sung hi on abc's LOST!!

Hey all you Lost fans...did you catch Sung Hi on tonight's episode of Lost (2.28.07)? I missed it, but you can watch it on abc.com. She plays a reporter named Trisha Tenaka within the first 10 minutes (a tip she told me in case you don't want to watch the whole episode - haha!). She did an awesome job!! Yeah, Sung Hi, we're all so excited and proud of you! Looking forward to more, more, more!

plain zane to be featured in magazine

Molly Jane Quinn of Las Vegas Home & Design came over today to discuss a profile on Ashley and I in their May/June issue! We are very excited as it will provide great press for our businesses. The shoot will probably take place in our new house at Stone Canyon.

fallon & uncle zosimo

We finally got to see Uncle Zos since he has been working here for the Ultimate Fighter reality show. Of course, we all went to eat Filipino food at Salo Salo...delicious! He asked us if we want to have another child and we said, "Yeah, we'll have one in September 16 this year." It took him a few, but he realized that I meant we are "expecting" one on September 16. Haha!

oscars gone green!

And how perfect Al Gore wins the Oscar for his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth - yeah! Since we invited readers to our blog at Christmas, it was terrific to hear back from many of you after you watched the film. It's uplifting to know that people are displaying more consciousness to the crisis. Oscar kudos to Happy Feet, Jennifer Hudson and finally, Martin Scorsese. The Departed deserved it - amazing plot! I really wanted Leo DiCaprio to win and United 93 to get something. Ellen as host - she can do no wrong.

mom and dad (ayala) philippine trip update

Hi Mom and Dad! I am glad to see you are finding the time to read our updates.

For the readers, my parents are doing well in the PI. In their last e-mail, they spoke of eating with the Alimarios, eating with the Villanuevas, eating with the Velardes, eating with the Ayalas, getting daily massages for $5 and walking on the beach in Laguna. I hope they are walking while they are eating! It sounds like they are having fun and enjoying their travels between Mom's house in Laguna and Dad's house in Pagbilao.

fallon's potty training update

We started Fallon on the potty a year ago. But since we got so busy with life, we gave it up and really, we weren't ready to introduce the public restroom! Throughout the year, she has been able to hold it at night and go potty in the morning. She also got so used to reading books on the potty, that it became like a learning center. But that's about it. We had 1 successful #2 when she saw Papa Ferna do it last November. And that was that. So, we began seriously again this month and she is completely dry every morning and has consistently been dry throughout the day. She looks forward to the "potty dance" afterwards. We are still tackling the feared #2. She usually runs off and hides behind a door or retreats to safe a corner for privacy and does her thing. We will start the flushable "g" diapers tomorrow as a transition to underwear. We know that she gets it. I think I am just getting over my fear of the public restroom inconvenience!

fallon's ever-developing palate = chef?

We figured she has been eating everything we eat, i.e. Indian, Greek, Japanese, Filipino, so we decided to take Fallon to try Spanish Tapas tonight. We ordered seafoods: scallops, octopus, anchovies. Not your typical seafood fare and of course, they were prepared in the most delicious ways possible. We were so surprised that she ate everything we gave her, especially the octopus! I think our favorite was the anchovies! It must have been from all the training from the buffets Papa Ferna (dad) has taken her to and watching him cook! She has also been really into cooking with us - wearing the apron, shaking the salt shaker, stirring, etc. Her favorite chefs on Food TV are Giada DeLaurentiis and Rachel Ray.

another reason to love ikea

As an avid reusable bag user, I was thrilled to see that one of my favorite corporations, IKEA, has finally made the move to CHARGE people for using their disposable plastic bags! Yeah! So, if Costco and Sam's Club excludes bagging, why don't they just do the same at Walmart?? Or I say, "Charge everyone for plastic bags, everywhere!" It has been a regular practice of ours to always bring reusable bags into groceries, malls, etc. and to turn down bags for 1 or 2 items or if it can fit in a purse. I believe charging for plastic bags will change the way people think about plastic bags. As we mentioned before, you can get .05 off each bag you reuse at (most) grocery stores. We love the IKEA blue bags, btw! Read full article here.

Main points on the IKEA article:
- IKEA will charge US customers .05 for disposable plastic shopping bag.
- aims to reduce the est. 100 billion bags thrown away by all US consumers a year.
- IKEA is 1st retailer in the US to undertake such a program.
- Bangladesh outlawed plastic bags after they blocked drains and contributed to flooding and Taiwan uses 80 percent fewer bags after stores began charging for them.
- Bags add unnecessarily to landfills, clog drains and endanger wildlife.
- IKEA provides 70 million free bags to US customers; it expects to cut that by half in the first year.
- The company said it will also cut the price of their reusable blue bags from .99 to .59 to encourage their use. The program will begin on March 15 at the company's 29 US stores and the money from bag sales will go to American Forests, a conservation group.
- IKEA began charging its U.K. customers for plastic bags, reducing consumption by 95 percent!!!!
- The average US family of 4 throws away about 1,500 single-use polyethylene bags, which do not degrade for around 1,000 years. Less than 1% are recycled!

auntie olivia & friends visit

Olivia and her friends came by for a visit and for a break on their "Alias Marathon." Fallon fully entertained them with her antics and stories of how she vomitted on Daddy when she was sick and how she loves to dance to Madonna. Olivia and Ray also gave us a bottle of PAMA, a pomegranate liqueur - did they know that is one of my favorites?! Should I tell her I can't have any until September?!? Thanks, OMR!

happy valentine's day!

