some sexy bitches. Play Del Carmen loved us!

Seriously, will someone please get that stupid waiter out of our photo shoot. Sheesh! And whoa, I didn’t realize my dress was so short. Sweeeeet!

Jack got us all Virgo Bash rings to symbolize her Golden Birthday. Man, either these girls need to tan or I’m just freaking dark.

I don’t really remember what we did after dinner but I assure you we had a blast.

Playa Del Carmen I love you!

You heard me right. You see every year my friends do this little thing called Virgo Bash. It’s a celebration of all their birthdays rolled into one big bash. This year was especially special because not only were we celebrating Virgo birthdays but we were also celebrating a lot of our Golden Birthdays as well. The trip was centered around Jackie’s birthday and she wanted to make it a trip to remember and what better way to do that than to make it an only girls trip I’d like to refer to as Panocha Palooza.

This is where we stayed at the first half of our trip. I don’t really remember the name but it was a nice resort on the beach. When we first got there we spent the first hour and a half trying to upgrade our room going from room to sweet to junior sweet and then across the street to the sister hotel to check out their rooms and then back to this resort to check out more rooms only to keep the rooms that was originally booked for us. Yep, totally sound like something that we would do. Now that we have the room situation squared away it’s time to check out the resort. Come on ladies!

First things first, lets eat. You know me, dessert first because I believe in saving the best for first.

After some mediocre food we got into our sexy bikinis and headed straight for the pool. And this is about the time when our high went from high to low. We got scolded like 6 times, no joke. Seriously, we couldn’t smoke in the pool (you know Jack wasn’t happy about that at all). Hell I don’t smoke and I wasn’t happy about that. But not only could we not smoke in the pool we couldn’t bring our drinks in the pool either. Hello we’re on vacation people! Each time they mentioned it to us we said okay and just went about living our lives. And each time they would send someone else over that was higher up in the chain of command  until finally we grew tired of them and took our asses, drinks and cigarettes out of the pool and over to the bar.

Where Jack could smoke to her hearts, or lungs desire.

After a few drinks we got dressed and ventured out. Playa Del Carmen ready or not here we come!

Playa Del Carmen is Awesome! The streets were packed with tourist looking for a good time and locals looking to scam the tourists. Either way everyone is happy. As you can clearly see we we’re all happy.  Not really sure who most of these guys are but everyone just wanted to hang out. The first club we went to had a line and we walked straight to the front and got in cover free. How’d that happen? I don’t know I just kept walking. I think one of these guys knew the bouncer or something.

Swings instead of bar stools, I love it!

We all loved it!

We drank, danced, took more photos . . .

Got a little crazy and walked back to the resort. It was a good first vacation day. I can’t wait till tomorrow!

It’s a bad photo but we finally got around to eating our one year old anniversary cake. I wonder who the hell ever invented this retarded tradition. It can’t be healthy and I’m not saying that just because it’s cake and it certainly wasn’t good. We also opened up the one year old champagne that was given to us by the bed and breakfast where we got married. That tasted like balls too. Eating this better ensures that we never get a divorce.

I’m going out to Sherlocks tonight to meet my friend Lisa and check out her boyfriend and their band. They play 80’s covers and I’m all about the 80’s.

Turns out they’re really really good and apparently I’m not the only one who thinks so. The place was packed tonight. Ray and I stayed as long as we could but we got tired and the couch at home slowly started to seem so much more inviting. What can I say, we’re getting old.

My friend Tiffany is officially a baccalaureate and I couldn’t be more proud of her. At first I was a bit worried that she wasn’t going to make it to her own graduation on time. Luckily her last name is Wilborn which meant she was the 3rd to the last in line and that bought her time. Lucky girl.

Parents, in-laws, sisters, children and anyone whose anyone came out to congradulate her.

Okay now my turn.

After pictures we went to The Salt Grass Steak House.

They have a nice view.

What in tar-nations is going on here?

After dinner we went back to their place where I made strawberry margaritas for everyone, Hawaiian style.

Congratulations Tiff!  Now go get busy on that Masters.

So are we still considered newly weds after a year? Every time I tell someone I miss my husband or I say something sweet people always say, “oh, you guys are cute, oh but wait your still newly weds.” Well I think it’s sad that people stop being in love after years of being together. I certainly hope that after years of being married our love only grows stronger. So far it certainly seems that way. It’s been a year since our wedding day, a year, can you believe it? Even though we’re practically joint at the hip now I still love being with him. He’s my best friend and we’re totally going to grow old together. I love you honey, happy anniversary.

My baby hit another home run today. I’m pretty sure this is his 3rd home run of the season and he didn’t even get to play a full season. All the boys came out to high five him and spank that sexy ass of his. Never really understood the spanking thing, but I like it.

Ever since I was a little girl and I knew wanted to learn how to sew one of the first things I wanted to make was an apron. I wasn’t as fascinated with food back then as I am now but I still want to learn how to sew and I still want my damn apron. I took a sewing class as Joann’s earlier this year and I still can’t believe I still don’t have a stupid sewing machine. Anyhow, I found a photo of this super cute apron in a magazine. Super girlie and totally adorable. I just love the nostalgic almost vintage vibe you get from them. Nobody wears them while cooking anymore, not the pretty ones anyway, which is why I still want to sew one up, eventually.

Chris and Tiffany are in need of a babysitter. Ray has a game which means I’m all alone on this one. Seriously, how hard could it be right. The Semmler boys, they’re good kids and I know they get their fair share of discipline. I’m a huge fan of discipline, hell I’m a huge fan of the back hand if you ask me.

But I would never back hand someone else’s kids. As a matter of fact, when it comes to other people’s kids I’m complete opposite. I’m more like the cool auntie that lets them get away with murder. Just kidding Tiffany, calm down. But no really, I’m more like the super cool babysitter that lets them eat candy and cheetos. Yeah, so I gave them cheetos, fire me.

It’s Scot’s birthday and his lovely wife, Shawna, is throwing him a super hero party. How fun is that? I finally get a chance to wear my ninja mask. Yesss! And it just so happens that Ray has a Mexican wrestler mask lying around. How cool are we?

Cosmo as came as Super Hyperwear and Suzi dressed as Butterfly fairy princess.

Tim as Disco Dude and his wife, Tonya, as Disco Dudette.

Jessy came as Donatello from Ninja Turtles.

The Incredible Hulk.

My hubby and Indiana Jones.

Awe shucks.

Sup.

Taking a break from fighting crime.

I challenge you Superman . . .

Ninja vs Ninja

Vengeance is mine.

Apparently Tim blames his reckless chair dancing on me and like 8  jello shots.

Scott and Shawna are just too cute.

But I guess we’re pretty darn cute too.

What a night. With all the jello shots I took I’m surprised I didn’t get wasted. I can’t wait till the next costume party. Maybe well have to have it at our place next?

Dad is visiting so now’s our chance to take him all over Austin. First stop, the iconic Stevie Ray Vaughn Statue located on Lady Bird Lake. After that we drive him around hill country for a bit.

We made a stop at the state capitol.

The next day Ray had a game and we were sure dad would stay long enough to at least watch his son play ball but he had to drive back home to water his grass. Yep, you read that correctly.

It’s game time and that means my honey has a 50/50 chance of getting an injuring. Well not really but he is super accident prone and tonight we weren’t so lucky. In the last inning my baby got knocked in that hard head of his with the baseball. After the game I had to rush him to the hospital. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about the outstanding hospital fees that would follow and plop itself atop the already outstanding hospital bill I have from my pneumonia scare late last year. Being hospitalized for 5 days is not cheap. But what’s money if I don’t have my bunny to share it with, right? So off to the hospital we go.

Seriously, I don’t appreciate you looking up that sexy night gown of his. Stop that, my baby’s in distress and he doesn’t need you  poking fun at him and he certainly doesn’t need anyone taking photos of him and posting them all over the internet.

After a $5500 dollar cat scan Ray is diagnose with a minor concussion and we go home. But wait, before we do, I have them pull up my file and see where we’re at with financial aid. The lady behind the counter kindly pulls up my case and replies with, “it’s been paid off by charity.” Two words, “FUCK YEAH!” I have her print me a copy of that, initial it and even though my honey is in distress I can’t help leaving the hospital prancing all about with a huge, I mean HUGE smile on my face. Good-bye $30,000.00 of hospital debt and thank you charity. I was wondering where all that extra karma I had stored away went.

What haven’t you ever wore a life jacket diaper before? It’s super durable and sexy as hell. Today we spent the day soaking up the sun at the lake. We were going to bring our boat but the boys couldn’t get the hitch on Blake’s car. Luckily Brian’s boat is big enough for all of us. My friend Tiffany and her man has a slip on the lake where they store their boat. Super convenient and now we totally want a slip too so we don’t have to deal with things like having a hitch and backing that ass down the dock. Another glitch that we came upon was the belt on the boat broke causing the boat to come to a stand still which then caused me to pull out my GIRL CARD and the boys were forced to swim the boat to the dock. I can tell you now that Ray wasn’t very happy with me taking pictures of him pushing the boat. All I can say is, “that’s what you get for marring an Asian honey.”

Hey no worries, problem was soon fixed and the rest of the day was nothing but good times.

I think the best part of the day was shoot’n  the shit while floating on life jacket diapers, drinking beer and trying to knock each other beside the head with a wet hacky sack. Yep, that was definitely the best part of my day. But if you ask Blake, the best part of his day was probably eating ass while attempting to wake board, which he did so well, over and over and over again.

In his defense, he progressively got better.  I’m pretty sure he stayed up for at least 15 seconds in the end.

The rest of the day was smooth sailing.

Even for Blakey Blake.

When dawn came upon us we took our over baked bodies and empty bellies to Iguanas for some good ol Mexican. Wish more days could be this good.

The great thing about having so many friends is that eventually one of their birthdays will come along which gives us yet another reason to have a party. The time has come for Tim to get older and lucky him, because this year his beautiful wife threw him a wonderful party.

As always Bill rocked the house.

Wouldn’t be a party without the sexy ladies.

Chilling with my honey.

So glad that Tiffany and Brian made it.

Smile guys.

It was a great party. Happy birthday Tim!

Happy Birthday Tim from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Just for the record I don’t take pictures at every game, just most of them.

It’s another Friendsday Wednesday! This time we decided to meet up at North by North West because our friend Andrea was singing there. None of us had seen her band yet so we were all pretty excited to see what she’s got and to show our support

Man does she have a voice.

I swear the table wasn’t divided by ladies and dudes, at least not the whole time.

My honey and I.

It was a great night. Andrea and her  band rocked. Service sucked balls but not a big deal when your in the company of good friends. Thanks everyone for coming out.

Our buddy Marco’s is down visiting and with him he brought his family. Ray’s family was also down because his cousin was playing ball here so we gathered everyone up and brought our support out to see him.

That’s his cousin up to bat.

We mingled with them a bit after the game and then parted ways.

The next day Ray had a game too. Marcos was ready to play if they needed an extra player but apparently they were good.

Boy was it a hot day.

The boys had to find ways to make the time go by faster.

I almost felt bad for being the only one with a chair and covering but hey I offered and everyone was too polite to take it out from underneath me.

Well it was a short trip and shortly after the game Marcos and his family bid us farewell. Thanks for coming out guys and even more thanks for coming out to see Ray play. I know it meant a lot to him.

Recently got in touch with an old high school friend on FaceBook. Turns out she lives here in Austin too. How exciting. I am in need of more friends and the older I get the more I love rekindling old friendships. We finally made plans to meet up for lunch on day.

She’s a new and very proud mom to be and her baby is a ham. He absolutely loves the camera and the camera loves him right back.

It’s Father’s Day which means we need to spend some quality time with Pops. We took dad out to lunch at Pappadeaux and then went back to grandpa’s and hung out with him for a while.

Time’s like this really makes me miss my dad. He’s in China right now probably sleeping under a bridge.

I love you dad and miss you very much. Hope your happy and safe.

Wicked Insect from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

This would make an awesome family bus. Oh the crazy road trips we would go on. I could just see it now.

Here are some photos from a couple of Ray’s games. Not sure which ones really or who they were playing but I do know that my baby hit a home run on his second game and then another one his third game.

Yes I’m that crazy wife that’s out there constantly snapping photos of her hubby.

Grabbed some breakfast with my hubby today at the Omelettry.

And then he took me out for ice cream afterwords at Freddy’s Frozen Custard. Never been there before, but they had me at frozen custard.

Today I went to Sparrows to meet up with some of my girlfriends for some pool side fun. What a better way to spend the day. Sparrow, being the escentric host that she is bought us all these awesome visors, noodles, cups, towels, candy . . . am I forgetting anything? Probably. She’s a hoot and we all love her.

It’s Adrian’s birthday and he is a big 5 years old this year.

Happy Birthday Adrian! from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Birthday Wishes from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

I think we’re almost ready for some babies of our own.

Adrian Eating His Birthday Cake from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

There was a lightning storm going on. Pretty crazy and scary at the same time so after cake and presents we all gather around outside for a better view.

Happy Birthday Adrian.

Ray and I have been working out at this place called Catz, a hardcore training facility geared toward athletes.  It’s been really great because not only have we been getting great workouts but we also met some awesome friends in the process. All the trainers here are super talented and not to mention cool as fuck. Our friend Cosmo and Suzi founders and owner of Hyper Wear created this weight vest. Unlike other vests, it’s not bulky or ulgy, which is the reasons why I have never even considered wearing one before. They also created this sand bell that I’m holding up in the photo, (It was my first sand bell fill so I had to document it). We use them in almost every work out and they have been selling out like hot cakes to random schools and such. Ray’s been involved by redesigning their site. Check it out and while your there buy a vest.

Hey we got a new dining table. Had to call Chris to the rescue to assist us in retrieving it because he’s the one with the big SUV.

And look at that, there’s a chip in it. Awesome. I don’t think I could live with this. We’re gonna have to return this one. Sorry Chris.

My husband just joined a baseball league. He hasn’t played in a couple of years so he went to a batting cage for some practice.

Don’t think he needed it though. My baby hit a homerun in his second game and then another one the next game. He’s a natural.

