Woman of Leisure

A Woman of Leisure......... Hmmm.Initially upon writing that title as my header, I had a very definitive definition of what this looked like in my mind. Being jobless, I will now spend my days getting manicures and pedicures, drinking wine spritzers by a fictitious pool that we do not have? um. sure. yes, this is what my daily life has and will become. Not quite.

Don't get me wrong. I am jobless, I've got time on my hands .....and I fully intend on getting a manicure or pedicure at some point. Will would probably welcome it actually-but this page is more of a side dish to the main course. Cool things/places/shops/people I've met or found that I think would be pertinent or fun to share about.


January 2020-
Currently still in Utah with an unhanded unfinished nightstand beside my bed.

July 2017-
Will bought me a sander....still need to work on that nightstand.

March 2017-
SO-is one still a woman of leisure if said woman has a toddler who is with her for the greater part of the day? Suuuuure.
I found a place close to my house in Utah that threads eyebrows. Color me happy. I think that may be all my friends....for now.
Looking forward to more hiking as the weather warms up. OH and refinishing a nightstand that I bought super cheap off of Facebook marketplace for 25.00...you know, because I have time on my hands and I'm a woman of leisure....

October 2014-
Sooooooo.....I've been exploring and my goal in life at the moment is to find someone to shape my eyebrows. I mourn my loss of Coco. (My Taiwanese hair removing guru). She's worth flying back to Taiwan for. Seriously. Apparently there's only "shaving" and using a razor here to shape both eyebrows and shave your face? Yes...for women. I clarified this with my Japanese teacher and she said that Barbers are some of the only certified people allowed to use the razor....huh. She said most of the women do it themselves.
I may just do it.
I'm SOOOO spoilt. Srsly. I need to get over myself.

August 2014-
Totally overdue again. I am ready to explore Hiroshima if Wyatt EVER starts school again. I'll keep you posted. I'm pretty sure I'll have some stories.........

July 2013- 
Ahhhh!!! SO OVERDUE.
I have so much to put in here. I'll update it soon. There has been much going's on's.

October 2012-
One of the beautiful things about not working is my ability to volunteer. I'm passionate about this agency, and for the women and girls that I strive to serve. Garden of Hope embraces it's name and diligently works to empower not only the women and girls within their shelter, but within the community as well.  October 11th was marked International Day of the Girl Child, with the following Saturday, October 13th, celebrating the 1st Asian Girl Campaign and the 10th Formosan Girls Award Ceremony. It was incredible to see girls working to make a difference not only in their communities but in their own lives, in addition to the lives of others. It was humbling really, and I am honored to have witnessed it.

Check out what they're doing!
https://www.facebook.com/girlflygoh?ref=hl
http://girlday.goh.org.tw/

September 24th 2012

This big ballerina went on another hike. It was great! Dare I say I've gotten the hang of it? Nah. It all comes back round to being that glass half empty kind of gal I guess.....but I have another hike coming up in November, and I also don't want to talk myself up too much. We all know how I can be.
This hike was once again led by Richard Saunders, hiker extraordinaire. His knowledge about Taiwan is staggering, and he just has a passion that is present when he takes us on these hikes. We were super lucky to have him as our guide. Prepared a bit more after the first hike I went on with him, this seemed pretty mild. While we covered some pretty wild, overgrown areas, the scenery and sites that he led us to made it completely worth it. (Plus, who doesn't like climbing an incline with merely a rope?) Please. It wasn't all that insane. Don't let the picture fool you. The main sites we saw for the day however were Battleship Rock and Lovers' Temple. I haven't done so yet, but there were some interesting stories/tales attached to the Temple- I'll post them if I find them. I'm prepping for our next hike- oh! and one of the coolest parts? I got to wear my new hiking pants. I am SOOOO officially athletic now.

September 2012-
So I get a text/email the other day asking if we were open to having Wyatt try out for a commercial. Sure, why not? The last tryout was an epic fail, but perhaps this one would be....more successful?! So Will agreed to go with us, ignoring his basic instincts, clearly. Upon arriving at the address we were met with pure shadiness. I am hopeful had I arrived sans Will, I would have turned around. But hey, Will is super strong and tough, so we powered through. We were also met by the representative of the modeling agency that Wyatt uses so I felt a bit of relief. A bit. Wyatt, our extrovert, immediately clammed up upon being filmed, lacked the ability to project and had some trouble not sucking in his bottom lower lip. I REALLY REALLY tried not being that stage mom. I'm not gonna lie I may have failed a little bit. I may also have put makeup on and spruced myself up a bit just in case they needed someone in their commercial who fit my particular profile. Upon seeing the gorgeous amazonian women enter, I kinda figured they may have had that role covered. Maybe next time. Wyatt picked up his commericial-ly skills upon running through the grass with their fake product. He seemed to do pretty well in the non-speaking department. We'll keep you posted.

