Pill Boxes!

First Hike of 2011!  Kailua, Hawaii, Pill Boxes :)

Let's see how long I can keep this up... too tired to write so enjoy the pics! ...I had pics on here...then I don't know where they went lol. Must've had something to do with my phone upgrade. YIKES! Technology these days!

Switching Gears into 2011

So the last time that I blogged would have to have been right before Maohi Nui's Christmas Show.  Things started to pick up and I started to get suuuper busy!!  The Holidays have been sooooo busy indeed!!  All the long late night practices, rehearsals, costume picking (as in picking fresh leaves), costume making, and costume prepping took up so much time within that one week.  As if that was not enough to drain the energy out of me.  Little did I know the remaining three weeks would get worse!  Ugghh!  So many parties to celebrate the Holidays, to celebrate another year of success and hard work, to celebrate graduations, to celebrate another year of friendship and many more to come, to celebrate birthdays, and wedding engagements!!  It is truly, "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" for me :)

The highlight of the past two months would be seeing my family reunited under the same roof again since Thanksgiving 2007.  That's a little over 3 years!  I finally got to meet my youngest nephew and we got to throw them both a big birthday bash at our hale like my mom has always dreamt of doing.

Of course us sisters always dread these big gatherings because that's when mom's fuse is like that of FIREWORKS and when one little thing sets her off... oh truuuust!  She does explode like one!!  So we did our best to clean and help her cook and set up, but still no bueno!  When guests were arriving before the actual call time, she lost it, and went into PRACK-TACKK-TACKK-mode [that's supposed to be the sound of a fire cracker or fireworks haha].  Anyways, the Holidays were amaaaazing, fun-filled, busy, stressful at times, but I wouldn't trade that to have anything ordinary.  I would post up pictures to highlight the many joyous events that took place, but I'm feeling under the weather... it's mostly due to my body working overtime and not getting adequate amounts of rest!  Ugghh!  Damn you anemia!

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION 

1. Do my best to save money by doing more "Free" things.  I guess this all rooted from last year.  I wanted to try new things and be open to whatever, which included going out to clubs, paying cover, buying rounds of drinks, not allowing myself enough time to make a potluck dish so I'd end up buying one, gallivanting too much causing me to buy MORE gas than I actually need.  So to achieve this I intend to:
• Cut down my alcohol intake & try to drink only wine because less alcohol = less $ spent.
• Limit the late night festivities to weekends only or on very special occasions & only to places that have "no cover" or somewhere that I can get on a guestlist e.g. MaiTais and The Shack.
• Utilize and appreciate what Mother Nature has given = a FREE gym :)
2. Going hand in hand with number 1 is to live an even more healthier lifestyle.  It's kind of contradicting because I'm already in the midst of catching a damn cold, but it's because I haven't given my body a break during the holiday season, but I would definitely go about achieving this by: 
• Limiting the late night festivities to also allow me to have more me time and family time.  I already spend enough time working and dancing that often times I forget about myself... forget that I need to take care of myself first!
• Cut down my alcohol and to consume only wine because a glass of red a day is supposed to be healthy.  And hey, if the French drink wine all the time and maintain gorgeous figures, then I can too ;)
3. In past years, I spent A LOT of time and created soooo many wonderful memories with my friends.  So, this year, I want to rekindle the relationship with my family and extended family by talking more and spending more quality time with them as well.

Buuuut in the end, whatever happens, happens!  If I don't succeed in achieving these things, then I would hope that it was for a purpose to achieve something better.  I leave it all in HIS hands for he has a wonderful plan for me, I just got to believe it and stop thinking that I'm a worthless piece of crap!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE :))

dancing: love | hate | LOVE!

We are down to the final week in preparing for our, Maohi Nui's, Christmas Show :0)  This morning was our first practice together as a group--talented musicians, singers, male dancers, female dancers, keiki dancers, and our faithful supporters gathered today for an intense 5 hour practice!  I love feeding off of everyone's energy and excitement every time we are putting on a big production or going into competition.

