Fantastic!

  Hello, world. I hope you've been having a good weekend because I did. My good weekend streak started on Thursday, when I went out to Bucca di Beppo for my Aunty Marsha's 60th (pictured..I know, she looks good)! (Ok, once again, she's only really my aunty but I call her that because I've know her for my entire life, literally). Almost everyone I grew up with was there, including my cousins Mickey and Giana (they're real cousins--Mickey is Aunty Marha's son). Mickey is a few years older than me while Giana and I are about the same age. While I've ran in to Mickey a few times here and there over the years, I hadn't really hung out with him until this past weekend. Giana moved away to the mainland a long time ago so my memories of her were very, very hazy and dim. It was her first time coming back out here in a while and we finally got to hang out. It was really fun seeing them again. We made plans to hang out on Friday (yesterday) because GIana will be leaving on Monday.

  Yesterday was a surprisingly busy day for me. After I took Brent's car with me to the mall, I went to Ala Moana's Shop a'lea event. What in the what? Yeah, I didn't really get it either but my mom gave me 2 tickets to go to this thing and I had no one to go with (since Brent had to teach). Luckily, I thought to call Trina and dragged her out with me. After standing in a long line, we traded our tickets for a wristband and a booklet. They explained to us that we were supposed to go around to participating stores and collect a stamp from them. If we collected 6 stamps in the back of the book, we were eligible to enter a raffle contest with cool prizes and we didn't have to be present to win. So Trina and I walked around to the various luxury-brand participants such as Coach, Gucci, Chanel, Tiffany's, Ben Bridge's, Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton, and..well, everyone. It was really fun. The best part was that every store had champagne and cool food samples from restaurants that I didn't know existed. When I said cool food, I mean things like ice cream cookies with gold flakes, tiffany box-shaped cakes, lavender-flavored sparkling water, and wagyu beef tataki rolls. I also got my nail done at Jimmy Choo (it was a nail, because she only decorated one of them) but it was cool. In fact, I was having so much fun wandering around with Trina that I felt very guilty when Brent called because he was still waiting for me to pick him up after class...oops! We picked him up and got back to my office where Jermaine helped with a photo shoot for Brent's portfolio. After the shoot, Brent and I got ready to meet up with Mickey, Giana and Ken at the nightclub Ka at Ward. It was our first time there and I must admit, I liked the vibe. It wasn't crowded and we had enough space to hang out and have fun. After the club, we headed over to a Millions, a Korean yakiniku spot. The food was delicious and we all went home smelling heavily of Korean food and smoke.

  ...and then I slept in all day today and I didn't mind it, not one little bit. Oh, and I also found out a few things today. **Warning: this is a total geek-out moment**. 1) I finally saw the trailer for Eclipse (yes, Twilight for lyfe). 2) I also finally hunted down the trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (I'm even more hardcore about HP.  I have to wait till November for it, but whatever) and 3) I found out that there's a HP theme park opening up at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida....! I was super excited and now I really wanna go. Yes, really. Don't judge me.  Anyway, sighhh...I hope my good vibe carries on throughout the week and into next weekend too.

Me and Giana at 2 years old. 

20+ years later.

Overeating and such.

  Hello world, my how a lot can happen in a week. I ended my detox last week Wednesday, felt skinny all day Thursday and then proceeded to overeat on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It was as though everyone was conspiring against my skinniness. I mean really though, every single event this weekend was food related and today, we had a potluck at work. Of course I overate. I rebounded from my detox faster than you can say "skinny latte" (which was what I was calling myself since it sounded much more appropriate than mocha chubbins at the time). Now you can call me chubbins again and I really can't get mad even if I wanted to.

  Sigh, I guess I'll have to detox again. Perhaps next month--er, year, since I don't think I'm mentally prepared to sacrifice food for another 5 days just yet. Maybe I should try getting food poisoning again. It was much more efficient and the best part was that I was dedicated to my diet since I hated food for a while.

