2022

In regards to my blog, 2022 was THE BEST year EVER for me! I had over 10,200 views from nearly 4,900 visitors! This was a 35% increase over the previous year and for that I couldn’t be more excited, grateful, and thankful! The year wasn’t just a great one for verybeneficial.net either, it was also a solid year for me – until the last two and a half months when everything went south – but prior to that, I loved 2022 and can’t wait to reflect on all of it here with you…

I finally shared the story about the seventh time I pooped my pants, 7th Heaven, and WHOA did you all love that! My pants pooping saga has always been a real tummy tickler and I’m glad that from the bowels of my disgrace, I can still entertain you all with my moist mishaps. Sorry to disappoint, but I went all 2022 without a single incident, so here’s hoping 2023 has more of that same magic for me. I’m only 29 after all, I can’t be wearing Depends just yet!

In March I posted Spotlight St. Louis: Black Forest Kaffee Haus and it has since gone on to become my sixth most read post of all time! This quaint little coffee shop that’s inspired by fairy tales is just enchanting and where I ALWAYS go before I go to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, which is arguably my favorite attraction in St. Louis. I love those days so much, but this post was a real game changer for me. It showcased that reviewing new places would allow me to expand the scope of my writing and for this success I’ll forever be thankful.

I Seriously Got LASIK Eye Surgery also in March and let me tell you all what, it was THE BEST thing I EVER did! This is NOT an exaggeration. I used to get headaches and such all the time and now, never. My one and only regret about LASIK is that I didn’t get it sooner. My life is so much better now that my eyes have been lasered up. 10/10. Highly Recommend.

I had a real revelation with my student loans and shared with you all how I believe that College Is A Scam, which is a sentiment I’ll forever stand behind. Since this eye-opening post, I’ve paid off ALL my student loans! Hallelujah! Amen! By forcing all my discretionary income towards those payments, I saved myself THOUSANDS of dollars in interest over the life of those soul-sucking loans and for that I’m eternally grateful!

I’m about to leave for Disneyland on Thursday, but we had THE BEST time in Disneyland back in May! It was three terrific days in The Happiest Place on Earth and I CANNOT wait to visit again because this time around it’ll still be Disney Christmas (until Sunday, January 8) and I haven’t had a Disney Christmas since 2016, so my excitement it PEAK! Plus, I get to see many of my California friends and family, so I always cherish those beloved moments.

If I can Spotlight St. Louis, I can create some Cutesville Connections and my post highlighting The Speakeasy here in The District of Granite City was WILDLY successful! It has since become my second most viewed post ever and still generates hits for me on the weekly! If you haven’t checked out The Speakeasy yet then you NEED to view my post and then get on down here and view this place for yourself! You’ll love the atmosphere as much as you’ll love the drinks!

In June, I went to South Dakota with my phenomenal friend of over three decades now, Jamie, and her niece, Claire, and it was – without doubt – one of THE BEST vacations of my life! I figured we’d have a great time, but I didn’t expect to love South Dakota so much! Sioux Falls and Rapid City were both outstanding and no doubt about it, I see myself returning someday! It was just really breathtakingly beautiful up there, especially in those Badlands and Black Hills! Mount Rushmore was a dream come true, but let me tell you what, the Crazy Horse Memorial was an abomination in every sense of the word. I’ve tried about a half dozen times to write a blog detailing my disdain for this atrocity and each time I fail to articulate what I’m wanting to say, but mark my words, that blog is coming and I promise it’ll be done decades before the memorial itself ever is.

Melissa and I hosted a Britney Spears themed party in July where everyone came dressed as their favorite Britney or one of her leading men at Studio C Private Cinema Club in The District right here in Cutesville, so naturally, I shared a blog with plenty of photos and details highlighting our euphoric event. Well, that blog has gone on to become MY MOST VIEWED POST EVER! Britney belongs at #1 on every chart and clearly my blog is no exception. I couldn’t believe the tremendous response from this post! It generated my single best week in views EVER! That perfect evening really became the gift that kept giving and although I obviously didn’t need it, yet another reason for me to forever love Britney.

The first nine days of October had me and Melissa, along with three of our best friends, up in New England and let me tell you what, it was THE BEST! I loved EVERYWHERE we went and will undoubtedly go back to each place again one day in much more expansive detail. Our aggressive itinerary had us visiting seven states in nine days, so we didn’t have a lot of time in each location, but it was the perfect crash course to an area of our country I’d never visited before, but will be visiting again. I LOVE history and haunts and we had so much of both on this trip! Not to mention ALL that seafood! Gimme! Gimme More!

Life took a nosedive in mid-October. Our friends Katie and Jon had to put down their Sweet Baby Man, Ringo, their dog I used to watch regularly for a half decade and that was an incredibly devastating blow of sadness, but before I could even get over that, Melissa and I had to put our Little Kitty Man, Leo, down. It was the worst one-two punch imaginable. I still miss them babies everyday, they were just the best.

November came and with it the unimaginable loss of one of my best friends. No, he didn’t die, he just ghosted me in the most obscure and odd way, but I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues became my biggest blog hit since Britney in July, so not everything from that ordeal was bad and sad I guess. Nearly two months has passed now, so my feelings have become pretty neutral all in all, but nonetheless, I still miss the friendship we had and wish him all the best. Also, the photo I chose to promote that post is honestly one of my favorite pictures of myself. I just absolutely love it.

December was an even bigger hot mess express for me because from Thanksgiving till the middle of the month, I was working 55 hours a week and wore myself down something fierce. I found myself with my SECOND upper respiratory infection of the year (first being in September) and it really bogged me down for the entirety of the last half of the month. I felt like trash and didn’t do a damn thing hardly but work, so as you can imagine, I wasn’t out here living my best life and the result had me being a real bitch. Thank goodness for us all that’s over because OOF!

Those last two and a half months though aren’t enough to deviate 2022 from being a BIG win of a year for me! I’m beyond thankful for the experiences I had and the friendships I made and am beyond excited to see what 2023 has in store for me because I’m feeling like it’s going to be THE BEST year yet!

Normally, I wrap these year end write ups with my five favorite movies and songs from the year, but since this post is longer than any of these that’ve come before, I’m going to neglect that and just say you ALL need to go see Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody. I have been on a non-stop Whitney Houston kick since mid-December and in like fifteen days she went from not even being in my top forty most listened to artists to making #5. I cannot get enough of her soulful and spectacular jams and I’m still going strong! Haven’t listened to a single other artist three days into the new year! Check this incredible film out and you too will be jammin’ to her legacy all day, every day!

As always, THANK YOU so much for your continued support! It means the world to me! Please feel free to leave me a comment below as I LOVE reading and responding to them! I’ll be back super soon with some beautiful photo posts highlighting our first-of-its-kind trip to Disneyland Resort (more on this later), so until then, I wish you all, all the best!