Vietnam Motherland: Day 7

Hello fellow interweb friends!

I can't believe it's been a week since I've been gone! Time is surprisingly going by so fast, which is kind of bittersweet for me. Every time we go to Vietnam, it always happens like this. Just as my family start to get use to everything and begin to enjoy ourselves, it's just right around the time when we have to pack up and go home, so sad! 

The best part of the trip so far is all the beach trips and scenery. It is amazingly green and beautiful here. Here are some pictures, no filter, just natural sunlight to show you guys!

Such cute creatures!

My dad used to work on these railroad tracks, which makes this like a trip down memory lane for him.

This is part of a rice patty field. I can't get over how green it is.

These are banana trees! The bananas here may look green and raw, but it is so sweet!

The mountains here just blend in with the fields so nicely, which makes the mountains look much less scary.

This is like a little bamboo village. I wish we had these little things at home!

So gosh darn pretty and quaint and cute with these little shacks!

Hope you guys are enjoying these as much as I am,

I'll see you soon!

Uyen

Vietnam Day 4 Vlog: Part 2

Hello fellow interweb friends!

After many hours and attempts of trying to get this vlog up, I have finally done it!

Here it is guys, enjoy!

Alrighty,

Hopefully I won't have as many difficulties in the later vlogs,

See ya soon,

Uyen

Vietnam Motherland: Day 5/6

Hello fellow interweb friends!

Hey guys! So if you've been watching my vlogs, you'll know I didn't do much on Day 5. It was a whole lot of family stuff and I wanted to be respectful and keep things slightly private, so I didn't vlog. But like any other day, I started out at the beach, then the family made a 7490581423 course meal, and I ate my little heart out! Hahaha, honestly, my aunt really knows how to feed people! And then at night, we took a little stroll on the beach, checked out the night time scenery, and that was it! I did a small clippit of it on my Instagram, so if you want, you can check out my Instagram...and possibly follow for more goody goody gumdrops!

O and another thing that happened, I have been struggling for almost 24 hours now trying to export/upload part 2 to day 4's vlog! It kept on telling me there was some kind of error and that the video is already open for writing...some techy terms that I have no idea what, so now, I'm trying to export it in Quicktime...which apparently, takes double the time...so hopefully, that will fix it and let me upload to Youtube within the next 12 hours? Hahaha man, such a struggle being a vlogger! I definitely have so much more admiration and respect for all professional vloggers and Youtubers, especially if you guys edit and do all kinds of fancy things with your videos. So if you have any pointers for me about this, please help a girl out?!?! Hahaha, and since there's no pictures, I thought I'd link my previous video in this one so you guys can enjoy it!

These are my baby cousins! They are so funny and cute!

As for day 6, we started out at the beach! And then my cousin made beef soup that was almost as delicious as my mom's, totally forgot to take pictures of that to share with you cause I'm such a newbie at all this blogging/vlogging business hahaha! 

And, to end the day, we went to a village-themed restaurant for dinner! That will be in tomorrow's vlog (hopefully, if I don't experience any technical difficulties)...Anyways, another real excited (but sad and scary) thing happened. On our way home, my aunt got swiped by some guy on the road, so she and her bike fell over like a mini car accident and ya, my brother, on the bike next to her with my uncle made a huge jump to avoid the bike. Thank goodness he did, or else he would have been burnt by the exhaust pipe, which would have ruined the trip tremendously!

Alrighty,

Well the vlog will hopefully be up in the morning...

So sorry guys,

Uyen

Vietnam Day 4 Vlog: Part 1

Hello fellow interweb friends!

Here's part 1! I am exporting and then uploading part 2 later tonight, so keep an eye out for that!

Hope you enjoyed this,

Talk to you soon,

Uyen

Vietnam Day 3 Vlog

Hello fellow interweb friends!

Here's day 3's vlog! I really suck at this vlogging thing, but hey, I'm having so much fun recording everything and thank you so much for watching these videos! Tomorrow's vlog will be a little longer, so I will put it up in parts so you guys don't have to sit down and watch a long video in one session!

But here it is, day 3!

And if you want more clip-its throughout the day that I may miss in my vlogs, follow me on my instagram and you'll be able to watch the short videos!

That's all for now,

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen

Vietnam Motherland: Day 4

Hello fellow interweb friends!

This first week is going by really fast, and I feel like the days will only go by faster and faster as this month goes on, which makes me feel a bit bittersweet just because that means my vacation is coming to an end, but I also get to go home to my friends and family back in the states...man, such complicated feelings! Anyways, I am so flippen sore from all the swimming and tanning today! I did not know tanning takes up so much energy guys! But then again, it might just be the salt water dehydrating me...hahaha whoops.

