Tag Archives: New Year

life, lifestyle, Motherhood, New Year

Hello 2025

It is that time of year again where I write my blog post about all of my New Year’s goals and acknowledge that it has been forever since I have been on here and blah blah blah.

Well, it is a new year, it has been a long time since I have written, and it is okay. I am actually proud that last year I wrote six blogs, it was definitely an improvement from the year prior. Of course I have a goal to post more this year, I want to publish a blog once a month (at the very least). I think that is doable. The hold back I have had with posting I think, is that my content is changing so much. I have been in a shift, really for the last few years, where my blog and I are evolving. We started off silly and tragic, then shifted fully into style and fashion, now… we have been trying to figure it out. So much has happened over the last four and a half years, both good and bad, but priorities and just life itself has changed. I met the love of my life, married him, and had the best baby boy ever (who is now a one year old toddler and is absolutely everywhere).

I still love style and fashion, but to be honest, I have let it slide… A LOT. It is something I want to get back into this year, mostly for the reason that I want to feel good about myself. I have written time and time again, that feeling good in an outfit gives you such a sense of confidence, and I want that back. I need that back. So I am making changes this year.

The last two years I have had the same New Year’s resolution: Change My Entire Outlook On Life (see the 2023 post here and the 2024 post here). How naive of me to think my entire life could change in a year, and even after adding a bonus second year. My sister and I talked IN DEPTH about changing our entire lives, and we still discuss it today. We came to the conclusion that year one was a “prep” year. Although things did not LOOK different with us, we felt different, our minds were different and changing. Year two was when I thought it would all be put into action, but I am still not there yet. You always hear change doesn’t happen over night. I KNOW this, but here we are on year three and still working towards our goal.

I think part of the delay (for lack of a better word) is that along my way on this journey, I am figuring out exactly what my goal(s) in life is and fine tuning it. It is funny how one of my goals last year, and is again this year, is to slow down, and then realizing all of this change is SLOW. I guess it all goes together and is a lesson to be learned.

This past year, and mostly the last few months, I have been able to envision CLEARLY what I want for my life and my family’s lives, and it makes me so excited. I day dream about it all the time and it is like watching a preview to a movie I really want to see. My husband and I want to move. We do not want to stay in California. He never has (and has left once before), I don’t know if I ever cared too much about moving. I think I thought about it more when my sister moved out of state, but even then I had no plans. But when I met my husband for the first time in Montana, my eyes were opened. I still don’t think I have ever seen a more beautiful place. A place that just gives you feelings. I just felt such a sense of peace out in the open land, away from a big city, with fresh air and mountains. I want that. I want to feel like that every day. It took me a while to admit that. I thought about it A LOT to myself, but was afraid what it would mean to say it out loud. What actions it would spark. I have never moved away like that. The farthest I have lived is Orange County. But I am ready, and not just ready, EXCITED and CRAVING. I want it. I want the change. I want a new place for my son to explore (not that he has explored a lot here, he has only been walking since November, but I want him to grow up somewhere else).

So what do my husband and I envision for us? We want land, we want to build a house and a shop (maybe even together), and we want simple. I want our dogs to have room to run, I want goats and chickens, he wants horses and cows, I am determined to add in a donkey and alpaca somehow 😆. I just want the simple, slow life where we spend our days and nights together and exploring. I want my son and future children to play outside and not care about screens. I want to have to drag them inside when it is time for dinner. I want summer dinners outside under beautiful sunsets, and family time around a fire pit under the stars. I want a cozy house when it is winter, with a wood burning fire place and piles of warm blankets. I want both of our families to come camp on our property and just let the cousins run wild and all be together. I dream of all of this. I yearn for it. The want is clawing at me in a motivating way.

I know there is a trend of this lifestyle. It can be seen all over social media. But I have made it a point to start following all of those accounts that have the lifestyle I dream about, and I watch their posts and stories not in comparison, but as inspiration. It is like a live vision board that constantly gets updated with new things.

What are my goals for this year then?

