Colorado Kimmie

 My little brother (actually he's a lot bigger than me at six feet, 245 lbs) has sustained a series of nose traumas his entire life.  From a severe bike accident to getting punched in the face to wrestling in Army (Brazilian jiu-jitzu and combatives in Infantry) to a roller skating collision to an elbow to the face on the basketball court, his nose has seen a few blows (very nose-talgic memories).   Skip to today.... He struggles with a deviated septum and sinusitis (any place that is hot, dark, and moist can be a breeding ground for bacteria and become a petri dish for infection) and other breathing problems and has become addicted to OTC nasal sprays just to breathe.  He had the classic, puffy, purple "shiners" under his eyes.  The struggle is real, especially in high altitudes.  A lot of people like my brother usually resort to a series of nose surgeries (upwards of $8K each) with extremely long healing processes, bleeding, and intense pain (where p...

 Welcome back! Recently I had a stop in Lake Havasu, Arizona!  This place is such a well-kept secret.  Basically it's lake oasis retreat in the desert.  Lake Havasu brings a resort community, quaint shops and cool restaurants, GREAT people (I made two Facebook friends while visiting), and some pretty cool history! My first stop in Lake Havasu was The London Bridge.  Yes, the real London Bridge.  This bridge was originally constructed in the 1830s and for years spanned the River Thames in London England.  London outgrew the bridge and just planned on tearing it down.  However, in 1968, Robert McCullough bought the bridge from the City of London to have it transported back to Lake Havasu Resort (a community he started in 1964).  The reconstruction of the London Bridge in America was completed in 1971 and connects over a canal and marries an island in the Colorado River to the the main portion of Lake Havasu City! I present (drumroll)...the most...

 Why hello!  Fancy seeing you here...back reading more intriguing random stuff? I'm hoping if you're reading this, you've seen the movie "Legally Blonde."  It's about a spunky blonde fashion student who chases after a boy all the way to Harvard Law School.  I watched this movie on a recent road trip.  I thought, wow, how different the plot would have been if it was me, a spunky red head being dumped by my boyfriend (for no reason other than I wasn't part of the East Coast country club scene and namesakes.)  I would no doubt tell the guy to eff off and sashay away with my head held high.  But, not Elle Woods.  It took her 1 hour and minutes to finally figure out that if someone couldn't see her worth to begin with, they were a huge waste of time. Now rewind back to the year 2008.  There was a young up and coming motivational speaker named Travis Alexander residing in Mesa, AZ.  He randomly met a "legally blonde" bomb shell named Jodi Aria...

Hello Amigos! (and Amigas) Or, are we non-gender binary.  I don't even know anymore. Anyways...  Recently I visited an affluent San Diego suburb, Rancho Santa Fe.  On March 26, 1997 (the year I graduated High School), San Diego deputies found the bodies of 39 members of Heaven's Gate who had participated in a mass suicide (coinciding with the Comet Hale-Bobb).  Just before the mass suicide, the group updated their website: "Hale-Bopp brings closure to Heaven's Gate...our 22 years of classroom here on planet Earth is finally coming to conclusion -- 'graduation' from the Human Evolutionary Level.  We are happily prepared to leave 'this world' and go with Ti's crew."    Prior to Heaven's Gate, the group had been known by "Human Individual Metamorphosis" and "Total Overcomers Anonymous."  The leader, Marshal Applewhite was the son of a Presbyterian minister.  He served in the US Army and had a Masters degree from the Univers...

 Hello again! On my recent road trip, I made my way out to Los Angeles for my first time ever and decided to take a tour of the Church of Scientology of the City of Angels.  Most of us by now have seen spunky, sassy pants Leah Remini blow the lid off this "religious" organization.  Now it's Colorado Kimmie's turn to take a look into what makes this pathway so attractive to so many.  I went into the "belly of the beast"... First, this "Church" takes up several blocks (of prime real estate...among the most expensive in the world) in downtown Los Angeles (along with many other impressive buildings throughout California), and oddly enough it's really super hard to get in!  I drove the block multiple times before finally entering the parking lot through a one-way, going the wrong way.  It was almost designed to weed out the weaker minded and less determined.  So, would I call it "welcoming?"  Umm hard no. The church of Scientology was star...