Best of 2014

2014 was a great year, filled with great things. Why not slap up an unsolicited list of my favorite products/pop culture things/foods/stuff throughout the year? So, in no particular order, let's recap:

I don't know of many people who didn't get sucked in by this addictive podcast. It was like crack.  My life feels empty now that it's over. Plus, it sparked my interest in podcasts in general, so I got a new hobby out of it.

Winterfest - As I'm sure you remember since I just wrote about it a few weeks ago, we went to this delightful place at Penn's Landing in Philadelphia for my birthday. I think it's open all winter, so we'll definitely be back.

Fried Eggs - No one said this list was gonna be a winner, okay? Anyway, I discovered The Crispy Egg at some point during the year, and it's been my go-to meal for when I'm home alone ever since. Paired with some Cholula and a piece of sourdough toast, it's hard to beat.

Burt's Bees grapefruit facial cleansing towelettes - I know that everyone uses face wipes and it's like, duh, but I just recently started stashing these in my night stand and on nights that I'm too tired (or drunk) to wash my makeup off, they've been a life saver. And they smell freaking amazing.

Apple TV has been a real game changer for Jeff and I. Jeff's brother was lovely enough to give it to Jeff for Christmas last year (as in 2013), and our lives haven't been the same since. We actually didn't think we'd really need it at first, because we already had TiVo and Netflix, but it makes life so much easier by allowing us to stream anything we have on our phones (or our computer) directly to the TV with zero effort. Plus, it gave us access to HBO Go on our TV without having to hook anything (other than the Apple TV itself, of course) up. It's a couple of couch potatoes' dream.

Of course. My beautiful sideboard. Scored on Craigslist for $40.00. Steal of the century. It's still my favorite piece of furniture.

Dinner: the Playbook - Oh, Jenny Rosenstrach, you genius. Some may say this book isn't really meant for me, seeing as it's an actual game plan for getting family dinner on the table on a weekly basis and for getting one's picky children to try new foods, and I don't have any children, picky or not. I don't care, though; this book contains some of the best quick and easy to prepare meals I've seen. And I'll probably have kids some day. Besides, Jenny's writing style is so friendly and inviting I feel like I've been to dinner at her house.

This book is the entire basis of the way I prepare Thanksgiving dinner, and I'm confident that it always will be. Sam Sifton's a boss.

I've heard mixed reviews on book the book and the movie. I haven't read the book yet, but the movie caused me to yell "whaaaaattt!?!!!" about 57 times, and that's pretty much all I look for in a movie. Jeff and I saw it in the theater, and have already rented it so we could watch it again. It was very thrilling and suspenseful, but it was also surprisingly fun and not too serious. 

Lou & Grey Essential Leggings - These, in my opinion, are the ideal leggings. They're not so thin that you can see your butt through them, but they're not so thick that it feels like you're wearing sweatpants. They're nice and high-cut so they don't fall down, and the waistband is seamless, so it doesn't cut into your skin (plus I think it just looks nicer that way). I wear leggings pretty much constantly when I'm at home, so I've worn these a ton of times and they haven't faded, even after several washings. This is a stockpile item (as in, stockpile these).

Stila All Day Foundation & Concealer - this is the best foundation I've ever used. It melts right into your skin and looks seamless, but it's nice and thick so it gives you great coverage. It's a bit pricey, but it comes with a little pot of concealer and a brush, so in my opinion it's worth it. 

There you have it. The Wire also gets an honorable mention, because Jeff and I watched it for the first time in 2014 (of course, we watched it right before it was digitally restored - d'oh!) and it was as great as everyone says, but including it in the list seemed like a bit of a stretch. When is it too late to still be talking about the new year/old year/holidays? Probably earlier than now. Oh well!

2014 Wrap-Up

Happy 2015, everyone!

When I look back on my year, at first it seems like not much has changed from this time last year - which is fine, because the previous year was a huge transition and I started last year with plans on de-stressing and resetting. But then I read my "resolution" post from last year, and I realized that even though things are physically pretty similar to the way they were last January, mentally I'm in a totally different place.

