17 people's best 2017 moments

Well it's that time again, a new year new me bullshit. Well I think we can all agree nothing can get much worse than 2016. And in order to provide proof of that statement, I've asked 17 people what their favorite part of this year, yes the whole two weeks of it, has been..you're welcome.

1. Kelly- So far for 2017 I can say that the best thing this year has to be that I received good news about my health. Being a two time cancer survivor I was worried when they told me something came up in my chest on an x-ray. Turns out it's just scar tissue. Thank God.

2. Janet- That grammy is so excited about her 90th birthday party.

3. Kara- Probably today. I left work early without any guilt of not being there. And I wasn't worried about losing money. I got a good lunch, went home to my nephews. Binge watched this new show i'm into and after dinner my nephews came back and we're sitting on the couch watching BFG. 

4. Rob- I got to see my best friends sister, who is also a great friend, get married to a great guy who I also served with.

5. Eva- Well nothing too crazy yet but I went to go see LaLa Land with my friends and I loved it. I'm usually not into stuff like that, but I thought it was great.

6. Brittney- So far I think my resolutions have helped. So my best thing is I can finally *drum roll please* go into a store alone. My first time was New Year's Eve. YAY! I'm super proud of myself to say I can do it alone so I never have to lean on people.

7. Lauren "lala"- The best day this year was probably this Tuesday. Nothing special happened it was still school, but it was probably the most I've ever laughed. Gym was so fun and we won in floor hockey. In biology we had a quiz that I did better on. Algebra was nothing special but Spanish was very fun. My friend and I kick each other's desks and I had the hiccups the whole class, which made people laugh as well as myself. During lunch two friends and I went to the bathroom during passing period. When we were walking back to class my one friend dragged her purse on the ground as if she was walking a dog and my other friend would bark while going along. It sounds stupid to say we enjoyed weird looks but we did. It was so funny and we all laughed until our stomachs hurt.

8. Chris- Compared to 2016, almost anything semi-good can happen and it'll be better. Like for instance, on New Year's Day, I got a fun sized starburst with two pink ones and already I knew that 2017 was better. I'd have to say the best part of 2017 so far is reuniting with old friends and the optimism of knowing that 2017 is going to be a year (for me personally) of starting off new and leaving people who don't belong in my life in 2016 where they belong.

9. Ashley- All the good vibes for a beautiful future!

10. Melissa- My apartment!

11. Nicole- Going to Mexico!

12. Matt- I got a phone call earlier today telling me I passed the test I had to take.

13. Lauren Rose- I signed up for weight watchers and I actually went out on New Years Eve instead of staying in.

14. Brittany- So far it would be becoming a worship leader with my boyfriend for our Church, and being able to do music again. Also deciding to be baptized on the 22nd.

15. Amy- My best is yet to come with a trip to Costa Rica starting Friday of next week!

16. Nikkole- I found out my friend is getting married and my other friend is buying her first house idk if that counts. I am also going back to school :)

17. Agnes- Well I think my favorite part of the year so far is today Evie had her first voluntary smile and it melted my heart :) She's 5 weeks old today!

lost

Being lost in your mind is an entirely different thing than being lost on the road. On the road you can

pay attention to things like street signs and landmarks, or if you're really in a pickle you can rely on

that creepy guy at the gas station to give you directions.


The mind is completely different. Your mind is that 12 foot tall bush maze from the shinning. Scary

shit, and I'm not talking about the twins. You're in a race from everything, from all the stress at home,

at work, with school, with friends and let's not forget from that crazy mother fucker with the axe.


It's hard to sit and relax when it's below zero in northern Oregon, Okay enough Steven King

references, point is you need you time. You can't keep traveling if you don't know where you're going

and there's only so many times you can visit that creepy man at the gas station.


I think everyone needs to focus on one thing a day and also set a weekly goal, that way they aren't

overwhelmed by the road map.


So let's say for examples sake you decide everyday "I am going to read a chapter in "said book"" and

for your weekly goal it would be to have read 7 chapters by Sunday, or for you wild risk takers, 8

chapters by Sunday because you don't live by the rules and fuck math.


Point is you can do it, I believe in you.

run run as fast as you can.

My room is like a metaphor for my life, messy unorganized and destroyed. It goes further than that, I am so anal about having everything be in a specific place that most things I just leave on the floor of on my bed scattered because that's better than putting it in a place it doesn't belong; and since it doesn't belong anywhere, on the floor it goes. 

I do nothing but work and when I'm not working I'm at the doctors. It never really ends and i'm not so sure what to do about it. 

I know I should try to take on small tasks at a time but still that doesn't seem to work either. 

