11 Things to Do On New Year's Eve (other than party)

Hello, and I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Today I want to talk about New Year's Eve. If you're anything like me, you're probably a little stressed about what you're going to do for this momentous holiday. It's the end of the year! You're supposed to do something fun and crazy and totally epic! Something to end the year with a bang!

Okay, Charlie Sheen. Slow your roll. Let's begin by saying that you can bring in the new year however you like. You don't have to go all crazy, rave party. So I decided to put together a list of ideas! There are some alternatively awesome ways that you can spend your New Year's Eve this year.

1. Be present and intentional.
I know this sounds kind of lame but I really think it's great advice. Being present and intentional looks different for different people. For me, it would mean waking up early on New Year's Eve morning, making my favorite hot tea, putting on my favorite record and listening as I make a yummy breakfast. I would take a walk at some point and maybe unplug from the internet for a while. I would live in the moment and spend the day writing, reading, spending time with Sean. Days like these shouldn't be reserved for New Year's Eve either. I feel like these days are called, "Sundays". But you can never have too many and ending the year with one is a guaranteed success!

2. Have a movie night.
Round up your significant other, your friends, your siblings, your cat, and whoever else, and watch some movies! Movie nights are always fun. In fact, this is probably what Sean and I will be doing. Need some movie theme ideas? I've got ya covered!
- Harry Potter
- Pixar
- Wes Anderson
- Audrey Hepburn
- Gene Wilder (my choice!)
- Tim Burton
- Lord of the Rings
- Star Wars
As you can see, you can pretty much go anywhere with this night. Just grab some popcorn, hot cocoa, leftover Christmas candy, warm pajamas, and your favorite blanket or furry friend and you're good to go!

3. Have a craft party.
I am a big fan of craft sessions and it doesn't take much to get me focused for hours on a project. Maybe you can relate, so why not have a craft party? Here are some great craft ideas I've gathered for you!

Follow Kaleigh's board Craft Party Ideas on Pinterest.

4. Clean out your house/apartment/room. 
Bring in the new year with a clean space! There is nothing more motivating than a home that is cleaned up and organized for the year. Plus, if you start now, there will be less to do when spring cleaning rolls around.

5. Have a dinner date with a friend or significant other.
What better way to spend the last day of the year than to have a fancy dinner date with your best friend or significant other? You could even have fun making your feast together. Don't like to cook? Order pizza! Open a bottle of wine and reflect on the year together. Or play video games. I mean, you've got choices.

6. Build a fort.
After dinner, build a fort! This is especially fun if there are kids around. Grab some sheets, blankets, and pillows and set it up in the living room or under the dining room table. Even better, set up a tent. Bring in some board games, an iPad for movies, some books and you're all set.

7. Bake.
I loveee to bake! If you do too, why not try baking something you've never baked before? Make a cake to share with friends or family, a loaf of bread, or a pie! If you don't want to be too adventurous, I give you permission to buy frozen cookie dough instead. Go ahead. I won't tell anyone.

8. Be outside.
Go on a walk! Go hiking! Play in the snow and build an igloo if you have to! I think a lot of people underestimate the memory-making power of being outdoors, especially when much of our life is spent in front of a screen. Be out "in it", as they say. Then you can come inside and snuggle up next to the fire with some hot cocoa and your best furry friend!

9. Have a spa night. 
Stressed? Of course you are! Do yourself a favor. Head over to Lush or your favorite beauty store, stock up on bath bombs, salts, and facial masks. Go home, do your nails, soak in the bath with a glass of wine and a good book. I guarantee you will have no regrets about bringing your in the year this way.

10. Play games.
Invite some friends and pick your poison, er...I mean, game! Does this mean board game or video game? Or charades? It means what you want! Some great games to consider for large groups: Cards Against Humanity (not for children), Catchphrase, Taboo, Scattergories, Mario Kart, Mario Party, Super Smash Bros., Halo series, Timesplitters.

11. Make a scrapbook about the year.
If you're a sentimental and reflective person like I am, you might find this one appealing. Make a scrapbook of the year. You can prepare this by having photos printed ahead of time or you can just print them yourself on regular paper. I've seen some people even go on sites like Snapfish and make hardbound books as well.

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this list! I know the holidays can be so stressful at times, so by the time you get to New Year's Eve, you just want to purge all that negativity out of your life immediately, but I think you also have to be smart about how exactly you're doing that. Partying is fun but sometimes it's just as fun to spend it with people you really care about, or even alone just doing something you really enjoy. There is nothing wrong with what you choose to do. You have so many more years to do something different. I wish you all the best and most wonderful New Year celebration and I will see you next year. Happy New Year! 

