4 states in 1 day

After Lam and Anita's busy party, Richard and I went to four states the following day--Something that can only be achieved on the east coast, obviously. We left from Delaware and headed to Philadelphia, NJ, and then NYC. Just so you know, this was not planned at all. It was actually just a spontaneous idea since some of my cousins from CA wanted to stay on the east coast one day longer. They had never been to NYC so my brother decided to take them on a field trip in the middle of the night so they could enjoy some yakitori, walk Times Square, and then eat at the famous Halal truck.

By the end of the trip, we all had to rush back to Delaware to pick up luggage only to have to drive back north again to the Philadelphia Airport to catch our AM flight. Yikes! I was absolutely brain dead by the time the plane landed in Orange County.

In a rush to complete everything on my agenda within 24 hours, I was able to...

1. Show Richard around Philly

2. Wait in line and grab a cheesesteak from Jim's Steaks (Pat's is overrated according to my brother)

3. Visit my favorite friends in Manayunk

4. Hang out with my Dad briefly in NJ and hear Richard sing in Vietnamese. HAHA!

5. End the day with the family in NYC.

** Thank you Lam, Richard, and Anita for driving all morning until night!

Spring in the city of Brotherly Love

....Or should I call it the City of Sisterly Love?



It's finally warm in Philadelphia and summer break is about to hit. Like many of you non-working people who are trying to delay the inevitable 9-5 job by being a perpetual student, I've been trying to find every reason NOT to study for my finals. A couple things have been keeping my mind occupied as of late. They include a workout boot camp that one of my friends started, watching Reality TV shows (DWTS being my favorite), and touring every inch of the city of Philadelphia. All three activities have been extremely productive. For example, going to the gym every morning allows me to gawk at the 76ers (Note: the 76ers basketball team practices at my school gym). Watching DWTS has led me to watch American Idol and now I even vote! And finally, exploring Philadelphia has led me to realize that this vibrant city is full of incredible history. It ain't just about cheese steaks here!?

I'm actually embarrassed that I only remember the history of Philly because of the movie National Treasure. Therefore my boot camp friends and I attempted to re-learn our American History 101. We strapped on our fanny packs and cameras and became tourists for a day.



Our tour included visiting Benjamin Franklin's hood + museum, Independence Mall, The Liberty Bell, a horse carriage ride through Olde Philadelphia, Reading Terminal market, lunch in Chinatown, the Love park, and posing with huge Monopoly art pieces at the public art center.

Oh, let's not forget the worst part of the tour...We got kicked out of the Pyramid Club because we were wearing jeans! The Pyramid Club is this snazzy business luncheon area that overlooks the skyline of Center City. All we wanted to do was take a look and leave and they wouldn't even let us do that! AUGH!

Independence Hall is directly behind us. The Liberty Bell is located in the building on the right side.

Did you know that George Washington made his second Inaugural speech off this tiny little balcony??


Emma is trying to fight back the septa train


City Hall


Game pieces

Inside the horse carriage around Olde Philadelphia. Our horse had some hearing problems so we almost got hit by a car a few times...BEWARE OF DEAF HORSES!

Umbrella dancing in Chinatown

My favorite artistic scene in Philadelphia



Our next stop is to visit the Philadelphia Art Museum because there's free admission on Sunday. Of course, it's free on Sunday because the museum would like you to make donations so please do make some donations....

Click here for more Philadelphia pictures

Phillies Phever

This guy was really feeling the phever.

After waiting 28 years, the city of Philadelphia truly embraced the long awaited title. Although I may not fully understand all the emotions in regards of wanting something for twenty something years, I can say that the Phillies Phever was contagious. I believe I started feeling symptoms of this phever at the start of the playoffs, when the Phillies played the L.A. Dodgers. I was in no shape to do any school work or even go out during game days. I started to yell and scream more. Eventually, I lost my voice after game 5. All I could see was RED. This epidemic even led my friend from Boston (Red Sox fan) to buy a Phillies t-shirt just so she could feel better.

As for me, I dealt with the condition by buying a nice comfy red Phillies hoodie, busting out my red purse, shoveling through my closet for all my red-Christmas colored clothes, adding "ph" in front of every word beginning with the letter "f", memorizing the stats of the players, and petitioning with my classmates to have class shortened for game 5 of the World Series. Oh, and let me not forget the most, most important phanatical thing: I carved a Phillies “P” into my Halloween pumpkin.





This may sound corny, but I think the Phillies really brought the city together, creating major team spirit. For example, it was secretly mandatory at my school for everyone to wear red before a game. And if you did wear red, you were automatically friends with other people wearing red. Like, the other person would look at you, acknowledge your love for the Phillies, smile and give you a head nod. This went beyond school, too. On the streets, strangers would do the same smile, a head nod, and maybe even a “GO PHILLIES!” shout-out. It was a great way to meet people. Everyone seemed so much nicer and happier.

Even the dog has a t-shirt

Obviously I can’t end this post without mentioning flipped cars on Broad Street and the parade, where I bumped into Jay from Project Runway season 1. But since I didn’t do the post-game partying on Broad St. (I was in Manayunk, instead), I guess I can’t really tell you much about that. You’ll just have to google “Flipped cars, looting, fire, unhappy mayor, Phillies.”

Coach Charlie with the Commissioner's Trophy

"If you can't hold, if you can't hold...hold on for the phanatic"

MVP: Cole Hamels (a.k.a. most handsomest pitcher)

I’ll move on to Jay from Project Runway. Yes, the fabulous Jay from season one, the champion who beat Kara Saun in the last challenge. He came out to the parade with his 40oz and just chilled with one of his friends on the corner of Washington and Broad. He was actually standing right next to me. When I noticed him, I thought to myself, “This guy looks like Jay from project runway.” Little did I know that those words came right out of my mouth while I was “thinking.” We eventually ended up chatting and cheering for Cole Hamels. Apparently, Jay is working in Philadelphia now. So if ya’ll want him to personally design something super chic, he’s here! Didn’t I just say that being a Phillies fan was a great way to meet people?



Now if only the 76ers would step it up…