Amber

My best friend Amber got married this past month and my friend Taylor and I threw a bridal shower for her in October. The theme was "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and it turned out so cute. I just had to post some pictures from it :)

I found those Audrey Hepburn pictures at Wal Mart for 7 or 8 dollars. And of course we had to include some Tiffany bags and boxes in all of it. 

 Blue cupcake and treats. The cupcakes had little diamond rings on top of them. 

 I had the hardest time thinking of prize ideas for the games we played. Finally I came across these Tiffany blue mugs and tied ribbons around them to look like Tiffany boxes. Another prize I did was magazines like Glamour and InStyle, which turned out to be super fun prizes that were actually useful.

 The only boy at the Bridal Shower. and of course he's at the food table. Chase has been our friend since 7th grade so we had to include him. I wanted to do breakfast food since the theme was Breakfast at Tiffany's, so we did crepes with fruit. 

 My little bride-to-be

 

 Some of the party people

 This is Taylor, who helped me throw the shower. Taylor, Amber and I have been friends since 5th grade. no big deal.

 The awkwardness of bridal shower gifts. can't beat it. 

 Some friends from high school

 and these are some of my best friends in the world :)

 and the reason I know that is because after everyone left, we ended the shower with an off the wall dance party. The kind you can only have with your best friends.

ya this is real life.

 

And here is my beautiful best friend...

Oh she looks half Vietnamese, like me, does she? Well that's because she IS. Which is how we became friends in the first place. True Story. She was the new girl at Jordan Hills Elementary and I saw her last name on her purple lunchbox back in 5th grade. I said "What nationality is your last name?" (sounds smart for a 5th grader, doesn't it?) and she said "It's Vietnamese. My dad is Vietnamese and my mom is white." 

Exactly.like.me.

and I thought to myself, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. So we skipped away holding hands and we've been best friends ever since. 

(When she told me a couple years later that she had a little bit of Chinese in her too, I felt betrayed. But that's another story)

Congrats Woo. I love you and you looked absolutely gorgeous on your wedding day. also, I forgive you for being party Chinese.

His story...

This is my grandpa.
"Ong" as we call him, was a decorated colonel in the South Vietnamese Air Force during the Vietnam War. For those of you who don't know a lot about the Vietnam War, North and South Vietnam were fighting against each other because of North Vietnam's push for a communist government. America fought alongside South Vietnam soldiers, including my grandpa.

Ong had a wife and 6 children. Days before the end of the war, Ong sent his family out of Vietnam. He knew that South Vietnam was going to lose the war and didn't want his family to be punished for their support of South Vietnam or for my grandpa's involvement as a colonel. Sending them away, he didn't know if he would ever see them again, as he stayed until the last day to fight for his country.

On the last day of the Vietnam War, Ong along with others, flew his helicopter out of Vietnam. They first tried to go to Saigon, but it was under attack and they weren't able to land. They then proceeded to Vung Tao, which was also being attacked. Finally, they made the decision to fly out to sea. They got permission to land aboard a 7 fleet American ship. There were multiple helicopters, but their wasn't enough room for all of them. One at a time, the helicopters landed and were then pushed off the ship and into the ocean to make room for the next.

There have been multiple news stories and documentaries written about these soldiers- about my grandpa. Most of the time, the Vietnamese soldiers who are talked about remain nameless, because reporters don't know who or where these people are. The reports tell that these soldiers are heroes, as they saved many Vietnamese refugees by landing in various cities to pick up as many people as they could before fleeing the country. But my grandpa has never told me that. He is too humble.

My grandpa eventually reunited with his family again 3 months later at Camp Pendleton in California. He received many recognitions and medals from the United States for his bravery and sacrifice during the war. He became a U.S. citizen in 1981.

Someday I hope to write the entire story of my grandpa, Trieu "Taylor" Vu, but since it is Veteran's Day, I wanted to write something for and about him. He is a true hero and I am so proud to say he is my grandpa.

Thank you to all the veterans, and to the man that I look up to more than anyone.

This is an actual picture of what my grandpa and the other soldiers did. It is from one of the stories that talks about them.

source: http://philippe.buffon.free.fr/images/vietnamexpo/heloco/index.htm

...

If you want to read some of the stories I mentioned above, here are a few different links:

http://www.utdallas.edu/library/collections/speccoll/Leeker/history/Vietnam3.pdf

http://tv.nytimes.com/learning/general/specials/saigon/butterfield-article2.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129484369

She...

"The woman who follows the crowd will usually go no further than the crowd. The woman who walks alone is likely to find herself in places no one has ever been before."

Shine

Some of my favorite memories were getting all dressed up to go to high school dances. I loved the feeling of being a princess for a day and I was blessed to be able to always have a great dress to wear for every single dance. Unfortunately, this isn't the case for a lot of girls.

I have always thought it would be neat to start a foundation where I could loan dresses to girls who need them, but I didn't think the demand would be that great. After my experience working at a high school with lower income students, I came to realize that there are actually a lot of girls who don't get this memorable opportunity. Now that I know this, I am excited to introduce a project that my sister-in-law and I have started called Shine.

We are currently taking donations of any formal dresses, jewelry or shoes that we could loan to girls who are in need of prom attire.

If you or anyone you know would be willing to donate previously worn dresses, shoes or jewelry, your help would be greatly appreciated. You can leave a comment here, visit our blog (it's pretty scarce right now, so forgive us), or you can e-mail us at shineutah@gmail.com. Also if things go as planned, we would like to expand and get a lot more people involved. If this is something you would be interested in, we would love your help.

Please spread the word :)

xoxo, Natasha

ps my sister in law made this. genius.