I Should've Written, "5. A Million Dollars!"

In general, I don't expect gifts.  Well, okay, I take that back.  Thomas I expect something from.  (Not always, we did have a deal a couple years ago to not give any gifts!)  :)

This year, I got literally everything I wanted and more!

On Monday (the day before my birthday) I jokingly (and randomly) wrote a list of things on the dry erase board in the class I was subbing for.  This was more my way of getting their attention (they were all talking to each other when the bell rang, but they got a lot quieter once they started trying to figure out what I was writing):

1. green
2. size 7
3. Anthropologie
4. gerber daisies

I proceeded to ignore their questions and comments ("Miss Nguyen, 'anthropology' is spelled with a 'y'") and take roll.  I then went through the instructions for what they were supposed to be doing that day and right when I was done, on the tail end of the last instruction, I pointed to each item on the board and said,

"My birthday is tomorrow.  Oh and by the way my favorite color is green, I wear size 7 shoes, my favorite store is Anthropologie," (here you see some girls nod in agreement, and the rest of the class still remains clueless as to how there is a store dedicated to the discipline of anthropology), "and my favorite flowers are gerber daisies!  So, you know... just... saying."

The next day, I actually had some students bring me things!

Not only did I get green things (a green bag with an umbrella and some green lotion and body mist and also green cards), but I also got some flowers including (of course) gerber daisies!  :)

That night, Lisa, Luke, Thomas, and I went to Jasper's.  We had some (and by some I mean all) of their happy hour bar menu.  My favorites were the: pizza, sliders, and pork satays.  Skip the blue cheese potato chips--especially if you're expecting it to be as awesome as Plucker's version.  Then we... went to... *drumrollnotreallyneeded* ANTHROPOLOGIE!  Where I found myself some silver shoes... size 7.  And my sister was, of course, sweet and wonderful enough to treat me to it (this is after she already treated us to said dinner at Jasper's)!

Probably could've gotten a better photo, but too lazy.  :)

So there you have it.  My four things that I randomly off-the-top-of-my-head listed, and I got all four!  I even got a couple more things I hadn't expected (but would definitely be somewhere on my list of favorite things): TWO--yes, count it--TWO bottles of sriracha--one from Miss Maggie and the other from Thomas's family.  Thomas's family then threw in one more really really awesome thing:

Seth Meyers @ Paramount Theatre

I have such an awesome nerdcrush on him.  I look forward to weekend updates so this SNL Headwriter can make me giggle.  I still haven't decided if I have a bigger crush on him or Tina.  It's a tough one.  Now, if I got this combo, I might not have such a hard time making the decision:

Or, even better (if you're not reading this from your iPhone and/or the book I plan to print and make of this):

Yes, guys.  Really.  This was a GREAT birthday!  Much like Edwin McCain, I've got all I've waited for, and I could not ask for more!  (Yeah, I went there)

My birthday cupcake!  Luke helped me blow out my candles!  :)

Spring Break 2012

It was a good Spring Break, though I can barely tell you what all I did!  Here's some snapshots!

BFFs forreal

Riverwalk!

Luke snapped this shot!

Chamberlains hanging out at the Alamo

Shelby was in town so natch, we went karaoke-ing!

So great to see her! :)

Kite Festival 2012

3/4 - Mom's birthday!  :)  Also, Austin's salute to kites day!  So Thomas and I went with Lisa and Mike (and of course Luke) to Zilker to enjoy some fun in the sun and some height with the kites!  Luke and I had some fun throwing popcorn into each other's mouths (or just at each other's faces...) and Mike seemed to have fun trying to get the world's most dangerous looking (pointy) kite up in the air!

Lisa and Luke chowing down on some kettle corn!  (Man, I REALLY want some now!)

Lisa feeding luke some delicious corndog, while Thomas and Mike try to get the kite up!

Beautiful.

Just beautiful.

Our town and the awesome people in it

Holiday Season Recap (the Recap to start off all Recaps)

So it is now officially the new year.  Despite my desperate attempts to keep my blog current and up-to-date, life happens (which is, of course, a good thing) and I fall behind.  So here is a blast of a recap of the rest of my December:

12/21 & 22 - I watched Luke for about a day and a half while his parents were still working!  I suppose that is the benefit of having a teacher for a sister--when school's out, so is she!  He was super cute all day. We'd do breakfast, we'd watch some tv... then we'd take a nap together.  Probably my favorite thing about his naps, is that both times, partially through lunch, he just walks up to me and says, "Sleep now."  It's the sweetest thing.  Then we'd take his little portable dvd player, his blanky, and we hop onto his parents' bed and take our nap.  He has the sweetest little breathing when he sleeps.

Christmas Break - First we went to Houston.  We spent the first night (Christmas Eve Eve) shopping.  We ran into Anh Vien & Chi Hong at Anthro... they invited us over for some scrumptious diddlyumptious foods!  Before we headed over... Lisa and I stopped by BLHDN... Heaven.  OMG HEAVEN.

Pretty room

It's like a museum of dresses!

A dress I looooved!

