I literally have joy flowing out of my fingers right now. Man! I have missed this. Which probably means you’re going to get a lot of reading material. Today’s topic: who knows. I’m in the rambling mood.

First, Happy 2017! Unlike many people, I was sad to see 2016 go. I thought it was a good year. Were some parts difficult? Absolutely. But some pretty cool things happened. I had this conversation with someone recently and they said “2016 was the worst year possible because of ….” Yep, you guessed it. Politics. Alright friends, if you let an election define your ENTIRE year, then I actually feel bad for you. WAKE UP AND SMELL THE ROSES. Here are some nifty things that happened to me in 2016 (In no particular order):
I visited 4 countries
Went on an awesome family vacay
I went Skydiving (Probably the coolest thing I did)
Chase McNary tweeted me
I threw myself one hell of a birthday party
My trivia team won almost every week
Started this blog
(WHICH HAS REACHED READERS IN 33 COUNTRIES!!!!)
(Big thanks to everyone who has read and shared!)
Got to lay on the beach a few times
Witnessed a health miracle
Made some bomb ass cooking with Lana segments
Watched 2 dear friends get married
Shot an AR-15 (It was a big deal for me, ok?)
All my family came from overseas for my dad’s 60th
Put a mini fridge in my room
Chick-Fil-A started a rewards program
UT beat Florida
I met the love of my life
I got engaged
LOL at the last two. Didn’t happen.
But the list is endless

I challenge you all to think about the positives that happened in 2016. And if you can’t think of one thing, be thankful you’re alive. Or maybe the best thing that happened was me delivering you entertainment? Maybe? No? Ok.

Let’s see.. what else can I talk about. Oh, yes. My Christmas vacation. I’ve had a few people ask me if anything blog worthy happened. And although it did, I know I would be ridiculed for writing “such an insensitive” post. My family thought this story was hilarious, so if you want to hear it, hit me up. I’ll give you some innuendoes though.. my brother, a spa, candles, body scrub, and disposable underwear. That should be enough to get your mind going.

If you follow me on Snapchat or Twitter you probably saw that my journey home from Ireland was a nightmare. Advice: avoid a connecting flight through Philly during a snow storm. Because your flight will get cancelled. And you will get stuck in an airport for hours. With your parents. And no clean clothes. Or warm jacket. But you might however get to drink/eat off your stress in a fancy lounge. Why was I in a nice lounge you might ask? Well, funny story. While boarding my flight back home, from Dublin to Philly, I was under the impression that I would be sitting with my mom and dad. Well LOL at me. Because I got quite a shock when the gate agents started boarding first class passengers only and my mom and dad stood up. And then I saw their boarding passes. They were seat 3 A&B and I was 32G… in economy. Alone. But shoutout to my dad who walked from the front of the plane to the back of the plane to bring me “cheap champagne out of a real glass”- Dierks Bentley.

Speaking of drinking, I’ve given it up for three months as a New Year’s Resolution.  (I started on January 9th). I couldn’t not drink while in Ireland. That’s like illegal or something. But by posting it on here, the world can now hold me accountable. Actually it’s not as hard as I thought…yet. However, I am missing margaritas. Throwing a rager on April 9th to celebrate. Now that I have typed out that date.. that’s way longer than I was anticipating. Ugh. But what’s harder than that?- my resolution to give up candy/doughnuts/chocolate/ etc for three months. DEAR GOD. I am literally dying. It’s the hardest thing I’ve done thus far in my life and it’s self inflicted????? Why have I brought this upon myself? I see myself giving in sooner than planned. Stay tuned to see if I live or die.

I have one more resolution which is actually quite interesting. I got this idea from my cousin. “No screens in the bedroom.” Meaning I’m not going to bed looking at my phone, nor am I waking up to look at my phone. The best part about this is that I got to treat myself to an alarm clock. Wow! What a gift. There are actually some pretty cool clocks out there. So yeah, I’m soothing myself to sleep by reading. But lucky for me, I fall asleep as soon as I hit the pillow. So I only read about a page. Hashtag blessed. About the sleeping part. Not reading only one page part.

Hmm.. what else can we chat about. THE BACHELOR. Don’t worry, I’ll have a post coming soon about my mom and dad’s thoughts in regards to this season. Because we all know what fans they are of the show!

That should cover it for now. If I think of anything else, I’ll just write another blog.

One last thing. In 2017, I would like everyone to appreciate under-appreciated foods. Such as pineapple and garlic bread. They don’t get nearly as much attention as they deserve. That was super random, but whatever.

Anyway, cheers to a wonderful 2017! May it bring lots of happiness, good health, love, joy, and whatever else you hope to see. Engagements, babies, jobs, etc. For me, I hope it brings cable in my room, the taste of margaritas again, fun adventures, and many surprises.

Until next time,

xoxo
Lana