Huh, this is something you don’t see everyday.

Obviously he doesn’t take after his mother.

Sleeping with The iPhone from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Today I met my bud Brandi at the pool. It was a good day to soak up the some sun.

Sonic is giving away free root beer floats today! And if you know me then you know they had me at FREE!

Today I have two dinner dates. I have to meet my Catz’s girls, Lauren and Suzi at 6 for sushi and then my bud Brandi at 7-ish. Sushi was suprisingly really good and free. Thanks Lauren and Suzi. I have to say coming from Hawaii I was really skeptical of the sushi in Texas but it was yummy. Yay! Brandi met picked me up and with her she brought her daughter and her best friend. They make me wish I were young again.

It was a good night.

Even when he’s begging he’s irresistible.

We finally got a chance to take our boat out. It’s about time. We looked like a bunch of morons backing the boat down the dock since none of us had much experience at it but once we got the boat in the water it was smooth sailing from there.

Unfortunately we had to cut it short because I had prior plans to meet my girl frineds at the Oasis. The lake was a last minute trip and I’d be damned if I let Ray go out without me, for the first time anyway.

Looks like we have a busy weekend ahead of us. Bea’s is flying in for her baby shower. My best bud, Jack, is flying in from Florida and Ray and I couldn’t be more excited to see everyone. We make plans to meet everyone at Snuffer’s when we arrive in Dallas. After dinner we drag poor preggo Bea to Loft 1610 where VIP table side service awaits us.

I got really drunk and got scolded for getting my own drinks by both the wait staff and the bouncer. I don’t really remember the situation but I’m sure it was funny.

Loft 1610 in Dallas from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

The next day was Bea’s baby shower. I was in charge of the games because I’m totally awesome.

The boys sucking apple juice out of a bottle. Come on guys, it’s just like sucking on a nipple.

Kuya Ben mentally preparing himself for the pudding shit he’s about to consume out of a diaper.

And the winner is awarded . . . a lovely photo of preggo Bea!

The boys listening carefully to my instructions.

Kimmy’s little boy, Max.

Bernh’s little baby.

Little Cloe wrapping a toilet paper diaper. This doesn’t look good. Please don’t photo shop this anyone.

Lyric gets one too. Man, Jackie’s good at this.

I get one, but McKayla wasn’t very gently and the paper kept ripping.

Team Cooper.

Kuya Vince, I have no words for you right now.

Winner!

Next is time for Bea to get some practice feeding the baby, blind folded. If you ever wanted to get Bernh back for anything Bea Bot here’s your chance.

So close.

Good job! Your mother instincts really kicked in there. Way to go!

Bea and Mama. I love them both very much.

Next was musical diaper shit. This game sucked.

After baby shower extravaganzia Jackie and I went on a trip down memory lane to see her old house.

But it was gone. The house was apparently knocked down awhile back. Sorry Jack, you can cry in the car lets move on shall we. It’s dinner time.

Oh God, am I drunk already. Sheeesh!

After dinner we all wandered to some club.

I always have so much fun when I’m around Jack.

All I remember is being in a totally crowded elevator and getting everyone involved in a high five session.

It’s morning and I’m still not home. What a night.

Our friend Steven Ray is an awesome photographer and since I’m an aspiring photographer I thought I’d asked him to teach me a thing or two. So the next time we went to Dallas we stopped by his place on the way home for my first photography class.

Ray was our sexy model.

Him and this beautiful chocolate lab.

Ray’s upset the lab made a better model.

Can never  leave home without the iPhone.

My hubby’s hot.

Nycole and I.

She’s a dancer and  suggested a few sexy poses for us, but I don’t think we executed it correctly.

What can I say, we’re cute.

And violent.

I could use more classes like this. Thanks Steven Ray and Nycole. You guys are too cool for school.

It must be pretty obvious that I’m a camera clicking whore because I was asked to take photos of the students at a private elementry school.  This was a great experience for me and after this I realize that I definitely need more experience and that I should not work with kids, ever.

After taking all the student photos we gathered them all outside for a class photo. This was a lot harder than it seemed. Oh boy!

It was a bright sunny day.

Gotta admit though, some of these kids are pretty darn cute.

At least now I know as much as I love photography taking student photos is not my forte

Sleepy Kola from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Trapped In A Moving Van from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Ray and I were invited to join Jacey’s birthday festivities. She had a small get together at a small wine bar in down town Austin.

John Mendoza showed up too.

Hey, hey, no holding hands at the table. Oh what the hell, it’s your birthday, carry on.

After barrels of wine we headed next door for Mexican.

And Ray’s food.

I can’t get over how adorable Jacey is. Happy Birthday Jacey. Thanks for inviting us to celebrate with you.

Hey what do you know, it’s Lindsay’s birthday. Sparrow, being the ever so considerate bubble of joy that she is got everyone together for a fun birthday dinner. She also gathered up a money pool and got Lindsay a nice little spa package. Lucky girl, I could really use a day at the spa myself.

Time for birthday spankings.

Look, Jeremy does exist. And the whole time I thought he was a figment of her imagination.

Happy Birthday Lindsay. Hope it was a good one.

Bea’s flying in which means we have no choice but to drive up to Dallas to go run her belly. Oh, don’t know if I mentioned it yet, but Bea’s prenant. Yay! I’ve never seen a pregnant woman so effing adorable.

Kuya benn looks good in a hat and I don’t care what anyone has to say I rock in my clip-ons.

I snapped a photo just as Ray threw a ball on Ben as he was sleeping. Oh how we love to torment him. Poor Ben.

Before we head home Ray finally gets to work on his car with his dad.

We finally gave in and made that call that Kola dreads so much. We put it off as long as we could but his random yelps, turned to cries and them screams. We didn’t know what the heck was going on with him.

He was so ready to go home as soon as we got there. I had to comfort him.

Turns out he had arthritis.

Amet’s coming down for a party and since we were somewhat in the area we decided to meet him there. We got lost along the way and unfortunately by the time we got there everyone had already eaten so most of the food was put away. Oh well, at least the drinks were still out and by the way, Yes that was Amet’s drink the whole night, no cup necessary.

300 Austin

I’m a fan of bowling because it’s the only sport where you can eat and play at the same time. How awesome is that?

300 Austin

Blake came along too.

300 Austin

As you can see I need lots of practice.

300 Austin

It was a fun night.

300 Austin

Dude this totally reminds me of the time when our good friend and roommate, Shane started this huge ring around the rosie fest. First it was just like 5 of us and then we did it again and more people joined and then again and more people and finally there was like 30 adults, probaly very drunk, at the park, after a concert doing ring around the rosie. At the time it seemed like a retarted idea, but in the end it was the perfect ending to our night. Kudos to the ones that make it happen.

On Easter Ray and I, I kid you not, actually went to church.

It’s Bill’s birthday and this year his girlfriend decided to throw him a surprise Gangsta 80’s themed birthday.

Themed parties, count me in. I finally have a reason to buy those high top converse I’ve had my eyes on.

Our new BFF’s Lauren and Blake.

Bill arrives, check out the video.

Bill’s Surprise Birthday Party from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

The line up.

Gangstas Boys.

All the gangsta ladies.

Don’t judge her.

Those must be some good wings.

Come on, just give him a kiss already.

What happens in the ladies room stays in the ladies room.

My new BFF’s.

Good times.

The pizza guy arrived the and all the ladies swooned to him.

Bill it’s time to take it off.

And get wet. I love this photo.

No birthday would be complete without cake.

Bill’s Birthday Cake Blow Out from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

I totally look like Eircle here with my shorts so high up and camera around my neck.

I wouldn’t mess with them.

Gangsta love.

Toward the end of the night we gathered everyone around to played games. Someone tell that annoying little Asian to sit her ass down.

What a great party.

I made chow fun for dinner tonight and the next morning I made some banana pancakes from scratch.

They were goooood.

Today was our first day hanging out with our new friend Blake outside of Catz. We grilled up some food on the BBQ and soaked up the sun by the pool side. It was a fun filled day.

Untitled from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Later that night Blake took us to the Hula Hut.

It was right on the lake and everything.

After dinner Blake took us to Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar.

Where he danced his heart out on stage.

Blake Getting Down at Pete’s Dueling Piano Bar from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

I actually got up on stage too but luckily no one recorded that.

Ray came down with the worst case of sun burn he ever had, so bad that he wouldn’t let me post the photos of him up on here but after poking fun and taking a bunch of photos of him I came across this in a magazine I was reading and then felt bad.

Astronaut Ice Cream

Normally you couldn’t get me to pay 1.99 for one ice cream sandwich, but this isn’t any ordinary ice cream sandwich, this is astronaut ice cream, the stuff they eat in space . . . NOT.  Actually my friend Marco’s works for NASA and he said this stuff never made it to the moon. Well it might not have made it to the moon but rest assure it will make it to the cavernous abyss of my mouth, where it will get swallowed up never to be seen again. I promise you that.

Astronaut Ice Cream

I couldn’t wait to get home and sample this foreign object. I examined it first. It was hard, not hard like I could use it as brass knuckles and beat you with it because it was super light, like hard styrofoam.  It’s not something I would crave on a hot summer’s day but if it were lying around the house and I happen to be walking by I would definitely pick it up as a quick snack out of mere boredom. You know, this would be the perfect dessert food to bring along while camping.

Here’s Ray’s analysis of it.

Astronaut Ice Cream from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

There you have it, Astronaut ice cream. Go out and try it for yourself.

My friend Guav has a mom who I know by Guav Mom, no not Guav’s mom, but Guav Mom. She’s a kind, gentle woman and one of her favorite hobbies and talents is crochet. She’s bad ass at it and can make damn near anything. After our first visit she already ask me if I want her to make me a hat. Sure I love hat’s. Actually I love almost anything free but what I really love is things that were made especially for me from people I love. Now that’s one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. I was visiting Bea and Guav over in the east coast at the time and within about a week of meeting Guav Mom I recieve a package in the mail. My beautiful hat has arrived. She made it perfectly to fit my head so that it doesn’t cover my eyes when I pull it all the way down like most hats do on my head, leaving me looking like a condom head and that’s not cool. So a few weeks back a recieved yet another package in the mail, Gauv Mom had made me a shaw to go with my hat. I love it. You can’t see, but the top is angled so that it rest behind the back of ny neck perfectly. I love that she pays attention to small details like that. Well I love my new hat and shaw and I love that Guav has a mother that’s as sweet as strawberry cupcakes with buttercream frosting and I think I love Guav Mom.

I made me some vegetarian pizza today. It was awesome.

Ray got his usual sausage and mushroom with extra cheese.

And then we spent our night at the Alamo Drafthouse where we watched Lost, the best show ever.

Dreyer's Maxx

Sorry Jackie Dreyer’s beat you to it but I have no doubt Loaded will be way better.

Dallas here we come again. I don’t remember exactly why we drove up this time but it was a busy trip. First we met Steven at Ten on Main Street. Frank a.k.a D.J. Love was D.J.ing that night and I finally got to see him in action. Check it out.

Frank a.k.a D.J. Love @ Ten on Main from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

The next day we met everyone at La Cubanita.

Me and pops.

My order and it was so good.

Mable was in town, yay! Wow, they totally already look like a family.

After brunch we headed to Dallas Black Dance Theatre where Nycole teaches dance.

We got the V.I.P tour of the place and even got the see her students perform an African dance for us. Check it.

Dallas Black Dance Theatre from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Then a bunch of us went to the mall with where we met Bernh and her family for movie time fun.

For dinner we went to Benihana or was it Kobe steak house?

The next day we ate at some well known burger joint.

But the best part of our trip was going to Sprinkles. Can you believe I never heard about this place until today?

It was amazing.

And later we went out for Vietnamese, another one of my favorites.

The next morning we took pops out to Cafe Brazil.

Ray’s food.

My food. What can I say, I like salads.

Culver's

I’m not really what you call a burger and fries kind of gal but I do enjoy more than my fair share of desserts. It was our first time here and we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s all just mediocre food and that’s me being nice. In my opinion there’s just too much good stuff going on in Austin to have mediocre food in my belly.

Culvers from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Culver's

My first Friendsday Wednesday at Red Robin with Suzi, and Sparrow.

If you know me then you know I’m a sugar whore. I love dessert, the way it looks, taste and smell. Besides the fact that it could make you fat and possibly give you diabettes, what’s not to love. Luckily I have a personal driver, whom I also like to refer to as my husband. He drives me around and talks endlessly about things like how to go about fixing up his new Ram Charger. I’ve mastered the art of pretending to listen by nodding my head and giving feedback randomly like, “uh huh, really, awesome, and good times.” Good times is a good one to throw out because it works well for anything, good or bad because it can imply sarcasm if someone is bitching. While he drives my mind is constantly scanning the area for new bakeries, cake shops, sweets etc. to try out.  We were walking down the street the other day when I was like, “lets head down here, there’s a bakery down that way that I’ve been meaning to try.” “Huh, there is?” he says. Yeah, that’s just how my mind works, always has, always will.

Sweetish Hill

Today I got the Peanut butter and Chocolate Cupcake. It was heavenly. I generous, creamy sweet glob of peanut butter on top of chocolate rich cake and then smothered  with sweet decadent chocolate sauce. A must try for any peanut butter fan.

Sweetish Hill Bakery & Cafe

As you can see I couldn’t wait to take a bite before I took the photo. This was some apple pastry, very similar to apple pie, except instead of chunks of apple for the filling it was more like apple mush, or apple sauce. Looks better than it tasted but still very tasty indeed.

Half way through my sweets I suddenly felt a very heavy feeling of being watched. I looked over and saw this bird staring at me like he was possessed by an evil demon or something. Seriously, it just stared at me with its bitty little bulging eyeballs and puffed up feathers the whole time I ate, exactly like you see you the photo here.  I suddenly became very uncomfortable and intrigued. This is weird. This bird must be retarded and I’m outta here.

Sweetish Hill

Sweetish Hill Bakery & Cafe
1120 West Sixth Street, Austin, Texas 78703
512.472.1347 •  Fax Orders: 512.472.6041

Locks Bagel

One of the best breakfast meals is none other than the Locks Bagel. It’s not too heavy and super filling. I’m not sure how good, or bad it is for you but it never bogs me down and when I accidently burn the bagel my husband seldom notices because of all the yummy stuff on top.

