10 Fun Facts About Me

Happy New Year!! I have lots of fun things planned for 2022 in my little world of painting and drawing, and I cannot wait to see how they evolve in the coming months.

My oldest son is 12 and he has aspirations to be a YouTube content creator someday… like many kids his age. He occasionally watches videos that give advice on social media marketing and asked me if I’d ever written a “Fun Facts” post. I haven’t, but figured I’d start the new year with a blog post and see how many I could come up with.

So here goes…

1. My son and I both tested for a Kukkiwon 1st degree black belt in taekwondo in October of 2021 and we both PASSED! It was really, really hard; both physically and mentally, but I’m so proud of both of us. I wrote much longer posts about my taekwondo journey and the test itself that you can read if you’re interested. We’ll get our black belts and certificates some time in early 2022 since they come from Korea.

2. I never developed a taste for coffee; not even coffee ice cream, and it took me until my 40s before I could enjoy a Frappuccino without cringing at the coffee flavor that most don’t even notice. I do enjoy a Frappuccino now and then and actually like the tiny coffee flavor now, so I wonder if I will eventually like coffee?

3. I hate roller coasters. They are not fun or exhilarating for me and I hate the feeling of falling or being dizzy. I will never skydive or bungee jump willingly. I even get a little anxiety when I fly if there’s any turbulence, but I love to travel, so I don’t let it stop me from exploring when I can.

4. I took the class to become a soccer referee when I was 15 in an effort to earn a little money and maybe give me an edge as a player. I ended up being pretty good at it and the year I turned 17, I earned the title of Region IV Youth Referee of the Year; one of the top 4 female referees in the US under age 24. I got to travel to some big tournaments as a result; including the US Youth Soccer National Championships as a guest. I got to referee games with FIFA referees Brian Hall and Kari Seitz. Two years later, my brother earned the same honor and went a step further being chosen as National Youth Referee of the Year.

5. I spent 30+ years hating avocados; gross texture and flavor. It wasn't until I was pregnant with my youngest in 2014 that I started to like them and now I love them. Weird!

Goofy camp counselors. Made some amazing friends.

6. When I was 18, I had a job at a Girl Scout camp where I lived there all summer curating the arts & crafts program. My camp name was Batty; named after the cartoon bat from the movie Fern Gully. I have no recollection why I chose that name. I do remembering thinking bats were cool (still do) and maybe I couldn’t think of any other camp name, so it stuck. I had so much fun at that job that I dream of getting to do it again someday.... even though I would be 15-25 years older than ALL of the other staff members and the pay is pretty terrible. I even remember the words to most of the Girl Scout songs I learned growing up.

7. My maiden name is Tebow and my family is supposedly, distantly, related to the NFL player with the same last name. Not sure how we’re related, but his fame helped the rest of the country learn how to say Tebow correctly.

8. My husband and I dated for almost 10 years before we got married and it was mostly due to economics. When we both were in college, rent was already getting crazy in the San Francisco Bay Area, so we both stayed living at home well into our 20s. Neither of us wanted to spend a bunch on rent and have it keep us from being able to buy a house. Also, in 2001 we had 6 weddings to either attend or be part of, so we were OVER weddings for a long time. We finally got married in the fall of 2007.

Selfie in Lake Tahoe BEFORE there was even a word for a selfie… with a regular camera too!!

9. I am mostly left-handed, but ambidextrous with my feet; which comes in handy when playing soccer and in martial arts. I write, draw, paint, and eat with my left hand, but I brush my teeth and use scissors with only my right hand. I use tools like a screwdriver or hammer with both hands. I have never met anyone who has similar ambidextrous quirks.

10. I am a recipient of the Girl Scout Gold Award; the highest award someone can get in Girl Scouting as a youth. It’s the equivalent of the Eagle in Boy Scouting. My Gold Award Project involved painting a few murals in the hallways of my high school and polling the student body on whether they thought it could prevent vandalism and graffiti. I am also a Lifetime Member. These photos here show two of the first small wall paintings I did in the hallways of my high school. On the left I painted my friend Jamila and just across that hallway, she painted me. Then I did a version of Picasso’s Three Musicians. For my Gold Award Project I painted a really large piece of masonite (maybe 4x6 feet? I can’t remember) that ended up being hung in the main office. It had an earth in the middle and a bunch of faces of teenagers of different ethnicities around it. I'm kinda bummed I don’t have a photo of it finished… but also not that sad, because I’ve always been a better landscape painter, ha!

