Yours truly

I haven't posted pics of the bangs yet, as I haven't had any taken in months...been a bit camera shy recently...but the other night lovely Tammy snapped a couple, so here you go.

The bangs:

The alcoholic:

The foolish side of me:

muah xxxx

As cliche as it is, this was kind of fun

I don't generally do these questionnaires, but a friend forwarded this to me and I decided to for once....feel free to skip if you're bored easily.

Have you ever...

Sung someone to sleep? Yes, used sing my little sisters to sleep all the time.
Been to a psychiatrist? No
Baked a cake without a recipe? Yes
Recorded your voice? Repeatedly
Written a novel? No, and I don’t think I ever will
Had a paying job? Yes…used to model and sing professionally
Lost a loved-one? A sister, a niece, a cousin and grandparents
Been in a band? Spent 8 years of my life in one.
Danced in front of people? I think all of us who grew up at the HCS would have to say yes to this one
Wanted children? Once…for about a week. It was a short lived experience.
Been to a concert? Yes, many.
Cried yourself to sleep? Rarely and not in quite a while. I don’t like the puffy eyed look the next morning.
Met someone famous? Yes... mostly famous Japanese singers, actors and such, but I ran into Mariah Carey on a street in Tokyo years and years back…oh and met and talked to Natalie Cole and Eric Clapton after going to their concerts. I’m sure there were others…just can’t remember right now.
Wanted to be famous? Heh, well to be completely honest, when it came to music and singing, I used to have my dreams….
Used a rhyming dictionary? Yes, but very rarely…it feels like cheating
Drew/painted a piece of art to completion? I suppose I must’ve when I was a kid, but I’m no artist.
Streaked? Heck yeah…lol
Gone somewhere deliberately in the hopes of running into someone? Yes, love makes you a fool
Felt so incapable of expressing love that you cried? Yes, again love makes you a fool
Written a song? Too many to count
Climbed a mountain? Yes, Mt. Fuji…and other smaller ones.
Wished you were the opposite gender? Hmmm maybe a couple of times when I was a teen
Stayed up all night? Yes. I regretted it the next day.
Been heartbroken? Yes sort of….but I brought the heartbreak on myself, so that made it easier to take I think.
Been in love with someone who had no idea? Well not really, both times I fell in love the poor victims found out eventually.

Do you...
Stop reading books halfway through? rarely
Sleep during movies? Frequently, especially if I’ve had anything to drink.
Cry during movies? Every once in a very great while....rare tho
Talk a lot? I suppose if I’m full of my subject….but generally no, silence is golden.
Sleep better alone? Absolutely, unless I’m in love with you.
Own a pair of glasses? I wore glasses from 11 – 17 years old…but once I quit office work I stopped using them and eventually lost em. I do have a sunglass fetish, tho...way too many pairs.
Pinch pennies? Yes…I’m generally very careful with my finances.
Quickly lose interest in projects? I suppose my attention span can be short. But I don’t like leaving things undone so I’ll usually finish what I start regardless of whether I'm still interested in it or not.
Misplace things? Not usually
Buy stationery before you need it? Eh? Can’t remember the last time I bought stationery
Love math? Hate everything but fractions
Know a lot of random facts? I guess, but mainly just about music and cooking
Do romantic, thoughtful things for the people you love? I’m not the romantic type really, but yes to the thoughtful things...at least I try
Have difficulty getting rid of things you don't use? Usually yes, though I get into “purging” moods and I’ll get rid of a tun of stuff, even things I actually use.
Notice and remember little things about people? If I care about you, yes
Prefer wine to beer? Not when I was younger, but definitely now. Beer makes me full
Do an accent? I can do a wonderful Japanese accent
Enjoy the spotlight? Jury’s out on this one. I love singing on stage, but generally don’t like undue attention otherwise.
Love board games? Hmmm…scrabble maybe
Buy your own shampoo or toothpaste? Yes to shampoo, no to toothpaste.
Wish people would stop talking about you? I DETEST gossip. Especially being the subject of it.
Keep a journal? No, not unless you count this blog as a journal
Enjoy exotic foods? Not particularly...does Japanese count as exotic?
Cook elaborately for yourself? No, not unless I have someone to share my food with.
Have expensive taste? Heh yes. Unfortunately.
Write on yourself? Definitely, hands and arms are so much more handy than a notebook. lol
Stay up late? I’m trying not to recently. I sleep little enough as it is.
Absolutely love your perfume/cologne or use it because you have it? Love, love, love it. Gucci Accenti or Gucci Rush. My fave’s.
Wish you could be someplace else? Heaven maybe? Sometimes I want to go and live on an island.
Miss people? Hmm…a few people, yes.
Organize to a fault? YES
Take a long time to be satisfied with your work? I’m a perfectionist. Nuff said.
Wear clothes that are too big for you? On a fat day, yes. I’m a big fan of oversized t-shirts and baggy drawstring pants.
Own more than 10 pens? I’m sure I do.
Wear make-up every day? Not everyday, but I try to wear a little most days….I’m not getting any younger, so make up is my friend.
Get angry often? Rarely angry, occasionally annoyed.

