CHRISTOPHER TURNS 29 ON MAUI!

What a better place to spend your 29th birthday than on Maui! I surprised Chris with a weekend stay out at The Westin in Lahaina. We have stayed there previously and loved it, so I knew he was going to have a great time.

We both took Friday off—it was great not having to get up and do anything. I made homemade, breakfast tacos with fresh fruit for him to start the day and then we did a little bit of shopping to start our weekend. We headed towards Lahaina, stopped at Cilantro's—Maui's fresh Mexican food—Chris' favorite— for lunch. Time to check into the hotel!

With a special help from the PR director there, we got a Beach Bell Tower, Deluxe Ocean King room—it was amazing! Spacious room, ocean and Black Rock view for great whale watching from our room, flat-screen TV and the most amazing, comfortable bed you have ever laid on. Seriously, they are known for their beds—you can even purchase them they are that good. We were in heaven.

But the weather was not heaven. The forecast all weekend said it was going to be overcast and rainy. Thanks a lot! But we were determined not to let that get us down. The complimentary (and surprise to Chris) champagne and birthday cake that greeted us at 5 made our rainy day look a little brighter. We got our swimsuits on and went to the hot tub. Yes, it was rainy, but it felt good to be in the hot tub. Happy hour at the lobby bar, then off to Hula Grill for more drinks and dinner. Birthday night numero uno- sucessful!!

Weather the next day was the exact same, crap-tastic weather. Which I of course wasn't excited about because I had surprise, surf lessons set up for Chris and I. We still went, HAD A BLAST! and yes, we both caught some pretty decent ones. We totally rocked it. But honestly, I don't think I could do the whole surfer girl thing because 1- paddling is half of the work and that's way harder than you think 2- those board are heavy! and 3- the waves and having a wipe out freak the sh#^ out of me. I'll take lying on the beach any day and Chris could boogie board all day. Then I also had lunch set up for us at 'Ono Bar and Grill. I had the grilled chicken and mushroom ciabiatta sandwich—the chicken was sliced thin and juicy and the grilled mushroom and aioli sauce brought the entire sandwich together. I am craving it as we speak. Chris, of course, had the fish tacos. Fish was white and flaky and their special sauce hit the spot. It was now some shopping and hot tub time before dinner.

Chris chose to have dinner at Maui Brew Co. Definitely a mans-mans restaurant. Homemade brews, upscale burgers, adult mac and cheese, pizza and more brews. Chris had their jambalaya filled to the bowls brim with juicy shrimp, sausage and chicken mixed with tender rice. I

had the adult mac and cheese (my body craves cardio now!) with sausage, Gouda cheese and mushrooms. We finished dinner off with drinks at LuLu's. Funny story—there was a girl who was celebrating her 21st birthday that night and Chris bought her a shot since they had the same birthday lol! Birthday day/night numero dos—super successful!

You would think the weather would be different the next day? Nope! So, what do you do on Maui when it's raining all weekend?? You go shopping. And boy did we. We went to Whaler's Village Shopping Center and had a blast. Clothes, luggage, cookies, and more clothes. We have a blast s

hopping together and getting each other's opinions on what we choose. We also choose what we think the other would wear. We're right, most of the time! It was just fun to get out of the rain for a little while. We also visited and got our learn on at the Whale Museum.

Now, the sun was finally out! Thanks Sun, for coming out the DAY we check out. We still managed to get a couple of hours and drink time by the pool before we checked out and headed home. But of course, we didn't get enough Vitamin D the whole weekend, so we laid out by our pool and soaked up some more rays. It was great! We didn't want our weekend to be over.

In a nutshell, I think he had a blast and so did I. It was much needed. Though I say that about all the weekends we spend together, it's true. I think it's so important to get away from everything once in a while. Even if you can't afford to take a weekend trip, make it a stay-at-home weekend with your significant other, close friends, family, no computers, phones, and just stay in and watch movies or go outside and spend some time together. We get so wrapped out in everything we do during the week, that sometimes we forget to take the break our mind, body and spirit needs—needs to recuperate from the week, reconnect with ourselves and each other and refresh from the daily stresses.

When was the last time you had a weekend or day that you had time to recuperate, reconnect and refresh? Make it a priority one time, and you'll make sure it's part of your life for the rest of your life.

i love you Chris Skiles and I'm glad I was able to be apart of your 29th birthday and make it so special! Here's to many more together!

