...Auld Lang Syne...

Let's get serious for a minute as we say goodbye to 2012.  Take a moment to reflect on all the positive and negative events of the year.  Have those moments made you a better person?  Do you feel like you accomplished anything this year?  If the answer to those questions is "no," perhaps it's time for you to set a couple New Year's Resolutions for 2013.

What does Auld Lang Syne mean?  Simply put, it means "times gone by."  So as 2012 draws to a close, I want to stop and remember some of the good and bad times I've had in 2012 that have influenced my life, in no particular order:

1. I visited my "sister" Donna in Alaska, as a surprise for her 26th birthday.

2. Brandon and I officially became a couple on July 11, 2012.  Free Slurpee Day!

3. I moved back to my parents house to save money to buy a house. 

But when that didn't work out...

4. I moved into Brandon's house with his family, to continue saving money to buy a house.

5. I purchased study materials for my Series 6 and 63 Securities Licenses.

6. Brandon and I went to San Francisco for our first weekend away together in March.

7. I had 30+ cake orders between January and September when I moved.

8. I was voted #2 on the KCRA 3 A-List as the Best Wedding Cake in Sacramento.

9. I reconnected with so many friends that I haven't seen in years.

10.  Friends turned to me for help with their troubled marriages.

11.  I lost a friend, Mackenzie Bleth, in a helicopter crash.

12. I took my brother out for his 21st birthday and his first legal drink.

13. I got to see my cousin Tim marry his best friend, Kate, after being together for 10 years.

14. I missed RJ and Angel's wedding =(

15. I spent a weekend at Universal Studios with Brandon and some family/friends.

16. I celebrated my 1st anniversary of my 25th birthday.

17. I celebrated 3 years at a job I strongly dislike.

18. I welcomed my newest nephew, Anderson, into the world.

And I think it's safe to say...I grew a lot in 2012.  I learned a lot about patience, envy, family, and love.  Not every part of 2012 has been pleasant, but I can go into 2013 knowing I had a great year overall, and I'm READY for whatever is waiting for me/us.  Brandon and I have so many goals we want to reach in the next year, and I can't wait to share all those things with you as they happen.  

I wish you all a very safe and happy new year.  Have a DD tonight.  Don't risk it.  I love you all, and I'll see you next year! <3

Friday IG Photo Dump

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thoughtful Thursday - Why Winter Sucks

Winter.

It's cold.  It's wet.  It's a terrible inconvenience, and there are some things that it's just pointless to try to do during the winter time.  For example:

1. Shaving your legs. 

It's freezing cold outside.  So you can shave in the morning, but as soon as you step outside, you have the female equivalent of a man's 5 o'clock shadow on your legs.  Sometimes I shave, get chills while still in the shower, and then I have to shave again!  Sadly, we can't just not shave.  

Especially when you share a bed with someone.  

2. Washing your car.

Today is a gorgeous day.  The sun is shining, it's not really windy, and it's not 40 degrees outside.  Today is the perfect day to wash your car, inside and out.  Detail it.  Clean out your change cup, wipe down your dash, and clean out your trunk.  But tomorrow, there will likely be a huge storm and all your hard work you did on the exterior of your car will be washed away.  Why bother washing your car when it's going to rain?  Mother Nature is literally going to piss on you and your efforts.

3.  Mowing the lawn.

The grass doesn't even grow in the winter, so why do I see our neighbors mowing their grass every other weekend?

4. Getting a pedicure.

You're likely wearing long man-socks and boots all winter, so what's the point in painting your toenails?  Who is going to see that?  I get it, treat yourself once in a while.  But in the winter?  Really?

5. Buying a swim suit.

This is the time when I want to see coats on the racks.  Not swim suits.  But oddly enough, there are swim suits out in the winter, and coats out in the summer.  This is ridiculously backwards. 

6. Eating ice cream.

Just kidding. There's no wrong time to eat ice cream.  Sure, it's cold.  But you deal with it because it's delicious.

