Month: December 2017

2017 year in review

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! wow this year has been wild! There were so many ups and downs that I lost count. It’s safe to say that I have grown a lot this year. My self-confidence is much higher than it has ever been. I know now that I’m capable of accomplishing much more than I ever thought I could, but this year also had some situations that I had a hard time facing. Let’s take a walk down 2017 lane and I will tell you about some of the most impactful moments of my year.

 

The Wonderful

This year was full of many wonderful moments, the one that stands out to me first, Is my surprise trip to Disneyland! (you can read about it here) Talk about the perfect surprise at the perfect time. Then there was my Los Angeles bucket list trip! I crossed five items off in just a few days. (you can read about it here) There is no way I could forget about my NHI graduation! (read about it here) Oh and yeah, I turned 27 this year and I celebrated with my little pony birthday (read about it here) I also went to Idaho for the first time ever and I loved going to the zoo and aquarium. (read about it here) This year was packed with wonderful positive memories. I had a Better than expect summer complete with two amazing concerts one from the band Boston at my favorite outdoor venue and the other was a concert on the beach from the band Quite Riot, I did tons of shopping spent lots of time with family and friends including going to my cousin’s beautiful wedding (you can read about my summer here , here ,here. and here) I saw some great movies this year, the my little pony movie was amazing I also really enjoyed the movies hidden figures and COCO and of course Star Wars!  There is no way I can forget crossing off #55 (ride on the back of a motorcycle) and #215(get some Lisa Frank clothes) off my list. (read about it here and here) There are so many good things that happened thins year it is hard to list them all, but I’ll do my best. I was so blessed to start two wonderful jobs this year that I love. One is a front desk receptionist at a massage studio the other is as a teacher’s aide at a preschool. Having two jobs that I love has done a lot of good for my mental health.  Other fun adventures include my trip to the Walt Disney family museum, ( read about it here) posting a lot of YouTube videos including  my bucket list talk videos , ( read about it here ) getting a new smart  phone ( I got the Google Pixel and it is my favorite phone that I have ever had ) , Then there was #207 Where I got something that I had been wanting for a long time  ( you can read about it here )and of course all the time that I spent with the people I love .  As busy as this year was I crossed eight items off my bucket list. This year was filled with great times with great people and I’m excited to have more great times in 2018!

 

The not so wonderful

As I said at the beginning of this post this year was wild and Like every year there was some challenging things that happened. The one that comes to mind first is my grandparents moving away I’ve wrote a little bit about this and don’t get me wrong I had a great time going to visit them and I’m very happy for them, but it was very hard for me when they moved so far away. I cried plenty of tears over them leaving. Time has been the best healer for this pain and I’m getting much better but that was one of the most difficult things that happened this year. The beginning of this year got off to a rocky start with some pretty crazy weather complete with fallen power polls and trees. The road was blocked for a while and parking was a little hard to come by while work was going on to clean up the mess. Until April I was working retail, I enjoyed working at the store and I loved the people I worked with but sometimes hours could be hard to come by and that’s how it was at the beginning of this year. I was getting called by bill collectors and that was a very stressful thing and I felt helpless. It was not a good feeling at all but here I am ending this year with two amazing jobs that have steady hours. Another very stressful thing that happened this year was when my cat cooper got stuck in a tree for hours! ( you can read about it here ) We had to call a tree service to come get him and it was a night that I had to go to school. As I wrote about in the post before this one, I failed the MBLEX and that was a hard disappointment to face but with the new year comes new opportunities and I’m ready to move past all the hardships of 2017 and go into 2018  with my head held high .

