October 21, 2010

  • ***EDIT*** Finishing Up My NY Chronicles: The Last Entry!

    ****EDIT****

    HAHA! I just realized that TODAY is the actual day that Dan and I left New York. It’s October 21st! Not October 19th. Haha. October 19th was the day we had to give up our East Village Apartment. sad

    ****EDIT****

     

    Oct 19 – A year ago today, Nam left for work as Dan and I got our luggage together and Angie helped us down to the front of Laura’s apartment where we got a taxi to take us to JFK. I still remember waving to her as we pulled away and wanting to cry. I still miss New York all the time and I’ve come to terms with the fact that I left a piece of me back there so I will always miss it and it won’t go away. My memories are so awesome and I couldn’t be happier that I had such a positive experience.

    The Going Away Party!

    Nooooo!!!!

    As we speak, Dan is working on a slide show of our time in New York. We sifted through our photos and so many memories came rushing back. Living in New York City is one of the greatest experiences of my life and I’m so glad I did it. The photos made me realize how much I did while living in NYC and it made me realize how much I try to do in life in general. Packing up and leaving to New York wasn’t as scary as some people thought it would be. I wasn’t scared. I was so excited and I couldn’t wait to embark on a new journey… a great journey it was. I can’t wait to post the slide show for all of you to see.

    The experience has changed Dan and me so much (for the better). I realized that I was starting to get comfortable here in California and moving to New York sparked that passion I had for trying new things and traveling. I think that Dan definitely feels he’s changed a lot and has really come out of his shell. If you knew him before New York, you might be able to see the subtle differences. Dan and I have done so much during our marriage and I’m so lucky to have shared all of these experiences with him and I’m so glad that we are on the same page almost all of the time which makes it easier to go on all of our crazy adventures!

    Sometimes I miss New York so much it hurts. But I think back and think about how glad I am that it hurts to miss it because I know I had such an amazing time. It went by sooooo fast I still can’t believe it!

    A popular question I’m always asked: “Do you think you could live in New York again and settle there?”

    The answer is: Yes, most definitely! (I’m tempted to go back right at this moment! Haha)

    The person we miss the most from NYC … our amazing brother Nam who went on this journey with us from the beginning. He’s still on his journey and having a great time and we couldn’t be happier for him. Nam and I have been through so much together I feel like God has really put us together as siblings on purpose. I await for the day we are reunited. heart He says he’ll eventually be back.

    And a good bye to us from everyone in New York City. Thank you to Laura and Angie for making this signing board for us.

    Moving on… here are the people who were able to make it to our going away party (in random order)… I’ll always miss Sonya’s piggy back rides. HAHA

    Let’s hit the party…! Continue reading

October 18, 2010

  • Finishing Up My NY Chronicles: Entry 12

    The second to the last NY Chronicles post. Wow! I kept my promise to update and finish before my 1 year of leaving New York arrived and I did it! This will motivate me to keep it going from now on. happy

    This post will be about my last trip leaving from New York… Boston! If you’ve been following me for a long time, we visited Boston before but wanted to return to do a bit more sightseeing.

    Dan, Nam, Laura, and I took a cheap bus ride to Boston and met up with Anh and Duy. Sorry I don’t have too many photos! Anh took most of the pics on this trip. Haha.

    I love Boston. It’s such a peaceful town. I think I could live there.

    We climbed this thing and boy were we tired! It’s a lot taller than it looks in this picture.

    Here we are! climbing up! Continue reading

October 12, 2010

  • Finishing Up My NY Chronicles: Entry 11

    Today is October 12th, 2010. Last year on October 12th, 2009 I had one week before leaving NYC. Sigh. I say it all the frickin’ time, but time flies so frickin’ fast!

    I really miss living in a neighborhood with all of those colorful walls…

    This was right next to our apartment building actually…

    My eyes are closed on purpose. pleased

    Trying to pose and failing… lol.

    One of my favorite walls… it’s like a tattoo. laughing

    I have a lot more “wall photos,” but you get the point. Movin’ along ladies and gentlemen. During my last month I decided I had to go see this wall in Manhattan. It’s made up of five slabs of the Berlin Wall. Nobody even really knows it’s there. It looks like any other wall and is right in the middle of a corporate plaza.

