Ride Along This Beautiful Journey We Call Love

It's been a long week since my Texas trip... probably because I haven't come down from my BBQ high (OMG, I LOVE!)  It was filled with my favorite F's: fun, friends (and I wish they were going to be my family!), and food!  I'm in love with Texas, and my old roomie/the bride would love to hear that.  I've never felt more welcomed by such a large group of people.  Let's face it, I'm awkward and people pick up on it quick... everyone except Texans!

So does anyone understand Mountain Time?  I felt like I was in a time warp.  My BFF Britt and I were both on Mountain Time, but the times were different.  Does that even make sense?  I guess the better question is, how many time zones are in America? And what are their names?  I obviously have no idea, and I was confused.  Here was the actual BBM convo we had:
-"What is the time difference for Mountain Time?"
-"I'm not sure."
- "What time is it in Phoenix for you?"
-"Umm 1:46"
-"It's 2:52 here...this makes zero sense... where are we in this country?"
-"I told you it's weird... hahaha"
- "Mountain Time is the Twilight zone!"

The conversation goes on to things that don't make sense or match up with this conversation (distractions) but apparently we had a misunderstand and BFF Britt didn't tell me the time at that very moment that I asked her, instead she asked an old man who might have been senile, and she might have waited awhile to tell me the actual time, but whatevs.  I never want to live in that time zone.

The one thing I cannot stand about Texas, right now, are the highway systems.  They keep building more and re-routing old ones, and it's just so darn confusing.  For awhile, the GPS said we were in a river...what?  hahaha.  There are about a half million ways to get to one place (access roads, highway, back roads, Ryan's beloved phone GPS, our GPS, Kalina's way, the back-back roads, short cuts, the river...) geez louise, I had no idea where we were ever.  Good thing my BFF Britt was driving, I would have just given up.

The day we got there, I called Elisa to let her know we were on our way to her house.

-"YO!" says a man's voice. 

       Um, I knew it was Ryan, but I was uncomfortable.  We don't know each other... 

-*long PAUSE* "Um, hiii.  This is Vi.  We're um, on our way" 

-"OK great! Do you need directions"

-"No, we have a GPS"

-"Do you know where you are?"

-"No, we have a GPS"

-"Alright, we'll see you when you get here"

-"Yeah, we'll get there at about 6" **BFF Britt's GPS is set at California time.... it was already 7 o'clock. Time Warp once more!

As much as I'd love to go into every detail, because I would... Here are the highlights of the praise I received that weekend:

"You're fun"
"I like the way they talk to each other" -I was eavesdropping
"It was really nice to meet you!" - I hardly talked to this lady
"If the DJ fails, Vi, you have to get up and beat box" -My fave, Kevin
"You're job is to be here and have fun. No worries this weekend!"- Ryan's step dad loving us!
"I really enjoyed watching you guys dance" (In a non-creepy way)

It was a beautiful day, the whole wedding was beautiful! I will say, if I'm back in Texas this year, I'm taking line dancing classes.  There are a lot of them, and I would like to know at least two.  I missed my little bug and I'm glad he survived the weekend.  He was so happy to see me! I LOVED it!

Pics of the day:

Texas Old Town, Rosebud Hall

Beautiful sunset that night that I forgot to take a pic of

Bride and her maids

Favor Magnets

Getting artsy with the jewelry

Little Ellie: We bonded over my Dora knowledge

Me and my BFF Britt

Us and Kalina

Us and Elisa

Party!

My Green Fingers

I've seriously missed all of my fave shows these past few weeks.  I can't believe it's already season finale time!  It actually makes me kinda glad I haven't watch any of my shows... it'll give me something to do when I have downtime (when?!?) after all this wedding business is ova!!  I haven't returned phone calls, my hair is a crazzzy mess, and who knows when I last shaved my legs, because I don't!

Speaking of weddings, lemme tell you something, deciding that you're going to do a wedding at home is the worst idea ever.  Especially when your parent's yard is practically a construction zone.   My dad has  a construction business that he runs out of our house.  His workshop is our garage and back yard.  We have a lot of work on our hands.

Also, our backyard needed a good amount of TLC.  This past week or so, I took on a special project, our backyard garden.  Take a look at what I had to work with:

Before

The lawn extended itself into the area

Seriously scared when I first saw this

The far side was my mom's "herb garden" I guess she was going au naturale 

Seriously?

