Since I turned 19, my birthday parties are now infamous amongst my friends and family. For three consecutive years now "Alana's Birthday" is one of the parties of the year and everyone we know shows up. It really is such a blessing to have so many friends show up and want to spend their time hanging with me and celebrating at my house. 
I've made so many fun and precious memories at my house parties and I think a lot of their 'success' can be attributed to this list of tips and tricks!

1. Invite good people. Make sure everyone that's invited will be able to vibe with each other without any drama. Also- only invite the people you actually want to be there. It is your day after all!
2. Have lots of cheap and easy food. My party favorites: nachos, pizza, chips. Can't go wrong! And if you run low, people will usually ask what they can bring. 
3. Ask people to bring their own drinks. One thing that I've found EXTREMELY helpful in party costs, is that I'll provide the food if my friends provide the drinks. Obviously, people at parties tend to drink a lot so not having to worry about that cost saves a lot of money.
4. Have designated throw up places. This might seem silly, but since people bring their own drinks, some of them will drink way too much. Of course everyone should know where the bathroom is, but people don't always make it that far. Save yourself some trouble and place some buckets outside or in the corner of rooms. Throw up in the bucket, dump and wash it out, and you won't have to worry about scrubbing the floor in the middle of the party!
5. Pick a theme. My 19th birthday was just a normal dance party, 20th was Mexican, and 21st was inspired by our Mardi Gras trip to New Orleans.
6. Decorations and Photo Walls. People really do appreciate the details and a lot of the time they can elevate the mood of the party to the next level.The decorations and photo walls encourage people to document the night, which makes for a great scrapbook and watching tons of Snapchat and Instagram stories later on.  For 19 we had disco lights and loud speakers; there wasn't enough space for a photo wall, but we still had a great time. 20 was a very basic background with a few streamers and a happy birthday banner, but our food table decorations were off the charts. And for my 21st, I made the best photo wall I could've made, threw our authentic Mardi Gras beads that we saved from our trip all over the house, and had balloons and masks to top it all off. 
7. Outfit Change. It's also become tradition that every year I go through at least two outfit changes throughout the party- it wasn't intentional at first, but now it's basically expected that I do it. 
8. Music. Make sure your music controls the mood of the party, if it starts getting to rowdy, gradually bring the pace of the music down. Go from ratchet songs, to throwbacks, to oldies. Works every time.
9. Make room for the drunks. Unless you know that your friends haven't had anything to drink or you watch them get a Lyft or Uber, make sure you plan to have some people spending the night. Designate a bowl for keys, pull out the extra pillows and blankets, and offer your friends a safe place to stay for the night. Don't drink and drive and always remember that safety has to come first. You don't want your party to be remembered as the last place somebody was alive. 

Not to end on such a dark note, but these are the keys to having a safe, memorable, and absolutely EPIC party that your friends will remember for years to come. We've had so much fun that there are times we've forgotten to pull out the cake until the party was almost over. We've had our fair shares of throw up mishaps, but overall, I can honestly say that everyone has felt safe, happy, and comfortable at my parties. Hearing how much fun they had and seeing everyone enjoy themselves makes me fall in love with entertaining and I look forward to my birthday every year just so I can have these epic house parties. And if you're anything like me, you can celebrate your birthday all month long- dinners, going out, travelling to a new destination! But at the end of the day , nothing warms your heart like a good old fashioned house rager.

Sincerely, 
Alana

Throughout my journey with the Pacific Islander Festival Association and being an ambassador for them and the Pacific Islander community, I've learned more about myself and how many opportunities there are out there. 

For many people, creating your own company, business, brand, or identity is something that seems like a far-fetched dream, but in all actuality it's something that anyone and everyone can do. I think the hardest part is finding what it is that you want to do. 

