Letter to Dad: Rest in Paradise, Bailey.

The only thing worse than you leaving is also Bailey leaving as well.

I know what you’re thinking, “the hell you give me the dog for??”

Answer is simple, you like this dog.

All jokes aside, please, and I know you will for me, take great care of her. Even you knew she was my whole world. It just sucks our time was so short lived. There were so many adventures awaiting for us, but time decided to cut it short. Even though it really wasn’t anyone’s fault, I still put all blame on me. If there was just a way to go back to prevent it all, I would in a heartbeat. You never know the feeling of losing the two things that took part to make your heart a whole until life decides to play such silly games.

I love you, Bailey Pup. I’m so sorry that things had to end up like this – I wish I could change everything that happened. I’ll never forget you.

Don’t forget about me either ❤

The Park Ultra Lounge.

Earlier last week, Kim texted me, asking what my schedule was like for the weekend. For once I had a Friday off, but I’m back to work the next day. She then tells me that her and the girls were planning a trip up to Sacramento to celebrate Kate and Grace’s birthday and asked me to joined for a triple celebration. Couldn’t turn down a night of just being a girl, so I accepted the invite. Unfortunately Grace couldn’t make it, so it was just myself, Kim, Gretchen, Sarah, and Kate.

We all pregamed at my place and headed to a club that Sarah got us in for free.

The Park Ultra Lounge is where we ended up, and it was a nice looking place. It also looked like there was a restaurant connected..? I don’t know, someone help me out with this one..? You can tell I don’t get out much.

The first and only drink of choice was root beer and some vanilla vodka, which was not bad at all. It was like a root beer float, but with alcohol.

We stepped outside a few times just to drink and their patio looks fantastic. Super fancy with their fireplace tables, super cozy with their furniture. Patio goals.

As we all got a buzz going, it was definitely time for some dancing. The floor filled up cray fast as time went on, but everyone there were all fun to dance with. Even with Kim dancing on the randoms around haha.

Leaving the club drunkenly.

Before we left, the girls wanted burritos that was literally on the other side of the building. Was it connected to the club too? This building is weird with all its variety.

Long story, short of the night, two girls were done, two were okay enough to be aware, and I was sober. I swear they made me feel like an alcoholic because I was completely fine that whole night. I drink too much, I know…
After burritos, Sarah dropped me off at home while taking the others home back in Stockton. I was honestly worried for their safety and kept telling them to stay if they needed, but I guess they made it back safe.

Fun night with awesome friends. It doesn’t get any better than that ❤

Letter To Dad: My 24th.

Huh, who knew 24 years would come this fast? Your little girl isn’t so little anymore – mid 20’s dude!

I honestly dreaded this day a lot when it was around the corner. I remember that we’d celebrate my birthday – just the two of us out to lunch. I missed that. Just in general. A lot.

I didn’t really do much though. I had work that day – closing shift, may I add of course. Did I mention that I have some awesome coworkers? I walked in the store and they all brought out cupcakes and a bouquet of balloons. Also one of the kitchen staff members came in on his day off to drop off yet more balloons and a cake. So sweet of him.

Yes, that does say “Happy Birthday Manager” lmao.

It was a Sunday, so we got out of there at a decent time and just had some friends over the house. Some of them even said hi to you when they walked in.

Some coworkers were there until around 1 since they all are kids in college, but my Stockton crew crashed for the night. We didn’t pass out til super late because we all got the drunken munchies and went to Jack In The Box.

I think you were playing a role in my conscience (like always) and holding me back since I woke up with no problems/no hangover whatsoever. Darn you haha.

Well here’s me – 24, living comfortably with no financial struggles with a roof over my head and some food on my plate. At least that is one less thing for you to worry about.

… but I am currently reevaluating life with a potential change of future. Time to start making some decisions.

That’s another letter for next time.

Letter To Dad.

Hey dad, how’s the afterlife? What’s it like up there? Are you and CJ having a great time?

Me? Well I’m doing the usual – working like a responsible adult. I thought I’d quickly jot down some things for you to catch up on since I know you’re definitely traveling through cyber space somehow.

One thing I want to mention is that by given the struggles and the cost, the family decided that we’re going to sell the house, which I don’t blame them – too many memories are held in there. It’s beginning to hurt too much. Kyle and I decided to pay our last visit before it’s gone late this month.

As you can see, a great majority of stuff has already been taken out. The family divided some things amongst themselves. I also took what I needed and what I could use.

I also called dibs on the couch, your coffee table you made, and your desk. Don’t worry – all your phones, tablets, the desktop, and your camera are definitely safe with me.

I also took a lot of kitchen stuff. You know you’re an adult when you get TOO excited over kitchenware.
The one thing I knew I had to snag were your pie plates. They definitely came in handy for Thanksgiving. Thank you for that.

My room is almost complete. I grabbed the last of my stuff there and whatever I don’t want will remain with the house.

The middle room is still the way it was – cluttered and untouched.

Your room was my project too. I took everything I needed to keep and what I wanted to save. I even took some clothes of yours and I’m thinking about making something out of them. It’s still undecided on what I want to do, but they’re in boxes for now.

