Tag: Listicle

11..., Lifestyle

11… Hopes for the New Year

RaeAnna
Enjoying Christmas things in Baytown, Texas. | Dress | Shirt | Boots |

I’ve never been one for resolutions. In reality, I’m not even one for goal setting or manifesting. It’s not that I’m unmotivated; I’m actually incredibly motivated and hardworking. I’ve just found that it doesn’t work for me. Resolutions, goals, manifestations are not for me. 

Happiness and kindness are the two driving forces in my life. Every day I wake up and live my life to the best of my abilities by making choices that make me happy and do as much good as I can in the world. At the end of the day, if I have accomplished those, I have lived a good day and that will culminate into a good life. I hope. 

2020 was quite the year. Filled with ups and downs on a global and personal scale. I did what I could to find happiness and create kindness, but I, like the entirety of Earth’s population, am hoping for better things in 2021. 

I missed the usual Christmas traditions in 2020, but I won’t let it get me down for 2021. | Dress | Flannel | Boots | Earrings |
  1. I hope the pandemic is reigned in. For selfish reasons, I want life to get on with it. For global reasons, I want life to get on with it. Everything has been on hold for far too long. 
  2. I hope to see friends and family again. It’s been over a year since I have seen some of my closest friends and family members. Some live far away and others live just on the other side of town. Due to COVID, I have gone without seeing many people for their safety and mine. It sucks, but it is for the best. 
  3. I hope to travel. Knock on wood, 2020 was supposed to be my year of international travel. Shocker: It wasn’t. I went to none of the places I was supposed to. It makes me sad, but at the end of the day, it was for the best. Most of the trips were postponed, a few were permanently canceled. Time will tell when I get to see Europe again. 
  4. I hope for health. The health of the world and myself. As an imuno-compromised person, this year has been tough. I’ll speak more on how I’m ringing in 2021later, but it’s not the way I was hoping for my family.
  5. I hope to be more consistent. 2020 was anything but my finest year of consistency. I managed to let so many things fall through the cracks that I have never ever let fall through the cracks before. I’m ashamed… Kind of. In all honesty, I’m disappointed in myself, but at the end of the day, I just couldn’t make those things happen. In 2021, I want to get back to being the consistent human I was before and even more consistent than before.  
  6. I hope to get back to working. As a freelance writer, COVID seriously affected my income. I’m not complaining because, at least, I’m still working. It has been a very, very slow year for me. As a creative, I was impacted significantly. Luckily, I have a partner who has been able to work consistently throughout the pandemic, so we have not struggled the way other families have. I miss working, though. Here’s to a better year!
  7. I hope to not wear a mask. I will absolutely continue to wear a mask until it is completely safe to not wear one. I am looking forward to not having to need it, though. 
  8. I hope the vaccine can be administered to one and all. 
  9. I hope my puppies continue to grow healthy and strong. They will celebrate their first birthday in March. I can’t believe how soon that is and how quickly this year has gone by. I was so very blessed to have them and be able to provide for their health and happiness. COVID gave me the time to care for them, and for that, I will forever be grateful for 2020. 
  10. I hope to grow my blog. 2020 was incredibly inconsistent for the blog. It grew and shrunk and stagnated. I’m not complaining. I love this part of my life, but I’m hoping to really dive into it in the way I had been wanting to in 2020 but was unable to. I have a lot of books to catch up on reviews. So I hope to have those all published by May. Fingers crossed. 
  11. I hope to continue chasing happiness and kindness. I want 2021 to be filled with happiness for myself and others. I want to spread kindness wherever I go, making the world a better place as much as I possibly can. 
  12. Bonus Hope I hope to get a bunch of projects done in my house. I very much love it as it is, but there are so many things I want to get done, like painting and decorating. I’ll absolutely document my progress as I go because it’s so fun!!!

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”4328155″]

11..., Lifestyle

11… Ways I’m Getting in The Christmas Spirit

RaeAnna
Posing at the Renaissance in my Celtic Christmas outfit even though it was pouring. | Dress | Cardigan | Wellies | Purse | Earrings | Necklace |

I’ve been having difficulty getting into the Christmas spirit this year. There’s not really a reason, but I have a sneaking suspicion it may have something to do with 2020. 

