• GOALS Archive •

The minute I would tell someone that our house was on the market, my statement would be followed up with their question, “Where are you going to go?”  For the longest time, I didn’t have an answer.  I wasn’t sure if we would end up in a condo downtown or renting an apartment.  All I knew was it wouldn’t be in Youngsville because we are way too far north on the map right now.

We recently decided what would work best for us and made plans.  Plans I had become increasingly excited about.  We would sell the house, buy some land and build our dream home.  Not an outlandish, lavish or oversized house.  A small and quaint one filled with personal details and desires.  Like a gigantic shower.  I  hate the small shower in our home.  And apparently so did the last couple that looked at our house because that was their stated reason for not wanting to make an offer.

My dad is a general contractor and built every house I grew up in.  It never really impressed me as a child but as an adult, it’s mind blowing.  Amazing that he could take a plot of land and board by board, brick by brick, build an entire house.  I would joke that one day he would build me a house.  A joke that over the years became a consideration and ultimately developed into a plan.  A plan to sell our house and have my dad build a new one.  I couldn’t think of anything more meaningful than having the hands that raised me construct the house that would finish raising me.

But we’re stuck.  Our home is priced too high for our neighborhood.  We can’t compete with the new construction and we can’t lower the price without losing too much money. We’ve had five or six showings but to no avail. The days on market are increasing and our hope to sell is diminishing.  We both know our next step won’t be drawing up house plans.  We’ll have to take it off of the market, try to build a little more equity and give it another go next year.

It’s disappointing when you make plans and then life reworks them.  But this is just a classic case of trusting that the timing isn’t right.  There are other plans I can’t see that are being drawn up, engineered and developed.  And when the timing is right, it will make complete sense.  And by it I mean why we purchased a house we couldn’t afford in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the 2008 real estate market crash and in a development that went bankrupt a week after we closed.

There are some plans I do intend on following through with which are my July goals.  I have a lot to accomplish this month in order to check off a slew of items on my 30 before 30 list and in order to position myself in a comfortable spot before the Fall wedding season creeps up and consumes my life.  So below is my “Plan A” for the month of July and should something not go according to that plan, I’ll keep my cool because there are still 25 more letters in the alphabet.

June Goals

The Bizniz
1.  Clean up the van. – The van is sitting pretty at the repair shop. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.

2.  Schedule a schedule. – My entire month of July has been plotted and scheduled.

3.  Order all needed promotional material. – In the works. Aprons and business cards for my girls, a new twitter background, updated Look Book and website updates are all in the works.

4.  Start contributing to Carolina Style Magazine. - Stay tuned.

Life
1.  Visit an amusement park I’ve never been to. – Done. Read about it here.

2.  Indulge in an unusual spa service. – Scheduled for tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it goes.

3. Go have an eye exam. – Also scheduled for tomorrow. I’m not sure why I’m so nervous about an eye exam.

4.  Order a fabulous dress. – My fabulous dress should be at my doorstep when I get home and here’s to hoping it fits and looks as fantastic in person as it did online.

July Goals

The Bizniz
1.  Settle all van issues. – The van needs to be cleaned. I need to go get a special permit to get the van inspected in order to get the tag in order to drive it for the next year.

2.  Stick to my new blog schedule. – Here’s to me following through on something I really, really need to.  Today’s post is a good start.

3.  Distribute business cards. – There are some amazing vendors and venues who need a little reminder that I adore them and they also need some of my business cards so they can hopefully tell other people they adore me too.

4.  Decide on the OE headquarters. - I dream. A lot. Sometimes the dreams are bigger than I can comprehend and even when they seem ridiculously crazy, I believe in them.

Life
1.  Go to a hookah lounge. – If we’re being technical, I already accomplished this because I actually created a hookah lounge at one of my last weddings and it had to be tested before opening it to the wedding guests.  But I’ll keep it legit and actually go to a hookah establishment.

2.  Send my grandmother flowers unexpectedly. – This one will be easy.  And who doesn’t like a surprise bouquet of flowers?

