A Bride's Wedding Speech

Wedding Reception at Silver Pearl Seafood Restaurant
Photos by Clarzzique Photography and Videography

When we started planning the wedding, I had already known that I would do my own speech. I am a firm believer that my life was just as important as Hai's, and that I should get the same opportunity to thank my loved ones and express my gratitude.
Hai was so lovely in timing his speech to be shorter so I could say everything I wanted to say. I forgot that there was the possibility he would have me in happy tears just before I made my speech, so I was already pretty emotional when I started. My speech was timed to be about twenty minutes long because of the crying and hugging I did, but I have absolutely no regrets! I love my friends and family!

Thank you Hai.

Well what can I say, I'm just so bloody happy right now. And now I get to express my gratitude to everyone here tonight. 

First of all I'd like to thank those that traveled far and wide to be here. Those that came in from Melbourne, Perth, Vietnam and Japan, I'm so touched that you are here to celebrate our special day.

The biggest thank you to my family. We are not the largest one, but we are full of heart. I'm so touched that we have come together to celebrate our Cambodian and Vietnamese Culture yesterday and today. The amount of calls and texts I received offering help and advice has touched my heart.

Mum, thank you for everything. You are so strong and humble. I am who I am because of you. I admire your strength to raise me and Vanna on your own and you taught me that I am strong and independent too. You taught me from very young that "I don't need no man" to complete me. I am very proud to be your daughter. [bow to mum and family]

I'd also like to thank Hai's family, for being so supportive and helpful. You have welcomed me with open arms and taken me under your wings. I especially want to thank Hai’s Mum for always feeding me and worrying about me when I am sick. I know Hai is a caring, strong and humble man because you have raised him. I am so happy to now be officially part of the Trinh family. Thank you. [bow to family and especially acknowledge Oanh and Yen]

To those that I have worked with at Target, MHN trading, Costco and Hai & myself at The Star, we have made lifelong friends among all of you and I thank you for all your support over the years. Especially to Costco, thank you for your patience with me, and keeping me on my diet over the last year. Sandy, you are the worst culprit! [point playfully at Sandy]

Now on to this side, my Tas Squad friends. We've known each other for so long and your friendship has really shaped me into the person I am today. Alot of people like to comment on how we are still friends after we've finished high school 12 years ago. And I'm really proud of that. Your presence here today, makes my heart swell. Thank you.

I'd like to also have a special mention to Jaye, Erin and maid of honor Betty, hello! Thank you for being you. Your friendship has been so heart-warming , I am grateful to have met you and formed a close friendship based on eating out, dogs, hikes and celebrating life milestones in the most girliest of ways. 

And now, to my wonderful friends on this side of the table. The Scumbags! I want to thank you all for accepting me, little Nat Nat into your life. I've never met such a fantastic bunch of people who are open, funny and understanding. You guys have honestly changed my life for the better. I only hope I can enrich your lives just as you've enriched mine.

A special shout out to the Battle Crusaders, who have really embraced me into this quirky family. Thanks to Daryl for having all the patience in the world to deal with us, and John, who is also known as DJ sLay!! [embarrass John]

Thank you to the Wifeys - Betty Thyda and Ying, for always lending a listening ear and for supporting me through this stressful time. Your weekly check-ups on me have really helped over the past year.

I want to make out a special shout out to Lisa. Hi Lisa. We went through the emotional ups and downs of wedding planning and I want to thank you for all your help over the last year. I'm so proud of you. 

Now to my Bridal Party-

Oh, I have the best bridal party. You are here because we love you guys so much. Your support has been comforting even during my very rare Bridezilla moments.

Thank you for all of your hard work and for just looking darn good tonight.

Sang and Roberto, thank you for all your enthusiasm and advice, your late nights helping us set up, it has helped keep both of us sane.

A special mention to Mini for arriving from London one year in advance just in time for the wedding. And for just being awesome.

Mish, thank you for being Hai’s best friend, I know you vouched for me before Hai even met me, and your seal of approval makes me so happy.

And Pong, thank you for also being one of the first people to welcome me into this Scumbag life and for supporting me and Hai. You are the ultimate scumbag but I can’t imagine anyone better to be Hai’s best man tonight.

Michael and Anna, thank you for being you. You guys are strong, inspiring and caring friends and your support has carried me in this life and through this wedding planning.

A Special thanks to Vanna, my little sister. Your strength is to be admired and that has helped me get through alot of tough times during the planning. Thanks for doing all the leg work at home, I’m really grateful you are my sister. [hug Vanna]

And to Reeni and Betty, thank you for being by my side, it has been a wonderful journey. I couldn’t ask for better Maids of Honours who have supported me and Hai. You both are kind and caring people, you girls are my family.

All of you guys are my family.

Hai ----- what can I say. There are not enough words to express how much I love you. 

