Congrats Tony and Ly! The main reason Tina and I were in Davis this weekend was to watch these two walk across that stage. Tina made them a new sign so they wouldn’t have their Happy Birthday sign up still, hahah.

We walked two years ago, but we still like to steal the spotlight.

Celebratory drinks for the big boys.

Never a dull moment with Tina.

Since it was a Thursday night, we decided to head downtown and party like college students for a night. Because everyone was out celebrating, the lines for all the bars were ridiculously long. We ended up just getting drinks at City Hall Tavern, but even then, lines for drinks were long!

Of course, we ended up just getting beers at  University of Beer. I couldn’t tell you how the night went because I definitely partied like I was back in college, oops.

Friday morning, Tina and I decided to match in our coral dresses. Why not, right?

Ly, Tina, and I all ordered the Eggs Benedict at Black Bear Diner. When Tony started to order something other than the Eggs Benedict, our server cut him off saying, “Come on, man. Just get the Benedict.” Too funny! After eating brunch, we headed over to campus!

My baby bear Mai is all grown up!

Best friend Jamie!

G3 Victoria. <3 Sweetest girl ever!

Mama’s Boy Johanna.

Some of the Party Rock Crew.

And of course, it’s always a pleasant surprise to see our Krenek pbros!

While everyone is graduating, I figured it was time to finally pick up my diploma from two years ago. I finally own my most expensive piece of paper ever!

Photoshootin’ before Tony’s graduation. These two are way too cute!

Before we went to Tony’s graduation, we stopped by to look at the cows. As we’re watching, a cow starts to poop (for a lack of a better word…), and the first thing Tina says is, “Quick! Give me my phone! I need to snapchat this!” Oh, what has technology done to us!?

UC Davis College of Engineering Graduation.

Congrats, Tony!

NEW FRIEND! <3

Battle of the Besties Day 1.

After graduation, Tina and I headed to dinner with our friends that were also in town. You can never go wrong with Dumpling House. And plus, the server is always so cute! ^__^

Catch ups and credit cards (lol).

After dinner, Tina and I hung out at Oanh’s for a little bit before heading back to get some work done. Who were we kidding when we say we planned to do homework or work on apps? Tina ended up sleeping, and I ended up just hanging out with Tony and his friend. We were also planning to go out at night, but we all ended up just sleeping early. Super grandpa and grandma status!

Saturday morning – went to see my grand little Yen. We really wanted to meet her family, but we got there too late. Boo!

Grand little Yen! <3 My little hipster.

My grand littles aka little sisters. Love them!

Always so many Luongs still around. Proud mama!

My pbaby boys are still studs, hehe.

Battle of the Besties Day 2.

I bet Ly feels like a million bucks when he’s surrounded by a bunch of cute girls, lol!

These two picked flowers for each other on the way back to the car.

Goin’ on an adventure!

This is our relationships in a nutshell. I’m super happy while Tony mean mugs all the time. Ly and Tina are always lovey dovey. What a crazy bunch.

Since they’re all big movie goers and wanted to watch This is the End, I had to suck it up and watch it too. I’m not a big fan of “dumb funny” movies, but they had a blast and thought the movie was hella funny. At least Tony got us popcorn!

After the movie, we headed over to University of Beer (again). A nice cold beer is a requirement during a hot day! And what’s hella funny is that the bartender remembered us from Picnic Day. We must’ve been pretty ratchet a few months ago if we were that memorable. Hahaha!

We ended up stopping by Safeway and then campus for a few more graduation photos.

Before Ly went to work, we grabbed some food from Uncle Vito’s Slice of NY cause we were craving their thai fries. Their pizza was still delicious, but their fries just don’t taste the same.

Tina and I walked around Whole Foods and ended up at Pinkberry for some dessert. I haven’t had froyo in so long… delicious!

Cause Ly was working, we decided to go bowling. I played pretty well and won, woohoo! (I don’t think that’s ever happened before because I always play with a pro like Tina.)

Sunday morning, we all woke up early for Ly’s graduation.

Battle of the Besties Day 3.

Soulmates.

Always the tricycle.

Great grand little Haley!

Congrats, Ly!

Pimpin’ ain’t easy. Ly and his favorite girls, wahaha.

While we were waiting for lunch time, we had a mini best friends sleepover, hah! No new friends, no new friends!

Tony and Ly’s flowers from their family. So pretty!

