The End of 2016

In a world and US news and politics capacity, 2016 has been an absolute travesty. We are watching as an inexperienced, incompetent, narcissistic low level tyrant put in place misogynist, climate-change-deniers and frauds on his cabinet, in an effort to for some reason actively work against any change or progress we've made. He openly admits his lies from the campaign trail and people still seem to believe him. We've watched as his foundation and university are proven to be fraudulent, as he refuses to show tax returns, as he has contradicted himself under oath, as his family refuses to live in the White House, causing tax dollars to be used on rent and security.

There have been additional uprisings, terrorist attacks, and gun violence this year. We've lost Princess Leia and Prince, and a host of others.

This has been, without a doubt, the worst year I have lived.

However, this has also been unequivocally the best year I have lived.  

In 2016, I opened the year by getting married to my favorite person, got into the Huffington Post in the summer, and turned 30. In September I quit smoking cigarettes after spending half my life as a smoker, in October I went low carb and have lost almost 20 pounds since, and on 10/31/2016, I decided to truly pursue freelance writing and open a business. In November I officially filed as an LLC, and in December I went to my annual physical where my doctor told me I am the healthiest I've ever been.

I have literally never been happier in my personal or professional life, and I have never been healthier or had as much good energy. I love my life and my cat more every day.

Turning 30 has been wonderful. I had a great run in my 20s, making mistakes and falling down, but always getting back up and pushing forward. I grew as a person more in my mid-20s than I ever could have imagined, and I started taking my health more seriously. I built my career, I grew as a professional in so many ways. And turning 30 helped me clarify what is important to me.

It took turning 30 before I took the risk of starting a business, of putting myself out there and risking failure. It took turning 30 to take a serious look at my health and my goals and stop smoking for real, and think about kids and the future.

Like I said, worst year ever and am genuinely scared about the claims of a Muslim Registry (sound familiar? Possibly like the Jewish registry in 1930s Germany?), about Trump, Pence, and his cabinet's history of anti-LGBTQ stances, about his abject disrespect and dismissal of women. I am honestly afraid of Trump and what he will do over the next four years and how long it will take to undo.

But I am also happier, healthier, wealthier, energetic, and have never looked this good.

It's been a weird year.

All I Want For Xmas Is Food (Another amazing parody)

Weird Al, I am waiting on my phone call to get the rights to this and of course the majestic "You Need to Shower" based from the Backstreet Boys song. Here we go, a song about the financial security of being a millennial.

ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS FOOD

I don’t want a lot for Christmas

Here’s a list of what I need

I don’t want any gift cards

Just fill my fridge please

I just want it for my own

Brisket, pasta, a pot roast

Make my wish come true

Baby all I want for Christmas is food.

Oooh feed me! *jazz hands*

I don't want a lot of Christmas
Just a few things that I need, and I
Could use some new tube socks
In a package of three.

I love getting a stocking
Full of practicality
You could really make me happy
With work pants or new undies. 

I just want it for my own
Financial security
I'm a millennial
I'll take an IRA for Christmas.

I don't ask for much for Christmas
I never have once wished for snow.
I just want to buy a house
While working just one job.

I will make a list and give it
To you with my biggest wish
I'll even find out what's on sale
Couponing is my life.

I just want more of that meal
Leftovers or raw is good
Make my wish come trueeee
Baby, all I want for Christmas is food

Oooooh feed me!
Oooooh thanks, Mom!

I don't want a lot for Christmas
Socks and pens and cheese
I just want to have snacks
And money in my bank account.

I just want it for my own

Brisket, pasta, a pot roast

Make my wish come true

Baby all I want for Christmas is food.

Oooooh feed me!

All I want for Christmas is fooooooooood. 

Oooooh feed me!

Netflix Original Series

Can we all just pause and take a moment to appreciate the nostalgia, and the time, money and effort that have come together to bring a bunch of older shows into the new millenium?

Netflix is KILLING IT with original series. Gilmore Girls: A Year In the Life and Fuller House are my two best examples right now, but seriously their original series in general are why I don't miss cable.

Fuller House and Gilmore Girls made me feel like a kid again, and reminded me about watching TGIF with my mom and brother on Friday nights when I was in elementary school, and of watching GG every Tuesday night with my mom in high school, wishing we had that Lorelai-Rory relationship. Like every girl I knew back then!

Netflix's most well-known hits right now are House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, and most recently, Stranger Things. These shows are amazingly well told stories with characters you feel invested in and beautiful cinematic worlds. House of Cards is like watching a movie, and Kevin Spacey is amazing. OITNB is an ensemble cast, where over the seasons I have cared less and less about the main character and more about the rest of them. The way they focus on other character's backstories and motivation, and humanize them, is gorgeous. It's not really Piper's story anymore, it's about all of them. And last season broke my heart! The emotional investment is real.

Stranger Things genuinely creeped me out, and I can't even watch Sense8! Netflix is doing such a great job on original content, and I can only hope they continue to not only do what they are already doing, but hopefully will also continue this interesting and nostalgic walk down memory lane.

And it's not just original or renewing ideas from 90s and early 2000s programming. Netflix is doing a series of shows in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and the upcoming Iron Fist, which have been amazing! I hope they end up reviving Agent Carter, which was canceled after two seasons by ABC, though they of course still have the successful Agents of Shield.

It would be pretty cool if Netflix revived Global GUTS or Double Dare or (please please please) Firefly, but I certainly can't find fault with the lineup they have. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is hilarious, Aziz Ansari's Master of None is great, and they've done a lot of kids and animated stuff, too.

I was really nervous about canceling cable in April 2015. What if I can't pick anything to watch? I like flipping through channels! But the cost was so jacked up, so crazy, that I figured I would just read more.

Surprisingly, between Hulu, Netflix, and the occasional temporary HBONow subscription, there is always something to watch.

I know I sound like a TV-crazy person, and maybe I am. But I love a great story on TV the same way I love a good book. It is about the story, the people, and I enjoy it.

But seriously, Fuller House season 2 was so cute! She-wolfpack!