It's hard to explain depression to people who don't have it but it is an endless emptiness that can not be explained. I want to make myself feel better I want to do things I think will make me happy, including hanging out with people or writing on this blog, but honestly it's difficult, everything seems difficult, even if to others it isn't, it is to me, everything is difficult. Writing this sentence is difficult. 

They give you medicine saying "here this will help" but when it doesn't you feel hopeless and empty because this was supposed to work, THIS was supposed to help! 

I feel like I'm running as fast as I can, but it doesn't really matter because I have nowhere to go and no destination in mind. 

This is a very depressing post but I am sure other people feel this way in their every day life as well and like they can't can't to anyone. 

Gilmore Girls

COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE

I have loved the Gilmore Girls since the beginning.
I have sung that theme song more times than I can count, I have been there every time Lorelai smelled snow, Rory talked about a book, Ms. Patty sexually harassed someone and kirk started a new job.

There is no relationship quite like that between Lorelai and Rory. 

The town is somewhere near Connecticut and right in the middle of bat shit crazy. Everyone is strangely connected to one another, and in everyone's business 150% of the time. The thing I never quite got was how much EVERYONE loved Rory. Don't get me wrong she was a great kid, but that line was used too much of the time "Rory is a great kid" and "she is the kindest kid" which frankly, she wasn't. Especially when it came down to the part where she slept with her married ex boyfriend Dean. um I'm sorry WHAT?!  I guess that's what Lorelai meant when she said "I'm afraid that once your hearts involved, it all comes out in moron." 
Okay and while we're on the subject of Rory's far from perfect personality, let us talk about how the whole series she is this driven girl, thinks of nothing but Harvard and being a journalist, does all her homework Friday night so that she can do extra credit on Saturday and Sunday. Yet one person tells her she doesn't have what it takes and her whole world comes crashing down?! and everyone is on her side, as said Richard Gilmore to Mitchum Huntzberger, "You crushed that girl!" oh boo hoo cry me a fucking river. Does she have any idea how lucky she is to be in the situation she is? to even be going to that school? To get that internship (or whatever the heck it was), to have all the opportunities she's had? Weird thing is, she is a person who should know because for the majority of her life she had nothing! Until she was 7 or 12 (depends on which episode you're watching hahaa) she lived in a garden shed with her mother. Yet now she's a broken entitled little shit. 
oh Jesus Gilmore Girls a year in the life has made me hate her more than I ever thought possible, and it's so sad because as far as fictional characters go, I do love her, she's up there with the best right next to Glen from walking dead and Carrie from sex and the city.  Must be because I spent so much of my life watching the episodes this week, I spent so much time with her I wasn't given any other choice but to love her, which I'm guessing is similar to the feelings Lorelai felt when she had to deal with all of this all of the time. 

I miss the Rory from the first two seasons, Lorelai however is a different situation because I feel she actually grew as a person, she matured, and thank you lord so did her clothing. I always felt the relationship between Lorelai and her parents, specifically her parents was hard to watch. Did I think Richard and Emily were difficult and overbearing? Yes of course I did, but they were her parents, it's part of their DNA to care. Her attitude towards them was insane especially considering all she put them through, and seriously, just leaving to live in a garden shed (refer above) and her parents never go to try and find her and bring her back home? In some episodes it discusses this saying that Emily tried to find them. However, in the very first episode Richard, Emily and Rory joke about Lorelai visiting her parents and it not being some holiday, such as Christmas or Easter, meaning even if very seldomly, they were in each others life. Which makes me think, oh hey, wouldn't Emily (the controlling overbaring Emily we know and love) want to know everything about where her daughter and granddaughter were staying?! Conversation I would like to imagine went a little something like...
"So Lorelai tell me where have you been the last six months"
"oh you know here and there"
"no, I really can't say I know where here and there is, mind being a little more specific"
"I like in a garden shed mom"
to which Emily flips a table and then chains Lorelai to the living room chair where she lives the rest of her life until we pick up in the first episode. 

The thing that irritates me more than anything is where Gilmore Girls a Year in the Life  picks up. Rory is 32 years old, has graduated valedictorian from Chilton, Graduated top of her class from Yale, started working with Obama (or something it never went into detail on that). And yet, she's homeless.(?!?) you know except for that inheritance money she's spending flying to and from London to sleep with her engaged Ex (bringing back some Dean memories). She has a boyfriend of three something years that she doesn't talk to and then sleeps with some guy in wooky costume. Talk about taking 1 step forward, 15 back.

