It’s a Jungle
Hiiiii 😀 How are ya doing?? Hope you’ve had a great day so far <3
*Last chance to hit up the awesome Sun Warrior deal!
The pups know something is up.
Meet Goodwill Mountain.
Many have climbed it. Few have survived. 😉
Ya’ll would be proud of me- I’m getting rid of SO much stuff! A lot is going to charity, and the designer stuff is going to consignment (I have two huge trash bags full in my car).
I spent the morning going through the closet because half of the clothes I’m taking to Orlando will go with us this weekend, the rest will go when I drive there in a few weeks.
It’s amazing what treasures you can find whilst digging through a closet…
like this:
It looks like a bag full of trash at first glance, but it contains every card and note that the Pilot and I have given to each other over the past five years.
Funny pictures, cards from delivery flowers…
I just keep adding to it, and it’s fun to look through every now and again. 🙂
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Fall Changes
Growing up, fall always brought a sense of *newness* and a chance to start fresh. I’d be going back to school and along with the new pens, notebooks and back-to-school clothes, I always took autumn as an opportunity to set goals for myself and begin the school year with a clean slate. My most recent method of goal-setting has been with the inspiration board, which is an incredible daily visual reminder of what you’ve set out to do over the next year. Fall is the perfect time of year to re-evaluate your goals and see where your priorities lie before year ends.
I’m keeping my inspiration board up until we totally move out and will probably take it to Orlando with me, where I’ll make a new one in January.
When I originally posted my inspiration board, I had blacked out and blurred out a lot of it for fear of jinxing myself…
Well today, I’m just going to put [almost all of it] out there.
Here we go:
At the top, I wrote “In 2010, I will…”
These are all things that I fully intended to do this year, but now that I’m taking a second to re-evaluate my vision board, I can prioritize the realistic goals and postpone the others until a better time (ie when I’ll know where we’ll be living this time next year)
Launch bakery: As you guys know, this was supposed to happen with the failed cafe. It wasn’t the right time for me to manage a restaurant, but that’s not to say that it won’t happen in the future. I still fully intend on opening my high-raw vegan bakery, but am going to wait until I can rent a commercial kitchen when we move. We *should* find out where we’re PCSing to in October-ish, so that’s when I’ll start researching bakery options. Until then, I’ll just have to keep doing macaroon giveaways 😉
Sign a book contract: This is something I haven’t written about much on the blog. I didn’t want it to seem like I wanted to write a book because so many amazing bloggers have written books or are in the process of getting their books published—it’s really something I’ve ALWAYS wanted to do. I’m so fortunate to share the word about food and fitness with all of you wonderful, lovely friends but would love to have a consolidated version of info and shenanigans together.
I wrote a book proposal for a quasitarian cookbook (whole foods, high protein, goat dairy, fish, no meat) with fitness tips and personal stories throughout. I’ve re-written it three times and have sent it out to quite a few agents…. no bites yet. I’m not going to quit, even if I have to re-write it 10 more times (it’s 35 pages) and send it out again and again.
I promised myself that I’d stress less, practice yoga, pray and meditate more and judge less. These are things that could always use improvement but I’m proud to say that I’ve worked extremely hard at these this past year and will continue to stop myself from being a perpetual stress ball 😉
Another goal was to create my own luck by working hard to accomplish the things that I want. Things don’t happen by accident- they’re always the result of hard work and the most meaningful goals are the ones that are not-so-easy to attain. I also worked a little on the personal chef thang (remember when I made raw lunches and desserts for my clients for a few weeks?), but again am going to wait until I can get a commercial kitchen.
The last goal on here was to increase blog traffic by 50%. That happened within a couple of months of writing the inspiration post (thank you, bloggies!) and hopefully our little Fitnessista community will continue to grow <3
The white square area is something that I’m not going to write about yet, but I’m pretty sure many of you can guess what it is. Time will tell, eh? 🙂
So tell me (those of you that are left… long post!)- how many of you have inspiration boards? What are your goals for fall??