Wanna Be Happier??

I read Women's Health monthly and love all the interesting and creative articles. This month an article really stood out to me, and with Valentines Day here, I thought it came at a great time.

My personal life is amazing. But I'm having a hard time in my professional life right now—finding what I'm supposed to be doing, my new path towards nutrition counseling, wondering when I can use my PR skills here— basically trying to find happiness.

This Women's Health article help me to do just that. Titled Be Instantly Happier— it's an article I feel every woman should read.

The United States General Social Survey, a national poll that gauges social trends, women in this country have reported being less happy each year since 1972, and we're currently at an all-time happiness low.

"There are so many opportunities available to women now, but with that comes a lot of pressure to be fully self-actualized- to have the amazing career and family, and the ability to balance it all with ease. So you constantly end up feeling disappointed because you're not as happy or successful as you think you should be," says Ariel Gore, author of Bluebird:Women and the New Psychology of Happiness.

We basically already know how to be happy, we just need to tap into here. Here are a few suggestions.

The Joy of Simple Pleasures

Genuine happiness can be divided into two categories—moment-to-moment happiness (the small spurts of joy you get from every day occurrences like digging into a delicious dessert or receiving a compliment from your boss) and reflective happiness (see second blurb). "Humans are so good at rapidly becoming accustomed to changes, especially positive ones. But because we adapt to them so quickly, the high is short lived.

Small daily pleasures keep us emotionally afloat, balancing out life's low. All we have to do is notice, and appreciate them. Taking the time to stop and focus will help momentary pleasures sink it. Instead of stressing about what you have to do tomorrow, concentrate and the now. "

Couldn't have said it better my self.

Seeing the Big Picture

But savoring those moment-to-moment pleasures is only half of the equation. "Reflective happiness is the deeper satisfaction you feel when you examine your life as a whole and are content with the way it's going." I have been doing a lot of that recently. It's harder to when I see Chris doing something he is great at, and excelling extremely well— even garnering praise for his work. I honestly couldn't be happier for him and he knows that. I want to be making the same contributions to this as well. I think in some ways everyone feels like that too. I hope I am getting somewhere with my nutrition studying and counseling. I feel like I'm going in the direction God wants me to. Only time will tell.

When you consider the bigger picture, it helps you put a more positive spin on everything, including the stuff that is making you unhappy at the moment," says Elizabeth Lomardo, Ph.D. Looking at the big picture means being proud of your accomplishments and feeling as if you're working toward something meaningful. And that is exactly what I'm doing now. My nutrition studying will lead to my certification as a Health and Wellness Nutrition Consultant, which will (hopefully) lead to meeting my potential clients, which will (hopefully) lead to more and eventually I will be doing what I love—helping people find a healthy balance to their work life and eating right. What you pay attention to plays a huge role in how happy you'll be. If we take our "sad and low" points and the I-feel-sorry-for-myself time in our lives and use it as a chance to "reroute to a more direct path to where we want to go." Easier said then done right?

How to Boost Your Bliss

And we can't count out how genetics plays a role in our happiness. Scientist say each of us is born with our own personal happiness set point. This totally hit a spot with me. It can be as simple as on a scale of 1-10 (cheerful most of the time).

Have an attitude of gratitude: Take a few minutes out of your day to think about everything that has happened recently to make you smile and ask 'What am I thankful for?' I am super thankful to have a job right now in this economy and not completely hate it, I am thankful to have a wonderful husband who supports me in all my endeavors, my family who send us unconditional love... yea, if you start thinking in these terms, the little things don't seem too bad.

Banish the Comparisons: It's pretty simple."The irony is that in order to become less competitive (and a lot happier), you need to drop out of the race—meaning you need to start running at your own pace." If we're always comparing ourselves to others then how are we going to have time to be happy for US.

Find Meaning in Your Work: Experts say that whose of us who believe we're doing what we're destine to do feel more immediate and long-term happiness. Even if you're not jazzed about your current job, consider how your actions contribute to the common good.This one is a little harder for me to learn how to do. Because I know I'm not destined to do what I'm doing now (cross my fingers). I love working with kids, but I know what I'm good at— and that's public relations, event planning, marketing, and nutrition. I know God has a plan for me. He is certainly making me be patient, that's for sure. In the mean time, I know I am making a difference in these kids life and their vacation. I will take pleasure in that.