In America, there is a long and heated debate on when Christmassing begins. For the correct people, like me, it starts at midnight on November 1st. Halloween is the gateway holiday to Christmas. For the wrong people, it begins after Thanksgiving. 

My love of Christmas has not waivered, but I think 2020 has taken an emotional toll. Just maybe. There’s a slim possibility. Teensy chance. COVID, the election, buying a house, having a herd of dogs, quarantine, not traveling, and the in betweens has sapped my perpetual enthusiasm. I’ve been able to tap into my Christmabsession at friends’ homes, but my own house is lacking even a hint of Christmas. So I’m trying to really get into the spirit now that Thanksgiving is behind us.

  1. Celtic Christmas at The Renaissance Festival Last Saturday, I went to the Renaissance Festival here in Texas. The theme of the weekend was Celtic Christmas, which was very fun. There were loads of Christmas trees and decorations everywhere. A lot of musicians were playing carols. The only down part of the day was the rain. It poured—and I mean POURED—the entire time we were there. It only got worse the longer we stayed. Honestly, the most authentic part of the festival was the mud. 
  2. Baking I’ve been spending a lot of time at my friends’ homes the past few weeks, and I decided to fill their houses with Christmas cookies. It definitely helps.
  3. Decorating I was a part of decorating my friends’ house. That counts, right?
  4. Fires I love a good fire. There is something so cozy and lovely about it. They make me feel like it’s winter and Christmas is coming. In my house, I have a gorgeous fireplace; unfortunately, it’s gas, but now I don’t have to clean it out. I recently became the owner of a fireplace key, so I can use it. Man oh man, I have had a fire everyday this week. It’s been amazing.
  5. Christmas Music I have turned the Christmas music on. It makes me sing and dance, which helps me get into the mood.
  6. White Christmas This is my favorite Christmas movie. I will watch it all year round, but it definitely gets played on repeat this time of year. I finally watched it the first time this season on Saturday night. 
  7. Starbucks Christmas Cups They always bring me joy when they’re released. I love them. They bring the joy of the season with them. 
  8. Grinch, Home Alone, Elf These three movies have already been watched a few times because my friends love them. I can’t argue; they are classics and deserve to be watched repetitively. So good. 
  9. Holiday Reading Every year since I started blogging, I only read holiday books and publish holiday book reviews, so prepare yourself for the onslaught. This year I’ve tried a few different ones than usual. 
  10. Christmas Content I love taking Christmas content. It’s so fun and helps get me in the spirit. Although, it will probably look a little different this year because of COVID and the world being a dumpster fire. Hopefully I can find a few Christmas locales to take advantage of. 
  11. Thinking About the Family Christmas Card With five new additions to the family, I’m not sure what this card will look like. The last few years, we’ve dressed up and included Beau. I’m not sure if all six of the dogs will have Christmas outfits this year or not. Stay tuned to find out!

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”4292748″]

11..., Lifestyle

11… Ways I Have Avoided Dealing With 2020

RaeAnna
#12 I’ve also been dancing it out a whole lot! Although, that’s nothing new. | Skirt | Top |

2020 has been a shit year. I hate generalizations, but I think the world will agree with me on this one. It’s been a Biblical plague level disaster of a year. Part of me is so ready for it to be over, and the other part of me is terrified 2021 will pop and say, “So you thought 2020 was bad? Wait and see what I have planned.” I am truly concerned that this is the new reality for the world. My biggest life goal as an adventure seeker and travel enthusiast is to see the world. 2020 was supposed to be a year of international travel. None of that happened, but I am terrified in my core, that this is the new status quo. What if I can’t see the world? 

I’ve been emotionally distancing myself from 2020. Even though this year has produced more fodder for my social justice focused writing career, I have not been able to actually write about it. It hurts my heart too much. So I have spent all of 2020 avoiding 2020 and not doing my job and writing about the world and how it’s a dumpster fire on steroids.