Mine are:
-Continue to work on the book proposal
-Keep practicing yoga and try to yoga it up on a more regular basis
-Work on the interior design for our next place
-Find a fun job in Orlando. I’m auditioning to teach Zumba and also for a Disney dancer position- not even joking 😉
xoxo,
Gina
Coming tomorrow: Recipe for vegan soy-free and nut-free tuna salad
109 Comments
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i love this post…it’s so important to constantly evaluate goals and decisions! my goal is to build Faces of Beauty up to a point that women all over the entire world can see how we are all beautiful. that’s the one and only goal with that…the rest are just personal like improving photography skills and creating good recipes 🙂
Writing a book is a dream of mine too so I’m curious what kind of research you did before writing your proposal. Any tips would be great!!!
Never ever quit on something you really want!!
I love your inspiration board!! I’ve been meaning to make one myself, but honestly, I don’t know where I’d put it in my house! Perhaps I need to make a smaller version that I can hide away easily… maybe an inspiration note card?? 😉
Good luck with everything coming up– moving, job searches, and your book proposal! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for ya!
I love this idea! I’ve never seen something like this and I must create something like this ASAP. I’ve reconnected with myself so much recently, that I think it is really important to put some of your goals and motivations out there to remind you.
Wonderful post!
Love your inspiration board Gina. I’ve never made one before but I think it’s a great idea! Perhaps I’ll make one for myself this year. 🙂
I hope your white square wish comes true one day!
Gina I love your board! And I wish you success in whatever way you desire (book deal, bakery, growing your blog, {white square}, etc). You are very inspiring and I love reading your blog.
I have kept all of the cards my husband and I have given each other. I love to take them out once in a while and read them. I used to drive to his work on my lunch break and leave him notes in his car. If only his current job wasn’t an HOUR away from mine, I’d still do that. 🙂
I think I know what the white square is, and I have the same wish for myself 🙂
Thanks for sharing your inspiration board with us! 🙂
My fall goals are:
– Get accepted into Physician Assistant (PA) program
– Finish my MS thesis (in next 2 weeks)
– Run a fall marathon & re-qualify for Boston 2011
– Attend church/pray more frequently
– Become more politically active (I live in DC 😉 )
– Learn to knit/crochet
– Be more patient
– Do more yoga (esp. Bikram in winter!)
Good luck with keeping your dreams alive! I have no doubt you’ll reach them 🙂
Inspiration boards – COOL idea! I make collages with my baby girl but I’ve never really made an inspiration board.
Some of my fall goals:
– To get wider readership and more commenting on my blog
– To use veggies that I’ve never had in dinner recipes (like swiss chard and okra)
– To continue eating healthy and CLEAN
– To have more patience with my almost-4-year-old
– To become more like JESUS!
oh i think i can guess!! hehe. you have it all together, gina, and your hard work and dedication will most certainly pay off for you!
Loved this! I’ve attempted an inspiration board in the past, but have yet to really put one together. A couple of my goals: 1) to be more mindful of what I eat, and 2) to strengthen my yoga practice and do it more often.
Thanks for putting yourself out there! This post in an inspiration in itself!
I love inspiration boards…vision boards…dream boards…all of them are such a wonderful source of motivation and a great way to center your thoughts, daily actions and decisions.
I have had a board for years but oddly enough, I’m also in a place where it is time to revisit! I was just married last month so now that we find ourselves in a new place, I think it couldn’t be a better place to rewrite my goals.
For fall:
– increase website/blog readership
– expand wellness & fitness coaching business by 50%
– continue to improve my mindful view of food and increase my ability to eat moderately and enjoy widly!
– BAKE A LOT! I love fall dishes so it’s time to experiment
– continue to foster understanding, gratitude and love everyday
So, no bloggie sale/auction…for charity (someones race maybe?) would be amazing!
I love this–your inspiration board. I have one too, and I’m glad to say it’s workin for me too!
HI I ADORE YOU. Just a reminder.
So, I am going through a lil’ rough patch trying to figure out what I really want to do, and I think I need to remake a vision board! My one throughout college worked wonders, and it’s time for a new one.
I need to brew in my thoughts for a while before I come up with a definite list, though.
