traveling – Page 3 – Kristi My Dao

Celebrating Milestones: My Graduation Gift Guide

Maybe one of the appeals is that it’s time to celebrate the achievements that lead to a new chapter of life. As a recent graduate, I thought I would take the time to pull together this gift guide so that you can find the perfect gift for the graduate in your life. Whether they’re stepping out of high school, college, or graduate school like me, finding the perfect gift to commemorate this significant milestone can be both exciting and challenging. Keep reading if you’re interested in finding something truly special for the graduate in your life.

The Weekend Where I’m a Mastermind

So it takes longer than a weekend to obtain a Master’s degree (for me, it took two years). But this weekend was the one where I officially got to call myself a Master of something, because this was the weekend I graduated. Of course, the internet is for bragging, so here I am, sharing it with you all. (And yes, the title is a Taylor Swift reference, but I will say I did not come up with it; I saw it on a fellow grad’s cap and thought it was brilliant.)

Top 3 Places to Get Engaged

I will preface this with the fact that I have not been engaged three times; this blog post is just my way of bragging about the fact that I am finally engaged. It adds to how wonderful life feels right now. My excitement is so palpable that my fiancé is tired of hearing me say the word fiancé. So without further ado, I am going to share what I believe are the best places to get engaged are. Note that I am biased toward the places where we took photos. Spoiler alert: they’re all in Iceland.

My 3 Favorite Things of 2023

Is this a late blog post? I wouldn’t say so, if you take into consideration that I just finished celebrating Vietnamese New Year. But maybe if you’re looking at it from the aspect of we’re near the end of February, then I would get it, but I’m going to reflect now anyway. Maybe there is a part of me that feels it’s easier to look backward right now than to focus on the present. There is a lot going on right now.

I FINALLY Joined TikTok

During the height of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic is when TikTok really blew up (at least in my mind). Back then, I thought it was all about dancing and I felt like I was too cheugy to be on an app with that purpose. I felt that way for a while, and then my mind started to change after I watched The D’Amelio Show. It was a little annoying, because whenever my sisters or friends would send me a video on TikTok, I would follow the link and only be able to watch about 15 seconds of a video and would somtimes miss the joke.

A Graduation Weekend (Not Mine)

This semester has kept me busy, but not busy enough to graduate a full year early. Maybe you can tell by how little I’ve written, but this semester has been a long list of to-dos and deadlines. Between developing my thesis proposal and trying to make sure that I can keep the lights on in my apartment, I am still playing catch-up on my sleep well into summer.

And I know that it is truly summer, because now my sisters are out of school. Kimmy has wrapped up seventh grade, and Jasmine has finished high school. We didn’t think we would make it to this day, but we definitely made a lovely weekend out of it. Keep reading to see what our celebratory weekend looked like.

Reflecting on 25

I’ve made it another year around the sun. It isn’t a crazy thought, but I’ve had such a great year. The crazy thought is that it will continue to get better, year after year. Since my word for 2023 is relax (I’m still working on it), instead of setting goals and intentions for this coming year, this blog post is going to highlight five things that happened that made 25 so good.

The Weekend of Being a Supportive Girlfriend

Maybe you can tell from what I write/how bad I am at regularly making sure I am posting, but I can very easily get caught up in my work and doing what I have to do. However, on this particular weekend I decided to stay in town instead of going home since Asanti just came home.

Hindsight says that I made a good decision, but maybe you’ll read on and then tell me you think I’m wrong. Anyway, here is my weekend recap of being a supportive girlfriend.

The Lunar New Year Weekend of 2023

It is Lunar New Year, the new year celebration of many Asian households (at least, my family/local community has just wrapped up celebrating yesterday). I don’t know if I’m at an age where I’m just more aware of how much I don’t know or if I just never really know anything culturally, but I feel like I’ve learned a lot this week.

For example, one of my friends that I’ve made in the grad program is Filipino, and she was telling me about how there are also elements attached to the zodiac animal of the year. This year is apparently the year of the water rabbit. Then, the computer in my apartment complex is the thing that informed me that for the Vietnamese, this is actually the year of the cat. I originally thought it was just clickbait, but when I asked my parents, they said it was true.

So this just might be the year of learning for me. Today, we’re going to dive into my weekend, which has reminded me to be grateful for how lucky I am to live the life that I have.

The Tiny Collection of Things I Bought at Tempe Marketplace

Most people would just call this a “Tempe Marketplace Haul,” but I don’t think I bought enough to call it a haul. Plus, it didn’t take me a lot of effort or force to get it, and it wasn’t stolen or possessed illegally (I’m referencing Google definitions of the word haul). So while the title might be long, I think it is more accurate.

While everyone is out shopping for Black Friday Deals today, I am soaking in time with my family, but I’m definitely going to talk about shopping. During my time in Phoenix, someone I met recommended that I visit Tempe Marketplace while I was in town because it was a quickly developing shopping center. And I decided to go, after I forgot to pack a moisturizer and saw that there was an Ulta in the place. After spending a couple of hours at Tempe Market, just what did I buy?

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