2012.

Since I already did my big year-end post on the one-year anniversary of graduating college, I thought I'd switch up my annual year in review blog by doing a recap of my top 10 best moments of 2012. Although this year was very challenging, emotional, and full of changes, I did have QUITE a big year with lots of pretty incredible moments as well. Here's to bidding this year a big PEACE OUT and welcoming what's sure to be an awesome 2013.

10. Turning 23.

I wasn't expecting my 23rd birthday to be anything special. It's not a big milestone in life, so I didn't have high expectations. Plus it was right smack dab in the middle of an unfortunate first half of the year, so I really could have skipped it all together. But it turned out to be WONDERFUL. Spent at Lake Mead with my god-sisters floating on the lake and drinking beers, followed by fondue at the Melting Pot with my family. Oh, and did I mention it was also the day I got offered a job at Digital Royalty? Talk about exceeding my wildest expectations. A non-milestone turned monumental day in my year.

9. Golden Gate Bridge

Growing up in Southern California is always something I've been proud of. I love SoCal and I hope to move back there again at some point in my life. But somehow I lived there for 12 years and never managed to make it all the way up to Northern California - until this year when my sister moved to San Jose. I got the opportunity to help her out by driving her car from Vegas to LA and then all the way up the coast of California. It was amazing getting to watch the sunrise over the ocean as I made my way up north. And then after getting to San Jose, we drove even further to see one of California's monuments and something I've never seen in person - The Golden Gate Bridge. It was only for a short time, but something I'll definitely never forget. The entire experience.

8. Obama Re-blog.

On Halloween I dressed up as Rosie the Riveter. It was actually the first time I "spoke out" about my political views during this election cycle because I was trying not to get too emotionally invested Ala 2008. But I decided to rock a "Women For Obama" pin with my costume and voila - the Obama campaign saw my picture on Tumblr and re-blogged it for the world to see. It got over 2700 notes in 3 hours and I had friends and family calling me from all over the country screaming with excitement that they saw it. I was super proud and excited that my tiny little political statement was actually making a bigger impact than I intended. Definitely one of the most exciting days of the year. Oh yeah, and then Obama got re-elected soooo I'm pretty sure that pin was good luck.

7. Goffstein Wedding

Love was in the air this summer as my God-sister, Courtney married the love of her life, Shane. It was a beautiful wedding and a huge milestone for Court. I'm so glad I got to be there for it, and she made a GORGEOUS bride.

6. Paso Robles

Before Courtney & Shane tied the knot, we took a girls weekend trip to Paso Robles for wine tasting. Sounds mellow, right? Wrong. There was tons of wine, cheese, wigs, an all-day limo, naked hot-tubing, bright purple teeth, and possibly even some passing out at the Vineyards. Hey, us single ladies had to help Courtney celebrate her departure from the singles club and her entrance into married life SOMEHOW. I think we managed pretty darn well - and luckily Paso Robles is still standing.

5. Josiah Leming

Meeting Josiah Leming was on my bucket list. I've loved his music so much for so long so when he came to Vegas this summer, Connor and I made it our business to be there. Turns out, it was a super intimate show with less than 20 people in the audience (lucky for us!). We found him after his set and got to talk to him for a while which was a complete dream come true for both of us. He is SUCH a cool guy and it made me love him even more.

4. Disneyland

My happy place. I don't remember when I started this tradition with Cory, but whenever it was long ago, it's become a defining characteristic of US. We are Disney. Does that make sense? Anyways, After a several-year-long dry spell, I got to go TWICE in 2012. The first time was pretty much like a therapy session that helped me through a broken heart and put some much needed perspective back in my life. I came away from that trip feeling refreshed and ready to take on the rest of the year. The second trip? Purely about being with Cory, having fun, and experiencing Disneyland (for my first time ever) around Halloween. Complete and total awesomeness.

3. Digital Royalty

Getting hired at Digital Royalty was definitely one of the TOP highlights of my year. I am SO incredibly lucky to have landed this gig in July with the absolute best team of Renegades imaginable. I get to do what I love every single day surrounded by super supportive people who make me happy to be at work on Monday mornings (and every other morning as well). Like I've said before, I'm so glad the universe placed me here, it's definitely where I'm meant to be at this point in my life.

