From White House to White Dress

So I opened up Yahoo! and one of the front articles for today is about Chelsea Clinton and the little blurb with the thumbnail says "Chelsea Clinton's path to wedding" and then when you hover over it, the bigger photo comes up with another headline: "Chelsea: From W.H. to wedding bells" Took me a sec to realize what W.H. stood for (I think I was slightly confused because I was thinking presidents, and then George W. and George H. and W.H. and whatevs, anyway)... I finally realized it stood for White House, and was annoyed that they didn't go for the much more clever title of "From White House to White Dress." Maybe "white dress" doesn't translate to wedding enough for average yahoo readers? But it's less stupid than "W. H. to wedding bells."

Well, in my opinion anyway...

Summer in [New York] City... Part 1

Regina Spektor said "Summer in the city means cleavage, cleavage, cleavage..." but for me, I think it was more "hot, humid, and sweaty." Actually, that was just the first day. :) The rest of the weekend (ESPECIALLY Sunday night) felt awesome.

This was my first big trip with any siblings since I was... 17? 7 years ago? Katie, Jon and I went to San Diego to visit Chi Tram, and then we all went to Vegas for a night. I was 17. In Vegas. Needless to say, Vegas wasn't that awesome. Not because it's not awesome, but because it has nothing to offer a 17 year old.

But New York City had plenty to offer this 24 year old. :) Lisa and I finally got to our hotel after the world's hottest cab ride (well, at that point, we THOUGHT it was the hottest cab ride). We knew when we were walking inside the... uhh... whatever the walkway that connects the plane to the gate is called... we knew when we were walking in __________ (name?) that it was going to be hot as HELL. According to my iphone it was about 5 degrees hotter than Austin. 5 Degrees! What?? Anyway, we get to our hotel after driving through Times Square (we stayed at the Times Square Westin). We walk into our hotel room and blasted the air. We also closed our curtains after our very disappointing view (we were right behind a billboard--suck). But, the beds looked cleaned and so did the rest of the room (and hey, at least we HAD windows--yeah, I'm looking at you New Orleans Pelham Hotel... I'm lookin' at you!) Then we set out. We made our way to the Time Warner Building/Mall what-have-you in Columbus Circle to eat at the Bouchon Bakery. On the way (with some strategic detours) we saw more Times Square, Rockefeller, Anthro (love love love), David Letterman (well, not HIM), and more Broadway theaters. I had a turkey pressed sandwich that was AWESOME! Lisa had the world's fluffiest, lightest, airy quiche.

Then we made our way down to the subway to head downtown towards some shops. We stopped inside The Strand Bookstore & ABC Home (zomg so beautiful). We walked and hung out in Washington Square for a little while (my feetsies needed some rest) and then headed down to Pearl Oyster Bar. Of all my meals in NYC this weekend, this was probably one of my faves. It was $11 Mussels in a wine, mustard and some kind of cream sauce. I expected a good portion (a good portion being about... 10-15 mussels). I EASILY got over 30 mussels. IT WAS SO GOOD! I couldn't believe it was only $11. The place was pretty small and tiny (reminded me much of the place LC and I got crepes at in the Montmartre area), but it was cozy and full of people (and life). Lisa had Bouillabaisse which was filled with about 1,000 different types of seafood/shellfish (aka Johnny's ultimate death). We both thoroughly enjoyed our meals, and then we headed out towards Magnolia Bakery (in a very roundabout way--but the cool thing is that we walked by the Jefferson Market Garden! This means nothing to most people, except austin SATC fans like us who thought, "That looks like the garden that Steve and Miranda didn't hate and got married in" and one short google later I found out--IT WAS!) Magnolia was adorable. I was too stuffed that night (and the next?) to eat my cupcake, but I did two days later and guess what--STILL EFFIN' GOOD.

Lisa and I ended up back in the hotel room and waited for Chi Thu to get in. She finally did, told us about the kid who asked his parents "Are we sleeping in trash?" and kept saying she wasn't hungry. She was. But somehow we fell asleep without her ever admitting she wanted to get something to eat.

And that, my friends, is all I can muster for my first day recap :)


Sweet NYC

Things I Hate, But Always Hear

Them: Complain Complain Complain
Me: Explain Explain Explain
Them: Yeah I completely understand... but... complain complain complain.

Bitches.

Obvious Reason Why Thomas is Wonderful - #7

I can write blogs about how much I love another male and he won't get jealous or care. In fact, he just likens our relationships with Full House.

Obvious Reason Why Johnny is Wonderful

me: You're gonna make me cry
Johnny: i know

I know this is something typically reserved for Thomas, but for today, I will make an exception. Johnny No Middle Name Pham is by far one of the best friends anyone in the world could ever have. He's so full of love, and that's not just because he just came back from his hippy multicultural tolerance awareness camp, but because he's just a very loving and caring person. And no, dear family, Thomas and I are still together and there is nothing funny going on between me and Johnny.

