Under The Influence

A while ago I had dinner with an Aunt & Uncle of mine and my Uncle said something to me that has been hitting me hard lately and making me reflect upon myself and the life I'm living.  He told me that I have a very special gift... the gift of Influence. He said that he sees me as a very influential person because my personality draws people to me. He also pointed out that I have a choice to make, the choice of what kind of influence I am going to be.

The reason this has been hitting me so hard lately is because I've realized who I have this influence over, my Family. And yeah, I guess I do have an influence over the family that is my age or older, but I feel like my target audience is my younger family, especially one younger lad in particular... my 13 year old brother Noah. Noah is the little brat that stole my sunshine and took my throne as the baby of the family, but we have a 12 year age difference which makes his childhood way different than the rest of mine & my siblings. He's now at the age where he takes everything in around him and is going to pretty much shape his attitude and outlook on life. Before my Dad passed away, he gathered my siblings and myself and told us we all had one common responsibility now: Noah. That no matter what we were all responsible for his well being. And now that Noah isn't such a baby anymore, I feel that I need to start getting my shit together so I can be a good example for him since we are the closest in age and he looks up to me.

This new year of 2012 I am challenging myself with many goals that I intend to accomplish. Goals that I've thought about but never even tried to accomplish, goals that I've slightly tried to achieve, and new goals that I've never had the guts to push myself to mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. My life is going to take a big turn soon. All I can pray for is that I have enough strength to keep pushing and that I continue to have my friends & family support me and keep me focused. The motivation to better myself and my family, that pushes all of my individual goals for this new year is very clear to me now:

Lead By Example

Be the change you want to see in the world - Mahatma Ghandi

I hope you all have at least one fabulous resolution for the new year too & make it your bitch! 
Cheers to 2012 friends :)

If You Never Let Go

Flickr, Flickr

You Be The Sun

Birds of a feather flock together

Whoops, should've posted this earlier since it's almost the new weekend!

Last weekend was fabulous! Company Holiday party at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge then Cardinal domination on Sunday! Friday was a blur and Sunday was freezing cold! My niece swore it was snowing, I was too occupied with my hair blowing in a million and one directions.

So here are some pics from this beautiful weekend. Enjoy :)

On our way to tailgate! My #1 fans!!

My newly recruited Cardinals fans :) Tara & Sierra

Posted in the Red Zone

Lanae & Cardinals mascot, Big Red

Birds of a feather flock together.

Just another beautiful day in the AZ from the hotel balcony

So last night the first Toy Story was on TV

(yes I watch children's movies on a weekly basis) and when I walked passed the TV, it was on the scene of the little evil neighbor kid Sid, whose parents probably put him in serious therapy after the first movie if he ran and told everyone he shit his pants because toys started talking to him. Then I started thinking how TS3 ended with Andy going to college cause he's all growed up, which got me to wondering what ever happened to this Sid character. E! True Hollywood Story needs to get the update on Sid, but you're in luck for now because I think I have it pretty much all figured out. Read on.

After his traumatic experience, Sid was convinced that his little neighbor Andy and his possessed toys lived in a real poltergeist house. He spent the next few years of his junior high & high school being teased as the neighborhood crazy for telling the story to everyone. The tables turned and now he was the one who was constantly bullied so he was sent to a small alternative high school to graduate. He then turned to the crack pipe to deal with his issues. His neighborhood lost it's value (which was the reasoning behind Andy's move) and became the new ghetto. Andy's old vacant house become the new crack spot where he performed crazy voodoo rituals worshipping toys so they would be at peace with him. He was eventually arrested and incarcerated for breaking and entering into Disneyland with intent to kill Mickey Mouse because they toys told him they needed the ultimate sacrifice.

Wow... 

Shit BLACK Girls Say

RUINED!

What a horrible way to start the day! I get online and the first Glamour article I read is the rumor that Justin Timberlake proposed to Jessica Biel.

National Geographic

Nature Photo Contest 2011

Here are some of my faves

And my favorite

I know it's only 1:15pm

But this is probably the best Facebook update of the day:

Good News: Kim's dead
Bad News: It's not one of the Kardashians...

Random Conversation

*3AM, Waiting outside some lounge in Snottsdale for our car to arrive so we can put our wasted friend in it who's dry heaving on the side of the building

Tall Brotha walking by: Hey girl, you know where (insert club name) is?
Myself: Sorry, don't know where anything is around here.
Tall Brotha: Oh, so you ain't from around here? (checking us out, even Pukey McPukerton) Where y'all from?
Myself: No, we live more West.
Tall Brotha: Oh, so you mean like Phoenix? Or Downtown? So what y'all doin down here? Celebratin'? I can tell she had a good time (points to McPukerton).
Myself: (rolling my eyes still holding her hair) No,  we're from Hawaii. Oh look, the car's here. Bye.
Tall Brotha: Oh I can see that, Aloha to you too!

Poor guy, I probably would've been less bitchy if he wasn't trying to pick us up while my friend was puking her brains out... Probably

I Love It

When I'm asking Daria to tell me about her weekend adventures and she always, ALWAYS responds with:

"I don't even know where to begin"

Not. I don't love it at all.

Umm how about at the beginning aka Friday. I'm probably going to change her blog name to Rebecca Black.

I don't understand

how nail polish can chip off so cot damn easy but it takes like 5 giant cotton balls to get all the polish off one hand?? Seriously, I will polish my nails before bed and by the time I get to work the next morning, my tips are chipped. Then later when I'm trying to remove shit job left on my hand with nail polish remover, it doesn't want to come off and it may seem as if I gutted a polar bear with my bare hands because all that cotton clings to your nails... Ok, I'm done with my morning rant. Happy Tuesday!

