Rebranding, Refocusing, Realigning.

 

Hello! 2020 has brought out allllll the moods and changes, I truly hope that we as a collective are staying healthy, productive and still striving to know better so we can all do better!

This is a picking up where I last left off post, many wonderful chapters have begun amidst the challenges and if I am being taught anything at all (trust there a long list) it is living allllll, I mean ALL of my wildest dreams.

I have recently crossed over to Real Estate and in true Taurus fashion, as the bulls that we are, I am all head and heart into this hustle. I have been managing short term rentals for several years now in addition to my freelance beauty styling career and somewhere in my late 30’s I have now full heartedly decided to open and entertain the realm of endless opportunities with investing, building, developing, designing.

Please follow and support my page on instagram and I will be updating you more platforms I’ll be revolving on.

Aloha and Mahalo as always for your support, AJ

Goddess Medicine & Chill

Week into whatever quarantine month it is, I have been keeping my end of the bargain in tact. Be grateful to start the day then go out there and be great!

Keeping my personal development at top priority, in all ways starting with the physical and it has translated many times over in all the other realms. By no means have I peaked or the end of this journey, but simply celebrating what is and living in the present.

I have much to do but I’m going to take a few hours to legit, quarantine and chill.

I apologize in many weeks and now months in advance if I haven’t returned any correspondences, I have simply been minding my own business and taking some time for me.

The Wild Archetype, AJ

Be your own coach

During this quarantine I have devoted some deep thinking and dove right into my habits and have been constantly rewiring my inner being to arrive at a prime level. Since the shut down, I have been developing and fine tuning my focus and getting to know an activator role as a signature strength.

I googled a quick “how to tap in mentally and flip the switch.”

Here are six ways to maximize your strengths:

1. realize your natural (known) strengths. …
2. identify your hidden strengths. …
3. strengthen your strengths. …
4. manage your weaknesses and limit your learned behaviors. …
5. daily reflection. …
6. beware of overdone strengths.

These may seem like just words on a page however I encourage you to seek and get to know your own signature strengths! There are unlimited sources out there in the inter webs and the two websites I decided to partake in are Clifton Strengths  via the recommendation of a wellness conference I attended last year and Via Institute per the recommendation of my Yale professor.

Anyways, I have been actively pursing a more wholesome and active lifestyle. I’ve kept some vices but I have been stricter about my cheat day and choices. Having limited access to what my norm is totally fine. It’s part of the reboot and restarting process.

The lack of what has been consuming my time, maybe not even of the healthiest of ways has been replaced with the awareness that when one knows better, one does better.

Happy one month of commitment to me, AJ

I am grateful. I am thankful.

This is a mantra that I’ve held close to my being and existence for the past year. This silent and often repeated affirmations has kept me through character building times!

This photo was taken today, as I had a moment, coming full circle in the lessons I have endured and learned these last few years.

Even with the world as at a standstill.

I am exactly where I need to be. Right place, here now, AJ

Quarantine kine tings

3/15/2020

That morning started out on high alert. Our staff was prepped and primed with the unfolding of this novel corona virus. We were told that our store would tentatively open until 8/9pm instead of its usual 11pm.

Hours later, a few minutes short of 6pm, management came on the floor with a very concerned look on their faces and ordered everyone to finish their purchases and head out of the building. No one could answer our questions let alone fill us in what’s going on.

That was the last day I was working, in Waikiki.

Later we heard that we had a possible infected staff with covid 19, but its turns out to be pneumonia. Still. It was enough to prompt a proper and swift shut down.

I stayed another week in Oahu until with the urgent persistent for me to get out there and get situated at my isolated cabin, far far far away from the heightened security and lockdown that will soon take over the island.

3/28/2020

Im listening to the rain pour over here in Puna with chorus of coqui frogs in the near and far distance.

The uncertainty of it all, these current times is mind boggling and I am doing my best to cope. I have taken upon myself to indulge in everything I have not made time for. Something as simple as reading a book that was gifted to me, two years ago by a client, putting my health and fitness forefront and at the end of this ordeal, I’m coming out stronger and focused!

As part of this collective, I am choosing to see the brighter side of this pandemic. I believe that its way for us to really look within ourselves and reset the programming which we have blindly been running on.

Stopping to smell the roses and planting a few more, AJ

Change.org/Freelance Artists

Be the change you want to see in the world

Federal Aid Package Freelance Makeup Artist and Photographers

Across the country, the need for social distancing has impacted many industries. One industry, in particular, stands at high risk for both economic hardship and infection, and that is the community of beauty and photography services.  Bridal Artist, Film, Television, Commercial, and Printwork Makeup Artists and Photographers (specifically both unlicensed and licensed), etc…  This group of workers is across the U.S. but primarily in N.Y. and Los Angeles, two of the hardest-hit cities to date.  Los Angeles and N.Y. have many artists that work in the trade and are finding themselves not included in other protection acts.

