Post-Christmas depression. Is there any wonder why people spend more money to make themselves feel better once the twenty-sixth rolls around? All those sales. All those returns. I used to work retail, so I know it's a personal hell for those working. God speed customer service desk workers.

I'm stuck in that feeling of still having my decorations up and waiting for the new year and not wanting to take it down and definitely not wanting to get back into the routine of going back to work. I don't have the luxury of having almost two weeks off like those in school do. I miss those days, don't you? Sure, we have the freedom of being able to make adult decisions, but how free are we really when we're chained to our work place?

Ah well, I'm just blathering on in my post-Christmas sadness. A lot of good things happened this year, along with some bad, but I'd like not to focus on that and rather improve on what I'd like to accomplish. A new year is like a new slate. And while I feel like new year resolutions don't tend to stick very well, I'm going to try really hard to make a go of it this year. So here it is, some easy and some difficult new year resolutions, along with everything that I loved in 2016.

2016 Accomplishments; no matter how small!
♥moved out of hell house and into our stress-free home!
♥read and wrote a ton more. so proud of this one!
♥learned how to really calm myself when anxiety peaks.
♥got married!
♥got a raise at work!
♥started to really dig into my brain.

2017 Resolutions; a task list for the year.
♥whoops, get that car fixed! body work, new rear windshield wiper, rear brakes. yikes.
♥get healthier! work out and meal plans.
♥save more money for an amazing vacation!
♥worry less, plan more.
♥develop and stick to a routine.

And that's really all there is to my year. I want it to be a year where I don't have to worry and stress so much. Unfortunately, in this day and age, that means you need more money. I've always tried to save, as I'm sure we all have, but this is the year I'm really going to put a dent in it! It's a lot of everyday, adult things that I want to get accomplished, but it will make my life, and my husband's life, all the easier. And that is something that we could definitely use after the year we've had. So now I leave you with some images of my magical Christmas room, so I can remember it forever, and with this;










How are you going to make 2017 the best year ever?
♥

There never seems to be a good moment to sit down and type this out. First I think that there could be someone out there, maybe someone I know that reads my blog, that would get angry over this. Which seems like a silly thing to think about, but I have, and now I'm over it.

I'm over trying to be perfect.
I'm over trying to change myself to make someone elses' life easier.
I'm over trying to please others.

I'm just over it.

I've done a few things in my life that I'm not happy with. There are the little mistakes that everyone has to make in their lives. But then there are the ones that you make when you clearly know that you're doing wrong. And I've done them. I obviously can't deny it.

But there has never seemed to be a good time in my life to change who I am just because someone in my life thinks that I'm doing something wrong. Either I'm not driving to their liking or I'm organizing paperwork wrong. What does it matter to you?

These are just all little things, of course, but those little things can build up. And I hate confrontation.

Basically, the whole point of this post is to tell anyone who might be reading to just be yourself for yourself. Don't try to please anyone in your life because you won't make them truly happy unless you're happy. And if they're not happy when you're in a good place in your life, then they shouldn't be around you.

UPDATE: 1/26/2017: Man. Where do I start? First of all, there is So. Much. Detail. An absurd amount of detail. The detail in this book is filler, I'm 100% convinced about that. Does it paint a picture? Sure. Is all of that detail necessary? No. Absolutely not. I could have gotten through this book just fine with half the amount of detail. I would have preferred a little more conversation between characters over describing the precise stitching in whatever dress she's wearing. Gah.

The story, however, I thought was well written. I got the feeling that I was reading something similar to Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children when the characters were describing the way the time travel worked. It was incredibly similar. I think the author could have done a little bit better of a job diving into her version of time travel, but it was clear and I followed along just fine. So not a disaster by my standards. All in all, I would suggest this book to you if you like this kind of thing: period pieces, time travel, slight romance, adventure, mystery. It has it all, though prepared to be skimming through some of the detail.