I'm Still Breathing!!!!

Yes, believe it or not, I'm still alive and kicking.

This has been one crazy year and I must really try to make an effort to continue my blog....why? Because I love writing.

So what in the world could have kept me from blogging? Well......hmmmm....what a loaded question.

First off, I was an idiot and agreed to be the PTA president of my daughters elementary school....yes, they saw the "Sucker" sign on my forehead and said "Ask her!!!" So, now my house is in shambles, laundry piled up to the sky and kids are barely eating what I would deam a "healthy" meal. I have emails from parents regarding anything and everything, fundraiser baskets and decorations spewed throughout my house and a monstrous size bottle of Pepcid next to my bed ....and, if that wasn't enough, I agreed to help head the Ad journal/playbill for my daughter's highschool, I'm on the Picnic committee that welcomes over 300+ children to our school, I will be helping a local Investment company with idea generation, I was asked to help play/sing in a cover band and I finally decided to take the plunge and start my journey to a new career as a web developer, while maintaining my pharmacy degree!

Phew!

Yes.....stupid is as stupid does....or as my husband said the other day....Mid-Life Crisis!

Is there anyone out there who is in the same boat? What have you been up to?

Asians Out Loud ~ Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai

I have decided to kick off Asian Pacific American Heritage Month with a poem by the Chinese-Taiwanese American def jam poetess Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai.

Like Kelly, I'm a Chinese American....or as we sometimes call ourselves, an ABC (American Born Chinese). My parents were both born in Mainland China and then fled to Taiwan during the war. After graduating college, my parents decided to come to the United States to live the American Dream.

Throughout my childhood, I have struggled with my identity.....my ethnic background and growing up Chinese in America. I never felt that I truly fit in....not in America and sure as heck not in China or Taiwan.  I just wanted to feel like I belonged.

For most of my adolescent life I felt as if I were teetering between two colliding worlds, and it was hard for me.....the racism that I encountered and the uneasy feeling that I would never really be accepted because of the way I look weighed heavily on me. It has taken me awhile....but I have learned to embrace everything that has made me the person I am today.

I am me
I am American

Click below to here an interview with Kelly from the HBO documentary East of Main Street: Asians Aloud. Kelly shares a little bit about herself and recites a one of her poems that I feel captures the emotions/thoughts that I have felt growing up Asian in America.





Do you have a def jam poet that you enjoy?

Project 52: Self Portrait

{self-portrait}

Project 52 Photo challenge. More interpretations of self-portrait on Bella's Project 52.

Carving Out Me Time

How many times have you heard yourself say...."Let's get together when things settle down"...."I can't wait for this week to be over"...."Just one more thing and then I can relax"...."Thank God it's Friday"?

For me, these phrases are constantly popping out of my mouth. But the fact of the matter is.... Things NEVER settle down....the week is NEVER over, it just continues....there is always ONE more thing that needs to be done.....and Friday?! Friday is just as bad, because that means the next day, the kids have games, practices, birthday parties and anything else that we couldn't fit in during the regular week.

....sniff....sniff....

I once wrote about being totally overwhelmed in Mom Overloaded and guess what? It hasn't gotten any better.

Some days, I just want to throw in the towel and run away....run far, far away....still running....you think I'm thinking of something to say? Nope, just picturing myself running in a field of beautiful flowers on a golden summer day....butterflies flitting from flower to flower.....bees searching for nectar....and a white stallion with a handsome young kn--......huh?!

Sorry, got carried away....back to the post. Ummmmmm...... wait.....I have to go back and re-read what I wrote, won't take but a minute for me to gather my thoughts....

Right, I was running away. 

Well, in reality, I can't run away. There's no running in a field of flowers or  chasing pretty little butterflies and certainly no "golden summer day".....it's freakin' cold here!!!!!

So, in an effort to avoid a one way trip to Shutter Island, I need to carve out some ME time.

Yesterday, I decided that I seriously needed to relax, so I picked up the phone, called the salon and voila! Here I am....relaxing....ok, maybe not totally relaxing - I'm finishing up this blog....but it is a creative outlet for me, so that's a good thing.

The staff at the salon were cracking up at this photo -- I love it!

No, I haven't lost it yet...hanging out at The Chateau Salon

Here is my challenge to you. Today, I want you to find a morsel of time in your crazy nutty schedule, even if it's just for 10 minutes.....lock yourself in the bathroom if you have to (although that doesn't deter my kids) and breathe.

....relax.....do something fun....do something for yourself....

....cause if we don't carve out a little time for ourselves......you and I will be bunk mates carving out our names in a cinder block wall on Shutter Island.

How do you find time to relax?