“Abundance is not about how much money you have, it’s about how much you are enjoying your life.”

~ Summer Pierre, The Artist in the Office: How to Creatively Survive and Thrive Seven Days a Week

Enjoy! (Pic from CuteOverload.com)

Today, the Year of the Tiger begins! So for those of you born in 1902, 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, and of course, 2010… this is gonna be your year.  For everyone else, find your nearest Tiger friend and hang on tight!  Relax, you don’t have to be Chinese to celebrate this week-long tradition (being non-Irish hasn’t stopped me from partaking in St. Patrick’s day frivolities!).  This is a time to party down with lots of food, fireworks, and family.  RAWR!

It’s also Valentine’s Day today… Some call it a day to commemorate love and romance, while others call it the day Hallmark, florists, and chocolate makers plot to screw up our already cynical and sad lives.  Personally, I think that any day a mature adult can go out in public adorned with red and pink hearts and NOT get odd looks or heckles is a very good day.  The aisles and aisles of chocolates doesn’t hurt either.

And finally, tomorrow is President’s Day for those of us here in the U.S. of A.  A day set aside to honor our country’s highest office and the men (and hopefully someday, women) who have served in it.  Of course, it’s also a day to get a great deal on mattresses, electronics, and cars…

We should celebrate life, family, love, patriotism, and the slashing of retail prices everyday…  But setting aside these special days give us opportunities to get together and be creative.  They are also great excuses to go over-the-top crazy in our own illogical, very human way.

Blessings,

ann:)

(Photo credits: Tiger cubs – Telegraph.co.uk; Cupid wings – BuyCostumes.com; Roses and wings – Microsoft Clip Art; Chinese red money envelopes – ChinaFamilyAdventure.com; Mad photochopping skillz – AnnYin)

… a warm place to live and sleep, healthy children who are smart and smiling, clean clothes to wear, food in my stomach, clean water to drink, cool tunes to jam out to, talented hands, eyes to see the good and the bad, tears to shed for those I’ve lost, a heart full of love for those I still have, blank canvases to fill, bolts of fabric to touch, electricity, a toilet that flushes, a 4.0 GPA, neighbors who are quiet, rain to water my plants, and brave police officers, firefighters, medical workers, and troops who risk their lives every day so that my family and I can enjoy ours.

Tomorrow, I could lose them all. Or I could be blessed some more. Only God knows. But today, I *have*.

I started out this morning ready to feel sorry for myself because this year hasn’t exactly been what anyone would call “stellar.”  I made the active decision to write this post instead.  And do you know what?  I feel fantastic now!  Try it!

Love,

ann

Last night, I had an epiphany. Yes, another one.

I prayed, “God! I need a large injection of cash! All my woes would be solved with just one big wad of cash.”

God, “What…like a bailout?

Oh.

Wasn’t I the one who said that our government should not be bailing out Wall Street after they mismanaged the money and resources given to them in the first place?

Didn’t I scream to the rafters that policies need to be reformed?

Oh. Yes, that was me.

So basically, I just asked God for a bailout after I’ve personally mismanaged my finances (and let’s face it, my life).

*slapped in the face by my own hypocrisy*

I suppose I am going to have to take my own medicine and and do what I said the banking and mortgage industries should be doing – change my way of doing things (my policies and procedures) and become fiscally responsible. I’m not up to my eyeballs in debt or anything like that (or up to my knees for that matter), I just know that I should have more by now. More savings, more net worth, more resources, more equity… etc.

Ouch.

It’s the longer, harder road (no jokes, please) but the one road that I need to be on to see economic recovery and never go through this crap again.

Amen.

This post is a way to keep myself accountable… it’s probably really boring for anyone else to read. Although I hope that it inspires any passersby to look at their lives a little differently as well.