3. Write a letter to myself to open in ten years. – Boy do I have some stuff to tell myself.  Here’s to hoping that when I open the letter at age 40, I’ll be able to say that the way some things are today are the way they used to be.

4.  Celebrate Brooke’s 30th. – This gal has become one of my closest and dearest friends and I am so excited to get dolled up and party the night away for her birthday.

5.  Pay a stranger’s restaurant bill. – I swear this crosses my mind every time I go out to eat. I just keep waiting for some sign because I want it to be really meaningful to the recipient.

If you’re still reading, which gosh I hope you are, I have some words of wisdom.  If someone says they could kill you with a straw and toothpick, believe them.  At lunch today with my dad and brother, my dad was determined to prove to me that you could seriously hurt someone MacGyver style with just a drinking straw and flagged toothpick.  I was the test dummy who stupidly and willingly put up my hand as dad blew a toothpick into my palm.  I’m not kidding.  It stuck in my hand and drew blood.  And that pretty much sums up my family.  Until next time. (Which will be tomorrow by the way because I’m sticking to this new plan.)

It’s June.  I’m not sure how that happened.  We are almost halfway through another year which is frightening. This month has flown by because I’m literally living weekend to weekend, wedding to wedding.  I had a really rocky start this year.  One that shook me to my core and instilled copious amounts of doubt into things I had been so certain about.  I began to seriously question what I was doing and if I was even any good at it.  I felt as though I had been set up to fail.

And then I had my first wedding.  And another one followed.  And before I knew it, it was mid-June and I had successfully completed 15 weddings with 15 happy brides who reminded me I was doing exactly what was meant for me.  We all need a little shake up every now and then.  A reminder to not take what we’ve been blessed with for granted.  To appreciate who we are, who we’re with and what we’re doing.  To place emphasis on the positive and re-focus for the future.

I had a humbling moment this week.  I reached 100 reviews on WeddingWire.  That’s a lot of weddings.  A lot of feedback.  A lot of positive reinforcement from the past five years.  I feel incredibly fortunate to have had the pleasure to meet so many different families and to have been a part of such a pivotal life moment for so many couples.  And since I’m already tooting my own horn, I might as well go ahead and mention that Orangerie Events was a finalist for the Best of the Triangle award in the Event/Wedding Planner category.  Apparently the award is fan-voted and my chances at scoring the title would have probably increased slightly had I known I was even nominated.  I guess you should be thankful I didn’t know and didn’t flood your social media with my desperate pleas for you to vote.  Nonetheless, I do feel honored that someone out there took the initiative to put my name in the hat.  I somehow managed to still squeeze out among the top despite me having zero clue it was happening.

I’ve once again procrastinated and have failed to post my monthly goals at the beginning of the month.  I’m really hoping I can get my act together in July. Regardless, here’s a recap and current standing of my May goals and some predictions for the rest of June.

May Goals

The Bizniz
1.  Catch up on emails. – This will be an ongoing and daily battle. But in comparison to where I was last year at this time, it’s a vast improvement.

2.  Fix my slush machine. – The slush machine is presently undergoing surgery and is expected to make a full recovery within the next two weeks.

3.  Finish strong. – I’ve had some of my most memorable and favorite weddings over the last few weeks.  I can’t wait to share them with you.  Especially the one where guests thought they were attending an engagement party.  (Side note – We started planning this surprise wedding long before all the celebrities caught on and decided to make it a up and coming trend.)

Life
1.  Go camping. – Done. Read about it here.

2.  Go fishing. – Finito.

3.  Go have an eye exam. – I rewarded myself with Ray-Ban sunglasses before completing the eye exam. Oops. Planning on accomplishing this small task by the end of this month.

June Goals

The Bizniz
1.  Clean up the van. – I have a really cool work van that looks like total sketch balls right now.  It has a makeshift tag. It’s filthy and unmarked.  And this past weekend, someone hit the driver’s side mirror and knocked it off.  It’s time to get the thing cleaned up, properly labeled and in tip top shape. I would also like to note that as I was setting up a wedding with the florist on Saturday, I began telling him about the mirror falling off only to find out he was the culprit.  Oh the irony.

