to the new year

Another year you made a promise
another chance to turn it all around
and do not save this for tomorow
embrace the past and you can live for now
and I will give the world to you

Speak louder that the words before you
and give them meaning no one else has found
The role we play is so important
we are the voices of the underground
and I would give the world to you

Say everything you’ve always wanted,
be not afraid of who you really are,
cause in the end we have each other,
and that's at least one thing worth living for,
and I would give the world to you

A million suns that shine upon me
A million eyes you are the brightest blue
Lets tear the walls down that divide us
and build a statue strong enough for two,

I pass it back to you
and I will beat for you,
cause I would give the world
and I would give the world
and I would give the world to you

This is the new year
A new begining
You made a promise
You are the brightest
We are the voices
This is the new year
We are the voices
This is the new year

song by: Ian Axel

It would be fun to make a music video like his.... featuring us :)

Merry Christmas!

First Christmas away from family. First Christmas with my new family; John, Holly, and Baxter. I thought I would be depressed and sad wishing I were at home with all my aunts, uncles, cousins, and second cousins. I definitely wanted to be home, but I wasn't depressed. John wanted to decorate the house to make sure I was in the holiday spirit. Poor guy was afraid I would be grumpy and moping this Christmas. I was afraid of that too. But I wasn't. The sad thing about this is that I never felt the holiday spirit this year. Christmas seemed like just another day off. There wasn't anything to really looked forward to. I tried listening to Christmas music in the car to get me into the spirit. Yes, that is disappointing. Is it because I'm getting older? No way am I a grumpy old holiday hating lady, but this year, I wasn't excited about Christmas. I hope the rest of my family had a wonderful time. I will make sure it make it to the next Christmas. It' s been too long since I've seen the Clans

Food is fun

I've been watching a lot of Travel Channel and Food Network to see where all the hotspot eateries are. Surprisingly there are quite a few featured places that are here in Oklahoma. Eating is something I love. Eating at a famous place that was featured on TV, now that I love even more! My plan is to go to as many of these places as I can. So far I've been to Big Truck Taco. A little taco shack that's packed during lunch hour. It's a bright yellow concrete block that's located in Oklahoma City's "ghetto". Ghetto in parenthesis because this isn't Baltimore City. You know what real ghetto is if you've ever known parts of Baltimore city (or Hyattsville). They have the bestest, greasiest, yummiest soft shell tacos. My favorite was the brisket taco. Now if you've ever had bbq brisket you know how good this stuff is. Imagine that piled high on a tortilla with so much grease it drips down your wrists leaving globs of orange fat stains. Haven't been there in a while since I don't work downtown anymore. But will probably have to make a visit when the cousins come ;)

Next stop: Ingrid's Kitchen. Driving through most of Oklahoma City you start to notice some food trends; Mexican, Tex-mex, bbq, sonic, bbq, tex-mex, more sonic, more bbq, etc. So I was excited to find that there was an authentic German restaurant in town. Being adventurous one Sunday, I convinced John to leave the couch and drive a few minutes up north to try the German Breakfast Buffet. (okay, so not very adventurous, but for me and John, any new place, no matter how close or common, is an adventure. hmm, actually more so true for John than me!). We walked into the cafeteria-like restaurant. Nothing fancy. There was a huge buffet station set out with the usual breakfast food and some lunch items. The only "German" thing on the menu were bratwursts and sauerkraut. Disappointing. I wanted to try some schnitzel and schinkenwurst, and knackwursts. Whatever those are. John loved the food. Keep in mind this is coming from a guy that eats Totino's pizza 6 days out of the week. Don't know if we'd come back to this place for the breakfast, but I would like to try a schnitzel.

