37. Revamp my backyard.

Well, I have been a little remiss in posting but I can say that it's for a couple of good reasons...1) as of sometime in February, I think it was the 19th, I'm engaged to be married on 12.3.11! and 2) I have been DILIGENTLY working on the backyard! I have made loads of progress. I have planted a small patch of grass, terraced a foundation bed that was suffering from terrible run-off and planted a few containers. Pics soon but I just wanted to post something! :)

18. Attend the Zora Neale Hurston Arts festival...NOT this year!

I really could have sworn that the Zora Neale Hurston Arts festival was in February. I was so convinced of this that I began planning a trip to attend. I even extended an invitation to my bookclub, SistaTalk. Imagine my chagrin when I hopped online and learned that the Festival was going on at the very moment that I was searching! Yep, it was last weekend.

So #18 will have to wait for 2012.

Clearly, more planning is needed.

Slooowww start

So clearly I am still not blogging regularly. Funny that in everyday life, I'm rarely at a loss for words. But rising to the challenge of posting online daily seems like climbing Everest! My not blogging is part of my largest stumbling block in life...I am easily distracted. I often joke that my attention span is shorter than a gnat's rear. At work, I reign it in by totally shutting out all distractions. To get anything done, I have to be completely in the zone else I'd never get anything done. For really big projects, I'll find an isolated cube and hide until the work is done.

But this is near impossible to do at home...friends, family and chores are always calling my name! It seems like every weekend I compile a list of things to do, places to go and friends to see that even Santa would say was impossible. I am the Queen of Triple booking - trying to do way too much all at once only leaves me worn out and seemingly unreliable :(.

So rather than beat myself up about my failure to scratch (off), I am learning to find bliss in getting even just one thing done...so what if it's the randome 'non 40 by 40' post?

It's a post!

40 by 40

I think I'll take a moment to celebrate my age

The ending of an era and the turning of the page.

Now it's time to focus on where I go from here.

Lord have mercy on my next thirty years!

Weeks before my 38th birthday rolled into town, I realized that my pechant for procrastination, double-booking and general flightiness had left me with a GROWING list of should, coulda, wouldas. If left unattended, my best laid plans would never see the light of 40. Knowing that I would truly regret letting that come to pass, I decided to compile the mother of all To Do lists (at least for now). So here it goes, the 40 things that I purpose to complete/see/do/experience before my 40th birthday aka my "40 by 40" for short.

1. Visit the Grand Canyon for at least one week. Raft the river. Hike the trails. Relax at a spa.
2. Learn to habla espanol fluently. I wanna watch those crazy soaps and know what's going on!
3. Visit Washington, DC. See the museums. Retrace the steps. Visit the stores. Savor the eats.
4. Go ice skating.
5. Complete the Peachtree Road Race.
6. Spend a long weekend in Savannah, GA. Tour the gardens. Savor the eats.
7. Visit Georgia's State Botanical Garden.
8. Map out 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 year life plans. The longer the horizon the more abstract.
9. Generate 2 additional & steady streams of income.
10. Add $X to my Emergency Fund.
11. Complete year 1 of my MBA program.
12. Read every page of the Bible (NLV).
13. Complete business plans on dream business ideas.
14. Become a Small Business SME. Study financing and taxation. Utilize the SBA's free offerings.
15. Develop a personal finance education workshop for High School students. Apply for a funding grant and pitch program to area schools.
16. Visit Austin, TX. See the boardwalk. Soak up the local art scene. Visit the David/Peese garden.
17. Visit Miami, FL for a long weekend of fun in the sun! (be sure to be bikini ready!)
18. Attend the Zora Neale Hurston Arts festival.
19. Connect to Atlanta's local art scene. Study African American Art history.
20. Take 1 continuing ed/personal enrichment class per quarter.
21. Prepay recurring household accounts: gas, electric, water, insurance, trash & cable.
22. Master MS Excel.
23. Master MS Project.
24. Try yoga. Hot yoga.
25. Attend Joyce Meyer's Womens Conference in St. Louis, MO on 3rd weekend in September.
26. Compile personal reading plan. Tackle at least one book per month.
27. Visit the Atlanta History Center.
28. Visit Stone Mountain.
29. Take the Christmas Tour of Homes in Marietta.
30. Hike Kennesaw Mountain.
31. Tour the key Civil Rights areas in AL, MS, and GA.
32. Upholster a chair.
33. Refinish a piece of furniture.
34. Take Thai cooking lessons.
35. Host a dinner party.
36. Finish painting kitchen cabinets!
37. Revamp my backyard.
38. Cook a Thanksgiving meal (cannot serve as #35)
39. Buy a piano and take lessons.
40. Blog routinely/regularly.

So there it is...a loose plan for the next two years. We'll see if having a plan puts me on the road to success. Here's to December 2012!!!