Dreams and Goals

So I've been terrible about participating in anything where you link up on someones blog. I used to be so hardcore with Writers Workshop over at Mama Kat's and then, poof, I just stopped for some reason. But today while browsing one of my fave blogs Le Musings of Moi I saw her post liked up from Modily Chic on dreams and I knew I had to do this post too! Ever since I graduated in December I've been thinking a lot about my goals and dreams for my life and career. Its fun to finally talk about these things and share them with my lovely readers!

1. Fess up – if you could do anything professionally what would it be? There are a few things that I would love to do! 1) Have an event planning business and plan parties for kids and adults. There is nothing that I love more than throwing a party and getting everything organized. I think planning my own wedding has really brought this out it in me. 2) Teach other women how to be resourceful/more like a 50's housewife. Okay I know this might sound insane, but I think I'd be good at it, for real. I love to can, iron, clip coupons, clean, cook and bake and I think I could really teach other girls my age how to do all these things if they don't know how or want to get better at it. I've had friends ask me how to do several of these things I love and I've considered having a few of them over at a time and doing a little class. I know this dream might sound crazy, but who knows it might just work! Too bad I don't have a bigger house.

2. What draws you to this? My degree is in Public Relations which I think really draws me to the event planning business that I'd love to have. It was one of my favorite aspects of my internships and some past jobs I've held. As far as the "housewife lessons" its just something that I really love to do, but I think I'd be bored to tears being a stay-at-home-wife because I love working and having my own money. But should one of these businesses take off, it would be nice to be my own boss :)

3. When did you first start dreaming about this ideal? I'd say in the last year or two I really started to see how I could use my skills and knowledge. Everyone teases me about how good I am at domestic stuff, but I think its a skill that everyone should have!

4. What’s holding you back from going all in? Money is the major factor since I have a lot of student loan debt right now, plus I have a million other things I'd love to do such as going back to school to get my real estate license and really settling in my career path. And with a wedding happening next fall, I really need my focus to be on planning that event.

5. Sometimes the first step is the hardest… what’s one step you can take now on the way to realizing your dream? I think planning my wedding will be a really great first step for me to see if the event planning idea would really work. As far as the housewife lessons, I think I could start with my friends and see how it goes. Maybe someday I'll win the Mega Millions and I can afford to start all these random businesses.

Thank You

I've always been the person who has to write a thank-you note after someone gives me a gift or does something special. I've also always been under the impression that other people do this as well, but I've recently learned that's not always the case. For some reason I get a little upset when someone does not write me a thank you note, especially if I've gone out of my way to find a nice gift for them or have invited them to my home for a dinner or a party. I don't care if its hand written, an email or even a message on Facebook - its really the thought that counts. My mother raised me to believe and know that its always important to say thank you because if you don't people might not want to give you gifts anymore.

I've been to more than one wedding where I did not receive a thank you for a gift, and several bridal and baby showers. At least for those occasions it seems appropriate to send a thank you note. When you spend anywhere from 50 to 150 dollars on a gift, you expect a thank you note in return. I get a little bit mad when people expect you to buy them and their children lavish gifts and don't even bother to recognize the kind gesture. There have been several family members of mine who have been guilty of this, and other family members have stopped buying gifts for them and their children because they don't get a thank you in return. I'm considering doing the same thing.

Its especially irritating with someone who will soon be a part of my family. I'm not trying to play the game of "I got you something for your birthday, how come you got nothing for me" but with them its a little outrageous. They used birthday money for their child to buy things for themselves and expect lavish gifts for her on every holiday. For their kids first Christmas, they spent nearly $300 and wanted more gifts from everyone else in the family. I've stopped buying their kid expensive stuff because they don't appreciate it at all and never say thank you. I spent a lot of money on her baby shower gift and never got a thank you note. Am I the only person that gets annoyed by this or do I just have weird manners that don't exist in our society anymore?

This is yet another reason I feel so old fashioned, maybe thank you notes are a thing of the past, but for me they never will be!

The rollercoaster

The past few months have involved a lot of ups and downs for me. I may have talked a little about these things, but my heart is so heavy I need to let them out.

The biggest down is my grandpa and his battle with lung and now brain cancer. There are days when he seems better than others, but now he's on a really hard core four treatment chemo and seems a lot worse this go-round. The only place he has hair is on his arms, which strikes me kinda funny since his legs, head and face are totally bald. He's thin, but not nearly as thin as he was and he's developed a syndrome where it feels like he is walking on marbles. Its a side effect of the chemo that may or may not go away. I can tell my grandma is really worn down, both physically and emotionally. I wish I could help her out more, but my work schedule just doesn't allow me to be there as much. Thankfully my great aunt (my grandma's sister) is here to stay with them for a month and help out a little. She was a nurse in the Air Force for 35 years. My biggest fear is that he won't be here to see me get married. I know that's selfish but things just won't be the same without him there to share in my special day.

