I got the chance to try out some lovely natural products from Hugo Naturals. I had heard wonderful things about Hugo’s products. Reading the labels I can tell the ingredients seem really high quality. Hugo’s values are similar to my own- natural, free of harmful toxic ingredients, and even vegan! I gave a friend of mine a baby shower gift basket chock full of Hugo Baby collection last year and got glowing reviews on the products from her.

Needless to say, I was pretty excited to try these products, especially the Brown Sugar Body Polish. Because, let’s face it, what girl doesn’t love to do a really thorough sugar scrub, slather herself in a silky moisturizer and get dressed up? I know this girl does.

I was a little confused initially by the name of “Kumquat” Brown Sugar Body Polish. I had to retrace my memories to determine what a Kumquat actually was. A gentle giant? A silly looking dog mix? A rare type of orangutan? Luckily it vaguely reminded me of something that grew on a tree so I wasn’t too turned off from testing it out. I still resorted to the internet to look up the actual plant. (Apparently it’s a fruiting plant that resembles an orange. Who knew?)   

I’m so glad I tried it. The appearance and scent of the sugar body polish was like brown sugar, sweet maple syrup, Grandma’s cooking, and warm pumpkin pie…  

It was a delight to start scrubbing it gently onto my skin. The sugar granules felt almost smooth but invigorating. My skin felt rejuvenated and alive. I didn’t even need to use body wash or soap by the end of the scrub because the plant oils (mmmm, sweet almond oil!) from the scrub absorbed into my skin, leaving it feeling like it was glowing. Ahhhhhhh….


Side note: I also noticed that Arnica Montana Flower is listed in the ingredients of the sugar scrub. If you're not familiar with this term, you should be! From my experience I've learned Arnica Montana, aka marigold flower, is amazing for soothing sore muscles and aches and pains. I was surprised to see this in a sugar scrub but truly impressed nonetheless.

As I stepped out of the shower I decided this would be the perfect chance to try out the Grapefruit All Over Lotion. The cream itself was thick, almost like a body butter. It went on smoothly and felt luxurious. It  smelled like babies rolling around on a picnic blanket on a summer morning. With ice tea. And lemonade. And happy thoughts. 

The scent was gentle but lightly lingering. The non-chemically produced fragrance (much to my skin’s delight), didn’t overwhelm, but drifted softly and pleasantly into my nostrils and my thoughts.  It’s the kind of scent that my husband would lean in softly and say, “You smell nice.” And that, my friends, brings a smile to my face.  

I found myself going back to the lotion frequently the days that followed for quick touch ups. My elbows and knees greatly appreciated the creamy TLC I found in the Grapefruit Lotion. The funny thing is I don’t even like grapefruit. Hmm. Maybe I should give the fruit another chance after trying this lotion. 

Lastly, I was able to test drive the Hand-Crafted Vanilla & Sweet Orange Soap. Let me preface this by saying I have not been a soap person for a very long time. When body washes took over the world, I rapidly jumped on the band wagon and have not looked back. I didn’t even remember how to use soap! (Do I just rub it on? Do I use a wash cloth? What’s a wash cloth?) I have to say I was a bit nervous. 

Upon opening up the soap,I noticed, to my delight, it contained an actual orange peel hiding just below the surface of the soap. I’ve seen natural soaps before but not many so visibly contain the ingredients they claim they do. That was pretty impressive. Not remembering how to use soap I grabbed my trusty loofah and rubbed the soap on there for a lather. It actually lathered nicely. Not the big sodium lauryl sulfate-esque bubbles from the terrible body washes that are out there. It was more of a dense creamy lather, like a conditioner. The scent was mild but oh, so pleasant. Whoever in their right mind thought to combine the scents of juicy oranges and mild, sweet vanilla was slightly genius.  

Overall, the soap felt pretty nice. I don’t know if I’m a convert yet to the soap side, but if I were, this soap would be my gateway soap.  If there is a body wash in this scent (which I’m pretty sure there is) I would gratefully be, well, all over that.

As I write, despite living in sunny, gorgeous, typically picturesque Hawaii, my crazy little island has somehow undergone some not-very-normal-for-Hawaii weather episodes. Tornadoes and hail and flooding, oh my!  

Since we Hawaii residents are so accustomed to our warm summery weather we tend to shiver visibly and complain loudly when the thermometer drops below 70. The Hugo Naturals products I was so lucky to sample were a nice reminder of warmer times (last week) and trips to the beach (last month).  It’s good to know that even in sub-zero environments (or below 70 in Hawaii weather) you can still take a time traveling adventure to the beach in summertime by using these products. Or at least have a really enjoyable shower. I’m a fan.

Disclaimer: These products were provided to me by Hugo Naturals. 

Sometimes it seems like just yesterday that we found out we were going to be stationed in Hawaii and I started this very blog.

But amazingly enough, this past Saturday was my two year anniversary of my move to Hawaii. It’s been a hectic week. Saturday I attended an awesome outdoors Bob Marley Tribute Concert with a friend from my book club. Our beagle Lili made a new friend...a boyfriend! Monday I had an exciting, very visible scene as an extra on Hawaii Five-0. Nick left for deployment on Tuesday, and Tuesday night I had a very scary incident with my oldest dog Maggie getting poisoned by a toxic Bufo frog in our own back yard. That was probably the scariest, most adrenaline-inducing night of my life, and I think it even passed getting robbed when I worked as a teller at a bank as the scariest moment ever. 

