Finally moved well

ok, so I've finally made the FINAL move over to my blog. There are some things I'm dissatisfied with, but I'll live with for now. If you wish to continue following, update your feeds by going to www.prettywahine.com/blog where it now resides. Thanks guys!

Life is rough. Deal with it.

It's been a loooong two weeks. and it's not even over. I've had so many things lately going on that I've neglected a few things. My Blog, the blogs I follow, even message boards I post and moderate on. We all have to remember to take time for yourself. Life is rough and has many pitfalls and potholes on it.


Remember to take time for yourself! I did last week. I was on the way to get my tires rotated. The handy dandy little car care book says they should be done right about now. I asked my sweet hubby where to go and he gave me a good idea. It was even on the way to his work on my commute home! (we carpool) But that day we'd driven separately because he needed to go in early to catch up on some stuff. He'd emailed me about a surprise dinner in Issaquah for a friend who had officially become a citizen earlier that day. I had a few hours so I was going to do errands instead of going all the way home and then turning around. But I got side tracked. I was waiting at a light and decided to turn around and head to the mall for a haircut. I hadn't had one in quite a while and had mentioned a few times that I needed one. I was feeling down and bad for myself and I decided right then and there (as the light turned green)that I was going to Gene Juarez! I don't normally use the salon bc admit it. It's on the pricier side for haircuts. Fantastic sams knows perfectly well how to handle a pair of scissors for 1/4th of the price.

wow was I suprised! I spent an hour in her chair, most of which I think she spent styling, and came out with a terrific haircut! Normally, when I go, I want them to give me THEIR advice. After all, this is their profession right? They should know what would look good with certain facial structures. The only thing I told her is that I wanted it about shoulder length and no bangs. Chelsea, the stylist, suggested as long as the collarbone and some layers throughout. I have to admit it turned out way fab! Check it out...what do you think?



it probably helps if you have a point of reference though huh? hmmm let's try this one from a few months ago...




I *really* need to get some sun...

another test test test

watched idol from Tuesday/Wed this morning while getting ready for my Dr. Appointment. Two things...1....much major shock over the bottom 2.)second? Was J. Foxx lip syncing?

one last post...

one last post before everything starts looking weird. I wanted to warn the few followers I have. ;) I am transitioning my blog to a domain that I've owned for some time now, but failed to make good effort to build and update. Funny how we do for others, but put our personal stuff on the back burner huh? At any rate, once this is working correctly, anyone accessing me directly on blogger will automatically be forwarded to www.prettywahine.com. If you're reading through a feed, however, I'm not quite sure how it will work yet. I'l be posting a few more times this week to test that, so bear with me please!

Beat by a GIRL!

This past week I talked to one of my teammates from Thursday night pool and convinced him to come with me to a 9 ball qualifier match in Tacoma. Qualifiers are level one tournaments that "qualify" you for Higher Level Tournaments that could win you money. There are local qualifiers, regional qualifiers and then the end goal is National Level Singles Tournament. One on one play with people in your skill level in the American Poolplayers Association. That National level tournament can net you $10,000 in cash and prizes if you succeed.

I've played before, but never really did well. It's a bracket of 8 players. Lose once and you're done, so there's no room for mistakes because one mistake can mean the end of it all. After a while, I stopped competing for a chance because I played so poorly that it wasn't worth the time and effort in my opinion. Lately, I've been improving enough that I felt I had a chance. So I took that chance and went down for the tournament.

Normally, even at this level you'd only play within your skill level bracket. Skill Level 1-3 (the lowest), 4-5, and 6-9. But when there aren't enough players at each level, the tournment director sometimes gives the players who show up the opportunity to play a mixed bracket. This means you COULD play within your regular bracket or you could be a SL 2 playing a SL8. In Pierce County, where we played, they typically don't have enough people to throw a full regular board. At least that's been MY experience.

At any rate, we went down and settled in for some practice time. The two guys I carpooled with had never been to City Lights (or Malarkey's as it's now known)so they definitely needed the chance to learn the tables since they are smaller than what we normally play on. Noon came around and as I expected there wasn't enough for a regular board. Actually we only had six of the eight so we waited to see if any more players would show. By 1pm we had 7 and couldn't wait much longer. Everyone agreed to a mixed board and payed their entry fee. As I signed my entry in, I noticed that everyone else was pretty evenly matched. Lots of SL5's, an SL4 and a SL6. I was the lone SL2. I momentarily felt bad, but nervously ponied up to play my match. I honestly didn't think I had much chances on winning, but would give it my best shot. After all... I DID wear this shirt to play in...


