Category Archives: Saving

Babysitting=New Vacuum (or I’ve Got $0.49 To Spare)

Posted on September 30, 2014 | 2 comments

I’ve been doing some babysitting over the past few weeks. The last two Saturday evenings I’ve had new families to sit for and this past Sunday I had an interview with another new family (although I’m not sure I’ll get that job because it seems like their schedule and my schedule won’t work out).

I’ve been doing babysitting since middle school and while I didn’t do a ton of it right after college, I’ve been getting more into it lately.

I joined an online babysitting service (kind of like online dating but for finding babysitters and families) and I paid to have a premium profile on there because that includes a background check.

I’ve been getting contacted by families ever since I upgraded my profile, but often they are just asking if I am available even though my calendar on the system says that I’m not.

The family I sat for this past Saturday evening was a new family that lived not too far away (always a bonus). They had 2 boys and they were only awake half of the time that I was there (another bonus). And I was there for 8 hours, so I made a decent amount of money.

The next day, I had a plan to go to Bed Bath and Beyond. I still needed to replace my vacuum that died in my water heater flood. I had been doing a lot of research because I wanted a good vacuum but I don’t have a lot of money to spend on one.

I ended up finding a Shark vacuum that got almost all 5 star reviews on Amazon and it was available at Bed Bath and Beyond (thank goodness for all the 20% off coupons I’ve been hoarding)!

I got there and found it right away.

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I had only brought one 20% off coupon with me so I wasn’t going to shop around any more. When I went to the register, I was trying to figure out if the money I made the night before would cover the vacuum or if I’d have to pay a little more.

I got up to the register and she rung up the vacuum and my coupon and when the total came up, I laughed.

It was exactly $0.49 less than I made the night before. I have to admit that I feel like it was fate to buy that vacuum at that price so I wouldn’t have to put the vacuum on my credit card and have it contribute to my debt.

I happily paid almost all of my babysitting money to the cashier and took my new vacuum home.

And my quick review of the vacuum is that it is amazing!! I love it! My old vacuum was a very fancy one, but it was super heavy to move around (you could break a sweat while vacuuming). This one moves around super easily and I like that it is a canister vacuum so I don’t have to buy bags for it. Although it was shocking how much dirt it picked up (maybe my old vacuum wasn’t doing a good job anymore?).

I’m glad that I’m getting more families to babysit for. I enjoy the work and when I’m doing “date night” babysitting, it pretty much never is a conflict with other jobs or auditions so it fits into my schedule perfectly! I just hope that I get a few more families so I can stay busy!

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Default ThumbnailMissing Out To Make Money (or Realizing When I’m Over-scheduled) Default ThumbnailStaying Super Busy (or Another Job) Default ThumbnailLoving Air Conditioning (or A Bonus To Babysitting And Working) Default ThumbnailComedy in Babysitting (or Surviving An Afternoon With A Crying 2 Year Old) Default ThumbnailAlmost Ready To Make A Movie! (or Can You Spare A Buck?) Default ThumbnailFeeling Refreshed (or Looking Good While Babysitting)

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Saving, Shopping, Work

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Being An Eyebrow Wax Model (or An Adventure At Queen Bee)

Posted on September 18, 2014 | Comments Off on Being An Eyebrow Wax Model (or An Adventure At Queen Bee)

I’ve been going to Queen Bee for waxing for over a year now. While their prices aren’t the cheapest in town, they are reasonable.

Every so often, they have special deals. Sometimes it’s new employees who need people to work on while they are training for the job (but they are all licensed estheticians already). I’ve thought about trying one of those deals out before, but then it also makes your wax longer. Sometimes, I just need to get in and out quickly.

And sometimes, they need model to various reasons.

Recently on social media, Queen Bee mentioned that they needed some waxing models for a training video that they were working on. This isn’t something that is going to be posted publicly, but just for their own use. They needed a bunch of different types of waxing to be done in the video, and I noticed that they needed someone to come in for an eyebrow wax!

