five out of six: special projects

I have slowed down a bit when it comes to special projects as my life has gotten busier with a full time job. However, to stay sane and happy I DO have to work on something creative and thus try my hardest to continue one of my passions to create colorful things. I have worked on a few chairs That I will display the pictures of once I am ready and painted a few pieces of furniture that I will also display later in the month.

The newest things that I have dipped my toes into is baking. For some strange reason I have been wanting to learn how to bake and have already made my first cake from scratch and cupcakes from scratch. The cake I made for my coworker Angela on the day of her birthday. I made a chocolate cake with chocolate morsels, raspberry mousse filling and chocolate mousse frosting...I don't know what else to call it. It came out AMAZING! I am not a chocolate person and definitely not a cake person but I happened to create a delicious treat for cake/chocolate lovers, who would've figured! For the cupcakes, I made banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. These were done very healthy, but next time I will most definitely go with a different recipe as I know I can make some better tasting banana bread. Well...we will see what I come up with next? Mexican cupcakes with a little bit of spice and chocolate? I don't know, something crazy like that!

No pics of my cupcakes :(

four out of six: family growth

I have been dying to write this post as this one has been really exciting this year...or the past few years. Our family in the States is really small as all my family resides in Guatemala, but little by little it has started growing with all the amazing additions to the family. At first they were family friends, such as Jaye, Susan and Larry that were added when my siblings and I were younger. They have made our family such a strong family and have brought a different flavor and spices to our family pot. The next additions to our family have come through marriage, such as Lindsey through Herbert and Tony through me. These additions have been so great because they come with families of their own that have become part of our little clan. The family gatherings have become much bigger (and louder) as we all have great personalities and we all

want to talk (pretty funny). The good thing about the family is that we have built a strong support system where we all chip in to help each other.

Now...the latest addition to our family has made everyone gone wild as she is the one that has stolen the spotlight from everyone. Michayla Simone was born on May 1st, 2010 (on her daddy's birthday). She is the first addition to the family that is blood related as she is the daughter of my brother, Herbert. This little angel has brought so much joy to the family and our main goal is to spend as much time possible with her. Both Herbert and Lindsey have become amazing parents in such a short time and will now be the wise ones when it comes to child bearing and raising kids.

I have to say that from the moment I laid eyes on Michayla I fell in love. I have never fell in love so quickly with anyone or anything in the world this quickly before, so it was so strange to feel the tidal wave of emotion take over me in less than a second. Imagine, if I felt this way how did Lindsey and Herbert feel? I guess I will know one day....

The day Michayla was born. It had only been 20 minutes or so. She looked so beautiful.

Proud Parents! 2 weeks after being born, she was so tiny....

So excited to be carrying the little one!

She has such gorgeous eyes.

Meeting Kuma for the first time.

She is already daddy's little princes!

three out of six: love and married life

I heard someone today say that once you get married everything changes because of money, kids, etc… I can’t even remember the list. I sat quietly and thought of my relationship with Tony and tried to reflect on how our relationship has changed. I came to the conclusion that yes, our relationship has changed but for the better. I feel our love just gets stronger and stronger…you may say this is cheesy, but I am being honest. We have become a family and we both appreciate what each has to offer. In terms of money, we both decided to have one joint account (*everyone gasps*). There are some that think that they are losing their independence if they have a shared account and so they choose to keep individual accounts and pay a percentage of the bills. Whatever option works for your relationship is fine, but for us we decided that having a joint account makes life easier for both. Actually, this helps us feel more like a unit and allows us to make decisions that are best for the family as a whole. What I love best about our married life is that we have goals for the family (besides our own individual goals). Our short-term goal is to pay off all our debt (minus the mortgage) in 3 years to be able to achieve our long-term goal of purchasing a bigger house in Berkeley. Tony and I get so excited to see our debt number decrease with every paycheck we get and we can’t wait for it to reach ZERO.

