Looking Back & Forward

Howdy!

This is last blog post of 2019! I cannot believe we are now embarking on a new journey. I know everybody (or most likely) will have different resolutions for the new year. I think with every passing year, people will make these lists and have good intentions but as time goes on, we seem to forget everything we wanted to accomplish in the beginning! I was like that for most of the year. I published a blog post at the start of 2018 talking about some of the goals I wanted to do, and only managed to do two on the actual list. However, I think this is a win because I completed two specific plans during the whole year!

The goals I was able to do this past year were:

• Make time for other stuff

• Write Out Ideas

Everytime I tried to plan out my blogging schedule or anything something would happen. There were a lot of different obstacles in the way and it wasn’t until the end of summer that I just gave up with planning and just let everything slide!

At the start of the year I got sick for the first time since probably 2012 and I wasn’t allowed to do anything but tightly wrap up in my fleece blankets to sleep and sweat it off. I was basically scrambling to get material written and scheduled on here and my social media accounts for you guys, but somehow in the mist of it all I just decided that I needed to stop stressing myself out so much that could wait until I was healthy enough to officially be ready to come back, thus I made time to recover and enjoyed being lazy and watched television for hours on end!

As you might remember, my sister was originally due to give birth to my nephew on the 4th of July weekend. Well, I had some ideas on what kind of content I wanted to release during the month of June and parts of July too. The only one that never changed of the first plan were the baby shower and nursery tour. Well, since little man was born kind of early, my whole schedule was basically put on hiatus; and I relished on the fact that I was now an auntie to this little human but after I took some time off to love on him, I wrote the only post that went up after his birth in the summer before my mental health took a downhill and where instead of being awake at night because of my drippy nose and uncontrollable coughs, I was in the middle of a depression spell one week after being put on antidepressants.

As I suffered every hour of those 31 days, Netflix and I began fast friends in that time period as I binge watched The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl and every nature documentaries I could find that was hosted by David Attenborough. After two months went by, I suddenly had my energy back and was able to write blog posts again. I even started to read again, and I was really enjoying reading “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” by Jenny Han. I really wanted to get it done before the movie premiered but I still haven’t finished it or “Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs, but I’ll get to it and they can be something I can do this year!

After September, I was just me again. I had no issues, other than the increasing back and knee pains but mentally I was doing better and that was okay with me! I have had slower weeks and whenever that happens I just let myself give in and take some time off of everything and when I feel good enough, I jump back in again but now I’m at the point that I don’t try to fight it. I need to make time to create better ideas and ultimately material for you all and I like being able to scoot away from everything every once in a while. I’m never totally offline during the break, but I am out for three hours at a time so that’s a big thing for me!

Would you like for me to do a separate post of my favorite blog posts of 2018? 

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For 2019, I have a few things I’d like to do but I have a new project for GMB!

I really want to challenge myself to come up with as many disability themed pieces as I could for my blog. So, I have created an A to Z Disability Challenge to get me through half of the year. I don’t know what really inspired it, I just felt like I needed to talk about these themes on here a little bit more. A lot of the articles will be things that I’ve personally went through in my life. I think it’ll give people, of various ages a totally different outlook on how one disabled person’s life should be, and it also shows the parents, grandparents, etc ideas on how they can give their disabled child or young adult a chance to be proven wrong.

I am very excited about this project. I’ve actually been thinking about it since the end of July, which is a little odd considering I did not want to think of anything blog related, but managed to come up with this anyways. I asked my Facebook friends of ideas on letter suggestions, so every letter is represented by a certain disability theme, like B is “building trust” so I’ll be discussing how a person with or without a disability should develop trust with people. Another example is the letter H and the theme is “Asking For Help” and we’ll be talking about why you should ask help and most importantly teaching others how it’s better to ask a disabled person if they need help with anything, before you go ahead and do it for them.

I’m hoping that these posts will be starting next week, but it would all depend on anything big happening in the meantime. My family is in the process of moving into our new house, and it’ll whether or not we have internet when those pieces will be published, but they will go up on a start of a new week, so hopefully everything will work out well enough (but so far nothing’s been on time) but who really knows!