I've also been down about my career path and lack of a good income. Sure I have good benefits and what not, but things are tight and everything just keeps getting more and more expensive. I'm also going to need a different car to drive this winter as mine does not have anti-lock brakes and doesn't do well in the winter. I do have some hopeful leads for new jobs, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much right now.

The biggest ups are everything I've been able to accomplish this summer. I've done a good deal of canning (pickles and tomatoes so far), I've been keeping my house fairly in order, until my aunt came and gave me tons of stuff and Andrew and I have had a lot of fun. We've been to the state fair, the Hartford County Fair (Ohio's biggest small town fair) and we've also been able to take some fun walks and bike rides. We've got a campsite reserved for Labor Day weekend at Clear Fork Reservoir near Mansfield, Ohio and we're going to see the Ohio reformatory where Shawshank Redemption was filmed. The wedding planning is coming along nicely and I have lots of wonderful DIY ideas that I'm hoping to share soon.

I'm trying really hard not to let the bad things get me down and to focus on the good, but sometimes that's really hard for me. I'm happy to have this place as an outlet for some of my emotions.

summer weekend and why I adore my daddy

This weekend was a good one! I had to work till 11:30 on Friday night but that didn't stop me from having lots of fun on Saturday.

In the morning we went to an auction about 25 minutes from our house, there was something for me and Andrew (tools, guns and glassware). I was able to score some great finds including one complete set of vintage Pyrex refrigerator dishes, a pressure cooker/canner and a folk art picture. Andrew got some tools and various box lots of what I would call junk. We headed home afterward and I got ready to head to my church festival. I was in charge of taking pictures for the festival website and Facebook page. My dad is in a band and they played at the festival, so I was excited to get some pictures of him as well. How many average girls can say their dad can really jam on the guitar?! My dad is pretty much the reason that I love music so much


Sunday I was hell bent on cleaning and reorganizing my kitchen, but then making another mess by starting on my canning. I did manage to get my cleaning items, pots and pans and food storage containers all moved into more suitable cabinets. I also got the floors cleaned but that was about it. I made two batches of pickles, one dill and one bread and butter. I've also got today off so I'm going to get the rest of my house cleaned up, and maybe made some home-made salsa.

What did you do this weekend!?

3 1/2 years and many more to come

Today is our 3 1/2 year anniversary. No, we're not doing anything to celebrate but I just feel like that is a really outstanding milestone for a relationship. Well, for my relationships anyway - this is now my longest (consecutive) relationship to date and I'm very proud. I'm so glad that I finally found someone who understands me, listens and completes me in ways I never thought possible. By this time next year, we'll be a little over a month away from our wedding, which is really hard for me to believe. We'll also be engaged for four months at the end of this week. Time really flies by when you're falling in love!

About a month after we officially started dating on St. Patricks Day. If you can make goofy faces like that together it must be love!

And all this time later, here we are finally engaged to be married.

one of my favorite bands

As long as I can remember I've loved the Goo Goo Dolls. I've seen them open for other bands before but this time they came to Columbus as the main act and I just had to go! My good friend from college Sarah came along too, since she's also a huge Goo Goo Dolls fan.

Before the concert with Sarah (it was about 100 degrees out last night too).

Johnny Rzeznik, my crush forever! My first AIM screen name even had his name in it :)

Playing Iris towards the end of the concert, I'm pretty sure everyone who's anyone knows that song!

It was really good to get out of the house and do something fun. I've been feeling really bummed out about my job and how we can never seem to get ahead. My work schedule at the end of this month is going to be totally insane since we're learning a new computer program. This means that on my days off I get to spend 4 hours sitting in a classroom.

Since I'm off this weekend I'm hoping to relax and get my mind wrapped around this crazy month.

You Might be a Catholic

So I'm totally sort of stealing this idea from my friend Caitlyn who wrote about "You might be a Mormon if..." I also got this idea from Andrew and his family, who are always joking with me about being a Catholic. So here goes!

• If there's beer at your church festival, you might be Catholic.


• If you've been drunk in the school cafeteria at your church, you might be Catholic.


• If your church is more crowded on Easter and Christmas, meaning you have to get to mass almost an hour before it starts, you might be Catholic.


• If you dressed like a bride for first holy communion, you might be Catholic.


• If someone's asked you, "How's the pope doing these days" you might be Catholic (Andrew's dad asked me this when we first started dating, love it!)


• If you've ever gone to CCD or PSR on a Monday/Sunday night, you might be a Catholic. (We called it Catholic Childrens Dungeon)


• If you find nothing odd about getting an aerobic workout on a Sunday morning (sit, stand, kneel, sit, stand), you might be a Catholic.


• If people in your family were offended when you didn't ask them to be your Confirmation sponsor, you might be a Catholic.


• If your wedding was over an hour long, you might be a Catholic.


• If you're at a gathering and someone says a blessing over the food and you're the only one doing the sign of the cross, you might be a Catholic.


• If you have at least one rosary, gold cross necklace and Precious Moments bible, you might be a Catholic.

I'm sure I could go on and on for days about this, but I think you get the humor and the point! If you've got any to add, leave me a comment or let me know which one is your favorite!