Grief Week 2025 Recap | 018

Welcome back to another episode of Resilient AF with Blair

and Alana. And Lou.

Hi. Good morning. Hello. I say good morning because we're recording

this. Yeah. It's six it's 6AM for me. Yeah.

We're doing a little pre Alana work.

Record session. No one can see this, but I'm

well, I'm wearing a Resilient AF shirt. And, I was so excited

because, like, I wore it yesterday to an event locally. And,

anyways, I woke up and there's a big chocolate stain, like, smooshed into it. So

I'm like, fucked it. Was it like that at the event?

I I don't think it was, but that's fine. So

we have had a crazy few months, and it feels like the last two months

has been twelve months long. And Oh. Like, February was

just bananas in pajamas. And so today, we're gonna

recap what the last couple weeks have looked like, kicking it

off with grief week. Yeah. We're gonna

kick it off with grief week. I am I just

had a microphone situation happen. So,

all good. Alright. So I think what

you need to know out there who don't, like, really know who we are, we

live in different cities in Canada. And Atlanta lives somewhere with,

like, a major airport and more direct or, like, somewhat direct

flights to other big airports. Where I live with a where I

live, it's a small regional airport. And so, like,

sometimes flying out of where I live is a bit more complicated.

And so this year for grief week, we went to Palm Springs. And

so grief week started off with me

driving two hours in a snowstorm to a different airport

and, getting a million notifications that my

flight was there was no staff. My flight

was getting moved. My flight was back on track. My flight was late. My connection

was late. And, basically, it was extremely chaotic. And it was,

like, at, like, 5AM, I was on the phone with WestJet trying to,

like, figure that all out. And I got to the airport, and they couldn't

even find my reservation. And it was just chaotic. And

our dad our dead dad day, the day that Leonard died, is February 18,

and this is all February 17. And they actually said to me, like, the only

solution might be, like, we'll get you to Vancouver, and then we'll get you there

on the eighteenth. I'm like, well, that's not gonna work. But I just had to,

like, trust a higher power was gonna get me there. And

I ended up getting there, like, with my original flights because everyone

was late. And that happened to be the day the

plane flipped upside down in Toronto. Yeah.

Yeah. That was a quite a travel day. And then on my

end, every like, I had to so where

I live, a couple days a week, they have direct flights to Palm Springs, but

I would we'll be again, because we don't fly on dead

days, death days, I had to take a

connecting flight through Vancouver,

which was actually pretty fine and everything.

However, when I got there,

where we were staying, we also got a car a rental

car. And the lineup

to get this rental car, I think, because everyone uses this one.

Costco package? Yeah. Costco package,

was over an hour and a half. And,

I sort of befriended the people behind me AKA they

just started talking to me, and I responded.

But then when we went to go get the car or when I went to

go get my car, they had upgraded us to

a an electric car. Like, fancy electric car.

Fancy. Which I've never driven before, so that was

an experience. They are different than a

gas powered car. But by then, the time

I, like, did all that and got to where we were staying,

I had only had two hours of sleep the night before because my flight

was at, like, 6AM, which means I had to wake up at 4AM, and I

always get the pre trip anxieties. So I didn't sleep.

So I was originally supposed to go pick up Blair,

but then I just, like, could not move. So I took a very

expensive Uber. Yeah.

But then we made it together. We were there together. Yeah. And so this resort

was amazing. So just like to start off, like, we had phenomenal weather.

This resort was amazing. The beds were very comfortable. We had a couple

hiccups that they handled, like, well, and we'll talk about that in a second.

And, yeah, like, I I would and the pool is amazing. Lots of places to

lie down in the sun. And, like, I if we go well, when

we go back to Palm Springs, I would love to stay there again for grief

week in the future. And, I just just love Palm

Springs. It's just like you land. It's an outdoor airport. It's warm. Best. It's the

best. Like, I see myself living there, and I'm, like, very quickly morphing into a

full golden girl. Like, you know, we got matching visors from

Indian Wells, which is the community it was in. And, like, I bought this, like,

shawl for $10, and I looked in the mirror, and I was like, oh my

god. I'm a golden girl. This is great. Yeah. So dead dad

day. I actually, some childhood friends, like a friend of mine,

Pam, that I've had for, like, thirty years from Winnipeg. I knew she was in

Palm Springs the same time, so I messaged her. And it just so happened her

cousin from that lives in Toronto was staying at the same resort. And

so we ended up spending dead dad day with my friends and

their kids. And it was just so lovely and, like, nice, and we all

went for dinner. And it was just, like, to me, like, dead dad day, this

was, like, a very beautiful way to spend it, like, in the sun with friends.