  • Work towards our family vision, which is definitely a work in progress and will take some time
  • I want to continue to slow down. I have learned it is a practice, you cannot just decide to slow down, especially when you have been a go-go-go girl all of your life like me
    • Not only do I want to slow down for myself, but I want to slow down for my son. I do not want him to have a rushed and stressed mentality like I have and grew up with
  • Along with slowing down, I want to be more intentional with my time. This has a lot of factors:
    • I don’t want to waste my time on useless things, like scrolling social media endlessly. I want to scroll with a purpose, or give myself an allotted time and stick with it
    • I try really hard to be intentional with my son, but there is always room for improvement
    • I need more intentional time with my husband
    • I don’t want to waste my time on drama, or complaining, or gossiping. I have much better uses for it
    • Lastly, I don’t want to give my time to people who do not deserve it or do not respect it
  • As always, I want to read and write more
  • I want to make more homemade food (my husband is the chef, but I have had such a spark to expand my cooking skills and make more things from scratch)
  • I want to get healthy
  • My last goal, which is a new one for me… I want to be more adventurous this year. This doesn’t mean crazy things. One idea I have already is to kayak. We live on a lake. My husband and our roommate have kayaks that they never take out. I want to get my own kayak and have family outings on the lake. I want to go camp more places. I want to do more hikes or explore more places nearby or close enough to be a day trip
    • I can be such a homebody, which is fine, but I need to push myself to get out there. I know once I finally get out there, it is so worth it. I think my struggle is that our family is so busy already, adding in new things can feel exhausting. There needs to be a balance of activities and recoup weekends at home.

Of course I have more small goals within all of these goals, but this is the general idea. I am excited for this year. I really feel deep down that this is going to be a year of significant changes in myself. I am pointed in the direction I want, and I am going to keep working and building until I get to where I want, giving myself grace where I need it. Change is slow, and slow is okay. Slow is what we want. Cheers to 2025 ✨

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January 2024 Word: SIMPLIFY

This year I want to pick a word each month to focus on. A word that falls within my goals for the year. I think having one to focus on each month will serve as a good reminder, and allow me to be more intentional with each goal. I so easily and often overload myself with things I want to do, but that is not how real change happens. It takes time and practice, two things my monthly focus will give me.

For January, I feel the best word to start with is SIMPLIFY. One of my biggest goals this year is to finally be a minimalist, or at least as minimalist as I can be. I want to declutter. I have accumulated so much stuff over the years that I just don’t need, a good portion of which was given to me, so I feel a sense of guilt for no longer wanting it. I am working on getting passed these feelings though. Items in your home should not cause more stress than joy.

I have started the clean out process and feel so motivated by it. Thinking of the end result, an organized house through every room, closet, and cupboard, brings me so much excitement. Not only will getting rid of unneeded/unwanted items be a physical weight gone, but it will also be such a mental weight lifted. With less clutter and items to make a mess with, there will be less stress of having to clean, and find or make up homes for things. Less stress cleaning means more time with my family actually enjoying our house.

It is my intention to have all parts of my house decluttered by the end of January. I think that will be a great set up for the rest of the year. What better way to start than with a fresh and clean house? There will be a lot of trips to the Goodwill and posts on my Poshmark over the next few weeks, but I am ready for it!

Follow along for progress and for next month’s word.

Happy January!

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Changing My Entire Outlook on Life – For Real This Time

It’s that time again. A new year is upon us. The time when everyone sets goals and hopes to meet them. I posted only TWO blog posts last year (shame on me), and the first one was my 2023 New Year’s post, which if this title looks familiar, it is because last year’s post was called “Changing My Entire Outlook on Life” and you can read it here.

This year I mean it for real though, and I have compelling reasons to believe that. As you can read in my last year’s post, my sister and I talked about all the ways in which we wanted to change our lives. Over the past year, nothing really physical changed, so to most, it probably looks like I accomplished nothing. But a lot actually did change. My sister and I had so many therapy type conversations over the past year that involved so many self realizations. As 2023 neared its end, we realized that we actually were changing our entire outlooks on life and that the whole past year was a PREP year. At the beginning of 2023, we knew we needed change, we just didn’t quite know how to put it into words. It turns out, we were not quite ready for all of the changes we wanted. You always hear, “You need to work on yourself first”, and I truly get that now.