I kind of forgot how weird I felt around this time last year. My life had gone through a major change, and I had done a lot of growing up in a very short period, so I felt uncomfortable in my skin and I had a lot of guilt issues about "abandoning" friends. I was also going through a major period of FOMO, but was in denial about it. I was really happy to be where I was, but I just felt weird about it. I felt displaced.

This year, I spent a lot of time reconnecting with myself, and reconnecting with Jeff. I didn't feel disconnected from him, per se, but this year we spent a lot more quality time together, and I feel closer to him than I ever have. Things have been a lot less stressful over the past year than they had been in the past, and it's been good to just be able to appreciate the good things in life without having to worry about a ton of other stuff. Not to say life was terrible before, or that we were going through anything particularly difficult, but things just feel very calm and stable right now, and it's nice.

Since the previous year had felt so chaotic, I had a pretty big list of goals for this past year, but they were pretty general. I'm not going to set specific goals for this year, because I don't feel like anything needs major change, and instead I'm going to just focus on appreciating the good things and taking advantage of my time doing things I enjoy and spending time with people I love. Pretty simple stuff.  Anyway, to address my goals from last year:

The first major "goal" I had was to get back on track with a healthy lifestyle. Results? We'll say, "Meh". I definitely didn't eat any healthier than I had been, but I wasn't a total train wreck about it, either (at least until the holidays hit). As far as working out every day before work...that was a joke. I didn't do that once. Not one time. It was too much work, having to bring my work clothes, keep them from getting wrinkled, lugging my makeup and hair stuff to the gym, attempting to shower in the locker room, etc. etc. It just wasn't happening. And that 12-9 schedule had me miserable. Remember that seasonal depression post? That was in the middle of that awful schedule. I do legitimately get seasonal depression, but that schedule was not helping by any means. It felt like my entire day was totally eaten up. Once I was on a more reasonable schedule, I did start going to the gym after work, and that went as it almost always does: I'd have a two or so month stretch where I'd go every day, I'd get busy and stop going for a month or two, and then I'd start going regularly again, and the cycle would repeat. My last cycle ended around November, and I officially decided to give up for the duration of the holiday season, but I'll go back in January and try to continue as frequently as possible throughout the year. It definitely does make a difference in the way I feel, and my schedule should be consistent this year so it should be a lot easier.

And then there was the social thing. I already mostly covered that, but I really am in a much better place mentally than I was last year. I spend a lot more time at home, but I feel totally fine with that now. When I do spend time with friends, I enjoy it a lot more because it feels more like an event than an every day occurrence. I finally feel like most of my friends are on the same page with me, so I don't feel guilty about leaving them behind and I don't feel left out of their lives. Not to mention I'm saving a ton of money by not going out three nights a week...though I have developed a bit of a shopping addiction. Maybe THAT should be a resolution.

The house thing...that's another "Meh." I got pretty much nothing on that list accomplished, but I don't really feel bad about it. When we first moved in, I was super hyper about making everything perfect right away and I was also reading a lot of DIY/home improvement blogs, which were making me feel like a total renovation loser. Our house the way it is right now is beautiful. It's not perfect, but it's home. I did decorate gradually over the year, and of course I'm always working on that. I still need to get our guest room done, because I hate making people crash on our third floor when they stay. The office is on pause, because we're not sure a dedicated office space is totally necessary. I still want to do the stuff I mentioned before like paint the staircase and semi re-do the kitchen, but I'm not really in a rush. We got our windows done, which was huge, and we got our heating situation resolved. I don't know if I mentioned this, but we're getting our roof re-done for free due to some hail damage from last spring, which is freaking amazing. That's going to happen next week. We do have official goals set for next spring/summer: our main goal is our exterior, which is a mess. Jeff's determined to make it functional and nicer looking, and of course I'm all for it as well. He's also determined to put a new, heated floor in our main bath because we get hardly any heat in there, so when we do that we're going to re-paint it as well. I'd also like to re-tile our shower and/or get a new sink/vanity, but we'll see. It's not a necessity. Smaller things we've done include putting a new faucet in the upstairs bathroom, putting a new rug in the living room, scoring my precious sideboard in the dining room, and mulching around our driveway (except we didn't maintain that, and now our work is pretty much ruined. And when I say "our work", I mean Jeff and our neighbor Liam's brother.) All in all, I think we did pretty well for our experience level and budget. We got a little lazy, but that's okay. Oh, and I still need to put stuff on the damn walls, but I have a pretty concrete plan worked out for that. More to come.

