Year in Review!

I do one of these every year on whatever blog I happen to be using, so I figured it was time to post a little update and reflect on 2016. My first-ever year in review was written in 2007 on my LiveJournal so I'm sure you can understand why I'm so good at these*.

*I'm not. I just lied to you. These posts are always the messiest, and no, I will not give you a link to 14 year old Stacie's LiveJournal!

So let me start by saying this: I understand that the world in general agrees that 2016 was Very Bad, maybe even the worst. And I get it! I too am upset that we lost David Bowie, and have a stale Cheeto for president, but for me personally, 2016 was AAAaAAaAAAawesome!

Every year, I set 5 goals for myself to try to achieve before the next year. It's kind of like resolutions, but I'm not always necessarily trying to change anything. At the end of 2015, I set the following goals:

1. Get abs. I did not do this, however I did give up coffee so that's less sugar I guess...even though I totally still drink it sometimes WHOOPS.

2. Get a new car. DONE. It happened a little sooner than I was planning but it all worked out and I love it! Yay for AC and 4 working doors & windows!

3. Get braces. Done!!! I didn't realize they can do pretty much anything with Invisalign these days so that was a nice surprise (you might recall I was very worried about being the nerdiest 23 year old alive). Hard to believe this time next year my teeth will (almost) be perfectly straight! ahhh!

4. Have a better daily schedule/be more organized. Ehhh... I still mostly work and sit in traffic and sleep but I have been making time to write (heheheh) and I did get rid of a lot of CLUTTER, which definitely helps with the organization part. It's a work in progress.

5. Do more art. Hmm. I can't say for sure whether I did more than I have in past years but I can say I am proud of what I've done.

Next year's goals are similar in a lot of ways; I still want abs, for instance. And I want to do more art (and maybe actually finish a painting once in a while lol). The others are more grown up type things - like paying off my braces or car or getting ready to move out or like, learn to make a dinner besides pasta. I'm keeping it a little vague this year because honestly, I'm pretty happy with where I am right now!

While my year in review posts tend to get a little long, I think I'm going to shorten this one a bit. A. because no one needs an extensive recap of my year, and B. because I am starting to feel just a little lazy...I MEAN, what?!! So here are my top 5 moments/days/etc from the year 2016, because why not?

1. CAPE COD!



Even though as I get older I seem to get more terrified of the ocean, I had so much fun this year in Cape Cod, and I got to go twice! One of my favorite days was swimming in a lake my mom found and daring each other to venture out to the sudden drop into the depths (where evil lake monsters probably lived). It is so nice to get away from everything sometimes, to a place where your biggest worry is avoiding getting a sunburn while having TOO MUCH FUN.

2. NEW YORK!

In the spring I went with Meredith to NYC to see Greg Raposo (yes, from Dream Street) in concert at some bar. We both kind of hate being in charge when it comes to traveling/making decisions without a "real" grownup present, so of course we did the most responsible thing: took turns making decisions. My favorite (and least favorite) was when I decided we finally had to talk to him. He was standing next to me and I turned and said hi. He, of course, was very friendly and took this gr8 photo with me. I, well, was my classic awkward self, but hey, I'm alive, so there is that! We didn't get home until 2am that night, which most of the time is cause for many complaints from me, but I have to admit, it was one of the best nights of the year.

3. BDAY!

My 23rd birthday was one of the best days ever. It was the first "party" I'd had in years, and I loved every minute of it. It wasn't the craziest party ever, I mean, we're talking about me here. But we played board games and danced like crazy and there was even ice cream cake. What's not to love about that?!

4. ANASTASIA!

Seeing my favorite childhood movie in stage-musical form was one of the greatest days of my life. We got to sit right near the stage, and somehow the show ended up being better than I was expecting - and I was expecting it to be the greatest show ever. I think of myself as a person who doesn't even like musicals, but this one was SO GOOD. I will never forget the moment when Journey to the Past (an ICONIC song from this movie!!!) started playing and I looked at my siblings to see them all smiling along with me like the huge dorks we are. It was truly magical.