I know I tell you everyday but now its so much more meaningful because you are now my husband.

We have been waiting for this day to come, and your support has kept me afloat. For those that haven’t seen it, Hai made that Donut Wall from scratch [point to Donut Wall], he made the seating chart, he bought all the suits and orange bows, and he took on alot of overtime at the Opera House. I am so grateful that you were to work as hard as me to make this special day happen. 

You are kind, caring, strong, passionate and have the biggest heart. You have lent your shoulder to cry on or a listening ear, not just for me, but for your friends and family as well. That’s the type of person you are. People confide in you and you can step into their shoes and articulate their feelings into words. And you understand me in a way no one could. This is one of the many reasons why I love you.

Now when we got engaged, it was before your 30th birthday, and we had drove 9 hours to the very edge of Victoria to our campsite. Now knowing our luck, we got bogged in mud. Hai’s Jeep tipped 30 degrees and we we were stuck. I remember how stressed we were, Hai trying to dig mud out from under his tyres, wedging crappy branches, swearing as he did it. I was outside, trying to call people to come get us. It was 8.30pm, so I got alot of “Sorry we are in Melbourne, it will take us 4 hours to get there or we can come in the morning”. We even got told by the Park Ranger that we should just call a friend. I was like “What friend?!” 

We are 9 hours away from Sydney! But I have to admit, my first thoughts came to Ronny. Ronny still owed Hai a huge favour and I heavily considered it. [point playfully at Ronny]

Eventually someone came for us, And that’s when Hai decided to ......propose to me. He realized that there wouldn’t be a more memorable time then this.

So with me standing on fresh Kangaroo shit, swearing just moments earlier, getting bit by mozzies, wearing a blanket. There was Hai, mud streaked across his face and all over his clothes, his Jeep behind him drowning in the river, getting down on one knee.

And when we got out, our first meal as an engaged couple was some instant noodles at a dodgy campsite. We slept in the car that night holding hands, the other hand scratching our mozzie bites.

And we were extremely happy doing just that, and that’s why I love you. That’s the type of people we are . We are not fancy people, and we find joy with each other in any situation, no matter how unlucky.

We may not be rich in money, but we are rich in experiences, in friendship and in family, happiness, support and love. And I would not have it any other way. I love you very much Hai, I only hope to make you as happy as you make me.

Thank you. Cheers!

Carrington Falls, NSW

Hike at: Carrington Falls NSW
Notes taken from 'Best Bush, Coast & Village Walks of The Illawarra'

Hi everyone. I will be keeping it short and simple today as I missed my one week deadline for blogging on Monday. My goal to blog once a week went out the door and I wasn't very happy with myself! Hai even tried to remind me that just because I fell off the bandwagon once doesn't mean I give up, it just means I get back up again and get back to it.

So, this is a hike that I did with Hai, Lisa and Sang almost 1 and a half year ago - and I finally get the chance to blog about it.

It's a super simple one, with it being more of a lookout and picnic area. I got some beautiful shots overlooking the waterfalls, but please tread carefully if you're doing this.

1.  Park at 'Thomas Place' that is also signposted "Carrington Falls Lookout".
Here is a picnic area, with tables, toilets and an information board.
2. Take the path to the left that leads towards the south rim of the upper Kangaroo River gorge. Along the way there are a number of lookouts (around four lookouts) that face Carrington Falls, that is on the north rim. This path loops around back to Thomas Place.
3.  Left of the picnic area is a track sign posted "Stevos Track" and here is dry forest for around 360m. On our hike, we realized there had been a bush fire recently and all the trees were charred black. It was eerie but beautiful.
4. You'll find a detour to your right, that goes for about 200m and take you to Izzard's Lookout, giving you views that stretch down the gorge.
5. Heading back to Stevos Track, you can also turn left again to head back to Thomas's Place (you can continue to turn right to continue the track to 'Stevos Pass', but this track is not maintained well and can be dangerous).

Note: The hike is graded as Easy, and is around 5.5km return and takes approximately 2 hours.

-------

On a personal note, the reason why I didn't get to blog this Monday was because I took a sick day due to the pain I felt after doing the charity walk "7 Bridges Walk" where me and my bestie group walked 17km around the city crossing 7 bridges. The true walk is 28km but we cut it short because we had a baby with us. I did feel the pain next day - my legs cramped up and my thigh muscles were burning.

Also, I get to see Taylor Swift in concert tomorrow for her Reputation Tour in Sydney! Hai bought the tickets a year ago and now the day has finally come. I'm just too excited!
In my experience leading up to the concert, I find that alot of people like to lecture me about why they don't like Taylor Swift as soon as I mention her name. And it gets boring and repetitive.
My thoughts are - I don't tell you why I don't like your tastes in music so if you've got nothing  nice to say, then don't say it. Also, one of the reasons I hear most is that she is too "mainstream", which is a poor and lazy excuse. This sort of thought process means you're just trying too hard to be 'cool' and 'unique'; but in reality you're just a negative person who is missing out on so much music out there.

