2015: Year in Review

Left one job. Got a new job. Got a second job. Celebrated my 26th birthday. Contemplated moving to Florida. Contemplated moving to California. Contemplated moving anywhere warmer than here. Went on vacation to Florida, South Carolina and Michigan. Contemplated moving to Michigan. Celebrated my niece's 1st birthday. Enrolled in school. Paid for school. Ouch. Got a 3.75 GPA. Holla! Broke up with my boyfriend. Made up with my best friend. Found out my best friend is pregnant. Found out my best friend is engaged. Went on a lot of dates. Started a blog. Got a little closer to finishing my novel. Became a fan of Manhattans. Rode a segway for the first time. Decided to keep my hair natural. Bought a really expensive computer. Bought an even more expensive sofa. Cried a lot by myself. Laughed way more by myself. Started two workout programs. Finished none. Signed up for a half marathon (yesterday). Quit my second job. Contemplated getting a degree in computer science. Stopped contemplating it when I realized I needed to pass a calculus class. Contemplated getting an MFA. Got the stomach flu for the first time. Gained a bunch of good friends. Ditched a bunch of shitty ones.

10 Random Christmas Thoughts

1. Does anyone actually like Mariah Carey's Christmas album or do we as a community just continually play her songs because we feel bad for her? 
2. The line say, what's in this drink? from "Baby, It's Cold Outside" makes me really uncomfortable.
3. Christmas would be so much better if Santa was actually real.
4. I know absolutely nothing about Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. 
5. Can anyone give me a legitimate reason for why the Christmas tree needs to come down? Is there a rule book I'm not aware of?
6. I just found out two years ago that the Santa in "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause" is the dad. Turns out mom isn't a ho ho ho. 
7. I've eaten so much cookie dough and haven't yet shown any symptoms of salmonella poisoning. #justamyth
8. Related: I will be one of the many fatties joining a gym come January 1. 
9. Why is no one else concerned that Home Alone traumatized Macaulay Culkin so much that he now looks like this?
10. I know that as a citizen of the world, I should be extremely concerned about global warming but I'm not gonna lie, I don't hate this 70 degree weather.

Merry Christmas Eve! I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday with family and friends!

Friday Favorites

Son of a nutcracker, there are only 6 days until Christmas. And I haven't even watched The Grinch yet. I am really slacking on Christmas this year. I'm short on like 3 gifts and I haven't gotten any stocking stuffers yet. Which are basically the best part of Christmas. I think stocking stuffers get a bad rep. I guess there isn't a lot of mystery surrounding them like the giant wrapped presents under a tree but they can be just as expensive and - 9 times out of 10 - more useful. Today's Friday Favorites consist of my favorite stocking stuffers. If you're having a hard time coming up with any good ideas, I guarantee these babies will do the trick.

Whiskey Rocks // iPhone Case // Kate Spade Studs // I Hate People T-shirt // Mobile iPhone Charger // Tinted Lip Balm // Tumbler // Amazing Grace  Rollerball

I need that t-shirt more than anything. I would wear that thing everywhere. Also, I don't have an iPhone, but both the case and mobile charger are so adorable, I couldn't not post them. Get me any of these items and I will love you forever. But for real though, mom - get me that shirt. 

Happy Friday! We made it! I'm taking a long week weekend and doing some Christmas celebrations with mi madre. I hope you all have a great weekend!

The One with the Chalk Paint

Can you guys tell I've been binging on Friends for the last 6 weeks? I. Can't. Stop. I'm basically dating my Netflix account. Yes, Yes, I finally broke down when the person who did not know I had their Netflix credentials refused to pay their bill on time. Alright, so there's a big fat elephant in the room. I haven't posted in quite some time. I was/am dealing with some personal issues that took a lot of energy out of me but I think I've gotten my groove back! Moving right along...

If you guys remember my Bedroom Design Tour post from October, you probably know that my style is a little rustic. Someone actually called it country the other day and I think I died a little inside. I'd say it's a fusion of industrial and rustic. Anyways.

So I have this leaning bookshelf I picked up from Craigslist this past summer for about $25. I'm really not into the whole leaning bookshelf thing - I'm not a fan of the lines and it's too modern for my look - but I didn't have enough money to purchase this beaut from CB2, so I made do. Which basically means every time I looked at it I got a little depressed.

So I tried out chalk paint for the first time. Okay, let me preface this with I have never painted a piece of furniture before. I've actually never really painted before, unless you count finger painting. So this was definitely an interesting experience. Alcohol was involved. So much alcohol. As well as a lot of cursing. And at one point I just stopped caring about getting paint on my walls and floor (sayonara, security deposit!).

