Sunday, January 1, 2012

The Holly Has Been Hauled Out, & Hauled Back In Again...

Happy New Year everyone - I'm back from vacay with the usual cold and/or sinus infection from California. I'm not sure what it is but the fam always seems to be sick when I go visit them. So I spent my New Year's Eve sneezing, sniffling and compiling a large trash bag full of tissues - then rolled into bed at midnight doped up on Nyquil and a lovely hot toddy my father made me out of Peruvian whiskey. I want to share with you my California adventures, but first...

The Marilyn Monroe shot glasses were a Christmas present from Seester & Bro-in-law. LOVE! 
So the holly has been hauled out for yet another season - and has now been hauled back in again. It's time to ring in another brand new year. I've learned to love New Year's Eve celebrations - they never meant much to me in the past. But now I feel the need to reflect upon and celebrate the passing of the old year and gather positive energy for the new year.

I feel that there are many good things coming my way in 2012. I have made great strides in 2011 and though it hasn't been a particularly fantastic year for me, I can't complain too much. There are things I am not happy with, but they mostly center around my own personal issues and not my life in general. This year has been my worst yet for personal, mental and physical struggles. But I believe I have some good things in place and I've built a solid foundation. I know that my happiness is up to me - and my focus for 2012 is on being my own best friend instead of my own worst enemy.

I learned some valuable life lessons in 2011 - I'd like to share just a few of them with you...


What I learned in 2011:

  • Cheap eyelash curlers are just as good as expensive ones - maybe even better. Save your 20+ bucks.
  • Cheap facial moisturizers however, are NOT an option after 30. You can get away with it in your 20's - but you shouldn't use them then either. Spring for the good stuff, your future wrinkles will thank you.
“Wisdom doesn't automatically come with old age. Nothing does - except wrinkles. It's true, some wines improve with age. But only if the grapes were good in the first place.” ~ unknown 
  • The people who tell you "life is too short to spend one day of it doing things you don't love" don't have a full grasp on reality. It must be nice that they don't have to do things they don't particularly enjoy but... Here's the truth: sometimes in life we have to spend a significant amount of time doing shit we don't particularly like to do and being around people we don't particularly care for. You aren't going to enjoy every second of every day. For example, I don't particularly like going to the grocery store - but I like to eat. Necessary evil. I also don't particularly like heroin addicts. Not exactly the kind of people I want to spend my days with - but I need a paycheck and they need someone to show them how to live without injecting black tar heroin into their blood streams every day - so I go to work. My job allows me to get some very important work experience in and were I to work elsewhere I'd not be able to do what I do. So I do it. I complain about it a lot - and I will likely continue to. Oh well... Sometimes you have to find a way to make lemons out of lemonade (preferably raspberry lemonade with some sweet tea vodka stirred in) until you can make it to the point in life where you are in a better situation - or you find a job that you love. It takes work to get there - and sometimes we have to do things we don't particularly like for a while in order to get to where we want to be. You can't go from nothing to National Champion quality show horse trainer overnight - you gotta spend quite a few years shoveling shit first. Even after you get there, sometimes you even have to go back to shoveling shit when there's no one else there to do it.
"At this very moment, there are people only you can reach, and differences only you can make." ~ Unknown
  • Sometimes you give someone or something your all and it doesn't work out. And that's ok because despite all I've been through, I STILL believe that everything happens for a reason.
"When someone tells you who they are, believe them." - Maya Angelou
  • Money can't make you happy? I call bullshit! Most of my struggles, concerns and troubles stem from financial issues. I'm feeling fairly certain that money could, in fact - make me quite happy right now. Sorry feel-good, do-gooders. I'd be able to do more feel-good, do-good stuff if I had the financial wherewithal. Check back next New Year's Day - maybe my perception on that will have changed. But for now... nope. 
  • I'm convinced that I am doomed to a life of dry, itchy scalp issues. I have experimented with my hair care regimen all year. Nothing works. The best I've figured out is this: 1) I have to wash my hair daily. I know most people say that it's better for the scalp if you don't wash daily - but that is not true for me. Day 2 is when the itching becomes unbearable. 2) Blow dry it as often as possible. Another thing that is the complete opposite of what other people tell me to do. 3) It doesn't matter what shampoo I use. It all makes my scalp itch, even the scalp relief ones and the really expensive ones. 
"Never jump into a pile of leaves with a wet sucker." ~ Linus from "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"
  • Birthdays have COMPLETELY lost their appeal. But it's nice when someone gives you something nice for your birthday - because at this point I'm just getting older. It helps to kill the "I'm not at the point in life I'd wanted to be by this age" sting to get a nice ring, necklace, or Coach purse to commiserate with. Unfortunately, no one gets me any of the above. So I get them for myself. 
"Inside every older person is a younger person, wondering what happened." ~ unknown
  • And finally - I have realized that I am now, in fact -  turning into my mother. More importantly though, I've realized that this isn't a bad thing after all. 
"All women become like their mothers.  That is their tragedy.  No man does.  That's his." 
~ Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, 1895


I wish you all the best for 2012 and I'd LOVE to hear about the life lessons you've learned this year! 



Photobucket