2.  Schedule a schedule. – It’s weird how this business goes in waves. How there are really busy seasons and then slower weeks.  How some weeks you feel incredibly inspired and other weeks you feel as though you’re completely spent.  I’m inspired right now. I’m fascinated by what I could become. And I know the next step to making those dreams juggling around in my head a reality is to implement a schedule and stick to it.

3.  Order all needed promotional material. – I need some business card sleeves. I need to switch out some pictures online and I need to update my twitter page since they’ve changed the format.  I feel confident I can take care of all of this by the end of the month.

4.  Start contributing to Carolina Style Magazine. - I have the opportunity to become a contributing writer to Carolina Style and I am so excited.  Stay tuned for my first official article next month!

Life
1.  Visit an amusement park I’ve never been to. – I’ll be checking this off the 30 before 30 next week in celebration of my brother’s 26th birthday!

2.  Indulge in an unusual spa service. – Since the past two months have been so hectic and somewhat stressful, I intend on pampering myself while embracing a new Chinese form of healing. I’m looking forward to a very unusual spa service and blogging about my experience.  And just in case that experience isn’t relaxing, which I don’t expect it to be, I have a facial booked to make up for it.

3. Go have an eye exam. – Since I failed to do so last month, we’ll go ahead and get this one taken care of next week.

4.  Order a fabulous dress. – I have a fantastic birthday party coming up next month and I’m running out of time to purchase an unforgettable Great Gatsby dress.  

There you have it.  A little late but better late than never.  I know, I know.  Never late is better.  Thanks Drake.  Speaking of artists, if you aren’t alternating between the new Maroon 5 song “Maps” and the new Lana Del Rey album “Ultraviolence,” you’re silly.  Here’s to a June full of river floatin’, back porch sittin’ and firefly watchin’.

I feel like I’m 12 today. I’m wearing denim on denim, a Mickey Mouse tee and Converse sneakers.  Not to mention, I actually purchased a CD this morning.  I can’t remember the last time I went to the store to buy a hard copy of an album but if Target is going to give me three extra Coldplay songs then you better believe I’ll be there right when the doors open.

May has been a good month.  It certainly snuck up on me and flew by and here I am, twenty days in and blogging for the first time.  Partly due to the fact that I’ve been busy with weddings and partly due to the fact that I’ve felt a bit censored.  Afraid I’ll say the wrong thing or expose something I shouldn’t have.  I felt as though it was better for me to not say anything at all if what I wanted to say needed to be diluted.

In case you didn’t know, my dad is the quirkiest person I know and I absolutely love that about him.  He accompanied me to a concert a few weeks ago in Charlotte.  Keep in mind, he’s 60 years old, it was a Friday night and it was to see a band he had never heard of, Johnnyswim.  During our drive from Raleigh to the Queen City, I learned all about the spacecraft that sucked a woman from her high-rise apartment in the middle of New York City.  Hundreds of on-lookers saw it happen but the woman doesn’t remember the extraction and the government has the evidence hidden.  Strangely enough, my dad called my brother this past Saturday night and told him he just saw a UFO spaceship and then proceeded to text him a blurry picture of the sky claiming it soared away when his camera flashed.  I can’t make these things up.

Although the month is coming to a close, I do want to at least document the progress from April and list the few May goals that I just might be able to check off before the 31st rolls around.

April Goals

The Bizniz
1.  Get at that blogging. – Fail.

2.  Schedule a staff meeting. – Weddings discussed and margaritas consumed. Success.

3.  Send out promotional materials. – Who am I kidding? I didn’t even pretend to start this.

4.  Design a mind-blowing styled shoot. – Accomplished this last week and I can’t wait to see the pictures.  Stay tuned.

5.  Spruce up and spring clean the office. – I re-arranged the office. I cleaned. I added a few new cute decor items.  My home away from home is so fresh and so clean clean.