I realized a lot about myself. I don’t want to say DISCOVERED because I think I have always known how I am (I am far too self aware for my own good), so I will use the word REALIZED since I was actually able to say things out loud. Something I really want to practice this year is setting boundaries. I put so much responsibility on myself for others: for how they feel, their reactions to my decisions, and even non-existent conversations of how they MIGHT react. I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR OTHERS EMOTIONS. I have caused myself so much stress and anxiety over the years. Me. Myself. I do this to myself, and it is time to stop. I literally need to start chanting that I am not responsible for others emotions every day.

One of my biggest realizations has been I am NOT overly empathetic like I always thought, but I am an EMOTIONAL MONITOR. Because of this, I am always putting everyone else’s wants, needs, and emotional well-being before my own. It is so bad that I cannot even bring myself to say what I want on the simplest decisions like “What do you want to eat?”. I almost always say it doesn’t matter and want someone else to choose because what if whoever I am eating with doesn’t want what I want and are unhappy eating it?

I need to understand the difference of being actually selfish, and what I think is considered selfish. I can make decisions for myself and for my well being without being considered selfish.

So this year, I want things to be different. I want to slow down and be more intentional. Time is valuable and I so easily give my time to others and don’t always prioritize it for myself. When I finally have time to myself, I am so exhausted that I don’t want to do anything. As part of this, I want to really be adamant about having a better work/life balance. Not just by leaving work on time, but to not bring work stress home with me. I need to be better about leaving work at work where it belongs.

I am also ready to finally be a minimalist. I have accumulated so much stuff over the years that I don ‘t need. Part of my problem is I often feel guilt to keep things that people give me, but I am working on ending that. I have already started with my closet and donated three big bags of clothes. I have also already done one clean out of my bathroom and am ready to do another pass. I have been doing what I am calling “research” on both slow living and being a minimalist (by research, I mean following a few Instagram accounts on the topics), and something I read that really stood out to me was “Everything must have a home”. That is going to be my mantra while I work on decluttering. If my home has no place for it, then I have no place for it. I feel like being rid of the clutter is going to contribute to slowing down, and definitely contribute to less stress.

I am really excited for this year. It will be different than any other year, not just from the personal growth I have had and am excited to work on, but I have new motivation that I have never had before. My second and last post of 2023 was on February 15th. Three days later, I found out I was pregnant. Flash forward to today, my husband and I have a beautiful two and a half month old baby boy. His name is Wylder and he is our entire world. I not only want to slow down for myself, but for my family. I don’t want to look back and feel like I wasted any time with them.

Accountability will be key this year. My sister and I will have check-ins each month to ensure we are staying on track. I am looking forward to what the year brings and what my life turns into because of it. I am ready for changes, and I think this will be only the start to a great life my husband and I are ready to start for us and our son. Cheers to 2024!

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Can We Just Start Over?

Wow, I have not posted since October… shame on me. Not to use the same excuse that everyone has, but 2020 was rough. It started off great and we thought it was going to be like THE YEAR, and then the rug got pulled out from under us. AND THEN, to let the year come full circle, I am spending the first two weeks of the long awaited new year IN QUARANTINE because yes, my whole house got COVID (we are all fine). But maybe this is a good thing? Because 2020 started off great and then went downhill. Maybe since my 2021 is starting off at the bottom of that hill, it can only go up from here? I am hopeful.

Aside from 2020 being different, and hard, there were a couple great things for me. I turned 30 in February and didn’t die (but then the world actually ended… I don’t think those events are related), and I got to have an epic 30th trashy birthday party. The other amazing thing was finding a boyfriend and love! So 2020 may be the year of the pandemic, but it will always be the year I found my person and got to visit Montana three times to see him and move him home. A big enough event for me to say 2020 wasn’t all that bad.

