A Little Peek Inside

Waiting for the Right One

2012-01-25T05:46:00.000-08:00

I love a good bargain. Who doesn't?

So instead of spending $150 - $200 on a new juicer, I'm holding out on Craigslist to wait for a deal. For example, last week I saw a Breville Juicer that normally retails for $200 on Amazon listed for only $100, used only a couple of times AND it was in my town!

I emailed this person, but he or she never got back to me, so I was too late. I've got an RSS alert set up so that anybody who has a "Breville Juicer" for sale will land in my inbox right away.

I think it's the thrill of the game that's exciting more than anything.

Oh and speaking of Craigslist, reselling my strollers I use for my reviews has worked out fantastic. I just got a new one a few days ago to review, I was just waiting for the rain to clear to take it out for a test drive. Today's the day to do just that!

Experimenting with More Generosity

2012-01-22T07:59:00.000-08:00

My family and I are not awash in financial wealth. We get by though and through careful choices we are debt-free and shall remain that way. That being established, we need to give more money to causes we believe in. We just need to give more.

I already donate time to my son's school: two hours per week plus an art lesson once a month. And while that reaps the rewards of a closer relationship with his teacher, I need to practice more dana, or generosity, particularly in the form of cash donations.

Most religions encourage, even require, tithing. Many expect 10% of your income to go toward giving. It is said that you reap what you sow, and it is the law of karma that you get back what you give.

I can't help but think that if we gave more then we'll be better off just knowing we're doing our part to support organizations that reflect our values. Right now we give small donations every now and then such as special occasions or to emergency situations such as the Thai floods or Japanese earthquake. I always felt good afterward, but a feeling always lingered that I could and should give more.

My goal is to give more regularly this year.

Let's see what happens.

Reflections on my Past

2012-01-12T06:32:00.000-08:00

I had a vivid dream last night about my first love. I was 17 years old and a new girl in high school with no real friends. So when he came into my life, not only were those feelings exceptionally strong, as teenage love is, but my entire life was wrapped up in him.

So much so that decades later I can still have dreams about him that have profoundly strong feelings. I dreamed he died in an accident and I was communicating with his mother, both of us deep in grief and I was despondent. An absolute wreck.

Why do I still have these feelings? I have no intentions with anybody but my husband and with my first love, well, we're friends on FaceBook and the last time I saw him was at his wedding 4 years ago or so. We chat occasionally on the phone.

But sometimes I have these incredibly emotional dreams about him and I think the significance is not necessarily with him but with the feelings.

So after waking this morning I meditated on the "why" of those feelings and thought about what else was going on in my life and how I can help Aidan become a better success than myself once he becomes a teenager. Looking back, I can see how these circumstances profoundly affected the direction my life took and why I am where I am today. I wrapped myself up in what felt good emotionally because I had no other focus or encouragement, except one little thing: something my dad said.

My dad told us to complete college. He was supportive but didn't otherwise get involved. He said to me and my sisters that we should complete college and he repeated that throughout our high school and college years. I had no direction - no idea what to do or what was interesting, but I knew I had to complete college.

High school became background noise to my boyfriend. I took after school jobs to earn my own spending money. I maintained average grades despite daydreaming, doodling and even cheating to get by.

Now this post is truly NOT a "blame the parents for my problems" screed, it's more a reflection on what happened. I've heard here and there that parents tend to back off their kids once they reach high school level because they look like adults and well, they must know what to do! My parents were pretty hands off with me and my sisters, as long as our grades weren't awful and we didn't get into trouble.

But because they were hands off, I never knew what to explore within school. They never questioned me, that I remember, about what interested me. Mom and dad never encouraged me to pursue a club or outside activity. So I wrapped myself up in my boyfriend and took a job so I could buy nice clothes and go out.

I went to community college and met Melanie while working at Taco Bell, who became my best friend and life from then on was about going out and having fun and boys. Fun and boys, fun and boys with a part time job and school on the side.

My parents had their own stuff to worry about and they never questioned or pressured me. Just stay in school, you'll eventually figure it out.

The fact that I vividly remember my dad encouraging me to finish college proves that teenagers do listen. And I know that if they encouraged me more to pursue a student foreign exchange program or join a debate team or make an appointment with the career counselor or start my OWN business instead of just getting a job, my life would be vastly different. I was a late bloomer and a job drifter, dissatisfied with my jobs (until now) because I lacked direction and put all the energy I had onto my first love and subsequent hedonistic parties well into my 20s.

I don't want that for Aidan. While I don't plan on being a tiger mom, I'm certainly going to be involved, be more nosy about how he chooses to spend his time once he becomes a teenager and encourage him to explore his options with help from me and others who can help him become aware of those options. Join clubs and have after school activities. And understand when he gets wrapped up in girls, especially once he finds HIS first love, but not let her become his entire existence.

And so this is how last night's dream evolved. Lots of introspection of the path my life has taken and how I can improve it for my son who's only still 6. There's no blame, only observation on how I can make my son's life better and understand where I am today and why. It's been an interesting ride.

A better year in 2012

2012-01-09T16:22:00.000-08:00

I'm an optimist! What can I say... well, I can say that since the first week of 2012 has gone by, I'm feeling quite good about this year. I think it's going to be better than 2011.

For a huge variety of reasons, there are lots of people who bid 2011 with a good riddance. Someone said maybe it's out of desperation that we hope for something better this year. I don't like to look at it that way. 2011 wasn't horrible, but I still think this year is going to be much better and I'm excited about welcoming it in.

I've been actively sowing the seeds of my business since 2009 and I have faith that all that hard work is going to pay off soon. I've delved into my stroller reviews business with more vim and vigor, producing videos and personal photographs to enhance my articles. I fully intend to be at the top!

In that vein, let me give you a taste of this personalized review that I'm talking about. Here is a review of the Mia Moda Atmosferra stroller, complete with the video review. You can also see the video here or watch it right now:

So here's to a glorious 2012! No resolutions, just hard work with the faith that producing something of good value will return its rewards.

Cheers!

Pampering for my Birthday

2011-12-23T08:02:00.000-08:00

Photo credit: The Daily Obsession

Am I one lucky lady! Last week was my birthday (the 12th) and my BFF for over 20 years informed me that she'd like to take me to her favorite spa for a day of pampering! The last time I had a day of pampering like this was for my birthday in 2009 when both my bestest buddies, M & C, took me to the Clairmont where I had a body scrub AND a facial.

This year M took me to a spa near her place of work in the Presidio in San Francisco. It's called SenSpa and it's got a tranquil, Asian theme throughout, which I totally love. The picture above is the Warm Room where you lounge and wait for your appointment. Behind the giant coin sculpture is a cascading fountain over glass. The heater in the middle has a moving, spiral flame, which I'd never seen before but looks utterly magical.

When we first arrived, we got into our robes and headed to the steam room. We each took in a glass of lemon cucumber water, which was delicious (I'll have to make this at home!) and a cold iced wash cloth. It felt lovely opening up those pores.

After that it was shower time, taking a long, leisurely shower with all the jets on massaging the entire body and one of those huge shower heads that dump down water all over your head. AAAAH!

Then we retired to the warm room where we waited for our appointments. M got a massage and I got a facial. My beauty regimen is basic, to say the least, and my skin shows it. After today I have sworn to invest more in my skin.

My technician, or therapist, was Bianca, a beautiful Romanian woman with a flawless complexion. My facial included two things I've been wanting to get done for ages: microdermabrasion and a chemical peel. Both slough off dead skin cells, lighten pigmentation and reduce fine wrinkles.

It felt wonderful and I feel like I got a good head start on my facial upkeep. The recommended products were out of my budget, but I swear I will get them once my income increases in 2012.

The day after my facial my skin felt tender and toward the end of the day it was hot, like a windburn, and red. So I blotted my face with a cool wash cloth and put on more moisturizer.

After our spa indulgence I took M to lunch on Chestnut Street, which has lots of cool little restaurants and shops. We went to a restaurant called A16, where we shared a wood-fired pizza, a tasty salad and a delicious appetizer. No wine though. #1 M was driving and it would be unfair and #2 we were just informed that our skin was very dehydrated, so drinking alcohol would be an unwise choice.

It was a perfect day. By the time we slogged home in the rush hour Bay Area traffic it was early evening.

Thanks again, M! It was a brilliant day and one I won't soon forget!

Semi-Homeschooling

2011-12-11T07:44:00.001-08:00

It is a problem that many parents face: Your child has a class mate who is THE troublemaker. In Aidan's class, there is a boy who has some serious problems. He disrupts the teacher and bothers the other students. He blocks the flow of learning when children are trying to focus and do their work.

At the parent/teacher conference last week, Aidan's teacher told us that she just doesn't know what to do anymore and that she plans to have a behaviorist come into her class to give her some advice because she's used up her "bag of tricks" with this troubled boy. She admitted that when this boy was absent for a few days last week, the entire vibe of the class completely changed. That is such a shame!

Aidan talks about this boy frequently and mimics his antics. This child has infected the behavior of a few boys in this class, influencing relatively well-behaved children to misbehave. My child is included - he's picked up some bad habits.

So Aidan's teacher, instead of teaching, has to spend a lot of her time giving this troublemaker individual attention. This gives the kid additional attention from the entire class. Ms. Teacher has to stop her instruction and deal with this kid's antics. Classmates think that the troublemaker is being funny and, well, since that gets attention, they copy that behavior.

It's utterly disgusting and my child is being cheated. And there is nothing I can do about it.

But the only thing I CAN do is make up for it at home. Already for an hour each day Aidan and I hang out together and do homework, read and play this coin counting game, which involves math in a fun way. But I want to make sure that what the class is lacking is made up at home.

Have you dealt with this problem with your kid(s)? What did you do and how did your child turn out long term?

Eliminating Coffee

2011-11-27T06:56:00.001-08:00

About a month ago, Golf and I watched a movie on Netflix streaming called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. The director and creator, Joe Cross, is a lively and likeable Australian who came to the USA for 60 days to do a juice fast and lose some weight. He had a chronic skin condition, not to mention heart and cholesterol problems.

During this time he also talked to Americans about food and what they actually eat. That most of their diets are made up of highly processed grains, too much dairy and meat. Vegetables and fruits, which should make up like 65% of your diet, ranked at only 5%.

Joe Cross also met a trucker during his travels and later helped him lose a tremendous amount of weight and changed his life.

I don't need to lose 100 pounds, though! Only 15 - 20 pounds. I would also like to do a juice fast to jump start my progress, likely a 7 to 10 day cleanse like a lady he interviewed during the movie. She wasn't overweight, but she suffered from migraine headaches and she was doing the fast to help her with that and her overall health.

I love coffee!

But I have an obstacle I need to overcome before I start this purifying cleanse. I'm addicted to caffeine! I've been a loyal and enthusiastic coffee drinker for nearly half my life. I love the taste and the mental boost that caffeine gives me. I drink not only coffee but iced tea (both green and black) and Diet Coke. Love it ALL!

So beginning today I've decided to wean myself down and by January, I'll be caffeine free and ready to do a juice cleanse. I'll also be ready to buy a nice juicer! I'm already on Craigslist looking to buy one for a cheaper price than online.

How am I weaning? Beginning today, I am limiting myself to only one cup of coffee in the morning. Normally I have two. Instead of cup #2 of coffee, I am taking a cup of black tea, English style (a little milk and sweetener). Mid morning I'll have another tea and then no more hot caffeinated beverages. In a few more days I will have only tea. Then from there I will slowly wean myself down from all caffeine. No more Diet Coke. I normally have a glass-and-a-half per day, so it's not out of control, but I would like to give my body a break.

And that's what this cleanse is for - not only for getting rid of some extra weight, but to show myself that I can do this, that it is possible. I'm curious to see how I will feel as well.

January is also a good time to do my juice fast because that marks my one year anniversary of regular green smoothie diet! Yep. I've been consistently having green smoothies nearly every day and while I feel better and have more energy, I do need a big boost with the juice.

I'll report my progress here.

Holding Off Another Year?

2011-11-20T07:03:00.001-08:00

Ugh. I hate to say this, but Golf and I have decided to hold off going back to Thailand to live for one more year, or at least for the time being... Why in the world would we do this?

The flooding has not only damaged physical infrastructure, but also the economy. Additionally, the situation has brought out ugly political fighting, worsened with the possible pardon of Thaksin. This will likely cause worse turmoil within the country, so we just want to stand back right now.

There is another reason we want to hold off. My business. I do stroller reviews as well as other baby gear and I've taken it up a notch by purchasing my own products to use and review and make videos. I don't have to tell you how much more meaningful that is, right?

Let me tell you, it is far easier, and less expensive, to do product reviews right here in the United States than in Thailand. This change is critical for my business' success and giving it a year to grow and become more financially steady is smart.

After all I have to make a choice. My business or another fancy that is spiritually gratifying? Frankly right now I have to buckle down and work and Golf seemed reluctant all along to go back.

Maybe by summer we can take a month to come over and stay. You know, an in-between compromise. I miss Bangkok, afterall, and the entire expat lifestyle. But change happens and I'll never live the same lifestyle I did pre-kid. Having a child changes EVERYTHING and if I think I'll be living there as I did before, I am quite mistaken.

So there you have it - new goals, new timeline. Let's wait and see what happens.

PS: Speaking of my business, I need to do a quick plug here: I've written my latest article on Shopaholic Mommy about what lies ahead for Baby Trend strollers. If you're a newer mama and need this information, you should check it out. :)

11/11/11

2011-11-11T07:01:00.001-08:00

For the first time in 100 years it is, again, 11/11/11. I had heard, probably on Coast to Coast AM, that on this day what I want is tripled. I should light a white candle and meditate on the things that I want, and so early this morning I lit my brand new vanilla-scented votive and thought about and wished for what I wanted.

Unfortunately, during this time, my mind wandered toward a woman with whom I worked during the ESL testing I was doing a month and a half ago who was having some serious personal issues. Why my mind went there, I don't know. So instead of focusing on her sour frowning face, I turned it around and wished for her to be well and happy again.

One area of my life needs improvement. Lots of us are in that same situation though, so it's not like my family is in the minority on that one. It's for better a better financial outlook. In my case, if some obstacles are cleared, then that will open up the path for better income, but it is out of my control. So I keep on doing what I can and doing my best.

But all other aspects in my life that are going well; I acknowledge that and am extremely grateful.

So have a happy and contemplative 11/11/11 everyone. It is an auspicious day indeed!

What are you wishing for today? Comment below!

Shake it Up!

2011-10-21T11:53:00.000-07:00

I have an irrational fear of earthquakes. Not good for someone who lives only a few miles from a very active fault line (the Hayward Fault Line).

Yesterday we had not one but TWO earthquakes right about 4.0 on the Richter Scale. The first one was at 3:46 PM it rattled some of our things, and it happened BOOM! Just like that. Usually I can hear it coming a second or two before it hits. This one gave no warning and it was a jolt rather than a roll.

The second one was at 8:16 PM and I was standing on the sidewalk outside. It felt like one sharp jolt as well, but Golf was up here in our apartment on the 3rd floor and he said it shook worse than the one in the afternoon. He was putting Aidan to bed when it happened.

I can't help what happens to me when an earthquake hits. My heart beats so fast it feels like it's going to explode out of my chest. My whole body shakes and my legs get so weak I feel like I'm going to fall down. After the 2nd one hit last night, I could not sleep. I put my headphones on and listened to late night radio until 5 AM, my usual wake up time.

Today I bought some earthquake preparedness items. 3 gallons of water. I'll put them under Aidan's bed. 4 cans of tuna. A 6-pack of ramen noodles. Plus we have some other canned food in the cupboard, but it's a start. We just don't have a whole lot of room. We already have candles and batteries. I feel a bit more prepared today.

In other news, my site got Panda slapped again. For those not into SEO, that means that Google changed its algorithm again last week and my best baby strollers site got hit hard. Over 50% drop. It sucks! But there is nothing I can do but continue with my good work.

I have decided to take it up a notch and do more stroller reviews myself. I've ordered a really cool new stroller and it ought to be here early next week. I will use it out over a period of a few days, see if any of my mommy friends with babies want to try it out and then make a YouTube video.

In the meantime I've been busy writing articles. A new opportunity presented itself earlier this week and I got to post an article on Schmoozins.com. The article is called Brand New Strollers for 2012. I'm really excited about this blog and it's got some great information on there.

Then I just had my bi-weekly article published on Shopaholicmommy.com. This article is called Chicco Expands & Improves Stroller Selection. There are lots of changes and new stroller models coming out late this year and beginning next year. Lots of stuff to write about!

