A New Adventure

Here I go again... always venturing out into the unknown! But now that I've ventured off into so many things and accomplished basically everything I've set out to do, a whole new path of opportunities is out in front of me.

I love my photography - I do! I am so blessed to have created this job for myself. Peter will also tell you I'm the breadwinner for the family and that's certainly not something I take lightly. With that responsibility comes stress. And with my headaches being so bad the last part of 2013 it also brought a lot of fear - "what if I can't continue working as much as I do? what will happen?"

It's never a good idea to start out on any venture with fear. This new venture is bringing me HOPE. And hope is huge.

I have signed on as an Independent Consultant with Arbonne. It's a global health and wellness company. Heard of them? GREAT! Haven't heard of them? Well it's time that you did. I ditched the Topomax and Arbonne's progesterone cream has basically changed my life in the past month. We are slowly adding more Arbonne products into our own home, but here's what I'm really excited about - the business side of it. RESIDUAL income. That means if I slow down, retire, get hurt - THE MONEY WILL CONTINUE TO COME IN. "But Mariah! That's a network marketing company!" Yes it is! And it's brilliant. I've joined a team that is SO ON IT. My sponsor has succeeded so brilliantly that she's a great big beacon of light. I am full of hope for my own wellness - hoping I'll be able to slow down a bit once this foundation is laid so that my shoulders can heal and I can spend more time with the kids without being glued to the computer. I'm excited about sharing the opportunity to help others achieve their goals. I am so full of positivity that I'm about to spill over!

So friends, family, strangers on the internet... if you're reading and you're at all in the least bit interested about what this opportunity means or how it works, please let me know! The company is in the US, Canada, Australia, and the UK and will soon be expanding into Poland, Taiwan, and I hear Mexico and South America are coming.

Haircuts

Peter has been shaving his head for many years and Kai asked if he could have his hair look more like Dads. So Peter asked him if he was sure and he said YES!

We didn't go quite as short as Peters. Kai saw himself in the mirror with HUGE smiles on his face!

Then... surprisingly CRUZ wanted to cut his hair too! Not to worry... he still has the tail!

Cruz exclaimed how handsome he was when he saw himself in the mirror. It was too cute!

Catching Up On December

Oh December.... full of so many highs and so many lows.

The highs - Both of my parents got to visit! It was so wonderful to see them both. It was wonderful for the kids to get to hang out with their grandparents and see those relationships grow so much in such a short time. The visits with each of my parents was, of course, too short. But they were so much fun too! These are probably uploading completely out of order... but... ah well.

The pictures by the sugar mill meat market were taken by my friend Sam. She was back home on Christmas Break from Oahu. The kids were, as usual, not interested in looking much at the camera or smiling. But it's just the way they are!

The Lows: I was very depressed in December. Well maybe even November. Yes probably even October. I think it was just a combination of a lot of things - everything Upcountry, Giuly passing, my migraines becoming out of control and scaring me. Overwhelmed with work, the kids on break, Peter working 60+ hour work weeks... I was kind of by myself a lot - with the kids of course - but Kai Boy also had a very rough December regressing quite a bit. It's actually been a challenge to talk to him when he's in a mood. Anyway... the point is that it's done. It's a new year and I'm coming out of the funk and feeling a lot better. Peter is back to 40 hours a week at work, which helps a ton. Being a single parent is tough work!

I was also on a drug called Topomax for a few weeks in December, early January to help with my migraines and I didn't like the drug at all. A huge issue with my migraines is that they not only cause crazy pain and light sensitivity, but they also mess with my short term memory and speech and I become a blathering dummy. The Topomax actually had the speech issue as a side effect. Last week I was looking at Cruz, knew it was Cruz, yet couldn't say his name. HELLO - red flag. I stopped taking it. I can't imagine continuing and trying to speak to people like that.

So I'm taking progesterone cream, eating REALLY healthy, and kicked my caffeine habit. I have some products to thank but I'll do that later... I have some things to post about that in another post.

It's nice to feel like I'm catching up to where I need to be right now. My place right now is an advocate for Kai. We are meeting with his school on Friday (well I am, Peter works) so I can go over my concerns and we can see if he might qualify for further education programming/special education.

Phew... lots of stuff, huh?

Happy New Year 2014!

I know, I know. I haven't even blogged Christmas. I was hoping to get this video done by Christmas but it just didn't happen. So I'll get to Christmas in a few days. In the meantime, here's to looking back at 2013 (mostly the second half).

Funny story about the video.... Cruz wouldn't really talk to say what he was thankful for. And I also went on and on about how I love Peter and the kids and then I started crying so I had to cut that part out - I'm such a crybaby!

Enjoy and Happy New Year!