Ok, so this is going to sound ridiculously stupid, but I think my mouth hurts from eating too much pineapple! So today, after lunch, my cousin cut up some pineapple for us to eat as dessert cause I asked her to just feed me with loads of fruits and good sweets. I may have accidentally ate a little too much and now I honestly cannot feel my mouth! I soaked it in water and milk and tea, anything that is liquidy and cold, I soaked my tongue in, but still it hurts! Anyways, now I've kind of learned my lesson when it comes to pineapple!

 

Ok, so before I end this blog, I thought I'd share with you this delicious Australian milk. I used to love this as a child, but when my family left for the US, I had to stop drinking this cause we don't have this in the States. Anyways, this is the only kind of whole milk that I will voluntarily drink. It is not too thick like our American whole milk; it's like a creamier version of the skim milk. I just love this so much, like I can drink cartons of this a day and each box is about one liter.

Gotta go check on yesterday's vlog now,

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen

Vietnam Day 2 Vlog

Hello fellow interweb friends!

Here is my Day 2 Vlog! Sorry for the late upload, but here it is, so enjoy! It's a lot of scenery stuff, so if you want to get to the good part, just scroll to the very end!

Time for bed now,

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen

Vietnam Motherland: Day 3

Hello fellow interweb friends!

DAY 2 VIDEO WILL BE UP SOON GUYS! I'm just exporting it right now and will be uploading within today! I'm still new at posting videos and stuff, so some of my vlogs may be a day or so late, but no worries, I will definitely try to share as much of my adventure with you guys as possible! But here's a little tid bit for you to enjoy!

Hola from the 'Nam Land! Holy moly, this is the mothership of all delicious delicacies! This morning alone, I've had 2 coconuts, loads of fresh fruits, and as ridiculous as it sounds, some steamed bun and banh mi (which is like a Vietnamese sandwich, similar to the Lee's but better). I honestly think I am in food heaven because everyone is buying me food left and right and I'm being spoiled like no other just because my family hasn't seen me in about 4 years. I will have to show you the fruits that I've been scarfing down like there's no tomorrow soon! I am such a newbie at blogging haha I don't realize I need to take a picture to share with you guys until I've pretty much eaten all the foods! Thank goodness, I caught one of the delicious dishes on video today while my cousin was cooking it before it went down my tummy!

I am so in love with the fresh coconut juice here! Like my aunt brings back 10 coconuts a day and I down at least 2 after every meal, so pretty much, I drink up to like 5 of them a day. Like it tastes so refreshing and amazing and nothing like those nasty coconut water/juice thing we have at home in the cartons!

O and, another thing, the money here is crazy big! Hahaha, so the conversion rate between American money and Vietnamese money is for every American dollar, it is $20K in Viet money. So pretty much, I am a flippen bajillionaire here! Hahahaha, but in reality, that's barely anything since everything here costs in the thousands. But in general, I can live for about a week here with $10 USD, which is pretty neat! I definitely feel like a baller while I'm here hahaha, especially since my cousins won't let me pay for anything, so I just have these huge bills in my wallet for like ever!

Off to the beach I go now,

Adios muchachos!

Uyen

Vietnam Motherland: Day 2

Hello fellow interweb friends!

Like I mentioned in my previous post, after a long plane ride, I also had to take a train ride home, and that ride was about another 10 hours since the train was delayed. Anyways, instead of literally typing out everything that went on in the plane, I thought I'd share this little clip with you with a special announcement, hopefully, you'll be able to figure out what the announcement is!

 

So on a completely random note, when I watched this video back, I felt like I was in Harry Potter when they were on the train heading to Hogwarts! Like I said in the video, I have not been on a train since 1997, so I was pretty darn excited about it and cannot wait for the next train ride back into Saigon - the only sad thing about that is it means I will be heading home, which will also mean my vacation will come to an end. 

I apologize for the horrible quality! I have no idea on how to use iMovie or any kind of video editing programs, so my videos will be as raw as they're gonna get! Hopefully, I will figure out how to combine clips together to make a full-length video instead of posting up multiple 2 minute clips. I just think that will be less exciting than if you just get to experience everything all at once!

Anyways! So did anyone catch the special announcement?!?! Hahaha, well on top of my blogging, I thought I'd also VLOG my trip too cause sometimes, the videos do a better job at capturing everything and you'll be able to see a semi-live version of what I'm doing while I'm here! Of course, I will still blog about the things I can't capture on video. 

But anyways, thank you so much for putting up with my horrible quality videos! I will try my hardest to figure out how to record better ones, but for now, you will get to see everything in its rawest form!

That's all for now,

With love,

Uyen

Vietnam Motherland: Day 1

Hello fellow interweb friends!