If you know me, were any of these new info to you??

Black Belt Testing - What the Heck am I Doing?!

It’s the end of September. In a little more than one week, I’ll be testing for a Kukkiwon black belt in taekwondo. To say I’m apprehensive is an understatement.

Like seriously, how did I get here?!

I am fully aware that every martial arts studio and program has its own testing methods; no two are alike. Even within taekwondo studios, every studio does its belt ranking differently.

My oldest son, T started taekwondo when he was three. He has always been naturally agile when it comes to physical activity, so he took to taekwondo quickly. The discipline has been great for his ADHD brain and he competed in his first sparring tournament when he was six. He’s been training for eight years and he will be testing for his black belt with me next week.

His instructor, Master Amely, goaded me into attending a “Mom’s Class” one morning when T was almost four. She assured me that I would have fun and I really did. The class kicked my butt and I was unbelievably sore for days afterward. A week later, when it was time to go to the next class, I found out I was pregnant with my youngest son after more than two years of unexplained infertility. I was already feeling fatigue and I didn’t have it in me to attend another class. Master Amely seemed to understand and didn’t push. She also seemed to think she cured my infertility. Maybe??

My youngest son, M started attending classes at 22 months old. His first word was “ay-ya!” and he competed in his first sparring tournament when he was only four. Now, at age seven he takes it very seriously and joined the Extreme Team this year where he gets to learn extra tricking, board breaking, tumbling, and performs choreographed routines at belt graduations and events.

M was four years old before I had the courage and could scrape together enough confidence to attend a taekwondo class again. I was approaching my 40th birthday and struggling with serious body-image issues. Around the time M turned two, I gained about forty pounds and I still don’t know why. I’m fairly certain hormones are to blame, but it was tremendously frustrating to get used to my body at 2-3 sizes bigger than what has always been normal for me. Even after three years of taekwondo training, I am still working on getting used to it.

I’ve watched bits and pieces of the black belt test in years past. It’s two days long. It looks exhausting both physically and mentally. I’ve seen candidates fail who were younger and more fit than me. There are physical challenges that I know will push me past the boundaries of my abilities. There’s a grueling physical fitness test, a written test, a Poomsae test, a sparring test, self defense (5 vs 1), a 5k run, and we have to create and execute a board breaking routine. We have to assist in teaching classes for 80 hours and do 20 hours of community service. We have to get letters of recommendation from teachers and parents (for those under 18). We have to write eight different essays beforehand and we have to create a 1-minute video with photos and voiceover talking about our black belt journey.

There’s a reason they only have black belt testing once or twice a year.

My body is so tired and my brain is fried. My left hip and IT band are giving me issues and there’s a spot behind my right knee that aches. I have almost-constant foot pain and my neck and shoulders are screaming to take a break from holding up my boobs. To be honest, I have had more and more thoughts about quitting this week than ever.

But this close and I know I can’t quit. I need to do this both for my kids and for myself. I need to be able to show them how practice, patience, and hard work can pay off and that even at my age, I can do things that are both physically and mentally challenging. 

I stuck with taekwondo because I loved the workouts. I never had any intention of belt testing or even considering a black belt. I finally did my first color belt test just to show my kids that I could.

As I earned higher belts and the curriculum got more challenging, I realized that I needed to do this for myself as well. Making my family and friends proud is one thing, but I need to be proud of myself. I have never set a goal quite like this before. I spent most of my 30s caring for my kids and never really making time to take care of myself; both mentally and physically.  A large part of me is hoping that reaching this massive goal will help boost my confidence and body image. I have struggled with accepting my body since pregnancies resulted in drastic changes. Perhaps this accomplishment can help me love and accept the body I am in. If anything, I will be proud of all of my hard work and how it all has paid off.

