kerryingon

Yes, it’s true, internets. ROUND TWO IS HAPPENING.

You followed along for every awesome week of 2011 - all 52 of them had awesomeness to rock the fuck out to - and now we shall dance in the glory that is 2012.

Week 1 was Jan 1-Jan 7:

• After a swift kick in the pants from my momma, I went full throttle back into my career and have seen the glory that is the universe responding to your hard work & choices.
• First voice lesson (in, oh, I don’t know, a year?) with my brand new kick ass teacher.
• First time I’ve felt pure JOY while singing in…YEARS. (see: above)
• I signed up for multiple ECC auditions and went to my first one back on my game.
• Attended a great, free workshop on the whole “move to LA/stay in NYC” debate. Yes, these workshops exist.
• Contacted for three awesome auditions - two at literally the exact same time (while the phone rang, an email popped up). The words Lincoln Center were involved.
• Changed up the furniture in my room, updated my shower curtain, cleaned the whole apartment, feng shui-ed the place .. fresh takes on a new year :)
• Finally saw WAR HORSE (at Lincoln Center, not at the movies). Sobbed, covered my eyes, verbally responded out loud, made friends with my seat neighbors, etc. Testimony to the beauty that is this show: Nick Jonas was there and everyone ignored him. Everyone.
• Farewell dinner for my bestie leaving town to go on tour (again) and a farewell party for another darling friend leaving to go on tour (again).
• Playdates with pals I never get to see and pals I get to see a lot. You are loved, dear ones.
• HENRY RETURNED TO NYC after a few months of keeping his grandma company in NJ. Let us rejoice! I love that bear so much.

Why do this? Why track the awesome? WHY NOT?! Every day comes with new adventures and incredible joy. Instead of focusing on the frustrations, annoyances and blahblahblah of the day - focus on the GREAT. Kerry On, friends. Go forth and live awesomely! xx

We’ve made it, friends. 52 full weeks of one glorious year! I’m pretty fucking shocked that I actually did one of these for every week. Kind of tempted to print them out & bind them into a little book but more into the idea of releasing these weeks into the world and moving into this next adventure of 2012. Isn’t that how this life thing goes anyway? So for one last time of 2011, LET’S RECAP:

• CHRISTMAS. Hello. AWESOME. I got a vacuum and was so excited that I cried, screamed and laughed for about 7 minutes straight. 3.5 of which my brother-in-law filmed that I’m pretty sure needs to get uploaded to YouTube. There has never been a reaction to a vacuum like this in the world.
• Family time non-stop. Puppy time non-stop.
• Cameron Fife is in town. Always awesome.
• My girlfriends all in one place at a bar in my hometown neighborhood sort of made this whole year come full circle. I loved every second.
• Last night, the 30th, was celebrated with a beautiful marriage between two of my favorite people who fully encompass Love.
• Recognizing and Loving the effort that is being made that I maybe have missed for the past few years. Feeling like a 15 year old.
• Getting lost, being late, running in & eating serious amounts of chocolate with my sorority sisters.
• Ice skating at Rockefeller Center with my family. Waiting in line for 3 hours to skate 5 minutes but knowing I’ll enjoy that memory for a good long time.
• Being out of the city long enough to actually hear myself is the best gift of the whole week.

I’m really grateful for this year. I…

• got my own place 
• figured out how to live in NYC
• dated some incredible people before realizing that my heart hasn’t been mine to give away in a very long time
• traveled to my other favorite city of Los Angeles
• watched with awe as my best friend and her husband brought a beautiful baby girl into the world 
• traveled to San Francisco
• met with amazing industry people including two on my “oh my god am I really meeting these people” list
• fell back in love with my craft
• did the hardest, scariest thing I ever thought I would
• traveled to San Diego
• realized the importance of my friends (again)
• did intense self realization work and came out on the other side so much better for it
• watched as my Henry pup finally shed away almost all of his fears and anxieties and has become a happy, floppy, full of joy and trust dog
• secured incredible agents and started in a new division of the business
• tried every other single career I could think of instead of acting before realizing I’m an actor, for better or worse
• watched endless friends get engaged and married; watched my sister get married
• tried a ton of new classes that I wanted to try but was afraid to
• saw so much theatre that I was seeing a new show almost every week
• stopped being afraid of Love

Truth be told, I’m ready for 2012. I’ve faced so many fears, issues and worries this past year that I’m ready to let them live in the past and keep gaining more Love, truths, adventures and joy in my present and future. Thanks for reading along with me during this year - I’ve realized that recapping all of my blessings each week have made me much more grateful, patient and trusting.

