All Things Monday

What. A. DAY.

This has been a pure blend of surprise, celebration and mourning. It's all here, on one day.

First things first, today is my cousin Maricor's 30th birthday!

happy birthday!!!!

It's a rare blessing I think, to have someone so closely aligned with you, who isn't technically a biological relative [I'm adopted, remember?]. With splitting hairs aside, this woman is still my best friend, an inspiring soul, a wonderful mother to her beautiful girls and much, much more. Our daughters are 1 week apart, and although we don't see each other nearly as often as we'd like, we never miss a beat. Happy birthday, Maricor!! LOVE YOU!!

On the tails of morning birthday salutes, I found this in the mail:

yay, continued staffing education!

^ Yep. Another year's worth of being certified as an EUCP. Thanks, Express (:  

 

And then THIS: 

finally!! yiiieeee

^ About a week or so back, I gave in and finally ordered some waxed polyester cord; it's the same material [I think] used to make the famous Pura Vida bracelets. I have several of their bracelets, but decided that it's high time I start making some of my own, inspired by their design, but customized exactly how I want them. I started today, and have to say they didn't turn out bad. Marianne is the lucky guinea pig who gets the first set:

fun!

Oh... the possibilities.

Now for the sad - and I mean truly sad part of today:
By now it's been on every headline out there, but today the world lost Robin Williams.

I realized today that we don't always recognize the fact that personalities who as adults themselves defined large parts of our childhood, continue to age just as we do. I won't say I was a prolific follower of all things Robin Williams, but he was absolutely an iconic figure in my mind.

I mean c'mon.. he was the GENIE!
He was Adrian Cronauer!
He was Patch Adams!
He made Flubber!
He was Rainbow Rudolph!
HE WAS MRS. DOUBTFIRE!!

That list is obviously so long that it warrants more accolade than I could give on my own. Outside of his acting career, Robin was a philanthropist with a huge heart; Shriner's and the USO found much of his dedicated time, and the man contributed to the advancement of humanity in ways we didn't always recognize.

And he left this world today, after battling severe depression, ultimately leading to his suicide.

"genie, you're free."
 - the academy of motion picture arts & sciences

And okokokokokay.... to clarify, NO, I'm not propogating the idea that suicide equates freedom.

NO NO NO NO NO. The more I examined that statement, given by The Academy, the more I could justify why many people were offended by it - yes, in its immediate simplicity, it does leave room to suggest that by committing suicide, RW was "liberated."

NO NO NO NO NO. What I'm hopefully assuming the Academy meant to convey was the same sense of remorse so many other people feel at his passing: the long and excruciating struggle is over. It did NOT end the way it should have, at all, but it is over.

I have seen what happens to families ripped apart by suicide. I do NOT believe that the act of taking your own life delivers freedom to ANYONE. My heart hurts to think that, regardless of his celebrity status, RW has family and friends who are intimately destroyed by losing him.

Here's a solemn call-to-action for all of you out there.. from me to you: If you, or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts.......... talk. TALK to someone. It's only too late if you choose to ignore it. I joined the AFSP in 2009 after losing my friend Jena to suicide and watched her family and the rest of us blindly picking up the pieces.

Rest in peace, Robin. The world lost a remarkable soul today.

xo | cmd

Farewell, Legend : Nelson Mandela

In the midst of the string of recent celebrity deaths, I recognize that we are each affected differently by each one. The world bands together to show their affection for late individuals based on the characters they played on television, the music they wrote, or impacts they had in any other capacity to shaping whatever fraction of the world around them they did.

Today, a legendary man passed away. He wasn't a movie star or famous musician, but rather a globally-recognized leader, president, social mediator and human rights icon.

nelson mandela | 1918 - 2013

After reading many of the tributes already released in honor of Nelson Mandela, I decided to share those instead of forge my own; I'll be the first to admit that I have not actively followed Mandela's activity over the past few years, therefore I feel it would be something of a dishonest act for me to expand on the life of such an extroardinary man when I may not have the appropriate words.

Below are some of the tributes written by individuals and organizations - very educating, and moving!
Kerry Kennedy | President, Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights

Dan Rather | Host, 'Dan Rather Reports'

Muhammad Ali | Boxing Legend

Kumi Naidoo | Executive Director, Greenpeace International

George H. W. Bush | Former President, United States of America

The world certainly did lose one of its greatest influencers today. I mean absolutely no discredit or disrespect to the tragedy behind Paul Walker's recent death [along with Roger Rodas]. I'm making a personal tribute entry now to Nelson Mandela [& really, I'm nobody professionally-notable!] as my commitment of prayer for South Africa & the multitude of people who may consequently be facing tumultuous changes in his absence. I pray for the continuance of his influence in those regions, that the peace & humble but solid stands he took will be remembered and upheld.