Yeah. It was great. And we started the day off with a a nice walk

in the morning too. And Oh, yeah. I did yoga. You did

yoga. I went to Target. We all get our calm in different

ways. A lot of work for a relaxing walk in Target.

Yeah. But, yeah, it was lovely.

Like, if you're just, like, tuning in

now, every every grief week we've had, we've had,

like, little hiccups. Most of the time, the weather is not the best,

and, other things kind of happen.

But I would say, like, I mean, the weather I

keep saying weather because it really was the best. It

was the best. It was best. Like, we, like, laid in the sun all day

every day. Like, we woke up. We'd hot lock our hot tub. Usually, both

lie in by the pool, switch out our bathing suits, put another bun on,

go to the pool again. Like, it was great. Yeah. So a

couple days into our trip, we had this situation.

I may or may not have also had an edible. Mhmm.

And so we're, like, so excited to get into bed. I,

like, go have, like, the best shower of my life. And Yeah. Alana's like,

Blair, we have a problem. Like, no. What's the problem? You're like, there there's

bugs. And But I wasn't, like, a % sure

because I may or may not have also had that of

all. And so we're, like, looking, and there's,

like, hundreds. They're like fruit fly. Hundreds,

like, of these, like, fruit fly things, but all over the walls,

anywhere there was a light. And, like, this wasn't, like, a case of, oh, we

left the window open. But, like, again, we weren't sure, so we called the front

desk. And they send him this very nice older gentleman

from housekeeping oh, no. Sorry. From engineering. He comes

and looks at it, and he's like, okay. And he's like, I'll be right back.

And I to bedtime. I fucking lost it.

He starts he comes back with a massive vacuum,

and I he starts vacuuming the walls, the

ceiling, the corners. Like, he's in there for he was in there for, like, twenty

minutes. Yeah. Vacuuming. And then he, like,

proceed to check our patio door. And so we thought maybe, okay, maybe we did

leave it open. We don't really know. So he shut it, and then Alana and

I were so, like, that was really funny. And we're like,

okay. Like, that won't happen again. But then, like, then the next morning was kind

of frustrating. Like, there was, like, some weird construction above our room, and I was,

like, having to take a call. That was annoying, but whatever. And we complained

just because, like, we're we should be able to, like, work in our hotel

room or they need to warn us if there's going to be, like, drilling.

And they gave us a credit for for some, you know, food, which was

awesome. But then the next night,

we didn't we didn't touch the patio because we were both fucking nervous. We

were nervous. And so

same thing happens. Alana's like, oh, no. And

by the lamp, by Alana's bed, they were back.

Mhmm. Well, they weren't back because the ones that were there were sucked into the

vacuum. But, like, the bugs bugs were there. Yeah.

And they sent another guy from engineering to vacuum up

the bugs. And then the next morning at 7AM, we went

down in our pajamas and, asked for a new room.

Mhmm. Again, I felt like the gas lit us kind of, like, oh, like, maybe,

like, it's the desert and, like, I'm like, no. No. We're Canadian. Like, I live

in the woods. Like, I know I know bugs exist in nature, but this is

not normal. And, like, a lot of made videos. So they were they upgraded us.

They moved us to a new room. It was, like, obviously very frustrating to have

to pack and then, like, unpack in grief week.

But. And, like, the person who helped her

lower luggage, it was so lovely. They gave her credit.

Yeah. Which was great because the coffee was so expensive and the Canadian,

dollar to the American dollar is terrible. But, yeah, it was just

like they upgraded us. It was great. Very lovely.

Know, we did more lying by the pool, more Target, Trader Joe's.