September 2012.

Yes. Yes. I have obviously been doing more than I've been putting on here. I promise to be better. I am after all a woman of leisure who is incredibly busy. Now that Wyatt is in Kindergarten, the days are longer, creating more hours in the day for me to fill. *Sigh* However will I manage? For starters, the community center has extremely cool activities coming up..some of which I've already signed up for....2 hikes, a bag making class.....perhaps cake decorating. Look out Martha.

Please. If you believe this you haven't read the below.


April 2012.
I CANNOT believe that it's April. Unbelievable. Wyatt will be finished with KA in like 1 month. Craziness. I'm writing this before I go to TaiChi- and I'll be honest, I'd rather be in bed. I do however LOVE TaiChi so it makes it all worth while. SO what's been going on? Well in the spirit of Easter, I tried my hand at making homemade chocolate (cadbury eggs and peanut butter eggs to be specific.)Let's say it together. This attempt was an.....

Yes. An Epic Fail. Oh Wait!!! Let me share some pictures.

Yeah. So I know what these look like, as I'm sure you do as well. Despite how they looked, I ate them. Like, ALL of them, sans 1 that I made my husband try. They didn't even taste that great. I hate myself. OK let's say it again together one more time and I cross my heart not to make chocolate again.

February 2012-
Oh I'm hiking baby. I finally went up the TienMou steps- apparently it's like 1000 stairs or something. Yeah. Or something. My calves were SCREAMING for days. DAYS. Completely worth it and much preferred over the stuffy moldy dank gym, I ended up doing the hike myself and the views were beautiful. And much to my surprise it was fun. What?!?!?Hiking Fun? I know. I don't even know who I am anymore.
So I'm nearing the top and there's no less than 3 signs about crazy monkeys that are up in the mountains. Uh...... so these signs in question were like, if their eyebrows are bouncing up and down, move to the other side, don't give them direct eye contact, don't eat, don't bring small pets...on and on it went. What? How am I supposed to know about their eyebrows if I can't look at their eyes???? Holy Crap. Fortunately I didn't bump into any monkeys. Unfortunately, it said nothing about the pack of dogs.

Stairs

Stairs

More Stairs.

Oh Thank God! A sign! At least now I know where I'm going.

AHHHHHH Monkeys!!!

From the top. Completely worth it.

Last week of January 2012-
I'm on the chopping block....I can't stop cutting. Seriously-there's not much more to cut off. Even the factor that a lot of Asian men and women confuse pronouns has not deterred me from going shorter...and shorter. I have noticed that I bring a lot of pictures in of Victoria Beckham to the salon. I'm not disillusioned. I know that I'm not going to look like her....but it won't stop me from trying.

Second week of January 2012.
My hair doesn't look green and it doesn't look gray. I find that to be an accomplishment of sorts and am happy to begin the new year with semi- natural looking dirty blond hair. Whatevs. The highlighting appointment went through without trauma. Also an accomplishment. Fingers crossed that my waxing next week will carry the same results. TMI?

First week of January, 2012.-
So I find myself in a new year with the same hair dilemmas. As I read the below post, I can see not much has changed. My hair (along with pets and family of course) make me REALLY miss home. I JUST WANT THE GRAY TO BE GONE. I know that the texture and color of hair is different in Asia. I am not a fool...but it just seems really difficult (I'm whining right now..can you hear it??) It shouldn't be this difficult. I know I'm rambling,(and whining) but hair is something that people immediately see. Having a bad hair day can ruin one's day. You see where I'm going with this? SO in November, when my hair was looking way to blond for not living in California or on a beach somewhere, I knew that I had to dial it back. It needed to look, let's go with.... more natural. SO My stylist and I agreed that we would go light brown with some sunny highlights. Even as she was coloring it, it didn't look light brown. It looked like I dipped my roots in mud. Crap. (actually that works too....) To make matters worse my husband was sitting next to me getting his hair cut. To make matters doubly worse, my husband, who is color blind (bless his heart) could tell that my hair had just turned blue. When the stylists assistant looks at my and says bu hao, let me assure you that is not a positive. My stylist freaked a bit and immediately stripped my hair of both brown and blue colors. I kept my cool...I mean what was I going to do? ?...and rolled with it. After it was all said and done my hair was a bland brown...with gray. My stylist discussed that we should not put more color in it, which I obviously agreed with and she said it actually came out pretty good. ....*sigh* Fast fwd to a couple weeks later where I just couldn't take it anymore and went to a different salon. Oh Aly. I said, or motioned that I wanted my roots done. He started doing my roots. Just like they did when I was in the US- roots!!....and then some highlights. When all was said and done, I looked like I came from some crazy town beach with my lovely orangey blond hair. Perfect....I let it be. Cue* Beatles song here.
SO the day we came back from HongKong, I knew I had to kind a box of dye. on a wing and a prayer I went to the drugstore and they actually had a box of Revlon medium blond. I was estactic. Who knew that's all it would take?? I promptly dyed my hair that evening. After a few days, I went to get a cup of coffee and the Starbucks barista looks at me and says Oh!! you dyed your hair green?
Crap.
My highlight appointment is set for Thursday. I'll keep you posted.