Life
1.  Start classes at Pure Barre. – You’re not going to believe this but I have become addicted to Pure Barre.  I absolutely love it.  So much so, I actually went four times in one week.  I haven’t worked out four times in one week since my cheerleading days.

2.  Rise-n-Shine. – I did better.  Aside from the day after weddings which is when I normally have  a wedding hangover.  I wore my Fitbit to a wedding in April and no joke, at the end of the night I had burned 2,500 calories and had walked more than 10 miles.

3.  Finalize Easter plans. – Sweet memories.

4.  Go bake a cake. – Done and done.  I had about a thousand lemons left over from a wedding so I whipped up a Lemon Pound Cake which was so delicious.

5.  Compile my 30 before 30.  – The amount of people who have asked me how old I am this past week has been astounding.  I think the universe is doing it to mess with me and to remind me 30 is just right around the corner. You can find the list here in case you missed it.

6.  H2O – This is an ongoing battle.

May Goals

The Bizniz
1.  Catch up on emails. – Having weddings every weekend has taken a toll on the email inbox.  My goal is to get that thing down to zero by the end of the month.

2.  Fix my slush machine. – The slush machine is temporarily out of order and it’s depressing me to see it just sitting here.  I’m determined to have it fixed by the end of the month.  

3.  Finish strong. – It’s two of the busiest wedding months for me so to be honest, my main goal is to give each client everything I have and close out this month and the next on top of my game.  And in order to be on top of my game, I should note that I will never write out the pronunciation of names for wedding party introductions ever again because I suck at it.

Life
1.  Go camping. – It’s numero 7 on my list of 30 before 30 and I plan to take care of that this upcoming weekend.

2.  Go fishing. – I’ll tackle this one in combination with the one above.  Speaking of tackle which makes me think of my wedding tackle box that contains anything and everything you can think of in case of a wedding day emergency, I recently had someone at a wedding come to me while I was holding the tackle box.  She leaned down as if to look inside and said “Oh my gosh! What kind of animal do you have in there?”

3.  Go have an eye exam. – I have to start making some progress on my 30 before 30 so I should go ahead and take care of this.  Don’t you think I should treat myself to some sweet new Raybans post-eye exam?  Yeah. Me too.

In case you haven’t yet, I highly recommend you purchase the new Coldplay album and listen to it on repeat for four hours like I’ve done today.  I haven’t been crazy about their last few albums or that “Para-Para-Paradise” song with Rihanna.  However, they’ve completely redeemed themselves with the album “Ghost Stories.”  It reminds of the first time I heard “Yellow,” downloaded it from Napster, burned it to a CD and knew I had just found a song I would never not want to hear.

I hope your May ends on a high note.  Hopefully I’ll survive the final days and I don’t get eaten by a bear on my camping trip or abducted by an alien randomly.

I had a movie date with my brother this past week.  We stood at the Redbox machine, aimlessly searching for a film that was entertaining, fulfilling and something neither of us had seen.  I secretly think we both knew from the very beginning which movie we wanted to watch but we were each afraid of the other’s reaction if we were to suggest such a childish flick.  After wasting time and narrowing the choices, I risked looking immature and just posed the question, “Do you want to watch Frozen?”  His response was an immediate yes.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I absolutely loved the movie.  So much so, I’ve been blasting the soundtrack and singing “Love is an Open Door” at the top of my lungs.  I’ve always been a fan of animated movies but as an adult, I’ve come to appreciate more than just the quirky characters and infectious melodies.  There are positive and inspiring messages hidden within those frames.  Specifically from “Frozen,” messages about forgiveness, acceptance, family and how true love extends beyond a romantic relationship.  Most notably, it encouraged me to let it go.  The things holding me back and dragging me down.  The self-doubt.  The weight of not-so-good feedback.  The petty gossip and distorted accounts of the truth.  The negativity infiltrating my thoughts.  The worry about financial repercussions.  Let. It. Go.