For lunch, Tina, Tony, and I went to eat lunch with Ly and his family at Seasons. Seasons is definitely one of the restaurants I didn’t eat at while I was in college, so I was excited for a food adventure!

Crab cakes.

Beef Carpaccio.

Salmon.

Steak and eggs.

Chicken.

Bread Pudding Du Jour.

During lunch, we just heard embarrassing stories about Ly from his siblings. Good stuff!

Big baby!

Like we’re going to Spring Fling dance.

The weather wasn’t too crazy hot like it was years before. But it sure was “freezing” at night. This weekend felt like a really long weekend, but I’m glad I got to spend time with lots of my friends in Davis! All and all, these few days were really fun minus the few awkward moments. You know, college is supposed to be a time when people really “grow up” and mature, but apparently, that doesn’t happen for everyone. Sometimes you just have to step back and see the bigger picture about what really makes you happy and what you’re giving up for that happiness. Love sure does make people blind.

And to end this post, parts of Steve Job’s commencement address that I really like:

“Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

“Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

“Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

An airport hangar is such a romantic place to have a photoshoot, don’t you think?

Maps are so fitting for a travel-themed wedding. These invitation suites can be purchased or easily be a DIY project! Here is a fun DIY project on making a map card and envelope from Wear the Canvas. (It’s easy, I promise!)

I read recently that good bye kisses at airports are one of the most romantic and longest kinds of kisses. Put that together with your wedding, and I bet you can’t get any more romantic than that!

Really diggin’ the colors of this shoot.

<3 airplanes.

I can’t even describe how much I love this bouquet. The greens, whites, and yellows are the perfect mix of colors for a vintage yet charming bouquet. And you definitely can’t go on a trip without luggage. These luggages are the perfect props for the photoshoot.

And one of my favorite long distance relationship quotes: “Distance means so little when someone means so much.”

Friday night, Tina and I were supposed to go to Oakland/SF for Korean BBQ, but we decided to just stay around the Fremont area and met up with Allen for some hot pot at Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot. Not only did Tina and the hostesses have a good laugh before we were seated, we also had a cool server. Food was so good! The meat combo is such a deal – a whole plate of meat for around $12! (And those meatballs were super delicious.)

The three liquids I need in life – water, beer, and tea.

Because Friday was National Donut Day, we headed over to Krispy Kreme for donuts! I can’t wait until Pacific Commons has their own Krispy Kreme so I don’t have to drive to Union City for donuts. The wait for free donuts was at least 30 minutes! But good thing we were able to watch how the donuts were made:

Original glazed donuts = little bites of heaven in your mouth. (Not even exaggerating!)

The donut shop for me is like the candy shop for little kids.

Happy Donut Day! Like Carizza tweeted, it’s like “second Christmas”!

So happy my BFFer is all about donuts too. Two dozen donuts, no big deal!

Allen was a little confused as to why we’re so into donuts, but he enjoyed the holiday anyways.

Can’t contain my excitement as I ate my powdered strawberry filled donut!

After dinner and dessert, we made a spontaneous decision to go to Santana Row to check out their night life. None of us have been there, so it was an adventure!

We thought because Santana Row was so upscale that there would be a lot of classy party people, but… besides some dressed up people, the place was no different. (Imagine this: some girl face-planted while waiting in line to get into a bar. Uh…)

Drinks on drinks or drinks.

Saturday morning, Allen and I were supposed to work out, but I convinced him otherwise. We ended up getting brunch at The Prolific Oven. This was my first time eating here, so I was curious as to how their food was. We ordered the Bruschetta as an appetizer, and it was so savory! This dish disappeared right away.

Allen ordered the Chicken Pesto Panini. I feel like it’s hard for restaurants to perfect chicken because they usually come out dry, but the chicken in this sandwich was so tender! The pasta salad on the side was also delicious.

I ordered my favorite – Eggs Benedict. So good! If I knew there was good eggs benedict so close to me, I would’ve visited this place more often. The Prolific Oven has brunch until 3pm on the weekend!

Saturday night, I was a good student – stayed home to work on my assignment for class. And of course, my mom makes her seafood noodles on Saturday… yum!

On Sunday, Tina came up to Fremont so I could take her to The Vine. You can never have too much brunch, right?

She ordered the Nutella Stuffed French Toast. It had just the right amount of sweetness!

I ordered the Corned Beef Hash, and I was so glad they didn’t run out this time! It had two eggs on top of the meat on top of the potatoes. The potatoes in this dish tasted different than the ones in the Salmon Bruschetta because they were “wet” from the sauces that dripped down from the egg and meat. The meat was delicious, and tasted like salami, but it was definitely a little on the salty side. I had to keep drinking my water!