Technically it’s spring here, but the season itself isn’t important. 😉
My spring goals are:
– continue growing blog readerships
– use the gym I just joined regularly each week
– learn several new recipes and make them multiple times
And that’s it! 🙂
Love this!! I have been applying for part-time jobs and no bites yet, either no response of not hiring, but you can’t quit! I just applied for a lululemon job, it’s not cooking but I love yoga and fitness! I love the cooking fro clients personal chef thing…I currently make meals for a friend who is trying to lose weight so much fun…If we lived near eachother we could open our own personal chef business ;] haha I lvoe the disney job you applied for that would be so fun!! gotta love disney 🙂 good luck!
Disney dance position? It sounds like a dream job! Congrats on unleashing your goals and continuing to work towards them. Im still working away at my 2010 goals, but Ive added doing 10 push ups to the list. Can never have enough goals!
I admire your organizational skills! I think it helps so much to physically put down on paper (or in pictures, like on your board) your goals and aspirations. Well done!
i love this post!
I think my goals are to straighten out my finances
work really hard to get at least 1000 on the GRE so I can get into grad school for my NP
practice yoga EVERYDAY.
Pass my PCCN certification finally.
Omg I would looove to see your posts when you’re Jasmine/Belle/Ariel/etc, I can’t wait to see how your blog shifts when you’re in Orlando.
LOVE your inspiration board. Sure, there are things you have yet to accomplish, but you’ll get there. In the process, you may discover you don’t want something after all, and then chase another dream. Never give up on your dreams! EVER. Hard work, persistence, passion…you just can’t beat that combo. Ok…time to follow my own advice! 🙂
Great post, really made me think about some of my goals, especially that it’s OKAY to redirect (that’s a hard lesson).
awesome post! your board is so cool! I love it! being a disney travel agent I am obsessed with DIsney and always wanted to work for them. go for it with the dancing!
i think your goals are great.
My cousin was a dancer at Disney(land)! We’re talking early 90s here though.
Thanks for sharing your inspiration board – I think it will do exactly that – inspire others to make their own boards. Can you believe that I made goals for the first time in my life just a couple of months ago? They weren’t big ones, but it was a big step for me nonetheless since I’m a total go-with-the-flow kinda gal. Of course, my life has taken a 180 since then, and now I need brand new goals! But hey, at least I have practice!
I love that you do a vision board every fall. I actually do mine in the fall too – which reminds me it’s about time to do a new one! I have to say that I truly believe in these boards as a source of inspiration within ones self. Less than two years ago I put up a pic of fit looking girl in hopes I would meet my weight goals. In the mean time I had picked up running and when I looked back at my vision board I realized that the fit girl was actually a running girl. So I was pretty stoked that my visionboard had more meaning! My fall goals: To complete my first marathon (Oct) then complete my first half-marathon (hopefully Nov).
Hi Gina, I’ve been checking in with your blog for several months now, but this is my first comment! This is a great post. And thanks for sharing your inspiration board, what a wonderful idea. I might just have to try that.
I’m in the middle of a big cross-country move as well, so it’s good to know that I’m not the only one purging out my closets. Keep up the moving advice! I need all the help I can get!
hi cherbear! thanks so much for saying hi and for reading the little blog 🙂
good luck with your move!
Oh my goodness you’d be a wonderful disney dancer!!! We’ll be there this February just before our Disney cruise. Would think it was so neat that someone I “knew” (not irl) had a cool job like that! I’m such a Disney fanatic!
Gina! This is really inspiring. Since graduating college I’ve done a whole lotta nothing. Nothing on paper that is. I’ve thought a lot about what I want to do with my life and I think we have many of the same goals. I never thought of myself as a writer/author but I have given it some thought lately. It seems like a lot of bloggers are writing books but hello? bloggers are writers and have fans! Think about all the other authors out there. It’s just seems like the ‘thing to do’ because this community is so close.
And the bakery thing. I could talk about this for years. Let me know if and when you pursue renting commercial space. I really don’t think getting a health permit is ideal/reasonable/practical at all. Those rules are crazy. We should open a bakery together…only cool things can come out of that 🙂
What a brilliant and motivating post. I usually make resolutions at the start of a year, but I think it makese sense to do them (or at least reevaluate them by season). My goals until 2011: (1) Try to cook at least one or two new recipes a week (2) run my first race (3) Try a workout DVD plan and stick to it for a month (4) Buy a macro lens and improve my photography.
