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hi gamers today we're talking about áo dài / nhật bình

áo dài (meaning "long clothes") like a dress- wear em on graduation, festivals, weddings, dinner, work, school, into the woods

nhật bình (meaning "square-collared") is a nguyễn dynasty costume (red was for princesses i guess) anyway dynasty fashion is IN!

on my first birthday my parents dressed me in a little yellow outfit anyway on march 30 2024 i turned 30 and its still my favorite color

my b day gift to myself was a birthstone ring with my golden birthday date engraved lol

if ur like me and was wondering why does it seem like engagement rings are limited to diamond, moissanite, ruby, sapphire

the answer is cause they are hard

other stones for daily wear may need to be replaced down the line and/or handled more carefully apparently

but i've been wearing an aquamarine (beryl) ring nearly daily on my dominant hand for the past 6 months and so far so good but i clean it like once a week and tbh im careful and baby it lol

if ur heart's set on emerald / morganite / aquamarine etc its worth a shot?

if ur curious about any stone you can look up "(rock name) mohs hardness"

apparently be prepared to replace anything below 8.5 for a daily wear ring in the long run

7 and below is suited for babied rings or necklaces/earrings

(quartz is in dirt so probably remove rings when gardening lol)

thought it was funny our pics look the same as last year

BEE DADDY ?????????!!!!

wanted to see if the palettes i use for my drawings was similar to my wardrobe

our vietnamese tea ceremony

some may or may not know i just got engaged to a weird guy i met in college that (to put it lightly) i wasn’t too fond of but after like 2 years of snubbing him he somehow won my heart i guess

i scribbled a comic about it cause whenever people ask how i met him they sometimes get invested haha

some people also may have seen him on america’s got talent or cbs news or jimmy fallon or on tiktok doing his pizza man shenanigans lol

people often ask if he pulled me with his dough skills and i have to clarify i didn’t even know about the dough spinning hobby until after we started dating and he didn’t do the tv/media appearances until like 6 years into our relationship 🤣

my parents were both boat refugees from vietnam (they fled during the war when they were teenagers and met as adults) and i’m american- but we’re not really that “traditional” i guess

i think many viet people don’t get married or commit without having a tea ceremony haha

a hetero buddy asked who were my bridesmaids and when i told him i don’t have any he asked why and i just said “i like my friends” 🤣 (my childhood friends were there as guests though!)

i also didn’t want/ask pizza man’s family to bring the customary gifts cause i didn’t wanna cramp my style

basically the purpose of this event was for people to witness us getting engaged and be an opportunity for our families to meet one another!

5/23/2015 is when we started dating

for our first anniversary i got our initials and anniversary date stamped onto a penny and pizza man still carries it around 🥺

so 8 years later we got engaged on 8/5/2023

8 for august (8 years later)

5th of august (5 for the month we began dating)

year of 2023 (23 for the day we began dating)

i think people often go to a fortune teller or someone who knows what they’re doing to schedule important dates using the stars and other factors but my grandpa doesn’t believe in that and the rest of us aren’t really superstitious

we wore áo dài- it’s a vietnamese ensemble consisting of a tunic with a long front and back panel that is worn over pants

áo means “shirt/clothes” and dài means "long"

a lot of the time the bride wears red and the groom wears blue i guess but i wanted my outfit to look bridal when i imagine an american bride or a vietnamese bride!

i also wanted to wear a gold khăn đóng headpiece and to incorporate pearls to resemble what my mom wore when she got engaged to my dad

sunflowers are also my fav

(after we started dating i thought pizza man was tall and sunny like a sunflower haha 😭)

my makeshift shoebox altar- or as i like to call it: my “spirit pager” 😤

the double happiness symbol is two copies of the chinese character 喜 (xǐ) which means joy/happiness and red symbolizes luck for the couple

my mom asked if we should put up pictures of our deceased and i was like i don’t wanna make pizza man’s parents go out of their way to bring photos 😭

i think we were supposed to ask our ancestors for permission to get engaged or married or whatever but since my mom raised me to believe my life is mine to live i just announced it to em

as far as i know it’s not really a buddhist thing- ancestor worship is more of a vietnamese thing apparently

my mom said vietnam is a country with a lot of war and death in its history- so imo it makes sense how they incorporate the dead into their culture and traditions

after introducing each of our family members and friends- we lit a couple of incense to (casually) announce the news to our deceased grandparents and relatives

apparently burning incense is an invitation to ancestral spirits and to deliver wishes to predecessors

smoke from the burning incense guides people to safety or safe passing when they die- it also guides em back home on days like these

the spirit(s) depart when all of the incense has burned

next month is my grandma’s "deathiversary” (giỗ) so we’ll be paging her again soon

we used a tea set that was used to celebrate my 1st birthday to pour and serve (my pick) of vanilla caramel black tea to my grandpa and our parents

pizza man’s mom doesn’t like tea so i was happy i picked something she did enjoy!

but when my mom brought her family to america from vietnam- she asked them if they could bring a tea set specifically for me

my mom said it’s meant to be used to celebrate any of my special occasions

then me and pizza man said some nice words to each other and exchanged rings

my ring was pizza man’s grandma’s- his grandpa initially proposed with a smaller diamond but after he saved up enough he got her this bigger one

i don’t listen to any comments that suggest or imply this carbon rock is not humongous 🤣

pizza man paid to get it resized and to repair its prongs (it was well worn by grandma mercedes 🥺)

also found out my ring size is 3.25 (US) haha 😭

he also decided to get his grandpa’s ring resized and to wear it too!

