The Year of Kara!

I'm a fan of 'The Middle' - which is a sitcom about a middle class family (the Hecks) living in the middle of the country and their everyday struggles. I love it so much because in a lot of ways it reminds me of my family - every time they get ahead something else happens. In one episode, the Heck's roof goes kaput and after contemplating moving to a condo the entire neighborhood comes together and helps them fix it. This reminded me so much of my parents and all the times our neighborhood came together to help each other out. Sue Heck, the daughter, also strikes a chord. She is a bit of a dork - who gets picked on by her popular brother, a joiner - who mostly gets rejected but keeps trying, happy,  optimistic, and the heart of the family. She is me when I was in high school. Since high school, I've become a bit more jaded - New York can do that to you. I've lost some of my happy - life can do that to you. I've also lost some of my dork and stopped joining. However, over the past few months, I have been working my way back to my inner Sue - joining Toastmasters, tutoring, art classes - which also brought some of the happy back. And now, I'm working on my optimism by taking a cue from Sue. 

We are nine days into 2016 and I am starting to get that optimistic feeling back. It's off to a good start with a NYE massage, a low key and productive weekend, a plan for the year, a solid budget, and I've completed one resolution (hope you're enjoying the blog)! To top it off the Packers are playing their wildcard game right here in DC. I spent all week agonizing about whether or not to spend the money on the tickets and whether or not I really wanted to go alone - as I lack any Packers fans in DC. I was willing to go, but didn't want to spend more than $100 all in, because if I ended up in a crappy section, harassed by the other side, I didn't want to spend a ton on it. I checked Ticketmaster everyday and sure enough those prices kept dropping. On Friday they were down to a $100 pre-fees and I came close, but decided to hold out a bit more. So imagine my surprise when I looked today and couldn't find a ticket under $300. I was bummed, but resigned to watch it at home. Then it happened, I got a text message from D. who told me that her friend was looking for a Packers fan in DC. About 15 minutes later, I have a free ticket to the game and am screaming my head off and dancing around my apartment. At this point, I decide I need to really embrace my inner Sue. Ever the optimist, Sue declares during both her senior year of high school and her freshman year of college that, "This is the year of Sue." So, I am taking this as my sign to really go for it and take back my optimism - I declare that This is the Year of Kara! I hope that it is your year as well. Let's all embrace our inner Sue and just be positive that everything is going to workout! With that - Happy 2016 to you all.