8 Things No One Tells You About Being Engaged

As many of you know, Sean and I got married almost 3 months (!) ago. Now that I've had some distance from the whole "being engaged" thing, I wanted to write a little ditty for those of you who are engaged or expect to be sometime soon. Now, let me warn you. This is some real life wisdom I'm about to impart. No sugar-coating here. So...you know. You've been informed.
Without further adieu, here are 8 things no one tells you about being engaged!

1. You will immediately be asked when your wedding day is.
Seriously...like, as soon as you mention your engagement. It doesn't matter if you've been engaged for thirty seconds, you will be asked. And have an answer prepared or else expect some awkward stuttering on your part and then watch their interest fade away as you try and remember the question.

2. Everyone is suddenly an expert on weddings. 
You'll hear stories and advice (both solicited and not) from friends, family, coworkers, cashiers, people in the street, your mailman, pretty much anyone who has been married or knows someone who got married will tell you all about what "you should do". (As in, -GASP- "YOU KNOW WHAT YOU SHOULD DO?!!)

3. Your fiance might not care, and that's okay. 
I really thought Sean would be one of those guys who would want to plan the whole thing with me, but he just was not interested. He knew and trusted that I would make everything look beautiful and so he stood behind me with support and encouragement, while I hot-glued our way to a great wedding. This doesn't mean he didn't care about the wedding or engagement. He's just not a crafty guy.
(Example: I asked him once, why don't you give me any ideas or anything? What if I wanted our entire wedding to be hot pink and zebra print??" And he said, "But I know that you wouldn't and I trust you to make it represent us in the best way.") Everyone has their talents and I'd rather Sean be honest than not.

4. You'll want to say, "fuck it." So many times.
By the end of, and most likely throughout, your engagement you will want to throw all your wedding stuff into a fire and dance around it with joy as you wait for them to call your name at the courthouse.

5. That being said, you will also reject the idea of hiring a wedding planner and then regret it later.
If you're inviting over 75 people, hire a wedding planner. It will be the very best decision you make because the stress, and it will come if it hasn't already, will not be worth it. The wedding planner is to the wedding what the epidural is to the labor. Or so I would imagine.

6. Your in-laws will reveal their true colors.
Whether those colors are pretty or ugly, you will know by the end of it.

7. Feelings will be hurt.
You will be told who to invite and more awkwardly, you will have people ask you why they weren't invited. There is no way around it: If you want to have a great, stress-free wedding, invite who you want and forget the rest. Don't let anyone bully you into inviting certain people. It's your day and one you will remember for the rest of your life. You don't want to look back and remember being surrounded by people that you didn't care much for or even know. Feelings will be hurt either way.

8. You will be told that your engagement, "goes by so fast" and it's true.
Although there will be many days when it feels like its taking forever, by the time the wedding begins, it has already ended and you're back at home looking around your same-old apartment and feeling withdrawals from realizing that its all over. So be happy, excited, and I encourage you to plan, plan, plan! This (is supposed to anyway) only happens once in a lifetime!

And when you feel like it's too much or you're ready to rip your hair out, just look over at that beautiful almost-spouse of yours and really force yourself to remember they are all worth it.

Listen: Mac Demarco

I can't get Mac Demarco out of my head, you guys. Have you ever heard of Mac Demarco? No? Why not?!
Sean is my music guy and so of course he keeps up to date on all the new stuff. He plays us new albums in the car when we go out together. Most of the time, I'm either weirded out, annoyed, uninterested, or all of the above (he likes noise music and Captain Beefheart...), but every so often he will play something that I completely fall in love with. Such is the story of my love for Mac Demarco.

My first impression was that he sounded like John Lennon. My second major impression was upon seeing a picture of him for the first time. This guy is a huge dork, let me tell ya. But in a good way!
Not only that, but his music is so catchy and pop-y...once you hear it you'll have it in your head forever.

His humor is definitely goofy and not for the faint of heart, while his style has been described as "slacker rock". I think he's just great.

If you'd like to learn more about him, definitely watch Pitchfork's Pepperoni Playboy. I swear, I've seen it probably six times. It's hilarious and weird. Totally worth the watch. 

Although his newest album Salad Days came out this past April, it's still a great listen along with his first album 2.

Best tunes to start with:

• Let Her Go - Salad Days
• Passing Out Pieces of Me - Salad Days
• Chamber of Reflection - Salad Days
• My Kind of Woman - 2
• Freaking Out the Neighborhood - 2
• Ode to Viceroy - 2

My favorites:

• Let Her Go - Salad Days
• Treat Her Better - Salad Days
• The Stars Keep On Calling My Name - 2
• My Kind of Woman - 2
• Still Together - 2 (Mac writes a lot of songs about his partner Kiera, and this song talks about how they'll be together wherever life takes them. Highlight of this whole album: he ends the song and notices a sleeping "Kiki" Kiera, sweetly wakes her up, "Kiki. Kiki? Hey, you're sleeping. It's time for bed." Listen to the rest, it's such a perfect ending to an awesome song.) 

