Still missing her

A subscriber of mine(from my youtube channel) sent me this video of a song that broke my heart this morning. I'm not even a fan of country music but this song sounds so much like our Mai that I absolutely lost it this morning listening to it. Here's the video below, this is actually a cover and I searched for the original and it's good too but I think because this girl is so young and her voice is so sweet and innocent, I prefer this version:




Here's the original video which is good to but her voice sounds more mature and polished.



But this song is so much what I need to hear even though it brought back emotions that are still very raw. And the lyrics haunt me since basically Mai was buried in her prom dress which is white satin and her coffin was full of roses. And that "boy in town" who'll love her forever is my nephew and he's been so lost without her.

I'm still worried about my nephew. He's not doing so good right now which is expected. In so many ways this loss was worse than when my Grandparents died. Not because I loved them any less just because when they left me behind I didn't feel like they were cheated out of a full life. We were able to send them away with hearts full of a lifetime of memories but not Mai. Christmas is just two weeks away and it's cold so there's this childish part of me that thinks of her at the bottom of a dark hole all alone.  I need to get the "plunkplunk" sound of the flowers hitting the casket when they lowered her down there out of my mind so that I can sleep at night again. I need to get the look of my nephew's face from that day out of my mind but the truth is he still looks that way. So yeah. The Holidays this year aren't easy and I've been faking it.



If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song

Lord make me a rainbow, I'll shine down on my mother
She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors
Oh, and life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no
Ain't even gray, but she buries her baby

The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I've had just enough time

If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song

The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I've had just enough time

And I'll be wearing white when I come into your kingdom
I'm as green as the ring on my little cold finger
I've never known the loving of a man
But it sure felt nice when he was holding my hand


There's a boy here in town, says he'll love me forever
Who would have thought forever could be severed by
The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I've had just enough time

So put on your best, boys, and I'll wear my pearls
What I never did is done

A penny for my thoughts, oh no, I'll sell 'em for a dollar
They're worth so much more after I'm a goner
And maybe then you'll hear the words I been singing
Funny, when you're dead how people start listening

If I die young, bury me in satin
Lay me down on a bed of roses
Sink me in the river at dawn
Send me away with the words of a love song

The ballad of a dove
Go with peace and love
Gather up your tears, keep 'em in your pocket
Save them for a time when you're really gonna need them, oh

The sharp knife of a short life
Well, I've had just enough time
So put on your best, boys
And I'll wear my pearls

Cold Beach=Beautiful evening sky

My cell phone only lets me email videos that are 30 seconds long and for some reason the sound didn't come out in the upload but oh well.  You get the point.  It was just a really beautiful winter beach sky and I wanted to capture it........

Random

Went to a Christmas Party tonight. Naturally a topic of conversation was whether or not I will have a baby in the next year. Usually I get a little touchy when people bring this up because I think it's pushy-no one asks men these kinds of personal questions. But since I was actually holding a baby at the time and sticking my nose in her neck to inhale the smell of baby powder, making wrinkly nose faces whilst singing a Korean song about a hopping bunny in the silliest voice I could muster, I took no offence. Of course it's going to happen just, obviously not today.

I know, I know, you're thinking right now, "Korean song? How does Pea know Korean song?" My BFF is part Korean and her mom used to sing it for us. That's how I know. Ok? And yes I will sing it for my future hypothetical child too.

Peanut made his great escape a few nights ago. He tricked MrPea, wiggled out of his harness and ran off down the road on a wonderful hour long adventure. MrPea is easily tricked because he is so damn trusting and Peanut know this. Of course this happened as we were fully dressed to go out for a fancypants dinner. We finally gave up walking around in our beautiful outfits and got in the car to drive down the road in the direction he was last seen because I'm always afraid he'll chase something and get hit by a car. That dog was a mile away when we found him and I could tell he was in no distress over the fact that he was away from the only 2 people on Earth who could ever love him, a bad seed, as much as we do. As we got closer I have to admit how resentful I feel about the happy look on his face. Why does he do this to me? This dog turns 13 years old this month, he should be too old for this running away silliness, I know I sure am. He acts like we keep him in such a miserable existence that he needs to just break out of jail any chance he gets.