First off, I'd like to apologize for being such a sucky blogger lately, no excuses whatsoever, but now, I'm going to be a lot better at it! So if you're my friends, then you already know that I'm currently in Vietnam, and for those who know me through my blog, well, my family and I are vacationing in Vietnam right now to visit our family there! I will be there for about 4 weeks, which means, I will be posting loads and loads of beautiful/wonderful things that I experience during my trip here! I will be living in Nha Trang, which is a beautiful beach city along the coast of lower southern Vietnam and will end my trip in Saigon. 

Let's just start by telling you that the flight from LAX to Taipei was about 13.5 hours and then we had a 3 hour layover in Taipei. Then, the flight from Taipei to Saigon is about 3 hours. After we land in Saigon, we waited for about another 4 hours until we take a train to Nha Trang, which is going to be about 8 hours. So pretty much, I will be spending over 24 hours on some sort of transportation system, which is ridiculous, but to think, I will be vacationing with my family for an entire month definitely makes it not so bad!

Of course, I won't end this first Vietnam blog with just a bunch of hours and times I spend on planes, trains, and what not! So we must do a little airport outfit of the day/traveling attire! Since I knew my flight will be so flippen long and there's more sitting to do after, I decided to rock these floral leggings I got from Urban Outfitters a few weeks ago for only $5!!! And then, the top I wore is super flowy just to keep everything flowing and comfy. Let me tell you, everyone around me on the plane was complaining about how uncomfy they were, and I just sat back, relaxed, and watch all sorts of movies! And of course, being the typical southern California girl that I am, I rocked my Rainbows with everything I wore! Now, I know I probably should have worn some kind of tennis shoes or whatever, but that's fine, I was just sitting for hours on end, so flip flops are perfect! So pretty much, the moral of the story is to be super comfy but still looking good when you go on the plane!

And here, my brother and I were waiting to get our luggage, and let me tell you, that was a feat in itself because there was like a bajillion different kinds of boxes and other shenanigans! Thank goodness for my comfy clothes, or else getting the luggage would have been miserable too since I had to run around the conveyor belt thing to find our stuff!

That's all for now, 

With love,

Uyen

It's the Little Things

Hello fellow interweb friends!

I don't know about you, but I know, as a girl, I pick up little signs and signals very fast that make me feel special or wanted by someone I'm interested in. Recently, I was in a situation where all the little signs and gestures were there, but since I'm a little more traditional when it comes to things like that, I interpreted it different from the person who was giving off the signals. In a way, I feel like the little "love" gestures are now being thrown out and about without any kind of feelings or emotional attachment to it, kind of like the word "love" being taken for granted. As much as we have evolved into the 21st century and become more modernized and open-minded, I still believe that certain traditional practices and values should be kept traditional and with that, I mean you should act affectionate (like physical touching and holding) only to the person who you have feelings for, just as long as they reciprocate. The worse thing is for a guy to make a girl feel special and then toss her to the curb the next day or when a guy gives a girl special attention as he talks about another girl he is hooking up with, especially when he knows this girl he's giving special attention to is not the type to kiss and tell or do casual relationships. 

When it comes to affections and love, everyone has their own way of showing it and receiving it. I recently read the book "Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman that kind of summarizes who certain people have different ways of showing their love as well as ways in which they interpret love. This book has really opened my eyes to different ways of showing someone I love them. For some, saying you love them isn't enough, for others, saying you love them as well as making time for them will make them feel like they're in heaven, so I definitely recommend this book if you want to learn a little bit more about yourself as well as our special person. But anyways, for me, I believe that we all receive and give love through physical touch to a certain degree, so I think, as a way to respect the person you're interested in, there should be a boundary when it comes to touch. Like I said earlier, if you're like me, an arm around the waist, arm on the lower back, etc. are signs of affection that only two people who are interested in each other would do, so unless it is clear that touching is not a sign of affection for you, then I don't think it's a good idea just to be throwing your arms around a girl who may be interested in you cause that is just a whole big misunderstanding in the making! In a way, physical touch is the most basic form of showing love and affection, our most instinctive one, so be considerate and take a second to think how the other person may take it before you put your arms around them.

Us girls love feeling loved and appreciated, so by the littlest touch or a small gesture can make us feel on top of the world. We don't always need big things like jewelry or fancy trips, just a little door-opening here and a little kiss there, maybe a bouquet of flowers as an element of surprise can put us over the moon! Even though some girls will make it seem like they're fine with the whole casual relationship/sex thing, deep down, they still appreciate a nice gentleman who will wine and dine them. There is nothing with a little wine and dine here and there, even if you are just having casual sex with each other; personally, that's not my thing, but if it works for you, then hooray, just show the other person a little appreciation and everything will be peachy keen!