The day before dead mom day, I met a DJ when I was

speaking in Costa Rica. So he's a Israeli DJ that lives

in The US in California.

And I met him in Costa Rica at the event I was speaking at. And

it was happened to be his birthday, and he and his friends that flew in

from all over the world rented this, like, really beautiful house, the Invisible House.

House. You may have heard of it in Joshua Tree. And so I decided to

go out for the day and, like, hang out with some of my new friends

that I made in Costa Rica and then hang out and

relax and do some dancing. And for me, it was just,

like, I love dancing and I love DJs and I just love

cool fucking people. And, like, everyone there was just

so interesting and I had so much fun. And I was home in bed by,

Like and driving the electric car on the highway, oof, that is fun. Like, it

is very easy to go fast. Like, I yeah. I loved it. And it's so

funny because, like, Alana and I, this is where we are so different. So,

like, I go basically have a dance party in the desert.

Yeah. And then I was like, oh, like, I'm gonna

go to the spa. So I had booked something called,

like it was like a CBD wellness soak, and I was like, that sounds

interesting. It's somewhat affordable compared to other treatments.

So I go to the spa area, have a lovely

time in, like, the cushioned chairs outside and the hot tub,

have this wellness soak. I'm lying on some mat. It's like a PMF

or something mat with, like, these goggles that massage your eyes

and in this bath. It was great.

And then I ordered room service, caught up on

the traders and other bravo shows that I had

missed, and probably was asleep by, like,

39. Yeah. It was great. And she had leftover salad and fries for me

to eat, so that was nice. So, dead dad day

sorry. Dead mom day was the next day, and it was lovely. We

we woke up and had a hot tub. Right.

And then and laid by the pool, like because I got home late. We woke

up. Like, every day, we were like, let's go for hikes. So, like, if you're

wondering if we ever went to Alana's favorite hike, we didn't. No.

We didn't. We did not hike. So But I don't regret

it. No. Like, whatever is meant to be is meant to be. Yeah. So

we, lie by the pool, and then we went to meet

one of our mom's friends that, she's known us our entire lives,

at I call it a swap meet. Lana calls it

a flea market. Yeah. But apparently, it's called

both. I'm actually not even sure what it is actually called. Yeah. But it was

really nice. And we actually ran into other people who knew our mom and, like

and I ran into my friend Pam's mom and dad, which was really nice.

And that's where I bought my, like, $10 granny shawl, which I'll

debut at my sparkles and shine still raving. No. I

lied. Lordy Lordy still raving at 40. That's the theme of my one of

my birthday parties this summer. I'll debut it that weekend.

But, it was really nice. I mean, Alana and I bought like, again, part

of our morphing into Golden Girls, we bought matching trivet. I have

it. We bought these, like, pom pom trivets. Shane loved it so much. He's like,

oh my god. Do they have rugs? I'm like, yeah. And I gave him the

business card. I'm like, the rugs were so expensive. He's like, of course. It's gonna

be, the size we want is gonna be thousands of

dollars. So it's for the future. So I don't cook.

So trivets, I'm told, are for, like, hot plates, but it's

just gonna be decor for me. If you're watching the video, I'm

holding it up right now. It's, like, colorful and It's, like, pom pom.

It's like yeah. It's like it's like these wool balls. Very colorful. So mine's in

the middle of my coffee table with a vase of tulips on it. And

it's it's great. It brings a lot of color to the room, and my room's

quite monotone. Like, my it's very gray. So I I love it. And, like, I

think a rug would look really cool. Like, it would really brighten up that space

in there. So It would be so awesome. So maybe that's, like, one of my

get out of debt free not free. Get out of my in my head, I'm

like, get out of jail free. Get out of my debt presence. I don't know.

So and, yeah, it was really nice. And, like, the saddest I was on grief

week was when it ended. And Yeah.

Me too. You know, before we start to talk about the the LA

part of our trip. So I'm I'm 39

years old, and I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was

39 years old, only in the fall.

And, and right now it's March.

And I realized, like, with these med with this medication,

like, who I really am and, like, what I was missing out on.