I’ve taken those messages that I inferred from a Disney movie and have implemented them in a powerful and positive way within my life.  I’ve forgiven myself for disappointing others and for being less-than-perfect.  I’ve accepted that this is who I am.  Precious because I’m flawed.  Blessed because His mercies are new every single morning.  I spent uninterrupted time with my family for a few days.  Feeding my spirituality.  Appreciating their unconditional and selfless love for me.  Valuing their company at a meal.  Listening to their laughter.

Most importantly, I learned that true love isn’t a synonym for fairytale.  To be honest, I thought for the longest time that I had missed my chance for true love.  That it passed me by.  That the glass slipper shattered into a million pieces on the ballroom stairs.  But I was wrong.  True love seeps into our lives in more ways than just romantically.  It’s the people who stand up for you.  Who lend their support without needing an explanation or backstory.  It’s those who fill your day with words of empowerment and motivation.  The people who make sacrifices to be in your presence.  It’s those who work for 12 hours straight and then refuse monetary compensation.  True love is being able to revert to childhood, sit on the couch snuggled under a blanket, watch a G-rated movie and laugh unashamedly with your brother.

March has come and gone.  I definitely made some progress with my goals but I also still have a few to carry into April.  Let’s recap.

March Goals

The Bizniz
1.  Formulate those dagum’ forms.  Done.

2.  Increase my blogging.  We’ll carry this one into April. I didn’t do nearly as much as I had hoped.

3.  Complete my weekly budget.  Say what?  I’m completely up-to-date with my financials and weekly budget.

4.  Open a personal checking account.  Done.

5.  Send out special gifts to my lovelies.  Due to unforeseen circumstances, this had to be postponed until another time.  Coming soon though. Very soon.

6.  Rock that wedding.  I rocked that wedding because that’s just how I roll.

Life
1.  Prepare for our Open House.  Our house was open but nobody came. We have had two showings though.  I’m extremely thankful that we aren’t under pressure or a time crunch to sell our home. It will happen.  Just not on our time.

2.  Rise-n-Shine.  I’ve definitely improved. Still a work in progress and definitely a continued goal for April.

3.  Start classes at Pure Barre.  All extra expenditures were put on hold for March so this will be a great April goal.

4.  Enjoy Saturdays.  I soaked them up, you guys.  Some Saturdays consisted of nothing at all and that was perfectly fine to me.

5.  Drink water.  You aren’t going to believe this but my body actually craves water.  For instance, during my whirlwind meeting day in Charlotte on Monday, I had to stop to buy a bottled water because my body was telling me to. This one will be a goal every single month until I master it.

And without further ado, my goals for this glorious new month.

April Goals

The Bizniz
1.  Get at that blogging. – This is it. The month I shake things up and do what I know I’m capable of doing.

2.  Schedule a staff meeting. – In preparation for the busyness that awaits, it’s time to get the girls together for wedding chit chat and if I know me, margaritas.

3.  Send out promotional materials. – My assistant has been feverishly working on our master vendor list and I’d love to send out a promotional kit this month.

4.  Design a mind-blowing styled shoot. – I’m looking forward to creating something lovely and magical for an upcoming styled shoot.

5. Spruce up and spring clean the office. – It’s time to paint some frames, recycle some old materials, update my bulletin board pictures and do a little spring cleaning at the Orangerie Events headquarters.

Life
1.  Start classes at Pure Barre. – This is a goal carried over from March but one I can easily check off this month.

2.  Rise-n-Shine. - I would have given myself a “C” for waking up early in March. It’s time to step up that grade drastically.

3.  Finalize Easter plans. - I’ll be out of town over Easter weekend and I’ve decided to make the most of it by arranging a fabulous Easter brunch and quality time with family.

4.  Go bake a cake. – I feel like it’s been forever since I baked.  And by baked, I mean mixing ingredients from scratch while wearing my personalized kitchen apron.

5.  Compile my 30 before 30. – I turn 30 this year.  Ugh. I hate even typing those words.  What a hard dose of reality.  I want to compile a list of 30 things I want to do before I turn 30.  I’ve already started brainstorming but I want to designate time to sit down, make a list and formulate a game plan.  Stay tuned.