My ankle still hurts. Of course wearing heels a couple times hasn't helped. Still though, I've never had an injury last this long and it's driving me crazy. This ankle has ruined everything. I can't jog. I can't look for shark teeth. sssiiiggghhh

Floridians don't have a right to be cold.....no one told me about this rule.

Discloser: I'm 100% sure I've posted this before but it's that time of year when this kind of stuff starts to get on my nerves so just bear with me.


I have a love/hate relationship with snowbirds. They're great, they come to Fl this time of year and stay until the end of spring. They're usually in a good mood at first but are lacking in Southern manners, (which I am not only accustomed to but prefer) so they also bring a certain pushiness and sense of entitlement with them that I can usually overlook because I know they're not from here and mean well.(was that a run on sentence or was that a run on sentence)By the end of SPring they've pretty much worn out their welcome because I can tell that they too are beginning to get sick of the slow South(which is ok, sometimes I do too) and start complaining to anyone who'll listen which is usually me because I'm too polite to say that I don't give a f-. If I hear, "Well in (insert city) people don't blahblahblah" one more time, I might dig out my own ears with a shovel. If I wanted to know what people do or say or act or buy or eat or read or whatever, I would go there.


Why is it that if I say I'm cold, people assume it's time to start a contest of who's colder,as in "HA! That's nothing! It's 30000 below zero over in (insert city), Wimpy!"

I'm not trying to start a new Olympic competition of who's colder, I'm just saying that I'm cold. Obviously I'm not an idiot so I know it's colder in (insert city).....THAT'S WHY I DON'T LIVE THERE. Just cuz I live closer to the equator, doesn't mean I don't have a right to be cold or say that I'm cold or that I've just taken the first move in the "who's colder" contest.......just sayin'. I think I'm going to just start carrying around gold medals to hand out to people in the winter for winning the "who has more right to be cold" contest that no one told me about.


When people complain about how effing hot they are in the summer, I don't jump out of my skin to keep my head from exploding so that I can berate them about how "it's a thousand degrees here(insert snooty and disdainful laugh)" or that "we all sweat buckets at night so shut up and stop complaining because you don't have a right to be hot". My usual reply is,"Yeah, well it's summer. You'll be happier when it cools down this Fall." These are the same people who can't take air conditioners set below 85. I don't get it.

Beach Sculpture

We're having a warm month and the Thanksgiving weekend tourists must be thanking the stars for the good weather. I actually saw some kids swimming this morning. Of course I was in jeans and long sleeves.

I do like when tourists leave art behind instead of pollution:

Happy Thanksgiving Internets :o) Be safe.

There's no such thing as "back to normal"

....after a tragedy such as this.

 I know it's been pretty depressing over here, but I've never been one to hide feelings.  I am making an effort  to be myself again.  I do want to show my nephew that he can be happy again someday so I try not to get emotional in front of him.  He's 21 years old but he'll forever be my sister's first baby.  The baby I used to hold on a rocking chair and change diapers for.  Who followed me around and called me "Ann-shell".  So watching his face today as they put her in the ground I almost lost control of myself.  I told his friends to keep surrounding him.  They've been great and I'm thankful for that.  I'll take him to bring some flowers to her grave sometime this week.


I was thinking about maybe organizing a sign waving event.  Like a "Don't Drink and Drive" poster waving group at the place where it happened one weekend or 2 as we get closer to the Holidays.  I'm not exactly sure how much good it will do since by now I've known 3 people who've been affected by Drunk Driving. But it might be something healthy to do instead of focusing on how angry we all are.  I'm not sure, I'll have to think about it.  I wouldn't even know where to start but it's been on my mind.  I don't want to be a Debbie Downer, my gosh,  it's the Holiday Season.  People will be celebrating at parties and having a good time, I don't expect us all to adhere to new prohibition laws.  It was just something I was thinking about maybe doing that could get our energies focused on something proactive instead of all the negative thoughts that we're all having.  Anyone have any ideas let me know.....