Two of my sisters and I sat down this past Monday and set goals for the new year, but kind of broke them down into weekly and monthly goals with check-ins. I know it has only been a few days but it really has me motivated. My goals include getting my brand Tragic Girls H.Q. up and going, working on my writing (poem collection and book), and obviously this blog and my Instagram that goes with it. My relationship with this blog has really changed over the years and fell in place with where I was in life. I was pretty steady (I think) about three years ago, then post break up I realized I used my blog as a clutch. I was literally pumping out content about three times a week and planning and doing most of the work on Sundays. That wasn’t a bad thing and I really enjoyed it. It was what I needed at that time in my life. Then the next year I came out of hiding and started going out with my younger sister and had A TON of fun, but didn’t leave as much time for blogging. This last year as I said above, there was the pandemic, falling in love, and I still didn’t leave myself much time for the blog.

NOW THIS YEAR I want to get back to it. I want to continue documenting my adventures and all of the new adventures that are going to come. My goal for this year is to post every Friday. If I get a second in for the week then go me, but bare minimum I need a put a post out every Friday. I am ready for the challenge and ready to get back to creating. I need it!

Thanks for being along for the ride. Content will vary between life, adventures, styles, advice, all of it! Let’s do it!

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lifestyle, Style, the.B.Law

2018… What A Year

This year has come to a close so quickly. I thought this year would go by slower because we weren’t counting down to anything. Last year my sister was getting married so I had her bridal shower in April, her bachelorette party in May, and in June we all went to Mexico for a week for the wedding. Best vacation I have ever been on, I still miss it and think about it constantly. But all of those exciting things made half of the year go by so fast. Then when fall hits, the holidays follow closely behind and boom it is a new year. I thought since we had no big events to countdown to this year, it would go by slower. I was so wrong. I think this year may have been even faster than last.

It is no secret that my 2018 started off terribly. For those who don’t know, to put it shortly, I got dumped in the end of January (the 28th to be precise because I am a psycho girl and remember everything) and I lived with the guy. By March I moved in with my sister and I have been here since. It was a rough transition. It was a rough time of my life in general. Losing someone because they CHOSE to not choose you anymore is a whole different kind of hurt. Hours I spent in my car (not by choice, but the move tripled my commute) thinking of all the ways I went wrong or what I should have done differently, or how he just didn’t want ME or how maybe I wasn’t good enough (if you want the raw feelings of those days read this post from May). To see me now from where I was then, I have grown a lot. Some days are still bad but in different ways, I am still growing and learning. I have since learned and realized that what we had was not what I wanted, but what I hoped would change into what I wanted. I have learned that I should not have to make excuses for the emotion that was lacking, or the needs that were not being met. I have realized how much I actually need simple signs of affection and am deserving of that. I am coming to find out that it is okay to be picky and to be myself because I want someone who wants all parts of me (including the weirdo and including the psycho).

Something I have probably suffered from most this year was comparing myself to my friends and family and feeling left out because I am the only single one now. What is funny though is that this is all me because no one has left me out for being single (maybe that is one of this biggest things I have learned this year, that I am literally my own worst enemy and the biggest critic in the whole dang world). My friends still all include me of course, and nothing is really different except that I don’t have a date to things. But it is not like all my friends are the types of PDA couples who are all lovey dovey all of the time. I am so thankful that Heather’s boyfriend has just grown accustomed to me being their third wheel LOL! They even call their spare bedroom my room (you guys are da best and I love being your roomie/extra date 😉 ). I just need to work on feeling confident with where I am in life right now.

It was hard to go from where I was, to being single and renting a room from my sister because I can’t afford to live in the same city, let alone county, as my job (I am also letting my age play a huge factor in my expectations which is just silly but yeah). I would have to constantly remind myself that this was not permanent, it was just my current situation that I was working through. Not that I was embarrassed by it, but I felt like I had taken so many steps back. So far back that I was living back in the town I had left. But no one has judged me for it. Most people understand because California is so freaking expensive to live in alone. But since moving, I have come to terms with my current situation and I am okay. I know there is nothing wrong with it, and I get to live with my sister, who is one of my best friends, and get to be here while my niece is young and get to watch her grow and be a role model for her. Things could be worse, but they aren’t. I am with family and I am safe.

