Growing & Staying On Top

It had been a busy month for us both at the store front and also for my vlogging  business.  The store is growing and we know that we are going to have to buy a bigger place really soon.  So we’ve been on the hunt for the longest time and may finally settle on a place this year if the price is right.

As for the vlogging business, it has been going great, I cannot ask for a better advertising co-ordinator who does all the flying arrangement and meeting of clients for me.  All I have to do is show up and look pretty.  On the home front, it has been awesome too, we’ve hired a part time helper to help around the house, cleaning and re-arranging things and cooking for us as we’ve been so busy of late and I’ve been traveling so much more now.

Chloe is doing well in school , although I want her to do better, so a tutor may be in order soon.  As for her piano , she is doing awesome, and I cannot ask for more.   Health front, PB , Chloe and I are planning to join a local gym to exercise 3 times a week, I suggested yoga classes and we are currently looking into it.  I also took an x-ray for my legs and awaiting to hear back from my doctor.

 It had been a really busy January for us and even though we had many storm days, we were still on top of our sales as compared to last year.  So we are totally blessed.  And those who’ve time to sell me, please let me know.

The End Of 2014

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A few more hours and we will be in 2015.  What will 2015 bring for us ?  I don’t know but 2014 had been a great year for us in terms of business wise and my online work.  The store had been really busy the entire year and my online work had taken a new turn because I started on vlogging with an American brand magazine for woman after 50.  It had been an extraordinary ride and I enjoyed all my assignments tremendously.  I doubt I would be able to finish using all the skin care and cosmetic that I’ve received thus far but I really am happy with experimenting with everything and being paid for it.

Chloe is doing awesome in school, she have the best teachers and this year I’ve also taken a step back and let PB do most of her school stuff with her since I had been traveling a bit for work.  On the home front, besides investing in a cottage near the beach, we also bought another property in the city because we’ve been going up there more often than usual as we have a great part time help from now on.

We also got to spend time with family and concentrated on doing family stuff but of course, I got to go out with my friends as well.  I’ve also met some really nice new friends along the way and did more charitable work this year.  Well, globally and not so much locally, although we did donate to some good causes this year locally as well.

Now health wise, I have to say that my legs is still giving me problems, so I’m gonna go take care of it next year but PB’s and Chloe’s health have been good, no major illness here.  My father – in – law and brother – in – law are also doing well , so I’m really happy about it.  But we have aunt helena to be thankful for too , for she took on the “grammie” role ever since the passing of my mother – in – law a few years ago.

This year, we focus a lot more about doing charitable work for different organization that both PB and I are passionate about and to my foster kids.  We also wanted to teach Chloe good values about being grateful for what we already have and not want more than needed.  I think overall, we did a pretty good job with managing our personal lives as well as money for 2014,  i hope you had as great a year as us.  Happy New Year !

Busiest Year

This has by far been the busiest year we’ve had in the last 15 yrs in business.  And with my new vlogging venture with an American advertising company, I have very little time for anything else.  But all is good and I ain’t complaining , after all, that means we can do more of what we want in the future and retire earlier.

Simple

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Our theme this year for the holiday season is simple.  Yes, I told everyone from home not to send anything to chloe for both her birthday as well as Christmas.  And if they are planning to give Chloe something, to please use the money for her pressies and give it to a charitable organization.  If they feel inclined , they can donate using Chloe’s name.

Why? because we are teaching Chloe that it’s good to give others and not just do things for herself as she is the only child, we want to make sure that she learns to care for others as well.  This year because of how busy PB and I are due to my new assignments on vlogging and meeting up with new advertisers, I cannot do as much for others as I hope to either.

So to keep our sanity and to focus on the most important things in our lives, we’ve decided that this year, we are going to take time for ourselves first. This year, we want to look at the bigger picture and give to a worthy cause around the world.  So Chloe’s birthday was celebrated last week at Grampie’s with only immediate family and fund raiser at her school was done by her alone as well as picking up her teacher’s presents and wrapping them all up on her own.  I’m very happy that we are doing this because it is very less stressful for me and we are really happy giving to help an organization to safe other people.

Christmas Deco Hunting

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I don’t know about other folks but in our family, we shop for Christmas decors every year and we keep adding but sometimes we don’t even put them up because it doesn’t go with the theme.  This year , we had to go simple because both PB and I are so busy with both the store and my work online.  But Christmas ain’t Christmas without adding one or two new ornaments or decor at home.

There is a place just a little way out of town that have all these wonderful Christmas decorations and for reason/s that I cannot fathom, we don’t go there often enough.  This year, I had to go there and found quite a few things.  Did I tell you that our Christmas tree at the store is white this year?  this is the first time I have a white tree for Christmas.  In the last 14 years with PB , our Christmas trees has always been green, so this was really a nice change.  Loved the new Christmas tree at the store and love all that we bought.

Halloween Fun 2014

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Sorry i took so long to put up pictures of Chloe and her Halloween Night.  She had loads of fun in school as a cat girl and in the evening, we went on our usual route and popped in at Gerald’s and Adele’s and chatted and had candies and so much fun.

