With only 10 days left in the year, New Years is right around the corner. It has me thinking about what 2018 had to offer. There were some highs and there were some lows. Some goals were accomplished and others were not entirely met. Some lessons have been learned and growth has occurred.

2018, you were a long year that went by rather quickly. As I'm thinking about what I learned this year, I'm also deciding what I will take to into the New Year and what I'm going to leave behind. Looking back, here were some important lessons I learned this year.

Say goodbye to negativity and hello to positivity! Whether you have a negative mindset or have someone in your life who always focus on the bad, just let it go. Life is so much better when you have a positive attitude. Negativity holds everyone back. If you leave the negative attitude in 2018 and 2019 will already be better.

Don't waste your time with people who don't care about you, this lesson hit me good this year. Instead of being sad or mad that you aren't close to someone like you used to be, realize that it is okay. People change and grow apart, sometimes when you take a step back you realize that person wasn't meant to be in your life anymore. As long as you made the effort and did your best, there's nothing you can do about it. So good riddance! Focus your energy on people that want you in their life and actually enjoy spending time with you.

Stay motivated. When negativity comes and clouds up your life, a lack of motivation is closely behind. I know I certainly felt this way, especially closer towards the end of the year. No matter how your life is going it's important to remember to never give up. Whatever you wish to accomplish you can and will do it! You got this!

Remember you come first! It can be easy to get swept up in life and forget to do things for yourself. But self care is the most important thing you can do. If you're not going to take care of yourself, remember no one else will. Sure you have supportive friends and family, but they don't always know exactly what you need. Remember you and your mental health come first, no matter what.

Along with the lessons learned over the year it's always good to focus on what positive things happened this past year. Whether that was the amount of traveling I did or all the new things I tried this year, 2018 was a year filled with adventures. With that being said, I hope 2019 is filled with even more adventures and amazing opportunities for us all. How was your 2018, what are looking forward to most in 2019? Until tomorrow.

The Broadway musical If/Then starring the talented, Idina Menzel has come to the Pantages Theatre in LA. When I first heard it was coming to town I could not contain my excitement. I've been dying to see this play! And in all honestly, I was dying to see Queen Idina perform live.

My parents are huge fans of Broadway too, so when my mom heard Idina was coming into town she bought the tickets. My dad didn't know exactly who she was, because let's face it most dads don't keep up with today's stars. They didn't know much about this play besides she was in it. But I did my research and gave them a brief synopsis. And when it arrived in LA on December 3, I anxiously awaited the day I would get to see this play.

So yesterday was the day my mind got completely blown away by the Queen herself, Ms. Idina Menzel. But it wasn't just because of her why I really enjoyed this play so much. If you've never seen If/Then or have no idea what it's about, let's break down the plot and overall meaning of the play.

To make it really simple, If/Then is about the choices we make and the outcomes. Idina plays Elizabeth, who is recently divorced and has a Ph.D. in urban planning. She moves to New York City to create a new life for herself. She meets two of her friends Kate (LaChanze) and Lucas (Anthony Rapp). Both of these friends symbolize the two paths of life she could take. If she follows the joyful and optimistic Kate, she becomes Liz and finds love. But if she follows the radical and activist Lucas, she becomes Beth and focuses solely on her career. Personally, I think everyone roots for Liz rather than Beth. Liz seems a lot happier than Beth, which goes to show you can have your dream career but if you don't have love you're missing out on a great part of life.

The story switches off from Liz to Beth quite frequently. And my dad described the play perfectly, by calling it schizophrenic. Because honestly it can be a tough story line to follow. If you stop paying attention for a minute you can be like is this Beth or Liz? The story is different and unique and I like the message behind it, one decision can alter your life drastically and create alternate timelines.

But besides the different storyline, the music is impeccable. And it's not just because of Idina's voice. Every voice in this play is amazing. Then again this is an all star cast. LaChanze won a Tony award for her role in The Color Purple and Anthony Rapp gave life to the character Mark Cohen in both the Broadway and film version of Rent. But you know who completely surprised me? James Snyder. When I was in 11th grade he came to my high school to talk to the marching band and drill team, and I was on the drill team. He was good friends with our band director, Ms. Stacy Burcham. I remember my friend Daniela and I took a picture with him because we thought he was super cute and he was in She's the Man. Little did we know he would end up on BROADWAY. But it's no surprise cause he's extremely talented.

