Resolution Solution

Okay, as I promised myself (and anyone who has nothing to better to do at the moment, so is reading this blog...;-)) I have formulated my Official Resolutions for the year 2013.  As someone who is goal oriented, but also who like clean starts, New Years Day is one of my favorite days of the calendar.  It's an arbitrary way to put all the unpleasantries of the year gone by into a semi-official mental box and shelve them so that I can move forward. Sometimes this works, sometimes it's not that tidy, but at least it's a starting point!

First off the Big Goals.  These are the big hopes for the year which are overreaching goals that will take up several weeks or months.


1. Lose 30 lbs. and get back into the shape I was in a year ago, meaning that :
    a. I can jog 4 miles easily, and up to 5 miles on occasion
    b. my RHR is 40-45
    c. I avoiding junk food on most days and drinking adequate water.
2. I will return to updating Xyliatales at least twice a month.
3. I will complete and either seek a publisher for, or self publish and promote the first book in picture book series, Dena and Doodle. 
4. Complete a 1-3-5 year business plan that grows the freelance business.

My daily/ weekly/ monthly goals are as follows:
1. lunch/coffee with a friend at least once a week
2. workout at least 5 times a week
3. weight lifting 2-3x a week
4 positive energy as much as possible- eliminate complaining,
excuses, and focus on gratitude.
                                          5. Sales calls 3x + a week

So there it is.  Pretty straight forward, and not too different from years past, but it's good to type it up and look at it, and then putting out on a blog is an accountability thing too. :)

Another twelve days still left for my Chip In- I still can't believe how quickly the money has been raised.  Thank you again to everyone who has helped out.


Happy New,  Year everyone!  Goodbye to 2012!!!

~B

The End is in Sight...

2012 has been quite a year, hasn't it? I know I am certainly not the only person to feel this way. So many friends faced many challenges this year. One thing that is remarkable is how many of us lost our beloved furry friends. In the same week, my friend Cathy lost her dear Billy Jo and Deek died just a few days later. I have had many pets, and I have loved them all, but Deek was a really, really special guy.

But in keeping with my desire for focusing on gratitude, I'm looking back at my time with Deek with a smile and grateful that the guy was in my life in the first place. There wasn't a day that he didn't make us smile or laugh, and I like to think that he had a pretty happy life too.

 n my next post, I'm going to attach my annual tradition of Resolutioning! I love New Years- it's a time to hit the reboot button and turn to a fresh page in the life sketchbook. No more smudgy scribbles of the year past- it's a clean start.

Finally- The Wacom fundraiser continues to be amazing! Less than three days, and I'm already at 70%- I have AMAZING friends!!!  ~B

First Blog entry

Okay, I'm new to Blogger blog, so let's see how this goes.  Haven't blogged in a bit, been mostly ranting and gnashing my teeth on Facebook, so I have decided to get back to blogging- or journaling as part of my personal revisioning for 2013.

This entry is going to be a little short, but I wanted to say thank you!!  to everyone who has been supporting my end of the year fundraiser to help me get a new drawing tablet.  The one I have was actually gifted to me a long time ago, and is an original Wacom Intuos- and has been very VERY useful, but I have long known that drawing on a tablet while looking up at a screen was not something that would ever come naturally to me. I have hoped that I coudl get a Cintiq (a tablet with a built in screen) for years, but with business being up and down, and many personal life challenges, it's just not been something I could justify.

Now with the Intuos on its last legs, and still no funds, I decided to appeal to my wonderful friends- many of them artists themselves, and have been humbled by the outpouring of support.   Thank you so much everyone who has helped or has had words of support!

I know that the new tablet is going to speed up my work time and I will be more productive and successful in the coming year!  Thank you everyone!!