I settled into my first match. It was against Cal, one of the guys I carpooled with and he was an SL4. Luckily, one of the players waiting to play was John H who was a great encouragment at the qualifier I played a few weeks ago. He reminded me to relax and play my game. To slow down and take my time. To say I was nervous didn't even COVER IT! LOL But apparently, I was doing better that I realized. John called Match end and I was done! When I looked at the scoresheet, I had one straight out by 5 balls! If you're not familiar with APA pool, each skill level in 9 ball has a set number of balls to make. It's a weird math formula that takes in account your last few matches and how you did. Each of the 9 balls is worth 1 point except for the 9 ball which is worth 2. At an SL 2, I only need to make 19 points. But as an SL 4, Cal needs to make 31 points. To say I won straight out means that when I scored my 19th point, Cal only had 14... Can we say wow?!?!

My next match was against a SL5 who did well in his first match. I was impressed and even more nervous, but luckily he wasn't on top of his game and got frustrated easily which affected how he played. He unfortunately didn't buckle down soon enough to win and I moved on to the final match! And THAT was the most challenging...it was against my friend and teammate Ryan. A great easy going guy, I knew it would be a challenge because he was good AND I knew I had a tendency to lose focus and forget that this was a tournament and not just everyday shoot around. I persevered and in the end I beat him!

Next step is the Regional Level Shootout in Salem. When I get there, I'll be playing within my own skill level, so I need to be more on top my game! Wish me Luck!

Three things you didn't know about me...

Here's what you're supposed to do...and please do not spoil the fun. Copy, paste in your notes, delete my answers and type in your answers. Then tag a few good friends! Don't forget to tag the person that tagged you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little known things about each other.

A. Three Names I go by
1. Liana
2. Auntie
3. ana

B. Three Jobs I have had in my life
1. Housekeeping
2. Partylite Consultant
3. Technical Support

C. Three Places I have lived
1. Fairfield, CA
2. Virginia Beach, VA
3. Texas

D. Three TV Shows that I watch
1. John and Kate plus 8
2. Dinner Impossible
3. Big Daddy's House

E. Three non-US places I have been
1. Belgium
2. Germany
3. France

F. Three favorite foods
1. Spaghetti
2. Sushi
3. Ice Cream

G. Three friends I think will repost
1. Carolyn
2. Veronica
3.

H. Three things I am looking forward to
1. Paying my last Citi-bill
2. Partylite Meetings
3. Atlanta this summer

Am I really THAT bad?

jeez..I said a week and somehow it evolved into a MONTH! Oddly enough, I had lots of peope message me in other formats about my post, but no one commented! Thus, the RAK'd gas card goes on the back burner for an opportunity later.

It's the Monday after Easter and I'm on my "lunch" hour. Oddly enough, the calories from breakfast were sustaining enough that I'm not really hungry now. I may make an english muffin later, but for now I'm good. Last fall, Washington State brought out this new rule where restaurants have to post the calorie count on their food products. Can I say how much that sucks to order at Jack in the Box and discover that their Denver Breakfast Bowl is OVER SEVEN HUNDRED CALORIES?!? That means paired with my Large smoothie, I ate my calorie count for the day before it barely started! Guess that means the gym tonight? ;)

Speaking of which, I found a GREAT workout area on my comcast On Demand. They've got their own website where you can download the workouts too! ExerciseTV.tv had programs like Cardioke where Billy Blanks son combined singing, working out and dancing. VERY cute and they included young and old, and various sizes in their TV workout group. I actually sat through that one though bc I had just done two other workouts. They had a short 13 minute AM Yoga one that I did which was a good. It was more intensive than the Yoga workout I do weekly with a live teacher, but still nice. They also had a "beginner hip hop" one that was fun. All in all, I did almost an hour of cardio and how good it felt! However, apparently I worked up a decent enough sweat where DH gently suggested I go shower when he got home from errands. LOL.

I also got a call this weekend from my Aunt though. Her eldest child is graduating this year and she wants to make sure she stays on top of everything. She wanted to enlist my help on invitation construction for her graduate and my other cousin who is also graduating. She's good on planning which is good. That way the kids don't get "last minute crap". Her son also just got his driver's license, So I thought I'd send him this card. It wasn't planned out, but the end result turned out rather nice.



cardstock: Bazzil
guitar and sentiment: CTMH
patterned paper: DCMV summer stack

What a month!

What a month it has been for me! I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in the last month. To say I've been busy has been understating things! Today marks the one month "anniversary" of me owning my first car! I bought it on my own credit, using money saved up for the downpayment purely of my own earnings! Hubby only came along to do the haggling/test drive of the vehicle I chose. His name isn't even on the paperwork! woohoo! Here's me with the salesguy just as we took possession of it! ;)


Can you see the excitement on my face? LOL. Then I had to drive home and it was hilarious because I panicked...I asked hubby how to get there! Good news is that he didn't laugh in my face about it. If you've been reading, you'll see that I JUST got my license this past September and hadn't really started driving until earlier this year. After the last month of not having to rely on Jack for getting me hither and fro, I can better appreciate the sacrifice he has made for me! But there's still a grin on my face!


