Walk...Walk...Walk...

I don't know why the door's keep opening for these types of events. We'll, maybe if you look a couple blogs down then it's not a complete mystery. As you read recently my uncle and Carrie's grandmother were diagnosed with some form of cancer. It's horrible and cancer needs a cure. I've had too many death's in my family and friends that I've known that it's one cycle that needs to end.

So in the coffee shop in my building they were advertising a night walk in Seattle in a couple of month's for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Carla, the boss I just wrote about, is putting a team together. Her mother died 6 years ago of Leukemia so her entire family is walking in her memory. My Auntie Lei died about 7 years ago from Leukemia as well so I'm going to walk in her memory. I actually knew someone who also died of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and who has or is in remission of Hodgkins Lymphoma, he was just in the hospital so I'm not sure; so I have a little more invested in this walk. A few other friends of ours are going to join us. I'm not sure how many miles the walk will be but it's just like the grape stomping I did with "Crush for the Cure" a couple of weeks ago; it's all for a very worthy cause. That one was for the American Cancer Society.

And the SEX is...

My boss Carla went to her doctor's appointment the other day to find out what she's having. She's currently 5 months pregnant and is a mother of 2 son's; Alejandro and Gabriel. The entire office has taken the lead from Carla and has been calling her belly Isabela (wishful thinking) that it's was going to be a girl until we found out the official word.

So the official word is:

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

So it truly is baby Isabela. We're so happy about that. I can't wait to meet this little hispanic baby. She's going to be a firey little thing....just like her mother. (But I love her dearly!)

So a big congrats to my fabulous boss Carla and her entire family for their very exciting news!!!

What we see?

When things start to change in a blink of an eye and you don't know why then what do you do? For some, you try and figure out what the cause is and fix it. It's worth the effort. But when you've tried for so long, so many different ways and have gone through so many different avenues then where do you go from there?

I see what I see. God has been in my life for the better part of my life but He has recently entered my heart, my whole heart and has given me peace for awhile now and it feels great. For all that I have been going through He still gives me comfort and direction that I need. Ever since that time my eye's have noticed new things. It's like God gave me a new set of green eye's. I could see God in other people before now; but now I still see that and other things too...

I've been spending a lot of time with my friends. One of my friends has a son with special needs, Morgan. He's an amazing child who is teaching me a lot about life. Life's too short to worry about petty things that can't be changed. To see life in the eye's of a child is one thing, to see life through the eye's of a special needs child is quite another. They are so excited by the simplest thing. When Edith, his mother, put on the movie Lilo and Stitch she said, "Morgan, is that Ohana?" and ever since then you ask Morgan, "Where's Ohana?" and he points to me with an enormous smile...

Just like other people's life, mine is no different. There are things that need to change. But I like my life for the most part. I have an amazing family and great friends.

And as a reminder please keep my uncle in your prayers for the cancer that they found and I just found out that Carrie's grandmother also found out that she has breast cancer. I don't know much detail so if you'd like to; you can stop by her blog and check out what she says. It's unfortunate both our families are affected by cancer but prayers are what they both need so thank you. We both appreciate it. Love you all!

Happy Birthday to my little man!

This is Maika last summer... :-)

Today is the day that exactly 7 years ago God decided to bless my family with the cutest little boy... his name: Maika Hanalei Nakoa.

God was there that day, and I truly mean it. Maika was born almost 2 and 1/2 months early. He weighed 3 lbs. 9.2 oz. and was in the NICU for the first 2 weeks of his life. The doctor's and nurses were amazed that his lungs were developed and he could breathe on his own. That was THE major concern. But can you believe that after he was born and assessed the only thing they really wanted was for him to finish a bottle completely before falling asleep because he was losing too many caleries otherwise. My sister and I figured out how to do that easy and home he came. We were so happy and he was such a good baby.

Everytime I call him we call eachother either "baby cakes" or "love bug". Did I mention how cute he is? The last time I saw him was for my mom's birthday last summer and we couldn't tell him because he would've ruined the surprise. (My mom didn't know I was coming.) When my mom came to my Auntie's for her party and my nephew saw me for the first time he didn't know what to do. When it registered to him that it was me he just gave me a HUGE smile and then a big hug and kiss. At the end of the night he wanted to make sure that I was going home with them.

This year will be his first surprise birthday party. I'm sure he'll be SO EXCITED!!!

I just got off the phone with him and he's swimming in the pool with my other nephew Cody right now. He'll be sad when Cody goes back to Maui but at least they get this time together. My niece Makana is also in Oahu for a soccer tournament and possibly she'll make it to the party. I'm not sure but I think that my other niece Ki'i is in from Maui too. They're only in for this weekend and then they all go home. He'll be THRILLED if all three of them are there. That's the highlights of his summers and birthdays when he get's to hang out and spend time with them.

