21st Annual Productivity and Quality Awards

Today was the PQ Awards celebration luncheon held at the Grand Hall of the Dorthy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Last month the County of Los Angeles Board of supervisors interviewed our Heart Gallery as a potential top three contender of 81 PQA entries. (We had made it to the top 10 at that point) Here's a brief explanation of the awards as written by CEO William T Fujioka

Each award-winning project represents the finest innovation in County public service. Greater productivity, cost savings, and collaborative partnerships are valuable outcomes of these first class enterprises. These projects align closely to one or more county strategic goals, report significant cost benefits, and show quality improvement. The Awards event celebrates the outstanding projects created by dedicated employees who continue to enrich lives for the people of the County.

While the luncheon was for employees of the county I was very honored to be invited by the commissioners themselves to be a guest at the event and participate in being awarded alongside the DCFS directors Stephanie & Sari. We had an amazing lunch and the presentation of awards was creatively done incorporating Star wars-esk type media videos of the winners programs. While we didn't win the top three awards we were very honored to be recognized as a top 10 program in our county. Chuck Henry, news anchor for KNBC4 was the Master of Ceremonies and I met several key people from our community ranging from the Board of Supervisors to Sheriff Lee Bacca.

Real Fusion

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by the host of Real Fusion, Devin Delozier and that interview aired yesterday Oct. 17. If you have a chance, check it out at Real Fusion and go to show archive for Oct. 17 if it doesn't come up on the main page.

Working the Runway

This morning I modeled in a fashion show fundraiser for the Long Beach Center Guild of Ability First. Ability First provides programs and services to help children & adults with physical and developmental disabilities realize their full potential throughout their lives. I modeled clothes from local boutiques and was the "grand finale" with my crown and gown at the end of the show. It was so cute to hear the women literally "gasp" when I came out...that crown is a show stopper and they weren't expecting it :-)

A Rainy Day

“May you always have walls for the winds, a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire, laughter to cheer you, those you love near you and all your heart might desire.” - Irish blessing.

It's rainy days like this when I'm snuggled up at home (and not running around b/c it's yet another sunshiny day in So. Cal.) that I'm reminded of how blessed I am with family and friends and a lovely home to share with my husband. Life is good!

My hardworking man...

Greg's on to another house project...installing a sprinkler system & walkway in our front yard. He's already removed all the grass and is now leveling out the yard, hauling away all the extra dirt and roots to prep for installing the sprinkler system. Even though it's in the middle of Oct. its ridiculously hot so I put my gardening hat on him to shade his eyes...he's too cute for actually continuing to wear it! (and probably doesn't appreciate that I've posted pics for all to see :-) I just had to brag a little because I'm so proud of him and all he does to make our house a home that we both enjoy.

Baby Bekah - One month old

Greg and I babysat little Rebekah today...Kumba had to take her three year old to emergency and at a different hospital Rebekah was being discharged, apparently she had an infection that kept here there for several days. So Greg and I headed to the hospital to pick her up and spend the day with her while Kumba attended to Ruthie. I didn't realize how much babies this young sleep! That was the theme of the day, sleep, eat, and changing of the diaper. We brought her to church last night and everyone had too much fun taking turns holding her. Jason & Traci came over last night to help out and come with us to take her back home - thanks guys for always helping us out when we're on baby patrol.

Encouragement from those who have gone before

JR Mahon was a guest speaker at Halogen last Sunday evening and challenged us to get out of our comfort zones and love people, all people. How easy it is for us to walk down the street and easily overlook the homeless or those that don't fit into our neatly scheduled lives. If we say we are who we are then we need to invest in loving people, investing in relationships. JR invested in reaching out to foster children and last year he and his wife adopted a sibling set of three. After the service Greg and I had JR, Devin (host of real fusion & one of our pastors), Andy (producer of real fusion), John (Adoption Advocate) and a handful of others over to our house to talk about how we are going to challenge the American church to do more for the orphans. After all, it is a biblical mandate to the church to do such - calling it the only "pure religion", to take care of the orphan and widow. It was a blessing to be encouraged by JR and John and his wife Terry - who adopted 5 foster children- as Greg and I are going through the very process they went through.

Sunday afternoon with friends...

I love a leisurely Sunday afternoon with no running around and the time to sit and relax with good friends. Greg BBQ'd burgers and the boys watched Sun. afternoon football while we girls went to the spa for hair cuts and pedicures...what better of a way to spend an afternoon.

A song for all moms...

I had to laugh at this all to true tribute to what a mom says in a day... perhaps I should simply memorize this song so I get it all down in under three minutes, it could come in very handy :-) Some people are too creative!

Official Pictures updated on the Int'l Website

So many of you have been asking to see my pictures and I'm happy to announce they are up and running on the Mrs. International website. I haven't received/seen any "hard copy" pictures of the shoot but I was pretty excited to see these. Clay did an amazing job on the makeup and hair and needless to say he is a talented photographer. Obviously, you can see how fun the wardrobe was...thank you to Joey!

Puttin' on the Ritz

Yesterday I celebrated my 33rd birthday...it's crazy to think I'm in my thirties let alone working on my third year :-) I have to admit it though, I am enjoying this stage of my life or maybe I'm just in denial and trying to convince myself - he he... Greg and I ate a three course lunch at the Ritz. Amazing! Complete with Souffle' for dessert. Later in the day Greg finished an outdoor planter garden that I've been wanting to get working on, so that was a special treat! Here's to you mom... because really you are the one who should be celebrated on this day for what you had to go through to bring me into the world. I love you!