Good afternoon!

I hope everyone had a nice, relaxing weekend. One of my favorite things to do is spending time with family. During my childhood, my uncle was always taking all of us out for fun. What I mean by “us” is our group which includes me, my twin sister Mary, our brother Anthony, and our cousins, Lena, Amy, and Long. It was always the six of us with our dear uncle, Loi. Things changed dramatically for us in the past 5 or more years. Last night was one event that brought us all together again.

Now, we all live in St. Louis, but Long and his family moved to Illinois a few years ago. Every now and then, he would drive back to visit us. I guess you could say we all became a little distant, but when chances come we hang out like we used to.

Back to the point! Yesterday, Mary and I went to work and didn’t plan on doing anything special afterward. Long called me and asked if we were still barbecuing (I was really happy to hear from him because it’s been a long time). I asked surprisingly, “We’re doing it today?!” Long said, “Yeah, that’s what Uncle was telling me.” Man, I was pretty excited! I told Mary as well, so we were anxious to finish with work as soon as we could. Unfortunately, we were a little busy so instead of getting off right at 4:30pm, we had to stay until about 6:00pm because we still had customers. Then we headed home to pick up our baby brother, Avin, to come with us (he’s our half-brother from mom and her boyfriend). Mom was cooking some things for us to bring over so we waited until she was done.

We finally arrived to Uncle’s house before 7:00pm! Long waited as patiently as he could. Ha ha. He also brought his girlfriend, Briana, her daughter Journey, and his friend Sebastian. Yes, Briana is only 17 and Journey is about 4 months old, but they’re both really sweet. Also, Uncle’s girlfriend’s sisters were there: Selena, Tracey, and their cousin, Nga. Nice group, eh? And of course, Uncle was busy barbecuing. It was awesome.

After all was done, we sat in the living room and ate. Uncle made three different types of barbecue, spaghetti, and bought a container of mustard potato salad. It was so delicious! Even before then, we all ate my mom’s homemade Vietnamese “crepes”. I honestly don’t know what we would name it in English, but that’s that.

As most of us were done eating except Uncle, my boyfriend Michael also came. After Uncle was done eating, we went downstairs for karaoke! And talk about great singing but also hilarious moments. We sang all night until about midnight! Then we all took some food home because Uncle said he can’t finish it all.

I know that was a looooong blog, but just wanted to express my family memories. Hopefully we’re going to do something again today!

Have an awesome day, everyone.

Good afternoon!

I figured I should post a blog since I’ve been slacking off..I apologize for that!

I hope everyone had a good weekend. If you ask me, I think it was in-between. First, everyone know Friday, April 12, was Fontbonne Service Day, right? Of course you do. And my accomplishment for that day was being the team captain for my group! That was a huge step for me.

My group went to the Shalom House for our service site. Shalom House is a shelter for homeless women who needs help to rebuild their lives. It’s a really great place because the women receive services and support for as long as they need until they’re able to live on their own, and they don’t have to pay anything until then. Classes are also provided for them, such as communications and skills. Rebecca Tucker was our volunteer coordinator and we communicated really well.

Our duties were to prepare and cook for our women. Our menu included spaghetti, garlic bread, corn, fruit salad, lemonade, brownies and hummingbird muffins for dessert. Yummm. The women really enjoyed it! Our group did an amazing job together. Our next assignment was helping Janette with sorting out things in their sanctuary area. There were so many new/old things in there! From what I remember, there were clothes, shoes, bags/purses, etc. Even boxes of Oreo cookies! Anthony Hall and Erica Garcia were definitely busy taking those away. They did great!

It was definitely a great service day. Rebecca really, really, really appreciated us, and I was so happy to hear that. I may come back next year!

Friday was also one of my cousins’ birthday. She’s 16 now! Man, the years really flew by. It was a pretty fun night with family, karaoke, Vietnamese pancakes (banh xeo) and a random game! I guess we could call it Name that Name in ABC order. Something like that.

Saturday was just work day. The usual. Then Sunday, I also went to work but afterwards, my sister and I went to Fontbonne to pick up friends to go for some Ted Drewes! Our fellow friends were Sem, Carlos, Erica, and Ahmed. If I was able to pick them up earlier, Izzy could’ve made it too. There’s always next time!

So yeah, that’s all I wanted to say about my recent weekend. Be safe, and take care!

Welcome back from our “Spring” Break! I know it started off more like a winter break, but it did get warmer.

I hope everyone is doing well, now that we have to get back to our school mode. I can actually say that my break was pretty good. Of course, I worked the whole week but got to hang out with my siblings on the first Monday, then hung out with my sister and two friends yesterday.

My two friends were Kim Dang and Nga Tran, and they’re both international (Vietnamese) students at Fontbonne. Mary (my sister) and I are St. Louis residents so we hung out with Kim and Nga to show them around. We were planning for a tour of downtown St. Louis, but time didn’t work out. Anyways, our first trip was to Bubble Tea, a little Asian cafe in the Delmar Loop. It’s one of our favorite places. We ordered their popular boba drinks and ate some food, too. Yummy!