I still have to come back for the car soon, but I knew that if I didn’t take a day to really say goodbye, I’ll never get that closure. It was tough, but I had to do it for my sake.

I miss you a lot. There’s been so many things that I want to tell you about, but then I realize once again. But this will have to do for now. The messages will get through to you somehow.

Well I just wanted to let you know the current situation. Until our next chat, I’ll have some stories for you.

~ Lexi

~~~~~~~~~~
Note: I’m thinking about making this a ongoing post just for my personal reasons. It may look or sound weird to do, but sorry not sorry (:

So I’ve Been Dying Lately…

According to my WordPress statistics, I had only made two posts in February and this one makes my first post of March.

Where have I been?

If you guessed work, you’re obviously correct. I stay closing the store that I don’t know what having a social life is anymore.

Aside from work, I’ve also been brutally sick. I’ve never been so sick before and this was by far the worst illness I’ve ever had. It all started last Tuesday when I thought I was super tired because my eyes felt so strained that I could barely keep them open. Come Wednesday, my day off, I couldn’t get out of bed. I took my two days off and just slept the entire time. Friday came around and I could only work half of my shift and had to have Victoria close for me. Saturday it was death. No one could cover for me, I couldn’t even move. After work, I immediately went to the hospital and gave them the whole list of symptoms I’ve been having:
~ Fever.
~ Episodes of hot sweats/cold chills.
~ Eyes straining.
~ Runny Nose.
~ Cough.
~ Sneezing.
~ Congestion.
~ Achy Body.
~ Mucus/Phlegm.

After waiting 3 hours for my blood tests and accepting the fact that I’m going to have a HUGE medical bill (get insurance guys, don’t be dumb like me), it turns out I had the flu AND mono.

Of course I got a doctor’s note, but that didn’t stop my boss from telling me “there is no one able to cover you, you have to work.” So I had my two days off from the doctor’s note and still currently working the rest of the week.

After working and sweating out the sickness, I feel better now, but mono is seriously NO joke. It really takes a toll on your body to where you don’t want to move at all. Even the doctor warned me that I “may feel ill for 3-6 weeks”. Coming up on two weeks and I believe it. And this was the first time I’ve ever caught the flu, at least that I’m aware of. Never again man..

So I’m much better now, just with a lingering cough and a voice that sounds like I’m going through second puberty.

So here’s my mini excuse of why I’ve been AWOL, other than work.
Don’t get sick, guys. It’s a lie…

Kyle’s Birthday.

The 20th was Kyle’s twenty fourth, but because it was on a weekend and we couldn’t take the days off, I had another plan in mind… which was ruined last minute. The original plan was to have a surprise party for him and began planning everything three months in advance to make sure all his friends could make it. By the time his birthday came around, everyone flaked saying they couldn’t come because of some reason. Whatever, more drinks for me.

…. although I was a bit upset that with all this planning and a good majority of everyone telling me they couldn’t come that I got a little buzzed and told Kyle my plans and a list of reasons why his friends suck. Oops lol.

Oh well, my options were kept open as I did host a party anyway as it remained on the 22nd.

Part one of my original plan was a success when Jake and Colton showed up at the house to make it in time for a show at Ace of Spades that Kyle wanted to go to… that was until Juan showed up late, having Katy take him to the venue. They always be late.

My original plan was to have Katy, Stephanie, and her friend Melissa help me with this surprise party, but ended up being “hey let’s go spend money that we don’t have”. I had already bought all the $200 worth of alcohol, snacks, and various other items that may have been needed beforehand – a last minute trip to Target wouldn’t hurt.

10pm, some people showed up and waited for Kyle’s return back to the house. At 11, everyone partied like there were no such thing as neighbors.

Of course, Juan had to play bartender for the night.

Though everyone had a great time, I am never having a party at the house again. Why? Because people be pissing me off.
1. There are now beer stains all over our carpet which we now have to pay for it.
2. Colton fell into Kyle’s amp for his guitar, causing everything on top of it to fall over.
3. The TV was almost kicked over numerous times.
4. The neighbors ALWAYS party, but had the nerve to ask us to “keep it down”.

Oh, and if that wasn’t enough reasoning:
5. Jake and Colton jumped on the couch BEFORE the party even started. My couch is now a part of the floor…

A word of advice, if you must have a party, host it somewhere other than your house. Trust me, if you love your things you earned and bought, you’d be smarter than me and think twice.

Other than that, happy partying!~

The Celebration of a Life.

New Years Eve was my dad’s service, but rather than just a depressing funeral, my family decided on a celebration of his life with food.

This was also known as an “nostalgic amuse bouche”. The theme was of bite sized foods made from recipes of my past relatives. Of course my challenge of the food was to make bite sized pumpkin pies from my Grandmother’s recipe. I had to use muffin tins just to get the crust right. It was a challenge, but it was fun to try it out.

Let’s not forget the libations..

My Aunt, my two Uncles, and myself were to make a speech about my dad, which was the hardest thing to write ever, but I think I did mine justice. Publicly speaking it was a-whole-nother story..

The service lasted for a couple hours, but everything was perfect. The company, the memories, the stories, even the food. I feel like it was half of what my dad’s wishes were. Later on this year will be the second half of it with the Jack Daniels bottle.

Oh, and there was definitely plenty of Paul lol.

The Force Awakens.

{Image rights to Lucasfilms and the person that made this photo come to life.}

Note: For everyone’s reading pleasure and piece of mind, this post will not contain any spoilers of the movie whatsoever. This will only be about my opinions about it until everyone has seen it. I also would like to highly recommend that people that have seen this movie refrain from posting anything about it in the comments section for at least two weeks. After that, then I believe it’s fair game to nerd it out amongst ourselves.
With that said, let’s continue…

December 18th. Everyone’s anticipated day of 2015. Where everyone in our generation is now old enough to enjoy such cult flick with their children now at its midnight premiere.

… unlike me. I had work and had to avoid any type of spoiler coming to me for a-whole-nother 33 hours.

December 19th. The day where one girl could easily wake up at 6:40 in the morning – only getting three hours of sleep because the upstairs neighbors was partying all night, just to get ready to see the same cult flick she was raised on at 9:30 (after all previews were done).

I am not a morning person though..

Kyle and I arrived at the theater by close to 8 am. We approached the building, and the mass of cars followed. This was going to be a full crowd, for sure.

Their notice on every window. They weren’t joking about the cosplay rules I’ve been hearing about.
… and I love the fact that they used the term “cosplay”.

It was raining, it was cold, and it was wet. Standing outside for 30 minutes sucked, but it was well worth it. I just hope I don’t get sick later.

The line was building fast and everyone was confused. “Where is the line for those that have tickets?” “Do we stand here?” “What time are they letting us in?”
So many questions, none of them answered.

Finally at 9 am, doors opened and the rush of people began. We opted out on the concession stand, knowing that the auditorium was going to be packed. Plus there was an In-N-Out nearby, so we could just easily go there afterwards.

We were the first set of people in the room before it started to fill up. And, let me tell you, it did fill up. I also felt pretty bad because I have a hard time sitting still when it comes to movie theater seats because they are so uncomfortable on my back. I hope I didn’t disrupt the gal that was sitting next to me with my constant fidgeting.

Soon, the wait was about to be over. 10 years of waiting has lead to this moment right here.
“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”
Everyone applauded. Everyone became one.