So despite my business shake up and the literal shake-up of California, I'm excited about the direction my business is going. I know things well shape up again soon.

New Green Smoothie Combo

2011-10-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

When Aidan was in his school at the Berkeley Thai Temple yesterday, I discovered that a local Berkeley Bowl natural food store was just two blocks away. I went in without any intention to buy anything, just wanted to pass some time before lunch.

Berkeley Bowl is famous for abundant produce, cheap produce with many different varieties of fruits and vegetables. Often times prices are half of what you'd pay at a Safeway or Lucky grocery store chain and even farmer's markets!

So I ended up buying a big grocery bag full of yummy produce to have for dinners and for my green smoothies.

Today's smoothie I tried something different. I bought some raw flax seed meal. Flax seed has lots of Omega 3 fatty acids that help combat bad cholesterol and has lots of fiber! So I put a scoop of that into my smoothie today.

For greens, I saw something there I'd never seen before: green pea sprouts! And for only $1.89/lb! I paid $1.89 for the 4 oz tub of little clover sprouts, so the same price for 4 times as much sprouts was such a deal, so I got about a pound of it to use as my main green vegetable for my smoothie today. So total was combined clover and sweet pea sprouts. While at Berkeley Bowl I bought a type of organic kale I'd not seen before, but it didn't go into the smoothie today. I plan to try it out later this week!

The rest of the smoothie was made up of:

frozen pineapple and strawberries
1.5 cups of unsweetened organic soy milk
3 scoops of whey protein vanilla shake mix
a few sprinkles of steevia extract sweetener

This makes enough for two breakfasts. The sprouts give a very strong flavor and I couldn't consume it all in one go. I had half, took Aidan to school, got back from my powerwalk and now I was just able to finish it.

With it being October already, that means I've been drinking green smoothies on a fairly regular basis for 10 months now. Knock wood, I've hardly gotten sick and have been feeling healthy and fantastic!

Work Updates & Planning a Thailand Return

2011-10-02T06:30:00.001-07:00

Wow, three weeks already and now we're in a new month! I was dreading October's arrival a little bit because I was wishing for September to stretch on a few more days. Why? Because I was so disappointed in my earnings! My stroller site's traffic was like a roller coaster, up then down, up then down, and all the while trending slightly downward. BOO! Turns out quite a few business owners experienced the same phenomenon.

Because of this and past experience of my sites falling prey to Google's algorithm changes, I need a more diverse income, so I've decided to pursue my old job in Bangkok when we return to Thailand. Originally I was adamant about not doing anything but working on my sites, but I think that earning a local currency with an occupation that is high in demand is smarter, just in case my income gets slashed in half because of a whimsical change on Google's end. Once I get my income WAY up will I decide it's time to cut back on teaching.

So here's the plan: Currently I've been working mornings to administrate the annual California English language learner's test within the local school district. So far my team and I have finished two middle schools with one more to go. That should be done in about a week and a half. After that, it's full throttle with my websites, writing as much content as possible and starting site #4 in about four months.

Then come January I will contact my former employer in Bangkok and discuss coming back, when, negotiate pay and Aidan's tuition. I'm confident I'll get hired back on since the director said he would welcome my return, plus I've stayed in the education system, more or less, in the six years I've been away.

Before January, I'm getting Golf's and Aidan's passports updated.

I've told my husband that he will be in a unique and valuable position in Thailand because he is so fluent in English and familiar with western ways. He's been disconnected with any network in Bangkok because he's lived in the US for so long, and it's important to have connections to find any decent employment for Thais.

I told him he could probably find work at the US Embassy or through one of the businesses at the American Chamber of Commerce Thailand since he is a US citizen now. He needs to just promote himself and attend some events.

Overall, he's not nearly as excited about returning as I am. I will miss my friends and family here, but I've always thrived in Thailand and had a thoroughly enjoyable experience there. I always felt my opportunities shined brighter abroad and it will be my chance to shine again for a few short years. Golf prefers life in California. It's all a compromise!

So that's it for now. Here's expecting that October going forward will bring on more fruitful abundance!

Getting Back to Thai

2011-09-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

First a little backstory: I had known in the back of my head about this podcast production called Bangkok Podcast, but I had forgotten about it until I read Cat's post that it was shutting down. So in my curiosity, I went to iTunes and downloaded a couple of episodes and was extremely impressed with the production.

So impressed, in fact, that I've been voraciously listening to multiple episodes per day, reminiscing about my time in Thailand from 2001-2005. Greg, one of the Bangkok Podcast hosts, has been there since 2001 as well and on his personal blog, he had commented about spending the last decade in Krung Thep and how much change had taken place. Boy could I relate to his photos of the new Paragon shopping center under construction and how sad it was to see the beautifully designed Intercontinental Hotel get torn down (at least I got to go inside once and tour the gardens before Paragon!) I also remember the opening of the MRT subway and how exciting that was despite the initial glitches.

Anyway, getting back to Thai. In their Bangkok Podcast, Greg and his co-host Tony have a Thai language series where they talk about learning Thai from foreigners who have become fluent in the language and they discuss how they did it and what it is like living in Thailand when this major form of communication is opened up to them. It's been so engaging and encouraging that I've decided to crack down on my Thai again.

I have 7 months to see how far I can get and this is my plan. Rather than go out and spend a ton of money, I'm going to work with what I already have and the goal is to READ. Reading will improve my vocabulary and therefore improve my speaking. It will open up my world.

So I will finish with my two novels I'm currently involved in and as soon as I'm done with them, I'm going to finish the Teach Yourself Thai book I'm in the middle of - and have been for over a year - and then get Benjawan's newest talking dictionary. Even that one is on hold, because I have her old one that I think will do for now.

Then I plan to go through all of Aidan's worksheets from his summer Thai school and read all the new words on them, write them out, translate them and study them. Learn Thai with a 6-year-old! I'd like to see how far I can take it by March or April 2012.

Because our goal is to go back to Bangkok at that time!

Golf is a US Citizen!

2011-09-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

Our family reached a major milestone today. My husband became a citizen of the United States on this day!
He took the Oath of Citizenship at the Paramount Theater in Oakland this morning along with 1,200 other people from 96 countries. The balcony of the beautiful theater was filled with friends and family for the joyous occasion. Mom and Dad made the journey the night before and joined us.

The night before, the parents took us out in a celebration dinner at a steakhouse in Oakland and while the restaurant was more casual than expected, the food was outstanding! I just shared with Aidan and Mom, but Golf had a huge steak that he devoured and was a happy and satisfied man.

On Wednesday, the BIG day, Aidan didn't go to school so he could attend, too. The ceremony was just right, not too long. The MC could greet and say some sentences in Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Tagalog, French and Hindi and needless to say, all of us in the audience were impressed!

Later on, the lady who would do the swearing-in oath, read the names of the 96 countries represented that day. When your home country was read, you would stand and by the end of the list, everyone was standing. They were then instructed to raise their right hand and repeat the oath line by line. It was cool.

Then new citizens handed in their green cards and received a certificate of naturalization. They now don't have to prove that they are in the United States legally. Think about it. I don't have to carry documentation with me because I am a citizen. Golf doesn't either. Made me feel so good and it brought a big cheer in the audience.

It was such a great day and Golf was on top of the world as we all were.

Next step in the coming months is to get his American passport.With a green card, his travel prospects were restricted, along with time limits. But with citizenship his options just expanded significantly.

Website Showcase: Baby Development News

2011-09-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

Attention new moms! I want to show you a fabulous website called Baby Development News, which is all about ensuring your baby masters and fully develops all natural skills, abilities and talents during the first 24 months.

Baby Development News is run by webmaster/owner Dalene, who is a professional occupational therapist. She enjoys the company of children and especially newborns to age 10 years. Dalene's passion is to help babies and children achieve their full potential and develop their natural abilities.

BDN has informative articles on baby's progress, such as the time they are newborns and during their first year. On BDN you will also learn about the skills children must master, such as language development.

You also get valuable information about the best developmental baby toys and some informative baby food reviews.

So come check out Baby Development News to have all your questions answered by Dalene, who's got one heck of a site that greatly helps parents with small children.

Original Article written for the best baby strollers blog at Stroller Envy

Day Trip to Point Reyes

2011-08-27T07:55:00.000-07:00

Golf had a bunch of work to do yesterday, so I planned a day outing for Aidan and myself. I wanted to take Aidan to the real ocean because he had only been around San Francisco Bay, particularly in Alameda. He'd never seen the open ocean in all its glory.

I wanted to go to Point Reyes National Seashore. The last time I had been there was at least 20 years ago on a camping trip with the family and Mellie came along too. I wanted to show Aidan the lighthouse there, since I think he would be impressed. So I packed us a lunch and we took off for our destination.

By looking on the map I thought it would take maybe an hour or so to get there, but in all it took just over 2 hours! The fog was lifting when we crossed the San Rafael bridge - clear at the coast! COOL! This time of year it usually clears up by late morning.

However, once we got nearer to the ocean, the fog came back with a vengeance and by the time we reached the lighthouse it was so thick with misty fog that you couldn't see much of anything. It was a tiny bit scary driving in that when you're on a narrow road and signs on either side of the road warn you of the dangerous cliffs. So I inched along at about 15 MPH not caring if the car behind me got impatient. Let them!

But the ocean was impressive and the cliffs were beautiful once we arrived. We had to climb down hundreds of narrow stairs down to the old lighthouse. The fog horn was sounding off in intervals.

Aidan got to go onto the lighthouse and was impressed with it all around. We also got to see some resident deer up close.

When the lighthouse visit was done, we ate lunch in the car. We had just enough time to visit one of the beaches before we had to head back. The unexpected time it took to get there gave us less time to hang out before hitting rush hour traffic back in the Bay Area.

So I gave us about 50 minutes to explore a nearby beach. It was still a bit foggy but starting to clear up a little bit so you could see some scenery.

I was impressed and astounded at Mother Nature today. I have never seen the waves so huge, and I mean that sincerely! Signs at the beach warned us not to swim or even wade in the water because of the rough surf and sure enough it was not an inviting ocean on that day.

The only unfortunate thing that happened was that my trusty old hiking boots fell apart. The rubber soles corroded from the salty air and sand. I felt sad because these boots went with me on my Annapurna Circuit in Nepal and through many hikes and adventures. I may see about getting them resoled because they're good leather and extremely comfortable, just a little bit heavy.

Dad even bought Aidan some new hiking boots so we can take more hiking day trips. I love getting into Nature and being in the outdoors and want to share that with my son in a big way. Golf ain't into it much, he's an indoor man.

Anyway, it was a fantastic way to end the summer holidays. Today is catching up on chores, tomorrow is the day the kids come to the Thai Temple to receive their certificates of course completion and then Monday Aidan starts Grade 1 - with the teacher I requested, too! Life is great.

Summer Catch-Up

2011-08-17T06:37:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that school has started for many Bay Area districts on Monday. I've never heard of school starting in mid-August! Aidan doesn't start kindergarten until the 29th, so we've got about a week and a half left and in that time we'll visit my parents for a long weekend before school starts as well.

Aidan has been going to his Thai language and culture school at the temple in Berkeley four days a week and he's learned a lot. This year's teachers are fantastic! They give out homework and demand excellence from the students. The kids work hard. They also want to make sure the kids know how to stand for the Thai national anthem properly. If the etiquette is never practiced, it can never be learned!

On Sunday the 14th, the temple celebrated Thai Mother's Day and this photo is from that ceremony. Aidan impressed everyone when he said in Thai that his loves me the most in the whole world. He speaks flawlessly for a boy his age and his exposure to Thai. Aidan's love for his father and Golf's insistence in speaking only Thai has made Aidan fully bilingual. It's absolutely wonderful!

Golf had his citizenship test on the 8th and he passed it with no problem as I knew he would! He's now awaiting the notification of when his oath taking will be. Next on the agenda, once he's officially an American, is to get his new passport and research ways to do some government translation projects.

On the 9th I began working at the testing center, testing incoming kindergarteners with their English and it's been fun working with such cute little ones. Aidan is so much more grown and mature in just a year, it's amazing to compare.

So now I'm working only in the mornings rather than sticking around for afternoon sessions. This is because I want some time to work on my websites! My online earnings are now replacing what I would have earned working full time at the testing center. YES! So now I've decided to only use my substitute teaching permit for the CELDT every year. No more substitute teaching. Not that I did it much last year anyway - I think I did it twice.

My plans are to get a new laptop within the next few months. This one is already about 3 years old, which, by technology definition, means it's out of date! But I'm going to give it to Golf to replace his Toshiba laptop which is about 6 1/2 years old! Yeah, he needs an update much more desperately!

I've been out promoting Stroller Envy, putting out a press release called All-Terrain Strollers Hot Sales Items this Summer. I invested quite a bit into this release, so we'll see how well it does over time. I also wrote a couple of guest posts for a blog called New Parent Tips. The first is called Top 3 Disney Cars Toys for Your Toddler for The Leaping Lamp and the second is called Trending Now: Convertible Strollers. I've been quite pleased with how much I've been writing for other blogs. I've got another new article due to Shopaholic Mommy tomorrow.

I tried out FaceBook ads for The Leaping Lamp and got about a hundred new fans, and for both sites, I've become more active on site blogging which seems to have boosted traffic. It's been both fun and enlightening with how much work marketing your product takes.

Having my own business has been one of the best expressions and journeys of self-growth I've ever been on. I've learned so much, both about business, online marketing and humanity all at once - it is quite an education in and of itself. I'm grateful for the experience. The feeling of taking matters into your own hands and creating your own economic reality on your own terms is utterly priceless.

Speaking of which, I'm a big Dave Ramsey fan. How does that relate? He's got a movement he's started called The Great Recovery. He believes that The Great Recession can be healed and it starts from the bottom up rather than the top down through government jobs programs. I agree with him because I'm doing it myself.

He talks about "God's way of handling money" and while I am not a Christian I feel that these principles hold truth. The debtor is slave to the lender. I've always felt this way. Save your money, sacrifice now for better returns later. Always felt a connection with that. Ramsey can be a bit controversial, but that makes him entertaining. He's uplifting and positive, most of all, and he cuts through all the BS that you hear every day from our so-called leaders in office. BLEH!

So that's what's up for now. I should update more often so that I don't write so much next time!

Always Moving Forward

2011-08-05T06:49:00.000-07:00

Suddenly three weeks has gone by and I realized I haven't updated my personal blog! The main reason is that I've had some articles published elsewhere on the web that I want to bring your attention to, but had to wait until they'd been released.

First let me start with a little story. I was reading the SBI member forums of one web entrepreneur who started in 2009, just like me, and she has two websites, just like me, but unlike me, her websites are earning her $10k in monthly income! It made me feel a bit like a fool because my websites aren't yet earning 1/10th of what hers are, but I must realize that my niches are different.

My Pixar site simply doesn't have the commercial intent that her sites do, but I think that over time, it will earn a higher income, though not a powerhouse of income.

Her story also inspired me, to know what the possibilities are. She gave some valuable tips that I implemented right away and I hope that these little tweaks will make a difference.

On Tuesday I had my first major press release unleashed upon the media around the world! Actually, in January I had published another one, but it was quite limited in its distribution compared with this one. I shelled out some serious cash for this release, and I've yet to be able to measure the results, but from what I understand, such press releases are always worth the investment. The article is about the popularity of all terrain strollers and the title is All-Terrain Strollers Hot Sales Items this Summer.

It hasn't generated the extra links I was hoping for, but at least I have a good link from PRWeb.

I've also gotten some media inquiries from the article, one from a lifestyle show in Florida. I thought that was pretty cool, except that as the conversation moved forward, I was told that I'd have to pay over $5,000 to "insure" the show that I'd show up for the interviews for the show segment! Whoa, I don't think so! Even if I had that kind of money. You'd think that simply the opportunity to promote your product or service would be motivating enough! I'd never heard of this practice before.

Lastly, I just had an article published over at Shopaholic Mommy about the Contours line of Kolcraft strollers. The new tandem Optima is exciting and the entire brand is surprisingly good quality for prices that are almost too good to be true.

While you're on her site, you should check out the other deals and topics she writes about. It's quite helpful, entertaining and interesting.

Getting Involved at Thai School

2011-07-15T06:48:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a parent meeting for the Aidan's Thai school at the Berkeley Wat and we hashed out a schedule for several parents to come supervise during the lunch hour. So now every Thursday I have lunch duty, but since my required time to be there is in the middle of the day, I've chosen to make an entire day of it from the time I take Aidan to school to when I bring him home.