5. CASINO!

It's almost funny that this made it into my 2016 highlights because on the way there I was texting Adam about how much I didn't want to go and how much I wished I could be in sweatpants at home. By the end of the night I lost my "allowance" that I brought with me and my toes felt broken from the heels I chose, but I *mostly* loved it. Sure, there were moments where I was very grumpy about the state of my feet, or when we lost our mom after searching for a bathroom, or when Johnny Rockets took over an hour only to hand us melted milkshakes at 2am. But for every bad thing there was a hilariously good thing, like calling my mom to find her only to realize the weirdo down the hall waving her arms around was her, or while dancing making a plan to dance away from any approaching boys, or drinking those melted milkshakes because honestly anything is fine at 2am. It was such a fun night and I am very happy to have ended the year with it.

And now I think I will end this post. I'm hoping to blog a little more consistently in 2017, but I make no promises. I hope you all have an awesome New Years! In the meantime I will enjoy sleeping in and wearing sweatpants all day.

Recommended Listening: Next Year People - Barcelona

Lindsay

Well hello!

I have decided this every other week thing is gonna be awesome. It gives me more time to do the things I love, like sitting in traffic or eating dinner at 7pm. But also it gives me more time to think about things I can actually write about, versus writing a blog post that is barely longer than something I might say on Twitter.

So this week I have some sort of update for you. I had an orthodontist appointment yesterday at 9:45AM, which was mostly sad because I then couldn't go out for lunch. Working with my mom does have perks though, and this includes her sharing various food items with me so I wouldn't starve (plus she made tacos for dinner...woo!). 

Anyway, I got to the orthodontist right on time, and didn't completely fail at parking like I did last time. For reference, there is no parking lot, and there is room for maybe 3 cars in front of the building on the street. Also, I cannot parallel park even with a fancy back up camera. Then I'd say about 3 major things happened.

1. There was a tiny dog in the waiting room. I can't even emphasize how small this dog was. It made my day when it barked at me with that little noise dogs make like "boof". It was trying to intimidate me, but it was just so tiny! Okay, I'm over it...kind of.

2. I'm told my teeth are moving quite nicely, especially the bottom ones! It's a little surprising because I have broken off all but 2 of the attachments on my bottom teeth. Yet somehow whenever I go to put the new trays on, they fit just fine. He noticed that too, so he said we didn't have to bother attaching them again for now. This appointment, overall, killed about 45 minutes of my time, and most of it was me sitting there, so I was glad to leave. I guess being obsessive about wearing my braces is paying off! He mentioned maybe moving a little faster in the future if this keeps going. I don't know much about that, but I do know it's like, a real thing Invisalign does sometimes. I forget the exact name so I will just call it...TURBO INVISALIGN. 

So yeah, that's pretty exciting. This will be a fun little surprise for my family reading this because I legitimately forgot about it until just now. This might be done by the time I'm 24...maybe!

Now let's get to the real story...

3. I sat in the dentist chair telling the people there about how I love Christmas. It was just polite conversation, but it sort of made me think they think I am like 14 years old. They talked to me like I was a kid, and it's like, come on, adults love Christmas too!

After sitting for a good 20 minutes my orthodontist finally walks over. With his back to me, facing the counter with the boxes of Invisalign on them, he says "Hi Lindsay!"

I continued looking at my chipping nail polish assuming this Lindsay was standing behind me. Then he walked over and kind of bent down to get my attention and said Hi again. I was just kind of like "Oh...hi!" I mean whatever, honest mistake.

 He asked me how I was, and mentioned he had heard I love Christmas. I so casually mentioned loving Christmas it seemed like a weird thing, the fact that he said it again in that tone that one might use with a child. I confirmed, yes I love Christmas.

Then he tilted the chair back and kind of flossed my teeth?? I guess they do this to check the spacing or something, because he only checked certain teeth. And then, with floss in my mouth, he said something about my teeth, like, "These are looking great, Linds."

