by Joey | Jan 8, 2013 | Throwback
The Good: Goals help you live the kind of life you want.
The Bad: Blogging about them allows every reader to hold you accountable. {Good? Bad? You tell me.}
The Ugly: You’ll feel like a failure and a liar if you don’t accomplish them. So clearly this is the way to go.
I accomplished a good chunk of what I wanted to for 2012. I didn’t do everything, but I did a lot. I’ve found that I’m much more productive when I write out clear, specific goals.
This year, I don’t have resolutions. I have goals. Realistic, specific, measured goals.
In 2013 I will:
- Query out my novel. Deadline: April 1, 2013
- Replace my income by writing 100%. Deadline: May 1, 2013.
- Host a coaches and wives dinner party to get to know the staff at Campbell.
- Complete the C25K program.
- Bring Bailey on at least one run.
- Complete the Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred program.
- Read 75 books.
- Put at least $20 in savings each paycheck.
- Drink 64 oz of H2O/ day.
- Record 1 vlog per month.
- Donate every and anything we have no use for.
- Pack our house in an organized fashion.
- Successfully move to Fuquay Varina, NC.
- Unpack every single box.
- Host a FRIENDS Christmas dinner and gift exchange.
- Be a wonderful MOH to my best friend & witness her marriage.
- Deliver the Marital Charge for my oldest friend & witness her marriage.
- Travel to Asheville, NC for another wedding.
- Create a writing schedule & write a second novel.
Big plans for 2013, y’all. Big plans.
What are some of your 2013 goals?
by Joey | Jan 7, 2013 | Throwback
I’m twenty six years old.
I’ve been out of school for 4.5 years.
And I’m tired.
I’m so damn tired of doing everything else. I put all of my energy and effort in to everything I don’t want to do.
Why?
Because something inside my head just accepted the fact that what I wanted wasn’t possible.
When you graduate with a degree in creative writing, people always just assume you’re going to teach or do nothing. That’s what I heard on repeat. And after a while, I believed it.
You’ll never get paid for writing.
So I was a waitress. And a secretary. An ad saleswoman. And a temp. A tanning bed manager. And an apartment manager. A cupcake manager. And a nanny.
Can I stop now?
Because I’m tired.
I don’t want to do any of this crap anymore.
When nothing is owed, deserved or expected.
And your life doesn’t change by the man that’s elected.
If you’re loved by someone you’re never rejected.
Decide what to be and go be it.
There was a dream
And one day I could see it.
Like a bird in a cage
I broke in and demanded that somebody free it
And there was a kid with a head full of doubt
So I’ll scream til I die and the last of those bad thoughts are finally out.
So the goal?
Replace my salary by writing completely by May 2013.
[I feel like I should clarify. My salary isn’t much.]
Do you think I can do it?
Any suggestions, thoughts, experiences?
Share.
by Joey | Dec 29, 2012 | Throwback
January
-We kicked the new year off with visits from my sister, niece and later in the month one of my best friends.
-Mr. Husband and I celebrated a Merry UnChristmas.
-We started taking advantage of living in the great town of Charlotte and began going out uptown with friends nearly every weekend until football season started.
-I joined a class at a church with a friend.
-Bought my domain and moved the blog back to blogger from wordpress.
-Watched the bachelor for the first time [mile stones, people].
February
-a bout of the stomach bug opened the gate to Bailey sleeping in the bed. It’s 10 months later, she’s still in our bed.
-I finally organized my side of the closet which usually looked like a tornado hit it [feb was a big month for us, obviously].
-we left Bailey for the longest time yet [Look at that sad face!] when we traveled to Charleston for a long weekend.
March
-We celebrated St. Patty’s day in style uptown with a group of our smashed friends.
-I discussed the importance of love languages and took it to the next level by writing mine out and putting it on the fridge (it’s still there).
-Played a LOT of Draw Something. Time well spent, friends.
-We found a house that began the ultimate battle with our landlord to let us out of our lease in our ghetto house. We won the battle.
-I started the Jillian Michael’s 30 day Shred. I didn’t make it too far in. 2013 looks promising, though.
April
-Traveled to Raleigh and FINALLY got to meet
Mia (and
Becca!) in person.
-Celebrated Easter early by baking cookies with Mia.
-Totally and completely fried my hair (uh, disintegrating in my hands) with box highlights.
-Panicked about our move. Left everything until the very last minute.
-Hosted our friends for another visit our first weekend in the new house!
May
-The BFF came for a visit! We got to spend some great quality time ALONE together for the first time in forever. We also went shopping for her wedding dress! Eee!
-Experienced Cabo Fish Taco for the first time. This was a monumental moment, I promise.
-The Hubs and I spent a fun day at Carowinds just the two of us.
-A few weeks later we went back to Carowinds and an epic, life changing confrontation conversation occurred in that very spot with my MIL.
-Mr. Husband and I celebrated 2 years of marriage. Our gift from the universe? The stomach flu. Awesome.