  1. Puppies… I’ve been avoiding this year with puppies. Not only is this good for my mental health and increases the amount of love and affection I have in my life, it has also been good for the puppies. They didn’t die on the street with their mom from exposure or starvation. That’s dark but not untrue. I love my dogs, and they drained the life out of me for many months, but I would not change a Goddamn thing. 
  2. Netflix… They keep making new shows and movies, and I must watch them or I won’t know what’s going on in the world. Or I add them all to my list and never feel like I’m in the mood for that particular show or starting a new series or a movie or whatever so then I… [see #9]
  3. Sleep… I have never been a great sleeper. I pushed my parents sleep deprivation limits within the first year of my life because I didn’t sleep. Now, I just push my own limits of sleep deprivation. With work being less crazy—thanks COVID—and me having nowhere to go, I’ve been trying to give myself a normal human sleep schedule for the first time in my life. It’s not going great.
  4. Nyquil Induced Sleep… When I can’t sleep and I need to sleep but the anxiety is too high, I do the healthy thing and drug myself to sleep with Nyquil. Why am I admitting this online? In the vain of honesty? Maybe I’m just too sleep deprived to know better. Either way, this is a thing I do sometimes. 
  5. Relentless Existential Crises… The inside of my brain is not a happy place. I am an existentialist (just kidding, I’m a full on nihilist but that doesn’t sound as cute). I trend towards nothing means anything! and why do I even try? and my credit score won’t matter when I die! and it will all end in the Big Crunch anyways! Like I said, not a happy place, and this is what I crawl in bed with every night.  
  6. Reading… I have been reading without writing book reviews. Woops! There is a very large pile of books waiting to be reviewed sitting on my desk. I need to get to them, but I haven’t been able to force myself into being a productive human and writing down my thoughts for you all to not read. 
  7. Anxiety Induced Paranoia… Hi! I’m a human. I have anxiety. It’s debilitating and sometimes gives me streaks of paranoia. Like: My life-partner no longer loves me and has changed the locks, left my stuff by the curb, and won’t let me back in the house all because he fell asleep, forgot to plug in his phone, and can’t answer my call because the phone is dead. I absolutely do not have abandonment issues. But the anxiety monster pops up and says: You’re not worth being loved, so here’s a terrible situation that could TOTALLY happen and has happened. You’re now homeless. Best wishes. 
  8. Staring At My Computer and Doing Nothing… I absolutely am always productive. This is a lie. There are some days when I say “I’m going to be productive!” So I sit down at my computer. Open a document to start writing and finally make a tiny dent in my ever growing pile of books and blog posts I want/need to write. As I gaze upon my computer with my hands on the keys, I am overcome by the feeling of NOPE! So I stare at my computer and pretend like I was productive for two hours before saying, “Well, I tried.” I end it all by cuddling dogs and reading another book I hope to review someday. 
  9. Rewatching Shows I’ve Already Seen Too Many Times… This is a thing people with anxiety do. They rewatch shows over and over and over again because it’s comforting because we know what is going to happen. Instead of starting new shows, I just rewatch the old ones. This is the most productive thing (other than puppies) that I have done during quarantine. Sue me. I didn’t bake sourdough.
  10. Planning To Tackle Projects And Then Never Doing Anything… I NEED TO SET UP MY OFFICE AND PAINT MY HOUSE. I haven’t. I have all the things I need for my office, and yet it hasn’t been done. Oh well. That’s life. I know in my head what my house will look like when it’s done. It is beautiful. Reality: The walls are a terrible and dated color of greige. 
  11. Staring At The Ceiling… When in doubt. Lay in bed and stare at the ceiling doing nothingness. Seriously. Nothing but drown in self-doubt, anxiety, worry, and nihilism. 