I’ve spent my entire life dreaming my big dreams and occasionally taking some steps toward accomplishing a few of them. I do have a great deal to be grateful for and I have reached a place in my life that I never imagined possible. However, lately, I’ve been feeling dissatisfied – like I’m missing out on something… the next act has started and I’m wandering around somewhere backstage. I’ve felt like other people were really living their lives and I’m only an observer in mine – sitting on the couch watching “The Ann Show” on TV. It’s only recently I came to the conclusion that despite all my efforts, I was still in the “wishful thinking” stage of my life. My plans were just that – wishful plans. Now I get it. I’ve figured out what living my life intentionally actually means. I can’t sit around waiting for life to happen to me. This is it. It’s not a dress rehearsal. I don’t have all the time in the world to wait for my “big break.” Frankly, I’m 32 and my life has started without me. What a way to wake up. All those times I tell myself and others, Carpe Diem? Yeah, well apparently I didn’t fully comprehend that seizing the day is not a state of mind, it requires physical action.

I’ve narrowed down my field of dreams to two “must-haves.” My dream house and my dream company. For years, I’ve been staring at pictures of houses and floor plans and trying to come up with a pretty dream of what I want my family and I to live in. Our Home Base. Yet today, do I live in my dream house? No. So what I should be doing instead of daydreaming includes:

- Researching actual properties as if I was actually an immediate buyer.
- Take those open house tours, shop homes for sale, talk to real estate agents.
- Drafting blueprints, shopping for materials, writing up a budget.
- Cleaning up my credit history and looking into financing options.

Basically, I should (and will) be doing everything a buyer would be doing, regardless of whether or not I have the money saved up right now. Even if I’m not ready to move right away, I should at least act like I am in order to light that fire under my own rear end. If I take that leap of faith, the means will be provided. I can’t just wait for things to happen to me. It turns out that God works the other way around – He expects me to get off my ass and do something first. Message received!

The other huge dream I have involves my life’s work – my business. Expansion has been long overdue. The major barriers I’ve been facing have been put up by, who else? Me. My own fears and insecurities. After all, the higher you climb, the farther you have to fall. But I managed to get this far so I shouldn’t be afraid of taking it further. Now I understand how successful entrepreneurs “do it.” They get out there! They hit the pavement with intentional actions – it’s all in how they act and how strongly they believe in not only the business, but themselves. So I need to apply that sort of intention toward my every waking moment.

- I’ll be checking out offices / storefronts for lease. My tiny studio just isn’t cutting it anymore… especially if I want a full staff.
- Researching options and costs of a professional overhaul of my websites. I’m a pretty good web designer, but boy – the pros are so much better. That’s their life’s work so of course it’s better. It’s not easy keeping up with the technology. I just found out about HTML 5. Sheesh.
- Shopping around for new labor options, supplies, materials, etc. for the new facility
- Sweet talking potential investors (like on Prosper.com… not banks – they’ve stolen enough money over the past few years, thank you very much.) – Cash Flow is King!

Again, I need to treat all these actions (and some more I didn’t list) as the real deal… as if I’m really taking my business to the next level… which of course, I am. You see why I’ve been confused for so long? Ugh, I’ve been stuck in playland so long it’s hard to see the difference sometimes. If someone were to ask me today how much it costs to lease and maintain a fully staffed office and manufacturing/distributing center in the Metroplex… I wouldn’t have a clue. But ask me a few months from now? I’ll be an expert. I may even give you a tour of mine. No more sitting around daydreaming. It’s go time. If I do the legwork and put it all down on paper – the research, the networking contacts, the facts and figures – I’ll be at least one step closer to realizing my dreams than I was yesterday, when all I had was a head full of wishes.

(more…)

I hear this stuff a lot:

“Eh, I don’t get into politics”,

or “I don’t really care what they do cuz it doesn’t affect me”,

or “I don’t have time to think about it – I have to work double shifts to pay off my bills”,

or my favorite line yet, “It all just upsets me so I don’t think about it anymore.” (more…)