OuiLui’s Blog

Reflections
Current mood: determined

Less than a week shy of 30… Time to reflect on the past thirty years of her life. Many wrong turns, many bumps and bruises, yet many triumps and accomplishments.

Where does she go now? Trying to re-establish herself in a completely new industry… Almost like turning back time, and starting over. Scared at just the thought, but none the less, there’s a certain element of excitement that follows doing something completely out of her norm. Will she succeed? Will she completely fail?

She received an email today from a friend quoting none other than Jack Nickolson…. " If you feel like doing something, just go ahead. Life is not that complicated"

As easy as it may sound, the next few years of her life will be incredibly challenging….

Willing to fail? No…..

Willing to accept the challenge and make it a success? Absolutely…

Will it actually happen…. God, she hopes so….

So as she turns the corner into the next chapter of her life, she doesn’t turn back… she moves forward one step at a time….

With the support and love of her family and friends, she has no regrets of the decision she’s made.

***** Welcome to Chapter 30, of the highly acclaimed saga of what is…. ‘A Day In The Life Of Steph’*****

Current mood: frustrated

Who the hell invented this stupid thing called ‘property tax’ anyway?! I can’t believe that after you spend $850,000 on a home, you’re required to pay property tax?!!?!?!?!?

I almost bought a house last week, a brand new one that was SOOOOOOO cute…. Found it on Thursday, took mom the next Tuesday to see what she thought (she loved it), got all my paperwork ready by Friday, and was ready to put a 3% deposit on Sunday…

Saturday night, I get this phone call from my mom asking if I had read the paperwork, and I said no, cause I gave it to my mom to see the layout of the house, and she tells me that the property tax PER YEAR is 1.8%…. OK… 1.8% on a $860,000 home is $15,500 per YEAR that I have to pay in property tax!!!! That’s an EXTRA 1300 per month, NOT including my HOAs that’ll cost another 200!!! Sheesh…. No wonder everyone’s leaving California!

So bummed…. I live a very comfortable lifestyle, and I don’t wanna change that just to live in a cute house… Totally bummed…. that’s a new bag a month that I’d have to pay! NO WAY….

Property tax SUCKS….

Life experiences….

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Scenario #1 -

Growing up having a life filled with people that care about us; people that are there for us, and help guide us in the right direction when we stray. People that show how much they love us, and would put everything on hold to make sure we were OK. Though there were bumps here and there, we live inside a little bubble knowing that if we fall, someone will be there to pick us up, to clean us up, and tell us everything is going to be ok.

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Scenario #2 -

Growing up having a life that seems ok. We think we have people we care about, and that care about us. But somehow, in a blink of an eye, everything changes. Ones you thought were suppose to guide you and teach you, have now turned away when you needed them most. Something that once meant love, stability, and comfort is no more. You begin a new chapter in your life at a tender age that is filled with anxiety, sadness, and anger. The little bubble you once were in, has somehow burst. You begin to guide yourself, making decisions that you think have rationality behind them, but you’re not sure… because no one is there to tell you otherwise… the pain grows… the hurt grows…. the anger grows…. until all that’s left…… is numbness….

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What happens to us in life, and the experiences we’ve had, molds us as the person we are today. Some are fortunate enough to have a good life… Some have not.

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Just because our past may not have been perfect. It doesn’t necessarily have to shape the way we live our lives in the future. Things can change; people can change… Life will be as good as you let it be….

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Random Thoughts… again
Current mood: drained
Category: Life

So, I’m sitting here, FINALLY able to relax and chill out for just one minute from cleaning my house… (I hate big houses!!) And I just had this random thought.

Everyone keeps asking me why I’m boycotting men… Well, number one, they’re nothing but trouble… Number two… I don’t need one… I have found much peace and happiness in the friends that I have; both women and men, and I don’t feel like I need anything more. To step back in the hairy situation is just more than I can handle right now.