I typically go to Benefit for my eyebrow waxing, but this was an opportunity for not only a free eyebrow wax but a gift card to Queen Bee for helping out! I was totally down for that.

They needed the waxing models to come in this past Monday and since that is my day off, that worked out very well. I was able to fit it in between a doctor appointment I had in the morning and my workout class that afternoon.

Every time I come to Queen Bee, I just love how cute the place is! It so much nicer than going to a cheap nail salon for waxing.

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I checked in and waited for everyone to be ready for me. They had it all set up in one of the waxing rooms with 3 different cameras there to capture all the action.

I’m definitely not camera-shy, but it was a little weird to be in front of a camera without any makeup on and having them film an eyebrow wax. But at least I’m very used to having my eyebrows done. I’ve been getting them waxed since I was 14.

It wasn’t the quickest wax because there was a lot of talking about what they were doing, but it didn’t take forever either. Maybe about 25 minutes.

I totally forgot to get a before picture (and trust me, you don’t want to see how bad my brows were), but I did get an after one!

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Nice clean eyebrows that aren’t too skinny! Exactly what I like! I’m a little red from the waxing, but that always happens to me. That’s one of the reasons I like going to Benefit, they put makeup on your face after waxing so you can go out and do other things and not look freshly waxed.

But since I was just going to work out right after this, I didn’t care how I looked. I really think that Queen Bee did an awesome job with my wax. I still can’t believe that I was going to a cheap nail salon for years and putting up with how bad my skin got after waxing. I have totally learned that paying a little extra is worth it, especially when it comes to your skin.

Thank you Queen Bee for my eyebrow wax and I can’t wait to get to use my gift card the next time I’m in for waxing!

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Continuing The Birthday Celebrations (or A Birthday Twin Adventure)

Posted on August 19, 2014 | Comments Off on Continuing The Birthday Celebrations (or A Birthday Twin Adventure)

On Friday evening, I got together with my birthday twin Joanna. It had actually been a while since we had seen each other.

But besides wanting to hang out again, we had a birthday tradition to uphold!

It was time for our free birthday meal at Truxton’s!

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This might be one of my favorite birthday traditions. Joanna and I have been doing this for years, and both of us look forward to it each year.

Truxton’s really does have one of the best birthday deals around, and it would be a shame if we didn’t take advantage of it.

So when Friday came around, I was ready to have an awesome meal (I had also saved up my calories so I could afford to have a meal like that).

Since we knew that our meal was going to be free, we both ordered without looking at the prices. I got a 1/4 chicken with some garlic fries (and they were super garlicky) and Joanna got the salmon.

While we waited for our food, we spent some time just catching up on each other’s lives. Since we are both actors, we both live pretty crazy lives. We both are always changing things around like our day jobs, representation, or other things like that.

Both of us have had some changes in our lives, so it was nice to have the time to fill each other in on what’s been going on. Since right now we only have 2 annual traditions (birthday and Christmastime) and somehow we never have the time to get together, over dinner we also decided that we are going to add a fall and spring tradition hangout. Right now we only know what we are doing for fall (Disneyland), but we have some time to plan out spring.

After dinner, we ordered our free desserts. We always get this one ice cream dessert that comes with churros so we only had to decide on the second dessert. We opted for a giant freshly baked cookie.

We each had 1/2 of each dessert, and I have to say that saving my calories (and working out like crazy at Orangetheory) was totally worth this splurge. It was so yummy!

When the bill came, we had a bit of a laugh at the difference between what Joanna’s meal would have cost versus my meal.

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Thank goodness it was all free! And since it was free, we were able to leave a nice tip (we left $30).

All in all, it was an awesome evening out. Not only was it a free meal, it was a meal with a good friend who I don’t see nearly often enough!

I’ve still got a few more birthday deals that I’m planning on taking advantage of, but my birthday month is going to be over before I know it!

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Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff, Saving

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Birthday Beauty Discounts (or Making My Birthday Last The Entire Month)

Posted on August 8, 2014 | 2 comments

I’ve talked about birthday deals in the past and there are some that I enjoy every single year. And I’m learning to start asking stores that I frequent if they have any birthday deals.

And this year, even though my birthday isn’t until tomorrow, I’ve already enjoyed 2 birthday deals related to beauty!

The only birthday beauty deal I knew about in the past was at Sephora where you get something for free on your birthday (I haven’t gotten my postcard yet so I don’t know what I can get for free this year). I do take advantage of the Sephora deal, but I try not to spend too much on other things while I’m there (and I know that’s the reason for the freebie!).

Something that is a total freebie is at Benefit’s Brow Bars. I go to the one near Santa Monica to get my eyebrows done. It’s more expensive than the cheapie nail salon that I used to go to, but I think they do a way better job at waxing and shaping my brows and you even get a free makeup touch-up when they are done!

Around your birthday (I’m not sure if it has to be your birthday week or month), you get a free brow wax! And since I go there anyway, of course I scheduled a wax over the weekend to take advantage of that!

The brow wax is usually $20 (the cheapie nail salon was $10), so when I get my free wax, I am able to leave a big tip since I’m saving so much! This time, I left a $15 tip (I usually do $5).

Not only did a get a free brow wax, my eyebrows are going to look amazing for my birthday party (which is tonight!).

Another beauty birthday discount is at Queen Bee Salon and Spa. Sorry for my readers who aren’t in LA, but this is a salon that has one location in Culver City and another in Brentwood (I go to the Culver City one). I go here for bikini waxes and have been going for a little over a year now. Bikini waxes are never fun and they aren’t painless, but Queen Bee makes them more bearable. Plus, the waxer I go to, Jenn V., is super awesome and friendly. So we are normally chatting and gossiping while she works and it helps to distract me from the pain (taking a painkiller about an hour before I go helps too).

When I went in for my bikini wax last month I realized that my next wax would be around my birthday. So I asked if they had any birthday deals even though I had never heard of one there before. It turns out, they just created a birthday discount! If you get a service done either 4 days before or 4 days after your birthday you get 10% off!

So I scheduled my wax to be yesterday and I got a nice little discount on something that I would have done anyway!

I am going to DryBar today to get my hair done before my party, but when I looked at their deals, only people with memberships to DryBar get free blowouts on their birthdays. I definitely don’t get enough blowouts to make a membership worth it (nor do I have the money for something like that).

I’d love to find some more beauty birthday deals while it’s my birthday month! Those are so much better for my weight loss goals than all the food freebies (although I will be going to at least one of my free meals this month).

If anyone knows of a pedicure birthday deal, you would become one of my favorite people ever!

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Learning To Coupon (or Trying To Save Since I’m Not Earning Much Now)

Posted on July 3, 2014 | 2 comments

First of all, a little update on the job situation. I was not let go from my assistant job yesterday. However my boss said he really only wants to give it another week. If I can’t get the results that he wants, then the job will end. As much as I want to be optimistic about being able to get the right results, what he needs is about 3 times what I’ve ever been able to get. So it’s not looking so good for me. But at least I will have a job through next week.

While I’m not making much money right now, I’m trying to save wherever I can. Since I’m being sponsored by OrangeTheory for workouts right now, I’m not going to SoulCycle. I just can’t afford it. I’ll totally go back eventually, but for the next 2 months, it’s not in the budget (nor could my body probably handle more workouts in a week).

I’ve also been selling back old DVDs that I don’t watch anymore to Amazon. I’m sure I could get more money if I sold each online on EBay or something, but selling back to Amazon has been easy and for the condition that my DVDs are in, I think I’m getting a pretty fair price.

And the biggest change I’ve been trying to make is using coupons. I’ve never really been a coupon person before. I’ve tried to, but it just never works out. Either I forget to bring the coupons with me to the store or I forget to go get the paper on Sundays. And when you are only saving a few pennies here and there, the hassle doesn’t seem worth it.

Plus, I’m pretty much only grocery shopping at Trader Joes if I can. There are still a few items that I have to go to Albertsons for, but pretty much everything I need is at Trader Joes. And I find that I spend less money there than at other stores. But Trader Joes doesn’t take coupons.

So I’ve been focusing my coupon energy on CVS. It seemed like a pretty great idea from the start. Every other week or so I get a coupon either in my email or in the mail that’s good for 20 or 25% off all my items in one trip at CVS. That’s a pretty impressive savings to begin with.

Then, you always get like 100 coupons on your receipt at CVS. I used to be annoyed by that, but I’ve been starting to pay attention. There’s also a machine inside of CVS that gives you bonus coupons.

And finally, I’m going online and printing coupons from the internet instead of buying newspapers. That way I’m not spending money on coupons (which seems like a silly idea to begin with).

I know on those extreme couponing shows they show people making huge plans for shopping trips and seeing what coupons could match with what sale. I really don’t have the energy to do that all the time. Plus, there are times that I just need to buy an item.

So my focus is on what coupons (and Extra Bucks) I get from CVS and what coupons I can find online to match them with. It doesn’t take me that long because I’m not buying a lot of items. It’s mainly paper goods and beauty stuff. And I’m not going to use a different brand because there is a coupon, I’m pretty brand loyal. So if I see a coupon for something I use, I print it and try to wait until I have a 20 or 25% off everything coupon to match it with.

I’ve done pretty well so far with saving a lot of money on things I would have bought anyway.

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52% savings is pretty awesome. As my dad puts it, you can’t get that sort of return on money in the stock market that quickly.

The other day, I had some Extra Bucks that I needed to use and I got an email that there were more Extra Bucks waiting for me at CVS. I needed to buy some toilet paper, so I decided to go and use my Extra Bucks on that. I figured the Extra Bucks would save me over 50%.

I got to the store only to realize that toilet paper was on sale and was actually less than the value of my Extra Bucks! If I was a super organized couponer (which I might try to be), then I would have already known this! I didn’t want to lose the extra Extra Bucks money and the toilet paper was about $2 less than my coupons, so I grabbed 2 individual bags of peanuts that were $1 each. I always try to keep emergency snacks in my car (so I’m not tempted to get fast food) and peanuts are a good snack to have.

I went up to pay for my 3 items and had an epic savings!

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Yup, 100% savings! Technically, I still had to pay a few pennies in tax, but that’s nothing compared to spending almost $15!

I’m totally aware that I probably sound crazy, but this is exciting to me. Any extra money in my bank account is money that can go toward my debt. And sadly, that’s not going down that much due to my lack of income. So $15 is a lot to me!

If you are a couponer and have some advice to a couponing newbie, I’d love to hear it. I’m shocked that I got such a great savings so quickly, but I know that it was dumb luck this time. I want to make sure that I am able to figure out how to do this again.

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Default ThumbnailWorking On Not Spending (or Trying To Not Get Sucked Into Sales) Default ThumbnailWorking On Money Priorities (or What’s Worth The Splurge) Default ThumbnailBabysitting=New Vacuum (or I’ve Got $0.49 To Spare) Default ThumbnailNo More Playing Victim (or Taking Control) Default ThumbnailA Fresh Budget (or Starting Over With YNAB) Default ThumbnailWorking on Budgeting (or Spending Money To Save Money)

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Bicycle Financial (or Using Online Tools To Help Get Me Back On Track)

Posted on June 23, 2014 | 1 comment

FTC Disclosure: I was given a free trial of this product in exchange for this blog post. All opinions are mine and were not influenced by the free trial.

I was recently given the opportunity to check out Bicycle Financial, which is an online financial planning tool. Bicycle Financial knew that I’ve been working on paying down my credit card debt and they wanted to show me some ways that their service could help me out.

When you are going through the set-up on Bicycle, there are several different plans that you can use. They are designed to be for different stages of life (student, new baby, planning on kids going to college, saving for retirement). The plan that was suggested to me was the Single Life plan, which is designed to help build the foundation of financial independence.

The set up was super easy and user-friendly. You just type in your income, any debt you might have and what type it is, and some financial goals you have.

My main financial goals are to pay off my debt and to start a savings account (technically I have a savings account, it just doesn’t have any money in it yet). Bicycle sets up a plan and says how much you should put toward each goal each month. And these amounts are customizable. For example, the credit card debt goal was listed as something I should put $10/week toward. However, the minimum payment on my card is higher than that. So I was able to change it to the minimum payment.

The only problem I saw with Bicycle is that it is designed for someone with relatively stable income. My income varies so much from week to week so I found myself changing my income on the site every week. And since it is based on an annual income, I had to take what I made that week and multiply it by 52 to get an idea of what my yearly income would be if every week was like the previous one. But if I had used this when I was in telesales, even though my income changed each week due to commissions, I still had a decent idea of what it would average out to. So I could have made up an annual income that seemed reasonable.

Besides this little set back, I did really enjoy Bicycle. Other online financial planning tools are more like online calculators for what you need to do. On Bicycle, there was also advice and tips on different topics that I found super useful. I also like that this one didn’t connect to my bank accounts. There are other online financial sites that link and connect to your bank accounts so they can report how much money you have in there. Those always seemed to make me nervous and even though I know that there are lots of safeguards in place, I always was scared that someone could access my bank account and take what little money I had in there.

I highly encourage all of you to check out Bicycle. You can find them on  Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Youtube. You can even enter a contest. It is usually $15/month to use the service, but I noticed that right now online they are offering $10/month to new customers. I’m still going to take advantage of my set up on there. While it’s not easy for me to plan based on having such sporadic income, I do love the advice that’s on there and I find it very empowering that there are solutions and plans for me to be debt free one day!

 

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Busy Time (or Scheduling Again)

Posted on April 18, 2014 | Comments Off on Busy Time (or Scheduling Again)

I’m really starting to get a hang of having 2 part time jobs. It’s not easy, but it’s starting to make more sense in my life.

The recruiting job is going well. I’m still pretty much working from home all the time, and I’m starting to have more success at it. My boss is pretty happy with my progress, but I’m hoping I get much better at it pretty quickly. The money that I earn from successful calls would be really nice.

The box office job is going pretty well also. I’m still waiting on getting my own login information for the computer systems, but I’m able to borrow another person’s login for now so at least I’m able to do all the work I need to do. It’s still a bit weird to be doing some of the same work I’m used to doing but it’s still pretty different. I’m not pushing ticket sales as hard as I used to and there’s no pitch to join as a member. I’m also not feeling the same motivation to try to get people to buy more (or fancier) ticket because none of the sales in the box office are commissionable. But I’m sure that the box office will feel like normal very very soon.

And finally, my money situation is getting better. After taking my NYC trip, my savings account was pretty much wiped out. My unemployment was ending (because I was still using an old claim and it was almost done) and I didn’t know how much I’d be making at either job. At the beginning of this week, I didn’t know how I was going to manage to pay my rent at the end of the month.

But I got paid from my recruiting job (I missed the cutoff for the mid-month payroll at the box office job so I won’t get my first check there until the end of the month), I got my new unemployment started, and my tax refund came in. This all happened in 2 days. And I finally had my rent money in place (and was able to pay it early which I like to do).

I always say that somehow things fit into place for me. And I’m starting to have more hope that that is really how it will work out. I’m not sure how things will be next month, but maybe I’ll get more successful calls from my recruiting job or more hours in the box office. It’s all a little up in the air but it looking like a much more realistic lifestyle now.

Sorry if this is a somewhat boring post, but that’s where I am in life this week. But to add some excitement, here’s a set of photos my dad just sent to me. The top picture is Tucker when we adopted him and the bottom photo is Tucker yesterday (about 4 months later). He’s getting so big!!

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Another Year Of Disneyland! (or Paying With Ink Recycling)

Posted on February 11, 2014 | 1 comment

It’s been almost a year since I got my Disneyland annual pass. And if you remember, last year I paid for a little bit of it by recycling ink that my mom gave to me (she doesn’t want to have to deal with going to recycle 10 inks every month).

Well, I saved all my ink recycling money for the past year so when it was time to renew, I had quite a bit more in gift cards than I did last year. I actually had enough to pay for almost half of my annual pass! So the balance that I had to pay on my own was only a little bit more than a one day park hopper ticket. Not too bad!

I’m really excited to have another annual pass. As you’ve all seen in my posts about Disneyland, I like to go to the parks. I have fun there and I do get a ton of walking in.

With not having a job right now, I’m going to try to take advantage of the free time and do some more mid-day park adventures. I’m actually thinking of paying the extra money for a parking pass so I can do that more often (it takes 10 visits to pay off the parking pass, and I went 9 times last year).

I’m spending an hour every morning and an hour every evening applying for jobs (if I spend more than 2 hours job hunting I start to go a little crazy). That leaves the middle of the day open for me right now. I’ve been going for walks or planning on going to spin classes (I’m going to the 10:30am one today!) in my mid-morning through afternoon free time. But I think I’m going to start going to Disneyland maybe once a week.

I don’t always ride the rides, especially when I go alone. But it’s such a gorgeous place to walk around and if I don’t have to pay the $14 to park there, it pretty much makes it a free outing (not counting the gas to get there).

I’m a little nervous to spend more on my annual pass because I don’t have a job right now and I’m pretty much living off my unemployment (which barely covers everything). So I’m going to spend this week trying to budget and plan it out (I don’t think I’ll have time for Disneyland this week so I don’t have to worry about it yet).

But at least for now, I know that I can go into the parks almost any time I want and not have to pay a penny! And this will come in handy because in the spring I have a multi-day Disneyland adventure planned! But more about that when it gets closer to the date.

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400 Posts (or Wow, That’s A Lot Of Writing!)

Posted on January 24, 2014 | Comments Off on 400 Posts (or Wow, That’s A Lot Of Writing!)

Today marks my 400th post on Finding My Inner Bombshell! I remember when I started writing I wondered how long I could keep doing this. Now, it’s a part of my day that I look forward to!

I’ve mentioned in the past how this blog is almost like therapy for me. I’ve gotten so much out of it that I would probably still do this even if nobody read it (but please keep reading it because I love the feedback and stories I hear from you all!). Writing on here has also helped my relationship with my family and friends. There have been many things that I never would have the courage to share with them if I had to say it out loud. But writing it helps to disconnect it from me and make it seem less personal.

In the last 400 posts, I’ve done a lot of things. So I thought I’d share some of the highlights of my first 399 posts.

The scariest (and best) thing I’ve ever put on here was in the beginning when I wrote about my eating disorder and credit card debt. I was so terrified to put that out into the world. I’ve hidden both of those things for many years and even some of my close family had no idea (or if they did, it’s because they guessed it and not because I ever told them). But after writing that post, it was like there was a weight lifted off my shoulders. And people started sharing their stories about money issues or eating disorders. I had no idea so many people had the same problems as me. By sharing my story, I discovered I wasn’t alone.

Another tough post to write was when I wrote about my mom being diagnosed with breast cancer. I knew about the cancer for a few weeks before I was allowed to share her story. I felt like I was faking it on the blog because I couldn’t be completely honest. But sharing that story again has made me feel less alone. Many people have shared their stories with family members dealing with cancer. When my mom was diagnosed, I started to research joining a support group. I never found one that I connected with. Then once I shared on here, I realized that my support group was on the blog. And I hope that I can support others in the future who are going through the same thing. And just to update you on my mom, she’s still kicking butt and only has 1 more chemo treatment to go before starting radiation (the final treatment step)!

The most positive thing that has happened since starting the blog was discovering SoulCycle. I never thought I would connect with exercise this way. But it’s happened and I’m definitely obsessed (this entire list is totally true for me). Celebrating a year doing the same exercise is a first for me, and I’m already looking forward to my next SoulCycle milestone (maybe taking 50 classes?).

I wish I could make some predictions to what the next 400 posts will bring. But honestly, when I started this 400 posts ago, I had no idea that it would become what it is today.

Thank you all for reading and following my journey so far. I just know that the journey will only continue to get better and there are amazing things ahead for me.

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Default ThumbnailThe Sorority Nobody Wants To Belong To (or Getting Support From Strangers) Default Thumbnail500 Posts! (or A Reason To Celebrate!) Default ThumbnailMissed Milestone (or 1,009 Posts!) Default ThumbnailJust Wanted To Say Thank You (or You All Help Me More Than You Know) Default Thumbnail900 Posts (or My Next Milestone Is A Big One) Default ThumbnailHappy 100th! (or Guess I Might Be A Writer)

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Posted in Celebrations, Fitness, Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Saving, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

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Looking Back At 2013 (or Where Did The Year Go?)

Posted on December 31, 2013 | Comments Off on Looking Back At 2013 (or Where Did The Year Go?)

I can’t believe it’s the last day of 2013! As the title says, where did the year go? I know that when I was little my mom joked how time moved faster the older you got, but this is ridiculous!

2013 was a year of highs and lows. I wanted to look back today at the year starting with my goals that I posted a year ago.

My goals that I had for 2013 were to continue on my weight loss journey, continue paying down my debt, do 5 5Ks, do my first 10K, find alternative income, take an improv class, and keep blogging.

I did continue on my weight loss journey. I’m not as far as I would like to be, but I’m going in the right direction. While I did pay down my debt, I also spent on that credit card which didn’t allow me to pay off as much as I could have (I need to work on that). I did 9 5Ks this year. But I didn’t do a 10K. And I don’t know if I ever will do one. But coming to that realization was a big step for me. I looked for alternative income and haven’t found it yet. But I’m getting closer to finding what else I can do that fits into my schedule. And sadly I didn’t get around to taking that improv class. But I was looking at the schedule for 2014 and I’m trying to decide which day the class would be best for me. And as you all know, I’ve been blogging 5 days a week every week (and plan to continue that).

While I didn’t accomplish all the goals I had, the lessons I learned about those goals and what I really want was much more important to me.

This past year had some amazing highs and some very low lows.

The big lows for me include my mom finding out that she has breast cancer. But she is over 1/2 done with this second chemo and is doing amazing. We have high hopes that she will be declared cancer free at the end of treatment and this will just be a memory for us. Also, the losses of Dante and Chaucer were very tough for me. I don’t know anyone who could go through losing 2 dogs in 6 days without having a breakdown. While I still am very sad about these losses, I’m able to share what happened without crying now.

One of the highs for my family was my brother’s wedding in September. It was a great event and the first family vacation my immediate family has gone on in a long time. And for me, a huge high was discovering SoulCycle and how much I love the class! I never thought I could love a workout like this and since it is low-impact, it is good for my hips.

It’s tough sometimes to focus on the positives that 2013 had since it is ending with a lot of sadness. But I know that 2014 will be a better year and I look forward to all the great things that are in store for me!

Tomorrow, I’ll share my goals for 2014!

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Default ThumbnailMy 2013 Goals (or I’m Not Calling Them Resolutions This Time) Default Thumbnail2014 Goals (or Hoping To Get More Goals Done This Year) Default ThumbnailReflecting Back On 2014 (or How I Did With My Goals) Default ThumbnailWhat I Plan To Do This Year (or 2015 Goals) Default Thumbnail5K Update (or Why It’s Not A Goal For This Year) Default ThumbnailStarting The Year Off Right (or Spinning Away)

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Posted in Family, Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Saving, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

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