Category Archives: Money

My Vision Board

Good evening!

Tonight I had the opportunity to spend some more time with my sister, Alex! We spent the evening finishing up our design boards. Last Thursday, I promised you that as soon as I was done with it, I would take a picture of my design board and share it with you.

So, here it is…

Ok, so I am not sure how well you can see this, but I can explain the gist of what I am dreaming of for 2011.

If I had to narrow this vision board down to one word, it would be PEOPLE. More specifically friends and family. I want a small tight-knit-group of girlfriends  that I can let down my guard with and just be myself while going out making memories, and having a blast doing things that girlfriends do!!! I would love to have a baby, or at least get the ball rolling in that direction. I would love to travel with my sweetie to Europe. I want to have my own business dealing in beautiful home furnishings, to take a ton of photographs to share, and I want to go hiking, camping, and get out and be all around more athletic. I know, I live in the Pacific Northwest, and I have never had an outdoorsy bone in body, UNTIL NOW that is!!! Oh, yeah – how could I almost forget – I want my little farm, with it’s gardens and walking trails, and memories – you know, I WANT TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!! 😉 Ok, no – too much responsibility, but I am sure you get the idea!! LOL!! 😉

I want to do everything and anything that feeds my soul.
I want to be the me that I was put on this earth to be,
in the time that I have been gifted.
Now is the perfect time!! 😉

Do any of you have vision boards that you would be willing to share?? I would love to see some!! Let me know in the comments above! 🙂

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

Carpe Diem!!

Good morning!!

The first thing I heard on the radio this morning was “Carpe Diem!” What a FABULOUS sentiment!! Seize the day!!!! It got me to thinking, what can I do today to seize the day???

I have a long day at work ahead of me, so at work I can seize the day by deciding to have a good day, or deciding to look for the fun in my job, or maybe I can hum a happy tune all day, just so I feel happy, in the moment!!

CARPE DIEM!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!!!

In my physical life, I can remember how fresh, and delicious dinner was last night, and look to eat like that all day. I can make my physical self more of a priority, and get those things done that I have been procrastinating on, such as exercising – swimming could be a lot of fun!?!?! Or maybe a nice walk through our neighborhood! or even just getting out of the house – what a novel concept!!!

CARPE DIEM!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!!!

I am going to seize the day for sure, by making sure that my finances get paid, including money going directly to my savings account!!! It is going to take me a little while to get out of debt, but I have done it once before and it is GOING TO FEEL GREAT when I have done it again!!!

CARPE DIEM!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!!!

I also am going to try and make a point to reach out to my friends and family today to make sure they know that I love them, and how much they mean to me. I don’t think I express that often enough, especially since I don’t live close to most any of my family.

CARPE DIEM!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!!!

But, I think MOST OF ALL, I am going to live my day in grattitude! Be thankful for all that the good Lord has provided for me and my loved ones. Thankful for all of the blessings, and the lessons and opportunities in the struggles!

YES! TODAY IS GOING TO BE A GREAT DAY!!!

Oh, and maybe my camera will get her today! 😉 Once it does I am going to flood this place with pics!! OH, I CAN NOT WAIT!!! ;- )

I would love to hear some of your ideas how you can go about seizing your day today!! Please let me know in the comments above!

CARPE DIEM!!!! SEIZE THE DAY!!!

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉

A Night of Vision Boarding!!

Good evening!!

I just got finished spending an EXTREMELY FUN evening vision boarding with my sis and niece!!! I am a firm believer in the power of vision boards. I think that is because a vision board forces you to think about what you want, make decisions about what is important enough to actually make the cut (hee! hee! hee!), and it causes you to spend time cutting, designing, and gluing a board that is completely and totally focused on your dreams! I don’t think that vision boards are magical in any way, but I do think that it helps your subconscious remember what you want, and in turn help you see signs that point you in the right direction to get those goals! Ok, maybe that does sound a little magical, but I know for me – they work!!

Here are some sample vision boards (note: these are not mine, I have found these from various sources on the web.) As soon as my new camera gets in, I will take pics of mine and give you a play-by-play!! 😉

Aren’t they just interesting?!?

