2024

Goodbye 2024, Hello 2025

January 1, 2025 — Leave a comment

It’s day one of a new year, and while I am not known for preaching positivity, I will say that we all have a chance to make 2025 great.

I don’t know how y’all fared in 2024, but it wasn’t such a terrible year for me. I got to see and meet Danny Worsnop (Asking Alexandria/We Are Harlot) with my mom, and she amused him so much that he told a story about her on Facebook. My dad took me to the Marilyn Manson/Five Finger Death Punch tour for my birthday. I have been a fan of Manson for almost 25 years, and it was my first time seeing him. As an added bonus, The Funeral Portrait opened the night (and they were phenomenal). And while we’re on the subject of concerts, I finally made it to the promised land: one of my best friends took me to see Creed for Christmas! I missed them during their heyday – I was, like, 10 – and that always depressed me. I was so excited about their reunion, and they were worth waiting for. Mammoth WVH and 3 Doors Down were the openers, and both bands kicked ass!

On a personal note, my best friend moved back to Alabama! I had missed her and her family terribly. I gained self-confidence this year. My friends and coworkers helped immensely with that challenge. I like myself better at 37 than I did at 17.

The negatives for 2024 were huge, I will admit. We lost my paternal grandmother in October. She was my last grandparent, the one I spent the most time with and knew the best, so when I say that it’s been a struggle… More than my own grief, I’ve been very concerned about my dad. It’s only been two years since his youngest brother passed. Now it’s just him and my uncle Chris. If you could spare a thought for them, that would be lovely.

I’m also stuck in a job that doesn’t make me happy, but I plan on changing that as soon as possible. I guess that’s a minor complaint overall, though it does impact me almost daily. Still, I’m thinking positive! I will find something better in 2025!

Happy New Year to all my readers/followers! I hope this January 1st finds you well. Drop me a comment and tell me a good thing about your 2024, or tell me what you’re looking forward to in 2025.

Here are a few pictures from the past 12 months.

Danny Worsnop
Jericho Rose
Me and Dad at the Marilyn Manson show
Birthday!
Halloween with the bestest and her family 🎃
With Jesse at the Creed show 🤘🏻
Creed at State Farm Arena 🔥
Christmas 🎅🏻

5 Things That Make Me Happy

April 12, 2024 — Leave a comment

What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?

I saw this prompt from WordPress and decided, why not? Then, I gave the question and its answer some serious consideration. A couple of my responses are no-brainers. The others…well, they are small things that I suppose I take for granted, but nevertheless, they make me super happy!

1. Family

All-encompassing, huh? Okay. Let me get specific. One of my absolute favorite things in the world is ending my day with my mom, watching either true crime or cooking shows. And I love listening to my dad tell stories about him and his brothers when they were younger. And I love hanging out with my brother and sister-in-law, playing video games or watching documentaries.

2. Music

Music ties in directly with family because my parents are responsible for my love and vast knowledge of music. I can’t live without it.

3. Books

Reading brings me so much joy. I’ll usually choose to read a book rather than watching TV. Curling up with a good book and a cup of coffee (or tea) is my idea of Heaven.

4. My cats

I mean, come on. Duh, right?

5. My coworkers

So I don’t always love my job, but I do have a pretty amazing team around me, which sometimes extends beyond the walls of our workplace. My favorite coworker story? The first time my mom had a seizure, we called an ambulance and rushed to the ER. Well, I had been sending snaps to my work bestie, Rocky. He was at the gym, and when I told him what was going on, he asked if I wanted him to come to the hospital. Before I even had the chance to answer (to be fair, I wasn’t staying on top of Snapchat at that point), the outer doors opened and I looked up to find Rocky walking into the waiting room, still in his gym clothes. It was only about 15 minutes later they let us back to see my mom, but the fact that Rocky sat with me and my dad for those 15 minutes told me that we were really friends, and not just on the clock.

And those are my 5. I’m a simple girl. It doesn’t take much to make me happy. I have to say, though, that this list probably would have been fairly different a few years ago.

Mom ❤️
The brotato
Dad 💙
Marceline
Vlad
Rocky
One of my work moms 🩷 (She loved that shirt so I ordered her one.)

25 Years in the Making…

April 8, 2024 — Leave a comment

Hello, all, and welcome to my new subscribers! One thing you will quickly come to realize is that I always say I’m going to do regular life updates here, then I never do. I guess I just don’t think I’m that interesting, so I never do personal posts unless something exciting is going on.

Which means…

Something exciting is going on!!!!

2024 is shaping up to be a year of awesome tours, whatever your preference may be. For me, this is looking to be the year of nostalgia.

First, I posted on Facebook, semi-joking about driving up to Nashville for Creed and my friend from Georgia was like “Or I can take you to the show in Atlanta.” So, I’ll be seeing 3 Doors Down, Mammoth WVH, and Creed in December.

Then, last week, I reminded my dad about a promise he made in 2016. He said if Marilyn Manson came close and I bought the tickets, he’d get me to the show. Well, that year Manson actually played in Birmingham, but I chose not to go (long story). Now, however, Manson will be in Nashville four days after my birthday – and, much to my delight, Dad’s promise still stands!

Y’all have to understand why seeing Marilyn Manson is such a big deal for me. I have been a fan for 25 years and I have never managed to attend one of his concerts. I was too young when my brother introduced me to his music, and soon after, Manson was banned from Birmingham. (It wasn’t a statewide ban, but seriously, where else in Alabama would he play?) As stated, he was able to book shows in Birmingham in 2016 and 2017, but circumstances were against me and I had to skip them.

Finally. Finally, I will be seeing Marilyn Manson. And I. Can’t. Fucking. Wait.

My dad regrets that promise. Lol. He’s not a Manson fan. He doesn’t hate him or anything, he just thinks he’s boring. My mom would probably enjoy the show, but unfortunately, she started having seizures in December 2022. She hasn’t been officially diagnosed with anything yet, and she has been to a concert without incident since then, so it would probably be okay. However, when she asked her neurologist, she was advised against live shows. And honestly, I would never want to put her through that. Neither of us was thinking when we went to see Shinedown. Or, more accurately, I was under the impression she hadn’t had a seizure since January and the concert was in April. She was put on a fairly high dosage of an anticonvulsant at the end of last year and seems to have things under control, but again, I will do everything in my power not to put her in a situation that triggers a seizure. I’ve held her hand through a few, and it’s scary.

Anyway. That’s my big news. As for the rest of my life… I work and come home. Haha! Y’all know how it is.

I hope this post finds all of you well, and I hope positive things are happening for you in 2024!!!!!

P.S. – Manson looks good again! Well. He looks good for him.