I hope all of you have a blessed 2018 . Rock on – Christina Epperly

 

 

 

Christmas eve and Christmas day 2017

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Christmas eve 2017

For my whole life every Christmas Eve we went to my grandparents’ house and a had a wonderful celebration filled with food and presents and lots of laughs. This year was different because my grandparents are in Idaho now, so this year we had the party at my aunt’s house. it was different but lots of fun. We started off the celebration by attending Christmas eve service at the church my aunt goes to. After a great service we went back to my aunt’s house to have a big Christmas eve celebration!  As with most big celebrations there was a lot of yummy food and of course lots laughs. Oh, and my aunt has three dogs so it’s always fun with them around. To top it all off we did a gift exchange, the white elephant game and the Christmas morning game.  It was a fun night celebrating with my beautiful family.

 

 

Christmas day 2017

When I was a kid I always woke up early on Christmas day and did everything I could do to get my parents out of bed, so we could go open presents but now I love my sleep, so my Christmas morning started out a little slow but once I got up and going, it was time to open presents with my parents before going over to my sister’s house.  After opening presents at home, we went to my sister’s house and had some yummy food yay for potatoes! Then we went to go see Star Wars! The movie was awesome! I had a great Christmas day and I hope all of you did too !

 

Rock on – Christina Epperly

 

More December fun and life updates

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! In my last blog post I wrote about enjoying Christmas time and how there was more fun to come.  I’m happy to report that the Christmastime fun has been going strong and I have some fun things to tell you about! I also told you about the test that I was getting ready to take, Well I have taken it and I have an update on that as well.  So, hold on tight and get ready for an update!

 

More Christmastime joys

The joy of Christmastime keeps on coming! My mom and I got to go to an awesome Christmas Rock concert by the band December people. It was a very fun night I hope I get to go see them again sometime!  I got to celebrate the season with one of my work families at a very yummy Italian restaurant I had a fun time eating and laughing with all the wonderful people I work with!   There was also another wonderful party with my other work family complete with a White elephant game I ended up with a huge umbrella and two pairs of gloves! On December 23rd, I went shopping at the Goodwill and I got a huge haul! I found so many awesome things all at great prices. That evening went to Gilroy gardens for the first time. I really enjoyed the special holiday dinner. The potatoes and apple crisp tasted so good!  The rides were also lots of fun I the banana split ride, the carousel and the train were some of my favorites and I was able to buy a beautiful snow globe to add to my collection. To top it all off I ran into one of my friends from childhood it was great to see him. The whole park was beautiful the decorations were so pretty, and the trees are breath taking. If you ever get the chance I highly recommend it Christmas eve and Christmas day where also great but the deserve their own blog post

 

 

The Rollercoaster ride of life

 

Alright I’m just going to say it right now, I failed the MBLEX, but that is not going to stop me from becoming a massage therapist. I’m going to take it again until I passed. Some dreams take more time to accomplish then others. I’m not going to lie I was very upset that I did not pass, and I cried a lot in the car but I know I can pass it just say tuned my friends because as low as I felt that day I know that things are looking up for me and I can’t wait to start working as a massage therapist! Keep dreaming and rock on – Christina Epperly

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#207 own an American girl doll

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, My bucket list friends! I hope you are all enjoying this last little bit of 2017.  During This time of year there is a lot of gift giving going on and as silly as it may sound it’s important to not leave yourself off the list. As the year winds down, I want to do my best to end it on a good note, so I decided to treat myself by crossing off a bucket list item and making one of my childhood dreams come true.

 

#207

When I was in elementary school I loved looking at the American girl catalog and I really wanted one of the dolls, but they were a lot of money, so I got the mini dolls and enjoyed reading the books and for a while I had moved on. As I’ve grown up I have learned that it is important to remember, that even if you are no longer a child it is not too late to make your childhood dreams come true. After debating if I should spend the money or not I choose a doll from the American girl website. I picked the truly me doll #23 her hair is lighter than mine, but they were back ordered on the doll with the darker hair, so I went with the beautiful #23 doll. I was so excited when she finally arrived! I got her out of the box as fast as I could, and you know what? I think I was just as excited as I would have been if I got her when I was a kid. I knew I had to give her an awesome name, so I turned to the internet and I looked for some unique and fun girls name. After searching for a While I chose Clover as her name. I think it fits her very well. Having my own American girl doll is a dream come true. I’m so happy that I crossed off this list item. To be honest this has been a stressful week but getting Clover gave me a major happiness boost and I’m ready to have a Merry Christmas with Clover by my side .

