The Year is 2016

Choose the answer that best fits

1. You’ve been married for 6-12 months and are enjoying living the DINK life. You realize no one is stopping you from traveling, so you book flights to:

   1. San Fransisco

   2. Denver

   3. Cabo

   4. Upstate New York

   5. All of the above

2. When packing for said trips you make sure to include:

   1. Blue lens Ray Ban aviators

   2. Plaid blanket scarf

   3. Black ripped skinny jeans

   4. Olive green vest

   5. Hot pink and black Victoria’s Secret bikini

3. Before your trip you make sure to tell your hair stylist to bleach your hair:

   1. Blonde

   2. Blonder

   3. Blondest

4. Because you spent all your money on travel, your date night budget is minimal. You also regularly have date nights because of aforementioned DINK lifestyle. You opt for:

   1. Minor league baseball games on your husband’s company tickets

   2. Netflix marathons of Narcos and Stranger Things

   3. Ordering pizza and playing Phase 10 and Skip Bo

   4. The local $20 Bottle and Pie nights or late night sushi happy hours

5. You live in a rental house but still can’t resist the urge to make the place your own. You decide to:

   1. Have your husband build you a new farmhouse kitchen table

   2. Have your husband build you a custom cabinet for all your glassware and paint it bright green

   3. Ask your mom to print a Bible verse in a scripty font from her Cricut and affix it to a whitewashed pallet to hang in your entryway

   4. Swap the prefab Ikea drawer pulls for agate pulls that give Anthropologie on a Hobby Lobby budget

   5. Order leopard print couch pillow covers from Etsy like the sophisticated lady you are

6. In another attempt to settle in to your newlywed life, you adopt the kitten who showed up on your porch. When she runs around the house as if she’s possessed you decide the solution is to get another cat. This is:

   1. A great idea—two are better than one, it’s in the Bible!

   2. A great idea—this new cat will love you more than life itself

   3. A horrible idea—cat number one will not appreciate cat number two and her personality will disappear for several years until cat number two tragically passes

   4. A horrible idea—the shelter will assure you this cat is neutered but his…anatomy and decision to frequently mark his territory will one day lead to you following him around with a camera to email proof of his…manhood to the shelter when they will eventually realize he is not, in fact, neutered, but his urination habits will already be cemented

7. Aside from the cats, you have little to no commitments. You know nothing of the soccer games and toddler birthday parties to come and your husband has yet to discover his passion for hunting. A typical weekend is spent:

   1. In your college town tailgating for football games

   2. In your husband’s college town tailgating for football games

   3. Meeting up with friends on patios for chips, queso, and margaritas

   4. At the pool of the local country club where you have social memberships

8. You can’t fathom a time when you don’t see your friends on a weekly, if not daily basis because:

   1. You host a weekly Wine Wednesday at your house

   2. You go to barre classes together before work and rooftop yoga on the weekends

   3. You stop by the Luke’s Diner pop up at your local coffeeshop in honor of Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life before work

   4. You throw yourselves an Olympic themed birthday party a la Mary Kate and Ashley’s party of the same theme the year before

   5. You find reasons to get together just because, like to watch presidential debates with other couples

9. On your way to hanging out with said friends, you listen to:

   1. Closer by The Chainsmokers and Halsey

   2. Work From Home by Fifth Harmony

   3. Side to Side by Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj

   4. Love Yourself by Justin Bieber

   5. Work by Rihanna and Drake

10. True or False: you’ve been listening to this new medium called podcasts and you and your friend decide over breakfast one day to start your own. It will be super easy and will take off like wildfire, leading to the book deal of your dreams.

    1. True

    2. False

11. Podcasting will, however…

    1. Open you up to the joy of creating and sharing publicly

    2. Give you a reason to talk to one of your dearest friends on a daily basis

    3. Stretch you creatively

    4. Give you the seed of the idea that will one day parlay to another new medium called Substack

12. Sandwiched between banner years of finishing grad school, wedding planning, getting married, moving to a new state, and starting a new job and then moving to bustling city where you know virtually no one, feeling like a little fish in a big pond, and life at large becoming increasingly heavier, 2016 will always be remembered as a gem of a year.

    1. True

    2. False