Un-Traveling Thy

As I mentioned the other day, I’m back in the States!

Yup! But whyyyyyyyy?!

I was having SO much fun journeying around the world for the last two years. I traded in a fairytale life of travel and romance and freedom…and for what? Well, from the looks of it now, I just chose to be broke, unemployed, and living with my parents in Olympia, Washington.

Ouch! This fairy tale seems to have had a depressing turn of events!

In actuality, the fairy tale continued. The reason I came back was to attend a wedding. Not just any wedding. The wedding of my cousin Nhi who is one of the most inspiring women in my world. She just happened to marry a fantastic man by the name of Jerry. And she just happened to ask both my sister and me to be her bridesmaids. She also arranged for a three-day family reunion at a massive vacation home in Suncadia.

Um…hello…standing side-by-side with my sister aka best friend to watch our cousin marry the man of her dreams, and then taking a resort holiday with the people I love most in the universe?!

How could I possibly say no to that?! I flew 4,800 miles to get there and it was totally worth it.

The bride, her brothers and cousins.

CB photographing the bridal party. (PS did you know J.Crew does bridal?!)

Here come the bride and groom under the gleaming sunrays.

The cake! It was delicious.

A random collection of the bride’s family and groom’s friends.

My favorite sister and my favorite dad.

Dad behind the camera capturing a mom-and-kids-moment.

Little AJ sprinkling the lawn with flower petals.

Me plotting to kidnap him. (His parents said it’d be ok, I swear!)

Heading out on a bike ride in sunny Suncadia.

The bride gets the prettiest bike of course!

Here’s the groom flying down Suncadia’s slide of death.

My cousins and me with our giant spoons before a violent card game. Seriously – bloodshed!

More card games! (We’re Asian, it’s what we do.)
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The way-too-cute Adam & Isa (and their amazing curly locks)!

Jetskiing with cousin Giang

Boating on Lake Chelan (and apparently having a great time).

It was the perfect way to come back, really. The idea of ending my two-year round-the-world journey came with some heavy emotions that I wasn’t (and am still not) sure I can handle. A wedding and extended family reunion were the best possible way for me to make the transition. I essentially left one enchanting fairy tale for another.

I can’t even describe the happiness in my heart when I saw my family again – especially my sister. She had flown in from California and we would spend hours catching up on each other’s lives, re-uniting with childhood friends (Hi Lee! Hi Tina!). So much has changed since the last time I saw her two years ago, yet so much remains the same. We picked up right where we left off, and had some real quality time with the whole family. And did I mention the weather in Western Washington has been amazing since I got here?!

But like any good fairy tale, this one had to end too. Labor Day weekend came to a close, my sister flew back to Cali, my parents and brother went back to their jobs.

And then there’s me. Penniless, unemployed, un-traveling me. I’ve been back for almost three weeks, and it’s just in the last couple days that it’s really sunk in.

I’m in AMERICA again.

Last month alone, I was celebrating pride week in Amsterdam, having a whirl of a romance in Paris, eating meatballs & lingonberry sauce in Stockholm.

And now I’ve come full circle to the city where I was born and raised. Olympia’s an alright city I guess, but I never really connected with it, and I don’t have many friends here. It’s kinda lonely. And kinda sad.

Some of you might be scoffing: Oh wahhh, poor princess who just traveled the world is saaaad. Don’t worry – I’m not seeking your pity.

The good news (or depressing news, whichever way you look at it) is that I’m in hard-core nostalgia mode, and I intend to blog blog BLOG my woes away.

I realize I don’t have a very good track record and I’ve left many of you disappointed. But guess what? I have months of travel stories to tell you, no less than 100,000 photos to sort through – and nothing better to do.

Me thinks Un-Traveling Thy might be a better blogger than her predecessor.