While my work time is cut down to only 3 days a week, I get an opportunity to benefit from several different experiences. First, I get to know the other parents and teachers better by chatting with them more often. This creates a tighter community. Secondly, I get to immerse myself in Thai language and improve my skills.

I am very happy to say that when I was helping out in Aidan's classroom yesterday, I could understand everything the teacher was telling the kids! The years of listening to Golf and Aidan communicate has paid off and I was pleased at how much I could understand. Now if all Thais spoke to me like a 6-year-old kid, I'd be just fine! LOL!

It was a great day and I enjoyed the change. I am grateful that I am my own boss and have the luxury of being able to carve out my schedule any way I like or need. My work time may have been reduced, but it is to be expected during summer months. I have a clear vision of what I want my mini empire to look like and it may just take a tiny bit longer to get there. No worries. What I get to contribute to the wat and Thai community is extremely important and benefits others as well as myself.

Taking a One-Month Break

2011-07-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

Since January I have incorporated green smoothies into my diet. I feel great and what's not to love about fresh greens and delicious sweet fruit blended together.

The only problem is that since January I've gained about 6 pounds! The only thing that has changed is my smoothies - I haven't changed any other eating habits or exercise. So I cannot help but think that there is a correlation, though it MAY be a slowing metabolism, hopefully not.

Just for kicks, I'm going to stop my green smoothie intake for the next month and see if it has any effect. I hate how my clothes fit and how my body looks, so I'm all on it! Wish me luck and I'll report back in a month

Alternate Life?

2011-06-24T13:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a former colleague I worked with as a teacher at a bilingual school in Bangkok confirmed me as her friend on Facebook.

She was another English teacher, an American just a few years younger than me, who had come from Vietnam to teach in Thailand.

Ended up she didn't like teaching at that particular school very much (spoiled kids) and her long-term European boyfriend couldn't get work, so she finished her contract and moved back to Vietnam with him.

On my side, I had a baby and then moved back to the USA with my little family. I haven't seen or heard from her since.

But I looked her up the other day on FaceBook and she's been living in Vietnam the whole time, teaching English, getting her advanced degree to further her opportunities. So that's what - 5 or 6 years in Vietnam?

Now she's moving with her partner to Bangladesh to teach in Dakha.

Wow, what a life. It would have been mine, you know.

Before meeting Golf I was planning on moving to a different country to teach English. I would have gone to at least a few more countries for the experience, excitement and to move out of my comfort zone.

So after contacting her, I reflected on what her life must be like and what my alternate life would have been like had I not met Golf and gotten married.

I had fun doing it because I'm GRATEFUL for how my life has turned out today, but still like to imagine if things had been different. And now I can follow her around on FaceBook and watch how this new chapter in her life unfolds. How exciting!

Out of the Hole & New Articles

2011-06-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

I am on top of the world!
It looks like the "Google hole" I fell into in mid-April is no more. As of Friday, my traffic has bounced back to April levels and I couldn't be more thrilled. I feel like I can get on with my career now and focus on continued delivery of optimum-quality information for moms looking for strollers.

This entire experience, while it sucked, was very good for me and my handling of fear and anxiety. Sometimes things happen that are out of your control and you have the choice to panic and flounder or command the aspects of your business and your life that you DO have control over. It was a great life lesson, but at the same time, I am very glad it's over with.

Some New Articles
And now I'd like to direct you to a couple of new articles I've written! I really love writing for others, and here we go.

First, if you're coming out my way and would like to visit SF, then you must see San Francisco, A Great Family Destination over at Atlas Travel - they've got great deals and are recommended to help you plan your next vacation.

Lastly, if you're a mom in the market for an umbrella stroller and you're considering a Maclaren, you might not be sure about this product after the recent hinge recall. Find out what happened, what parents think about Maclaren strollers now and get a breakdown of all the models when you read Maclaren Going Forward over on Shopaholic Mommy.

Have a great week, everybody!

Still on my Green Smoothies and other updates

2011-06-16T15:49:00.000-07:00

So it's been half a year now and I am still on my green smoothie diet. Many who are proponents suggest drinking a quart per day, but I just can't manage that into my lifestyle at the moment. Instead I drink about a pint per day or one large glass of it in the morning.

I've gotten more efficient at preparing the greens, although I still go for the same ones: spinach, collards, kale, red chard and green chard. I tend to buy two kinds per trip, a combination of a bitter, thick green with a smooth mild green. Example: this week I'm mixing collards with green chard.

Mixing it up to make it more palatable is the fruit. I totally love mangoes and you can get them cheap n frozen at Trader Joe's. I've also simply bought what's on sale, like this week it was peaches. Mango and peach taste great together!

Anyway, I've been quite proud that I've been able to maintain this new eating habit and there's just nothing like fresh fruit and raw vegetables first thing in the morning to give you lots of energy.

Thai School
This week Aidan started Thai school at the temple in Berkeley. He goes Tuesday through Friday from 10 AM til 2 PM. He's one of the only kids who utters a word of Thai to his teachers who are teaching students spending a year in the USA. It certainly helps that Golf refuses to speak to him unless it is in Thai - it has made a HUGE difference. The teachers rave about Aidan's Thai language and it certainly makes us proud!

The boy who was a bully last year has returned, much to our disappointment. But the teachers this year are more structured and more strict with the kids, plus we warned them about the bully and how he behaved last year. Today was the first report Aidan had that the bully's true colors finally showed. Took only 3 days! Aidan knows how to defend himself now and and knows to tell a teacher immediately if he is being bullied. He didn't seem upset by it when he came home today, so I feel alright about it.

Making Myself Rich

2011-06-05T07:18:00.000-07:00

About two or three months ago I was listening to The Dave Ramsey Show on the radio when Dave began the segment by interviewing a man he called his "brother of a different mother" because he connected so much. This man is named Tim Sanders and they talked about his new book called Today We are Rich.

The focus of the book is developing total confidence in your life, which in turn, gives your life meaning and purpose. This is the recipe for a rich life. Not to mention it helps bolster your financial prospects.

Many aspects of the Today We Are Rich are practices that I already engage in on a regular basis. Some I did now and then but do more regularly now, like verbalizing aloud my intentions, requests for guidance and my gratitude. I get the opportunity to do that almost every morning along a quiet beach with a gorgeous view of San Francisco in the distance. WOW.

But there was one lesson in Today We Are Rich that took me by surprise and deeply affected me. I would like to share that with you.

The most profound takeaway from the book was toward the end, where Mr. Sanders dissected the difference between following your passion and following your purpose. Oh if only I had access to this advice15 years ago!!! I'd be a different person by now, but better late than never.

What is the difference between your passion and your purpose? Your passion is self centered while your purpose is your service to others. Sanders says that when you blindly pursue your passion you end up drifting aimlessly doing what you want to do instead of doing what you need to do to contribute to society.

Oh my gosh, this is so much my life because it wasn't until I moved away to Thailand in my early 30s that my life had any purpose and meaning. I chose to live abroad and teach so that I could make a difference to children and help them with one of the most important parts of life, their education. I also needed to take myself out of my familiar environment to heal emotionally.

It wasn't until I had a life of purpose that the things I wanted in life finally happened. I found love, got married and became a mother.

In my early and mid twenties, my life was all about partying. I was completely hedonistic; I lived for fun. It set the course of my life - self gratification.

Then I had been a dissatisfied drifter, deeply unhappy with unsatisfying relationships and vocations that were just jobs. I was still living for the weekend and work was drudgery. I totally reaped what I sowed because I followed my passions, which back then was educating myself on topics Art Bell would talk about on Coast to Coast, namely UFOs and extraterrestrial life. It consumed me! And it is still interesting, though not worth so much of my invested time.

Then I got hit by the travel bug in my late 20s and early 30s and my life was focused on being adventurous by following my passion for travel. I was always looking outward, never thinking that looking inward and finding meaning in all of this would end all this seeking.

Now a decade later, I have finally matured and feel spiritually centered. In that time I have discovered meaning after my first few years being a new mom and redefining my sense of self yet again. It has not been an easy road to take, and this is a huge lesson I plan on teaching my son so that he hopefully will find his way sooner than me. It certainly avoids much suffering!

So the bottom line that Tim Sanders makes in his book is to follow your purpose instead of pursuing your passion. Enjoy your passion because it makes you feel good and it's a fun play time. But in the end it is only self-gratification.

You might want to read Today We Are Rich as well, so that you can find a takeaway in your life that really makes a big difference and helps you achieve the power of total confidence.

Happy Birthday Aidan!

2011-05-23T07:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a memorable day for my son, who turned 6 years old. Melanie and Daryll decided to throw him a party at a nearby Chuck E. Cheese and it was a blast. What started out as 5 people turned into 12 as the week went on and plans were made.

Who all came? Aidan, Golf and I, Mel & Daryll, Caroline, Mom & Dad, Josh, James & Mariko. We got there at noon and Mel had already got us a set of tables with Toy Story napkins, plates and balloons. We got tokens right away and Aidan went off to play while I visited with Mom and Mel. All the men had a great time going back to their boyhood and playing arcade games. :)

Aidan had a chocolate layer cake and TONS of presents! From Mel & Daryll he got a Pirates of the Caribbean poster and Jack Sparrow costume, Mater alarm clock, Toy Story 3 Wii game, and a neat floppy kind of Frisbee.

This morning Aidan woke up to his new clock and he was loving it! He's also got his poster set up right over his bed and it looks fantastic!

Caroline got Aidan a Spirograph, which Aidan absolutely loves. He began using it as soon as we got home and can already make some neat designs.

Mom and Dad got him a set of jammies and some money for his college fund (I have to remember to get that done today!)

Mar, James & Josh got Aidan a Mater's Adventures Wii game and some nori seaweed for rice rolls for his lunches. Yummy! Aidan will probably start playing his new game over the next week. He started his Toy Story game last night, and I'm sure he'll begin his new Mater game too.

Golf and I got Aidan a new Ironman comforter and sheet set, Golf got him a Masked Rider action figure and a Japanese robot he loved as a kid. I got him a 60-piece world map floor puzzle since he loves the big USA puzzle he has.

It was an AWESOME party and one he won't soon forget. What a special day and a big huge THANK YOU to everyone, especially Mellie and Daryll for putting it all together. You're the greatest. :)

A Night of Fun with Kylie Minogue

2011-05-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

For the second time in about a year I got to go see Kylie in concert! This is her APHRODITE LES FOLIES 2011 TOUR.

Caroline got our tickets and we went with her friend Woody and Michelle. We danced and sang along and lost our hearing! LOL! What a great night. :)

Here are some YouTube videos of her concert - not in San Francisco, but other parts of the world, but it is the same show.

Excellent!

Now a Bi-Monthly Contributor!

2011-05-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

I've got my first regular writing gig and I'm very excited about it! Tina over at Shopaholic Mommy and I have collaborated together and worked out an arrangement where I will be writing a bi-monthly column about strollers!

The first article I wrote is about your reviews. Consumer reviews have become so important for both future customers and for manufacturers and marketers. It's a first-hand insight to a person's unique experience with the product and it might be similar to what you may go through if you purchase it too.

I want to know what to expect if I plunk down my cash for a product. And in the case of strollers, it can be several hundred dollars!

So in my first column at Shopaholic Mommy, I talk about the stroller manufacturer Baby Jogger. They are one of the most popular companies on the market today and they paid close attention to the customer reviews on sites like Amazon and Diapers.com, where some reviews were less than stellar and quite consistent with the same problems in a few of their stroller models.

Find out what that problem was, which stroller had that problem and what Baby Jogger did about it in my first column: How Your Stroller Reviews Helped Baby Jogger. Leave a comment when you're done! :)

Facing My First Challenge

2011-05-05T06:53:00.000-07:00

While the world is fixated on Bin Ladin's death a few days ago, I am completely focused on my business and my first problem I've encountered thus.

So on my stroller site I'd been experiencing nothing but roaring success, meeting my goals ahead of the date I set. Then I got hit by a Google algorithm update just before Easter and my traffic drops by a whopping 2/3!

Needless to say, for about a week I was half-paralyzed in shock. While I realize that Google does not owe me a living, I had been working on my site full-time, pouring ALL my energy into it and pushing myself to the maximum to put out the best quality information on the internet. That's saying a lot, considering the crap sites out there, so I was floored when Google deemed my site not worthy of ranking.

So I did the only thing I could do - I did a careful self-audit of my site and fixed a few problems and kept building more pages. I have to have faith that this will all work out.

One successful "infopreneur" had traffic plummet on his site too, a few years ago, and he mentioned how he had faith and kept building. His traffic returned within 3 months and skyrocketed afterward. I have to believe that my site will do the same.

This is my business and the ONLY thing I want to do. I WILL overcome!

Finally getting somewhere

2011-04-20T07:00:00.000-07:00

I've been working on my business for almost 2 years now - lots of hard work. And as I let go of one site that is dear to my heart but utterly makes me no money, my other business is starting to take off. This is so encouraging to me because my first site did not do well monetizing, but it is still slowly growing even though I've pretty much put it on auto pilot while I focus on my money maker.

I can't tell you how good it feels to finally be making some real money! There is nothing I want more than financial success with my own creations using the skills and talents I've developed. Seeing results after two years of very hard work is a long time and most probably would have thrown in the towel a long time ago.

But I'm persistent.

To keep my mindset in success-mode I actually listen to Dave Ramsey often on the radio or a podcast recording while I make dinner. While he focuses on getting people out of debt and we are actually debt-free, I like to listen as it is inspiring and gives me momentum.

I learned of an author named Tim Sanders who has a new book out called Today We Are Rich: Harnessing the Power of Total Confidence and one of the things you need to do if you weren't raised with an entrepreneurial/success mindset from childhood (like me!) you need to feed your mind all the time with good stuff. Dave had said that earlier too, and recommends that we read a book a month about business or success or leadership.

A week ago I ordered a book called Thou Shall Prosper, by Rabbi Daniel Lapin on how and why Jewish people have prospered over the centuries. He discusses the values, beliefs and attitudes Jews are raised with so that others can take in these values as well and make them our own. Simple curiosity prompted me to buy this book because it is true - most Jewish people I know are successful and driven. Why? I'm learning. :)

The author also recommends we read a business biography or some other book that increases our wisdom and feeds our minds.

So among Rabbi Lapin, Dave Ramsey and Tim Sanders all recommending the same way to feed the mind, I cannot ignore this piece of advice being heralded by each of these successful people. Since I love books, I have no problem getting this permission to read!

And now that I am finally making some money, I can afford to buy more books.

Once I finish Thou Shall Prosper, the next book waiting for me in my room is The Seven Lost Secrets of Success by Joe Vitale, who goes over this copy writing genius named Bruce Barton who wrote an ad that got a 100% response. This is not only success-oriented reading, but development for my own copy writing skills.

I feel my momentum building and I just had to share it with you all.

My friend Caroline has predicted that I will be earning enough monthly income by my birthday in mid-December to safely move back to Thailand without making it necessary to take a teaching job. That sounds like a fantastic goal to me!

December 2011 = $2500 in monthly income.

I can do it!

Cherry Blossom Time!

2011-04-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was special. We went to San Francisco to Japan Town to join in the yearly Cherry Blossom festivities! It was an adventure getting there because parking so horrific we decided to take the BART train then a bus. And since it had been such a long time, we couldn't remember the fares.

Let me tell you on a side note - it is EXPENSIVE just to get into the City. The train was $14 for two people round trip. Aidan got in for free but I think this may be the last year he can get away with it. Then the bus fare is now $2 per person, so that's $8 round trip, and again for now, Aidan rode for free. So let's see, just to get to Japan Town cost us $22. That's why we don't go to San Francisco very often. Hell, it wouldn't cost that much less to drive what with bridge tolls and parking meters, IF you can find a spot. OK rant over.

When we arrived, it was lunch time and we went to Golf's favorite Japanese restaurant. I enjoyed Zaru Soba - a cold buckwheat noodle dish with dipping sauce and it came with five pieces of sushi that I shared with Golf and Aidan.

Aidan had his favorite gyoza and shrimp tempura. Golf had beef mixed with egg and green onions over rice. Unfortunately I cannot think of the name of it! Top it all off with some delicious green tea and we were set to explore.

We walked around the displays and through the shops. Golf bought Aidan some red bean ice cream and while we ate it we watched the taiko drummers during the opening ceremony. Then we walked around some more in the shops and I bought some sublime smelling incense, which is more subtle and soft than traditional Indian incense that is more readily available.

After more meandering we went back to the main stage where we got to watch some traditional dancing, which was very lovely to see. Later the karate demonstration would begin. That was the highlight for the boys since Aidan has been taking karate classes.