Early Christmas morning I got a phone call from my cousin Jon asking if Austin wanted to come and play some flag football.  I let him know Thomas was in town, and he was promptly invited as well.  We all went up to Dobie (along with a couple of Austin's friends) and met up a bunch of my cousins (Jon, Jimmy, Peter, Nes) and a bunch of David's friends (Donson, Peter, Thu--who watched, Steve, Felix, Nappy, etc.)  They played some muddy, messy, miserable football, but they looked like they had fun!  They also looked like they were going to be very very sore.  Also, Felix made this video of them playing.

Old dudes thinking they're not so old anymore :)

Christmas with the fam was pretty typical, food and fun :)  No Chi Tram and no David.  :(  Here are some pictures of my lovely family:

Early Christmas morning (early = 4 am... which is DEFINITELY early if you fell asleep at 3:30) Thomas and I drove to Dallas.  (Thomas drove... I slept).  Once we got to the Wilders, I woke up the sleepyheads and we all sat around the living room and opened presents.  My present from Dana is TO DIE FOR.

The rest of the time in Dallas was spent hanging with friends.  Part of the time we hung out with members of the Dennis family (Thomas's cousins on his mom's side) and then we also got some time with Crazy Carl and Matt McEvoy.  It was good times all around!  :)  Especially playing loaded questions...

Eventually we headed back to Houston for some more funzie times.  I got home, Thomas headed off to the movies to meet Anh Vinh, Austin & Aaron, and I went to Baybrook Mall with Amanda, Amber & Chi La.  Later on that night Thomas, Jenny, and I met up James at La Madeleine.  There we gossiped about people we knew and caught each other up on what's going on.  It was basically dinner with three of my favorite people :)

High School!

Speaking of high school, the next morning was spent at Lan Le's engagement party.  Lan was my best friend freshman year in high school.  Eleven years later, she's getting married!  :)  She had a traditional Vietnamese engagement party--roasted pig and all.  She asked her guests to wear their traditional Vietnamese ao dai (or, in Simra and Rabia's case, their saris).  I... don't have one.  Well, I do, but it was made for me when I was 15 for my confirmation.  Ten years later, there is NO WAY IN HELL that I'm going to fit into that.

Simra, Rabia, Phuong, Lan, Me, Natalie, Nga & Tien

We're all grabbing Lan's boob.  Gee, I wonder who started that...?

The gang... thoroughly grossed out by Lan & Braeden's blatant PDA

That night the family spent much of it together shooting fireworks.  Fireworks are our favorite :)  Katie stopped by for a bit and spent a lot of time being talked back into her letterpress ideas by Lisa!

On the last day of 2011, the last year she's officially single :)  Marriage awaits in 2012!

Aaaaaaaand I think that's it for my recap of the holidays!

California Comes to Texas!

12/1-12/4 - My sister Rachel and her 2 kids, Paulina & Nicolae came into town!  She had a few more vacation days to spend (but unfortunately not her husband Adrian) and she decided to bring the kids to see the fam in Texas!  Here's some snapshots of some things we did while they were in town:

Angelina as Clara in the Nutcracker

Front Row Seats, baby!

Friday morning we all went to go see Angelina perform as Clara in the Bay Area Ballet performance in Clear Lake... it was beautiful!  MAGICAL!  She's AMAZING!  :)  I think it was really great that Nic & Paulina got to see her perform!

The California Gang and our dancing queen after the show

Mama & Her Girls :)

Eventually we headed up to the north side of town (i.e., Conroe) to hang out and stay at our other sister, Chi Trang's.  We all met up at the Golden Corral (brand new and stinkin' HUGE) to eat... I think some of the kids may have been a little wired that night... I wonder why...

Nic

Paula & Madison

Luke

Adam, Aaron, Nic, Paula & Madison... each with their very own cotton candy...

Afterwards, the gang above (the 5 kids) a couple of my sisters, Thomas, Austin & I went to Chuck E. Cheese.  I'm not sure who had more fun...  Unfortunately we were too busy playing games to take any pictures.

That night we made some snowglobes with the kids.  You can refer to my sister Rachel's blog to see one of the finished products :).  Most of the night was spent with my four sisters and I chit chatting... mostly about people... which is slightly better than the next morning, where we spent most of our time facebook stalking.

The next day was spent pretty chill... some shopping and more eating.  Saturday night (the 3rd) my sisters and I had been planning to have a girl's night out.  So all of us (minus Chi Giao, which we were all pretty bummed about) got together for dinner.  Then we went back to Chi Hong's where we hung out some more and talked some more.  Eventually we played a game called "Truth Be Told" which was a pretty fun game.  It's similar to Balderdash... except about real things... for example, my sister Thu got the card that said, "Truth be told, I'll watch any movie with..."  The answers she got from us were:

- Viggo Mortensen

- Daniel Craig

- Daniel Craig

- Daniel Craig

- Viggo Mortensen

- The James Bond guy

Her answer?  Daniel Craig... (although she did say she TOTALLY forgot about Viggo and that had she remembered, that would have TOTALLY been her REAL answer... go me and Lisa!)  It was pretty fun and we had some laughs!  It was a great night!

Back: Me, Chi Thu, Chi Hong, Chi Trang

Front: Chi Tram (Rachel), Chi La, & Lisa (or Chi Thoa... but you'll probably never hear me say that unless you're my mom)

We'll miss these kiddos a lot!