 

I couldn't correct him! His hand was pretty much in my mouth, and if I talked I would've taken his finger off like Gollum at the end of Lord of the Rings. But it was pretty much confirmed, this guy thinks my name is Lindsay. He then handed me my braces to put back on and again commented on how well it was all going. Then as he walked back toward the counter, he said, AGAIN, "We'll see if at some point we can speed this process up, Lindsay."

  At this point it was just embarrassing and I felt like I couldn't correct him now. If it came up I was just gonna have to pretend I had heard him wrong before. Finally, when he went and picked up a few sets of trays to send me off with he looked down at the bags he was holding. I saw a spark of...something (recognition, fear?)...on his face and knew that he knew what had happened.

He handed them to me and said, "Here you are, my friend" and I thought, right, because you realize I am not Lindsay.

In the end he just put a note in my file about the rubber bands I will eventually need (ick) and said "See you in February, Stacie!" And I so badly wanted to stand up and tell him,

It's Lindsay.

Recommended Listening: Back for Christmas - Andrew Belle

 

 
 

Thankful

Hey guys,

This week is going to get cut a little short, even though I probably should be trying harder since I skipped right over last week. I need a break sometimes, you know! Life gets in the way a lot.

But right now I have about 10 minutes left of my lunch so I figured I should use this time wisely instead of angrily scrolling through Facebook.

So now I guess I am going to tell you the things I am thankful for, since tomorrow is Thanksgiving.

Let's see, I am thankful for.................

cats, dinner rolls, music, Adam, being able to mostly remain calm while stuck in traffic, my siblings, scented candles (fuck yeah), ice cream, being able to go to the movies as often as I do (we didn't go much when I was little so now this is my favorite thing to do), my house, taco bell, elephants, internet, and cheese.

I have to be honest, this list is kind of supposed to be funny. 
"But Stacie," you say, "that is the most unfunny thing I have read all day!"

I know, reader, I know. My creativity has not been very...present lately. I'm working on it. For now I think a short, weird blog post is better than 2 weeks without anything.

In Invisalign news, I'm about to start tray 7 in 2 days. It's been hard to see any differences lately but I'm sure they're happening. I will be 1/6th of the way there once I finish tray 7. Doesn't sound like much but I'll take it.

And lastly, *insert many rants about our soon-to-be president and how he is literally the worst in order to start a fight with someone on facebook and/or one of my older family members*. YEAH. About that.............yikes.

I hope everyone is having a nice week and is excited to eat 6 lbs of mashed potatoes like I am.

BYE!

Recommended Listening: Outro - M83

Just 4 Years

I'm not going to lie; I am shocked and upset right now.

After staying up until 2am, deep down knowing what the results were going to be, I cried for a while and finally was able to fall asleep. Then around 5 I woke up briefly and checked to see what I already knew. Oh yes, Donald Trump somehow got chosen to be the president of the United States.

And sure, I could go on about how he is openly racist, sexist, homophobic, not to mention the weird orange color of his face, but I won't. 

You've all heard these same arguments before, and somehow it wasn't enough to convince you. It all comes down to just voting for your party because you feel like there isn't another option, protesting our flawed system, or that single issue that you care so deeply about. Whatever is was, this happened on both sides. I GET IT.

I'd be lying if I said I was pro Hillary from the beginning. I was sad to see that Bernie didn't make the cut in the end, and I was angry at the corruptness of it all for causing it. But when I watch videos of a man who "loves charts", definitely doesn't have tiny hands, and wants to keep an entire group of people out of this country, or repeal rights that every human deserves, I find it hard to believe that people ever thought there was a choice to be made between the two candidates.

I understand that you're tired of corrupt politicians deciding your vote for you, I really do, but I also worry now about friends and family members' lives who could change for the worse (worst?) because of this election. So many of you have never had to worry about your right to marry, to make decisions about your own body, even to use the bathroom of your choice. I am extremely fortunate to have rarely (if at all) worried about such things in my life.

This is the first time I have truly been afraid of an election in this country. In 2012, I remember worrying Romney might win, but even if he did, I kind of knew things would be okay.