I just LOVE looking at other peoples’ vision boards. They can tell you so much about people. What they value, want to experience, learn, do, be, have! I think vision boards are highly intriguing!! That might just be because I am highly curious and people really interest me. It is amazing how much time and effort people are willing to put into these things (including me)!!! BUT it is EVEN MORE AMAZING how helpful these AWESOME TOOLS are!!! They are so unique, and ABSOLUTELY PERFECT to the creator of the board. I would highly encourage you to get out some magazines, scissors, glue, a sheet of paper, and see what you can come up with for yourself!!

I can’t wait to be able to share mine with you! Soon, soon, soon!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Day 19 of 60 Day Life Makeover!

Good morning!!

I hope what they say is true, that ‘slow and steady win the race’. Today is day 19 of my 60 Day Life Makeover – I bet you thought I forgot about that! 😉 Today is day 19 of my Life Makeover plan, with means the first third of that time has passed!! It has been a while since I posted anything on my progress for this, so I thought today would be a good day to do that!!!

Just a reminder, here are my 60 Day Life Makeover goals:

  1. Lose 20 pounds
  2. Sock away an extra $1000 into savings
  3. Find a church home
  4. Clean, organize, and purge our entire home of unloved and/or unused belongings from top to bottom
  5. Purchase and refinish one piece of furniture to sell to get the ball rolling on getting paid to do what I love

Progress Update:

  1. Lose 20 pounds. Well, so far I have lost 2.2 pounds. The problem in this area is that I have let myself have too many, ‘Oh, who cares?’ moments. So I have to keep picking myself up off of the floor and jump back on to my own bandwagon, so to speak!! I JUST CAN’T GIVE UP ON MYSELF!!! With Jason doing all of the food prep in the house, that is working out really well for me, as long as I am the one continuing to decide what is on the menu! 😉 Now I have just got to get myself re-committed to my swimming – being as heavy as I am, and with all of the over abundance of walking I did last year to train for the 60 -Mile Walk, my knees, ankles, and feet hurt almost constantly – so swimming it has to be for the time being, which is kind of nice because I like swimming!!!
  2. Sock away an extra $1000 into savings. The idea behind this goal was to find a way to make money, outside of my job, to create this extra money. So far, I have been able to create $166.73, so far, mainly by selling my belongings through eBay. Although I am not LOVING doing this – it is actually costing me A LOT of money, and time to manage this – I have to find another way. So, I am back to researching at this point.
  3. Find a church home. Having grown up in the church, it is important for me to feel like I belong to a church family. Church hopping has been not too productive yet, but we have been out there again, which feels pretty good!! I just have to stop letting being in a bad/sad/grumpy mood (or the mood du jour) keep me from getting my butt out there, and GET GOING!!!
  4. Clean, organize, and purge our entire home of unloved and/or unused belongings from top to bottom. Believe it or not, I am still working on my FIRST ROOM!!! Now, that may not be too surprising to those of you who have seen my craft room/office – it is a HEAP-A-MESS!!! AND I DID start with my ABSOLUTE SCARIEST ROOM, but I think for the most part, I have gotten all of the piles under control. Right now, I am just getting these piles either donated, recycled, trashed, or put away! I think the biggest success I can say about this room is that it is FINALLY being USED!!! It is no longer the MYSTERIOUS CLOSED DOOR!!! I have a long way to go, but I am optimistic that it will be a clean, organized, clutter free space – I just have to be diligent!!!
  5. and FINALLY, Purchase and refinish one piece of furniture to sell to get the ball rolling on getting paid to do what I love. This goal will not only make me happy, but it will REALLY help with goal #2. I haven’t done ANYTHING on this goal yet, but I was watching the Nate Berkus show last evening, and he had a guest that he called the Dumpster Diva, and I GOT TOTALLY INSPIRED!!! She basically goes out once a week, in a van, and picks up all sorts of free furniture and stuff that people have tossed, and she completely refinishes it, WHICH IS SOOOOO WHAT I WANT TO DO!!! Her home was BEAUTIFUL, and apparently she has a whole group of girlfriends who she does this with. She calls this junk night, they meet for dinner someplace and then they head out TREASURE HUNTING!!! Now, I don’t have any girlfriends that I can think of that will do this with me, at least not yet, but the idea of recycling other peoples’ trash into treasures, sounds DIVINE!!! After the show, all I could think was “I CAN DO THAT!!!!” I can, and I will!!!

