Happy New Year and Good Bye Blogger! (and Hellooo Wordpress!)

Hello my darlings - It's been well over two months since my last post and I just wanted to let you all know that I've decided to say goodbye to Blogger...

I felt that it's a very necessary step for me to keep blogging and enjoy what I love to do - write without reservation.... I just posted my very first entry at Wordpress, I'm planning to say hello to each one of your blog, so that you'll know my new blog..

It's such a sad day for me to say goodbye to my baby "w/ Love Sincerely..", but I promise, my new blog will be as honest and lovely as "w/ Love.." -- thank you all so much for being there for me when my time was tough, supporting me and cheering me on..

And I hope you'll keep continuing to read my new blog -

Wish you all the best and a fabulous year for all of you!!!

Love, Maki ;)

Love Through Kids Eyes..

Thank you so much for all of your kind comments and warm messages.

This issue of mine has been going on for quite a bit - this didn't happen yesterday. Some of my old readers already know that I used to post religiously, then my posts have become spotty. I hate it. But, many of you have suggested that I really need to find a middle ground for this blog. I love my blog and I want to keep blogging, but if I can't write what's important or be who I am on my blog, then, what's the point of keeping?

My blog style may change and it may take me for a while to bounce back, but I hope that I will find new found love for my blog and enjoy my journey with you.

Anyways.

I stumbled upon on a blog post the other day which totally warmed up my heart. They are actual answers from little kids when they were asked "What Is Love?" The quotes are super adorable and I thought I would share with you. I googled and tried to find the sources for these actual quotes and I did find the same quotes all over the internet, but I couldn't find who had done the interview the kids - I was hoping it was for a book or a magazine article.

It's funny how every thing the kids said made sense. I still remember when I was talking to my mentor, he said the first hearbreak that kids endure is from their parents. He said when their daddy or mommy get angry and yell at them for the first time, that's their very first heartbreak.

All of us were a baby at some point (no brainer!) and come to this world full of hope and promises - they are born equal regardless of color of their skin or language they speak, they are just babies. And baby gives full attention and love to their mommy and daddy - they smile for you, they cry for you.. Parents are everything to them. And I think kids know what unconditional love is. But sad thing is, when we grow older, we become more childish and selfish - love becomes somewhat conditional at times.

So, I asked my two daughters "What Is Love?" and here are their answeres..

* Soapy (4 years old): "Love is loving you, Mommy!!!! (sorry, she's only 4..) and spending time with your family!"

* JuJu (6 years old): "Well.. love is... fair. Love is...Um, I think love comes back to you when it goes somewhere or fly to some place, and.. love is always there when you need it. AND it's warm!!!"

Too cute and I think they know what love is.. LOL

Now enjoy children's actual answers to the question "What Is Love?"

“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.” - Billy, age 4

“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.” - Karl, age 5

“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.” - Chrissy, age 6

“Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.” - Terri, age 4

“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” - Danny, age 7

“Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss.” - Emily, age 8

“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” - Bobby, age 7

“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,” - Nikka, age 6

“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.” - Noelle, age 7

“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.” - Tommy, age 6

“During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn’t scared anymore.” - Cindy, age 8

“My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don’t see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.” - Clare, age 6

“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.” - Elaine, age 5

“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt.” - Chris, age 7

“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.” - Mary Ann, age 4

“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.” - Lauren, age 4

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.” - Rebecca, age 8

“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.” - Karen, age 7

“You really shouldn’t say ‘I love you’ unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.” - Jessica, age 8

Have a sweet and a lovely week!!!

My Blog As I Know It.

Hello my dearlies - how have you been? Are you enjoying the nice fall weather? I woke up this morning with coooool breeze - It's 65 degree out! When the temprature gets so crazy hot during summer, I always think FL doesn't get to see nice fall weather, but it came rather quickly - it sneaked up on us! But it's so nice to be able to open the windows and turn off AC and smell the crisp air outside..

