Turkey Weekend Recap

The HILLY BILLIES go to NY!

. . .to visit K's hipster (more on that later) sister, Apple, in the big Apple (haha). . .

. . .to eat good food, such as these sushi bombs from BOZU. . .

. . .to see Apple's boyfriend, who drew ERV in his super hero cape (and with his super sprinkler nose). . .

. . .to see Apple's shoe parade (I'm still impressed that black shoes only comprise a small percentage of her whole collection. can you spot the 3 shoes we share in common?). . .

. . .and boot parade. . .

. . .and her super old Candies and other ancient shoes which pretty much deserve a parade of their own. . .

. . .and to take pictures of ourselves in mirrors at the MOMA. . .

 

I'm kicking myself right now for not taking more outfit photos- I really should have taken pictures of other people, but I was too shy to tell them why I wanted to take pics of them. . .

7 Courses of Beef

We visited Houston this past weekend and had one of the best meals ever!! It's a traditional Vietnamese dish (set of dishes, rather) that's served at special events or times (like New Years).

There are literally seven courses of beef served with rice paper, lots of vegetables and sauces:
1. Beef cooked in vinegar broth
2. Steamed meatballs
3. Beef wrapped in a leaf similar to a grape leaf
4. Beef sausages
5. Grilled beef
6. Beef salad
7. Ground beef soup

And if you thought that wasn't enough...we also ordered grilled fish and lemongrass shrimp!

  

We also walked around the Galleria (a huge and awesome mall) and saw a promotion for The Clone Wars. Only nerdy Star Wars fans would do something this dorky...may the Force with you!

 
Outfit: brown Jedi cloak & light saber

Wedding Attire

Two weekends ago, I went to Manhattan Beach, CA for a cousin's wedding. I bought 3 new dresses for the wedding. There were two ceremonies: a Catholic ceremony on Friday and a beach ceremony on Saturday. I wore 2 dresses, and my sister ended up wearing my 3rd one.

Here is what I wore to the Catholic ceremony:

Two cousins on the left, sister on the right in purple. I wore a simple silver dress with a black cropped, short-sleeve sweater. I think for the next time I plan to wear this dress, I'm going to take it to the tailor to shorten it to bring it up a bit. It will probably look better a bit shorter.

The bride wanted the "asian" side of the family to wear traditional wear. So yeah, my sister, mom, and I were the only ones who didn't. hehe. Our excuse: there are no good places to find good quality, nice "chi-paus" here in our hometown. Oh well, we are part of the cousins who actually look asian, so I think people got the idea. :)

For the beach ceremony, here are the remaining 2 dresses I bought. Little sister decided her original dress wasn't formal enough, so she just helped herself to wearing my 3rd dress. :P

I think my sister's shoes are so cute! They tie into bows at the back of her ankles. I'm not a huge fan of my necklace, now seeing it in pictures. Gah, oh well. I'm still trying to figure out the whole jewelry thing, beyond my usual silver chains and pendants. Also, my hair was actual curled and all pretty-looking. I guess the salty wind and whatnot totally straightened my hair.. all my efforts were lost. haha. I just wanted to explain why my hair looks so BLAH at a wedding.

And here are a few more pics from the wedding weekend:

The wedding party at the Catholic ceremony

The beautiful ladies in their traditional wear at the Indian restaurant we ate at for dinner after the Catholic ceremony. Best Indian buffet I've ever been to!

Playing on the beach... .it was windy, if you can't tell haha. I love how we are barefoot.

The beautiful bride in her pretty custom-made beach wedding dress

Chicken Fried Bacon

Hey girls,

JW and I visited my cousin in Arlington (in between Dallas and Ft. Worth) this weekend and here are the pictures from our trip.

We started the day at the Nasher Sculpture Center and saw beautiful art both indoors and outdoors.

 

Afterwards, we headed to the Sixth Floor Museum and learned more about the assassination of JFK.

 

For the rest of the day, we spent sweating, eating and walking around the Texas State Fair.

 

We were introduced to the craziest fried food - chicken fried bacon!! It was voted 1 of 8 top tastes of the fair, so of course we had to try it. It was breaded and fried strips of bacon...salty, crunchy and oh so unhealthy! Just a taste was enough.

We also got to see bull riding, dogs dancing, pig races and rabbit judging. For more pics, go here.

Oh, I almost forgot. There was a stall selling jewelry, art and knickknacks from Nepal/India. I got this cool little ring...it reminds me of a John Hardy design.