Printable Calendars on Etsy

I have had these printable wall calendars in my Etsy shop for more than a few years. I just added a handful of new ones and I wanted to share. Here’s a link to my Etsy shop.

These are a fairly simple and really useful concept:

• Print the calendar page at a local print shop at 16x20 inches (Office Depot, Staples, etc. You can order online or take the file to a store on a flash drive. Some will accept files via email.)

• Insert it into a 16x20 inch ready-made picture frame and the glass becomes your dry erase board.

• Write in the month, days, and your family’s activities and appointments for the month.

• If you have the wall space and need to have two (ore more) months up at a time, print as many as you need.

I have two 11x14 inch calendar frames hanging on the wall in my office and they’re really handy for me to see what the coming weeks have in store for us. 11x14 is all I have wall space for right now, but I am hoping to be able to go up to 16x20 in my next home office. Fingers crossed!

Pro Tip: Use Command Strips to hang these on the wall (yep, that’s an affiliate link). They make pulling these frames down to write on easier to do each month and no holes in the wall. It’s easier for me to write on these when I can put them on a table and Command Strips totally make that easier.

I also keep track using the calendar on my phone, but I’m a very visual person, so having months visible on the wall makes it easier for me. It also makes it easy for my husband and my kids to see what family or school events and appointments are coming up.

These DIY calendars are very simple with a space at the top to add in the month and information in all of the date squares. Ultra-fine tip dry erase markers work the best, but regular fine-tip pens will work as well.

I can customize the name at the top to say pretty much anything; whether it’s just your family name or something different like “The Hollises Craziness,” “The Murray Clan,” or “The Gonzalez House.” I have even made one that says “Girl’s Office” or even a company name. Other fun ones to consider, if it works for your family: brood, flock, clan, dynasty, and progeny. Since my married name is Wong, my husband and I would totally go punny and say “The Wong House.”

If you would like to skip the fun, family name at the top, you can always opt for just a few lines and space to write any notes at the top like the ones on my wall.

Clicking on any of these images will take you to its listing on Etsy.

If you’re interested in customizing a wall calendar with different fonts, adding colors, or going with a different size, shoot me an email and we can talk details.

Thankfulness and Quarantine

We hit the 6 week mark since our schools closed and they will remain closed through the rest of the school year. This makes me sad because my boys have really awesome teachers this year and this was the first school year where I was actually able to volunteer more in their classes. But I understand and I’m not complaining, just sad. I can only hope that the hot summer climate and folks continuing to maintain social distance will allow us to go back to school in August and not have to start a new school year virtually.

I know that we are tremendously lucky in that my husband still has a job and I am able to continue to do freelance work from home. I’m grateful that I am able to be home to help my kids figure out online schooling and that I never got rid of my old MacBookPro, so both of my kids can have their own designated school space. I’m grateful for Google Classroom and for our amazing teachers and how they have moved curriculum online almost seamlessly.

I’m thankful that I don’t typically struggle with anxiety when the world isn’t dealing with a pandemic, but I have am definitely having my moments with what’s going on in the world. I have a harder time falling asleep at night and when I do, I dream of things happening to me and my family that I cannot control. I dream of swimming in a lake only to have it suddenly turn into an ocean and waves are coming over my head. I dream of hiking in the mountains and rocks are falling from above us or winds are threatening to blow my kids off the trails. Why is it that in my dreams, it’s Mother Nature who’s out to get us??

Local fishing pond. It hasn’t yet been stocked this spring, so it’s been nearly empty!

We are chugging along, figuring out a new sense of normalcy in this utterly unique time we’re experiencing. Yes, there have been pandemics in the past, but this is the first in this day of instant access to news and social media. I think sometimes it’s a tremendous help. Other times it’s a hinderance. I have had to make a point to stay off of Facebook more than a few days these past weeks just to give my mind and stress levels time to settle.

Here are a few more things I’m thankful for:

· Bicycles - My 6yo got a mountain bike for his birthday so now we can do bikes rides together. We’ve been exploring paved bike paths and trails and getting some exercise that doesn’t involve whining from my kids.

