Looking ahead

Daily Gratitude

I'm shining today because I'm grateful for:

• My local library. Right down the road from me is the greatest little library! It's a treasure I use often. 
• Positive and generous friends! Yes, I know I say this often. To have such an abundance of lovely people in my life is a blessing I'm grateful for every single day. May I be an enriching force in their lives in return!
• Pinterest. Isn't it the coolest? My eyes can't get enough of the interesting things there. I've made some great Pin friends as well. Love it! Check out my boards: Shelley Hepler

Looking ahead

Contemplating the blank canvas of the 12 months before me, I remember some of the things I keep thinking I'll do. This year I'm committing to knocking three of the items off my "someday" list. I've actually already started on them. They are:

Start a Book Club

After several years of talking about starting a reading group, I've decided to jump in. Without out much ado, I invited a few of my book-loving friends to join me in reading and discussing Tracy Chevalier's newest book, "The Last Runaway." Chevalier is one of my favorite authors, writing about women and issues specific to historical periods. Now that I've set this in motion, I'd like to share a book each month. I think it will be fun to together decide what we'll read and why. Maybe we'll rotate who takes the lead on the discussion. I'm excited!

 

Find and attend unique conferences, seminars, workshops, and other learning opportunities

Just as I set this as a true intention for this year, my friend Amy invited me to a women's retreat at the Immaculate Heart Retreat Center. I've wanted to go to this retreat center for some time and now I'm going this weekend. This is an excellent start for moving on my goal. Super cool! 

         Register with the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) 

Next week I'm going to visit my Aunt Kathy. She is the family historian on my mom's side of the family. Years ago she combined her interest in the Civil War with her love of traveling to track down documents and information about our family ancestry  The wealth of information she's gathered is amazing. A couple of years ago she completed enough information to quality as a DAR member. Because she has documentation that proves she is a descendant from a Revolutionary war veteran, I now can piggyback on her paper trail. When I see Kathy, I'm going to ask what I need to do to get it done this year. Yup, I'm just going to do it.

Hey, if I get these three things going right way this year, I might even get to a few more items on that "someday" list!