Very cool! Thanks for sharing! I’m also writing a book proposal which is a lifelong dream of mine, we should talk when you get to Orlando! 🙂
http://www.JsEverydayFashion.com
I don’t have an inspiration board but I’ve done one in the past and this inspires me to revisit it.
I am so hesitant to put all my hopes and dreams out there not because of fear of jinxing myself but more fear of committment of judgement :-/
I’m wishing you the best of luck, babe. You deserve it. And I hope to make my own inspiration board soon, too.
Hurray, Gina! I’m so happy for you and all your accomplishments and know that white square will reveal itself. 🙂
This reminds me that I ought to take a look at my “23 in 23” list! Thanks for the inspiration, today!
great post! I’m going to make a board now, too!
I have another question for you. Do you do cardio every day? I’m trying to lose about 10 pounds and stay in shape. I was doing cardio every day but got burned out (I can’t run or do any impact stuff…. I’m even trying to lay off the elliptical), so I’ve started doing cardio 3 days a week and weight training 3 days a week. Is this a good mix?
i do cardio almost everyday. when i fell burned out, i take a break (like today, i just really didn’t feel like doing cardio)
3 days cardio and 3 days of weights is an excellent mix
Love this post. I truly needed this today 🙂 Thank you. And good luck with your goals!
I know your white square wish will come true…soon! 😉 My main goal for the coming year is to be a great mama.
thanks friend- i hope so! you will be an AMAZING mama 🙂
great post! never give up on what you work so hard for!!!
🙂
You are an inspiration yourself! 🙂
<3 thank you
Those are beautiful, well thought out goals. Thank you for sharing and inspiring me to create my own inspiration board!
What a great idea!! I totally wish you had been able to open you bakery here … I definitely would have been a regular! 🙂 VLD needs more healthy eateries.
This is one of my favorite posts from you! I think I know what you’re boxed out space is :DDDDD. Can time hurry itself up?!!? hehe.
My goals for fall is to have a balance of my social life and academic. My inner nerd comes out in full swing when I get back into school, but I’m not the most social gal on the planet even though I’m in a sorority. We’re going to see how it goes.
Disney dancer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To hell with a book or a bakery! And from there, you can choreograph for Disney and Disney channel and….(here my flight of fancy grows too ridic to post, but yeah, bottom line, huzzah for Gina!)
hahah! thank you friend <3
Great post! I love the idea of the board and would like to do one myself. I know you’ll accomplish many if not all of these goals and I think we have similar white squares for 2010-2011 😉
🙂
ooo gurllll, i will gladly take that LV wallet off your hands…for safe keeping of course (:
that is soo cute that you save the stuff between you & the pilot, it totally reminds me of Dear John x9902835423!! <333
& finally, if you get that Disney dancer position, you will be my hero forever. no joke. haha.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you get the job as Disney Dancer. That would be fantastic! I’ve been working on my own goals this week and love being inspired by yours.
This was a really nice post! My goals for this fall are to keep my grades up and to cook more. I love to cook and being on my own for the school year really does give me a lot of opportunities to make food for myself. Within this cooking I want to try vegan recipes. I just got Eat, Drink, and Be Vegan so the vegan thing is underway. I was practically drooling just thumbing through the book-can’t wait to try some of the recipes out.
that cookbook is one of my all-time faves- you’ll love it!
My goal is mail a finish line photo from a marathon to the asshole podiatrist who told me I was too fat to run.
HELL YEAH
he said that?! what a *&@(*&U#(*&@!&(*U#@!&H(*^@S@&#. um, yeah.
I am a member of a Mother Daughter Project. 5 moms with over 8 daughters meet monthly to get through life together. We made vision boards last summer. Here is my post about it: http://runningbetty.com/brain-workout.
looks like you’re making good progress on the moving front. i have a box of stuff from my husband too. i can’t bring myself to throw away any of the sweet things he’s made me (he’s an artist). i treasure them!