Car Camping and Museum!!

October 19-20, 2014

On Saturday the 19th, Thamson and I helped close down the restaurant and then decided to hit the road for Port Bolivar to camp on the beach. We had made a trip down once before and decided we wanted to make another trip before the move. We made it out to the beach around 11:00pm, cruised along the ocean for a little bit, before finding a spot to park and camp. I can honestly say this is probably the first and last time I will sleep in the trunk of a Cadillac Escalade (current rental car) on the beach!

We woke up to watch the beautiful sunrise and then headed to take the ferry over to Galveston for breakfast. Once again we ate at the Sunflower Cafe which is a wonderful breakfast nook in downtown Galveston. As is typical of our Sunday adventures we did not really have an agenda, so took the day moment by moment. After breakfast we spent a little time in Galveston before hitting the road to Houston. Thamson had purchased tickets to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, so we needed to use them before the big move!

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Thamson and I enjoyed the museum, but our favorite exhibits were the Hall of Ancient Egypt and the Morian Hall of Paleontology! Ancient Egypt is absolutely fascinating to me; honestly, we could have spent more than one day at the museum reading and learning in each exhibit. While at the museum Thamson and I attended a chemistry lab that was probably designed for elementary students. I think all Thamson learned was that his wife is most definitely NOT a chemist! I, however, was fascinated by the experiments!!!

I have never been one to believe in evolution.... however, the Hall of Paleontology had me questioning whether or not we did  in fact evolve from monkeys???

Tell me that this is not a convincing argument for evolution????!!!!

Thank you Houston for another wonderful weekend adventure!!!
Hannah Nguyen

Mid County Madness!!!

Friday October 17, 2014

Thamson and I have gotten really close with our golf coach and his daughter Emily, so when they invited us to join them for Mid County Madness we had to take them up on the offer! Mid County Madness is a huge Texas rivalry between Nederland High School and Port Neches. Emily is a sophomore at Nederland and her father is a PN-G alumni, so, needless to say, there was quite the rivalry even in the car on the way to the game. Thamson and I sat on the Nederland side with Emily.... and thank goodness because the Bulldogs beat the Indians 35 to 28. The football game was great, but the halftime show was something completely out of this world. I guess in Texas it is totally normal to have real baton twirlers and westernaires (some sort of Texas dancers that do splits in the air and land on the ground in splits). Emily found it quite comical that I had never seen a real baton twirler in real life!! I can honestly say that Texas football and the halftime show is completely different than anything I have ever seen in Atlanta!! It was also cool because it was the first annual Bum Phillips bowl; Wade Phillips presented the bulldogs with the winning trophy. Both Bum Phillips and his son are former NFL coaches, and Bum's first coaching job was in Nederland; this may be common knowledge to some, but I learned something new!!

I may have been completely fascinated by the baton twirlers and the westernaires!! Texas football and the halftime show is like nothing I have seen in Atlanta!

Celebrating a sweet Bulldog Victory!!!

Go Nederland Bulldogs!!!

After the game, Emily and her grandparents had us over for some amazing GUMBO. I would have taken a picture, but I devoured it so fast there was nothing to take a picture of. We are so thankful that Todd and Emily have made us feel more at home here in Texas. I will definitely miss them when we move, but we are hoping to stay in touch and play some golf with them wherever the journey takes us!

Go Bulldogs,
Hannah Nguyen

Keep Austin Weird

Austin, Texas 2014

 

WEEKEND ONE OCTOBER 4-5

Thamson and I are notorious for late afternoon road trips Saturday night simply to visit a new city on our off day. Thank you Chick-fil-A for being closed on Sundays so that Thamson and I can embrace Texas and enjoy our time together! Thamson and I made the 3.5 hour road trip to Austin, Texas two weekends in a row; one weekend was simply not enough to satisfy our taste buds. Seriously.... I think Austin might have some of the best food ever!
On our way into Austin we decided to stop at a Food Truck Park... not knowing that there were seriously food trucks EVERYWHERE in Austin. I would say that the food was okay that we had at the park, but the atmosphere was awesome. We checked into our hotel and decided to walk around downtown for a bit. We were visiting during Austin City Limits... which is a crazy music festival. Needless to say the nightlife was ridiculous; we ended up walking 10 miles that night just soaking in the ambiance of the city. The first two restaurants we enjoyed were Lick Ice Cream and Magnolia Cafe for a 1:30 in the morning meal!
On Sunday morning I met my friend Melissa for breakfast and coffee in the city. We had coffee at this cute Jo's  and then made our way to breakfast down the street at South Congress Cafe.

