[TBT] Trip to Taiwan & Vietnam

I have such nostalgia for Asia right now.

The desire to travel is STRONG.

Good thing today is Throwback Thursday and we can take another trip down memory lane!

Warning: Today's post from the Monkey Whimsy archives contains explicit pictures so please stop here if you would prefer not seeing any graphic images.

Thursday, August 23, 2012
Trip to Taiwan & Vietnam

I was looking through pictures I took last December of my trip to Asia and realized I never shared some of the more interesting sights I saw while there.

Let me share with you some of these gems.

While in a temple in Vietnam, my sister and I were browsing through the gift shop when I spotted this book:

We, being awesomely mature late-20-year-olds, couldn't stop giggling.

Remember this photo?

My sister was yelling at me.

She said she needed to show me something.

I thought it was going to be something profound.
Something life-changing.
Or both.

This is what my sister had to show me:

Is this something profoundly life-changing?

Or life-changingly profound?

We were at Thanh Chuong Viet Palace near Hanoi.

This statue was located in an area of the grounds that most people would probably never venture to. My sister found it because she has this tendency to keep going and going until she can't anymore. I have this annoying habit of trying every single door in sight until I'm blocked by a locked one. We make great houseguests.

I have to say though, nothing beats what I found in Taiwan.

My aunt and uncle and two cousins took me to Jiǔfèn where there's lots of yummy food and cute little shops.

While browsing through one of the gift shops stocked with children's toys, I picked up this keychain thinking it was a metal puzzle for children:

It was not a puzzle piece.

It was also not a children's toy.

However, these keychains could come in handy for those conversations about the birds and the bees. That must be why it was stocked in a children's toy store. Nothing beats visual aids.

I regret not getting one.

A very different reaction to being sick

This is the third time that I've been sick in three months.

I didn't even try to deny it when I first started coughing.

I was resigned at this point.

Instead, I had a very different reaction to being sick.

Uh oh. Sick again.

But, that means I'll lose weight.

Which means I can eat ALL THE THINGS to make up for it.

And that's how you make a sick person happy.

I also recognize that my reaction to being sick might be a little demented.

Because eating ramen and ice cream and desserts is probably NOT the best way to recovery.

How about you? How do you cope with being sick?

(And sorry to the people who will hate me for saying I lose weight when I get sick. But I do.)

[TBT] My Mama Hearts Chipotle. Hardcore.

This throwback post would be more appropriate if it was in March but my heart smiled inside when I read it again so I'm sharing it with you all today.

I love my mama.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012
My Mama Hearts Chipotle. Hardcore.

Today is my mama's birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!!!

We celebrated it over the weekend.

But first, let me tell you how we celebrated it last year:

Me: Where do you want to go for your birthday dinner, Mom?
Mom: Chipotle.
Me: Mom, that's like going to McDonald's, we can't do that for your birthday. Don't you want to go somewhere fancy?
Mom: But I really like Chipotle.

And so we went to Chipotle to celebrate. And my mama was happy.

This year, we celebrated it like this:

Me: Mom, what do you want to do?
Mom: Let's go to Ikea.
Me: Um, why?
Mom: I want to buy a mirror.
Me: You want to go all the way to Ikea for that?

(Ikea is a 40 minute drive from my mom's house. Target and Home Depot are both less than 10 minutes away and I'm sure both of those places have mirrors.)

Mom: How much was the mirror you wanted at Ikea the last time we were there?
Me: Mom, that was months and months ago, I don't remember.
Mom: You want to come over so we can go to Ikea?
Me: Okay, fine.

So we head to Ikea and after we're done mirror-buying at Ikea, this is what happens:

Mom: So, what do you want to eat for dinner?
Me: Anything you want, it's your birthday.
Mom: Want to go to that place across the street from Ikea?
Me: You mean Chipotle, don't you? You want to go to Chipotle, don't you?

And my mom smiles sheepishly in response.

Oh, Chipotle, you have stolen my mom's foodie heart.

When my mama says "Let's go to Ikea," it's really code for "I want to eat Chipotle."