Chapter 3 – Write it Down, Make it Happen

So today I finished chapter 3. In case you are wondering, when I go to lunch solo, I sit and read. Just enough time for me to read a chapter.

Anyway, this chapter is basically talking about having a place to keep all the bright ideas that come to you. I don’t know about you guys, but I get “bright” ideas all the time. I’m sure I forget a lot of them too.

A while back, Ladylee advised me to buy a small notebook and keep it in my purse to jot things down on. Now everybody probably has an old receipt or something they can write on if need be, but when I wanted to get serious about my finances, I bought a small spiral notebook and wrote my budget in it and then each time I would spend money, I tracked it. I did this for a long time and was able to see how much money I was wasting. Once I kind of got on track financially, I stopped carrying around that book. I didn’t need the constant reminders of what my credit card balances were, savings balance and bills that were due.

The next time I started a notebook was when I wanted to purchase a home. I wrote everything in that notebook from subdivisions, home insurance companies, painters, room paint colors, my budget for decorating my home, etc. I’m talkin if you look in that notebook now, you will see stuff like, “Call Time Warner on X date to have cable transferred.” Or you might see “Check on alarm company estimates.” Anybody I spoke to and needed to call, I had them in that book. Believe it or not, I started planning my housewarming party months before I even knew what house I would buy. I had a menu and guest list already set.

Once I actually finished with moving, getting settled, decorating, etc. I pretty much stopped carrying around that notebook. Reading this chapter reminds me that I do need to pick up another small notebook. Why? Well b/c I have lots of different projects in my head.

For instance, I would like to plan a trip to either Williamsburg, Fredericksburg, or some place in VA for during the holidays to sight see. I would also like to visit some other cities and I need tickets for homecoming. I’ve also been throwing around the idea of signing up to be a Big Sister myself. Lot’s of little things and I just need a place to keep it altogether.

So my questions for this chapter are: Do you have any projects going on that you could use this little notebook method on? Have you ever carried a notebook before and how did it work out for you? When you are inspired, how do you keep track of your thoughts?

Randoms

I am starting to spend too much time on twitter. And I'm constantly checking twitter. Makes no sense. I could be doing something productive.

Since school is out, I feel like I'm slacking b/c I come home from work and don't HAVE to do anything. Feels strange.

I've noticed that my bedtime keeps getting later and later. Staying up to catch a 10 p.m. show is not what's up.

I canceled HBO on my cable and now I want it back and Showtime. The problem is when I had the channel I never watched it. Matter of fact, I don't really watch much tv outside of regular shows I like and CNN. So I guess I'm talking/writing this out and thinking that I don't need to go back and order more channels that I'm not gonna watch anyway.

My sister emailed me a couple days ago for me to call her house phone b/c her cell phone is turned off until Friday. I rolled my eyes. I'm sick of the fact that at 30 yrs old, she is still not getting it together. How long does it take?

I was reading Essence Mag the other night and saw a story about a lady who used to weigh 279lbs and she went down to 170lbs.. Yowzers! Working out/healthy eating has been on my mind something serious lately. Maybe I need to post her story up on my fridge. I don't think my problem is food thoguh, it's more COKE and not doing any exercise at all. I need to get started. One small step at a time.

Tyler has an outing tonight with the Big Brother and I have plans to go to dinner with my friend Angie. We are going to one of the restaurants for Restaurant Week.

This morning before work I stopped at the gas station. I have on some SMOKING hot shoes and I kind of picked out my coil out and it resembles a fro now. I feel uber sexy. When I walked into the gas station, this guy was standing there fixing his tie and almost broke his neck to get the door for me. And then he commented on how good I smell.. I love being a girl!

I'm getting excited about the idea of going to Baton Rouge for homecoming. I just wish it wasn't in November. That seems late. I guess that gives me more time to get FINER.. LMAO..

What's going on random with you this hump day?

Chapter 2 - Write it Down, Make it Happen

I told you guys I was going to re-read this book and it seems like I'm reading it for the first time again b/c new things keep popping in my head as I'm reading it. I think Sasha commented yesterday that she keeps adding things to her list of goals. This chapter kind of spoke about what to do if you don't know what you want to do per se. I have had a couple friends tell me in the past that they didn't know what they wanted to be when they grew up. It was sort of a joke b/c we are all at least 30.

In the book, she writes about an opera singer who started off working as an usher at the opera. He started out by writing a satirical play about something and the more he wrote, the more he got to the heart of what he desired to do in his own life. Once he started thinking about it, he started small and joined his school's choir and seems like the doors just opened up for him in the most suprising ways possible. It made me continue to think about my career goals and how sometimes you just fall into something that you like to do, but what about what's deep in your heart. Like if you were sitting on a beach and daydreaming and smiling, what would be running across your mind at the time?

I also thought about starting small and remembered something from my childhood. When I was growing up, we had one dance academy in the town I lived in. Dawn's Dance Academy. Most of the students were white girls, but there were maybe two or three black girls in the city whose parents could afford to send them to this dance school. I begged my Aunt to let me take dancing and she said no. She said I didn't need to and she didn't have the money for it. In Junior High we had a cheerleading squad and I begged to try out for it and again she said no. She told me she was not going to be picking me up from school after practice each day, so the answer was no. I was mad about it, but she was not budging.

When I was going to ninth grade, I asked if I could try out for cheerleading at high school. She told me fine b/c she worked at the school and I could just ride home with her after practice. But remember, she hadn't previously allowed me to take dancing, and I really was not good at things that require coordination, but I thought if they would just give me a shot, I could do it. I remember telling my mom that I was practicing and I was going to try out and she told me I would never make it so I shouldn't waste my time.

Well I practiced with my friends for a week or so and tryout time came. When the cheerleaders were announced, they announced all the girls who would be on JV football team and my name was not called. The crazy thing was that I did make the basketball cheerleader squad. It seems odd now that they'd have separate squads. At any rate, the football cheerleaders were the "best." I was kind of down, but still happy that I made it b/c I knew that all I needed was a foot in the door.

So that year, I practiced and practiced and after that year, when tryouts rolled around again, I was placed on both football and jv teams and in addition, I was the captain of the basketball cheerleaders. I think I got bored with it after that year and decided to try out for the dance team and I made that one as well.

But back to the book. Sometimes people will tell you what you can't do, won't do and ain't gonna be able to do, but you have to know for yourself. Sometimes you don't get exactly what you want the first time, but if you want it bad enough, you keep trying, practicing and working hard and you will get what you want. You just have to be willing to put in the work and dream big!

For those of you who are reading along, what is something that you started out small doing and it turned into a big deal for you?