You're Alive. Do Something!

We are Family!

August has been a good month for me.My wedding ceremony was not perfect but it went quite well. My parents and sister's visit were great. I enjoyed their stay very much. My family interacted well with Jun's family despite the language barrier. Talk about gestures!

Witnessing my parents saying basic Japanese phrases, my sister trying out the Japanese delicacies and vice versa from Jun's family, their visit and actions truly  inspired me to do something out of my comfort zone. I have always dislike taking pictures because I feel that I do not look "good" enough. I don't have a powerful voice to perform well in karaoke sessions. Therefore, I have decided to take more photos when I attend any interesting festivals and parties. As for the singing, I suppose it takes practice especially singing in Japanese! Its all about fun!

Aside from challenging myself, I also love to challenge people around me to be healthy and productive. For instance, I am happy that my sister finally decides she likes yoghurt after trying the kiwi yoghurt from the convenience store here. I am also trying to get my mother-in-law to stretch and lose weight. I am also trying to encourage my brother-in-law to read newspapers.

Healthy Self-Esteem in Da Process

Before changing the world, it takes great steps to encourage people around you to change for the better. It takes time, effort and patience. Wish me luck! 10 more days before September kicks in and I am looking forward to have a healthy self-esteem family in the making!

Yoga

Yoga

Last night I practiced some yoga with a yoga DVD with Rodney Yee as an instructor. It is a very calming DVD practice (his wife also makes yoga DVDs but I can't remember her name). Anyway I also found an article I printed a few years ago called "The Ethics and Morals of Yoga" by Dharma Mittra (New York Yoga Magazine, June 2008) that helps me work toward my goal of being calm and stress free. I will summarize the information below.

There are 8 limbs of yoga practice, and the first two are more for the intellectual or spiritual practice.

The first limb is called "Yama" or abstention. Included in this limb are: non-injury, truthfulness, non-theft, spiritual conduct, and non-greed.
The one I want to focus most on in my life right now is non-greed. I tend to overindulge myself with food - I love sweets! And if dinner is particularly yummy, I will have a lot of that too. But in many other countries, people are not so fortunate. They are malnourished, not getting the vitamins, minerals and overall calories their bodies deserve to be healthy. I want to teach myself to be happy with being "not-full" all the time, to eat only what is necessary most of the time to be healthy and save the splurges for special occasions or maybe a special day of the week.

The second limb is "Niyama" or observance. Included in this limb are: cleanliness, contentment, austerity, self-study and attentiveness to God. I think that I should work on contentment and austerity. I would like to learn to be content in any situation so that I can help others be happy and comfortable. I would also like to be more austere, in the sense of holding onto my morals and not compromising any principles in any situation. I have already been working lately in being more attentive to God so I think I will just keep working on that.

I will report on the final 6 limbs another time!!

Water

Thank you so much Lim Kim for your postcard! That is such a cute mascot, Tanemaru. I found another picture of him at http://www.city.yokohama.jp/me/sakae/150/ (or maybe it is a her--I thought it looked like a him). I've been reading about the port this morning and saw some pictures of a nearby park that was built after the earthquake in 1923. Pretty pictures!

I've never been to a seaport before, but I've been to piers on Lake Huron in Tawas City and Oscoda. Those are for passenger boats and sailboats, but no freight or cargo.

Speaking of water, this weekend Phil and I might go canoeing on the AuSable River. Phil is going to call today to see how long the canoe run is and the rates for canoe rental. This will be my first time canoeing and I'm excited. Also a little nervous because the AuSable is a big river and when I was little I was afraid of swimming in rivers because I was afraid the undertow would take me away! But it is a beautiful river, maybe I can find a waterproof camera to use on the trip!

Have a great day!

Dream Job

I think I found my dream job.

Not that I'm actively seeking new employment...even with all of my grumblings (and all of my mistakes) overall I'm pretty happy here.

But I've been watching a new show on TLC (the learning channel) called, "Say Yes to the Dress." It takes place in a large wedding dress store, where the dresses are really expensive (between $2,000 and $5,000). You watch 2 to 3 girls each episode pick their perfect dress.

I have been happily married for over 5-1/2 years, so I don't plan on ever having another wedding. But I love looking at wedding dresses. There is something about them that really catches me. They are so beautiful to me that I could look at them and never get sick of them. Some people really like looking for new shoes - and since I have a difficult time finding shoes that fit my narrow feet and feel comfortable, I do not like shoes as much. But I like to browse wedding dress magazines and watching "Say Yes to the Dress" when I can.

So maybe I would like to be a wedding dress consultant - to work with soon-to-be brides to help them find the perfect dress. Or maybe I could design them?? Or maybe model them for a magazine?? That would be fun.

Of course this dream may never come true--but it doesn't hurt to dream. It's fun thinking about being something else sometimes!

In the words of Martina McBride (country music artist) in the song "Anyway" which I plan to sing at the West Branch Idol competition on Friday:

"You can have a dream that seems so out of reach and you know it might not ever come your way...dream it anyway!"

Keep dreaming and keep smiling!

Birthdays

BIRTHDAY FUN

I love birthdays--probably because birthdays mean opportunities to pig out on cake and ice cream! And I also enjoy giving gifts (it is often more fun than getting presents!) to see the look on people's faces when they open the gifts.

July is a busy birthday month for me! July 4th is Phil's friend's Joey birthday. We celebrated his birthday and mine last weekend at my father-in-law's. Today at work we celebrated co-worker Kay's birthday, July 8th. People brought in food to share (cake is very yummy!) and gifts for her. Tonight we celebrate Phil's nephew's 11th birthday with pizza and cake. His birthday is July 12th, but he will be back to his home in Alabama by then. On Sunday is my birthday--I will be 26. I think we'll stay home for the day because we've been gone so often. On Tuesday is my friend Michelle's birthday, and she will be the same age as me. And one day this month is Tyrone, another in-law's, birthday. So happy birthday everyone!!

So here's to eating cake and pizza--and then being motivated to work out in the morning to have a healthy balance!

Once my sketch is done, I will post about that!