6.  For the love of all that’s good in the world, drink some water. – Come on. You knew that one was coming.

Hello, bright and sunny April.  Here’s to a month focused on bettering yourself and bettering those around you.  For salvation.  For thanking God for the rain while you’re thrashing around in a storm aboard a homemade ark.     

Oh snap! We had our first house showing on Sunday.  It was totally unexpected.  Meaning I’m in the middle of giving Scottie a bath, Chase is shaving and we have about a fifteen minute notice to run feverishly around the house getting everything in order.  My house is primarily always neat and tidy but you know me, I’m a perfectionist. I want the front porch swept. I want the light bulb in the bathroom replaced.  I want the lantern moved five inches to the left so nobody hits it while going out the door onto the screened porch. I want all the candles lit and the relaxing spa music piping throughout.  I want every single sense engaged the moment those prospective buyers walk through the door.

It went well.  The feedback was short and sweet and wasn’t a flat out “No” which is encouraging.  We certainly have an exciting week ahead of us with some minor cosmetic improvements before the Open House on Saturday.  In retrospect, it was a good weekend.  Amazing weather.  Productive meetings with clients.  Quality time with my family.  Intriguing television shows.  I only watched a portion of the Oscars last night but can we just go ahead and establish that I would like to be buried in Kate Hudson’s Versace gown with my hair delicately curled and styled to the side with a smokey eye?  It was an absolute show stopper.

The plunging cleavage-baring style of the gown reminded me of the dress I wore to my Senior prom.  Mine wasn’t nearly as memorable or important but I did always like to push the limits and read in-between the dress code rules.  Take for instance the dress I wore to prom when I was a freshman.  I know, I know.  A freshman at prom.  How can that be?  Would a senior boy really want to take a mere little freshman?  Apparently so and I thought I was really something.  I wasn’t.  But my dress was.  Something else that is.  It was two pieces, deep purple and comparable to something Jasmine from “Aladdin” would wear.  The beaded bra top had so much extra padding sewn in it I could have literally jumped chest first off of the high dive and onto a bed of nails and wouldn’t have felt the impact.  There was a rule the following year banning two piece dresses because showing the midriff was showing too much.  It was all my fault.  By the way, don’t really bury me in Kate’s dress.  I want to be cremated.

You should really be proud of me.  It’s the first business day of the month and I’m posting my goals like a boss.  I hope this display of me being proactive is carried throughout March and is indication that I’ve stopped this runaway train I call my life.  Let’s get down to the nitty gritty.

March Goals

The Bizniz
1.  Formulate those dagum’ forms.  I have two specific forms that need to be created that I know will take a hefty amount of time initially but will save copious amounts of time later.

2.  Increase my blogging.  Remember the good ole’ days when I blogged about what I was cooking and what I was wearing?  I miss them too.  I’ve realized I’ve been suppressing my desire to resurrect those things out of fear.  But in my world, faith trumps fear.

3.  Complete my weekly budget.  I put it on my calendar last year for every Monday at 9am.  A dedicated and designated time to update my expenses and monitor my finances.  And every Monday at 9am, I ignored the reminder and waited until there was a mound of receipts and a lot of bank account flatlining.  This month is a fresh chance for me to get on the right track and keep it that way.

4.  Open a personal checking account.  I’ve been mixing my personal and business account for far too long.  I had been telling myself that for months but I finally decided to start listening once my accountant said so.

5.  Send out special gifts to my lovelies.  I have a little (very little) treat to send out to my fabulous clients.  Impending deadline means I need to hop on these stat.  It’s also the birthday month for two amazing friends and I want them to know how much I love and appreciate them.

6.  Rock that wedding.  I have an amazing wedding coming up for a gal that I admire and respect and I can’t wait to rock it with my snazzy new clipboard and customized apron!

Life
1.  Prepare for our Open House.  We have an Open House quickly approaching and a few more cosmetic and routine improvements to be made beforehand.  Chase and I made a list yesterday and this week is dedicated to putting checkmarks next to those tasks.