2. Yosemite

My family trip to Yosemite in August was one for the books. I love my family so, SO much and get-togethers with the entire extended clan are few and far between these days, so it was just wonderful to have everyone there at one of our favorite places on earth, spending some much needed time in the fresh air. I also got to cross "hike the panorama trail as an adult" off my bucket list. Biggest physical challenge of the year for sure, but so worth it. 8.5 miles of treacherous hiking really taught me a lot about what I'm capable of in my life, and also helped me clear my head about some personal things going on in my world at that time. It was a trip I will not be forgetting anytime soon and I wish we could do a vacation like that every year.

1. Coldplay

Duh, this was obviously my number one incredible moment of 2012. I haven't stopped talking about it since! Last Christmas my brother and I bought tickets to see Coldplay in Seattle and I anxiously counted down the days until I flew up there and we got to see our favorite band EVER live. And the concert was the most incredible production I've ever seen. Not even exaggerating, it was life-changing. I still can't put it into words. I wish I could re-live that night every day forever.

[Notable mention: Signing a lease at the Juhl with Leah (we move in February 1st!), Cory's 23rd birthday extravaganza in Vegas, and Muhammad Ali's birthday party.]

Cheers to at LEAST 10 incredible moments in 2013 for all of us. Looking so forward to sending this year off and seeing what this next year brings my way. 

2012? Over it.

Sandy Hook.

I've been waking up everyday feeling so heartbroken for the last week. It has always deeply effected me when huge tragedies happen in our world. I remember when Columbine happened in 1999, I was just a kid having nightmares every night about my worst fear come true. My mind doesn't let these things go. I can't just learn about something that devastating and let it graze over and continue about my daily business. My empathy levels tend to be a little bit heightened compared to the average person and sometimes I'm not sure whether or not that's a good thing.

So back to my original point. I woke up today feeling so heartbroken for the world I live in. It makes me feel helpless and small and like I have no control. And in situations like this, I know I'm right. The only thing I can do is mourn the loss of the lives of 20 children and 6 adults and be upset that this is what it's come to in my country.

Or can I? I decided last night that I'm committing to the #26acts movement started by Ann Curry because if there is anything I could possibly do to pass on hope and spread kindness for a seemingly helpless world, I'm damn sure going to give it my all.

The thing that really bothers me the most is that these situations are no longer the outliers. They're no longer random acts of hatred or mental illness or whatever you want to justify the reason as. They aren't the random freak accidents that happen once every 10 years that you think "wow, I can't believe that just happened" and move on until the next freak accident happens many years later. I do not believe that this case was the outlier, because it's happening all the time. This year alone I can think of at least 5 mass shootings in the United States at malls and movie theaters and schools. And that's 5 too many.

So how can we simply write these incidents off as random tragedies and sit back and not make a change? I might be small and helpless or even naive if that's what you think of me, but I will not bow down to this and not even try like we're currently doing as a nation. We're letting these tragedies walk all over us as we refuse to make changes and address real issues. We let this happen when we say things like "now is not the time to talk about gun control" and "can we not turn this into a political debate?" When exactly is the right time to talk about this? Because lately as soon as we're finished mourning the loss of lives from one shooting rampage, another one happens and we're back to feeling helpless and asking why bad things happen to good people. They happen because we're allowing them to happen.

Instead of asking why and sweeping the politics under the rug, why don't we buck up as a nation and admit to ourselves that we have a problem. Why can't we put aside our beliefs and stop justifying certain things because "it's our right" and actually admit to ourselves that this is NOT OK. And I'm not even saying that this is simply a gun control issue because it's more than that. We don't do anything to help people with mental illness either. But with that being said, I also don't believe that everyone who goes on a shooting rampage has a mental illness. I think we need to look at the entire picture and ask what we can do in each area to take even a preventative measure because as of right now, we're not doing a damn thing to even attempt to prevent this kind of incident from happening. Not a damn thing, because when this happens we refuse to go there. We have to stop this attitude towards the conversation.