The first step is to find something that you're passionate about. If you're like me, it's more difficult to do if you have many interests and passions, but it doesn't hurt to experiment with all of them. Take for example this website. It's a true reflection of the many passions that I have and am trying to build on. My involvement in the Pacific Islander community and interest in sociology and anthropology has led to my creation of the Sincerely, Alana videos to help spark awareness about social issues and confidence in individuals. But there's also other areas of this site that is dedicated to travelling and makeup- two things that I'm taking steps to grow a business out of. These are things that many people choose to do, so it might not be considered the most original.

The next steps are taking action. Don't be scared to ask for help to accomplish your goals. Make a list of things you need to do to grow your business and start crossing things off one by one. Always look for someone who has gone through similar obstacles, has built their own business/ brand, and who has had experience in the specific industry. It seems like there's a thousand steps out there, but do your research and start getting those steps done one by one, and the tasks will become easier over time.

In all situations, what will set you apart from others is your drive and commitment to doing something that you love to do. Don't be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone or take risks; don't compare yourself to other similar brands. By focusing too much on other brands, you start to lose your individuality and take on elements that become "basic". At the end of the day, your brand is going to grow based off of your dedication, love, uniqueness, hard work, blood, sweat, and tears. It's something that will take a lot of time and patience (which is a virtue that I personally struggle a lot with) but in the end will pay off. 

 Something that many people have told me that they struggle with is handling money, which just so happens to be something that I'm fairly good at. So for this week's blog, I'm going to share some tips and methods to saving money and making sure you are able to pay your bills, save for the future, and have a money left over for fun activities or a rainy day.

1. Open Multiple Savings Accounts
The main two savings accounts that I recommend for anyone is a general savings (for emergency money or to save for a general goal) and a trip/ rainy day savings (for travelling, attending concerts, other fun events, and to reward yourself when you're in need of a fun reminder). 
Personally I have three savings- general, trip, and college. If you're in college, I 100% recommend having an account, especially if you have student loans. Even if you add just a little amount every week, it will add up and help pay those loans back.
You can also make an account for anything that you feel you need. And if it's a smaller goal that you don't think deems necessary to open up an actual account, then keep a box or jar in your room. The key to this is depositing money in the same way that you would an account.

2. Open Retirement Accounts
Many jobs offer 401K's for their employers. This takes a small amount out of each paycheck and saves it into an account for you to use that money for retirement and potentially large life events- like buying a house. But if you're in college or just working part time jobs or jobs that don't offer 401K's you have the option to open a Roth IRA. I recommend that everyone have both a Roth and a 401K because in the end you'll end up with more money. A Roth essentially does the same thing but you can choose the amount you want to be taken out of your normal checking account monthly and set up autopay. 

3. Set Up Auto-Transfers and Make Saving a Habit
I know people say this a lot, but every penny counts. Even if you only save 10% of your paycheck it all starts to add up. When you have multiple savings and retirement accounts you'll be surprised how fast your money grows. When possible, it makes it much easier to set up an autotransfer on your accounts. The less steps you have to do after setting it up, the easier and more effortless it is to save money. Like I mentioned with the box/ jar before, if you're saving cash then make sure to save just as religiously as your accounts are set up. 
Now this doesn't have to be an extravagant amount of money every time you add to your savings. Put whatever amount you can. You should have an idea of how much money you can afford to put away so try to stick to that amount every paycheck/ week/ month (the consistency is totally up to you. I tend to put money away every paycheck and my Roth is set up to take money every month). But if you have a smaller paycheck then don't feel bad if you can't put in the full amount. Just put aside what you can because it stills adds up. 
And if you get extra money or birthday/ holiday gift money then add a little more to that savings. 
When you have multiple savings make sure to try to add to all of them consistently. Once you decide how much you can put into savings total, then split up that total into the different goals accordingly. Maybe one savings gets more than the others. That's 100% acceptable.