Now for some good things (sorry, I didn’t expect this to be a novel but I guess it is going to be). I hadn’t been single for a long time span IN A LONG TIME. After getting over the whole bad part about it, I started getting excited about the good. I had and still have no one to answer to. If I want to go do something I can do it, and I do! I wanted to focus more on my stuff, like this blog, and I have, AND IT SHOWS. All of my friends have told me what a difference they have seen in my work and content, and just being creative in general. I do this because I love it and I want to make something out of it. Having some real focus and time has made a world of difference (plus he-who-must-not-be-named didn’t really support my blog and thought it was dumb *GASP!*). [sidebar: it still amazes me how we can finally be at a point where we recognize all of the bad things and the red flags we ignored yet still miss them sometimes. Is it them we miss or just the time and the “comfort”?]

I don’t know how many times I just left for the weekend and went to Palm Springs to be with Heather. Or the three or more times I went to Vegas to visit my sister Tab, or the random times I call up Cher and ask her to hang out because it literally takes two minutes to drive to her house. I have freedom to be me right now and I am really starting to enjoy it. I cannot wait to really take advantage of it next year. 2018 was all about healing and learning. I think 2019 will be about learning and experiencing. I am ready to have fun, have adventures, learn and grow. What I am most excited about is all of this exciting stuff and tying it to my blog. It is all Tab and I have been able to talk about, all of the new things we want to do in 2019 writing and content creating wise. Which is why you may think it is funny that I am so excited for my blog in 2019 and I am taking the entire month of January off *insert puzzled face*.

I will still be around on Instagram, and using my captions as a form of writing and keeping you up to date, but I need a month to focus on something completely different. There is some studying for a course I need to get done that I have had for some months now, but I always choose to blog instead of study because obviously that is way more fun. I have three books I need to get through and I am not even half way through the first. My goal is to finish the first book by the end of January (or earlier if possible), then I will hopefully be in such a studying groove that I can bring back blogging in February and still finish the second book by the end of Feb, then finish the third by March (I will tell you what I am doing once I am done haha). I am thinking I will come back to the blog on my birthday, Feb. 7th, since that is kind of like my new year, right? Plus once I have this studying complete I will have even more time to focus on the blog.

Okay I will end here since this is getting lengthy, I hope you have made it this far! I am excited for tonight. I have NEVER been this excited for a new year but I am ready to take it on. I will post my resolutions/goals for the new year tomorrow and then I am out for the month! If I end up doing really well with studying maybe I will reward myself with a post, but let’s be honest, this stuff is boring so I don’t see rewards in my future. But here is to wishful thinking and no sleep!

Happy New Year’s Eve everyone! Be safe and talk to you next year!

Cheers! -Britt

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Yes I was this extra and made my sister take this photo yesterday so I would have it ready. BUT ISN’T IT THE CUTEST?!

Look linked here! Dress | Heels | Champs (Costco 😉 )

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2017 New Year’s Resolutions

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a fun and safe New Year’s Eve, I know I did! My boyfriend and I did a repeat from last year and went to Amanda’s, from Glitter It Gold, house. It was so fun again. We made dinner, well Amanda made dinner because she is an amazing cook and I helped by chopping up mushrooms, had champagne and cocktails all night, had her homemade dessert (ice cream and lemon-something-something bunt cake), played Card Against Humanity, then played corn hole in the living room until midnight. Their other friends came too, who I like to consider my friends as well now. They had to leave for another party but came back right after midnight. We all thought we would barely make it to midnight but we did! Once the other couple came back the three of us girls ended up staying up until 3:00AM! It was so nice and we didn’t have to worry about driving or rides or anything.

I can’t believe it is 2017. I still can’t get over the fact of how fast 2016 went. I hope this new year slows down a little. When I was thinking about my resolutions for this year, I realized that they are going to be very similar to last year’s. Not that I failed last year, I did attempt at all of them but I think I could have put in more effort. This year I want to be better and try harder, find my inner motivation.

