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“Don’t waste moments thinking about the past.

Move on, the best is yet to come”

Happy Friday and happy almost New Year!! I took a much needed break this past week from blogging to be able to spend time with my family and to also have the chance for me to recharge before the new year. I spent Christmas in Columbus, Ohio with my family and had the most wonderful time. I love spending time with my family, they mean everything to me. What really made this holiday so special was that it was my niece’s first Christmas. My niece and I are the best of buds. We took many walks around the house holding hands while exploring everything in sight. Sometimes we made pit stops to pick up a toy or a piece of my mother’s nativity display. We have a new inside joke and make each other laugh by pursing our lips with our pointer finger horizontal moving up and down to make noises. Pro tip: It is funnier if you stick out your tongue.

Another part of my break that I loved was going to see Star Wars with my sister, brother-in-law and my dad. It has become or new tradition to see Star Wars together. My sister, cousins and I grew up watching the original trilogy, so it is nice to continue to watch the new ones with family. I know there are mixed reviews on it, but I really liked the movie. It is a tad bit too long, but still very entertaining. Another part of my break that I will always cherish is when my cousins, sister and I took my grandmother out to lunch for a belated 95th birthday celebration. Everyone lives either out of state or in another city so we could not be there for her actual birthday dinner spent with our parents. The lunch was fun and I know my grandmother had a wonderful time. When I drove her home she told me she couldn’t wait to call her friends to brag about her day.. ha, god love her.

Even though I spent the majority of my break with my family I was able to see a few of my best friends from childhood. All three live out of state and I really only get to see them once or twice a year. Each of them have little peanuts that I just adore. I love getting to see my friends be moms and watch their children grow up.The same with my sister, she is an amazing mom—they all are! I hope someday I can be just as amazing of a mother as they are.

Did you catch my Christmas short video I made on Instagram? I am pretty proud of it! My photographer Lauren filmed it then sent me the raw files to edit. I haven’t edited a video since high school during the stone age when iTunes was not invented yet. When I decided to make a video I was a little nervous I would not understand the new programs, since my knowledge is so ancient. Luckily iMovies is SO freaking easy to use. It took me less than an hour to cut and add transitions. The only thing I do not like about iMovies is their lack of filters– or maybe I am missing a way to individualize   contrast, exposure, etc. I found theirs to be not very helpful. I ended up importing the video into Lightroom (after downloading at least 10 apps that I disliked) to work on filtering it. Exporting it out of Lightroom for some reason gave me the worst trouble. At one point I exported it as a JPEG and ended up downloading every second of the movie as a picture…. it was not fun to clean that up from my desk top. My brother-in-law ended up figuring it out– I didn’t click on export as a video…. the simple things always get you. Another part that took the longest was finding music. Again it has been years since I made a video and I couldn’t find what the current Copyright laws were. I ended up emailing a friend of mine who works at HBO and he gave me a program to use that has millions of stock music. (some of the songs I came across I am pretty sure I have heard in a Hallmark movie before). Once I narrowed down the song importing it was super easy. I had so much fun making my little video that I now want to make more! This is going to be part of my 2018 goals.

I am currently back in New York freezing and really regretting my decision to not move down south. Maybe we can airlift NYC down south for the winter? I’d pay extra in my taxes to do it. Anyway, New Year’s Eve is in a few days and my plans are not completely finalized. Is it ever on this night? At least I have a few fabulous dress options that I will wear even if I end up ringing in the new year dancing alone with a bottle of champagne in my apartment. At least I will be warm! All self deprecating jokes aside, I am excited to ring in a new year, a fresh, with a few of my NYC best! I have a feeling 2018 is going to be an amazing year for me.

Hope you have a wonderful and happy New Year’s Eve! Stay safe and be smart!

 

1. Best TED talks on happiness

2. Unique New Year’s Eve traditions from around the world

3. The only boot you need this winter

4. Would wear everyday 

5. What NYE looked like in the 70’s

6. 10 champagne cocktails to help ring in the new year

7. Brr it’s cold out there

8. How to stop doubting yourself

9.  Ideas for reflecting on a full year

10. How to afford the life you want in 2018

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