Well, 2011 has been an amazing year filled with a whole lot of love, laughter, curveballs, serious talks and desicion makings.

I LOVE my job, if I can even call it a job. For the past 8 years, I can say that the passion inside of me to change a man, woman, or child's life and to allow them to live again has changed my perspective in life. Don't get me wrong, we all have our ups and downs, but the most important thing to me is to deliver 101%. I believe that in life, you are worse than a failure if you haven't even attempted to be successful. Give it all you've got. Take risks. Do it big.

I received some really sweet emails recently from higher ups in our Corporation which was also sent to the entire company and WOW I am so so incredibly touched. It's not through anything that I have done and I can' t take credit for inspiring others but I am truly touched and humbled to make somebody's life just a little bit brighter by the simple fact of just being myself and not letting not so good life circumstances be turned into changing peoples lives.
I usually keep a journal of sweet letters and compliments in my diaryjust to brighten up my day when things aren't going so well, but since I've moved on to public blogging I will post some of the recent ones one here.
......
To All,
As someone who is always looking for the right words to say…I want to start the New Year 2012 by taking the time to Thank Melissa Poquiz for her nothing short of Stellar Performance over the past year.

Winning War Boards…Contests…along with placing high on the Top Closers list in the nation. Watching her Team Work, Camaraderie and Support…reminds me of how truly lucky I am!

So…the only correct words I can come up with is THANK YOU!!!

The Best is Yet to Be!!!
A. Regional VP
................................
Thank you Melissa
Not only are you an amazing consultant(can I clone you?), but you are a very good person.
You are friendly, likeable, passionate and truly care about everyone and our clients.
That means the world to me.
Thank you..
If I was closer, I’d give you a big hug and a smooch.
National VP
...............................
Melissa
In the 17 years that I have worked at HC
I have never been more impressed by anyone in this company! You really are a bright star and are so so so very talented! Gina better be damn grateful and blessed to have you! If not, I will punch her! :O)
Regional Sales Manager
....................


gets me all mushy reading this and cannot take credit for anything I do when I TRY giving the best of me to those I care about. God expects this of me and us all, so I will continue to be more loving especially during the toughest of times.

Ok, bedtime. Happy New Year to all.

Give

Laying in bed with the hubby on this fine morning in LA and we stumbled upon a Kobe Bryant Commercial: Fight Homeless in LA. 40000 homeless folks in this city.
It got me thinking about how many people are suffering/dieing from lack of food, medical care, and shelter.
I pray to God for them every night and although I don't have all the answers and all the money in the world to help every single being, I know that I can make a difference by giving back to my community and society.
It's during the Holidays when I feel the most compassionate for the poor and less fortunate. I imagine myself being in their situations - rather than being with family and loved ones. Me being in a shelter, old folks home, on the streets fighting for my life... lacking the love and warmth that most of us are fortunate to have on a daily basis. I would be so grateful to those who showed me they cared enough to feed me.
I am so grateful to those that have made it easier for me to find spots I can donate to. Selfless acts of kindness makes this life worth living; knowing that we each can take a step back to take a look at what we fortunate people can do to make their worth living is an awesome feeling.
I want to share some of the places Derik and I involve ourselves with in hopes of maybe allowing others to share a small piece of your heart by giving a little back.

The American Red Cross- I figure a simple donation every quarter will help. Also blood donations help! The Red Cross offers neutral humanitarian care to the victims of war, the American Red Cross distinguishes itself by also aiding victims of devastating natural disasters. You can also register to receive text messages from the red cross to inform you when donations of blood or money are needed asap during a natural disaster. Awesome! www.redcross.org

One Warm Coat - Donating coats to help families / children stay warm during the cold season. Why NOT? Every year, Derik and I will gather our coats that we know we will not pull during the 4 months of winter and commit to donating them. onewarmcoat.org

Second Harvest Food Bank - Donating canned food to the less fortunate. I'm always complaining about how full I am after a good meal. If I can afford to eat and cook meals for myself and my family, why not make a difference in another family's life? Find a donation center near you. Around October/Novemberish each year, Derik and I will purchase 2 bagsfull of cans from Big Lot's - 50 cents to a dollar a can and donate to local drop offs. FeedingAmerica.org ...also there's the SVC Turkey Trot who also benefits to Local charities including the Second Harvest Food Bank. svturkeytrot.com
Derik, Darin, and I have committed to making it a family run every year; the morning of Thanksgiving. A nice family run before eating great meals and it benefits the less fortunate? Wow, amazing!

If anyone has any recommendations please let me know. Sharing is caring. We all can make a difference by doing one simple act of kindness.

Pretty Girls and Rich Dudes - Too Funny

Sometimes I do analyze why a not so good looking guy ends up with a hot girl...or why a not so good looking girl ends up with a good looking guy...this read is pretty funny.



Amazing reply by J.P. Morgan CEO to a Pretty girl A young and pretty lady posted this on a popular forum:


Title: What should I do to marry a rich guy?


I'm going to be honest of what I'm going to say here. I'm 25 this year. I'm very pretty, have style (http://g35driver.com/forums/#) and good taste. I wish to marry a guy with $500k annual salary or above. You might say that I'm greedy, but an annual salary of $1M is considered only as middle class in New York . My requirement is not high. Is there anyone in this forum who has an income of $500k annual salary? Are you all married? I wanted to ask: what should I do to marry rich persons like you? Among those I've dated, the richest is $250k annual income, and it seems that this is my upper limit. If someone is going to move into high cost residential area on the west of New York City Garden ( ? ) , $250k annual income is not enough.