2017 New Year’s Resolutions:

  1. The obvious… working out and eating healthy– this is always one of my goals and one of almost everyone else’s, but this year I have new motivation. In June we are going to Cancun for my sister’s wedding for a week and I want to look my best… and I have NEVER felt my worst. I have ben working out pretty regularly but I guess I have been doing so lazily. Just doing cardio mostly and not being too serious. I don’t even want to see myself in a bikini right now. I have actually been really looking forward for the New Year to start this. Apart from working out (better) I am changing my diet. I am going to go gluten free again and this time around I want to start ACTUALLY trying something new. I am so stuck in the few healthy things I know how to make and although I want to try new things, I somehow never sit down to find the time to research and realize how easy some of these things can be. I have already been making meal lists and finding things on Pinterest. I also bought a few new workout things from the Target value spot: pink yoga mat, pink 5 lb. kettle bell, and a pink fitness bag that you can strap your yoga mat to (are we seeing a theme here?). Not only do I want to feel good about my body and get in shape, but I also want to feel better and have more energy.
  2. Reading– My goal last year was to read 6 books but I ended up about 80 pages short of reading 4. I know I can do better than that. Finishing those 80 pages won’t count for 2017 but after that I already have a pile of 5 books with a 6th on the way from The Book of the Month (BOTM) club.
  3. Reading the bible– my bible has a one year plan in the back where it tells you which pages to read every night of the year. I started last year and didn’t make it very far. Getting behind one night isn’t too bad, but more than that and it is easy to not let yourself get so behind. I am really weird about liking to do things in order. Although I got so far behind I could have still started on whatever day I was at but instead I thought I HAD to catch up and it didn’t work . This year I am going to try my best and if I get too far behind, I will still move forward.
  4. Writing– this goal goes for both blogging and writing my novel. I have like 3 started novel ideas that are only just started. I want to post a blog a MINIMUM of twice a week and work on my novel writing at least 3 times a week. That seems pretty reasonable. Even if I do not get much down, writing more often helps.

Okay, reading these resolutions I noticed that they are not similar to last year’s but they ARE last year’s, with an exception of one. I know I can reach all of these goals and I think I will feel better and more fulfilled doing them all regularly. I am excited to see what this new year will bring and what adventures will come.

Happy New Year!

PS- it has been a year since the blog changed names from Tragic Girls to the.B.Law and I still couldn’t be happier with the name choice.


 





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2016 Year End Wrap up

I think that 2016 has been one of the fastest years yet, at least for me. It honestly feels like it was just New Years and I was at one of my best friend Amanda’s house (aka Glitter It Gold) playing Cards Against Humanity and siping on cocktails all night. Now it is December and we are about to start a whole new year. Why did this year go by so fast? I think a big reason why is because some big things happened. The biggest of all was my boyfriend joining the National Guard.

We live together so I am with him everyday. He went and tested in February and when he came home to tell me how it went he said he was leaving in the middle of April for training. It was so fast! First started the countdown to him leaving so that made time go quick, then came the countdown of him coming back. We had to get everything ready for when he was gone. Our lease in our apartment was going to end in the middle of his training and we were not renewing, so I had to pack us all up and move everything out and live with my sister for the last month. Thank God my other best friend literally helped me pack my entire apartment, I couldn’t have done it without her. My dad, his friend, and my boyfriend’s mom all came on the day of the move to get us out of there. That move was such a huge stress on top of the stress of him being gone at training. He was gone for three and a half months with our only communication through writing letters. It felt like a movie waiting for a letter from him. There was the occasional phone call but since he got to call at weird times I missed quite a few and was so sad and depressed after it. When we finally did get to talk on the phone it was short, one time was literally 23 seconds. Finally though we had a couple good calls, 30 minutes, then they had their family day that he got his phone the whole weekend! (I am not a horrible girlfriend, I didn’t go to family day because I was all set to come out for graduation, and out as in all the way to Georgia).