Locks Bagel

Sliders

I decided to make sliders for dinner tonight and completely rocked it. Yeah!  Can you tell which plate is vegan and which isn’t?

Sliders

I’m not gonna lie though, I baked the fries to bloody hell. I didn’t mind it so much, but I tend to like my food burnt to a crisp. It’s just that I really wanted to make my husband a perfect dinner tonight, ah well. Next time honey. Ray did mention that my sliders were the best he ever had in the entirety of his life. What can I say, I’m bad ass.

Game Night @ the Semmlers

It’s game night @ the Semmlers again. It’s not often that we get to hang out with our good friends Chris and Tiffany so when they invited  us over for game night and even offered to make us dinner we were so there. Really, you guys had me at dinner.

Snapped a photo of Noah before his bedtime.

Dinner @ the Semmlers

I forgot Chris just had knee surgury so he’s cooking with crutches and all. I almost felt bad for the guy and then I forgot he’s indestructible. Carry on, carry on. Bread, shrimp fettuccine, and steaks and wine for dinner tonight. And for dessert we had strawberry short cake ala mode. It was money.

The Semmlers

Aren’t they just the cutest?

Semmlers

Are right already, get a room, or go to your room and I’ll help myself to more strawberry short cake ala mode. So dirty.

Semmlers

After dinner we played Pictionary Man. It’s a lot like Pictionary, but with a man and a block.  Here check it out.

Pictionary Man from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

I’m not gonna lie, they sucked donkey balls. I don’t know if the girls did that bad, probably not. But just so I don’t have to hear Ray cry, here’s another video where they stepped it up a bit.

Ray Plays Pictionary Man from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Good job boys, way to not completely suck.

Ever since I met Brandi, Kimmy’s sister, at my wedding and found out that she too lives in Austin I’ve been meaning to give her a call. Finally only eight short months later I did exactly that and now I’m wondering what the hell took me so long. I mean this girl is a lot of fun and really cute.

Before we met up with her we had some tapas at Malaga’s Tapas and Bar.

Malaga Tapas and Bar

It was exactly as I had suspected, small portions of overpriced mediocre food. Hey, but I had to know, every time Ray and I drive by this place I’m like, “oooooh, we need to try that place one day. It looks cute.” And that it is. It’s a really cute restaurant, service is great and they have wine galore to choose from.

I don’t remember the name of this dish but it was like a slice of potato pie, a mushy one at that with a burnt bottom crust.

Malaga Tapas and Bar

I’m not gonna lie though, if you come here try the Portobellos Alinados dish (top dish), marinated portobellos on top a bed of cheese and then drizzled with warm balsamic vinegar dressing. It was money.

Malaga Tapas and Bar

The best thing about Malaga’s is that it’s “a 21 and up establishment.” So if your here on a date you don’t have to worry about any annoying  little brats in the distance.

South By South West was still in effect. The streets were busy and the air was fill with beats and rhythms. We were now on our way to Shiner’s Saloon where Steven, Brandi’s boyfriend was playing.

Shiner’s Saloon

I tried to get a good picture of Steven and his band but failed. I don’t remember the name of the band but I do know that they fucking rock. As soon as their band came on the crowd instantly tripled in size. You can kinda make him out in the back, the guy in the green shirt playing guitar.

Shiner’s Saloon

We warmed up the sad lonely saddle and put it to good use.

Shiner’s Saloon

Me and my sexy husband. Hey ladies, you can look but if you touch I’m gonna crack your skull open with my beer bottle.

Shiner’s Saloon

This is me practicing my sweet air guitar moves.

Shiner’s Saloon

I forgot this chick’s name but those aren’t her drums. She was a lot of fun and thinking about moving to Austin. Who knows, maybe we’ll be friends.

Shiner’s Saloon

Me and Steve snuggling it up for the camera.

Shiner’s Saloon

What a great night. Brandy was so much fun, Steven’s band rocked out with no cocks out, and it’s SXSW!

Keep on keep it on.

Austin Green Living Convention

The day after the  Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show Convention was Austin’s Green Living Convention held at the Austin Convention Center. The Cake and Sugar Art Show should of been here because this place was awesome.

Austin's Green Living Convention

Just pass these doors lies an eco geek’s dream.

Austin's Green Living Convention

It was pretty spectacular.

Austin's Green Living Convention

It gave Ray a boner and now he’s got all these ideas on how he wants to go about building our home.

Austin's Green Living Convention

I saw some chicken coops on Planet Green television once and ever since I wanted one. Guess I’m really a country girl at heart. Well they had some chicken coops here and they were awesome. For as many eggs as we go through we’re definitely getting one of these when we have a home of our own.

Austin's Green Living Convention

I’m thinking Ninja Fries.

I think the Austin Green Living Convention was a success. They even had tons of edible samples, lotions, scrubs, etc. Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show take notes will ya. We left with lots of great ideas and contacts to assist in executing out those ideas in the future. The day was still young so we headed to one of my favorite stores ever, Anthropologie. I swear they always have the most creative design in this store.

Anthropologie

I love this store but everything is always so expensive. A cheap Asian in an expensive store is not the best mix so soon we left to grab a bite to eat. After a long and thorough process of elimination we decided upon the Waterloo Ice House.

Waterloo Ice House

Not really the best place to dine for a non-meat eater like myself.

Waterloo Ice House

But the important thing is that my honey seems to like it.

Waterloo Ice House

And they have lots of beer.

Waterloo Ice House

The button mushrooms were bomb diggitty, crispy, piping hot and not greasy at all.

Waterloo Ice House

And my small green salad was fresh and crisp.  Yep, no complaints from me today. I’m as happy as a scary clown.

Maki Sushi

Today Ray and I went to Maki Sushi. The place is polished off with a modern retro design.

Maki Sushi

But unlike most sushi restaurants you order at the counter. The procedure is very much similar to the way you order a sandwich at sub shop. You pick the ingredients you want, they roll it, you pay, sit and then bon appetite. I applaud them for taking chances but call me old fashion, I’d rather just order something off the menu, which is exactly what I did. I got the special of the day.

Maki Sushi

A little too much creamy stuff going on. It was good but definitely tasted nontraditional, or Americanized, or like a white person that was given 2 hours of training on the art of rolling sushi made it, which was probably the case.

Ray bought one of those weird but yummy Asian drinks that has some kind of odd contraption on it. If you’ve had it before then you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Maki Sushi

For even more delicious this drink . . .

Maki Sushi

But the best part of this meal was the bubbies ice cream balls. Bubbies is a Hawaii company; Ray and I use to go there all the time when we lived in Hawaii. You can read about it here and here.

Maki Sushi

Orgasmic.

maki.us.com

I must of made a really good impression on Brandi because before we left Shiner’s last night she invited me out to brunch. Fuck yeah, I love eating. I’ve never been to Shoal Creek Saloon but they can bet on seeing more of me in the future. They have a very inviting patio out back, large television so you sports fans can watch the game and fresh craw fish galore. There’s nothing better than getting your hands dirty, watching the game over a few bloody Marys and beers with a group a friends on a Sunday afternoon. What could be better?

Shoal Creek Saloon

What could be better? Ask and you shall receive. As we where heading out this is what walked right past us.

Just another Sunday stroll

Oh boy, oh boy! I effing heart Austin. What a great place to live!  Brought back fond memories of living in San Francisco when this walked by . . .

San Francisco, CA

One of my favorite places to go in Austin is down around Lady Bird Lake, also know as Town Lake. On July 26 2007, the Austin City Council passed a resolution authorizing the renaming of the reservoir from Town Lake to Lady Bird Lake in honor of Lady Bird Johnson, the former First Lady of the United States and a long-time resident of the Austin area. It was so confusing in the beginning because we were told it was Lady Bird Lake, and then there were signs that said Town Lake, we didn’t know what lake we  were at.

Ray and Stevie Ray Vaughan

In 1994, the city of Austin erected the Stevie Ray Vaughan Memorial Statue at Auditorium Shores on Lady Bird Lake, the site of a number of Vaughan’s concerts. It has become one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions and definitely was one of ours when we first moved to Austin. Stevie Ray Vaughan is Ray’s all time favorite guitarist and musician. He’ll try to test me sometimes by asking, “who’s my favorite guitar player?” or if we’re walking by the statue, “do you know who this is?” I made sure I knew.

Lady Bird Lake

During this time SXSW was still in effect but the interactive part was over and the focus was music and film. The parks were busy with concert stuff and for some reason these mushrooms were placed randomly on the side of the park. I don’t know, I totally dig it and hope they’re here to stay. If I could I would steal them and place them in the backyard of my home, but I don’t have a backyard and there’s not enough room in my little Scion for these mushrooms.

Take a closer look, not at the guy on the motorcycle but the dog in the basket. The dog is wearing a helmet and sun glasses. How effing cute is that. Excuse me while I throw up. I’m going out to get Kola a set of matching swim trunks to match my bikini so we can look this cute when we’re out at the lake this summer.

These days I do more cooking than I did when my parents owned the Golden Dragon. Only this time it’s things like chicken cordon bleu, lamb skewers and shrimp enchiladas instead of pork fried rice and shrimp chow mein. I’m not gonna lie, it doesn’t always turn out as tasty as I’d hope but that’s okay because I always strive to do better the next time around. Ray’s great about giving me his honest opinion because he knows that I appreciate it. Brutal honest is a beautiful thing.

Lamb and shrimp skewers for my baby. The shrimp was great but the lamb was another story. I think I might have marinated the lamb too long because they turned out a bit mushy. At least that’s the feedback I got. I deal with lamb like hardly ever so I definitely practice there.

My tofu and fish ball skewers were awesome though. I loved it. They were nicely done and had great flavor. Kudos for me in that department.

You know, they say the way to a man’s heart is through his belly. I’m not sure if that’s completely true, but what I do know is that it is through mine and that is why I love myself so effing much.

I’m pretty sure Ray and I found our new Wednesday hot spot at the Village Alamo Drafthouse. Every Wednesday at around 9:30 or 10:00 they play two episodes of Lost, an episode from the prior week and one from the current week. It works out great because last week Ray and I were an episode behind and by the time we left the Alamo Drafthouse we were not only all caught up but we got to watch two spanking hot episodes in a row on the big screen, without commercials and while eating food and delicious dessert. It works out too if your not behind because Lost gets to be so confusing that it helps to watch the prior week even if you had already seen it. Now if your not a Lost junkie like we are then you mine as well skip this post and move on to the next one, no offense but you just wouldn’t understand. Now if your all confused and just can’t seem to get a grasp on it check out this site I found a while back. It totally cleared a few things up for me.

Lost @ The Village Alamo Drafthouse

If your thinking about coming better come early, or get your tickets online because they sell out every show. The reason why Ray and I were behind last week was because we were denyed entry the week before because they had sold out.

WordPress BBQ Luncheon

Yeah, so I’m a little late on current news, what can I say, I’ve been busy making shit happen but a lot has happen since and I finally got some time to tell you all about it.

First Chris flew in but he flew in for a different conference, it just so happens that his ran into the week SXSW began. One of the first things we did was go to Buffalo Billiards for a few games of pool,

Buffalo Billiards

where Ray opened a can of whoop ass on us, as usual and Chris and I played the longest game of pool in history. To make Chris feel better about loosing so bad Ray let him teach him how to play foosball and pretend to really care.

Buffaalo Billiards

What a boring game.

Foosball

Chris knew more about the bar scene downtown than we did, which really doesn’t surprise me. He took us to one of his favorite bars called Legends Sports Bar to end the night.

Legends Sports Bar and Grill

The next day Beau flew in and that’s when South By South West really started for us.

Beau, the Victim

Beau is a super nerd and definitely one of the smartest friends we have. He was way more involved in SXSW and was even there to represent Word Press.

Beau, the Super Nerd

We bar hopped to a bunch of random bars that I don’t really remember, but what I do remember is that is was cold as fuck.

Beau, the Alcoholic

So the best thing about the picture right above is the man standing behind Beau. I was actually trying to slyly take a photo of him by pretending to take a photo of Beau. I obviously wasn’t that sly because the dude knew and looked right at me and smiled for the photo. Unfortunately he’s not in focus but if he were you’d see that he had a tiny telescope attached on the right part of his glasses. He just walked around the bar like that the whole time. It was weird, creepy and hilarious.

Maria Maria

Later on Ray, Chris and I had dinner at Maria Maria. It was a cute place but the service was shitty. There was a long piece of hair in my appetizer and  on top of having meat in my entree it was super salty. I sent my meal back and got dessert instead. After dinner we went around to a few more bars that I don’t remember. I took a cab home shortly after though because too much drinking fuels my fire. I’m not much of a drinker and sometimes being around certain people I can’t help but to get rubbed the wrong way where all I want to do is connect faces to my dark, brown, sexy boots. Going home was definitely the right choice because the Universe saw my nasty mood and delivered the perfect cab driver right to me. By the time I arrived at my destination I was in a completely different state of mind. It’s funny how different people can manage to bring out the best and worst in some. Ray stumbled home with Beau, Chris and our good friend Steven Ray some time later that night.

Ray Hernandez, photo by Beau Lebens

The next day I was on my own because the boys went off to do what they do best, be super nerds. They created a “Photo with Beau Scavenger Hunt Contest” that night that I followed on FaceBook every time they tweet about it. At around 3 in the morning the boys stumbled in and Ray got scalded for not calling me all day and night. Bad husband.

WordPress BBQ Luncheon, photo by Beau Lebens

I did tag along the next day though. I was actually signed up for one event, the Word Press BBQ Luncheon. They had me at free food and organic vegan cupcakes.

WordPress BBQ Luncheon

I took the last of the cupcakes.

WordPress BBQ Luncheon

Sorry Chris.

WordPress BBQ Luncheon

We hit the bars after the barbecue.

Moonshine Patio Bar & Grill

Later on that night we ended up at the Tumblr party.

SXSW Tumblr Party

They had me at open bar.

