#ldrprompt

   I want to start off by saying that this is my most anticipated visit to Toronto yet. While July was filled with adventure and October full of Halloween-horror and delight, January Christmas is my favorite so far. I had been looking forward to seeing Marissa since my rocky departure in October, and this time I would be getting not only some awesome lovings but GIFTS! Since I don't really celebrate Christmas I was really excited!

The Day before the Flight

January 6th:

   Tuesday was an especially stressful day, and something of an anomaly. I closed at work with the new GM and the District Manager, something that had never happened since I started working there. Things went slow and smooth and somehow served to set the 'finality' of my time in Memphis. What a note to leave on, right? I got home and didn't sleep a bit - too much was running through my mind. I wanted the flights to go smoothly and there to be no delays or problems. Not only that I was absolutely bursting to finally wrap my arms around my lovely Marissa, I wanted to give her the ring I had been paying off for the past few months.

January 7th:

   Let it be said that I am the worlds most punctual man. I was packed and ready to go at 2am and outside waiting for my cab to get there by 4:30. It was cold and very silent in the parking lot of the apartments, something about it really just made me want to get to the airport as soon as possible. When I finally got there I didn't have any real trouble finding my gate, and caught a wonderful sunrise on film. I hung out in the gate lobby and read on my phone. When it came time to board I was the first in line.

   Both my landing and departure from Chicago went easy - I even had time to eat one of those overpriced airport mystery hot dogs. What a treat that was; pretty sure I never had farts that rancid before or after.

   NOW we get to the interesting part!

   "John, what happened when you went through customs in Toronto-Pearson?" WELL I AM GLAD YOU ASKED THAT QUESTION! I expected to just go through the gates and get out onto the platform, but it was not to be. I was stopped by Border Patrol and questioned about my relationship with Marissa, my personal savings, and had to go through all the loops and hurdles to prove I wasn't some dirty border-hopping illegal. After a long, frustrating struggle with shitty airport WiFi, I managed to get a frantic message out to Marissa. "HONEY I AM BEING DETAINED MESSAGE YOUR MOTHER" Thankfully she didn't have too big of a panic attack and everything was sorted out in the end. Didn't even get butt probed. (I have to say the big WELCOME TO CANADA signs in the area where people are being detained seems in poor taste.)

   Details get hazy after I got into the van, all I remember was how happy I felt when I saw Marissa again... I really needed the hug and kiss that I got from her. Once we got back to the house it was like I had never left in October. We picked right back up from where we left off. However, while I got to play on my new laptop, I was FORCED to ogle all the gifts under the Christmas tree for the next 24 hours. But that time went by quick.

January 8th:

   That morning I remember us sleeping in very late and getting warm cuddles from Marissa, something that made all of my problems back home melt away. Being able to go there and relax helped rejuvenate me. The day went by mostly in a flash of playing on the computer and doing stuff till it was time to open up the presents. Now that was what I had been waiting for. All of my gifts were amazing - clothes and a huge bundle of socks (kind of a running joke but still amazing since you can never have enough socks, especially walking as much as I do). Then there was the gaming headset and the awesome iPod nano. My woman knows the things that I really need. Aside from that we both got a scrapbook sorta deal from her parents which chronicled our first meeting and every meeting after that. I have mine stored on my shelf next to a picture of her and I.

   Once all of the gifts were opened, there remained one last thing. Marissa must have known something big was happening because she was sat down on the sofa while her parents started filming. I remember how nervous I felt in my stomach that I was about to do this. I had been planning it with her mom on the phone for a long time, and now the moment was finally here. I resisted making any kind of joke during such a serious life event. With gift box in hand, I walked up to her and started to open it. After much nervous fumbling I got down on one knee and presented it to her, asking her to officially be my wife. The response I got? "WELL OBVIOUSLY!" (can I include she had a smug grin?)

   SO THAT WAS MY GRAND PROPOSAL!