But back to married life, I have been married for a year and 2 months now and I have to say I love being married and love being Mrs. Avila. It can be a little challenging that most of my friends…virtually all, aren’t married. They spend their free time going to clubs, dating…pretty much going where the wind takes them. It is fun but I have to say that I am done living my life that way. Actually, getting married did not create the idea that I am now chained to a life of homemaker. I am still very free to travel, to do what I want to do in life. Tony supports me in every decision I make. I will say that my mentality has changed though; I now make decisions that are best for the two of us and not just for me. It feels nice to think that we have started our own little family unit.

two out of six: travel

This past year I had the opportunity to travel A LOT! I was fearful that after graduating from college my traveling would slow down. Fortunately, I don’t think this will ever happen. I have had the travel bug since I was a little girl. I remember back in high school I used to look at study abroad programs and I desired so much to do one but not being able to travel out of the country and not being able to afford it made my dreams…well, just dreams! In 2005 when I became a US resident I was given the green light to travel and that is just what I did. In the past 5 years I have been able to travel to 15 different countries (not even counting all the different states I have been to in the US). I have been to 6 out of the 15 countries twice. As you can tell, I see travel as an investment to my personal development and it is a must in my life philosophy (at least this is what I will tell myself for the rest of my life). I have a few travel logs that I have kept in the past and plan on posting them on the blog in the future, but I will refocus this post on the travel I did this past year.

Oregon: I was given the opportunity to travel to Waldport, OR to visit my godmothers Jaye and Susan back in December and then again in January. Oregon is such a gorgeous state and I love how much slower it is from California. Although I went to help in their business, I got the opportunity to relax, cook, exercise, enjoy peaceful time in the sauna, read, and watch old movies. The best part is that I got to spend time with Susan; it is rare when I get to see her since she doesn’t come to the Bay Area that frequently and spending this time with her allows us to get to know each other much better. I know this sounds funny because she is practically my 2nd mother and has known me since the age of 9. However, due to college, work and the distance, it is harder to get together and I am now an adult.

Puerto Rico: I traveled to Puerto Rico in March to attend Sammy and Becca’s wedding. The trip was so much fun but I do wish I could have explored the island a lot more. I am not going to complain because I love weddings and I was perfectly fine making this trip all about the wedding. I was able to meet a lot of new people as well as enjoy the company of many friends that also traveled to the wedding. We were able to explore old San Juan and enjoy a few salsa dances here and there. The whole time I was there the days were planned with fun affairs: girls night out, snorkeling and booze cruise, ladies’ luncheon, rehearsal dinner, wedding, after party…there was a lot of fun things to do! Nevertheless, I must say it was an exhausting trip. Vicky and Radha were the wedding photographers and I did Becca’s hair and makeup as well as give a salsa lesson during the ladies’ luncheon. This is where we got the idea to begin Alarcon Murakami Photography and I must say that there is no better place to begin a business than in Puerto Rico with some scrumptious piña coladas! I can’t wait to go back to Puerto Rico and next time I will invest more time eating the local food (which is delicious!) and dancing the night away.

Europe (Italy, France and the UK): I can talk for ever about this trip but I will try to keep it short. Susan and I traveled through Europe for 2 weeks. We began our trip in Bologna where we got to spend some time with Leah, Lindsey’s (sister-in-law) sister. On my first night we stayed at a B&B farm that makes parmesan cheese. Ok…I can already see this is going to take forever to write so I will really make it short. We got to spend some time in Bussetto, Milan, Lago di Garda, Paris, Marseilles, Burmingham and London. One of my favorite things to do was antiquing in Italy and vintage shopping in Paris. I got 2 beautiful vintage dresses in Paris (10 euros each!) and an amazing vintage leather purse for Radha’s birthday gift. In Paris we were able to see Susan’s family friend from a long time, Marianne and my friend Livia who I met while traveling on the Scholar Ship. In London we were able to spend some time with Melissa who I also met on the Scholar Ship. It was great seeing old friends! I have to mention that this trip was full of tasty food and great restaurant finds. It inspired me to continue to cook and my goal for this next year is to improve my sauce making skills.

New Orleans: Tony got deployed for a little over a month to New Orleans to help with the oil spill cleaning efforts (he is still there and won’t return until this Sunday). Luckily Terrie had a free flight ticket that she graciously gave to me to go visit Tony. This was a short trip but it was filled with lots of fun and the best part is that I got to spend time with my husband! We explored Bourbon Street, the rest of the French Quarter and we went on a tour of two plantations (one Anglo-Saxon and the other Creole). New Orleans is wonderful and full of rich history, vibrant culture and delicious food. It reminds me of Latin America as the French Quarter is pretty much a colonial city (just like the ones that you can find all over Latin America). The weather, being able to walk around with a drink in your hand any time of the day and the live music blasting from every open door, make New Orleans an extremely festive place.