SXSW Tumblr Party

Ray was a fan of the open bar too.

SXSW Tumblr Party

Steven was planning on leaving that night back to Dallas so we didn’t want to stay out too late. We sobered up at the coffee shop next door and bid one another farewell. I was ready to be home, but poor Ray, he had to head back out in a few hours to pick up drunken Beau.

The next day we grabbed lunch at Woodland Restaurant on South Congress and drove the last of our guests to the airport.

Woodland Restaurant

Creamy Tomato Soup @ Woodland Restaurant

Woodland Restaurant

Cover 3

Ray and I had dinner or lunch here a while back. It’s a nice sports bar, the kind of place where you see a lot of pretentious assholes in suits.

I like the big screens they had throughout the place.

Cover 3

Cover 3

Food wasn’t bad either.

Cover 3

Cover 3

So the whole reason why we had to leave Dallas after only one day was because the next day was the Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show. I’ve never been to one but I watch them all the time on the Food Network wishing that I had. Well a lot of crazy things happen here in Austin and it just so happens that they have their own cake club called That Takes the Cake and they were putting on the Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show. So sorry Bea and Mable, I know your in town, but cake awaits me so I must go.

Retro Nintendo. I’m sure this brought back fond memories for Ray.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

Of course being in Austin the theme was music this year. Humm, I wonder what it was last year?

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

Harley-Davidson Motor Cycles. I took this photo for Guav.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

Pretty jukebox.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

Naughty mice.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

Can you Believe this horse is a cake too?

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

The Beatles and The Yellow Submarine.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

Yes this duck is a delicious cake too.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

This was my favorite. Looks just like a real porcelain doll.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

This one was interesting.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

Kinda freaky if you ask me.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

Yep, definitely creepy.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

This is one way to make your kids eat their veggies.

Ausit Cake and Sugar Art Show

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

This was Ray’s favorite.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

Looks just like a real Coach Handbag. Nope, ladies this one is a knock off. Here let me get rid of it for you.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

Guitar Hero. If you don’t like this one your lame.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

This is another one of my favorites. So so cute.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

Seriously, how cute is this.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

But if I had to pick I think this would be the one for me. I could totally relate.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

I was kinda disappointed because I was hoping to there would be samples of all kinds of delicious goodness here but just a lot of eye candy instead. So I made Ray do a search for Sugar Mama’s Bake Shop, a cupcake place I recently read about in Tasty Touring, a local Austin blog. I’m gonna have my cake and eat it too, even if it’s a cupcake.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

Juicy Fruit the tastes is gonna move ya. Burgers and gum on this one.

Austin Cake and Sugar Art Show

Yay we found Sugar Mama’s and it was glorious!

Sugar Mama's, Austin TX

Glorious I tell you glorious!

Sugar Mama's

I can’t decide. I want them all in my mouth.

Sugar Mama's

This is how you end a cake convention Austin. Come follow me. I will teach you the way.

Dad got a new puppy and this is how she likes to sleep.

Seriously, how cute is she. Bea wanted to take her home but mean O’ Guav wouldn’t have it.

Dinner @ Alo in Dallas

So Ben calls in the morning, “I’m picking Bea up from the airport now, are you guys coming up?” “Uh, well we weren’t exactly planning on it but since you use Bea against me, yes, yes we are.” That’s the story of our life, we never make plans but somehow we always have them, spontaneously. Mable was already in Dallas and we had put off driving up to see them in hopes that they would give in and just drive down to see us instead. I’m so tired of traveling but since we were going for just one day I guess it wouldn’t be that bad.

Me and Mabel

We made plans for everyone to meet at Alo, a cute little restaurant in Dallas. Wow, I didn’t expect so many people to show up. One thing led to another and before we knew it we were waiting on a table for 11. Kuya Vince came, Bernah and Sam, Raul and his wife, even Dad decided to come along. It was awesome.

Mabel, Awesome Person, Bea

I got to finally met Mabel for the first time. It’s true, she’s more alluring in person than she is via chat and FaceBook. But the best part of the night was the tummy rub I got to give Bea. I mean what kind of friends would we be if we didn’t come see one of our bestest friends and rub her pregnant belly for the first time. Yes, you heard right, I’m going to be a new auntie come August. I can’t wait!

Delicious Food

A great way to celebrate is with dessert. Famous Berry 4 Leches Cake above, $7.75. Yes 4 and not the usual 3. It was awesome, but I’ve had better and for a lot less. We couldn’t just get one. As they say variety is the spice of life, this is certainly true when one is dealing with dessert. We also ordered Josefina: hazelnut – caramelized sugar pastry, vanilla bavarian cream & berries, $7.75. Josefina is like an overrated prostitute. On the outside she’s luscious, sexy and overpriced but once you get a taste of her you’ll soon come to find she doesn’t put out a lot of action. She was also so difficult to eat that Ben and Mabel gave up on her early and left her all to me. Hey when it comes to desserts I’ll take sloppy seconds. Everything at Alo was actually hit or miss. My drink was orgasmic. Mabel and Sam’s rice was dog food. Ray’s enchiladas was right on and the service sucked sour dragon  balls.

Delicous Food

Ben, Mabel and I shared because sharing is caring and not sharing will get you killed.

Dinner At Alo

Girls on one side of the table and boys on the other. It was like we were speed dating. Sheesh, my date sucks, how many more minutes do I have with this loser. I kid, I kid. Your the king of Awesome honey, don’t ever let anyone tell you different.

Speed Dating @ Alo

Anyhow, after dinner we went to a Sherlock Pub but it was so crowded that we left and decided to go bowling instead. Yes bowling, because we’re crazy like that. But 300 Dallas had a wait of 1 hour and 30 minutes so fuck that. We ended up at a dive karaoke bar called Outer Marker. I said it once and I’ll say it many many times again, dive bars rock. No one karaoked but I give Ben props because he really wanted to go up there, just not alone and all of us bailed on him. Sorry Kuya Ben maybe next time.

Outer Marker Karaoke Bar

Marti Gra, Coyote Ugly

Hey it’s the weekend of Marti Gra and looks who happens to be in town . . . yep our buddy Marcos and he brings with him a lovely lady friend, Heather and it just so happens to be her birthday. Ray and I actually had no idea it was Marti Gra until were already out but it definitely made it easier on us to show them a good time.

Marti Gra, Coyote Ugly

First we met them at Progress Coffee, because Ray had read somewhere that they have amazing sandwiches, and if you know Ray you’d know he’s crazy about his sandwiches. Ray ordered a turkey, bacon and guacamole sandwich and it sucked balls. The sandwich was super dry but the coffee shop itself was really nice and artsy. I’m sure they have really nice coffee and fast internet too.

Progress Coffee

Afterwards we headed down to 6th Street. Luckily we got there early and scored sweet parking, walked around for a bit, got dessert at the Old Pecan Cafe, my idea of course and then spent the rest of our night at the Coyote Ugly Saloon.

Since we got there early we also scored a pretty sweet table right smack in front of all the action. At first there wasn’t much people there but as the night progressed the more chaotic it got. At the Coyote Ugly they don’t discriminate. They’re all about empowering intoxicated females to connect with their inner whore. Come one come all, hotties, fatties, milfs, and sluts come dance on the bar for just one dollar. Why is this our first time here?

Marti Gra, Coyote Ugly

I love it when fatties get up there because they always dance the dirtiest. It’s great entertainment.

Marti Gra, Coyote Ugly

Ray tried to spice things up a bit by waging war between Marcos and Heather. Marcos had to go buy Penis Head a drink and Heather had to go buy some random dude a drink and who ever did it first wins keeps their honor.

Marti Gra, Coyote Ugly

Marcos dominated like a champ. Without any hesitation he got up, walked over to the other side of the bar where Penis Head was already being hit on by another dude and asked if it was alright if he bought her a shot. She musta felt like a beauty queen all night. Oh, by the way this is Penis Head. You know the part in the movie Coyote Ugly where the main character asks the owner why she named her bar Coyote Ugly and she says something like, “you know when you wake up the next morning to find someone so repulsive you want to gnaw off your arm, that’s coyote ugly.” Well whoever brings home Penis Head won’t know what’s that like at all.

Marti Gra, Coyote Ugly

She was a little crossed eyed and the craziest thing is that she only started out with half as many beads as you see here, left the bar for about 10 minutes and then came back with twice as much. Marco’s goes, “look, she has more beads!” I guess you just had to be there  because it was really funny. And later after Marcos bought her a drink she walks by him and throws him her tongue or it could of been a weird twitch. It hard to determine since her eyes are a bit crossed we don’t know if she was looking at him or not.

And this is a video of her sweet dancing skills.

Dancing Penis Head from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Marcos and I rocked out to Journey.

Marti Gra, Coyote Ugly

Ray did a lot of screaming.

Marti Gra, Coyote Ugly

Unfortunately we had to cut the night short because Heather’s dad called and was in distress, or something like that. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. The streets were packed by the time we walked out and on the way to the car we even got to see some titties.

Marti Gra

Hill Country Excursion

We’ve moved to Austin about 8-9 months ago and it suddenly dawned on me that we have yet to take advantage of it’s beautiful county side so when Ray asked me what I wanted to do today I said, “let’s go to Mount Bonnell.” I looked it up on line and soon we were out the door.

Hill Country Excursion

I expected a long vigorous hike, but it was lots of stairs up and then a really nice view of Lake Travis instead. But who could be disappointed with a view like this.  Just looking at the lake made me so excited for summer to get here so we could finally put our boat to good use. Man, would I love to have a vacation getaway here. I mean seriously, check out the size of some of those homes.

Hill Country Excursion

There was a little bit of a hike though, but don’t expect a workout unless your fat and out of shape. With benches and tables it’s a perfect place to pack a lunch and just enjoy the scenery. I kinda wish I would of found this place before Ray’s birthday so I had some place nice and free for us to drive to in the awesome Ram Charger I gave him.

Hill Country Excursion

After Mount Bonnell we went on a excursion through the beautiful Hill Country and boy am I glad we did. The drive was gorgeous and really made us thing about getting our hands on some acres out here. It’s so nice to know we live so close to all this.

Hill Country Excursion

Honey, get off your damn iPhone, your on my time right now, sheesh!

Hill Country Excursion

Family day wouldn’t be complete without Kola.

Hill Country Excursion

Messing around with the camera, as I always do.

Hill Country Excursion

Litter bug. Hey, “don’t mess with Texas,” that means don’t fucking litter you selfish bastard or I’m gonna donkey punch your ass.

Hill Country Excursion

Ray and iPhone.

Hill Country Excursion

Kola found a dead fish. Gross!

Hill Country Excursion

The happy couple.

Hill Country Excursion

I found a small wooden post sticking out of the ground and laid my camera atop it for a family photo.

Hill Country Excursion

Yippie Kai Yay!

Hill Country Excursion

Hip hip hooray!

Hill Country Excursion

Or as my best bud Jack MFD would put it, “Dunt da da dun . . . Fuck Yeah!

Hill Country Excursion

Waiting on me.

Hill Country Excursion

It was a good day.

My Favorite Guys

I ran eight miles today, but had to stop midway for a photo shoot. Selena this one’s for you.

Rafting Trip

Ray was going over some old photos the other day and came across this photo. Awhile back I took my dad and little sister, Selena, on a camping/rafting trip with me and my friends. It was an all day rafting trip and at night we camped and partied. My dad doesn’t speak much English so I didn’t do much partying on that trip, but nonetheless it was still good times.

Wake Up Birthday Boy

Yay! The 15th is finally here, and that means it’s Ray’s birthday. Wake up sleeping beauty, I got a surprise for you and your gonna love it.

It’s been Ray’s dream for some time now to find and reunite back with his first car and resurrect her from the dead, but of course finding his original 89′ Dodge RamCharger was out of the question so when we got back from Houston I set out on a quest in search for the second best 89′ Dodge RamCharger and guess what, I found her, right here in Austin Texas of all places. I think it was destiny. So now I had to strategically devise the best way to retrieve this Beast of a car since Ray and I are practically joint at the hip and because I’m not yet geographically inept to be driving on my own in Austin, especially since my sancho, Tom Tom was kidnapped from me in New York. Well as we all know trickery and deceit comes fairly natural for me. I was born a professional con-artist. With the directions jotted down in my note book I tricked Ray into driving me right to the place I needed to be the next day to pick up the car. I memorized the route as he drove down this street and that, turning here, making u-turns there.”Why do you want to go down Ceasar Chavez,” he says. “Because we got our vegan wedding cake on that street and I just want to go down and see the store again,” I responded. The next day I compiled a long list of grocery items and set out “grocery shopping” because I know Ray recoils at the mere thought of idling around a grocery store for too long, which just happens to be one of my favorite pass-time activities. Beside a few minor battle scars that Riccardo forgot to mention in the Craigs List ad the car seemed to be in pretty good condition. I used the battle wounds to my advantage and haggled a sweet deal and since there was only one of me and two cars I kindly requested Riccardo to followed me back home, where we dropped off the Beast on the other side of the parking lot and then I had to transport Riccardo back home. Oh, I also asked Riccardo to e-mail both Ray and I back the next day stating that the car was no longer available just in case Ray had any inclination of what I was up to. Three and a half hours later I Ray phones me, “honey, where are you, I’m hungry,” he wines. I make up this huge long lie about how I got lost twice, went to Whole Foods and lingered around the beauty section for hours, then the Indian Grocery Store, and now I’m going back to HEB Grocery Store for a second time to pick up a few items I forgot the first time around. I arrive home after four hours of leaving and rustled up dinner for my husband as quickly as I could. I know, I know, I’m the best wife to ever have walked this earth. I hear it all the time.

The next four days were difficult because they were filled with anxiousness and stress. There were days you can see the Beast as clear as day on the other end of the parking lot. I counted down the days and every night while he slept I would devise the best way to present to him his gift. What seemed to be to be an awesome idea in the middle of the night would never fail to seem too elaborative the next day. Finally I just decided to keep it simple and sweet, yet still creative and fun. On the morning of his birthday I woke up extra early, shit, showered and shaved, minus the shower and the shave and filmed this in the parking lot.