June 2011- Hair Dilemma
I cannot believe that it's June already. I've been here since January and have gone to the Salon multiple times to get my hair cut and colored. Each time I go, I try to make myself fairly clear. NO GRAY. I know it's there. I can see it. Please. MAKE IT GO AWAY. My stylist here is lovely, though she insists that highlighting over top without recoloring my roots is adequate. My husband commented the other evening- Wo. I can really see your roots. Uh, yeah. If Will is commenting on my roots and my gray, all is not adequate. So I did what I needed to do. I used my last box of dye and once again became the natural brunette that I was born as....and then promptly called the following morning to become the highlighted blonde that I was born to be in my 30's. I knew she'd be pissed. She didn't comment initially, until she did. She said please tell me you didn't do this last night. Yeah. I did it last night. It was out of control I whined. She commented that my hair is SO many colors now, that picking up a box and dying one's hair is just too easy nowadays. WOW. I mean...it's not like I was working with 2 or even 3 colors prior to me coloring my hair. There was a lot going on. A lot of it was gray. Guilty? Perhaps. Happy? Absolutely.

March 8, 2011- To the moon....
Is where I wanted my son to go today. Ok, I skipped A LOT of events that I still need to write about (volunteering luncheon/coffee with new people/pedicures/hairwashing...)-I'll have to come back to them. I just needed to process my day and write to anyone who may even be remotely interested in reading. I ask again. How do you moms do it?? Are there support groups out there? Am I the only one who is potentially developing Trichotillomania????(FYI-compulsively pulling one's hair out). Or am I just weak, lazy and selfish....hmmm. I'm not looking for comments to pacify me here, because I'm positive I'm a bit of the latter 3...I mean a girl likes to read a few chapters of her book and drink her coffee in uninterrupted silence on occasion, right?...Or are those just the "bad" moms?
So here's where I'm at. He goads me, and I try desperately for my facial expression, mannerisms and REACTION not to be over the top. I mean, you all know me, how do I do this? Basically I'm trying to stop myself from being me. My face gives me away every time. It's uh, not what people would call a poker face. Ya know? Example. I disciplined him today and he looks me square in the face and says, well YOU are not my best friend anymore. DAD is my best friend. My gut reaction was to say WOW, ask me if I care big guy. But that wouldn't be an appropriate response now would it? This is where thinking before I speak comes into play.......ALSO not one of my strong points. So basically, the whole day was like this. Him saying these spiteful comments and me being reactionary. (I didn't say that above comment by the way). Well....that's all. I feel a bit better. I'm just at a loss-and very frustrated. Thanks for listening.
*(lifting of glasses please)* Here's to tomorrow.

February 16, 2011- "Housekeeping "........(to be said in a small high pitched voice- you know the one)
So is anyone else thinking that this is by far the longest week ever?? Other than the Wyatt-isms, I feel as though I've been slacking a bit on my blogging. I've been kind of blah. I know you know the feeling. Unmotivated and completely unproductive. Which despite feeling that way, I am astounded that I failed to post on my House-Help experience from last Thursday. Shame on ME!!!! Stating house help in lieu of housekeeper makes me feel just a tad less , oh, ah guilt?! I heard one of the fellow ex-pat wives using the term, so I'm not sure if that's the preferred title here or what. All in all I talk a big game, yeah yeah, shock of the century, and of course we all say we want someone to come in and clean our house, but when it comes right down to it, it's quite discomforting. So travel in my time machine to last Thursday, Wayne and Garth style if you'd like. Wiggle your hands dodododododo......OK here we are...well done.