Rock on – Christina Epperly

 

Life in December 2017

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my bucket list friends! I hope you are all having a wonderful December 2017.  For a lot people including me, this time of year is very busy but with a little stress management and some deep breaths it can be truly wonderful. There is a lot going on in my life this month, so I thought I would write a post to tell you about it. Here we go!

 

Christmas Joy

December is full of joy and celebration.  So far, this year I’ve been enjoying the little things, such as decorating the Christmas tree, getting chocolate every day from my advent calendar and going to the Christmas light walk through at the park. Even with all the busyness going on I’m still taking time to enjoy the fun little things about Christmas. I had a good time at the light walk through with my family. I like looking at the lights every year and the walk through is my favorite. I love getting to spend a little more time enjoying the dinosaurs, bears and other light displays then when you drive through. I also have been rocking out to My Little Pony Christmas music. There is much more Christmas fun to come this month so get ready for another blog post about Christmas joy.

Here we go again

 

I’ve written before about my test anxiety and once again it is something I’m going to have to face. In about a week I’m going to be taking the Mblex so I can work as a massage therapist. The test covers a lot of material and I’m nervous, but I feel good about what I know and what I need to work on to be fully ready for the test.  I really wanted to share this with you all because it has been on mind a lot lately. I’m worried about taking the test but I have decided not to place any pressure on my self I’ve been studying and I’m going to do my best.  No matter what happens I’m going to be proud of myself.

 

Wrapping it up for now ………..

So as you can see things are pretty jam packed for me right now but I’m excited for all the good things that are to come and  I can’t wait to tell you all about it   – Rock on Christina Epperly

 

 

Love, tacos and Rock N Roll (also known as the best wedding I’ve ever been too)

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

 

Hello, my bucket list friends! Last month something pretty awesome happened. One of the wonderful people that I met during my time at NHI had the most amazing wedding ever and I just had to tell you all about it! It should come as no surprise that I consider my self to be a pretty nontraditional person. I love seeing people express themselves in a positive way and not conforming to what has always been done just because it is tradition and my friend’s wedding as a perfect example of that.

 

 

Love and Rock n roll

I was very excited when I found out that I was invited to my classmate’s wedding! She had showed us her awesome invitations and pictures of her dress. Before I get into how amazing the wedding was I have to tell you that Michelle (the bride) is a beautiful person inside and out. Her friendliness and kindness light up the whole room. I was very excited to be apart of her beautiful day. I’ve been to my fair share of weddings over the years, I’ve even been in a few and they were all pretty traditional. They were still beautiful and full of love but traditional.  You know there are some things that can be found in most weddings such as the bride wearing some shade of white, that here comes the bride song playing when the bride comes down the aisle, and flower girls in lacy dresses. Now before I go any further I want to make it clear that I’m not saying any of those things are bad, but they are often done because people feel like that is what they are supposed to do not because that’s what they want. that was one of the things that made Michelle’s wedding so wonderful. You could tell that the bride and groom had put effort in to making their wedding the way they wanted it to be. The place was decked out in all things rock n roll from the plastic skulls on the tables to the flower girls who were dressed up in their best rock and roll outfits and I can’t forget about the music! Rock music as playing when the wedding party came down the aisle and everyone’s outfits where album cover worthy.  The bride was in the most beautiful wedding dress that I have ever seen with my own two eyes. It was black and red, and it had pockets! The ceremony was beautiful and full of so much love. You know how sometimes you can just look at two people together and see how much they truly love each other. This was exactly that and I couldn’t have been happier for them. After a rocking ceremony it was time to eat tacos! I mean who does not love tacos and these tacos were so good. Oh, and They had a photo booth and it was so much fun taking pictures with my NHI friends. Since I graduated I have not seen my Classmates, but this night brought us together in the best way possible and just when I thought that the wedding could not be any more amazing there was a head banging contest! Talk about a good time! To top it all off I caught the bouquet!  It was a beautiful wedding filled with love, tacos and rock n roll!