So to my love bug....HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

"Crush for the Cure!" Part 2

For the one's who wanted a closer look...you know who you are! :-)

These were the first things seen as you drove up to Corky Cellar's. They look very cool huh!

My stomping partner Robin and I for our team photo!

Nancy and Edith crushing away...

The Blue Gypsies (Nancy and Megan) and Vino Vixen's (Edith and Alicia) with there juice!

My co-workers who crushed with me...

Well worth the effort and so much fun. I have many more pictures and will get more but these are the one's that show you a glimpse into what we did yesterday.

We didn't win best costume or best team name. We didn't win most juice produced or even youngest crusher...I'm the youngest in our bunch at 24 but the youngest that day was a 12 year old girl. Robin however did win for oldest crusher at the proud age of 53. (Trust me when I say proud!)

But we did raise money and that was OUR goal.

"Crush for the Cure!" Part 1

Yesterday was the big grape stomping at the winery for The American Cancer Society at Corky Cellar's. There was a total of 10 teams of stompers and when we pulled numbers from a paper bag to see the order of the stomping guess which number I pulled out...#1!!!

So my partner and I were in the first round and it was hard work but a lot of fun. Each person in the team was in the barrel for 2 minute and that was the longest 2 minutes ever. I have picture's from the event but I haven't downloaded them yet so I'll try and put them up later tonight.

The different people from work had team names like Haole Feet (me), Vino Vixens, The Blue Gypsies, and Da' Vine. We had a blast.

Before we went in to stomp, we did some wine tasting and took team pictures.

So I went into the barrel first and my partner Robin had to push the grapes out of the way to let the juice through the strainer. After about a minute it was pretty slippery in there. A couple of times I would stomp and the grapes would just explode out of the barrel and role along the ground. It was funny. After my 2 minutes were done then I got out and it was Robin's turn. Now, it was REALLY slippery. Her first foot slid when she got in but she was fine and went for her 2 minutes while I pushed the grapes out of the way for the juice. But we both had fun and it was something that we've never done before so it was a cool experience. Who knows, maybe I'll decide to do it again next year:)

When the last round was over and it was Edith in one barrel and Nancy in the other, Nancy launched a fist full of smashed grapes on Edith and she was SO messy. It was a riot. I work with hilarious people. Great memories come from days like this.

The winner who stomped the most juice wasn't one of us unfortunately but the woman who did actually stomped the entire 4 minutes and had over 6 pounds of juice. We couldn't believe it. It was very impressive because we were all so tired after just 2 minutes, but honestly she was one beefy woman.

All in all is was a great day and we had a drink and hung out after to celebrate being together and raising money and awareness for a worthy cause.

Hope...

I hope you find something in this...it's on a post-it note that I have on the wall of my cube at work. I was looking at it the other day and it sort of jumped out at me so I thought of sharing it with all of you:

-Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us. The scriptures give us patience and encouragement so that we can have hope.
-Patience and encouragement come from God. And I pray that God will help you all agree with each other the way Christ Jesus wants.
Romans 15:4-5

Update:
Just to let you all know that I got a letter today from the supervisor about the possible promotion that I applied for. I have a second interview for the position. So we'll see. If it's meant to be, it'll be... :-) Have a great weekend!

Grapes...Grapes...Grapes...

A few weeks ago an opportunity to do something fun for a good cause popped it's head out to Edith and she brought in all the paperwork and started being a major advocate and tried to get everyone and anyone she could involved. Now it's seems very appropriate in timing.

In Des Moines there's a winery that's going to have grape stomping for cancer. It's called "Crush for the Cure!" This event is on Saturday a couple of hours after I get off of work and there were only enough spots for 16 teams to enter. I think we (Princess employees) are almost all the teams because of Edith's efforts. Those who didn't join to stomp with us donated to the cause. Some of them are going to come and watch in support. It should be a fun day of wine tasting, grape stomping, I'm sure meeting people with cancer and in remission, and raising money and awareness for cancer.

Each team needed a name and my partner and I had no idea so I decided the last minute...
haole feet...

Everyone thought that was funny because our feet won't be white for long!

I'll try and post pictures when I get a chance after the event...

Some sad news...

Life has been interesting lately but like I always seem to say then it wouldn't be life...would it? You have to take the good with the bad in order to grow even when it isn't understood why things are the way they are or when they go the way you don't want them to.

When I first moved here I had friends who would ask me if there were things that I would've changed and the answer to them would sometimes be yes but I always said, no regrets. For everything that I've gone through and been faced with in my life has made me the person I am today. I moved away from home a little more than a year and a half ago by myself. I'm still learning everyday and making many mistakes along the way but that's ok. I feel that life is too short to dwell on things. I try to let things go when I can. It sometimes takes me a little bit of time and I'm not always as successful as I'd like to be but you never know when something will happen. A lot of times it's when you least expect it, especially to the ones you love. You never know how much time you have. Which brings me to my sad news...