January 9th: A NIGHT ON THE TOWN

   Besides my proposal and gift openings, this was my favorite day of the visit. Marissa, her friends, cousin (a nice lady, I really liked her personality) and me all went out to meet up with my best buddy Brent for a night of adventure in downtown Toronto. I remember having a strange anxiousness in my chest before meeting up with Brent, Veronika and her boyfriend - all I wanted was for everyone to go well. I especially wanted Marissa to like and approve of everything. Brent was just as cool as all those years of online friendship suggested he'd be. The first thing we did was shop around the mall, but once we were done with that we moved onto the museum. THIS PLACE WAS AWESOME. I had no idea that ancient Chinese artwork placed such emphasis on erect nipples. It was like you could judge the importance and significance of a statue or carving by how delicately the nipples were shaped. There were lots of bronze age weapons and knives, which I found really interesting. A shame that there weren't any examples of what the blades would have looked like a thousand years ago. Once upon a time those tools were commonplace and a part of everyday life. I guess museums in a thousand years will display forks, spoons, cars and iphones the same way we display bronze age tools.

   The next exhibit was my favorite - DINOSAURS! It took me back to when I was a kid exploring the Pink Palace here in Memphis... what a time in my life. Once we snapped our pictures and did a little more exploring, and then everyone gathered in the gift shop and we went out to eat. The ramen shop (Kenzo?) was just as good as the last time I went there, but my portion was much larger than I expected and I couldn't finish everything. When all the food was done, Veronika and her boyfriend left and our group was joined by one of Brent's female friends. From there it was time to explore the game shops and then go grab a drink. A shame that it got dark too fast and we didn't get to share that drink (somehow nobody ever thought that a Saturday night downtown would be packed). At the end of the night we all sat at a table in the lounge area of a small mall and swapped stories. The trip back home was uneventful, other than me enjoying just being with Marissa and recalling how well the night had gone. I'd love to do that again sometime.

January 11th:

   When Marissa first told me that it was family tradition to go to a Chinese All You Can Eat Buffet I didn't know quite what to think. Sounded kinda funny actually. From my experiences in Memphis, Chinese restaurants are skeezy at their best and staffed by people that have hilariously bad engrish accents. As soon as we pulled up to the Mandarin and I got my first look at it, it was like that scene in Jurassic Park where Dr. Grant first sees the dinosaurs.

   This place put all other Chinese Restaurants to shame. So along with Marissa, her sister and her friend Zed we went in and did what we always do; take tons of selfies. Just by looking at the healthy pond and marine habitats (both extremely difficult to maintain) I could tell this place had a lot of class and pride. The food was absolutely fantastic and the price wasn't too terrible. It was here that I also remembered that I couldn't handle spicy foods. The table talk was 90% Zed and I discussing our lives and pasts - I really liked that guy. At the end of the night we literally skipped back to the van. That is, to date, one of my very best eating experiences. I loved it. I'm so glad Marissa and her family took me there.

January 12th:

   Star Wars isn't exactly special to me - I've loosely kept up with the movies and media around it because it's cool - but something really made me want to see The Force Awakens. While the prequel movies were good (in my opinion) they couldn't hold a candle to this movie. The action scenes were incredible and it was awesome to see Harrison Ford reprise his role as Han Solo. The downsides to the movie were small but plentiful - first of the offenses was the main protagonists - a cloned Storm trooper and a scavenger - who somehow manage to take on the elite forces of the First Order despite having no real combat experience at all. They were literally guided by the Hand-of-God and you never feel as though they survived their ordeals with anything but sheer dumb luck. Then the Scavenger girl with a blank history and vague motivations is NOW A GODDAMN JEDI SERIOUSLY F YOU JJ ABRAMS. Ben Solo aka Kylo Ren felt more like a whiny goth with sociopathic tendencies and I never got a real... dangerous feel from him. The last offense was the situation humor that is littered in just about every Marvel movie these days. It didn't fit.

   Now that my rant about star wars is done, I want to say that Marissa was a real trooper and stayed awake the entire time with me, even though she admitted that some of the acting made her cringe. I love that girl. And at the end of the day, I'd still give that Star Wars movie a 10/10.

January 14th:

   Marissa and I had gone over our budget for my visit so I was hesitant to go to dinner with her friends, but at the end I finally agreed. Moxie's, the place were we went to eat, looked more like a dance club than a diner. In fact a dance floor would have fit perfectly with the places choice of color theme (dimmed lights, dark colors and lots of neon purple). My first meeting with her friend Lynn was a bit awkward...I wasn't sure I was supposed to shake her hand first or if I needed to wait... so we stood there and stared at each other for a second. Then we shook hands and everything was well. I could swear I could feel the awkward bursting from Marissa. At least things went better when her friend Melissa arrived. So once we had all greeted each other we went to our booth and ordered our food. A lot of the table talk was about the wedding and what all would be going down - mixed in with a bit about my life and me. Come to think of it I didn't find out anything about either of her friends. Neither of them talked about themselves much, which I guess is good since the point of this dinner was to introduce me.