After a frightening 15 minutes of chasing my 45 pound lab mix Maggie around the our yard and attempting several times to tackle her and hold her mouth open to hose out the toxins from her foaming mouth, we ended up having to rush to the 24-Hour emergency vet clinic. There we arrived, her, confused and startled; me, wet and muddy and bleeding from holding her mouth open. She received two shots and the next day I went to the doctor’s and received an overdue tetanus shot and antibiotics.  

My hand was more bruised than punctured, but I guess it’s good not to take chances. Since that was the first day of Nick’s deployment and it was one of the, if not THE most stressful day of my life, I’m going to go out on a limb and say it really doesn’t get too much worse than that. Although I’m not wishing any tsunamis on us (again). 

With the stress of that traumatic day, I’m trying to remind myself how lucky I am to be here, living in gorgeous Hawaii. As beautiful as it is, you can still get sad and lonely anywhere you live. And the fact that we have crazy frogs here that are poisonous to dogs and that I can’t just pick up the phone and call my family to cry when something like that happens (due to the time difference), I get angry at Hawaii sometimes.

So back to the Hawaii Five-0 episode. Back in December, just days after working as my usual Bikini Girl extra position on set, I received a voicemail from casting to come in to take more updated pictures for my casting file. Almost as an afterthought, the casting guy tacked on at the end of the call that the reason they wanted more updated shots was because the director of a future episode had picked me and a few other girls to be eligible for a spot to be a featured extra in a future episode. A featured extra is exactly what it sounds like. It’s an extra that has a featured position in a scene. It could be someone that is zoomed in on. It could be someone that somebody in the scene refers to. Which it was in this situation.

I didn’t hear anything over the holidays since Five-0 was on hiatus. The first week of January I received an email reminding me about working that week on set. I was confused because I hadn’t been called about working. I was still scheduled to work at my other job that Friday. I called the casting department to let them know they must have me mis-scheduled because I hadn’t previously received a call about working. The casting guy laughed and said he was sorry he hadn’t called me before, but the director had picked me for the scene to be a featured extra and he hoped I was able to work! Eeek!

It was an exciting day on set. I got to go through hair and makeup for the first time for Hawaii Five-0. (Typically extras do their own hair and makeup because there are just too many people. They only touch you up or fix you if absolutely necessary. So this was a pretty big deal to actually go through hair and makeup and have them sit and work on you in their trailer.) I found out I was supposed to be a customer at a Fed-Ex type store called The Mailbox Dispatch. The name of my part- Yes! I actually had a name for my part, sort of!- was “Pretty Young Woman.” 

Upon arriving on set, I realized I was in a scene with Scott Caan (who plays Danny/Danno) and one other guy, the “employee” of the Mailbox Dispatch store. I was to be the customer that Danny referred to in order to get the Mailbox Dispatch employee to leave him alone so Danny could read through a suspect’s mail.  

On set, the director of the episode introduced himself to me, along with the 1st and 2nd Assistant Directors, Script Supervisor, and so many more people who I’ve seen on set a lot but never actually met. The scene didn’t take too long- about 2 hours of actual work maybe for probably a minute on screen. The whole time, the guys on set referred to me as “Pretty Woman.” That was nice. 

On the way back to Five-0 base camp, Scott Caan sat behind me in the ride van. His adorable and really smart border collie mix Dot, who is pretty much always on set with him, sat next to me licking my hand. I had a little brief conversation with him about Dot and mentioned that my dog Maggie is also mixed with a border collie. Such incredibly smart dogs - I’ve seen Dot play volleyball on set before. You can actually throw a volleyball at her and she bounces it back to you with her nose. Pretty amazing and she’s really well-behaved too. And a licker. 

I’ve been excited for the last month for this episode to finally air. I knew from their directions on set that the camera sort of panned to me at one point so I was pretty sure I’d be visible in the shot if it wasn’t cut (which can always happen without warning on any show or movie!). Plus I was wearing a noticeable red dress. Unfortunately the timing could have been better for the show to air. It was bittersweet because it was so exciting to watch and I was glad Nick was there to see it, but it was also his last night before deploying so it was hard to be too excited about anything in general.

I got a lot of feedback from friends early that day that I was visible (since we’re the last time zone for the show to air). Thanks so much to my friends on Facebook and Twitter for watching out for me and playing “Spot the Blonde.” It was a really great overall experience and so much fun.

Other things to remind me to be happy for this week: I finally got my first guitar! It’s beautiful. It’s an Ibanez exotic wood guitar in a blonde mango wood. It’s an acoustic/electric guitar and even has a built-in tuner. I’m pretty excited to learn to play it (thank you, Youtube), but unfortunately my hand is hurting a bit too much from the frog incident to try right now. 

I also got more practice in knitting this week. Definitely not perfect but I’m starting to get it. I even got the stitches transferred back and forth a few times though I know I messed up a little bit. Once again, knitting needs to be put on hold until my hand (and aching arm from that darn tetanus shot!) are back to normal. 

