Paint a Happy Face!

Since the wonderful experience I had in Tijuana, I've been wanting to do more volunteer work. It's a little bit of my time that not only forces me to break away from my daily routine, it just feels great to do something nice for someone else.


This morning I was at Paramount Studios where the Childrens Hospital hosted an event called Celebrate Life. The event was to gives patients and their families an opportunity to meet representatives from community agencies, and interact with their medical caregivers in a safe, non-hospital environment. I volunteered with a group called CoachArt, an organization that offers free art lessons to help enhance confidence in children with chronic and life threatening illnesses.



The activity today was to invite the children to paint terra cotta pots with periwinkle plants them. The significance of the periwinkle "Vinca" flower is that its extract is used in cancer fighting drugs. Our job was to plant the flowers, set up the tables, and help the kids paint.



One of the cutest moments was when I was talking to a little girl named Emma and she turned to her mom and said "How does everybody know my name?" I think I scared her a little, she didn't realize she was wearing a name tag.


It's really amazing how taking a little bit of time to do something like this feels like a reset button. I feel revived and I'm reminded how lucky I am to have good health.

There ain't no bugs on me!

It wouldn't make sense for me to not multi-task even on vacation. Since Chris and I were staying in Temecula for 3 nights for our friends' wedding, we have arranged to have our house tented for fumigation while we are away. We've had some termite problems and after all the work on the house was done, tenting it seem like a great way to mark the end of the construction.

We had to double bag all of our food, and we ended up storing the condiments in my car. Even 2 days after I took them out, it still smelled like chicken seasoning!

The fumigation company came on time and they seemed friendly and responsible. But when we returned from Temecula Monday afternoon, we showed up to our house still having the giant DANGER signs posted and not allowed for re-entry. They even put a special key in all the doors so you can't open them.

After making calls for over an hour and no word from the fumigation company, we had to take action. We discovered a small window in our closet that was left open, small enough for me to climb in. So I did and was able to open the doors from the inside. A few hours later someone did call us back, but was not able to get a hold of the fumigators to come back to make sure it was safe to be in the house. Chris and I ended up checking into a nearby hotel for the night and was able to get reimbursed.

At one point I suggested we play a joke on the fumigators and pretend we were in the house the whole time...that would have been very mean.

Here comes the groom...

Over Memorial day weekend, Chris and I went to our good friends Glenn and Nilda's wedding in Temecula. The three of them actually went to the same high school in San Diego. Chris and Glenn have been best friends since they were teenagers (They were the bestman at each other's weddings), and it was at a chance meeting that Nilda and Glenn started dating years after high school.

The drive out to Temecula was awful. We even left the house early that day, but a normal hour and a half drive turned into four. We were relieved and pleasantly surprised when we got to our hotel at the Temecula Creek Inn, where they gave us a room with 2 sets of french doors that looks out to lots of trees and mountains. The stress from the drive went away and we were ready to enjoy a relaxing weekend.


We joined the rest of the party at Glenn's uncle's house for the rehearsal dinner. We got to know the rest of the family over tacos and beer. It was a relaxing atmophere and we were all looking forward to the next day.




The wedding took place at Nilda's brother's house in the evening. So Chris and I slept in, had a nice lunch at the hotel restaurant that overlooks the golf course, then sat by the pool and read. It was the most relaxation we've had in a long while.



You know that Nilda and Glenn are so loved by their family and friends when everyone had a part in making the big day happen. Nilda's brother has a house at the top of a hill with a beautifully decorated interior that resembles a page out of a design magazine. Her sister-in-law had planned and set up everything in the back yard, with tables around the pool, and the ceremony in front of the outdoor fireplace. Glenn's uncle officiated the ceremony, and Nilda's niece sang. Her friend was the photographer, and Glenn's cousins took care of the music. You wouldn't have known the wedding was not put together by a professional wedding planner. Even the food was a home cooked meal, the tastiest spagetti from Nilda's Italian family.




The bride and groom had written the sweetest vows themselves and perfectly timed with the sunset behind them. Later when the speeches came, there wasn't a dry eye in the crowd.




We all had a wonderful time and so happy and honored to be apart of the celebration.

Itchy and Scratchy

Maybe it was the stress, or the weather, or getting old...I have been suffering from a bad skin allergy attack for the past few weeks. Mostly where the seams of my clothes is touching the skin I'd get a big, itch, puffy rash. I finally got an appointment with a dermatologist who wanted to give me a "patch test" and blood test. I mentioned that sometimes I would get one bug bite, then that same day more bites would show up even when I'm in doors all day. And no one around me gets any bites. The bugs must like my skin better I guess.

So for the patch test, they put about 10 different samples like bandaids on my back....then proceeded to tape them down with more bandages. By the time they were finished, I could barely bend down. And within half an hour, my entire back was itchy from the glue on the tape. And I had to keep that on for 3 days and can only sponge bath. Ugh!

After 3 miserable days, I finally saw the doctor to check for results. He said my blood test showed I have a higher tendency than a "normal" person to have an allergic reaction to things...but after removing the tape and test samples, the test showed everything look "NORMAL"!!! Seriously, after all that he can't even tell me I should avoid wearing some synthetic material or something?

So with my normal result, and the additional rashes from the tape. I am still itchy with new rashes and spots that comes and goes. Sigh...

Business vs Friendship

As most of you know, a few years ago I became partners with my friend Italia, to start a company based on a t-shirt idea I had...we came together to create a fun and inspirational brand we called RubyLove. It's been quite a tough learning experience, but all along the way we supported each other and grew together. Our friendship really developed through the business. We had to fully trust each other, and gave our 100% to make a company the way we imagined it to be. For the most part, our skills really complimented one another. And if we ever disagreed (which we rarely do), we had total respect to trust the other's instincts.

Maybe that was the "best" thing that eventually ended our partnership last month. Our mutual respect and support for each other, and the need to not let the other one down, kept us from express ourselves...about the financial and emotional stress of owning a business.

We had a very long, open, and honest conversation. And came to the conclusion that parting ways was the best thing for both the business and our friendship. We are believers in things happen for a reason. We trust in our hearts that our friendship will survive this and so far it's been wonderful.

I am now the sole owner of RubyLove, and Italia has found a great job as a project manager at a design firm downtown. We both are enjoying our new identities and new responsibilities. Like true RubyLove girls, we are feeling positive about what our future brings.

Busy Bee

Almost a month has gone by since my last blog entry. So much has happened and I haven't had a chance to take a break...well actually I did take one. Chris and I went to a wedding in Temecula and stayed a little longer over Memorial Day weekend. But even before that, I was preoccupied with some changes in my RubyLove business, while battling itchy allergy rashes that probably was triggered by the stress.

I think the best way to record all of the things that happened is by doing a separate entry for each event. I hope to catch you up to date because looks like it's going to be another busy weekend for me.