Other than I don't have anything to report.  I have a routine blood exam starting on Monday with Thyrogen injections(for an accurate reading without the misery of going off Synthroid) but I'm not even worried about it. All signs have been pointing to good health (except for my damn ankle!) for over 2 years now and my doctor doesn't expect any changes.  Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great weekend and I'll be blog visiting and catching up as much as I can this week.

In Memory of Mai

A beautiful girl was taken away from us by a drunk driver. I want the world to see how full of life she was. Words can't describe how broken hearted we all are. Her family will always have a special place in our hearts and prayers.

Please Don't Drink and Drive.

How do you say goodbye, how is goodbye possible

Maida M. Sy

August 1,1991- November 15,2010

Today I watched a mother beg the lifeless body of her to daughter to wake up knowing that she will never wake up.  Today I saw a beautiful 19 year old girl lay in a hospital bed with a machine breathing for her and a tube sticking out of her skull.  I kissed the sweet face of a girl who loved my nephew and called me Auntie as if I really were her Auntie.  I too begged her to wake up, I begged God to wake her up.  This life was taken away from us by a drunk driver who walked away from the accident with his life and will now have to live with the consequences of his actions.  I am supposed to believe in forgiveness. This event is really testing my belief system and I pray not for myself but for her family who lost their only child, for my nephew who lost the love of his life, and for the world that lost a beautiful, sweet, loving, talented, bright, ----there are not enough words to fit this post to describe her. I am not ready for forgiveness.  I don't feel hatred in my heart but I have no compassion for this person either.  I won't feel sorry for him when they lock him up.  I won't feel bad about him missing his family. I don't feel bad about the fact that he will spend the rest of his life in jail and miss out on the joys of getting married, having children and celebrating Holiday with his family.  Because a face that I looked forward to seeing at my dinner table this year will not be there all because he thought it was ok to get behind the wheel of a car after drinking all night.  This beautiful face, that beautiful smile in this beautiful picture that I took with my own camera last Easter out our "karaoke" party will never sing with her sweet voice on this Earth again.

I am as heartbroken and heartbroken gets.  But come hell or high water I will be at her service next to my nephew and try not to ask God why this had to happen.  And beg Him everyday for the ability to forgive her murderer.  Because that's what he did when he got in that car drunk.  He committed murder.


Our Mai was a kindred spirit- an artist and a curious book worm who always wanted to poke through my art supplies and my books when she came to my house.  I was planning to buy her one of my favorite field guides for Christmas.  The last time I saw her, the 3 of us took a walk on the beach at dusk and  watched the sky turn colors and laughing in the dark.  She danced in my living room and we practiced speaking French because she wanted to visit France one day, like me. Not only did she speak French but English and Tagalog, the home language of my mother's giving her extra brownie points.   I always saved my make up to give her whenever I got a buy one/get one or if I changed my mind and thought it looked better on her. I sent her a facebook message just the other day telling her I wanted her to record a video with me for my youtube channel.    She would come to my house full of stories about how it was to be raised in by Filipino parents who didn't recognize their American daughter because she knew I had been there done that.  We would laugh together about it and I would imitate my mom for her.  They brought her here so that she would have a better education and a better life not so that they could bury her.  I loved her not only because she loved a boy who is as dear to me as if I had given birth to him myself but also because of who she was and what I saw in her heart.  I want the world to know how sweet she was and how much we all loved her.   I want the world to know that a piece of goodness and beauty is gone from it.