So other than those things, I’ve got one other thing I came across to remind me to be happy. 

My mother came across and old ad-lib type diary-type book last year and mailed it to me. It’s the kind of book you have as a kid that you fill in things you like, such as “My favorite toy is” or “My favorite memory is.” I probably filled it out when I was about 7 or 8 years old, I think. I don’t have any memory of filling it out, but I had to laugh when I came across it. Because, as it turns out, Hawaii has always been my destiny. :) 

I definitely didn't remember my hate for Saudi Arabia. No idea where that came from. But thank goodness I finally learned how to spell Hawaii. And that you can't take a limo from Maryland to Hawaii. And I still do like French fries. :)

-----
PS. Just as a reminder, this article is extremely helpful to read if you or someone you know has a dog and are living in Hawaii. I’m so thankful I had read it and knew what to look for and knew to hose Maggie’s mouth out because Bufo dogs can kill dogs in minutes if not spotted right away.

Wow. It's a new year? When the heck did that happen? 

I guess what they say is true about time flying by as you get older. Hmmm.

So I've now made it a whole year following last year's new year's resolution to go vegan. Which was only supposed to last a month. Guess I beat that out of the ballpark, eh?

I have a few new years resolutions this year. I'm totally serious. Very serious new year's resolutions.

1. Buy a guitar. 
I've been meaning to do this for some time now. I have no idea what I'm looking for. All I know is I don't want a Yamaha. I think.

2. Learn to play guitar. I always pictured myself as that laid-back chick who can pick up a guitar at parties and start belting out a tune to it. While that will probably not happen, I would happily settle for learning to play "Back to Life, Back to Reality" so I can settle back with "Yeah, I did it" face. 

3. Learn to knit. I've gone as far as purchasing needles and organic yarn, and spending two hours squinting over old lady glasses to videos on Youtube. Unfortunately, the first step of "How to Knit" was to make a slip knot, which then caused me to have to search for the Youtube video entitled "How to Make a Slip Knot" and watch it 18 times before finally (semi)mastering that technique. I gave up after casting my line or something like that until someone can tell me in person what the heck I'm doing. It's cool. I've got 11 months left to learn. 

4. Rewatch Felicity. I realize this is a random one. But, God, I am such a girl and I love this series and Scott Speedman.  I even like the haircut season. Although I still don’t have to like the actual haircut. 

5. Visit the Big Island. We live on Oahu. We spent a week on Maui. We spent a weekend on Kauai over Thanksgiving. Big Island is the big one left. The other islands, while not unimportant, just don’t rank as high on my “Must Visit ASAP” list. The Big Island of Hawaii is, well, the biggest island. But it has something the other islands don’t have: volcanoes! Who doesn’t want to see an actual non-alcoholic lava flow?! (Not that there’s anything wrong with the alcoholic one either.) 

6. Write a book. This is another one I will be pretty happy with if I can just get a draft laid down for it. Or a first page. Or a picture. I’ve been wanting to write a book for a while now. But instead I write on here…hope you don’t mind. :) 

7. Hug more people. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t enjoy hugging. But I feel like I’m an awkward hug initiator. I never really know the right moment. I don’t want to be the over-ambitious hugger that makes people think. “Oh. What was that?” I don’t want to seem un-sympathetic by not hugging soon enough. Then there’s that awkward moment you think someone’s going to hug you but instead they do the LA-style lean in and kiss on the cheek and it’s unexpected (because, let's face it, where I come from in Baltimore you try to lean in like that and you might get stabbed) and you make a delayed after-the-fact kiss into their general direction. Perhaps I’m overanalyzing this. 

8. Not overanalyze. I don’t think I have too big a problem with this. But sometimes, especially when you’re a military spouse, it’s hard not to think of all the what-if’s and when-the-heck-will-we-know’s. For a person who likes to plan ahead, the military is not the most accommodating. Sometimes you just have to let go and have a “Que sera sera” attitude so that you don’t drive yourself insane.  And give yourself wrinkles.

9. Live in the now. That’s another one that’s hard to do with military. You try to think ahead of what’s coming next or look back at where you’ve been. I live in Hawaii. I need to remember how freaking amazing and lucky I am to live here every day and I also must try to get to the beach more. Yup. 

10. Have fun being an extra. Background artistry, aka extra work on movie or tv sets is possibly one of the most fun jobs ever in my opinion. I love being #bikinigirl on the Hawaii Five-0 set. I just want to keep doing what I’m doing and enjoying what I do as much as possible. And I would LOVE to be an extra on something that involves me wearing a costume or crazy makeup of some sort. I heard Star Trek II is filming here this year… ;) 

11. Run more. I’ve got new Vibram Five Fingers in the mail on the way to me soon. My last pair is finally kicking it (haha!) so I’m excited for a new pair of running shoes. And I need to break this beagle in to running more often. 

12. Be happy. Sometimes, even in the most beautiful of places like Hawaii, it can still be easy to get down, especially if Nick isn’t around much. But it’s important to remember to find things to make myself happy during those times and to always keep busy and have fun. I love my jobs and I love this island. 