Then we have Luke and Lorelai's situation, HOW can this still be a situation?! They've been dating for 9 years and haven't gotten married?! I know that the producers and writers and directors and everyone involved wouldn't have wanted that to happen without the audience being a part of it, and that may have made "some" sense had the return been 5 years from the finale and not 10. This just makes their relationship seem weak. (think the part where Lorelai offers to help Luke with money for April and he completely shuts her down and she just sits there on the couch afraid to say anything) um..if this is someone you've spent 9 years with and someone who truly loves you, then you wouldn't be afraid to state your opinion without it jeopardizing the relationship. 

Then we have the last four words, and OH MY GOD RORY! 
I imagined pushing her into the lake just like Luke did with Jess. 

This is mostly a rant, I really do love the Gilmore Girls and I really do think their relationship is beautiful and I love their flaws because it makes them seem human but some things make them seem too far from any normal person to relate to. Probably has something to do with them eating out every day for every meal and never running broke or ever getting any health issues. 

clogged pores and a clogged mind

I am 25 years old. I first started getting pimples when I was in 7th grade just here and there. Then BAM! junior year of high school my face exploded. For no reason, wasn't particularly stressed out, didn't go on a new diet, didn't start taking any weird drugs, nothing. Just surprise! Puberty. I obviously was less than thrilled but I figured hey, not a big deal, it will pass, I mean that's what everyone told me, "everyone goes through this, it will clear up in a few years" HAHAHA yep nine years later and it's still here. no wait, not even just still here. It's getting worse. HOW?! I've been to the doctor about it and to the dermatologist. I have tried multiple 3 step systems, murad, clinique, acne free,acne.org. I have tried spot treatments, I have been on antibiotics, topical and oral treatments (including doxycycline, which took my body a month to realize I was allergic to, and made my whole face swell, think will smith in hitch. Awful. Worse than that. So Yea, life of my skin has been going great. 
There have been points in my life when I have given up dairy, gluten, sugar, the list goes on and on and the effects have been none. I truly DO NOT understand this. 
Then I found out I could have something wrong with my colon, but wait, no, I nothing wrong with my colon in regard to dealing with my skin. 
But then I found out I could have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. 
I know this is this worst thing to hope I have but then again, if it helps my skin, it would be great. BLEH. I'm screaming inside! 

...well how about that.

This blog is going to be a bit of a ramble, but I was just watching a Youtube video and this girl, was saying that people think the world is what it is because of what they see, smell, taste, ect. But that in fact the senses are a lie, they are all a delusion to reality. I have to say I believe 100%. If it were possible to believe in something more than 100% this would be one of those things. People can spend their whole life thinking they will never be anything to anyone, that they will never amount to anything because no one believes they can but the truth is the only person who needs to believe it is yourself. Scratch that. You don't need to believe it you need to KNOW it. Know that you can do anything, and I mean really know it, not tell yourself you do, but truly reach the point where you know for a fact, that you can do anything and suddenly you'll be able to do just that. Everyone is capable of doing everything and everything they have ever wanted to do everything they were too afraid to try because they knew they would fail. The only thing holding everyone back is the IDEA. The idea that things are the way they are, but the weird, scary, amazing thing is things are never completely "the way they are". 

I honestly am having a hard time dealing with this myself because I can't concentrate on anything, things always seem to be so much simpler to everyone else but me, and maybe that's the truth. I'm not here to say that you don't or do have it worse than someone else. YOU know better than I or anyone for that matter, whether or not that's the truth. What I'm saying is, whether you have to work less or more than the next person to get what it is you need, you can do it all you have to do is make up your mind to do so. 

I feel so overwhelmed so much of the time, if I'm not working I'm nannying, if I'm not nannying I'm at the doctor, or setting up appointments for the doctor, or visiting family or seeing friends or staring into the abyss that is my room wondering when I will gather up enough courage to clean it. I am trying to see that I can do anything if I just try. I have self diagnosed myself with ADHD haha (not that their is anything humorous about ADHD, I am simply laughing at the fact that I am so certain I have it, without first asking a doctor) because apparently a lot of steps in different directions (i'm doing the cha cha slide over here) have to be done in order to figure out if in fact I do have it, and then an alternative route will have to be taken in furthering my studies in psychic abilities. 

Point of all this blabber is that I want people reading this to take a few moments every day to really think about how much they truly are in control of their life. Everything that told you, you couldn't is noise. Put in earplugs, you got this!

12 stories of the best christmas memories

Christmas is coming faster than you can say ba humbug ! 

This time of year is stressful to say the least, everyone in a rush to get presents they can't afford for people who don't deserve a 75 dollar perfume but a Ferrari. You put things off till the last minute because thinking about it is enough to make your head explode. 

