Manic Monday - RIP MacKenzie Bleth

Last week, the world lost one of the funniest people I've ever met.  MacKenzie "Mack" Bleth was young, in love with his girlfriend, Lindsey, and one hell of a pilot.  

I met Mack through my best friend, Donna, up in Alaska.  We immediately became friends.  Donna's friends all know me, and I know them.  We all hang out when I visit, and I just got to spend a few days with Mack this past July while I was in Juneau.  I had the opportunity to fly with him while I was there, but since I'm a huge pussy about flying, and the weather wasn't ideal, we never made it up.  Instead, he took us all to play frisbee golf and bowling.  As usual, he was a total dork and made us laugh the whole time.  

Mack had just taken a job in Gettysburg, PA to work for a new aviation company.  He was on a contract job in Corning, NY to inspect power lines when investigators believe he clipped a line, got tangled, and crashed into an open space near the river.  

Here's a link to the story that was posted after the accident.

What makes me mad about the whole situation, is I was told it was only his second day on the job, and he was flying a helicopter he wasn't familiar with.  Why the HELL would this company send him up to inspect power lines when he wasn't ready?  Maybe he said he was ready and convinced them to let him go.  I don't know.  But as the liable company, they should have sent a more experienced employee.  He would have still been here today.

Being in California, I don't get to be near his friends or family to grieve with them.  The best I have is Facebook and text messages/phone calls with our mutual friends.  It's so hard to not be with your best friends while they're hurting.  And also hard to not have anyone around who knew him so that I can grieve too.  No, I didn't spend a lot of time with him, since we live in different states.  But we used to text and talk on Facebook, and we still built a friendship.  Living far apart didn't make us any less friends, and didn't make it any easier for me to learn that he was gone.  

I hope all my friends in AK, his family in OR, and the few in CA can take some kind of comfort knowing that he died doing what he loved, and he didn't suffer at all (from what I was told).  He's probably making fun of all of us for being sad.  Laugh on, Mack.  We hear you.

KCCO.

KCFO.

We'll never forget you.

Wishful Wednesday - Prayer Edition

For those of you who believe in the power of prayer, I'm asking you to please add these wishes to your prayer list.  I don't necessarily believe in prayer, myself.  But since it can't hurt to try, I'm gonna do it...

I wish for "SP" to have no harsh side effects of her upcoming chemotherapy.

I wish for Brandon's mom to not be in so much pain.

I wish for Momo to also be free of her head/neck pain.

I wish for my Aunt Vicki to continue a healthy recovery from her breast cancer.

I wish for this holiday season to not include drama and chaos as usual.

I wish for everyone to be able to be with their loved ones for Thanksgiving.

I wish for Arnie to heal quickly from his ailments, both mental and physical.

Even if you don't think it will help anyone to pray, knowing that you tried for them will make them feel better.   Well, probably not Arnie.  I think most people believe that prayer is more for mental and emotional healing.  If you take comfort and strength in knowing that 10 people are praying for you, then perhaps you'll you can channel it to physical help/healing.  

I don't know how it works, but I know that there are a lot of people who do it, and a lot of people who ask for prayers during tough times.  I also know a lot of people going through tough times right now.  It's hardest around the holidays.  So much stress, so much tension.  I wish everyone could just stop, for one day.  Thanksgiving is next week, and I challenge everyone to just make it a good day.  Pray for those around you to do the same.  See what happens.  You never know.

Manic Monday - Accident & All

Happy Monday!

It has been a busy day so far today.  Manic, for sure.  My weekend was pretty relaxed, since I was feeling more and more like crap as Friday drew near.  I canceled all my Friday and Saturday plans, and went straight to the gym Saturday morning to sit in the steam room and clear up my sinuses.  It felt amazing.  

Sunday, Brandon and I had free tickets to the Wiz Khalifa concert, in a suite, catered, with free parking.  Thank you to his work for getting me out of the house!  For a rap concert, it was a really great show.  Wiz puts on one helluva performance.  I was quite impressed.