· Watercolors - I’m not sure why, but I’ve been so much more inspired to paint these last couple of months. And thanks to technology, a clip to hold my iPhone, and my son’s encouragement to create a YouTube channel, I have done a couple of time lapse videos of new paintings. I have more in the works (in my head), so stay tuned! I want to make a bunch of picturesque spots on Utah’s BLM and public lands, so that’s been my current research.

· Virtual Taekwondo Classes - We’ve been a taekwondo family for years. My oldest started when he was three (he’s now ten) and my youngest started just a couple months shy of his 2nd birthday. Then I started taking adult classes about two years ago. Martial arts have been amazing for my kids when it comes to agility, focus, and discipline, but for me, it’s the longest-running workout program I’ve ever done since adulthood. Our studio has almost-seamlessly moved all of our classes to Zoom. They’re adapting and changing the curriculum to work with the tools and space that we all have at home and it’s been so nice to be able to keep that evening routine in our family. Between my boys and me, we’re doing 4-5 classes each week. They keep my stress and anxiety manageable and are a welcome bit of near-normalcy.

· Virtual Yoga - My gym closed in mid March where I happily enjoyed spin classes, yoga, and lap swimming. I really miss the swimming and spin, but they’ve created yoga classes I can do at home, any time I want. I’m so, so thankful for them.

· FaceTime, Zoom, and Google Hangout - We sang happy birthday to my niece via Zoom when she turned three and we couldn’t be there for a birthday party. We received multiple videos from family and friends when my youngest celebrated his 6th birthday at home. My oldest read a book to his cousins via FaceTime (and will do it again). My kids chat with friends on Google Hangout or Zoom while they build things in Minecraft together. My husband did a Zoom call with our cousins to share how we make mac n cheese. We regularly FaceTime with my sister, brothers, or my parents and eat dinner together. We chat with cousins who live in other states and countries and this pandemic has brought us closer. My kids’ teachers are using Google Hangout to teach lessons, administer tests (my 6yo went up a reading level, yesss!), and spend time with their students.

· Outdoor Spaces - Since the stay-at-home recommendations came from our governor, all city parks, splash pads, skate parks, and bike parks have closed. There is even caution tape wrapped around pavilions that shade picnic tables. We aren’t technically banned from leaving our neighborhood to explore outside, we’re just advised to maintain social distancing. So a couple of times each week we head out to find some wilderness to play in. We’ve driven past quite a few trailheads and parks to see nearly-full parking lots and just kept on driving. Sometimes we end up at our local fishing pond, where we’ve barely seen anyone there, or we drive an hour or more to a more remote spot to enjoy a picnic lunch, some hammock snuggles, and maybe some fishing if there’s a pond or stream. Even some sand to dig in or trees to climb can be enough to keep my boys happy. In these unique times I am SO thankful for where I live.

· My Mother in Law - My MIL was visiting us from California when shit got serious there and shelter-in-place orders were put in place throughout most of the state. She tried to fly home early on and missed her flight. Since then, we just convinced her to stay here. Our house is small (feeling smaller than ever right now), but she has her own bedroom and bathroom. Best of all, she’s cooking up a storm for us and making both my life and my husband’s life easier because of it. She’s enjoying trying new recipes and experimenting with new methods. Knowing that she’s taking care of dinner helps me not stress about having enough time to get my own work done AND be there to help my kids with virtual school. Her presence also lets me leave the house while my husband is at work and take a little alone time when I need it.

· Hammocks - Just because.

What are you thankful for during this tough time? Any positive things coming from it?

Laura's Holiday Card - 2019

Laura’s awesome holiday cards are always creative and they never disappoint; and this year was no exception. I also need to give her family credit for being so enthusiastic about these fun holiday cards.

She took photos of everyone in the family separately and I pieced them together in Photoshop. I LOVE how it turned out. The comic book theme with the text totally meshed with the silliness of the photo.

And how about a zoom in on those joyriding kids, freaked out parents, and a terrified pug!

Thanks so much Laura and a very Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Click here to see all of the fun holiday cards I’ve done for Laura and her family.