Not to long after breakfast Thamson and I met up with our friend Reece and his fiance Jordan for a food tour of the city. The food tour was the reason we had to come back the following weekend. I really think you could eat all day everyday for a week straight and not eat all the good food in Austin. There are links to all of the restaurants on the Reece Howard food tour listed below:

Pint and Pizza :YUMMY.... definitely my favorite. We shared pizza rolls and beer mates off of the appetizer menu. The following weekend we returned and I had the Green Belt Pizza!!

Noble Sandwich Company : Okay.... I will admit it tasted okay, but we shared a COW TONGUE sandwich. Thamson loved it; I had a bite... liked it, but couldn't get my mind off of what I was attempting to eat.

Via 313 :This was another delicious pizza place. The atmosphere was definitely my favorite. It had outdoor seating with picnic tables, and you actually ordered outside in the back picnic area at a food truck! We shared a pepperoni pizza here.... yes more pizza... and this was not out last stop.

Gourdough's : Okay.... this restaurant may have pushed us over the edge. Pretty much everything on the menu is served on a doughnut. We shared the Country Clucker: Crispy Fried Chicken Breast, Potato Pancake, Warm Cream Corn & Candied Jalapenos (served open-faced on top of a doughnut). We also shared two dessert doughnuts!!

 

 

The Reece Howard food tour had us pretty much stuffed. We did not manage to see much of Austin other than the inside of restaurants the first weekend so it was necessary to make a trip back to see something other than the food :)

 

WEEKEND TWO OCTOBER 11-12

Our second weekend in Austin was more about site seeing than food eating.... granted we definitely still plan our trips around a good meal!!! Once again we left late on Saturday after working and arrived in Austin pretty much in time for a late dinner at Pint and Pizza before crashing at our friend Reece's house. Sunday morning we drove out to this cute cafe called Mozart's which is on the lake; it was a beautiful day for coffee by the water. 

We spent the day touring the University of Texas, walking around downtown by the capital building, and visiting a graffiti park!

Austin is definitely a great city to visit if you get the chance! I am so glad that we have been able to travel and visit so many wonderful places in Texas on our Sundays off!! Thanks a million to Reece for filling our bellies so well and allowing us to crash at your house one night!!! 

Keep it Weird Austin,

Hannah

There is no place like HOME

September 18-28, 2014

Let me be honest for a quick second.... I am terrible at this blogging thing. That being said I am going to back-track the past month and try to redeem myself.

In September I had a wonderful trip home to Virginia to see my family. The trip was planned around the Rhythm and Roots music festival in Bristol. My Dad and I went to the music festival last year and had a blast, so I definitely did not want to miss this years festivities.

Yes.... I went to the festival to be with my Dad, and only ended up with pictures of my stinkface niece. Dee, Ansleigh, and I "ran" the Rhythm and Roots 5k on Saturday morning; I am not sure Ansleigh is going to be signing up for any more 5ks anytime soon. All in all the festival was wonderful.... we listened to same great bands, ate lots of kettle corn, and walked away with some good memories!!

I think  my favorite thing about being home in the Fall are the garden vegetables. God, my Dad, and my Papaws dirt work wonderfully together!!! We ate quite the variety of vegetables while I was home, but I only helped dig the taters. Seriously, potatoes straight from the dirt taste so much better.... well after they are washed and Mom works some magic. They really are creamier or something.

Picking taters with my Daddy!!

One of the highlights of the trip was that my friend Emilie and I got to spend an afternoon together in Johnson City. Her and her husband just moved to Asheville, NC from Minnesota/Colorado. We met for lunch at Tupelo Honey Cafe.... very delicious might I add... and then took a little "hike" at a local "park". It was so great to catch up after not seeing one another for almost 4 years!!! I am so excited that she is currently living where we can meet up when I visit home whether that be Atlanta or Bristol.