Give him a listen. You won't be disappointed.

Being a Nobody and Learning Independence in High School

"I'm freeeeeeeee!"

When I was in high school, I was a 'nobody'. I know a lot of you might read this and say, "Oh, Kaleigh, that's terrible! You weren't a nobody!" And then there are the one or two of you who actually knew me in high school, and you're saying, "Ha, yeah you were."

I'm not being self-deprecating when I say I was a nobody. What I mean is that I was completely invisible to those who weren't my friends. Many times since graduation, I've been introduced to people I went to high school with through mutual friends and every outcome is the same. In the beginning, I'd press them with descriptions and details about who I was as they struggled to remember if my face was even a familiar one. Eventually they'd end on the same note, "Yeah...I think I remember you..." But they don't.
After about a year of this without one successful remembrance, I came to the conclusion that I had long expected was true: I was a nobody in high school. I was invisible. And to be honest, I am glad,

During my freshman year of high school, my family was stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska. I lived and went to school on base and if ever there was a time when I was a "typical" teenager, it was freshman year. My friends were my life as I'd sleep through the day and romp around the base with them in the afternoon and evenings. Enveloped in the final months of MySpace before Facebook eventually took us over, we spent our time seeing movies on base in large groups, playing video games, making videos together, walking the school grounds, making snack trips to the shoppette, perusing the BX, and scavenging the Alaskan forest and lakes. The thing is, it wasn't even just the same people either. Our 'group' extended throughout the whole school. I'd only known these people for two years but I was welcomed and claimed by them as one of their own. It was like a club that never seemed to have permanent members, yet everyone was so warm and friendly and accepting. That was the closest thing I've ever come to being popular or at least well-liked by all.

Those are their actual faces. Did I mention that people in Alaska look like this?

And then I moved to Kansas City...and everything went downhill pretty much immediately.
I think there is something to be said about school for military communities versus public schools. I will save that topic for another post, but let me just say for the sake of this one, that they are vastly different. In a very bad way.

I moved to KC-north the summer before my sophomore year. I was suffering from shock and probably depression which was fueled by the recent divorce of my mom and the man who raised me from ages seven to fourteen.
I missed my friends and our tight-knit community, I missed the normalcy of being in a stable and unbroken family. Not to mention, I was having a small identity crisis as I began realizing how uninteresting 'emo' and Hottopic had become to me.
In short, I had a lot going on.

Still, I approached high school in KC with hope. Unsurprisingly, hope never came.
I've talked a lot to friends and people I knew from school (I've actually made more friends from high school after graduation than I ever did while I was there. Kids are weird.) and they all seem to agree that their time at Staley was such a wonderful time and that they miss it so much. I used to look at these people and think, "Did we even go to the same school??" and I don't think they realized it, but we didn't. Our experiences were not of the same high school.

Fay and I on the last day of school, senior year. She is a perfect example of kind of knowing someone in high school and then becoming best friends after graduation. I love her to death!

I spent high school surviving both at home and at school. The first year and a half of Staley, I spent trying to make friends and while it was successful with a person or two, I was mostly ignored. I stayed in my room most nights after school, analyzing myself. What was it about me that these people didn't like? I'm funny, I'm nice, I think I'm an interesting person. (I don't think I'm ugly...). I think I'm a delight! Why don't people like me? To this day, I don't really know the answer, although I will say that I have a better insight about my peers.

I mean, really. Who wouldn't want to be friends with me??

Kids that age tend to be very exclusionary and unaccepting of intentional change in their social groups, so it could have been that. The thing is, I recognized then that these kids had known each other most of their lives so the groups had been set for quite a while. It was something I admired and spent a lot of my time at school observing. A big part of me wished I had that, but I knew I didn't and I wouldn't. So when the second half of junior year began, something changed. I stopped trying.

I know this will sound whiny, but I truly mean it. Letting go and accepting loneliness was the best thing I did in high school. It taught me that not everyone is going to like me or think I am interesting, and that's okay. It taught me how to be happy alone and independent. Not that I don't enjoy company! If you know me, I love talking to people and of course I love the friends I have. What I'm saying is, I think loneliness is healthy sometimes, especially for young people.

I laugh now because I think back to high school when my mom thought there must be something wrong that I didn't care to go out and do 'teenager things' or drive. She'd say, "Don't you want your independence? When I was your age, I couldn't wait to get out and have mine!" I think what she didn't realize is that I totally did. My independence was expressed in the hours I spent in my room alone, listening to music and creating, or exploring the forest behind my house and taking walks around the neighborhood. It was spent sitting alone in hallways before class in the morning, listening through the MGMT albums, dreaming up ways I could run away after graduation like Chris McCandless and travel the world.

