BELINDA CAME TO HO CHI MINH FOR MY 23^rd BIRTHDAY.

It was by far one of the best birthday presents I have ever received.

I was born in San Diego and grew up in Cerritos, CA. So when it was time to decide where to go for college (sophomore year  in college – I committed early) it was a bit of an easy decision to make the move to Los Angeles.  Even with traffic I was only an hour/hour and a half from home so seeing my parents was never an issue.  (My sister lived about three hours away so she was a bit harder to get to, but still).  So this move has been the longest time I have ever spent away from my family – even when we weren’t speaking we would never go more than a week and a half without seeing one another.  With that being said, the past five or so months has come with its fair share of internal ups and downs in terms of feeling homesick.

 My parents originally had plans to come to Ho Chi Minh in March, but my mom being the people reader and angel that she is picked up on my struggle (maybe it was because I cried while Tango-ing her, whatever) and she decided to come to Ho Chi Minh for my birthday.

On the night of Sunday, January 3^rd at approx 11:07PM (this was a big deal to me) I heard a car pull into my alleyway – it’s rare to hear cars, motorbikes are the norm – and a familiar voice began calling to me, “Etaaajjjhaaa!?” I moved like lighting.  Megan said she has never seen me move as fast as I did in that moment. That’s saying something considering I played four years of college soccer with her.  It’s hard to exactly put into words the way I felt when I saw her face.  I was somewhere between pure happiness to the point where I thought I would burst into tears.

Belinda was only in town for five days and my parents still plan to come to Ho Chi Minh in April or May so she wanted to maximize the time we spent together and just hang out around Ho Chi Minh.

---

---

H o  C h i  M i n h

---

---

B i n h  Q u o i  V i l l a g e

 

---

---

M Y  B I R T H D A Y  ♥

I must admit, I did over extend myself with the drinking a bit on the eve of my birthday (Do you know how hard it is to turn down free tequila shots and vodka sodas?).  I ended up spending pretty much all of my birthday napping, and sprinting from toilet to the couch.  But you know what, Belinda sat with me the entire day – what a gal.  Thankfully, I was able to pull myself together to make it to Sky Bar which has one of the best views of the city, Shrine for a few drinks – this place makes you forget you’re in Ho Chi Minh, the vibes are unreal – a perfect place to end my birthday celebrations.

---

---

The five days Belinda was in town was over tooooooo fast but it was exactly what I needed. I’m beyond grateful she was able to be with me for my birthday.  Joey said it best, “Mom of the year.” And I agree, 2015 has just started and you’re already killing it.

I know I can only say ‘thank you, I appreciate you, I’m so grateful, you’re the greatest and I love you’ so many times, but seriously mom. You are everything.

Love you, you’re the real MVP. 

Xx

---

 Song of the moment: