Happy New Year people! I hope you had the BEST time ringing in the new year. Adam and I rang it in around 10pm and hit the sack. #tootiredtoparty

I love this post so much. This post really is the most magical post of the year. It's my most favorite to write and it's my favorite to get advice on. I reach out to my good friends and ask opinions and I do a lot of googling. I really love looking back on the previous year and remembering the good stuff, the bad stuff, and the fascinating.

I have to preface this list because a lot of you are going to read it and think I'm losing it. "What? You think he's fascinating?!" I can just hear it now.

Listen - fascinating to me does not mean a good person, a person I agree or disagree with politically, like or dislike their music, views, etc. It means someone who has shook culture, politics, movies, art or life in such a way this year they are are fascinating. So before you go criticizing this list by the pictures, read my commentary. I honestly think you may agree.


TEN || Final Season of Game of Thrones: Listen, even if you haven't seen GOT before, you cannot deny the fanfare around this franchise. And, even if you didn't agree with how the season ended, you all still watched! There's no denying that since season 1, these characters have drawn us in, broken our hearts, excited us, pissed us off, made us fall in love, and made us forever believers in GOT. Let's get to the stats.

• The final episode "The Iron Throne" brought in a series record of 19.3 million viewers.
• The viewership for "The Iron Throne" included 13.6 million people who watched the episode on HBO at 9 p.m. Sunday night, making it the most-watched telecast in the network's history
• Budget for the final season: $90 million
• Number of times the GOT final season trailer was viewed in 24 hours: 81 million times.
• Emmys GOT was nominated for: 132
• Emmy's GOT Won: 47

NINE || Lizzo: Lizzo is absolutely the shining star of 2019. Yes, she makes great music (if you haven't heard Truth Hurts, you're living under a rock), but she's so much more than her music. She's a body positive, women activist, badass, promoting self love, and artist who's been grinding for the last 10 years to make a name for herself. She has grammy nominations for Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Pop Solo Performance, Best R&B Performance, Best Traditional R&B performance, and Best Urban Contemporary Album. 2019 was an insane year for her, but I have a feeling 2020 will be even more fascinating.


EIGHT || Marie Kondo. She changed the way we all viewed organizing and taught us that if our possessions don't spark joy to get rid of them. She's written two books, launched an app, starred in her own Netflix show, Tidying up and she immediately went viral. She basically invented a new way to fold t-shirts (I started using this method and LOVE it), she's a mom, wife, BOSS, and continues to kill the organizational game. I can't wait to see what fascinating ways she inspires me to clean today.


SEVEN || Kanye: I honestly never thought I'd put Kanye on this list, but this year he has changed my mind and my opinion. If you didn't know, Kanye is a recently self proclaimed christian. He's recently released a christian album (which is so great), he's created a church community in Calabasas, he's preaching the gospel, working with Joel Olsteen and seemingly has changed his life and his views. A lot of people are quick to criticize him (I used to be one of them). But I think it's sad to see people criticizing his christianity or questioning it. I read an amazing thing on facebook addressing this.

Saddens me to se that christians are in the pool of those "blasting" Kanye for his new gospel album. Man, let's be people who celebrate new life. Let's understand that not one of us have or will walk salvations road with perfection, w are all growing. Let the old man die, start looking at people as Jesus does, looking at the new man and treating them as a child of God. The power of the gospel is that the old is dead and behold, the new has come. Jesus didn't hesitate to fight for Kanye, for you, for me, He wasn't judgmental or reserved in His pursuit.  He came with reckless love, can we be known for doing the same? Find more on this here on instagram.

I'm guilty of this. But this really changed my perspective. I for one am rooting for Kanye and hoping that 2020 is even more fascinating for him.


SIX || Nancy Pelosi: Like her or hate her (I wont clue you in to my feelings) but Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that the House would initiate a formal impeachment inquiry against President Trump. Three other presidents have faced impeachment proceedings, but only two have been successfully impeached. Sure, a lot of people disagree with her move, but she did it regardless o the fact that President Trump continues to berate her for her every move. Like her or hate her, 2019 was pretty fascinating for her.


FIVE || Hong Kong Protestors: If you haven't seen the pictures of the Hong Kong protests, you look. They are honestly sad. So many people, so much violence, so much anger. Wondering why they started? The BBC did a great 100 word explanation

Hong Kong's protests started in June against plans to allow extradition to mainland China. Critics feared this could undermine judicial independence and endanger dissidents. Until 1997, Hong Kong was ruled by Britain as a colony but then returned to China. Under the "one country, two systems" arrangement, it has some autonomy, and its people more rights. The bill was withdrawn in September but demonstrations continue and now demand full democracy and an inquiry into police actions. Clashes between police and activists have become increasingly violent, with police firing live bullets and protesters attacking officers and throwing petrol bombs.

Even though the bill was withdrawn, the protests are still going. People are absolutely fighting for what they believe is right, but when does it stop? Gotta admit, 6 months of protesting is pretty dang fascinating.


FOUR || Mr. Rogers. Fred Rogers may have died in 2003, but 2019 was quite a year for him and his memory. Tom Hanks' portrayal of him in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, quietly brought Mr. Rogers back into our homes, lives, and memories. Did you know Mr. Rogers' sweaters were all knit by his mother, names of his puppets and people on his show were named after his loved ones, he composed every single song himself, and he was a minister who believed that everyone was perfect just the way they were. Mr. Rogers is a wonderful example of tolerance, love, patience and acceptance and he will only prove to be more and more fascinating as his memory lives on.


THREE || Greta Thunberg: Greta is the youngest person to be named TIME Magazines Person of the Year. Their detailed description of her is more than I could ever write, so I'll let them do the talking.

Thunberg began a global movement by skipping school: starting in August 2018, she spent her days camped out in front of the Swedish Parliament, holding a sign that read Skolstrejk för klimatet: “School Strike for Climate.” In the 16 months since, she has addressed heads of state at the U.N., met with the Pope, sparred with the President of the United States and inspired 4 million people to join the global climate strike on September 20, 2019, in what was the largest climate demonstration in human history. 

 You may agree or disagree with her, but this powerhouse is 16 years old, fighting for what she believes in, tweeting the President and living what we can all agree a life pretty fascinating.


TWO || Lori Loughlin. I cannot be the only person fascinated by the college admission scandal. With every new piece of info we hear about it, I get more and more invested. People just keep coming out of the woodwork. One second you think it may be slowing down and another person is caught. While people like Felicity Huffman accepted their fault, and did their time, you have people like Lori who refuse to acknowledge what she did. She pleaded not guilty and continues to try and fight this. She's been effectively cancelled from every major show she was a part of including Fuller House, everything Hallmark Channel, her daughters are no longer USC students and her Instagram is silent.

I'm not sure what this outcome will be but we all know it'll be pretty fascinating.


ONE || Alex Trebek. In March, 2019, Alex announced  he was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer and has since become an outspoken advocate, raising awareness about the disease and the symptoms.  And, according to the American Cancer Society, all stages of pancreatic cancer combined have an overall 9% five-year survival rate. Regardless of that statistic, Alex has continued to host Jeopardy, appear on multiple talk shows sharing his story, advocating for pancreatic cancer, and continuing to spending time with his family.


Who would be on your list for most fascinating?

Do you agree or disagree with this list?