I couldn’t skip my year-end favorites post. I’m challenging myself to add one more favorite thing each year, as you may know. Here’s my 17 for 2017!

Rainbow Colors
I started my year off with as much color as possible. I love rainbows, holograms, LED morphing lights. My collection continues to grow!

 

 

Cranberry Red
After I colored my hair, I found out that I can pull this color off, so I’ve been wearing it a lot. I’m not really a fan of basic primaries, and I dare say red is usually my least favorite color. It makes me tired after a while, because I feel like I’m always switched on. Cranberry red is different. It gives me just enough of that boldness to feel confident without the aggression of bright red.

Press-on Nails
I’m capable of growing out my own nails with some discipline, but it’s also nice to be able to quickly change between long and short, painted and bare, and have the option for a seasonal motif without the hassle of waiting for paint to dry. My grandmother wore fake nails for as long as I can remember, though we learned later that her real nails were awful because of psoriasis. I don’t have that problem, I just have very thin nails and too much anxiety, plus I can’t commit to a salon nail job.

Karity
They make beautiful shadow palettes, and I’ve had my eye on them all year. Now I have them on my eyes thanks to my boyfriend. He bought me the Smokey palette for Christmas.

 

L’oreal Infallible
Of all the longwear lip products, L’Oreal Paris has the best drugstore variety. I don’t wear lipstick often. I go wild with my eye looks, so I save the bold lip for special occasions. Since those occasions almost always involve food or a long day of activity, I need something that won’t require much maintenance. I love this stuff.

Fitbit
I got my Charge 2 on Amazon’s Black Friday sale. It had been part of my plan for improvement whenever I got my severance check from my old job, so finding it $50 cheaper was very exciting. Being able to track my sleep cycles and my heart rate is really great. It has also helped me realize how little I get out during a typical work day. Adjusting to my new schedule has meant big changes in my diet, so I’m in bad need of some help in the health department. Thank goodness for tech gadgets, right?

Lenovo
In the late ’90s early ’00s, it was Dell. Then the phrase “Dude, you’re gettin’ a Dell” became another way of saying “Dude, you’re gettin’ screwed.” In the last decade, HP became the trusted office/home PC brand. Dell aquired Alienware and HP acquired Voodoo, and turned both into bland commercial versions of the great gaming rigs they once were. I propose the next decade belongs to Lenovo. I got to use my first Lenovo at work and it’s been a delightfully compact little office machine. After that, I decided that Lenovo was the way to go for my home gaming PC, and I’ve been very happy with the upgrade.

Vet Ranch
I’ve been watching the hell out of this Youtube channel. It’s nice to see people caring for strays in need of serious medical attention, getting them back to good health and finding them homes. Vet Ranch gets money to help these animals through sharing their videos, and selling their merchandise, and unlike other charities, you can actually see how your contributions are being used to help. They have recently moved the “graphic content” to an unlisted section of the channel so that they can still get monetization from the videos, but if you’re curious about all the medical details, you can still watch the uncensored versions.

Kyla Rebecca
It’s fun to see favorite vloggers working together. I found Kyla last year through a youtube suggestion, way before she’d done any collab with Paranormal Kativity, but I’m so glad they did. They have very similar channels. Kyla is such a sweetheart, and I really enjoy her adventures. She’s very down to earth and takes the paranormal with a fair amount of skepticism while remaining fascinated.

The Good Place
This show is hilarious. I can’t say too much about it without becoming spoilery. Basically, it’s a show about the afterlife as a business, but it feels like a giant Sims game. It’s in its second season now, available on Hulu and Netflix. The characters are wonderful and horrible at the same time, so it’s full to see them evolve together.

Marvel Runaways
There are so many superhero shows right now, I have to be very selective about what I get into or it will eat up ALL of my time. After hearing over and over from multiple sources that this show was the best, I decided to binge all available episodes. Best decision so far. I messaged one of my friends after the first episode “It’s like a John Hughes movie for supers.” One thing that seals the deal on whether I’ll get into a show is whether I find any characters to identify with during the first episode, or whether I care what happens to any of them. This show started out with a whole cast I immediately loved. Now, do I love the purple-haired feminist or the goth witch girl more?

Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire
Not since GW2 alpha testing have I felt so much joy in my heart to return to my digital homeland. ArenaNet fills me with wonder everytime they open up a new map of familiar territory to explore. This second full expansion continues the living world content in a continent I have loved for ten years. Elona, Land of the Golden Sun. I have such beautiful feelings of nostalgia when I play through this chapter. To add to the excitement, GW2 finally has something people have been asking for since the early days of Guild Wars. We get mounts. Not just for faster travel, but for new ways to explore the terrain. Floating over water, flying through the air, jumping higher and farther than ever before. All of this with a bold story arc that is sure to give veteran GW fans chills.

Anamanaguchi
So my friend kept talking about a song that got stuck in his head, saying it’s very catchy, but also kinda sad because it’s about cam girls. I finally heard the song (“Pop It”) and he was right, it’s super catchy. Then he shared another song with me because I love cats. “Meow” comes at you with a barrage of meows and chiptune, and the video is really bright and high energy. If you’re feeling down and need some music to get you charged up, this group will do it.

Catnip
This one isn’t for everyone. Indeed, you shouldn’t consume catnip in any way if you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant. Disclaimer aside, let me tell you about my catnip experience. I found this quite by accident. My friends would say “You really ARE a cat,” and I found it amusing. Then one night I had the bright idea to try smoking catnip. I’d heard of people doing that, and that it isn’t dangerous, just sort of pointless because it doesn’t do any of the things people are trying to accomplish when they smoke it. I’m not a smoker, nor do I partake in any other herbal remedies, so I got an empty soda can and made a quick bowl. I found it very soothing. Maybe it was just the ritual of it or the focus on slow, purposeful breathing, but it gave me a sense of wellness. That’s the only way I can describe it. Over the next few days, I noticed something I hadn’t anticipated. That nasty lung problem I’d been having for years went away. Since then, I haven’t smoked every day (though I have purchased an actual pipe), but I find that if I smoke it occasionally, it definitely helps keep the lung crud away. In fact, I should probably hit that later. It’s been a while and there’s definitely some crud hanging around.

Soylent Coffiest
A fifth of your daily nutrients, 400 calories, and a jolt of caffeine. I started drinking my breakfast after my boyfriend switched to Soylent for his lunches at work. Prior to the work change, we’d both only been eating one meal a day, a large dinner. Depending on how much of that was green veggies, it may not fulfil a body’s daily needs, so he would end up going out for fast food. That ends up being expensive and unhealthy, so he did some math and discovered that Soylent would be an excellent substitute. Like I say, I’m still adjusting to the new work schedule, so Soylent may not be the answer for me. It can certainly be a work lunch, but I feel like drinking it in the morning instead of my coffee has only added 400 unnecessary calories to my day. I love it, but I’m going to have to switch up the time of day I drink it.

Veggie Tortilla Soup
I’ll add the recipe for this, because it’s become a household favorite. It started with my mom’s very delicious tortilla soup, then I subbed all meat ingredients with veggie alternatives. I replaced the chicken and beef broth with veggie broth, and the chicken chunks with black beans and corn. The recipe makes enough for two very hungry people to eat two big meals with a little left over.

New Job
My new job is basically my old job for a new company, with more hours and new responsibilities. Instead of being in charge of basic rent collection and operations, I am now the Service Coordinator in charge of finding assistance for residents and finding event opportunities for the community. It’s awesome. Last week, I got to throw my first big holiday party, and soon I’ll have an activities fund to plan more regular events in our remodeled club house.

There ya go! 17 Favorites for 2017!