The mini-jungle that existed took about 5 hours of work to clear out.  I pretty much bulldozed through all of the grass, just trying to get up all the dirt with the grass and throwing it away.

Phase two:

After digging everything up, it seemed semi-workable.  The only thing that held me back was this stupid toad, who seriously wouldn't leave.  Put spiders, worms, beetles... anything in front of me, I don't care, but amphibians and reptiles make my heart jump into my throat, I thought I was going to throw up.  All the same, I finished!  Finished results!

Planting flowers!

Moved the flower bush...I hope it lives!...and I threw out the mums. Gross.

Herb Garden... the mess on the side will stay. My mom wouldn't let me fix it

Mulching!

There's TONS more work that needs to be done EVERYWHERE. Like the hole my dad dug 12 years ago to make a pond... and all the other crap around the deck and house that needs to disappear... wish me luck!!

The Mommy is Getting Married.

That kinda sounds weird.  Probably because most mommies become mommies after they get married.  But. nbd.

It's just a little over a month until I'll be Mrs. Palmer.  Pretty sweet, except my name is going to sound weird.  I've been mulling over this for awhile now.  Vi Palmer, sound awk.  So I decided I'm going to start going by my full name.  Of course, all of my friends can still call me Vi, I just want strangers to start addressing me by Thuyvi.  Thuyvi Palmer as a balanced set of syllables that sound better.  We'll see how long I remember this, so it will catch on.

I FINALLY sent out my wedding invitations today, and I think my eyes are on fire.  I did almost all of it myself.  My little sister, Nga, helped a bit with stuffing and whatnot.  Mostly because I had no idea what to do with the 10,000 envelopes I was given... If you're getting an invitation, good luck finding the actual invite!  It's like one of those Russian Matryoshka dolls that's just plain frustrating.  You open one after another after another, just to get one of those disappointing mini dolls that, if you swallow, you'll probably die.  If I was good at origami, I would have folded up a little paper crane in each one.

While I've kept up with my part of the bargain for this little shindig, Jarod is struggling with his list of things to do.  I believe there are 3 or 4 things I've asked him to complete on his own.  And by own, I mean, nag him everyday about it.  Jarod doesn't seem to understand that we can't be married unless we have someone to marry us... Why doesn't that make sense to him? He thinks he has all the time in the world to find someone.  There's a long story that goes with all of that, but to shorten it up after much debating, we decided we wanted to have an actual ceremony for the wedding.  Then we ran into a problem when the person we wanted to marry us won't be in town.  I thought I solved the problem when my BFF Brittni got ordained and could perform marriages (baptisms, commitment ceremonies... you name is she does it!  Although, little did I know, that also meant she's obligated to report instances of child endangerment.  This puts me in a very awkward position with Sammy around her, but that's another story.)  But even with that, we run into several difficulties.  Kill me if after everything I've done we don't get legally married.  That would really be just my luck.

As many have asked, I did register for this union of matrimonial bliss.  Here they are!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wedding/2AW8JJTNMCR23
I also registered at Macy's. Just search our name!

Awk putting it out there like this, but I've been told I've had several inquiries, and I don't think I'll be having a wedding shower or anything like that to put it out there.

I must tend to my young bear now, so I'll be writing soon!

Did you know: On Valentine's Day, couples can get married at the Empire State Building for free?  I believe I read that somewhere weird.

A Man's Greatest Possession is a Sympathetic Wife - Fortune Cookie

-So, what are you going to do, now that you've graduated?

-Nothing!! haha

My long awaited salon day was a much needed relaxing day that I LOVE Jarod for pushing me to have for myself.  I may have spent a lot more than I should ever spend on someone else doing my toe nails and washing my hair, but I'll tell you something, I loved every minute of it.