My cousin Laura Beth and her two beautiful kids came to stay with us at Mom and Dads for two nights while I was home. I am kind of sad I did not get a picture of the two of us together, but the kids are much cuter than we are anyways :) The weather was gorgeous while I was home, so the two of us enjoyed visiting/playing at the park.

Ansleigh, Sam, and Madalyn.... sweet cousins!!!

I absolutely love spending time with my family. I wish I had gotten some pictures with my parents and my grandparents, but I didn't. I think the reason for this is because I take so many with my stinker niece!!!  I love that girl more than I ever thought possible!!!

Being an Aunt is the most wonderful gift in the whole world. I love my Ansleigh, and I cannot wait to be an Aunt to my NEPHEW coming this SPRING!!! Congrats to Andy and Brittani.... I love you both and already love my little munchkin nephew more than words!!!

MUCH LOVE TO ALL MY FAMILY!!!
Hannah :)

Remembering Truett

Thamson and I woke up this morning to learn that Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-fil-A, passed away through the night. We have known for some time that the day was coming when he would go home to be with Jesus. I ask that you please keep the Cathy family in your prayers as well as the entire Chick-fil-A family across the country.
I may have not met Truett personally, but my life has forever been changed by the legacy that  he created. I started working at Sugarloaf Corporate Center almost five years ago. I had just come home from Selah, wrecked my car, and desperately needed a job.... and found myself working behind the counter at Chick-fil-A Suglarloaf Corporate Center. I thought for sure that working in a "fast food restaurant" would be nothing but a brief season in my journey. I am so incredibly grateful that God had bigger plans in my future with Chick-fil-A.
Over the past five years at Chick-fil-A I have grown so much as a person, as a leader, as an employee, and as a friend. I am incredibly blessed to have met my amazing husband while working in the restaurant. Both of us fell in love with Chick-fil-A, and Thamson has chosen to pursue a career with the company; I am abundantly blessed by his passion and perseverance as we chase this dream together. 
I am not going to lie... There have been days or moments of days where I did not know why I was doing what I was doing. I felt purposeless in the never ending bags going out the drive thru window and questioned my intelligence as I salted and scooped fries. I think that questioning life and ones presence and purpose in the moment is completely normal. It is in this questioning and in the conversations with my husband and the quiet moments with God that I am reminded the purpose behind what I do each day. Yes, I may be serving a chicken sandwich, but it is the relationships that matter. It is the striving to serve with a Christ like spirit and impacting lives for the Kingdom that is truly important. Serving great food is high on the priority list, but as a follower of Christ I am called to more. I want to love those that I work with and love the guests that come into the restaurant. No matter where life takes us Thamson and I want to make a lasting impact on the lives of people. We believe that Chick-fil-A is a wonderful way for us to do this. We believe in the brand and are fortunate to work for a company whose values align with our own.
The "fast food restaurant" I started working at five years ago is much more than that to me now. The team members I have worked with over the years have become like family to Thamson and I. Chick-fil-A means so much to me, and I cannot think of a better company to be a part of. Today has been an array of emotion for me and for much of the Chick-fil-A family I am sure. I find myself reminiscing over the past five years and smiling as I think of the incredible journey God has taken me on.

So today I want to thank Truett Cathy for forever changing my life. Thank you for making a difference and impacting the lives of millions.

"Nearly every moment of every day we have the opportunity to give something to someone else- our time, our love, our resources. I have always found more joy in giving when I did not expect anything in return." Truett Cathy

Please continue to keep his family in your prayers.
Much love and appreciation from the Nguyen family!