Another thing… I must be emitting some kinda scent of singleness right now… I have gotten hit on more in these past couple months than I have ever had before. Nice, you say? Hell no! Since I hang out in ‘Yuppiville’, I’ve been hit on by all old men. Wifee will agree… Every where we go, she gets hit on by all the cute youngsters that fall head over heals in love with her, and I’m getting hit on by old men… old… balding…. white haired… men… I mean, yeah… it’s kinda cute when you see an old man walk up to you to introduce himself, but at the same time, after the um-teenth time, it gets kinda creepy, and you start to think… what the heck… Do I look THAT old? Am I? Am I????

Now, I think I could possibly have a potential stalker…(the youngest of the old men hitting on me.. Maybe in his LATE 30’s?) I’m working for a little boutique right now, and there is this guy that has come in now 3 times to an all women’s clothing boutique! First time I thought it was kinda flattering that he asked me out, cause he’s not a bad looking guy. The second time, I thought, goodness… this dude needs to give up… Now with the third time, it’s getting a bit creepy…

Which brings me back to my original point. Boys (old men) are nothing but trouble… Steph shall continue to boycott men…

Currently listening : Kill (Bury Me) By 30 Seconds to Mars Release date: By 09 November, 2006

Halloween Extravaganza ~ 2006
Current mood: exhausted

Halloween for me started the day we finally figured out what the hell we were gonna be this year. Last year we were fembots, which was kinda hard to compete with… ESPECIALLY since we looked so damn cute.

I think officially on October 16th, after wifee and I watched about 5 milliong movies, we finally came to consensus that we were going to be a from Charlie’s Angel’s Full Throttle… The sailor scene…

How was our sewing?! Ya impressed?!

So anyway…wifee had this crazy idea to make the costumes from scratch. So starting that day, we starting going to a million fabric stores, and craft stores to prepare and make our crazy costumes. I thought it would be soooo fun because of my fashion school background, I thought… oh! this is a piece of cake! I can do this! Can I EVEN begin to tell you how many times I wanted to throw my sewing machine out the window, and how many times I stayed up ALL night fixing and doing little details… good GOD! I thought I was going to croak! To top that off, because of all the thread and cutting, it literally looked like a tornado had hit my dining room which my makeshift sweat shop. Wifee came over every single day so we could sit there, sew, and bitch about why the hell we had started this in the first place!! hahah!! Finally, FINALLY a day before I had to go out, we were finally done with wifee’s and mine. We only had Mama Jo’s left…

I had a crazy weekend planned. First I was gonna go to a private party at the Cal Shabu… which closed down just for this party, then Vegas, then Sutra…

So on Friday Night, mama Jo came for a fitting about an hour before I left for Shabu. After she left, I got dressed real quick, then went. Wifee was supposed to come with me so we could at least look like a duo. Otherwise, I know I would just look like a trashy hooker, but she was so exhausted from the night before that she just wanted to chill.

So after a wonderfully fun evening, I got home slightly intoxicated at about 1:30 in the morning to continue mama Jo’s costume. When I got home, wifee had just arrived and off we went to continue to make the costume. Let me tell you… I have NO idea how the hell I was making the costume, cause I was pretty tipsy… Either way, by about 5:15AM we were almost done. Wifee went home, and I went to sleep… damn I had to catch a flight at 11:00 that morning and I hadn’t even packed yet. Plus, I had open house that Sunday, so I HAD to clean up ( remember tornado????) So I slept until 7:00AM (yes, an actual hour and a half) and got up to clean and pack. I was ULTRA ZOMBIED out, but somehow I did it… everything was spotless, and I was packed and ready to go for my CRAZY weekend in Vegas!

Vegas was a blast. It was fully compt’d, so we ate the best food, drank the best wine, and we had the best seat in the house at Tryst…. We had a BLAST! We looked damn hot!!!