I think those are pretty good new year’s resolutions. I’m happy with them. Now…who’s going to show me how to play guitar or knit…?

PS. I found this on Pinterest. Love it. Maybe I could have saved an entire blog post by just posting this? Oops. (Also, "ice cream" would have to of course be changed to "vegan ice cream." Just sayin.

Don't worry! I'm not leaving the beach for Baltimore. Hah! What were you thinking?

Just going back to my hometown for a little visit. I haven't been in Maryland (or pretty much anywhere but Hawaii) since my move here in February of 2010! I'm a little overdue.

My best friend just got married so I'm excited to attend her Halloween-style reception this weekend. Since Halloween is arguably my favorite holiday and I live for costumes,  needless to say, I'm psyched.

I have been planning my Halloween costume for about 3 months now. Pictures will come soon!

I'll also be attending a Baltimore Ravens home game. Dear Lord, I'm so happy. I think I'd be thrilled just to have the game occur later than 8am but to be present at the game, beer and all? Literally, heaven. Purple heaven.

Will also post soon about Hawaii Five-0 activities. I'm alive and well on set as Bikini Girl. I've (lucky and fortunate enough to have) been an extra in several episodes in season 2 and hope to appear in several more. 

Geez, I'm blessed.
I'll be tweeting this week. Stay tuned! 

I realize I’ve been out of touch. It’s not because I had no desire to write because I really have. It’s just that my life has changed so much in the last several months that it’s hard to even imagine where to begin with a new blog entry.

Some of you have been keeping tabs on my life over the last few months via social media mostly. I’ve been a pretty busy girl but oh, so happy.

Let me also start by saying I debated writing this particular blog because it is so personal and tells so much about me. But I think to understand why I’m so happy now you have to understand why I was so unhappy with myself before.

Allow me to explain…

I was a really skinny girl when I was younger. I was second tallest in my class in 8th grade with a bird body and knobby knees. I kept that body for a while even through high school. I remember the typical “Oh, I’m so fat!” conversations among friends at the lunch table where they’d grimace at my size 4 jeans.

But just like having good grades to start out with becomes a burden to bear, so did my weight. I developed an eating disorder known as anorexia in high school. I remember this display in the school hall advertising “Eating Disorder Awareness Month” and how I hated even going near it.

I even remember one day getting so upset because of my own self image and then getting into a silly argument with a friend and running out of the classroom to the bathroom and yelling at myself in the mirror.

Fortunately, I think my mom had an idea or at least a notion of what was going on and always made me eat my meals, much to my dismay.

College was a different story though. In college there were days I survived on granola bars and stovetop stuffing (gross, yes, but I didn’t know how to cook and it filled me enough so that I wouldn’t pass out). There were still days that I would be so weak I would almost pass out in the shower.

There were a lot of good days too where it wasn’t constantly on my mind, don’t get me wrong. But Julie as I loathingly called my eating disorder, would always come back to haunt me and remind me why I wasn’t pretty or skinny enough.

I remember when I was in my sorority, one of my sorority sisters who was outspoken about her eating disorder was going to be speaking at an eating disorder awareness event that was to be mandatory. I freaked out. There was no way I could handle standing around listening to someone talk about that kind of stuff without breaking down. Since I knew the campus leader over Greek life had said anyone could email him anytime we had questions, I emailed him in secret to request this event not to be mandatory because it could make people feel uncomfortable.

Much to my dismay, his “open door” policy wasn’t so open. He told our executive board which was angry that I had emailed him. They made the event mandatory anyway and tried to have everyone who didn’t attend stand up and declare why they refused to go. Talk about accepting. I said nothing.

I don’t want you to feel sorry for me. I just want you to understand where I’m coming from. This isn’t easy to tell. If it was, I would have proudly stood up at my sorority meeting. Instead, I hid in fear I’d break down and Julie would get the best of me.

Fast forward a few years later. Slowly I’ve been trying to accept myself and my body image for what it is- normal, healthy, and a little curvy. Deployments, going without someone you love so much for half a year with a Pizza Hut down the street, it’s all torture. It would lead to nights of eating as much pizza as possible and days of hating myself.

Slowly my obsession and fascination with skincare led me to a healthier road.

I attended school to be an esthetician in 2008. The four month, full-time school which allowed me to become a licensed esthetician, or skincare specialist, got me thinking. The director of our school touched briefly on internal health: flax seed, green tea. Just enough to get me doing my own research after graduating.

Because of my skincare obsession, I followed some of Dr. Perricone’s books and in January 2010 I went on a diet inspired by him for a month. For 4 weeks, I ate salmon EVERY day, avoided dairy, and lots of antioxidants like blueberries in my diet. My skin had never been healthier.

As a child I had forgone eating pork for over 10 years because I had always wanted a pet pig. I remember reading an interview by Alicia Silverstone circa Clueless that said that pigs have the intelligence of 3 year old humans. After that I refused pork.

Thinking back on this period in my life and learning what I had from Dr. Perricone, I decided to go pescatarian- basically vegetarian with the exception of fish and seafood.

I was still slowly gaining weight though, especially after deployment, aka the pizza era. I realized I needed to do a little more for myself.

I started running during deployment which really helped to discipline myself, even though I didn’t love it. At least my lab was getting exercise.