Many beauty service workers are self-employed and rely on clients’ appointment fees to pay both business and personal bills. Our families are facing a long list of economic concerns: losing homes, retirements, extreme debt/bankruptcy, inability to provide food for our children and/or pay for much-needed health insurance.  Cancellations, rescheduled appointments, and loss of income during coronavirus outbreak {COVID-19}  are cause for concern to all who work in the beauty business as all income is lost until further notice.

Since we are self-employed we do not have access to paid time off or sick leave and many may be forced to choose between potential bankruptcy or struggling to remain open, which puts the community as a whole at risk for infection. The very nature of our industry is close contact, often in small studio spaces, where despite using our above-average knowledge of sanitation practices, we are exposed to airborne transmission with every possible cough or sneeze from our clientele. Any beauty worker infected with COVID-19 has the ability to transmit the infection quickly to his or her full book of clients on every given day, even before symptoms arise.

The need for an Economic Hardship package is immediate and should include the following;

-Emergency Medicaid Health insurance for those who are uninsured

-$100 billion in government-backed, low-interest loans, to help support the self-employment income that is disappearing

AND

-Equal relief/aid funding of self-employed beauty service workers, as we are not covered under the current proposed relief bills being voted on at the Federal level

We the undersigned plead with our elected officials to hear our warnings and cries for help as we not only see our own economic plight but also the sacrifice of our livelihoods as we struggle to keep our communities healthy.

PLEASE VISIT THE LINK ABOVE OR CHANGE.ORG (SIGN THE PETITION FOR FREELANCE ARTISTS)

ALOHA FOR YOUR SUPPORT ALWAYS, AJ

Vital Proteins-Matcha Collagen

 

 

Hello more natural, health seeking, lifestyle alternatives….it me!!!

After a hectic 2 1/2 months living like a rogue transient, it’s been difficult to stick with a strict and disciplined routine when giving in slightly into the worlds temptations provide just a small comforting token to what is directly presented, so with that said, I fell off the bad bitch wagon, again.

You will get an honest version of me, so this is me trying for the 20850e85048th time to simplify and incorporate everything that uplifts me and makes me happy, period.

 

Antioxidant / Skin / Hair / Nails

Vital Proteins Matcha Collagen is sourced from high-quality Japanese matcha green tea and grass-fed, pasture-raised bovine hide to ensure top quality and maximum nutritional benefit.

• Bioavailable: Collagen is easily digested and absorbed by the body.
• Rich in Antioxidants: Matcha contains 137 times the amount of antioxidants as other green teas.
• Beneficial: Helps to improve hair, skin, nails and joints, ligaments, tendons.
• Easy to Use: No complicated preparation required! Simply dissolve into an 8 oz. glass of cold or hot water.

 

 

A Saturday spent actually low key with my son, handled house cleaning, purging, taking in a much needed nap time and waking up around 5pm got me a hazy funk and not wanting to splurge on my usual, I hunted around for this matcha collagen mixed with caffeine for a more healthier boost.

Having tried this on an empty stomach, right when I first get up…now on my second cup, I can see how this could possibly replace my ridiculous coffee intake and sugar addiction. It’s not my espresso buzz, but it has a good earthy taste and surprisingly high end aftertaste, so much so it’s prompted me to YouTube a few more videos on how to properly make and serve a damn IG and IRL worthy matcha latte.

..and if you know me at all, you know I go all in, A.

#whatsinmyfreelancekit

 

MUA: eye and lip liner organizer

MUA: lipgloss and lipstick organizer

I’ve been giving my freelance kit a little bit of love as of lately and I am looking forward to sharing with you my latest organizing finds! Some may strike you as unique additions to your slay kit and sis, let me tell you it works!

I’ve gone through a series of attempted to organize the chaos that is my work and by far has worked out for me in wonders! I personally have used cups to store my liners (both eyes and lips) and what I found that in the cluster crap that could happen, its hard to keep track and find what I need.

With this laid out, sleek and #allblackeverything compartments, I am able to visually go through what I need and need to replenish. Every liner has a home and I operate via Roy G Biv or color gradient.

Lipsticks, Glosses and other like items are right at home and visually stunning in the next organizer. A lip obsessed ocd’s dream!

Check out the link to my amazon store picks!

 

 

 

 

Valor in the Vortex

Hello again! Forgive the absence you’ve experienced while I was away.

I distinctly remembered that turning point where I had to asses what I was keeping versus what I was surrendering. I had to work on a few projects behinds the scenes per usual and I have come back to resurface as I always do when I find the balance in the pockets of time management or rather the alignment of my needs and wants.

The last few months have been in movement in a faster pace than the last few years and all I could do was hold on tight. The sudden swift shift was everything I was praying for and then some. So thank you universe, every other angel that was on standby to witness the miracle of just being and the growth.

Ehem, enough of this blissful babble and let us get back to our delightful and delicious visual programming.

I hope the the year has been treating you well or mostly importantly, I hope you are treating yourself even better.

To all that there was and currently is.

Unbelievingly Uncomfortable

Even on my worst day is classified by this.

To evolve then become enlightened comes from the space where you least expect.

If you are down to ride out the season, come at me with your best charming character. So we can grow together.

Real time mentorship & membership can be initiated here.

Aloha, AJ