So, the Aeros won Game 7, meaning they're on to Round 3 of playoffs ....aka at least another two weeks before I MIGHT see Jarod again.  This was definitely a bittersweet win in my book.  While I'm super excited for the team, I can't help but think how much this sucks.  Since graduation ( 5 days ago) I've been soo excited to the end of my tenure as single parent Vi Pham.  Sammy is seriously CRAZY these days, constantly crawling around, climbing, standing, and singing his brains out.  I'd like to throw him to Dad now, PLZ.  Jarod keeps hearing about all the things that are happening, but hasn't seen any of it in real life. I keep telling him the best solution is to fly us down, but he thinks I'm crazy... probably because I ask everyday.  He's says I'm bad luck... I'm not even allowed to watch the games online. HAHAHA

I've been attempting to finish up (aka a last minute start) to my wedding plans.  Within two days, I've rented all the serve ware and tableware, figured out what Sam will be wearing, booked a musician and photographer, purchased and received my engraved champagne flutes and cake servers, created my invitations and began making the mailing labels, and started (almost finished) my backyard flower and herb garden. hahaha Weddings? NBD.

What has Jarod done?  Asked me to make him a list of his things to do for the wedding (3 things) and sent me this youtube video :

That's what he'd like to re-create for our first dance...

I had something else in mind:

After I showed him my rendition of our first dance, he asked me why my BFF Brittni would be a part of our first dance... he obvi still doesn't understand yet. I love him. hahah

Jarod, at the root of his soul, may be one of the most innocent mentalities I've ever encountered. Throughout the time we've known each other, I am constantly shocked by the genuinely good nature Jarod has.  Maybe it's because I expected different from a hockey player, but Jarod has a softer side to him than me at age 6, (when I cried everyday when I realized I had to go to school all day and had to be away from my dad...I was also a little afraid of my special ed reading teacher)  I take it in stride and realize that the things Jarod means to say aren't the things I think they mean.  Mostly because I have a cold heart and rely solely on sarcasm to impress people. There is so much I have to explain to Jarod about the world, not because he's stupid, but because he just doesn't understand how people could have ill intentions.  I love and hate this about him, but I love him more than words.  All I can do when he has some shocking statement is smile and agree.  If I really wanted to change him, I wouldn't have the Jarod that I've met and fell in love with.

So when Jarod tells me he doesn't want me to come down to Texas because I might be bad luck, I know he doesn't not want me around.  I know its for the same reason he hasn't gotten his hair cut or shaved his face.  He's trying to win it all for me and Sam. And that's just alright with me.

But it's not going to stop me from asking! :)

The Return of Did You Know:
The month of May is Asian/ American South Pacific Islander awareness month?  Compliments of Nick Jr. hahaha

It's Nearing the End!

Happy Birthday to Miss Ashley Flood (Soon-to-be Mrs. Buck!)  We love and miss you soo much! Can't wait to see you this summer when you come to the OxBox!!

Two large research papers and one exam down, I'm taking another one of my many breaks to do some wedding browsing.  Of course I couldn't hold off on it all under the week was over...my mind is going absolutely crazy over it all!!! Forget the fact that I still haven't started studying for my 8 o'clock final, have not purchased a graduate gown, am planning on wearing a dress from my pregnancy, and am pretty sure I have forgotten how to use a hairdryer... I can't wait to be married!

I've been searching all the corners of the internet trying to get some concrete, REALISTIC ideas for my at-home wedding and I finally found something!

www.younghouselove.com

I haven't read any more of the blog than her wedding entry, but I believe that her last name must be young, and they have a house...and they're in love?  I swear, some of her ideas came straight out of my head, and it's GREAT to see that she actually pulled it off!  I've already utilized two of her money saving tips with ideas that I already had... at least I'm attempting to!

In other news...

Sammy is louder and crazier than ever!  He's already crawling all over the house, going up the step in my parent's house, and starting to pull himself up and attempting to walk away.  It's actually very dangerous.  haha.  The other day, he slipped and fell and hit his head on the hardwood flooring.  Oops, Mom!  The little guy has been singing up a storm and talking to no end. So cute!!

I will be posting a picture of the little monkey later today that you all will LOVE!!

The Things I Miss

The past year has been a whirlwind of new things that has created a whole new me.  While I enjoy the company of my little bear, there is so much I miss about my old self.  I miss my supermodel hair, I miss bikini bathing suits and wearing shirts as dresses, I miss free time and thoughtless days.  But most of all, I miss Jarod.

In almost less than two months, we'll be back together in Ohio and getting ready to take the plunge into the married life.  It's interesting how we have our Sammy, we share everything, and for a time, we lived together and yet, I'm kind of nervous.  How different can it be?