Everyday I wear a yellow LIVESTRONG band. Originally I started wearing this band because one of my roommates friends was diagnosed with cancer. As time went on I started wearing it for all the people I had lost too, an Auntie and an Uncle who had passed away a few years ago. Then I found out my friends father-in-law has Hodgkins Lymphoma. One of my Uncles in Hawai'i went to the doctor not to long ago and told my dad (I think) that he had a clean bill of health. But out of the blue and to everyone COMPLETE surprise, he was just diagnosed with cancer. I'm not sure what type of cancer but my mom's thinking it's some type of lung cancer and she said he wasn't given long to live. This was very sad to hear that another family member will be going through this. My Auntie died many years ago and I remembered her funeral, I myself was a child then. There kids (my cousins) are sad about this news as you can expect. Please keep them in your prayers.

Another sad and unexpected call I got this morning was from another friend right after church. My friends boyfriend had blacked out at the movies last night and fell backwards. He cracked his skull open from the back all the way to his jaw and is now in the ICU. I'm sure he's in the best hospital in Seattle to be treated. This morning he was lucid and could carry a conversation but I don't know the extent of the damage. Please keep him in your prayers as well.

I can do everything through Him who gives me strenghth.
-Philippians 4:13

Au Revoir to the good French lady...

I work with some AMAZING woman and I'm very sad to see one of them leave. Today a co-worker of mine, Edith, gave her 2 weeks notice. She was born in France but has lived throughout Europe. She is tri-lingual; french, italian, and of course english. The stories from her life are incredible and God has chosen for Edith to be a wife and mom of 2 children, one of which has special needs and she thinks that's the best job ever and wouldn't trade it for anything.

She calls herself my resident "mama" because my mom is so far away and she knows what it's like not to have a mom around. Hers sadly is no longer here. She's a great person to just sit and have a conversation about anything and everything and it's perfect because our desks are next to each other. That's something I'm going to truly miss. Another thing that always made us giggle or smile to ourselves was when we made comments to eachother followed by a face. Not a bad face or a funny, ugly face but a cute face. Just something between Edith and I and it always happened while one of us was on the phone so we couldn't have a comeback...that's where the faces came in. Good times.

I can't wait to have dinner with Edith and another co-worker when my mom comes to visit because that's going to be a fun and amusing time to look forward to. She truly lights up the room.

So to Edith....your going to be sadly missed.

Happy 4th of July!

I hope that everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July.

Maika, my nephew who will soon be 7, loves fireworks and my mom told me this morning that they're having friends over for a little get together with I'm sure lots of swimming in our pool in the backyard. Maika's been nicknamed, fish. Coincidentally that was my nickname as a kid because I never wanted to get out of the pool either. I mean really, who would! Good times were had in that pool over many many years. It was great.

Enjoy the people around you. They make memories grand... ;-) Don't you agree?

P.S. So the new look of the blog... a keeper? or not? I'm still not sure...

Changes...

Many new things have been happening and are going to happen in the not so far future so I thought that since there were so many changes, my blog should be sporting a new look as well. Don't know if this is the official keeper but we'll see.

This week I interviewed for a promotion at work which is a long shot being that A LOT of people applied for it as well and have been there a lot longer than I have but my thought on it is that if I'm supposed to get it, I will.

In the next several months my company is moving buildings into another downtown Seattle office. We're going from the 4th floor of my current building to the 27th floor in the new one. I guess you could say that's moving on up... :-)

And if I'm not mistaken that might be the same time that I'm on vacation and my mom is finally here for her first visit to Seattle. I'm SSSSOOOOO looking forward to that. I haven't seen her in almost a year already. It sounds like she's looking forward to it too. Only about 3 months away.

Lot's of great things happening and they are something to look forward to. These things and then some.

Change is good in small doses and God knows what we can handle. He never gives us more than our shoulders can carry. That's what makes Him awesome.

This week has been a very hot week. When you think of Seattle this is not the weather that first comes to mind. The heat reminds me of Hawai'i minus the humidity. Don't get me wrong, not complaining. I much rather have these absolutely gorgeous days and that's exactly what they've been.

Like I said, these day's remind me of home and I'd like to take another visit since it's been awhile but that probably won't be for sometime. So for now since it'll be awhile until I see my family again back in Hawai'i; I'll just have to wait for my mother's visit here (YEAH!), visit Mia (who is farther than I like) and enjoy the friends that I've made who have become "my family". Friends like Carrie (a phenominal person), Erin (don't know what I would've done without her), and the people from church among others. Awesome people that I'm sure any would agree are fabulous.

Have a wonderful week.