A few weekends ago I once again convinced John to drive out even further than before for another Travel Channel driven food adventure. I' ve actually been wanting to try this place for a long time. Get ready for it.... fried chicken and waffles! and soul food! Real soul food that was made by some lady called Mama E! Prior to our trip I had been craving fried chicken like no other. So I was super excited. John, oh John, had total reservations as soon as we spotted the yellow shack, yes another yellow shack, although this one much more ghetto-er than Big Truck Taco. He later told his coworker where he had gone and she asked us what the hell we were doing in that part of town. More ghettoness. If it wasn't for the Travel Channel, I would have never ever thought about eating at this shady place. But hey, good food is good food and I wasn't bothered by the appearance of the place. It kind of reminds me of the tiny food shops at Eden. Steaming silver trays of hot food held behind a glass and the lady behind it scoops up your order into styrofoam plates. I got the wings and waffles with a side of collard greens. All of the food looked and smelled so good. Mac and cheese, roasted chicken, stuffing, neck bones, meatloaf, gravy, catfish. This stuff was no doubt made from scratch by someone who knew what he/she was doing. And for a dollar you get unlimited Koolaid. John was more excited about the Koolaid than anything else. We ate our food in a small dining area with black writing scribbled all over the walls and tables. There was a big old TV that played Rush Hour at the end where the food was being made. My chicken and waffles were good. Nice combo of sweet and salty. But it wasn't as exciting as I thought. John's soul food however was delicious. I don't know of any other place near here that has that type of home-cooked food. I will definitely come back to try more. Almost forgot! There was also free dessert! I had no idea what is was and still have no idea. But it was good. See photo below.

Next stop is a fried chicken place called Eichens. My coworkers have been raving about this place. So we'll be taking a work trip this Saturday. Yay!


Mama E's we're here!

This was where you ordered the food


John. So happy to eat at Mama E's.



"Dessert" I ate it.


Hope this provided you with a nice break from your studying/working/procrastinating :)

Dad's new retirement plan

Being in San Diego by the water, the piers and the fishermen makse me miss my dad. So I gave him a call today just to say hi. He sounded unusually excited to talk to me about my current trip to San Diego. Apparently now he wants to retire here because "I can go fishing on the pier. Bring my radio and an dau phong. Or I don't need to fish, I can be there and enjoy the nature." My job while I'm still here in San Diego is to do some research for him. He wants me to find out how much it would cost for a 2 bedroom townhouse."Nothing big. One room for me and mommy and one room for you, Nancy, and Sandy when you visit". I told him when he decides to move out there, I'll move too. How great would it be to have my family all together in a beautiful city such as San Diego....(hint hint Nancy, Sandy)

Fashion update

So I have been stalking fashion blogs for the past few weeks now. I was never in to fashion. Of course I wanted to look good, but comfort and convenience took priority. Make up and jewelry and cute shoes were all extras. I never understood why people would spend so much money on all these extra things. My wardrobe consisted of mostly blue scrubs for the past few years. And dark dreary colors (as my mom called them). Blues, creams, blacks, and grey. Oh grey, I think you are my new favorite color. Mom says I dress like ba gia. Thanks, mom. But those colors, in solid patterns, were the easiest to wear. NOW, however, I am breaking my boring fashion habits! Why now you ask? Well, 1. I don't have to wear blue scrubs anymore. 2. I've actually got some extra dough to spend on the things I always thought were extras. 3. My coworker always looks so darn cute, like she stepped out of a J Crew catalog. 4. I definitely look more 'grown up'. (it sucks when you walk in to see your patient and they give you this "you must be the assistant, you look like you're in college, you can't know what you're doing, what the hell, I want to see the doctor") 5. I want to be able to flaunt it while I still got it ; )

That all being said, I have gone on a mini shopping spree. I have rediscovered J crew. They actually have really nice stuff. And Ann Taylor, too. Gonna attempt to wear heels to work one day. Small, sturdy, strong heals, but heals none the less. Bye Bye Nikes. Next step is to go to Target or Forever 21 to find some cheapie jewelry to spice things up. I'm kind of excited about this! New looks for the coming new year! Let's see how long this fashion momentum lasts.... here's a look at what I got from www.jcrew.com, on sale of course:


sparkly belt. Definitely something new to me.


Wasn't sure about this one, but got it in a olive green color.

The orange cardigan. I got one in light blue too!
Still sticking to more neutral colors. hopefully these all look good, if not, returns!

Fall?

Fall already? aw man. I'm enjoying this weather but whenever summer ends, I always feel sad. Now that I'm out of school there shouldn't be much difference which season is which. Fall doesn't mean the start of school, and summer doesn't mean the end of classes. Still, summer equals beach, and crabs, cookouts and reunions, watermelon, and longer days. I love it, love it! Dear Summer, I miss you.