I tried to keep this posting short but was not too successful.

one of six: work and business

Upon graduating from Berkeley I thought… “Now that I have my degree I will get the job of my dreams and begin my career doing something I always wanted to do.” WRONG! This is not how my happy ending played out; actually it wasn’t happy at all. For the most part, this past year was a hard one when it came to finding a job. The interviewing process is so daunting and to top it off the job market was at its worst due to the economy. Luckily, I found a job early on with a consulting firm that worked in the financial industry. At the beginning I thought: “great, this is something I really want to do” and “this job will open doors to many more opportunities for my career”. I was determined to give 200% to this job and prove that I could succeed in corporate America.

Quickly…within the first 2 weeks, I found out that not only had I signed up to work for a corrupt man, but I had sold my soul to the devil! It was a place where the owner treated everyone with so much disrespect. And believe me, I was not the only unhappy employee, everyone there was miserable! He had a turnover rate of 100%. I had read all the bad reviews about him and his company online, but I figured it was from a few disgruntled ex-employees. After working there, I realized those reviews were all true. Regardless of how we were treated, I decided to stay and prove to myself that I could do it. However, with each day that went by I felt as if my self esteem was being sucked out of my bones. I believed less and less in me as a strong individual and I lost all the hope I had in myself. What saddened me the most was noticing that all my dreams had vanished away, they were converted into dust and not one single particle was left for me to hold on to. I was experiencing my first “abusive relationship” and I had created a nasty dependency on my abuser.

My ambitious side is what kept me pushing forward, I knew I could handle the job; however, I did not realize what I was doing to myself in that miserable nightmare until the day I came home crying. I cried for 4 hours straight, scaring my husband and my kitties. I could not talk, I could not eat, and all I could do was cry, cry and cry. I had hit rock bottom and my body felt too weak to even get up. Finally when I calmed down, Tony said to me “I knew you were miserable at your job but I never knew it was this bad.” He reminded me that I did not have to work for that company, that it was ok to resign and find a job where I was happy. Thankfully I had him (the positive Tony…my rock). I was one of the lucky ones at that company who was married and did not have to rely on only one income to survive. This cushion provided me with the opportunity to quit my job so I could find a better place to start my career. That night I decided to quit (however I still waited out till the end of the month).

Six months went by from the day I quit to the day I started at my new job…yes, it took me that long to find a job. At first I took some time to heal. I literally had hit rock bottom and had lost all my motivation and drive (so unlike me!). But with time I taught myself how to walk again with my head high. During this time I worked part time in a few place helping out friends during the busy season. It wasn’t until February that I felt more like myself again and decided I was going to look for a job in full force.

Terrie, my mother-in-law, said “once it rains it pours.” She couldn’t be more right! All of a sudden I was contacted for interviews and was even given multiple offers. This time I had the power to make the decision on which job to take. At this moment in my life I realized that what mattered most to me was the work environment. My priorities had changed and I was looking for a job that offered me work-life balance (I was working 60+ hours at the consulting firm). I was looking for a company that believes in its employees and one that treats them with respect and sees them as an integral part of the engine that drives its success. I also did not let my ambitious side make the decision on what job to take; instead, I decided to take the job that was best for my family because I no longer was one, therefore I took the job that was best for me and Tony. I decided to work for MedAmerica. I did not disclose what company I was with in the past, but I will disclose the name of the company I am working for because I am so proud of it. I love my company and I love my job. It is literally one of the best places to work for in the Bay Area, literally! The people there are amazing and they all support each other in every way possible. I have amazing benefits and my pay is decent ($8,000 more than my last job and only working 40 hours a week). It is in the healthcare industry which is not what I had ever envisioned, but I am learning so much and I am developing personally and professionally.

What is best about my job is that I do not have to stress about it after hours, I am free to come home and relax and enjoy my afternoons. Working there quickly made me regain my strength and I became the person that I once was. Soon after starting to work for MedAmerica I decided to begin my own company with my sister Vicky and my Friend Radha. Within two months we launched a Wedding Photography business, Alarcon Murakami Photography. We applied for a business license, a business loan and we dove into this great adventure as new business owners (more on this on a later post). I was dreaming again and my go-getter personality was back on full force!

Looking back at this past year I have realized that my experience with the consulting firm was not that bad…it was actually a great learning experience. It taught me what to value and what to look for in a job. It made me realize that I did not have to settle for less because I am worth so much more. It helped me understand that when searching for a job it is not just the company interviewing me but also me interviewing the company. And the best of all, it taught me how not to run a business and what kind of leader I do not want to be. I knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel, but never imagined it would be this great. I guess things always happen for a reason; maybe I just needed a wakeup call…