One of my of the rooms I had in high school and by far my favorite from that time.

And I cherish those moments. I know a lot of people reading this might think it's sad or that I was missing out. I remember one of my biggest annoyances was when people would take pity on me at lunch and make it a charity show with their friends to invite me over to their table. "Are you alright? Why are you sitting alone? Here, come sit with us!" (I quickly realized my mistake to accept in the beginning as most of the time, I'd move to their table and not be included in conversation.) I think that says something about our discomfort and fear of being alone.
But sometimes, people just want to be alone. I know for me personally, I am someone who must be alone in order to recharge my batteries. I spend a lot of my time in social situations analyzing and understanding, on top of the over-thinking I already do, so I am exhausted by the end of it. Being alone gives me a chance to gather myself again.

Pensive senior pic...yayyy.

I will agree with one thing, however. I think I wouldn't mind going back, knowing what I know now. (Of course that is the catch!) I know I would have worked harder academically, but I think I would have been more forgiving to my peers. I would have been more forgiving of their behaviors, things that were said, things they stood for, because the truth is, in high school, no one knows a damn thing about anything. And we're all scared. We're all lost. We're all a little self-conscious. 

If I could go back, I would have given people more of a chance.

Still, I don't regret anything, and I am grateful for the friendships I have today because of it.

What about you guys? What was high school like for you? What was your first experience with independence?

Watch: Kumare

Have you guys watched the film, Kumare? It's about two years old, but I hadn't heard of it until my anthropology teacher offered it as an extra credit option. I watched it today and I was completely hooked from the very first minute.

The film is a documentary that follows the philosophy and teachings of an Indian guru called Kumare, as he lives in the USA to learn about American culture and teach his wisdom. His guidance, words, and powerful presence begins drawing the attention of many who eventually become his followers and admire him deeply.

But here is the twist: he's not really any of those things.
His real name is Vikram Gandhi and he's actually an American from New Jersey who has set out to make a film about religious leaders and how people come to believe in them. Could he really get people to believe he has supernatural powers? Or that he is a divine being or spirit?
Watch as he totally does.
Kudos to the part where draws a penis on a willing man's face, and gets the guy to worship some photos of Obama, Kumare, and Bin Laden, along with some receipts and trash, and a brass cup with swastikas on it. Also, is it just me or does his trident look like breasts? Or perhaps a butt.

Anywho, of course the experiment soon gets out of hand as these people are not only drawn to him but begin sharing information about their problems and personal life.
This documentary is the ultimate search for truth and you will undoubtedly question some things you might not have before. Is truth real? If so, where does it come from?

But the ultimate question: Is Vikram a complete jerk for leading these people on or does he save face at the end? Rent it on Amazon and share your thoughts!

Lately

1 - Lights at Crown Center. As soon as I walked through this area, I knew I wanted to plan a date with Sean here sometime soon!

2 - I found these Christmas-flavored sodas at World Market a couple weeks ago! The bottles are really cute and I really just want to try them and see what they taste like! ...might be a good stocking stuffer idea!

3 - I made these little tree snow globes a while back. My best one is in a fish bowl which I will share sometime soon along with my Christmas decorations!

4 - My niece Ryleigh and her mama (my sister) had their family photos last week so here are my faves. Ryleigh is such a ham. I love my little peanut!

5 - This, my friends, is photo evidence of my first successful cake from scratch! My birthday was last Saturday and since I love to bake, I decided to make myself a vanilla (and perhaps whiskey...)-flavored cake! It was super yummy and the color turned out perfect!

6 - Sean is such a great listener/hint-taker when it comes to buying me gifts! He bought me my very first Pandora bracelet and two charms! One of which I had already picked out! I'm not sure if he knew I wanted it or not, but I like to think he just knows me that well. ;)

7 - So I mentioned about a month ago that I was in a lot of pain and considering having an infected tooth I had pulled. Well, I eventually made an appointment but just a couple days before, the tooth stopped hurting all together and I found that I was able to chew normally and all that without a hint of an issue.
Fast-forward to last week and the pain started all over again, but way worse than before. Not only that, but the whole right side of my face swelled up like a balloon.
I immediately made an appointment to have to tooth extracted. The other option was to get a root canal which I would have to wait until January or February for and I honestly wouldn't have been able to wait one more day, so I just went ahead and had it done. The operation was fine but the before and after were a complete nightmare. Long story short, I went in with the intention of just doing a local anesthetic and ended up having to be put to sleep because the pain was too much. There are other reasons the experience was the worst but it's over now and I'd rather not dwell on it. I have my medicine and plans to get an implant sometime after the first of the year. My face still looks like a chipmunk but it's getting better by the day, I think. Plus, chipmunk cheeks are cute, right? Or just maybe not on (adult) humans...