I’m totally a list person. I love lists, they help me feel like I’m making progress when I’m tackling something big, and they help me not forget things when there’s a lot of moving parts. It’s been a little while since I’ve checked in with my goals list. In April I’d posted “36 in 365,” a list of goals to work towards within the next year. Here’s a partial update on where I am making some headway…

3. edit new commercial and animation demos

I’ve compiled and edited a new commercial demo. There was some material from my old demo that I felt was still very representative of my sound and range so I kept those in the mix. I find it really helpful to send my demo out to a few people for reviews before I commit to it. The voiceover community is very helpful if you’re willing to ask for help. My friends found a few things that could be improved upon and I feel more confident that I’m representing myself well with this mostly new material. I also have my imaging demo online, with voicework I do for a station in Tucson. I think nailing down 2 audiobook demos is next on the demo production list, but it feels good to have a new commercial demo put together.

6. stick to a realistic workout routine that fits my lifestyle (ongoing, check in every 2 months)

OK, oops, I forgot to check in back in June. :) However, since making this post, I’ve been more consistently working out 3 days a week. I’ve been thrown off a few weeks here or there with friends and family in town, but I’d definitely say it’s my routine. Isn’t that always the hardest part, building the routine and sticking with it?

15. learn how to use Photojunction —AND—

28. create parents’ albums with our wedding photos using Photojunction

15 – My husband Andy and I own and run a bi-coastal photography business, de L’oeil Photography, which primarily shoots weddings, family portraits and things of that nature. As part of the post-process, sometimes the newlyweds will budget for an album or a coffeetable book. Photojunction is the industry standard for book layouts, and it would be very helpful to our workflow if both of us knew our way around it. I attended an online seminar and spent some time creating page layouts until I felt comfortable with the program. One of my minors in college was in graphic design, so it reminded me of my time with InDesign or Quark, except more user-friendly.

28 – Andy led the charge on putting together a parent album of our wedding photos. We gave one away the other week and it seemed the bring back the joy of the day for them.

29. learn a new craft or take an old hobby up a notch

This one deserves a nod to our friends Michael and Jill, who have recently started a new delicious blog if you’re into frozen treats. I had their homemade mexican chocolate ice cream this Spring and went head over heels about the idea based on their results. The control over what I can put in homemade frozen desserts fits my leaner, greener way of approaching food preparation. Basically, it boils down to that I read labels and try to keep crap out of my body, like partially-hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, extra chemicals for color or preservatives that for the most part you don’t need if you can instead buy fresh or make from scratch. For a few years I’ve made our own bread in a breadmaker to get away from junky additives. Now, I’ve learned how to make our own sorbets (wow, that’s like half sugar – only made it twice) and my more typical treat: gelato. The favorite so far is blueberry-raspberry-pineapple. Yesterday I made my first attempt with lemon-lime gelato and found that that I’ll need to add less water and more sugar than my other recipes. It’s a delicious bit of trial and error, and definitely a new hobby others can appreciate!

Another round of updates coming later this week, including trips to not-so-faraway lands, how I’m not technically a crazy cat lady (even though we just picked up a stray) and my plans to grow stuff other than cactus in a 4ft x 8ft garden in the middle of the Sonoran Desert.