But, like, one of the the, like, really terrible things about ADHD

is, like, you have to still have to remember to do things that,

like, sometimes it just, like, feels hard, like, getting refills on prescriptions. And

because I've been traveling so much, I totally forgot this happened. But, like,

my prescription ran out and the pharmacy was able to give me, like, an emergency

month before New York. And I got home and I was like, okay.

I need more pills and and I couldn't get into my doctor. I was like,

oh, they'll just maybe give me and they're I didn't know they couldn't extend. Like,

I didn't know, like, I didn't know I don't know the rules. Like, this is

my first rodeo on the pills. And so I learned a lesson the hard way.

And, like, they couldn't extend and I couldn't get in. So I I had one

emergency pill I was saving for the Oscars event because, like, if I need a

day to be dialed, that's the day. And they were able to give me two

emergency pills. So I had three emergency

ADHD pills to make last for two and a half

weeks. And also during this time, I was, like,

towards the end, I was PMSing and, like, so tired. Like, a two month

launch, like, I'm not complaining. I'm very lucky and privileged and

grateful, but, like, I'm tired. Like, I'm someone who likes to lie on the couch

and watch cat watch cats pet my cats and watch TV. Mhmm.

And and so I was definitely feeling it, like, in LA. So,

I took one pill one of the pills I took the day I went out

to Joshua Tree because I needed that extra, like, energy and focus for driving on

the highway and, like, staying up later than

8PM because we kind of went to bed at, like, 8PM every night and slept

for eleven hours Yeah. During grief week. So I

was very careful about rationing my lap my my my extra pill because

one was for the Oscars event. So we take the electric car. We we have

to pack up our room. We pack the car. We have to take the car

back to the airport. Now we have to exchange it for a different rental car.

Mhmm. Because now we have to go to LA. And I

drive. It's great. Alana made a phenomenal playlist. I'm super

into it. I, like, fell in love with Jochi. And there's

other songs. I can't I haven't found them yet because I've been listening to Jochi

on repeat. I love her song Catfish. And the song that just came out anxiety

is what kept me up in the middle of the night. Like, it's just when

my pill wears off, my brain goes on a journey, and, like, I'm in a

music festival, basically. And at 1AM per second. Oh my gosh. When you said

that you had anxiety in your head, I thought you were just externalizing your

own anxiety. No. The song was on loop for an hour in my

head, and I was like, oh my god. I can't even I can't go back

to sleep. Like, shut up, Rain. Alana. Alana, I was like, Alana, I

was so tired. I woke up in the middle of the night and anxiety was

stuck in my head. But I was referring to the song not having anxiety. But

now I have anxiety because I didn't sleep well, but the pills kicking in, so

it's fine. Yeah. And so, anyways, so we go to LA. We get the

car. I drive. It was all fine. But, like, once you get to LA, there's,

like, a lot of different freeways and you make one wrong turn and you're all

of a sudden, like, not where you need to be. And Yeah. We stopped for

a coffee and that was really helpful helpful because, like, I had

to pee and we had we needed to refuel. And then we decided I I

really wanted to stay in Venice Beach because Atlanta had never really been, and I

love Venice Beach. Like, it's just to me, it's, like, my vibe. Like, it's

very colorful. I love the canals. I just love the homes, the people, like, the

diversity in, like and,

like so we rented this place, and it

wasn't through, like, an Airbnb or anything. We did it through a hotel website that

also has other accommodations. And I would say that accommodation was

so expensive and a fail. Huge fail.

Like, we had it for two nights, and Alana hated it so much.

Well, I did too, but Alana hated it so much that she just, like, called

where our other hotel, and she asked if we can come a day early.

I was also trying to, like, preserve our relationship because

it was Saturday. Hey. So this place we didn't sleep. So this place was,

like, Main Floor, like, studio suite. The bathroom was bigger than the rest

of the place. The bathroom was the best part. It had, like, window. It had

skylights. Like, it was great. Whatever. But the and the bed wasn't was comfy,

but the place was, like, dank and musty. Like, it

had that smell of, like, mold and must. But what was even

worse was that they had one of those automatic air fresheners that automatically went

off every half an hour. And it was so loud. Like, I

would wake up to Yeah.