And there you have it.....

I know I've been silent, but....

Life's thrown me a couple of curve balls in the last week. I'm still taking it all in.
All things change...but thankfully our Love doesn't. It's comforting to keep repeating that to myself. Honestly, I'm such a creature of habit. I love my ruts. LHM. But I've been given a certain amount of peace about the current changes in the air. Living in the Lord's highest will is so much more important than the more trivial things like having the "comfort groove" of doing the same thing day after day, pretty much knowing what your day/week/life will bring, having a little room you love, living with people who you love dearly and work with effortlessly, having what I call my "sacred spaces" (those are always the ones He makes me give up first...heh), your routines and what have you.
Praying I can be flexible enough to stretch a little further than I thought possible.
He'll never take something away without giving you something better. Amen??
Lovin you

Shoeless Niki

I think I might be cursed or something, I have the worst luck ever, it seems....
The other night I had another strange mishap...I prefer to drive barefoot, so I kicked off my flipflops and drove down to Vons with Windy......we parked, I looked in the backseat for my shoes and strangely enough could only find one. The other one must've fallen out in our driveway. NEways, we were already at the store so I decided to go shopping barefoot. Needless to say, it was pretty funny and a little weird tromping around the grocery store without shoes on, getting strange looks from the people who noticed my bare feet. We had a good laugh.

I have the oddest things happen to me.

B'day, phones etc...

My beautiful, talented, loving, intelligent, awesome Mumsy had her birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday and may this next year be a wonderful one for you. You are missed and sooo loved.








Day 2 of detox...I'm alive, not doing too bad. Apple juice is rather yummy. One day to go
And I have a phone again. Steve ever so lovingly made sure to order me a "water resistant" phone...just incase I should get the urge to put it through the laundry again. Thanks Steve for looking out for me like that. :-P
Man I'm never gonna live that one down. Heh

Nighty all...I'm sore and exhausted and toxic as heck.

3 or so day detox starting tomorrow. Oh joy.
Apple juice here I come.
I will miss you, caffeine.

Snakes....

As embarrassing as it is, it's no secret that I'm utterly terrified of snakes. I don't care if they're the garden variety or poisonous. They freak me out. I'd call it paranoia even.
As you can imagine, living in a little cabin at the bottom of our property makes for lots and lots of time outside, walking up and down from my room and back. Plenty of time to have exciting rendezvous with my nemesis. I've seen 2 snakes in the past 24 hours. One by our pool and one right outside my cabin. If they're already out in April, I'm not sure I'm looking forward to the next 6 or so months of hot weather.
I'm officially freaked. Argh.
At least the ones I saw weren't rattlers. Now that would be a PANIC attack in the making.

Our Luau was fun, Angel took some pics so as soon as she sends em to me I'll post.

Just took a nice long shower after swimming and tanning for a couple hours. So now I feel like a nap. TYJ for freeday.

laterz

Just....something...for a random stranger

Do you remember….

You once gave me a little book and told me that whenever my muse would strike, I should write my thoughts about you in there. You bought one for yourself as well. Silly lovers, we, caught up in the moment, romanticizing about what the future held for us. It suited us to put reality on the shelf for a little while and revel in the dream world we had temporarily created.

I found the book today, read a collection of my random thoughts I had written in there. For a moment I was back there, in another time and place. With you. A tear or two and then a closing of this book, whose final chapter had been written long ago. Time to throw this one away. You are no longer needed, as we both know.

But thanks for the memories.

Aloheyha

Hick's B'day tomorrow....we're throwing a Hawaiian/Japanese themed sushi-luau party.
Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to make Kare Raisu (curry rice for all who don't speak Japlish) and sushi, of course. We have lei's and Hawaiian music, a jacuzzi that works, sake and beer. All in all the making of a (hopefully) fun party. We pray.
I spent most of today on my feet, shopping for and putting away groceries and pickups from Food bank..in addition, I again decided to run the 5.5 miler for my workout (3rd time this week), seeing as I'm to damn scared to do the "little loop" (2. something miles)....see, Linda and I saw a rattlesnake sunning himself in the road while on our little loop walk the other day, up in the avocado groves...so I'm pretty much scared senseless of going that route for a good little while. Argh. So that means I have no choice but to run the long loop and thus tire myself out completely. Yay.
Ok this post is banal and has no bearing on anything remotely important, so I bid you adieu.
Oh and hopefully I'll have a phone pretty soon, as we've just ordered one.

TGIFriday......

because.....

The week is over.....

I got to drive alot and I'm finally starting to get the hang of parking (cringe)
The JT event was a success....first time to play paintball...great fun
I was faithful with my workouts, extra intense this week. Yay.
I got some great historical books from the library that I'm going to indulge in tomorrow...Anthony and Cleopatra here I come
Our JACUZZI got fixed today!!!!!!!!! :-D....(shouts for joy). It's heating up as I speak and the girls and I are about to go have a soak.
I can sleep in tomorrow, blessed freeday.
Even though it's a pain not to have a phone, It's a little bit less stressful, as most of my phone calls are work related. So no phone makes it easier to dodge those ever present work related questions. Heh. :P
Ok, bikinis and jacuzzis await.
I bid you adieu

Goodnight and I miss your voice

2 year anniversary

Since moving from Japan......