Recently, someone asked what I would have told myself 6 months ago about my life today. I replied with what I would tell myself in the future and all of you right this second: EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OKAY. You’re exactly where you are. Trust in it.

Wishing you a beautiful, safe, happy and healthy New Year’s Eve and 2012. Chase down your dreams, friends. I believe in you. xx

Last two posts. Ready? Here we go! Week 51 was December 18-24 and any week involving Christmas Eve is obviously awesome. Here’s why else:

• The play ‘Suicide Incorporated’ at Roundabout Theatre Company was just as intense as the title sounds but also, luckily, funny and seriously well done. Some incredible actors and direction.
• Attempting to go to Macy’s during Christmas week is always one of my favorite things. Yes, this is weird.
• Playtime with Miss Nancy at a never-been-to-before coffee shop to add to my list of places to go back to.
• Meeting with an agent who remembered me from months ago. Heck yeah!
• And another agent who provided me with the most fun interview I’ve ever had.
• Speaking of meetings, a second interview occurred this week and gave me a great chance to practice battling through nerves.
• Drive by visit from my mom as she came to town for the night.
• Reunited with a best as she returned from LA and stopped in on her way to Vancouver. (Note to self: in 2012, perhaps you may want to get friends who stay in town? Perhaps.)
• Physical Therapy actually does work. WHO KNEW?!
• The delicious feeling of spending time with someone, saying goodbye, and finding ourselves meeting back up a couple hours later.
• Christmas shopping in it’s entirety on the 23rd of December. In a mall. In NJ.
• Christmas Eve with family and laughing so much that we didn’t notice everyone else had already left the gathering.
• Spending every day with my puppy. is. awesome.

OH MAN ONLY ONE MORE WEEK TO GO! x

The week of November 20-26th was the 47th week of this year. Is that not a little bananas? We’re getting so close to a brand new year! Here’s what was all sorts of awesome about it:

• Tea party gathering at Alice’s Tea Cup - one of my most favorite places in all of NYC. Not only is there tea (obvs) but there are fairy wings, crowns & feather boas.
• Saw one of the best plays I’ve seen this entire year. If that weren’t enough, one of my most favorite humans was in it and another one of my most favorite humans came with me to see it.
• Went to a fancy schmancy balloon party the night before Thanksgiving at an apartment that overlooks where the giant balloons are blown up for the parade. Overlooks it! I got to see the Energizer bunny balloon (and many others) from ABOVE. Blew my mind (pun intended). Upon leaving, we spotted Tim Burton getting to see his new balloon. Pretty darn neat.
• I did a few really, really brave things that I honestly never thought I would do. There is a very strange feeling that accompanies these types of things and I imagine it must be rare to experience in life.
• Thanksgiving this year….included VEGAN food!!!!! The greatest success ever!
• Birthday party for two of the little ones in my family & loving all of their faces <3
• Reunited with my beach, my car, my best friend and… my baby puppy man <3 <3 <3

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving with the people you love the most.

Be awesome :) xx

You guys. Internets. Friends. Strangers.

I have fallen off my Most Awesome Week Ever horse.

Fallen off, yes, but now? Getting back on!

The good news here is that somewhere right around week 35 is when I finally began to settle into my life in this beautiful city. I don’t know what happened except I just decided I should accept living here as a gift that lots of people don’t ever get. I challenged myself to start referring to my apartment at home and the house I grew up in as “my mom’s house” or “the NJ house”. I reminded myself of the great lesson I was taught in the fall of 2010 by basically a complete stranger, that home is within. Home is wherever I am, wherever the people that I love are and the inner peace that lives in our souls. And even more shockingly, after recently being on the west coast for awhile, I found myself (hold on to your hats now) actually missing my city.

Who would have ever thought?