This is different. I'm not trying to be dramatic, especially since once again I am so much better off than a lot of people, but today has been truly awful. It makes me so sad to think of the people who will have to live in fear of their rights being taken away over the course of the next 4 years. And even if they don't have the power to take them away after all, the overwhelming support for a candidate who wishes he could is frightening enough on its own.

I really do hope things turn out okay; this could be a relatively uneventful 4 years. This could be the turning point in politics where we finally put our collective foot down. I'm all for change. Just please keep in mind the people who are currently terrified of losing their rights. Please don't stand by and watch them get taken away. I hope we can at least all agree that everyone deserves a chance to be happy, and we shouldn't let politics get in the way of that.

In conclusion, I am extremely upset today, and I will probably post a few more rage statuses to Facebook about it, but I am going to try my best to be positive going forward. Certainly a lot of things can change in 4 years; my life is so much better and more wonderful than I ever thought it could be in 2012. I just hope in 4 years we can all be feeling the same way. Change is going to start with us; don't wait for Donald Trump to call global warming a loser or whatever to start recycling. I'm sorry I literally have no idea what he'll be like as a president; I'm just going off of what I already know.

I guess what I'm saying is please don't let these 4 years be a yuuuuuuuge mistake like I'm assuming they're going to be. 

Please try to enjoy the rest of this (absolutely insane) week. I'm here for ya, and all that jazz.
Bye!

Recommended Listening: It's Quiet Uptown - Kelly Clarkson (I've never listened to Hamilton and I may not ever, but this song is AMAZING)

Tray 5!

It's November! Aaaand it's currently 47 degrees outside. I know at some point in January that will seem warm in comparison but right now I am refusing to take my break outside and am instead writing this. It feels nice, though, to get back to this blog's roots in a way. My first few posts had rough drafts and revisions and weren't always mini 3-paragraph updates on my life.

To be fair not much has been going on worth mentioning, so the blog has strayed a bit away from what I wanted it to be. I'm thinking about making a list of things I could write about, or even possibly updating a little less than every Wednesday. We'll see how that goes.

Anyway, this week I wanted to share my experience with Invisalign so far, now that I've had it for a couple of months. It actually feels like it's been way longer than that; I was surprised when I did the math just now.

Honest truth: Invisalign isn't nearly as easy or as difficult as half the internet prepared me for.


People often complain about how hard it is to keep their trays clean, which surprises me now. All I really do is floss and brush my teeth after eating anything, and rinse my trays throughout the day. Depending on what I have with me I either brush them with toothpaste or soak them in half water, half hydrogen peroxide every morning. I guess they don't look as perfect as they did when I first put them on by the end of 2 weeks, but they're still practically invisible so that works for me!

The trays also don't hurt quite as much as I expected. The first few days are usually the worst of it, but the only time it actually hurts is when I take them off for meals. I've also broken off several attachments, and I should probably get that fixed but...eh.

Eating was difficult for me for a few weeks. Sometimes it still is, but mostly I am able to eat delicious meals whenever I want. There is definitely less snacking, not that I was a big snacker before anyway. When I get bored at work I usually wish I had a snack, but it does make you pause for a minute when you consider having to go floss/brush your teeth and possibly get caught by yet another coworker spitting toothpaste into the communal sink. I have lost some weight because of this, but certainly not a significant amount. Overall I'd say my eating habits have remained...similar.

Another crazy part of this journey is that I gave up coffee on September 1st. I feel so much better lately that I can't help but wonder if coffee was to blame for me feeling shitty all the time. I definitely miss drinking it but I don't know if I'll go back, even when I'm done with Invisalign. I have started drinking a lot of hot chocolate while I'm at work, though. I'm trying not to have too much but it is god damn delicious. I do have to drink it kind of fast so I don't leave my trays off for too long though. 

my story is truly inspiring

Finally, comes the best part of having Invisalign: IT'S WORKING. I know that shouldn't be surprising but I am finally starting to see some changes. Most people haven't noticed anything beyond me seemingly always being in the work bathroom brushing my teeth. A couple people have noticed the difference though. My bottom teeth especially are starting to look straighter. The top ones are going to take a lot longer but I can at least feel the difference there.