Well it's been 2 years tomorrow. 2 years filled with a lifetime of experiences, a million tears, smiles and laughs. The past 2 years have taught me more about myself than I thought possible.
Taught me that I'm a lot weaker than I try to pretend to be, but that I'm a lot stronger than I thought I actually was. Taught me that I'm capable of adapting in ways I would have been completely closed off to before.
Taught me that I'm capable of loving and being loved for me, not for my accomplishments and for what I used to consider "defined" me....music.
Taught me that in the end, I have Him and He's more than enough. (I keep re-learning this one).
I know this post might be easy to construe. I'm not singing my own praises, more just singing the praises of the One who got me through some of the craziest/best times of my life during the past 2 years.
I dug a couple of pics up from my farewell concert in Japan. They kind of touched me in some weird way, so here you go.....


You'll never find new horizons if you lack courage to lose sight of the shore.

Argh....

My stupidity is astounding. I forgot I had my phone in my pocket when I put my jacket in the laundry this morning.
You can figure out what happened after that.
So if anyone tries to call, I'm not ignoring you, but I probably won't answer. :-(
Man, I'm kicking myself today.

Trauma in the 2nd floor bathroom

Looking at my last post I think that’ll be the last time I’m ever complaining on this here blog that I don’t have anything to blog about. Case in point:

This morning after a wonderful spoon-feeding from dear John and Kevin (aka devotions) I headed to the upstairs bathroom to take a shower. I locked the outside door, proceeded to get undressed and went into the inside part of the bathroom, kicking the inner door shut with my foot. Bad move.

I turned around and lo and behold the damn doorknobs were nowhere to be seen. The door had clicked shut and I had no way to open it. Basically what this means is that I was locked, with only my towel on, in the inner part of our bathroom.

It only gets better. So I’m sitting there trying not to freak out, contemplating what on earth I could use to get the door open. There was nothing. I mean nothing. So, I look up and see the tiny little window near the ceiling of the bathroom. Me, being the enterprising soul that I am, decided to climb up and lean my head out the window, hoping some random home member passing by would hear me if I shouted for help.

No one came. I waited for an hour and finally decided that I couldn’t spend the day locked in the bathroom. Nope, not gonna work.

To make a very long, funny, embarrassing story short, I ended up somehow (don’t ask me how I did it, I must be crazy) managing to pull myself up and out the tiny window and run across our tiled roof to another part of the house, where I banged on the window of a poor unsuspecting soul's room and was finally let back into the house. All in just my towel (which managed to partially slip off a couple times). Argh.

I have scratches and bruises all over me now. Waaaa. Ouchie..."I need tisses to mate it better".

Awesome way to start the day. NOT....well, at least I got to practice extreme praise for an hour.

And now I’m scared of the bathroom.

of blogging and writing and muses and such

I'm sorry I've been silent of late.
I always hate it when I blog hop and people never update. Ahem. I am becoming what I hate.
I used to have these epiphanies during my day and think "that'd make a great post". It's funny tho, maybe a product of blogging for going on 4 years now, but I find myself thinking that less and less. Either my creativity is drying up or my thought patterns have become predictable and boring, thus not blog worthy material.
NEways, with life being as fast paced as it is, I don't have much time for letting the creative juices flow. That and my muse has hidden itself and I can't find it anywhere. Weep.
You know, I just figured it out. I need to fall in love again so that I can become a veritable wellspring of emo posts. Oh joy.
Easier said than done. Unfortunately I'm not the type that falls easily. Or ever. Hardly.
Too bad, because writing becomes a breeze when I do.

Currently reading through the Khalil Gibran book whenever I get a moment or two. It's brilliant. And I've been formulating a couple plans that are hopefully taking shape, involving visiting a certain beautiful kindred spirit in Texas for part of my Summer vacation, and then maybe Mexico to see the long lost family in Cuernavaca. I so hope it works out. We shall see.

And I'm missing you.

I'm tired.

Resting in the Lord....

Theme song for the day:
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.......

Trying to be strong all the time can get very tiring. I like to think that I pull my load and hold up pretty well under intense circumstances. Generally.
But really, I'm just a weakling and would be useless without my Jesus.
My personality is such that I often take on too much and stress myself out due to my own "unrealistic expectations". (Darn, I seem to remember I even wrote a song about this...you'd think I'd have learned by now....)
I'm (again...this seems to be a regular lesson) realizing that I have way too high expectations of myself, unrealistic goals that go contrary to what I should be doing, resting in the Lord.
I'm experiencing the consequences of my actions recently, so if you would, pray that I can pull out of this and power through, I'd appreciate it.

Thank luvs

Wish you were nearer...sigh