This dojo - or school - was quite good and far more serious about their training than what Aidan's class is about. His class is more like an introduction to karate. While Aidan has earned a yellow belt in his class (the next higher level than absolute beginning white belt), the yellow belts in this dojo were far more advanced.

And the teacher, sensai, had a clear, strong voice. I LOVED his voice as he counted out in Japanese and gave commands in Japanese that these American children responded to. It was extremely impressive. I'm looking forward to sending Aidan to a more serious school when we can come up with the money. I think he will be ready very soon.

There were lots of demonstrations both from beginning students and advanced. The teachers put on demonstrations as well with impressive fights and they also kicked through baseball bats and boards. The final showpiece though was when the master sensai karate chopped through oblong blocks of ice. The first was held vertically. Then he chopped through five layers of these "ice boards". Aidan was cheering with delight!

We were absolutely freezing though. The wind was fierce and we ended up sitting in the shade of the Peace Pagoda. Even with Aidan's thick coat his teeth were chattering. By then Aidan was pretty tired and we headed back. It was a full day and lots of fun.

Guest Posting on other Blogs

2011-03-31T11:42:00.000-07:00

When I started looking at ways to market my websites, one of the strongest ways I've found to do it is to write up a quality article with a few links back to my site. It's proven to be extremely powerful.

Because social media is all about spreading the word, I'd like to point you toward the latest post I've written on a blog called Born 2 Impress. The article is called Top 3 Travel Systems for Newborns and you'll be surprised at how small babies can be to ride in these strollers and car seats. While you're there, check out Jen's fabulous giveaways. She's always got some incredible deal going on. :)

I would also like to promote an article I wrote on the air travel with strollers on Simply Stacie called Mangled on Arrival Or... Simply Stacie is a blog that also promotes giveaways and contests and has some great articles in the mix as well. Go check it out!

I'm also looking at what else I can do with this blog to bring in more income. It's all about diversifying your streams, right? Today I found a site called LinkFromBlog where advertisers can buy blog reviews from blog owners like me to write about them and link to their site. Much like what I did for the owner at Born 2 Impress. Kind of neat, huh? I'm still learning more, but I will let you know what I find out.

Clearer Focus on My Career

2011-03-30T06:57:00.000-07:00

Have you ever ventured forth on a project and discovered a skill you have but need to improve and sharpen? Knowing that you can perfect this skill could mean far better opportunities for you in the future - a leveraging of your skill, so to say.

I've always known my writing was good. I used to write emails to my friends and family when I lived in Thailand telling them about my adventures. Then I started this blog shortly afterward. I'd get feedback saying how well I wrote and I could grip my audience with a story.

Now I write for business purposes, but that does not equate to boring, dry, dead content. Quite the opposite actually! Because I am genuinely interested in the product I'm selling and when I write about it, that interest shines through.

How am I getting a clearer focus on my career then, you ask. I'm honing my writing skills for creating better value while at the same time perfecting the ad copy within that content. It's one thing to provide information, quite another to create desire.

That whole playing with the mind thing has perked my interest and has me hooked. Now being in control of my own mind, my own feelings and emotions and being aware of what I'm thinking and feeling is fascinating as it is. But using my words on a website to influence and guide other people's thoughts and feelings is almost the same thing and I find it utterly irresistible!

I've been studying how to do this effectively and have been trying it out and I think it looks pretty good. I have LOTS to do, lots to practice, but it looks like it is beginning to work. If I can do this and do it well, which is my intention and goal, then this skill can translate to a business asset I can leverage no matter how my websites are doing. I can take it to the world at large and market myself as a successful copywriter. In other words, I'm making myself more marketable in the work place. That's always a good thing.

I'll give you an update in a few months to let you know how this little experiment is doing.

Rainy Spring Break

2011-03-24T07:08:00.000-07:00

Aidan's been home this week because it's spring break and it's been rainy most the time. We didn't sign him up for any extracurricular activities, so Golf and I have been trying our best to keep him occupied and engaged. Golf bought some clay and papier mache to make some masks, and while it didn't go as planned, they both had lots of fun.

Yesterday I took Aidan to see a friend of mine who has a 9 month old baby and it was fun to see him interact with the infant. My friend Stella and I got to catch up a lot and talk babies; she's a SAHM and is all baby all the time, so she was craving some time with a friend. I brought some sushi and we enjoyed lunch together.

I finally got to see her stroller, too, which I had been bugging her about, but it was always kept in her car trunk because it is heavy and bulky. She got a First Years Wave, one of those beautiful prams with reversible seat that can also hold a car seat. She loves it but the frame is just too big for her to get it out of the car on her own while holding her baby. I got to play around with it and while it is ungainly while setting it up, it is VERY nice once assembled. I can see why she likes it when she has it out.

But baby Luke doesn't care for it a whole lot. He's still young, though. Aidan didn't much like his stroller when he was that age, but at least he liked his Snuggli. I still remember pushing my stroller til Aidan got tired of being in it, then I'd put him in the carrier, and I'd carry him and push the stroller. It wasn't til he was about a year old that he dug going for stroller rides.

I'm also on a bit of a vacation, too. Since Aidan is at home, I don't frustrate myself by trying to get much work done. Instead of working on my websites, I'm improving my writing skills by learning how to write better copy that sells. I had bought a book before called Hypnotic Writing: How to Seduce and Persuade Customers with Only Your Words, by Joe Vitale. It's been a very good lesson and I have some additional resources to better my writing style. It is my intention that these skills will serve me in the future with or without a website, as I think that persuasive selling writing is always going to be in demand.

So while my week is not nearly as productive, per se, it is productive in a different way as I am gaining something. Perhaps it is better like this, because ALL workers must take time to improve and learn new skills.

Man oh man how I love what I do.

I Made a Hard Choice

2011-03-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

I made a painful decision at the beginning of March. I decided to let my blog go. Not this one - my Expat Women in Thailand blog.

It had been giving me troubles since the beginning - for nearly two years you could not find it in Google at all. As it turns out, I think I had made a selection in WordPress options that it not be found in search engines! Whoa, exactly what I DON'T want!

Then I only updated the blog once a month. Used to be bi-weekly, and before that weekly. I just didn't have the time to keep it up, nor was I in the proper environment rich with topics to write about (actually LIVING there!)

The entire reason I started the blog was that I had written an e-book and built the blog around the e-book to support it and market it. However, since I haven't actually LIVED in Thailand for going on six years now, it no longer felt authentic. Things change quickly in Bangkok. We visited for three weeks in Nov. 2008 and my how it had changed since we left in late 2005! I can't write like I know what I'm talking about if I'm not actually THERE, as I'm sure you'd agree.

Golf and I didn't expect we'd be back here in the States this long, either, but this Great Recession has kicked our butts and we've basically been in survival mode for years now, just paying our monthly bills and getting by. The good news is that within a year it is our goal to return for a couple of years for Aidan's schooling, we should be ready by then.

I hope to make my living outside of teaching and make my income purely online for the greatest flexibility. Ideally, maybe I'd teach part time, like an English reading and writing extracurricular class to improve English literacy for those students who show interest or who excel in English - it will also ensure that Aidan stay current with his English while living there. I've given that some thought, as you can tell! It will also get me out into the community, which is important to me when living in Thailand.

Will I keep my Expat blog going then? Not likely. There are so many resources online right now and the niche for expat women in Thailand is still so small that I cannot make any money with it.

I sold one copy of my e-Book once every three months or so. That's just under $15 USD or about $5 per month. I need to update my guide once every six months because I use active URLs as resources. Companies and restaurants change or go out of business - MANY of them - and new ones come onto the scene. It takes me a full WEEK to update and change all the information in my eBook to keep it current. One week for an average of $5 per month - or less? I don't think so.

I've been working, instead, on my Stroller Envy site and it's coming along quite well. Traffic is increasing 50% every month. A few months ago it was a 100% increase. I'm already making decent money from it and I only get a couple hundred visitors a day - average for a new site.

Thailand is not a profitable niche to get into if you want to make any money. Unless you write about the tourism aspect or meeting Thai women aspect, neither of which interests me at all and both are oversaturated anyway.

So that's it. I'm not deleting my blog, just not updating it. The articles currently on there are still good and provide value, but it's simply an unprofitable endeavor that I cannot afford to continue any longer. It is sad but that's life!

New Books, New Seeds, New Website

2011-02-27T06:34:00.000-08:00

I got a notice in my inbox the other day that my neighborhood Borders is going out of business. Kind of sad, because I love the atmosphere of a bookstore, how it smells from the coffee upstairs to that distinctive paper and ink scent. But it is just plain difficult to compete with online book retailers like Amazon, the competitive landscape is changing to that of a virtual world.

So I went in and bought some books I had on my wishlist because everything was 20% off and I have to say that I just checked on Amazon and their price is still lower than what I paid for at Borders with the discount. I mean, this is exactly why bookstores like Borders cannot compete. Plus I had to pay tax, but that may be changing soon for online retailers as well with states being so broke.

The first book I bought was (notice the irony with the link!) Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, by Jared Diamond. I had his book Guns, Germs and Steel on my wishlist but since it was not in stock and Collapse was, plus it was the follow-up to GG&S, I got it instead.

In Collapse, Diamond explores the demise of once-productive societies such as the Maya, Easter Islanders and Greenland Norse. He also sounds the alarm on environmental practices undermining modern societies, including China, Russia, Australia and the United States.

It got rave reviews and so I'm going to learn a little something.

While I was there I bought Victoria Boutenko's Green for Life, on how greens and incorporating green smoothies improves your diet and overall health. It's a more detailed look into the nutrition of raw fruits and vegetables in the diet.

As a matter of fact, yesterday I made a green smoothie with two apples, half a Meyer lemon from Mom and Dad's tree, a leaf of collard greens, and about 3 large handfuls of baby spinach. Granted all that made just over a liter and I only drink half that per day. Green Smoothie Girl and Victoria Boutenko both recommend drinking a liter, but I'm not there yet.

One pint of that smoothie and a small serving of leftover brown rice and tofu for breakfast held me over til noon. Normally I have to eat a more substantial breakfast AND have a mid-morning snack because my body just gets HUNGRY during the morning and mid-day. But I didn't one pang at all, which is simply amazing.

So as I was reading Green for Life, Boutenko mentions using chia seeds as a way of getting more fiber and Omega 3 fatty acids into your diet. It also helps control your appetite when you soak the seeds and they turn into a gel because the seeds bulk up and produce a thick film around the seed. By adding 1/3 cup of seeds to a cup of water will bulk it up nicely and so you add that to your green smoothie to add lots of good fiber.

Those were all the magic words I needed to see on the page. Golf's Amazon Prime membership ends on Monday so I rushed over to see if any merchants offered Prime shipping on chia seeds. Sure enough, I found a great deal on a 3-pound bag of chia seeds and I ordered them yesterday. I plan to make chia gel and incorporate them into my smoothies, so I will tell you how it goes. Chia is supposed to not taste like anything, just act as a bulking agent to make you feel full. They do have calories though, so I cannot use too much, unlike konnyaku or shirataki, the yam noodle.

OK, lastly I want to promote my friend Benjawan Becker's new book called The Interpreter's Journal. Benjawan has taught foreigners to learn Thai and Lao over the last 15 years and in the meantime she has also been an interpreter in the northern California court system.

Follow my very personal journey starting in Thailand, the Land of Smiles. See how the influence of my family, Thai culture, Buddhism, meeting foreigners in Thailand, traveling abroad and living in the United States formed the catalyst for me to master several languages, become a professional interpreter and write numerous books on learning the Thai and Lao languages.

Her story is fascinating and inspiring. If you're interested in languages, the law, or in success stories, then The Interpreter's Journal is a good book for you.

Love Those Divas!

2011-02-16T05:26:00.000-08:00

I got so distracted with work yesterday because I watched Lady Gaga's Grammy performance. Sure Born This Way sounds a lot like Express Yourself. But that's my FAVORITE Madonna song, and so something similar ain't bad.

Again I am in awe of Lady Gaga's performing talent; she's extremely over-hyped like her whole meat dress stunt, but you must admit, she's quite talented and creative in marketing herself.

What is it about these pop divas I love so much?

My How Food Prices have Risen!

2011-02-15T05:29:00.000-08:00

This is something I think that all of you who shop for groceries have noticed - your money isn't buying you what you could get for the same amount a year ago. Whether it's rising prices or shrinking sizes, the cost is going up rather sharply!

One of the first things I noticed is sugar. I used to buy 5 pound bags every few months and the next time I needed to get some, I saw that the bags are now smaller - an entire pound smaller! Now a 4-pound bag of sugar costs me the same as what I paid for 5 pounds less than a year ago.

Next is produce. Now you'd think that by my living in California makes fruits and vegetables cheap. Not so!

Side note: I keep meaning to get to the farmer's market more often, but it's out of the way and frankly, I've been a bit LAZY about it. I promise I'll make a better effort though!

Onions, for example, are at about $1.49/lb. Potatoes, regular russet are the same price. Heavens, I used to get red potatoes, usually costing more, for 99 cents/lb! And these aren't vegetables that are necessarily out of season right now.

Then there are my greens that I have been using for my green smoothies. I usually like to get them at a different supermarket where organic costs $1.79/bunch and they are big, beautiful bunches with huge leaves. At Safeway, however, a CONVENTIONALLY grown bunch of chard cost $2.49 EACH! I just spent five bucks on two bunches of so-so greens!

For rice I've been paying about $1.79/lb in BULK for regular long grain brown rice. Couldn't you used to get this for less than half that a year ago?

So the most dramatic increase in prices that I've noticed have been in staples. Sugar, grains and fruits and vegetables. It is insane. And we're supposed to be telling people to eat healthier? How can many families afford this?

Personally, I'm going to try braving the crowds on Sundays in Berkeley when Aidan is in Thai school and go to this natural foods store that's ENORMOUS called Berkeley Bowl West. They have the largest selection of produce in northern California. And for being an expensive shi-shi grocery store, their produce actually has excellent value. Their bulk foods are also not bad.

So I shall try and plan meals better and stock up on veggies n fruit there.

What have you noticed about food prices in your area? I'd be especially interested to know how you fare in non-agricultural states.

Promoting a few articles

2011-02-04T13:06:00.001-08:00

I've been on a mission to get out there and get social and take advantage of all the opportunities there are to connect with others online.

On Lisa's 2 Create a Website blog, she writes about reasons she won't accept a guest blog post. She then mentions a guest post author named Ann Smarty who gives tips on being a great guest blogger. It's through Lisa's site and Ann's post that I found MyBlogGuest.com. I cant' tell you how great that site is for bringing together bloggers and those who want to write for them. I've been an active member since and have learned a lot.

It's been serendipitous with how information comes to me lately. I won't get into to it too much, but how we all come across one another is sometimes an amazing story in itself.

On that note...

Here are a couple of articles I've written for other blogs in the recent weeks. I'd like to promote them here, not only to draw attention to my article, but to get you to browse around the rest of each site. They are very well done!

Recession Friendly Cheap Strollers

Stroller Accessories Moms Swear By

Whats to Love about the Chicco Cortina Travel System?

Where to go from here...

2011-02-04T12:57:00.000-08:00

The first month of the new year was very productive on my two websites and it has gotten me thinking about my third site, my Thailand website.

It was a labor of love I worked on 3 years ago and wrote my first e-book for women who are moving to Thailand, Bangkok especially. I created the blog to sell the e-book, but it never sold the way I wanted nor expected it to. But it's not making me hardly any money, maybe one sale every 3 months.

It's the type of e-book that has to be updated at least twice annually, with all the online information I include in it. To go through and check each link takes me about a week to do! Now do I want to spend a week of my time updating a book that makes me less than $15 once every 3 months, or spend that time working on websites that are going to bring me umpteen times as much in earnings? I think the answer is clear.

Have you had to give up a project you were emotionally connected to? What happened?

Parenting and Food Choices

2011-01-17T06:26:00.000-08:00

I've been reading Anthony Bourdain's new book Medium Raw, and in one chapter he goes into detail how he has an entire propaganda campaign to sort of brainwash his 2 year old daughter on the evils of McDonalds.

He has to talk to her often about how Ronald McDonald smells like poop and has cooties and how the food served in McDonalds has nasty things in it (it does!).

But the entire passage left me puzzled - if you've never taken your kid into a fast food restaurant, how can your kid beg to eat there?

I've taken Aidan to McDonalds three times and it was ONLY to play at the play structure to inject some variety into our usual park outings. I ordered a Diet Coke and sat at the table outside while he played. We haven't been back in about a year.