I'm here humbly to ask a few questions:

1) Where do most rich bachelors hang out? (Please list down the names and addresses of bars, restaurant, gym)

2) Which age group should I target?

3) Why most wives of the riches is only average-looking? I've met a few girls who doesn't have looks and are not interesting, but they are able to marry rich guys

4) How do you decide who can be your wife, and who can only be your girlfriend? (my target now is to get married)


Ms. Pretty


Awesome reply:

Dear Ms. Pretty,

I have read your post with great interest. Guess there are lots of girls out there who have similar questions like yours. Please allow me to analyse your situation as a professional investor. My annual income is more than $500k, which meets your requirement, so I hope everyone believes that I'm not wasting time here. From the standpoint of a business person, it is a bad decision to marry you.. The answer is very simple, so let me explain.

Put the details aside, what you're trying to do is an exchange of 'beauty' and 'money': Person A provides beauty, and Person B pays for it, fair and square. However, there's a deadly problem here, your beauty will fade, but my money will not be gone without any good reason. The fact is, my income might increase from year to year, but you can't be prettier year after year. Hence from the viewpoint of economics, I am an appreciation asset, and you are a depreciation asset. It's not just normal depreciation, but exponential depreciation. If that is your only asset, your value will be much worried 10 years later.

By the terms we use in Wall Street, every trading has a position, dating with you is also a 'trading position'. If the trade value dropped we will sell it and it is not a good idea to keep it for long term - same goes with the marriage that you wanted. It might be cruel to say this, but in order to make a wiser decision any assets with great depreciation value will be sold or 'leased'. Anyone with over $500k annual income is not a fool; we would only date you, but will not marry you. I would advice that you forget looking for any clues to marry a rich guy. And by the way, you could make yourself to become a rich person with $500k annual income. This has better chance than finding a rich fool..


Hope this reply helps. If you are interested in 'leasing' services, do contact me....

Signed,
CEO
J.P. Morgan

Clean Slate Mondays

I'm a pretty messy person in general; my hubby can vouch for me. I used to ask myself, was I born messy? No. Do I prefer to be messy? No. I do believe that living as a child with an OCD clean freak Dad, who scolded me for leaving books on the dinner table contributed to me feeling free as an adult to leave things where I please and that I wouldn't be punished for it.
However, I do take responsibily for my scatters therefore am pretty darn grateful that Monday comes around once a week.
There's something about getting up in the morning knowing that I HAVE to start my Monday mornings off (my days off from work) with cleaning the house spic and span before I can treat myself to anything else. In that moment of spraying and wiping the mirrors clean, vacuuming the carpet, putting Darin's toys away where they belong, cleaning the fridge, dusting off the table, stacking away the dishes, folding the laundry, hanging my clothes, etc, it does something to my wellbeing. This ritual allows me to create a new slate for the week; to start fresh with new ideas and excitement.
Everything happens for a reason including the mess I create. Hello, that's what Monday's are made for.

I declare No Cell Phone Sundays

Remember the days when the ancient landlines and snail mail were the only ways to get in contact with close friends and loved ones? What a great factoid to tell my son when he's 4 years old and knows more about technology than I will. =x

In this day and age, I confess that the reinvention of the cell phone, has allowed me the option to do pretty much everything and anything to keep in touch with society and to follow many things that really aren't important to me...rubbish that can sometimes get in the way of truly creating a fulfilling life. It was about a year ago, I was given the gift of the iphone from the hubby. Connection to the universe in the palm of my hands. Bad Idea.

I sometimes find myself taking for granted the precious time I could be spending doing some things far more important. If there were something that resembled AA for cell phone users, you'd probably find me there because my hubby would have signed me up already.

I found myself making excuses to my hubby telling him when he asks me to put the cell down ,"Hey, I keep my phone on vibrate when we go to church on Sundays, in the evening when I'm putting Darin to sleep, or when I'm at work. WHAT now?" =x
I'm the type of person who, when I realize things after a while are getting a bit too much, I try to make a change for the better.
It was about a month ago when I realized that I was making the cell phone rule my life and that that continuing to abuse my cell phone privileges is a very very naughty habit that needs to have limits...Something definitely needed to be done. The cell phone even at one point used to stress me out when I didn't receive replies back to my texts right away and even had me assuming that the other end was rude or probably was mad at me for something I said or did? Uh, physcho-me.

So, I've decided to declare *NO CELL PHONE SUNDAYS
Before you judge the little asterisk right next to my assertion, let me explain.

I've declared that because Sunday is our Family Fun Day, anyone that wants to get a hold of me can get a hold of me through my land line if I'm at home. If we are out of the house, which we usually are, there is no reason I need to respond to anything right away. And that also gives me no right to EVER assume that when someone doesn't respond to MY texts right away, that something is wrong. Apologies to my loving mother *cough.
Therefore on Sundays I will not be responding to texts, sending out texts, calling people, no social media, no googling, no yelping places. No taking pictures. No itunes. No blogging. *sigh*

*The only valid reason why I would need to use the cell phone is because we're meeting up with someone and we need to locate them...and if that were the case, we would be using the hubby's cell phone.
How about that for a start? Who knows, maybe this will eventually lead muah going back to using pagers. hee haw.
Nite nite - (sent from Liss's IPHONE) errr..=)