And so that that but then the house smelled like the air freshener covering

up must. Yeah. And it wasn't even a good smelling air freshener. It

smelled cheap. And strong. And strong. And so, anyways,

we we complained. The guy was the guy that was managing the property

was, like, I would say, a dick. I never

leave negative reviews. I couldn't get, like, refunded for that night because they said that

we didn't give them adequate time to solve the problem, like, unless you're gonna do

a reno. Well and the owner or the person who

manages was out of the country, so I'm not sure what he was gonna do

within twelve hours. So But I do wanna say, like, the Maria is one of

the people who was managing, like like, the the cleaning and what. She was lovely.

I lost my credit card to the bit in the dryer. She was really lovely.

But yeah. So I did something I never do, and I, like, I don't really

like to leave bad reviews, but, like, I felt like I just wanna warn people.

Like, if you're gonna come here, it stinks. Yeah. And, like

so anyways, we moved to the the where the event was. It was great. It

was actually good that we were there when we were there. So the next day,

like, we set up. So this year for the Oscars gifting lounge, we did some

things a bit different. This is our third gifting lounge. Thank you. Shout out to

Heather Mariana, who puts this on. And wonderful

job. Yeah. It was just a really great event. We got, got, like, we got

a lot of great feedback from people enjoying themselves, and I told I told Heather

that. So, this year, we got custom

resilient AF sweaters made that not this one, but they're black with, like,

white writing, and they were, like, really nice quality. And

we had our new book, Resilient AF Volume two. And

we ran a contest, so we brought one of our authors,

Simran, which was amazing. She won. She sold the most

books in our presale. And then, Cara, who's

also, one of our authors, Cara Sanchez, she's the editor in chief

of Get Griefy magazine, and we've just developed a strategic partnership.

We we promote the shit out of them. They promote us. And,

the first issue of the year of their magazine Get Grief is a collaboration issue

between her community and ours. And not only am I a cover girl of

grief, but I have gone two covers now of grief magazines. It looks

nice. It looks really nice. Through it there? Like it A little bit.

But I need I need to order a copy. Yeah. So so this

was a really cool experience. And, like, Kara's episode is, you know, you

could listen to it. It's out now. But it was great

to have a team there because it is a lot of energy. Because the way

it works is that the celebrities and media show up and they get escorted to

your table and you tell them your story. And we're not really selling anything. We're

just trying to spread the word on helping the world be more resilient.

And, I think it was really nice to have help and

support there, you know, photographers, like especially because we want pictures of the

celebrities holding the books and, like, the shirts. And I don't wanna be in all

these photos. Like, I want this to be about the community. I don't need it

to be the Blair show. It It has been because it's what happens in startups.

But I'm I really wanna lead from behind and, like, amplify and lift. And so

I thought it was really amazing to give this experience to, like, our

some of our community members. And we had some really,

really great conversations, people who were at past events remembering us,

coming up to us. You know, people, you know, wanting to maybe do a

documentary, be in our book, partner. We have some cool things

that are are starting to happen, and I'll share them as they come because it's

cool. Because, you know, from showing up and showing up, these things are

starting to happen. And so that's the thing. It's consistency showing up,

building relationships. It's so important. My

favorite interaction was with Johnny is it Whitworth?

Whitworth. So my favorite favorite

movie of all time is? Empire

Records. Empire Records. It follows a group of motley teens,

working at a music store, trying to save it because it's about to get bought

out by a corporation. And, like, this movie is from the nineties, '90 '5. I

fucking love it. Like, I love it. Like, I need to watch it again. I

haven't watched it in a while. But, anyways so just

that's a sidebar. So this one guy like, usually,

people are really excited to, like, get our stuff, like books or

sweaters or whatever, or they take them anyways. And these sweaters were, like, high quality.

Like, they people like them so much. They like like, Snoop Dogg's manager was, like,

kinda one for my daughter. I'm like, yeah. You can't. Like, they're they're good.