  In related news, more failed dieting. I haven't worked out all week. I lied--I took Brent's class today and I helped set up a 4-year old's Birthday party at the beach park (now that's exhausting).  I didn't exactly fail but I shouldn't be slacking this much either. I haven't ran or gone to the gym recently so I need to start making that a bigger priority. Sey and Jermaine doubtfully ask me if I'm still running the marathon and I guiltily answer that I'm still planning on it. The problem is, I haven't been running so how can I say that I've been training for it? Sigh, Sascha! Snap out of it, woman!

The Master Plan

  I am on Day 4 of my lemonade detox (or day 2 if you want to really get technical since I had to go to dinner on Sunday night). I started on Saturday and I did not envy those who were in my line of fire. Salena, momma, Brent...I'm sorry.  It's a weird feeling when I think about it. My stomach is growling but if I drink my concoction, the hunger goes away...for a bit. But you have to keep drinking or else you start to feel weak and get headaches. I worked out yesterday but I don't think that was a good idea (I felt like I was going to pass out) although I did notice that my chubbin pouch was went down a size. I guess I could say that it was worth it anyway because I got to workout with Seychelle and Jermaine (pictured) for the first time in a long while. Coach was sorta strict but I know that he could have been worse if I wasn't on my detox so...phew.  But Jermaine will have his chance to be Coach Sparticus again since my mom and I decided that we were going to make tomorrow our last day in the detox, the main reason being that we have a lot of food-oriented events to go to this weekend.  I'm going to a potluck on Saturday and a potluck-style birthday party on Sunday. Hey, a girl's gotta eat! Brent's in LA right now but he comes back on Friday. I told him that he'll at least get a chance to see me skinny again on Friday, though I can't promise him anything after the weekend.

  I don't think I should take dance class today since I wasn't feeling entirely up to par at the gym yesterday. I'm thinking that perhaps I should have taken day by day pictures on my detox but....I compeletely forgot to do that so....sorry. You can trust me when I say I've lost weight and have gotten skinnier though I can't promise how long I can keep that up for.

 Sunset in Waikiki

 

Sunset view from my house

And then I had a concussion

  Yes, I hit my head hard today and it was on a shelf corner. I was dizzy, nauseous and the world was hazy for a while and I think there's a dent on my head but in retrospect, I'm sure that it could have been far worse. For example, I could have started bleeding from my head and went into a coma.

  Anyway, I didn't work out and besides my minor concussion I didn't do much either. Actually, we went to see Ken at his work place today. He's a barista at a cafe called Sure Shot and he made me an awesome cup of Soy milk steamer (I'm easing in to my Master Cleanse) and my mom and I shared an Apple Square that was extremely addicting and yum. 

  Speaking of addicting and yum, you also have to try Yama's Fish Market. I went there for the first time in a while and....yeah, you're missing out if you haven't.

 Alright gang, I'm heading over to watch this week's America's Best Dance Crew: Disco Challenge. Should be interesting.

Display Queens

  So did I ever mention my art director before? Oh, I didn't? How rude! Well, allow me a moment to gush: He's, like, fabulous. Like, beyond fabulous. I'd say he transcends awesomeness and goes somewhere between magnificence and magnanimous. His name is Haines (yes, pronounced like the underwear) and he's been nominated in my award category of Favorite Person to Work With (which is tough since he's up against heavy-hitters like Miao, Seychelle, Jermaine and Marie). He's like the awesome Aunty you'd want to go out with whenever she was in town. He could also belong to any number of fashion-contest TV shows as the host/mentor of all the up-and-coming fashion-divas. Sighhh...if there were such thing as a gay-man-girl crush, he would be it. Yeah, it's a bit embarrassing, really. But I think you'd understand if you ever get a chance to meet him. Today, we worked on our first display case together. He was telling a story about how he had a friend in LA who was a "Display Queen" because he was tall, gay and did his hair like Gwen Stefani. Our display turned out great and I knew we had done well when Haines announced "Gorgeous!!"

