Reminders

I am sitting here crying after reading a Facebook post from my good friend Dana about her friend and sorority sister passing away from breast cancer this week at the age of 31. Hearing of other young breast cancer patient not making it hits me hard every time. It reminds me that I am.... I kinda don't want to say lucky but I can't think of another word right now to call it so... lucky. It wakes me up and reminds me that even though my life does not always go the way I want it I AM ALIVE and I should be grateful for that and not dwell on things that are not the way I want them to be currently. Yes, my weight is higher than I want it to be, but I AM ALIVE. Yes, I don't have as much money in my savings as I would like, but I AM ALIVE. Yes, I'm not where I wanted to be in my life in terms of in a relationship or having children, but I AM ALIVE. Don't get me wrong, there are things I like about my life too! I love my family and they are very supportive! I have a great set of friends who are amazing! My Dombey cat is pretty awesome!

Ok, time to have dinner and do some school work because I AM ALIVE so I am going to finally finish my Bachelors Degree!

New Year, New Post

A new year always brings new goals.

Things I am looking forward to in 2017:

• Going to Seattle for Filmapalooza in March.
• Going to Ashland twice (April & September) to see all the shows at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
• Training and walking the AVON39 Walk To End Breast Cancer with my Auntie Betty.

Things I want to achieve in 2017:

• Get cast in more shows... this requires auditioning for more shows. I have two auditions already set up for January so I am off to a good start.
• Lose weight and trim my waistline - I lost 20+ pounds training for the AVON39 walk in 2016 so hopefully I will lose more this year. 2017 is the year of the abs... I want less handle in my love handles.
• Cleaner eating.
• Be more social.
• ... and most importantly remain cancer free!

My health is well, I see my oncologist every 3 months and my surgeon every 6 months. I had my yearly mammogram in December and it came back normal (YAY!). I continue to do self checks and take my tamoxifen. 

I've started my year working on some of these goals. Yesterday I went to Dave & Dana's place for game night (being social!). Today I got up and weighed myself to get an accurate starting point (ugh! I kinda let myself go during the holidays) and then I did a five mile walk this morning. I spent the rest of the day doing food prep for the week so I will have healthy food on hand for lunch and dinner. I also went through all my clothes and I now have three bags of clothes to bring to donation that I just don't wear for a variety of reasons. My dresser drawers now have breathing room in them. I have also been doing this 28 Day Plank Challenge to work on my abs... I have like zero ab strength so it's getting to be REALLY challenging to get through them, but I am doing my best and pushing through and I have to pause the time and take a quick break and get back up then that is what I do and eventually I will be strong enough to do it all the way through.