Feeling inspired…

The accomplishment of my bachelor’s degree is getting closer and closer…and it’s inspiring me. To dig down deep and think about my life. What do I want from it. What do I think it’ll look like in a few years. Where do I see myself heading. It’s been a goal for the last 4 and a half years…and taken up much of my life over that time to complete. This also has me thinking about how I’ve spent some of my last few years. I’ve realized that the last few years have been busy. Very busy. Whether it’s a commitment at church, a paper to write for school, or some other commitment I’d gotten myself into. I’m only 26 (soon to be 27) and I am hungry for relaxation and routine. For days to do what I want with my time. For weekly routines that I gauge my week by. For laundry to be caught up most weeks and for Friday trips to the library with Owen to become something I have the energy for every single Friday. For Friday’s to truly be My and Owen’s day and it not be another day to play catch up. So…I’ve begun to write down on paper some soul searching I’ve done recently…I started with things I love, friends and family, scrapbooking, reading, education…stuff like that. And it sort of evolved into something more like goals. (Thank you Steff you gave me the perfect inspiration!) Goals to try and make sure the things I love become a part of my everyday life. So anyway…I decided that life is short, I’m about to overcome a milestone that I’ve disciplined myself to complete. Discipline that has taken up evenings and weekends with reading and writing and studying…and imposed stress on my body, my mind and my soul. And thereby imposed stress on my husband, my best friend, my Mom and anyone else who has dealt with me. Stress that is self induced, but stress none the less! Stress that I’m about to be done with! And on top of it all…I’ve been handed a supremely amazing life and I want to make sure I fill it up with the good stuff! So without further ado…here is my list of new life-fulfilling goals!

Create a reading nook in Owen’s room (in progress) and begin reading in that spot every night…we’ve been reading most everyday, but are not in quite the habit I want to be in just yet! This is my start!

Create a set of canvases with my favorite Shel Silverstein poems on them – for said reading “nook”

Post pictures of the nook here so I can share my goal accomplishment!

Put Owen’s Name in his room somewhere – closet door, above his rocking chair, where ever I think it should go.  Find a spot and make it happen.

Dive into a person bible study…even if only once a week.

Find someone who will ask me about it every once in awhile.

Attend church more regularly (a previous tie-in to a goal my pastor helped me define for myself) A goal I’m failing at the moment and need to be better about.

Have a cup of freshly ground Starbucks Breakfast Blend coffee every morning. B/c it’s Jer and my’s favorite, we have the perfect mini-food processor for this purpose, and it’s just nice to wake up to a house that smells like delicious coffee. And life’s too short to wait for occasions for the “good stuff.”

Buy a nicer coffee maker.

Take Bryan and Steff to Hermann Mo for a Linoski weekend.

Buy a case of wine from Adam Puckta.

Fill our wine fridge.

Make lunches at night before bed.

Friday Routines:

Get up with Jer, see him off to work and get a shower before beginning the day with Owen.

Be refreshed and energized to enjoy the day with my son.

Take Owen to the library and pick out two new books every Friday.

That I never feel the need to ask God to help me make it through a week, one day at time unless something tragic has happened to me. School is not tragic. It’s just exhausting!

Begin Blogging “Thankful Thursdays.” A way to recap my week. – DONE!

Organize and spend time in my scrapbook space.

Finish Owen’s 1 year book and 1st year calendar I created by March 26, 2010.

Take a vacation with Jeremy to celebrate my bachelor degree completion and all the new things in our life in the past year. I’m thinking Bahamas!! Or maybe just a week off together at home with a mini-weekend thrown into the mix. We haven’t decided just yet…but we’re in the process.

Take a Cooking class or two.

Take a photography class with Steff. L&CCC Here we come!

Buy a cool new camera, take pictures and enjoy myself!

Get more massages. Do so by signing up for Massage Envy’s monthly membership. One massage a month…they roll over if you don’t use them…and you get member prices on other services!

Bake something every Sunday.

Try new recipes.

Make reading list. Try to read one every two weeks.

Finish watching the OC. Start watching Gilmore Girls! (Steff and I just dove into Season One together this two Friday's ago!)

Take a Diner, Drive-ins and Dives Roadtrip as Linoski's.

Take a class on cake-baking.

Plan a cupcake party with the girls. Each of us pick a different cupcake from a book and bring the ingredients to make it. Follow it with a bottle of wine and good movie to sit down with our cupcakes and watch!

Blog every other day, or every day. Spend more time planning/working on different blog ideas. Be more brave with ideas I want to try. Accept it if they don’t work or aren’t what I want them to be!

Come up with a special way to celebrate Owen’s first year. Get creative and do something cool. Jer mentioned doing a Build-A-Bear.

Go on more dates with Jeremy. Even if it’s just to Target and Bread Co.

Take Jeremy on a Rediscover our Past Date. I got the idea from a blog I read. Places on our list include North Middle School, Alton High School, Lincoln Douglas Square, Steinberg Skate Rink, Pere Marquette, Saint Anthony’s Hospital, and a few others!

There are more, but this is a good start!  I'm hoping to post occassional updates to this every so often.  My intentions are to capture my goals with pictures and remember to post them here. Thanks for traveling along with me!