The only problem was…. we all had at most 1.5 to 2 hours sleep! We went back up to the room at about 6:00 in the morning, and ripped off our eyelashes and went to SLEEP!!! YES! SLEEP!!! Somehow, my body was so tweeked that I woke up at 9:00 in the morning and couldn’t go back to sleep! SIGHHHH….. that day was a chilll day and we all continued drinking, and enjoying girl’s time. We even went to an oxygen bar…For all you who haven’t done it before, I HIGHLY recommend it when you’ve had a rough night….

Anyway, we finally left for the airport when wifee and Mama Jo downed a drink right as we were getting on the plane so they were totally buzzed when they got on… hahahaha!!! FUNNY!!! Vegas was fun!!! Exhausting, but fun!

I had ONE day to rest before I we went out to Sutra in Newport. We HAD to go because we were going to celebrate not only Halloween, but to also celebrate wifee’s anniversary. So we all got together for another night and went to party like rock stars! Sutra people are jerks so we went there, left, then went to YardHouse, and finally that Cholo Cabana place… (I can’t exactly remember the name, but the place was fun!)

Here is the last of some pics for the weekend!! Phew!! I’m Damn TIRED….

Doing the prom pose….

part of the gang…

The girls and Mikey…

The rest… I can’t show you…

Somewhere In Between….
Current mood: complacent

I’m sitting at my parents house right now because my house is up for sale and today is "open house". I haven’t hung out on this couch in SO long… As I was sitting here, listening to Brother sing ‘Somewhere In Between’ (go check fooj0o),  I decided to check my page and read a blog entry from wifee. It mentioned that she had been reminiscing about the past 13 years… Wow…. it has been a long time since 13 years ago. So much has happened; so much has changed. Where the heck did the last 13 years of my life go? In a blink of an eye, I’m out of school, I don’t shoot pool anymore (which at the time I considered a ’sport’), I’m a few shy of 30, I’ve got a home to call my own, I have my core friends that would do anything for me and me for them, I actually DO exercise now, and I’ve completed a TRIATHLON… Wooh… When I put things into perspective, it’s pretty intense….!

God, in looking back for the past decade, I just can’t believe the place I’m in now. Like wifee, I too have made some pretty crazy decisions over the years. Some that I think to myself what the hell I was thinking right afterwards. But none…. absolutely none would I regret. Some choices I SHOULD have made, but I chickened out on (still kicking my self in the ass for that), some I shouldn’t have made, I did anyway. Regardless, the past is definitely the past, and I can’t change a thing.

Now that I’m older and wiser (kinda), I’ll just make more ‘educated’ irrational decisions… My mom always told me that I never thought out any of the choices I’ve made in life…. She says I’m ‘WILD’… hahaha! Me, Wild? Nah uh… I’m just stubborn and once I get things into my head, there is almost nothing to stop me from getting/achieving it…. in a good way of course.

So now, I’m kinda in limbo…. I’m utterly satisfied with my life, but at the same time, since I’m not really working (again, I’m still in ‘research’ mode), I’m just "Somewhere In Between" two worlds…

hmmmmmm…..

Life is still good….

Triathlon 9.30.06
Current mood: accomplished

I would have to say that today has been one of the biggest accomplishments in my life. I completed my FIRST TRIATHLON today!

I didn’t think I could do it, but after so many months of crazy ass training…. not to mention my crazy ‘drama for your mama’ days, and my 2 month worldwide travelling extravaganza, I FINALLY did it!

The triathlon was in San Dimas. Wifee and I got up at 5:00AM and started heading there around 6:00. The sun was just coming up when we finally arrived. The place was so serene and beautiful!

I was in the 5th wave, so I had a great opportunity to watch the other 4 waves take off.

1st heat - Swimming

That was probably the toughest challenge for me. Many of you know that I’m totally afraid of the water, so when I went in, I was getting kicked and elbowed in the face by the other swimmers. Because of that, I was being pushed under the water. So when you panic, it was really tough. I made it through, although I was one of the last people getting out of the water! =(

2nd heat - Biking

Good GOD! There were 3 STEEP hills that were utterly INSANE! During the second one, my legs wanted to give out, and I actually considered getting off the bike and walking it up! I was going SO slow that I think I could have actually walked up the damn hill faster! I’m surprised the bike even stayed up and didn’t just tip over! But, adrenaline kicked in and I pulled through it and I made it ALL the way, and actually beating alot of the other woman in my heat to end up in the middle!

