2006 Greetings

My dearest friends and family:

What a roller coaster adventure 2005 has been! I am very excited to have many blessings already scheduled to carry on into 2006!

This year my spirit took flight in song. All Saints Senior Choir traveled to New York City in spring to perform Mozart's Coronation Mass the weekend that Pope John Paul II died. It was so incredibly surreal and special to be on stage at Carnegie Hall, performing the same piece that was sung at the Vatican for high mass with the Pope’s voice on the CD that we listened to for practice. It was beyond words! Please mark your calendars for our Good Friday performance of J.S. Bach's St. John Passion at the 12:30 PM service on April 14th, 2006. It's a lovely free concert at All Saints for Holy Week, last year was standing room only...

New construction at Ground Zero…

With a touching cross monument made from 9/11 wreckage

In front of Carnegie Hall with Michelle and David Park, my high school bud

This year I lifted some weight off my shoulders. After years of heavy long straight hair, I snipped off 14" in May for Locks of Love, which is an organization that makes wigs for children with cancer. It's already growing back quickly, making me wonder if the donation can become an annual event! On my crusade to raise awareness for pediatric oncology, I was very proud to have Fast 4 Kids be a small part of raising over $100,000 throughout the year.

I thank all who volunteered sweat and love, donated silent auction items, showed up at events, and shook your change jars loose for kids with cancer!

For 2006 please join me in supporting Banner Children's Hospital at Banner Desert Medical Center at the 20^th Annual Governors’ Ball on April 1st and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital at all RA Sushi locations nationwide for Nicky's Week in the summer. In addition to 5 Arizona, Chicago, San Diego, and Las Vegas, locations, RA is opening in Glenview IL, North Palm Beach FL, Houston TX, Huntington Beach and Tustin CA. Tell your friends across the country! :)

This year my family tree’s roots dug in deeper. I went to Kauai for the first time ever to celebrate the June birthdays of my nephew Michael and my sister Marilyn, who turned 1 and 21 respectively. The whole Luk family took its first island vacation with the babies!

In November Mom, Dad and I visited Costa Rica for my cousin Marielga's wedding. I connected with many aunts, uncles and cousins that I either hadn't seen since my last trip in 1999 or actually had never met. It was an amazing experience to hear stories about four generations of Chinese ancestry in Central America and to see Puntarenas where my mother was born.

This year I made my house into a home. With my August career change to managing projects for Linda Seeger Interior Design, I finally got motivated to make a number of aesthetic improvements like painting, changing light fixtures, planting greenery, and adding colorful rugs and accessories.

Interior design has been very different from corporate/government technology contracts. I love bringing beauty and comfort into people's living and work spaces!

This year I found that the kryptonite in my pocket was my own ambition. Through coaching at the Business Gym, I started tracking daily promises and commitments made, interruptions, achievements... I then assessed how they aligned with my personal goals. It was a fantastic exercise that showed me in no uncertain terms that I regularly take on a hefty workload, voluntarily compromising my health and well-being. I realized that it's not in my best interest to jump in with "I can do that!" with every breath. I have recently started to make different choices, with my long term resolution set to speak only promises that I can complete with integrity. This means having to be selective and decline some requests, something foreign to me! Please be patient as I find this new equilibrium…

As I look forward to 2006, I wish each of you joy and peace. May your surprises in the New Year bring you delight, happiness, love, and light! I love you! Namaste :)

P.S. You can keep track of me throughout the year by checking out BlueViews, my Friendster blog. If you are on MySpace, you can subscribe there too.