2.  Rise-n-Shine.  I love to sleep.  I can fall asleep at a moment’s notice and in the most awkward positions.  Put me on a plane and before we’ve reached the runway, I’ll be sitting indian-style in the seat, head tilted to the side and sleeping soundly.  I’ve started feeling guilty about sleeping.  Chase is up at 6am now that he’s started a new job and every morning, I wake up when he wakes up.  But just because I wake up doesn’t mean I actually get up.  I’m usually back asleep by the time he’s pulling out of the garage.  I feel guilty because I could start my day sooner.  I could spend some quiet, reflective time in the stillness of the morning.  So that’s my goal.  Wake up earlier with more slow intention rather than waking up later and going full speed.

3.  Start classes at Pure Barre.  I have three new exercise classes I want to start taking and the first is at Pure Barre.   I plan on buying a two-week trial, which gives me four actual classes, and breaking a leg.  Well hopefully not literally breaking a leg since it is a ballet-inspired class.

4.  Enjoy Saturdays.  My Saturdays are quickly dwindling and once the end of March rolls around, they’re nearly obsolete.  Here’s to hoping the weather cooperates the next few Saturdays and we’re able to experience some new adventures.

5.  Drink water.  Say what?  You’ve seen this one before.  Me too.  But until this goal becomes a habit and that habit becomes an addiction, I’ll keep putting it as a monthly goal.  For the month of March, it’s really simple – just one glass of water every single day.  My dad has totally kicked soft drinks to the curb and I am so proud of him.  He’s lost 17 pounds, significantly decreased his blood pressure and just watched as I stuffed tortilla chips in my mouth at Chuy’s yesterday.  He’s inspired me.

In like a lion, out like a lamb.  I hope that saying about March holds true to more than just the weather.  Spring is around the corner and I’m looking forward to a new and brighter season.

I saw a quote recently that I feel pretty much sums up my very existence.  It said, “I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions.”  I sincerely have the best intentions.  I intend to complete tasks in a timely manner.  I intend to immediately text back.  I intend to drink water every day.  I intend on going to the gym.  I intend to maximize every single second of every single day with fluid productivity.  Unfortunately, my intentions unintentionally take the back burner to this thing called life.

Life happens.  For example, here’s a blog post about having a fresh new year before me twenty one days into the month.  I intended on posting it weeks ago.  In regards to 2014 and the exciting things in store, I could quite frankly link back to my first post of 2012 which ironically lists 7 resolutions that I’m still working on resolving.  I intended on changing those behaviors but I think I forgot to remember to do so.

So here we are again.  The start of a new year.  A clean slate with endless opportunities.  A fresh journal with crisp clean pages and no way of knowing what words will fill the empty space.  The first few weeks of 2014 have already been bursting with excitement and I forecast the remaining ones will be just as amazing and packed full of life changing events.  I’m documenting my goals and objectives in hopes to make more dramatic and notable changes than I have in the past.  And instead of labeling them what they really are, I’m titling this list of changes as my 2014 Bucket List.  I’m also posting more immediate monthly goals because I definitely work better with baby steps than heavy doses and we all know I can’t stop anything cold turkey.

Stick with me and don’t count me out just yet.  I know many of these items are repeats and some of them may seem superficial or downright ridiculous but I’m a foolish girl with crazy dreams and wild ambitions.  And I love designer handbags.

2014 Bucket List 

1.  Systemize My Business
I want my systems to have systems.  My business is now a toddler and continuing to grow and if I don’t streamline and systemize, I’m going to drive this train straight off of a cliff.  I’ve already started the process and can tell a huge improvement.  It certainly won’t hurt finally having an office assistant to help.

2.  Personal Health
Do I really need to go into detail?  My body is dehydrated because I drink Sun Drop slushes like water and I drink water like it’s Clorox.  My YMCA card hasn’t been swiped in months.  I sometimes eat one meal a day and I can promise it isn’t fresh from a garden.  My personal health needs a complete overhaul so we’ll take this goal in stages.