But it hasn't been all good things. Some things were stressful, as life can be. This past Friday, we met with the Prosecuting Attorney on case concerning my nephew, Kekoa's passing. It was to explain the Plea Date that is occuring this coming Friday, what would occur and what the accused is being charged with. What it broke down to, is that his lawyer explained that no matter what happened he would be going to Jail and this is his best bet. It's scary and upsetting that it will be almost a year that he's been gone. It's been a long and lonely year without him. Everytime I think about it, the phrase Your absence has gone through me like thread through a needle.

But, enough of the sadness! I'm confident this weekend will be the beginning to justice being served. And hopefully, the beginning of a healing process. With that, I'd like to announce my first giveaway in honor of my first month of owning my own car. I'll draw the winner a week from now, so leave some comments and spread the love out there! One random winner gets a $25 gift card to Shell gas stations. I'll be back later this week with my Project 365 posts!

Hope....

Such victories started to feel less satisfying. I started to appreciate his need to feel respected in his home. I realized that abiding by his rules would cost me little, but to him it would mean a lot. I recognized that sometimes he really did have a point & in insisting on getting my own way all the time without regards to his feelings or needs, I was in someway diminishing myself.

I'm listening to Obama's Audacity of Hope on my Ipod as I get some desk work done today. I also use it when I'm on the treadmill. I had one of those moments of revelation today as I'm in the middle of chapter two. He speaks of Values and how he learned them. He credits his mother mostly, but in the above quote he speaks of himself in High School and those typical rebellions we see many teenagers have. He speaks a few pages later that we, as a country, are experiencing an "empathy deficit". That principle of "how does that make you feel" that we teach our infants with, but somehow have lost touch with as we got older.

It's like when I was watching television last night. I'm hooked on a show called True Beauty. At first glance, its a real fluff show. A bunch of snobby "pretty" people thrown together and given challenges. But the underlying challenge that they don't know about until they are eliminated from the show is that their search is more for inner beauty than for outer. That those small things you say or do does make a difference. Do you still live by the GOLDEN RULE?

Stampin' Up interuppts this blog to bring you...

The new SU catalog! No I'm not a rep, which is why I'm only now seeing this. I also don't have shows or a regular customer/hostess. I buy when the whim strikes me but I'm always excited to see new. ;) I wonder if I have a shopping problem?


At any rate, stay tuned for my likes and dislikes. Oh yeah...no I'm not looking for a cns. I have a few friends in various states who are more than happy to help me with my order!

21:365

I've mentioned it a few times in previous posts. Had I been updating this on a daily basis like I should have been (LOL) you would have seen posts from earlier days that mention driving and starting to drive. I got my driver's license this past September on my Birthday. My 32nd birthday to be specific. It's been much harder to handle because we own a stick shift and Jack isn't a patient person. But we rented an Automatic Transmission car and did some driving around to get me situated and scheduled the drive. Once I had my license, I taught myself Stick shift on my husband's car. But his wisdom tooth extraction made it necessary that I go farther than the grocery store a mile away. I needed to know that I could handle the stick shift among other cars in case he needed to go to the doctor. I'm proud to say I did it, and the following work day after his surgery, he announced that I since I did so well, I would now be driving myself to work! I was properly shocked and panicked.

Luckily, it was also a floating holiday for me and he had originally intended to work from home. He discovered that he didn't have access to all the tools he needed and was going to go into work. Armed with the knowledge that I would be driving to work the next day, I opted to tag along for some "practice" time in that area. But I got distracted and instead went shopping. ;) I digress though. This picture was taken on my 2nd day of driving. As I was warming up the car to go drive to his work (we carpool...in the AM, he drives to work and I drive to my work from there)I realized that I didn't have a picture of me "driving". So I set the camera on Timer and took this picture while the car warmed up. Isn't it an exciting milestone?

20:365

Inauguration day was a big day for many people. Many people choose to commemorate the day by taking a picture of their local newspaper, advertisements from Obama's campaign, their family members watching the inauguration and some just the TV itself. I set up my camera remotely to capture me watching it on my computer at work and discovered the added benefit of having also captured a shot of Mr President himself in the middle of his oath. The smile on both are faces are because of the blunder the Chief Justice made in delivering the oath. OOPS! Just goes to show you that we're all human, prone to simple mistakes in moments of excitement.

