New Year New Start

So its the New Year, 2011 has officially started. I know most of you are probably sleeping in and washing last night's makeup off, but it is that time of year to look back on what has happened in the past and to look forward to what will happen in the future.

 So to start it off right here's an overview of my year:

• Got a new job as a sales rep
• Hated my new job as a sales rep
• Got homesick for America and my family
• Took as many sick days as possble until my 5 week holidays in May back to America
• Was in a friend's wedding in Denver, hung out with some friends and family in LA, Denver, and Ohio and went on a Carribbean cruise
• Turned 28
• Went back to work and started counting down til Christmas holidays
• Had a lot of work stress, life stress etc.
• Ate and drank too much to cope with all the stress
• Decided I wanted to quit the ratrace and have a baby
• started my blog to have a creative outlet
•  Loved writing my blog until it became another thing on my to do list.
• Counted down the minutes until Christmas holidays
• Decided I was crazy to think a kid would be less stress than a job
• Got a promotion and a raise at work
• Got stressed out over the heightened expectations for my new promotion
• Finally got a holiday
• Hosted my first ever extended family Christmas dinner
• entertained the inlaws
• went camping with some friends and their 14 month old
• wondered whether I will ever have kids
• went to bed at 10pm new years eve because I just couldn't be bothered staying up any longer

So there you have it, my year in a snapshot. Now looking forwards to 2011 here's what I hope happens:

• get fit again
• eat better
• not stress so much about work stuff
• start getting better pay because of commissions
• pay off some bills
• do some more writing
• do some more styling and take pics
• go to Bali in March for a friends 30th
• get lots of visiting friends and family from America
• convince my parents to retire to Australia
• make some new friends
• take the time for old friends
• take the time to stop and think and enjoy life
• write some goals down and remember where I put them so I can actually keep them
• get more involved with the blogging and fashion community
• renovate our house

I think most of these are pretty standard normal resolutions, and some are ones that I makes every year, and I know most of you would be the same. But we have to encourage ourselves at this time of year when we actually take the time to stop and think about our past and our future, that for hopefully most of us a lot has changed since this time last year, I know that I have grown and learned a whole lot and I hope you have too.

See for all life's challenges and hardships we become stronger and smarter for having made it through them, and grow into better people because of it. So look at the silver lining of 2010, and use it launch forward into 2011, because I know I am planning on having a fantastic year...
xx

Search Amazon.com for new years resolution

"If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans."

This just frustrates me.

Mostly because I know its true, because I know that it doesn't matter what we have planned, we are not ultimately the ones in charge and sometimes life takes some very unexpected turns. The only thing you can do sometimes is hold on tight and ride it through and trust that God has a bigger plan than anything we can see right now.

When I get tired of this optimism, I try to remind myself of a mental image of a mouse in a maze, trying to find the cheese. We might be wandering through, trying to find our way through and getting frustrated as we run into dead end after dead end.

But there is a much bigger, much smarter person who is looking over the whole thing and can direct us in the right path to find the cheese.

All we see is really high walls and dead ends, but that person sees the whole maze at a glance and has a path planned out, and knows exactly how to get us to better cheese than we ever thought possibe.

All we have to do is listen to his directions and trust that he knows what hes talking about..
 
In the meantime I think I need a vacation and a nap and an entire chocolate cake..

thanks Melissa for the quote and for reminding me what's important in life...