On Facebook, I posted a status, which read: This morning was nothing short of a PURE BLESSING!! Sometimes I get caught up w/ stress from the daily grind that I tend to go through the motions in life, but today was a great reminder that when I put my HEART into everything I do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING can bring me down. I have so much ♥ & RESPECT for my passion and the AWESOME, TALENTED people that I am blessed to share it with! *Manuia* 

I always refer to tahitian dancing as my constant and throughout the entire time it has always been a love/hate relationship!!  To call it my passion would be an understatement!  I work 8 hours a day, the other 16 hours of the day, I am practicing to be better, I am dancing to help others get better, I am sharing the dance at a performance, I dream of dance, I am drinking to celebrate the completion of the hard work spent to execute the dance, I work out to be a stronger dancer, I eat at certain hours of the day to make sure I don't puke my guts out at dance practice, I refuel my body not to have energy for work, but energy to dance, I think Tahitian thoughts, I listen to Tahitian music, I replay Tahitian dance moves in my head.  When I am not dancing, I crave to dance! I am so in love with this cultural art form, that when I hear the live music I get chicken skin, almost being brought to tears! 

Like in any relationship, whether it be with another person or hobby, sometimes it gets too life consuming and the hundreds of hours, blood, sweat, tears and dedication you put in can put a heavy burden on your shoulders and cause sleepless nights, and stress.  Sometimes I wish to get away from dancing, to lower what's expected from me as a dancer just to ease the stress burden.... but in the end, I always find myself loving and appreciating all the stress and hard work that was spent for the final outcome because it is always PRICELESS!!  To feel the music, the adrenaline rush, to know that you worked so hard for something so beautiful is a feeling that I cannot even put into words.

This week has been stressful indeed trying to keep up with my diet, exercises, retaining choreography for our Christmas show, attempting to manage work, household chores, Christmas shopping, and I just got my period--so I'm trying extra hard to be patient, fight the menstruation fatigue and bloatedness hahaha!  It's been a task, but I am sure that our supporters will not be disappointed by our performance next week Saturday! "Maohi Nui e! IMUA!"

Sunday = FUN day!

I think I just discovered the most uncomfortable feeling in the world [well, for me at least].  It's trying to hold in your crap! HAHA! I know, I know!  I sooooo know what you're thinking... "Why the hell would you want to hold in your crap?"  Well, I wasn't going to hold it in so I could release shit all over myself.  I wanted to hold it for "just a sec" because I was proof-reading my previous blog, and wanted to finish that before taking a dump, but yeah, I couldn't hold it any longer so I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of trying to complete my task.

Anyways, Sundays are always FUN days for numerous reasons:

1. I remember back in the days when my sisters and I would blow off church and go gallivanting!!  Going to town to shop at Ala Moana, Ross, get our Mrs. Field's cookies fix, Borders, Starbucks... etc. We were on a mission to get some shopping done in an hour & half tops! When we'd arrive home, we'd leave our shopping bags in the trunk because to state the obvious, it's pretty suspicious to arrive home with new merchandise when you're coming home from "CHURCH" hehehe!
2. Next on my list would be CHURCH!  [Oh the irony, right?!]  LOL!  I love going!  Since 90% of the time I sit alone (since my mom is in the front serving w/ the rest of the servers [I forget what their title is], I like to think of it as my personal time w/ Him, in His home!
3. As a Catholic, I totally try to take advantage of the Sabbath being a day of rest thus, I never take the time to clean the bathroom, vacuum, wash the clothes, clean my room, or work out haha!  Sometimes I'll be a real cheat and eat lots of junk food.  The most "work" I'll do is probably heat up some leftover food, wash the dishes, and of course DANCE [gigs & practice if I'm available]  =)
4. I also remember when I used to work at Brooks Brothers, our Big boss was always off on Sundays and only came in to work if it was just absolutely necessary.  So, my supervisor at that time, Chris, and I always proclaimed it "FUN day" because for the most part, we got to work with the FUN crew: Bobbie, June, Atsuko, Tammy, Angelo, Masa, Jerome, etc.