And if you honestly think that stricter gun control laws in this country would not reduce the number of gun-related homicides in the US, you are kidding yourself. And to those saying that gun control is not the answer and is not going to stop these events: No. I understand that we can't make it impossible for every homicidal maniac to get his/her hands on a gun, but we can sure as hell make it a lot harder. And completely shutting down the conversation because you like your guns and assume that any conversation is headed towards you losing your "rights" as an American is helping absolutely no one. At the very LEAST, every single person should be rallying behind better mental health evaluations for those looking to purchase a gun. But they're not, and it's appalling to me.

I'm so unbelievably heartbroken and sad over the shooting in Newtown, CT. I can't help but feel like we as a nation have failed these children with our justifications and our ability to ignore a serious problem. If now is not the time to address what's really wrong, then when is the time? When will you be willing to stop and listen? When will you be willing to stop clinging to your guns long enough to have an honest conversation about this? Your right is to bear arms to protect yourself, yes, but your right is not to own a semi-automatic machine gun that can fire 30 rounds per second or whatever the case may be. Your right is not to own a gun and walk into an elementary school and kill 20 children and 6 faculty members.

I can't even accurately articulate the hole I'm feeling in my heart, and I know I'm not the only one.  Praying is nice, and hugs are great, but it's time we step up and do more than that. We owe it to our nation and all the innocent lives that were so unjustly taken from the world. If the only physical thing I can do in this situation is 26 random acts of kindness, then I will show everyone I meet that there's still hope for this world. I will do my part to honor the children and teachers who were victims of this preventable act, but I will not stop fighting for them either. Ever.

What a difference a YEAR makes.

It's really hard for me to believe it's been exactly one full year today since I graduated from college. I remember waking up on December 16th, 2011 feeling a cross between excited that this day had finally arrived, and sick to my stomach from being hours away from saying goodbye to my friends and my apartment and my life in Boulder. My family flew in from Vegas and New York to be there for the ceremony, help me pack up, and send me off into the next chapter of my life.

I remember thinking "HALLELUJAH, I never have to write another term paper or take another math test ever again!" and "oh... what am I gonna do from here on out?" My whole life I had been a student. I spend 4.5 years at 2 different colleges, I knew my routine, I knew how to BS my way through a paper and exactly how long I needed to study for a test to pass. I was good at being a student and I liked it. I really didn't know what the next chapter had in store for me and I was both terrified and eager to find out.

My incredible cousin, Sara flew in from New York to support me which I was SO thankful for. I've always looked up to her and she's always had the best advice and life lessons that I've been able to relate to. I knew when she got there that some deep and probably emotional talks were in my immediate future (and of course that was accurate). I don't remember every detail of that weekend, but I distinctly remember this talk I had with Sara. She told me that the first year out of college was going to be the most challenging year I've ever experienced, but that I was going to learn so much about myself in the process. She had been there, she knew the struggles, so I gladly took that piece of advice and tried to prepare myself.


So ready or not, I packed up my tiny apartment, dropped off my keys, and drove away with my dad in the U-Haul and my brother in the passenger seat of my car. As I drove away from Boulder I looked in my rear view mirror and could see the beautiful Flatirons getting smaller and smaller and I sobbed while Rivers and Roads was playing in the background. It was like something out of a damn movie and it still gets me to this day. I already missed Boulder so much more than I could imagine and I wasn't even 10 miles into my journey to Vegas.

I wish I could say that Sara was wrong in her advice, but like always, she was dead right. In fact, she was so right that I have thought about her words every single day for the last year. This entire year since the day I graduated has been the most challenging year of my life on almost every possible front, but in the process, I became Chelsea 2.0. I have learned more about myself from this year than any other year in my life, and I've grown up in ways I wasn't expecting.

Upon all the changes I was facing and the new environment I was living in, I had to run to LA at the start of the year so my best friend could dig me out of a very heart broken hole, and that basically set the tone for the rest of the year. I got diagnosed with a herniated disc and a bulging disc in my low back, I was unemployed for 8 months, I got completely overlooked for what I thought was my destiny and dream job, I had no choice but to live at home with my parents, and I started dating someone again for the first time in 5 years which ended after getting in a serious car accident and spending the night in the hospital in neck braces. Thanks, heard ya loud and clear, universe. Talk about a low.