Finally August came and he came home! Two days after he returned we moved into our new place in Fullerton. I am really grateful for my month at my sisters, it was great to see her every day and to really bond with my niece more (we slept together every night!). Also during his training I had one of my other best friends, Theresa’s, bridal shower and bachelorette party. Luckily while he was gone I had so many events on the weekends that I didn’t have much time to be home alone and bored.

As I said, he came back and we moved into our new apartment the first week of August. Then the next weekend we had Theresa’s wedding (now I have three married best friends! Crazy!) AND THEN Theresa got me an interview at her now old job and I got hired! I absolutely love my job, it’s already been almost four months!

So this year probably felt fast because it had some big things. I am grateful for it all but I am also excited to see what 2017 holds. I want to make new goals and I want to still reach old ones. I will have my resolutions up soon. I hope you all had a great year as well!

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Reflection on 2015

Being that we are already five days into 2016, I think it is time that I finally reflect on 2015. I was reading everyone else’s reflections and almost wasn’t going to do one, until I realized just how much stuff happened in the past year. It is funny how a year can go by so fast yet when you think back, so much is crammed into that time. Sometimes something that happened can seem so long ago and you forget that it all happened within a year. 2015 seemed busy like any other full of ups and downs, however for my family and I, had quite a few deeper downs than usual. We started the year off with my grandma passing away. She lived a very long and fulfilled life with six children who all got married and had their owns kids. Although hard, we knew she was happy. Soon after though I got to see one of my best friends get married and it was so beautiful. Their love is just so beautiful and their relationship with God truly inspires me still. After that I had one of the funnest birthday celebrations I have had, bar hoping in Huntington Beach with all of the people I love.

Everything seemed normal for awhile, just living with my roomie, working, and blogging. Then we found out our Nana was now sick with stomach cancer and dementia. It seemed to happen and progress so fast. She had a successful surgery removing everything, however they are still concerned about the microcells, so we will still see when she goes to the Dr. this month. Having her not remember is hard. All while handling this my bfffffff was going through practically the same thing with her family. At least we truly had an understanding of this and didn’t have to do it alone. Her family is my family and vice versa.

In between this hectic time, my roomie and I moved out of our apartment, she into her parents house for a very short while, and I moved in with my boyfriend. Although it was bitter sweet to leave our apartment, it was exciting to start a life here with him (except for the fact that our place isn’t that big and I just cannot handle the closet space! But that is all part of the experience right? I mean I am sure tons of people use the linen closet in the bathroom as their second closet. Am I right? No, just me?) Just as everything got settled, my roomie found out that she was getting promoted to Vegas! How cool is that?! I was so excited for her and still am, it was and still is hard though because I miss her. I talk to her everyday but I used to see her everyday and now I haven’t seen her in a few months.

Shortly after this my family was hit with more illness. Since I know that she wouldn’t want this discussed all I can say is we had more cancer in someone very close. It was a miracle that they caught it so early and have gotten it all out. The Dr. says that there should be no follow up treatment, praise the Lord! Oddly again, my bfffffff goes through something again similar yet different (I know that sounds strange but it is not my place to give details).  By this time it really just felt like the saying “When it rains it pours.” That is what it felt like, and sometimes it is hard to remember the good with all of the bad. But good things need to be praised no matter how small.

I almost forgot! Somewhere up in-between all of this, I can’t remember exactly when, our mom moved closer to us, like 13 miles from me, and I have seen her more in the last six or seven months than I have in the last ten years. You can imagine how great that is! Although she still has a ways to go, she is moving up slowly.

Despite all of the bad that happened this year I wouldn’t describe this past year as bad. Everything happens for a reason and although we cannot understand why sometimes, God has a plan for everything. Through all of this I have been getting closer with my family. The year did end off with something great though. My bffffff’s sister and husband had their baby. What better way to end than with a new life of a beautiful baby? I am thankful for the past year, but I am so excited for this new year and for all of the new things to come. If you missed it, check out my post before last New Year, New Blog, New Resolutions to see what all I am so excited about, one of which my blog name changing!

I hope you all had time to reflect on this past year. Don’t forget to be thankful for everything that has happened and that you are here, alive today! Here is to a new year and a new start!

 

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