Goals Are Important

Every now and again, it's good to take some time to focus on your goals.  Having something to achieve is so important in life - the moment you stop trying for something is the moment boredom sets in and we all know what they say about idle hands being the devil's playground.  I've actually seen such boredom in action recently and it's amazing to me how unhappy people can become when they stop reaching for something greater.

I want to increase my chances of reaching my goals, so I thought that it would be best to keep myself accountable, and what better way to do that than to share a few goals with all of you so you can hold me to them! :)  Welcome to your homework, Peeps!  Here goes nothing.

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1.  I would like to become more of a domestic goddess.

By domestic goddess, I mean that I would like to be better at all things home related.  I know that in order to accomplish this, I will have to practice better time management, as I have so little free time as it is.  Yes, that means that sometimes, I will have to give up my precious television or catching-up-on-the-magazine-subscription-I'm-four-months-behind-on in order to become the goddess I was intended to be. 

Help needed in the following areas: 
a.  Cooking - yeah, I have three dishes I can successfully make (and that's if I check the recipes a bazillion times).
b.  Cleaning/Organization - Okay, I'm sure we can all be better at this, but I know if I could accomplish a better system for myself, it would keep the anxiety and breathing into brown paper bags at a minimum.  Just kidding - there have been no actual documented panic attacks associated with having to clean or organize things.

Excuse the cell pic (that's me on the end back there) and the members of our Coupon Club at work!

2.  I want to become an awesome coupon queen!

You see, I have discovered that couponing is power, and I want to be better at it!  I have done pretty well so far, but there is vast room for improvement.  (Have you seen Extreme Couponing? Crazy Town, right?!?!)  While I don't have room for that kind of stockpiling, and mine is done on a much more pared-down level, I would love to know that I'm saving money on EVERYTHING I buy.  It's possible - inconvenient sometimes, and a lifestyle change - but possible! I really want to be able to save money!

I, along with some girls at work, even started a Coupon Club at our company, and basically we meet once a week to clip or organize our coupons, and share the ones we know we won't use.  For example, I don't have any children yet, so I have no use for Pull-Ups.  My coworker, though, has a little girl and she's in the midst of potty training.  I give her Pull-Ups coupons and she gives me M&M coupons.  I think it's a fair trade!

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3.  Simply doing simple things.

I want to make more time to do simple things.  Day-tripping to the lake, taking a hike, having a picnic, laying by someone's pool, taking a drive somewhere, taking more pictures!  I want to enjoy the simple things in life!

I'm hoping these are some attainable goals - in my experience, having goals is great but overloading yourself with goals is a good way to set yourself up for failure.  While I have way more than three goals currently in my life, I have chosen these three to start with.  Once I accomplish these, I can focus on different ones, and hopefully by pacing myself, I can achieve them!

What about you?  What goals do you hope to soon achieve?

Until next time,

Busy Is As Dizzy Does

As you may have been able to tell, my posting has been very erratic lately, and I am sorry for that!  It's not that I don't adore you guys, but it's that for some reason, somebody decided to only put 24 hours in a day (the nerve). So, to make up for that, I give you THE MOST MASSIVE CATCHUP POST I CAN MUSTER. You have been warned.

I wanted to catch you all up on the goings-on of the Chicken Wing, so you can each revel in the fact that you're not me for awhile.  There are two words that best describe me and my life at this moment in time:  busy and dizzy.  The good news is that I've been SO BUSY with a lot of good things in my life.  The bad news is that the busy-ness has led to lack of sleep and lack of sleep has most likely contributed to the massive allergy attack that has been plaguing me of late.  The massive allergy attack has led me to take Alavert - D and Wal-dryl (Walgreens' version of Benadryl), which is where the dizzy part comes in - whew, boy, these antihistamines aren't playing around!

Oh, hello, friends!

Okay, obviously the meds are affecting my attention span, so back to the good stuff that's been keeping this Wing so busy.  As you read in a prior post, I had a traumatic evening concerning one of my neighbors on Tuesday of last week.  That ordeal kept me up until 2am, and after a few short hours of sleep, I went in to work a full day.  On Thursday, I had taken a half-day vacation from my full-time job, and we actually booked a wedding to photograph with my part-time job, so I worked a 15-hour day that day.  Then, I waited for Little Sister Chicken Wing to get off work at midnight, we packed our things into the car, and headed home to Momma Chicken Wing's house, getting in at 2:30am (I don't know what it was with me and the 2am hour that week).

The next morning, Friday, both Little Sister CW and I had taken off work for a special reason.  We met up with some lovely ladies at 8am (yes, very little sleeping going on) and had the most wonderful pedicures.  You may think that would be an odd choice of activities for that early in the morning, but it was, again, for a very special reason.  We then went to a special venue, and Chicken Wing got crack-a-lackin' in Event Planner mode.  There were crafts to finish, hot glue guns to heat up, cameras to prep, chairs to be set out, and decor and floral to be arranged.  Why in the world would I put myself through all of this?