I basically got to a point where I couldn't keep letting the universe take a shit on me so I decided 3 things: I was not going to cry over the past anymore (which I haven't.. except once, no one's perfect), I was going to get myself out of situations where I wasn't happy (which I did), and I was going to actively practice patience (hardest of the 3). Once I did those 3 things, my year started rounding a serious corner.

After 7 months I landed a job interview with Digital Royalty and luckily they took a chance on me and offered me a job - on my birthday. I knew right then that it was a sign from the universe and that this was the turning point. I knew from day one that this was the perfect job for me. I loved everything about it and everyone on the dR team. And now, 5 months in, I couldn't imagine a better fit for me. I get to do what I love every day, and it's made me realize that no matter how long I had to wait to get to this point, the universe had my back all along. I just needed to be patient and trust that all the challenges I faced happened for a reason and I'm a better person because of it.

I'm now getting ready to move out of my parents house and into an apartment in Downtown Vegas with my friend & co-worker, Leah. One full year since the day I graduated, my life is at a complete 180 from where it was. And although it's been one hell of a hard year, I actually did learn a lot about myself in the process. I'm more determined than I thought, stronger than I thought, more spontaneous than I thought, more mature than I thought, less willing to put up with negativity and passive aggressiveness than I thought, and headed down a different direction than I thought. It might be a different path than what I originally expected I would head down, but it's a BETTER path. I'm happier and better than I thought I could be thanks to that year-one shit storm.



And just to be clear, this entire year was definitely not a bust. I did have some really great moments. I got to see Coldplay in Seattle with my brother, watched KU go to the NCAA Basketball finals, went to California a total of 8 times (whoa...), I got to spend a TON of time with my best friend Cory, I got to have a lot of hugs and girls nights with Lindsey, got to watch my other God-sister Courtney marry the love of her life, went to Yosemite with my entire extended family, went to Muhammad Ali's birthday party, met some incredible people, slept in every day for 8 months, went to Disneyland TWICE, and met Josiah Leming and Seal. Can't complain about a tough year too much when I had some really awesome adventures in between.

So the point of this post is, TRUST that the universe (or whatever forces you believe in) has your back, even if it might not seem like it sometimes. It can't rain forever. What's meant to be will find it's way to you if you're open to taking chances on things that may be out of the realm of what you think your future should look like. If there's anything I've learned, it's that it's never going to look like what you're thinking, but that can potentially be a great thing.

And thank you, if you're reading this. Whether you played an active role in this cycle or not, thanks for being in my life and helping me get to this point. One year after graduating college I can say with confidence that I'm truly happy with the road I'm on and at peace with this past year. I feel like a new Chelsea which is pretty exciting stuff.

And thanks again for the wise words, Sara. I'm looking forward to seeing what year 2 has in store.

Make it count.

As we dive head first into the last month of the year I can't help but take a second to be sentimental. It's the Cancer in me, what can I say? I won't get TOO far into the year-end wrap up just yet, since there is still a full month left ahead. But I also cannot believe how fast this year has come and gone. It sounds cliche, I'm sure. But a full year has come and gone in the blink of an eye.

At this time exactly one year ago I was still in college, getting ready to take finals and pack up my life to leave it all behind in search of my next move. I wasn't sure of anything and I felt more forced to leave than ready. It's sad to think about but I barely even remember that girl right now. She seems so far away from where I am now that it's hard to imagine what I was thinking and feeling. All I remember is taking a huge jump into a pool of uncertainty and just hoping to keep my head above water until I could figure out where to swim to.

With all that being said, now I'm ready for what comes next. We're about the hit the 1 year since graduation mark and to me, that point signifies the turning of a corner. I think it started rounding out a couple months ago, but starting in 2013 my path will be a little more clear, a little more consistent, and a little less bumpy. I truly have faith that good things are going to be happening in 2013.

But as much as I'm eager to see what the next year holds, I want to enjoy the last month of 2012. It's been one of the hardest and most challenging years of my life - physically, mentally, and emotionally. However, right at the very tail end I'm feeling at peace with where I've been and how far I've come. I want to bask in this for a little bit. I need to appreciate the journey that this year has been so I can REALLY appreciate what comes next.

To making December count.