Today has been amazing.  I've been SO productive at work, and have been designing invitations and party favors for our upcoming client appreciation events.  I went to lunch to do some office supply shopping, and on my way back, was rear-ended at a stop light by a large SUV.  I was just sitting at the light, literally thinking about what an awesome day I was having.  Then...BOOM!

We pulled over to the side of East Roseville Parkway, and the woman who hit me immediately started crying and apologizing.  It's funny, but I really feel like she was meant to hit me today, of all people.  She needed me.  She told me she was having a horrible morning, and she had been crying all day.  I told her I had just been thinking the opposite when she hit me.  She then proceeded to tell me about her pending divorce after 6 children and 30 years of marriage.  I couldn't do anything but give her a hug and tell her my story in a nutshell.

Married and divorced before age 25.

Best thing that ever happened to me.

Now I have the most amazing man in my life.

Never, ever been happier.

Wouldn't have done anything differently.

She'll be so much happier when it's all over.

She cried on my shoulder, and there was nothing I could do but hold her.  She called me "her Angel."  I hardly saw it that way, but I do think she needed me today.  People going through a divorce can't see what's waiting at the end.  It's often too painful to see the "light at the end of the tunnel."  But it's there.  And sometimes you just need someone to reassure you.  She thanked me for my kindness and for not being upset about her hitting me.  Luckily, there was almost zero damage to either one of our cars, despite the difference in size.  (Toyota Sequoia vs. Scion tC?  No contest.)  We both got very lucky today.

I don't see us being Facebook friends or anything, but it was as pleasant as it could be as a "car accident."

The two less-than-dime-sized white marks on my bumper are just a small reminder that there is always SOME good that can come out of any situation.  She gets a little piece of mind that this divorce is not the end for her, and I took great satisfaction knowing that I was able to give her that piece of mind.  She'll need a new front license plate frame, but I think she's gonna make it.  

Let this be a lesson to you all, that everyone has a story.  Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone has off-days.  Be patient.  Be open.  And be understanding of others.  You don't know what they've been through.  Maybe they need you, or maybe you need them.  Whoever "they" are...

Thursday Thoughts - The Use of Facebook

This whole past week I've done a lot of thinking about Facebook and its use as an outlet for everyone's individual thoughts and opinions.  Especially with the election on Tuesday, I've noticed a lot of people being a bit more....colorful....with their posts.  Examples:

"The world really is coming to an end if Obama is elected."

"Romney will ensure that you give birth to a bastard child if you're raped."

"I can't believe how dumb my friends are.  I'm ready to delete all of you!"

No joke.  Those were real posts.  On top of this, I've also seen a number of relationship status changes. 

"(Name here) went from being "in a domestic partnership" to being "single."

"(Name here) went from being "in a relationship" to being "single."

"(Name here) is now married."

When (Name here)'s friends comment to ask, "What happened?" or "Are you okay?," they are either ignored, or responded to with...

"I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT."

Then why didn't you delete your relationship status change?

Because it's MY facebook and I can post whatever I want.

True.  However, that will give people the right to question whatever you put on FB.

That doesn't mean I have to answer them.

True again.  But - that makes you a gigantic douche.  

People were doing the same thing about their political posts.  They posted whatever they wanted and expressed themselves, and then were hugely offended when someone of opposite political beliefs came at them with a legitimate, logical, factual argument.  Here's a quick rule of thumb for Facebook:

Anything posted on Facebook is public for your friends to see, unless you block them from that post.

Anything your friends see is open for comment.

Especially during a Presidential election, don't expect people to just sit back and read your posts.  People who disagree WILL comment, and they WILL debate your stance if they support an opposing position.  That's the beauty of this country.  Free speech, the right to vote, and the right NOT to vote.  

So for all of you who criticized me for not voting, 

I'd like to again remind you that I have just as much of a right not to vote 

as you have TO vote.  