Hang With Happy People: "Happiness can spread from person to person to person in a chain reaction, through social circles. On average, every happy friend you have increases your chance of being happy by 9 percent." This one is an easy concept to grasp. But it's also harder for me to put in to action since we don't have our circle of friends that we had in Houston. Chris and I do a pretty good job feeding off the others energy—whether our happiness is at an 4 or a 10. We balance each other out well. What also works, is that we talk a lot about our friends and what makes us happy here. We don't dwell on the negative (what's the point?). We are living on one of the most beautiful islands in the world, taking full advantage of the opportunities we have that we know people pay thousands of dollars just to come here to do. Happiness is a big part of our relationship keeping us strong and focused on what we want from each other— and out of life.

When was the last time you were truly happy? Are you happy right now? What are you doing to make your happiness at a 10? It doesn't take a lot. Make the most out of your day with a smile on your face.

"Happiness is contagious, don't you want to put yourself in a position to catch it?"

Flyin' Hawaiian Time!

Last weekend we had the awesome opportunity to zip line with Flyin Hawaiian Zipline.

One of Chris' coworkers was shooting the photos for their website— they're just about 1 year old. So he asked if we wanted to be the "visiting white couple." Let's see: we can zip line for free AND get photos.... ummm yes please!

We had previously zip lined the Haleakala tour and honestly were not that impressed. It was our very first time zip lining so we were kind of expecting a lot but were kind of disappointed. We weren't that high, the lines weren't that tall and it wasn't that exciting. I feel bad saying that, but just telling the truth.

So, we were excited to be going to this one— it couldn't be worse than before. We definitely were not disappointed. It is Hawaii's longest and highest zip line.

Located in the West Maui Mountains, your canopy adventure includes 8 ziplines ranging from a 200 ft. warm up to a 3,200 ft. monster! With over 2.03 miles of ziplining excitement and exceptional panoramic views of The Valley Isle (Maui).

Flyin Hawaiian Zipline is dedicated to the enjoyment and preservation of Maui. All participants on tour are leaving a legacy that will grow and thrive long after they leave.

Needless to say we had a blast. The crew was energetic, lively and entertaining while also staying professional with the safety part. What I loved about this, besides the thrilling ziplines, was that the whole group we went with was able to plant a plant ourselves. They are very eco-conscious and wanting to get this certain plant off the endangered species list. By doing that, they are dedicated to learning about them and planting one each time a group goes up there. Pretty amazing.

The views from each different line were spectacular. The West Maui mountains, the oceans and the tropical plantations—we even saw whales out there.

After our thrilling adventures, we went over to Beach Bums "Hawaii's best barbecue" First of all, most places here, boast they are "the best" at whatever they are serving. But with us coming from Texas, you have to serve up something pretty spectacular when it comes to barbecue. Beach Bum's is actually quite good. I had their pulled pork sandwich— moist, tasty and their spicy barbecue sauce was the perfect compliment to it. Chris had their Chili cheese burger— you can't really go wrong with that.

These are two places we highly recommend if you're planning a trip out here :)

Pictures of this weekend to come soon!

National Psoriasis Foundation Mentor

I am excited to announce that I am officially a mentor for the National Psoriasis Foundation. It's mission is to find a cure for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis and eliminate their devastating effects through research, advocacy and education.

My role as a mentor is to provide disease and treatment education to mentees and to encourage and support them through their initial diagnosis, major flares or during a difficult time.

I have to say, I love this opportunity NPF has created. I have had psoriasis going on 10 years and I honestly wish I had these resources: education, event information, treatment availability and other people going through what I was going through. It can be an embarrassing thing to deal with if you don't know what's going on with your body and much less how to explain it to others.

I first became involved with NPF last August when I participated in their National Psoriasis Awareness Challenge— we had challenges every day of the month of August. I learned a lot about myself (I have accepted having psoriasis and want to educate those around me); find a lot more resources I didn't know were out there and now I'm able to help out others.

I am also excited to incorporate my love for nutrition to this aspect of my life. Eating healthy plays a big part in someone living with psoriasis.

I look forward to this next step in my life and I hope that I am able to help others going through the same thing as I am.

To learn more about psoriasis or how to help find a cure, visit the National Psoriasis Foundation

Thanks for reading!