Daylight Savings Crime and the Joy of Fall in Florida

When it's time to "fall back" people always relish in the extra hour of sleep they'll get.  I dread it not just because I wish it could be daylight savings time all year round but because no one ever seems to tell Peanut it's not 8:30am.  He'll wake up at at 7:30 and stare at my face until telepathically I hear his mental whining and have no choice but to get up and stagger out the door.  How this is possible I don't know but he's always been able to wake me up that way.  Of course once we get outside he has no interest in quickly  peeing in the bushes and going back to bed like a dog who LOVES ME would, but instead prefers to pull me across the street to look for snakes and chase bunnies.  I feel sorry for anyone who happens to look out the window at us or dare walk by and say hello because I'm a bitch in the morning.  Yes I said it, I'll say it again, I'm a bitch in the morning.  This will go on until we "spring ahead" and I can finally wake up at a decent hour.


MrPea's dog walk shift starts at night time so at dusk I'm usually the one to take Peanut out, usually to the beach.  I'm a little freaked out ever since a couple weeks ago, at dusk we saw a bobcat looking at us through our back window.  I wish I had had the time to grab my camera because she was beautiful.  I'm not sure why I think it's a female, I just do. We live just a few feet from the marsh and there's an empty wooded lot right next to our building so there's plenty of room for a varmint such as that to sneak around in.  At first we thought she was just a big house cat until we looked closer and saw her big paws.  She looked at us with glamorous and cold eyes for a few seconds and then nonchalantly sauntered away down the marsh path towards the water, I'm guessing to catch snakes. I saw those eyes hiding in some bushes the next evening watching me and Peanut cross the street to the beach path. I got a little scared because, well, it's a wild bobcat big enough to eat Peanut and maybe my leg but I know I shouldn't be.  I haven't seen her since then so I wonder if she was afraid  of me.  I hope the alligators don't get her, I'd love to see her again next fall.  I've read that people can live in Florida all their lives and never see one so I feel privileged that Mother Nature gave us a glimpse.


There's also a Red Shouldered Hawk who used to hang out on one of the dead palms behind us that I haven't seen since Spring.  I may have got a picture of him(yes obviously I think it's a male but I'm not sure) somewhere in my desk top but I'm too lazy to go upstairs (for reasons you'll understand in my next post).  I will get a good shot(with my cam of course) eventually but he's always so damn jumpy every time I've ever gone out back to take a closer look, he flies away! I so appreciate the pretty feathers he leaves me.  One day I'll have to take pictures of all my treasure and post them.

 I started this post to complain about Peanut and all his short comings and then somehow started thinking about winter coming and all the changes that take place outside.  People think that Florida has no seasons or that we just have 365  days of summer but unless you live in the Keys, after a couple years, you notice the seasons.   Of course our Falls and Winters are softer on us than the rest of unfortunate souls who are damned to not live in what is as close to heaven on Earth as I can imagine.  But trust me, we have 4 seasons and I am in awe at what I get to witness during all 4.  Fall brings the morning fog and flocks of millions of birds that would scare Alfred Hitchcock himself, slow snakes looking for a warm place to pass the winter, and a southern dolphin migration so vast you feel like you're in a Discovery channel documentary.  In the winter the sea looks angry but gives me the gift of shark teeth after a NorthEaster.  The birds around the feeder are greedy and loud and sometimes on a clear and flat day a Right Whale sighting will remind me of how small I am on this Earth.   So am I bummed that summer is over?  Of course.  But  when Autumn comes I get ready for my own "hibernation" and  "renewal".  Like everyone else I get out my blankets, buy the hot cocoa, light the candles, stock up on some books and we create a little cocoon for the 3 of us here in our home to wait for the Spring.  And keep my eyes open for the "show" whilst feeling sorry for anyone who doesn't live here.

Then and Now

This is one of my and Neenee's favorite pictures of us together when we were little so when I went up to visit we decided to re-enact.  You know how I love re-enactments. Of course we got it wrong.  That's me in the yellow and her in the red in the old pic and in the new one she is wearing my pink hoodie.


BTW I'm not sure why but my profile no longer shows up on my side bar, this was going on even before I changed the template.  What's up with that?  I tried to fix it but, I don't even know how.....