So there you go!! I have a LOOOONG WAY TO GO, but I am proud of myself that I haven’t quit!!! With that, I am going to go finish getting ready for work, and I will post more later!

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉

Started Out Strong & Peter’ed Out!!!

When I woke up this morning, I had every intention of doing EVERY SINGLE THING ON MY TO-DO LIST TODAY!!! I started out strong, motivated, driven, and I even did the scariest things from my to-do list first!!!

After I had accomplished about 4 or 5 things, my energy level absolutely plummeted!!! What’s up with that??? Plus, during my walk today, within the last block of the 3-miles, in the freezing rain, I turned my ankle!

“OUCH, it’s ok, it’s ok, I am just going to walk it off!”

Well, after about two hours after getting home and doing some more chores, I realized that not only did I hurt my ankle, I tweaked by lower back and pulled a muscle in my leg! Doesn’t that just figure???? LOL! It’s all good! as of tonight, only my leg is a little ach-ey, so I am sure by morning I will be back to 100%

Jason and I starting to struggle a little bit right now on vacation! We are starting to get a little antsy and bored! I can hear my mom saying,

“Get outside, and go find out something to do!!”

So, starting tomorrow, we are going to have to get creative in what our activity options for the rest of this week are!!! I need to pretend we are hanging out of the beach house (oh, how we miss thee!), and do the same kind of things that we would do if we were there!!

An update on my To-Do List from today is:

  • Blog – Done
  • Walking plan – 3 miles – DONE!!! YEAH!!!
  • Track Food – Done
  • Drink 2 Liters of water – Working on it!
  • File my stack of creative paperwork – Started
  • Read for at least 1/2 an hour – Done
  • Write letter to my sponsor child – Done
  • Mail it – No
  • Organize bills – Started
  • Update electronic monthly bill tracker – Started
  • Finish Laundry – Done (Thank you, Honey!!!)
  • Eyebrow wax appointment – Rescheduled to next week
  • Bathe Faye – Done
  • Bathe Sophie – Done
  • Sort all magazines (HUGE project!!) – Started
  • Create a journal bookmark for my planner – No
  • Go swimming with Jason – make time for play!!! – No
  • Go to bed by 11 – That is still the goal!

I am getting ready to go upstairs and get some more filing done!!

In the meantime…

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

60 Day Life Makeover – Part 2

Good morning!

I have been giving a lot of thought to the idea of a 60 day life makeover!

Goals, to be successfully achieved have to be measurable, have a target deadline, and have to be believable!

A timed life makeover challenge could be a GREAT push to get me going in the direction that will get me in to where I want to be, but I also can’t try to shoot for so many thing at once, lest I overwhelm myself and give up!!!

My top 5 60-day goals are:

  1. Lose 20 pounds. This body will only carry me for so long, and being at the weight I am is truly starting to become a hindrance, and an anchor to where and what I want to be doing.
  2. Find a church home. I NEED a church home.
  3. Clean, organize, purge my house from top to bottom, so everything in it has a home.
  4. Purchase, refinish, and sell one piece of furniture to slowly but surely get my business off the ground.
  5. Put $1000 extra away to help build my wealth.

There, that wasn’t so hard. WHEW!!! 😉

So, I will start on January 1, 2011, and I will have 60 days to accomplish these goals. In a day or so, I will come back with these larger goals broken down into weekly smaller actions that will help me attain these goals – Tony Robbins calls this “chunking”, to make larger goals more manageable by chunking them down into smaller bits!!

I will be back, in the meantime…

Have a FABULOUS day!! 😉

Early Birds!

Well, I had some early bird family members join me a little before Christmas this evening. My little sister Jennifer, and her husband, Austin, came up from Roseburg to visit for the next 2 days, since they have to work both days before and after Christmas, and we were sure if we would get the opportunity to spend some time hanging out together!! They are taking a quick trip to Portland and will be back later this evening!

Jason is also out this evening, I am not sure what exactly he is doing, but if I were to really think about it, I would know that he is out getting his last minute Christmas shopping finished!!