Afterwards, we just took a tour down the loop. We wanted to check out Craft Alliance but they’re closed on Mondays. Ha ha. So we stopped by Star Clipper, a comic book store. The main area we looked at was the Japanese manga section. We’re so Asian for that! And because we’re big fans of manga and anime. I found the new editions of Sailor Moon and decided to buy the first two volumes. Mary and I actually used to own the old versions of Sailor Moon, but we threw them away because they were torn (what a waste!). However, I’m going to start collecting them again, slowly. I also found the Bone series! Not the scary drama series, but the ones with the cartoon guys who are going on adventures and such. I’m planning to collect those as well! So excited!

Mary chose a Soul Eater manga book’s first volume. When we were about to check out, we saw little phone links at the front desk. They have Hello Kitty, the Chinese Lucky Kittens, a cow head, etc. They were so cute! We all looked at them and wanted to buy them, too. Mary and I asked Kim and Nga which ones they like, so we bought those for them. A meaningful friendship has begun!

After that, we continued to tour. Soon, we reached the end of the loop so we turned back to head to the mall! At the first light, we crossed to the other side (the motivation was because of the sun). As we walked, Kim and I noticed a store that also sells art work. As you may already guessed, we went in! Wow, what a beautiful store of work. So many pretty things made by local artists. I thought we were only going to look around, but Mary and I bought something: she bought a necklace for herself, and I bought presents for my friends’ birthdays that are coming up. If you’re wondering, the store is called Componere (with a ^ above the o). We’re definitely coming back.

Finally, we’re back to the car! Then headed off to the Galleria Mall. We visited a few stores, like Hot Topic, Love Couture, Wet Seal, and Victoria’s Secret. Mary and Nga actually bought some things at Wet Seal. Their prices are very affordable. I’m still waiting patiently before buying anything else (need to save up!).

We continued to stroll then stopped by the American Cookies spot and Mary bought red velvet brownies for us. We ate and chatted then headed back out. Mary and I dropped Nga and Kim off at Fontbonne, then headed home.

It was such a fun day before going back to school. Again, I hope you all had a great break! Don’t forget to register for classes this week! ^_^

As my title says, I have officially gotten rid of my wisdom teeth. All FOUR of them! Crazy, right? I’m sure those who had their wisdom teeth removed would know how I feel.

It’s so funny because my jaw is completely numb. I can still talk, but of course, I sound like I’m mumbling. Ha ha. I’m just relieved because those teeth were bothering me so much, especially the bottom ones. The two upper teeth weren’t any trouble though. Anyways, just thought I’d share this with you all.

Have a great day!

I am mentally stuck between my own personal goals and my family’s goals. To be more specific, I meant I don’t know how to solve my problem between going to school and planning to become an art teacher or taking over my mom’s nail salon.

For the past five years, I’ve been helping my mom at the nail salon. I’m usually there on weekends, then I work almost the whole summer everyday. No, I don’t get paid because the money goes towards our bills and such. And mom pays for everything for me, so I’m not complaining. I do save a little bit from tips (during the good season). However, I am complaining about how much I have to work and not being able to put time into school. It’s not that bad, but when I need the weekends to do homework, I’m stuck at work. Sure, I do bring homework to the place but when it’s busy, I can’t get to it. Then I get too tired to do it when I get home. I guess I need to work on organizing my schedule to fit both work and homework time. Also, with my commitments to my student organizations, I usually don’t get to attend or help out because of work or something. I know my family is my obligation/priority. I want to do so much during college because I want to become a great and successful leader. At least in some aspects. I really want to study abroad one day. Money is the other issue, though. It’s so cruel! Just another complaint.

It’s just so hard right now. I’m also wondering how long should I continue to work at the salon? Will it be steady for the next five years? I’ve told myself that I will continue helping her for as long as needed. I just feel like I’m slowly being forced into something bigger that I don’t want to do. *SIGH*

Hope everyone’s doing well! Have a great weekend.

I remember when adults used to ask that question a lot: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” My answer was simple: “An artist.”

Ever since I was young, I always loved to draw. From what I remember, I started drawing stick people, then it led to stick people with animal heads. After that, I started to draw more realistic things. It’s funny, now that I think about it. The “people” I drew didn’t look like people. They were more animal-like in appearance but doing human activities, such as going to school, taking a bubble bath (the kids), or eating. Stuff like that. Eventually, I started drawing from pictures and popular shows. I think I draw better when I’m actually looking at another picture. My favorites were Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z, and Sailor Moon. Sounds a little…nerdy? Ha ha. Sure.