Just Some Random Pictures

I haven't really been looking for shark teeth much this year(and I'm suffering from withdrawal too!) because this summer I really wanted to make exercise my priority.  I don't really get any cardio from staggering around the beach inch by inch with my eyes to the ground.  When I got home from visiting my sister a month ago, made myself a promise that I was going to look for shark teeth everyday for a week.  But lucky me I caught a cold!  Then when I finally felt better two weeks ago I twisted my ankle.  It hurt so bad I really thought I was going to pass out.  It's two weeks later and it still hurts.  I know it's not broken so I've just been trying to stay off of it as much as I can but last night I re-twisted it, isn't that wonderful.  So i don't know when I'll be able to look for shark teeth or go jogging again.  Hopefully soon cuz I'm going crazy.  Anyway I found a few pictures that I wanted to post:

I took this one on Sanibel Island last year.  I just thought this tree looked interesting


because it was a Palmetto with a Ficus growing on it.






As much as I try MrPea hates having his picture taken but Peanut doesn't mind.  This is the beach near my house.


This was a cool rainbow in a cloud that I took a couple months ago.


I may have already posted this one before but I like finding these kinds of crab shells because these two colors are so pretty together.

And I think I forgot to show you guys this one.  Remember all those sea turtle nests I was crazy about over the summer.  This is one that hatched.  You can see the trails the baby turtles made as they crawled to the water!







There's a marsh behind our house and sometimes this bunny comes for a snack.  In the spring he came in the morning but at the end of the summer he started to come at dusk.  I like him because he has short ears.



And since it's an on going thing for me here's another dead cannon ball jelly.  Have to keep up with tradition!

My declaration

I'm leaving in 2 minutes to go to the beach with Peanut but before I go I just have to say a couple things.  Since I hardly ever talk about Pop culture.  (Political rantings yes but I usually leave Pop culture alone)


-I don't care who or when or if Brett Favre(whose name everyone pronounces wrong even Brett Favre but that's another post for another day) sent or didn't send pictures of himself naked.  I couldn't care any less.  I don't care what image he had, didn't have, has now because of these pictures.  They are a non issue in my life. I don't need an apology since he didn't cheat/is not married to me.  This issue does not affect my wallet, my health or my self esteem.

-I still don't care who Tiger Woods slept with or didn't sleep with.  I'm not interested in whether or not his wife ran after him with a golf club or who crashed their car.   If I don't buy Nike products or if I do it has nothing to do with Tiger Woods.  I didn't need an apology because I still hate golf and whether or not another pro athlete(like everyone was so damned surprised that another pro-athlete cheats) cheats or doesn't cheat will ever change that.

-I didn't care when Brad left Jen for Angie.  I thought he was a good looking bad actor then.  I still think he's a good looking bad actor now.  I'm tired of hearing about how "great" Jen is doing now.  Of course she's doing great, she's a talented and beautiful woman who's moved on with her life just like millions of other women who married asshats who cheat.

-I'll admit I was a little freaked out by Mel Gibson's "demon-like" rant but only because I was in an abusive relationship in my teens so listening to it did traumatize me a little.


However, unless a person breaks a law(regarding violence), does something to affect my life, job or family, or harms a child or animal: I DON'T GIVE A RAT'S ASS and I don't understand why we're all supposed to.



BTW on a more fun note, I finally got my beauty blog up!  Go check it out I posted a video :o)
http://www.earthangelface.com/