So, he he he's kinda, you know, walking by. He's very

eccentric, and he, I was like I told him I'm like, hey. Like, want

one of our sweaters? And we started chatting. So I he'd I didn't tell him

our story at first, but he's like and I gave him a sweater, and then

I'm like, do you want a book? He's, you know, I'm not I'm not gonna

read it. So I'm just being honest. I'm like, okay. No problem. And he came

back gave us back the shirt. He's like, you know, I'm not gonna wear this.

We're like, that's cool. No problem. And then Kara tried to give him a sticker

for his water bottle. He's like, I don't want that energy exchange. Like, get griefy.

You know, my water bottle everything's an energy. And then, we told him the

story of our project. He, like, lowered his sunglasses, but I told him, like, basically

that everyone died. This is what we're doing. I have a black tourmaline

stone on my neck. He asked me about it. That was probably the highlight of

the conversation. And this whole time, I was like, why does he look so

familiar? And I'm so bad at knowing who people are.

Like, I will recognize someone like Jason Momoa

Mhmm. Or like Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie, but I'm very bad at

recognizing celebrities. Like, I physically ran into Owen Wilson in

Vancouver. Like, I, you know, worked at a store that celebrities would come through and,

like, I wouldn't know who people were till, like, after they left because I have

to look them up. Like, you know, like Mhmm. You know, someone's like this

or that's that's so and so. I'm like, who? And I am like, oh. So

anyways, I look up this guy after. We took oh, he's like, let's take a

photo. So we took a photo with him, which was great with the shirt. And

I looked him up after, and he plays AJ, which is one of the main

characters of Empire Records. So I thought that was

really funny because I actually didn't look that up right away.

But the next morning, I was recording a podcast with Kara,

for Meet Me Where I Am. So me, Kara, and Grant Gary. Grant Gary, it

came to our hotel and interviewed us, and he'll be on our show too. And

in there, we're talking about favorite movies, and I mentioned Empire Records. And this is

before I looked up Johnny and who what he did because I wanted to go

back and see who who worked on what. And I was just like, that is

so funny. Like, I was just talking about Empire Records and how much I loved

it. And then I was like, oh my god. So if I see him again,

now I could now I could quote the movie to him. Yeah.

Or maybe he'll listen to this podcast, but probably not. Olena. Okay. So

so, anyways, a lot of great people came through. You can check out our social

media. We're, like, sharing who was there. Who was the highlight for

you? I think I know the answer. Sufi

Bradshaw. Is that who you were gonna think? Yeah. Yeah.

Who played Sue on Veep, which is one of the best shows

ever. Really good handshake.

Maybe she'll listen to this. You have a really good handshake. And,

it was just like we were talking about Veep and how it's basically

reality. And, and then,

she's been engaging with us on on social media, and,

it was just so cool. I did get a heads up that she was coming

through because I had a friend who was helping out Escort,

and she let me know as she was leaving. And so I was like, oh

my gosh. I need to meet her. Oh, that's funny. I love this show. So

that was my highlight. It was amazing. Yeah. And we met housewives and

producers and, like, other celebrities. And what was really cool is a

lot of people came through who saw our names being

Kaplan, and they were also Jewish. And they would say, like they would ask, like,

are you Jewish? And I actually tribe

member? Yeah. Like, I I don't know. Like, for me, it's just a really comforting

thing. Like, I don't know. Like, I love meeting other, like, Jewish people who especially

when they're excited to be Jewish. Yeah. I mean, I also have a Magen David,

like, a Star of David on my neck, but sometimes it tucks away because of

the length. But yeah. So and not just that. I'm

sober and, a few people coming through,

very big celebrities, you know, would share their story about being

sober before before me even sharing that with them. So it was really cool to

connect on that level about sobriety and seeing these people of influence wanting to

support us and send us people to be part of the project is just really,

really special. And so, yeah, I would say it was a super big success.

And, you know, being able to walk the red carpet with you, Alana,

Simran, and Mhmm. Karen, get photos, it was just really awesome.

Yeah. It was fantastic. And, you know, this is our third time

doing, Heather's, events. And

they honestly they just get better and better every time, and Mhmm. We get

more confident every time. And it's really nice because

some of the same people come through each time, and we've built relationships in a

way with them. And Yeah. Like, big Percy, Snoop Dogg's manager. I

think he also does work with, like, Paris Hilton. But, like, he's so comfortable with

us. He, like, came and, like, sat behind our table, took off his shoes.