    So anyway, I grabbed my 3 usual team members and we made our way to the Berlin Wall!

    Before that though, we made a stop at the Astoria Beer Gardens for lunch. It was a beautiful day to be outside too. Continue reading

October 11, 2010

  • Finishing Up My NY Chronicles: Entry 10

    So if you’ve been following along, Dan and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary on October 7th. We had lunch together that day by his work just so that we could do something, but we really celebrated last night. He made a reservation at Yamashiro in Hollywood. He picked it for the view of LA. Sorry for the bad quality of these photos. They’re from our phones.

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    We had a yummy dinner with a view.

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    Wine for hubby and dessert sushi for moi!

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    Wanna know what we did last year for our 3rd year anniversary? We were in New York City still. Last year I booked a dinner cruise on the Hudson River so that we could enjoy the Manhattan skyline.

    It was so windy outside that we took a few pictures and ran back inside. Haha.

    Hey! I just realized I ordered salmon again this year! Haha. I must love me some salmon.

    The View

    Yes, we could have celebrated Saturday night but we decided to go see Kaskade for Amy’s birthday and had a blast! It was an awesome weekend.

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    Last September we had our last set of visitors, Thaoie, Rob, Anh, and Duy. Notice I said “set” of visitors. Thaoie and Robert had an amazing engagement photo shoot taken in New York at several cool spots taken by Duy (Thaoie’s partner) and Nam. Other than the day of engagement photos, the rest of the time we had so much fun!

    Thao and Robert NYC Shoot

    Thao and Robert NYC Shoot

    Go on for more photos of their beautiful photos as well as what we did during their trip! Continue reading

October 8, 2010

  • Finishing Up My NY Chronicles: Entry 9

    So I’m doing a pretty darn good job of blogging like I promised. Maybe I’ll keep it up and catch up to the present time. Haha. I’ll start plugging in some present time stuff from here on out and then go more into depth when I REALLY catch up! Let’s hope that happens!

    I’m telling you, looking at these old photos are really motivating me to keep with my work out. Haha. I don’t have to walk or use stairs as much here as I did in New York so the stuff I eat settles in my belly, faces, arms, etc… Haha.

    I miss my two gals who are still in NYC, Angie and Beara!

    October 7th, four years ago, Butty and I got married! I wanted to blog yesterday to wish my awesome husband a Happy 4 Year Wedding Anniversary, but I was just so busy all day long!

    He sent me these… “four balloons for four years,” he says. heart

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    One of those things included meeting him up for our anniversary lunch. heart We were sitting across from each other so I used my phone’s cool camera feature to put us together. laughing

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    We also celebrated Jeremy’s birthday yesterday. YAY! This photo happened before he got too wasted to stand. Haha.

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    Duy cracked me up when we picked him up and he had decided to wear the same exact outfit as me on purpose. HAHA! He was announcing it to strangers at The Crosby too. LOL.

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    Okay… so here are some of the things we did during my last month in New York City…! Continue reading

October 6, 2010

  • Finishing Up My NY Chronicles: Entry 8

    In this post: Prom Night for us New Yorkers!

    I kept my word and I’m back for another blog! Awww yeeaaahhh….

    It’s so strange. Last week it was hot as hell, a solid 100 degrees at LEAST. And now it’s getting cold… many of my fellow tweeters seem to agree at least. Luckily I have the thick skin I got from living in New York. My mind will always tell me it can be way colder. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still chilly though. And my house is not a good winter house. It’s freezing in here.

    So I woke up today hearing the rain coming down pretty hard. It made me glad to know I didn’t leave my rain boots back in NY when I moved home to CA. I did, however, leave my bubble jacket there for Bear for those harsh winters. I won’t need it here thank goodness. There’s nothing you can do to make a bubble jacket look cute. Haha.

    Me and Thaoie from when she visited in 2008 (Thaoie on the left)

    anne and thaoie

     

    So this blog is going to be about our prom night in New York. Prom was held at Webster Hall, or as it was known as that night… Wannaget High! Haha. It was great. They had a full cast of actors and actresses dressed in 80′s garb and even mentioned some 80′s facts. We got to vote for prom king and queen and the music was great. It was like we were blasted into the 80s for sure.