Are you making any resolutions or goals for 2019? What are you most looking forward to? 

Blogmas | December Playlist

Howdy!

A part of me is wondering why I’m continuing to title everything “Blogmas” still since Christmas is definitely over now, but I think it’s because the month itself isn’t so maybe that’s why I’m still doing it.

I always say this about December but it’s usually a pretty dull month. It’s the only month where there is a small amount of music that is actually released, because most people would rather listen to festive music by Mariah Carey or Bing Crosby, which is perfectly fine but for a hardcore and diverse music fan, I don’t like it when my normal routine is broken like this.

Here is the Top 10 songs that I was listening to in December!

Slip Away by Ruelle
Paint It Black by Ciara
Angel Eyes by New Years Day featuring Chris Motionless
Rewrite The Stars by Anne-Marie and James Arthur
Without Me by Halsey
Dip by Tyga featuring Nicki Minaj
Eternally Yours by Motionless In White
In The End by Tommee Profitt featuring Jung Youth and Fleurie
Lacrimosa by Apashe
Hey DJ by CNCO featuring Meghan Trainor and Sean Paul
This Feeling by The Chainsmokers featuring Kelsea Ballerini

This year has been kind of weird as far as talking about music. I managed to do something that I really thought would never happen again, and that was listen to both old school rap and new rap music! I talked about Cardi B a lot in 2018, but then again so was everybody else! What really shocked me was the amount of music videos I would allow myself to watch during the week. I think in the beginning, it was a ploy to make sure I didn’t go back into the genre but it didn’t really work out the way I thought it would and I started to like a lot of music that way. I was also reintroduced to some of my favorites that came out in the 2000-2008. I finally felt comfortable to listen to G Unit again. I fell in love with both Lloyd Banks and The Game’s voices again and I really thought that would ever happen again, but it did and I’m actually grateful for that.

At the end of November, I got the idea of listing my favorite album and movies that came out this year. For those of you that have missed those posts, I have decided to share with you my Top 5 favorite albums: “Camila” by Camila Cabello, “Scvrina” by Scvrina, “Testing” by A$AP Rocky, “Modern Alchemy” by Zayde Wolf, and finally “Infections Of A Different Kind (Step 1)” by Aurora. Here are my final reviews of 2018 too!

Everyday Is Christmas by Sia | O Come, O Come Emmanuel / God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen by Upon Wings 

It’s weird to know this time next week it will be 2019! Before we start a new year though, just like last month if you visit my blog’s Facebook page I will be sharing FIVE more songs that I was loving this pas month!

In 2019 we will start over and I’ll be checking out and reviewing all new music coming out and I cannot wait! I think you’ll agree with me when I say that is nuts. Next Monday I will have a blog post discussing what I liked and of course disliked about 2018 and what I might have planned for our new year: 2019! I am really excited to get everything started and have exciting new content for you again.

What were you listening to for December? And I want to know what was your favorite song of 2018 as well!

Blogmas | Mr. G (writing prompt)

Howdy!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Today’s post will be another story that I found online. It really surprised me how little Christmas/winter writing prompts there are anywhere! It took me so long to find ones that I liked to create something for you. The fact that I have one for you for this week kind of freaked me out, but once I read it, I knew it was going to be the one for me. The first thing that popped into my mind though was the Gingerbread man in the movie Shrek so I really hope you like this!

Originally, I was just going to use this prompt to create the story, but as I was dealing with the issues of trying to find a good one, my mom suggested that I talk about the Elf On The Shelf and its doings around the house at night. While I thought it was a good concept, I didn’t want to mess with my other one. After a couple of days, ideas started floating around in my head that combined both of them, so this was the ending result!

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Grandmother pulled the last tray of gingerbread men from the oven. Suddenly…

Hilda enjoyed her time with her grandchildren, so she decided to make it easier on herself and finish making the beloved gingerbread men at nine o’clock in the evening. The house was somewhat quiet as the only noise throughout the house was her humming and the occasional dinging of the oven. It was very relaxing to her to bake before everyone came over, but it didn’t last…

As she was pulling out the last tray of men from the oven, she began to hear a light rustling and even some grunting noises coming from the other side of her island. She put down the tray of freshly baked gingerbread softly before quickly locating a cast-iron pan from her shelf and gripped it hard.