4. Make an Excel Sheet with All of Your Bills
Make a list of all of your monthly bills, the day of the month the bill is due, and how much the bill costs. When you start the excel sheet, the first column should be the day the bill is due, the second put the description of the bill, and then the third the price of the bill. In between the bills, add the days that you are getting paid and then the estimate of how much will be on your paycheck. Autosum the down the third column of prices and see how much you have left over at the end of the month.
Besides bills like rent, water, gas and electric, and subscriptions, you should also include an estimate of how much you spend on food every month, the amount you plan to put into savings, a buffer amount for miscellaneous expenses, and add any extra costs you know you will have to pay that month (like renewing your license, vehicle registration, a ticket for a concert you plan on attending). 
When you have your monthly list made, you can copy and paste it onto different sheets that you can organize month by month. Copying and pasting makes your life easier for the following months and the more you check and update your sheet, the more control you'll have over your finances and the easier monitoring your money becomes.
This sheet helps you by seeing how much you need to have by certain dates, how much money you have and what you can afford to do as far as shopping, travelling, etc. 

5. Download Saving Apps to Help Monitor and Save
The two apps that I use the most to help me in my saving is Qapital and Mint. 
Mint is very helpful to monitor. Essentially this can do the same thing as the excel sheet. You can add your bills and their due date, link your checking, savings and retirement accounts, and the app will show you how much your spending and where that money is going. It also gives you tips on saving, what to avoid spending money on, and also credit card/ credit options that fit your life and spending habits. 

​Qapital is an app that you link to your checking account. You can make rules that helps you save into your Qapital account. I applied the round up rule which basically rounds up my purchases to the nearest dollar. This doesn't sound like a lot of money at first when you see that it's only a couple cents for each purchase, but when you keep the app going a while and don't have to pay attention to it, the money that adds up will definitely surprise you. If you want to download Qapital, use my referral link to get $5 after your first deposit via rule you set up: https://get.qapital.com/1aHRIEsKoT . 

2018 has been a crazy year to say the least. In all honesty, it's been a year where I've felt stuck or like I took two steps back. But even though it feels this way, there's always an absorbent amount of lessons that you can take away from any bad situation and turn it into a positive. Welp, this year was just a large roller-coaster and when I thought it was starting to go up, it started to plunge back down.

Starting this year, I was working at Umpqua Bank. I felt stable and secure in my job and felt that I had room to advance in the company. Growth in the company actually started happening and I was making my way slowly up the corporate ladder. However, over the last three months, a situation occurred where I had to walk away from the company and basically start from scratch all over again. 

I was hoping that this would be an easier transition as I was ready to graduate from community college in December and I could work full time until next September when I was planning to transfer. BUT, of course something went wrong. My previous counselor misinformed me and instead of being able to graduate early, I have another full time semester that I have to complete before I can transfer. This means working part time again. As if the full semester wasn't enough, all 5 of my classes have to be taken on campus leaving two days out of the week where I can't work at all. To top it all off, I'm still waiting to hear back about my FAFSA status. I've recently sent in a dependency override form so I can actually qualify for financial aid rather than having them base the status off of my parents income when I haven't relied on them since I was 18.

It's all just been a waiting game to hear back about what I'll be able to do based off of other people's approval. I've had to pass up on many opportunities this year due to financial issues which has left me feeling disappointed, but one thing that I've learned about myself over the last 3 years is that I'm resilient as hell. 

While I'm on break before the next semester starts, I'll be earning my travel agent certification so next year I can start working in the travel industry and possibly start my own at-home business. I've sent in all my college applications and I'm anxiously awaiting to see if I received any academic scholarships to help with my journey in pursuing higher education. I've decided to continue to run for pageants within the Pacific Islander community to keep trying to spread awareness about Pacific Islander social issues and create solutions. I'm back to dancing with Kaleo Onalani and even though life has been super tough lately, being back with my hula family and dancing my heart out has definitely made life a little easier. 

Next year will be a BIG travel year for Alex and I and we cannot wait to see and experience new parts of the world. As I'm building my network and business with travel, Alex will be continuing to build his health and lifestyle business.

As 2018 comes to a close, it's that time of the year when you reflect on not only the year but your life up to this point. Even if you've had a bad year, always remember how far you've come and how much life you still have left to live. Anything can happen at any moment so it's important to keep your head up as your trudging through the rough part of the waters. You'll emerge better than ever. 

Sincerely,
​Alana