It's hard to explain but lately I just feel myself getting happier. Not to say I'm not still super grumpy half the time, but I sometimes just get overwhelmed with happy feelings when I think about the direction I'm headed in. I know generally people seem to think of 2016 as the worst, but honestly I am finally accomplishing so much. I'm also finding it easier to smile in photos.

Not much else to report today, and my lunch break is almost over. I hope you're all planning on voting next week!

BYEyeyeyeYEYYeyyeyeye.



Recommended Listening: the Trolls soundtrack. I'm obsessed.

23!

As many of you may already know, I turned 23 last Friday. For some reason it's really hard for me to remember my age now. I feel like every number up until this one felt right, but now 23 feels too old for me. And yeah, yeah I know 23 isn't old, but honestly sometimes I feel like a 14 year old and wonder why I am trusted to drive a car and pay bills.

I spent most of the weekend drinking too many Redds Apple Ales, aka my new fave (and by new I mean not very new at all; just newer than straw-ber-itas), and it was really fun! I woke up at 5:30am for some reason that morning and felt very stressed out and nervous. At some point I was able to fall back asleep for my last hour before actually getting ready, and had a dream that my party got ruined by my family inviting hundreds of people I did not know. I don't recall being consciously worried about such things, but honestly who knows what is happening in my brain most of the time anyway?

Friday ended up being a wonderful day, despite my dreams predicting otherwise. There was no traffic, and then I got to leave work early to start celebrating (woo!). Everything I ended up buying at the mall (dress, candle, jewelry) was somehow all on sale, which is always nice. And then even when there was traffic heading back to the party, I got to drive in the carpool lane and avoid the most terrible bit of it. #blessed.

The night ended with an Olaf shaped balloon, too much pizza/drinks/ice cream cake, and of course with me weeping at my presents, which I've just realized I do a little too much. Everyone's gifts were very thoughtful, and I APPRECIATE IT, OKAY? 

I've already put a few things to good use; my desk has never looked better (even if I have only had it for a week). I am the MOST excited to watch my DVD of shitty horror movies, especially my personal fave (and my sibs') CHOPPING MALL. Does that not sound like the best-worst movie ever?

It is Monday night as I write this, and I am feeling partied out. Somehow I will have to gain the energy to celebrate Halloween this weekend, and I still have to make my costume! This part is basically my long excuse to end this post here. I hope everyone is having a wonderful week, and I hope you're all preparing to eat a lot of candy this weekend. TIME TO GET SPoOoOOoOOKY! 

Unfortunately there is no Taylor Swift song for my new exciting age, so,
Recommended Listening: Grigio Girls - Lady Gaga

Youuuuuu're Not Cookin'

HEY GUYS!

This week I decided to try something new. I guess technically I decided like two weeks ago but yesterday I finally got around to doing it.

I don't cook much...or at all really. If I'm not at my boyfriend's house making dinner with him then chances are I have arrived home from work, toasted a bagel, and maybe eaten some candy afterward if I have any (which I usually do). To be fair, I eat significantly less candy now that I have Invisalign, but even now as I write this I am eating taffy (and I think I just ate a piece of a wrapper too). 

So this week I took it upon myself to make one of the many recipes I have saved on Pinterest. As a side note, it took me months to understand Pinterest, but now I can't stop using it. As another side note, I just ate a piece of taffy that I think was PlayDoh flavored.

Anyway, I found one recipe for stuffed peppers, except they were for Halloween because you carve jack-o-lantern faces in the peppers. I think it went well...ish!

Ingredients:

• 4-6 stuffed peppers (I made 4 and had extra filling)
• 90 second rice (1 bag)
• 1 can black beans
• Shredded cheese
• 1 small can of corn
• Salsa

 


So it starts out easy enough. Preheat the oven to 350. Then you cut the tops off of the peppers and remove any seeds.

Okay, maybe not the easiest after all. Fuck you, tiny seeds. Also, you're supposed to leave the stems on the make them look even more like pumpkins, but I am terrible and somehow accidentally cut 2 of them off.

