End of The Tour; End of the Year
Working in Public -- A Recap from 2020 and Personal Goals for 2021
Completion of a Crazy Year
To state the obvious, 2020 was an insane year…
After 7 weeks on the road, Anthony and I made it back to our home safe and PCR verified COVID-19 free! The first stop when we got to town wasn’t our own home but the home Anthony grew up in where both of his parents still reside. Returning from our trip was too monumental of a moment to share with only ourselves. We needed smiles and affirmation that we in fact MADE IT BACK!!!!
It was 9 pm on December 20, 2020, as we turned on to the block and started joyously honking the horn of our new car. We were back home! We actually completed the vision of the tour and the actual tour! What a special moment it was to be back from such a carefully calculated “mission”.
Quick Overview of Our 2020
January 2020: Started year by attending Anthony’s Olympic Qualifying Judo Tournament in Montréal, Canada – We spent most of January in Montreal enjoying the FREEZING cold and amazing food.
February 2020: Most of the month spent at our home in Brooklyn, NY; Quick visit to my girl Hyler in Philly
March 2020: Quarantine talk was looming at the beginning of the month; Attended the last concert ever at MSG before COVID-19; as lock-down began to kick off we left Brooklyn to stay with Anthony’s parents in Spring Lake (after all it was only going to be for 2 weeks right………..)
April 2020: Quarantine was seemingly here to stay so we relocate to my parent’s second home in Upstate New York to begin our “second” quarantine and 6 weeks in the wilderness
May 2020: We came up with a plan on how to move from Brooklyn, NY to Spring Lake, NJ and we made it happen; We also got engaged on the Beach on Washington Ave on May 30, 2020!
June-August 2020: Adjusting to living in Spring Lake, 3 blocks from the Ocean. Slowly learning to surf and enjoy Beach life and life outside of the city for the first time in 10 years (Kelly; Anthony grew up here)
September 2020: We hosted our Engagement Celebration at Kelly’s parent’s house in Lyndhurst, NJ
October 2020: The idea to drive to California and back to visit Kelly’s sister looms; transforming the idea into a live stream music tour forms and planning to execute begins
November 2020: The Blind Busking Tour kicks off in Washington DC on November 3, 2020, playing in front of the White House on Election Day 2020; We decided to buy a new car on the second stop of the Tour; We made it to California for Thanksgiving!
December 2020: The Blind Busking Tour continues through to the last performance on December 21, 2020; We made it home for Christmas!
Fun Statistics from The Blind Busking Tour
Miles Driven on Old Car: 800
Miles Driven on New Car: 9,046
Number of States Driven Through: 22
Speeding Tickets Received: 1
Days spent on Tour: 39
Airbnbs stayed in: 10
Hotels stayed in: 7
Campgrounds stayed in: 1
Teepees stayed in: 1
Places we crashed at for free thanks to friends & family: 7
Photos, Videos, Time lapses Taken on the Go Pro: over 600GB on our photo memory card!!!!
Special Shout Outs to Our Friends & Family who Housed us Along the Way
Raychel & Antonio – Austin, TX
Jen & Hank – Taos, NM
Franny, Applesauce, Porkchop & Olive – Denver, CO
Karis & Petey – Burnt Ranch, CA
Grace, Ellie & Iggy – Venice Beach, CA
Matt & Dylan – San Diego, CA
Karly & Josh – Sandusky, OH
What happened to Writing Posts for Each Stop?
Before we set out on Tour, I had originally hoped to write blog posts to pair with each stop of the journey. I am STILL planning on writing these posts but keeping up with them while on the journey started to add a significant amount of stress to the day to day flow. I wanted to write a recap of each place, outline highlights & lowlights from the stop + links to cool places, epic pictures that were taken, and a link to the podcast and YouTube video from each stop. WOW! I loved the format but when most of our stops were only a day, I began keeping bullet points in my notebook and keeping up with my personal journal.
Excuses; also known as reasons why I wasn’t able to keep up with LIVE writing on the trip
I overcommitted to the layout I wanted to put out there for each post
It became difficult to balance working, sleeping, sourcing food, eating, taking pictures, taking recordings, picking live stream locations, booking accommodations, and enjoying the actual trip
Internet speeds made it impossible to upload videos and pictures with such short stopovers in some places
Writing small notes along the way in the outline of the posts became a good substitute
In retrospect, I would have kept up with the writing live no matter the cost of energy or time
Perhaps I will have less work in the future or more support with the driving and the writing can be prioritized. I am trying not to live in regret for the lack of working in public writing pieces I put out during the tour. To counter this regret I am committing to myself to finish the posts no matter the cost in the original format I planned to release them in.
Extending an act of grace to myself to not worry about when the writings are done but focusing on getting them done
What to Expect from the Blind Busking Live Stream Tour Content
Publish my Blog posts from each stop of the journey – here are a sample of the first few that were published: DC, Asheville, Nashville, Memphis, Jackson
Host Video premieres on Anthony’s YouTube from each stop of the journey
Pictures posted on Anthony’s Instagram for each stop of the journey
Post video footage from the journey to YouTube – We are currently looking for a videographer to help us out if you are one or know someone, please reach out!!
Personal Goals for 2021
Since NYE 2018 leading to 2019, Anthony and I have sat down on New Year’s Eve or New Years Day and defined goals for both ourselves and our couple unit. We write ourselves a letter and seal it and open it the next year on New Year’s day to see how we were thankful the year before.
This year I want to share some of my personal goals with the public. These are more high-level “rocks” and will need to be broken down over the year to make them manageable and attainable. I am looking forward to looking back on this and seeing how far we come.
*These goals are listed in no particular order:
Finish & publish all Blind Busking Tour writing, YouTube and Instagram posts
Ship 30 in 30 challenge for writing
Submit more of my work for editorial review and feedback
Provide more feedback on others writing (Thank you, Compound Writing!)
Plan our wedding and actually GET MARRIED!!
Begin making any amount of money from writing or cooking; decide + pursue
Take a writing course
Take a cooking course
Read 12 books
Make a local friend
Practice discipline more often
Find new ways to show love to my partner
Continue to follow my heart
If you came for the pictures here are some of our favorites from 2020
Thank you to anyone following along!!
Here’s to an even better 2021!!