my mom put this necklace on me- she says it reads “happiness” (i can’t confirm lol) but she received it from her mother-in-law when she got engaged to my dad

my mom was too scared to wear it after their tea ceremony cause it’s 24 karat gold and she didn't wanna wreck it

she said 24 karat gold hasn't been combined with other metals so it’s soft

i guess couples at viet tea ceremonies often get 24 karat jewelry- the idea is they can quickly sell it/melt it down for hard times

my mom also passed down her favorite jade bracelet and my grandma’s favorite diamond earrings to me 🥺

and on my 1st birthday my mom got a special ring made to celebrate my birth- she put it on a chain so the person i marry can wear it close to their heart

my mom also got a special ring necklace made to celebrate my sibling’s birth and gave it to their fiancée during their tea ceremony

it’s just the two of us so no more shiny token trophies up for grabs! 😤

i laughed when pizza man had to squat down so low so my mom could put the necklace on him 

after the ceremony i asked him if he wanted me to help him take it off (my sibling's fiancée keeps theirs in a safe cause she’s too scared to wear it daily) but pizza man was like "no i like it 😄" and wore it to sleep and showered with it and hasn’t taken it off since 😭🤣

at the end of the ceremony we lit the candles on the altar to represent the union of our families!

then we ate lots of food haha

my parents both cooked! egg rolls, fried rice, lo mein, bột chiên (fried taro rice cake)

my mom was excited because she knew many of our guests weren’t very familiar with vietnamese food and wanted to share that with them 🥺

and my dad was just so excited for me and pizza man and had so much fun getting the supplies and decorations 😭

my aunt and uncle and sister-in-law brought vịt quay (peking duck), heo quay (roast pork), gỏi tôm (shrimp salad), bánh hỏi (rice vermicelli), xôi gấc (sweet red sticky rice topped with coconut, peanuts and salt)

and pizza man’s mom and family brought lots of desserts

we have always been so amazed with how good their sweets taste and look! 🥺

we also got an ice cream cake

i wasn’t thinking and asked em to write “nicholas and amy lễ đính hôn” and they called me and were like wtf is this and i was like oh no it’s ok haha don’t worry about it! 😭🤣

we had some photos displayed but my sibling took lots of nice pictures of the whole thing!

i was happy i actually got the chance to spend time with and talk to everyone who came!

it went so well and we had so much fun that we’re thinking of doing something similar for our wedding- probably a backyard wedding haha

i was telling pizza man apparently some tea ceremonies have the first half take place at the bride’s home and then the later half is at the groom’s home 🤔

anyway reminder that leftover egg rolls can be reheated in the toaster

anyway

mercedes' diamond

one is 3 bucks and one is a family heirloom

this is lore about a rock

i got pizza man's grandma’s engagement ring

actually ordered the $3 ring for our vietnamese engagement tea ceremony but his mom casually gave me her mom’s ring and pizza man paid to get it resized 😭🥺 (thought my ring size was 4 for years but turns out its 3.25) 🫣

the resizing costed like 200 bucks but i did tell pizza man like 7 years ago "i don't care what the ring costs as long as its not over three digits" 😤

even though pizza man has 3 siblings and a bunch of cousins- none of em wanted mercedes' diamond

most of em ended up getting diamonds like the width of my finger lol

it might be cursed though- most of the kids don't really know her cause she kicked the bucket young 🫣

grandpa actually proposed with a smaller diamond but after he saved up enough he got her this bigger one! so this rock is his hard work!! 😤

annoying ppl can call me small or whatever but i will not accept any comments that suggest or imply that the size of this rock is not huge haha

my mom was thinking my fingers are the size they are now but thinks i still got some growing to do- so she also casually gave me HER engagement ring in case i need a bigger one to wear someday 🤣

i’ve always been a big fan of cz/costume jewelry but i was also gifted/inherited more regalia/pieces from my moms and grandmas for the upcoming tea ceremony

after getting a closer look at what diamonds look like- i found the quickest way for me to tell the difference between cz vs diamond with just my naked eye is lookin at the center: dark edges/shapes = prob cz i guess

my mom also gave me her fav jade bracelet! 🥺🫣

looking at all these pieces that were well loved by ladies in my life i thought "guess i don't got a diamond with my name but thats ok" but then remembered wait haha yes i do

but i'll never own it

on my 1st birthday my mom got a ring made using my baby finger

its on a chain because my mom wants whoever i marry to wear it close to their heart

if anyone deserves my diamond its pizza man

told my mom he's cared about my well being long before we got together and still cared for me when we weren't dating and i was zero percent interested and walked away

all he's ever wanted was just for me to have a good life

before any of this i actually forgot about the necklace but now everyone knows if they become the champion devoter of me they get a shiny token like how wrestlers fight for those title belts 🤣

my sibling also has a ring necklace but a champion has already been declared and its just the two of us so no more special necklaces up for grabs

anyway all this stuff bout engagement rings reminded me of this puny detail in my comic showing how harley got a heart shaped ring just tells me everything i could ever know about a him lol

áo dài overtime - week 5

day 29

day 30

day 31

day 32

day 33

day 34

day 35

Bonus!

áo dài month - week 4

day 22

day 23

day 24

day 25

day 26

day 27

day 28

áo dài month - week 3

day 15

day 16

day 17

day 18

day 19

day 20

day 21

áo dài month - week 2

day 8

day 9

day 10

day 11

day 12

day 13

day 14