According to the recipe this should take about 1 minute; it took me about 15, though that does including walking away to take photos of my cat.

Once the seeds are finally removed, you then have to carve little pumpkin faces in the peppers. Mine all look like they're a little sad to be alive, but at least you can tell they're supposed to be Halloween themed, I guess.

Then you throw them into a baking dish of some sort; I used the one glass dish I could find that was allowed in the oven. 

After that it's time to make the filling. I'm not going to give you the recipe measurements, because, spoiler alert, these peppers didn't taste very good! Unless you're a plain rice & beans fan, my measurements might be a little more useful.

I am realizing now that maybe I didn't need to microwave the rice, but I did so I'll include that step here. It takes literally a minute and a half so it's not taking up too much time anyway. While that's cooking, dump the entire can of corn in a medium bowl. Drain out all the gross can juice before that step though, ugh.

Then add the entire can of beans, which you should also drain first. I don't know what the liquid in bean cans is actually called, but let's just be real, it looks like squished snails. So get rid of your crushed snails and then dump the beans in.

Now you're gonna add the delicious parts: cheese and salsa. I put in 1/2 cup of each, and barely tasted it unfortunately. So my recipe calls for...a shit ton. Or a cup. Play it by ear; I wished my peppers had more flavor.

Finally add the rice to this mix and stir it all up. This is the easiest and probably quickest part.

We are now nearing the end! I found it easiest to pick up each pepper individually and scoop the filling in to avoid any messes. Then place them back in the pan, and put the tops on.
Throw them in the oven for 25-30 minutes; I have no idea how to tell if they're done...good luck.

 


And finally you have a very filling dinner! I couldn't finish mine, partly because it was a lot of food and partly because I could only taste beans. Seriously, add more cheese than you think you'll need.

I'm hoping to try this again in the future, or maybe a different recipe of some sort. I know this wasn't much of an update but you'd be amazed at how I spend my work nights (hint: traffic, facebook, sleeping). The thought of making stuffed peppers has consumed me for 2 weeks, so I'd say I am happy I finally did it!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic week in this weirdly warm October... What the heck is going on?!

WITCHCRAFT

Recommended Listening: Oblivious - Miniature Tigers

THEY GAVE ME MY TOOTH

This is going up 2 days late! Gasp! I do feel like this should be allowed this week due to the last 7 days of my life. Just an FYI before I start, I won't share any super gross details!

So a week ago I finally got my tooth pulled, which you may or may not have gathered from the title of this post. The good news is the worst is behind me; the bad news is I now have a tooth in my purse and I'm not sure what to do with it.

I called the orthodontist to ask about this whole ordeal and they told me they'd prefer if I had it done before my next appointment, which was a week from the day I was calling. After a ton of back and forth I finally set the appointment with my dentist for Friday, October 7th. I stayed relatively calm about my impending doom until Thursday after work when I started crying during my drive home. Binge-watching The Office did help a little (and I finally finished season 2!) but mostly I wallowed in self pity the whole night.

My siblings were very nice to me that week; I managed to bother them 100 times about what I worried might happen after googling tooth extractions. The weird part is I had done this all before! I knew what to expect. All my Google search did was remind me that sometimes you can get what's called a...dry socket aka your mouth doesn't heal right and hurts for a few days extra. Overall not a big deal, yet somehow the words dry socket send shivers down my spine.

 

ICK. Just a heads up, I did not get...that. I'm almost 100% better, minus the fact that you can still tell where my tooth used to be. 

Anyway, back to last Friday. I forced myself to eat breakfast and drove 45 minutes to my dentist (which is close to work; I don't just have a far away dentist). The majority of the appointment was me sweating and waiting for the numbness to kick in. I think they gave me like 4 shots but I only felt the first so I'm not actually sure.

Getting the tooth pulled was mostly painless and took probably 10 minutes or less. I didn't feel too scared, even though my body certainly did. I was shaking all over and also crying but on the inside I just kind of accepted it. This time was different since I know my teeth are going to be straight because of it. I actually didn't know when the tooth was out until my dentist told me.