In all seriousness, we're only days away from 2013.  In my lifetime, I've survived Y2K, and TWO days that were supposedly the end of the world.  2012 has been, by far, the greatest year of my life.  I'm not ready for it to be over, but 2013 looks more and more promising.  There are so many amazing things planned already. I haven't made a New Year's Resolution in many, many years, but I'm going to try it this year.  Here are a couple of my resolutions:

1. Slowly obtain a more colorful wardrobe, and try not to wear black to work all the time.

2. Make a bigger effort to have a better relationship with my dad.

3. Focus on the POSITIVE aspects of my job, instead of only the negative.

4. Don't get pregnant.

I'm pretty confident I can achieve all of these things, but we'll see how it goes! =)  

HAPPY  NEW YEAR!!!

Manic Monday at 1:00 am

How do you release anger and aggression at 1:00 am on a Monday morning?  You don't.  You sit in your living room and type angrily on your laptop while you vent to your loving boyfriend.  That's pretty much all you can do.  

Merry Christmas Eve.

May your Christmas this year be family-drama-free and full of love from people who accept that you are different.

"Don't be like the rest of them darling."

Manic Monday

It's been three weeks since I've had the desire, the content, or the balls for a new blog post.  But I suppose it's time.

As we get closer and closer to Christmas, parents and their children crowd the mall and nearby retail stores in search for gifts to give their friends and family.  I think taking your children Christmas shopping has its pro's AND con's.

Pro's:
1. Teach your children WHY you buy presents for other people.
2. Teach your children how to act properly in a crowd.

Con's:
1. If you don't believe in disciplining your children in public, their horrid behavior goes unpunished.
2. They want everything for themselves.
3. They're tired and cranky and pitch a fit.
4. They're NOT tired or cranky but still pitch a fit, just because.
5. You subject the general public to your child's tantrums and poor behavior.

There are many, many more pro's and con's, but these are the ones that come to mind based on my recent shopping experiences.

I was at Ross last week shopping for a New Year's Eve dress, which I found, and I'm totally excited about.  While I was in line to pay, there were two adult women with two small boys in line behind me.  I assume a Grandma, Mom, and two sons.  All of a sudden, the two boys started to fight and both began to throw a monster tantrum in the middle of the line.  Not just a little fit.  I'm talking about jumping up and down, stomping their feet, screaming and crying to the point of hyperventilation - all because they wanted a toy that mom wouldn't buy them.

At this point, I would have expected one of the two adults to take the kids outside.  But did that happen?

No.  Of course not.

Instead, the entire store was subjected to this meltdown.  The mother did nothing.  She let her kids scream and cry and throw their fits while everyone turned to look, I'm sure just to make sure no one was beating them or trying to kidnap them.  That's what it sounded like.  I turned around and looked at the older kid square in the eye, raised my eyebrows, he stuck his tongue out at me, I looked at the grandmother (who just shook her head), and turned back to the registers.

What would I have liked to say?

"Your kids are monsters.  Take those little brats outside!!!"

Look, if you don't want to discipline your kids, that's your own business.  But when YOUR business affects ME, that's MY business.  And your decision to not correct your demon child's behavior very much affects me out in public when I'm trying to make a simple purchase and go on with my day.  Teach your kids how to act in public.  If they misbehave, you put your cart to the side, take your brat outside, get him straightened up, and go back inside to resume the line with your items to pay.  I don't care what you're buying or how long you've waited in line.  Your child is your #1 priority, and teaching them to be a functioning, contributing member of society is your most important job.

"Ali, you don't have kids, so you can't comment."

WHATEVER!  Just because I've never experienced something doesn't mean I can't comment on it.  I've never jumped off a bridge but I can comment on how dangerous it is.  I've never lost a pet but I can comment on how sad it is.  What's the difference?

All I'm asking, is that if you have children who are misbehaving in public, take them to a private area and get them in line.  That's your job as a parent.  If you can't, then you leave and come back without children at a later time.  Maybe that's not practical at times, and I understand that.  But at least make an effort to get your kids to behave.  Don't just let them act like hooligans because you're too lazy to do anything about it.

I know what good parenting looks like.  I know these requests are possible, because I have a very close friend who has THREE kids that are all extremely well-behaved in public and at home.  The youngest is 2 1/2 and even HE knows how to behave.  So don't tell me it's hard or it can't be done.  Of course it's hard, but it's not impossible.

End rant.

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.