So speaking of working out and dancing, our dance group has a Christmas Show on December 11th and I believe that is two Saturdays away.  The week of my birthday, after seeing pictures, I have realized that I am in terrible shape!  I work out on average 4 times a week and dance on average 4 times a week.  So, I do get a great amount of exercise in, but due to recent stress and other outside factors, I haven't been eating as healthy as I should.  After March, I started drinking A LOT..... again!!  At times I would barely eat and other times, over-eat, barely get any sleep, and over-sleep.  Overall, it was an unhealthy lifestyle and my body would agree because my menstrual cycle was super irregular and I was getting sick way too often.........

So........ the week after my birthday, I vowed that for the next three weeks I would eat healthy and do Insanity 6 days a week again to get my "March body" back and look good for Maohi Nui's Christmas show [you know me, gotta always keep up w/ the rest of the girls in line, ah lol].  I've been eating oatmeal or cheerios for breakfast, tuna or turkey or chicken on bread for lunch, and oatmeal again for dinner, unless my mom cooks up Filipino veggies then I'll eat that.  Then, I drink only water or apple juice.  At any time of the day 3 hours before of after my work out I mix a fully rounded teaspoon of cayenne pepper w/ orange juice and suck on three li hing mui seeds after to suppress my appetite.  This weekend was hard because of Thanksgiving, but I think I did good w/ portion control.  It's been hard because it's the Holidays and I want to indulge in all the yummy foods, but shit, it ain't easy to cut weight! =(

I mentioned earlier about how I treat my Sundays like a day of rest or "cheat day" [lack of a better term for it] and I also mentioned my new diet plan hahahahaha!  Okay, so I'm laughing because I sooo totally cheated today.  I had an entire totino's pizza for breakfast [fuck oatmeal man, this shit was goood]!  Yeah, I feel pretty bad so after I publish this blog and after tending to my restaurant on "Restaurant Story," I'm gonna go work out.  **Pinky promise** ;;) <<edited after Tine made her snarky comments =P

Have an absolutely amazing Sunday, FUN day, y'all... Big kisses!

Thanksgiving Weekend!

I have a tendency to go off on Thanksgiving!! Not "off" in a bad way as if to bitch someone out, but "off" as if to say that I go on a "Thanking-Spree"--being thankful for every little thing and I'd make it known to the world by posting a long status on Facebook!  Yup, that is sooo typical me!  From all the major stuff like good health, awesome family and friends, great causes like St. Jude, etc., all the way down to the stuff that people don't really give a shit about haha!  [Merci à Dieu for making the sun so hot so that it is able to shed light on the cows in California, for making sure the callouses on my feet are the right size so I am able to do duck walks on any terrain, for the softeness of my cat, Nohea's, fur and how it brushes against me ever so gently gently]   I guess that's what I get for being an extremist!  But this year I really took it easy and without having to broadcast how grateful I am, I remained so deeply thankful for everyone and everything in my heart :o)  I know people say that if you appreciate someone/thing you should let them know, but as the saying goes, "Actions speak louder than words," so I'll let gracious actions speak for themselves ;)  So, Thanksgiving Day, I went to the 9am service at our church and had my usual conversation with my Savior.  For the remainder of the day it was pretty chill.  I spent it with the family and I replied to phone calls and messages as everyone else was on their "Thanking Spree."  We usually host Thanksgiving lunch and dinner, but this year we just hosted Thanksgiving dinner with the family.

Here's our deep fried turkey and the rest of the meal in the bottom picture.  Outter circle starting from the left going clockwise: rice, pumpkin bread, butter mochi, paradosdos, halohalo, corn, macaroni salad, gravy (in the pot, which I cut off), bitter melon dish, green bean dish.  On the lazy-susie: fried fish, some of the cut up turkey, Filipino spaghetti, and grapes.

