The Luxury of Doing What You Love
January 22, 2020
On a Monday morning, as I sat in the Grab car that is weaving through Saigon’s nutty morning traffic going a new job I love, a thought came to me, “Doing What You Love is a Luxury.” I was immediately filled with gratitude as I bask in this very luxury that I couldn’t afford just a few years ago. The…
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Give the Gift of Experience, or Cash
August 6, 2019
Last week, I published our approach to unique and affordable wedding planning. Unexpectedly, readers seemed very interested in the Chinese hong-bao tradition – giving cash in a red envelope. Hong-Bao literally means red (hong 紅) – bag (bao 包). It’s used not only for weddings but also for birthdays, Chinese New Year (our Christmas equivalent), graduations, etc. Unlike in the…
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Four-Part International Wedding Under $8k USD
July 29, 2019
Today marks one year since Xav and I concluded our international wedding celebrations. Recently, I’ve heard and read various reports on the ever-growing wedding cost, and the trend of newlyweds going into debt from weddings. This motivated me to share our approach of planning a unique four-part around-the-world wedding celebration for under $8k. Disclaimer: This post aims to share what we…
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Redefine What It Means to Work
May 10, 2019
My parents grew up in Taiwan in the 1950s, the country was poor, and stories of their childhood without shoes or other basic necessities juxtaposed with my fortunate upbringing. In our household, education was the key to success, and success was defined solely by work that brings in money. This traditional belief had governed my path, but it’s time to…
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Why I Don’t Budget
March 28, 2019
Budgeting, does this word make you cringe when you hear it? I definitely cringe. I get an image of envelopes labelled “grocery”, “gas”, “fun fund”, etc., and comes with them a sleuth of restrictions. I hate budgeting. I’ve told myself I should budget so I know how much money I spend on coffee every month. That has yet to happen,…
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