Yeah. Note. Yeah. Oh, another highlight,

very, very funny, funny woman.

I I think our video of her is on social. But Yeah. She's it it's

just it's great. It's great. So yeah. So that was really

good. And, like, someone that was there, may have given

me a a a joint. And I was

like, I don't know if I need this, but I didn't smoke it that day.

Like, I'm very much whatever. But Atlanta went home, and one of my

favorite bands, Slow Moza, they're from Norway. They, like,

never come to North America. They happened to be on a North American

tour, and they weren't coming to Vancouver, which is the closest place to me that

they would come. But they were in LA, opening

for a band called Helmet while I was in LA. So I stayed

an extra night, and I went to, like, a stoner rock punk metal show

by myself. And, like, I was like, hey. I'll bring this. And if I make

friends, I'll smoke it because I I will not smoke weed alone. I don't like

to smoke weed. I prefer edibles. I don't do it all the time. Like, I

I was only to enhance, never to escape. That's the rule. So, anyways, I'm

I met this couple that were there also to see the opening band,

Slamosa. Like, not I didn't even know who Helmet really was until, like, I learned

about these tickets. And so we bonded and, like, we shared it

and we we had a lot of fun. And then we went and bought merch,

and we watched a bit of helmet, and then they left. And I stayed a

because the show started at seven. And, you know, this it was a really great

trip, and I was ready to come home. Like, I just I'm I'm tired, and

I have a lot of work to do, a lot of following up to do,

but, like, it was a very exciting event. And, you know, if you're listening to

this and you wanna be involved in these gifting lounges, Heather's now

booking for the Emmys in September and then next year's year's Oscars

and some other stuff, you could reach out to me. My contact info is in

the show notes, and I'll connect you to Heather because for visibility wise

and, like, credibility wise and the type of exposure and connections you make,

like, you can't just do that. Like, Hollywood comes to you. And,

it's a really cool way to get your brand out there. And I've brought in

other brands that I know there, and it's as a marketing

and PR specialist, like, it's one of the best parts of our launch strategies.

Completely. Yeah. So, anyways, yeah, I think, like, that's a good

recap. Grief week was, like, the saddest part was it ending. Yep. It

was, it was really, like, really beautiful. Next year, we might

be in Costa Rica for grief week. We're just finalizing those details now.

Mhmm. And if not, we'll be back at the, Esmeralda, re Renaissance or

whatever. Yeah. We sure will. Yeah. So if we're not in Costa Rica, we'll be

in Palm Springs, so either the jungle or the desert.

And, yeah, I think, like, that that's

pretty much it. Like, hopefully, this was an interesting episode. Do you have anything else

you wanna share? I'm trying to think. I mean, we covered it

all. We okay. We did go to a

cool place in Venice. So we only really talked about where we stayed, but we

went to this cafe twice called Cafe Gratitude.

And the way it's a vegan restaurant, and

the way you order like, everything on the menu is like an affirmation. And the

way you order is by saying, like, I am blessed, and then it's an a

side bowl or whatever. And so we

went there twice, and it was great. And, I mean,

it's vegan. So if you like Mung if you

like mung beans. Yeah. If you like eggs and meat, it's not for

you. But if you like mung beans and,

other stuff, try it out. It was a very cool experience. It was

a good experience. Has been around for, like, twenty years. And,

like, I've never had like, I wanted we went there for dinner, and

then we went back for breakfast. Yeah. And or lunch or whatever.

And, I wanted eggs. Like, I'm someone who eats eggs every day. So I tried

an omelet made with mung beans, and I don't even know what a mung bean

is. And it was actually really delicious. Mhmm.

Sorry. One other thing while we're on the topic of food. We went to this

wonderful restaurant in Beverly Hills. Oh, yeah. La

Dolce Vita. And it was dinner and a show

because it's one of those restaurants where if you order Caesar salad, they do it

at your table, and it was great. And the floor is leopard.