Rock on -Christina Epperly

 

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thanksgiving in Idaho

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello, my beautiful bucket list friends! Here we are in the last month of 2017 and I have quite a few blog posts that I want to write and videos that I want to make before we jump on into 2018 so get ready for a lot of updates from this professional dreamer.

 

 

This past thanksgiving was very different for me, it was the first thanksgiving that I have ever celebrated outside of California. The biggest difference is that it was colder then California thanksgiving but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s go back to Los Angeles, the day after I crossed #139 (go beach hopping) off my list. I woke up very early that Tuesday morning to go LAX, so I could take my first flight of two flights that I would take that day. I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare so I had all the time I needed to find my gate, eat and charge up my phone before getting on my first flight to Seattle. After a two-hour ride I was in the state of Washington for the first time ever. When I arrived, one of the first things I did was look at my flight information on my phone. I was confused at first but it didn’t take long for me to realize that my 2nd flight (the one that would take me to Idaho) was delayed by about 3 hours. Needless to say, I was not very happy about this, but life happens. One of the worst things about being stuck in the airport was looking outside and seeing the awful weather outside but from what I hear that’s just how it is in Seattle. I was really missing the California sunshine at this point . The Disneyland plane that was parked by the windows was able to put a smile on my face, but I had plenty of time before the now delayed plane was ready to go. So I did the best thing I could to lift my mood I bought myself some food, a snow globe and a post card. After my little shopping trip, I relaxed the best I could until it was time for my last flight of the day. When I finally got to Idaho I was tired but excited to see my family and Jewels one of my favorite dogs in the whole world. After going out for a great dinner and spending time with family I crashed. The next day was the day before Thanksgiving so it was a very busy day, but I was able to stop by the Goodwill and get some cool stuff including some My Little Pony toys. It was a fun day filled with lots of shopping, food and family fun. I had a lot of new my little pony toys before the day ended.

The next day  it was time to celebrate thanksgiving with some of the people that I love most.Even tough I was in a different time zone than normal. Thanksgiving was pretty much the same. There was lots of food and time to catch up with those you don’t get to see often. After a great day of celebrating with family and eating lots of wonderful food. It was time to get ready for my 4th and final fight of the trip. The flight back home was fast and before I knew it I was back with my cats in California. It was a good but short trip to Idaho. When I go back I should have more time to explore and maybe even cross off a list item or two.

Rock on – Christina Epperly

 

 

Los Angeles Photography

Posted on by crazydreamsgirl

Hello , my bucket list friends ! I want to thank you all so much for all the love that you gave on my last post !  I hope you enjoyed looking at the photos that I took with my phone but I thought it would be fun to show you some of the pictures that I took with my DSLR camera. As some of you already know I really enjoy Photography so I just had to take my fancy camera to Los Angeles with me . I got some pretty cool pictures and here they are.

 

This is one of my shots of the Hollywood sign . I really love everything about this picture, The blue sky and the hills are beautiful .

 

 

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Beautiful Santa Monica

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Venice beach art

 

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Beautiful view of the Santa Monica pier

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post card perfect .

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Also post card perfect !  I love all the creative art !

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Venice beach art closer up . I love how I got the sand in this picture .

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A beach sunset is one of the most beautiful things you can take a picture of

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Blurry but I love it , almost looks like a painting

 

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I loved my hotel room and this picture perfectly captures it

 

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beach view !

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love this picture !

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I hope you enjoyed looking at these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them . I have a few more blog posts to write before 2018 comes . I look forward to sharing more with you !  Rock on – Christina Epperly