So girls, if you're the one reading this, we can do the same for the guys we're with or interested in. Sometimes, we expect the guys to do things, but I'm sure they can use a day where we baby them a bit and give in to their whims, make them feel a little special as well. They may not want flowers and chocolates, but what guy doesn't like a nice night of video games or sports, so be the sensual but yet also cool and understand girlfriend/significant other and throw a game night or something you know he'd enjoy just to show him that you appreciate him a lot too! 

In a way, relationship or not, when you want to show the person you are interested in that you feel something special for them, do the little gestures. Girls love the little details and well, as much as we think guys are oblivious to the little things, they appreciate a nice little something too! It's a two way street! Girls can't expect guys to do everything and well guys, we will also try our best to do little things for you too! Let's bring back courtship because if we look back to our parents' and grandparents' relationships, it all started with courtship, and look how long in love they stayed?!?!

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen

Living Up to the Hype!

Hello fellow interweb friends!

If you are like me and watch beauty YouTube videos almost religiously, you may have heard of the Michael Todd True Organics skincare line. So here's the dealio, I decided to give in to the hype and ordered a trial set. When I ordered it, I used Glamlifeguru's (Tati) discount code link and got 20% off all purchases for an entire year, so I pretty much got a really good deal on my set of skincare products. At first, when I checked out the website, there are so many packages that target different skin types/problems, so I wasn't sure what to get, but I thought about it, If I just keep my face clean, then I can also deal with my acne problem, so I decided on purchasing the set targeting normal/combination skin, since that's my skin type. The set included a facial cleanser/toner, an exfoliating/hydrating scrub, a pumpkin mask, eye cream, and an antioxidant serum. This set usually goes for about $151, which is quite a lot of money, but it is currently discounted to only $75, and since I had an extra 20% off from the discount code link, I jumped on the deal right away! On top of skin care package, I also ordered the Eye-o-Sonic, which is a neato little tool to apply the eye cream to make sure it soaks deeply into your skin to get the full effect. 

Anyways, I've been using this set for a little over two weeks now and YES, I definitely see an improvement in my skin tone, coloration, and texture! My skin feels so flippen smooth and and I even notice, this on top of my Origins Charcoal Mask, my black heads are getting lighter! The best thing is the serum does not make my skin oily whatsoever because oily skin is what tends to break me out. As for the pumpkin mask, all I have to say is WOW! It smells delicious, feels great, and your face will definitely appreciate it after a few uses. As for the scrub, that thing smells like tropical heaven and it exfoliates without making you feel like you're scraping all the skin off of your face. Pretty much, it is gentle but gets the job done as if it's any other scrub!

If you are feeling splurgy or see your skin as an investment, I'd say get this set or which ever one is more targeted towards your skin. You don't have to get a full sized set like me because there are also smaller sizes too, but for the price, this package is perfect! The best thing is, when you receive your order, you also get small samples of other products to use for one time. Even though it's only one time, it's still nice being able to try out different products before buying it. I think this line of skin care is pretty fail-proof since it is mainly organic ingredients, plants and fruits and vegetables, so it already is naturally giving your skin good nutrients, so there's really no harm in trying!

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen

Summer Gems!

Hello fellow interweb friends!

Summer is already here, which also means, tis the season to get sunburns! And well, frankly, no one likes to get a sunburn, so I've got this little gem to share with you!

Of course, these are sunscreen, but the main thing I want to point out to you is the Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Creme with SPF 50! Now, usually, Elizabeth Arden products are super expensive, and frankly, I don't think I'd purchase that little yellow twist up thing for like $30 something, but I didn't, so that's why I find it to be such a gem! I actually got that tube at TJ Maxx for only $8! They also had the original Eight Hour Creme, but I don't know why I didn't buy it then because now that I want to get it, it is no where to be found! So I love this Eight Hour Creme twisty-tubey thing because it is not greasy or oily and, well it has SPF 50, so that's like ultra sun protection right there for eight hours! The smell is a little herbally, but hey, smells better than any other face sunscreen I've used!

Now, even though I say that the Elizabeth Arden suncreen isn't oily, I still like to go over my face with the Bare Minerals' powder sunscreen in SPF 30. I have the medium toned tube and all I have to say is I feel extra safe having both sunscreens one just because I am constantly out in the sun a lot and since I don't wear much make-up, I want to use as much protection as I can to keep my skin from getting damaged and discolored!

So ya, if you live by a TJ Maxx, take a little trip and see what delightful bargaining gems you can find to add into your beauty care collection!

That's all for now,

Until next time,

With love,

Uyen