Chasing Rainbows

Have you ever chase a rainbow? Maybe as a child or maybe it was last week right after a terrible rainstorm when you let your childlike enthusiasm look past the the down pour and you only fixate on the beautiful colors in the distance. At that moment when you feverishly ran after the idea of catching the rainbow for the soul purpose of standing directly under the center in awe of all it's beauty and wonderment and found to your disappointment that no matter how hard you ran the rainbow remains just out of your grasps.

Chasing rainbows for me might as well be called "chasing me dreams." I have big dreams and big plans for my future but no matter how feverishly I try to run after them I never seem to catch them. They are just out of my reach being blocked by what is deemed to be logically, not knowing where to start or simply the obstacle of fear!

For me, having a successful career was/is my dream. Some little girls want to grow up and be Cinderella but I wanted to be the woman in the corner office wearing Donna Karen business suite. Because that is my dream, I have spent the better part of the last decade chasing after my career within my current company.  Knowing where the starting line was set for advancing my career goals within this organization was easier than finding my own address on Google Maps. It was simple, you must have an education, continue to grow, develop, become a respected leader among your peers, build good relationships and eventually you will be a few latter rungs higher. The details were so precise it removed the guess work and fear of the unknown; however, the only thing that wasn't mentioned was that this recipe wasn't a guarantee or promise of success. Merely a "suggested path" or the one "most recommended" due to the proven success of others.

My goal was to be successful, to chase after my rainbow and in the end be standing with my pot of gold enjoying the view of the colors. So I have followed the "suggested path" and dedicated myself to higher education, business books, peer feedback, multiple career moves and perfecting my the art of "choosing your words wisely." All of these things have helped transform me into the business professional I am today; however, it has become very prescriptive rather than the passionate, exhilarating feeling of  "chasing your dream."

How did I get so far off course when I followed the "suggested path?" This has been the question I have been asking myself for the better part of 2012/2013. If this was my dream, my goal, then way didn't it feel like a success? Why didn't it feel as if I had captured my rainbow and won my pot of gold?

When I started asking these questions of myself I started an unraveling process self discovery that opened the door for me to begin to understand why I hadn't been able to reach my rainbow. During my quest of self exploration I learned that reaching my rainbow had more to it than conquering the "suggested path" I had built my life around. I wasn't inspired! I wasn't passionate about what I was leaving behind or putting out into the world. The path I had chosen did contributed to my business success but it had lead me down a path were I had neglected my personal success. I had lost focus of all the other elements that made life important. I had educated and expanded my brain through schooling, books, training but left my heart and passions in the dust. The artistic, fun, charitable girl was lost in the forest the minute I started to only chase after the "red" stripe at the top of the rainbow.

Now that I have started to unravel the mystery of  what it means to "chasing my rainbow" I now have a better understanding that I have to chase after all the colors, all the elements in life that are equally as important. I now understand that it is the multitude of colors that glisten beautifully against the background of a harsh world full of schedules, judgments and the need for approval that makes us stand in awe and want to chase after it for ourselves. I now understand that I will only reach my rainbow and pot of gold once I have embraced who I am within all the layer, in all the colors because in the end I am the rainbow.

52 Week Money Saving Challenge

Since I am working on living my "possibilities" in 2013 I decided to throw in an extra savings plan in order to jump start my 2014. As all good "budgeting" goes I already have a savings plan and travel savings plan for this year but this money challenge will allow me to grow a separate fund to start of 2014! My hope is to build this habit in 2013 and going forward it can be my "book of possibilities" money!

Here's the challenge!


Source: Unknown - I don't own any rights to this idea or picture  

The first few weeks are difficult to me because I don't normally manage my money in cash. So I have jumped started this savings plan and deposited 15.00 dollars in my savings account for the month of January. I will more than likely end up depositing money twice on month on payday but I love having an outline goal to challenge myself weekly, monthly and for the year!

Here is to joining the millions who have resolved themselves to "spend less and save more" in 2013!





A New Year, A Better Me, A Year of Dreams

Every New Year millions of people, myself included, have talked about and/or in recent years flooded social media sites about what their "New Year's Resolutions" will be for the upcoming year. I like many have fallen into the same pattern of vowing to lose weight, exercise more, spend less money and the list goes on. This year I wanted to do something different. Instead of writing down all my resolutions of what I will stop doing or should I say repeating all my resolutions that I didn't not accomplish in years past I decided to start my "book of possibilities." I would love to be able to claim this idea of my own but for copy right purposes and privileges I want to mention that the idea was taken from the movie "The Last Holiday."
Only I am adding my own twist. In the movie the main character was collecting her dreams, inspirations and "will do one day" ideas into a book so when she saved enough money or got enough time she could live out her dreams. The character had no plans on chasing her dreams at that moment in time until an incident occurred where she thought she only had a couple of weeks to live. Long movie short, she discovered the what it was like to live out the possibilities and stop waiting for one day! If you haven't seen the movie I would recommended renting just in case my writing abilities don't inspire you to jump on the possibilities wagon. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0408985/