I split the egg up so the meat was more visible. The salad on the side was refreshing and light!

After brunch, we headed over to the mall to shop a little before watching The Great Gatsby. The movie was just aite. The movie itself felt a little too long, some parts were dragged on, and there was no chemistry between Daisy and Gatsby! But it’s always a good time hanging out with my BFFer.

When we couldn’t decide what to do for dinner, we picked up some boba from Tea Station and headed over to Allen’s house since they just had a birthday dinner. He fed us steak, eggs, salad, pasta, cake, AND fruits. If this isn’t the fatty life, I don’t know what is.

My lifelong best friend and twin sister, Steph. Sometimes best friends aren’t chosen… they’re forced upon you, right? Guess I won the “jackpot” when I got Steph as my sister. Unlike many television siblings (and even real life siblings), Steph and I hardly bicker or hate each other. Growing up, even though we’re the same age, Steph always made sure I was taken care of before doing her own business. In fact, when she finished college and moved back home, I ended up eating eggs and ramen for three months because I had no one to cook me meals. (Don’t judge me. Those were one of the toughest times in my life, hah! And on top of that, I was really homesick for the first time during my college years since she wasn’t in Davis anymore.) Even now, when we work different hours, hang out with different people, and seem like we’re too busy for each other sometimes, we make it work. Whether it’s texting throughout the day or scheduling dinner or TV dates, we’re there for each other.

My Best Friends Forever, Tina. When I first started college, I assumed I wouldn’t ever find a close girl friend because I’m not a “girly girl” at all. And look where I am now – feeling blessed and so happy that I found someone who shares a lot of the same beliefs and interests, and of course, is always down. It’s funny actually, when we first met, she thought I was a beezy (in nicer terms), and I really disliked the crowd that she hung out with. Obviously I was right (like always ) about her crowd, and we started hanging out more, and more, and more… until we won the BFF Award in Alpha Phi Omega. Best Friendship: solidified! It’s pretty amazing how people saw how BFF-ish we were back then, but I feel like we’re 100x more BFF-ish now.

My little, Gary. Alpha Phi Omega has given me a lot of wonderful things, and one of those is my little bro. When he was pledging, I always tried to be the good big and take care of him… but because Gary is Gary, he always turned the tables on me and took care of me. As our relationship grew closer, and after much push and pull of us trying to be the one that takes care of the other, we figured out the different aspects of what each other needed. There are some friends who you don’t feel like making an effort with, but Gary is the complete opposite. Everyone should have a friend like Gary: considerate of your feelings, letting you know he’s thinking of you, and always putting you first no matter what. I know we make fun of each other all the time, but it’s all fun and games! If you can’t be silly with your friends, then something is wrong.

My Bestie, Tony. Although this is the shortest friendship compared to all my other best friends, Tony is someone that I admire. He’s always making me laugh and challenging me (he’s so good at talking back… leaves me speechless sometimes, and you know that hardly ever happens!). I’m glad that even though we’ve known each other for only a couple of months, he’s someone that I trust. It’s so easy to talk to him about life, future goals, and problems I have because he’s so understanding. Out of all the new friends I’ve made this year, the one I look forward to building a stronger friendship with is this one.

“The biggest ingredient in a best friend is someone whose actions you respect and who you can truly be yourself around.” – Renee Olstead

Whether it’s Tina Fey and Amy Poehler or Troy and Abed, everyone needs a best friend. Who’s yours?

Pbaby Will and I planned to get dinner to catch up, and after much “What are you craving?” “No, what are YOU craving?” back and forth, he finally decided on sushi at Sen Dai Sushi.

Not going to lie, I was still hurting (borderline food coma uncomfortable) from lunch earlier in the day, but when it comes to sushi… I really can eat it anytime! Dinner was delicious, and it helps that we had a super cute (female) server.

Fatty lifestyle. It was super fun catching up on life, relationships, and just mindset discussions in general. It’s always cool chatting about this and that and realizing that there are other people out there who think like you (especially when your thoughts don’t align with majority of the people).

After dinner, we headed over to Fantasia for some boba! Ryan even bumped into us there.

Just wanted to point out how I thought it was a funny coinkidink that we were both wearing all black everything!

I was planning to work on my final project tonight… but delicious sushi, awesome boba, and the best company trumps school work any night.