I seriously

Feel like a big bag of douche every time I order from Starbucks.

Got Em All

except for.... "Let me tell you"

This Guy Is My New Best Friend

I am a little iffy on the dollar bill and the CD though... I guess I'll have to go home and test this.

The Shit My Boss Says Pt. 3

"Supposubly" instead of supposedly
"Maysure" instead of measure

Sometimes I just want to tell him to cut the shenanigans and talk normal.

Come On Little Miss & Do The Twist

Lately there have been quite a few situations I've been in where one of those giant straws that twirls & twists (preferably in green), would it make my life a lot easier.

1. When I'm driving around and don't want to let go of the wheel to take a drink. 
2. When I'm just too lazy to sit up while I'm laying on the couch, and my cup is on the floor. Insert giant twirly straw and boom, problem solved.

I guess you could just have a really long straight straw, but the twisty ones in cool colors that take like 30 seconds just to get your beverage in your mouth just look more appropriate. 

Plus drinking from a straw prevents beverages from staining those pearly whites ;)

Literally

They are calling my name. 

This Is So Me At Work

Holla for a Dolla!

I love the dollar store. So much junk in there you never knew you needed until you see it's only a buck! Yesterday I hit two different dollar stores and have amusing stories about each of them.

Dolla Holla Mission 1: Christmas decorations for office
Since we are being forced to have some Holiday office cheer this year, I was instructed to go get cheap decorations to spiff up my lobby because having a tree wasn't enough. So a coworker and I hit Dollar Tree and the main thing I was in search for were a couple of boxes of cheap lights to hang around my desk. I see the lights they have and on the box it said 5.1ft so I figured two boxes would be plenty. When we return to the office, I unravel the lights only to find out I've been bamboozled. I asked my coworker how tall I look and she says about 5'4 to which I reply "Well apparently I must be as tall as Lamar Odom to the Dollar Tree". Cot damn lights are only about 3 feet long and there's 2 feet of just cord and to top it off, there's no damn connector at the end to hook up another set. These kinds of details should be specified!! I guess that's why they're only a dollar.

Dolla Holla Mission 2: Help my niece combine a Secret Santa gift for under $5
My Secret Santa niece needed some help on what to get her friend for under $5, so I told her we'd go to the dollar store and make a little basket of gifts. We picked out nail polishes, nail polish remover, cotton balls, and nail files and put them in a cute Christmas bucket, boom. 5 bucks. During our hunt, we stumbled upon the Dog section with food, treats, leashes and then... stripper dog clothes for small dogs. Seriously. There were cheetah prints, sparkles, glitter and SHEER shirts. Does a dog really need a sheer shirt with zebra print and sequins on it so you can see through it and think to yourself "That is one sexy little bitch"??? Actually, does anyone really need a shirt like that? The answer is no. So needless to say, my sister and I couldn't resist but to buy 2 of these outfits for her Chihuahuas (which are like my children) to help them stay warm in their doghouse. I know what you're thinking, and the answer is YES! Of course we did a family photo shoot!!

Happy Holidays!! Love Cocoa, Chapo & Gina

Life Is Like A Box Of Chocolates

Your coworkers that are allergic to nuts never know what they're going to get.
Ps. Is it pure Irony that your gay male coworker is allergic to nuts?

Random Conversation from the Weekend

*Playing Kings cup at 1 in the afternoon*

Ninja: So no names?
Me: No, that's my rule.
Ninja: So I can't say FAH-Gina?
Me: Look, this is Name Mountain (holds hand up high) and this is you (holds other hand down low). And you, you're just a fetus, it's pretty much impossible for you to get to the top of Name Mountain.
Ninja: Master Splinter is on top of fecal mountain
Me: .............. Who's next?

Gee Whizz

Everyday I read that more and more single people are confessing that they don't see themselves getting married or settling down. Our generation has reached the point where we believe it is better to be successful in our careers than to be successful emotionally. What the hell is happening to us? Like I know we're going through this economic recession and money problems get people down, dating is expensive, but is it really consuming our wallets and our hope? Are we living through an economic recession or is it an emotional recession?
Maybe it's not the economy. Maybe it's our generation. Our parents and grandparents grew up to believe that a successful life was about falling passionately in love with someone, having great friends, starting a family, and having a good job to support your loved ones. I feel like now it's all backwards and so many people have given up on finding someone to feel passionately about because our main priority is to "succeed" with a career then if we have time, we'll find someone who will love us. I understand that people want to have financial stability which requires education and hard work, but are we being so brainwashed to be workaholics and money focused that we are forgetting the meaning of life? I was raised to believe that you surround yourself with those you love and you find a way to make it through thick and thin, but the main thing was to Love. Maybe I'm sounding like a complete hopeless romantic right now, but I refuse to give up on finding love.
I guess that's what I get for watching stupid romantic comedies... Whatever.

Tis The Season

To GIVE.

Yesterday I finally took a box of clothes & shoes that have been in my trunk for the last month or so to the Goodwill.

After Thanksgiving I realized how much I am thankful for and then thought about all the other people in this world, country and my very own STATE who don't even have half of the things I do. Normally I can be as selfish as any other single person would be, my time is all for me going out and having fun. But since it's the holidays I figured this is the perfect excuse to switch it up, so I decided I'm going to be giving a lot more for others in need for the remainder of this month wether it's money or time or maybe someone who just needs someone to hangout with.

Bring on your needs bitches!!!!!!

Sounds like someone I know

Via TextsFromBennett

Talk about drunk vagina

(And I'm not talking about myself either)

Apparently it's cool to get drunk with a tampon?