Well, for starters, I can't overreact and tell him I'm leaving.  The legal proceedings of a divorce are too long and complicated for him to believe that I'd actually go through with all that just because we have a minor disagreement. (This is a joke, guys...but seriously.)

Jarod and I both have romantic notions of each other that never seem to be fulfilled.  We think very highly of each other.  But real life has never stopped us from trying our hardest to make the other person's dreams come true.  Jarod would do anything if it would mean I'd turn my frown upside down.  While, on some level, I wish I would have fallen in love with a musician/poet, I would pick my meathead of a hockey player any day.  And while Jarod thought he got a timid girl, who, as I found out yesterday, likes the outdoors (why would he ever think I did?!?) He chose me!  The surprising connection that brought the two of us together seems to have boggled the minds of anyone who knows us, but seriously, who really knows us? The only people who understand us are the two of us.  Add to that the crazy life of a hockey family and we look like a recipe for disaster, but I'd put money on us. haha

Do you ever find yourself listening to the radio, and you hear a song that reminds you of something that just takes you back to a moment in time that you can almost feel?  Lately, every time I hear a love song, it takes everything in me not to close my eyes (because I'm driving...DANGEROUS) and take a minute to remember Jarod holding my hand, or just being near.  I mean, how sappy is that?  It's not like he's in a coma or anything like that.  He's in Texas playing hockey.  If anything, he should be having the time of his life.  I believe this is all the product of too little sleep and too much baby Sam. BUT maybe I'm turning into a romantic.

Enough ramblings and back to school! Gotta finish semi-strong!


Did you know Ostriches are the only birds who have eyelashes?

Hey Babay! I Think I'm Gonna Marry You!

Sooo I picked up my supposed wedding dress on Saturday... seriously exhausting.  Apparently, when you get your dress fitted, you have to go THE shoes to go with THE dress for THE wedding.  Anyone who knows me knows how much I HATE shoes.   My feet make it impossible to like them.  They're ugly, wide, and flat.  They remind me of a duck's foot with Mr. Peanuts for each little(but long) toe.  We ending up going to EVERY store at the mall looking for THE shoes.  Today MY feet hurt.  I obviously need to lessons in being a bridezilla, but I don't have the time for that.  What I've learned, though, is that an easy-going bride is worse than a bride that knows exactly what she wants.  Everyone is always asking what you want EXACTly for THE things that will be remembered for your entire life.  Geez louise.  I just wanna be married!

I've been quite a douche bag to my family as of late.  Especially with this wedding business.  Besides having this blog as an outlet, I really keep to myself and I'm not very open to the opinion of others.  In my head, all of this wedding stuff can be easily done, and we can be happy, but in reality, it's a pretty hard business.  Feelings get hurt, disagreements happen, and when you think it's no big deal (nbd) you're really letting other people down.  As much as it's about you and your future spouse, it's supposed to be about your family, too.  As hard as it is for me to let them in on it, it's the way it's supposed to be.  But let me be honest, I just want to be married.  We're already a family!  I'd just be happy with signing the papers and calling it a wedding.  Thank goodness for sisters who are extreme Type A's.  When this is over I'll have some relief.

On a lighter note, I have a funny story to tell about getting my dress fitted.  It all starts with the bra fitting.  Keep in mind I just had a baby 6 months ago, and I hate my body right now.  I somehow forgot where I was going and wore maaaybe the oldest bra imaginable.  I also decided to wear my bodyshaper, because I have a few trouble areas that I hate.  Aaaand I of course don't bring a strapless bra with me, because, why would I?  So I pretty much get naked for this lady I don't even know, while she judges my little assets.  Kill me.  Later, I have to go all around the mall in my bodyshaper, which is making me sweat like crazy, and I have to pee.  Worst feeling ever.  So then, I put the dress on for a second time, and the very Russian seamstress was trying to figure out how to fit the dress to my anorexic frame. We are, of course, trying to figure out how to squeeze in the top.  My mom asked if they can just take in the back.... the Russian's response? "Problem not in the back, nice and snug.  Just empty in the front.  We need to put something there." Riiippppp.  Thanks, lady, for calling me out for my little boobies in front of all these people who are coming into the dressing room to look at my be-a-utiful dress.

Did you know:  Smarter people have more dreams?  The higher your I.Q. the more youdream