   At the end of the night I think Melissa agreed to sing at our wedding... not sure how that one happened. Oh, and Marissa and I definitely overspent on food. -_-

January 15th: License to Marry

   This was a big day for me - in that it cemented in my mind that I was actually going to get married. The whole proposal and wedding and life together were sort of surreal to me; how could I be getting married after spending so many years all alone? Everything went smoother than smooth (something I'm not used to). I had all of the proper paperwork and the money. Once we paid and were out the door, Marissa and I talked about our time together and our future, as well as sharing some laughs about children in our future. We stopped at EB Games and grabbed some cords for our systems and delicious Five Guys burgers. The rest of the day went by in a blur as I tried to put out my inevitable flight home on Sunday.

THE LAST FULL DAY

   Ugh. I tried my best to make the best of the day. I focused on spending time with Marissa and packing as much bonding and quality time into one evening as possible. We played games and watched movies, and then fell asleep in each others arms that night.

SUNDAY - FREEZING HELL DAY

   We spent our last few hours together playing games and talking and trying not to be depressed (i.e; do the impossible). Once I was packed up and going through U.S Customs I knew my time here was at its end. Going back was the hardest thing I had to do. I hated every second of it. The first flight went by in a sleepy blur. The second flight was a nightmare however. Never EVER fly with United Airlines. They are a disorganized mess. Not only did my flight change gates THREE TIMES but once we actually boarded the plane we were delayed for nearly two extra hours because they forgot to refuel. The flight itself was nerve wracking since the plane kept having electrical malfunctions (with lights flickering and such). Never wanted to kiss the ground so much as when I got off of that damn plane. MARISSA, PLEASE, NO MORE UNITED AIRLINES. And so concludes another awesome and love-filled trip to my true home of Ontario.

If you would like to see some pictures, please take a look at this post on our Wordpress HERE!

Check out the writing prompt Visits on LDRBN.

   So I was scrolling through my Facebook home page and I happened to stumble upon LDR Magazines post about giving away two Tiny Mail Kits to LDR Magazine readers!

   Considering I have tried this kit out myself and LOVED it, I thought this was pretty awesome and would like to let you all know about this opportunity so you don’t miss out! ^-^ ~! Click Here !~ for your chance! The deadline is September 30th!

   This is the video from my review for the Tiny Mail Kit!     If you would like to read my review, please click ~here~

   If you do happen to miss out on this awesome opportunity, you can still purchase the product from Leafcutter Designs here! And you can use the special discount code LDRVIP10!

   I am super late this month with my MM3, which I am not happy about! :( There has been a lot going on this month though, but I do apologize. Anyways, I will get straight to the point!

   So last month, my MM3 were; 

Be sure to have at least one prompt post up per week.

   I tried my very best with this throughout August and I’m happy to say that I am proud of myself for how many posts I managed to write up. I know near the very end of August though I kind of slipped off the rails, but that was mostly because I was preparing to go visit John, hehe. ^-^;

Get to know the people of LDRBN better.

   This one I had a lot of success with! Being part of the LDRBN Skype group has allowed me to get to know a lot of the bloggers there and I am so happy to be part of it! I even got to meet one of them in person. :)

Focus more at work.

   Unfortunately this one didn’t go very much as planned and I am including it again for September... At the beginning, I did very well and caught up with all of my work. However, a whole NEW pile of work was thrown at me and I lost my focus again. :/ I really want my company to be proud of me so I really want this to happen...

These are my new MM3 for the month of September!

1. Carrying over; Focus more at work

   This means I have to stop going on Facebook and Tumblr and Wordpress and whatever the heck else I go on at work when I am supposed to be WORKING, LOL. ._.;

2. Have a successful surprise visit to John

   Surprising him meant giving no hints whatsoever that I would be coming to see him. I wanted everything to go smoothly and to be able to make a video of it after getting home.

3. Start being a little more serious with my diet

   I’ve been saying for such a long time now that I really want to get my weight back down to what it was 3 years ago. I want to look my best for John, but mostly I want to for myself as well because I am not happy with my body the way it is right now. :( I want to lose 30lbs and I want to start getting serious about it...