Because this client bride was none other than Momma Chicken Wing!

 That's right!  In a huge surprise to most folks, I've been planning and executing my own mother's wedding weekend!  It was a huge success and Momma CW and her new husband, whom we'll call Dubya, are very happy newlyweds. It was a ton of work, but all-in-all, we couldn't have had a better day! The weather was great, and when your client is happy, you are happy. That sentiment is echoed tenfold when your client is a member of your family.

As you can see, I've been rolling lately, and I wouldn't have it any other way - except for these darned allergies! Sheesh, I wish they'd move on out of here and let a Chicken Wing breathe. Not to mention, I'd like to have my old voice back. This raspy mess of a voice can only be described as one used by a sex hotline operator, and I try to live my life quite a bit classier than that.

So, in the words of the ever-articulate Taylor Swift, I ask my allergies, "Why you gotta be so...mean?"  I digress.  The reason I'm so bothered by these allergies, and want them to go away, is because one of my good friends from high school is GETTING MARRIED this week to another one of my good friends from high school...and they're getting married at the beach! Oh, you thought my busy schedule was over? NOT A CHANCE!

Aren't they the cutest?!?!?!

I will have the privilege of participating in the big day as one of G-K's bridesmaids, along with these gorgeous girls:

All the pretty ladies (minus one)!

So, as you are reading this massive post, I will be at the beach doing bridesmaid things and preparing to help another happy couple tie the knot!  I'm a sucker for a happy ending, what can I say?  I will hopefully be back to blogging regularly soon.  I still have a ton of photos to edit, and I'm sure that will only increase with G-K's wedding.  Either way, I hope you have a great week!

Until next time,

Reverb 10 - Prompt #30

December 30 – Gift. This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What’s the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year? (Author: Holly Root)

While I have had to really buckle down and think on a lot of these prompts, this one is actually incredibly easy for me.  I have received the same gift over and over in the past year, and it never gets old.  This is one gift that I have never wanted to return.

There were plenty of things that were bound and determined to break me last year.  There were plenty of times when I could have easily chosen to give up and wallow in puddles of grief and self-loathing.  Because of this gift that I was given so often last year, though, I never even considered those options.

This gift was given to me in many different ways.  One of the ways I found most surprising was via facebook.  I have never been so shocked or so humbled by the amount of love and support that was sent to me.  Whether you did it by posting on my wall, commenting on one of my posts, or sending me encouraging messages, I was so incredibly touched by every single one.

People whom I had assumed could care less about me actually cared more.  Some folks I hadn't even spoken to in YEARS reached out to me at one time or another.  There were so many people who sent well-wishes and took precious time out of their days to lift me up.  I cannot say thank you enough.

Then there were the more traditional ways of support - cards (actually sent by snail mail - YAY!) and phone calls, and emails, too.  These also meant so much to me and I couldn't believe that in a nation as time-starved as ours, that people would even have the time to devote to sending me love and support.

There were the personal face-to-face interactions, as well.  The hugs.  The presenting of tissues.  The sending of flowers.  The shoulders that were offered.  The jokes that were told.  The invitations to events that were extended.  The times that kept me busy and kept me sane that were shared.  I have always been one of the most blessed and lucky girls I know, and this year only furthered that fact for me.

I know without second thought or reservation that love and support were the best gifts I could have ever received last year, and I am so grateful that I have so many people in my life who are so incredibly generous.  I love and appreciate each and every one of you so very much, and I know I don't communicate that often enough.  I hope that if any of you ever need me, you know that I am here and will be here for you.

Thanks a million, Peeps.

Until next time,

Five Years....

It is so incredibly hard to believe but Mr. Chicken Wing and I have been dating for FIVE YEARS as of Saturday!!!! It's definitely the longest relationship that either of us has ever been in, and I would have to say we have learned so many things so far!

In order to really take a look at our time together, and being someone who happens to do research for a living, I decided to analyze how long we'd actually been a couple.

FIVE YEARS EQUALS:

* 60 months

* 261 weeks

* 1,826 days

* 43,829 hours

* 2,629,743 minutes

-And the Kicker!-

* 157,784,630 seconds

That's a lot of time! Haha! (Thank you Google Calculator, without which I wouldn't have been able to break that down for you!) All I really know is that I am exceptionally grateful for Mr. Chicken Wing. I can be tough to deal with sometimes, and he's done a great job of putting up with me so far!

So, here is to my handsome man....Mr. Chicken Wing!

I love you to pieces, babe!