2016.

2016, Let’s see... 

You see an influx of hate towards a year when it comes to an end and how the next year will be better. No one really ever says Wow that was the best year!  But in all honesty, it was a good year if you are here to see the next. You may have had some heartache, hardships and loss. But you still get to go through another year of life and that is really something special. 

I tend to recall negatives in my life, I can think back to being a toddler and work myself towards now and point out all the bad unhappy times. In changing that, forcing the brain to seek for the good it changes the outcome of how I want to live, get gives a more hopeful view and with that positive things happen. 

I have posted articles about the power of positive thinking and how I am the only one to blame for my failures. I stand by those and believe them to be true. The years I have dwelled in the past, felt bad for all I didn’t have and came up with excuse after excuse as to why something didn’t work out, I lived in that manner for that year and many others. It takes something to strike a chord and move you to change and REALLY stand by it. Moving to Nashville was that chord and everything since then has pushed me where I feel I should be. Yes, I had great loss in doing so… My Dad the day we moved and almost all of my fur babies have moved on as well. That first year here dealing with losing one of my biggest influences in life was the rock bottom you hear of before you see the crack of light and start to climb towards it. I for once felt a shift and finally started to blossom.  But that was 2013 and we move on..

I brought in 2016 filming Jones World and working on a documentary about Toddzilla, when it actually hit midnight I took a photo of Matthew from across the crowd, then went right back into documenting the rest of the show. The very first day of the year, very tired and sore… We went to film a surprise engagement that would have me get in a helicopter and fly over Nashville to document the newly engaged couple. This set the tone for the year and wow what a year it was!

I found myself settled in the first year of my very first relationship and although it wasn’t always smooth (mostly on my part) I learned a lot and stuck to my promises and always worked out any issues. Dating someone who is also your best friend you tend to lose sight of some parts of the relationship, working together also has a certain effect on that. I’m thankful I am learning these lessons with him and with everything look forward to the future of this crazy little thing called love.

2016 took me to 9 states as well as 2 difference cities within my own state.  You can read about the year in travel here

Those trips sparked a new documentary for us and we jumped head first into making our dream a reality. Never in my life would I think I would have got to do the things I did in 2016, from interviewing Bruce Campbell and the rest of the cast of Evil Dead, to standing in the middle of nowhere North Carolina looking at the remains of the cabin they filmed part 2 in as well as stepping foot into the house The Color Purple was filmed in.  

With every city the hunt for Vegan food was a must for me and have to hand it to Chicago for having the a lot of options, Pittsburgh however had a place we could both eat at, Charlotte however takes the cake for having Vegan food that the non-vegan boyfriend was willing to drive to twice! 

Our time at weddings in 2016 was at an all time high, you learn a lot about people at weddings as well as how to film something on the fly and for me packing food is important too! 

We got to make a few great music videos this year as well as some live shows, I love watching people do what drives them as we are doing what drives us. I love watching Matthew work and feel so grateful we both have the same passion in this art form, it’s never been about a easy way to make money. This line of work when done right isn’t easy, if it is you might be lacking somewhere in there. 

We had our fair share of downs in 2016, mostly towards the end of the year financially we got hit hard! A great Lawyer cost a lot, and we only wanted the best for our legal issues. Matthew wanted nothing more than to stand up for what he felt was right and I would do anything I could to support him on that, in the end it was never about winning or losing, it was about standing up for what was right for us.  The details are no longer important and we are working on moving forward from it, a lot was learned, to many visits to the court house happened and we are better for it. Money can be replaced, it sucked losing every bit of savings we had for emergencies and our projects but we can get it all back in due time. What we gained was peace of mind and money can’t really buy that now can it? Hitting people in the wallet is a low blow so instead of waiting to communicate over something taking them to court may not get you the result you want.  We remained rich in love and support, gained a little weight from stress eating haha, but we can lose the weight and rebuild out bank, that’s what I have to hold to and let go of the rest.

For Christmas to happen for me, I ended up selling one of the last big things my Dad ever got me, my beloved Honda CRV. I recall him pulling up to the house after getting her and his face just being so happy when I came out and said “You got a new car?!” and he said “I think you can borrow it, for as long as you need”  I drove that thing all the way to 220,842 miles. It took us everywhere!  Finally got to the point that putting money into her was getting to be too much, the A/C broke twice and the transmission was getting a little iffy. I won’t lie about the fact of cleaning her out with tears in my eyes. But she helped me put gifts under the tree for those I love the most and I think Dad would have been happy to know that... more seeing Jack’s face seeing his train table. 

Up’s and Down’s… a year in life. Nothing to change or dwell on, we can’t fix any of it only learn from it. Forgiving those mistakes we made or others made is important, but not forgetting what caused those moments for forgiveness just as important. I don’t think you can make a wrong right by just ignoring it and moving on as nothing happened, people forget the magic of an apology but it takes more courage to admit wrong doing that it does to just brush it under the rug. 

I am thankful everyday for the people in my life. How true they are not only to me but to themselves.  There are of course ideas and goals for the coming year, bigger and better. I will always work towards gaining a better respect for myself and others. As well as work towards a healthy lifestyle and stability for my household.  I think a disconnect from true distractions will be worth a shot, I over share sometimes and will pull back a great deal now focusing on business and promoting what we do instead of what is going on with our lives. If someone wants to hear it, they would ask. Posting my every move gives us nothing to catch up on now does it? Then next year, my year in review might be a something worth reading. I love being collection to so many people from my life, but the instant gratification has to be stopped some and relationships need to be looked at as more than a few likes on Facebook.

So, please follow all my projects to keep up. 

Thanks for reading this to the end and I wish you the best year going forward!