“Is anybody there?” She said in her tiny quivering voice. “Don’t come any closer, I’m armed” the pan shook in her hands as shear terror rippled through her whole body. She took a step forward to see if she could catch a glimpse of the stranger down below. As she took the step, the floor creaked under her feet and she froze. By this time, a tip of a tiny red and while cap slowly appeared on the opposite side, climbing its way up unknowingly what he was walking into at this moment.

“Ugh, the things I will do for a little snack.” The little creature poked his long but little arms from below and his shiny head suddenly movable kept looking back at the drop he’d make if he wasn’t careful with his footing. Once he got his upper limbs over, he just crawled across the top to make things easier on himself. After safely making the journey, he sighed and stood up to wipe off the dust of his plain Christmas-y suit. Now he was clean but saw something in the corner of his eye and it made him turn around halfway to face a very terrified Hilda.

Ahhhhhh!

As Hilda screamed, she accidentally dropped the pan on her foot. She was conflicted to deal with the pain of her toes or the mysterious intruder. After several seconds, it dawned on her that this little man looked oddly like her elf on the shelf that she does with her grandchildren. So, she approached it slowly and said,  “Rascal, is that you?”

“Rascal? My name is not that ratchet disgrace. The name’s Mr G and you can tell your little hooligans that the next time you see them too.” He said as folded his long arms together.

Hilda was shocked that he actually talked back to her, in such a rude tone, at that. “That’s what the box named you, Rascal.” Hilda calmly said back as she slowly bent down to pick up the pan on the kitchen floor. “I must be sleep baking again. How are you alive right now?” She gently put the pan on the island closes to her body as possible, you know just in case she needed it.

“Well we’re supposed to keep our identities a secret but then I smelled the cookies from the ridiculous position you had me in on the mantle, and since I was going to be there until dawn, I figured I deserved a treat.” G said as he made his way over to the freshly spiced cookies that were finally cool to the touch. He grabbed the smallest one of the bunch and shoved the whole thing into his mouth, licking his fingers to make that the rest of the crumbs were off of his outfit.

At this time, Hilda was in a daze. She couldn’t believe that this seemingly plastic toy could be eating a real cookie in front of her. “There’s more of you? Will all of my dolls come alive like you too?” As soon as she said that, she began to fear them move around and talk in a rude manner like Mr. G, which would help explain the loud banging and creaking sounds coming from the living room and kitchen late at night.

“Eh, I don’t think so.” As he finished the cookie and pushing the last bit of crumbs off the edge as they landed on the floor. “Unless they are Santa’s helpers, but they look too delicate to be one of us.” G looked at him with love on his face. “I wish they were, they are so good-looking and I haven’t had a decent date in decades!”

She turned her head to face the most expensive dolls she has and back to the creepy little dude on the island. It was just too crazy that this “Rascal” would be alive in the middle of her kitchen, and oozing over her $1,000 dolls on handmade shelves. He shook his head before looking back at the tray again, debating another cookie, before heading back to his hideous spot until Hilda began to speak once again, “You know I can put you in a more flattering place, if you want.”

G looked at her with delight, and walked towards her and as he stood at the ledge, he put his hands up at her like a baby would wanting to be carried around, she hestianted a bit before taking the chance and cradled him inside her arms and put him on the coffee table where she’d eventually place the milk and cookies in a day or two, but for now it’ll be Rascal–I mean, Mr. G’s new placement for the night.

Before she left his view for good, he spoke one more time to her. “Hey, if you could, please do not tell those little idiots about me being alive at night? Although it would be fun to scare them for once in my life.” She looked at him and smiled, signaling that she’d keep quiet for him. Afterwards, he suddenly looked away and became so sincere in his plastered smile on his face. The end.

So what did you think of this little story? I thought it was adorable! Would you like to see more of these types of stories during other holidays? 