The other good news here is that I am definitely not recapping 12 weeks in full detail. I like y’all way too much to do that. But you best believe I’m gonna give you some mega highlights! Shall we? We shall:

• Weeks 35-37 found me back in rehearsals & performing in my first play in NYC since 2008.
• Week 37 also saw the birth of the beautiful Miss Ayla Harper & all of a sudden one of my best friends and her amazing husband became parents.
• I saw many shows including: the amazing production of Newsies at Papermill in NJ, Bring It On at Center Theatre Group in LA, Jersey Boys (finally), Zoe Kazan’s debut play as a writer, We Live Here, the LCT3 show All American and The Book of Mormon (again). I started to actually audition for theatre again & took my first Musical Theatre class in years.
• I met Kristin Chenoweth. Strange but so important.
• I took a really great weekend business intensive and had a breakthrough realization that I want to be on TV. The very week I decided to focus on that, I managed to get myself auditions on Law & Order: SVU and a new Nickelodeon pilot. Without an agent.
• One of my best friends returned from being away on work & we got to watch her television producing debut. Two more got engaged. Two returned to the business with flying colors. My friends are amazing human beings & I’m so proud of them.
• I formed an acting accountability group to keep myself on track & keep myself surrounded with awesome, like-minded folks. I’ve decided to buckle down and get legit reps here & got myself in front of eight agents last week.
• I spoke up & asked for what I wanted several times despite knowing it could really burn me if it didn’t work. However, this technique of bravery seems to totally work.. like personal-emails-from-CEO’s-&-offers-for-meetings-type-of-“work”.
• Traveled to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sausalito & San Diego with one of my best friends to see more of my best friends. And my second best city.
• I blindly emailed a manager I’ve been wanting to meet since I was 11 the night before I left for CA. She emailed me right back & a few days later, we had a great (but intense) meeting. LA does not mess around.
• I made two mega life decisions. They were “woke up one morning & just decided it” kind of things but really, they were a long time coming. And they feel so good.
• Life Coaching rocks, Voice Over rocks. Henry pup extra-rocks. Making every decision with Love rocks.
• & everything else that I am surely not writing about here. Girl’s gotta have some secrets, no?

Don’t get me wrong, dear hearts. There have been various things in the past 12 weeks that were not so fancy, lovely, beautiful & exciting. There were tears, there was struggle & there were lessons to learn - but that’s not what we’re here to focus on, are we? We’re here to see the absolutely incredible joy that is life and splash around in it like puddles of awesome. Truth is, once you start seeing it, it’s impossible to not jump in.

Might keep up, might not. You’ll have to wait & see ;o) Sending you Love & gratefulness always, xx.

The 27th week of this year was July 3-July 9. My little town goes completely bananas over the 4th of July so this week is always a little extra awesomesauce:

• Fourth of July in a one square mile town where there are nuns in the parade, adults applauding kids carrying kegs & an odd awareness for the first time of just exactly where the heck was I raised?! (MOM).
• Road. Trip. Adventure is my comfort zone. (Details to follow on this, hold tight, it’s worth the wait.) Watching my dog take so naturally to a hotel room made me the proudest momma ever. If he could have called for room service and a quick massage, you better bet he would have.
• I finally have running sneakers in both of my homes and, get this - I am actually using them.
•  Taking part in a conference call with people from Argentina to Florida to California - and enjoying the happy reminder of how similar and different we all are.
• Dinner date with the one and only Nance of the pants. FINALLY!
• Spending five hours working on a project for a client only to finally strike gold in the last hour before a meeting. Not only did I think it was gold but they did, too. 
• Late night scrabble. Late night catch up sessions. Late night (r)ice cream.
• Vegan. Caesar. Salad. These people are blowing my mind.
• beachbeachbeachbeachbeach.

Hope your 28th is rocking your socks :) xx

I’m determined to do one of these things every week even if it means doing them almost in the middle of the next week. Week 23 of this year was from June 5-June 11, let’s recap why it was so awesome:

• This week marked my official return to running after many months of not even being able to look at my sneakers. Love/Hate/Love/Hate lands on Love for now.
• I watched an entire day’s worth of The Voice to catch up on the season thus far. I don’t think I’ve ever actually spent a whole day just lounging and watching TV so weirdly, this is a huge accomplishment for me.
• Voice Over auditions are still rocking my world. Finally getting copy for a 12-15 year old after lots of mid 20’s characters. Seeing one of my new agents in shock at how young I can sound made my entire week.
• An afternoon in the sunshine of Central Park with one of my best friends could not even be ruined by a creepy old man. Although he really, really did try.
• Last minute surprise visit from another best friend and her husband! Spending the week with her was amazing but getting to see her six months pregnant was unreal. (The week we are in is my first week with no guests from California in almost a month! Someone come visit!)
• My long awaited reunion with Michael’s Craft Store was just as amazing as I’d imagined it. I’m obsessed with making stuff for kids who have unique names because it was impossible to find anything that said Kerry on it when I was a kid. Luckily, everyone I know is naming their kid something weird! (Sidenote: I really need adult supervision when using a glue gun. Or painting. Or anywhere near glitter and/or stickers.)
• Getting to see The Normal Heart was an incredible blessing. I’m honestly unsure how those actors perform their roles 8 times a week. I would need to sleep every second I wasn’t on stage.
• The Renegade Craft Fair hit Brooklyn! This is only my favorite thing - it’s like Etsy exploding in front of you. If it’s coming to a city near you, definitely go!
• Lunch at Alice’s Tea Cup. Need I say more?

Okay, back to week 24 - hope you are owning the shit out of it. xx

Things you should know about today:

• I gave up shopping for material things I do not need for Lent (aka I’m not buying clothes, bags, shoes, etc etc etc).
• The list of 25 things to do before 25 has officially started and I’m already having a grand time. I’m gonna chalk this up to the paintyhanded being, I think that’s where this idea was inspired from? Yes?
• I meditated this morning for the first time in so long and I’m gonna do it tomorrow morning, too.
• After I meditated, I went to The View. So.. you know.. opposite activities.
•  I won (on TWITTER) a free session with a Casting Director tonight at one of the many studios in NYC. After I read for her, she said, “You just nailed that. That’s exactly what I would want from you in an audition. I can’t even give you any corrections.” And then I almost fell off my chair.
• It took three weeks but I finally caved and ordered food and it just got here so I’m going to go eat all of it right this second.
• I think you are fantastic.

xx

Hi friends :o) This past week (March 13th-19th) came with all sorts of welcomed awesomeness after a stretch of struggling to see the joy that exists all around.

This week did bring it’s own heartache in the wake of the aftermath of the tragedy in Japan and in the lives of many people in my world who lost a family member this week (which was far too many for seven short days). The week also brought sadness within my own family in the form of a diagnosis no one wants to hear. Please know I am in no way choosing to ignore these things or referring to them as awesome; I simply, firmly believe in celebrating every little second of joy. I am praying for you, I am praying with you.

Here’s what made me dance around this week:

• My first full, real week living in this great big city. Finally done unpacking, going back and forth to NJ, being super sick.. just actually living here.
• First ever VoiceOver class! It was even more fun than I had thought it would be and reunited me with my beloved: the recording studio. Oh, how I missed you.
• Playdate with Jessica to talk business, share joy & discuss our favorite pregnant lady :o)
• Baby Ryan’s THIRD birthday on 3/14; FBIL (Future Brother-In-Law) Matt’s birthday on 3/15; Taylor Hanson’s birthday also on 3/14. I will always celebrate the Hanson brothers birthdays. It’s a(n awesome) sickness.
• Henry made it all the way to Central Park on a walk. Watching him choose over and over to trust me and keep walking even though he is terrified of cars/people/etc and then seeing his face light up once he realized we were in the park filled me up with enough Love to last a lifetime. This is maybe a bigger achievement than I can really explain here.
• Babysitting adventure with the cutest little Lincoln in the world. I promised myself I wouldn’t go back to NJ for at least a month and then there I was, one day post-promise, headed to NJ with a baby, his awesome mama & a Broadway veteran who had a lot to teach me. This random gift reminded me we are never in control and we are exactly where we should be!
• Hearing from you and not being completely taken over by it. Little huge victory.
• Weekly date with my girlfriends soulmates from tour & the unbelievable way it shifts every week as to who is in need of the incredible support system that we’ve built. The delicious food doesn’t hurt either (hello cookies from Lavain Bakery <3).
• Momma’s post-surgery checkup went well = great success!
• A surprise message from a pal inviting me to be his guest at his sold-out one night only show. This brought me wisdom & laughter from the likes of Fran Liebowitz (who is CRAZY), Joy Behar (who may very well be my relative), Tegan & Sara (who spoke a sentence that has danced in my mind since) and Brian Williams (who knew who Tegan & Sara were (??) and made it a point to compliment them). This also brought a brand new band into my life (The Walkmen) and a new creative soul (Robert LePage). Oh, and it brought me a visit with this previously mentioned pal.
• Seeing La Cage Aux Folles for the third (!) time - this time to see my favorite papa, Harvey play a role he wrote himself and of course, the fabulous Sean Patrick Doyle. I was reminded of their unbelievable talent but even more so, of their incredible hearts. We raided the candy in Harvey’s dressing room & I watched in awe at pictures of myself flash by in his picture frame slideshow, at the easy way he auctioned off his sunglasses for $1200 for charity and the way he strolled off at the end of the night to drive himself home. For someone so famous, he’s oddly grounded and reminds me to always keep myself in check. Grateful. 
• The magical gift that is the Internet was bestowed upon my home by a lovely man who probably thought I was crazy due to the happiness he brought me.
• Catching myself walking around with a big smile on my face for no reason other than the fact that I am so happy.