   So I am sure that a few of you know that I had received my FREE Tiny Mail Kit from Leafcutter Designs a few days ago in the mail! This was all thanks as well to LDR Blogs and LDR Magazine. I have been very excited about doing a review on it. This is actually my first time doing something like this, so I hope that you all enjoy it! I will include a coupon code at the end of my review and a video of myself putting the kit together!

  Alright, so my first initial reaction to the kit when I got it was "Wow! This may be smaller then what I was expecting!" Which was actually perfectly fine with me, since it just made it that much cuter in my opinion. As I opened the kit and examined the contents, I was marveling over everything that was inside. It really did come with everything that you needed for making letters and packages. (See pictures below.) I was also very pleased with the quality of the contents. It was all organized nicely, packed well and I didn't have any worries about something being too fragile to use or too flimsy. Off to a great start!

  Putting everything together? This was the fun part! At first, I was a little overwhelmed with what in the world I was going to do. But then I thought, what else would I do? I got straight to writing a few little letters to the love of my life. Of course, seeing the size of the small papers, I wondered if I was going to have difficulty writing so tiny. However, I found that the very fine tipped pen included in the kit made this an absolute breeze! Once I was finished writing some letters, I was happy to discover that both the writing paper and the envelopes have folding lines. This made my life so much easier in putting the letters together.

  The tiny packages were just as simple to put together. I simply stuffed the bottom of the box with the little newspaper, chose an item to put inside along with a note and then wrapped it up and decorated. Now, the only thing here that I found a tad bit difficult was wrapping the box in the brown construction paper, as the paper did not entirely cover the whole box. But that was easily fixed with just a bit of tape!   I won't forget to mention that I was also fascinated by the tiny mailbox cut-out. It was fairly easy to cut out and assemble, safe for the fact that if you do not have a xacto knife, cutting the openings in the mailbox can be a little tough, but I still managed to do it anyways!

  I'd have to say that my favorite part of the kit were the stamps. Honestly, they are just so adorable and such great quality, it almost makes me want to just stamp everything with them! (Well, maybe not really, haha.) I also thought that the tiny newspapers were super cute as well and actually readable! (If you have good vision.) I totally found the horoscopes section and read mine, since that is really the only part of any newspaper that I read.

  I definitely would use this Tiny Mail Kit again and would recommend it to anyone! It was a lot of fun to put together and it surely makes a cute, unique gift. Not only can you use it for making love letters, you could use it for anything you like such as writing letters to your friends and family as well.

  I hope that you all will try out this awesome kit for yourselves! Use the coupon code LDRVIP10 to get a discount from the Leafcutter Design website at checkout. This cute gift is sure to make someone smile!

   I was VERY happy when I got home last night after work and seen this sitting in my mailbox! The DIY Tiny Mail Activity Kit by Leafcutter Designs!

   A big thank you to Leafcutter Designs and ldr-magazine for sending me this FREE package and giving me this amazing opportunity to review such a cute product!

   I absolutely cannot wait to try this out! I think it is such a great and unique idea, not just for LDR couples, but for all couples and even among friends!

   Please keep an eye out for my review that I will be writing for this product, where I will be providing everyone with a coupon code!

   If you would like to be a part of the LDRBN community and opt in to great campaigns such as this, please click this link > LDR Blogs

   If you do join, please use my name, Marissa, as your reference. It is very important! 

   Thank you so much for viewing this! Please see my short video below to better see the contents of the Tiny Mail.

Dear Doubters,

I don’t need you to validate my relationship. I see how you look at me so judgmentally as I try to explain my relationship to you. Trust me, you’re not the first to do it. I’m here to tell you that my long distance relationship is every bit as real as your relationship. Before you try to throw facts in my face about how “LDR’s don't work” or that “LDR’s always end in heartbreak”, give me a chance to tell you a few things.

Three and a half years ago, I chose to get myself involved in a long distance relationship. I took a risk and gave myself to the man I fell in love with, despite our circumstances. I knew exactly what I was doing, so you don’t get to throw your criticism in my face. I would risk everything for him, and would rather spend years apart than be with anyone else.

Yes, he is over 3500 miles away from me, and yes, within the three and a half years together, I have only been with him physically for three weeks, but no, that does not lessen the importance of my relationship. The fact that he is physically unavailable to me most of the time doesn't matter to me. What does matter, however, is the fact that despite being so far away from him, I still love him unconditionally and more deeply than I have ever loved someone. He is all that matters to me.