Back from the Underworld

The Antihistamine/Decongestant Underworld I mean.  When I got home from visiting my sister last week I thought, "Wow I got plenty of rest, I took Zyrtec everyday and ate healthy!  I didn't catch a cold-woohoo I'm home free!"  I thought wrong.  Two days later I got that sore throat announcement.  I'm finally beginning to feel better but the pollen in the wind is giving my head a good pounding.  The funniest thing about it too is that  I should have caught a cold or flu on my last trip.  Because the whole time I was in San Diego I didn't sleep at all, I didn't eat as much as usual and I'm not used to dry air.  I was like a baby, too excited to fall asleep.  There was one night I stayed up staring at the wall the entire time wishing I could sleep.  This was after two Advil PMs and I still couldn't sleep. And instead of resting like an excancer patient should, I went to that Cleopatra spring spa all day and danced all night with my BFF that night.  And still couldn't sleep after that.  So on my way home I kept thing,"Oh NO!  I hope no germy person breathes a virus on me cuz my immune system is too exhausted to keep me healthy right now!"  And I didn't get sick.  But this time at my sister's home, I slept so good and ate so much and didn't go dancing(well ok maybe in the kitchen we busted some moves but that's it I swear!).....oh well anyway.  I had fun pinching cheeks, eating my sister's good home cooking, going make up shopping while the boys were at school and taking silly pictures.  I do feel some guilt about the fact that one night her 4 year old started rapping a line from Baby Got Back but in our defense, we didn't even listen to that song!  I freely admit that it was our fault.  I asked him later on during his bath what kind of songs they sing in his preschool and he said to me frankly,"Not our songs Auntie, because I think (insert teacher's name) wouldn't like our songs."  I said,"Yeah you're right it's probably not a good I idea to sing that at school or anywhere else........" oops.


My 4 year old GodSon is the only one who doesn't need to be coerced and bribed into taking photos. We posed:






We shushed each other.



    We played stop or I'll squirt



And then we feel asleep.

Ok we pretended to be asleep.  Can you tell?  I am in full make up and the little one is about to start laughing.

Her oldest back there is now a grown up and would rather watch Hawaii 5-0 than engage in our inappropriate behavior.  So we gave him an assignment as our photographer.  I'll post more pix later....Peanut is giving me "the look"



I miss them.  I cried on the way home.

I'm off to visit my sis today

I'll be home in a few days.  I was hoping to get my beauty blog up and running before I left but it's taken me longer than I thought to organize  all my ideas and such.  I did teach myself how to record and edit videos with my little HDwebcam and started shopping around for one I can use away from the computer.  But for now the one I have is decent enough.  I even have a couple of people who've said yes to interviews and a few tips to share.  I was hoping my new camera would record videos because I thought it would be super funny to record my sister and I trying to glue fake lashes on together since neither of us really know how to do it right. But it doesn't do videos.  Oh well.   I might still try with my old cam, it will just turn out grainy but I'm sure it'll be funny anyway.

My first flight has already been delayed thanks to the weather so I hope I won't miss my connection but I'd rather arrive late and ALIVE so I'm not going to stress out over it. I'm excited to see my nephews, it's been a little over a year.  I have all kinds of gifts for them from San Diego and a bunch of stuff for my sister that I know she can't get up there.   Anyway peeps, have a good weekend!  All those flying today, take it easy.  

Totally Random and Pea News

-first let me start out by saying no I'm not pregnant!!  I say that first because every time I tell someone I have some news, that's the first thing they assume.  So no, it's not that.  I'll totally tell all about that when it happens.  


Anyway, ahem.

*I've been sort of looking for a job.  I say sort of because it's been a half ass attempt. Half ass because at this time I'm lucky enough to not really HAVE to work but now that I no longer(knock on wood) have all kinds of doctor's appointments or volunteer stuff I thought it would be a good idea.  I have a lot of sales experience in the past so I've been mostly concentrating on local stores.  I just want something part time and easy, maybe even seasonal until I go back to school.  Because, yes, I have decided to go back to school.  Not for what I originally intended to do which was teaching but for something else.  More on that later.  Anyway back to what I was saying.  A job.  I haven't had traditional work in a long time so I must have forgot about all those stupid personality assessment surveys companies make you take as part of the application process.  Because some of the questions were so ridiculous and even though I'm guessing I'm supposed to keep these questions private, I never signed anything binding me to do so and I figured I needed to tell you guys!  It's not like I'm naming names anyway.

So one of the questions was:

"How would you describe your level of confidence and self esteem?"