3rd heat - Running

I consider myself a pretty decent runner. That’s how I started off when I decided I wanted to do a triathlon. But I have NEVER run on a course that’s 90% trail before! So this was also a nice little challenge (especially since my legs were about to give out on me from my biking). As I was trying to wiggle my legs back into running gear, I found myself dodging trees, jumping over rocks and stones, and trying not to fall on my ass and break my ankle… NOT TO MENTION… my toe! (Some of you know I totally tweaked my toe!) Anyway, a VERY good friend told me before the tri to just keep pounding the ‘Gu’ packs while I’m competing to keep my energy up, so as I was running, I ate TWO and I caught my second wind!

I think I actually finished 10 in my age group which was totally cool! We’ll see what happens! Need to wait for my official time! I’ll let ya know!

Anyway, WOOHOO!!! Yeah ME!!!

**** Wifee, Thanks for coming with me to cheer me on! I couldn’t have done it without you there! Love you! Love you!!****

Current mood: nauseated

Alright, so I don’t know if you guys remember me posting something a few months back about the cockroach story.. and how there are few times in life where you REALLY need a man to be there, and BUGS are definitely one of them.

Well, here’s a continuation of that, and ANOTHER reason why SOMETIMES, it’s better to have a man in the house…

A few days ago, I saw some black pellets on my washer in the garage. I thought to myself… Damn, I have a mouse in the house, but Oh well.. not a big deal. So I went about my business for the next couple of days not thinking anything of it. Well, I park my car in my garage, and one afternoon, I had come back from running some errands. When I got out my car and went to the trunk to pull the groceries out, I saw some HUGE ASS FURRY thing climb out of one of my buckets. OK…. you can’t even IMAGINE how high I jumped and how I yelped in disgust and astonishment of HOW FREAKING BIG this rodent was! This, my friends was no little mouse that I had been dealing with. We’re talking FULL ON, GIMONGOUS RAT… Just the body was the side of my entire HAND…not just my palm!

So I TOTALLY freaked out and called my mom.. (as all kids do when they’re in trouble) and she said, "Aiya, Steph… Just go buy one of those mouse sticky traps with the peanuts on them. Tomorrow you will have caught the mouse!" SIGH… So I went to Walgreens to look for those mouse traps (not the snapping kind cause that is just too cruel), and i put the trap out. I saw the little specs of peanuts it had in the middle of the trap, and I thought that it wouldn’t be enough to trick the rat to the trap, so I put just a tad of peanut butter in the middle of the trap.

Well, just the THOUGHT of seeing that rat stuck in the trap was enough to confine me in my home ALL night (cause my car was parked in the garage). That night when I went to sleep, I closed my door (which I never do), and turned on some soft music to fall asleep to. JUST IN CASE i heard the rat squealing in the middle of the night in utter agony!

>>>>This is where the having a man part kinda comes in handy. Cause if someone was here, then I would NEVER have to deal with this kind of stuff!!! SHEESH!<<<<

The next morning, I woke up TOTALLY early, and tiptoed downstairs to the garage. I was SOOOOOOO scared to see what I was about to see, but at the same time, I wanted that stupid rat GONE! When I opened the door, I thought, OH GOD Steph, prepare yourself! Prepare yourself!!! If you see something, then it’s OK… just call one of my guy friends to come to clean it for me…

Much to my surprise, the mouse trap was not even in the same place that I had put it! I thought it might have possibly dropped in the crack cause the rat was trying to struggle, so I tiptoed again to the side, and it wasn’t there EITHER!!! Then, I saw BEHIND the water heater (which is almost 3 feet away) The STUPID RODENT had dragged it ALL the way back there!