For Ray from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

If you keep up with my blog, you might have already seen it. Whatever I was planning on doing I had to do it fast because the Beast had hardly any gas; I wasn’t sure if she would even be able to even make it to the gas station. The first two tries was a disaster but 3 times is always a charm or in this case, good enough. I forgot to zoom the camera out which made the video all grainy, but like I said, good enough. When I was done filming I had to park the car outside where Ray would easily see it as soon as he came out of the building after watching the video. Luckily, we scored rock star parking the night before so I gave the Beast my parking spot, which meant now I had to re-park the Scion upstairs. I scurried back home filled with excitement and woke him up, “lets go eat, I’m hungry, hurry, get up. It’s your birthday, aren’t you excited? I’m excited for you. I’m starving. Let go get some breakfast. I’m so hungry.” While he was getting ready I uploaded the video on to Vimeo and posted it on to my awesome blog. As I finished I told him I would meet him downstairs and to go over to my computer and read todays post on my site and then I left. I waited for him so totally impatiently down stairs, ready to film his reaction when he got down.

On Ray’s Birthday from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Yes, yes, I know, the best wife ever. I know

I was expecting more of a reaction for the car but he just wanted to love on me first before checking it out. We then quickly got gas and test drove the Beast on our way to Juan in a Million, another famous landmark here in Austin and another restaurants featured on the Man vs Food show. Well, it was Sunday and the line was out the door and practically wrapped around the corner. Sorry, even if you were one in a million, it wouldn’t be worth it for me to wait in that line. Actually, in opinion, no Mexican food is ever worth a line, but hey, that’s my opinion and I’m entitled to it. We headed for the Waffle House next but took the back road since both the inspection and registration was expired on the Beast. The Waffle House ended up being just as packed. Sorry Waffle House, even your not worth waiting in line for. So we drove around until we ended back around our neck of the woods at Mimi’s Cafe, still packed but the wait was do-able. After our delicious meal we went home, grabbed some towels and Ray gave his Beast a bath, while I stayed in my car with Kola and read.

Bathing the Beast

Bathing the Beast

All clean and pretty, but still butch-like.

Pretty Beast

Sorry, no hubcaps on this side.

Pretty Beast

Pretty Beast

Time to douche the Beast with armor all. Wax on wax off, Ray Danial-Son.

Douching The Beast From The Inside Out

After the car wash we went home, got ready and headed back out, this time to down-town Austin. We went to one other bar before it got too cold for me to bare sitting outside so we left and ended up here at the Flying Saucer for another round of drinks.

Flying Saucer

And then it was getting past our bed times so we headed back home, but before we did we grabbed some dinner at Mighty Fine Burgers. I don’t know if the burgers were mighty fine or not but the milkshakes most definitely was.

Mighty Fine Burgers

Happy birthday honey. I love you.

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

Riding Dirty

The weekday is here and that means nothing to us. Monday, Friday, Sunday, it’s all the same day. Hell most of the time we don’t even know what month were in. If you want to know the truth, I’m writing this now at exactly 2:47 a.m. while Ray is playing Need For Speed on his Play Station.

It’s kinda sad but one of the reasons I was looking forward to coming home from Houston was because of freaking donuts, but in my defense this isn’t just any ordinary donut, it’s a massive, soft toilet seat of a donut.

How Many Donuts Fit Inside One Box?

I don’t know if you heard of the Man VS Food show or not, but it’s basically a show about a man that eats a lot of food, you know my dream job. Well there was this episode where he was eating this ginormous donut in Round Rock, which happens to be just next door to Austin. I’m really not a crazy donut fan but I do like my fair share of sweet goodness in my mouth, and I’m also a sucker for icons and landmarks.

One Sweet Glorious Donut

Round Rock Donut is not your average donut shop. People wait out the door for this giant whoopi cushion, which definitely makes it a landmark. Personally, I don’t really get the whole donut for breakfast thing. Trust me I’m not one to ever knock on sweet treats, but seriously lets just think about it here for a moment. Donuts have long been an American breakfast staple but why. How come it’s okay to eat bread covered with sugar, chocolate, sprinkles and all kinds of sweet heavenly goodness in the morning? Why not ice-cream, or ice-cream cake? Cookies? Brownies? Pie? At least ice-cream has some sort of nutritional value. Of course none of these are an acceptable way to start your day off with, especially for children, which is why I can’t understand why so many parents allow their kids to eat them. As a matter of fact, it’s probably the worst piece of food you could start your day off with. They are loaded with sugar, refined flour, saturated fat and partially hydrogenated oil trans fat all of which happen to increase the risk of heart disease. And fruit or jelly donuts is concocted from sugar, corn syrup, corn cereal, partially hydrogenated oil, natural and artificial flavors and dyes. Now why would anyone want to start their day off like this or allow their kids to? This contradiction kinda makes you think about why America is fat as fuck and that maybe our diets should be revised just a tad bit, but in the mean time, lets eat!

Round Rock Donuts

After our healthy breakfast we went home and took a nap for hours and then we woke up to take a donut shit and then we went back to sleep. Actually, we decided to work off all the empty calories we just ingested so we headed to a local bike store where Ray got his bike tighten and we bought a bike rack for our car because now that were riding our bikes all the time it’s becoming a pain in the ass to load both of them up into our tiny car and besides we look so sporty driving around with a bike rack on our car now. It took us a long time to get our bike rack situated in the parking lot, but once we did we loaded our bikes and drove South of Austin.

Riding Dirty

It was a good day.

Riding Dirty

Nasa VIP Tour

Just when I thought we were good on traveling for a while Ray decides to take us to Houston for about a week to visit with our good O bud Marcos. The first night we met up with some of his buds at a dive bar. They had a set of pretty sweet doors.

Houston Trip

We also headed down south to Galveston Texas to check out the the disaster that Hurricane Ike left behind back in September. Galveston was still in shambles and it was quite obvious that she still had not yet recovered from being raped and pillaged. As a matter of fact, Marcos was our troubled hurricane victim that we kindly took in with our big hearts and open arms.

Aftermath of Hurricane Ike

Look at the sad trapped truck. From a full view you can see chunks that Hurricane Ike had riped straight out of the board walk.

Aftermath of Hurricane Ike

I really should of taken more photos but it was shocking and kinda depressing. But honestly, hurricane or not, Galveston was in dire need of a makeover so this was probably for the best. Galveston has so much potential to flourish and be totally rad as fuck. I mean seriously, it’s right on the coast. Not a lot of towns in Texas have that luxury, so they should live up to it and make it happen and I promise you the tourist will come by the boat loads, ready to dump trunk loads of money right in the heart of Galveston. Potential, so much potential. Well, like I said, it was depressing so we went to Buca De Peppo to grab a bit to eat.

Buca De Peppo

It was del-rish-ous! Probably the best Bucca De Peppo meal I’ve had yet and we didn’t even have dessert. Oh, we also invited Marcos’s room-mate. The muscle in the back row, and whimps in the front.

Bucca De Peppo

On the way home we got to witness Marcos’s car reach 8888 miles. What a historic moment for his Dodge Ram.

8888

Of course the highlight of our trip was our sweet VIP tour at Nasa. Yes, our very good friend, Marcos, whom is like a brother to me, works at Nasa. Have your people call my people and I’ll see if I could get you in.

Nasa is building a space tent, or maybe it’s a space garage, for a space-ship. All I can tell you is that it’s on a need to know basis and if your reading this you probably don’t need to know, carry on, carry on.

Nasa VIP Tour

Before I left for the moon I had to run a few test, make sure everything was working and all, just proper protocol.

Nasa VIP tour

And here we have a new space trampoline that’s in the making. Astronaunts like to jump into space when they are in space. It very invigorating.

Nasa VIP Tour

And directly next to it is the biggest swimming pool on the face of this earth, at least that’s what we’ve been told. But if you don’t believe me go watch Armageddon and go see for yourself. I talked to a lot of the real astronauts that were there during the filming of that movie and they all agree that Ben Affleck was a little bitch and cried like one too, especially during the whole under water training scene.

Nasa VIP Tour

The pool is 40 ft deep. It doesn’t look like it but it is and as you can see the water is super blue, but I promise you no food coloring was added to the pool for a more dramatic effect; the pool is just ridiculously filtered.

Nasa VIP Tour

Our tour guide, aka Marcos Jaramillo, and Ray in deep thought about the design of the space suit.

Nasa VIP Tour

I found a friend.

Nasa VIP Tour

And I like him.

Nasa VIP Tour

This is an acutal space suit that went to the moon, Neal’s I think.

Nasa VIP Suit

They even got suits for the Chinese.

Nasa VIP Tour

Tour guide and Ray still going over the design of the space suits.

Nasa VIP Tour

Control Room.

Nasa VIP Tour

If you’ve seen Applo 13 then this might look familiar to you. The red phone is used to order pizza during those long work shifts.

Nasa VIP Tour

The main reason that brought us out to Houston wasn’t Nasa, wasn’t Marcos, it was Soft Ball. Ray’s fantastic at base ball and he’s been itching to play for a while now. Marcos is on two soft ball teams that happen to be booked to play at the same time. He asked Ray to fill in for him in one of the games, assuming it would be okay and Ray quickly accepted the offer. Well as it turns out not everyone was okay with it and my husband wasn’t allowed to play. If you ask me it was a stupid mistake on their part and if Ray had played they probably wouldn’t have lost.

Houston Soft Ball Fields are Sweet

The next day we packed our bags and loaded up the rocket and shot back home to Austin Texas in 2.8 minutes flat.

Up Up and Away!

American Citizen

It’s official, I’m finally a citizen of the United States of America and it feels phenomenal. If nothing else amazing happens this year I wouldn’t be at all disappointed because this is definitely a big one for me.

American Citizen

I called the INS recently because my 3rd application was still pending. Just knowing I have to deal with the INS leaves me with a feeling of apprehension and anxiety. It’s such a stressful situation to be in, especially for me and every time I get off the phone with them I dispise them even more and I’m left in tears. You know when you feel like nothing ever goes right for you and no matter what you do shit just keeps on fucking up. Well that’s the way the INS has been for me. And even then it’s just one of those things I know I have to deal with and just get through, like taxes. So it was on my to do list and finally when all was checked off and the only thing left on the to do list was call the INS I had no choice but to adhere. Like I said my application was still pending and I was calling to inquire about the status. In December I sent in a birth certificate along with an English translation for it, a letter from the translator, my mom, stating that the translation was true and another letter from myself stating why my parents wedding certificate was not included because they had asked for that as well but I was unable to deliver it because it was destroyed in the Vietnam War. So after talking to Maria, the officer handling my case, she made me feel as though there was no way around not having it and that my only option was to travel back to Vietnam to retrieve it, but in the mean time she would consult her supervisor on the matter. So again I was left in tears. First off, how can I travel to Vietnam to attempt to get a copy when I don’t have a passport; it’s not like I could leave the country. And second, when she read me her manual over the phone it even stated that a lot of marriage certificates were destroyed during the Vietnam War, which is exactly how my parents wedding certificate was destroyed, why they don’t have one and exactly what I told them. Maria said she would get back to my by the end of the week but to my surprise she called me back within the hour and asked my for my address so she could send me my certificate. I was dumbfounded at first; did I miss understand her but then her supervisor got on the phone, Patricia and said, “no forget the address can you come in tomorrow to come pick it up.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, “are you serious?” I responded and she snaps back, “I take my job very serious.” Well alright then. The next day Ray and I drove to San Antonio to retrieve my Certificate.

American Citizen

So your probably wondering why it took me 3 tries to attain citizenship. Well let my tell you why. I came into the states on November 2, 1981, when I was just two years of age. Becoming a citizen was the last of my worries because I was too busy being a regular American kid. Finally my parents became citizens when I was 17 years old, before I was 18 which means I officially became a citizen as well, but they were so excited that they didn’t take me in with them to take the oath. So when I turned 19 I applied for citizenship myself. It took them 3 freaking years to process my application only to be denied because I was arrested for shop lifting when I was 14 years young and according to the INS I can’t be approved for citizenship if I was arrested within 5 years of applying. Well if the stupid INS would of told me this when I did apply then all I had to do was to wait a few months then apply. So I get this news 3 years later at age 21. The shitty part is that I didn’t even had to tell them that I was arrested, they never would of found out, but I was just too intimidated so I played by their rules. Also, the INS should of just told me to apply for the N-600 instead which states that I’m a citizen through my parents, but the INS sucks and doesn’t like to help or make things easy for anyone. Years later I applied a again, and was denied yet a second time. This time they said it was because I was already a citizen of the United States through my parents. So while living in Hawaii I try to get a passport but was denied because they needed proof that I was a citizen and to get proof I have to resort back to the INS for a certificate that states that I am a citizen of the United States. So I apply this time for citizenship yet a 3rd time for the N-600 application, which states that I acquire citizenship through my parents. Should be a breeze right, since I got a letter from the INS themselves recognizing that I am already a citizen? Wrong. Nothing is easy when it comes to the INS, at least not for me. So they tell me that I must show my birth certificate and my parents wedding certificate to complete the application, the exact two items that I don’t have. “Go back to Vietnam and get it,” they tell me like it’s an easy trip down the street to Walmart. How, how the fuck do I go back to Vietnam and get it, and even if that were possible what normal non-citizen could just afford to do that. It’s like the hospital expecting me to pay 30 grand in a year. “The hospital will allocate you up to a year to pay off your bill,” they tell me. Really? Fuck you! Trust me, you have no idea of my frustrations. Not to mention, I’m the last of my family to become a citizen. My parents, my younger sister, because she was born in the U.S. and my two older sisters because they were both over 18 years old and had to apply on their own, the way I tried to on my first attempt and not to mention my husband is an American citizen, and English is my main language. Come on, sometimes rules should be bent because whoever invented them obviously missed a few things. Anyone can see that I’m as American as apple pie, just not as sweet. It’s just so gosh darn frustrating seeing people come into this country, don’t even speak a lick of English and become American citizens just like that. Something is obviously wrong with the system here. So that’s my story and now you can understand why this is so BIG for me and even now, after 11 days it’s just barely hitting me.