Yeah. Like, the whole restaurant is, like, my aesthetic, and I loved it. And,

like, the staff was hilarious. Like, everyone there it felt like everyone there was kinda

stuffy, but, like, me, you, and Kara were, like, a little bit more vibrant and,

like Yeah. Engaging with the waiters and and, like, the servers and

the salad maker. And, like, we had a lot of fun, and the food was

phenomenal. Like, so was fantastic. Yeah. And, like, I'm

someone that, like, I'm fine going to, like, Target and getting, like, oatmeal and eggs

and not eggs. I don't know why I said eggs. Oatmeal and and yogurt and,

like, snacks and energy bars, like, not spending money at every meal. But,

like, it's nice on each trip to go to go out one or two times

depending on how long we're there for, like, a nicer meal. And,

this was definitely like, I would go back. A %.

Also, like, their dessert was, like Oh,

sticky. Sticky, and you needed to, like

it was like so good. It was so good. It was so it was just,

like, a really good dining experience, and me, you, and Cara had such a fun

time. So shout out to, like, that dinner. That dinner was

fantastic. Yeah. Well, that was amazing. So thanks

for joining us on our third and official grief week. Yeah.

And now we've had two Palm Springs and a cruise, and every year is

just gonna be completely different. So as we start to solidify next

year, we'll keep you updated on those plans. You know, we have a lot more

episodes coming up with phenomenal guests, with some

Blair and Alana sprinkled in there. We are

now accepting submissions for our next two books, Resilient

AF Skin Deep Stories. If you have a tattoo that

you got and there's a story behind it of resilience, we want to showcase you

in our next book. That book is filling up fast. It's gonna be a beautiful

coffee table style book. We're launching it in early December in New York.

Our event is booked. Our billboard is booked, by the way. Very exciting. I was

very productive yesterday. Back on my meds and very productive. And then

resilient AF, stories of resilience volume three. This is any

story of resilience, of you overcoming a challenge. You do not need a

tattoo for this book. And, what

that one's coming out in January, and that one's also filling up. So if you

wanna be a part of this, you wanna be on a billboard in Times Square,

you want your book handed out to celebrities and media gifting lounges, you wanna be

a part of the movement, this is your chance. This is your time. These books

are filling up faster and faster. We did we launched two books in ten months.

Mhmm. You know? And now we have these two books plus some other projects on

the go. So we wanna invite you to be a part of our community,

and, you know, listening to this podcast, engaging on social media,

buying a book, reading the stories for free on our website. However you

wanna do it, we just wanna invite you in. So any final

words?

No. Oh, great. Okay. Well, I just

wanna say, by the time this comes out, Alana, your birthday,

March 9. By the time this comes out on Tuesday, it's after that. So

happy birthday to you. Happy Earth birth. We did

another lap. Happy birthday to my one and my only,

that I know of, sisters. Hopefully.

Hopefully. Only sister. Also, I do have to say, because it is coming out

after my birthday, next time we meet,

I might have a surprise. Oh, okay. I'm excited. I also sent you

something in the mail. Did you get it? No. But I haven't

checked my mail in a couple days. You probably should check your mail.

Okay. Check it every day because I sent you something. Okay. I

it like, it's fun mail. It's not a bill. Speaking of bill, the collections from

Manitoba Telephone Services, that's one thing that,

like, when people die, things, like, get missed. And, like, our

mom died four years ago, and, like, MTS is, like, sending me not to

collections, but, like, demanding payment for something. Just like, you know what? Write it

off as bad dad MTS. She's dead. Yeah. Anyways

He's dead. Fuck you, MTS. But not to you listeners.

I'm grateful for all of you. Yeah. Yeah. And on that note

Yeah. So thank you for tuning in to another episode of Resilient AF with

Blair and Alana. You know, we're here to

create this space, to have these conversations, to let you into the good, the bad,

the ugly, the messy, the the silly, everything in between. Life

is full of challenges. It's hard. Life is hard. But there's also these beautiful

moments, and we wanna walk with you for through the

darkness, through the lights. You know, we wanna be that lighthouse in the

storm. You're not alone, my friends. You are

resilient, a f.