Mini-goals.

Starting this month, I'm taking a page from Elise Blaha of Enjoy It's book and setting more short-term goals. I often forget about my whole 26 before 26 list, and I think this would be a better way to keep track of my progress and changing interests.

For (what remains of) February, I want to:

• Finish my crochet blanket.
• Gather the remainder of my squares for the quilt I want to start.
• Write a story I'm really proud of.
• Finish my current book and The Fates Will Find A Way. Blog about them both.
• Write and send three letters.

That seems pretty do-able, huh? I think so, too. 

Goodbyes.

Tomorrow is the VP of my department's last day. He's moving on, and while that's exciting news for him, it's a little bittersweet on our end. There's a bit of "restructuring" happening, and we're losing another member of our team to Corporate Marketing (doesn't that just drum up all different shades of gray and itchy suits?). She and I have been combing the web for newer and more exciting opportunities, just in case the restructure doesn't turn out to be a good fit. It's making for some interesting days, some discouraging days, and some downright frustrating days. The truth is, it's difficult to be happy where you are if you're constantly looking for another place to be. I keep struggling with figuring out what I want to do with my life that I fear I'm missing what I'm doing with my life, right now. All I know is that I want my next step to be a wise one, not one made out of fear or confusion or desperation. Luckily, I have that luxury afforded to me right now. Who would I be if I didn't take advantage of my position to make a slow and informed decision? So I'm going to take a step back, make a lot of lists, revisit my resume and my dream jobs before I make any more moves.

We also took him out to lunch and I ate way too much. Thoughts of heading home, taking off my wet socks, and curling up with some soup and Jenna are what's getting me through the rest of the afternoon.

Dream home.

With all of the hullaballoo of our building getting bought and now gutted of all the other tenants, I'm getting worried. I'm bracing myself for the near future of contractors and regular emails about visitors to our apartment. We didn't get the hint when they bought our building that they wanted us out. And now that the lease is signed and everyone else is moving out by the end of the month, it feels too late to turn back. We've been prettying up the place, making room for Mike in October, but I can't help but start looking forward to one year from now when Mike and I can start looking for a place of our own. With all of our trips around New England, it's become a little game to pick out our favorite parts of the houses we see. I had a field day this past weekend in Westerly, RI, which is way out of 99.9% of America's price range, but a girl can dream. You can check out these images and my other ideas of an ideal home at my Pinterest or at My Ideal Home, where I pretty much love everything.

We've started compiling a list of things our dream home would have, which includes but is not limited to:

Summer Goals.

Saw this post over at the lovely A Beautiful Mess, and thought making a list of goals should definitely be at the top of my to-do list. In Boston, the summer is pretty fleeting, so I want to make sure I maximize these warm months and start the fall with some sweet accomplishment under my belt.

1. Organize, organize, organize. I want to get specific here, or else I'll never get around to it. Big news: The boyfriend is moving in at the end of the summer. It's something we've discussed, and we both think it would be lovely to be closer to one another. I'll be sharing custody with his parents (the school where he works is much closer to them) during the week, but I still want to treat it as though he'll be there all of the time. I've already cleared out two drawers and plenty of hangers for him, but I want to get rid of more clutter and make sure that the space is rejuvenating and inspiring when there are two bodies/collections of stuff in it.


2. Write, write, write. This blog has been a great project for writing. Though I haven't been writing fiction as much as I used to, the project of journaling and reflecting has been wonderful for sorting through my everyday, processing, and cataloging memories. But this summer is for stepping it up and writing some serious fiction. I want to take full advantage of the talented writers in my writing group and get some stories done and sent to literary magazines.

3. Learn to sew. Last week I sat down with my inherited sewing machine and - overwhelmed by the hieroglyphics on the machine - quickly gave up. I plan to take the sewing basics class at gather here and this Home Ec e-course. Hopefully by winter I'll be well on my way to making my very first quilt out of Mike's old t-shirts!

4. Write more letters. I love writing letters, but just like my fiction, I've let it fall by the wayside. Now that I live in a larger room with four windows, I look forward to enjoying the sunset, the evening breeze, and updating friends and loved ones with the notes on the postcards that are piling up in my desk drawers.


5. Learn CSS and update this blog. My job allows me the awesome opportunity for complimentary tech books, including Plug-In CSS 100 Power Solutions from McGraw-Hill. I'll be reading through this book and hopefully updating my blog by the end of the summer. I'm excited to learn a new skill and make this space my own.

6. Explore Boston. I want to introduce Mike to Boston and Cambridge more! With the weather warming up, there are no more excuses for laying around. We started yesterday at ScooperBowl, eating all the ice cream we could eat and raising money for the Jimmy Fund!

What are your summer goals?

We'll see what comes of my daily dreaming.

I tweeted yesterday that some days I just want to quit my job and become a lifestyle blogger.

"What's that?" Crunch asked.

"You know, people who are married or parents or obsessed with fashion. They blog about it."

"You're none of those things."

That's when it came to me: Letters. I'm a letter-writer. Whether it's to people I know or complete strangers via my stories, I'm always writing letters. Enter my new project. It's a brain-project at the moment, but someday soon it'll be more.

Why the sudden interest in so-called lifestyle bloggers? Because no matter how much I don't want to be married or "Mom" right now, I'm fascinated by others doing things I'm not doing. There are some truly creative and thoughtful women out there blogging about their so-called ordinary lives, making extraordinary impacts on other people. I can appreciate that.

One of my new favorites is TodaysLetters.com, where a married couple writes letters to each other and pretty much shares their secrets on how their marriage not only works, but flourishes. There are some great lessons in all kinds of relationships: Learning how others feel loved and communicating how you feel loved. I recently learned that lesson in one of my great friendships, and it's one I guarantee I'll probably have to learn again in the future. I appreciate all of the help I can get.

The Writles meeting last night boosted my confidence in my submission to Redivider and generally reminded me that I love reading things and then discussing them. Let's find a job like that, shall we?

Currently figuring out if my brain-project mentioned above is worthy of Kickstarter.com, or if I'm kidding myself. I'm usually kidding, but we'll see.

Heading to the Lud tonight to hang with my sweetie and Nicole and Jay. Nicole said it's like an explosion of her two lives, something I've been having a lot of lately with so many visits on the docket, so I can relate. We should teach the atom bomb to make those kinds of explosions.

Haven't done my 5x500 post, am trying to write something time travel themed as has been the theme so far this week. Friday is my dailygenoshan review day, and I have no idea when I plan to do that. Haven't read a book in a while, so I may have to refer to the vault. Again.

Goal for March: Get my shit together.