American Citizen

You know, when your already an American citizen as most of you are, you don’t think about all the privileges you have but when your not, like I use to be, you think about all the privileges you don’t have that should be rightfully yours all the time. The biggest thing for me was not being able leave the country because I was unable to attain a passport. The only reason I was able to go to China was because my parents were able to get me a re-entry permit from China. As handicapped as my parents are for having such broken English they sure do surprise the hell out of me with all the loop holes they manage to get their sneaky little hands on. Seriously, has anyone ever heard of a re-entry permit. I would not even know that exist or was at all possible and I wouldn’t know how to attain one from another country or if they even allow them. It was a pain in the ass going from China to Hong Kong back to China, the Chinese didn’t even know what it was. Well I can’t depend on good O’ mom and dad forever and just thinking about being stuck in one country for the rest of my life makes me hyperventilate. If I think too deeply into it I will want to ripe my skin off from claustrophobia. Now, I can leave the country and travel to my hearts desire or until the money runs out and not only that I can get a job and not worry about any complications, like being denied, having to show my alien card, not being able to get full benefits etc. I can finally change my name to Hernandez. The social security office denied me my name change because they wanted to see proof of citizenship, well now I have it. If I ever win the lottery or jack pot I don’t have to worry about being denied my winnings. I can vote, although I did anyways for Obama. If I ever get arrested at the airport, or anywhere for that matter I will be protected under the United State Laws. Yes! You see, this is the kind of stuff that I thought about, a lot and now I will never ever have to again and that is enough to make 2009 an awesome year.

When we got to the INS building they wouldn’t let us bring in any electronics, no phones or cameras. Bummer because I’ve been waiting over a decade for this moment and I wanted to document it. I always pictured it where I have to take an oath and maybe put my hand on the bible, even though I’m not religious and someone in uniform or a suit handing me my certificate, with the American flag waving in the background, I guess very similar to receiving a diploma. It didn’t happen like that at all. I was put to work as soon as I walked into the room, erasing the gloss on the side of all my photos so I could write my name on it because she was in a hurry to go home on her lunch break to consult with someone she paid to lay dirt on her house. However, my officer liked me so much she practically offered me a job, told me to apply on line @ USjobs.gov or something like that then she handed me my certificate and sent me on my way. I definitely didn’t happen as I had envisioned so Ray and I took the matter into our own hands. Since we were in San Antonio we headed down to the Alamo and took a shit ton of photos, as you can see, of me with my certificate in hand. I even asked the Alamo guards there to take a photo with me and to pretend like they were presenting the certificate to me.

American Citizen

After my pretend glorious ceremony we took a stroll down the River Walk, another one of San Antonio’s famous landmarks.

San Antonio River Walk

Ray bought me candy.

San Antonio River Walk

San Antonio River Walk

And we had lunch at one of the several Mexican options we had to choose from.

San Antonio River Walk

When we got back to Austin Ray and I didn’t stop celebrating. We went to Banana Republic and got me a cardigan and blouse and even got Ray two pairs of slacks. Then we went to the Daily Grill and par-took in their happy hour and I splurged on dessert again.

American Citizen

I’m finally an American Citizen, can you believe it!

I hope your dressed and ready to go. Get your booty down here and lets go for a drive. I love you!

Hawaii Love

Happy Valentines Day to everyone I love.

This is Cloe hard at work.

Cloe the Busy Little Worker from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

And this is Lyric showing early signs that he will never be a cowboy.

Ben and Lyric Cowboy Up from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Sunday Cruise

We had so much fun taking Kola out that the next day Ray decided to finally put my together my low rider and we went out for a cruise but without Kola this time. Getting the bikes to fit in the car was a pain in the ass, so much that we still haven’t taken them out of the car. After our bike ride we went shopping and made it back just in time to watch the super bowl. It was a stressful game and in the end our team lost, (I just route for whatever team Ray routes for). It didn’t matter to me none because it was still a really good day.

By the way, I thought it was a pretty bold of Denny’s to offer to give everyone in America a free breakfast on the following Tuesday from 7-2 p.m. on a commercial during the super bowl no less. Count me in. Seriously, Denny’s you had me at Free. So on Tuesday Ray and I got in the car and headed for Denny’s. The first Denny’s was not in service, just an empty shell of a business so we headed south and hit up every Denny’s possibly in Austin. Every single Denny’s was packed, lines out the door. It looked like a homeless shelter on Christmas morning. We must of hit at least 4-5 Denny’s before deciding to turn around and head north to Round Rock. Although the line still ran out the door it wasn’t as long as the line at other Denny’s and the Denny’s here seemed less ghetto. Then I notice an employee passing out Denny’s rain checks. That’s fucking awesome. I asked for two and we got Double Dave’s Pizza instead because by this time we were famished.

Rain Check Please

Family Day

The weekend is here and I’ve been feeling like a really bad dog owner so to make up for it we’re taking Kola to the river. Not really sure if this constitutes as a river or a lake but I do know that it’s gorgeous and large. I know this because I’ve been jogging here a couple times. Last time was the day before, the morning of my birthday. I know, who goes jogging on their birthday? Yeah, I’m an odd one. Well, not only did I go jogging here on my birthday, I went jogging here and I went hellish far. I just kept jogging and jogging assuming it would eventually swing me around to where I started, but it never did and I ended up getting lost in nowhere land. It went from being gorgeous to being destitute and scary so finally I decided the best thing to do was to turn around and jog back until Ray calls to pick me up. Well, today was dedicated to our Lil Kola Bud. At first parking was a total bitch. I didn’t know this place got so busy on the weekends. But we were determined to make sure Kola had his cake and ate it too.

In the beginning Kola was not really into it. He hates crowds and I think the sweater he was wearing was bogging him down. He walked for about a good 5 minutes before he stopped, looked up to his dad and telepathically said, “pick me up,” and that Ray did. How embarrassing, all these people and all these dogs here and we were the only ones that had to carry our pet. “Kola, what is wrong with you, lazy old fart?”  Finally, I had the crazy idea of taking his sweater off of him and after that he was a ball of fucking sunshine. I guess it was the sweater that was bogging him down.

Family Day

Just a word of advice for all you single and cheating folks out there, a small, adorable dog is the biggest babe magnet. Ray was blocking the P all day and that’s including guys. Again, that’s a  small, cute dog, not small, ugly, yapping, nervous, can’t stop shaking dog. There’s a difference. Kola is hands down small and adorable.

Kola is Fucking Adorable

Any questions? I didn’t think so. Now where was I . . . oh yeah, Family/Kola day. It was a good day for Kola. You can always tell when Kola is super happy because he gallops when he runs.

Family Day

How cute do we look here?

Family Day

Awe they’re so cute together.

Family Day

And then he had to go fuck up his cuteness by throwing a rock at me. Dick.

Family Day

I love you Kola. Everything I do, I do for you. Well not really, but I do have the best of intentions.

Family Day

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to me! It’s official, I’m not in my twenties anymore. I always dreaded the day I turned 30 because 30 just seems so old, like I had to instantly get my shit together and be a boring adult but as it turns out, 30 isn’t so bad. As a matter of fact, it’s fucking awesome. I feel great. And in tribute to how I have blossomed into this luminescent figure of awesomeness I decided to get a tattoo, ninja stars, one on both wrist.

Here I am before the tattoo.

Happy Birthday

My wrist are ninja stars free.

Happy Birthday

Drum roll please . . . . . . . . Killer Ninja Stars!

Happy Birthday

Looks awesome right? I got my tattoo at T3xture Tattoo Shop and this is my tattoo artist, Crtzn, pronounced curtains, or cur-tens, either way close enough. After searching online I finally decided he was my guy.

Happy Birthday

I actually got my tattoo late at night on the 29th, so late that it ran into my birthday, the 30th. We did the right wrist first and I came back the next day, on my birthday to finish up with the left side. Later that night Ray insisted that we go do something for my birthday so I let him take me to the movies to watch Taken, awesome movie by the way, but before we did I insisted he take me out for a late night dinner.

Happy Birthday

We weren’t planning on going to the Cheesecake Factory, but I wanted dessert of course and it was close to the movies.

Happy Birthday

Not only was it my birthday this year, but it was also my Golden Birthday. To tell you the truth, I never heard of a Golden Birthday before until recently so it wasn’t that big of a deal to me as it is to some people, like my friend Jack Mother Fucking Dogg with a double G. Which is a bit of a coincidence because this year 8-30-09 is going to be her Golden Birthday and she’s going all out. Nothings really planned yet but we got a few leads. All I can say is it’s going to be legend, wait for it . . . dairy. I just got the box set of How I Met Your Mother by the way. A bigger coincidence, it was just my good friend Bea’s Golden Birthday last year, 8-27-08. So Bea first, then me, and then Jack Mother Fucking Dogg with a double G. Coincidence because were all really close friends. By the way, Golden Birthday just means you turn the age of the date of your birthday.

Lyric the Lonely Baseball Player from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Kola is Busy, Can I Take A Message?

I don’t know how he manages to sleep in all these weird positions but he does, for hours, would be days if he didn’t have to get up to piss, shit or eat. The more I stare at him the more that position actually looks kinda comfortable.

Kola is Busy, Can I Take A Message?

Agave 969 Homes

Now that were back in California there’s much to do. One of the things I’m starting to hate most about traveling is the getting situated when we get back part. It’s always a one to two day ordeal for me. Also, there’s a few major errands that I can circumvent no longer, like getting our escrow money back. I admit I might have been avoiding the matter because it’s just too sad. Ray and I really had our hearts set on this place, but if I wait any longer there may be a chance that we could lose the money we put down for escrow and that would be so un-Chinese of me.

Agave 969 Homes

Before heading to the office Ray and I drove down to see the house. The cabinetry, tile and counter top we chose has been put in and looks smashing. Kinda sucks because we have to pay for the upgrades we had put in, $500 down the drain, but I’m sure it’s for the best.

Let me just clue you guys in. If you keep up with my post then you know that I recently came down with a horrible case of double pneumonia and was hospitalized for 5 days. Those torturous 5 days cost us about 30 thousand dollars. We didn’t get any of the hospital bills of course until after our money had gone into escrow already. My parents took a trip to see me and when I got better we took them to see the house. They absolutely loved it but my mom basically freaked out and said the house had horrible feng shui, as I knew she would. She pleaded with the real estate agent if they have a different home for us, as though we were buying a car. But I must admit it kinda spooked me because even though I hate to admit it my mom is usually, not always, right. Just as she was when she predicted the bad feng shui in the house I was living in. “In one year something bad will happen to you,” she warned and in one year I got a divorce. With the new year upon us it brought many potential new clients, leads, and work for Ray, almost all of which were coming straight out of Dallas. Ray’s been thinking about partnering up with our good friend Ben, who lives and wants them to get an office in Dallas. This made us think that maybe Austin isn’t the place for us, maybe it’s Dallas? We’re still unsure but as you can see it wasn’t the right time to buy a home for us. It just didn’t feel 100% right so we pulled out and that’s why I want my escrow money back. The end.

Road Trip Up the Mid West Back Home

As you can see from my previous post that our trip to California has been pretty spectacular. We got to talk to Mel, which was our number one goal for coming out in the first place. And on top of that we got to see a shit ton of friends which was pretty awesome because we don’t get to hang out with much friends these days. We extended our stay pretty much as long as we could but the time has come to say good-bye. Since the drive to California was a bit of a drag Ray and I decide to go up the mid west this time. This was actually Ray’s idea. He wanted to a better scenic route but completely failed to realize that it’s January, possibly the coldest month for possibly all the states in the entire year. But hey, Ray’s a smart man, I thought he knew and you know me, I’m just down for the cause.

At first it wasn’t so bad. We went up through Reno, to Tahoe and got to see snow. It was totally exciting and invigorating. Then highway 50 just got flat or just went on for miles and miles without any notice of the last gas station for a while. It got to the point where Ray and I just filled up every time we encountered a gas station for fear of being stranded. At one of the gas stops we even got a sticker from the clerk that reads “I SURVIVED HWY 50 THE LONELIEST ROAD IN AMERICA.”

Stupid HWY 50 Sticker

Road Trip Up The Mid West Back Home

But then it went from the roads being lonely to being extremely lonely and cold.

Road Trip Up The Mid West Back Home

As always Kola managed to stay cozy.

Road Trip Up the Mid West Back Home

We stopped to get gas at a gas station across the street from this one from fear of catching a venereal disease from touching the gas pump. Besides, can you imagine what the rest rooms would of been like here? Gross.

Road Trip Up The Mid West Back Home

After stopping to get gas is when it got scary cold. It was snowing, the roads were icy and wet and we had the Colorado Rockies to conquer. Did I mention we were driving a mini Scion with no 4 wheel drive, no chains on it’s tires and not a lot of power but where it lacks in muscle it makes up for in experience, miles and miles of road trip experience.

Road Trip Up The Mid West Back Home

Besides the car hydroplaning a couple of times and causing traffic because we were going 30 mph in a 60 things went fairly well. I realized that although my car had loads of experience in miles it had no experience in snowy mountain weather. None whatsoever.

Road Trip Up The Mid West Back Home

We stopped at the visitors center for a rest room break. When he got out of the visitors center Ray asks me if it was just him or if the ground was shaking? Humm, that’s weird, while squatting over the toilet it totally seemed like the ground was shaking. Sounds crazy I know but it did, but  I suppose it could of been the high elevation.

Road Trip Up The Mid West Back Home

I finally got my snow board back from Marci while we were in San Francisco. I know it’s kinda out dated but I have a significant bond with my snow board for reasons I’d rather not say, but it’s just special to me. Seeing the snow come down really made me think of all the times I went snow boarding. It’s been years since I’ve been so I guess the next best thing to do is to pretend like we did. So here are the photos to prove it. What, you’ve never seen anyone snow board in leather boots before?

Road Trip Up The Mid West Back Home

Here’s a video of our rest stop break.

Rest Stop Break from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

After the Colorado Rockies Ray and I keep heading east to Kansas. But before we did we called our good friend Amber up for a place to eat in Denver. We got lost, parking was a bitch, it was extremely cold, everyone had a staring problem and we forgot our wallet so we had to walk back to the car  in the freezing cold. Kinda took that as a sign and got fast food instead.