19:365

When I chose my word for the year on Ali Edwards word for the year challenge I picked the word Hope. Emotionally, the last nine months have been difficult. When She issued the challenge, I originally that that HOPE was something I needed in my life. Hope for the peace we all wish for, hope for better outcomes in personal situations...HOPE. I wasn't sure how I would scrapbook it, but I wanted this word. Imagine my surprise when I found it all over the place!

18:365

LISTEN HERE MISSY! He looks so serious doesn't he. He was still sick and just now getting over his tooth extraction from the previous day. He actually texted me while I was gone and said "Vanilla & Chocolate Ice Cream Pops an puddings please" When I got the message I was weirded out. I didn't recall asking him anyting because I wasn't ready to head home yet. But I called him I discovered that he was being preemptive.

This is a picture of him just pointing the drumsticks at Katie during an evening of Rock Band. What a fun game! When you were a kid, do you recall playing that game with your siblings where you look at them and tell them that "I'm not touching you!"? That's what he was doing. Being his normal screwball self. Without the pain from his tooth, he's a much more jovial person.

17:365 In where I get the Fat Boy to cry.

Meet my nephew Aiden-Ikaika. He's a natural ham for the camera and the unfortunate part of that is that getting a picture like this is hard to get. You can literally get him to calm down by just pointing a camera at him. I love playing with my nephews and watching them grow. Watching Aiden grow hasn't been anyless gratifying than his older brother 9 years ago...

Did I mention I have no regrets in making him cry? ;) nothing serious, just teased him into it.

16:365

PENS?!?! why PENS? you ask? I was preparing for my first show of the year, my first live show in over two months. I had my fliers printed, and I even made sure that all my pens could WRITE! I was excited and nervous at the same time. The bad thing about taking a break from your Direct Sales business, is that you're nervous about getting started again. Thankfully, it was a great show and the hostess was very appreciative. The even neater part is that I made my first freeway drive. I also discovered that I have a very heavy foot and once I get more comfortable behind the wheel, I'm going to have to watch that carefully.

15:365

Before you start thinking this is an odd picture, let me explain. I carpool to work. The night prior to the 15th, Jack had a problem sleeping due to tooth pain. He didn't immediately communicate that it was tooth issues though until THAT night. He had gone home early on that Thursday and went to the dentist finally. But he fought the idea because he didn't want to leave me rideless. Thankfully one of the things my work provides is a Guaranteed Ride Home program for registered carpool members. I choose to take advantage of it because I ALSO had pool that evening. I didn't want to spend all evening on public transit either though. It was my first cab ride and it's NOT as big of a deal as I thought it would be. Just a guy driving me home and I sat in the back getting some reading done for work.

14:365

Most people won't say that the post office is the bane of their existance. I think I go AT LEAST every two weeks to mail of large envelopes or pkgs. On this day, the 14th day of the year, I FINALLY made it to the post office. Now despite the fact that I just now said that I go every two weeks, I haven't managed to go or even get my husband to go in over two months. On this day, I mailed off three pkgs. One for a swap, another a return and the third a gift for a friend. I felt REALLY really BAD because that swap was the one that was two months late. Thankfully though, she wasn't mad at me. I'm driving though, so it's been sooo much easier to get those packages off on time!

13:365

Meet the Weightloss Wonders! Wonder how the weight is gone, wonder how I'm going to accomplish my goals..wonder, wonder, wonder, wonder....Who wrote the book of LOVE! lol.... ok so back on track. This is our weight loss challenge team at work. We've got goals we want to accomplish and we home that this challenge will help keep us on track, we hope that we can encourage each other to reach our goals. It doesn't always work for everyone, and I'm sure WE ALL have a similar type challenge at your workplace. The problem for many people is in the follow through. Whether the "lack" of motivation comes from disappointment, or from lack of encouragement differs for many people. Given that it's my "only" goal this year, I hope I can make it. I've lost about 3 pounds so far, and hope to lose about 9 pounds by the end of march beginning of April, but we'll have to see.

12:365

Meet Dale. He's one of my co-workers and a great outlet for venting and questions. Many times I feel extremely naive with the questions I ask him, but he doesn't usually mind. He'll quip a quick joke and ALWAYS has something to say. Recently, we both started to make diet changes and are adding exercise to our "diets" in order to lose weight and feel better about ourselves. It's working so far, we've lost some weight and made positive changes in our daily habits, but it's a slow process. I'm glad to have a good friend at work like him. Like him, I enjoy a small snack and a good book during break time. I think it's an important thing to take your breaks at work. It gives you time to yourself in order to recenter and also gets you away from the stressors at work.

Dale and I both work in a very phone-centric department. People call ALL DAY LONG. It can drive you crazy to see ear your phone ring after ring after ring. Sometimes I come home and don't want to TOUCH my phone much less pick it up and talk on it. That idea doesn't help my Partylite business much, but I'm working on it. Do you have a friend like Dale at work?