Blogmas | Christmas Decor Ideas

Howdy!

Merry Christmas Eve!

For this post, I wanted to discuss some of my early Christmas decor ideas for 2019! Yeah, I know I’m going backwards for this, but there’s a reason for it. We recently got a new house, and I’ve been trying to figure out how I want everything arranged in my new bedroom. We have an idea of where the bed and TV will be placed, but everything else is a bit up in the air right now. So, I only have a blurry video imprint in my mind of what it looks like and how I’d like for everything to go!

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Whenever we’d move to a different house, my room has always had white walls. After so many years, it can get very boring looking and you just feel like you need a change and what I do is add as many posters as I possibly can! I even have some of my old artwork hanging up in my current room as well, and despite the fact that it makes the room more lively, it can still look pretty plain.

Over the years, I’ve wanted to decorate the crap out of my room for various holidays–mostly for Halloween and Christmas! A recent dream of mine is that I’ve been wanting to get a Christmas tree for my bedroom. I think I might be watching Zoe Sugg’s vlogmases a little too much because she makes me want to do stuff that I wouldn’t normally do! A part of me is torn between if this is a good or bad thing!

This month I’ve been inspired to create a Pinterest board of what I like about Christmas, the pines of the trees, bright glitter-y snow, and apparently the color red in all its glory! Later on in the year I’ll be posting some of my favorite ornaments and that’ll just add to my personality, because as most of you know, I’m a very eclectic person with many, many interests. Anyways, if you’d like to check it out, click here!

I’d like a semi-tall tree, I’m thinking maybe a 4′ tree so that I can put it up and take it down by myself. I can already picture explaining that to my parents! I originally wanted a normal looking tree, but after scrolling through my Facebook last week, a friend shared an article about the newest trend of black Christmas trees! After seeing this, I suddenly wanted one and thought that big royal purple ornaments with white snowflakes would be so pretty! I think I’d feel happy about not only myself but my new surroundings of being able to have that freedom that comes with decorating, you know?

So what about you? Do you wish you had an extra room where you could decorate it to the way you want it to, without having any judgement from others? 

Song Review: “O Come, O Come Emmanuel / God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” by Upon Wings

Over the summer, I wanted to do something different for my summer Tune Tuesday series and I got the idea to let other artists that not only do I enjoy but everybody would get to know and love too. Anne Erickson of Upon Wings wrote a couple of great pieces back in June and I really appreciated that she took the time out of her life to do something as great as this for all of us. Upon Wings have been working a lot lately to release some new music to their fans and this week, we got a treat with a Christmas song. Well, technically, it’s two songs mashed up into one track, but you get what I’m trying say, right?

So, this starts off with a section of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and I really like the acoustic guitar in the introduction. It has a light vibe going about it but you still get a happy feeling as it goes on. To me Anne’s voice is in a darker tone but I actually like it. They are a rock opera band so it sounds kind of mysterious but it’s gentle and still has that cheerful quality you’d normally hear with a song like this.

Now when the next song starts up, you still have the same elements playing on, but the only subtle additions are the drums and violins in the background. This song is called “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and just for fun, I watched the movie A Christmas Carol with Jim Carrey in it and this song is sung by a family group begging for money on the sidewalk. When I saw this, I instantly remember that scene and the fact that I haven’t finished watching it yet. Anyways, the track does pick up pace once we move onto this song. and we get a nice guitar solo and everything sounds really lovely together.

It was a nice little surprise for not only the fans  (myself included) but the actual track was really great. I like different variations of songs, that’s why I enjoy listening to covers and remixes on a daily basis. However I know, when it comes to Christmas music, it can be a little daunting because you’re so used to hearing them in one way and to find them in a completely different singer and most importantly new genre, it can really make you into a critic really quick, but you can’t hate on the artist(s) that do remake these beloved songs because they’re only reinventing them into what they like to listen to on a daily basis, you know? So, I give Upon Wings a lot of credit for putting this together for this holiday!

What do you think Upon Wings’s new take to these traditional Christmas songs? How are you about the various versions of your favorite holiday songs? Have you ever been converted into one or the other before?