Anyways, I'm loving Tay Tay's refreshing new sound on Reputation (Getaway Car, Delicate, King of My Heart, Ready For It) but I'm also a huge fan of all her other albums - I love all of 1989, Red's 'Begin Again', 'Back to December' and 'I Almost Do' all of Speak Now and Fearless; I even love the songs she has done for the Hunger Games soundtrack.

I'm just too excited! Lucky I don't have to go into work on Saturday in case I need to recover from all the dancing I'll be doing. Watch this space for a quick turn around on a new blog post. And hopefully it will be by this Sunday, as I'm determined to make up for my missed blog post from this Monday. <3

Our Level Up Dice Story

35mm D20 Level Up Dice from Level Up Dice
Photos taken by myself and Hai with our Canon D70 DSLR

Hai was gifted this beautiful 35mm D20 from Level Up Dice after revealing our wedding stories for the #MyDiceStory competition. Just before we walked down the aisle Hai and I gifted each other a set of Level Up Dice (7 piece of course), surprising us both for our similar ideas. Mine were a beautiful wood set whilst Hai's were a semi precious stone set. To accommodate Hai's present I also bought a Wyrmwood Dice Box, and Hai had painted my very own Silverdawn miniature complete with his interpenetration of a Water Whip spell.

We've been playing Dungeons & Dragons for more then a year now. I have played a Halfling monk and now Aasimar Mystic; and Hai a Tiefling Rouge moving onto our Dungeon master. We love it so much, often playing once a week and once in a while we do a 3 day bender - Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. The Mondays following are always hard when we finally have to face reality.

We are also huge fans of Critical Role so we were excited to find out that the Critical Role cast were most likely "in the presence of this D20 dice" when they were at GenCon 2018, as this exact dice was displayed there. I practically squealed at this piece of information.

I'm actually listening to both campaigns at once. I listen to Vox Machina via podcast to and from work, and I'm up to episode 43; and I am up to date with Mighty Nien at episode 38. And I have watched most of the one shot episodes as well!

Anyways. That's a small glimpse into the life me and Hai have these days. Hai now possesses the dice and he uses it to roll behind his DM Screen. Deep down as players we hope it does more critical fails rather then critical hits. But we are always grateful for this amazing gift (we have learnt that critical fails are always great for laughs). Thank you Level Up Dice for this amazing (and hopefully Talisan blessed) dice... we hope to create many more memories with our D&D family.

Dessert Heavan at Bay Vista Parramatta

Bay Vista Parramatta at Altitude Building, 1/330 Church St, Parramatta NSW 2150

Eleven weeks ago until the end of the year means I have around eleven more posts to blog. And I am starting to feel as though I am finally making a dent into my backlog.

And I also feel satisfied when I tick through my 'To Blog' list, even though I am exhausted from staying up to blog before the week is up.

Like today. I did a 10 hour working day on a Monday. A Monday. Officially the worst day of the week; and on Mondays I have to start work at 7.30am.

So tonight I can home at 7pm and immediately had a twenty minute nap, feeling distraught that I was already this tired on a Monday, then when I woke up I had some cheese and some boring brown rice with meat. I had to wash the dishes, pack my lunch, clean up after myself and do some mundane adult activities.

Now I am sitting here, writing this up. And my mouth is salivating at the desserts I ate a few months ago at Bay Vista. This was my first visit here and I remember how excited I was to study the extensive menu. And when the desserts came out in huge portions I remember cheering with my bestie friends Betty, Jaye and Erin. From memory (as the menu always changes at Bay Vista) we had ordered the Chocolate pecan pie with a side of cornflakes, vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. Jaye had this magnificent ice cream bowl with caramel sauce and banana, and Betty ordered waffles topped with apple crumble with extra vanilla ice cream. Then we also had berry shakes, milkshakes and soy lattes to accompany the food.

And I remember specifically that this food, gave me comfort and an escape. It just reminded me that sometimes all you need is some good cake. Work is supposed to be a means to a life (a life outside of work), it gave me an excuse to hang out with my friends who just wanted to not care about their diets for a few hours, and it reminded me that I am lucky enough to go out and experience nights like this, even though right now I am here in my PJs blogging (and watching my husband pack his lunch for work tomorrow, bless him).

Anyways today is a short blog post, here to just reminisce some dessert from Bay Vista. Sometimes the photos I took are enough to convince people that the food here was delicious!

Hopefully I can get some good rest tonight and be ready for another 10 hour work day tomorrow. At least I can find some comfort in the fact that it won't be a Monday.