What an eventful month and a half! Finished my 3rd semester marketing class with flying colors, hosted a great Christmas Party and bought a new vehicle (have a good "car" friend who gave me a GREAT deal). . . now I'm getting ready to start classes again; continue with the "one-day-at-a-time" body reshaping plan; and starting my own business in part-time customer service business consulting (i.e. mystery shopping); hopefully moving into bigger and better things within the next 2 years. My home is **hopefully** going to get insulated within the next 2 months so I can start saving on my energy bills (and take advantage of the tax credits or rebates). I am once again volunteering for Smart Energy Living Alliance (SELA) in getting our booth ready for the Colorado Garden and Home Show. I'm pretty proud of it, since I once again came up with the original concept (basing it on feedback/responses we had at the booth last year). Kristin helped to fine tune it and Alex helped by finding the sponsors. It's going to be pretty cool - you know I'm all about energy efficiency in the home. The CGHS is Feb 7-15 this year - I'm pretty excited for it this time, especially since I don't have to be there nearly as much as I was last year. My feet and back will be thanking me. . .soon, I hope!
This will be a challenging, opportunistic year for me - I truly believe that; yet, I really wonder what is in store for me at work. Although my boss is giving me the chance to get out among the customers and do some training, I still feel like I'm being held back. It's been confirmed by the old AND new boss that I am very good at what I do and could excel at whatever else I would choose to take on; sadly, he just isn't ready to give me that sales job yet. Although we filled one territory manager position at work, another one "unfortunately" became available when that TM was let go (he is a VERY smart guy). I told my boss that I would take the territory in a heartbeat, but he just laughed it off. It didn't make me feel very good - I'm not sure how to take it yet. So instead, I am immersing myself in other "related" opportunities by making myself more invaluable in my job - I feel pretty safe in saying that I'm not in danger of being layed off.
I was given the gift of a great compliment from my friend Connie who said that I was one of the reasons (she said "the" reason, but I'm not so sure about that) for her coming out of her funk a couple of years ago. A couple other friends have said that if it weren't for me, they'd probably still be only homebody's. One of my best friends is in a weird spot right now with her mom being sick (mom was moved from El Paso to Denver, but Boots stresses out each time her mom goes into the hospital - each time could be "it"); had my "come to Jesus" with her - I will no longer let her go into the "hermit" phase each time she gets a phone call from her mom or gets done with another bout with the hospital. She's stressed and gets depressed. That's not who she is, she's my "sports buddy" and a good friend - I won't let her get that way anymore. Now, if something happens, I'm kidnapping her to someplace we haven't been yet so she can either talk it out if she wants, or get her mind off of things for awhile (although she ends up talking about stuff and I'm OK with that, too). I don't want my friends to go into that "dark" place - it'll take me with them as I worry for their sakes, too. Life is just too short and there is too much to do and see to be sad all of the time!
So, in contemplating 2009, I have to ask myself. . . what are my goals? 1) As always to lose weight; however, getting myself healthier is more important - it will be the stepping stone to the rest falling into place; 2) get in 18 credit hours (2 classes per semester) this year for school; 3) meet 25 new friends/future networking contacts; 4) don't let the way I think I look keep me from meeting someone special in 2009. We all want to improve our appearance; but there is still a point where we can't let magazines, blogs/posts to other social networking websites or even people's opinions dictate how we feel about ourselves - the biggest caveat I put on myself. 2009 WILL be my year - I can feel it!
Today, I went to Jill and Joel's house for a "First Year Living in the New House" BBQ/game day. It was fun as always hanging out with everyone - I didn't realize that they lived so close to me. . . just south of Hwy 76 off, west of Pecos. Not quite a 10 min drive. They are having the Superbowl Party at their house - that will be a fun day as well. Maybe the temp will be in the 60's like it was today! We also have our Dead Pool Draft next week. . . I better get going on the research!
I'm on Facebook now - didn't think I'd like it all that much, but there are really more adults on it than kids (although I am on the "friend list" of several of my friends kids). I've heard from some people I haven't talked to in a really long time, which is pretty cool. I hope to find more friends as people get onto Facebook. If you haven't tried it, think about it!
Hope this is a long enough post - I'll really try to do more than 7-8 posts a year, I promise! (PS - sorry this seems to run together - now matter how much I edit this, it won't separate my paragraphs out!!!)