Sending all my love to everyone who reads this and everyone who doesn’t. The world is a terrifying place right now. I’m hoping it gets better and we can all see and love one another again. Until then, I’ll just be here keeping up with avoiding 2020. 

bisous un обьятий,
RaeAnna

Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”4275256″]

11..., Lifestyle

11… Things I Would’ve Done but I’m Working the Election

RaeAnna
Lounging in a cute spot in Rice Village before my schedule became packed. | Dress | Cardigan | Sandals | Sunglasses |

I’m writing this at 4:35 in the morning. I started working the election as a poll worker for early voting last Wednesday. I was going to work a twelve hour shift three days a week, but I ended up being put on the schedule to work seven days a week, twelve hour shifts all the way through until election day. Yay! I’m doing my civic duty and helping make sure this election goes well in a very, very miniscule way. 

I had lots of plans for the four days I wasn’t working the election for the next two weeks of October, but that’s obviously not happening now. Busy, busy, busy. 

  1. Take a bunch of content photos because I’m beyond behind. Oops. COVID has kept me at home. Oh, and so have the puppies. 
  2. Write all of the book reviews. Probably not all of them, but I was hoping to make a serious dent in the stack that is growing at an alarming rate next to my desk. Guess not. 
  3. Write a bunch of social justice pieces to remind the public that Trump is the worst and this country needs, quite frankly, anyone but that hot orange garbage pile of a human. 
  4. Bake. I was really in a baking mood and felt the fall spice fire burning in my soul. I’m too tired for that now. 
  5. Sleep. I am doing that, but not as much as I would like. 
  6. Not wake up at 5:00 am. This is always a goal, but I never thought I would write it in a listicle. I guess I do now. 5:00am is horrible. I quit corporate America almost solely because I hate early mornings — I also hated my job. The only time I like to be up before the sun is to catch a plane. 
  7. Go to the beach. I’m working by the beach. Unfortunately, I get to the election office before the sun rises and leave after the sun sets. Beach will wait until after November 3. 
  8. Post a few book reviews about how Trump and his administration is awful. Because… they are awful. Time to go. Bye.
  9. See my dogs. I think they’re about to have a nervous break because they’re not used to mommy not being home. Right now, mommy is gone a whole fucking lot. I’m ready to be home again. 
  10. Really double down on some freelancing efforts. COVID hit freelancers and creatives hard. I’m definitely feeling it monetarily. I’m fine, but I’d like to get my income back up, up, up to where it was and even higher. So I was going to take some time to revamp some things and get back in the groove. 
  11. Pain my office… I’m working behind the bar in my house. Yes I have a bar in the living room, which has turned into my home office. The puppies have made it hard for me to get my office put together, but I was determined to have it done by Halloween. Well… no.

I’m so happy I’m working the election. That is far more important than accomplishing any of the above eleven. These are all goals I had, but they can all wait. I’m learning so much being out and around people who are voting. I’m definitely collecting stories from working the election during COVID, so stay tuned for that post coming your way eventually. 

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”4220675″]

11..., Lifestyle

11… Ways Life is Being Difficult Right Now

RaeAnna
Gotta love the help I have at all times.

Life is always difficult. I would like to meet the person who says it isn’t and learn their secret. Until that person makes themselves known, I’m going to continue operating under the premise: life is hard, and there is always that obstacle, that health issue, that person, that work project, that special something that makes life a little less pleasant than I’d like it to be. Sometimes all of those somethings at once, which is a total bugger of a situation. 

In so many ways my life is really lovely right now. Next week’s 11… will be a post about the lovely things in my life, but right now. Nope. I’m going to complain. 