During this weekend, I was given a small task to watch my friend's dog since she and her husband would be out of town spending Thanksgiving with their families.  So I went over to do my duties with Umi-boy and after doing everything I was asked, I was going to give him a treat and then be on my merry way, but as I was getting the treats out of the cabinet, he went for my left foot and started to chew down on it.  Thank God it was just my foot and not my leg where I could have muscle injuries or he could've ate a chunk of my fatty tissue.  I feel completely sad for Umi-boy because I know he misses his mommy and daddy!  Of course having me come around to the house is totally suspicious because he is usually super friendly with me when they are around.  So now I'm afraid to go back and feed him :'(

Thank God, it wasn't worse!  So anyways, next topic: BLACK FRIDAY!!  Everyone's been talking about it! Whether they have to work 12+ hours through it, or camp out days in advance to get through it, or shopping all day through it, whatever the situation may be, people are talking about these great deals that are going on everywhere!  Personally, since I've worked retail, Black Friday doesn't particularly turn me on and it's just because there are so many great deals during Memorial Day weekend, President's Day weekend, Fourth of July weekend as well!!  I don't find it worth my time to do so much damage in just ONE day.  Especially since ten million other people want to get the same deal on a particular item that you want.  Chances are, it'll be off the shelf by the time you get to it, unless you're hardcore lai'dat. LOL.

I am proud to say that I've finished my gift shopping in July and I paid it all off!! .......Okay I lied!  Now I feel completely ashamed.  That would all be true if it weren't for the little binge-shopping I did last night... online!  Ugghh!!  Well, at least I'm able to pay it off and they weren't for me!  I bought gifts!  Oh schnapppp!  I just lied again [feeling even more terrible] because the most expensive purchase I made last night was for me!  So I bought my mom a fitness kit since she's all about going to the Spa Fitness Center, I bought my dad a Leatherman multitool (I swear he is the most difficult person to shop for because he is so simple and when you get him nice things it just collects dust), made 2 personalized photo books for 2 different friends, and I bought myself........... a Nikon Coolpix 14.2 MP Digital Camera w/ 7x Optical VR Zoom in bronze for $166 on Amazon :))) It was so late in the evening that I didn't want to be making calls to friends to evaluate the pro's and con's with me... so....... **CLICK** [Just click once to make sure you don't get charged multiple times ;) ] and just like that, I bought it!  I just bought a camera back in March of this year.  My Canon Powershot SX20 IS is awesome, but there are just some things that my new Nikon can fulfill, thus in marriage, they compliment each other perfectly to fit my lifestyle and needs *:o)

So one more day and it's back to the daily grind!  I'm so dreading going back to everything because it has been such a nice break, but hey, nothing lasts forever right?!  So I am SOOOO THANKFUL FOR THE FOOD, THE COMPANY, MY FAMILY, MY FRIENDS,  MY PETS, MY DANCE GROUP, FOR THE MANY MANY OPPORTUNITIES I'M GRANTED, FOR THE AIR I BREATH, FOR MY HEALTH, FOR MY JOB, FOR THE SAFETY & WELL-BEING OF MY LOVED ONES, FOR MY HAIR, FOR MY COMFORTABLE BED, FOR THE MAN-ABOVE, FOR MY IPOD TOUCH, FOR "RESTAURANT STORY" [a game on my ipod touch], FOR THE TRADE-WINDS, FOR THE TI-LEAVES IN OUR YARD, THE KALO PLANTS IN OUR YARD... you get the point, right?!  I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving weekend!!  Be safe... the Holidays have arrived :)))

Giving back to my High School Alma Mater

Have I already mentioned to you that I'm married to dancing???  So being that I love it so much and it pretty much occupies almost every minute of my life outside of work, I get overfilled with joy when given the opportunity to share this culture with anyone and everyone.  Recently, a very good friend of mine, Ed, asked me and another good friend of ours, Ian, to coordinate a short presentation for his senior class council's Senior Luau (because Ed is the senior class advisor).  How could Ian and I decline such an amazing opportunity?  We were more than glad to do this for our awesome friend :)

On November 20th, their Senior Luau was in effect and I am so glad that I was able to attend and watch them push-push-geev'um the best that they could [I have a video clip that I've been trying to upload all day, but it's been giving me problems :( but I really want to show everyone what an amazing performance they let out]. Majority of these student have no background in Polynesian dancing and due to everyone's crazy schedule, we have only met to teach the dance and practice 5 times before their actual performance.  Of course, we have asked them to practice on their own and we trust that they did because their performance turned out real amazing!  They did their best, they smiled, they were happy/nervous/excited to perform--What more could we ask for??  Nothing because they are amazing and respectful students and we totally appreciate their efforts :)