Not bad right?  Sounds like a relevant question to me.  Until I got to the answers.

a) I am more confident than most and have a high self esteem.
b) I have the same confidence as everyone else and an average self esteem.
c) I have less confidence than most and very little self esteem.

and I'm not lying

d) I have no confidence at all and no self esteem.


WHAT?  Do they really expect someone to choose "d" ?  Um.  Ok. On to the next.

"If you had five minutes until the end of your shift and a customer began asking you for help that you knew was going to take more than five minutes, how would you handle the situation?"

a) Ask another associate to help.
b) Tell the customer to ask another associate to help.
c) Help the customer yourself.
d) Slap him.


This leads me to believe that someone got slapped at this particular store just for asking someone who was having a crappy day and was ready to leave in 5 a question.


*Are you wondering why in tar-nation I would even be looking for a job, what with all the shark teeth and beach adventures I could be participating in?  Honestly the transition I'm in was all inspired by my trip to SD and a good talk with my BFF.  She gave me some really good advice and a sort of spiritual kick in the ass.  With all my smack talking I've still been living my life as a sick person in the waiting room.  And then when I finally really was ok again I still kept my life on the pause button waiting for the other shoe to drop or to get sick again.  It's time to put on some lipgloss and  move the hell on.  I think going back to work or school or both whether I decide to have a baby this year, next year or in 5 years is the best thing for me to do.  I'm going to study skin care and skin aesthetics.  It will be the perfect field for me.  Which leads me to my new project.

*I'm starting a new blog.  A beauty and skin care blog.  But not the "I need to show the world how to do everything because I'm a damn expert at all things beauty"  because I'm NOT.  In fact half the time I don't know what the hell I'm doing which is why I've decided to do this.  It will be for everyone.  All ages and cultures.  Real women, not intimidating beauty gurus or impossible to duplicate make up artist tutorials. Because who do women trust the most when it comes to buying beauty products?  Our friends.  Not sales people  who need to make quotas or celeb make up artist who get paid to mention certain brands.   I don't trust half the people who try to help me out when I go shopping because they usually have too much on.  And we'll all be involved in offering tips and product reviews, blog administrators AND readers.  I want anyone who wants to contribute something to do so.  Readers can send in posts, reviews,videos of hauls or tutorials about what works, what hasn't worked, what's on their minds, whatever.  And even though I freely admit that I'm not an expert or a make up artist AT ALL, there are a lot of things I feel completely confident in sharing such as nail care, nail art, skin care for sure.  Because I have the most ridiculously sensitive skin on Earth and just about everyone in my family has had problems with excema. I've been there done that when it comes to handling sensitive skin.   Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.  The point I want to get across, if any, is that it's for real everyday women by real everyday women and not only will it be fun, it will also be funny.  I'll be doing interviews, contest give aways, all kinds of exciting stuff. I've got some great things planned.  So stay tuned.....you'll see.

My BFF

As I've said in the past.  I like re-enactments.  But mostly I like taking pictures of re-enactments.  My BFF is the only one I know who fully understands and appreciates the importance of it all.

Here we are at 13.  This was a school "best friends" picture.  Skip to 21 years later.  Notice that we have the same hair color in each photo.  This may or may not have been planned.  It wasn't until today when I posted this on my FB page that we noticed we were wearing opposite colors.  Reverse re-enactments are acceptable.  Next year we'll take the time to hang up an Asian fan.

 Saying goodbye to good friends when you grow up in a military family is accepted as the norm, unfortunately.
This was the summer of 93.  A year after she had to move to Japan because her dad got stationed there so she flew out to visit me that summer. This pic was taken on "our box".  My parents were really strict and barely ever let me step foot past the front yard so we often hung out on this electric box(yes electric).  My dad would always tell us it was too dangerous and to get off and sit somewhere else but we needed to command our "post" didn't we?  Anyway if they would let me go somewhere once in a while we wouldn't have to sit there would we?  So this is our reverse re-enactment of hanging out on "our box".  She also had one in front of her house.  Sometimes we needed to survey our domain from that box too.  That summer we pretty much went from hanging out in my room to hanging out on "our box" because like I said, my parents were super-strict and I was NEVER ALLOWED to go anywhere else.