3.  Take Piano Lessons
My mom always warned me that I would regret it if I stopped taking lessons.  Guess what?  She was right.  Just like she was right about my 10th grade boyfriend, cutting my hair for senior pictures or moving to Nashville that one summer.

4.  Travel Like I Mean It
Lucky for me, this one will be easy.  Thank God Chase turned 30 and his mom knows how to properly celebrate.  I can’t wait to re-visit the spot I studied abroad at 9 years ago and explore new and undiscovered territory across the pond.  I also plan on renting a RV this year and “glamping” it with some of my favorite friends.

5.  Call My Grandparents
Out of all the goals on this list that are duplicates from 2012, this is the most detrimental one.  My post from two years ago listed all three of my grandparents, one of which I now can only speak to through prayers.  I want to make sure my Nana and Paw Paw know exactly what they mean to me this year.  I don’t care if I fail at everything else on this list as long as I succeed at this one.

6.  Change Zip Codes
Chase and I are in such different places than we were when we purchased our home six years ago.  He’s started a new job and the last thing either of us needs is an hour commute for him each day.  We plan on putting the house on the market this week and seeing what happens.  We have no clue what we’ll do if it sells and to be honest, I’m completely okay not knowing.

7.  Just Buy It
I created a “Dream Board” last year.  I filled it with things I didn’t need but wanted.  I’m slowly but surely checking off those items and will in fact check one off the list this very week that could have technically been on there since I was 18.  I’ll turn 30 this year and I think it’s only appropriate to have a work tote that is mature, dependable and ridiculously overpriced.  Therefore, I have officially started the Louis Vuitton Fund that I will contribute to and hopefully by the time November 5th rolls round, that baby will be mine.

8.  Give Back
Instead of just investing in myself, I really want to invest in others.  I have no idea how I’ll do this or what it will look like but I ultimately want to make a difference in the life of someone else.  Mission trip? Community service?  I’m open to ideas and suggestions.

That’s it.  Eight little life improvements and enhancers all sitting in a row.  It looks so simple and obtainable spelled out in black and white.  As for this month’s goals, since I now have ten days to complete them, here goes nothing.

January Goals

The Bizniz
1.  Hire an assistance for the office. I don’t want to toot my own horn but I’ve accomplished this task already.  I cannot wait to have someone helping me get and keep my crap together.  Plus, I want to have her acquainted and prepared to take over while I take some much-needed me time in February.

2.  Blog. I have two amazing weddings patiently waiting to make their appearance.

3.  Complete my yearly budget and prepare for my tax appointment.  Oh boy.  I can’t wait to check this one off my list.  I’m sooooo good at saving money.

4.  Check in with every client.  This is the time. I want to make sure every single 2014 client knows just how excited I am about their fantastic upcoming wedding.

Life
1.  Get the house ready to be put on the market. There’s plenty of things we’ve easily overlooked day in and day out at Larkspur Court.  That chipped railing paint.  The stack of wood on the patio.  The large white rectangle I accidentally designed on the front lawn because I didn’t put paper down under the sign I spray painted.  We have limited time to get everything in order so we can officially put that sign in the yard.

2.  Tie up every loose end.  I have a lot of strings dangling and it’s time to tie each and every single one.  Figuring out my new health insurance since Chase started at a new company.  Establish how I want to invest in my future retirement.  Get a handle on anything and everything outstanding.

3.  Prepare for our trip abroad.  I need to order rain boots. I need a warm jacket.  I’m probably going to need some new clothes.  We need foreign currency.  Luckily I’ve already finished our six page itinerary.  I definitely picked the right profession.

4.  Drink water.  I can do this. I’m starting out very small.  One tiny bottled water, once a day, for the next ten days.  Why is this so hard for me?

This is a stupid long post and if you’ve made it to this point, you should really go reward yourself.  Thank you for humoring me and making me feel important by reading my rambling thoughts and ideas.  I hope your 2014 is an exciting collection of days filled with laughter, love and sensory overload.  They’re calling for a blizzard (a.k.a 1-2 inches of snow) so I suppose my immediate task is to survive my trip to the grocery store.  Happy 2014!