February 10, 2011- So Will's back is out and he's trapped in bed, unable to move. I read somewhere while I was furiously googling, that heat is bad, icing is good. Hmmmm. ice cube trays would have definitely come in handy...put that on the 'to buy' list. OK. What's in the freezer- chicken? nah- no sense in giving him salmonella too.- ahhhhh rotting yet frozen carrots. Perfect.- So I threw those on his back and waited anxiously for my helper. I have to say, I spent the majority of Wednesday evening cleaning and straightening up, which of course makes absolutely no sense, but I should at least attempt to pick up the clutter before she discovers the real slob that I am. I want her to like me.- This is starting to feel a bit like a first date...you know when you're overcompensating and not really putting forth who you really are all at once (flashback to me pretending I'm not a slob -prior sentence.... double flashback to December 2000 when Will may or may not have been led to believe that I'm an uber-cheery morning person, that uh, ironically is not a slob.) Well, Will still married me upon the real discovery, so this instills a tad of confidence. Perhaps this help thing will work out. Julia arrived at 8:45 am and was simply lovely. I showed her around and motioned that Will had hurt his back and not to be alarmed by the big guy laying in the bed.- Dust around him? AWKWARD. Within moments of meeting and figuring out the cleaning supplies n'stuff she offered to rub out Will's back....and I thought dusting around him was awkward. I said that I would ask him. Now let me paint a bit of a better picture, Julia does not speak English fluently, though her English is FAAAARR better than my Mandarin.
It just so happened I was baby-sitting a friends 2 year old, so I told Julia I'd be heading over to the park with the boys in order to get out of her way. She didn't quite understand and asked if I was keeping the boys at the house while I went across the street. I uh, shall we say, hesitated a moment. hmmmmmmm you stay with the boys, while I just go away. hmmmmmmmmmmmm. OH STOP. I didn't do it!!!
Though the offer was very tempting. The house looked awesome when we came back. She washed the floor people. She unfortunately wasn't done upon my arrival back, so I fed the boys lunch and then turned on some Dora. Talk about awkward. So here I am, sitting on the couch, watching Dora, literally with my feet up on my ottoman drinking a cup of coffee while she was cleaning my son's bathroom. Ughhh. It made me feel like crap....I felt like the least I could do was to put my coffee down. Which then led to me sitting uncomfortably on the couch, as I felt I shouldn't literally have my feet up while she was cleaning. An hour later-the stove sparkled upon her departure and she gave me some good tips on things I need to get to help with laundry. She also said that she irons. uh oh.- Do we want to rouse that beast and start Will on freshly ironed shirts? Sounds pretty dangerous to me.

February 8, 2011- Self Loathing and Whining
Disclaimer- no eye rolling- the following is just how I feel. Scroll past if you so choose.
I feel fat. I know I know- it's just how I feel. Soooo, without giving up my lattes which offer me far too much pleasure (and which I happen to be drinking right now- a vanilla one at "my place.") I need a plan. I'm thinking that SURELY there must be a reason I'm feeling the way I am. I'm sure it has absolutely NOTHING to do with the millions( I am not exaggerating) of bakeries and bread shops, taste testing pastries to see if they actually taste "sweet"..... or perhaps all of my pants were washed and put into the dryer prior to my arrival here....but I can neither confirm or deny that for certain. So the point remains, I need a plan. I heard once that if you want to be skinny you should watch what "skinny" people eat, watch their lifestyle and follow suit. I think this sounds like an excellent one month trial - would you agree?- If anything, it would make for interesting blog conversation...perhaps I should add a 30 day tab??...sorry I'm wandering- as I say to Wyatt - FOCUS. FOCUS. I am however FOCUSED on the factor that I'm surrounded by slim people. Good genetics or lifestyle? We shall see. And let's be real, I don't have body dysmorphic disorder or anything, I just want to have increased body confidence.
With that bring said, I'm working towards increasing my physical activity, which frankly, I loathe. I mean, I don't have a car, so with that clearly eliminating one major form of transportation, one would think that would work in my favor- urging me towards exerting myself. Don't get me wrong. I know this is not a bad thing. Between walking and biking um, oh yeah, and watching my intake, I'll be svelte. Svelte. What a utterly fantastical word......focus focus......Burn off more than you take in. *groan* we all know this. I know this. It's just so stinkin hard. And biking. My friends, do any of you bike for pleasure? Not hard core mountain biking/trail riding, let me clarify this in order to spare myself further humiliation before all of you comment how much you L-U-V biking. I rode Wyatt to school for the first time today. I about died. That's a bit of an overstatement (shocker!) and not to be gross but I broke a sweat. I'm not a sweat-er , I'm just not. (refrain from commenting here as well please.)
So, as I'm starting to perspire, I about dumped Wyatt off the bike as he asked, mommy why are you going so slow? Wow. Seriously Wyatt? One really shouldn't tick off their primary mode of transport. If I could have spared even an ounce of breath I would have sooooo told him that. The slight incline of the hill nearly did me in, but I persevered and I'm sure a better woman for it...blah blah blah. Ok. So now I'm looking back and reading what I just wrote and I know I sound ridiculous, but I'll keep it of course. Oh and I forgot to mention that I downloaded some Gilad workout videos last night.-Look out!!! I'll be starting this new routine soon and no, there will not be any before and after pics....At least not "before."

