Hi, I'm Cathy

So… Xoua and I got married . This came as a surprise to many but it is true – in a three month timeframe, we eloped, moved in together, and had a 350+ guest wedding. Were we crazy? Yes. Would we have it any other way? Never. First, we found ourselves clarifying to a lot of our family and friends that there were no unexpected pregnancies… and of course it honestly did not help that I had gained some weight and was super emotional . We explained to a lot of our loved ones that we did not want a long engagement because we would ideally like to start a family soon… but before I dive into the details, let’s start at step one . In Hmong culture, there are several processes to take when getting married, one very traditional method which includes bridenapping. In more modern societies, this bridenapping has turned into an “eloping” process where the bride would elope with the groom which would then set off a chain reaction of clan representatives, negotiations, and lots of meetings . ...

The 2016 year is coming to an end and my goodness… it has definitely been one for the books. In 2016, my sister had a baby, my brother left for college, my parents experienced a true empty nest, my niece started walking, my uncle celebrated his retirement, my cousins got pregnant (again, haha), and among so many other things… I fell in love . I hope you enjoy this compilation video of my year with Xoua as we are so grateful to be in each other's lives and very excited for what 2017 has in store.   "The minute I heard my first love story,  I started looking for you... n ot knowing how blind that was.  Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere, t hey’re in each other all along." - Rumi

Xoua and I love eating authentic Mexican tacos, so when he asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, it was a no brainer that my first response was to... *drumroll* ...do a TACO TOUR in Akron!!!! We went to five different taco places around town and focused on customer service, cleanliness, overall taste of tacos, tortillas, and of course, the red and green sauces. To make it fair and avoid getting extremely full, we agreed that we would order only 2 tacos at each location and would focus on al pastor (marinaded pork) and lengue (cow tongue). As a disclaimer, we are, by no means, taco experts - but we are, however, taco lovers. Also, this taco tour is primarily our way of having fun and we decided to record the entire experience as a fun way to document our memories together. For our taco tour, here are the places we visited: 1. Taquiera La Loma - https://www.yelp.com/biz/la-loma-akron - 4.8 on Yelp 2. Mr. Trompo - https://www.yelp.com/biz/mr-trompo-akron - 4.5 on Yelp 3...

Near the beginning of this year, my boyfriend and a group of his colleagues would round each other up on Fridays and make their way to a nearby bar&grill to grab drinks. It started off with just a few of them and over time, went from a handful of guys who work together into a group of friends . The entire process was routine. They would all meet up in cubicle land, find out who was going and who would have to skip out, coordinate the carpooling, and then take turns driving to the bar&grill where they would order monthly draft picks. They would eat peanuts and chuck the shells on the floor, and sometimes, order an appetizer or two to share. Being the girlfriend who is 2000 miles away, this became a regular routine for me and Xoua as I knew that Friday nights were Xoua’s time to be with the guys and my time to do my own thing before the both of us would come together at the end of the night.   Unfortunately, what typically plays out as a typical Friday night turned into...

Happy Nomday!  In celebration of great eats and the amazing food scene in Northeast Ohio, I have declared Mondays as Nomdays. (Haha, clever right?) Nomdays will consist of personal encounters and experiences within restaurants local to Northeast Ohio. Wait, what about Yelp? Well, although I enjoy using Yelp to find food “hot spots” – I rarely find myself writing reviews because I have always felt that my style of writing does not fit the type of readers who utilize Yelp the way I do… Selfish, I know, but let me explain. When I use Yelp, I want the quick and dirty of the good, the bad, and the ugly of the dining experience. If it is a place I am trying for the first time, I typically do a quick scan of the number of stars, number of reviewers, and then highlight dishes. These three things help me make a quick decision on whether or not a place is worth the visit and often times, I end up ordering the “highlight dish” to determine whether star ratings are valid. Someti...

As some of you may know, I got into a relationship earlier this year and it has certainly been life changing. I would occasionally share random pictures of ourselves on social media but being particularly shy and private about my relationship life, it took me a while to get used to even calling him my boyfriend. This probably sounds silly, but I held off on saying anything for a long period of time for two main reasons… First, a part of me felt scared that if I officially announced our relationship, that it would mean everything was real. This was really scary for me as it made me feel very vulnerable because something as good as this felt nearly impossible to me at the time. The second part of my hesitation was due to me feeling nervous. About what exactly? Well, I felt nervous that making any public announcements would mean pressure from myself and others. I was nervous about the countless questions about marriage and “what’s next” because the reality of it was that I did not want...