They bleached my tooth and let me see it and asked if I wanted it. I told them it was the most disgusting thing I'd ever seen but I'd take it anyway. So now it sits in a case in my purse; God only knows what I will end up doing with it.

An hour or so later Adam picked me up and brought me to his place. He gave me Tylenol and yogurt throughout the day, which I mostly didn't eat to be honest. I slept a lot and watched many hours of Unlikely Animal Friends, which is adorable but now I kind of hate it forever. It was a pretty miserable day, I'm not gonna lie. I wanted so badly to just sleep through it, but instead I drooled in my own hair a lot and had a grumpy face all day.

Overall the entire weekend was pretty awful. I could only really eat liquid foods, and I hate soup! It sucked because I wasn't sick, so I still wanted all the foods I would normally want; it was just too painful to eat them for a few days. I literally lost two pounds over the weekend since one of my main courses ended up being purple Gatorade.

As the week has progressed I have felt better and better until I finally felt normal again. Eating is still a little tricky but I'm getting used to it. I also starting wearing my 4th set of trays today! The differences in my teeth are very subtle; you can't even see any difference on the top yet. I can't quite explain what it is, but I can tell they're different. They come together differently, and something about them just looks healthier. It's pretty awesome.

These are the first trays that are really starting to move my teeth, and soon I feel like people will be able to tell. For now, I will quietly enjoy the progress I've already made.

ps I'm excited to be writing this from my NEW DESK!

Recommended Listening: Last Train - Dawn Golden

 

10 Horror Movies to Watch This Halloween Season!

It's October! AKA the month of themed candy, spooky scary, and MY BDAY. Oh and I'm getting a tooth pulled on Friday...THE HORROR.

But forget all that for a second, because this week I want to tell you about some of the scariest movies I have ever seen. 

I didn't always love horror movies. In fact, I hated them a lot. I remember while growing up getting the most horrible anxiety at previews for any (probably terrible) horror movie. (Though honestly this still happens to me as an adult). My best friend told me about Freddy Krueger when we were like 8 and I swear I did not sleep for days.

Then randomly a few years ago, I suddenly became obsessed (see #3 on this list). And now, here we are, where I am going to tell you about a few of my faves and/or least faves that I must admit are good movies. OKAY.

1. It Follows

LOUD TERRIFYING MUSIC BLASTS SUDDENLY

This one was easy. I knew nothing about it when my sister Sarah and I decided to see it in theaters last year, which was probably for the best. I'll never forget sitting in the theater contemplating leaving only 5 minutes in because I was already so freaked out. It's mostly the music, but also there's this weird sense of familiarity that I can only describe as...very creepy. Plus who doesn't get scared of THE TALL MAN?!

2. Halloween

Love huuurts

 
Now that I am actually making this list I am noticing a trend in that I want to say yet another movie that caused me so much anxiety at first I had to stop watching for a while. I love the Halloween movies, but the 2007 remake holds a special place in my heart, which I guess is weird to say about a horror movie. This one takes a while to get going but is so worth it for the end. Can't say I'm a fan of the unrated version, but that's just me. Out of any of the movies on this list I'd say this is the one I will make the most effort to watch at some point before November.

3. Evil Dead

Me too, girl

This movie is the reason I love horror! Let me share with you an all too familiar story: Kept seeing this trailer advertised on the side of YouTube videos, finally clicked it, regretted every second, and had horrible anxiety for the rest of the day. Then somehow my siblings and I decided to see it in theaters 3 days later. It is pretty scary and definitely disgusting, but weirdly I wouldn't mind just putting it on in the background one of these days (even if I am home alone...well...maybe). They didn't use any CGI which is crazy! I could never fake-cut off an arm the way they did, and I am forever obsessed with the entire "blood rain" scene at the end.
*Side note: I was going to include a very different photo but I got too scared while googling it. YOU'RE WELCOME.