My 2013 personal twist to this adorable movie (otherwise known as a chick-flick) is that I am going to build my book of possibilities while living it! 2013 for me is about not waiting for "one day" to live out my hopes, dreams or discover new ones. So this year my only resolution is to start living life to the fullest and stop waiting for "one day" to arrive. I know I won't be able to do everything I want to do the moment I want to do it give that I am not independently wealthy. So my resolution is two part. 1.) Is to add items to my book that can be done short term as well as long term. 2.) Set a plan for all the things I can do in 2013 in order to set them into action and set up the rest for 2014, 2015, etc.

My 2013 entries to the book of possibilities will begin with these wanted possibilities:

Travel out of the U.S. - I have always wanted to travel outside the U.S. and every year I wish on a star, my birthday candles, eyelashes anything that might help me find a way to save the money, get a passport and book a trip. What I have discovered each year is that I do not have a travel fairy godmother that is going to appear and use her magic wand to make a passport appear in my purse along with extra dollars and plane ticket. So I guess it is up to me to make this dream a reality.

• The Plan:
• Get Passport in March when I get my bonus from 2012
• Begin planning a trip for August 2013 to visit London for the first time. (not sure of all the details yet but I know I would like to go in August so that it connects with another trip I will be making on the East Coast.)
• Purchase Plane Tickets in April and/or put the down payment on the tickets at a travel agency.
• Starting April 1st paycheck I have started a travel fund line item in the budget to put back money that will specifically be used for this trip.
• August - board a plane and make it a reality.

Become a better writer - This blog is going to the vehicle I use to practice writing. I am giving this advance warning for any readers who happen to stumble upon this post or have visited my site before. In the upcoming year there will be several random post about music, books or life events. Pretty much anything that inspires me to take a few moments to write.

• The Plan:
• Read 5 Books in 2013 - it is said that in order to become a better writer you have to be a better reader. So outside my normal blog and/or web reading I am committing to reading 5 books this year. Specifically:
• Les Mes (loved the movie so now it is time to do the work and read it)
• Pride and Prejudice (I have owned this book for 3 years and have yet to pick it up to read.)
• 2 books I am leaving open to decide later in the year
• Lastly, A book I purchased 3 years ago as well and only made it through chapter 1. "Escaping into the Open" by Elizabeth Berg is a book about learning how to write. It has 13 chapters and at the end of each is a writing assignment. (Refer back to the random posting warning above.) I will label these random posting so I can refer back to them as I take on this writing journey.

PMP Certification - I am not sure I mentioned it before because it hasn't been of any importance until this moment but I am a Project by day/inspiring blogger, writer, photographer by night. In 2010 I started my journey of accomplishing my goal to become a project manager within my company. I had known since 2007 that was the position I wanted but given corporate obstacles I hadn't found a way to achieve that goal. After spending another three years trying to navigate my career withing the walls of the company I decided to take on the challenge personally. In August of 2010, I enrolled with an online University in order to spend the next 8 months completely the technical certification training for Project Managers. It was on my own time with my own money so this was a big deal for me personally. The result of taking this personal approach to education and wanting to springboard into this position is that I was rewarded by my company. I believe that three things contributed to me becoming a Project Manager on two months after my training when before I had waited three years. 1.) Showing personal initiative to make things happen
2.) The timing was right
3.) Networking
Although I was able to accomplish my 2010 goal of completing the training and then my 2011 goal of actually becoming a Project Manager I am still one step shy of closing the loop on this dream. Once you are technically trained you have to collect 4500 working hours before you can apply to take the official exam. Why is this important? Once you pass the exam you can officially place PMP behind your name and those three letters can open up a world of possibilities in my field. I now have my 4500 hours so it is time to get the certification!

• The Plan:
• Spend the first 3 month of the year studying my training material in order to pass the exam.
• Submit my application for the exam by the end of April
• Test in the month of May/June
• Reach goal of having my certification by summer

I have been blessed in the life with two things that have helped me thus far in reaching my goals. I am a dreamer and I like to dream big. Lucky for me I am also a planner and have the ability to execute on plans. Makes my job as a Project Manager the perfect fit. I have done very well in the past using these two things to make things happen in my professional life. This year I am allowing the dreamer to dream really big and asking the project manager in me to make the dreamers dream a reality.

I am so excited for 2013! If I accomplish only these things it will be a successful year!


Now is the Start - A Fine Frenzy