I ended up staying awake until 2:30am to work on 16 of the girls hei's and finish just in time for their performance.  I started at 9pm and didn't think it would take me so long.  After I got through 9 of them I called up one of my hula sisters, Litea, to help me out in finishing the rest and she did... and so did 3 glasses of Sake!  Haha!  She's awesome!!  I worked on the boys' arm, leg, neck, and head pieces just moments prior to the arrival of guests and surprisingly I finished for all seven of them!  I knew I was pressed for time so I was worried that the boys wouldn't look as completely charming as the girls did... but hey, time ain't got nothing on me lol, I finished their fresh costumes and was able to put it on them just in time for their performance!

I wanted to take a group shot of them before they tore it up on stage, but didn't get a chance to.  However, here's a pic of some of them shortly after exiting the stage :)  I think they look cute and charming!  You probably think the same or think otherwise, which is fine, but ehh, don't hate because these kids worked so hard and were very determined to get the dance right so they totally earned my love and respect!  Cheeeehuuuuu!  Shakas all around \m/

Thank Goodness It's The Thursday before THANKSGIVING!!

I haven't blogged in a while and the HOLIDAYS are definitely creeping around my ghettohood-street-corner! My favorite months of the year are November and December because in about a 60-day span I get to celebrate my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Years :o) Whoooo hooooo party!

Speaking of partying, I just celebrated my 24th birthday just last weekend and I'm totally paying for it this week because I caught a bad fever. I have been trying to rest this week, but I just can't stay away from Tahitian dancing. No matter how much I try not to stress at work, try to cut down on the "cruise sessions", and try to tell myself, "Eh bulleh, take it easssayy," I just can't help but push-push-geeev'um, push-push-geeev'um at practice. Sometimes I think my passion for Tahitian dancing is like an incurable disease [and you wonder why you see "kupuna" category at all of the Tahiti Fetes, because all those 80-something years olds STILL got the passions to push-push-geeev'um at their RIPE age ;) ;) ] Anyways, I just got a text from my ra'atira informing me that practice got pushed back half an hour, so I thought, "Hey, I can use this time to blog about the random shit going on in my life that no likes to read about" Hahahahaha!

My birthday celebration last week was the bomb! I don't think I need to further explain because my current state of lacking healthy living explains it all! I've been sick since Monday and finally got enough energy to twiddle my fingers on the computer today! So anyways, I got to spend my birthday with many wonderful people in my life... NOT ALL the wonderful people, but surely many of them :) Here's some pictures:

((Ummm Hello?! Has it been that long that I don't even know how to put pictures on here??? Oh where, oh where can that button be??))

(Found the button... silly me) A super scrumptious meal and yummy wine to start of my evening with these chic and fabulous ladies at Formaggio's... our fave :o) Then it was off to the dance studio to meet up with my hula sisters... and voila!  I was totally surprised to see all the Marrays and Barrays there :o)

Isn't my outfit so different from the beginning of the night?! HAHA! I started off wearing pants, black tank top, reef slippers, earrings, and peacock necklace and somehow throughout the course of the evening I ended up putting on a pareo, took off Mr. Peacock, and my reef slippers are off to the side in this pic hahaha... Auweee!

So round three of the birthday weekend started off sweeeeeeet thanks to Manny Pacquiao's fight against Margarito! After the picture taking, we karaoke'd the night away :o)

Oh just in case you were wondering about the towels draping in the background it's supposed to be an awesome replica of the French Flag because it was a Paris theme party lol. Please don't take offense to it, Viva La France, toujours! Yaaaye!

Okay well I thought I had more time to blog, but it's almost time to get nutz in the dance studio! I had so much more to rant about e.g. my current obsession with Restaurant Story on my ipod touch, the new aparima I learned from one of Tahiti's finest dancers, Ms. Kohai--tall, absolutely gorgeous, making me feel like a total smurf next to her LOL, and also my attempt in transforming my body in the next 3 weeks to prepare for our Christmas Show.  Maybe I will have the time to blog about such things later! Have an amazing Ia Ora Friday and a Fantaaaabulous weekend!

XOXO!