Let me tell you, Kansas was fucking cold. Made Denver look like Honolulu, Hawaii. I hated getting gas in Kansas because that meant we had to stop and someone had to pump gas, get coffee, take Kola to the rest room and even though that someone usually wasn’t me, it still meant that the door would open and the wind would suck out all the warm air in the car and cut your skin like a chain saw. From Kansas we started to descend south toward Texas but before we hit Texas we made one last stop in Greensburg, Kansas. About a year ago a cunt of a tornado hit Greensburg and basically riped her a new one. Since then the towns been reinventing itself with a new and improved eco green vibe and putting it’s progress out on display for all the world to see on television. Ray and I watch the show from time to time and thought it would be fun to check out the town. Well it wasn’t fun at all. It got late, which meant it got dark and what we could make out was not really impressive. Also, people in Kansas stare at me like they never seen a slanty eyed person before. And to make matters worse some crazy Kansan tried to kill himself by walking right in front of my car on the Interstate late at night about 15 minutes after we left Greensburg. Yes, moron was on a suicide mission and was hoping to use my vehicle to take him to see God. He obviously doesn’t know I’m a ninja, with sharp as attack reflexes. I swerved to the left, luckily on coming traffic was still coming otherwise I would of had to make road kill out of him or hit an oncoming diesel, going 65 + mph . I’m not gonna lie, I freaked the fuck out and had Ray take over the wheel. Kansas sucks red donkey balls and I couldn’t wait to get the fuck out.

In March of 2006 Ray and I moved to Oakland California from Vacaville. We had only lived in Vacaville for 3 months before we realized the commute was killing us. I would drop him off at work, drive back home and then drive back to the bay area and pick him up, a total of a 4 hour commute, without traffic each day. Anyhow, while looking for a place to live in the bay area we stumbled upon this building. It was an old warehouse that use to be a French Fry Factory. I would of never, ever, ever, even considered living in here, but Ray, well, lets just say he has more vision than I most do. At first I thought it was asinine, I mean have you guys seen the photo above? But I have always been one to just go with the flow, and Ray is what I like to call a hopeless visionary.

But you got to admit, it totally has potential. Even I could admit that. But again, did you see the photo above? It was taken through a hole in the front door. The building was 8000 sq ft. Uh, no that’s not a misprint, there was not an extra 0 put in by accident. Yes, we lived, worked, renovated, bled, sweat, cried and even threw a few parties in an 8000 sq ft building for an entire year. Crazy kids, I’m sure that’s what everyone was thinking.

The pile of trash we had hauled away almost reached the second floor.

It even had two walk in refrigerators, one of which I was planning on turning into my walk in closet.

We flew dad down because there was no way we could of done all this work without him.

We put a lot of work into this building. In the beginning it was scary, but I got over it and soon it was as though the Universe had answered our dreams, but with a little sacrifice and hard work on our part. Ray had always dreamed of renting out a huge warehouse that had a urinal from a rich old man that gave him a super cheap deal and turning it into his modern urban living dream. Yes, our warehouse even had a urinal. And I had always wanted to have my own massage business, with 4 rooms, one for myself and the other 3 I would hire or rent out to other massage therapist. The front of the building on the second floor had 4 rooms. The more we thought about it the more uncanny and perfect it seemed.

But soon, life just took a toll. Ray detested work and the more he saw his boss the more he loathed him. I was getting burnt out on massage. What once was filled with passion and energy fizzled and soon I felt like a well paid slave. Ray and I decided to call it quits and tackle yet another dream of mine, to live in Hawaii. Somehow, this dream seemed so much less painful and stressful. We had a 3 year lease so we took on the role as property managers and sublet the building for the remainder 2 years of our lease and for over twice what we paid, split the rent with Mel, the nice old man Ray dreamt to life, every month and started a new chapter of our lives in Oahu Hawaii.

Hawaii was a totally awesome experience. Every month we used the money we made from the building to pay off the debt we put into it. I’d like to say it was easy but it wasn’t. I can say it was a huge learning experience. This last trip to California was to find a way to come to an agreement with Kevin, the man we rented the building out to. He ended up subletting the building to Raphael, a total pathetic douche bag that couldn’t pay rent on time to save his life and couldn’t move out when asked to leave. But our main concern for coming out to Cali was to make sure we uphold our contract with Mel and leave on good terms with him. When we got to the building it was in shambles. All the hard work, blood, sweat, tears, and money we put into it seemed wasted. Did I mentioned that Raphael had secretly turned the building into an illegal club/bar he called the Radiance Factory. Just a word of advice for Raphael, it’s not smart to advertise an illegal club. Fucking retard.

Here’s a before us and after us photo.

And after then after we did more work and started to settled in. In the very back behind the glass windows is where where the 4 massage rooms laid.

From the opposite direction. Ray loved his pool table.

A closer look further back. To the left was our bed room, middle was Ray’s desk and to the far right was our closet.

A better view of our closet. I had a lot more shoes back then.

Our living room in it’s earlier stage.

The kitchen area and dining area. Ray and I built that wobbly table one night when we had nothing better to do. He swears one day he’ll redeem himself.

Here’s what the building looked like on our last visit.

Looks like they built a kitchen room.

We turned this room into my workout/yoga room.

This is what it looks like by the time we were done with it.

And this is how it looks now.

This was suppose to eventually be a massage room #4, but in the mean time we just made it a guest room and it was also Chris Miller’s room when he stayed with us.

And this is how it looks now.

A before and after of Massage Room #3.

Same room, present day.

Before and after of Massage Room #2.

Massage Room #2 today.

My Massage Room before.

My beautiful massage room after. I actually worked countless hours in this room. It was the perfect massage room.

And this is how it looks like now.

A few before and afters of the lobby we fixed up. We were planning on getting more furniture to fill it up but I think we did a pretty spectacular job.

And here it is today. Animals.

We took back our blinds.

A before and after of the mens restroom. Behind the wall next to the sink was where the men’s urinal was. I forgot to take an aftermath photo but it’s probably for the best because it was bad.

They badly built what looks like lounge rooms downstairs. But the whole are downstairs area was pretty muck a junk yard.

Oh, our mistletoe was still hanging up. I bet it launched a lot of kisses.

I’ll never forget the day we lifted the super industrial air condition unit up on the rooftop. It was insanely crazy and scary. We had to set it on top of a shit ton of pallets in order for Ray and his dad to reach it. Ray had originally wanted to tie the heavy unit to a rope and pull it up. That made no fucking sense to me so I walked over to the Chinese produce factory and asked if they would help us out with their fork lift. It took some per swaying but my charm won in the end.

There were more pallets than what you see here. Trust me, people came out of their buildings to watch. It was totally wobbly and insanely scary.

Oh course it wasn’t only us that sweat for this building,

we put our loved ones to work too.

Kola did a lot of supervising.

Of course it wasn’t all hard work. I miss our parties

Drinking wine on the rooftop.

Having friends over to play pool. Hell, I miss having friends.

I even miss the skaters.

It was definitely an experience. But I gotta tell ya, I’m so glad it’s over.

The End.

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Animals are worth fighting for.

Ahhh, I hate it when my eyes are closed? That always seems to happen to me. During our trip to California we stayed with my sister Lana and her husband Kevin. Luckily for us they just moved to Walnut Creek about a month ago. Lucky for them we extended our trip so they got to see us a lot longer than expected. I was telling Ray the other day that if his work ever brings us back to the bay area then we would be looking for a place in Walnut Creek. No more renovations in Oakland or freezing my ass off in San Francisco, or long commutes from Vacaville. Nope we would be going straight to the East Bay. Walnut Creek is a great place, only 20 minutes from the city and it’s always clean, not as cold, and the home town where my boobs magically appeared for $6000 . I’m really happy for Lana and Kevin because they seem to love it too.

One good thing that came out of my marrying Brandon was all the wonderful friends that I met because of where we were stationed, being in the military and all. I didn’t actually meet anyone of any importance through him because we’ll he was gone all the time. We lived in Fairfield and I worked in the next town over, Vacaville.  I have made a lot of great great friends there and so many wonderful memories to go along. Since we were so close now, just under an hour drive, I decided to give everyone whose anyone a call to meet up for dinner. At first I was slightly disappointed because it seemed as though everyone was too busy but what could I expect with my late notice and all. However, the night ended up being a huge success and what I thought was going to be a small event ended up growing to be an all night extravaganza.

Monica came late, but the important thing is that she showed up. I don’t even care that she was drunk when she appeared, that actually put a smile on my face.

These are my Burning Man friends, Victor and Luu, and Victor’s new girlfriend, Jennifer, who is a huge upgrade from his last bogus ex-girlfriend may I add. If he doesn’t keep her I might have to take her back to Texas with me and make her my new BFF. “Once a burner always a burner,” this is true. Although I’ve only been there once in my life I was there every year after in spirit. I think Burning Man creates a tight bond between you and those you go with because your out in the desert for a whole week sharing and this amazing experience with them. It was seriously one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

Becks came to see me for a little bit and my night would have pretty much sucked if I didn’t get to see her at all. So that short 20 minutes made all the difference in the world Becks!

Originally Christina, Sammy and Monica were the only ones who could manage to come on such late notice. It’s a funny thing because I haven’t talked to Christina and Sammy in years. We were the closest of friends a few years back but we had a falling out and just basically deceased our friendship. Just recently we started messaging via MySpace and being the new year and all I decided to give them a call and start the year off with a positive attitude and energy by reconnecting with old friends. I was kinda glad it was going to be just them at first because it would give us a chance to make amends in person and catch up but then everyone started calling back, one thing led to another and the next thing I know I’m popular again.

This is Cammie’s husband Eric and his friend Josh. Cammie couldn’t make it because she was in busy in Texas doing time in the Reserves. I’m so glad that Eric and Josh decided to come though because they came early and put our name on the long ass waiting list. It was really nice to see Eric, even without Cammie.

This is me and my husband, Ray Hernandez. I love him very much.

After dinner we all headed to Star’s. Star’s is a large bar/pool hall/bowling alley/wild milf dance floor.

This is Justin and his girl Tiffany. I went to Burning Man with Justin and we’ve been the best of buds since. He met Tiffany the following year at Burning Man, about the same time I met Ray.

I think me and Tiff would be the best of buds if we lived a lot closer.

But it seems as though me and Christina are again. Yay!

Sammy heard that I was in town so he drove all the way from San Francisco to see me.

This is my friend Amy, cutie in the hat, who was also a really good friend of mine back in the days.

Another funny thing is that Lou called me up very recently the other day. I hadn’t talked to him in years and most of my memories of him are from Burning Man and a few random crazy events after. He’s an awesome guy, definitely a character and now he’s my friend on FaceBook.

Star’s was awesome. I felt bad because I left Ray alone to fend for himself several times throughout the night. I just kept running into people I knew that I haven’t seen in a while. After Star’s Monica took us to a random house party, you know the kind where there’s at least two beer pong tournament going on in the garage. It was cool because I saw more old friends there too, most of them I couldn’t remember their names though. I hate it when that happens.

A lot of people don’t know that I grew up in the bay area. Actually I’ve been in the bay area pretty much most my life. My childhood years were spent in a very quaint town called Pleasanton California. Pleasanton isn’t so quaint anymore, it’s actually matured into a bright, shinning, thriving city of the east bay. I left P-Town in the 5th grade and with it I left behind a few dear friends, two of them being Erica and LaReen. In the beginning we wrote letters but as time past the letters just dwindled and so did the calls until we just lost touch. While living in Hawaii Ray gets this e-mail from Erica. Her and LaReen had did a Google search on me and a bunch of Ray’s internet sites came up. I wrote them back and we’ve been in touch ever since. I told them that when I make it back to the bay area I’ll be sure to give them a call. I met Erica and LaReen at Peet’s Coffee in Pleasanton and I can’t tell you how nice it was to see them and catch up. They both look exactly the same only older and prettier. I’m hoping that next time we meet will be longer but in the mean time I’m gonna do a better job at staying in touch.

So the real reason why Ray and I rushed out to California is because we are property managers of a building owned by a nice old man by the name of Mel Cavalerro. It was a deal that seemed pretty sweet in the beginning but in the end it started to go sour. We basically drove out here to honor and uphold our contract and to bid farewell to Mr. Cavalerro. I don’t think I will ever forget such a sweet man and I wish there was some way to let him know that I appreciate everything he’s done for me and I hope I didn’t disappoint him too much.

On our way to California Ray and I are contemplating places we have to go or see before we head back to Texas. The sad part is that the only thing that crosses our minds is Nara, the most delrishious sushi restaurant in all of San Francisco. I guess when one has seen and done all that there is to do the only thing left is to eat.
Earlier that day we met up with Todd at an internet cafe. He’s just a happy go lucky guy so it’s always a treat to see him.

It was definitely a nice surprise to see Robin as well because we weren’t so sure if she would be able to make it because Beau had mentioned that she had some prior arrangements to attend but I think she might have broke them on our account. If so, thank you very much Robin. It is always a pleasure to see you.

After dinner we took our full bellies on a walk to The Tavern. It happens to be the place where Ray husseled himself a date with me and the place where Bea and Robin met. Many fond memories were made at The Tavern. You should go there and make some right now.

Evan and Beau wait their turn on the pool table.

Marci didn’t make it to sushi but she did meet up with us later on and she brought a friend and he’s a lot older than us, but very nice.

BFF’s forever.

Just for old time sakes we went to Pizza Pino at the end of the night. Still taste so good after a few beers.

You know how Ray and I travel a lot, well, yeah. There’s just always somewhere to go, some other thing to take care of. This time we headed to the bay area in California to take care of and finalize the old warehouse we’ve been subletting for the past 2 years. All I can say is that I’m so glad it’s run its course because it has been just a huge learning experience and a lot more stress than I had bargained for.

We have a lot of friends in the Bay Area so we took full advantage of our trip and tried to pencil everyone we could into our short visit. We had dinner and game nite at the Miller’s. I think we had Mexican.

