Thirty days of truth -- Day five.

Something you hope to do in your life.

I hope to do a lot of things in my life. I'm always thinking of new goals, but I guess that this is the perfect opportunity to write some of hem down. How about ten goals? I think that sounds good....

(1) I want to upgrade my nursing degree to a Bachelor's Degree, and perhaps a Master's Degree. I can see myself doing this for the rest of my working years, so why the heck not?

Plus, if I upgrade, I can (2) teach nursing, and I've always wanted to teach. I love to orient new nurses and teach people whatever I can possibly teach them. Even just being the clinical teacher would be great. I could still be in the hospital, but I could be teaching valuable real life decision making and skills for the job.

(3) I want to get a full time job with good benefits. I like my job now, but I work part time so some paychecks I have a ton of hours (this last one was over 100 hours!), and other paychecks are so small that it's depressing (I had one check with SIX hours on it). With a full time job and benefits, I could start saving more money because I'd have a dependable income, plus I LOVE to work. I'm basically a wannabe workaholic.

(4) I want to get married. I have the ring and the engagement, but I'm not having the best time wedding planning. I'd rather have someone else plan it and have John and I just come in refreshed and ready. =) I don't want to assemble anything or place chairs and tables, and I certainly don't want to clean up afterward... I guess we aren't in any rush, but I'd still like to make some kind of headway beyond just flipping through bridal magazines and dreaming. =)

(5) I hope to someday have a family. I go back and forth on the issue of having children, but John keeps making these comments about how I'd be a great mother and how our dog would be so good with kids... I think that he's thinking about it because he's been making these little remarks a lot lately.... I really love children, but I'm not ready to make any anytime soon, but maybe in five years... Once I'm more experienced with my job.

(6) I hope to find a place in the US that I love as much as Traverse City, Michigan. Somewhere I can truly be happy living.. At this point, the perfect town has the following basic characteristics: beautiful clean beaches with clear blue water. Four seasons. Or, if no winter with snow, than at least a distinguished fall with color change and spring with the smells of new blooms. I also want safe neighborhoods to walk my dog in and a town with family friendly places to go.

(7) I hope to save enough money to be able to buy a house as soon as John retires. That will be in about 17 years, so it shouldn't be a problem. I just don't want to rent for the rest of my life... I want a house with at least three bedrooms and at least two bathrooms. I want a lot of closets and extra storage places. A den would be awesome. I want a gourmet kitchen (see goal #9) and a formal dining room. I want a sitting room for visiting and a living room with the TV and all. I want a two car garage. I want walk in closets. I want a dedicated laundry room. I want and entryway with a closet and a place for people to put their shoes. I want a place for my dog to run around outside and play. I want a beautifully landscaped yard (I think I'm going to have to hire someone for that, because I have a  BLACK thumb). Someone that I used to babysit for has the perfect house. It would be terrific, and it has most of these things.

(8) I hope to someday (maybe in the house that I've just described) have a professional decorator come in and make it instantly feel like home and match both of our decorating personalities, which are about as opposite as possible. I want it to be "comfy cozy" as the decorating scheme. I want people to instantly feel warm and welcomed when they walk in. =)

(9) I want to be a good cook. I'm not talking about being able to make something out of nothing, I'm just talking about being able to go into the kitchen with the things I need, follow the recipe and make something delicious. More than once, I have caught the kitchen on fire, and it's embarrassing and depressing. hahaha I want to be able to invite people over for dinner parties without them feeling like they should eat something beforehand "just in case." I want to be able to prepare courses and have them all be ready at the right time. Not the sides being done way before or way after the main part of the meal.... I'm notorious for that. =(

(10) I want to spend more time with my friends and sisters. I live really far away form them, and I don't see that changing any time soon. If my friends were more established in their lives and careers (myself included), I'd like to be able to take long weekends together and go places to bond and catch up. I like visiting home because I miss it so much, but I want my friends to come visit me once in awhile too so I feel like I'm as important to them as they are to me. I just don't want to keep seeing them once a year, and I don't always want to be the person diong the traveling.

There you have it: ten goals. All of them are realistic. Most of them possible in the next five to ten years (minus the retirement home, obviously). It's good to write down your goals. It's something to hold yourself accountable to that's more substantial than some fleeting thought that passed you by before you have the chance to tell someone. I have those goals a lot, but these are the major goals. Maybe you'll see them come to life. I hope so. =)