2015 IN REVIEW: GOALS

When I started reviewing 2015, I was still mired in the pains and losses. I've been unemployed for a quarter of a year and have been quite ill for most of it. Humidity tried to kill me when I went back east in September. One of my step brothers nearly died + has severe deficients after a seizure/heart attack/stroke in the span of 3 days. We had to put one of our dogs, Bear, down in April after he developed a sudden & debilitating illness. On paper, 2015 should be firmly in the bad column.

But damned if it wasn't an amazing + powerful year!

I had a handful of goals for 2015-- I don't do resolutions because they tend to be generic + too easy to dismiss because you don't really take them seriously. But goals are things you can turn into actionable tasks you + actually DO. Here were my goals for the last year:

1. NO HOSPITAL VISITS
2. get hair cut
3. go to Disneyland
4. take a decent facebook picture
5. eat lots of good food
6. cry over new Star Wars movie
7. get out of VS
8. go visit awesome people

GUESS WHAT I DID ALL THOSE THINGS

Avoiding Hospital: Which is pretty impressive since I've been sick pretty much straight on from October with everything from infections to NASTY bronchitis that had be bedridden pretty much Thanksgiving -> Christmas. I attained this goal by luck, vitamins, and listening to my body and a very understanding GP. Huzzah for COBRA benefits!

Get hair cut + take a decent FB picture: HAVE YOU SEEN MY HAIR IT IS SO CUTE. I started the year in a pretty bad state & hadn't had my hair cut in nearly a year. It was a massive confidence drain + was causing headaches. In April I finally summoned the courage + contacted my old stylist and got it all chopped off. LOVE IT. FREEDOM!!!

Disneyland: Gina + I went to Disneyland with her parents in February! I cried a lot and took tons of pictures I never uploaded, oops.

Eat Lots of Good Food: Best food was probably an unholy tie between Wawa's Pretzels + Ru's Wedding Sliders. Close #2 was the soup I made last week-- garlic chicken with coriander + curry.

Cry over new Star Wars movie: I have seen it 3 times and cried every time. T_______T so many feels

Get out of VS: YES I DID IT!!! NEARLY TEN YEARS AND I GOT THE HELL OUT OF THERE!!! My last day was the end of August and honestly, I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am. Sure, being out of work is not ideal, but I'm under no artificial stresses + got to have a holiday with my family, which is a priceless gift. NO MORE RETAIL FOR THE KOLSTER EVER AGAIN

Visit Awesome People: Feb: Gina's parents (DISNEY); June: 4th Street (Angie + awesome writer peeps); September: Annie/Scott/Charlotte (DC), RU'S WEDDING OMG (NC), CASA DeRP/Angie/Pixie (PA), SURPRISE CAMPING WITH MY PARENTS + BROTHER (Backstate NY); December: CAT SITTING ARMAND (what that totally counts, Armand is amazing). I was pretty much on the east coast the entire month of September and it was such a blessing to be able to not only see my brother again, but to also see both the nephew + niece I had never met!

So even with all the awfulness that happened, I'm still ending 2015 in a really good place. My self-confidence is blooming, I've achieved important things, and I know what I need to do on the next steps on my path to being an even better me. Which at the end of the year is a pretty awesome thing to be able to say I think :D

2015 IN REVIEW: MUSIC

Music had a major influence on me this year, from helping control anxiety to writing a lot of fiction. I got back into listening to albums in a big way once I got my imac and spent a lot of time on Pandora radio. My 3 big stations were @MØ, @Zoe Keating, and @Missy Elliot. In addition to the music below, favorite albums of previous years that got a lot of airplay this year were Zoe Keating's Into The Trees, the Hunger Games OSTs, Daughter's If You Leave, and the rediscovery of Phantogram.

#1 ALBUM BY LISTENS MØ's No Mythologies to Follow

Contrary to assumption one might have to all the music being listed below, I pretty much just listened to this album for half the year XD. What was really interesting was how much that album led to much broader musical tastes thanks to Pandora's MØ station. Good times were had every time I put it on + I caught a lot of new artists listening to it. A+ for Pandora!

Favorite Albums/Songs for 2015

January - March
MØ - No Mythologies to Follow {Walk This Way}
The Knocks - So Classic {Classic}
Big Data - 2.0 {Clean}

April - June
Hozier - Hozier {Take Me To Church}/{Run}
Florence + The Machine - How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful {Long & Lost}
Glass Animals - Zaba {Gooey}/{Pools}

July - September
Zhu - {Faded} (ODESZA remix)
Broods - Evergreen {Everytime}
ODESZA - In Return {White Lies}
Felix Jaehn - Wild Summer 2016 {Ain't Nobody (Loves Me Better)}

October - December
X Ambassadors - VHS {Renegades}
Birdy - (feat. Rhodes) {Let It All Go}
John Williams - The Force Awakens OST {Rey's Theme}
Missy Elliott - Block Party {WTF (Where They From)} <-- unreleased album

Also Favs
Little Daylight {Overdose}
XOV {Animal}
Purity Ring {Fireshine}
CHVRCHES {By The Throat}
Ghost Loft {Seconds}
Major Lazer (feat Wild Belle) {Be Together}