First time I played Apples to Apples some card game that makes a really fun drinking game. By the way, is it me or does Beau look like  he’s 12 here?

We didn’t stop at our drunken card game. Oh no, after that we tackled the Wii.

Chris is about to do the hula hoop. Not so sexy when boys do it.

Chris Miller Does the Hula Hoop On Nintendo Wii from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Marci Does The Hula Hoop On Nintendo Wii from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Ray Does The Hula Hoop on Nintendo Wii from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Beau Does The Hula Hoop On Nintendo Wii from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Doan Does The Hula Hoop On Nintendo Wii from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Beau Does Pilates On Nintendo Wii from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

It’s been a while since I got to hang out with Marci. It’s good to know that she hasn’t been corrupted my Chris Miller.

So remember the trip we took to California earlier this year. It was such a great trip but I left out one event, dinner at Christina and Sammy’s.   It’s been years since I’ve seen these two and to see them twice in one trip was a nice treat. And they surprised me with Jen which was like a bonus on top of a bonus. And she brought her camera, bonus, since it was the one time that I happen to forget mine. I just had to wait for her photos to make to it to Facebook so I can steal them off her.

Wine and dessert just completes a meal.

Group photo, minus Moe.

Sammy and I.

Seeing these photos made me sad to think that we ever fought. We went from seeing each other all the time to not talking for like three years. I guess that’s another life lesson. Grudges are stupid and only hold you back. I’m not gonna lie, I still hold grudges, but not as bad or long.

Um, that’s chocolate cake on my teeth by the way.

We all know Chinese food in American has been drastically modified to suit the needs of the American people, but did you also know that the fortune cookie, those iconic Chinese to go boxes and chop suey is all foreign in China. Ha, what a sham!

I find this to video to be interesting because my family had a Chinese restaurant called the Golden Dragon Restaurant, yeah I know, real original, but just for the record we didn’t name it. We knew that a lot of it wasn’t real Chinese food, but it was what sold.

It was almost a year ago that I started my first post on this blog, January 9th 2008. Since then I’ve written 121 post. I don’t really know who’s all reading it, but it sure has made my hand written journaling take back seat.

I cut my hair super short for the first time ever. It was kinda cute wasn’t it?

Ray got a new iPhone.

Ray and I ran in The Annual Great Aloha Run, just a little over 8 miles, and we all know eight is a good number to start with.

We voted for our first time for the Democratic Party. But just for the record, once Hillary was out of the election Ray and I voted again for our first time for President for Obama of course.

Ray bought me my first brand new computer. Mac 4 life baby!

MyBabyOurBaby Launched.

We finally found the dock where Lost, our favorite television series, was filmed at. We searched the island for it forever.

We went camping at Melekahana, our first time camping in Hawaii and Ray’s first time ever. He’s not a fan.

Rocked out at the Kokua Festival, a festival Jack Johnson puts on every year in Hawaii.

CheapPlacesToEatInOahuHawaii.com, my blog had become a major hit and one of Hawaii’s most popular food blog websites.

I called some lady a cunt on my last day of work, because she was.

We got to swim with dolphins.

We moved back to the main land, California first.

Ray got to meet some of my extended family.

Tried wake boarding for the first time.

Got to ride dirk bikes again.

Moved to Austin

Where we met the Semmlers, Shane’s older brother and his family and now mine.

Kidnapped Kuya Ben’s dogs.

Found the Agave Homes and fell in love.

Ray introduced me to Marcos. He works for NASA.

Went to our first roller derby.

Spent Bachelorette week in Florida with my best bud Jack Mother Fucking Dogg with a double G.

Got married, 080808.

Got my first tattoo with my old crew from V-Town.

Traveled to New York, but just for a couple of months.

I stopped eating meat.

Met Guav Mom and the Roses and I have to tell you I’m a fan. Hope we get to see them again soon.

I got to freelanced at Jimmy Z’s, thanks to Bea.

We got to be extras in Friday Night Lights.

I almost died from pneumonia.

I met the Semmler’s, the rest of Shane’s family, and now mine as well and went to my first professional basketball game. Go Mavericks!

As you can see I love recording my life and 2008 was a year worth recording. There was a lot of cherry popping going on and I got to meet a lot of people that will be in my life for the long haul. We also moved around a lot, Hawaii, California, Austin, New York, Dallas. Things are just never boring with us. I’m looking forward to a healthy, happy and prosperous year for 2009. I know great things are to come.

Ray and I are headed back to Dallas this time to move our boat. You see it was at Kuya Ben’s house, but Ben’s getting ready to empty his house so he can sell it. Fortunately, dad has a friend at work that agreed to have it stored at his place. We met dad at Ben’s where we had to pry the back gate open to retrieve our boat, hooked the boat onto dad’s truck, tow it back to dad’s house, where he towed it to work that night and then to his friends house in the morning after work.

It was suppose to be a one day event for us so I only brought one extra underwares and a set of sleep clothes just in case. Of course I should of known better and brought more stuff. We ended up staying 3 days and I was stuck wearing the same sexy outfit. On the first night we hung out with John Broom and his girl Penny Kim. We went to her new her new apartment where she had hot, delicious cookies waiting to be eaten and watched a movie that didn’t suck at all, Wackness. You should check it out, especially you, Shane Semmler.

The next day we had lunch at a really great Greek Restaurant with Steven Ray. Though we don’t see him often he’s one of my favorites that I met through Ray. He’s always so happy and just a really nice guy. He also has a beautiful wife whom I met once at our wedding and she is equally as pleasant.

That night Rare Medium was meeting up at Chuy’s for dinner. Rare Medium is nonexistent now but a lot of the co-workers still manage to stay in touch. It was Ray’s first job as an intern and the start of his web design career. It was also just a really great place to work, I know because I had heard it from Ray several times and now I was hearing it from everyone else as they reminisce of the good o days at Rare.

Tish and Robert

Derek and his girlfriend.

Mary and Kara

Everybody loves Elvis.

Me and my husband.

Robert and Ray

Robert and Me

I don’t remember the last time I had closed the house down but we did that night. I wasn’t the only one with the camera this time so after we all did a quick photo shoot we all bid one another fare well and parted ways. Hope I see these guys again, they were a lot of fun.

While some people make new year resolutions, my baby just likes to start the year off with a clean slate, a clean, soft, and smooth as a babies ass slate.

I think it’s his way of cleansing. You know how some people have garage sales, donate their clothes to charity, or just throw out any unnecessary items. Ray cleanses himself of his filthy sins by shaving his beard and mustache.

Hey don’t judge him. While you may not think this to be so courageous, it most certainly is. It has been over 10 years since my honey has had a smooth ass face, literally, depending on whose ass.

And he really took off his stache . . . seriously? You know what that means, no more mustache rides for me. Ah, well, I’ve used up all my quarters on laundry anyhow.

Tell me Sancho, how do you feel? Do you feel liberated? Free? Like you’ve been given another chance at life? A new person starting off with a clean slate? I tell you what, when I kiss you it feels like I’m kissing a new person if that makes you feel any better. Maybe we can trade in those mustache rides for some role play action. Come here and kiss me you fool you.

For New Years this year Ray and I were crazy rebels without a cause living the crazy life at 300 Bowl, a bowling alley located in Dallas Texas. I’ve also seen one in Austin.

Lucky for us Bea and Guav had planned on staying till the New Year.

We put our names on the waiting list at the bowling alley then we met up with Vince, Bea’s big brother and his girlfriend, Renee at BJ’s Restaurant.

We didn’t expect the bowling alley to call us back, being New Year’s and all, but they did, while Guav was in the mist of his meal. He scarfed down his meal as fast as his vegan mouth would allow him and we scurried off to Dallas 300 Bowl.

I know it’s not the craziest New Year but my friends are crazy enough for me. Besides, we were all on a budget, Bea wasn’t drinking, I wasn’t drinking, and Guav never drinks. So basically Ray would look like a sad alcoholic if we went anywhere else.

Watch Ray and I do the count down and then we kiss for a prosperous, healthy and happy 2009.

2009 New Years Count Down from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

So the crazy and bizarre thing is that none of us are really that good at bowling, especially me of all people. We randomly filmed the four of us, me, Ray, Bea and Guav bowl once and each person bowled a strike. How crazy is that? It’s a sign, 2009 is going to be a great year!

Bea Strikes Into the New Year!

Bea Strikes Into the New Year from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Ray Strikes Into The New Year!

Ray Strikes Into the New Year from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Guav Strikes Into the New Year!

Guav Stikes Into the New Year from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

I Strike Into The New Year!

Doan Strikes Into The New Year 2008-09 from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

We said our sad good-byes at the end of the night because Bea and Guav were planning on leaving the next day as were we. The drive back home wasn’t so bad, at least Kola didn’t think so.

I finally got around to sending my 15 inches of black, shiny hair to Locks of Love. It’s a bit late I know but when I first cut it one of my co-workers said that I could get thousands for it on the internet from ladies that bid for it. I have to admit, I was really tempted, but I came to my senses. I know it will be put to good use to someone who really needs it.

Found this tattoo in a magazine and I really dig it. I don’t know why because I’m not Buddhist but I really like Buddha things, like photos, statues, tattoos, etc. I also really dig Asian waves and it kinda looks like those are Asian waves over by his head. Anyhow, I’ve been really itching to get a tatt lately so I’ve been checking out lots of tatts. Feel free to tell me what you think.

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.

Every year for the holidays Ray and I will switch off. For example, one year we’ll spend Thanksgiving with my family and Christmas with his and the following year we’ll spend Thanksgiving with his family and Christmas with mine. We timed it perfect to where Bea and Guav end up being in town too because they do the same switcheroo but only with Christmas.

Christmas in Dallas goes for several days and holds many events. Since marrying Ray I’ve seemed to have married into several other families as well and we have to manage our schedule accordingly so that we’re able to fit everyone who’s anyone in. It was the first Christmas in Dallas where Ray didn’t get to spend with his BFF Chris Miller. However we did spontaneously run into them at the Gallery Mall and ended up having lunch with them.

Shane Semmler was in town from Hawaii. Yay! I happen to miss Shane very much and have never met his parents but he use to always speak very highly of them so I was looking forward to meeting them along with the rest of his family. He was in Austin during the time I was in the hospital and paid me a visit then. After several attempts of trying to reach Shane via phone while we were in Dallas we decided to pay him a surprise visit. We got there at the perfect time because as soon as we arrived was the exact moment that they were planning on going out to eat. So of course we joined them and then went back to the Semmler’s home and watched a video his parents put together every year of the family for the family. There was even a photo of Ray and I in the video. Yay, see we are family too! We also played Rock Band where I failed miserably at singing Living On a Prayer by Bon Jovi.

The Semmler’s loved me so much they invited us to join them at what would be my first Mavericks game the very next day. It was so exciting at first, the stadium was so big, lights were flashing, and music so loud with the hot dancers shaking there ass on the court below. Yes, yes Go Mavericks!

I think Shane is a spitting image of his dad.

A little blurry because I was trying to find the right setting on my camera but here is Ray and Shane being a goof ball.

Mavericks fans.

It was a sad game at first, so sad that I was embarrassed to be a Maverick fan but then I remembered that I was at home stadium. Luckily they ended up winning in the end, not by much though, it was a close game.

The next day was the Eve of Christmas and what better day to shop and what better place than Wal*Mart. Yeah, especially when Christmas at the TalPlacido’s was going to be that night. You know I wasn’t the brains of this operation. I have two words, Kuya Ben. Bea and Ray are testing out the bikes Santa’s gonna get for Cloe and Lyric with Ben’s money. Speaking of Santa, Cloe came up to me earlier and said Santa wasn’t real. I asked her who told her that and she said I did when they were down visiting us. I did? Oh, yeah, I did, didn’t I? Let this be a lesson to all of you. Think twice before you have Aunt Doe babysit.

This is Chrismas at the TalPlacidos.

Christmas At The TalPlacido’s from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

LEGOS! He was real excited about his present.

Christmas is all about the kids, it was no different here.

Look what Santa got the rug rats.

Look What Santa Got the Lyric and Cloe from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Even Nyny got a present, and if you look in the background Papa’s got a brand new plasma.

Ny Ny We Got You A Present from Doan Chung on Vimeo.

Me and Bea. Photo by Guav Gauvin.

Christmas day was spent at Aunt Dora and her husband Todd’s home. I was a bit disappointed this year because there was no pineapple cake. I’ve been looking forward to this cake all year long and the maker of the cake happen to be sick. Sheesh, the nerve.

Aunt Dora is truly one of the nicest people I know. Every time I go over to her house she has several presents for me. She’s the type that goes Christmas shopping the day after Christmas and then every other weekend just for presents for the fuck of it so when some one comes over there will be a present for them. Look at how many presents she bought for her brother Ray alone.

Dad’s got a brand new jacket.

Nick’s got brand new money.

Aunt Dora got an angel.

Todd and I are the photographers.

Aunt Dora made sure she had several presents for everyone that arrived. Nick bought his girlfriend and his girlfriend brought her sister and she brought her boyfriend.

Uncle Ray brought his new girlfriend and her son.

Aunt Dora and Todd take time to pose for a photo.

Ray looks handsome wearing a tie.

Grandpa was there too.

The next day we went to Guav’s favorite store in Texas, Fry’s, home of anything and everything electric.

That night Ray and I toilet papered Kuya Ben’s car as payback for the last time he and Bea toilet papered our car on Random Ass Day.

Our first attempt was a failed disaster so we merely drove back to 711, bought some more toilet paper and a gallon of water and just threw wet bombs at his car. The funny thing is, no one cleaned it up the next day and they just drove off with it like that and let the wind blow it off.

Bea and Guav drove back to Austin with us in Ben’s car to help unload the washer and dryers we bought off Kuya Ben and a bunch of random other stuff we got for free. We grabbed dinner at a local Indian Vegetarian place I’ve been meaning to try out. Ray didn’t like it but it’s okay because all the non-eating meat folks did. Ray also got a ticket that night, two actually, because he was driving Kuya Ben’s car which happens to be expired on inspection and registration. The next day we headed back to Dallas ready to celebrate the New Year.

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.