My kid never even MENTIONS McDonalds or any fast food outlet because we simply never patronize such places. Aidan only mentions McDonalds when we pass by it and he associates the restaurant with the play structure, not the food. I'm proud to say none of the disgusting menu items have never passed my son's lips because I did my job as a parent.

So the whole controversy about San Francisco banning Happy Meal toys is absurd to me. This should be the job of parents. The rest of the country laughs at SF when they see such a story (John Stewart had a real gem on his show about this subject) because it is clear that the government is overstepping its bounds in nannying. What do you think?

Back to Anthony Bourdain: the question I kept having when reading the chapter on his daughter and Evil McDonalds is, "Why is McDonalds even on this child's radar?" All fast food restaurants are not in my child's consciousness at all. We don't make it a big deal, we don't go to fast food restaurants, and my son doesn't watch TV with the advertising about it. It's so ingrained in our lifestyle it doesn't even take any effort to avoid, either. And because it didn't take any effort, the huge amount of effort that Bourdain went through for his daughter gave me pause for consideration.

What kinds of efforts do you go to for your kid regarding fast food? Are you like Anthony Bourdain putting in lots of effort or like me where it's not an issue at all? I'd love your feedback.

2 Week Results

2011-01-14T08:47:00.000-08:00

It's been about 2 weeks since I began making green smoothies and have noticed some changes.

First of all, I have more energy. Before I would be very sleepy by mid afternoon and need a small nap or at least a rest for a half hour to recharge my batteries. Now I can go all day long feeling alert with no feelings of sluggishness.

Next my skin has cleared up! Not completely, but at least far better than it was. That's always a plus for us ladies.

Unfortunately, husband and child aren't into the smoothies. I've even tried blending them with more fruit, but Aidan just doesn't care for it. Golf is so-so with them.

So far I've used spinach, kale, collard greens, mint, green chard and red chard. I mix them up a bit, but I find that the tougher leafed greens like the collards and kale are very "chewy" in the smoothie and I find that I have to choke it down. The softer leafed greens like spinach and chard blend more smoothly and are very easy to drink.

I like to mix these greens with fruit, usually apple and pear, and I put in a little bit of steevia in to sweeten it a bit and make it more palatable. Once melon comes into season, I'll blend in honeydew and cantaloupe.

Cucumbers and celery stalks have been added now and then to add freshness.

Within the next month or so I would like to get this book called Green Smoothie Revolution, by Victoria Boutenko.

Not only does this book go over the benefits of consuming raw greens, but it has lots of recipes for varying your smoothie recipes to give you a wide variety of different greens.

More updates coming soon!

Health and why 2011=Green Smoothies

2010-12-30T08:40:00.000-08:00

I think I've always been rather proactive with my health: I've exercised regularly for over half my life and I eat a balanced diet.

Now that I'm entering the middle years of my life, I'm discovering that I have to take an even more proactive part of my health because it's beginning to take more effort to maintain the state of normalcy. In other words, being healthy and energetic has been my default mode. Now that I'm getting a little older, it takes a bit more work to maintain my default mode.

About a year and a half ago I began taking probiotic supplements. It made me feel good, and at the same time I eliminated sugar and wheat from my diet. I quickly lost about 7 pounds, but I have gone back to my old diet, which is largely rice based, thanks to my Thai husband and his wonderful food.

During a period of a few months earlier this year, I stopped my probiotics as well. I had simply run out of my supply and did not buy more, but was planning to. Then my body went crazy with candida yeast and I immediately went back on my probiotics and this month, the first month in five, I am back to normal.

The day before yesterday my dear friend Caroline gave me a magazine with an article on green smoothies and how the leafy greens take out excess candida in the body. Music to my ears! So I went out and bought all the ingredients for a green smoothie, PLUS a blender since my food processor isn't going to cut it this time. The blender recommended by smoothie connoisseurs costs over $300, but that's not in my budget at the moment.

During my green smoothie research, I came across Green Smoothie Girl as well as Green Smoothies Blog, both of which offer really good information on these healthful drinks.

So this is my new year's resolution: 2011 is going to be all about the green smoothie. I'll be making variations of it with more fruit to give to Aidan and Golf is going to get some, too, whether he likes it or not.

The recipe I made yesterday from the magazine has 2 cupfuls of spinach (handful), 2 cupfuls of cucumbers, ginger root, lemon and lime juices, 2 apples and 1 bunch of parsley. It was OK. I don't have to hold my nose or anything, but I am looking forward to trying different recipes. My cheapie blender does pretty good, but doesn't blend it quite as smooth as I like. But it will do until I can justify $300 for a good one!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-28T18:41:00.000-08:00

The Praphantanathorn family left for my parents' house in Oroville on the 22nd and we stayed through til Monday the 27th. We knew lots of people would be on the road on Sunday the 26th, so we hunkered down one more day.

Festivities this year were lots of fun. Aidan got to make gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies, which we decorated afterward.

My sister, Anna, his aunt, came on Christmas Eve and she brought her dog Jasper. He's such a fun dog and Aidan loved him. We all got to play with Jasper and since we can't have pets where we live, it was really nice to get a good dose of dog while we were out there in the country.

Once my sister arrived, though, I fell ill. I was so out of it, I kept on calling Anna my middle sister's name, Alise. It was maddening and I think Anna was getting a bit miffed. I don't blame her, and fortunately, the next day I was starting to feel better and my mistakes vanished.

Then Golf got my sickness. He was a day behind me! That night Aidan had a minor fever too, so we all got to be sickos.

All of us just relaxed and watched a lot of television, which I never do here. Honestly. I never watch TV! I never even opened my laptop when I was there. I checked email and some of my affiliate and advertising earnings, but that was it. I was in full recuperation mode and now that I'm back I feel so refreshed.

Aidan made out with loads of gifts this year. For Christmas 2010 Aidan got:

Iron Man mask - the fancy kind that opens from the front and has lights in the eyes and sounds from the movie from Golf and me
Iron Man action figure in a car from his friend Joshua
Toy Story glow board drawing toy from his Aunt Anna
Blast Off Buzz Lightyear action figure from his Aunt Anna (must do a review on this one!)
Green recorder from his Grandmother
Spider rain boots from his Grandmother
3 new pairs of pants, one shirt and one pair of shoes from both Grandparents
Construction LEGO vehicles from some very kind neighbors Rosanna and Laura

This boy did very well and so a big Thank You to friends and family!

Now we shall see if Aidan can stay up til midnight this Friday for New Year's Eve. Ha! :)

Duran Duran New Single

2010-12-22T07:31:00.000-08:00

I just about worshipped these guys when I was in junior high and high school. Ever since Duran Duran broke up after 7 and the Ragged Tiger, they have, of course, never been the same.

As the years passed, Duran Duran got back together - 3 of them anyway - and they'd come out with a chart topper, and it was a catchy tune, but the entire album was a bit weak. I'd always end up disappointed overall.

A few years ago, all five members got back together, but Andy, the guitarist, didn't stick around, but Roger is back with Simon, Nick and John and four is always better than three.

Recently, Duran Duran have put out a new single called "All You Need is Now" and I really like it! Aside from the rather annoying sounding beginning, it has a wonderful sound and the chorous is very enjoyable. Since Duran Duran and their original fans (like me) from the 1980s are now into middle age, we reminisce about our youth, and that's what this song is about and it's relatable.

The guys, of course, are still rockin' their good looks. Simon's beard actually is nice. Would have been TOTALLY icky in his young, new romantic years. Here's their new video, All You Need is Now...

Lightning McQueen Bike Review

2010-12-11T11:56:00.000-08:00

My son had been bugging me to get him a Lightning McQueen bike for his birthday last May and so his grandparents bought it for him. This bike wasn't used excessively, maybe - MAYBE once a week. He sometimes threw it to the ground, as children become focused on something else they literally drop what they're doing to go look.

So if you're considering getting a Lightning McQueen bike for your child, please see my complete Lightning McQueen Bike review and if you change your mind about the bike, there are lots of Disney Cars movie toys to get as gifts instead.

Drivers Turning Right Don't Look Right

2010-11-29T06:05:00.000-08:00

This has been on my mind for a long time now and I finally want to write about it. When I'm a pedestrian walking on a sidewalk opposite of oncoming traffic, the drivers who pull out from a side street looking to turn right almost NEVER look to their right to see me coming! They slow down and only look left then pull right on out!

When I would have Aidan in the stroller with me, I'd just stop and wait for the morons to pass, or if they were coming down the street as I'd cross, I'd slow way down and make eye contact before proceeding.

There was one time that both my husband and my child were with me and we were just about to step from a curb when an idiot barreled through without looking even once!

I'm signed up for Google news alerts for a certain keyword I'm interested in reading more about and every day there is news from all over the country about mothers and their children getting hit by these drivers and I bet you that most of these accidents are from pedestrians walking against traffic on the sidewalk with stupid drivers who don't look right before turning right.

Please don't be a stupid driver: LOOK RIGHT before turning right.

Have you been mowed down (or almost) as a pedestrian?

Highly Intellingent Talks

2010-11-17T06:05:00.000-08:00

I found some excellent speeches on iTunes that I've downloaded onto my iPod, simply captivated and actually LEARNING something as I prepare dinner every night.

They're talks given by The Cato Institute. The Cato Institute is a public policy research organization — a think tank — dedicated to the principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace. Its scholars and analysts conduct independent, nonpartisan research on a wide range of policy issues.

The first talk I found was by a lawyer from the Pacific Legal Foundation named Timothy Sandefur who wrote a book called The Right to Earn A Living: Economic Freedom And The Law. This book is about all the licensing and fees that the government imposes on business owners and entrepreneurs who simply want to earn an honest living. He discusses laws that are passed that makes a new moving company, for example, seek permission from its competitors before being allowed to operate. Taxi cab regulations are also heavily regulated. You have to have a license to be a FLORIST for crying out loud. Anyway, the talk was VERY good, and I'd like to get his book at some point.

I also listened to this speech on Cato on how public employee unions are going to sink this ship that is our country:

Although private sector unions have been in decline for decades, public sector unions have been on the rise. Both private and public unions have undue political influence and use that power to seek privileges at the expense of consumers and taxpayers. Are unions good for America?

You can find this speech here and download the audio. The first and third speakers are fascinating and frightening all at once.

Here is the list of all of Cato's podcasts. They have speakers from all over the world talking on a huge variety of topics. I feel smarter everyday that I listen! :)

My Experience at the Pixar Exhibition

2010-11-08T09:39:00.000-08:00

Ever since the Oakland Museum announced that it was hosting an exhibition of Pixar's 25 Years of Animation, I knew I had to go. I mean I have a Pixar movies site, for goodness sake, I must!

I'm not a person who feels I have to be first at everything, so this exhibition has been going on for three months already and in addition, the first Sunday of every month provides free admission. Last month I couldn't go, so this month I decided I must go and my friend Caroline joined me!

However, come Sunday morning, it was heavily pouring rain outside and I thought - well, there probably won't be that many people waiting in line today since it's raining so hard.

We got into Oakland at 10:15 and the museum didn't open til 11 and there were already quite a crowd lined up, huddled under their umbrellas 45 minutes early. So I hopped out of the car to wait in line while Caroline parked her car.

Ugh, it was so wet n cold waiting all that time and the folks ahead of us were a group a three with one tiny umbrella to share. Needless to say they were drenched by the time the gate opened. I was impressed at the loyalty of all these people to come see the exhibition. I would guesstimate that close to 1,000 people showed up!

Anyway, on to the awesome Pixar exhibition. It was so cool to see the storyboards and conceptual drawings. I found some of the collage pieces for The Incredibles to be really well done. Many of the acrylic and pastel paintings are beautiful pieces on their own and would look stunning on the wall as a unique piece of art.

There were 3-D models of all the characters from each Pixar film showcased in the middle of each room and in one room, there were a half dozen glass and wire sculptures of the different plants on the tepui plateaus of South America that were studies for Up. Absolutely GORGEOUS.

One of the highlights was something called a Zoetrope. It's like a small merry-go-round where different Toy Story characters are in various animated poses. The Zoetrope spins around faster and faster, the lights go dark in the room, then strobe lights flicker on the spinning Zoetrope and the figures come to life. There are sound effects to it, making it all the more real. It was VERY cool!

Another part of the exhibit I really enjoyed was seeing color studies for the scope of the film. I saw several - Up and WALL-E. The entire movie is made up in a series of panels that convey the mood of the film through the color schemes. They were simple pictures, but put all together it had lots of impact and you could see the whole film on one section of wall.

And of course, the conceptual art was wonderful. Many pieces were digitally created and they look just like colored pencil or conte crayon. Other pieces had the precise lines of an architect. The talent of the artists at Pixar are extraordinary!

So that was my experience of the Pixar exhibit at the Oakland Museum. I encourage you to go too, especially if you live in the Bay Area - Pixar is your neighbor and probably the premiere animation studio in the world.

Special Day Today

2010-11-02T05:59:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah, it's election day and that's what everyone on the news stations will be talking about all day long.

But I'm excited about the DVD/BluRay release of Toy Story 3! I should be getting my copy in the mail either today or tomorrow. Unfortunately, we don't yet have a BluRay player, so we only got the DVD copy, which is got lots of exciting special features anyway.

I also want to remind everyone that my contest to win your own copy of the Toy Story 3 BluRay/DVD combo pack ends today! It's been a week of fun with lots of good quality entries, and I'll be sending off the top 5 entries over to my guest judge over at PixarTalk to make the final decision. This announcement will be made on November 5th.

You, my friends, have until 9:00 PM PST tonight enter your movie review for your chance to win.

Trick or Treat

2010-10-31T21:30:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the first time we took Aidan out for trick-or-treating. It was about 7:15 when I saw and heard lots of commotion going on outside and remembered that kids were going door to door at about this time. So I pulled Golf aside and asked what he thought about taking Aidan out for the first time in his life. He agreed with me, so off we went.

This was Golf's first time out with trick-or-treaters, too. Being from Thailand and coming to America as an adult, he never got this experience as a kid, and so of course, he wouldn't know that we should take Aidan out without my prompting him to. So it was a fun night for both guys.

Aidan's five now, and yes he could have gone in earlier years, but I simply didn't want him having access to so much candy! I thought this year is a good year to start and the neighborhood we live in is safe. In just a few blocks he got lots of candy - enough to last him for months with the way Mama is going to regulate his treat intake. LOL!

He wore his Ultraman costume that Golf bought him in Thailand two years ago. It's getting way too small for him, but Aidan just doesn't want to give it up yet, he loves it so much.

CONTEST - Win the Toy Story 3 BluRay/DVD Combo

2010-10-28T06:04:00.000-07:00

I'm sure I'm like all of you and am really excited about the release of Toy Story 3 out on Blu-Ray and DVD on November 2nd.

Well, you have an opportunity to win a copy!

From now until November 2, come to The Leaping Lamp and write your own favorite Pixar movie review for a chance to win.

Write a review for one movie or write a review for each Pixar film to increase your odds of winning.

Details and entry form at The Leaping Lamp Contest Page.

Finally Fall

2010-10-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

Here in the Bay Area we get Indian Summers, which means the warm weather extends late into the year. On the other hand, in June we're downright cold and this year was cold all through September. Just when I thought we weren't going to get a summer, we got a last of the year heatwave.

Now it's mid October and we've got our first rainy day. I finished my power walk just in time! To balance out my exercise, I baked some Trader Joe's Guilt-Free brownies! LOL! Still lots of calories, but it uses yogurt instead of butter. The apartment smells wonderful.

Golf is a dear and takes Aidan to his Thai school every Sunday so I will have time to be at home and get some work done. Today I'm working on creating a Google search box for my Stroller Envy site.

Late last month I created another Squidoo Lens for people who are searching for the best Toy Story 3 Toys for Christmas this year. You don't want to end up buying a piece of junk that falls apart or breaks within a few days or hours of playtime. This list is for toys that have high user ratings. While some selections are not cheap there is a range of prices for those on a budget too. So go and check it out!

I'm getting excited that November 2 is coming soon. That's when we get our Toy Story 3 DVD! You can pre-order yours now and get it on November 2 also. I'll be able to finish my Toy Story 3 pages on The Leaping Lamp, which we're all anxiously awaiting, not to mention the fabulous included short film, Day & Night.

Been busy at working outside the home too, helping with the annual California English Language Development Test (CELDT) going from school to school. We're on our last school and should be done by the end of October. Then I'll be able to put my full force back into Stroller Envy.

Lately I've really been getting into Dave Ramsey. Mom and Dad taught me not to ever charge more on my credit card that I could pay off at the end of the month. Somehow that always stuck in my head and I never got way into debt. The worst we ever got was a few thousand dollars, which is nothing compared to the tens of thousands of dollars in debt many people dig themselves into. Not to mention the student loans! Holy mackerel - some get right up there in the $100k range!