We had a quiet day since we were not able to celebrate because of being sick. It was actually more about Fallon and her Valentine's presents. We gave her a big Play-Doh set - which she sat at the table for hours making things! Forget about the candy, the books, and the new red shoes from Auntie. Jon had Fallon's first seashell (she found in San Diego beach in July) made into a necklace with a sapphire put into it! It was so special and sentimental! Our real plans were to check into Wynn, go to dinner and see "Phantom of the Opera," with a sitter for Fallon...postponed for another time!

michael jackson down the street and lebron james - our new neighbor?

Michael Jackson's new house on Tara.

Michael Jackson and family are now residing fulltime in Las Vegas a few blocks from our Maddingley house. We're looking forward to his fresh start in Las Vegas with a new show on the strip to debut this year?

The builders recently informed us that LeBron James is looking in our new neighborhood and is in love with Stone Canyon! I guess it's between this house and a 10,000 sq.ft. palace. Hmmm...if I were 6'8", would 10,000 sq.ft. be good?

fallon's first er visit :(

This past weekend, the three of us were struck with yet another virus! We all woke up with sore throats and colds. Fallon was so ill, she threw up six times - on herself, on jon, on me, in her bed, on the couch and oh - how 'bout the toilet? She wouldn't drink or eat much and when she did, it came up. Of course, it resulted in dehydration. Jon - who was the least miserable of us, took her to Summerlin ER and she had her first IV! Jonathan said she was really good when they put the IV in and was more excited to be watching the Disney Channel at 1 am. They finally came home at 4am and they passed out. It turned out to be a mild viral/bronchial infection that did not require hospitalization! Whew! I was a wreck, but so thankful it was not pneumonia or rotavirus!

wonder twins deactivate!

Our playgroup got cancelled today, so we joined Ashley's group with Izzy, Chase, Vera and Paris. They made Valentine's cards and ate tons of sweets. Fallon also got a big, wet lick from Oscar which ended up swelling her eye later (Ayala allergies)! Off to the playground where Fallon and Izzy were all over the place and loving the swings. It's so great to see everyone playing so well together! Part 2: The Twins: We then ended up dropping by to play with the cutest twins ever, Miles and Cole. It was rambunctious as usual, but then there was some sibling rivalry. We got to witness their timeouts for peeing in each others drinks - gross! Never a dull moment with those wonder twins! Since Fallon is in potty training mode, I think it may have confused her for just a moment, but then she angrily yelled at them, "You pee pee in the potty!" Word to the potty police.

we walk stone canyon today!

We had our walk through at the Stone Canyon house today. It took almost 4 hours! We found some major mistakes, but most importantly, they are fixable. We weren't too happy that they had to redo the concrete floors. The look came out less polished than the original floor. The process caused grinding and dust - which means a total mess on the wood floors and new carpeting in the bedrooms! We were also very unhappy about the workers coming in and out of the house with no booties while we stood there with ours on! How rude! Everything looks amazing, especially the Caesarstone countertops - which they gave us a hard time about. I had mentioned to them earlier that the reason we chose it is because it is a more eco-friendly product requiring less maintenance. What do we later learn that they are using in their new project...Caesarstone! We met some new neighbors and were thrilled to find that we have "green" neighbors next door and a great group of 30-something professionals across the board.

panda's time out

Panda (the shih tzu, aka our first born) chewed up one of Fallon's toys. I was so angry with her, so I scolded her and sent her to her cage. "Panda, you get a time out! Bad girl!" We really haven't put Fallon in a time out yet, but she watched intently and looked at me with a serious glare. So, I bent down and explained to Fallon, "Panda is a bad girl. Do you know why? Because she chewed your toy. So she has to have a time out." Then Fallon bends down and moves in closer to my face and says, "I understand." !?! Wait a minute...that was too easy.

#1: I didn't know she knows the concept of the word understand and #2: What are you, 6??!!

plain zane's fantastic year!

The launch of Plain Zane was one year ago. We have made up our startup costs and we look forward to bigger and better! The foundation of Plain Zane was built on the support and encouragement of friends and family. With shows and representation in: Las Vegas, Connecticut/NY/NJ, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Utah, Chicago, Arizona and LA, I want express my gratitude and acknowledge those who have helped tremendously last year. This also includes those who came to our shows, all our enthusiastic customers, all the loyal, repeat customers, all those who continue to pass on the word, the retailers and especially the following people:

Jonathan Gregson, Ashley Gunson, Yolanda & Fernando Ayala, Jennifer Ayala, Fran Ayala, Armando Llenado, Judi Nielson, Deanna Sasser, Angela Sasser, Audra Davis, Darleen Meier, Heidi Archlan, Rita Ferrera, Sheila Milic, Melissa Fojas Adaya, Tara Staughton, Bill & Rebecca Nassikas, Niki Peckham, Sonny Ahjua, Mindy Elizaga, Debi Gregson, Libby Rademacher, Kristen Nies, Calla Korts, Harmony Susalla.