short term

I am awesome at setting long term goals. I however seem to stink at the short term. So I am making a 2 1/2 year plan. I know 2 1/2 seems a bit odd but that number comes to my 30th birthday. So by the time I hit the big 3-0 I want:

My kids to continue to be healthy and happy
To have obtained my degree
Landed a good, stable, well paying job
Have a little nest egg in the bank


Only four things, but those four things are HUGE to me. And I will work my tail off to achieve them. I think I will set smaller goals in order to get to those. Even simple ones like "finish this class with an A" or "setting aside X of money each month to put in savings". I can do this!!

Colorful Characters; a reflection of my life so far

A few days ago my brother sent me a picture of him holding the Oscar that Orson Welles recieved in 1974. My sister-in-law works for his daughter and as my brother is in the film industry she was a darling and loaned it to him to brag to his little sister :) So this got my mom thinking and she did some research on Orson Welles and we found him to be such a colorful character (even more than you'd think). I was lementing the fact that I am such a boring person, how I would love to have some grand adventures, or interesting (true) stories to tell. So mom told me that if I put my life on paper, I would probably sound pretty interesting too. Then remembering my beloved grandmothers memorial service and how after listening to the blurb on her life we all thought "Wow! What an incredible woman! I wish I had known her!" That of course sounds silly as we were all very close, but just goes to show, looking at your life on paper can bring up some interesting things. But I live such a quiet life just a single mother going to school trying to make a better life for my children and myself. But here is my atempt at writing down my life....

I have snorkled, surfed, walked up a volcano, and done the hula while living in Hawaii. I have worked on movies and in the theater (back stage! I'm too scared of the camera) and have as a result gained some wonderful friendships with some very talented people. I have been to barber school and seriously rock with a straight razor, and kick serious butt with color! I have managed a porn store, and thus met some very nice (and not so nice) porn stars. I have been a photographer making $4-5K a month. I have worked as a maid making $5. an hour. I have lived my crazy, teenage, Disney-fueled fantasy of meeting someone, falling in "love" and eloping (all with in a 2 week period) and then of course the enevitable divorce because I married someone I only knew for 2 weeks. I have gone from losing nearly everything I owned, my home, my car, my furniture, to outright owning my own home, and car, and furniture. I have given birth to two incredible little girls. I have given them my heart, my praise, my encouragement and my protection. I became an aunt at the age of 11 and am now about to become a great-aunt as my dear nephew will be a father in June. I have experienced the magic of Disneyland through the eyes of my children. I have beamed with pride while watching my daughter sing and dance on stage. I have cried with her at the death of a dearly loved pet. I have had the death of my father when I was 17, a life-threatening medical condition, a disasterous abusive marriage, an ugly custody battle, a devastating broken engagement, the death of my beloved grandmother when I was pregnant, and I lived through it all. I survived, and am stronger for it. I have met William Shatner and let me tell you being the HUGE Trekkie that I am that was a dream come true!! I have learned how to sword fight. I have learned how to dance, I have learned how to golf, and I have learned how to cook. I am slowly becoming fluent in ASL. All of these things have made me who I am today.

I don't know if I feel any more colorful or interesting now...just relfective on the life I have lead so far...