"I wish I could crawl into a hole till the 26th"

&

  "My mother always used to say this season brings out the devil in people" 

These are things I hear through passing conversation in the office. And that is why I thought this is a better time than any to ask people about their favorite christmas memories. So below is just that, from people I love. I hope in reading this you can remember what this season is really about and how wonderful it can be if you don't get wrapped up like a present in all the trivial things. 

ONE

name Matt

age 33

The year my Dad got his second chance at life when Aunt Donna gave him a kidney. November 17th.

Then when the boys were born in November.

TWO

name Eva

age 19

  

The Christmas I remember the most is this one year when my mom made crepes and it was the first time I ever tried them and they had the strawberries and whipped cream and I went crazy over them and kept going back to the kitchen for more and more plates and I have been wanting her to make them every Christmas since but she hasn't.

THREE

name Melissa

age 33

I would have to say 5 years ago, I had the BEST Christmas with Adam!!! He bought me sooo much presents, never in my life have I opened so many, I loved everything! He got the kids cool stuff, was the best Christmas I have ever had...He made me feel so special, he did really love me. All I wanted was just to be with him, it wouldn't of mattered if I didn't open a thing..being with him was a gift everyday.

FOUR

name Caitlyn 

age 21

I think it would have to be the Christmas not last year, but the year before because that was the last Christmas we had with my Grandpa.

FIVE

name Krista

age 34

My favorite Christmas was in 1996 at my Grandma and Grandpa Sutera's house.My Grandma had the house so warm and inviting. The tree was beautiful and the whole house was decorated top to bottom. Grandma had a spread of everything, the best snacks and cookies. Everyone in the family was there. It was very loud; I enjoyed talking to everyone I felt the love in that house.My favorite thing was sitting by the fireplace with my Grandma talking, just looking at everyone and feeling happy we were all together. Christmas is about family and enjoying the moments. That Christmas was my favorite and I will always remember it and how I felt, it was magical.

SIX

name Rob

age 25

The year was 1999. I was 8 years old and still on my Batman obsession. I was living on 43rd and California and me and my two sisters at the time slept on an air mattress in the living room. The funny thing was that the Christmas tree was also in the living room, so my parents had to sneak through the night quiet as a door mouse in order to get all the gifts out. I remember waking up around 4am, wired, ecstatic, and excited to start opening the presents. My parents didn't wake up until 8, so I quaked in my own misery and excitement. I remember getting a see-through green N64 with Donkey King 64 attached. SO BADASS! My Grandma had also made kolaczkis. By far one of the best.

SEVEN

name Janet

age 63

I was probably fairly newly married, so maybe the Christmas of 1975. The August before,my husband John asked me what I missed most from living at home. I told him "my piano and the encyclopedia." He said,rightfully,that the encyclopedia should wait until we had children, but maybe we could think about getting a piano. We went to Lyon & Healy and I must have tested 20-30 pianos. I picked my beautiful piano and it was delivered in September with payments to start in October. At the first payment, John said "Would you mind if this could be your Christmas gift, as I really don't think we can afford anything after we start making these payments." So my first Christmas gift from my new husband was my piano. Years later when he asked if I wanted to get a baby grand to go with the new house, I refused, because I certainly could not keep two pianos, because I would never get rid of my first!

That very same Christmas in 1975, my brother Jim was 9 years old. Mom gave him some money to Christmas shop, and I was to take him shopping. He looked at his money and wondered how he was going to buy gifts with such a small amount of money. I told him those were sometimes the most meaningful gifts ever. We went into a Hallmark store and saw a beautiful candle-it had angels on three sides! I said let's get that for Mom and Dad, and we can create a new Christmas tradition: We will light the candle only while we open gifts. That candle was lit every Christmas, and has lasted over 40 years. We bought a replacement at one point just in case, but I don't think that one has ever been used.

EIGHT

name Ashley

age 22

My memory isn't the best but for what I remember it was 2 Christmas's ago. It was the year I moved to Hawaii so coming home for Christmas was the first time I saw my family in 7 months. I also hasn't seen Jake since September because he had to go to Oklahoma for work and his training wouldn't allow him to leave to celebrate Christmas. So I was so happy to be home to see everyone that I missed so much, I honestly think everyone should experience time away to realize how lucky they are to have people in their lives that care. Anyways I remember we went to your house on Christmas Eve. I was so happy but a little sad because it was my first Christmas in years that Jake wouldn't be a part of. So we woke up on Christmas(and we always open our stocking, have my moms breakfast casserole and open presents Christmas morning)So we opened our stockings and then started to open our presents and this is like 9am and the doorbell rings and I remember saying someone better be dying if our doorbell is ringing on Christmas morning! So my mom gets the door and her face was shocked so I think, "yup someone died" and then she opens the door and Jake comes through. I start instantly crying, he comes over and picks me up, I did't think it was real.