  I mean really though, he's so awesome...gotta love him.

  In other news, I ran on Tuesday, took Brent's class yesterday and worked late today on the display, even though I was half an hour late to his 1 hour class...oh well, at least I learned the combo. I really liked today's choreography. Brent's going to continue it but I hope I don't forget the first part by the time we get to the second part.

  It's official--my mom bought all the ingredients for the Master Cleanse. I'm debating on doing my Lemonade Diet this weekend, or at the begining of next week. I was thinking perhaps start it on Saturday, since I won't be doing much and I can just be grouchy and starved at home instead of at work. Brent will be in LA for about a week so I figured it would be a good time to slim down since I'm coming out of hibernation now. It's time to shake off all the stored fat from the winter.

Namaste

  I'm doing it, I'm going to my first yoga class in at least a year and I'm going to die but at least I'll have gone. The plan was for me to go today, remember? But I woke up at 3....in the afternoon. Oh, you know, it's what happens when you're out till about 5am after a long and exhausting week. I was invited to go out tonight as well but I just couldn't do it. I woke up feeling like I could go back to sleep. Can you believe it? I was suprised that it was so late but at the same time, I couldn't figure out why everyone wanted to bug me when I was fast asleep. So, to make up for my bad in bed, I will kick my butt tomorrow morning via yoga.

  I'll do a recap of the past couple of days through a series of photos. Enjoy:

  Boaz and Karen were our 2 models. Boaz is from Israel but now lives in Kauai with his wife and kids; he's currently 23 years old (hey, some people start young).  Karen was brought out here from LA (where she lives) but she gets a lot of work in both LA and NY.  Her big hair, make-up and some of the outfits you put her in reminded me of a Gypsy and she was giving Gypsy magic, for sure! They were both really great to work with. The last image is a scene from the final shot. We were there until midnight.

  Brent and his friend, Larry are people watching....I think. We went to a farewell party for our friend, Jason (the guy in the jacket) who will be moving away to LA week.

 

 It was a rainy week, but we still saw a lot of rainbows.

When life gives you lemons...

    Start a lemonade diet. At least that's what my Aunty and cousins did (Ok, so they're not really my cousins, but it's a lot easier to refer to them as such since we've grown up together and known each other all our lives).  They did the Master Cleanse for 10 days and one of them lost 8 lbs in the process.  They also mentioned that they're skin was looking clear and smooth and when I saw pictures, their faces were slimmed. Yeah, the last time I did the master cleanse was for pageant purposes (refer to picture) and I don't think I lost too much weight though now that I mention it, my skin did look pretty close to flawless when I was an uber-health fanatic. Then again, I was also not really eating then either and I only did it for 3 days.

  The point is, I can't let them beat me in my quest to lose chubbin-weight. Taking dance classes and running every so often is no longer cutting it (I wonder why). Perhaps drastic measures should be taken. Perhaps if I cleanse body from the inside out, I'd feel like a new me. No more chubbins, no more lazy-bum. Yeah! I'll do it for 10 days straight and obsess over Food Network but hey, at least I'll be fiyace. First things first, I won't start this tonight since I'm in the middle of a long and busy week. Once things slow down, say around next week (hopefully), I'll start my detox. Don't let me talk myself out of this one, guys. I mean it. You have to push me and make sure that I'm on top of it. Also, while you're at it, please remind me to keep running everyday since I'm still set on running a marathon, thanks.

  So here's the plan, I'm going to map out a schedule of a typical week and include some sort of workout everyday. Ideally, this is what I would like my week to look like:
Sunday--early morning yoga
Monday--run/ workout with Sey & Jermaine in town
Tuesday--dance classes
Wednesday--run/ workout with Sey & Jermaine in town
Thursday--Ballet
Friday--dance/ run
Saturday--early morning yoga/ hiking

  I know, it's pretty ambitious. Especially the running part but I think I can do it. I decided that I can only do yoga over the weekend because going after work is too hard plus the place gets so crowded that I don't feel very encouraged to go. I also woul like to start waking up earlier on the weekends and the best way to do it is waking up for yoga. I would also like to go running every other day so that I dont get bored with my routine and so that I can fit my dance classes into my schedule as well.