There's so much talent in this play, it's almost too good to be true. All the voices are amazing and they all harmonize beautifully. Plus there's snarky and sarcastic humor throughout the play. And there's also moments when you'll find yourself tearing up. You'll experience so many emotions if (and when) you see this play.

I highly encourage everyone to see this play, even though theatre critics haven't been too generous when it comes to the reviews. Because honestly, it's not a bad play! The music is great, the cast is impeccable, and I just don't understand why some of the critics are just so mean and picking out every single flaw. Because you know what, as a lover of Broadway and from an entertainment standpoint, this play is entertaining and it delivers great music. Just because it's not like a classic Broadway play doesn't mean it is bad. The uniqueness of If/Then is what makes it so good and the reason why I enjoyed it so much.

If you're in the SoCal area and want to see If/Then, it will be at the Pantages until January 3, 2016. And then it will head down to San Diego and Costa Mesa. And if you live in another state check out the website for more tour dates! Until tomorrow.

First we talked about fear, then we talked about happiness, and now we're going to talk about sadness. No one ever enjoys being sad, and it's an emotion we love to push away. Based solely on instinct, we always do the best we can to avoid sadness. When someone cries, our first reaction is to make it stop and try to cheer that person up.

But sadness is a natural part of life and it does has a purpose. Look at this quote from Pinterest, as you probably know by now Pinterest is the source for all of my image quotes.

"It's okay, even the sky cries sometimes."

When the sky cries, it rains. The rain provides water to the planet and water helps our planet stay alive, science 101. In some parts of the world, rain is a rare thing. Like my home state, California, is in a severe drought. The lack of rain makes life a lot harder, with no rain there isn't enough water for everyone to survive. All organisms need water to live and survive.

Now what does rain have to do with sadness? Absolutely nothing. But it does act as an interesting metaphor. When the sky is dark and gray, that is equivalent to a human being feeling sad. When the sky rains, it is similar to a human being crying. And if we've learned anything from science, we know that rain is a good thing. Also Luke Bryan said that in a song once, so it must be true. What a fascinating analogy isn't it?

And here's the part where I bring up the genius Pixar film, Inside Out. In the film, Sadness (as you can see on the right) is looking to find her purpose as an emotion. The other emotions don't understand Sadness and she is treated like she is useless and unneeded. But what no one realizes about Sadness is that she is really smart and empathetic. She knows how to respond to situations and thinks clearly, unlike the other emotions who react based off their feelings.

Spoiler alert: but Sadness does indeed learn her purpose as an emotion and learns she is very powerful. It is her job to tell others when Riley needs help so she can explain her sadness and then learn to let it go rather than have it all bottled up. Pixar amazingly shows how Sadness and all the other emotions function, and it is quite remarkable.

From watching Inside Out, personally, I learned a lot about my emotions and it made a lot of sense why it feels like they can be out of control sometimes. With our emotions we need a balance, there isn't one main emotion in charge. It's not healthy to be happy, sad, mad, scared or disgusted all the time. A healthy person has balanced emotions and uses them all when necessary.

So technically, having those sad days every once and while is quite healthy. Having a good cry and talking about your feelings is normal and should always be done. I love to have a good cry every once and a while because honestly it just makes you feel so much better in the end.

So here are a couple of things that make sad:

• When my favorite restaurants or shops close down unexpectedly or early
• Getting rejected
• Dropping my ice cream cone, or any kind of food that I'm eating
• Losing someone close to you
• The Kardashians are rich and famous for no reason
• The fact that books are a dying breed
• My favorite TV shows getting cancelled
• Expired coupons

So there are couple things that make me sad. But no matter what anyone tells you, it's okay to be sad sometimes. Never push down your feelings, it's always better to express them. Tell me, what makes you sad? And how do you handle it? Until next time!