Anyways, as you know, I've been slacking on posting - what a hay, that hasn't changed for the past 12 months actually. I always say that I'm feeling the weird funk, ja, ja... But I know it's more than just a funk.

I started this blog over two and a half years ago because I love to write. I love to write about my family or my friends, or current events or Hollywood. For the first six months, I posted on daily basis and I know I really loved getting all kinds of comments - there were times I got over 30 comments! I have so many things to say about life and sharing about it with you have been my true joy.

Over the course of two years though, things had happened and I sort of lost the mojo or should I say the passion for this blog. What happened was that one of my family member was reading my blog without telling me and it had sparked a full blown debate in the family circle.

I don't want to get in to it, but when I have to censor my own posting or need to be careful about what I would write in my own blog, that beomes hard. I've never bad mouth my family members in my blog nor talked negatively about my friends and family, but I have to make sure not to say too much about them.

My blog is not a fashion blog - My blog is my diary and talk about my daily joy and struggle that I go through every day. If I have to exclude the events that happen in my life which includes my family, then my point of this blog becomes half important. I have struggled to find a way to write it because a lot of times, my life becomes comical when I have dinner with my in-laws or go out with them, but I have to second guess everything that I want to write.

My family members know about my blog now and they tell me they don't care, but really, I'm still struggling to find the mutural ground to entertain my lovely blogging friends and sustain the integrity of my family and friends.

This month is my birthday month, so there are many things that I want to figure out : My life, the future of this blog, my business. I think I'm going to be very busy, but I really want to post a lot more than recent.

Oh by the way, my last day at work was last week and I officially started my career as a full time artist!! Um, it's kind of nerve wracking!

Hope you're having a lovely week! xoxo

Goodbye Summer... {Super Harvest Moon}

{Image By Me}

Hello my loves!!!! I hope all of you're doing well and happy. This sounds like a broken record, but I've been CRAZY busy for the past two weeks, I barely sat in front of the computer.

Both of my daughters are in school now that I thought having all morning to myself would give me the freedom to blog all I want, but actually I have been busier than ever. Driving them to school, doing errands, picking them up and taking them to afterschool activities - oh my gosh I wish I could clone myself!!!!

My husband JT was home last week, so we're running around and doing all sorts of stuff together with the girls. Good news is that my husband will be able to commute between FL and NJ every two weeks now and he'll be going back and forth every weekend starting Christmas. We're very excited that he'll be part of our lives again very soon...

Today is the offical last day of Summer and the beginning of Fall. Also we're celebrating Super Harvest Moon. Apparently we don't get to see this beautiful phenomenon for years and years, so we all should go outside around 11pm and look at the moon. You can see Jupiter right below it. I did take a photo and can you see a tiny tiny dot - that's Jupiter...

I love space and looking at starts and moon. I talk about it time to time how looking at the sky makes me feel - it's like all the darkness and brights spots cleanse my body. There are so many possibilities out there in the space and I feel like I'm such a tiny existance... It totally amazes me.

Florida is still super HOT and I don't feel like Summer is fully gone, but I do feel the difference in the morning - air is cooler. I love summer and I'm a bit sad that Fall is arriving, but all the festivities are around the corner.... AND I have two more shifts left for my departure from work and my birthday soon. I'm very excited!!!

I can't wait to catch up with all of your blog!! xoxo

Beach, Frozen Yogurt & Rainbow...

{Image By Soapy}

Well, it's already Wednesday, but I hope you all had a great Lobor Day weekend! Did you guys do anything special - or did you go any place special???


My weekend with the girls was just laid back - nothing crazy, but really good one. Thank you very much. I took the girls to our favorite Lido Beach and also we celebrated the Grand Opening of our favorite yogurt joint "White Berry" that came really close to our home. The original store is in downtown which is about 20 minutes drive and the new store is a lot closer and it takes less than 10 minutes:)


While the store guy R prepares the yummy yogurt for us, Soapy looks up like a little girl - she looks like a big girl, but I think she looks like a two year old from looking at this photo. So cute. She couldn't wait for him to make her yogurt:)



I got the Original flavor with Kiwi and Ju Ju and Soapy got their favorite Green Tea flovor with Mochi and Chocolate Chip. Seriously, they are yummy.

