the handsome irishman

By the way, I got married this past summer to a handsome Irishman.
July 25, 2010. We held our afternoon reception at Puku cafe on the second floor terrace (pictured here).

hawai'ian education

This was my Masters degree from the Shidler College of business at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. After two years of night and weekend classes, I can say that I am happy to be holding that piece of paper!

i love my work buddies

Lunch as a group at My Anh's house. This lovely group of ladies helped me make my wedding dress and helped with all the little things that go into a wedding. They are an amazing froup f women and I don't know what I would do here at work without them. :)

reunification day

April 30 marks the day when Southern Vietnam fell to the Northern Vietnamese army, thus "reunifying" the entire country. Famous pictures of this day include the Northern Viet Cong army tank crashing through the gate of the government palace in Saigon and thus ending the war. (pictured left)

To read more about what happened the day before, take a look at the story of one of the the Saigonese who escaped on the famous US military helicopter that departed from a rooftop along with desperate Vietnamese dangling from it.

three years for aguila

Today marks the three year anniversary of the devastating tornado that hit my small Texas-Mexico border town of Eagle Pass, Texas. I remember hearing news via facebook and other online means all the way over here in Vietnam and suddenly felt extremely far from my family.

I called my parents to see if they were alright and they assured me that our area of town, Zacatecas Street, had not been hit but rather the outskirts of town near Rosita Valley and all the way to El Indio were less fortunate.

As I watched the news unfold from the internet in Vietnam about the wreckage and relief efforts, I prayed for the families affected. One unfortunate incident that struck hard with all the town's citizens was the uncovering of a trailer house that had been picked up by the relentless tornado with an entire family of five inside. The remains of the house were located with all five bodies curled together in a corner already lifeless.

Tears feel from my cheeks as I read these stories of my hometown and sat in the quiet silence of a Hanoi night, thankful that my parents and grandmother were ok. Today, my heart still goes out to those families affected and I continue to thank God for each day of life He gives us. We truly never know when it will be our last.

career coach & facilitator in hanoi

Although they've been in Vietnam for over 10 years, the consultants of Competitive Edge Consulting Vietnam have finally become an official company in the land of Ho. Although they're highly recommended by me personally since I can thank them for career coaching me into my current Marketing Communications job, I'd encourage you to learn more about Competitive Edge for yourself.

Director's profile on LinkedIn here.

Website is the simple to remember, www.competitiveedgevietnam.com

We need more of this kind of service in Vietnam.

miguelito to seattle

Who's bro is cool enough to win the worldwide competition to go see Chase Jarvis in Seattle? That's my bro...professional photographer and musician in Hong Kong. Read more about Michal's accomplishments here or visit his website at michalgarcia.com

moving art

This was sent to me from my Uncle in Germany. Fascinating.

The video shows the winner of " Ukraine's Got Talent", Kseniya Simonova, 24, drawing a series of pictures on an illuminated sand table showing how ordinary people were affected by the German invasion during World War II. Her talent, which admittedly is a strange one, is mesmeric to watch.

The images, projected onto a large screen, moved many in the audience to tears and she won the top prize of about $130,000.00.

She begins by creating a scene showing a couple sitting holding hands on a bench under a starry sky, but then warplanes appear and the happy scene is obliterated.

It is replaced by a woman's face crying, but then a baby arrives and the woman smiles again. Once again war returns and Miss Simonova throws the sand into chaos from which a young woman's face appears.

She quickly becomes an old widow, her face wrinkled and sad, before the image turns into a monument to an Unknown Soldier.

This outdoor scene becomes framed by a window as if the viewer is looking out on the monument from within a house.

In the final scene, a mother and child appear inside and a man standing outside, with his hands pressed against the glass, saying goodbye.

The Great Patriotic War, as it is called in Ukraine , resulted in one in four of the population being killed with eight to 11 million deaths out of a population of 42 million.

Kseniya Simonova says: "I find it difficult enough to create art using paper and pencils or paintbrushes, but using sand and fingers is beyond me. The art, especially when the war is used as the subject matter, even brings some audience members to tears. And there's surely no bigger compliment."

Please take time out to see this amazing piece of art.

help haiti

Great way to help all those pobresitos in Haiti. Although the clothig relief effort seems to be going the opposite direction.

Click here to help.