Thank you, Nelson.

xo | cmd

FACE MASH [Inspiration]

To the internet, again I must say, Thanks.

Somehow I stumbled upon some celebrity facemashes today, and decided that at some point, I'm going to launch off into my own project of compilations. I'll keep ya'll posted, but I now have some solid ideas of how to incorporate my own spin on the concept.

I'm excited.
For now... here's [courtesy of Freaking News] some celebrity mashups for your random viewing amusement. To make it a little more interesting, the answers are at the bottom of this entry.. see if you can guess who's who? (:


#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

Answers. Ya'll ready? (:

➊ | Alice Cooper & Al Pacino
➋ | Angelina Jolie & Keira Knightley
➌ | Donald Trump & Bill Gates
➍ | Julia Roberts & Jessica Biel
➎ | Meryl Streep & Paris Hilton
➏ | Natalie Portman & Keira Knightley
➐ | Orlando Bloom & Johnny Depp
➑ | Paris Hilton & Jessica Simpson
➒ | TomKat [who needs their names, anyway, haha]
➓ | X-Men Transplant! Mystique & Magneto

So that was ... time-consuming, right?
Not the most content-flavored entry I've ever posted, but I'll be referring back to this later....

Happy almost Hump-Day!

xo | cmd

Throwback Thursday : Wyclef Jean

Once upon a time, I had the worst job in the history of every job I've ever had. 

Well, I guess I should give it a little credit where it's due; it was because of that job that I met Kim, Catie, Berg and a slew of other people I otherwise wouldn't know and wouldn't have the chance to adore in the same twisted fashion that they adore me. Haha. 

Anyway, I found a shot from waaaaay back when I still worked at the horrible job, and was reminded that although I found myself on nearly a daily basis wondering why I bothered listening to that small voice that kept saying, "Corin, don't punch anyone and don't walk out for good....": there occasionally was a cool person or two we got to meet. 

I said all that to say this: Here's one of those fleeting moments: 

circa 2007

^ RIGHT??! 

I told you this was a throwback. 

.... And yes, that's Wyclef. 

I have a few other random studio moments, events and remotes that I've found recently, too, that still make me laugh just thinking about how we were "requested" [aka kindly mandated] to attend most of those for one reason or another. 

Go figure. Anyway, like I said, this day here just happened to be one of those times a few of us stumbled on the studio when it happened to be Wyclef in there. If I ever find the old video of him playing some random guitar for us, I'll post that, too. Haha. 

Happy TBT!

xo | cmd

Mr. & Mrs. Rekitzke!

9:00 AM: Hair appt. at Regency.
Q: How many students does it take to french braid?

A: 5.

Haha. At least it got done, and that + ½ can of hairspray + 47 hair & bobby pins later it was a done deal. KP, Brittany, and the lovely bride Linda all got some fancy work done as well, and it didn’t turn out half bad at all. Kudos, Regency students!

9:15 AM: Joe dropped Sydni off with our Pastor’s family for her last weekend sleepover there for quite a while.

10:30 AM: Run-through of both songs with the DJ and one.wired.mic. Oh boy. Not to worry, though- we made it happen.

11:15 AM: Get ready, fast. Yeah, it didn’t start until noon, but you’re talking a bride + three girls in one bathroom doing everything except hair.

12:00 PM: GO. <3



congratulations to linda & pete!!

best friend :)



I’m happy to say both songs went off without a hitch, and we partied our little hearts right out until 4:30 PM. Haha. Then it was home to take a nap [we’re old folk now, apparently] before our 7PM group reservation at the Montgomery Inn Boathouse.



Mark Ballas | Dancing With the Stars



Oh yeah. Celeb sightings at the Boathouse. Mark from DWTS

After dinner, we stopped at Rob’s to play spoons, with a twist. Instead of drinking as a consequence for losing a round, it was something sufficiently worse: eating a piece of week-old smurf-blue frosted angel food cake. It’s a dangerous game when you’ve got Brittany and Joe in the finals with blue cake on the line. It was hilarious.

brittany. rob. kara. cameron. jess. tim. cori. joe. nathan. kalyn. sam.
|| after hours at rob's ||



Anyway, weekend’s not over just yet: Tomorrow’s another big day!

xo | cmd