So I heard Dave Ramsey on a local radio station and was hooked. He's preaching to the choir in the case of this family! We just need to create more income. We have hardly any debt and no car payments. I'm working my tail off to get our income up and be my own boss at the same time. The only thing that's off-putting is the Christian slant. But on the other hand, it's not pushed and any scripture he quotes can be applied to any spiritual tradition. I make it a point to stay focused on the forest not the tree. (Does that make sense?)

Til next time - hopefully soon!

Amazon or eBay?

2010-06-17T05:23:00.000-07:00

A few years ago Golf had used eBay a lot to bring in extra family income. He even became a power seller! EBay has radically changed in the three years since we've been sellers and many sellers have left and other online auction houses have started, taking on the monolith.

Then the other day a friend of mine was saying how her husband had sold a couple of extra new and valuable kitchen items he had but didn't need. I think they were like hood filters or something.

She went on to tell me that he sold them right away on Amazon! What struck me was that eBay is no longer the default choice for people looking to sell their stuff here and there. Apparently Amazon is now!

Amazon is more seller friendly, it seems. For my Pixar site, The Leaping Lamp, I had applied for the eBay affiliate program and was rejected. Twice! Look at my site, what is there about it that is inappropriate to sell eBay products? Amazon took me on right away and in less than a month, I've referred nearly $300 in business to them.

There's an interesting battle brewing between these two companies... who's going to dominate in the coming years? Which company will people think of using first? Probably a third party out of left field, totally unexpected. Another Google - that's what I think.

Happy Anniversary Leaping Lamp!

2010-06-11T15:54:00.000-07:00

Peek Inside is all quiet, but I am a flurry of activity online with my Leaping Lamp website. My one year anniversary with my site was on June 5th and wow, has my site grown into something really wonderful. I'm very happy with the results and now I must gear up for Toy Story 3 in a week.

Next on my agenda is creating my next website which will be about.... well, I shall just have to announce it here on my personal blog!

I'm also on FaceBook more often than here on my blog, so please see my profile if you want to know what's going on in the P. family.

My New Toy

2010-02-04T06:58:00.000-08:00

Finally Finally FINALLY our family's starting to get out of this debilitating recession and I can only hope and wish that this upward mobility continues. In that line of thought, I've been wanting a new iPod for about half a year now. I still slog around a CD player now and then and I miss out on interesting podcasts and I know I don't listen to music as often since it's not as convenient.

Well, I was looking online at the prices for used iPods, but Golf told me that for my belated birthday present (December) I could get a brand new one, latest generation. Woo hoo! Wow!

So I've been having fun exploring new music and downloading my favorite CDs.

On a side note, when Benjawan came over the other day to pick up the manuscript I was editing for the latest Speak Like a Thai series and she was showing me on her iPhone that she has all the Speak Like a Thai volumes downloaded. She's also perfecting her Spanish and wishes to learn Chinese and Russian. Benjawan is a real linguaphile!

She's a busy woman and I had asked her how she manages to find time to learn languages and she says that with all these language learning programs downloaded, she listens in her car and learns in any spare time she has.

Well, I'm quite addicted to my tiny portable radio and I listen when I wash dishes or take Aidan out for a walk. But now that I have this iPod with Thai language learning downloaded, I can practice and learn Thai instead! I need to become more fluent and this is the perfect way to do so.

Anway, thank you Golf for my new toy - I'll be getting a lot of use out of it!

A Day Fit for a Queen

2009-12-14T14:07:00.000-08:00

I turned 40 last Saturday. To many it is just another number, but I always contemplate the previous decade of my life as I enter a new one.

My two best girlfriends, Melanie and Caroline, took me to the Claremont Resort & Spa in Berkeley, which was a HUGE surprise in itself. This place is extremely luxurious and gorgeous. It was a rainy, dreary day, so being indoors and cozy was perfect for such a stormy winter day. (Photo is from the website linked above)

I got to indulge in two treatments. All three of us had our first appointment at 10 AM so we arrived at about 9. You get to go into the jacuzzi beforehand or sit in a steam bath scented with eucalyptus. The spa also has something called a deluge shower. You step into this shower stall and sit on a small bench, leaning forward. There's a pipe sticking out of the ceiling and it pours a ton of warm water onto your back and neck, massaging you like you're sitting under a waterfall. It was great!

The first treatment I received was a rosemary body scrub. I wanted softer skin and in addition to getting a great rubdown, the masseuse also gave me a wonderful head and scalp massage. This was while I was stewing in some warm lavender oil with hot, heavy towels draped over me. Oh, it felt divine!

I had enough time to sit in the steam bath for five minutes after this treatment was finished and let the oils soak in nicely. Then it was time for my facial.

I haven't had a facial in this country before. In Thailand, I'd get one once a month or so - I was incredibly spoiled living there. This facial was the same basic style as what I'd get in Thailand, but this one included a pumpkin spice enzyme that smelled just like pumpkin pie. It tingled nicely, and subsided a bit when the steam started.

The technician then picked thoroughly and got all that crapola out of my face and then various creams and tonics were massaged in. The facial included a shoulder and arm massage with hot lavender oil. She put my hands in plastic bags and then put inside hot oven mitts. (that's what they looked like, anyway.) The whole thing was WOONDDEERRFULLLL!!

I took a shower when my facial was done. All the shower stalls have wall jets plus the giant pie-plate shower head that dumps water down like a tropical shower. I felt guilty using all that water, but my shower wasn't long and I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Afterward, Melanie and Caroline and I all had lunch together. I had this creole spiced chicken sandwich with roasted pepper on ciabatta bread with a side of bacony potato salad. YUMMY!
Caroline had the burger with the same side salad and Melanie had the blackened catfish sandwich with southern style cole slaw.

What a wonderful, wonderful spa day!!!! Thank you again Melanie and Caroline!

Has it really been three months?!?!

2009-11-22T16:34:00.000-08:00

Well, as I had forewarned in a previous post, I'm up to my eyeballs with my online business. I've been writing all about Pixar movies on The Leaping Lamp and it's been keeping me very, very busy. Not only creating new content, but with promoting it on Facebook and on Twitter. I have SO many plans in the works for my site and so please subscribe to the RSS feed for the latest updates.

So if there's anybody out there still reading this, thank you, I appreciate it. Now you know where I've been hiding and what I've been doing.

Working Again and Following a New Diet

2009-08-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

Today I started work again. School districts have a state mandated English test for kids who speak a language other than English at home. Kids are tested in Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. They take this test yearly until they pass it and can be in a "regular" class instead of an ESL class.

So today was my first day of testing these kids. The paperwork involved is enormous and the length of the test for little kids entering kindergarten is far too much. I had to stretch and jump around a couple of times with the little girl I was testing because her attention kept wandering and she was BORED!

Don't tell anybody, but even though Aidan speaks Thai with Golf at home, we are NOT going to let the school know that. Because that means he'll have to take this test every year. Bleh, no thank you.

Other news... I'm trying out this diet: Dr. Grott's No Flour, No Sugar Diet.

So far it's working quite well; I've lost two pounds in three days. Well, today's day #3, and I didn't weigh myself this morning.

My hairstylist told me about this. She had great success with it, because she also cut out dairy products. I don't think I could take out ALL that food, but sugar and flour, yes.

AND I had heard from several people who had had success with simply avoiding sugar!

I eat well by cooking at home with minimally processed foods and have reasonable portions. But I weigh too much and need to take off 17-20 pounds. Then I'll be at the weight I was when I was living in Thailand PRE marriage!

I'll keep you all posted on my progress.

Monthly Updates + Facebook

2009-06-13T06:37:00.000-07:00

I've been up to my eyeballs starting a new online business. My painting has even been put on hold for now and I miss it. But I need to earn money, and I enjoy creating on the Internet, so once a stream of income begins, then I can get back to painting more regularly.

I still volunteer at the Frank Bette Center for the Arts once a week and today I'm going to my favorite Artist's house an hour's drive away to see her for Open Studios. Open Studios, for those who don't know, is a yearly event that spans two weekends where participating artists open their homes, workspaces and studios to the public. The artist has his or her profile entered into a directory and a place on an area map so people can find them. They set up their space like a gallery to sell their work. It's a way for some artists, who have never had the opportunity to show in a gallery, to become discovered and/or make some sales.

Nowadays, I'm on Facebook a lot more often and I find that making brief comments and updates is far easier than updating my blog. That's why PeekInside has fallen so far behind! I don't plan to give up this blog, since it's been around since my days in Bangkok and is like my living diary. So I'll likely update it monthly or even every couple of months or so. I'm just so busy with other projects that it's not my priority any longer. So look for my profile on Facebook, it's at http://www.facebook.com/amy.rainier And if you haven't already, add me as your friend and I shall do the same. :)

I'll sign off for now with a picture of Aidan. Lately he's been into drawing and writing. He went from scribbles to actual pictures in a matter of days, it's amazing. In this photo, his daddy showed him how to draw and color the Thai flag.

GOALS

2009-05-06T09:52:00.001-07:00

I've been reading, reading and absorbing, absorbing strategies, ideas and stories about micro-businesses, online businesses, independent location businesses and art businesses. I want that so badly! I need to find my niche.

You know what I would LOVE to do? Go back to Thailand for a few more years. Let Aidan experience his Thai culture more fully.

And I would work on my own terms. MAYBE teaching art workshops and classes if needed. Otherwise fully promoting my Expat woman's guide and website by traveling around the country and in Bangkok reviewing services and such (I have another idea about that, too), making my art, and showing it in local galleries. That's my dream and fully doable within the next couple of years.

All this would depend on Golf's business, too. His work is more prominent in the United States and I feel my work would be more prominent in Thailand. Funny how that works out!

So in the meantime, I'm painting and building up a body of work as well as trying to get the whole business end of things figured out.

Confirming my suspicions

2009-04-26T08:16:00.000-07:00

My suspicions have been that I've always been an on the fence non-conformist. And it's easy to be seduced into the status-quo, but if I picture myself making all the safe decisions, I also know I would be drowning slowly in misery and utter boredom. At least I know myself and I apologize if this sounds too cryptic to make much sense.

The purpose of this post is to spread the word about a couple of writings from a blogger and traveler named Chris Guillebeau who has a site called The Art of Nonconformity. I'd never heard of him until I got a blog post in my reader from marketing sensation Seth Godin's site where he mentioned Guillebeau's new manifesto called 279 Days to Overnight Success. The title intrigued me, so I downloaded it.

It offers 11,000 words of free advice on how to create your own success with your own project.
Who It’s For:

Bloggers, writers, online artists, and anyone otherwise interested in creating a new career or expanding their influence using social media. If you want your online presence to grow far beyond what it is now, read and apply.

That's all I needed to read to know that I should download this manifesto and give it a gander. It was teriffic. It gave me some more ideas about my Expat website, and I'm kicking around some ideas for creating another project, both of which I hope to subsidize my art career.

The other manifesto Chris Guillebeau wrote is called A Brief Guide to World Domination.
It's a more generalized piece of writing about how to live a fulfilling life by living and working in service to others. He notes that all the mega-rich give out lots of money to help others, otherwise despite their wealth, their life feels hollow.

A Few Things You’ll Learn in the Report

The Two Most Important Questions in the Universe
Why Ruling and Changing the World are Interrelated
The Clear Alternative to Being Unremarkably Average
True Stories from Zen Habits, Kiva, Randy Pausch, and more
The Most Important Work We Can Do
Life Lessons from My Singapore Airlines flight to Tokyo

What does he mean by ruling and changing the world? Well he doesn't mean it in the traditional sense of the phrase. Download the PDF file and see for yourself.

Chris Guillebeau's writings got me thinking lately, so I wanted to pass on this information to anyone else who might want some inspiration. :)

Art Blog Updated

2009-04-19T09:28:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to let you know that I have updated my Art Blog with my new painting

Worth Savoring Slowly

Enjoy!

Subbing, Painting, Squidooing, Volunteering

2009-04-19T06:53:00.001-07:00

Gosh, I've really neglected this blog a lot, and I'm sorry for anybody who still follows me on it. I've been quite active on the internet, though.

Like the rest of the world, it seems, I joined up on Facebook a few months ago and then a few days ago I finally joined Twitter, although I don't have much to do on that site, YET. I hope to use it to promote my art down the road later.

In the meantime I've been substitute teaching a lot, bringing in some extra income since Golf's translation jobs have been slow lately. That takes up most my day every day.

Then I've been painting like crazy, I just finished Melanie's birthday painting and I gave it to her yesterday. I will update my art blog about it as soon as I have the photos ready to upload.

Squidoo I've been working tirelessly on. I've got some new lenses up. If any of you reading this wouldn't mind, sign up for Squidoo and then go to my lensmaster page. Scroll down a bit and you will see all the articles I've written and then rate my articles! The higher the ratings, the better page rank I get and the more pageviews I get. It's a stay at home income revenue I've been working on.

I've listed some of the ones I've done already, but the rest I've finished lately are:
Bangkok by Boat
Short Stay in Bangkok?

Right now I'm working on a lens promoting Golf's online shop called Discovery Day Studio, where he sells PDF service manuals for various electronics.

Lastly, I've been volunteering a few hours a week at the Frank Bette Center for the Arts, and today's my day to go in. It's a chance to get my foot in the door and get to know other artists and those in the art business. I will eventually (hopefully) get to exhibit there too!

Reinforcing what I want with Aidan

2009-03-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

Ever since reading The Secret a couple years ago, I've made it a habit of always thinking about what I want instead of what I don't want, or turning a negative statement into a positive statement.

This has filtered down into my parenting technique as well. I'd read somewhere that if you tell a child, for example, "Please don't climb on the bookshelf." The only thing the child hears is "Climb on the bookshelf." and that's one of the primary reasons kids misbehave. They need to be told what to do, as opposed to what not to do.

So I've been practicing and catching myself when I tell Aidan not to do something. I turn it around right away and tell him what I want him to do and sometimes I have to stop and think about it. I've been so accustomed to expressing what I don't want that it can be difficult sometimes to think about what I want instead. If I don't want my child to stomp around on the floor (we have neighbors one floor below us) then what do I tell him I do want? To walk softly please. If I don't want Aidan to put the holly berry he picked in his mouth, what do I tell him? "Don't put that in your mouth?" I used to say that. I now say, "Keep the berry in your fingers." or "Hold on to it."

Having a child to practice positive statements on is great. You have to really stop and think sometimes about what it is you want when it's so easy to think about what you don't want. I'm sure that at some point it will be as easy to express my wants as it is my don't wants. :)

Busy!

2009-03-07T06:54:00.000-08:00

I had to substitute teach everyday except Wednesday this week. Wednesday was supposed to be the day I enrolled Aidan in preschool but the program had only three slots available! Needless to say, I was unable, so I was moody all day. I had told Aidan how he was going to get to go to preschool - he's been telling me how much he wants to go. What a letdown. Next time I won't tell him until he's actually enrolled.

So besides working I've been still learning Squidoo stuff and I created a couple more lenses:
Tips for Thailand Expats
Medical Tourism in Thailand
Resources for Learning Thai

I now would like to expand and cast a wider net. I've got some more ideas. Eventually I'd like to create quite a few more and make some money. So far I've made 11 cents! Woo hoo!

Meeting someone special and Squidoo

2009-02-20T06:33:00.000-08:00

I've been laying low on Peek Inside for a little bit now, just haven't had time to catch up. I've been spending too much time on Facebook and working on my Expat Woman's Guide to Living in Thailand website during my free time during the day - which is very little. Next week, I'm making myself available to substitute teach again because the economy is making business slow, just like everywhere else.

I'm meeting someone special next weekend, March 1st. She is an artist I admire greatly and I found out about her through a book I read last year called The Wishing Year, by Noelle Oxenhandler. After reading her book, I visited her website, where I found out about the artist, Carole Watanabe, she talked about often in her book. I went to Carole's website and fell in love with her paintings. Carole had also written a book called The Ecstatic Marriage of Life and Art and so I ordered a copy and was completely inspired by additional works of art and her inspiring words. It was this book and The Wishing Year that pushed me to take the action and return to art; I started painting again because of these two books, so I'm indebted to these two women.