Somehow, Soapy in this picture is ready to snort yogurt out of spoon. Funny. This was just a random picture and I didn't set her up to this.

Now that looks better Soapy!

Julia and Soapy love these canisters full of Fruit Loops & Trix.

{Image By Ju Ju}

I must admit, my girls are really cute!

The same day afternoon before yogurt, I took the girls to our favorite Lido beach. It was a perfect beach day because the beach was not crowded and it was really quiet. I hate when there are too many people and no parking. I was a bit surprised becausse it was Labor Day weekend afterall, but I guess we just picked the right day because my friend who went to the same beach the next day told me the beach was packed Zoo. Thank goodness, it wouldn't be as fun if we're there on Sunday instead of Saturday..

I feel tremendous happiness when I'm at the beach - it doesn't matter where or which one, I just feel at home. Maybe because I grew up in Hawaii surrounded by the ocean, but I can't think of my life without beach.....

It's surreal to know that the BP oil spill has stopped. Yes, the cleanup effort still continues and it will stay that way for many years to come, and I get nervous when I think of the effect of the spill, but I think we cleared the first obstacle to contain the oil. I was really nervous at first that we'd lose our beautiful beach. I'm so glad that we don't need to see tar-balls washing ashore, but I wonder if all the marine lives and eco-system will ever be the same. I just don't know..

Often times when I look at my girls, as much as hard to grasp the thoughts, I realize that my life is not my life anymore. My life is for my daughters - I live my life for them. I need to think of their life first before I think of mine. It's not an easy tast at times because I consider myself a free sprited individual who has done many selfish things. But we all need to grow up sometimes, right? And when I look at their smiles, it's all worth it.

By the way, I ran to "white berry" again during a lunch break yesterday. I got Green Tea with Blackberries. It was soo declious - I can honestly have this frozen yogurt every single day.

After I finished working, I went to pick up my daughters at their grandparents house. My boss and his wife are in Seattle for a mini vacay, so I had to close the salon which was my first experience. I got to be the boss for the day which was not bad, but three more weeks, and I'm free!

On the way home from my in laws, I spotted a rainbown - We get ton of afternoon-evening thunderstorms and this happened right before the storm. Can you see the blue sky and the rain clouds next to each other? I had to stop and take pictures because it's so unusual to see a rainbow. It was really pretty!

I often dream of walking over a rainbow - how fun and beautiful experience would that be???

A Night Like This....

{Image By Me}

I finally did it, everyone! I gave the notice to my boss that I am leaving my job at the end of this month! Oh my goodness, you have no idea how hard it was for me to do this... My last day of work will be exactly two years from the day I started two years ago. It's been an interestig journey. I talked about my very first day at the job here and here.

I think I've learned a lot from my receptionist job. We have over 3600 clients in our system, of which 2500 are active. I can honestly say we're the busiest salon in our town. I was fortunate enough to meet many different clients and I befriended with several of them personally. I also have encountered numerous "Are you fricking kidding me??" incidents which have taught me how not to behave... Seriously, there are many crazy people out there, my friends!

Anyway, I had thought about quittig since the winter of last year. Both of my girls had complained that I was never home or didn't do stuff together. I was working five days a week including Friday and Saturday. When JT left to work in NJ, I was able to change my shifts to only in the morning, so that I could pick up my daughter from school. But the truth is, I was exhausted. I know there are mothers who are working for a lot more complicated job, but dealing with demanding clients and boss ad hearing them yapping pretty much drained all my energy. I really was exhausted.

JT and I had talked about it for a long time and one of the options was to keep the job and to see if I could keep working the two days shift only on Mondays and Tuesdays. But the reality is our salon gets ridiculously busy during fall/winter and spring, they need two receptionists on Fridays ad Saturdays, which I can't work any longer, espcially JT's being gone. Also, we don't get any special days off except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's, which totally sucks. So my mind was totally set for leaving the job.