January this year is when everything really changed though. January 4th, 2011 I decided to go vegan for a month as a detox diet. Just as I had the year before, I planned on returning to being pescatarian after the month was over.

But something incredible happened. I started to feel good.

It was hard at first. I made mistakes- silly ones like not checking what the ingredients in my vitamins. Not knowing all the names for milk protein (who knew non-dairy creamer still has milk in it?!). Not realizing that gelatin is in EVERYthing that tastes good.

And I missed cheese badly. I always loved cheese. It was a weakness. I once said one of the worst things that could happen to me would be to become lactose intolerant. Which I did years later. I loved cheese but it hated me back.

But after about 4 weeks, 7 excess pounds sliding effortlessly right off me, and the refusal of an variety of dairy delights, I realized something really had changed.

I had truly changed.

I stopped missing dairy. Instead, I remembered how I felt after uncontrollably eating multitudes of pizza by myself. Or that time I ate quite easily a whole pound of cheddar at one of the wives’ houses.

I started to put a lot more thought into my food- I had to, because I had to read every label thoroughly. When you start paying attention to labels- the ingredient label, NOT the calories and the fat part- you stumble across a myriad of ingredients that make you question whether something that sounds like it could fuel airplanes should be going in your body.

Even my taste buds felt like they had changed. I started out being a child who hated vegetables and eating in general and would only order the simplest dish on any menu at a restaurant (usually chicken fingers plain until I discovered honey mustard at age 18- then only chicken fingers and honey mustard). Somehow I transformed into someone who isn’t afraid to try new things. And actually likes them!

Who would have thought I’d be eating shredded beets daily or looking forward to maple roasted squash? Who would have thought I’d love olives? Or tempeh? Or sweet potatoes (one of the best foods in the WORLD)?

I gave up caffeine initially too. It never liked my sensitive stomach anyway. I completely ditched sodas (though I do enjoy the occasion delicious natural soda- so much tastier anyway!) and turned instead to drinking loads and loads of water as I never had before. I found out that headaches and dizziness I frequently experienced since as long as I could remember were due to a constant state of dehydration.

Even my skin, which I had problems with since high school despite my meticulous studies and research, was doing MUCH better if I ate lots of veggies and fruits and drank a ton of water. Who’d have thought I should have tried healing it from the inside out?

I was already listening to books on tape on my work commute so I thought I’d give “healthy” books a shot though I dreaded they’d put me to sleep. They had quite the opposite effect. I started with Kathy Freston’s book Veganist (about shifting toward a vegan diet and all its associated health benefits), which, if I had any doubt about going back to my regular diet, that book (and the ten pounds I lost) convinced me.

I continued with Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma (it should be noted, NOT a book about vegetarianism or veganism but about what goes into our food). I felt like my eyes were being opened to this whole world of information I can’t believe I never knew before. I even convinced my husband to watch “Food Inc.” with me, a documentary based on Omnivore’s Dilemma but with other information too. Nick too began to read Omnivore’s Dilemma on his own.

Fast forward a few months. Somehow I got lucky enough to have my favorite health food store on the island open up a location only 5 miles away from my home.

I was hesitant about even considering leaving my job because the pay was so good and I was frankly scared. But the more I stayed, the more I knew it wasn’t a good fit.

The hour commute into town each way was slowly killing me. The job became less and less of a good fit. I knew a job fair was coming up for the new health food store but I was sure I wouldn’t make it. Besides, would I really leave my job?

The day after my birthday, also the day of the job fair, I had a meeting with my boss that left me in tears. It was then I decided that I couldn’t be in an environment where I felt so disliked and useless- and it took me two hours daily of driving only to be miserable. I knew it was too late for the job fair, but desperate and hopeful at the same time, I contacted the employee who ran their social media account for the store (who I communicated with all the time online) to see if there was a chance anything was still open. She hurriedly asked me to submit my resume!

It couldn’t have been more meant to be. Actively using my esthetician background, I got possibly my dream job. I’m the buyer for the store’s cosmetics, body care, and natural living department. I work with people who understand me and who are nice. I’m learning so much every day about how to live healthy and I’m able to pass on my knowledge to people who want to hear it and are thankful to me for sharing it. It’s pretty much a dream come true. And down the road could lead me to a position as a cosmetics or skincare company representative, maybe even a trainer for the products which is probably one of the most fun jobs I can imagine.

I get to eat healthy every day in an environment where people consider my needs. I had started bringing my own lunch for myself to work meetings where food was provided at my previous job because my dietary concerns were continually dismissed.

Being around health and learning more only makes me happier. I have never had such a positive body image. I no longer obsess over labels nutritional facts- besides, you can usually tell by the packaging if it’s even worth making it to the ingredient label. Julie, for the first time in my life, no longer haunts me. I have even found my activity of choice, yoga, which helps me feel strong, lean, and whole. It clears my mind and betters me in so many ways. I still run now and then but I still know I don’t love it. Hey, at least the beagle doesn’t love it either. :)

If you follow me on social media, there’s a good chance you roll your eyes every time I post an article on a study about health or nutrition. I promise I don’t do it to annoy you. Like someone who has lost over 100 pounds of body weight on shows like the “Biggest Loser,” I feel like I have completely changed my life. Eating healthy and staying truly hydrated has even changed the way my brain works- it literally doesn’t think the same way, especially with my mood rollercoasters that used to trigger Julie.