I guess that was it, other than "take more pictures". I guess I included that in my house goals. I'm still kind of bad at remembering to take pictures and I'm really weird about asking people to pose or asking strangers to take pictures of us, and I'm kind of (really) bad at taking candids that look like anything, but I'm trying to get better. I bought a "grown up" camera, and have been working on learning how to use it effectively, and I have photoshop now, so I'm thinking about taking an online photo-editing class. I'm happy that I've started blogging on a consistent schedule, and I'm going to try to improve on content.

All in all, it was a pretty great year, and I'm excited to see what 2015 has in store. Thanks for reading, and happy new year!

Play it Forward

Do you guys know about Spotify's My Year in Music? If you use Spotify, they'll compile the music you listened to throughout the year and generate a stat sheet about your personal music tastes/habits. You can generate yours here. It's really interesting to look at. Here are some stats from mine:

• This year, I listened to 26,430 minutes of music through Spotify alone, the majority of which was played on my phone (which means I listen to the most music either in the car or while working out. So mostly in the car, ha.)
• I listen to the most music on Monday (which makes sense, since Monday is the day I use mostly to write/get things done/clean/cook). 
• The vast majority of the music I listen to is created in the US (81%!) followed by the UK, Canada (!), Australia, and Sweden (this was a stat that's apparently only generated for premium users? Which, thank god I'm getting my money's worth there. I don't really know why I still pay for premium - I don't know what features I have that people that have free subscriptions don't. When Spotify first came to the US, the only way to get it streaming to your phone was to pay for premium, but that's not the case anymore. I should probably look into that.)
• Remember when I talked about how I hate when people ask me what kind of music I listen to, because I don't know how to answer? Well, Spotify has me covered! According to them, my most-listened to genre of music is "Indie Pop", followed closely by "Indie Rock", and then "Chamber Pop". Neither Jeff nor I knew what the hell that meant, so I looked it up - apparently, "Chamber Pop", or "Baroque Pop", according to the Wikipedia article, "Stylistically fuses elements of pop and rock with classical music, often incorporating instruments not common to popular music such as harpsichords, clavichords, violins, cellos and other strings, oboes and French horns. It is also generally characterised by highly orchestral,^[4] lush instrumentation. Common elements of baroque pop also include layered melodies, sophisticated productions and prominent harmonies." So, like Grizzly Bear, I guess. They listed Belle and Sebastian and Regina Spektor as the two most well-known artists in this genre, but I haven't listened to either hardly at all in the last year.

 In addition to stats, Spotify will also create a playlist taylor-made for you of music that they think you'll enjoy to start off your year. Not every song on mine was a home run, and quite a few of the songs I already had on various playlists, but a few songs that I hadn't previously head were right up my alley:

• Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings -  Father John Misty...this song is SO DAMN GOOD. Can't stop, won't stop listening to it. Hit it out of the park with this one.
• Fare Thee Well (Dink's Song)  - Oscar Isaac, Marcus Mumford - this one's from the Inside Llewyn Davis Soundtrack, and is right up my folky little alley.
• Line of Fire - Junip - This song is very spacey, kind of similar to Beach House. I dig.
• Bloom - Paper Kites - So pretty.
• Bloodstream - Stateless - This reminds me a little bit of the French band Air, which I used to love.
• Song for Zula - Phosphorescent - This almost has a Bruce Springsteen vibe, in the best way possible.

So anyhoo, I highly recommend checking out your year in music. And then sharing your stats with me, because I'm nosy.