    Attendees include myself, Dan, Nam, Bear, Angie, and Rosalia and her now-husband, Shane. They spent their bachelorette/bachelor party with us. laughing

    Here we are before heading out.

    Venture on for more photos of our fabulous 80′s Prom Night Out in New York! Continue reading

September 28, 2010

  • Finishing Up My NY Chronicles: Entry 7

    Amsterdam Trip

    Okay, I said that I would start blogging again this week and here I am! TA DA!!!

    First thing’s first is I have to finish up my NY Chronicles so that I can move on to California stuff. Hopefully I will be disciplined and finish before my one year anniversary of leaving NY comes, October 19th. That’s my goal.

    I noticed how much skinnier I am in these Amsterdam photos. Haha. Maybe catching up on my blogging will motivate me to really work out.

    Some of you know that this year delivered me a bunch of crappy life tests to endure. They weren’t forever life changing, but definitely inconvenient and gave me some sad days. I’m so grateful to have so many loving family members and friends in California that I can rely on. They are the best thing for me about living in California. The weather is good too, but yesterday and today has been excruciatingly hot. I’m glad that I don’t have to stand inside a subway terminal with the smell of rat pee I can tell you that much.

    So I think what I’m going to do is finish up my Amsterdam Trip update and then condense the rest of New York. Thinking about how fast time flew by really amazes me. I mean, really. I can’t believe that I left New York almost a year ago. I miss the City dearly and a part of my heart is still there. I heart NY

    On with Amsterdam!

    Amsterdam is quite a beautiful city. Its reputation leads people to think that Amsterdam is all about drugs and sex, but if you really take a look at the streets and canals, it’s really a great city to bike in. Don’t get me wrong, the city is a lot more pornographic than what we’re used to in the USA.

    Warning: You will see boobies and peepees (not real ones) so don’t click further if you don’t want to see! Haha! Enjoy this photo blog! Continue reading

September 24, 2010

  • Haven’t Finished My NY Chronicles Have I?

    My husband is trying to motivate me and push me to finish my NY Chronicles. Next month will be a year since we’ve left NY. Time has flown by so fast yet also kinda slow this year. I really need to finish this thing. Starting next week I’m going to have a lot more free time again so I’m going to try to spit out those blogs!

    I may disappoint again, but stay tuned…. Haha.

     

May 11, 2010

  • Finishing Up My NY Chronicles: Entry 6

    Part 1 (of 2) of Brussels, Bruges, Amsterdam Post

    Oopsy! My good friend Anuwett reminded me that I needed to blog because she has been checking the site. Here goes… This post will be covering our Brussels, Bruges, Amsterdam trip with Laura and Frances.

    While living in New York City, we were so close to Europe that I took the opportunity to persuade my hubby to go on a short trip to Amsterdam. And since we watched the movie In Bruges, it made us really want to visit Bruges. Laura had an aunt in Brussels so why not visit Brussels as well! They were all in close proximity to each other. So close that we could travel between the cities by train with just a few hours commute each.

    This will be mostly a photo blog for you…

    First stop… Brussels to visit Laura’s Aunt Loan and Uncle Francis!

    Their apartment was so cute! I would totally buy a house like theirs. Here’s where we stayed… they had an extra wing in their apartment that wasn’t quite finished but it was good enough for us. We had our own bathroom and everything!

    Brussels is a really small city compared to the likes of Paris, Madrid, and other cities I’ve visited but I liked the quaint feel and especially  Continue reading

April 6, 2010

  • Finishing Up My NY Chronicles: Entry 5

    Even while in New York, we had a big dose of family and friends.

    At the end of August, we went home for my Daddy-in-law’s 60th birthday celebration! He’s still as fit as an ox and can beat youngin’s more than half his age at tennis!

    The in-laws…

    Cousin Mike visited in early September for his 35th Birthday. Here he is about to blow out his birthday dessert. We celebrated at Peter Luger… yummy steak!

    That same weekend, a bunch of friends also visited… There was Eli, Frances, and Brian as well as Sonya’s closest gal pals. It made for a huge group when we all went out… Continue reading