IT ATE THE PEANUT BUTTER, AND TOOK OFF!!!! WHAT….. THE…. ?????????!!!!!!!

You know what was left on the trap? a bunch of fur, and a piece of paper… the beast must have been TOO big to get stuck on the trap!!!

I was SO shocked that I didn’t even know WHAT to do. SO, I called my mom again. This time she said, "OK, go back to the store and 6 of the mouse traps and tape them together!!! Then put peanut butter in the MIDDLE and see!"

Well, it’s been 2 days, and nothing yet. All i have is a bunch of sticky white trays that are all taped together at the bottom, and a bunch of peanut butter in the middle. I think the rodent got scared and learned his lesson…

SIGH….

Oh my GOD, SERIOUSLY… if one of these days I go to grab one of my pairs of shoes to wear and that THING comes crawling out of them…. I’ll DIE FOR SURE!!!

As previously mentioned in one of my blogs, I quit smoking in July of last year. I don’t know if this has happened to anyone of you guys, but it’s a little past my one year anniversary (yeah me!), and OH MY GOODNESS I’ve got the craziest itch to smoke again… JUST ONE!!! All I want is just to taste a cigarette… Am I totally pathetic?

I’ve been having people working on my house lately, and one of the guys left what he thought was an empty pack of cigarettes in my garage.  When I went to throw it away, i saw ONE CIGARETTE LEFT! You can’t even BEGIN to understand what I was thinking! I took the cigarette out and just placed it on the table…. staring at it… for almost 2 or 3 minutes debating whether or not I should smoke it. LUCKILY, I didn’t have a lighter, so I just left it there, in my garage… I actually thought to myself, hm, after I go run, I’m just gonna light it up. HOWEVER, by the time I got back from running, I didn’t want to poison my fresh lungs with smoke, so I left it there thinking I was going to smoke it the next day.

The next day the contractor people came again, and saw the cigarette sitting there on the table and smoked it! PHEW!!! THANK GOD!!!! Still though, I’ve been having MASS cravings….

Need support people! I don’t wanna!!! I need to get rid of this one year itch!!  HELP!

I’ve been back for almost a week now from all my travels, and I STILL feel like I have NO idea what is what! I’ve been out of the country for most of the last 2 1/2 months enjoying, relaxing, and "researching". I have definitely done all that, and then some!

Coming back was kinda sad at first because I feel like I should become "Steph, the world traveler" now… But! Now that I’m at home, oh my goodness, it sure does feel good to be back!

I’ve got so much to do now! This past weekend, we had a bachelorette day for one of my best friend’s that are getting married. It was SO NICE to just hang out and SPEAK ENGLISH for once! She’s going to be the most beautiful bride on earth, and I was lucky enough to be one of her bridesmaids. A little more than 2 weeks left… (Oh GOD… gotta fit into my dress!!) I don’t know… Weddings are ALOT of work… all for just 1 day… but I think the end result is totally worth it.  Seeing two people that you love seal their love for each other is something that is a total blessing! I can’t wait! We have another bachelor/bachelorette luau this weekend, then the wedding the weekend after! Phew! Lots to do, LOTS to do!!

As for me…. Sigh… my life continues…. Now is my time to enjoy my life, not having to worry about anyone or anything besides what makes me happy… Don’t get me wrong, anyone who knows me KNOWS my nurturing personality, BUT… As of now.. It’s me time. Eventually, if someone just happens to come my way, then I’ll go back, but I can’t even FATHOM that idea right now.

Anyway, enough of my random gibberish thoughts for now… look forward to more! It’s time for me to go run!

Seriously though, has anyone just sat there and looked outside recently? I’ve got all the windows and screen doors open in my house, and as I type and look outside, it’s so BEAUTIFUL!!! I love my view…!! hm… maybe I’ll take a picture to show ya… Weather is awesome! It’s time to work some more on ma- tan!!!

Have a nice one my loves!!