GUT CHECK TIME - 2017 Goals Progress Report

GUT CHECK TIME!

100 days left of 2017. How close am I to achieving my goals set for 2017, keeping in mind the absolute shit-show this year has been? Not an excuse, merely a bigger obstacle than I anticipated.

Physical

- Lose 30 lbs (5%) - This remains the white whale (pun intended). I've lost 5lbs. I am shooting for at least 10 more before 2018

- Do full splits on both sides (50%) - I can do full on the right. Left is taking her time. Hip trouble is not helping, but dancing every day totally is

- Full headstand w/o the wall (5%) - I can lean my body against the wall. This is still possible before the end of the year though!

- 6 halfs and 3 fulls (10%) - not nearly enough races this year. However, I have New Mexico in Oct, a 5k this weekend and at least 3 more 5ks before the end of the year. Will most likely get another half in there as well now that the weather is gorgeous

- Run/walk 2017 miles (64%) - I am on track to complete this one!

Money

- Pay down $20k (15%) - I'm chipping away at this. Still have 5 years of debt ahead of me, but at least I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

- Build emergency fund (6%) - I have $400 in savings. More than I've had in the past. Less than ideal.

Travel

- SDCC for full 4 days (50%) I was able to go out for 2 days and it was wonderful

- 2 new marathon states (50%) I'll get NM done but probably not a second state

- See family 4 times (50%) January show and 4th of July celebrations! Will see them in Nov and December

Career

- Book shows consistently (100%!) I have worked my butt off and have booked a show every month in 2017 so far. My career is moving forward!

- $5k in income (100%!) I thought I set a too lofty of a goal here. But I set it and I achieved it! It feels good to be validated!

- Get an agent (0%) This is still on going. I need an agent so I can make more money and quit my "day job", allowing me to be a full time entertainer. I know it's possible!

Looks like I have some work to do! #LetsDoThis

Always a New Christmas Tradition

The last day of school, my friend Katie at BSA asked us all what our Christmas traditions were. She's 24 and this was the first time she had been away from home so close to the holidays. I mentioned a few things that my family did when I was growing up, but it was hard to find something in the past few years that I did every year. I was almost bothered by it until I realized that my tradition is to find new traditions.

This year I am home for Christmas. This hasn't happened in five years. I am usually out caroling and drive home the day afte Christmas for a few days of celebration. I miss my caroling traditions (the gigs we always do, the pizza party we have, the dinners and the Knott's Christmas) and I miss my friends. I miss the man that I love terribly and I miss spending the holidays with him. We have our own traditions and the season is a little off because I don't have him around me every day. But the gift of time with my family helps to make up for all of that. And I am comforted knowing that this is the last year I sleep without him on Christmas Eve.

Because I am home for the first time in years, and my mother is living in a new house, this is a new year of traditions for my family too. There is no longer a "but we always" for anything. The holiday season is our oyster. We always make fudge, we always, make cookies, we always wear silly sweatshirts, we always wrap the night before Christmas, we always eat too much, we always ask mom if what we're wearing to Christmas dinner is okay.....those are all there. But this year we continue to embrace the new and the changes and the surprises.

Next year, as I blend my family with my bf's kids and their traditions, I know my holiday season will change again. I'm okay with that. We will shift celebration days, share meals with new family members and learn how to juggle time with all the different sides of the family. We might even have everyone over to London and spend the season there!

There might not be any more "but we always" but there will forever be lots of "sure, why nots".

Happy Christmas!!