4. Insidious Chapter 2

DON'T YOU DARE

Okay, like I can't even talk about this movie. Searching for images became way too scary way too quickly, so I settled for one of the slightly less terrifying moments. HOLY SHIT THOUGH. I barely enjoyed the first Insidious, and only went to see this one when my sister Sarah and I (as per usual) wanted to see a movie and discovered this one had the same actors in it again. We had the theater to ourselves, which for once wasn't actually that fun; it was SO CREEPY. I know even now that since I googled this movie I will think about the old lady before I go to sleep and be terrified. The image of her putting on the lipstick getting ready for murder still haunts me. It's been 3 years.

5. Session 9

"HEY...fuck youuuuuu"

 

I feel like I was too young to have watched this when I did, even though I was like 17. This isn't a very fun horror movie (unless we're talking about this part). It's mostly a little too realistic and extremely disturbing. I feel like the scary part of this movie is supposed to be the recordings, but everything else about it really puts me on edge. And of course the ending will haunt me forever, which is why I have promised to never watch it again. Enjoy!

6. The Pact

*muffled crying in the distance*

 

This is a movie about a girl who goes to her childhood home after her mother dies and she can't get in touch with her sister. Weird shit starts happening. I refuse to say more than that for fear of ruining it; just know that this movie gets spooky, and it will make you afraid of closets forever.

7. Silent Hill

aw what the fuck is this

 

Okay, this one is a little embarrassing. I watched this with my boyfriend less than a year ago, and around 20 minutes in I told him if I had seen this when it first came out (when I was in middle school), I would have been so scared! Haha!

Then as the movie went on I actually started to get more and more freaked out (GOD this is such a trend!) until it finally ended. Spoiler alert: the ending is not a happy one! The music is so fucking scary, just thinking about it is making me nervous right now. The little girl's story is what got me the worst; after that I couldn't chill out for like 2 hours. I don't know how this movie was received or if people think it's scary but honestly I don't think I could ever watch this one again.

8. The Exorcist

 

This one does not get a photo. It is included in this list only because it is the most frightening movie I have ever watched.

In 2010, my sister Susie and I were up late probably watching dumb videos online or something. At some point we found our way to an article about the scariest ladies in movies, and after scrolling through for a minute we landed on a photo of a demon possessed girl on a bed. I remember trying to cover the screen with my hand and being like, "WHAT IS THAT" and we were both legit scared, even though we definitely tried to laugh it off.

As time went on we kept admitting to each other how freaked out we were about that photo, and Susie started sleeping in my room. After weeks, maybe months of this we decided maybe the way to get over our fear would be to watch the movie and like, get used to her demon face.

WHOOPS NO we shouldn't have done that. The movie was actually pretty good, but I still have nightmares about it sometimes! We had to share a bed and watch Easy A every night for such a long time. I don't know how long exactly, but to be honest even now when we have sleepovers we put Easy A on to go to sleep.

Anyway, if you haven't seen this one you should take the time to. It's a classic! It's terrifying! On second thought, just watch Easy A instead.


9. Blair Witch

Didn't even watch this part

 


Yes the remake!! It felt like an exact copy of the original until suddenly it was just its own terrifying camping trip. There was more than 1 scene I couldn't make myself watch. A lot of the movie was spent with me literally hiding in my jacket praying it would be over soon so we could buy milk at Target and rush home like nobody's business. I am so surprised by how much I enjoyed it overall; I only hated one character which is pretty rare in found footage movies. Be prepared for some gross shit. I'm not sure if it's bugs or not because I shut my eyes for 5 minutes but I'm going to assume it's bugs.

10. Suspiria 

Is this the barbed wire pit or the cafeteria I always forget

 


This is one movie that isn't totally terrifying! It's a little creepy and a little silly but the music is great and so is...the plot. There aren't enough legit good movies about witches so I think this one definitely needed to be on the list. My sister Sherri convinced me to watch it a year or 2 ago and I feel like since then we have been unable to stop imitating the music at each other. 

And there you have it! I just thought of 5 more movies I wish I could include but this post will soon be its own novel if I don't stop now. Lemme know what your fave horror movies are! Even if you're my sibs and I already (probably) know the answer!

See ya next week!

Recommended Listening: Big Light - Houses