I Keep Tearing Out the Sutures

It has been a great week with Carl in town and Monday off work to look forward to (and no work at Anthro all week--and surprise appreciation!) But... it's been a rough week.

Last Saturday Thomas and I went with David to have dinner with the Guthries. This is always a great occasion because the Guthries are awesome and I just don't get to see them enough. The Guthrie sons weren't there, but the girls + Lucy were--and let's face it, that's AWESOME! However, with the great joy that comes with spending time with the Guthries, I've come to expect the inevitable twinge of... I don't know... I guess sadness...? It's nobody's fault--it's just, I mean... obviously, if you're with the Guthries, you automatically think of Anne because... well... she's the reason there's so much love between our two families. Anyway, I had Thomas with me, which is pretty much the best person for any occasion--happy or sad, because he always knows just the right thing to say (and if he doesn't, he just has a really great hug). At one point in the night I was showing Mary Anne & Grace the photos from Canyon Lake. When Grace saw the photo of Penny (Anne & David's beautiful Pekingese) , she started tearing up and it just broke my heart. She kept apologizing for being "so emotional." I of course told her how silly she was being. After all, no one needs to apologize to a Nguyen about being emotional. We're a family of criers!

Wednesday came along and I got a phone call from my sister Thu informing us that Penny had died that day. She finally left us to go groak (her favorite thing to do) for some food from Anne. I was literally sick to my stomach when I got that phone call. I already wasn't feeling all that great (in fact, I was just waking from a nap when Thomas came into the room with my phone) and this certainly didn't make things better. I even went into work a couple hours late the next day because I couldn't get to bed that night. My heart was just so heavy, it felt like it was sitting at the bottom of my stomach, ready to just fall out. Penny was such a great pup. Up until this last year when she was having all her health issues, she acted just like a brand new little hyper out of control pup! She was a spastic! But my mom (who I of course had to call and sob to that night) reminded me how sick Penny had been and how much better off she is now. But I think for me, (and for a lot of other people) it was more than just Penny herself. It was Penny... and what Penny stood for--what she meant to everyone in the family. That of course was Anne, and her loving, sweet, wonderful, and beautiful ways. It felt like it was hurting all over again.

There's a line from one of my favorite Postal Service songs ("Nothing Better") that says "Your heart won't heal right if you keep tearing out the sutures." Penny leaving us felt like a strong tug at the sutures that were already barely keeping my heart together after Anne left us. I know it seems a bit over dramatic what I'm saying, but I guess that's just the way I've been feeling and needed an outlet to get it out of me.

Goodnight my dear sweet friends.

David, Thomas, and me with most of the Guthries


Anne & Penny

Pictures Say 1,000s of Weird Words

More photos of the last month or so:


Luke enjoys his cake!


Amanda graduates!


Hayden's had enough of this graduation stuff!


Check out that proud Nguyen family!


<3 src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs088.snc4/35746_10100255064101370_7901156_62290774_8236770_n.jpg">
He's so COOL!


All the kids... with Hayden trying to run away!


All 29 of us in the Nguyen clan


Yep, the same 29...


Nic loves his big cousin Amanda

Having a (Bos)TON of fun!

Here's some more photos from Boston... bc I know you're dying to see it.

JJ's here! Brunch @ Trident


We walked the Freedom Trail... literally


Buddy pigs out on the ride back to our hotel


BEER! HARPOON!


JJ finds some kids to play with!


Jen graduates!


I ditch best friend Jenny for a NEW best friend--QUINCY JONES!

Obvious Reason Why Thomas is Wonderful - #6

He comes to my office at lunch to see how I'm doing. All he gets is a "What are you doing here?" look and then a quick hug and a thanks. And then he's gone. And he's completely fine with that.

Diary of a Mad [Asian] Woman

It's been a rollercoaster of emotions today. But right now, before I go into detail about anything else. I AM PISSED. Here is a snippet of my transcript with Maggie explaining to her my wonderful experience with a patient today:

one of our patients
is a fit in
a FIT IN
on a BUSY DAY
and he'scomplaining that he's been waiting for 3 hours
NOT telling our patients that he's a fit in
making them get all antsy
and then i say loudly when he complains to me about how he IS a fit in
and he's like 'well nobody called me'
and i'm all 'well we certainly try and it's not our intention to purposefully not call you'
and he's all 'well i have a card that says 9 am on 06/01/10'
and i'm like 'well that was your appointment LAST month
and he's all 'well, no, this is what she gave me when i was here.'
and i'm all 'you sure you didn't just mix up cards?'
and he's all 'no, i get them, stick them in my wallet, and never take them out'
(which leaves me to believe THAT IT'S A FUCKIN' OLD CARD YOU DIPSHIT"
and he's all 'no, it's not. this is what you gave me, AND youd idn't call me, and now i'm here, being fit in, and you're gonna make me WAIT?!'
and i'm all 'well again, we didn't NOT call you on purpose'
and he's all "SO IT'S MY FAULT, is what you're saying."

Oh how I wanted to be a smartass and just say, "YES, THAT IS WHAT I'M FUCKIN' SAYING!"