But it had taken almost five months for me to tell my boss that I want to quit. Seriously, it was like my boss could read my mind. I go to work every morning thinking, "Today is the day I'm going to tell him.." - but as soon as I open the door, my boss greets me with smile and he acts so kind towards me. If he was an a-hole, then it would be so much easier to quit, you know? Anyway, the other day, he had a last minute cancelation and he was eating lunch in the break room. JT was telling me that I had to give him a notice, so that he could find a replacement before the season starts. I went to the break room and walked in and tried to find the right timing, but I could't say it, so I left. Then 10 minutes later, I did the same thing. Again, I couldn't pull myself to say it to his face. Now the third time, he looked up. I knew, that was it. I had to tell him.

I told him I had to tell him something. When he looked my face, he thought something terrible happened to me. He was all worried and told me to have seat. I explained to him how I loved working for him and his wife, but I wouldn't be able to give my hours to schedule that the salon needs. I told him, "It's from my heaviest heart that I need to quit...." Oh boy, he was in shock. Seriously, he didn't see it coming. He was very understading and he said, "That's okay. I'm a business owner, so I know people come and go.." But he was totally in shock. He wasn't angry or anything, just disappointed. Then I had to tell his wife, but forget it. She just said, "Don't say that..." and wouldn't listen to me.

After giving him the notice, we had another client who has MS. Her condition is getting worse every time we see her. I help my boss with her chair and stuff, and while I was helping, my boss, said, "Oh my god Maki, what am I going to do????" and he had tears in his eyes. "It's so hard to find a decent girl who is willing to do all the work for me..." I felt horrible about it. But there's nothing I can do.

My spirits have been really good. My heavy weight is off my shoulder. My girls are so ecstatic as well. I get to drive them to school or pick them up, and I can take them to park and play with them - all the things I haven't been able to do because of my current job, I will be able to do it soon..

I took the pictures above while walking around the lake with my girls this evening. The view from my condo - sunset always beautiful and I felt such peace withing myself today. I think I can start a new life doing all the things I love - painting ad being a mother to my girls.

Have a lovely weekend my sweetness... xoxoxo

Relax - Beach & Gelish...

{Image by Ju Ju}

Hello!! I hope you all had a lovely weekend and havig a great week! My weekend was filled with fun activities - one of them was to go to our favorite Lido beach with my girls and friends. As you can see, my new photographer Ju Ju snapped me while I was slaving myself, carrying all kinds of stuff to the beach. Funny thing is that we all smile for camera, yes?

You may not see it in this photo, but I was carrying a beach bag on my shoulder stuffed with towels, magazines and makeup bag as well as a cooler bag (green one that you see in the pic), two goza mats and a starbucks. Mom is strong when she has to carry stuff for her kids.

What I am truly grateful is that the BP oil spill is finally contained and we can now focus on clean up. It will take years and years, but our Gulf will be back. I know it.

{Image By Me}

Also, I work Monday and Tuesday every week (remember, I haven't given my boss two weeks notice!) Last week, my salon got this new Soak Off Gel called Gelish. It is a new type of polish for people who don't wear artificial nail. I have never worn artificial nail, thank goodness, the trait that I got from my mom's beautiful hands that my nails are thick and healthy and long.... The only problem that I had was that I use my hands so much that my color does't last three days even if I get a great manicure by my boss - it started to chip immediately. But this new Soak Off Gell is not acrylic, so it's easy on my nail bed just like I use regular polish, but it stays put like gel. If what they promise is true, this color is supposed to stay without chipping for two weeks. So, I can't wait to see if my color lasts longer than a week.

As much as I get depressed with my work, I can't stop staring at my nails every time my boss works on my hands. He's so great! I guess, getting free manicure is not bad after all!

Every Mom deserves a nice time like going to beach and getting pedicure/manicure:)

xoxo