~~~~~~~~~~
The movie was pretty damn good. I honestly had my doubts because it’s now under the Disney name and we all know how Disney can be with its films, but they proved me wrong. It was just as good.
… but you can tell on how they made it come to life was very, very Disney-esque.

Plus I love how it’s made for the newer generation – for our kids (if you have any at the moment). Traditions just keep passing on.

Okay, so I have one hunch about the whole movie and I expect this to be right later on. I’m not going to say anything, but I will only say this. The ending, expect this to become another trilogy. And I’m sure that we’ll be all thrilled about that.

Oh, one more thing. Since now the movie has been released and Kingdom Hearts 3 has been pushed for too many years, if I don’t see a freaken Star Wars world in that damn game, I am going to be mad! They had Tron twice. Time for a new Sci-Fi movie. Just saying…

Catalina’s 25th Birthday.

A couple of weeks ago, a good friend of mine texted me, saying her birthday was coming up and she was having a small get together at her place. It was a super last minute announcement (as it was occurring the following day), but I went anyway, assuming that we didn’t know the next time we’d hang out again when we have different schedules.

Of course, I was the first one there being super early. Typical Lexi. Catalina was in the process of finalizing dinner and her boyfriend, Caleb, was finishing last minute shopping (she sent him to the store just for a small head of cabbage).

Of course the night started right.
I had brought the bottle of wine while their friend (who showed up fifteen minutes after me) brought the Fireball.

That is also where the night went from good to great when Cat told Caleb that she thought I could out-drink him, which turned into a war, taking shots of his Seagram’s and all the mixed drinks included. Not to mention all the wine as well when the bottles continued to add up when Doris and Fonzie showed up later on.

Spoiler alert, I won.

Cat had out a lot of work into her dishes, and everything looked great. Pork sliders, pasta, green beans – the perfect meal.

Of course with my stubborn diet habits, Cat went above and beyond and made me a baked potato instead of the pork sliders. Bless her soul.

We all ate and had a great time. Then someone brought up the idea of Cards Against Humanity. Best idea ever. There wasn’t a winner of this round when we all took a pause to walk across the street to the nearest liquor store.

When we got back, we almost forgot the most important part of a birthday – the cake!
Caleb took care of it while to drunkenly wait for something sweet to munch on.

Twenty minutes later, everyone left but me. Kyle was on his way by then to pick me up, but we ended up staying a bit longer when the guys first met.

Something tells me this will be a good solid four way friendship haha.

(Happy birthday, Catalina~)

One Month.

Disclaimer: I’m not going to lie – this is going to be a drunken post because I am going through a lot right at this moment and a bottle of wine is the only thing I have to keep me (somewhat) sane. If you care not to read any further of such sorrow, then I’d suggest you not click the “Continue Reading” tab.

Otherwise, let’s continue.