 I didn't work out today but a lot of it had to do with me being unprepared. If I stick to a schedule, I'll know what to expect and what to pack for the day. Not to sound like I'm making excuses for not going to ballet tomorrow, but the photoshoot will most likely go till about 10pm or later. Friday, I will take dance class and Saturday morning, I will take my first early morning yoga in a long while.

  Speaking of photo shoots, I was there for a long time today but tomorrow is going to be longer. I was in the wardrobe room (pictured) for the bulk of my time there. In preparation for the shoot tomorrow, I decided that I should start taping shoes. Let me explain: when we get things sent to us from the sample desks, we get to use the items without worrying too much about them. I mean we can't torture it but we don't have to make sure the items remain in sellable condition. However, when we pull items from the vendors directly, we need take extra precautions and be aware of everything. When we borrow shoes from the stores, we tape the bottom with masking tape and don't let the models wear the shoes until they are on the site. Even then, the shoes are only placed on their feet when they are in the shot.  The shoes that I tried on (pictured) were from the sample desk from NY. Yes, they're Ferragamo, yes, they are absolutely fabulous and yes, I would look like a giraffe in these. Sigh, you watch, I will be bringing skinny back, one liter of Cayenne pepper-lemonade at a time.

 

Oh these? Just a little something.

Chubbins does fashion.

  So one part of my job is being style coordinator for a magazine [image taken from page] (oh, is that my name on that page? Oh, does it say style coordinator? Muhaha, cool huh?). But it sounds and looks a lot more glamorous then it really is. Trust me when I say that there is a lot of work and organization involved in the process. About every 3 months, I play Devil Wears Prada and make arrangements with about a billion stores to pick up merchandise or get it sent here from the sample desks (usually in NY). A few days prior to the photo shoot, it's my job to pick up (and pick out) clothes, accessories, bags, shoes, hats, stuff...for the shoot according to theme. The clothes that I pull are then sent to LA and they do the fashion shoot there. Every other issue, we fly out an amazing husband-and-wife-production power-team from LA (incidentally, the very team I sent stuff out to as well). The husband, Robert is the photographer and his wife, Sybile is the stylist who does the majority of the decision making when it comes to putting together the outfits. I get to tag along and help her out when she's here and it's always a really great learning experience for me since I need to know what sort of things she would pick when I have to send things out to her in LA for the next shoot.

  Anyway, it's that time right now and I've basically lived at the mall since yesterday and it's only Tuesday. We have 3 photo shoots at the mall this week so I will be there until Friday, when we wrap up the last one. Sybile and I spent all yesterday and today pulling items and organizing everything at the studio so that we are ready on the day of the shoot. Tomorrow morning is the first shoot, which will most likely take all day. Thursday is an evening shoot but I will have to be there early in the morning in order to pull for the last photo shoot on Friday, which is the accessories and product shoot. Our fabulous Art Director (also from LA) will be here to direct both the fashion shoot and the accessories shoot. It's really cool to work with talented and creative people and it's the perfect motivation for me to strive harder to succeed in an art-centric career. Watch me, one of these days, you will know me in the art world and you will be amazed...I hope.

  That aside, don't think I've forgotten about my workout. How could I when I've been continuously climbing stairs and lifting heavy bags of shoes and pushing racking of clothes for 8 straight hours? You cannot tell me I haven't been working out when clearly, I've spent my last two days being the ultimate mall rat.

  Which doesn't stop me from doing a Target run before going to watch Jackie Chan in Shinjuku Incident since it's Date Night Tuesday but now that Brent refuses to take a picture for me to post, I have no update on how great his new hairstyle looks...sigh. Whatever, I'd better leave before Brent deletes all of this and I don't make it to Target in time.  K, gotta go. Bye.