June
-Mr. Husband and I visited our Mexican Honeymoon friends in Athens.
-We celebrated my 26th birthday! Mr. Husband knocked it out of the park filling it with fun surprises. We spent the evening with good friends including Mia &
Amber!
-My summer vacation started.
-And then I got yet another kidney infection. I spent a lot of time resting and reading.
-Ended the month with a very quick family trip to the beach. Bailey both loved and hated it!
July
-Our nephews and niece came to spend the day with their Aunt Jo & Uncle. They got in there on their own, I swear.
-We helped our friend celebrate his birthday on the lake. A very typical photo of us.
-We celebrated the 4th of July with friends at our house!
-I set the stove on fire boiling potatoes. Don’t ask me how.
-We went on many date nights. Mr. Husband doesn’t like pictures. There are a lot of just me.
August
-I played Tammi Taylor and hosted a football cookout for the husband’s linebackers. Holy moly, did that food go fast.
-The BFF and I met halfway and spent a weekend together in Greensboro.
-I crossed a dirty martini off my bucket list. It was NOT good.
-Caught my pinky in the seat mechanism of my car. That felt awesome.
-We shaved our cat.
September
-Rushed home to be with my sister who had an emergency appendectomy. She’ll kill me for posting this. Also? This should be the cover art for “This is 40.” She fell apart on her 40th bday 🙂
-An idol tweeted me about being patient about the book thing. Coolest thing ever.
-Started writing in my personal journal again.
-Tagged along to some recruiting with the hubs.
-Ate a LOT of sushi with Amber.
October
-The hubs and I spent a weekend in Raleigh and went to the state fair!
-I survived two rounds at Scarowinds. Barely.
-Got yet another kidney infection with a side of a back spasm. Felt awesome. My mom also surprised me the day we went to the urgent care and showed up on our doorstep!
-The hub was finally released from football season! This was brief, though.
-I locked myself out of our house for 6 hours. Whoops.
November
-I cooked my very first turkey for Thanksgiving. No one died!
-The husband and I kicked off our first holiday season staying in our own home.
-I hosted Amber’s birthday weekend!
-I voted. These are a little out of order. Whatever.
-The husband moved away 🙁 So Bailey and I sent him lots of “we miss you” pictures. Mr. Husband moved for his new job at Campbell University. I’ll be joining him in April.
December
-I spent the week with my family in Disney World for my cousin’s wedding!
-Mr. Husband and I found a way to survive the distance: thank you facetime!
-We celebrated the week leading up to Christmas making memories and starting traditions! We built a fort, watched LOTS of Christmas movies, ate lots of yummy food and built a gingerbread house.
-Mr. Husband and I spent our first Christmas just the two of us. It was magical and lovely!
2012 was an amazing year. We had many more ups than downs, and it was definitely a growing year for us. Thank you all for spending this year reading along with our lives. Looking forward to seeing what’s in store in 2013!
Cheers, 2012. You rocked.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, LOVES.
See you in 2013!
by Joey | Dec 24, 2012 | Throwback
Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!
The hubs and I are having so much fun creating the traditions that we’ll uphold once we have a family.
Sometimes I think it’s extremely important to make your relationship the first priority
and let everything else take a back seat.
I realize that is kind of controversial.
Family is hugely important to us.
This will be the first Christmas morning I haven’t woken up in my parents’ home.
It’ll be the first Christmas Mr. Husband hasn’t seen his Grandparents.
We in no way intend to keep things this way.
But with how our first few married holidays went,
we agreed that we needed a year to establish ourselves some holiday traditions of our own.
We got so swallowed up in what everyone else wanted from us.
Where everyone else wanted us to be.
We forgot to stop. Take a second. Breathe. And be us.
I know, especially when we have kids, we’ll be surrounded by our families.
And we both cherish that so much.
So it was incredibly important for us to take this year
for ourselves.
For all we know, it may be the only holiday season until we’re old and grey
and our own children have their own families
that we spend just the two of us.
We miss our families.
I’ll miss walking down the stairs and insisting we take everything to my sister’s house.
I’ll miss hearing my dad’s laugh while watching Christmas Vacation.
I’ll miss sitting around my sister’s dining room table
while her husband carves the turkey
and my niece waits impatiently to go play with her new toys.
But holidays change as the years go by.
I was just telling Mr. Husband that our tree used to be up in the great room.
We used to have colored lights on that tree.
The tree downstairs used to be real. That was our fancy tree.
We used to have a huge Christmas Eve party every year.
We used to be an embarrassingly large number of people around our tree.
The presents used to almost cover the entire floor.
And my dad would video tape the entire thing.
That’s how my “screw you” comment is now forever saved in the archives.
And then somewhere along the line
everything changed.
We grew up.
We have to find ways to make this version of the holidays fun.
I think we’re doing just fine.
And next year?
We’ll live within a 30 mile radius of our families.
We’ll get the best of both worlds.
So with that…
MERRY CHRISTMAS.