This a re-enactment of how shocked we are. This year and last year, we're still shocked. What we are actually shocked over, I'm not quite sure.  My sister and her two oldest boys are also shocked.

This is a re-enactment of ,  " What?! What did that b*tch say about me?  Oh hell no we're calling her a$$ on 3 way and I'm going to listen!" circa Mean Girls.  I feel bad for her daughter who every year is forced participate in our foolishness.  I seriously had to stop and ask BFF,"Wait a minute, are we exposing this girl to inappropriate behavior?" because some of these pictures will not EVER see the cyber world .   She reassured me since we've been doing this every year since she was 3 that it was ok.  

This is BFF's BabyIsAllGrownUp Sandwich photo. Peanut likes sandwiches. People who've never been in one might as well just give up on life itself.

She is learning the importance of re-enactments.  We have stressed that to her throughout life.  It's a good thing.  Someday she will create her own and make us all proud.

We really love candles.  And flowers.  But mostly we like taking pictures with them 14 years ago so that we can re-enact them later.

We haven't decided if the theme song for this one should be "Reunited and it feels so goooood" from the 70s or Mariah Carey's "We belong togetherrrrr"  Whatevs

I have to wait another year to re-enact this one.  sigh......

Casa Beach, San Diego(or Children's Pool Beach)

My first day in SD, my BFF and I decided to go shopping but of course, I'm an island girl so my first request was to pay homage to the magical Pacific, the ocean of my birth. We drove to La Jolla so that I could take a look.  It was foggy and a little chilly but I didn't mind. (BTW these pix should enlarge if you click on them)

There were quite a few surfers, most of them in full wet suits mind you. The water was so "alive" that day and full of a happy energy.  I did not find any shark teeth not that I thought I could  have but still, it would have been nice.......

From our parking spot, this was the view to the south. I always lose track of direction if I don't know which way the ocean is.  When I lived in Hawaii though, since the ocean was in all directions, I never had any idea which way was where.


So obviously this is the view to the North and there was a surprise waiting for me up there(more on that later) but first I had to run down those stairs and touch the water.

  
So this is what it looks like when a girl who's used to swimming in  85  degree water decides to try out water that is barely 68degrees.  yep.

I wanted to climb the rocks for a better view.




This would have made a great location for a photo shoot and I will not confirm or deny striking a few other poses but this one was deemed passable for blog view.




These 2 were taken for MrPea as I knew he would ask about the waves, just in case we need to move there. someday.  Not bad.  Usually he needs to wait for a hurricane to pass by to get good waves.

I have to say I saw a lot of dogs in California so I was happy about that.

We had to ask a stranger to take a picture of the both of us because I still can't figure out how to use the timer on my camera.  The couple we asked looked at us like we had just asked them if we could buy some crack so this was the only one we took together.  That is my BFF.  Why fate saw fit to separate us by an entire continent, we'll never understand.  Then again, we were always being separated as kids cuz we got on everyone's nerves when we were together.

Check out the carving on the rock.  A (now)legal "medicinal user" must have carved it there :o)



Here is the surprise that was waiting for me just a short drive to the North of where we were.  This is Children's Beach Pool.  But someone else had some children and this is where they live.



This seal must have heard I was snapping photos and came in from her swim to get in on it!

A couple of them were so fat and healthy, it was all I could do to keep myself from pinching them.  That would have been against the law though.  Still though, just one pinch would have sufficed.

They all kept their faces away except for one.  I wonder what he was dreaming about smiling like that.

What a delight to see beautiful animals living in the wild.  I know there was some controversy surrounding the issue of whether or not they should be allowed to stay so that this beach could be used for swimming.  But I don't know a child alive on this planet who would rather kick these babies off their safe haven so that they could go swimming.  I'd rather not swim if that were my choice but I'll keep my judgement to myself since I don't live there.

One last look and it was time to go shopping.  I heart the Pacific Ocean.