Phu Phu gets Gigi'ed!!

A couple of weeks ago, I agreed to be paid $100 to have my hair done and do a photo shoot for J Gordon Designs hair salon. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, not when they decide that they're gonna take this Asian platinum blonde. Hair is a labor of love, you know? ... 3 full days at the salon later, I had an amazingly fun photoshoot. :)

Costa Rica

The past couple of months have been CRAZY! For the holidays, my hubby and I set off to Costa Rica to volunteer to teach english and provide child care to what we were led to believe were needy children in Carpio, Costa Rica. Thinking we were contributing to a good cause, we'd look past and forgive the 7-17 year old boys who tried to steal our watches & cameras, or set off explosives outside. Every few days, a new group of volunteers came through the area thinking they could be supermen and save the world by providing candy, soda, and toys to these kids. (We were even guilty of doing that our first day) Do you know what that leads to? Unproductive, undisciplined, unnecessary parties 3+ times every week, feeding the greedy, wasteful tendencies of not only the children, but the adults of the church /school. Especially after the disaster in Haiti, I regretted wasting my volunteer time for a worthless cause in Costa Rica. I did, however, make the most of it by providing learning supplies and teaching the children that were actually willing to learn. I mostly stayed away from the scary older ones and stuck to the sweet little ones. A handful of them were really pretty sweet :)

The trip wasn't a total loss. We met some of the most interesting and fun friends along the way. Our long weekends were spent exploring the gorgeous beaches, luscious rain forests, and volcanoes. We slept in hammocks, learned how to surf, and went zip-lining 660ft in the air going over 60mph over the rain forests. Costa Rica is a fun tourist destination, but is definitely not any needier for volunteers than any other country. I am going to make sure that my next volunteering mission is truly worthy of my time. Chicago certainly has needs that must be met, so I'll start my search here. And until I find this Chicago volunteering match of mine, I am enjoying every day in this fabulous city!!

2 Mrs Grahams = Double Trouble

I think I've found my niche in life: to spread love and happiness... wherever I am with whatever I do, so it doesn't matter what I choose as a profession. Cheesy, right? I know. I'm full of cheesy deliciousness. Last weekend with the mamma-in-law was super fun. She'd been going through some rough times, and I think I fully distracted her from the roughness by replacing it with fun-ness. We pranced around the city and plugged in Christmas lights that Chicago had strung up but not turned on. We later found that the city was having a Disney Parade of Lights and where Mickey Mouse himself was supposed to wave his magic wand and turn the lights on. woops. Sorry Mickey. Mamma Graham and I also managed to not only change our own looks (lobbed our hair off), we gave our Chicago apartment a Christmas makeover! After celebrating my hubby's birthday with yoga awesomeness, mornings of hip-hop dancing, street-parties, and all-day shopping, I think I wore Mamma Graham out.... and just as she was falling asleep on her last night here, the Genie from Aladdin gave her a friendly wake-up. She loves that. :P Happy Thanksgiving Week!!

Happy Hump Day!

Well, the clock struck twelve about half an hour ago, so I guess it's past Wednesday, our hump of the week. I sometimes use it as an excuse to give a surprise attack hump on my husband. I miss having Hump Day Happy Hours every Wednesday with my girls in TX.

More recently (since moving to Chicago), I spend my Wednesdays volunteering at the local senior center preparing and serving food for the elderly. One of my favorite volunteers is a senior herself. She's an 82 year old 4'10" feisty 82 lb Asian lady arriving every week in her signature *pink* trucker hat and red "IRON CHEF" apron. Her name is Yo, so when I see her, I'm like, "Yo, what's up?!" She gets real chipper and smiles and always says (with the super Asian accent), "I soooo happy to see you!" She's the Grandma I always wish I had. There's a whole community of sweet and loving grandmas and grandpas out there. I wish that everyone would have patience and love for the elderly - I sure do. :)

Hi Hi, I'm Phu Phu :o)

With much encouragement from my sweet sister, I've decided to blog about my crazy action-packed life filled with adventure, humor, and most importantly, love <3 I was born and raised in Texas by very Asian parents, and thus I grew up as a very typical Asian child (as did my big brother and sister). I had thick ugly eye-brows & coke-bottle-thick glasses that shielded my cheeks. I played tennis. I played the violin, piano, and every nerdy band instrument possible. I scored a perfect math SAT, and became Crowley High School's #1 geekiest nerd. Luckily, while in college at Vanderbilt, I acquired social and personal-grooming skills before meeting the love of my life at KFC in Nashville. I worked as a martial arts instructor and Composite Structural Engineer on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in Fort Worth, TX while my sexy younger man was finishing up his undergrad degree at Vandy. After 4 years of mostly long distance love, we were married this summer and now reside in Chicago where he is attending graduate school at DePaul. Since moving here 2 months ago, me and the hubby have met the entire Steelers team, been to the Latin Music Festival, Greek Festival, Country Music Festival, TWO U2 concerts, Pheonix Concert, Cobra Starship/Boys Like Girls concert, Oprah's 24th Season Street Party, and were ON the Oprah show for a live episode with Michael Buble and Chris Rock. There's never a dull moment in the Windy City!


I just got out of church today. After dancing about and singing at the top of my lungs to the church karaoke on screen, I ran across something interesting (Ephesians 4:1-2): "As a prisoner for the Lord, the, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." I LOVE love, and I plan on living a live worthy of this calling... I just have to figure out what that calling is. With the best faith, family, and friends a girl could ask for, this can't be too hard. I guess it's time to set out on this quest :)
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