July 19, 2016

We had our very first guests come and stay for the night. Joseph, Meg, Junior, and Kailey made their way to OKC from Amarillo. They had a wedding to go to in Amarillo and drove through OKC to visit with us. Joseph's mom lives in the Dallas area so it was super convenient and a no-brainer to come to OKC. We took them to my favorite Vietnamese place because Meg was missing some good Vietnamese food. We went for ice cream down at the Plaza and to Myriad Gardens thereafter. It was a very nice evening even if we drove back to OKC from Grand Lake that morning. Junior is growing super fast and Kailey is your typical teenager, which I can totally appreciate. Her dad was rushing her to get ready for bed so he can have some alone time with the adults. Prior to the Phams visiting, we spent the night at Grand Lake to meet with the Republicans from Connecticut. I had no idea of their party affiliation until Sarah mentioned it last night. It was a fun evening considering we were only there for one night. I have to thank Jim for wanting us to go downstairs to sleep. I needed the extra three hours or so. Prior to Grand Lake, we attended Lauren and Colby's engagement party at West. The wedding party hosted the event. so they kept giving cash to Kaci and Charli to help pay for the party. I thought to myself...what about e-money? What happened to QuickPay, PayPal, or Venmo...or even the Cash app? That's how I exchange money with my family and the Bullards, except for Emily. She doesn't utilize technology to exchange money. It's the easiest way to settle your bill with family and friends. We took the day off yesterday to drive to Dallas to pick up a dining room set. It was well worth the drive because the dining room set was in super mint condition. We picked up Adele tickets at the American Airlines Center box office, had lunch at Cafe Brazil, and picked up a couple items at Ikea. We drove back and had pizza with Sarah and Jim as we flipped back and forth between The Bachelorette and the RNC! I was super impressed with Melania's performance. She was confident and carried herself very well. I woke up this morning to an endless supply of news articles claiming Melania plagiarized Michelle's speech from 2008. I'm loving the news feed. The RNC started out with a bang and will only get worse throughout the week.

July 14, 2016

I have two big reasons to celebrate but let's wait until the official paperwork is drawn up and accepted. More to come...

July 12, 2016

I am obsessed with the Pokemon Go game. Just in the past ten minutes, I've caught a handful of pokemons. Three of them were new ones I didn't get yet. The office seems to have a lot more pokemons than at home. I wonder if population density has anything to do with it. When I was up in Edmond yesterday afternoon, there were none at the Ortho's office. When I got to the gas station, there were two in my car. I have no idea how these virtual creatures pop up. We confirmed that multiple people can catch the same pokemon. It's pretty creepy. They say we should ignore the four or five pokemons because the fifth one that appears will be Pikachu himself...or itself. Yet, we are all so tempted to catch the ones that are immediately in front of us. Thanks to Plenty, Paul and I went out for dinner and a movie. The Purge: Election Year was pretty stupid but good. There was a lot of reference to how the elites keep the minorities and low income folks down. After the movie, we played pool in the clubhouse and met a new neighbor. He was busy studying but he managed to get in a couple games of pool.

July 11, 2016

On Friday night, it was the women's gymnastics olympic trials. We are still getting used to the "spinning on the floor while sitting" routine. We felt an earthquake that went off at about 9pm. We just sat there and saw the building sway back and forth. Apparently, another quake happened about an hour later. I stayed in while the rest went out after midnight. The next morning, Elicia and I got on Skype to catch up over baking. By the way, your Golden State Warriors cupcakes looked amazing. Your colors were on point! I watched some Paris By Night as it streamed from my phone. Don't put the mirror option on if you want to use other apps on your phone while streaming Youtube from your phone. I just figured that out. Pokemon Go would come in handy if I was in New York walking around town. I did, however, catch a pokemon while in the car. I had to throw a few pokeballs to catch the thing. It was stupid and funny. We drove to Tulsa to pick up a dresser. We stopped by Restoration Hardware to have a peak. Minh recommended Viet Huong for Vietnamese. It's literally a hole in the wall. I really enjoyed their Che Ba Mau. It really should have been Che Bay Mau because they put all kinds of stuff in the dessert. All of the ingredients were homemade, even the "hot luu". We dropped off the dresser and Chris and Sharon's and made it back home. I was super exhausted. "Salt" still remains one of my favorite movies. I had church Sunday morning. Tennis was right after that and then an open house. We visited Paul at Plenty as well. The Pilot got a good wash both on the inside and out. Tip a couple bucks to the guy drying your car before he actually dries your car. He will go above and beyond on your car. Tess made chicken fried rice and I fried up my mom's spring rolls. Oil spilled all over Tess's balcony.