It wasn't that bad. Chalk painting really is as easy as they say it is. Let me just emphasize a few things for you though. Dark pieces of furniture will definitely require more than one coat of paint. Also, different materials respond differently to the paint. My bookcase was as black as Donald Trump's soul, so I think I lost count of how many coats it took. My chair on the other hand, was a dark brown and yet it only took one coat. Riddle me that one. Also, when you've reached the point where you are getting ready to sand your piece of furniture and you're thinking to yourself, "how much dust could there possibly be?", slap yourself and then take your piece of furniture outside unless you also planned on whitewashing your wood floors.

So here is the end product. It's still not my favorite piece of furniture. I'm still not a fan of the whole idea of a leaning bookcase. But I like it a hell of a lot more than what it looked like before. I'd say it was a good test of my chalk painting skills and I'll be less terrified to try it again next time. 

Excuse the mess of wires! What do you guys think? Do you like it better than the original? Any chalk painting pros out there?

P.S. Man, it feels good to be back! I plan on posting on the regular again (crossing my fingers and toes) so make sure you check back soon! Thank you to those who reached out to me telling me how much they missed my blog posts. There aren't words to express how much it means. It sounds silly, but this blog is really an extension of me and my passion for words so anytime someone applauds it, it's just the best. ;) Love you all so very much!

A Turkey and a Tear Jerker

I'm really bummed I'm just now getting around to posting this. Work has been pretty crazy lately and I've just added yet another responsibility on top of all the other shit I have going on (more on that later). So I apologize, yet again, for being a really shitty blogger. But life happens. Anyways.

This year my family celebrated Thanksgiving a bit early due to busy schedules on the actual holiday. Related: does this mean we can put up our Christmas tree early too? My mom drove up for the weekend and we got to spend quality time playing euchre (it's a Michigan thing), drinking wine and stuffing ourselves with a delicious Thanksgiving feast. Em refused to touch her plate which just meant more for all of us. What a sucker. This girl doesn't even know what she's missing out on. I could probably eat an entire bag of stovetop stuffing by myself and wash it down with a couple spoonfuls of mashed potatoes. Sound like I'm talking from experience? You'll never know...

Alright, I know everyone does this and it's probably plastered all over your Facebook news feed right now but....I want to "give thanks." I too find myself getting annoyed reading posts about how thankful you are for your emotionally abusive boyfriend and shitty job but really, is hearing people being thankful such a bad thing? No, it's not. I'm just an extremely negative person. So here we go, if you haven't clicked "back" in your browser already...

If you know me well, you know that my family has quite. the. story. Seriously. It could be a Lifetime movie (I won't get into the specifics now, I'll save that for a slow news day). Yet, despite all of the really horrible things I've seen and felt and heard, my family is everything.

I have a sister that is truly more like a best friend who I can yell at on occasion and then borrow clothes from. We used to not get along at all. We're totally different. She's bossy and I'm overly emotional. She needs a plan and I'd rather wing it. Did I mention the bossy part? She's my cheerleader and a lot of the times my caretaker (because she's a way better cook than I am). She's always 100% honest with me and tells me exactly what I need to hear, even when I really effing don't want to hear it (i.e. "I don't like your hair blonde;" "Do you really need that shirt or do you just want that shirt;" "Stop dating assholes").

My mother is literally a saint. This woman has been through the fire and then five more fires after that. I don't know how she did it. I really don't know how she made it. She's the strongest person I know. The things she's had to live through are literally out of a nightmare and she is still the most selfless person I know. She will do anything for you, regardless of what it costs. All of those years that I was (yes, past tense) a total brat, she put up with me and surprisingly didn't kick me out of the house. Looking back, I would have kicked myself out for some of the things I did and said. I did not make her life any easier. Yet she's still here, taking my calls when I have the flu or just want to complain. I couldn't have been blessed with a better mother.

My father is probably the funniest man alive. We once drove through a Starbucks at night halfway through a 20 hour road trip and he ordered a "vagina macchiato." Alright, that is probably sexual harassment now that I think about it but it was the funniest thing I had ever heard at the time. I have always been a "daddy's girl." I remember watching him at his work bench doing whatever dads do at work benches and being in awe of him. He knew how to do everything. There wasn't anything he couldn't accomplish. He was my superhero and he still continues to amaze me.

We're not perfect. We've been the talk of the town. But we could have had it a lot worse. And I'm thankful that I get to say that I have a sister, mother and father. Not everyone gets to do that. I love you guys and I'm so glad that it was you.