Surely you can understand this was a pretty personal subject for me to talk about. I’m hoping it just helps you understand where I’m coming from and where I am now. And that’s it’s not a phase. It’s hard to be so excited about living healthy and feeling so much better about myself and not want to share information with others. Besides, you never know what you might trigger in someone just by recommending a great article or book on the topic. Maybe someone else is at the end of their rope of an eating disorder or weight issue. Maybe you just want to gain a healthier body image/body weight and are frustrated where to begin. I don’t know and I never will.

But I’m happy. Really, really happy with who I am and what I look like for the first time in my whole life and it’s due to taking a chance and making healthy decisions for once. I laugh when people say “vegan diet.” I don’t believe in diets. I hate the word “diet” because it indicates obsession over food and looking for the wrong things in foods- not to mention a temporary quick fix which is typically unhealthy (Master Cleanse, anyone?).

Avoiding carbs? Please! I can eat spaghetti every night of the week and not stress about gaining weight now just by ensuring my labels read 100% whole wheat or using brown rice pasta instead of the “whole wheat” claiming pasta I used before which only contained 51% of the real whole wheat stuff.

Low fat? Pfft. Ever heard of healthy fats and omega fatty acids? There’s a whole world of information and misinformation out there.

What it comes down to is this: Make healthy choices. Do your research. Maybe a vegan lifestyle isn’t right for everyone but it doesn’t mean you should meander blindly through life without giving a second thought to what you’re putting into your body. “We are what we eat” is pretty accurate. Food and water are our sustenance, our lifeblood. What we put into (and on) our bodies should be so much more of a decision and so much more thought should go into it than typically does. “Vegan” food or “healthy” food is just real food, typically without the processing. I challenge you to watch “Food Inc.” (available free and streaming on Netflix) and not come out of it questioning what you have grown up learning about the old Food Pyramid. If you really want an eye opening experience, pick up Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma or In Defense of Food (I recommend both, in that order- next on my list is Food Rules by Mr. Pollan). You will certainly never look at corn the same way again. And if you think I’m eating weird food with strange names, I’d be happy to share my recipe for vegan whole wheat blueberry-raspberry pancakes with walnuts and macadamia nuts. Or the string beans and asparagus cooked in a bit of coconut oil with garlic, ginger, and crushed red pepper. Or vegan lilikoi (passion fruit) cupcakes with coconut glaze.

If you made it this far, thanks for hearing my story. Maybe it will have an effect. Maybe it won’t. At least I came clean (pun intended) and hopefully it helps you understand my giddiness to tell you all about this amazing lifestyle change I’ve undergone. Oh, and thanks to my friends who have made sure they’ve had veggies and fruits at events - and even made vegan cupcakes! You guys are awesome. :)


To my mom, thanks for making me eat and for always supporting me (and even trying and loving the Amy's Roasted Veggie Vegan pizza!) and to my husband, I cannot thank you enough for supporting me in everything, and even participating in my journey and being open to learning too. You are the best husband a girl could ask for.

NOTE: Throughout this blog I've linked to various articles that relate to what I'm talking about. Feel free to peruse the links for more info and some pretty darn interesting articles. Also, did you know that the following people are vegan? Bill Clinton, Mike Tyson, Jason Mraz, Ellen Degeneres, Weird Al Yankovic, Shania Twain, Alicia Silverstone, to name a few.

Wow! Do I need to catch up!

I feel like I’ve dropped off the face of the planet for several months. But I’m empowered, and I’m back with a whole new outlook and so many more things to fill you all in on!

But first, I’ve been meaning to write a blog about my Five-0 Experience for a while now.

As some of you know, I got the amazing chance to work as an extra on the set of the Lifetime series Army Wives while we were stationed in Charleston, SC. Army Wives was a dream come true to me. It was a show I already loved- and it became very nearly a part time job to me, which I worked nearly every week.

I was usually either an Army wife or waitress at the Hump Bar, but even got to be a soldier once and participated in a classic 1940’s episode where I wore crazy wigs and lots of red lipstick. I got to meet some of my favorite stars, hear the nitty gritty details of behind-the-set gossip, and made some amazing friends!

I was unfortunately too late arriving in Hawaii to be part of the LOST TV show. That would have simply been an unforgettable experience. But I was just in time to become part of the Hawaii Five-0 family.

Hawaii Five-0 was being remade into a new television series, and I was lucky enough to hear about the casting call early on. My first episode acting as an extra was episode 5. The week after the filming of that episode was the series premiere of the show on CBS. I went with a fellow extra, Sabrina, to the Sunset on the Beach premiere in Waikiki- a screening of the premiere on a blow-up screen on the beach with many of the stars of the show walking a red carpet.

Several more times I was fortunate enough to appear as an extra on the TV show. My favorite scene I was in to date was an amazingly fun episode about a group of college kids who were kidnapped by pirates while on spring break. The casting department contacted me about appearing in the scene and told me, much to my delight, that I could pass as a 21-year-old college student. Woot!