NINE

name Rose

age 16

Alright so I have a really bad memory but I would have to say a memorable Christmas for me was when we went to my papa Marty's house.It was a couple of years ago. I remember Krista was there and Heather and her kids were there and my Great Grandparents were there.I think Steven was there too maybe Eric I can't remember.But yeah we had a bunch of different cookies and when we opened gifts papa Marty gave me 6 cans of pringles, lol 

TEN

name Brittany

age 23

My favorite Christmas was when I was 12 or 13 and I got my guitar.I had wanted it so bad and I was getting down to the last few presents. I remember I got so sad cause I realized none of them were big enough to be a guitar. And at the end, my parents always ask, "Okay is that it? Are you sure there's nothing left under the tree?"  I searched the entire room,looking under the couches/chairs, under my moms desk and there was nothing left. Finally my mom asked me to go refill her coffee and when I came back, there was a huge box leaning up against my chair and it was my guitar. To this day, they never told me where they hid it.

Actually no, my absolute favorite was when Gianna was 4 and I built a tower out of her presents and made a bridge that she had to walk under in order to get to her chair, her face was priceless. I've never seen her smile that big and she started jumping and clapping her hands.

ELEVEN

name Kelly

age 48

The best Christmas I ever had has to be my first Christmas as a mother! December 1991! It's the best feeling ever to be a mom for the first time and the first Christmas together is unforgettable! Not that I didn't love all the other kids Christmas's, but the 1st is the best!

TWELVE

name Steven

age 26

I think the last time we were all at Grandmas together, not the recent, but when it was everyone before Uncle Raymond passed, before Michael left, and before all the bad things.

THIRTEEN

name Lauren

age mid twenties 

I don't really have a favorite Christmas. I like all of my Christmas's. I guess a good one for me would be when I got a playstation when I was 8-9. It was the first expensive thing that I got as a present.

FOURTEEN

name Kimberly

age 28

My favorite Christmas was every year when the traditions still stuck. Santa would leave pajamas under the tree each Eve and all 3 of us would dress up and take pictures and then my parents would dress us up to go see "Santa" (a neighbor who decked his house up and sat and greeted all the neighborhood kids who stood in line.)Then looking back "Mrs.Claus and the Elves" must've had too much to drink cause every present that said my name on it was for my sisters and vice versa. haha Also my Grandparents used to be there every year. The holidays are not the same when you get older and the  family gets smaller. Sorry mushy I know.

FIFTEEN

name Dave

age 65

When I tell you this, you're not going to believe it because it sounds like something out of a Disney film. This was years ago, way before I was with Karen. I took a trip to Mexico with Sarah, it was right before Christmas. We stayed at a place called Acapulco Princess, it was one of the nicest hotels you could think of, if not the most expensive.I remember it being warm and the nice breeze, and  I remember the Christmas tree. One tree,that must have been 10-11 stories tall, right in the center of surrounding smaller Christmas trees. This was like the one in Chicago, except this wasn't a bunch of trees put together, this was one tree. I don't recall there being evergreens in Mexico so they must have had all these delivered from Texas. There was this restaurant we would eat breakfast at all the time, and they were building a gingerbread house. Not some tiny thing, that would sit on a table, a masterpiece. They had chiefs brought in from Europe building it, piece by piece; and then gluing it together. I'd imagine it was as big as Aunt Janet's kitchen and dinette combined. All the windows and doors worked, it really was a work of art. And as the kids walked through they would take pieces off and eat it, but the chiefs did't seem to mind they would just make more. There was a stream that ran through the hotel, not going in any one direction or heading in any place particular, just meandering throughout. Well they went ahead and drained the pool and filled it with chocolate. Yes. 100 feet long stream of chocolate, try and imagine that. There were bridges to cross over and the children would bring mugs or whatever they could to lean over and get the chocolate. The place was shaped like a pyramid on the inside  and you could see stories up. They sprinkled powder dust down on everyone; and so on Christmas Eve it snowed.

SIXTEEN

name Crystal

age 37

My favorite Christmas was my Dad's last Christmas in 2004,nothing really special happened and I didn't get much but my Dad said he wanted to spend this Christmas with me because he wasn't sure if he would be around for another. I made him dinner, nothing special. But it was so special because it was just me and him spending time together hanging out, laughing and talking. I can still see him sitting on the couch at my house. I miss him everyday and wish I could hear his voice, and hug him once more.

none of you counted wrong, there are 16 here. I just keep adding more stories!