  1. I pooped my pants today. That is correct. You read that correctly. No typo. I would love to tell you this is an isolated incident. It’s not. Since I was 24 and went through quite a major health incident, my body does not always work properly—rarely ever. I go through particularly bad periods where I can’t stray too far away from the bathroom, which is a real problem for any kind of social life, plan making, trip taking, or work doing. It could be a lot worse, but it was just an incentive to do some laundry.  
  2. My Anxiety Demon is stalking me. Anxiety is no joke. It’s been making my life difficult for as long as I can remember, but over the last few months, it’s been making itself known excessively. Currently contemplating life without sleep or responsibility as a solution. So far not working. 
  3. Sedated Tess. Tessa is my angel baby. She came to me and brought responsibilities of enormous proportion at a time when the distraction and love was everything I needed with the bills, everything I did not. She permanently brought me Knight, Makeda, Duke, and Bear and let me take care of nine other babies until their furever families could take them home. Tess is on the tail end of her heartworm journey. YAY! But she still has six months until we get the all clear. And another month of restricted activity, which means sedation. She’s a nightmare on sedation. Grumpy, ass bitch (in the most literal of terms). I get it, she’s frustrated, but it is hard when we have a houseful of dogs wanting to play, and Tess wants to eat them because they get to play and she doesn’t. 
  4. One of our air conditioning units and the furnace needs to be replaced. Living in Houston, air conditioning is as necessary as food. I need it to function. Ours is on its last leg. So fun. 
  5. Depression. My Depression Demon and Anxiety Sadist are currently skipping hand in hand around my brain. It’s great. Quite the houseparty they’ve got going on. I’m just waiting on them to invite Insecurity Fiend and Nervous Nelly over for some real fun. 
  6. Duke has a SEVERE overbite. We’ve been monitoring it since we first noticed a hint of overbite. He had a check up with the vet last month, and we were told he would be fine until his next check in at eight months old to see how it’s doing. Well, we noticed some holes in the upper palate of his mouth from his teeth being misaligned from the overbite. We took him in immediately. Well, he (and all the other puppies) are growing so fast, their little bodies are changing like crazy. He needs to be seen like yesterday by a dental specialist/orthodontist to correct the damage that’s already been done and make adjustments to his mouth to prevent further damage. Yikes. 
  7. Money seems to be flowing out of my pocket like it’s air. Between buying a house, all the issues that come with that, and my dogs’ issues, I am broke. I mean, I have enough money to eat, but the savings are depleted, and credit cards are tired. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade them for the world, and I am so glad they found a home with me because I know they will be taken care of and their needs will be met. But it does take a toll on the emotions and the wallet. No regrets. They are worth it, and I’m truly grateful I have a partner as committed to giving up and cutting back where we can so that we can put that money towards the needs of our babies’ health. 
  8. I rolled my ankle today. There’s a running joke in my family that I can dance beautifully, but that walking really trips me up. Literally. I now have the added obstacle of a step down into my living room and hardwood floors that need to be replaced because they buckle, popping up randomly in the middle of rooms.
  9. I have hardwood floors that buckle, popping up randomly in the middle of rooms. This is a problem. It’s because when the floors were installed by the previous owners, they were done super wrong. It’s going to be expensive to redo the whole first floor, and right now the money is going to make sure the doggos are healthy. 
  10. Motivation. What is that? I have lost pretty much all motivation to hunt down writing gigs or even write the bare minimum for the blog. Most days, I feel a great sense of accomplishment that all six dogs and the man-friend are fed and alive. Part of it is a mental thing. I’m out of the habit and out of the mindset of working eight to fourteen hours a day. The other part is the lack of time. I have time, but I don’t have unencumbered time. It is really, really, really, really hard to read more than two pages without having to get up and referee a disagreement or figure out why the house is so quiet or let the dogs out so no one pees in the house or feed them or any number of things that come up. Imagine trying to sit down and actually write a book review or blog post or anything! It’s hard. I’ve had to start going to Starbucks to write for an hour before/after yoga. Which is really saying something, since I’m notorious for hating to work anywhere except my [home] office. 
  11. I don’t get to travel! Traveling is the way I decompress. It is my way of getting to breathe. I’m lucky that I can take my job with me wherever I go, and that my boyfriend is a live-in doggy daddy who can and does take care of the dogs when I leave. With the pandemic, there is no leaving. There’s staying. Nothing but staying. I love my home. I love my life. But I’m ready to get back on the road again. 

Like everyone on the planet, I’m actually dealing with even more things than this right now, some more serious, some less, but this is a really good highlight reel of life being life. I’m complaining because I can, but I genuinely love my life and appreciate it. And, truly, it could be a gazillion times worse.

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”4179490″]