January 29, 2011- Hair Appointment
I have a scheduled cut and color today. I dyed my hair prior to going as a base before getting the highlights in- I'm posting the before pic...hopefully it'll look decent enough that I can post an after pic too.

A week later....OK- so details details. The appointment was pretty incredible- 4 hours worth of incredible.- I of course in classic Aly Americana style was late. Please, like it makes a difference that I'm in a different country?!- I really have to work on my punctuality. I've got time. Consider it now on my bucket list.
Upon my arrival I was offered coffee or tea, (which naturally I took the coffee) and it was fabulous (my word to describe this entire experience)- like french press coffee or something...yeah, doesn't that kind taste better than the others? Not that I really know.....
So back to my hair and my four hour appointment. Have I mentioned how long this appointment was? To minimize the potential for disaster, I brought a number of pictures. I mean, I'm not so disillusioned to think that I was going to come out looking like the picture of Victoria Beckham that I brought in..BUT........a girl can dream a little...right?
Yeah- so the four hours consisted of massages and a stylist who sat on a rolling stool and moved from side to side cutting what seemed like individual strands at a time. I love my stylist at home no one will ever surpass her, but this was insane. Let me clarify. Insane in a very good way. Even the fact that the first girl who was in charge of the foils who dropped the comb she was using...twice didn't dampen my spirits. (It also helped that she was not the one who cut my hair). Upon completion of the cut and color Susan, my stylist phenom, asked if I had time for a back massage. Uhhhhhh let me check my non-existent schedule. Yes, yes I do actually. Throughout my hair appointment I could see and hear grown men being beaten and kneaded, tenderized like pieces of meat. Here I was now, seemingly in a similar situation. Apparently there is no gender bias when it comes to what I perceived was a deep tissue massage? You know that sensation when you hit your funny bone and you're not sure whether to laugh or to cry. The back massage felt exactly like that, like if I had been standing I would have fallen immediately to my knees. The little girl, the one who dropped the comb apparently reclaimed her grip and dug into my shoulders like no body's business. So days later my shoulder blades are still throbbing.-Anything you feel days later has to be good. Right?
                                                                                       

  

January 26, 2011- Cup of Goodness

This post transcends categories-for this Hazelnut latte truly puts one in a state of bliss. I kid you not. I happen to be lucky enough to have the coffee shop down the street from where Wyatt has his afternoon classes. While this is the case, it is an indulgence and I will only let myself go there once a week...well two if my hand is forced. The foam on this latte is thick and you actually pour the sugary flavored goodness on top. Oh yeah. Seriously, words can't describe it accurately, and I'm starting to sound creepy weird about it. Soooo...I'll just leave it at that. I pity non-coffee drinkers.

January 20, 2011- Threaded
My brows....out of control. Well, they were out of control at 4. Now, tamed and fabulous. This particular salon has English speaking beauticians (a plus in my book). When I had called for the appointment, I was told it would take a half hour. Wo. I don't know about all you ladies (or men?.....no judgement here) but I have never had a brow appointment take 30 minutes.... I know now what I have been missing. A monster has officially been created.
My lovely brow masters name was Coco (seriously). She asked if I wanted to be waxed or threaded -There was no question- I'd been wanting to try threading since I got here. She actually chalked my face, well powdered it actually..apparently the thread clings better once one is freshly powdered. huh..who knew? Wyatt said I looked like a Pirate, which peaked his interest. From that point on Wyatt remained inches away from Coco's incredible precision, taking mental notes I'm sure. (I'll sleep with one eye open tonight).
No joke, the appointment took 1/2 hour. I wasn't sure whether to be ecstatic or terrified. Would there be any hair left?.....anywhere on my face? I knew it was going to be really really good...or really really bad. pretty clairvoyant right? She threaded tweezed and scissored. $10.00 + a few bucks tip later? A masterpiece.
Next time, I'll have Wyatt take pics with the ipod...he can get all up close and personal.

Info on threading for the truly inquisitive-
http://hairremoval.about.com/od/threading/a/threading101.htm