We all need an update

Its been a while. I know. I could fill this entire post with reasons why I haven't blogged. Too busy, too lazy, nothing to say...blah, blah, blah. You don't want to hear excuses though, do you? If you do, I can make a list for you...someday. When I have the time, that is.

The older you get the faster life seems to hurl past you. Sometimes it takes a rainy, bad-weather, sick day (like today) to make you stop and reflect. Then you think back at the craziness that was your last two years and say...hmmm, did I enjoy that time? I can pull bits and pieces out and say yea I enjoyed it! But for the most part it's days running into nights running into days running into nights. Wash, rinse, repeat...eat, sleep, breathe.

Where in the craziness do we stop and say "YES! THIS is what I'm doing all this running around for!"  When do we live?  The moments I pull out of the past two years are more than family vacations, girls weekends and new toys.  The moments I have been working so hard for occur at the time when I least expect it.  At my photography class that I took last Saturday when I finally understood a concept I was struggling to wrap my brain around.  It happened when I was watching Jillian get a special AWANA'S patch that had never been given out at that club before because she finished her book...TWICE!  The moments I see my kids up on stage performing and singing. When they are being themselves, and running around the gym laughing with their friends.  Those times it's like, time stops for a moment and I can enjoy the view from all angles without being interrupted.  I hear the tinkle of the laughter as they duck to avoid being hit by the ball,  Aiden will skip away and as if in slow-motion glance up at me and wave before he darts off again.  Then as quickly as it happened, it's over.  I slip back into the hustle and bustle of life and keep plowing ahead.

I think I need a game plan.  A blue-print for my year.  Some call these resolutions, but I don't want to use that word...resolutions are willy-nilly made easily and broken easily.  I want a game plan for my year.  Challenges and rewards all laid out before me.  A starting point...a way to answer that question "What am I doing this for?"  The obvious don't count...(raising my kids to be good human beings, healthy and happy--well of course I'm doing it all for that...but I'm talking about personal goals--made just for me.)  Does that have a ring of selfishness to it? I hope not, I don't want to be selfish, but I do know that sometimes we need a moment to think...what am I here to accomplish....in order to answer that you have to look inward, I don't think that makes someone selfish.

This year I have a few things I would like to do.

1)  I am totally in love with my camera.  Helplessly in love with it.  Problem is...I don't know how to work it.  I mean I know how to work it in "Auto" but I want to flip it to manual and capture some amazing shots. Which leads me to ...

Before

After

2)  Learning Photoshop!  This program is amazing for photographers...everyone goes on and on about how easy it is to use and it's so user friendly...in what world do they live??  The experienced world of "I've been photoshopping for 10 years" Maybe...because as a newbie it's not that "user-friendly"  so number 2 is enhance my photos from number one with photoshop and to do that I have to learn the software..

3) Make some money at my new career path.  When I started school again to be a Realtor I wasn't sure what to expect.  It was the first I'd stepped into a college in years....yeeeeeeeears!  So I was intimidated, scared but I knew I needed to do something, figure something out, so I sucked it up, put on my big girl panties and headed out the door.  I love learning.  I think I could make a career out of learning new things...the real trick is applying it to real life!  I could be happy to just know about the real estate business, I could be content knowing how to make music videos and photoshop too...but those won't pay for squat!  I actually have to do something with this licenses now...so number 3 is sell and list a few homes...

4)  Take the kids to Sea World.  or splashtown or Schlitterbahn or six flags...somewhere fun!!!  Just the family on a day or two trip somewhere nearby without any major disasters. (or arguments!)

and finally..

5)  post at least weekly to my blog.  It's an excellent outlet for my thoughts, it's a way for everyone to keep up  with what's going on over here on our side of the world and I actually do enjoy it.  If I can just keep up with it...which is why it's on my list.  Maybe it help me remember more moment's of "that's why I'm doing all this..."

So until next time...why are YOU doing what you're doing??