I started off the morning at Tiki’s Grill- one of my favorite restaurants in Waikiki, ironically enough. Tiki’s was disguised as “Storm” nightclub. Along with a bunch of other bikini and swimsuit-clad “college students,” I was given glass after glass of pink-tinted, fruit-filled Sprite or non-alcoholic beer and given the directions to “get crazy.”

Easier said than done at 6am with absolutely no help from the sadly non-alcoholic beverages.

However, the day ended up being a blast, as we all got into character pretending to be heavily intoxicated

I got an amazing (but slightly lonely) spot by myself at the end of the bar, right behind the two main characters Kono (played by Grace Park) and Chin (played by Daniel Dae Kim of LOST fame). I proceeded to spend the next two hours or so not-so-drunkenly dancing to music in my head and pretending to be a Woo girl (How I Met Your Mother, anyone?).

Being the obsessive social media geek that I am, I was of course Tweeting between takes about my experience and about my thrill of standing oh-so-close to my beloved DDK (my petname for Daniel Dae Kim- yes, we’re that cool).

Later that day, while awaiting further instructions for the next scene, I was lounging pool-side at the Aston Waikiki with some other bikini-clad extras. (I know, really tough job, isn’t it?)

From across the pool I noticed DDK checking his phone and looking across the pool in the girl’s and my general direction. Within moments, Daniel Dae Kim/Jin/Chin was walking toward us. Unaware if he was a single guy or not, I thought, “He’s coming after the ladies, of course.” Never once thinking he might be approaching me.

Until he was standing by my chaise lounge hovering almost over me. Oh my!

“Hi,” he began. Talking to me. Holy crap.

“Are you ‘Blonde at the Beach’ on Twitter?” he continued. 

Wait….what? He was referring to my Twitter handle! These words ran through my head several thousands of times for a few seconds before I realized. Duh. I tweeted about DDK. When I said I was behind him in the scene. Also, I was the only blonde there. And also, Wow! He reads his Tweets!

“Yes!” I replied, still stunned.

“I’m Daniel Dae Kim. Nice to meet you,” he said, shaking my hand.

Wow. Just…Wow.

Basically my favorite day on set to date. And that includes the day I got to sprint across a beach in Waikiki several times while dodging (fake) bullets while random streetgoer gentlemen kept trying to take my picture. Okay…nevermind. That was awkard.

Hawaii Five-0 has continued to be a big part of my life and my experience here in Hawaii. My husband and I have become big fans of the show. In addition, I have gotten to meet some awesome people because of the show- both on and off set.

Social media, especially Twitter, is a huge phenomenon in Hawaii. I can’t tell you how many awesome people I have met by this medium. Many because of the show. Every Monday night, Hawaii Five-0, or #H50 as it’s shortened to on Twitter, is a trending topic as social-media-obsessed people like me watch the show and Tweet about it.

Locals point out the many shoot locations I would never be able to guess and we all crack jokes about the lines and take our best guesses at the whodunnits. Going beyond Twitter though, I have actually gotten to meet several of these awesome Tweeters IRL (in real life).

Recently, I attended my first ever Tweet-Up, a get-together for Tweeting Hawaii Five-0 fans at local Big City Diner in Honolulu. (Great blog about the event here! The Five-0 Redux.) It was so awesome to finally put some faces to the Twitter handles! And it’s nice meeting people who know their stuff when it comes to Hawaii. I can put up any random Hawaii question- “Where’s a fun place to go on a Friday night in downtown Honolulu with live music?” –and get a response within seconds from one of these amazing people.

I recently attended the Hawaii Five-0 season finale at Apartment3 in Honolulu. It was great to celebrate such an awesome season of a great show, which really showcases what a gorgeous island on which I’m lucky enough to live.

Whether you watch the show to take a drink every time a character says the word “Haole” or “Did you learn that in Seal school?”; or if you just live vicariously through observing the gorgeous sunsets and lush greenery of Oahu, Hawaii Five-0 is an amazingly fun show to watch and an even more incredible experience with which to be involved.

I know I’m looking forward with much anticipation to Season Two. :)

PS. Check out this amazing Hawaii Five-0 blog called the Five-0 Redux my Twitter friend Wendie writes! This blog post is called "Being Blonde at the Beach" and is actually about me and what it's like to be an extra! Wow, thank you, Wendie!

If you run or enjoy doing various walks and runs like my husband and me, you may be looking for a favorite shirt to wear while participating. I saw this picture on the Naval Academy Alumni magazine recently and fell in love with the shirt in the picture. It's the perfect thing to wear to show your appreciation, running to support all those who serve.

I have lived in Hawaii for exactly one year today.

I've been here long enough to know my way around the island decently, to predict the weather, to understand Pidgin and some of Hawaii's other quirks (see my Hawaii page for more on all of them) and to have my fave beaches picked out.

But every once in a while, I have a blonde moment.

One of the things I love about Hawaii is the fact that people let you over in traffic. You don't have to force your way over. In Maryland, if you put your blinker on, people purposely didn't let you in. Then of course you thank them for ignoring you by blessing them with a sweet little hand gesture. (I don't, of course.) True story.

