goodbye 2016

So 2016 ends in a few hours.... while most people are under the impression it was a totally suck-ass year overall based on all the amazing people who died this year and the election insanity, in retrospect, my own life was actually okay.

One part of it was, in fact, AWESOME -- I became a real auntie for the first time (I will be one for the second time in January when my new niece is born!) and it's been amazing, because this little guy is the absolute light of our family and my life right now. Seeing Kaden grow, and now starting to babble and roll over and recognize and understand things is so fun. I can't imagine my life without him!

I also had a bunch of great adventures and accomplished an altered version of about a third of my 2016 Vision Blog (hey, better than nothing!) ... 

I finished these books, which included four from my original "to read" list + two new ones....

+ I also read Where Am I Now? True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame, by Mara Wilson, who I had the pleasure of interviewing back in the day when she was a child actor starring in Mrs. Doubtfire and Matilda. She even fondly mentions one of our Disney Adventures photo shoots in the book, which was an awesome surprise! (The book is now being borrowed by my Disney Adventures wrangler La Lizzz, thus it's MIA in this photo ;)

I didn't go to Hawaii or another "tropical" locale like I wanted to, but I did go to Santa Barbara for my birthday weekend and finished 2.5 of the books above (finished The Interestings, started and finished Best Year of Your Life, and started John Taylor's auto-biography).. and I got my gorgeous view!

I also got a ton of gorgeous views on my Sunday Funday adventure to Santa Rosa Island with Linda and James. The Channel Islands are right in our backyard here in Southern California, and they are beautiful! Can't wait to visit more of them in 2017!

And while, I didn't make it to Europe, I did travel Internationally... to Vancouver. It was a relaxing, fun trip with my fave positive person Cwennen. The city was BEAUTIFUL and its food delicious!

On the "did not accomplish" side of the "vision blog" to do list, I only wrote (soon-to-be) 30 blog posts this year, and did not order my new front door yet. January 2017 - I swear! 

And on the sad suck-ass side, a lot of bad stuff did happen this year. One of my best friends has been dealing with an inner ear issue since June that affects her vision and makes her dizzy and exhausted. Four of my friends lost a parent this year. My childhood friend lost her son. And there seemed to be more and more senseless acts of violence taking innocent people too soon...

The one that hurt the most was the murder of Christina Grimmie, who was shot by a deranged "fan" while signing autographs after a show in Orlando on June 10th, the night before the massacre at Pulse nightclub, also in Orlando. Most of you probably knew her from being on Season 6 of The Voice. I knew her from the YouTube video game show she hosted for my team at Disney.com in 2014. I met her twice, and she was so sweet and full of life. She loved video games and she loved making music. The fact that some guy could walk into her show with a gun and shoot her four times still makes me SO MAD. This world is just insane...

Then there was the fact that entertainers who have been part of my life forever have started dying... cancer, drugs, heart problems. It was just so sad... the music world was hit hard first - David Bowie, Glenn Fry, then Prince, Leonard Cohen and shockingly George Michael on Christmas Day at the age of just 53. And in the last half of the year, actors I grew up watching on TV and in movies - Gene Wilder, Florence Henderson, Alan Thicke and Carrie Fisher - passed away as well, all shockingly without any advance warning or time to prepare. So, so sad...

A few days ago, I decided to make what I'm calling my "FU2016" playlist, filled with my favorite songs from the musicians I loved that we lost this year. (Note: I love Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah"... I just don't love his voice, thus the Justin Timberlake/Charlie Sexton version below. They are both still alive and well. #knockonwood)

Some of my playlist is sad but a lot of it makes me want to dance, which brings me to this video that my sister posted a link to today. It will also make you want to dance, and is a loving, positive tribute to all these great people and the joy their talents brought to the world... enjoy!