Marriage

Two years ago I married my best friend. The past two years have been the most insanely wonderful two years of my life. Honestly, I am the girl who spent my entire childhood playing 'house'. I dreamed about being a wife and a mom. I imagined marriage being sunshine and rainbows inside of a house full of clean linens and freshly baked cookies. I envisioned a pretty car, a dog, and making homemade clothes on my sewing machine. That might all sound cheesy, but it is true. I have wanted to be a wife and a mom for as long as I can remember. I mean... I also wanted to be a dolphin trainer, a professional soccer player, a teacher, and about a million other things over the past twenty-seven years... but  wife and mom has always been the constant. No... I am not a mom yet, but I some day hope to be. I am, however, the incredibly blessed wife to Thamson Nguyen.
My daydreams about marriage were wonderful, and ask anyone that knows me.... I still daydream about the future of our marriage and our family; it is part of what makes me... me. Reality, however, has proven to be a little different than my daydreams: marriage is not always sunshine and rainbows. Marriage takes a lot of work. Marriage takes sacrifice and compromise. I have learned that marriage is a constant learning and growing process; just when I think I have figured 'it' out.... there is more to learn about my husband, my self, or simply life in general.
I keep reading what I just wrote in fear that I have made marriage sound awful... compromise, sacrifice, and constant growth is not all terrible. In fact, I have seen over the past couple of months just how beautiful it can really be. Thamson and I are on this crazy journey with his job and chasing the dreams we have for our life. We live in a one room hotel, share a car, and work together.... sounds fun... right?!?! It is fun... it is hard.... it is hilarious.... it is cramped.... it is.... it is completely where God has us for this season in our lives together. Thamson and I do not have the "perfect" marriage. We have days that seem like sheer perfection, and we have days.... well that are not even close. We love one another with a love that can only come from above. We strive to choose sacrificial love over our selfish desires. We strive to serve one another with our whole hearts and trust that our intentions are always pure and not ever of malicious intent. We try to embrace the moment and embark on the adventure in front of us.
It (marriage) is always an adventure. There is always something to be learned about one another; there is almost always something new to learn about ourselves. This season of our lives, though challenging in so many ways, has stretched the two of us in the ways we communicate with one another, appreciate one another, and love one another. I am so blessed to have a husband that feels the immense joy that I feel and that celebrates the amazingness that life has to offer with me but that is also not afraid to walk through the hard times and fight for the commitment that we made to one another.
Two years, in the grand scheme of things, may not seem like a long time to be married, but it is. It is two years of choosing to love; it is 730 days of trying to be authentic, vulnerable, and real with another person. I am proud of where the journey has taken us, and I cannot wait to see what the future has in store for us. Thank you to those that have encouraged us in our marriage. And super thank you to those of you who have modeled commitment and Christ centered marriage to us as well.
I am so thankful that marriage is different than my daydreams.... it is so much more than my heart could ever have imagined.

I love you forever Thamson Nguyen. Happy 2nd Anniversary to us!!!

Nguyen family golf practice

Golf lessons have become our favorite hour of the week. Thamson and I really enjoy working with our golf coach, Todd. Lately, his daughter has been joining us on the driving range; she is sixteen, and I enjoy having another girl to hit with. We are hoping to actually play a real game of golf with the two of them in the next couple of weeks!!
Thamson has officially stocked us each with a full set of golf clubs; however, we still only have one bag, so it is quite full at the moment!! My top three clubs would be my six iron, my approach wedge, and my driver....hahaha! Thamson's current favorite is his 3 hybrid. I hope this is making my Dad laugh because I still cannot get over the fact that I am enjoying golf... the sport that I despised as a child. I hated when my Dad watched golf.... and I sit here typing this update watching the golf channel with my husband.

Anyways, tonight we went out on the course for the second time and played three holes with our coach. Thamson hit really well.... I didn't, but I still had a blast. How can you not have fun driving a golf cart?? I guess we are getting better because last time we played three holes we lost three balls, and tonight I only sunk one in the water!! That has to count as some sort of improvement!!

Thamson and I are staying busy with work, golf, and soccer (now playing on two teams). We have established quite the fun little life here in Beaumont, Texas. It will be kind of sad when the time comes for us to say goodbye to Beaumont and journey off to our next assignment. I wonder what our next hobby will be?? Maybe we will end up somewhere cold for the winter where we can take up snow skiing or dog sledding?? Or maybe we will go to south Florida and take up deep sea fishing and scuba diving??? We may not know where the journey will take us next, but we do know that we will make the most of wherever we are and continue to grow in our marriage and in life!

Much love to everyone from the Nguyen family!!! 

Love, Hannah and Thamson