Don't post anything you don't want to talk about, people.  And furthermore, no one cares about what you had to eat today, or about what you're making for dinner.  I can understand being proud of yourself for making a delicious meal. Sure, post a picture.  But I don't want to see:

"Decided to make meatloaf for dinner."

in one post, and then see:

"Changed my mind, now I'm making tacos."

5 minutes later.  

Cool story, bro.  

First of all, those are merely sentence fragments.  Secondly, it's annoying.

After being away from Facebook for a solid month, Brandon and I came back to realize how silly it really is.  Maybe we're just THAT awesome, which is highly likely.  I was really happy to see that my close friends and I still stayed in contact while my account was deactivated. I don't need this site to stay in touch with my close friends.  We still talked, texted, emailed, hung out, whatever the case was.  How many of you really know who your real friends are?  Delete Facebook and find out.  Seriously.  

In other news, my studly boyfriend won tickets to the Wiz Khalifa concert this Sunday at Sleeptrain Arena, and I'm fairly certain we get free parking and a luxury suite, thanks to VSP.  Be jealous.  

And finally, here's a picture of Bob Saget for Megan.  I feel like her Bob photos really liven up her blog, so I'm trying it out just for shits and gigs.  

Manic Monday

I don't know how I've gotten so lucky to have such a great life.  I had another fantastic weekend, with amazing people.  I took Friday off to deliver my very last wedding cake for 'miss alicakes.'  

It was bittersweet, but I feel like I went out with a Bang.  This was one of my favorite cakes, and definitely the most difficult design I've ever attempted.  Congratulations to Amy and Andrew on their new married life together :)

After the cake delivery, Brandon, our family/friends and myself all headed for Los Angeles for a weekend at Universal Studios!  We made it to LA by about 8:30 and ventured to City Walk for dinner and drinks.  Saturday we spent the whole day at Universal Studios, and had a nice dinner at BJ's.  Very chill, so much fun.  Sunday morning we decided to get up early (because we had to in order to check out on time) and hike up to the Hollywood sign!  We made it in about an hour, and then another 40 minutes or so on the way down.  I was the slowest, but at least I can say I did it :)  Brandon offered to carry me down the rest of the way because my feet hurt so bad by the end, but I couldn't let him do that...

Overall, we all had a fantastic time, and we even ran into some contestants from The Voice!  Here is our mini-vacay photo recap.  Enjoy!

LA Bound!

King Kong

Brandon's AMF

I felt like such a tourist

After the Mummy ride lol

The WB Water Tower

From the top of the Hollywood sign

We made it!

Waiting for the Waterworld Show to start

We found Diego Val and Nicholas David working out in our hotel, so we interrupted them for a picture!

Thirsty Thursday - Holiday Edition

Welcome, November!!!  

It is officially the Holiday season.  Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, Black Friday/My Birthday, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, and New Years Day.   

In the spirit of the cold weather, the rain, and all the upcoming holidays, I've decided to dedicate a Thirsty Thursday to my Top 5 favorite winter drinks.  Here goes... 

And remember, no holiday beverage from Starbucks would be complete without the almighty Christmas cup.

  

1) My favorite Starbucks beverage to put IN the Christmas cup, is the Peppermint Mocha.

Espresso, steamed milk, mocha sauce and peppermint flavored syrup, topped with sweetened whipped cream and dark chocolate curls.

2) The Pumpkin Spice Latte has grown increasingly popular over the last few years.  I finally tried it last year, and it really is quite delicious.
Espresso, pumpkin-flavored syrup and steamed milk. Topped with sweetened whipped cream and pumpkin pie spices.
3) Then there is a light alcoholic beverage called a Sleigh Ride.  I have these every year, the first weekend of December at the St. John's Craft Fair.
Hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps.

4) WINE!
Any white wine will do.  I'm not picky about this. 

5) And finally, my favorite childhood holiday beverage.....

Good, old fashioned hot chocolate with marshmallows.  You just can't beat it.

 

So as we move closer to these glorious holidays, please remember to drive safe, drink responsibly, and never alone.  The holidays are a time for family, friends, lovers, and group drinking. <3