And now it's on to 2017... I'll talk about that tomorrow. Right now, I'm going to go get a cocktail, because I just saw this and really need one. God help us all in the New Year... we're gonna need it! (And @alexandergold, you're my new hero!)

sunday funday: santa rosa island

A few weekends ago, I had a BBQ and my friend Linda mentioned wanting to go hike out on one of the Channel Islands. I have only ever been to one of the eight Channel Islands - Catalina - but have wanted to visit others since high school when I learned all about them from my TOHS biology teacher Mr. Wucherfennig, who was an expert on the islands. So I immediately said I was in! Linda booked a 3-hour cruise with Island Packers out to Santa Rosa Island at the end of August for the two of us and our friend James. 

Here are all the photos from that super fun and gorgeous day. I will definitely be visiting again!

The 3-Hour Cruise

On my last boat ride, I almost puked when I started eating lunch. So I played it safe and ordered motion sickness bracelets for this trip. Best idea I could've had, because it was not smooth sailing. But we saw awesome "nature" on our windy trip out to Santa Rosa.

There were hundreds of dolphins and baby dolphins swimming near our boat. I had hoped to see a whale or two too, but I can be content with baby dolphins :)  

To get to Santa Rosa, you leave from Ventura Harbor and sail in between Anacapa, the smallest, and Santa Cruz, the largest of the islands in Channel Islands National Park. Then you take a right behind Santa Rosa for another half hour or so. Here is a three-part mini-island covered in "island snow" (aka bird poop), off the Santa Cruz Island coast.

Our first view of Santa Rosa

 Santa Rosa Island

After talking to one of the Island Packers crew members on the boat, we decided we'd take a "moderate" hike out to the Torrey Pines area of the island. He told us it was a fairly flat 5-7 mile hike and we'd have to watch our time (we only had about 3.5 hours on the island before the boat left) but we should be able to make it and there would be a nice shady bench where we could picnic.

Fun Facts About Torrey Pines:

• The Santa Rosa Island subspecies of Torrey pine, is considered one of the rarest pines in the world, the last enduring members of a once widespread Pleistocene forest. 
• A remnant, mainland subspecies of Torrey pine also can be found near La Jolla, California, at Torrey Pines State Reserve. 

WTF! You mean we could have FLOWN here?!?!

Path to the beach... and we hope to Torrey Pines.

And there was actually some water in Water Canyon. We had to cross a little plank bridge over a stream to get to the beach. Then we crossed it again back-tracking to search for the trail to Torrey Pines.

But first.... the beach. Ahhhh.....

Who knew there was water this blue this close to California? I thought I had to go all the way to Hawaii to see this.

Yes! We're going the right way!

This is James and Linda. We're heading towards those (Torrey Pine) trees on that hill waaay in the distance. 

Spotted a little bit of color amongst all the shades of brown.

We made it! (Note the pine trees there on the left) Our boat is way off by that land mass in the top left of the photo.

The Torrey Pines Trail up the hill, in search of the illusive "bench" and a stream of petrified pinecones. 

Me, halfway up the hill, admiring nature.
Our boat is that white speck in the top left of the photo. At this point, we still hadn't found "the bench" so we sat and ate lunch on some shaded rocks. Then headed back to the boat the way we came.

Santa Cruz Island as seen from Torrey Pines on Santa Rosa Island.

The abandoned ranch house near the dock. 

Mosses growing on the wooden fence.

Yay! We made it back before the boat docked so we had time for frolicking on the beach.

Getting to the beach by the dock requires climbing down this metal ladder (left).
The barnacles along the pier's posts were still alive.(right).

The Return Trip 

Our return trip took longer than the trip out to the island because we made two pitstops on Santa Cruz Island. The first was at The Painted Cave. Our boat couldn't fit all the way inside, but we got as close a look as we could. You may recognize this cave from a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. 

My video of the cave. If you listen closely, you may be able to hear the captain's commentary.

Then we stopped to pick up a bunch of artists and volunteers who'd been staying on the island all weekend. They had a ton of stuff... "because there's a truck on the island to carry it back and forth between the ranch house and the dock," one of the conservancy volunteers told us once on the boat.

Oh, and on the boat, Linda also found two hikers who'd gone past us on the Torrey Pines Trail and asked them if they ever found "the bench." Yep... about five minutes after they passed us. Oh well.. next time ;)