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Look who’s the Alien this year.  We had so much laughter with the Leblanc’s.

Epic Drawing About My Family

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Muahahah!!!epic!  I am gonna frame this up and put this in our cottage , so that everyone can have a good laugh.  How candid is this?  and so much like us at home and at work.

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But what I loved most is what Chloe wrote at the back of the drawing.  I love her to bits.

Approaching 50 !

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In a few months or so, i will be turning 50 – 5 decades, the real 5 0  !!  wow!  surreal ?  a little but I think this year had been such a productive year for me and a lot of growing done.   You must be wondering about the growing part right?  what is  this about the growing ?  after all, at almost 50 what the hell “growing”  am I talking about ?

When you are approaching 50, you tell yourself, you don’t really want to care a lot about what people think of you but to live life to its fullest and do whatever makes me happy.  So this year, I concentrated on doing what i love most, blogging and vlogging and boy!  was it a great experience being able to network with other vloggers and bloggers.  This year, I concentrated on what’s most important to us, meaning, chloe and the spouse and since we have been investing more on properties and buying and renting, it had kept us busy for the most part.  And I’ve done away with a lot of people around my life.  Being “friendly”  is not enough to be considered a friend no more, I have no time for “friendly”.

I also quickly realized that at almost 50, I didn’t want to waste time on people you don’t care to be with or be friendly to.    And I don’t want to do things that I feel oblige to do or be polite to people I don’t want to be polite to.  I don’t want to go beyond my call of duty to please or be a do gooder ,  I just want to do what makes me truly happy.

As I’m approaching my 50, I couldn’t care less about what others think of me or my blog, I  want to write what i feel or how i feel at that particular moment and not having to worry about the person reading about it might get offended.  Because it ain’t about them, it’s about me and how I feel and the situation I was in at that point of time.  I don’t want to bend over backwards for people who ain’t important in my life or worry about what they would think of me if I didn’t do what is “appropriate”

This year, because of my “growing up”  I’ve traveled a lot more and networked so much with both Google and Youtube that I could never have done before,  had I worried about what people would think of me leaving my daughter with the spouse alone for days.  In other words , when you’ve lived almost 5 decades, what’s most important in life is me, myself and my family, the rest can take their turns when I have the time.  If they don’t like it, it’s not my problem.   What’s is important is getting enough rest and giving enough time for my daughter and spouse and taking care of our health and most importantly not having apologize for being a success in our life, both home and at work.

There’s no pretending here nor am I ashamed to write I have the best spouse and the best kid (in my humble opinion), we have a successful business and we own our own place and a cottage by the beach and many acres of land to develop as well as several houses out for rent.  I can also  afford to up and travel anytime I want and buy anything I want not just need.   We have enough money saved up for Chloe’s college and a little more for her traveling.  If people are offended because of it, so be it.   They are entitled to their opinion and it doesn’t affect us one bit.

When you are almost 50, like yours truly,  you can tell people exactly what you think of them and stop making excuses for their behavior.   When you are almost 50, it’s okay if another do not agree with the way you are bringing up your kid or the way you speak or write, it’s not my problem, if they want to take it whatever way they want.    When you are almost 50 like I, you don’t have to like everyone, and you can ignore your crazy ex – neighbor, crazy church friends as well as your crazy customers.

PS  :  At almost 50, it’s ok not to have to justify what you do online or offline to anyone especially to people who are insignificant in your life.  

More Gifts From Advertisers

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Now that I’m vlogging with Youtube, I get more stuff to try out in collaboration with different advertisers than before.  I still blog but vlogging has been going so well, you cannot imagine how busy I get during the day.  The courier companies knows us well before but now, they think that someone out there must love us a lot since packages comes in for me almost everyday.

Received these in the morning and not only am I paid for trying out these Korean cosmetic and the new winter make up , I also get paid for doing it.  Plus youtube plays pretty well too – I’m pretty stoke to tell you the truth.  Coz’ I didn’t think that as a vlogger, you get so much exposure.  But I have to thank my PR company for all the arrangements that they do for me.

Chloe said we might need a bigger house because 1 room is use for my filming alone.

I’ve Been Busy

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Yes, I’ve been so busy doing a little traveling for work to Seattle lately and haven’t been online a lot.  But I only go for a few days and rush back because I don’t want to be away from Chloe too long.  Between vlogging and signing up for a book deal and of course writing all about migrating to Canada as a minority (asian) it had kept me so busy that I cannot be at the store all the time now.

Nevertheless, I’m enjoying every moment of this new experience and making a lot of connection with some advertisers as well as my communications people.  The only cons is that I have to be away from the family from time to time but I think most things are pretty much organized now, therefore, I can do my work from here and send them all my work over the internet.

Vlogging is so fun and it’s so rewarding.  Life cannot be better !  did we tell you that we bought another property for investment?  yup!  it’s been an exciting summer!