Here, I've barely seen the bird given. People let people into their lane with no problems and in response, the polite thing to do is a little wave back or, even more commonly seen, the shaka. People will do the famous "Hang Loose" relaxed hand gesture as a thank you by waving it out their side window (which makes me smile every time I see it) or over their shoulder.

After being here for nearly a year, I've attempted pidgin and have even been known to throw the shaka on occasion. However, as I mentioned, everyone has their blonde moments.

A few months ago I was at a sunset premiere on the beach for the premiere of Hawaii Five-0. I had been an extra on the show the week before and had made friends with another extra named Sabrina who came with me to the premiere- a laid back viewing of the show on the beach. We were discussing "haole shakas." She pointed out the group of older white women (obviously tourists- you know the look) who were huddled around the red carpet waving their cheesy shaka signs back and forth every time a news camera pointed their way. "That," Sabrina had said, "is a haole shaka if I've ever seen one."

I had to agree with her. I had never thought about there being a distinction before but could clearly see the difference. Picture if you will, a laid-back surfer throwing the shaka to you. Now picture a 50+ something sunburned blond lady wearing a giant, obnoxious Hawaiian shirt and giddily waving her over-extended shaka back and forth. See the difference?

Only a week or two later, in my early days of tentatively throwing the occasional shaka when people would let me over into their lane in traffic, I made my biggest Hawaii FAIL to date.

After a bright blue Honda Accord let me over into their lane, I raised my hand cockily to throw a shaka as a thank you. When I brought my hand back down I blushed furiously.

I had the right idea...and technically they have very similar meanings....but, no, it just wasn't right...

Yes. Oh, yes. I had managed to give the kind person in the Honda Accord behind me the sign language gesture for "I Love You."

I guess everyone has their FAIL moments.

Happy One Year Anniversary, Hawaii! I moved to Hawaii with Nick on February 4, 2010. Which means next week I will have now lived in Hawaii for a whole year.

So crazy to think about. Not that the time during deployment flew by at all, but definitely the time since Nick has been home has.

The only time I have left Hawaii since moving here has been for a few days to go to California for training for work. I haven't been back to Maryland and have not seen my family and friends for one whole year now.

That must be the reason I have been thinking about them all and missing them so much. I did get to see my sister and niece back in July when they came to visit me, which was amazing. And I have gotten to Skype with my parents, my sister, my niece, and even my grandma over the holidays.

But my heart is aching for my friends back home. Don't get me wrong, I have friends here. But they're not the kind yet that I feel comfortable calling up after a rough day to talk to. Nick is here for that...some of the time. And none of the girls I hang out with live anywhere nearby me. With the island’s traffic, that is a big deal. A girl needs her best friends.

To my two best friends back home, Erin and Rachel. I miss you two SO much.

Erin has been my best friend and partner in crime and sarcasm since junior year of college when I went from commuting to class to moving onto campus and got "stuck" rooming with her. It was a randomized assignment and the first thing I see when I walk into the dorm room is a huge poster of David Duchovny from X-Files and a little David Duchovny action figure perched tauntingly by her computer.

Erin and I hit it off right away, much to her surprise (and a little bit of mine!). She told me story after story of her nightmarish roommates, ones that stalked her, ones that walked in on her without asking, and ones that would just stare at her like they wanted to kill her. Erin and I had the same major, were the same age, and were in very similar dating situations at the time. While I had never seen X-Files before (although Erin got me to watch a few episodes while living with her and they weren’t bad, I must say), we did stay up WAY too late when we had early classes and tell scary stories until we fell asleep.

Erin and I continued to room together until graduation. Afterwards we had our own stuff going on and didn’t see each other much. A few months after graduation we got together for a reunion and decided to go do karaoke at a little bar nearby our college where a friend of mine (Rob!) was DJing. And then we went faithfully every week for 5 months straight.

Erin has and always will be my best friend. I regret that we don’t talk much. She is a busy girl with a full-time job with a hefty commute, a fiancé, and a punk band called Dead End Lane in which she is the amazingly talented lead singer. The time diff doesn’t help either. But despite not getting to talk much I know that if I need her she is always there and vice versa.

I also found Rachel, my other best friend, in a very serendipitous type way. I used to date her brother! While the relationship with her brother clearly did not work out, I was fortunate enough to meet Rachel who is like a kindred soul to me. We got along SO well that her brother started getting jealous of our talking the whole time we were all out! Not too long after meeting Rachel, she invited me to move into her spare bedroom at her place.

Rachel was such an awesome roommate too! We watched the same shows, worked nearby, loved a lot of the same things. It was only a little awkward having pictures of her brother hanging around everywhere…but this is also the same brother that led me to find my husband so it looks like two AWESOME things came out of that!

I guess Nick has to come out as the winner of being my favorite roommate ever. I mean, we do have a blast together. But….my two favorite girl roommates and best friends will always be Erin and Rachel.

So this blog is dedicated to Erin and Rachel. Of course I miss everyone else back home SO much, my mom and my sister especially.

I also really miss my other close friends: Rob, John, EP, James, Cory, Beki, Bernadette, and all my other friends I didn't name on here….you all are the best. I miss you guys a ton. Karaoke again soon please? Guys?