I put myself out there and did something I never have before. I wrote a letter (fan mail!) to Carole, enclosing a color photo copy of my first painting I did. I heard back from her about two weeks later inviting me to give her a call in February. So I did - I called her a few days ago and I was nervous. But we chatted for half an hour and she's a delightful, easygoing person who melted my nerves. She ended up inviting me to come meet her in person! More than anything I want to see her paintings in person and talk to her. She's had so much life experience and has made a success of her career as an artist. What a wise person and mentor to have. That was a wish I had, actually, to have a mentor whose art work I admire and who is also a savvy business person. So there it is - on March 1st, I'm driving to Sebastapol, where she lives, to spend some time and learn, grow, share and be inspired. Thank You Universe!!!

I've been spending time on Squidoo making lenses and it's been fun. I have three made so far and plan to make some more. It's good writing practice and it can even earn some money, too!

Here are my lenses:
Tips for Expat Women in Thailand
Some Western Restaurants in Bangkok, Thailand
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a GREAT Movie

So there you go. I'll update my Squidoo pages as they come. I'm having fun, too!

New Painting Photos on Display at my Fine Art Blog

2009-02-08T15:22:00.000-08:00

Please go visit my new Art Blog to see the paintings I did for my mother's birthday. Her actual birthday is today, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM. I hope you had a wonderful day.

love,
Amy

Update

2009-01-27T08:17:00.000-08:00

I've been pretty busy, hence my not posting so much on this blog. I now have a Fine Art Blog to document my painting progress. I'm nearly finished with my mother's birthday painting and once she receives it, I shall post photos of the painting, including pictures of the stages of painting.

Then every Tuesday I have my painting class, which I eagerly look forward to every week. In between classes, I work on my painting for the class and I work on my extracurricular painting (in this case, Mom's). So I've been staying up every night til 11:00, working.

I cannot fall asleep right away, of course, because I'm caught up in the grips of the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. I'm reading the last book, Breaking Dawn. I read at any spare moment throughout the day - the book's got it's fangs lodged deeply in my psyche! So by the time I fall asleep, it's nearly midnight.

I still get up early, but my alarm is now for 5:45 AM, not 4:45 AM. I don't technically wake up at that time... I stumble into the kitchen and start the coffee machine and lie down on the sofa until the beep beep beep of the coffee maker goes off, telling me it's brewed. It allows me about 20 minutes of snoozing in the meantime.

I've been checking all the links to my expanded book to The Expat Woman's Guide to Living in Bangkok. I've expanded it to all of Thailand and the last few days have been rechecking the web links to ensure they're all up to date.

Then this Thursday, Golf and I are going to record Speak Like a Thai Volume 6, Everyday Conversations. I've been the female native English speaker and Golf the male Thai speaker since Volume 2, Thai Slang and Idioms, so I'm happy and excited to record this next installment.

I've got more in the works and shall blog about it soon, but that's a quick update which explains my absence on Peek Inside.

Recommended Movie

2009-01-15T15:30:00.000-08:00

Dad took Golf and me out to the movies last night and we saw "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. If you're considering going, then please do see it! It goes all against our humanness, being born old and growing younger as Benjamin Button ages, and how this movie handles his unique situation in his relationships is emotional. I know this is a good movie when I'm still thinking about the story the next day.

The movie had me thinking about the stages of life we all get to go through and that every human contemplates and experiences as long as they're alive and conscious. Brad Pitt was an excellent actor and of course looked gorgeous as he grew younger. Cate Blanchette was absolutely beautiful and brilliant as usual and I was pleased to see another favorite actress, Tilda Swinton.
Go see this movie!

One of my first paintings

2009-01-03T16:27:00.001-08:00

With all the talk I've been doing about my art and painting, I wanted to finally share with you my second painting I've done on my own. I won't bother showing you the practice works we do in art class unless it turns out to be glorious.

I finished this one last night. It's a ginkgo leaf and I just love how they look when they turn that beautiful golden color and drop like coins around the trees in autumn. It's just absolutely gorgeous, not to mention their unique, fan-like shape. So here it is.

Ginkgo Leaf 1
acrylic on 8x10 canvas board

Christmas Lights!

2008-12-24T07:12:00.000-08:00

There's a popular street in Alameda that has a fabulous Christmas lights display every year and this is the second year we've taken Aidan. Last night we finished dinner early and the weather was cooperating so we decided that was the night to go. Every house on this street is decked to the hilt and there are carolers strolling around and singing and even a Santa Claus in the middle island for kids. People come from all over to see this display and it was a lot of fun to go - some displays were quite creative such as one with a Nightmare Before Christmas theme and another using plastic lawn flamingos with antlers instead of reindeer. Aidan was beyond excited with it all.

This was Aidan's first experience sitting on Santa's lap. We went through a brief rehearsal as we stood in line for his turn about what to expect. I didn't want him to be scared. He did great and totally enjoyed sitting on Santa's lap and telling him what he wanted for Christmas. While we don't really celebrate Christmas, I might be persuaded to getting Aidan a little somethin from Santa every year. He loves Christmas - what kid doesn't?

Below are more pics from some of the great displays.

39

2008-12-12T05:59:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I'm 39 today and like anybody who gets older, I contemplated the aging process and something about entering midlife is weird. I think this is something that everybody goes through as we enter the passage from youth to middle age and then into our senior years. Even as my face, body and hair are changing (not an easy thing to see either!) I was contemplating that as I'm going these life stages, at least I'm making this journey with someone by my side who is also going through the same thing. And I look at the fresh, round, perfect face of my little son and I understand on an instinctual level about passing on what we know and believe on to the next generation. I also find comfort that the thoughts and feelings I've been having is not new and NO ONE is exempt from getting older.

Anyway, so happy birthday to me. :)

Chinese Proverb About Money I Liked

2008-12-11T06:14:00.000-08:00

With money you can buy a house, but not a home.

With money you can buy a clock, but not time.

With money you can buy a bed, but not sleep.

With money you can buy a book, but not knowledge.

With money you can buy a doctor, but not good health.

With money you can buy a position, but not respect.

With money you can buy blood, but not life.

With money you can buy sex, but not love.

Project after my Book is Done

2008-12-09T05:48:00.000-08:00

Once I'm done writing my book to include all of Thailand, I'm going to start a new project on myself based on a book called The Artist's Way, by Julia Cameron. It is a 12 week program with exercises to access and reawaken your creativity and it has gotten rave reviews. I've forced mine down for so many years that it needs some serious resuscitation. It will certainly help with my painting!

Deep in the Midst of Potty Training!

2008-12-09T05:39:00.000-08:00

Last week, with the Thanksgiving holiday and our Thailand trip at an end and routine returned to the family, I had had enough of Aidan's diapers and decided it was high time he be potty trained, even though he wasn't enthusiastic about it. I'm dreadfully tired of diapers and their high expense - besides this kid is 3 1/2 years old - it's high time he uses a toilet!

The first two days were 100% accidents and I was puzzled and rather depressed that my son didn't get it, especially being as old as he is. But on day three, he went to the toilet every single time with no accidents. He was especially motivated by the small chocolate coin I'd give him as a reward. He still poops in his diaper, but that will change soon too. We're hoping to start him in a preschool program a few days a week once he gets potty trained.

Today

2008-11-30T07:12:00.000-08:00

is my husband's birthday.

Happy Birthday Tii Rak. You're the best and I love you forever.

kisses,
Amy

Painting Class

2008-11-30T07:06:00.000-08:00

I'm very excited to be taking my first art class since I've been in college in the early/mid 1990s. Beginning this Tuesday and every Tuesday for the next 10 weeks, I'll be taking a class on acrylic painting for beginning and intermediate students at the local adult school. It's only $85 for these 10 sessions at two hours each class, which I think is unbelievably cheap - you'd pay that much for a single two hour workshop!

I think it will be a great way to kick start my painting and it's a way to get some time in to paint every week AND get some formal instruction. I also enjoy being amongst the other students, sharing ideas and just being with others who like to paint. :) I'm really excited about it!

Home Again

2008-11-21T05:04:00.000-08:00

It's five in the morning! Hooray for jetlag. :)

Today will be spent unpacking all our stuff. We left with two pieces of check in luggage that were filled only half full with clothing and things we needed and we came back with three!

It was a lovely trip and Aidan got to get to know his father's side of the family and immerse himself in Thai language. Golf enjoyed his FOOD the most and caught up with his family. I enjoyed some leisures and luxuries I don't indulge in very often at home such as getting my hair washed and blow dried at the hair dressers (for $3.45 incl. tip) and mani/pedicure twice (for $6.31). A manicure/pedicure in my town costs me nearly $30 after I give a tip, so I was happily keeping up my nails. :) I also got one foot massage for the same price for one hour.

We all stayed with his sisters at his childhood home that has since turned into a neighborhood that is very crowded, noisy and busy with four lanes of heavy traffic. I'm grateful to have stayed here though because it saved us a significant amount of money in accommodation, but in coming back home, my neighborhood feels and sounds deserted and silent!

Two favorite highlights from my trip:

Meeting Catherine from Women Learning Thai blog. She took me to the British Club for a delicious lunch and fascinating conversation. The time went by far too quickly when you're with interesting company.
Visiting my former school and the neighborhood Golf and I lived. Before going to my school we had lunch at Bon Marche Market, about a block from our old condo high rise. We used to eat there every weekend and it's gone through a renovation in the three years we've been away and it's VERRRY nice now.
Afterward we walked to my old school and met with former admin staff including the school director and the principal. Unfortunately all my former students are no longer at this school and I was very disappointed that I didn't get to see any of them. I did get to visit with one teacher who is still there. Sue is a Thai-American, raised in the US and reconnecting with her Thai culture. She's been at this school for about three years now and we had a very lovely chat.
We spent about an hour at my old school, then we stopped at the grocery store in our old condo complex. In that shopping area there is also a computer shop among other shops, and Golf was friends with the computer shop owner who has a son about Aidan's age. So we stopped by to say hello and see his son. They had a nice reunion and Aidan got to meet their son and it was very cute to see them together. Then unexpectedly, Golf saw a retired expat Italian friend he had made who had bought a condo in this complex. He and his Thai wife also have a son about Aidan's age and we got to visit with them too.
It was really a lot of fun for the both of us, each of us getting to meet up with old friends and reminiscing about living in this part of Bangkok, so quiet and lovely compared to where we were staying in Saphan Kwai.

There were only two disappointments on this trip. One was that Aidan got sick. He got that traveler's bug that you get when you're unfamiliar with the food, water and climate of your environment. He was laid in bed all day on the Loy Krathong holiday, the holiday I wanted to take him out and experience. Poor baby - you know when a hyper little boy cannot get out of bed and has a fever that he really is sick. It took over a week for him to get over his runny nose and cough, but his fever lasted only a day. We then got him a flu shot a week later and that made him feel sick that day too (projectile vomiting!) My poor baby got well a few days before it was time to go back home.

The other disappointment was not being able to go to the beach. Reports were coming in that there were storms throughout the Gulf of Thailand, and the resort city we wanted to go to was on the Gulf. No sense going if it was going to rain, so besides one day trip we took, we spent the entire time in Bangkok.

I'll write more later and tell you about some of the stuff I bought and post some pictures too!

Obama!!!

2008-11-05T01:30:00.001-08:00

Here in Bangkok I've been closely watching the election returns and I have to say I couldn't be more thrilled about our new President. Just watched his acceptance speech video and can he be an inspiring speaker. I'm looking forward to this new era. HOORAY

Leaving today

2008-10-27T06:34:00.000-07:00

We're all excited, packed and ready to go. Golf is more excited about eating over there than anything else! LOL! So this is my last bit of time on the internet before I'm over and out for awhile. Gonna check my other blogs. I'll be back November 21st and may upload some pics between now and then, we shall see. Bye for now!

Getting ready to go

2008-10-25T08:53:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I called to confirm or reservation on our flight to Bangkok. It was six days in advance and it's a good thing I called that day; our flight had been canceled (as flights often are these days) and we were rescheduled a day EARLIER than we had booked.

So we're leaving day after tomorrow, not on Tuesday. Which is fine -- Golf finished up all his jobs and the new itinerary did not conflict with his work.

This weekend is busy, of course. This afternoon I have a hair appointment and I'm going to clean, clean, clean this apartment. I love returning back to a clean home. And we're bringing out the luggage to start the packing.

We've already successfully booked our hotel in Bangkok the first night. We arrive at the airport at 2 AM and so won't get to the hotel until close to 3 or 3:30 AM! It's because of this late hour that we booked a hotel, otherwise we'd go straight to my sister in law's house.

We're also trying an experiment with Aidan and the whole huge time change. Starting this morning, I let him sleep as late as he wants to, which was only an extra 35 minutes than normal. We're not going to attempt to put him down for a nap and we'll let him stay up as late as he can at night. I expect he will sleep later tomorrow and even later Monday morning, the day of our departure. I know it's not much, but anything to make the transition easier for him is our objective.

It's exciting around our home today!

One Week From TODAY!

2008-10-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

It's been sinking in the last few days - in exactly one week we'll be off to Thailand!!!

The week before your big trip, the reality of it finally sets in and it's time to get ready to go. I've been purchasing a few little bits that we need to take with us (most stuff we plan to get while there) and nailing down the logistics - paying bills online or arranging for their future payments so we don't have to worry while we're gone.

Today I'm off to the Eddie Bauer outlet store. I hope they still have some of their lightweight capri pants in stock - hopefully on clearance by now. I have one pair that fit me well and I don't like wearing shorts these days. So one pair isn't enough and jeans are too hot in Bangkok. A new swim suit would be nice to find as well as we'd like to take a side trip to the beach.

Woo hoo! The time is drawing near!

What a Great Sunday!

2008-10-20T09:05:00.000-07:00

I had the best time with Melanie yesterday seeing the Open Studios in San Francisco. Golf and I have only had Carolyn or my mother watch Aidan for a couple of hours while we go to a movie, but yesterday it was for six hours! So a great big huge THANK YOU to Carolyn for enduring for that long AND for changing a poopy diaper on a kid that is old enough to use a toilet.

Golf came with Mel and me and we dropped him off to do his own thing. He's not into seeing art the way Mel and I am but he needed to take advantage of his freedom so he just wanted to be out and about in the city, browsing stores and relaxing in a coffee shop, just enjoying himself. He had a great time.

One of the best things I like about Open Studios is that I get to meet and talk to the artists themselves. All the artists I met yesterday were so very friendly, and of course we could relate with one another (with the artists whose work I really enjoyed, that is - I'd likely relate less with one whose works were not to my taste). Best of all, I got to meet and speak with each of the artists I profiled in my previous posts. They were each inspiring and happy to talk about the techniques they used in their paintings, their opinions and philosophies about their work, how long they've been painting and how their paintings have changed over the years.

It was a great, great day! One of the galleries was a space that Mel and I used to go to for rave parties back in the mid 90s called "Sweet". Still looks the same and seeing that space brought back fun memories from well over 10 years ago - wow, 10 years!

Anyway, it was the best time I've had in a long while, filled with no worries about the kidlet and just indulging in my own adult time and interests. It was wonderful! :)

Open Studios

2008-10-18T06:06:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited about tomorrow. I'm going to go to San Francisco with my best friend Melanie to see some art with Open Studios! For over 30 years, San Francisco Open Studios has provided the public with an opportunity to see artists in their workspaces. As the largest and first open studios program in the country, San Francisco Open Studios showcases artists without judgment and invites art lovers to make friends and start or build their art collections.

A few weeks ago I picked up the catalog and artist directory for this year's Open Studios, and many of the artists whose sample works in that catalog looked appealing to happened to have their showings this weekend. I'm especially excited to see the works by these artists:

Matthew J. Frederick

Jennifer Porreca

and

Lance Scott

This weekend's Open Studios is in an area of San Francisco that I'm rather familiar with, since I used to live there. Mel and I plan to find a parking spot and just walk walk walk, and the plan is to get lunch at Goat Hill Pizza on Potrero Hill - I haven't been there in years, but there's a gorgeous view of the city from that vantage.

I'm looking forward to an adult day out! A big thank you to Carolyn for watching Aidan!!!!

Super Aidan!

2008-10-16T14:58:00.000-07:00

Since we're not going to be in the US for Halloween this year, Golf went ahead and got Aidan a Superman costume. Aidan's been on a Superman kick lately, using towels as a cape and listening to the movie soundtrack. He's one happy boy in his costume!

Bummed About My Toastmasters Club

2008-10-11T09:26:00.000-07:00

We now have only eight active members in our Toastmasters Club, and of those eight, we're lucky if half of them show up on any given Thursday. I'm very disappointed in this, but apparently it's common in clubs everywhere, and not just Toastmasters.

People are too busy in their evenings, I guess. It's a by-product of my previous post of people cramming too much into their schedules and having too much work to do, too long of a commute to make and frankly, if there is any time left over for family in the evenings, that's where it should be spent, not at a Toastmasters Club, really. In the end, people just don't have the spare time for any fun extracurricular activities for self improvement and socialization with others in the community.