Let’s all be super awesome this week, yes? Yes. I think you are fantastic and am sending you beautiful, happy, delicious thoughts. Be well, be happy, be safe. xx

After a month of incredible, this week (Jan 30-Feb 5) kind of felt like a let down.. until I made myself list everything amazing about it a few nights ago (see? I really do make these lists in my head or on paper, it’s not just a blog-ish look-at-my-awesome-life-thing, oh no friends, no it is not. It’s really an everyday thing) and then I immediately felt better:

• Sunday brought the preview of a new Broadway show, The Whipping Man, for free. I always feel fancy when I get comps to shows and am hopeful that feeling will never change. (Thanks, Miss G <3)
• The show was extra neat due to the human sitting next to me. After over a week of no dates due to work whisking him away, I got to see a certain sir again. I was really happy that he had to leave town so early in this dating sitch because it’s a great way to see how someone handles last minute travel/jobs & seemingly stressful situations.. which is pretty much how my entire life works. His calm attitude about the whole thing made my heart breathe easy.
• Between yet another blizzard and my lack of schedule this week, I got the incredible gift of reflecting on just who & what are responsible for my happiness (spoiler alert: the answer is me). Yes, I wore my tiara whilst reflecting.
• Busted out the craft box to make homemade valentines for my girlfriends because they are the loves of my life and always will be despite these silly husbands/boyfriends/partners/etc.
• Finally saw The Fighter. You guys, why did no one tell me about Christian Bale & Melissa Leo and their ridiculous talent in this film? Oh, wait, what’s that? You all did and I didn’t listen? Ah yes, that’s right.. er, um, all right, moving on.. 
• Wednesday & Thursday found me in the presence of said boy again but this time I also brought my panic over having no work to do. It snuck into my bag without me noticing and eventually found it’s way out & into my mind. The good news here is that it gave me a great opportunity to take a step back and figure out what I needed. The other good news is that he didn’t freak out at me freaking out. The bad news? No, there is no bad news. (Also, since I know you read this: hello, mister. I’ll stop writing about you now, promise.)
• Pancake date with Ronen = cure for previously mentioned panic & basically everything else that could ever need curing.
• A night out with my tour girlfriends/lovesofmylife saw not one but TWO dinners (we like to eat) and a kick-ass new musical at LaMaMa featuring Miss Hannah busting. some. mooovveess <3.
• Reunited with my college roomie in her beautiful new apartment & I made a new puppyfriend named Dexter. Win-win.
• On Friday something amazing & awesome happened. I’m gonna keep the details of this to myself but imagine who you would love to have a conversation about life with. Pick a person who you don’t know in real life (yet) but really admire and who does something for a living that you are aching to do. Then imagine that person getting in touch with you and telling you to come meet with them. My brain and my heart were having a dance party like no other. This conversation could not have come at a better time and at the risk of sounding like I’m exaggerating, I feel like this person changed my entire life in 30 minutes.

To be honest, I like weeks like this sometimes. Any kind of struggling - whether it be with yourself, your life, your relationships - can be great when it’s seen as a chance for growth. That annoying, ancy feeling usually means I need to sit the heck down, breathe, focus, write or take care of myself in some way that I’m neglecting. Plus, I enjoy being able to reflect on all the little things I usually miss. (Someone remind me of this the next time I’m freaking out with “nothing” to do. K, great, thanks <3) 

Have a footballish day (if that’s your thing) and a sunshiney week :o)