How Do You Beat the Winter Blues?

Instantly when writing this title, I realized that many of you probably live someplace warm, not caring for an instant about us northerners barely keeping it together up here. So if you are that person, please remind me that summer will be here...eventually. For the rest of you suffering through this horrid cold front, I want to know - how do you beat the winter blues? This is one of the blog prompts from the Better Blogger Network, and it's a great one. I definitely relate to feeling a little down during the cold months! I'll share my cures and please share yours in return!

Admitting that it's kind of gorgeous outside
It has snowed almost everyday since Sunday this week, and it's just so darn pretty outside! If you live outside of Michigan you probably haven't seen this astounding photo:

Coffee
I'm a barista so I know my coffee and I love my coffee. Whether I'm pretending the closest Tim Hortons isn't that out of the way or grinding up my own beans here at home to make an extra strong cup of coffee with my favorite Coffee-Mate flavors, I love a good cup of joe! It warms my soul.

Cats
As you may know, we recently adopted a cat named Stevie. He is a super sweet boy and luckily will sit with us and relieve our stress as he purrs and purrs. I'm assuming this is part of the reason I haven't felt as blue this winter as I have in winters past!

Friends
My friends always make me forget that it's dreary weather. We go to trivia at a local Mexican restaurant every week, have classic movie nights, play silly games, and we recently celebrated the inaugural cottage fest! What more could I ask for?

Films
Andrew and I have been watching all the movies up for Academy Awards - our favorite so far is Django and the only one up for best picture that we haven't seen yet is Amore. Has anyone seen that, by the way?

Naps
I used to hate naps, but you know what? They are pretty nice. Sometimes I get home and my extremities are so frozen that I can only get warm doing one of two things - taking a shower or taking a nap. Either way I feel refreshed and most importantly, warm!

And lastly, celebrating the fact that Justin Timberlake has FINALLY RELEASED A NEW SONG!!!!!

Thank the Lord and joy to the world. (Do you like it?)


Also, many of these aforementioned cures go nicely together: cats and naps, films and coffee, coffee after a nap? Get creative; )

So, what helps you get through the bitterly cold and decreasingly shorter days?

End of the Year List // Embarrassing Music

This is a super fun time of year because for those of us who like lists, we get to rank things like music, movies, news, and events from the past year! Andrew and I love all the top album and songs lists and he always forces encourages me to make one. I'm still working on that list, but I've been focusing on all the embarrassing pop songs from the year that made me sing, smile, dance, and sometimes pretend that I wasn't listening. Here are my top 5!

5.Calvin Harris feat. Neyo "Let's Go"
This isn't really an embarrassing one, in my opinion, but very feel-good and fun to listen and dance to!

4. Bruno Mars "Locked Out of Heaven"
This song is so so catchy. I don't really like any other Bruno Mars songs, but I always dance to this when I hear it!

3. Carly Rae Jepsen "Call Me Maybe"
I thought this song was so stupid the first few times I heard it. It had like five words and made zero sense. And oddly enough, the first few times I heard it we were in Croatia! I remember trashing it with Andrew's sister Tory. But then it was overwhelmingly catchy and I gave in. Plus it always puts a smile on Andrew's face, so it was hard not to like!

2. Justin Bieber feat. Nicki Minaj "Beauty and the Beat"
This song definitely has the beat going for it. And it's in Just Dance 4, so I love to dance to it!

1. Taylor Swift "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"
This one is really embarrassing. But have you seen the video? Don't you love hearing the weeeEEEE? Ugh, I listened to this so many times this year it's sick. And it's the only Taylor Swift song I even know the name of! She sucked me in!

So what were your favorite pop tunes this year? A little Katy Perry or Rihanna maybe? Please don't say Chris Brown, I still don't care for him, ugh. But let me know! I'd love to hear: )

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I had been waiting for what seems like a year to see "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," and luckily, it did not disappoint. I think the author of the book, who also wrote the screenplay, directed, and produced had to have majorly helped, but man, I was on the verge of tears the entire time. It was so sweet and the actors fit the characters so well. I'm glad they had Emma Watson playing Sam because I doubt it would have ever made the theatres in Grand Rapids if they didn't have a big name star. Ezra Miller was SUCH a great Patrick. It's hard to believe he played a psycho killing teenager in "We Need To Talk About Kevin." Wayyyy different characters! Anyway, I would definitely definitely recommend this movie. They couldn't have done a better job with it. If you are a music lover, ever considered yourself an outcast, have ever been through a traumatic experience, or were popular and need a reality check, see this movie. And read the book! I need to reread it now!

Happy Caturday :3