The decision about our club is that come January 2009, if there is not an increase in members, this club will shut down. Fortunately there is another club in Alameda and the remaining members and I will transfer to the other club. It's just kind of sad as this club I'm in has survived since 1972...

Simple Living Simple Thinking

2008-10-10T06:47:00.000-07:00

I happened to see Oprah the other day and it was about cutting back your expenses and living more frugally. She's been having shows recently that reflect the concern with this deep recession we're going through and what all of us can do to ride it through.

I felt great because most of the advice was what Golf and I follow all the time and is a way of life for us, like cooking at home, bringing your lunch if you're going out to work, running your errands at one trip to save gas, renting videos instead of going to the movies, going to the library instead of buying books. We don't have to make any sort of adjustments to this failing economy at the moment because we're already doing the right things.

Golf and I just have not been bitten by the ultra-consumption bug that seems to have gripped most people in America. We're not living like po' folks, and the number one thing I cherish is the TIME that I have for my family that I wouldn't have if I worked outside the home.

I just finished a library book called Get Satisfied, and it's about twenty different people who had found satisfaction with enough - and each had a different definition of what constituted as enough. It's very nice to see a movement of people who are committed to slowing down and living well in this hyper fast, ultra consuming, time sucking life that most tend to live. Not for me.

Painting from photos

2008-10-03T08:44:00.000-07:00

I found a really cool blog called Different Strokes from Different Folks.

The blog author posts a photo weekly and artists submit their rendition of the photo in their own art, which is then posted on her blog. It's very interesting!

Nothing much happening of late. It's finally starting to act like fall weather around here. ;)

I'm Going to Paint!!!

2008-09-22T06:36:00.000-07:00

I cannot express how excited I am. But let me start from the very beginning to tell you my news.

A recent book I read called The Wishing Year, by Noelle Oxenhandler, involved art and getting involved with art. In snooping her website, (which I do for all authors I read) I found the site of one of the most influential people she had in her life during the time of her writing. This artist, Carole Watanabe, is a person I would love to get to know and have as a mentor. She's a successful artist AND business person, so a life of poverty for someone living the life of an artist is not a given, as Carole has proven.

So of course I went to Carole's website, artfully.com to see her works, which are gorgeous. Well, she's got a book out too, about the Ecstatic Marriage of Life and Art. The blurb for the book is:

Do you wish you were an artist? Are you an artist who wishes you could actually build a sustainable life around your art? Then read Carole Watanabe’s beautiful and lavishly illustrated new book, The Ecstatic Marriage of Life and Art. Offering wisdom from a lifetime of Carole’s personal journals, it is a companion volume to Noelle Oxenhandler’s book, The Wishing Year.

The answer to Carole's two questions is a loud and unrestrained YES!!!!

I have always wanted to create art. In my childhood that's all I did. In college I took art classes, but ended up majoring in graphic design (so I wouldn't be a poor pauper) and discovered graphic design didn't float my boat. I let my art side slip away. I still went to galleries often, especially when I lived in San Francisco. I also explored the art scene in Bangkok, and I got the opportunity to teach art to kids at the two schools I worked at when I lived there.

But to learn to paint on my own and create for the sake of creating is something that has slipped away over the years, but now I am inspired to begin again. There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING else in the world that gives me such inspiration, focus and feelings of near ecstasy. When in the midst of drawing or painting a picture, I forget to eat or drink and the concept of time vanishes. Going into an art store makes me feel giddy. The smells of the linseed oil and wood for the canvas framing and other new materials smells creates feelings of deep happiness.

So I decided to carve out the time I need to do this. I have thought long and hard of where to paint in our apartment (far from art studio style) and when I can do it. Yesterday I bought some supplies and I already have my portable easel. You can be sure I will share with you some of my creations and while I'm sure my early works will be a bit sketchy as I get back into practice, my future pieces should be something to be proud of.

Here's to ART!!!

New Review for Expat Women in Bangkok

2008-09-14T09:40:00.000-07:00

The first review of The Expat Woman's Guide to Living in Thailand (That Men Like, Too!) has arrived! Thank you, Catherine Wentworth, for such a well-written piece . You can see the original on her website.

******************************************

What's a woman gotta do around here to get a bite…

When a western woman arrives in Bangkok, she's overwhelmed with a multitude of tasty sites and resources on offer. Mostly for men.

Bangkok, a city for the hungry male? Or is it?

First up (when googling), she'll find Stickman's Bangkok. A classic. And while there's decent information on offer, from a female point of view, we be going hungry.

Bangkok Bob is another fav of mine. But again, it's heavy on the guy angle (as it would be).

Other well-written sites have the same tang. There's interesting chunks for sure, but I don't really need to know that some poor sod paid over the going price, or how to investigate a Thai bar girl, or even the ins and outs of a man's guide to Bangkok life (but I will peek).

With a female flavour, I need to know about reasonable housing and what areas to avoid, the nearest market to suit my tastes, where to eat, the best masseurs (and why), English book stores (should I bring my own), what shops have shoes in my size (ditto), how to make new friends (male and female), and tips on important Thai customs (a biggie for women avoiding uncomfortable snafus). And all in my particular brand; a zesty, zingy, female munch.

And that's where Amy's ebook, the Expat Women's Guide to Living in Thailand comes in.

Amongst it all you'll find needed resources such as BNOW (Bangkok Network of Women), British Women's Group (Bangkok), and the Bangkok Guide (online).

And that's just the icing on the cake. Or (as they say out here), The Big Mango

Take a DEEP breath while I do a quick skim down the index. You know, just to see if I can grab your fancy.

Right away you'll get an indispensable dose of Thai etiquette (whatever you do, do not skip this section), possible ways to get around Bangkok and beyond (airport, taxi, buses, subway, skytrain, tuk tuks, boats, motorcycle taxis, maps, car and driver hire), everything to do with money (cost of living, taxes, tipping, paying bills, credit cards and transferring money), safety tips (emergency numbers and personal tips from women living in BKK), accommodation (where, what, how and how much), communications (landlines, mobiles, Internet and postal services), shopping (supermarkets, hypermarkets, malls, tech malls, markets, book stores and more), eating out and in (street hawkers, restaurants to drool over and who delivers), health (hospitals, dental, insurance, pharmacies, fitness clubs and parks), entertainment (cinema, concerts and cultural centres), organisations (women's groups, Chambers of Commerce, cultural clubs, expat clubs and those with special interest), Thai language learning (where you'll find Women Learn Thai )… all to delight the female palette.

So what I'm saying is this. That Amy has one whopper of a resource for expat women living in Bangkok. Bar none. She updates often, so be sure to read her blog. And if you have tips of your own, don't be shy. Amy's not.

Time to talk about Amy

Although western women are outnumbered here, we are not exactly scarce (even if it seems so).

Expat women in Bangkok are successful teachers, writers, designers, mothers, wives and business owners.

But not all women slide into this city as smoothy as a finely baked souffle. Like Amy did.

Amy left her comfy position back in the US. Packed what she needed. Then changed her life forever.

Within months of being taken under the wing of a knowledgeable American, Amy started helping others coming into Bangkok fresh. And that's really when the idea for the Expat Women's Guide to Living in Thailand came about. From Amy's desire for exploration, excitement and a taste for all things new.

Amy's adventure on buses, boats and tuk tuks eventually led to a greater adventure. Her dear Thai husband Golf. And (as often happens), they now have a sweet addition, Aidan.

Amy presently resides in California with her young family, hopping over to Bangkok for experiences new and old. I can't wait to see what's new on the menu, for sure.

Mentioned resources…

The Expat Woman's Guide to Living in Thailand (that men like too): Book and site
The Expat Woman's Guide to Living in Thailand: Blog

BNOW (Bangkok Network of Women)
British Women's Group (Bangkok)
Bangkok Guide (online)

Absolutely Bangkok: The portal for the Bangkok connoisseur
Bangkok Bob: A guide to Bangkok
Bangkok Diaries: Tales from the "Big Mango"
Stickman's Bangkok: Living, working, travelling, and teaching English in Bangkok
The FARANG Speaks 2 Much: Insiders take on Thailand

_________________________________________________________

Catherine Wentworth, a semi-retired communication designer, is an expat by default. Now a resident of Bangkok, she's making her way through the ins and out of the Thai language and culture via Women Learn Thai. Care to follow along?

Taking a Leap

2008-09-01T17:20:00.000-07:00

The current book I'm reading, The Wishing Year, by Noelle Oxenhandler, has got me thinking about art. I've always wanted to get into art, and I have a collection of beautiful papers sitting in a bag in my bedroom, waiting to be used one day in a beautiful collage/painting.

I've always had an excuse not to pursue it: no time, no money, so space, other responsibilities. But I'm getting to a point in my life now that if I could devote a few hours a week to my art, a whole new world could open up to me - it is my passion, it's just been buried for many years. I even majored in graphic design so that I could produce art and be paid for it. I only discovered later that it was a completely fulfilling pursuit.

Today I found a Craigslist ad that could break me of my excuses (except that I must shop for art supplies!)

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/ats/819944470.html

UPDATE: I just now responded to the ad. What's the harm in finding out more. It's better than letting this opportunity disappear forever. I'll let you know what happens!

What do you think?

My New Bonsai

2008-08-26T09:05:00.000-07:00

I live in apartment. No balcony, no back yard, no front yard, no nothing for nurturing nature. I love plants and gardening and when I go to Mom and Dad's out in the country, I do a lot of gardening.

Golf gave me a good idea the other day and encouraged me to get a bonsai tree to raise. So that's what I did! Last Sunday was the Oakland Chinatown Street Festival, and Chinatown is where Aidan and I walk every Sunday while Golf goes to the nearby flea market. Anyway, I found a good deal on a pretty little bonsai tree. It's a juniper with the lovely little ceramic figure underneath. It was also pretty cheap, only $17. I wanted to start out with an inexpensive plant so that if I mess up and kill it, it won't be a huge loss. So here's my pretty little bonsai, my indoor garden.

Pictures of the Hornet

2008-08-25T06:37:00.000-07:00

We've got a national treasure and historical museum right in our own back yard here in Alameda, the USS Hornet, a WWII aircraft carrier that also participated the Apollo 11 manned space mission. I love museums and Golf especially loves WWII history so it was a great combination for the both of us to go as a family. This was also a chance for Aidan to practice his good behavior and he was a very good boy for the most part, until the very end. Here are some of the pictures from our outing!

When in ROME!

2008-08-08T15:49:00.000-07:00

My sister Anna told me about this HBO series, ROME and she said it was excellent. Then Mom said the same thing, aside from all the dirty naughty sex scenes. :) But they were right. Golf and I have rented the first season on Netflix and I'm completely hooked! It's very well done and apparently it is historically accurate as well. The costumes, music, acting, everything about it is big budget. I'm very happy to see Indira Varma in there as well, as Niobe. She played in Kama Sutra, another one of my favorite movies.

So if you get a chance to see this series, do it! And to my friends in Thailand, if you see this DVD series for sale, snap it up, it's got an international cast and you will be riveted to your sofas!

Literary Enrichment

2008-07-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

Aside from my website and eBook which take all my spare time, I'm left with very little time for self enrichment. For me, self enrichment is reading and reading is about good fiction, literature and contemporary issues of the day.

Fortunately for me, our neighborhood library is excellent at acquiring new publications. I have learned about some excellent books that have come out recently from author interviews on the radio. One book I have on reserve is a new book by Susan Jacoby called the Age of American Unreason.

In her book, Jacoby

laments the decline of middlebrow American culture and presents a cogent defense of intellectualism. America, she believes, faces a "crisis of memory and knowledge," in which anti-intellectualism is not only tolerated but celebrated by those in politics and the media to whom we are all "just folks."

I can hardly wait until I can get it - I have the book on hold, so hopefully within the next few weeks.

I've also just finished the 27 disc (!) audio recording of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. It's wonderful to listen to a great story while walking with Aidan or preparing dinner. I had read Rand's Atlas Shrugged years ago and greatly admired it. The library also has a copy of Atlas on audio recording, so I plan to listen again as the book is over 1000 pages of 8 point type. Anyway, The Fountainhead is fine literature and because it takes some study of the characters and plot to fully understand and appreciate the story, I was thrilled to find that Cliffsnotes has a site online that offers their work for free! I thought I'd have to purchase a Cliffsnotes book for Fountainhead, but I found the Cliffsnotes for Fountainhead here.

Another recent fictional piece I've enjoyed was an Oprah book of the month selection called Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. It's about an intersex (hermaphrodite) person who was raised as a girl in childhood and only at puberty did she discover that she was more of a he and so changed his identity. The book chronicles several generations including the grandparents' immigration from Greece in the early 1900s to present day. This book won the Pulitzer Prize so I was thoroughly intrigued about it and I was not disappointed.

My life cannot be all about business and family, and books have always been my good friends.

The Expat Woman's Guide to Living in Bangkok

2008-07-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

The Expat Woman's Guide to Living in Bangkok

My website and eBook are up and ready to go, at long last! I think the website looks pretty good. It's the first time I've ever used Wordpress and it's taken a bit of getting used to, with lots of trial and error. I've still got some issues I'd like to improve upon, and I think it shall look better over time as I learn how to use Wordpress.

I've already posted a couple of blog entries and even if you're not in the market to purchase my book, I'd love all my readers to take a quick look at the sample PDF files I have of chapter excerpts. Look under the Book Preview link. I'm rather proud of my results. I've worked hard and it's taken a long time because I can work pretty much only when Aidan is sleeping or napping during the day. This explains why I haven't posted on this blog in a very long time, but I hope to change that soon.

The Termin-Aidan!

2008-07-04T06:39:00.001-07:00

I could not resist sharing this little video clip.

We're off to see the parade this morning. Happy Independence Day!

Monkey Beanz

2008-07-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

I want to promote a fellow American/Thai business. Julia and her Thai husband, Bee, run Monkey Beanz, a clothing and toy company that promotes fair trade with hand made goods from Thailand. An interview about Monkey Beanz can be found here - Julia has a very interesting story and high standards with her business philosophy. Julia and Bee have two daughters.

We are GOING!

2008-06-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

Last week Golf got our tickets to Thailand! I was prepared to cringe at the airline ticket, but for it being high season and the fact that supposedly the airlines are charging so much more for travel because of fuel costs, I was surprised that the price was reasonable.

We'll be there for Loy Krathong, which this year, is the 13th of November. This is my favorite Thai holiday and Golf and I really wanted to be in Thailand for this holiday to show it to Aidan. One of my most memorable years was when I went with my Thai friend and colleague (at the time) nicknamed A and we went to Ayuthhaya, the old Thai capital and about 45 minutes north for the festival. There was a carnival, bands playing, Chinese acrobats, a beauty contest (for ladyboys and real ladies) and lots of shopping. A and I made our own krathongs, the small float that has flowers and other greenery and holds three sticks of incense and a candle that is floated on a river or stream - or any body of water for that matter. Needless to say, A's krathong looked far superior to mine, but it was great fun to make.

I think it would be so much fun to show Aidan something similar for his first Loy Krathong.

But before that, there are SO many issues to address in traveling with a small kidlet. The first is keeping him occupied on that tremendously long flight. He's also still sleeping in his baby crib, which he's going to outgrow in less than a year anyway. In Thailand, he will have to sleep in a big bed, either between Golf and me or in his own little bed, depending on what's available. With bathing, Aidan's always had baths in the tub. Thai rooms have mostly showers and so we'll have to teach Aidan how to take a shower.... I mean some of these are minor, but it's still things he's never tried before and can be worked out fine, especially once we 've done it.

Anyway, we're very excited about getting Aidan caught up on speaking Thai and interacting with his Thai relatives. Chai-Yo!

Feeling Hot Hot Hot

2008-06-20T16:00:00.001-07:00

We're roasting over here in the Bay Area. I live in Alameda, which is in the East Bay, but not inland enough for really hot temperatures. The highest temps we normally get are in the 80F/27C and most homes do not have air conditioning. We don't have an A/C nor do we have a fan that does any good! We have one very small one that doubles as a heater and barely moves the air around. The other one I have is one that Golf bought me that is teeny and it hooks up with one of my ports in my computer! So neat, I'm sitting here with it fanning my face right now! So at the moment it is 89 F/36C. Pretty damn warm for not having any good method of cooling down. I do have a spray bottle I use with my tiny fan. :)

More good news: Golf is currently booking us some airline tickets to Bangkok -- we're going to go for Loy Krathong! More coming...