July 8, 2016

A peaceful protest turned into a deadly rampage against the police. Some folks used the protest to attack police. The attack was clearly planned ahead of time. It will be interesting to hear from the suspects in custody. Anh Quan and Robert were in the middle of it all. They also participated in the march and Robert got stuck hunkering down with the police when the sniper attacks began. The injustice and the killing of innocent civilians continues, yet the NRA still wants us to arm ourselves because it is our constitutional right. My sister said people all throughout Houston own guns. They own guns to protect themselves against other people who may use guns against them. People literally get shot at in road rage. That's just insane. If there is a clean sweep to get rid of all guns and only allow guns in the hands of the military to defend our country, that should work. However, the crazy fanatics always refer back to the second amendment. As I watch Wayward Pines, this world is definitely coming to an end. Yes, I just referenced a crazy show on Fox which can certainly become our reality thousands of years from now.

July 7, 2016

Apparently, I gained about 5 to 7 pounds last week while on vacation. I weighed myself while I was there and thought the scale was off. There's no way I can be that heavy! The last time I was that heavy was about ten years ago. I did feel a bit heavier than normal. It's all that big breakfast and fried foods we kept eating. I am happy to report that as of this morning, I lost 5 pounds. I am back to my normal weight range. Since I got back, I've been trying to eat right and getting some cardio in. I think having that retainer in my mouth also limited me on what I can eat.

July 6, 2016

I literally had one posting for the month of June. I need to do better this month. I look forward to reconnecting with you, Elicia. I can't wait for our baking session. I just got back from the islands so I am bit tanned. I have my dark bronze color for the rest of the summer and for the remainder of the year. Coming back to work was a bit difficult. I didn't want to wake up and when I did wake up, I was a zombie trying to get ready. The morning ritual took forever. People didn't bother me too much at the office on my first day back. I think everyone else was on vacation mode too since it was right after the 4th of July holiday. Speaking of which...we went up to Edmond and hung out with the Langs. Fireworks really are not my thing but it was fun nonetheless. I can see how kids like fireworks, especially boys. It's a way to play with fire; something you can't do every day. I left the Langs just as their neighborhood was becoming a war zone. Yes, I drove through fire and smoke to get out of the subdivision. I was clear of the smoke once I got on the highway. A word of advice for anyone with a temporary crown...always ask your dentist for a backup in case it falls out. Yes, it happened to me last week while I was on vacation. She gave me a retainer with a temporary crown in case the one that was bonded to my bone fell out. For half of my vacation, I wore the retainer while eating and drinking away. It wasn't the best scenario but I'm thankful for the backup. I am getting the temporary crown bonded again later this afternoon. I am loving the Camry! It drives a lot faster than the Pilot. Avana finally caught up to us and started charging for the second parking space. It's an extra $80 every month moving forward. I am upset that the external hard drive stopped working. I even bought a different USB cable assuming the cable stopped working. The new cable still cannot get the hard drive recognized on my laptop. I will try again with the MacBook. Hopefully it's a Dell thing and not the actual hard drive. There are plenty of movies on that device. The Liaws are now in Boston. Miss Kornegay made her way to San Antonio. All the Bullards remain in OKC so that's good.