Over the years, I’ve heard ridiculous things such as “aren’t you scared he isn't who he says he is?” and “what if he’s just ‘catfishing’ you?”, and it’s rather insulting knowing that you think so of my intelligence. I’m not naive. I know who my boyfriend is. I’ve spent more time conversing with him and getting to know him on a personal level than most couples. As we say, distance makes the heart grow fonder. “Aren’t you afraid that he’s with other girls? He’s pretty far away.” Don’t you know what trust is? I know that he loves me, and I know he wouldn’t dream of doing anything to compromise our relationship.

When I tell people that we met over a chat site, that instantly somehow makes my relationship something that really isn’t “real” to most people. I wish you could understand that just because my relationship is different than yours, doesn't mean that ours won't last or is somehow less than yours. I wish you could see how happy I am because of him.

I don’t need you to tell me that I could find someone just as good if not better within a closer proximity. I don't need you to tell me that “it won't last”, because it will. I don’t need your pity, or you wondering how my relationship has lasted so long. I don't need you to validate my relationship.

-Kelly

Mixed Up in Love- Pt. 2

Dear mom,

Why do you say such racist things?

   You do this the most and it hurts me so much. You try to come up with reasons to why Cruz is not a good guy for me, but it almost always has a racist undertone. Would you rather have me date a horrible Asian guy rather than an amazing Black guy?

Why do you say that he’s crazy just because he’s from the internet?

   You think that everybody that I talk to on the internet is fake and crazy. How is that possible when almost everybody is online now? Are you telling me that every single person is fake and crazy then?

Why do you say that he is disrespectful to you?

   You say that he never tried to talk to you and that he is telling me to rebel against you. He would never disrespect you or tell me to be disrespectful to you! I love you very much and already told you that I would NEVER date someone who is disrespectful to my family. He’s tried to talk to you and I already told you that he really wanted to. You continuously shot him down every time he asks to communicate with you and then you attack me with how he is disrespectful? You are so judgmental that you never even gave him a chance!  

Why do you say that he only wants to use me for sex?

   You assume that everyone online is a pedophile or a rapist. You always make up ridiculous scenarios of how Cruz is going to hurt me. Seriously, you watch the news too much- not everybody online is out to hurt me.  Cruz would never do that to me!

Why do you say he is cheating on me and is talking to many other girls?

   I am aware that technology has made it so much easier to cheat on your significant other. However, you raised me to be smart enough not to ever date a man like that. I know my dad cheated on you and ruined our family. I lived through the hardships with you and trust me- I will NEVER let that happen to me.

You say you don’t want to see our kids. You say they will be ugly.

   Again this is also racist. My mixed children will be beautiful even if they have darker skin. Darker skin is NOT ugly.

You say you will disown me if I ever married him. My sisters won’t even be allowed to go the wedding.

   I was alone for most of my life. You know that I always got into a lot of fights and lost a lot of friends. Every time I was going through difficulties, you and my sisters were the ones that were always there for me, so this hurts me the most. You are going to disown me just because of this...?

I really do love you mom

   But I really wish you could see how happy Cruz makes me. You are a wonderful mother that really cares about her children and will go to the ends of the earth for them.  I really wish you could see how much he has helped me to grow better as a person. He’s given me the support and courage to overcome my problems and go for my goals in life. Cruz is an amazing person and I wish that for a moment you would stop being judgement to see that. I love him so much and I am thankful everyday for having him in my life.

Sincerely, 

Michi

~Click to read part one~

Inspired by this LDR Writing Prompt- Open Letter

Click here to join LDRBN, The Long Distance Relationship Blogging Network~

   So the LDR Blogging community that I am part of (LDRBN) is doing something they like to call My Monthly 3 (MM3)! Basically you have to choose 3 goals that you would like to accomplish that month. They can be anything you want! Whether it be personal goals, relationship goals or blogging goals. Here are my 3 goals for the month of August!

1. Be sure to have at least one prompt post up per week.

   I know in July I sort of fell behind in my LDRBN Prompt posts, mostly because John came to visit me. This month I would like to try and make up for that by posting more Prompts, at least once a week for sure!

2. Get to know the people of LDRBN better.

   Since I joined LDRBN, there hasn’t been very much opportunity to get to know my fellow bloggers. For the month of August I would like to be able to get to know them better and maybe even become friends with some of them!

3. Focus more at work.