Now that I’m in college, I still think about becoming an artist. However, it’s more of becoming an art teacher then maybe become a real artist. Honestly, I don’t really know what artists are really like. How do they call themselves artists? What do artists do every day? How do they prove that they’re really artists? Do they have to know a lot about art history? These are some questions that may have simple answers, but I think there’s more to them. I’m still trying to learn more about how I can develop myself into a professional artist. To be more specific, I want to become a great ceramicist. I’ve always drawn, drawn, drawn, but when I went to high school, I got into ceramics. I still draw but it’s not the same anymore. Nowadays, I only draw because of my classes; not for my own interest. I miss that. Maybe I’ll get back into it one day. Hopefully.

Have a great day!

Good morning!

I just want to say that I’m finally exercising again. Well, jogging to be specific. I’ve always been off and on with my active life but never kept it going. I did a few work-outs at home before (barely even 15 minutes!). In high school, I was pretty lazy in gym class and for laps, I did more walking then running. The coach didn’t bother, ha ha. Surprisingly, I did play soccer during my junior year (second semester). I was pretty okay! Sadly, they didn’t have sports anymore during my senior year so I was back to laziness. Such a shame.

Today, I did some jogging in the DSAC track. I only did 5 laps, but I’ll do them almost everyday when I have free time. Gotta keep in shape, right? I do need to lose a little bit of fat, too. Ha ha!

Try to be active out there! Have a great day.

Last week, Fontbonne hosted its first-ever presidential scholarship interviews. (Staff and faculty interviewed prospective students as part of the scholarship application process). Your question is this: If you were interviewing prospects, what would you look for in a candidate? What qualities make a successful (and happy!) Fontbonne student?

If I was interviewing prospects, I would like to look for confidence, positive attitude, and potential leadership qualities. If the student has experiences from their high school clubs, then they would elaborate on what they did, how they did it, and what skills they’ve developed from those experiences. For those who didn’t join any clubs, I would ask  them if they would take the chances here at Fontbonne, especially if they’ve never stepped out of their comfort zone.

I may also ask the students about what they would do differently for our campus, like what kind of ideas they have or what do they expect from us? If the student answers questions well and asks good questions, then they could have a better chance of receiving the scholarship. Am I right or am I right?

As a student myself, I was able to gain more experiences here at Fontbonne. In high school, I was most active in the National Honors Society group. We did fundraisers, bought Christmas gifts for children at Children’s Hospital, and things like that. I was scared to have a leadership role though. However, I gained more confidence when I came to Fontbonne because of the people here.

For the students who were interviewed, I wish them the best luck on their paths! Hopefully, some of them decided  to come to Fontbonne.

Hello everyone!

Wow, isn’t it a beautiful day today? Aside from the scary ice and snow hanging around, I hope everyone is warm and safe out there.

It was pretty unexpected to have a day off, but at the same time, it was also expected. Anyways, I was able to sleep in a little more than usual because I’m always up early for school or for work. Earlier this week, I was so busy and was so caught up in things that I felt like I was going to go crazy. I slept pretty late and had to get up early which made me even more tense and tired than usual. Of course, I don’t usually let myself get agitated to the point of treating people in a negative way. As for my day off, I guess it was okay. I caught up with homework for the most part. Oh, it was also nice to just be home with the whole family.

Today, both of my morning classes were unexpectedly cancelled! I came to class and a few of my classmates were already there, but our instructor didn’t show up. After ten minutes from the start time, we all got up and left. During that time until my next class, I just posted flyers around campus for one of my student organizations. If you’re wondering, they were flyers for Fontbonne In Service and Humility (FISH)’s Open Meeting next Wednesday. If you like to get involved with volunteer opportunities, service trips to other cities/countries, and planning fun events, then please join us!

Now back to my other class. Again, my classmates and I were waiting before the class time but outside of the room. One of the security guards came by and told us that our instructor was stuck in his driveway (poor guy). He said that he probably won’t make it but didn’t clarify whether class would be cancelled or not. We were thinking Seriously? and asked if we should just wait. The security guard calls him then he went to talk with the biology department. After about five minutes, a woman came and asked us if we were BIO 108–we said “Yes”–she asked “What time does class start?”–we said “11:20″–she asked “What time is it now?”–we said “11:25″–then she said “Okay, go home.” So basically, I have no classes today (bummer). I still have work-study, so I had to come to school anyway.

Overall, enjoy your day and be safe. Don’t be too grumpy about classes being cancelled or not. I actually hope that my instructors are okay, too. Have a great weekend!

To be more specific, who likes international potluck? I do!

Yesterday, Fontbonne International Students Alliance (FISA) just hosted another one of our potluck! Basically, our members brought food that were homemade and are from their specific countries to share with our campus.

Our meals ranged from Vietnamese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Kazakstan, Mexican, and a few American, too! It was a great event, and we enjoyed dining together and also meeting new people. This event is hosted once every semester. If you missed it this time, please come to the next potluck in the fall! Good food and good people.