SO, I am just taking a moment to enjoy the quiet evening here at the manse…er uhm…ok, so manse might be quite the overstatement, but you know!! Anyway, I have been browsing some books that my sis-in-law had stored in her trunk that she had ready for thrifting. I LOVE reading, but I am having some serious difficulties getting into a book right now. My mind seems to constantly be running – lack of focus! I want to find a good book that has some  romance, passion, camaraderie, hilarity, a tricky mystery, and some kind of ironic twist that ends with a happy ending!! Is that too much to ask???? LOL!! I know!!

Jason just got home – it looks like he has gotten enough baking supplies to do some serious damage to the kitchen I just got cleaned up from his last baking day!! I still love that man – that bakin’ fool o’ mine!!! 😉

Anyway, I am planning on hitting the hay early tonight, so off to get ready for bed I go!!

Have a FABULOUS evening! 🙂

Good Morning!

I have often heard that the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expect to get a different result. Well, being someone who is a creature of habit, I find myself reflecting on this idea a lot. I wonder if I am in a rut, and if so, what needs a good shaking up in my life!!! I think that my natural self is to be very nomadic, moving from one place to another, one activity to another, but that all changed when I lost my mom when I was younger. Now, movement and change is something that I have to purposefully concentrate on, otherwise I find I end up getting stagnant!! EW – that just sounds gross, but I am sure you know what I mean!!

I have 3 main areas of my life that really need my attention right now: my weight, my finances, and my home. So, when I woke up this morning, I asked myself what are some different actions that I can take to help improve these 3 areas in my life? So, I decided to make a list:

  1. Avoid the snooze!! When my alarm goes off in the morning, and I hit snooze, I really am awake, so basically I am just wasting sometimes up to 2 hours wasting time “trying to get a little more sleep”. Not today – up with the morning rooster!!!
  2. Get ready for work before anything else!! That way, when I have extra time left over, I am able to get any other things needing to get done before I head out to the office, and still be on time!
  3. Put me back on my to-do list! Now, I have a tendency to create a mental daily to-do list, and then cut out anything that would be too hard, or any “I don’t wannas” – not today! I am going to GO EAT THOSE FROGS!!!
  4. I am going to take my daily walk this morning, even if that means walking in the rain. I usually “try” to get my walk in at lunch time, and because work is usually so busy, it is super easy to find ANY excuse to not go – so today, there is no hesitation – it gets done first!!
  5. I am going to spend at least an hour, actually focusing on my finances today – they have been neglected far too long. Now, I don’t mean that my bills don’t get paid, but what I mean is that they are usually paid electronically, and I don’t always know how much money I am paying for what, or to what! So, I need to start living my life on purpose, and I know that having financial wealth is the key to true freedom to choose what I want to do, so now is the time to get that in check!!!
  6. and last but not least, I want more than anything to sell our condo and move into my home – wherever that may be. My husband and I daydream about owning a house on a small parcel of land, where we can create, and grow, and thrive, and make memories with our family and friends. I know that is out there somewhere, and I am so anxious to get started on that portion of our lives, but if I don’t start taking some kind of action to move in that direction – it will sadly never happen, and I just cannot sit idly by as we let our dream life is pass us by. So, today I want to do at least one project in the house that will make me feel like I am on my way!!!

Anyway, I am off to go get my morning walk in!!

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 🙂

Putting My House On a Diet!

I am seriously thinking about putting my house on a diet. We have a really small place, and seemingly a whole TON of stuff. OK, I know this seems like a REALLY random thought, but let me tell you what brought this on. I have a friend who is a financial adviser for, let’s just say, for people who have WAAAAAY more money than I have. Anyway, he sent me a whole bunch of information today on how I can make my financial dreams come true, and HOLY MOLY!! I realized I have a lot of work to do, the first HUGE thing I need to do is to get myself COMPLETELY out of debt, AGAIN (I have done this once before believe it or not!) Once that is done, I have to figure out how to figure out how to live with only 50% of my income!!! AAAAGH!!! Can you imagine??? So I either have to learn how to live with a whole lot less, or I have to learn how to make more money!! Which brings me back to putting my house on a diet. While I am trying to decide what small business I can start in my free time, I thought I would try selling some of my literally hundreds of unused items from our house. Kind of like an online garage sale!! I am not sure how to make this happen though – so I thought I would just throw it out to the universe and see if maybe anyone out there had any ideas??? Let me know in the comment section – I would be greatly appreciative for the help!!! 🙂

Thanks, and have a FABULOUS evening! 😉